Month: December 2018

Replied to My Instagram Problem (bavatuesdays)

I never planned to get on Instagram, and I was even less inclined to enjoy it. But 616 posts and 18 months later I’m realizing I am deeper in then I ever intended. I tell myself I can quit anytime, but now that Twitter holds little joy for me and Mastodon feels like a temporary rebound relationship, Instagram has quietly become my go to.

It is interesting having gone somewhat quiet on social media. I think what you highlight in this post is the power and presence of a personal community in driving the connections. I am finding that although I may have certain values if the consensus says something different then it does it really matter.

At work, I refused to share my contacts with WhatsUp (and Facebook Inc) and the answer has been that I am excluded from certain conversations. In this circumstance I have lost out?

I like your point about transferability and think that maybe as you point out that this maybe what matters most. This then allows for such projects as Manton Reece’s transfer of Instagram to Micro.blog or Jonathan LaCour’s move to transfer Facebook content using Micropub. A part of me wonders if I retired my Known instance to early?

Watched Sydney’s New Year’s Eve 2018 from youtu.be
The Night is Yours concert included performances from Tim Minchin, Christine Anu, Ross Wilson, Ben Folds, Daryl Braithwaite, Casey Donovan, Isabella Manfredi of The Preatures, Client Liaison, Baker Boy, Kaiit, G Flip and Kimbra. What was really interesting was to hear artists cover the classics.

This is one of the reasons why the funding of the ABC is so important, with the only ad of mention being the spoof around Hottest One Hundred voting:

https://youtu.be/WCA87UHqd1c

Liked HEWN, No. 298 (Hack Education Weekly Newsletter)

Technologists suck at predicting the future. They suck because they don’t understand the past; they’re blind to much of the present. They’re terrible at predicting the future because they fail to grasp the systems and practices surrounding their products, firm in their faith instead that their own genius (and their investors’ continued support) will be enough to muddle forward.

Replied to Something Weird is Happening on Twitter Right Now by Bill Ferriter (Tempered Radical)

What if instead of using social spaces to simply share content, we made a New Year’s Resolution to engage in more conversations with one another? What if we made a commitment to ask more provocative questions or to play the Devil’s Advocate more often?

Even better Bill is if we had such conversations from the comfort of our own backyard using bridgy and webmenbtions, rather than someone else’s playground?
Replied to Refback from IndieWeb Chat by chrisaldrich (BoffoSocko)

It took me a moment to realize what it was exactly since I hadn’t yet added a field to indicate it, but since the IndieWeb chat doesn’t send webmentions by itself, I’m glad I support refbacks to be aware of comments on my posts. The avatar didn’t come through quite like it should, but it’s nice to be able to treat refbacks like any other type of mention. Thanks David Shanske for the Refbacks plugin. Thanks Tantek for what I think is my first incoming “mention” from chat. The chat has some reasonable microformats markup, so I suppose the parser could do a more solid job, but this is a pretty great start. Sadly, Refback isn’t as real-time as Webmention, but it’s better than nothing. I suppose we could all be posting chats on our own sites and syndicating into places like IRC to own our two directional conversations, but until I get around to the other half… (or at least for WordPress, I recall having gotten syndication to IRC for WithKnown working a while back via plugin.)

This all sounds interesting, I am just a bit confused how it actually works. I activated David Shanske’s plugin on both my sites. I now seem to be getting a duplication of my webmentions?

I actually wonder about my pingbacks as well and think they might all just be getting straight to spam as I include so many links in my posts. Is there a way of testing that I am missing?

Bookmarked Rhizomatic Learning – a somewhat curious introduction by dave dave (davecormier.com)

I apologize for leaving you without a definition or a clear theory of rhizomatic learning, however useful these things could be. Theories, like definitions, help create a shared common language. As we reify language into chunks it creates a shorthand that allows us to communicate faster and more effectively. It also means that we are less likely to misunderstand each other as we have a shared ‘meaning’ for the words that we are using. I am not able to provide this certainty. But with this loss of certainty of meaning there is freedom. Feel free to take this into your own hands and draw the conclusions that work for you.

