1 00:00:04,245 --> 00:00:05,616 For the session this afternoon 2 00:00:05,616 --> 00:00:06,485 I have the distinct pleasure 3 00:00:06,485 --> 00:00:07,421 To introduce two of my good friends 4 00:00:07,421 --> 00:00:08,590 Gardner Campbell, from Baylor University 5 00:00:08,590 --> 00:00:12,267 and Jim Groom from the University of Mary Washington. 6 00:00:12,267 --> 00:00:15,175 They require absolutely no introduction beyond that. 7 00:00:15,175 --> 00:00:18,618 That's why we'll let them get on with the show, so 8 00:00:18,618 --> 00:00:24,735 please help me welcome these two guys 9 00:00:24,735 --> 00:00:26,005 Thank you, Cole 10 00:00:26,005 --> 00:00:28,245 Thanks everybody for being here after lunch 11 00:00:28,245 --> 00:00:30,016 This is always the great deadly zone 12 00:00:30,016 --> 00:00:31,955 where your blood sugar and my blood sugar 13 00:00:31,955 --> 00:00:33,626 the biochemistry, the neurons 14 00:00:33,626 --> 00:00:36,300 but we're going to force through this 15 00:00:36,300 --> 00:00:38,039 we're going to make it 16 00:00:38,039 --> 00:00:39,509 I have a good feeling about this 17 00:00:39,509 --> 00:00:43,554 every presentation I've been in 18 00:00:43,554 --> 00:00:45,693 has something very striking in it for me 19 00:00:45,693 --> 00:00:46,963 sometimes it has been ideas 20 00:00:46,963 --> 00:00:50,038 sometimes it's the level of innovation 21 00:00:50,038 --> 00:00:51,843 just the sheer energy of innovation 22 00:00:51,843 --> 00:00:56,891 sometimes it's a little more close to the bone 23 00:00:56,891 --> 00:00:58,963 the session that Leigh Blackall did 24 00:00:58,963 --> 00:01:00,200 I don't know if he's in here now 25 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,540 but the session he did before lunch 26 00:01:02,540 --> 00:01:05,949 really struck me with the sense of frustration 27 00:01:05,949 --> 00:01:09,325 that I feel...a lot...maybe you do... 28 00:01:09,325 --> 00:01:12,668 that we live in an age of marvels and wonders 29 00:01:12,668 --> 00:01:14,105 that don't seem to be making 30 00:01:14,105 --> 00:01:15,643 a substantial difference 31 00:01:15,643 --> 00:01:17,648 in the most serious activities 32 00:01:17,648 --> 00:01:19,085 we engage in as human beings: 33 00:01:19,085 --> 00:01:20,957 Education 34 00:01:20,957 --> 00:01:23,565 There are a lot of reasons why that's no-one's fault 35 00:01:23,565 --> 00:01:26,406 There are a lot of reasons why that's everyone's fault 36 00:01:26,406 --> 00:01:28,612 and there's a lot of people 37 00:01:28,612 --> 00:01:29,982 we can point at and blame 38 00:01:29,982 --> 00:01:31,754 sometimes justifiably so 39 00:01:31,754 --> 00:01:35,163 but rather than round up the usual suspects 40 00:01:35,163 --> 00:01:37,770 I have this sense of 41 00:01:37,770 --> 00:01:39,542 What a waste! 42 00:01:39,542 --> 00:01:41,247 Why is this not happening? 43 00:01:41,247 --> 00:01:42,450 We've had the Internet 44 00:01:42,450 --> 00:01:43,353 We've had computers 45 00:01:43,353 --> 00:01:46,461 We've had all these amazing conversations 46 00:01:46,461 --> 00:01:47,798 at conferences like this 47 00:01:47,798 --> 00:01:50,573 about the possibilities 48 00:01:50,573 --> 00:01:51,575 Is this making a difference? 49 00:01:51,575 --> 00:01:52,511 I mean we can say: 50 00:01:52,511 --> 00:01:53,815 Sure, we have success stories 51 00:01:53,815 --> 00:01:54,651 but we keep thinking 52 00:01:54,651 --> 00:01:56,389 when does the tide turn? 53 00:01:56,389 --> 00:01:58,461 when do we get to the place 54 00:01:58,461 --> 00:01:59,464 where we can say 55 00:01:59,464 --> 00:02:05,414 Yeah, we're on the upswing 56 00:02:05,414 --> 00:02:09,010 Clay Shirky in 2008 wrote: 57 00:02:09,010 --> 00:02:10,026 " We are living in the middle of 58 00:02:10,026 --> 00:02:12,600 the largest increase in expressive capability 59 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,475 in the history of the human race." 60 00:02:15,475 --> 00:02:18,216 I think that's true 61 00:02:18,216 --> 00:02:19,987 except that probably we're at the beginning 62 00:02:19,987 --> 00:02:23,397 and not the middle. 63 00:02:23,397 --> 00:02:25,125 But this increase in expressive capability 64 00:02:25,125 --> 00:02:26,906 and the history of the human race 65 00:02:26,906 --> 00:02:28,544 ought to be the abiding 66 00:02:28,544 --> 00:02:34,895 transforming concern of all education. 67 00:02:34,895 --> 00:02:37,034 Higher Education is the place 68 00:02:37,034 --> 00:02:40,410 where we train people to be able 69 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:42,048 to take advantage of this to the fullest 70 00:02:42,048 --> 00:02:43,820 and surprise us with things we have not discovered 71 00:02:43,820 --> 00:02:46,487 about what this can mean 72 00:02:46,487 --> 00:02:48,199 but whatever it means 73 00:02:48,199 --> 00:02:49,536 we may disagree about what it means 74 00:02:49,536 --> 00:02:51,073 Look at that! 75 00:02:51,073 --> 00:02:53,246 I believe that that is true 76 00:02:53,246 --> 00:02:55,961 It makes me do what I do 77 00:02:55,961 --> 00:02:57,926 and yet it is as if 78 00:02:57,926 --> 00:02:59,095 day after day 79 00:02:59,095 --> 00:03:01,669 I sa: " I have a bag of gold. 80 00:03:01,669 --> 00:03:02,973 Would you like a bag of gold?" 81 00:03:02,973 --> 00:03:04,310 and people say: 82 00:03:04,310 --> 00:03:08,588 "Where do you find time for bags of gold?" 83 00:03:08,588 --> 00:03:13,235 "Oh, no ..another currency to master." 84 00:03:13,235 --> 00:03:16,577 "Gold, is that sustainable?" 85 00:03:16,577 --> 00:03:17,881 Like: "No, you spend it..." 86 00:03:17,881 --> 00:03:19,017 Well..."What would you spend it on?" 87 00:03:19,017 --> 00:03:20,342 "What would you like to spend it on?" 88 00:03:20,342 --> 00:03:26,037 "I don't have time for your philosophical questions, Gardner". 