👎 There’s a soup of rubbish in the Pacific that’s almost as big as Queensland

Liked There’s a soup of rubbish in the Pacific that’s almost as big as Queensland (ABC News)

Whether you’re focusing on count or mass, I think it is alarming and we all recognise that this is an increasing global project and it’s going to take local solutions as well as hopefully global governance to help resolve the issues

4 responses on “👎 There’s a soup of rubbish in the Pacific that’s almost as big as Queensland”

  1. Nicola Heath reports on the current plastic crisis in Australia. Although every state has agreed to ban single use bags, the real problem that needs to be addressed is in the aisles and aisles of pre-packaged food. Although the impact of plastics on our ocean has been well reported, it seems that there is a significant impact on our fresh water lakes too. Studies have found microplastics in drinking water, beer and honey. I wonder if the solution starts with school?

    Also on:

    Reply

  2. My Month of May
    This month I realised the limitations to using a priority matrix to organise my work. It was not capturing the different facets of my work, such as reporting, online portal, attendance and timetable. I am still organising my work around priorities, I have just taken to representing this in a spreadsheet, therefore allowing me to filter it in various ways. I still am not quite settled on this, but it will do for now
    In regards to other aspects of work I was lucky enough to attend a presentation by Hilary Hollingsworth on ACER’s work on reporting. I have also been helping some schools with the implementation of various administrative applications focusing on interviews and excursions. The more I do the more I realise how much of what is ‘transformative’ is built upon a raft of invisible parts that build to make the complex systems, which we so easily take for granted.
    On the family front, my girls have taken to belting out duets together, even in the middle of the shops. Although the youngest one cannot keep up with every word of every line, she gives it a go. In general, it is fascinating watching them learn together.
    Personally, I have found myself spending more time bookmarking and collecting my thoughts, rather than crafting long forms. It was interesting to read Doug Belshaw reflect upon this with his own writing. I think that Ian O’Byrne captures this best when he explains the interrelated nature of the different spaces.

    In regards to my writing, here was my month in posts:

    Finding the Tools to Sing – A Reflection on Big B Blogging: I started writing this post a few months ago in response to Tom Critchlow’s post, but did not get around to finishing it, subsequently my initial notes have lay waiting. I was reminded of it by recent posts from Jim Groom and Alan Levine reflecting on the purpose of blogging. Here then is my contribution to the conversation.

    Sharing Data is Easy with QUERY: There are many challenges to sharing specific data in Google Sheets, some of these can be overcome using the QUERY formula.

    Here then are some of the thoughts and ideas that have also left me thinking:
    Learning and Teaching

    21 simple design elements that will make any School Assessment Task sheet accessible: Haley Tancredi, Jill Willis, Kelli McGraw and Linda Graham reflect on the assessment task sheet so common in the secondary classroom. Responding to the challenge of accessibility, they collect together a number of elements to support all students. This list is organised around visuals, clarity and directions.

    Access can be made easier or more difficult depending on the way the assessment task is presented; both in terms of visual presentation and in terms of the language used. The number and type of procedures required can also differentially affect students’ successful completion of the task. This approach to analysis helped us to produce a list of recommended design elements that will be useful to teachers as they plan and write up their assessment tasks.

    Civix Releases New Online Media Literacy Videos: Mike Caulfield shares a series of videos summarising his work on Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. Although it only touches on the basics, it still provides a useful introduction to the ‘Four Moves’ approach. Caulfield has also started a project associated with local newspapers that is worth checking out.

    As I say — it’s the internet — you’re not stuck with that one story that comes to you. By going out and actively choosing a better story you will not only filter out false stories but also see the variety of ways an event is being covered.

    When words won’t suffice: behavior as communication: Benjamin Doxtdator unpacks behaviour in the classroom. He touches on knowing your child, student choices and systemic inequalities. This is a useful post to read and critically reflect upon various practices and pedagogies. I think that it all starts with the language that we choose. Chris Friend also considers the influence of language in regards to learning management systems and assessment. In regards to behaviour, Riss Leung compares dog training with her classroom experiences.

