The Ethics of Care
Digitally Lit #240 – 4/4/2020**
Hi all, welcome to issue #240 of Digitally Literate.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked about the Online Learning Collective Facebook Group that I helped found. As of this morning, there are almost 25,000 members in the group.
This week we shifted gears as we re-branded as the Higher Ed Learning Collective to better differentiate the name of the group.
You can follow us on Twitter, and Instagram.
I also helped post the following this week:
- Mental & Physical Health During Increased Screentime – In this episode of the Technopanic Podcast, Kristen and I talk with Paul Weigle, M.D., a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and associate medical director at Natchaug Hospital of Hartford Healthcare and clinical professor at UConn School of Medicine.
- Overwhelmed with gratitude: Tips for educators and families during COVID-19 – As part of the Literacy in the Disciplines research group, we’ve started up a blog feed. This first post by Chanda Jefferson is a great start to the feed.
If you haven’t already, please subscribe if you would like this newsletter to show up in your inbox. Feel free to reach out and let me know what you think of this work at hello@digitallyliterate.net.
PSA Grocery Shopping Tips in COVID-19
Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen on how to shop safely, and bring things into your house.
Please note the following corrections to the video. The C.D.C. Recommends Americans Wear Cloth Masks in Public (April 3, 2020) Rinse fruits and vegetables with water – no soap. NIH Data suggests COVID-19 lives on cardboard for 1 day. Perishable foods like meat should be brought in the home and refrigerated. Only disinfect the outside packaging.
Please also review this guidance on disinfectants.
What We Pretend to Know About the Coronavirus Could Kill Us
We’ve grown accustomed to living through an information war fought largely by hardened political operatives and trolls.
While the coronavirus crisis is political and will continue to be politicized, its most consequential fights will take place in the “fog of pandemic” where so much of our data — from health statistics to economic indicators — is flawed or evolving. Today’s propaganda could be tomorrow’s truth. Or vice versa. Even the good guys are working with limited information and hoping for the best. We are not prepared for what’s coming.
As this information about the pandemic spreads, cell phone data shows that people are not social distancing, especially in certain regions of the U.S.
How to talk with kids about screentime and COVID-19
There is a lot of discussion lately about how the screentime debate has ended, and screens won. I don’t entirely agree with this, but I have been a bit more thoughtful about our use of screens as we adapt to these new contexts. I reflect on this regularly in our Technopanic Podcast. Please don’t let it interfere with your sleep patterns.
It’s important to recognize that youth are trying to make sense of these contexts and practices. The link above discusses how to talk to kids about screentime and COVID-19.
If you’re looking for guidance on what do with youth, this resource from Learning in Places is awesome.
Feminist Pedagogy in a Time of Coronavirus Pandemic
This great resource from the FemTechNet network about not HOW to teach classes online, but how to do this WELL, that is thoughtfully and with principles, and with the support that is at hand.
FemTechNet shares how they’ve learned to make digital learning work well after 8 years of working together as teachers, scholars, students, artists, technologists, and feminists.
Academia in the time of COVID-19: Our chance to develop an ethics of care
This document from Laboratory for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Systems in a Globalised world (LASEG) examines how academics may shape our ethos of work now and in the future.
If you wish to add your name as additional signatory, and expand the views and ideas expressed in the article, please do so here. With your name and contributions, they may work towards a Global Manifesto on Academic Praxis during and after Covid-19.
‘Zoombombing’ is a federal offense that could result in imprisonment, prosecutors warn
Zoombombing is when someone successfully invades a public or sometimes even private meeting over the videoconferencing platform to broadcast shock videos, pornography, or other disruptive content.
This happened to a couple of my colleagues this week.
Prosecutors say they’ll pursue charges for Zoombombing, including “disrupting a public meeting, computer intrusion, using a computer to commit a crime, hate crimes, fraud, or transmitting threatening communications.” Some of the charges include fines and possible imprisonment.
If you or anyone you know becomes a victim of teleconference hacking, they can report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Simple DIY masks could help flatten the curve. We should all wear them in public.
The CDC now recommends the use of cloth face coverings when you go out in public.
Research suggests that surgical face masks could prevent transmission of human coronaviruses and influenza viruses from symptomatic individuals. Perhaps we should all be wearing them.
My family has a certain amount of privilege and can shelter in place for the most part. We leave the house and our neighborhood once a week for groceries. When we do leave the house, we will wear masks to show solidarity with the workers that need to be out working in the stores and markets. It is not about us. It is about the people that need to be out working.
Got a T-shirt? You can make a mask at home.
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Digitally Literate is a weekly review of the news, notes, tips, and tricks from the week that resonated with me. I leave a trail of digital breadcrumbs. Feel free to pay attention if you’d like to check my notes. 🙂
Current times are very surreal. Perhaps you could take a trip using Google Street View and come visit me.
Connect at hello@digitallyliterate.net or on the social network of your choice.