TLDR 139

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 139

Published: 2018-03-04 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Issue #139. This is a public service announcement. Know your rights.

This week I spent a lot of time working on things in the background. One of the major pieces of work was pulling together proposals for the Literacy Research Association conference in 2018.

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🔖 Key Takeaways

• ACLU Trains Students on Protest Rights: ACLU's Josh Bell livestreamed training session for students on their free speech rights then released video and slides—these provide great complement to ACLU's existing know your rights guide for public school students, offering essential education on constitutional protections for student activism and protest in wake of increased youth political engagement following Parkland shooting.
• Parkland Students Vindicate Comprehensive Education: Effectiveness of poised, articulate, well-informed, seemingly preternaturally mature student leaders from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who used social media to change gun control conversation represents absolute vindication of comprehensive extracurricular education they receive—these kids aren't freaks of nature but rather beneficiaries of 1950s-style public education that has all but vanished in America including arts, civics, and enrichment programs being dismantled with great deliberation as funding is zeroed out, showing power of well-rounded education in creating informed engaged citizens.
• Replace "Russian Bots" With "Enhanced Voice": Jonathan Albright argues enhanced voice or false amplification is better terminology than Russian bots as we make sense of current informational war—what we're seeing is not really determined hack but instead series of small lies, fake links, web pages, and simple human deception, with bots existing no doubt but not in ways many report on or assume since every bot is different but all can be linked to human goals, desired outcomes, and programming, with most bots associated directly with human identity that is managed by individual or group of people.
• Digital Phenotyping Tracks Health Through Devices: Emerging field called digital phenotyping is trying to assess people's well-being based on interactions with digital devices—your digital footprint including how often you post on social media, how quickly you scroll through contacts, and how frequently you check phone late at night could hold clues to physical and mental health, with researchers and technology companies tracking social media posts, calls, clicks, and drags to identify behaviors that link to certain diseases, though some services are opt-in and some are not while many businesses play fast and loose with data without letting users know what is happening, requiring declaration of rights and privileges in these spaces.
• Six Must-Have Elements Define Quality PBL: Framework for High Quality Project Based Learning describes PBL in terms of student experience rather than teacher perspective—framework built around six basic elements that must be present: intellectual challenge and accomplishment, authenticity, public product, collaboration, project management, and reflection, addressing challenge that it's often difficult to figure out what is high quality PBL activities versus resources labeled as PBL that are far from it.
• Icelandic Language Faces Digital Extinction: Mother tongue and cultural identity of Iceland is drowning in online ocean of English as range and volume of English readily accessible to Icelanders has expanded exponentially—challenge is that Internet giants have no interest in providing language support for small nation since providing support for Iceland would cost same amount as any other nation, demonstrating digital minoritisation where majority language in real world becomes minority language in digital world.

📺 Watch

Students! Know Your Protest Rights (with the ACLU)

The ACLU's Josh Bell just wrapped up a livestreamed training session for students on their free speech rights and then released the video and slides. These provide a great complement to the ACLU's existing know your rights guide for public school students.

📚 Read

They were trained for this moment

It's been very interesting watching the social media response from many of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. This post from Slate calls this a demonstration of the power of a comprehensive education.

These students, after surviving the events in of Parkland, Florida, now are unbothered by the games played by legislators and lobbyists. They continue to plan a massive march on Washington. These teens have—by most objective measures—used social media to change the conversation around guns and gun control in America.

The effectiveness of these poised, articulate, well-informed, and seemingly preternaturally mature student leaders of Stoneman Douglas has been vaguely attributed to very specific personalities & talents. But, these kids aren't freaks of nature. Their eloquence and poise also represent the absolute vindication of the extracurricular education they receive at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

"The students of Stoneman Douglas have been the beneficiaries of the kind of 1950s-style public education that has all but vanished in America. Despite the gradual erosion of the arts and physical education in America's public schools, the students of Stoneman Douglas have been the beneficiaries of the kind of 1950s-style public education that has all but vanished in America and that is being dismantled with great deliberation as funding for things like the arts, civics, and enrichment are zeroed out."

Stop blaming Russian bots for everything

As we make sense of this current informational war that we're engaged in, education bears much of the responsibility are we address these challenges.

Part of the issue may also be in the terminology that we use. We'd like to blame the Russians, or bots, or talk about "hacks." But, what were seeing is not really a determined hack, but instead a series of small lies, fake links, web pages, and simple human deception. Bots are often not deployed the way we've come to imagine.

"I think 'enhanced voice' or 'false amplification' is a better term than bots," Albright told BuzzFeed News. "Bots exist, no doubt, but not in the ways many report on and/or assume. Every bot is different, but all can be linked to human goals, desired outcomes, and programming. And most bots are associated directly with a human identity that is managed by an individual or group of people."

How companies scour our digital lives for clues to our digital health

Your digital footprint — how often you post on social media, how quickly you scroll through your contacts, how frequently you check your phone late at night — could hold clues to your physical & mental health.

An emerging field called "digital phenotyping" is trying to assess people's well-being based on your interactions with digital devices. These researchers and technology companies are tracking your social media posts, calls, clicks, and drags to identify behaviors that link to certain diseases.