    Just as I try (and sometimes fail) to de-center myself when addressing student misbehavior, I try to de-center myself when I write. The vast majority of the students that I teach won’t be racially profiled in a behavior policy or by the police and that’s why I think it is especially important for me to seek out literature that reflects on those systemic injustices.

    Learning for learning’s sake: Austin Kleon responds to the challenge associated with ‘learning for learning’s sake’. He suggests that we need to invest in hobbies and curiosity, just as much as we focus on ‘return on investment’. This reminds me of Amy Burvall’s point that “in order to connect dots, one must first have the dots”. Thinking about luck, Janice Kaplan discusses the importance of engaging with curiosity. Diane Kashen suggests we need more messy play.

    Setting aside the importance of hobbies and the amateur spirit, what worries me the most is this faulty idea that you should only spend time learning about things if they have a definite “ROI.” Creative people are curious people, and part of being a creative person is allowing yourself the freedom to let your curiosity lead you down strange, divergent paths. You just cannot predict how what you learn will end up “paying off” later.Who’s to say what is and what isn’t professional development? (An audited calligraphy class winds up changing the design of computers, etc.)

    Forget the checkout: what about the plastic clogging supermarket aisles?: Nicola Heath reports on the current plastic crisis in Australia. Although every state has agreed to ban single use bags, the real problem that needs to be addressed is in the aisles and aisles of pre-packaged food. Although the impact of plastics on our ocean has been well reported, it seems that there is a significant impact on our fresh water lakes too. Studies have found microplastics in drinking water, beer and honey. I wonder if the solution starts with school and education?

    Some, like the Greens, argue manufacturers and retailers need to take more responsibility for the lifecycle of their packaging. “Product stewardship” and extended producer responsibility (EPR) requires manufacturers to factor the disposal of packaging into its design and production.

    The Brick Wall: When I taught robotics I would show my students a video involving the use of a simple Lego kit in a science laboratory as a point of inspiration. The Brick Wall takes these possibilities to a whole new level, providing a collection of videos useful for thinking about what is possible in regards to programming, Lego and robotics. Some other series and collections that I have stumbled upon lately include the New York Times’ podcast Caliphate, which explores the world of ISIS, as well as Amy Burvall’s creativity vlogs as a part of the #LDvid30 project.
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5lpZWDfjEM?rel=0&w=560&h=315%5D
    Edtech

    Better visions of ourselves: Human futures, user data, & The Selfish Ledger: Ian O’Byrne reflects on the internal video produced by Google Project X focusing on speculative design the notion of a ledger that does not actually belong to the user, but managed by some grand AI. Although this was designed as a case of ‘what if’, it is a reminder of what could happen. It therefore provides a useful provocation, especially in light of Cambridge Analytica and GDPR. O’Byrne suggests that this is an opportunity to take ownership of our ledger, something in part captured by the #IndieWeb movement. Not sure what this means for our digitally proficient three year olds. Douglas Rushkoff makes the case for including less on the ledger, not more.

    I think there is a reasoned response to technopanic. Perhaps a sense of techno agency is necessary. Now more than ever, faster than ever, technology is driving change. The future is an unknown, and that scares us. However, we can overcome these fears and utilize these new technologies to better equip ourselves and steer us in a positive direction.

    How an Algorithmic World Can Be Undermined: danah boyd continues her investigation of algorithms and the way in which our data is being manipulated. She did this at re:publica 2018. This is very much a wicked problem with no clear answer. The Data & Society Research Institute have also published a primer on the topic. I wonder if it starts by being aware of the systemic nature of it all? Alternatively, Jamie Williams and Lena Gunn provide five questions to consider when using algorithms. Om Malik highlights the focus of algorithms focus on most over best. Jim Groom also presented at re:publica 2018 on Domain of One’s Own and Edupunk.