Thank you Dave for this curious introduction. There is something about definitions that promises too much and maybe delivers too little? A while back I went through my contributions to #Rhizo14 and I kind of cringe at some of my comments. However, a part of me thinks that maybe this misses the point, that rhizomatic learning is a verb, rather than a noun?

I was intrigued by your reference to the impact and influence of technology on learning. Here I am reminded of Doug Belshaw’s work in regards to digital literacies. Even before ‘digital’ is added to the equation technology has had a part to play.

Before books went digital, they were created either by using a pen or by using a printing press. These tools are technologies. Literacy, therefore, is inextricably linked with technology even before we get to ‘digital’ literacies.

I am also taken by the subjective nature of your account. This reminds me of Ian Guest’s account of ‘nudges’ that led to his research.

Personally, my own learning has led me assemblages. See for example Ben Williamson’s work with Class Dojo. I wonder about this as an approach and how it might differ from rhizomatic learning?

Also on: Read Write Collect

Replied to What does it take to be the ‘best and brightest’? by Gill Light (macgirl19.wordpress.com)

So when you see another media report or education ‘expert’ discussing how important it is that we recruit our ‘best and brightest’ to teaching, consider what attributes being the ‘best and brightest’ might entail. Look beyond their ATAR score to the combination of academic strengths and personal qualities that are both vital in developing teachers that inspire, motivate and educate students.

Well put Gill. What I feel is often missed is that it takes a village to raise a child and a teacher. For all the talk of coaching in the last few years we seem to have overlooked the development of people to instead focus on some odd measurement of success.
Replied to Good Technology by Ryan BarrettRyan Barrett (snarfed.org)

https://snarfed.org/electric_toothbrush.png https://snarfed.org/electric_toothbrush.png
My electric toothbrush is good technology.
It has one button. The button turns it on. It vibrates for 30 seconds, buzzes, then repeats three more times. It has no other controls.
It works one way: the standard, A…

I am wondering if there is a means of making ‘bad’ technology good or if once bad then always bad?
Replied to 👓 A Reading Plan for 2019 | Rhoneisms by Author Chris AldrichAuthor Chris Aldrich (boffosocko.com)

Read A Reading Plan for 2019 by Patrick Rhone (patrickrhone.net) Last year, I publicized my reading plan for the year. Overall, I’m very happy with the number of books I managed to read (20) and the quality of what I read. There are some aspects of the plan I wish I’d been better at but that’s…

I consider reading lists the same way I think about MOOCs. If I do not finish them then it does not matter too much.

I like your point about books too. As I reflect on my lack of long form reading this year I am reminded by Pocket that I have read what would be quite a few books worth of posts and articles:

I too have recorded much of this too 🙂

Liked Designing for least knowledge by Jon UdellJon Udell (blog.jonudell.net)

My hunch is that we’ll find ways to build profitable least-knowledge services once we start to really try. Successful examples will provide a carrot, but there’s also a stick. Surveillance data is toxic stuff, risky to monetize because it always spills. It’s a liability that regulators — and perhaps also insurers — will increasingly make explicit.

Don’t be evil? How about can’t be evil? That’s a design principle worth exploring.

Bookmarked Six Years With a Distraction-Free iPhone – Member Feature Stories – Medium by Jake Knapp (Medium)

If your phone gets in the way of whoever and whatever is important to you, don’t accept the compromise. Take matters into your own hands and design the phone you want.

Jake Knapp discusses his efforts to regain his attention by removing apps and notifications from his smartphone. Here are his seven steps:

  1. Decide WHY you want more attention.
  2. Set expectations.
  3. Delete social media apps.
  4. Delete news apps.
  5. Delete streaming video apps and games.
  6. Remove web browsers.
  7. Delete email and other “productivity” messaging apps.