89 00:03:26,037 --> 00:03:27,240 It's a bag of gold 90 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,045 What part of that do you not understand? 91 00:03:29,045 --> 00:03:31,485 I love this 92 00:03:31,485 --> 00:03:35,028 This is the Cortex A9, 93 00:03:35,028 --> 00:03:36,867 a chip that is in production, 94 00:03:36,867 --> 00:03:38,571 and I'm afraid that the audio here 95 00:03:38,571 --> 00:03:39,942 is not going to be sufficiently loud 96 00:03:39,942 --> 00:03:42,382 so I'll just tell you what Adrian Cockcroft says 97 00:03:42,382 --> 00:03:44,454 but if you really wanna to get the full spooky ride 98 00:03:44,454 --> 00:03:46,928 go to the IT conversations podcast. 99 00:03:46,928 --> 00:03:50,156 Have any of you heard him talk about Millicomputing? 100 00:03:50,156 --> 00:03:52,209 He defines millicomputing as a computer 101 00:03:52,209 --> 00:03:53,981 that consumes less than one watt 102 00:03:53,981 --> 00:03:54,847 and it'll fit in your pocket 103 00:03:54,847 --> 00:03:58,426 and it will not burn your leg 104 00:03:58,426 --> 00:04:00,559 This chip is in production 105 00:04:00,559 --> 00:04:02,270 It will appear in devices probably the next year or so. 106 00:04:02,270 --> 00:04:05,145 It has four graphical processing units 107 00:04:05,145 --> 00:04:07,618 each of which independently can process 108 00:04:07,618 --> 00:04:11,295 a full H.264 high definition stream 109 00:04:11,295 --> 00:04:13,301 and coding, decoding 110 00:04:13,301 --> 00:04:15,674 He talks about the way we're not going to carry 111 00:04:15,674 --> 00:04:17,078 computers in our pockets. 112 00:04:17,078 --> 00:04:19,485 We're going to carry web servers 113 00:04:19,485 --> 00:04:22,225 in our pockets 114 00:04:22,225 --> 00:04:24,164 we're going to walk in to a context 115 00:04:24,164 --> 00:04:25,969 and wirelessly link-up 116 00:04:25,969 --> 00:04:28,276 with the things we want to do in that context. 117 00:04:28,276 --> 00:04:30,114 There's usually where I stop 118 00:04:30,114 --> 00:04:32,287 when I play this for faculty 119 00:04:32,287 --> 00:04:34,827 because the next part is even spookier 120 00:04:34,827 --> 00:04:37,401 in which he talks about the way these milling computers 121 00:04:37,401 --> 00:04:39,800 will allow us to be in constant contact 122 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,551 with a society of avatars and a virtual world 123 00:04:43,551 --> 00:04:45,289 who will be able to, 124 00:04:45,289 --> 00:04:46,693 because of our wearable computing, 125 00:04:46,693 --> 00:04:47,830 to tap us on the shoulder 126 00:04:47,830 --> 00:04:49,935 and have a conversation with us 127 00:04:49,935 --> 00:04:51,339 while we are here in real space as well. 128 00:04:51,339 --> 00:04:56,119 Now to me that can be a real bag of gold 129 00:04:56,119 --> 00:04:57,791 or maybe we don't have time to 130 00:04:57,791 --> 00:04:59,395 amplify our beings that way 131 00:04:59,395 --> 00:05:01,869 I'm not going to say this is going to be easy 132 00:05:01,869 --> 00:05:03,540 or that's not going to have problems 133 00:05:03,540 --> 00:05:06,047 or be fraught or spun a whole new wave of 134 00:05:06,047 --> 00:05:13,334 milling cyber computing crime. 135 00:05:13,334 --> 00:05:14,804 But if it's going to happen 136 00:05:14,804 --> 00:05:16,476 and there are great possibilities it will 137 00:05:16,476 --> 00:05:18,214 why doesn't it make a difference? 138 00:05:18,214 --> 00:05:20,286 why hasn't that made people 139 00:05:20,286 --> 00:05:21,556 stop and say 140 00:05:21,556 --> 00:05:23,495 I guess I could recapture a sense of wonder 141 00:05:23,495 --> 00:05:29,345 under these circumstances 142 00:05:29,345 --> 00:05:31,450 What do we believe? 143 00:05:31,450 --> 00:05:33,690 "Today's technologies and their consequent environments 144 00:05:33,690 --> 00:05:35,294 succeed each other so rapidly 145 00:05:35,294 --> 00:05:38,369 that one environment makes us aware of the next. 146 00:05:38,369 --> 00:05:41,512 Technologies begin to perform the function of art 147 00:05:41,512 --> 00:05:43,684 in making us aware of the psychic 148 00:05:43,684 --> 00:05:46,024 and social consequences of technology... 149 00:05:46,024 --> 00:05:48,564 We are entering the new age of education 150 00:05:48,564 --> 00:05:50,536 that is programmed for discovery 151 00:05:50,536 --> 00:05:52,758 rather than instruction." 152 00:05:52,758 --> 00:05:57,322 We could, especially if we were an English faculty, 153 00:05:57,322 --> 00:05:59,862 wordsmith this 154 00:05:59,862 --> 00:06:01,400 tinker with it 155 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,706 if this were a faculty senate, it would not get out of committee. 156 00:06:03,706 --> 00:06:08,018 Probably we all believe some variety of that 157 00:06:08,018 --> 00:06:12,564 some version of that 158 00:06:12,564 --> 00:06:14,403 or to put it another way from the Renaissance, 159 00:06:14,403 --> 00:06:16,408 which is my favourite place to hang out 160 00:06:16,408 --> 00:06:18,046 in the virtual space in my head 161 00:06:18,046 --> 00:06:21,255 it's like the Music of the Spheres 162 00:06:21,255 --> 00:06:23,327 in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice 163 00:06:23,327 --> 00:06:25,199 the young Lorenzo woos his sweetheart 164 00:06:25,199 --> 00:06:27,706 with talk of the stars 165 00:06:27,706 --> 00:06:31,015 Is that scalable? 