    It’s not necessarily their [technologies] intentions but the structure and configuration that causes the pain

    Truth in an age of truthiness: when bot-fueled PsyOps meet internet spam: Kris Shaffer continues his work in regards to bots, unpacking the way in which our attention is hijacked through attempts to influence and advertise. It is important to appreciate the mechanics behind these things for they are the same mechanics that those on social media engage with each and every day. One of the points that Shaffer (and Mike Caulfield) make is that whether something is true or not, continual viewing will make such ideas more familiar and strangely closer to the truth.

    Harald D. Lasswell wrote that the function of propaganda is to reduce the material cost of power. On a social-media platform, that cost-reduction comes in many forms. By their very existence, the platforms already reduce both the labor and the capital required to access both information and an audience. Automated accounts further reduce the cost of power, for those who know how to game the algorithm and evade detection long enough to carry out a campaign.

    Email Is Dangerous: Quinn Norton takes a dive into the mechanics of email. She continues to remind us how everything is broken, Norton gives a history of email and many of its inherent flaws. This comes on the back of the latest discovery of bugs associated with supposed encrypted email.

    Email has changed since then, but not much. Most of what’s changed in the last 45 years is email clients—the software we use to access email. They’ve clumsily bolted on new functionality onto the old email, without fixing any of the underlying protocols to support that functionality.

    Programming with Scratch – An educator guide: Anthony Speranza provides an introduction to Scratch. An often underrated application, Scratch provides an insight into some of the ways that the web works, particularly in regards to ‘blocks’. Sometimes it feels as if you are not really coding unless you are working with some form of language. The problem is that this is not how the world works. More often than not it is about building on the ideas (and snippets) of others. Look at WordPress’ move to Gutenberg. In addition to this, we interact with ‘blocks’ each and everyday in the applications and sites that we use. One only needs to use something like Mozilla’s X-Ray Goggles to start realising that inherent complexity within the web. For more insight into Scratch, listen to Gary Stager on the Modern Learners podcast.

    Scratch is a graphical programming language and online community where users can program and share interactive media such as stories, games and animations. Whilst it is targeted at 8 to 16 year olds, anyone of any age can write a program in Scratch.

    The platform patrons: How Facebook and Google became two of the biggest funders of journalism in the world: Mathew Ingram reports on the increasing influence of platforms on the news industry. Google has been really pushing into journalism lately, with the further investment of News Lab and the Digital News Initiative, as well as the ability to subscribe using your Google account. This in part seems to be in response to Facebook’s problems. It is interesting considering this alongside discussions of the history of news and the long association with advertising.

    Both Google and Facebook may argue—and may even believe—that they simply want to help increase the supply of quality journalism in the world. But the fact remains that they are not just disinterested observers. They are multibillion-dollar entities that compete directly with media companies for the attention of users, and for the wallets of every advertising company that used to help support the business model of journalism. Their funding and assistance can’t be disentangled from their conflicted interests, no matter how much they wish it could.

    Storytelling and Reflection

    What We Talk About When We Talk About Digital Capabilities: In a keynote at the UCISA Digital Capabilities event at Warwick University, Donna Lanclos unpacks the effect of analytics and the problems of profiling when trying to identify improvements. A skills approach is an issue when decisions get made on your behalf based on the results of a preconceived checklist. Lanclos suggests that we need to go beyond the inherent judgments of contained within metaphors and deficit models, and instead start with context.

    The history of Anthropology tells us that categorizing people is lesser than understanding them. Colonial practices were all about the describing and categorizing, and ultimately, controlling and exploiting. It was in service of empire, and anthropology facilitated that work. It shouldn’t any more, and it doesn’t have to now. You don’t need to compile a typology of students or staff. You need to engage with them.

