The Twitter account, that is. We received word yesterday that the @deantini Twitter has been suspended. Turns out the as-yet-unknown creator didn’t put up the white flag after being unveiled by both Columbia College and the dean himself (see below). His resistance caused a “fair amount of confusion” according to Amanda Lang from CC’s Office of Communications, however, the dean “didn’t dislike being parodied on Twitter” (what a great guy, am I right?). Fortunately, no back alley, internet conspiracy means of account deletion had to be taken: the office simply “asked Twitter to remove it,” and they did. Don’t expect that this means the end of Deantini’s presence in the Twittersphere, however. The office “would consider using @deantini in the future.” Initiate phase three of internet outreach.

Social Media in Action

Update: As of 6/18, the account no longer exists.

Update: We’ve received official word that it’s definitely not the real Deantini.

As of yesterday, “James J. Valentini,” or simply @deantini, infiltrated the Twittersphere. Now this can mean two things: Either Deantini has tried to expand his “hip” social media presence even further, or there is a new addition to Columbia’s fake Twitter scene. With a Tweet poking fun at the dean’s attempts to engage with students, and a lame joke in which Deantini tries to change his name to James Dean Valentini, it surely seems like the latter is the case. So far, he has 70 followers and has followed most of the Bwog and Spec staff. It even looks like he’s made friends with Dean Awnsome of GS:

 And somewhat supports Kevsho’s outreach efforts to the Class of 2012:

Yet his relations with (fake) Prezbo have been hostile, calling the man out on his hair. Could this be the inklings of a celebrity Twitter war, Columbia style?

Don't text me bro!

Are you reading this on your iPhone? Well, maybe you shouldn’t be! Bwog is back to defend the seemingly indefensible, and today, resident Luddite Raphaelle Debenedetti makes the case for the dumbphone. Since it’s not New Jersey, it won’t be our most hopeless battle yet.

“Are you two texting each other?” asked the curiously blunt waiter at Deluxe. I guess he had a point: the couple next to our table had been on their phones nonstop, without, so far as I could tell, a single bit of real conversation (apart from asking for the ketchup). Facebook? E-mail? Doodle Jump? Texting? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter: whatever it was, you can bet there’s an app for it. (more…)

It’s finals week and you know what that means. We’ve lampooned the inanity of Butler before, but this year we’ve adapted Butler Bingo around those closest (literally) to you: Butler Archetypes.

Here’s how to play: sit in Butler. Look at the game board. Scroll over each square to read its description. Look around you. When you spot an archetypal individual, click that square to fill it in. When you get four in a row, stand up, shout “BINGO!” and do a little dance. Then pat yourself on the back and feel accomplished that you actually did something while in Butler.

Double-clicking on a square will take you to the Archetype page, and just like at Pleasant Oaks Community Center, each time you play is a whole new experience. Every time you refresh this page, the board randomizes and the positions of the squares change. So play a new game every time you’re in Butler, and good luck with finals!

It’s finals season, and you probably can’t help but compare this year’s experience with previous years—was I better prepared? Did I just have a lighter courseload? Hey, when did I stop getting laid?

If you’re anything like Bwog, you also miss another fundamental institution often associated with finals: snow. So instead of studying for that 1004 final, we threw together and present to you the following way to relieve a little stress and play in the snow, if only digitally. So draw something below! Go wild! If you make a creation you’re particularly proud of, take a screenshot and share it in the comments.

Digital canvas via Drew Gereats

Gangstas, they bump my shit them they know me

Continuing the procrastination-fueled hunt for the inane, Bwog has been keeping a watchful eye on the airwaves and is back with a mix of some of the more memorable Wi-Fi network names around campus.

And Big Brother can see your iTunes library names too! Add your favorites in the comments and be sure to check out last year’s roundup.

• no you can’t have the password (ironically, not password protected)
• Darth Vadar
• Swag
• pretty fly for a wifi
• Gene Parmesan
• Onebigroomfullofbadbitches
• the iliad is like gangster rap
• TeflonDon
• Large Tiger
• SNORLAX
• Cervantes
• Kornhole-guest
• Fck U Dolphin

Throwback to 2013′s first Lit Hum lecture via Wikimedia Commons

If you are as impatient as the rest of us when waiting in line for anything, hopefully this week’s edition of Boringside Heights will make things move a bit more quickly.

Back in the day...

