Month: November 2018

Bookmarked Revisiting the Genius of Middlemarch (Literary Hub)

Some great novelists, like Jane Austen, mostly absent themselves from their narratives. George Eliot is present everywhere in Middlemarch, often speaking in the first person. We are in the company of someone humorously wise. It is risky for a novelist to explain her characters’ behavior by making observations from life, but she does so with a subtlety that animates those characters rather than turning them into demonstrations.

I remember Middlemarch as being a novel of small things. I really should reread it as it has been a few years.
Replied to Digital Literacies and the Skinner Box by W. Ian O’Byrne (wiobyrne.com)

The systems and algorithms serve up short content, and study the discrete movements you make with this content. Did you immediately scroll past, or click on the link? Did you replay the content? Did you like or comment on the content? Did one color, or deign element keep you in the app, and allow the platform to collect more data? Do you like certain color schemes, transitions, or audio cues…all of this is modified to best serve you. All of this is collected and aggregated by the thousands or millions. The goal is to keep you in the environment and keep collecting your data.

Ian, I really enjoyed this post unpacking the association between Skinner, digital devices and literacy. It reminded of Doug Belshaw’s discussion of literacies and the need talk about the critical and constructive as much as the cognitive and communicative. I also enjoyed your discussion of the ‘digital black boxes‘.

Both of these pieces managed to capture something that has left me feeling uneasy of late. I am not adverse to devices and technology, but wonder where the conversation is associated with it all? That was the point in my post on being informed. The latest ‘black box’ is the introduction of the smart speaker into the classroom. The discussion seems to be about what it might afford, with little consideration of any other implications.

My wondering is whether turning off the behavioral aspects is enough or if the devices are in fact tainted to the core? This is something that I touched on in my response to Dai Barnes.

Liked Equity, Access and the Distributed Web by Kevin Hodgson (dogtrax.edublogs.org)

If the future iteration of the Internet, as we know it, is built primarily on secure peer-to-peer computing power in a fully distributed mesh — where our resources are shared and our collective networking grows stronger and more secure with more users in the system (and this is where the technical aspects are beyond me right now, so I am writing this in faith that either blockchain systems or something else will be the underpinning of security) — then more people will have access to more networking, and more opportunities.

Listened Re-appraising Drukqs by Aphex Twin from Duncan Stephen

When it came out in 2001, Drukqs divided critics. But for me, it’s still the most important Aphex Twin album.

Drukqs was not the first Aphex Twin record I listened too. I had already spent years both mesmerised and horrified by the videos for Come to Daddy:

And Windowlicker:

I had also dived into both Selected Ambient Works Volume II and Richard D. James Album.

Drukqs however was the first album I had gotten into when it was actually released. For me, it was both everything I expected, but also a complete shock to the system all in one breath.

In an interview with Annie Clark aka St. Vincent, she discusses the intent for her live shows:

My goal with any show is that it will be an experience. You might love it or you might hate it or you might be completely confounded, but you won’t forget it.

I think that same could be said about Aphex Twin. Whether it be an album or seeing him live, they are usually experiences that you do not forget. (I will never forget seeing him live in 2004.) I think that Drukqs is one of these experiences. Although it could have been broken up into three distinct albums, it would no longer be the same uncanny experience that in some respect makes it work. As Tom Breihan captures:

Drukqs is also one of our first true internet-era data-dump albums. Many more would follow. As a data-dump album, though, Drukqs is simply glorious. For mostly-clueless listeners like me, who knew the creepy videos and the Aphex logo but not the man’s whole busy arc up to that point, Drukqs fucking ruled.

Bookmarked Identity as Evolving, Dynamic, Contextual #el30 by Maha Bali (blog.mahabali.me)

It just struck me that in introducing me, there was mention of my institutional role and my blogging and tweeting… but not Virtually Connecting. And I had realized earlier this year that Vconnecting is part of my identity. It’s simple but complicated

Maha Bali reflects on all things associated with identity as a part of Stephen Downes’ eLearning 3.0 course. This includes the development of Virtually Connecting, what it means to be a writer and the ongoing evolution of her identity. One quote that really struck me was:

[Writing is] not just something I do. It is something I am.

You can also watch her conversation with Downes here:

Listened Strange Little Girls – Wikipedia from Wikipedia

Strange Little Girls is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album’s 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female’s point of view. Amos created female personae for each track (one song featured twins) and was photographed as each, with makeup done by Kevyn Aucoin. In the United States the album was issued with four alternative covers depicting Amos as the characters singing “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”, “Strange Little Girl”, “Time,” and “Raining Blood”. A fifth cover of the “I Don’t Like Mondays” character was also issued in the UK and other territories. Text accompanying the photos and songs was written by novelist Neil Gaiman. The complete short stories in which this text appears can be found in Gaiman’s 2006 collection Fragile Things.

