TLDR 116

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 116

Published: 2017-09-22 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to issue 116 of TL;DR. Each of us a cell of awareness.

Feel free to share with someone that you believe would benefit. If you haven't already, please subscribe to make sure this comes to your inbox each week. You can review archives of the newsletter or on Medium.

This week I sent out the following:

Feel free to keep in touch by sending me a note at hello@wiobyrne.com or on the socials at wiobyrne. I received really nice notes from Melissa Techman, Aaron Davis, and others last week. Thanks a ton! It means a lot to get feedback.

I'm also testing the use of video to provide a "behind the scenes" for my newsletter. I'm sharing this content on my YouTube channel. Here is last week's overview.

🔖 Key Takeaways

People Choose Computers: People don't seek out computers in order to get things done; they do the things that let them use computers. People choose computers as intermediaries for the sensual delight of using computers.
Facebook Knows More About You: Facebook ultimately knows more about you...than you know about yourself. They're probably already running models to see how this will all proceed.
Why Your Community Needs: After the focus of last week's TL;DR (and many of your responses) I thought it might be important to think about positive ways to guide/delineate community participation.
Seven Skills from Tony Wagner: Critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information, curiosity and imagination.
Interesting Alternative Rationale: Tech companies are so gung-ho in pushing coding and programming in and out of schools to flood the market with highly trained, skilled coders...to force wages down.
Should Provide Opportunities: Whether or not we include coding and programming in instruction, we should provide opportunities for students to engage in computational thinking and participation.

📺 Watch

This video made $2,573 at auction. How ads work on YouTube

This week a student stopped me in the middle of a discussion about building up an online identity and asked how people make money on YouTube. Almost like clockwork, Richard Byrne shared this post and the video above explaining the role of advertising and the money flowing on YouTube.

📚 Read

You are already living inside a computer

Ian Bogost in The Atlantic discusses how futurists initially predicted that we'd be inundated by digital technologies. We've had science fiction and dystopian novels written that warn of these possible futures. Instead of worrying about the possible complications of this on our lives, we've turned computing into a necessary part of our lives.

Some of the more interesting bylines:

Computers already are predominant, human life already takes place mostly within them, and people are satisfied with the results.
People don't seek out computers in order to get things done; they do the things that let them use computers.
People choose computers as intermediaries for the sensual delight of using computers.
The present status of intelligent machines is more powerful than any future robot apocalypse.

I also recommend checking out this long read titled A sociology of the smartphone. The piece discusses the changing texture of everyday life, and the spaces and rituals we've changed as a result of technological devices.

Facebook's war on free will

A thoughtful long read from Franklin Foer in The Guardian examining how big tech companies and social networks (e.g., Facebook) pretend to be empowering, participatory communities. They create this aura that anyone can say anything and connect. When the reality is that, in the example of Facebook, we're living in a micromanaged system.

The piece discusses a lot of the background for Mark Zuckerberg and some of the ethos behind Facebook. Throughout the read, Foer weaves this thread of possible political ambitions of Zuckerberg, and his reliance on organizing society based on code and algorithms. This version of technocracy eliminates the wet code that frequently bogs down our political systems for rules, procedures, and sorting systems.

Foer ends by making the argument that Facebook ultimately knows more about you...than you know about yourself. They're probably already running models to see how this will all proceed.

Why your user community needs a Code of Conduct

Doug Belshaw recently has been conducting some work looking at the thoughtful development and facilitation of community online. After the focus of last week's TL;DR (and many of your responses) I thought it might be important to think about positive ways to guide/delineate community participation. Serendipitously, Belshaw comes through again with this overview.

Doug shares a number of openly-licensed documents to use as you consider what to add to your code of conduct. You might also want to check out this code of conduct from Medium.

Belshaw indicates the following sections you'll want to include in your code of conduct:

Introduction - Why? Why now?
Scope - How/where does it apply?
Expected behavior - Consequences for inappropriate behavior. Praise for appropriate behavior.
Behavior that will not be tolerated - What is not tolerated.
Consequences - Sanctions for inappropriate behavior.
How to report an incident - What to do if/when you experience or witness a violation.
Attribution and acknowledgements - Are you building on the work of others? Are you willing to share?

7 skills your child needs to survive the changing world of work

Seven skills from Tony Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--And What We Can Do About It.

Critical thinking and problem solving
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Agility and adaptability
Initiative and entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and analyzing information
Curiosity and imagination

Watch Wagner describe it all in this video.

Tech's push to teach coding isn't about kids' success - it's about cutting wages

Ben Tarnoff in The Guardian examining the possible reasons why tech companies are so gung-ho in pushing coding and programming in and out of schools. Typically we see these coding clubs, and free resources online and think they're great ways to spread this information and the requisite skills. Tarnoff provides an interesting alternative rationale for the spread of this initiative. He sees it as an attempt to flood the market with highly trained, skilled coders...to force wages down.

Keep in mind, whether or not we include coding and programming in instruction, we should provide opportunities for students to engage in computational thinking and participation. This involves opportunities to think "algorithmically" in problem solving.

🔨 Do

Create interactive diagrams on Quizlet

Another great resource from Richard Byrne.

Quizlet is a great tool to help you learn anything. I use it to pre-load vocab words from my classes to help students pick up the terms they'll need.

Their new interactive diagrams feature allows you to build in notes and scaffolding to uploaded images. Watch this video to learn more.

🤔 Consider

"You are not controlling the storm, and you are not lost in it. You are the storm." — Sam Harris

Previous: TLDR 115 • Next: TLDR 117 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

Platform Economics — Student questioned how people make money on YouTube, revealing attention economy where creators monetize through advertising revenue, with platforms taking substantial cuts while shaping what content gets amplified based on engagement metrics rather than quality or truthfulness.
Living Inside Digital Systems — Ian Bogost argues computers already predominant in human life, with people not seeking computers to get things done but rather doing things that let them use computers, choosing them as intermediaries for sensual delight, making present status more powerful than any future robot apocalypse.
Community Standards — Doug Belshaw's work on codes of conduct emphasizes thoughtful development and facilitation of online communities, outlining essential sections: introduction/scope, expected behavior, behaviors not tolerated, consequences, reporting procedures, and attribution—providing positive framework for delineating participation norms.
Future Work Skills — Tony Wagner identifies seven survival skills for changing world: critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective communication, accessing and analyzing information, and curiosity and imagination.
Coding Education Economics — Ben Tarnoff offers provocative alternative rationale for tech companies pushing coding education: flooding market with highly trained coders to force wages down, though computational thinking and algorithmic problem-solving remain valuable regardless of industry motivations behind educational initiatives.

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