    Citizen of Apple, State of Lego: Julian Stodd explores the evolving idea of ‘citizenship’. Whereas it was defined by geography and culture in the past, Stodd wonders if in the future it will be subscription based. Rather than depending on the state and taxes to provide societies infrastructures, we now rely on the various multi-national platforms, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and Google. This reminds me of the conversation that was had recently around being a citizen of the #IndieWeb. If states lose their sway, I wonder if this opens up other alternatives? This is something Aral Balkan touches upon. I wonder what this means for rituals or habits.

    Imagine a future state, one of multiple citizenships, so i can be a Citizen of the UK, a Citizen of Apple, and a Citizen of Lego, not traversing physical borders to move from one to the other, but rather conceptual, or internalised ones. Each providing real utility, it’s own type of ‘space’, and each giving us it’s own component of culture. Perhaps in this model, ‘Culture’ becomes a meta entity that we each construct, through a combination of our geolocation within space, and our subscriptions online.

    School is One Spoke in the Wheel of Learning & Why This is a Critical Insight for the Future of Education: Bernard Bull reflects on what people need to stay current in a job, shift to a similar job, develop skills that transfer to work environments, move into leadership within one’s field, or make a full career shift. To support this, he provides a series of questions to consider. I wonder where the second wave of MOOCs sits within all of this?

    If we are looking at learning across the lifetime today, we need to think beyond the teacher/student and schooling constructs. Education is already larger than that. This is no different from recognizing that health and wellness is about so much more than a patient/doctor interaction. These professionals do and will continue to play a valuable role, but limiting many of our conversations about education to these formal contexts is inadequate for the challenges and opportunities of our age. In fact, it has always been inadequate. Formal education has a role to play today and in the future, but it is one of many spokes in the lifelong learning wheel.

    The risks of treating ‘academic innovation’ as a discipline: Rolin Moe argues that we need to recognise the often negative history associated with ‘innovation’ in the way that we use it. If we don’t do this we risk the word being simply an emotive tool. This touches upon Audrey Watters message to respect history, rather than live in the ever present that so many try to perpetuate.

    Negotiating the future we want with the history we have is vital in order to determine the best structure to support the development of an inventive network for creating research-backed, criticism-engaged and outside-the-box approaches to the future of education. The energy behind what we today call academic innovation needs to be put toward problematizing and unraveling the causes of the obstacles facing the practice of educating people of competence and character, rather than focusing on the promotion of near-future technologies and their effect on symptomatic issues.

    12 tips for great speaking: Steve Wheeler provides some useful tips and reflections on the art of the keynote. They include use humour, minimal text, engage with your audience, don’t speak too quickly, repeat key points and only stick to three of them. In part, this reminds me of Presentation Zen and the idea of a minimalist slidedeck, while Emma Cottier also wrote an interesting post share a range of tips and tricks associated with Google Slides. Although not necessarily about ‘keynotes’, Andrew Denton recently shared some tips for a better conversation that I think relate to this conversation, including be respectful and empathise with the interviewee (or audience).

    If you are lucky enough to be invited to address an audience of your peers at a conference, a lot will depend on what you say and the manner in which you say it. You want your speech to be memorable, inspiring and thought provoking. You’ll also need to be convincing if you want to put your arguments across effectively. So I’ll share some of the top tips I recommend for keynote speakers.

    Burden of Proof: Malcolm Gladwell wonders how much ‘proof’ we need in order to do something about CTE, a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have had multiple head injuries. Gladwell’s focuses on Owen Thomas and his suicide in 2010. In regards to the question of breaking point, there was no reference of Aaron Hernandez, whose case involves murder and suicide. I wonder how long until this becomes a case in AFL?

    Sometimes proof is just another word for letting people suffer.

