📰 Read Write Respond #067

Another month, another series of snap lock-downs. Work wise, I was about to be pulled back into the office full time, instead it is a return to working from home with the kids for company. It has been interesting to see them adjust and adapt to the new expectations. It is now about waiting for the supply of vaccines in Australia to catch-up to demand.

Personally, I read Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Cory Doctorow’s Radicalized. I also listened to new albums from Darkside and The Bleachers. In regards to my writing, I wrote a reflection on using Google Sheets to manage the little things.

Here then are some of the posts that have had me thinking:

Education

Leading schools in lockdown: Compassion, community and communication

Fiona Longmuir explores the challenges associated with educational leadership during Melbourne’s long lockdown in 2020.

You Don’t Have Writer’s Block. You Have “Reporter’s Block”

Clive Thompson makes the argument that the answer to writer’s block is more research.

Differentiating online variations of the Commonplace Book: Digital Gardens, Wikis, Zettlekasten, Waste Books, Florilegia, and Second Brains

Chris Aldrich traces this history of commonplace books through Western civilization.

Self-Publishing

Cory Doctorow reflects upon the monopolisation of the book publishing industry and the perils associated with self-publishing.

Technology

We Need To Talk About The Insecurity Industry

Edward Snowden responds to news of the Pegasus Project, arguing that incentivise change and introduce a level of liability.

Co-constructing Digital Futures: Parents and Children becoming Thoughtful, Connected, and Critical Users of Digital Technologies

W. Ian O’Byrne, Kristen Turner, Kathleen A. Paciga and Elizabeth Stevens share findings based on case studies stemming from their own digital parenting with a focus on how we might empower children to advocate for their own rights, rather than focusing the conversation around fear and harm.

Planning the Exodus from Platform Realism

Ben Grosser discusses the need to turn away from private for-profit platforms to more public entities whose interest is not profit.

4 Lessons From the Improbable Rise of QR Codes

Clive Thompson reflects on the rise of QR Codes from being something of a gimmick to an actual solution to a problem during the pandemic.

General

Bullshit Ability as an Honest Signal of Intelligence

A team of Canadian researchers have presented some preliminary findings associated with ability to bullshit and its association with intelligence. Through their study, they found that the ability to bullshit was an honest signal of a persons ability to ‘successfully navigate social systems’.

Why Can’t We Be Friends

Brendan Mackie talks about the idea of parasociality and our one way conversations online.

How ‘Soft Fascination’ Helps Restore Your Tired Brain

Markham Heid discusses the importance of finding balance in our attention diet. He divides these activities into hard and soft fascinations. Not sure the Groundhog Day grind of lockdown helps with this balance.

Plunging Into the Abyss

Douglas Rushkoff reflects upon how people of all types and backgrounds are falling under the conspiracy fever. He explains that it is not about the truth, but rather the addiction of finding a missing piece of information in order to receive a hit of endorphin.

How streaming made hit songs more important than the pop stars who sing them

Charlie Harding explains how the focus for artists in the past was getting played on radio, nowadays it is on social media platforms and playlists.