TLDR 22

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 22

Published: 2015-11-20 • 📧 Newsletter

In TL;DR I'm sharing things that happened during the week in literacy, technology, & education that I think you should know. Please feel free to share with others you believe would benefit. If you like what you see here, I recommend subscribing to get it hand-delivered to your inbox.

To send me feedback, questions, concerns...please email me at wiobyrne@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter. To review past issues please click here. Thanks again for the support. :)

This week I worked on the following:

Creating and Delivering a Pecha Kucha Style Presentation - In two weeks I'll be at LRA and presenting, connecting, and learning from other literacy colleagues. In two different sessions, I'll be working with Pecha Kucha style presentations. I revised this post to share my ideas and hopefully present some guidance.
Building Critical Media Literacy in the Deictic/Ambiguous Nature of Text - In this post I share the work from a pecha kucha session I helped organize last year at LRA. I thought it might be interesting to have a group of colleagues each define "text." As literacy researchers and educators, I thought that we might each have our own version of what text could and should be. In this post I share the PPT and video of my presentation. I also share a link to the Google Doc we're using to prepare an upcoming publication.

🔖 Key Takeaways

Cannot Unpack: Paris attacks and technology blame—I do not have all answers, cannot even begin to unpack in this small block of text.
Internet Dream Ending: Jennifer Granick on centralization, regulation, globalization—unless something dramatic changes.
Teacher as Activator: Not transmitter or facilitator—injects ambition, provokes thought, challenges mediocrity.
Verge of Big: Digital badges three phone calls—there are people far smarter than I, but we're on the verge of something big.
Digital Heritage: Internet Archive documenting for future generations—doesn't depend on whether we agree or understand.

📺 Watch

Man plays John's Lennon Imagine At paris after the attack

A man pulled up a piano using his bike to the front of the Bataclan theater in Paris. He then began to perform the timeless Lennon classic. Read more here.

📚 Read

Exploiting emotions about Paris to blame Snowden, distract from actual culprits

I understand the abject horror of the circumstances of the Paris attack, and the normal human reaction as we try to make sense of it all. Even with this I'm also a believer in freedom, privacy, security, and the literacies of the web and digital spaces.

Not soon after the Paris attacks, technology was being named as an accomplice in these atrocities.

I do not have all of the answers, and cannot even begin to unpack it in this small block of text. I think that we do need to think deeply about these technologies, and the ways in which we...for better or worse...utilize them.

The end of the Internet dream

This text is from the keynote Jennifer Granick gave earlier this month at Black Hat 2015. Video of her keynote is available here. Jennifer is the director of Civil Liberties at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.

The keynote text and video are excellent. I highly recommend reading through the whole text.

For better or for worse, we've prioritized things like security, online civility, user interface, and intellectual property interests above freedom and openness. The Internet is less open and more centralized. It's more regulated. And increasingly it's less global, and more divided. These trends: centralization, regulation, and globalization are accelerating. And they will define the future of our communications network, unless something dramatic changes.

How could - and should - schooling look in 2030?

This post by Sir Michael Barber shares his reflections on what future learning environments should look like...and how do we get there. You can read more guidance about this in a report he helped produce for the Massachusetts DOE.

The teacher is no longer just a transmitter of knowledge, but neither is she or he a mere facilitator. The role is that of an "activator," using John Hattie's evocative term: someone who injects ambition, provokes thought, asks great questions, challenges mediocrity, and brings passion and insight to the task at hand.

Searching for work in the digital era

Research released this week from the Pew Research Center looks at the use of the Internet as a central resource for Americans looking for work. Yet even with this use of the Internet as a major resource, there is a group of Americans that find it difficult to engage in digital job-seeking behaviors.

These findings point to the need to view technology and the Internet as a literacy.

Some of the key findings include:

The internet is a top resource for many of today's job hunters: Among Americans who have looked for work in the last two years, 79% utilized online resources in their most recent job search and 34% say these online resources were the mostimportant tool available to them.
Like many other aspects of life, job seeking is going mobile: 28% of Americans have used a smartphone as part of a job search, and half of these "smartphone job seekers" have used their smartphone to fill out a job application.
Even as digital job seeking skills have become increasingly important, a minority of Americans would find it challenging to engage in tasks such as creating a professional resume, using email to contact potential employers, or filling out a job application online.
Many Americans now use social media to look for and research jobs, share employment opportunities with friends, and highlight their skills to potential employers; 13% of social media users say their social media presence has helped them find a job.

Online skills are hot, but will they land you a job?

This piece from the Wall Street Journal by Lauren Weber examines the role of digital skills and credentials and the job marketplace. Learners are studying, taking courses online, earning digital badges to document their new expertise. Because many employers don't recognize (or understand) these technologies, credentials, and the companies that offer them, these credentials don't carry much weight...for now.

In terms of credentials, and digital badges, I've had three different phone calls over the last two weeks with large organizations in education, training, & job force preparedness programs. In these calls they were picking my brain to get a better understanding of badges, and what opportunities they might offer. There are many people that are far smarter than I in terms of badge understanding.

