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Good read

Teaching a MOOC: Lessons Learned & Best Balch Practices

no time to talk — bunch of books here you will want to check out

Searls provides arguments supporting the idea that people want lists, not stories.

Are outlines a good way to present arguments, lessons, so that students can see the connection, the logic, supporting the arguments?

Found floating thru my twitter stream, Mr. Boyd discusses  “Speculative Design.”  Worth the read.  Some quotes of interest:

Jeff Hammerbacher’s observation that ‘the best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads’.

So, if the best minds of the 90’s created derivatives, shall we expect the same dynamic of calamities from the current focus?

We shouldn’t think about the future as a smooth, comfortable extrapolation of the mundane. We are over that. We have moved into the post-modern, where new norms prevail. Some characterize our new world as VUCA: unsurpassed levels of volatilty, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

Smooth sailing, no?

Is the political chaos and gridlock in the US a function of the liquifying political system? Our systems of governance are based on electing a very small number of people to represent all the rest. Can we cut out the middle man in politics like we have in buying books? What would web-mediated direct democracy work like? Feel like? Smell like? The Pirate Party in Europe is using a platform called Liquid Feedback, which is central to their inner workings, but is a speculative design for the rest of us.

Provocative thought!

Reconnecting people to their food will be huge.

And a means of “grounding” our local economies… Perhaps Boyd should run for office.

Rachel Armstrong said recently that the problem with ‘the future’ is that it’s not the future at all: it’s a version of now. It’s the distillation of predetermined cultural prejudices and preconceptions, it’s not a map, or even a good science fiction story.

But you can design revealing toys that explore our preconceptions, construct ‘imaginary appliances’ to help us trick our way out of the corner we have painted ourselves into. And it might be that the corners with the most paint — the hardest problem spaces — might be the most rewarding areas of exploration.

Enough said — To work!

Interesting read — in this article (Can we save American capitalism?) – author notes

• Allen Metzler says “capitalism’s secret is how well it disperses political and economic power”
• Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto – corporations performing for the expectations of the stock market ignore information from the real market – thus missing long term innovations and gains in value
• Adam Smith “would readily acknowledge that a capitalist system forfeits not only its economic rationale but its moral justification if all its benefits are captured by a tiny slice at the top of society”

See the deep hole (job losses) prior to the beginning of this administration — and look where it is today.  This recovery can’t be compared to any other…  any questions?

From WP: Wait, the U.S. economy actually lost 1.2 million jobs in July?

Pilot course uses mobile technology

“This is the Army Learning Model fully in action,” said Tom Clark, the LWN Transmission Section training manager. “ We can provide for Soldiers at their point of need. Every piece of the curriculum for this pilot course has been redone in the Army Learning Model format.

 

 

Now you know what I had for breakfast today.  My friend Kevin Howarth told me about his new job, how his liberal arts degree has relevance in the world of web content (Content Science) and shared his experience of learning to style content using the Yahoo Style Guide.

In addition to the great conversation — I may have found some inspiration for restructuring “lectures” to be delivered online…

Got to place hold this piece from Bookman of the AJC — he excerpted a Montana Judge’s critique of several notions regarding corporations — this paragraph attacks the idea that “Corporations are people too!”

Corporations are not persons. Human beings are persons, and it is an affront to the inviolable dignity of our species that courts have created a legal fiction which forces people — human beings — to share fundamental, natural rights with soulless creations of government. Worse still, while corporations and human beings share many of the same rights under the law, they clearly are not bound equally to the same codes of good conduct, decency, and morality, and they are not held equally accountable for their sins. Indeed, it is truly ironic that the death penalty and hell are reserved only to natural persons.”

Corporations are just “Persons-In-Name-Only” — otherwise, the Right-to-Life groups would be protesting the murder of 75% of PINOs prior to their third birthday!   We would see test court cases challenging the execution of PINOs on the grounds they owe taxes and must by liquidated to pay their debts!  The satire is endless — but the rude consequence is that real Persons must compete with PINOs for privileges of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Please, show me  where this is discussed as an “inalienable right”?  Does God have a special place for the Chamber of Commerce at the judgement seat?