Group items tagged

How an open course can work. "We don't want the students to remember the formulas. We want to change the way they look at the world."

I liked how Ted explains the way students access to Open Courses and how right he is when he says that if there are no due dates, even if the topic is very interesting, there are always other things to do first, therefore, you end up not doing it. I am also with him in not doing moocs to long that can get you bored and end up losing all your attention.

very informative!

Emotional expression and linguistic style in online collaboration differ substantially depending on the contributors' gender and status, and on the communication network. This should be taken into account when analyzing collaborative success, and may prove insightful to communities facing gender gap and stagnation in contributor acquisition and participation levels.

lubajong and taylor_cole thank you for your comments. From my part I will add a critical evaluation of this resource as well. The talk pages of Wikipedia provide a rich source for researchers to study communication patterns. On Wikipedia talk pages they have found signals for status differences between groups of participants, notably between admins and ordinary contributors. Those findings support in general the theories of the researchers about status differences and communication style differences between managers and employees in firms. They have also found differences in communication style bases on gender, which also support their general theories about gender (which is a social construct). What I - as a Wikipedian insider - finds missing in the article is the selection bias. Wikipedia admins aren't appointed by Jimmy Wales or some other body. Admins are community selected. The exact process differs per language version. On the English Wikipedia admin selection is by a community consensus process. Future admins are selected who show the preferred communication style of admins by other contributors including existing admins. For me, the patterns in communication style do not explain the gender gap on Wikipedia. There is a gender gap in many language versions of Wikipedia, but not in all. The Armenian language version of Wikipedia is a notable exception, showing a gender balance in the conbtributor base. An explanation of that exemption requires further research. What taylor_cole notes about neutrality and bias is a valid point. People volunteer to write for Wikipedia, and volunteer in topic choice. My guess is that in general people will opt to write about something they like, care about, know about. A lack of diversity in contributors will naturally reflect in lack of diversity of topics. For example nerdy males will write about things male nerds like. In general females tend to be interested in other topics than nerdy males. A lack of topics covered in Wikipe

Levels of participation influences emotional expression and phrasing? has the function of sex and status of the taxpayer. 4 strands to study and find a result! Interesting!

"Logan Laplante is a 13 year-old boy who was taken out of the education system to be home schooled instead. Not only was he home schooled, but Logan had the ability to tailor his education to his interests and also his style of learning, something traditional education does not offer." I realise this article (and the video on which the article is based) does not fall neatly into any category we've studied yet, though I hope many of you may find it as interesting and inspiring as I have. At core, this is about "hacking" the educational system. As Logan explains, his methods can be applied in mainstream schooling (or indeed for anyone interested in lifelong/lifewide education). There's also the element of "participatory culture" embedded in the production of this video: Logan is sharing his experiences, allowing others to comment and contribute so that he might learn as others are learning from him.

This is a truly amazing talk, I was especially pleased to discover your post since I was just about to share a talk that speaks to many of the same issues! My shared video talks about how schools simply aren't made for boys - for many reasons - and what should be done to reengage them in education. (You can check it out here, if you're interested - https://groups.diigo.com/group/okmooc/content/gaming-could-the-ultimate-tools-to-re-engage-boys-in-education-12782090) The part about "writing about butterflies and rainbows" quite literally made me chuckle, here's why: (from my video) "Boy comes home from school, and he says, "I hate writing." "Why do you hate writing, son? What's wrong with writing?" "Now I have to write what she tells me to write." "Okay, what is she telling you to write?" "Poems. I have to write poems. And little moments in my life. I don't want to write that stuff." :) The boy then goes on to saying "I want to write about video games. I want to write about leveling-up. I want to write about this really interesting world. I want to write about a tornado that comes into our house and blows all the windows out and ruins all the furniture and kills everybody." ...which is one of the main points of "hackschooling" -writing through experiences & interests. Also, speaking from personal experience as someone who also left a diploma behind, I can confirm that leaving a rigid non-functional study environment for an open world of possibility can be the best thing you can ever do. All in all - thumbs up for sharing the talk!

Thanks for sharing - what an inspiring talk. Many of his lessons are just as valuable for adults, who often seem to lose any sense of creativity after settling in to their lives, careers, and relationships. FYI - my wife and I have done some limited homeschooling with one of our kids who really doesn't thrive in traditional school settings. I wish we could have done more, but at the very least I encourage each of our kids to explore other ways to learn to either supplement (or question) what they are learning in school. Traditional education just isn't supportive of creative thinking and creative thinkers.

Our mission is to represent the interests of Open Access (OA) journal and book publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines. This mission will be carried out through exchanging information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation. Through a shared interest in developing appropriate business models, tools and standards...