Some of these services are opt-in, some are not. There are just the ones we know about. Once again, many of these businesses are playing fast and loose with our data and not letting the users know what is happening in our digital interactions. The key here is to stay informed. I think there is a need for a declaration of rights and privileges in these spaces, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

The six must-have elements of high quality project-based learning

It seems like everywhere you go online, you'll find a post about project-based learning (PBL). The challenge is that it is often difficult to figure out what is high quality PBL activities, and what is not. Additionally, I've come across a series of resources labeled as being PBL...that are far from it.

At the present time, however, there is a lack of agreement about what makes a PBL experience truly high quality. Various models and guidelines for PBL have been created by experts and organizations in recent years, but these are typically written from the perspective of the teacher. The Framework for High Quality Project Based Learning describes PBL in terms of the student experience.

The framework is built around six basic elements that the framers believe must be present: intellectual challenge and accomplishment, authenticity, public product, collaboration, project management and reflection.

Icelandic language battles threat of "digital extinction"

The mother tongue and cultural identity of Iceland is drowning in an online ocean of English.

The range and volume of English readily accessible to Icelanders has expanded exponentially, most of it more relevant and more engrossing than ever before. The challenge is that in online spaces, the Internet giants have no interest in providing language support for the small nation. Providing language support for Iceland would cost the same amount as providing support for any other nation.

It's called 'digital minoritisation.' When a majority language in the real world becomes a minority language in the digital world.

🔨 Do

Google Song Maker

For this year's Music in Our Schools Month, Google created a new online experiment called Song Maker.

It's a simple way for anyone to make a song, then share it with a link—no need to log in or make an account. Anyone can instantly hear what you made, and even remix it to make your own song. It lives on the web, so you don't need to install any apps to try it. And, it works across devices—phones, tablets, computers.

🤔 Consider

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." — Ayn Rand

🔗 Navigation

Previous: TLDR 138 • Next: TLDR 140 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

• Students Protest Rights ACLU — ACLU's Josh Bell livestreamed training session for students on their free speech rights then released video and slides—these provide great complement to ACLU's existing know your rights guide for public school students, offering essential education on constitutional protections for student activism and protest in wake of increased youth political engagement following Parkland shooting.
• Stoneman Douglas Comprehensive Education — Slate post calls social media response from Marjory Stoneman Douglas students demonstration of power of comprehensive education—after surviving Parkland events, students are unbothered by games played by legislators and lobbyists while continuing to plan massive march on Washington, with teens having used social media to change conversation around guns and gun control in America by most objective measures, with effectiveness of these poised, articulate, well-informed, seemingly preternaturally mature student leaders representing absolute vindication of extracurricular education they receive as beneficiaries of 1950s-style public education that has all but vanished in America including arts, civics, and enrichment programs being dismantled as funding is zeroed out, showing these kids aren't freaks of nature but products of comprehensive education.
• Stop Blaming Russian Bots Everything — As we make sense of current informational war with education bearing much responsibility in addressing challenges, part of issue may be in terminology we use—we'd like to blame Russians or bots or talk about hacks but what we're seeing is not really determined hack but instead series of small lies, fake links, web pages, and simple human deception with bots often not deployed way we've come to imagine, with Jonathan Albright telling BuzzFeed News that "enhanced voice" or "false amplification" is better term than bots since bots exist no doubt but not in ways many report on or assume, with every bot being different but all linked to human goals, desired outcomes, and programming, and most bots associated directly with human identity managed by individual or group of people.
• Digital Health Tracking Companies — Your digital footprint including how often you post on social media, how quickly you scroll through contacts, and how frequently you check phone late at night could hold clues to physical and mental health—emerging field called digital phenotyping is trying to assess people's well-being based on interactions with digital devices, with researchers and technology companies tracking social media posts, calls, clicks, and drags to identify behaviors that link to certain diseases, though some services are opt-in and some are not with just ones we know about while many businesses play fast and loose with our data without letting users know what is happening in digital interactions, requiring need for declaration of rights and privileges in these spaces though not seeing that happening anytime soon.
• High Quality Project Based Learning Framework — Everywhere you go online you'll find post about project-based learning (PBL) with challenge being it's often difficult to figure out what is high quality PBL activities versus resources labeled as PBL that are far from it—at present time there is lack of agreement about what makes PBL experience truly high quality with various models and guidelines created by experts and organizations in recent years typically written from perspective of teacher, while Framework for High Quality Project Based Learning describes PBL in terms of student experience, with framework built around six basic elements that must be present: intellectual challenge and accomplishment, authenticity, public product, collaboration, project management, and reflection.
• Icelandic Language Digital Extinction — Mother tongue and cultural identity of Iceland is drowning in online ocean of English as range and volume of English readily accessible to Icelanders has expanded exponentially with most of it more relevant and more engrossing than ever before—challenge is that in online spaces Internet giants have no interest in providing language support for small nation with providing support for Iceland costing same amount as providing support for any other nation, demonstrating phenomenon called digital minoritisation where majority language in real world becomes minority language in digital world.
• Google Song Maker Music Lab — For Music in Our Schools Month, Google created new online experiment called Song Maker—simple way for anyone to make song then share it with link with no need to log in or make account, allowing anyone to instantly hear what you made and even remix it to make their own song, living on web so you don't need to install any apps to try it while working across devices including phones, tablets, and computers.

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