166 00:06:31,015 --> 00:06:33,522 Well, never mind. 167 00:06:33,522 --> 00:06:35,661 "There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 168 00:06:35,661 --> 00:06:39,071 But in his motion like an angel sings, 169 00:06:39,071 --> 00:06:41,578 Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; 170 00:06:41,578 --> 00:06:44,452 Such harmony is in immortal souls, 171 00:06:44,452 --> 00:06:47,527 But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 172 00:06:47,527 --> 00:06:51,037 Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it." 173 00:06:51,037 --> 00:06:53,678 Melvyn Bragg , In Our Time, 174 00:06:53,678 --> 00:06:55,266 in the episode of Music of the Spheres 175 00:06:55,266 --> 99:59:59,999 "This is the music of the spheres 176 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the idea that the stars and planets 177 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as they travel through space 178 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 make beautiful music together 179 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The Music of the Spheres 180 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 played out of the classical world 181 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the Medieval period 182 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and into the Renaissance 183 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it affords us a glimpse into minds 184 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for whom the Universe 185 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was full of meaning 186 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of strange correspondences 187 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and grand harmonies 188 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I would like to graduate 189 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a generation of students 190 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who will help ME here 191 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to strange correspondences and grand harmonies 192 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I have not yet imagined 193 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's what I'm in it for 194 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But oh well, 195 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how you are going to protect privacy? 196 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is a time of wonders 197 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Usually the printing press is introduced as an example 198 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of a disruptive technology 199 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on the order of what we're seeing now. 200 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No small disruption 201 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The printing press started wars 202 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 overturned religious orthodoxy 203 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The printing press meant that any fool 204 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with a piece of machinery 205 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 could say anything 206 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and how would you know? 207 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Well, I think that the disruption is on a bigger scale 208 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that the disruption we're witnessing today 209 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is the disruption on the scale 210 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the development of the written alphabet 211 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the phonetic alphabet 212 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This was a huge deal 213 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This was a technology invented to communicate 214 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with the Dead 215 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so it's not like a tool 216 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's a meta tool 217 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's an alphabet 218 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What will I say with that? 219 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What do you want to say? 220 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know... 221 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 just tell me what you want me to write 222 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's a great book 223 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Marianne Wolf, Proust and the Squid. 224 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She talks about the science of the reading brain. 225 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the fact that learning to read 226 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is something we do deliberately 227 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to re-arrange our minds 228 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We make new connections 229 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 among the various perceptual centers in our brains 230 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that are not programmed in there 231 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we seem to have a speech center 232 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as part of our revolved neuro anathomy 233 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but not a reading center 234 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we have to do things that do not happen naturally 235 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but once we do those things 236 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we find... 237 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a bag of gold 238 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Clay Shirky wrote a blog post 239 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that really rocked me back on my heels 240 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 