Our mission is to represent the interests of Open Access (OA) journal and book publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines. This mission will be carried out through exchanging information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation. Through a shared interest in developing appropriate business models, tools and standards... Read full article >

Our mission is to represent the interests of Open Access (OA) journal and book publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines. This mission will be carried out through exchanging information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation.

This site explains why people choose to illegally downloads, even if some people know that they are breaking the copyright law.

Interesting read as I'm guilty of illegally downloading/streaming TV and music. Very surprised to see that the rich are the ones who illegally download on a regular basis.

"I'd have to wait too long to see it on TV" is the reason I hear the most about when it comes to illegal downloading. Those people generally do make an effort to watch it when it does officially come out on TV though, to off-set their piracy. The way companies will show something in one country and then sit on it for five months before letting someone in another country watch it seems silly to me at this point, though. Yes digital piracy is illegal, but it seems to be getting to the point of the Prohibition Era in the United States: yes, it's illegal, but everyone's doing it anyway. I think somebody's going to need to change things up here, and it seems doubtful that the companies producing these shows can alter the cultural norms without a lot more work than it seems they're willing to put in.

Some preliminary findings from the MOOC Research Initiative.

Interesting that most people who do well in MOOCs are generally people who have a "growth mindset" and are not necessarily the people in most need of learning. I think any research on MOOCs is interesting since it is such a new phenomenon and it's going to be interesting to see how they evolve.

Very interesting indeed that it is not necessarily those people who are most in need of learning who do well in MOOCs. The question is how MOOC's can, indeed, become more beneficial and attractive to those who need them the most. Access to internet in rural areas around the globe, and availability of cheap computers are both key.

This is a recently launched online exhibit of 100 objects from the Royal BC Museum in Victoria BC. The collection is not open in the regards to rights (all rights reserved), but an interesting approach to opening up the physical museum collection.

This is really great, and reminds me of the Museum of Anthropology's MOACAT here at UBC: http://collection-online.moa.ubc.ca/ It's so important to allow access to these collections in the online environment, not only for those individuals that may not be in the same location as the museum or gallery itself, but also for those that may have financial or physical barriers to in-person access.

Interesting read.

yes it is interesting thank you

Interesting lecture on privacy and digital identity. Do you want everybody in the plane to have your facebook account? Our personal information is the product the big companies are selling to their advertisers, so they are not so interested in helping us protect that information.

But is there a way to 100% protect our privacy because digital identity in the first place they aim to make us visible without us realizing that we are visible. So when we become visible how then can that be privacy. The story of emperors new clothes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes) clearly relates to the whole issue of privacy and digital identity.

Very interesting aspect of how to protect our personal identify by using selective attributes like age, gender when appropriate and needed by various websites.

Perhaps a bit narrow, but relevant to me. The article touches upon some aspects of privacy and openness bothering librarians. On the one hand people themselves are sharing lots of information about their reading lists, reading habits and favorites. On the other hand, libraries are trying to preserve patrons' privacy and protect their privacy from unwanted eyes.

I enjoyed this reading very much, thanks! Not to spoil the end, but it is a good comment that in order to protect the patrons' privacy, they must do their part too. If they use machines that requires to log in to Amazon, for example (I don't own a Kindle so I don't know it that is true), well, libraries cannot protect their privacy on what they are reading. Which reinforce the idea of the role that libraries should play in educating people about online privacy. the example of combining books that were borrowed by the same person that allows to identify the patron is very powerful and shows how something that looks innocent like a list of borrowed books can be harmful.

I think this article really demonstrates how the meaning of libraries is constantly in flux, and in recent decades has been evolving quicker than it has in perhaps the past couple of centuries. But the library has always been evolving, first mostly accessible to academics and eventually democratizing its mission by bringing literacy to the masses with public libraries. Now we are evolving to decide how open and social the patron habits should be. I think there is a way that libraries can adapt to this change and incorporate ways for patron data to inform the collection and recommendations, but also give patrons the option of being completely private, perhaps similar to an "incognito" browser window. Ultimately, the library should take privacy seriously and give patrons options that do not deceive. Thanks for sharing!

Espresso Book Machines are a really interesting idea, and despite the "hefty price tag" might be a great solution to users who still prefer print copies to electronic copies of books. It's also interesting to think about how Espresso Machines will influence library collections. This article argues that it supports a patron acquisition model, if all users end up printing books on demand (which will limit questioning during the collection development process) will that mean that for those who can't afford to print books, will not have access to them? Will the Espresso Machine bring the concept of the library and the concept of the bookstore too close together? Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea, and the possibilities for self-publishing are great! As these machines gain more popularity, it will be interesting to see the direction of collection development in Libraries.

From papyrus to pixels: The digital transformation of the way books are written, published and sold has only just begun. Very interesting article in several formats - check it out online or in the print version of the Economist...or!