These reimaginings by Tori Amos are somewhat uncanny. Unlike other covers, such as Mark Ronson’s Just, where there is a respect to the original structure and sound, Amos reimagines just about every facet of the songs in question. It is easy to listen to many of these tracks and not necessarily recognise the original track.
Replied to Have you seen these personalities in open source? by Laura Hilliger (Opensource.com)

An inclusive community is a more creative and effective community. But how can you make sure you’re accommodating the various personalities that call your community “home”?

This is an interesting post Laura. I really like your point about what sort of people and personalities make up different communities.

Learn to recognize your own preferences and understand how your brain works—but also remember that everyone’s neural networks work a bit differently. Then, as a leader, make sure you’re creating space for everyone by championing inclusivity, fairness, open-mindedness, and neurodiversity.

I wonder though what the exact purpose of such tests as the Myer-Briggs actually is? I feel the work Goldman etc is useful as a provocation, but what else?

Bookmarked Making Change in Education II – Complexity vs. Lean Six Sigma (learning isn’t like money) by dave dave (davecormier.com)

We can’t talk about improved learning without considering the impact on teacher wellness.

Dave Cormier discusses the work of David Snowden around complicated and complex distinction. A complicated problem is one which can eventually be broken down into achievable parts and solutions, whereas a complex problem is one that cannot actually be solved. The danger of lean methodology is that there is a tendency to focus on the measurable over the meaningful.

We are confronted by the complicated/complex division everyday in education. Do I want to know if a medical students has remembered the nine steps of a process of inquiry to work with a patient or do I want to know if they built a good raport? How often do we choose the thing that is easier to measure… simply because we can verify that our grading is ‘fair’. How often do we get caught in conversations around how ‘rigourous’ an assessment is when what we really mean is ‘how easy is it to defend to a parent who’s going to complain about a child’s grade’.

Listened All rights reserved by Seth Godin from Akimbo

Beware the legal-industrial copyright complex

Seth Godin provides an interesting discussion about copyright, creative commons and spreading ideas. This includes a reflection on the impact that the recent GDPR proposals around copyright would have on the web.
Listened How El Chapo Ended Up in a Brooklyn Courtroom by Michael Barbaro, Alan Feuer from nytimes.com

The U.S. government has its first chance to publicly present its account of one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins.

The stuff of legend.
Liked Une leçon de Creative Commons by Chris (Betchablog)

This kind of pisses me off, because they do NOT have the rights to restrict access to my image like this, especially when they make it a subscription access thing. Whilst I choose not to use the NC (Non Commercial) aspect of the Creative Commons licensing system – which mean that people can indeed make money from using my photos if they wish – the SA (Share Alike) component means that they must publish under the same licence as they got it. In practical terms, this does effectively mean that my photos cannot be used commercially, since anyone using them has to make them freely available in the same way that I did. But what they are definitely not allowed to do is to restrict others from using them in any way, including watermarks or paywalls. I see this as a clear breach of the terms of my Creative Commons licence.

RSVPed Interested in Attending Domains 19 Conference

So for Domains19 we are hoping folks will explore various topics the event will focus on through a more experimental, interactive proposal of some kind. I’m planning on bringing back to my “Data is the New Flesh” installation from OpenEd 2013 featuring Dr. Oblivion (despite the fact no one has asked for it), and we’re really hoping others follow suit so I’m not entirely alone. In fact, I’ve a sneaking suspicion our keynote speakers, which will be announced over the next few weeks, will be eschewing traditional presentations formats for a more interactive and immersive series of experiences.

I give myself no chance of attending, but definitely interested.
Watched Crushing It With Creativity: The Virtual Summit Keynote by Amy Burvall from amysmooc.wordpress.com

This past Friday I stayed up till midnight as I had the privilege to offer the opening keynote for EdTechTeam’s “The Virtual Summit”, EU edition. EdTechTeam Press published my book with Dan Ryder, Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom, and this event seemed perfect since its theme was “Creativity”.

Listened Why does Jordan Peterson resonate with white supremacists? by Benjamin Doxtdator from longviewoneducation.org

I must admit that I often observe such debates as that involving Peterson from a far. Benjamin Doxtdator on the other hand goes the other way. The depth of detail he provides through he discussions and dialogue is inspiring, however to then turn it into a podcast with actual audio extracts takes it to a whole new level.
Liked That Isn’t a Mistake by Dan Meyer (dy/dan)

It’s a bad mirror, so I call it a mistake. “Mistakes grow your brain,” I say. “We expect them, respect them, inspect them, and correct them here,” I say. And if we have to label student ideas “mistakes,” maybe those are good messages to attach to that label.