    Gonski review reveals another grand plan to overhaul education: but do we really need it?: Glenn Savage has written, recorded and been interviewed about the new Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools. He raises a number of questions, including whether the new report addresses the question of inequality, is ‘personalised teaching’ worth the money and investment, is the educational sector exhausted by continual reform agendas and do the recommendations really address what is happening in the classroom? In other spaces, both Andrea Stringer and Deborah Netolicky have highlighted the potential in providing more time for teachers to collaborate. Greg Miller argues that we need to wrestle with how to assess the capabilities, rather than continue to work where the next silver bullet for literacy and numeracy is. Peter Hutton shares concerns about testing the capabilities. Gabrielle Stroud sees it as the industrial model of accountability rebadged, where a teacher’s relationship with their students is trumped by a test. Netolicky also raises concern about the lack of trust for teachers. Darcy Moore describes the whole affair as a never-ending rebuilding of The Windmill. Ann Caro rues the missed opportunity associated with equitable funding of education in Australia with this clear change in direction.

    We need to (once again) question whether the contemporary reform fever does any more than treat symptoms while deeper structural conditions continue to ensure, as the original Gonski report put it, unacceptable links between young people’s socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of achievement. We need to be careful not to stray too far from where the first Gonski report started out. That is: addressing inequalities in Australian schooling through re-distributive funding.

    t’s time to be honest with parents about NAPLAN: your child’s report is misleading, here’s how: It was that time of year again, when the whole nation stops for NAPLAN. There has been a range of posts shared. One that stood out was from Nicole Mockler She summarises Margaret Wu’s work around the limitations to NAPLAN in regards to statistical testing. Moving forward, Mockler suggests that NAPLAN should become a sample based test (like PISA) and is better suited as a tool for system wide analysis. To me, there is a strange balance, for on the one hand many agree that NAPLAN is flawed, yet again and again we return to it as a source of ‘truth’.

    At the national level, however, the story is different. What NAPLAN is good for, and indeed what it was originally designed for, is to provide a national snapshot of student ability, and conducting comparisons between different groups (for example, students with a language background other than English and students from English-speaking backgrounds) on a national level.
    This is important data to have. It tells us where support and resources are needed in particular. But we could collect the data we need this by using a rigorous sampling method, where a smaller number of children are tested (a sample) rather than having every student in every school sit tests every few years. This a move that would be a lot more cost effective, both financially and in terms of other costs to our education system.

    FOCUS ON … GDPR

    The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). Adopted on 14 April 2016, it became enforceable on 25 May 2018. Here then is a collection of posts exploring what it all means. Although not exhaustive, it provides a starting point:

    What is the GDPR Privacy Law and Why Should You Care?: Harry Guinness summarises the eight rules associated with GDPR and what they mean for those outside of the EU.

    LA Times among US-based news sites blocking EU users due to GDPR: Alex Hern on the threat that GDPR could ‘Balkinise’ the web, with a range of sites closing off access to EU visitors.

    Facebook and Google targeted as first GDPR complaints filed: Alex Hern reports on Noyb’s test of the new regulations. The case being tested is whether the processing of data for targeted advertising can be argued to be necessary for the fulfilment of a contract to provide services such as social networking or instant messaging.

    The Ultimate Guide to WordPress and GDPR Compliance – Everything You Need to Know – The team at WPBeginner provide a guide for making WordPress compliant, including plugins that store or process data like contact forms, analytics, email marketing, online store and membership sites.

    No one’s ready for GDPR: Sarah Jeong explains why nobody is actually ready. Part of the problem is how companies are set up, and part of it is that “personal information” is a wishy-washy category.

    Can we PLEASE talk about privacy, not GDPR, now?: Sebastian Gregor explains that GDPR is no deadline, it is a process. Now that it is here, lets engage in ever broadening debates on how to treat the personal data of human beings

    Privacy: David Shanske reflects on privacy, the IndieWeb and webmentions. He also added an extended response to a WordPress forum on GDPR.

    13 things to know about the GDPR: M.J. Kelly breaks down the rights associated with GDPR with a focus on what this all means for Mozilla.

    Good enough, the EU’s data protection regulation and what CryptoKitties can tell us about the future of art:Angela Daly discusses what GDPR might mean for Australia with Antony Funnell on the Future Tense podcast.

    Doctor, I think I have GDPR fatigue:Jordan Erica Webber, Alex Hern and Dr Rachel Birch explore GDPR and its consequences for the health sector.