From papyrus to pixels: The digital transformation of the way books are written, published and sold has only just begun. Very interesting article in several formats - check it out online or in the print version of the Economist...or!

Interesting reading in this Module, esp the article about having an additional anonymous online persona. It's interesting in that reddit not only allows users to register using obviously fake names, but also declines to require any authentication, but still offers it as an option. I participated in the reddit community for about a year, and in that time connected with numerous individuals, most of which I never learned 'who' they were. Personally, I was never harassed, bullied or otherwise hassled, save for one or two PMs from various mods when I had run afoul of their guidelines.

You beat me to it, i was planning on posting about reddit! Yeah, it's anonymous, and it's against its rules to post personal information, but it gets leaked and some people managed to get someone's information by reading old posts and connecting dots. The information you post, as a whole, its your footprint and can be tracked.

You beat me to it too! Reddit is a fascinating experiment. I actually mod a couple subreddits over there, and it's always interesting to read articles about it. In my two or so years on Reddit, I have: --Made friends (and lost touch with) with people from all over the world. --Been cyber-bullied and therefore witnessed exactly how good the moderators of certain subreddits can be. It was taken care of quickly and cleanly. I still love the community. --Seen people get "doxxed" (where their anonymity is broken, and often angry users track down the victim in a rather frightening way). --Seen the outrage the general community expresses at "doxxing", which was heartening. --Seen it used as an amazingly effective social networking and marketing tool. Posts and posters that come across and genuine, informed, and amicable are usually welcomed with open arms, even if they deal with a subject or product Redditors dislike. --Seen it completely backfire as a social networking and marketing tool, which happens when someone uses marketing "tricks" or comes across as anything less than genuine. --Gotten death threats for posting a picture of a squashed coin that made the front page. Reddit can be very weird. --Gotten beautiful, kind, completely random private messages for no reason at all on days where I really need them. Reddit can be very sweet. --Read articles in the Washington Post comparing Reddit to a democratic fiefdom. Sounds about right. --Been exposed to points of view I never would have seen before in my life, simply because of where I live and who I know. It's mind-blowing. The whole website just never ceases to amaze me. Honestly, it sort of reminds me of a MOOC: it's an ever-continuing event where people learn and argue and network.

I wanted to share a OK resource: Cory Doctorow... yes a whole author as resource. He writes about open access on a number of different platforms and enacts open access in his published works. He is a YA novelist with many good books that explore many of the complex issues of society and technology that we are considering in this class. He sells his books through major publishers in print--but does not allow them to have DRM. But he also provides ebook copies for free on this website. Basically you can read it and remix it, but if you like it and want to support him--buy the book. This model seems to work for him. You can find him ranting about DRM and other open access issues all over the net, such as BoingBoing. Interesting guy, interesting topics--and some interesting free fiction books that are relevant to this class.

for a specific book suggestion, check out Little Brother http://craphound.com/littlebrother/ exciting SciFi all about online surveillance state, but also supposed to be filled with actual advice about how to hack your way around it and be a subversive, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brother_%28Doctorow_novel%29

Thanks. I like this. I haven't read his stuff, but now I will.

I followed a trail about Wikipedia that led me to their funding model. This is an interesting rebuttal to their strategy of asking users for donations atop the page (sort of a PBS/NPR model for those in the US). Interesting to think about how advertising or marketing might play into the Wikipedia model, and how it might change the dynamic of the conversation.

Thanks for the post! I also thought it was interesting to read the arguments for and against an ad-driven business model at the link below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Funding_Wikipedia_through_advertisements A limited advertising model actually makes a lot of sense to me. I think the real obstacle to changing business models is how passionately and adamantly Jimmy Wales has rejected even the future possibility. Strong wording sound heroic, but not allowing some flexibility could greatly limited Wikipedia's positive impact.

"We live in an age of information overload. While many of us find ourselves inundated with vast amounts of data daily, our fast-paced society also requires us to make more rapid decisions." A very short blog post that reminds us to slow down and focus. It doesn't add much new to the conversation but the reminders are helpful, especially the one about multitasking. It truly is a myth.

i enjoyed reading it

Interesting read! 4 ways to retain your brain to handle information overload

This link is more of an overview of the resource rather than the resource itself, which can be found here: http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/. The collection is fantastic, and can either be searched for all images relating to your keywords, or only the images that are available for download. If you're downloading an image under a CC BY-NC-ND license, they provide you with the attribution that they'd like you to use, and ask about your intended use (with a drop-down menu) and for more information if you're interested in sharing it, but answering those questions is optional. Appending "We're really interested!" to the request for additional information seems like a pretty clever way to encourage people to provide more information though, I'd be interested in finding out how well that works.