The thing that bugs me is why it is the responsibility of the user to consciously choose to turn off distractions? Imagine if when setting up our devices we were asked which ‘distractions’ we want activated? I agree with Geert Lovink that sadly this is a battle we have lost, so the question is what now.

Bookmarked Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS Ltd)

The heart of MESS is the MESS Studio, a fully functioning sound production workshop representing one of the most unique, eclectic and historically significant collections of electronic instruments in the world. Working from within the studio is the MESS School, a place for people to engage with the history, technique and artistry of electronic sound and music creation presented in a format that is flexible, affordable and artist driven. Work created at the studio and school is supported by MESS Show to promote unique performance events and recording releases reflecting the diversity of sound created at MESS alongside historical releases from the vault of Australian electronic music . Finally MESS Schematic not only maintains the instruments in the MESS Studio collection, it also offers a space for the development of new instrument ideas focussing on design, engineering and construction.

I remember watching a YouTube video a few months ago with Jack Antonoff showing up his elaborate setup. I thought it would be fascinating to actually see all the original equipment. I did not realise that I had such a space in my own city. The list of equipment is phenomenal. Definitely going to be looking into this further.
Bookmarked Why is Paul Dempsey so good at playing covers? (Double J)

But what makes Dempsey’s way with a cover so good?

Firstly, his understanding of what makes a song tick; he’s the brains behind one of the most underrated songbooks in Australia, after all. Both as a solo artist and fronting Something For Kate, he’s written music that’s affecting, anthemic, and deceptively complex yet affably accessible. It’s given him the toolset required to efficiently analyse and reproduce the ins-and-outs of songwriting.

Secondly, and more simply: that voice. Coming up with SFK during the late ‘90s landscape of post-grunge and emo, his singing ploughed with the emotional intensity and urgency of both scenes. His pipes have also proven to age like a fine wine, the gruffer edge of his grain now benefiting from a more refined and flexible falsetto. Just compare the larynx-busting yearning of ‘Captain’ to the quiet resolve and dynamics of ‘Idiot Oracle’.

This post from Double J discusses Paul Dempsey’s perchance for covers.
Bookmarked CB’s Synesthesia by Chris Beckstrom (chrisbeckstrom.com)

My brain is wired a bit differently than most other brains. I have synesthesia, a neurological condition where one sensory input can cause me to have more than one sensory experience.

Chris Beckstrom provides a primer to synesthesia and reflects on his own experiences. I remember reading once about Rollo Armstrong from Faithless creating music by colour, but Beckstrom unpacks this in more detail.

I am intrigued as to how this appreciation of sound differs from the ‘phonographic memory’ experienced by artists like Paul Dempsey:

He’s amused by “people close to the band” chiding him for being “wilfully obscure” as a writer. Can he help it if he finds Galileo, Max Planck, electricity, echolalia and “brains in jars” more interesting than girls in cars? Or if his uncanny ability to play anything on a range of instruments after a single hearing – his bandmates call it his “phonographic memory” – naturally attracts him to more challenging musical ideas?

I also came upon this extensive list of artists on Wikipedia.

Bookmarked Facebook And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad 2018 (BuzzFeed News)

Mark Zuckerberg began the year promising that he would fix Facebook. He didn’t, and 2018 has only presented more problems.

Audrey Watters argues that ‘edtech is about amnesia‘. I think one of the problems is that there are just so many small moments that it can simply become exhausting to keep up with the whole affair. Personally, I tried when the news around Cambridge Analytica dropped, which itself has hard enough.

via Chris Aldrich

Liked The Beginner’s Guide to WordPress Actions and Filters (Code Envato Tuts+)

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the WordPress page life cycle, understand how hooks work, and review the differences in actions and filters so that we may not only become better theme and/or plugin developers, but also have a deeper understanding of how WordPress works.

via Chris Aldrich