    GDPR and the marketer’s dilemma: Seth Godin argues that GDPR will create an actual market, where getting permission to send messages to a user requires that marketers make a compelling proposition.

    GDPR will pop the adtech bubble: Doc Searls discusses what he sees as the eminent demise of ‘adtech’ and what will be left afterwards.

    Comments on ClassDojo controversy: Ben Williamson addresses a number of questions leveled at Class Dojo, especially in light of the current concern around data. One of the points that he makes that really stuck out was the notion of ‘sensitive data’. Often this is defined by privacy, however as Williamson explains the collection of data over time actually has the potential to turn the seemingly arbitrary into sensitive data.

    Notes from Understanding the General Data Protection Regulation course: Doug Belshaw shares a series of reflections based on his participation in an online course designed to unpack GDPR.

    There Will be Blood – GDPR and EdTech: Eylan Ezekiel discusses GDPR, making the comparison between data and oil.

    I am a data factory (and so are you): Nicholas Carr reflects on the metaphors that we use and demonstrates some of the flaws, particularly when they are used against us inadvertently. Although not explicitly about GDPR, it has ramifications for the way we talk about it.

    READ WRITE RESPOND #029
    So that is May for me, how about you? As always, interested to hear.
    Also, feel free to forward this on to others if you found anything of interest or maybe you want to subscribe? Otherwise, for those concerned about privacy and sharing thier email address, archives can be found here.

    Cover image via JustLego101.

    Also on:

    Reply

  3. It is intriguing to think about plastic as being a part of the wider discussion of global warming. James Bridle refers to the notion of ‘hyperobjects’:

    The philosopher Timothy Morton calls global warming a ‘hyperobject’: a thing that surrounds us, envelops and entangles us, but that is literally too big to see in its entirety.

    Whether it be in the drinking water or the ocean tip, rubbish has become a part of our imaginary.

    Reply

  4. My Month of November
    It is always odd coming to the end of the year, but not being in a school. We have continued to grapple with scalability, reviewing workflows to identify gains. I have also spoken to a few schools about what they are doing next year.
    It feels like every month is eventful. Makes me wonder if in part this is a mindset? Ms 2 graduated in swimming and will skip the next class. This means I will no longer need to get in the water. Ms 7 had her yearly keyboard recital. It is always fascinating watching her learn her pieces and develop confidence over time. Practice makes perfect? Lastly, we had some issues with our roof, which involved water getting into the house.
    Personally, I think this is the first month in a long time where I have not written any long form posts. I have started a few drafts and written some lengthy comments on other posts, but never really found the time and energy to finish gathering my thoughts on anything.
    In regards to music, I have been listening to the new album from Muse, as well as the VAST compilation, featuring a range of Australian artists. In addition to this, I have found myself listening to a lot of old St. Vincent.