But the vast majority of the work we label “mistakes” is students doing exactly what they meant to do.

We just don’t understand what they meant to do.

Liked Reply to Don’t let your online strategy become a conversation about which LMS to use by Tannis Morgan by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (BoffoSocko)

For solid examples of what can be accomplished, we can also look toward individual developers like Stephen Downes and projects like gRSShopper or Alan Levine and his many open source repositories. There are also individuals like Greg McVerry, who is using free and opensource content management systems like WordPress and WithKnown to push the envelope of what is possible with classroom interactions using simple internet protocols like Webmention, Micropub, WebSub, and bleeding edge readers using MicroSub, and Robin DeRosa, who is creating her own OER materials. These are just a few of thousands of individuals hacking away at small, but discrete problems and then helping out others.

Liked Close listening by Austin Kleon (austinkleon.com)

Though I didn’t become a professional musician or producer or recording engineer, I like to think that this kind of exercise — studying something you love in depth — is valuable no matter what the field or the genre. The results don’t matter. When you study something so closely, in so much depth, you learn what it is to really pay attention. And paying attention is the art that builds a more meaningful and creative life.

Liked The Notecard System: The Key For Remembering, Organizing And Using Everything You Read – RyanHoliday.net by Ryan Holiday (ryanholiday.net)

When I go back through the cards, I’ll often remember other things from more recent reading or thinking and add to them. This is why, if you went through all mine, you’d see different colors of ink on the same card.

Bookmarked Chapter 5: Gathering: Meeting the locals by Ian Guest (Marginal Notes)

A tweet is a busy actor, and is often the point from which further activity begins.

Ian Guest gathers together the actors associated with my post (and subsequent tweet) reflecting upon my experiences with EduTweetOz.

The Retweet is a repeater and amplifier, causing the original message to appear and then reappear in Twitter timelines; a nudge here, a prod there. This is more than creating or extending a network of practice or personal learning network, it is networking.

He provides a useful take on some of the human and non-human players involved in Twitter and Twitter Chats, with a particular focus on the place of the hashtag.

Hashtags cooperate with other actors, repeat themselves and become more insistent. In collaborating with other human and nonhuman actors they do work by forging connections and facilitating communication exchanges. Hashtags don’t simply work for teachers in this regard, but work with them, sometimes coaxing, sometimes cajoling and sometimes compelling.

Bookmarked When Elon Musk Tunnels Under Your Home by Alana Semeuls (The Atlantic)

The billionaire is drilling for futuristic transit under Los Angeles. He didn’t have to ask the neighbors first.

Alana Semuels explores the intricacies associated with Elon Musk’s boring project in Los Angeles. She highlights the many ways in which innovation is able to bypass the rules and regulations that hamper the development of public infrastructure. For me this is highlighted by fifty year plan associated with transport in Melbourne. I agree with Semuels’ that it would be better to see such time and money spent supporting the state, rather than endlessly trying to circumvent it.

Marginalia

Vicky Warren feels like she’s been attacked from all sides lately. Across the street from her rental apartment in the working-class Los Angeles County city of Hawthorne, noisy planes take off and land at all hours, diverted to the local municipal airport from wealthier Santa Monica, where neighbor complaints have restricted air traffic. On the other side of her apartment, cars on the 105 Freeway sound the frustration of L.A. traffic. She’s even getting assailed within her walls: Termites have invaded so completely that she can’t keep any food uncovered. Flea bites cover her legs; rats are aggressively attacking the boxes she has stored in her garage. So Warren was disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that invaders are coming from underground, too.

I talked to a dozen people who live along the tunnel’s route, and most said they hadn’t witnessed any extra noise or traffic. But none had been informed ahead of time that a private company would be digging a tunnel beneath the street. Some only learned about the tunnel in mid-2018—not when the digging started, in 2017—because the company purchased a dilapidated house on 119th Place for nearly $500,000 in cash.

Yet, in many ways, the tunnel is a triumph of privatization. Plans to extend the Los Angeles Metro system under the Sepulveda Pass first went on the ballot in 2016, after years of planning; the project itself won’t be completed for decades, because of federal and state regulations. Musk just needs to find the money. Since the Boring Company is private, it is able to avoid the years of tedious environmental reviews required when the government tries to build transit. It is also exempt from “Buy American” requirements necessary for projects that receive federal funding. This allows the company to try a new technology much faster than if the government got involved. Musk’s SpaceX was able to lower the cost of space travel through private rocketry, and the Boring Company hopes to do the same for tunneling, a spokesman told me.

Musk seems more interested in finding a convenient test site for a bold idea, one that he believes leapfrogs existing technological options, rather than doing the tedious work of improving an old system.