TLDR 148

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 148

Published: 2018-05-04 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Issue 148. Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership.

This week I posted the following:

• Switching up my signals - I'm choosing not to delete Facebook. Instead I'm testing an opportunity to use my Indie Web philosophies, while being more intentional in what I share online. The result after two weeks is that I'm not sharing/tweeting as much each day. This will most likely balance out after I get my processes sorted. I am continuing to catch everything in this newsletter.
• Practicing what you preach - A post drawing a couple of threads together from Brene' Brown to Seneca to help you think about aspirational values as opposed to practiced values.
• Video: Using Google Drive to store, organize, & share your stuff - A quick video overview of how I use Google Drive.
• Video: Four questions for Tim Huey about vigilance & remaining safe in schools - This video is a follow-up to the earlier video about safety in critical, dangerous school situations. Please take the time to view, or share with educators and parents. Be safe.

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Say hey with a note at hello@wiobyrne.com or on the social network of your choice.

🔖 Key Takeaways

• Minimalist Coffee for Normal People: Matt D'Avella's YouTube channel brings minimalism and practical creativity to weekend routines—video on making great coffee for normal people balances tips from pros with accessible approach showing how thoughtful practices don't require perfectionism or expensive equipment, just intentionality about what matters in daily rituals.
• Data Ownership Debate Reinvigorated: Facebook scandal reignited debates about who should hold keys to our data and digital identity—politicians, entrepreneurs, academics, and bureaucrats spend time lecturing about big data, personal data, open data, aggregate data, and anonymized data with each variety raising questions about origination, ownership, and worth, while open data elsewhere could be force for good if properly governed.
• Declining Faith in Internet's Social Impact: Pew Research reveals declining majority of online adults saying Internet has been good for society—interesting trend suggests people seem bored with Internet and digital tools despite mostly positive impacts, possibly reflecting lag as society unpacks privacy and security concerns from Facebook/Cambridge Analytica revelations, with adults perhaps expecting more since most consider Internet to just be Facebook.
• Algorithmic Accountability Requires Standards: Data Society primer explores assigning responsibility for harm when algorithmic decision-making results in discriminatory and inequitable outcomes—big decisions about people's lives increasingly made by software systems and algorithms yet few consumer or civil rights protections limit types of data used to build profiles or require auditing, even though systems can make decisions based on protected attributes like race, income, or gender.
• Digital Assessments Need Better Interface Design: Kevin Hodgson reflects on teaching to tech as students prepare for online state tests—biggest challenge involves planning longer essays and narrative stories since students work with graphic organizers all year on paper, with need for assessment interfaces breaking up information consumption into several areas like video editing software having separate panels for main text, notes/annotations/copy-paste, and actual answer space.
• High Schoolers Face Unprecedented Stress: David Tow in Edutopia examines social and academic pressures kids feel in high school with strategies for promoting mental wellbeing—observations align with research showing students entering clinical teaching phase are super stressed rather than excited, with strategies including asking "how are you doing?" and meaning it, setting office hours, remembering Maslow's hierarchy, considering what matters, and using professionals.

📺 Watch

Zen & The Art of Making Coffee

Videos from Matt D'Avella started hitting my YouTube feed hard this week. I watched a couple of his videos (all about minimalism, filmmaking, creativity), liked them, and subscribed to his channel.

This video is a good overview of how to make coffee "for normal people." There is some focus on the tips of the pros....and some bad words. But, all in all, it's a good way to think about brewing yourself a really great cup of coffee on the weekend.

📚 Read

Who should hold the keys to our data?

An interesting look at the reinvigorated debate around ownership of our data and digital identity. Even as recent revelations reignited debates about ownership of our details, open data elsewhere could be a force for good.

The question we need to ask:

Politicians, entrepreneurs, academics, even bureaucrats spend an awful lot of time these days lecturing each other about data. There is big data, personal data, open data, aggregate data and anonymized data. Each variety has issues: where does it originate? Who owns it? What it is worth?

Declining majority of online adults say the Internet has been good for society

An interesting trend has been popping up over the last couple of months. Despite the fact that the Internet and other communication technologies impact our lives in a variety of (mostly positive) ways, news from recent fields has been rather tepid. Put simply, people seem to be bored with the Internet and digital tools. Headlines appear like: We were promised mind-blowing personal tech...what's the hold-up?

This research report from Pew suggests that American adults suggest that these online spaces provide a mixed blessing for society.

Perhaps there is also some lag as we unpack more privacy and security concerns as identified in the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica revelations. And perhaps...since most adults consider the Internet to just be Facebook...perhaps they're expecting more.

Algorithmic Accountability: A Primer

Big decisions about people's lives are increasingly made by software systems and algorithms. This primer explores issues of algorithmic accountability, or the process of assigning responsibility for harm when algorithmic decision-making results in discriminatory and inequitable outcomes.

There are few consumer or civil rights protections that limit the types of data used to build data profiles or that require the auditing of algorithmic decision-making, even though algorithmic systems can make decisions on the basis of protected attributes like race, income, or gender.

This brief explores the trade-offs between and debates about algorithms and accountability across several key ethical dimensions, including:

• Fairness and bias;
• Opacity and transparency;
• The repurposing of data and algorithms;
• Lack of standards for auditing;
• Power and control; and
• Trust and expertise.