    Here then are some of the thoughts that have also left me thinking. Based on some feedback, I have tried something different for this edition …
    Education
    Image via “Dialling” by Oblong https://flickr.com/photos/oblongpictures/5685283018 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA | Quote via Future Tense’s Reflections on the Smart Phone
    Making change in education – champions are for charlatans: Dave Cormier reflects upon the change approach of “working with the ‘willing’ first” and wonders if this is wrong approach. Rather than sustainable change, focusing on the guaranteed +1 is both unethical and creates a super star culture. Something I have touch d upon in the past. Cormier instead argues that the focus needs to be on long term change, with a plan to solve an actual problem. Associated with this, it is important to make space for such change, what Tom Barrett describes as innovation compression. This is also something that I have discussed in regards to my concern about ‘great teachers’. Rather than the right teacher, I would argue that we need to focus on the right culture and environment. Cormier also addresses this in regards to the complex versus the complicated.
    ePortfolios: Competing Concepts: Tom Woodward addresses a number of considerations associated with ePortfolios, including strategy, audience, ownership and privacy. Woodward provides a lot of nuance throughout his discussion and provides a number of examples to support this. It is a worthy addition to the discussion of ongoing reporting and ways to blog. Woodward also reflected on the skills required for living online.
    Twenty things I wish I’d known when I started my PhD: Lucy Taylor provides some suggestions of things to consider when starting a PhD, such as identifying a work/life balanace, set yourself goals early, write down everything and backup your work. This reminds me of posts from Gayle Munro and Deborah Netolicky sharing some of their experiences.
    The plastic backlash: what’s behind our sudden rage – and will it make a difference?: Stephen Buranyi unpacks the worldwide rage against plastic. This is a part of the wider discussion of global warming. Whether it be in the drinking water or the ocean tip, rubbish has become an important conversation.
    QandA:‘what works’ in ed with Bob Lingard, Jessica Gerrard, Adrian Piccoli, Rob Randall,Glenn Savage (chair): Glenn Savage chairs a conversation with a varied group of voices discussing impact of evidence, Think Tanks and NAPLAN on education.
    Technology
    Image via “Dialling” by Oblong https://flickr.com/photos/oblongpictures/5685283018 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA | Quote via Future Tense’s Reflections on the Smart Phone
    Reflections on the smart phone: Antony Funnell speaks with Professor Genevieve Bell, Ariel Bogle, Distinguished Professor Larissa Hjorth and Emma Bennison about the history and affordances of the smart phone. They discuss the walled garden created by apps, the way devices inform our humanness, the cross-cultural appropriation of new technologies, support for accessibility and the surveillance built in. I have been thinking a lot about smart phones lately, especially while reading James Bridle’s New Dark Age and Adam Greenfield’s Radical Technologies. The conversation that I think is interesting is whether there is a future beyond the templated self produced by a handful of social silos.
    Checking Out Online Shopping (IRL Podcast): Manoush Zomorodi investigates the big data associated with shopping online and off. This reminds me a comment by Ben Williamson in regards to Class Dojo that ‘sensitive’ data is often about how as much as what is captured.
    Secrets of the Edu-Twitter Influencers: This is a reflection from a number of educational ‘thought leaders‘. What stood out was the intent of self-promotion that many started their journey with. One thing that I found interesting was how much time different people spend. It makes me think that being a ‘thought leader’ is something that needs to be maintained.
    Why people troll others online: Ian O’Byrne discusses some of the reasons why people troll online and how to respond to them. For a deeper look at the types of trolls, read Molly Hill’s post.
    Avoiding the Lock-in Effect in WordPress: Antonio Villegas discusses much-dreaded lock-in effect that can occur with WordPress when utilising a particular feature provided by a plugin.
    Avoiding the Lock-in Effect in WordPress: In this extract from The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age (Columbia Global Reports), Tim Wu explains how today’s monopolies were able to avoid regulation. He give the particular example of Facebook and Instagram:
    Storytelling and Reflection
    Image via “Lego Subway” by Friscocali https://flickr.com/photos/friscocali/6906585459 is licensed under CC BY-NC | Quote via When Elon Musk Tunnels Under Your Home by Alana Semuels
    When Elon Musk Tunnels Under Your Home: 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.
    Should we really all fly less?: Diego Arguedas Ortiz discusses a recent study unpacking the individual actions that can help lead to climate change. Some of these actions include taking public transport, invest in renewable energies, eat less meat and stop flying. If this is too much then Arguedas Ortiz provides a list of actions to offset your activities. On the flipside, Martin Lukacs argues that individual action is a con and that what is really needed is collective action.
    Zambia may serve as a crystal ball for countries looking to deal with Beijing: Siobhan Heanue reports on China’s growing influence in Zambia. This is part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Even more interesting than Chinese ownership (do they own the third world?) was the ownership of business for 20 years. This investment, both private and state, is nothing new and is a part of a long-term strategy. It would be fascinating to see a breakdown of Chinese investment and ownership from around the world.
    ‘A wall built to keep people out’: the cruel, bureaucratic maze of children’s services: Jake Anderson recounts the journey associated with gaining support for their daughter, who has ASD. One of the things that stood out was the blur between private and public connected with the privatization of government contracts.
    Dropping Acid: Shuja Haider talks about the sounds and methods associated with Acid House music. Along with the TR808 and the Line 6 DL4, this article documents the place of the TB303 on modern music.
    Focus on #CPDin140

