There are No Things. There are patterns.
Jenny Mackness, Jenny Connected, 2018/03/16
I've said in the past that knowledge is recognition, and if I were pressed to describe what I think truth is, I would say that it is a strong feeling of recognition. This I think is consistent with what the early empiricists (like David Hume) would say. Formally, truth is an attitude toward a proposition: we say that a propositoon is 'true' or 'not true' and then try to explain that through an interpretation (such as Tarski's theory of truth, or model theory, or some such thing). More...

Fight the Right Things So You Can Win At Life
Vicki Davis, The Cool Cat Teacher Blog, 2018/03/16
I felt sad when I read this. "Life is a constant battle. We must fight to become better." It can be a battle, I suppose, if you're determined to see it that way. More...

Schrodinger’s OER
David Wiley, iterating toward openness, 2018/03/16

David Wiley responds to my criticisms of his arguments against the CARE Framework. More...

Don't skunk me, bro!
Neal Goldfarb, Language Log, 2018/03/16

To 'skunk' a term is to recommend that it no longer be used because some people misconstrue it. More...

No, ‘cognitive strengthening exercises’ aren’t the answer to media literacy
Benjamin Doxtdator, Long View on Education, 2018/03/16
Both dana boyd's original post and Benjamin Doxtdator's response are really strong posts and I recommend you take the time to read both carefully. I cited a previous post from boyd recently making some of the same points. Essentially, boyd is saying that we need to 'innoculate' people from deception in media, while Doxdator is saying that this fails to address the power dynamic in society. More...

Reflecting on Maker Experiences with Reflection Cards
Jackie Gerstein, User Generated Education, 2018/03/16
Jackie Gerstein describes a board game and set of cards she uses as a prompt to promote reflections on experiences. The game and cards pose different questions participants respond to, for example, "What new skills have you learned?" and "What surprised you the most?" I've had these tried on me in the past and struggled to explain in a public forum that the answers were "nothing" and "nothing". More...

Game of missuggestions: semantic analysis of search autocomplete manipulation
Adrian Colyer, The Morning Paper, 2018/03/15
Good article summarizing a paper that examines the depths of search engine autocomplete manipulation. This happens when a malicious actor sends a large number of fake queries for a specific search term in order to cause the search engine to suggest a full query benefiting their client. More...

Why ‘integration’ is key to replace resumes with digital portfolios
Michael B. Horn, Christensen Institute, 2018/03/15
I think that the headline overstates the case a bit but the author nonetheless makes a good point about portfolios. "A digital portfolio seems far more robust and useful to prospective employees and employers than a traditional resume. From the outside though, one reason digital portfolios and the like have not taken off is simple. The keyword-based applicant tracking systems that employers use to filter resumes can’t read them." Portfolios are a lot easier to create than to read. In order to innovate in this sector, therefore, you need to do more than develop a system that creates e-portfolios. More...

The CARE Framework
David Wiley, iterating toward openness, 2018/03/15
David Wiley responds to the CARE Framework (previously in OLDaily). He makes two major points. First, not everyone has the luxury to contribute to the  "hard, frequently painful, and seldom recognized work associated with stewardship." And second, "the document also contributes to the (much more active) conversation about who deserves to be allowed to participate in the OER movement." I think he's wrong on both counts. More...

A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal”
Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review, 2018/03/14
The least interesting thing about this post is that there's some startup doing something. Far more interesting is the question the project poses: if your brain is perfectly preserved, that is, all neurons and connections remain intact, then if it's restarted again, have you survived? Our first instinct is to say 'no', but there are cases where ringworms are completely frozen, later thawed, and demonstrated the same memories it had before freezing. More...