back in March, on Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable 241 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 did anyone of you see that blog post? 242 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yeah..he talks about the ways in which newspapers 243 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 essentially played Nearer my God to thee in the Titanic 244 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they thought they could nibble at the edges 245 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because nibbling at the edges 246 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 well, you know you don't have to take a big bite 247 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you don't have to worry of indigestion 248 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you don't have to worry about anything 249 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you just take a little nibble 250 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 well, newspapers were nibbling at the edges 251 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the 1990's 252 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they stopped being a viable business model 253 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is Shirky's argument 254 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 his argument is not that journalism will go away 255 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but that the coincidence of journalism and newspapers 256 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was historically conditioned 257 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and can go away historically 258 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but the newspaper folks 259 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like the professors, maybe like the edtech folks 260 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 maybe like any of us in the room 261 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 tend to believe that we're in the domain 262 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because we're in the best of all possible domains 263 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is the way it has to be 264 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not so much 265 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and Shirky coined the term 266 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which really scared me to death 267 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "the digital facelift" 268 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for what newspapers try to do 269 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we'll just do what we did before 270 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but we'll put it on the web 271 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it'll be what we had before 272 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we'll have some hyperlinks 273 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it'll be what we did before, etc... 274 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "The Digital Facelift" 275 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can that stand up against 276 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 these items of belief? 277 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "As the means of input increase, 278 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so does the need for insight or pattern recognition 279 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 your mileage may vary 280 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that's true 281 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The school drop-out situation 282 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 will get very much worse 283 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because of the frustration 284 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the student need for participation 285 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the learning process 286 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which is not a new need 287 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it's a need 288 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that had to take some pretty distorted forms 289 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 during the industrial age 290 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as we tried to figure out scaling 291 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and sustainability 292 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we did the best we could 293 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but if we find that maybe 294 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's not the way to go forward 295 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 change has to happen 296 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it's not happening yet 297 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 instead we're getting the digital facelift 298 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now, I have to tell you first of all 299 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is from Brazil, 300 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a film by Terry Gillian, 301 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which I saw for the first time 302 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when it came out 303 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I saw again it 304 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's probably ten or so years since I've seen it 305 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but under the intoxicating effect 306 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the Reverend 307 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I knew I would have to make a pilgrimage to see Brazil again. 