    I have been following Ian Guest’s research into the potentials associated with Twitter in regards to teacher professional development for a few years. Having submitted his thesis, Guest has been openly unpacking his work in a series of posts in preparation for his viva. Here is a summary of those posts:

    Thesis submitted. Next steps: Ian Guest outlines what is next now that his thesis has been submitted, including developing responses to possible questions

    Thesis Abstract: Ian Guest provides a summary of his research, as well as an explanation of why he moved away from the traditional contents page.

    Foreword: Ian Guest provides a forward to provide preliminary explanation of terms like flâneur.

    Chapter 1: Introduction: Ian Guest breaks down the different parts of his research.

    Chapter 2: Hinterlands: Ian Guest provides a summary of the supporting and sustaining literatures which informs his research.

    Chapter 3: Sensibilities: Ian Guest explains his choice of flânography and how this sits with the Actor Network Theory.

    Chapter 4: Assembling methods #1: Ian Guest explains how he took on three methods of research – participant observation, semi-structured interviews, blog post analysis and interviews – but these were supplemented with additional methods which emerged during the study.

    Chapter 4: Assembling Methods #2: Ian Guest addresses questions of ethics, data management and analysis associated with his research.

    Introducing the Gatherings: Ian Guest explains that in presenting his work as ‘gatherings’, he has assembled a variety of actors and data, and through sociomaterial description, to produce ‘an adequate account.’

    Thesis submitted. Next steps: Ian Guest uses EduTweetOz as a catalyst for an examination of the parts associated with Twitter.

    Chapter 6: Gathering: Assembling actors, maintaining relationships: Ian Guest explores the sense of hygge found by many connected educators.

    Chapter 7: Gathering: It’s personal…: Ian Guest discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks to learning with Twitter he found through his research.

    Chapter 8: Retracing my steps: Ian Guest explains how professional development on Twitter is an ongoing process of assemblage in which actors like teachers and tweets, hashtags and hygge, communities and crib sheets, are bundled together, form, reform and break associations.

    Ethics revisited: Ian Guest revisits the question of ethics when researching in online environments in light of some of the challenges faced.

    Chapter 9: Concluding: Ian Guest discusses some of the implications and limitations, including four contributions to knowledge.

    Why did you undertake this study?: Ian Guest discusses the three nudges that led to his research.

    Can you summarise your findings in a few sentences?: Ian Guest summarises his research by providing answer to three key questions: How are professional learning practices of teachers on Twitter manifest, How does the Twitter social media platform support the professional learning practices of teachers, and How does professional learning practice extend beyond Twitter into the wider social media ecosystem and the ‘real’ world?

    Where did you make ‘the cut?’: Ian Guest discusses some of his choices and constraints associated with the field, the collection of data and the writing process.

    “Flânography? Isn’t it just an ethnography?”: Ian Guest documents some of the differences and similarities between flânography and ethnography, including impact on immersion, mobility and visibility.

    In your flânography, how should we conceive the ‘field?’: Ian Guest discusses the notion of field and how it is performed through the act of research.

    Which theoretical framings did you consider and why did you settle on ANT?: Ian Guest reflects on the various methods he explored, including communities of practice, connectivism and rhizomatic learning, and why he ended up choosing actor network theory.

    READ WRITE RESPOND #035
    So that is November for me, how about you? As always, happy to hear.
    Also, I am interested if anyone has any feedback on the style and structure of this newsletter. I would love to know if there are things that people like or if there are things that you would change?

    Cover image via JustLego101.

    Also on:

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *