Hello friends and family!
This week I worked on a couple of things in the background. More to come soon.
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What Is Right To Repair?
Do you really own what you buy? And why is it so damn hard to repair your phone?
This is a very important topic that you need to understand.
Learn here about the movement. While on the topic, definitely watch this video about farmers hacking their tractors.
Facebook’s Oversight Board upholds ban on Trump. At least for now.
Facebook first suspended Trump for encouraging violence during the Capitol riot Jan. 6, before saying the next day that the ban was “indefinite.” Two weeks later, it referred the case to its 20-member Oversight Board, which is largely independent and funded by the social network. On Wednesday the board handed the decision back to Facebook, recommending that it either permanently ban or reinstate the president within six months — and write clear rules to explain the rationale.
The panel faulted the social network for making a hasty decision without clear criteria and told the company to reevaluate the decision within six months.
Yaël Eisenstat indicates the Oversight Board process isn’t about Donald Trump’s free speech. It’s about Facebook’s power.
The Dangers of Seeing the World Through Ubiquitous Video
Siva Vaidhyanathan on the rapid, global proliferation of digital video and how it makes it harder to sort and contextualize what we see and think about.
The overall effect is of cacophony: a vast, loud, bright, fractured, narcissistic ecosystem that leaves us little room for thoughtful deliberation. It’s not that we’ll believe the latest Covid conspiracy video (although too many people do). It’s that seeing video after video after video after video renders us unable to judge.
They’re all making contradictory claims; they’re all just slick enough to make plausible demands for our attention and respect. We find ourselves numbed by overstimulation, distracted by constant movement and sound, unable to relate to those ensconced in different bubbles and influenced by different visions of reality. We can’t address our problems collectively in the face of this montage. We can’t mount cohesive and convincing arguments with ease or confidence. We mistrust everything because we can’t trust anything.
That’s not to say collective, collaborative thought is impossible in the age of ubiquitous video. It just means that we have to try harder, that we must construct better methods to defuse propaganda with deliberation. I’m not sure we can do this.
Why we remember more by reading – especially print – than from audio or video
Naomi Baron suggests that when mental focus and reflection are called for, it’s time to crack open a book.
Digital texts, audio and video all have educational roles, especially when providing resources not available in print. However, for maximizing learning where mental focus and reflection are called for, educators – and parents – shouldn’t assume all media are the same, even when they contain identical words.
Teens, tech and mental health: Oxford study finds no link
We frequently see these narratives that suggest heavy social-media use is linked to negative well-being and self-esteem among teenagers.
There remains “little association” between technology use and mental health problems, a study of more than 430,000 10 to 15-year-olds suggests.
Study authors Matti Vuorre, Amy Orben, and Andy Przybylski compared TV viewing, social media, and device use with feelings of depression, suicidal tendencies, and behavioral problems.
They found a small drop in the association between depression and social media use and TV viewing, from 1991 to 2019. There was a small rise in that between emotional issues and social-media use.
“We couldn’t tell the difference between social-media impact and mental health in 2010 and 2019,” study co-author Andrew Przybylski said.
“We’re not saying that fewer happy people use more social media. We’re saying that the connection is not getting stronger.”
Revisioning the potential of Freire’s principles of assessment: Influences on the art of assessment in open and online learning through blogging
Great research from Helen DeWaard and Verena Roberts.
They share a framework they call the Freirean principles of assessment to examine and evaluate student blogs. This provides opportunities to evaluate critical consciousness, community-based learning, critical pedagogy, and reflection.
What is the best way to teach reading?
Mikkaka Overstreet with an excellent primer on the reading wars.
Sadly, there’s no magic bullet. There’s no one program or strategy that will work in all classrooms. We are not going to read aloud or phonics our way into better literacy in this country. Reading is a complex process requiring a nuanced approach.
Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while, a great wind carries me across the sky.
Ojibwe saying
What is the perfect metal album for each astrological sign?!?! Here you go.
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