Teaching to the tech

Friend of the Internet, Kevin Hodgson shared out this post in which he reflects on the challenges and opportunities as his students prepare for some of the new, online state tests.

Hodgson notes:

There are also some questions where answer options can get dragged around the page, and I had few questions related to that (it wasn't on the practice test), which makes me wonder how I might do some work with this (and think: paper cut-outs, perhaps, and manually manipulating chunks of text). I could only point them to the directions for the activity.

One of the biggest challenges, I think, is the planning of the longer essays and narrative stories. I teach graphic organizers all year long and my students work with them for pre-writing all year long. And they have blank paper to use for the test, for graphic organizers or notes.

I definitely agree with this assessment. In the work/development we conducted while researching at UConn, we (Greg and I) indicated the need for panels or sections in the online assessments. We need an interface that breaks up the information consumption space into several areas...like you see in video editing software. Have one panel for the main text that students read. Have a secondary panel or space for notes, annotations, copy/paste. And then a third space for the actual answer. Students can work the tool, as they work the system.

Obviously this is not how most people consume the Internet, but they should. And...this is not how the assessments are constructed...but they should be.

In high school, the kids are not all right

This past week I was chatting with some colleagues about the general state of mind of our students as they enter the final, clinical teaching phase of the program. You would think that they're super excited to work in a school everyday, but what we're noticing is that they're super stressed out. These observations tend to be noticed by some other research in the field.

This piece by David Tow in Edutopia looks at the social and academic pressures kids feel in high school, and opportunities to help them cope.

Tow provides the following strategies for promoting high schoolers mental well-being:

• Ask "How are you doing?"—and mean it.
• Set office hours.
• Remember your Maslow.
• Consider what matters.
• Use the professionals.

🔨 Do

Should vs. Could: Reframing Language

A piece in the Harvard Business Review that reminds us about the possibilities that open up when we reframe our use of language.

Approaching problems with a "should" mindset gets us stuck on the trade-off the choice entails and narrows our thinking on one answer, the one that seems most obvious. But when we think in terms of "could," we stay open-minded and the trade-offs involved inspire us to come up with creative solutions.

🤔 Consider

"If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up." — Abraham Maslow

This week's theme centers on responsibility, accountability, and ownership. Maslow's quote embodies radical persistence—the psychologist who gave us the hierarchy of needs reminds us that determination isn't conditional on favorable circumstances. In educational contexts, this speaks to both educator resilience and the growth mindset we hope to cultivate in students: the decision to persist isn't about the odds, it's about refusing to surrender to difficulty. When students face academic challenges or systemic barriers, they need models of this unconditional persistence.

🔗 Navigation

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🌱 Connected Concepts:

• Data Ownership Digital Identity — Reinvigorated debate asks who should hold keys to our data and digital identity as Facebook scandal reignites questions about ownership of details—politicians, entrepreneurs, academics, and bureaucrats spend time lecturing about big data, personal data, open data, aggregate data, and anonymized data with each variety raising issues about origination, ownership, and worth, while open data elsewhere could be force for good demonstrating tension between protective data governance and beneficial data sharing.
• Internet Perception Society — Pew Research reveals declining majority of online adults saying Internet has been good for society despite mostly positive impacts—interesting trend suggests people seem bored with Internet and digital tools with headlines asking "what's the hold-up" on promised personal tech, possibly reflecting lag as society unpacks privacy and security concerns from Facebook/Cambridge Analytica revelations with adults perhaps expecting more since most consider Internet to just be Facebook.
• Algorithmic Accountability Fairness — Data Society primer explores assigning responsibility for harm when algorithmic decision-making results in discriminatory and inequitable outcomes as big decisions about people's lives increasingly made by software systems—few consumer or civil rights protections limit types of data used to build profiles or require auditing even though systems can make decisions based on protected attributes like race, income, or gender, with debates spanning fairness and bias, opacity and transparency, data repurposing, lack of auditing standards, power and control, and trust and expertise.
• Teaching to Tech Assessment — Kevin Hodgson reflects on teaching to tech as students prepare for online state tests with biggest challenge involving planning longer essays and narrative stories—students work with graphic organizers all year on paper but assessments need interfaces breaking up information consumption into several areas like video editing software with separate panels for main text students read, secondary panel for notes/annotations/copy-paste, and third space for actual answer so students can work tool as they work system.
• High School Student Wellbeing — David Tow in Edutopia examines social and academic pressures kids feel in high school with strategies for promoting mental wellbeing—observations align with research showing students entering clinical teaching phase are super stressed rather than excited, with strategies including asking "how are you doing?" and meaning it, setting office hours, remembering Maslow's hierarchy of needs, considering what matters beyond grades, and using mental health professionals when students need support beyond teacher capacity.
• Should Could Mindset — Harvard Business Review reminds us about possibilities that open up when reframing language from should to could—approaching problems with "should" mindset gets us stuck on trade-off choice entails and narrows thinking to one answer that seems most obvious, but when we think in terms of "could" we stay open-minded and trade-offs involved inspire coming up with creative solutions, demonstrating how subtle linguistic shifts can fundamentally change problem-solving approach.

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