Technology ruined baseball.  And Times Square.  Or maybe that was Bloomberg and the throngs of tourists. Either way, Times Square is getting an overhaul to make it, if you can believe it, “minimalistic.” (NY Daily News)

In one of the most poorly kept secrets of all time, it’s official: Jay-Z and a small consortium of Russian billionaires are “moving the Nets to BK.” Same name, new stadium. (NYT)

Technology isn’t all that bad though; IBM and handful of other companies are planning on pumping $4 Billion research dollars into New York State. (CNET)

Your newly bought Macbook Pro is safe too! Three suspects have been arrested for snatching laptops after a joint operation with 26^th Precinct and Columbia Public Safety, after thefts at Hartley, ADP, and Theta. (Spec)

Now you’ll finally be able to Tweet and update your status from the comfort of the 14^th Street Subway Station with the arrival of AT&T and T-Mobile wireless. Don’t hold your breath on the remaining 271 stations; the rollout costs upwards of $200 million dollars and is expected to be completed in 2015. (Gothamist)

Retro Times Square via Wikimedia Commons

These last few weeks, Morningside Heights has seen a few yet snazzy improvements.

Also, in front of the circulation desks in 300 Butler, 16 computers have been revamped with Microsoft Office Suite and Adobe Creative Suite. And look out for upgrades at the Digital Humanities Center (305 Butler), and  three new Macs in the Music and Arts Library (701) Dodge.

The future was yesterday

Columbia is no stranger to website redesigns, but here comes an overhaul that will actually matter. As CUIT so eloquently phrases it on the CourseWorks home page, this fall “CourseWorks Begins Transition to New CourseWorks.”

The current CourseWorks is based on the Prometheus course management system and has been around since 2001—to put that in perspective, if CourseWorks were a child, it would be entering 5th grade. It’s seriously been a long time coming, and CUIT has been planning this since 2008, but Columbia is finally starting to begin its transition to a new course management system, based on the open source Sakai Project.

In a press release, CUIT hails this system for its “state-of-the-art online learning and information sharing tools,” includes discussion boards, grade books, and file drop boxes. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Sakai will have largely the same offerings as CourseWorks, only presumably now it won’t go completely offline whenever PrezBo plugs in too many things in his office or something. Moreover, some new features of Sakai include some sort of live chat/IM system, polling, wikis, and what CUIT’s press release ominously refers to as “social media.”

CUIT will begin transitioning classes to this new system in waves, starting in Fall 2011 and concluding in Spring 2013. First up are classes from the Med Center, School of Social Work, Anthropology and Statistics departments, and select “early adopters” from SEAS, the J-School, and Architecture department. With this transition, Columbia will finally be joining a long list of institutions that have already adopted Sakai, which has been around since 2004. Don’t get too excited though: to quote one student from a school already using Sakai, “It’s not pretty, but it gets the work done.” To quote another, “It sucks.”

Generic Sakai website via Sakai Project

Don’t fret Barnard, in the storm of Columbia housing coverage, Bwog hasn’t forgotten you! We will not be liveblogging Barnard housing selection because the powers that be across the street already provide excellent and efficient resources.

Matt Kingston, Associate Director for Housing Operations, explains two of the most important online tools for Barnard students in an email:

One of the most important things for students to know, but that a lot of people don’t seem to pick up on, is that our “Available Rooms” page updates instantaneously as rooms/suites are picked. That means that students can refresh the page before their appointment time (and even as they’re waiting in line at Room Selection, since the page is “mobile-friendly” for iPhone, Blackberries, etc.).

Our goal is for students to have realistic expectations about what they’ll be able to pick when their appointment time arrives. To that end, we also introduced a feature this year that shows students exactly how many individuals or groups by size that have not selected yet. If you log in (and are registered for Room Selection), the page also tells you who many individuals / groups haven’t selected who have an appointment time before your own. This hopefully helps students to have an idea of whether there are more groups ahead of them then the number of available suites for their group size.

That page also updates instantaneously as students select at Room Selection. However, because students can change their group membership up until they actually select (i.e. join, change, or drop from a group), these numbers can also change at any point.

Barnard’s housing website has a comprehensive collection of additional information, including a breakdown of different housing options, procedures, and a calendar of important dates. Jealous much?

Barnardians! Forget about your worries and your strife! One of Mother Nature’s finer recipes shall soon be available to you: As of Tuesday, March 1st, the powers that be will enable gchat for all gBear accounts!

More Important Computing Information after the jump!

Progress is complicated

Once upon a time, coyotes roamed our fair campus. Now the wild canines have migrated to faraway Queens County. (Gothamist)

It sounds like a dream, knowing precisely when the next subway will arrive. Now, thanks to Alex Bell, a SEAS grad student, there’s an app for that. (NY1)

Richard Paul Richman (what a name!), alum of both the Law and B-Schools, donated a cool $10 mil to establish the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy. (Columbia)

A shiny new interdisciplinary science building calls for a shiny new coffee shop. Starting today, Joe the Art of Coffee - dubbed “schmancy” by one Bwogger - will be dishing out caffeine at the intersection of Pupin and Chandler. Review forthcoming!

All you native New Yorkers, bid a solemn farewell to the Super Bowl hopes of the J-E-T-S. “RALLY BITTER END” quoth the Post. (NY Post)

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

At the Package Center:

After foolishly spending too much for stamps in the stamps machine, a twitchy freshperson holds up the envelope and asks an employee:

“Where does the stamp go?”