I agree with Doug Belshaw in that (at least in thinking about badges) we're on the verge of badges becoming a bit more mainstream. My closing comment on each of the calls indicated that I think we're on the verge of something big with badges...and online credentials.

How much of the Internet does the Wayback Machine really archive?

With all of this discussion about what we do correctly and incorrectly online, it's important to remember that we're creating an archive of our digital heritage. It doesn't really depend on whether or not we agree, or fully understand what we're doing...this is all being documented for future generations to pick through.

This post by Kalev Leetaru details the work behind the scenes at the Internet Archive over the last 20 years. It's interesting to look at what...and where content is being archived from.

If you're interested in this topic, I recommend watching this interview with Brewster Kahle on Triangulation. Brewster Kahle is a computer engineer, Internet activist, and digital librarian responsible for maintaining the Internet Archive.

🔨 Do

Annotating to engage, analyze, connect, and create

This post by Jeremy Dean and Katherine Schulten on the NY Times The Learning Network details the power of annotation as we strive to understand and comprehend.

In this they detail the opportunities for digital annotation as you work and learn online. In this they identify three tools that I use and love. Genius's Web Annotator, Diigo, and Hypothesis all offer great opportunities to mark up texts as you read (and now write) online.

🤔 Consider

"Trying to plan for the future without knowing the past is like trying to plant cut flowers." — David Boorstin

A man pulled up a piano using his bike to the front of Bataclan theater, performed Imagine. The timeless Lennon classic in the face of horror. Moments like these remind us what we're protecting, what we're building, what we're documenting.

I understand the abject horror of the Paris attack, the normal human reaction trying to make sense. Even with this I'm also a believer in freedom, privacy, security, literacies of web and digital spaces. Not soon after the attacks, technology was being named as accomplice. I do not have all of the answers, and cannot even begin to unpack it in this small block of text. I think we do need to think deeply about these technologies, the ways in which we—for better or worse—utilize them.

Jennifer Granick's Black Hat keynote on the end of the Internet dream deserves your time. For better or worse, we've prioritized security, online civility, user interface, intellectual property interests above freedom and openness. The Internet is less open and more centralized. It's more regulated. Increasingly less global, more divided. These trends—centralization, regulation, globalization—are accelerating. They will define the future of our communications network, unless something dramatic changes.

Michael Barber on schooling in 2030: the teacher is no longer just transmitter of knowledge, neither mere facilitator. The role is "activator"—someone who injects ambition, provokes thought, asks great questions, challenges mediocrity, brings passion and insight to the task at hand. John Hattie's evocative term captures what we need teachers to become.

Pew findings point to the need to view technology and the Internet as a literacy. Job seeking going mobile, 79% using online resources, but minority of Americans would find it challenging to create professional resume, use email to contact potential employers, fill out job application online. Digital job seeking skills are fundamental, not optional.

Digital badges—I've had three phone calls over last two weeks with large organizations picking my brain. There are many people far smarter than I in terms of badge understanding. I agree with Doug Belshaw: we're on the verge of badges becoming more mainstream. My closing comment on each call: I think we're on the verge of something big with badges and online credentials.

The Internet Archive documenting our digital heritage for future generations to pick through. It doesn't really depend on whether we agree or fully understand what we're doing—this is all being documented. Brewster Kahle maintaining twenty years of Internet history. Creating an archive whether we intend to or not.

Three annotation tools I use and love: Genius, Diigo, Hypothesis. Marking up texts as you read and now write online. The power of annotation as we strive to understand and comprehend.

David Boorstin: trying to plan for the future without knowing the past is like trying to plant cut flowers. We're documenting, archiving, annotating, building—creating the past that future generations will use to plan their future. The question is what philosophies we're embedding in these systems, these archives, these digital spaces.

Previous: TLDR 21 • Next: TLDR 23 • Archive: 📧 Newsletter

🌱 Connected Concepts:

Pecha Kucha — LRA presentations creating and delivering, two sessions working with style.
LRA — Literacy researchers defining text, upcoming publication Google Doc.
Paris Attacks — Imagine performed at Bataclan, technology blamed as accomplice.
Snowden — Exploiting emotions to blame after attacks, cryptography scapegoating.
Jennifer Granick — Black Hat keynote on end of Internet dream, Stanford Center for Internet and Society.
Internet Freedom — Less open more centralized, prioritizing security over freedom and openness.
Teacher as Activator — Not transmitter or facilitator, John Hattie's evocative term for 2030 schooling.
Pew Research — Job searching in digital era, Internet as literacy finding.
Digital Badges — Three phone calls with organizations, on verge of becoming mainstream.
Doug Belshaw — Thinking about badges bright future, verge of something big.
Internet Archive — Brewster Kahle maintaining twenty years, digital heritage for future generations.
Annotation Tools — Genius Web Annotator, Diigo, Hypothesis for marking up texts.
Jeremy Dean — NY Times Learning Network post on annotation power.
Katherine Schulten — Annotating to engage, analyze, connect, and create.
David Boorstin — Planning future without knowing past like planting cut flowers.

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