Perseverance

Published: February 18, 2021 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Digitally Literate, issue 279. Your go-to source for insightful content on education, technology, and the digital landscape.

🔖 Key Takeaways

• Mars Engineering Marvel: NASA's Perseverance rover demonstrates incredible engineering achievement with successful Mars landing
• Information Literacy Crisis: Traditional media literacy approaches insufficient for combating QAnon and sophisticated misinformation
• Privacy Theory Evolution: Moving beyond "Peeping Tom" narrative to focus on collective data behavioral targeting
• Inclusive Education Tools: Technology for dyslexic learners requires balance between digital assistance and skill development

Welcome back to base camp.

This week I also posted the following:

• A Turning Point - Learning Event #5 - As you identify the arc of your story, which story are you currently living?
• Documenting Instructional use of Technology in Higher Education - Last week I shared a piece of research that unpacks the development and validation of an instrument that examines digital literacy practices at our institution. In an upcoming thread of posts, I'll unpack the work.
• First Principles Thinking - First principles thinking is the act of boiling a process down to the fundamental parts that you know are true and building up from there.
• Diamonds and Glass - How do we value things for their clarity and transparency.
• Seven Steps to Chunking Content - Chunking is the strategy of breaking up information into shorter, bite-sized pieces that are more manageable and easier to remember.

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 say hey at hello@digitallyliterate.net.

📺 Watch

The Insane Engineering of the Perseverance Rover (19:41)

The Perseverance rover from NASA successfully landed on Mars this week.

The video above from Real Engineering breaks down the science, technology, engineering, and math that made this possible.

For more on Perseverance, you should also watch this video from Mark Rober.

📚 Read

Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole

Critical thinking, as we’re taught to do it, isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation. Our attention economy allows grifters, conspiracy theorists, trolls and savvy attention hijackers to take advantage of us and steal our focus.

An interview with Michael Caulfield in which he suggests that we resist the lure of rabbit holes, in part, by reimagining media literacy for the Internet.

The Librarian War Against QAnon

Part of the rallying cry that we hear about the current mis/disinformation war is that people should "do the research." Barbara Fister indicates that classical information literacy is not enough.

Most students in the past 50 years have received instruction under various names: media literacy, digital literacy, news literacy, information literacy, civic literacy, critical thinking, and the umbrella concept of meta-literacy. This curriculum is constantly being reinvented to meet perceived crises of confidence, largely driven by the emergence of new technologies.

The present moment demands serious inquiry into why decades of trying to make information literacy a universal educational outcome hasn’t prevented a significant portion of the population from embracing disinformation while rejecting credible journalistic institutions.

A Case Against the Peeping Tom Theory of Privacy

Yes, it's creepy when companies can track your every move. But the Peeping Tom narrative and current media narrative doesn’t capture the collective dimension of data privacy. The truth is that the companies that track our every move generally don’t care about us as individuals. They want data to feed to machine learning tools.

The word privacy, or the "more general right of the individual to be let alone” is not the right word for these times. We need to instead focus on data collection and behavioral microtargeting.

Why digital writing tools are a ‘double-edged sword’ for dyslexic kids

When schools shut down and moved online due to the pandemic, suddenly teachers who relied on paper activities to teach dyslexic kids how to read were forced to improvise.

Technology has evolved as an incredible learning tool—and an indispensable one in the pandemic. But even in this remote-first world, dyslexic learners and their parents should remember that relying on technology has its costs.

Cartoon Network Releases Third ‘Steven Universe’ Anti-Racism PSA

Cartoon Network released its third anti-racism PSA, “See Color,” which sees Amethyst (voiced by Michaela Dietz) and friends from “Steven Universe” explain the importance of seeing people for their race.

It is part of a four-part series developed by “Steven Universe” creator Rebecca Sugar and “OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes” creator Ian Jones-Quartey to provide kids and families with productive ways to disrupt common narratives about racism.

Head over to www.crystalgemsspeakup.com for links to the PSAs, as well as social justice organizations and additional tools and information.

🔨 Do

Make a plan for the personal data during online events

There are many reasons to hold an event online: a pandemic, concerns for the environment, national travel restrictions, or to keep costs low.

Use this template to learn about the tools that are available to host online events and the differences between how they work, such as types of encryption.

If you're bringing people together online, it is your responsibility to evaluate the risks and benefits of using these online tools so you can make a better decision of which tool to use and when.

🤔 Consider

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow.'

Mary Anne Radmacher

Really loving this series of posters from Learning for Justice.

🔗 Navigation

Previous: DL 278 • Next: DL 280 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

• STEM Education — Mars exploration inspiring scientific curiosity and learning
• Media Literacy — Information literacy crisis requiring systematic education reform
• Privacy Rights — Data privacy evolution in response to surveillance capitalism
• Digital Divide — Inclusive educational technology addressing access and equity

Part of the 📧 Newsletter archive documenting digital literacy and technology.