308 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I found that it told the story 309 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of my life today, maybe yours 310 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here's the thing that I didn't remember 311 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about this scene 312 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She is loving this experience 313 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To us it looks grotesque 314 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to her...well..she's getting off 315 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She has multiple opportunities 316 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to continue to examine 317 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 her increasingly grotesque self 318 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the pursuit of an illusion 319 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and she's deriving intense pleasure from it 320 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because see how it's framed 321 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is great! 322 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What I'm doing to you is 323 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I stretch your features out of recognition is great 324 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in this digital facelift you look marvelous 325 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You can't see it because of the light 326 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but he's got these clips 327 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he's holding her face back with 328 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is where she really gets excited 329 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and finally to make sure it stays the way it should 330 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he puts surround wrap around it. 331 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I assure you there are no further problems 332 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that digital facelift. 333 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Problem solved 334 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or perhaps the digital facelift 335 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is like this poor lady in Brazil 336 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who has immense faith in her doctor 337 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who is a maverick 338 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He's an innovator 339 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He doesn't go along with the flow 340 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He has a special chemical process. 341 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now it's taking a little while 342 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as she is very delicately skinned 343 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so her results are not coming out exactly 344 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the way she had imagined 345 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Notice the lovely seepage 346 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 around the bandages 347 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the eye V 348 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the fact that she is now in a wheel chair 349 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and blind apparently 350 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some kind of support for her chin 351 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she's not in very good shape 352 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but she's hanging in 353 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she's a believer 354 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 maybe she's got the wrong guru 355 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because eventually this is what happens 356 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with her digital facelift 357 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they have a memorial service for her 358 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's a relatively gruesome affair 359 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because that's what's happened 360 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the end 361 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's just coming apart 362 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's a nightmare 363 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm not saying that the LMS will necessarily 364 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 get us to this 365 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm just saying 366 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So what do we do instead of having digital facelifts? 367 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I propose three recursive practices 368 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These practices feed on each other 369 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They're what we do in education anyway 370 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but they can amplified 371 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 by information and communication technologies. 372 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One is narrating 373 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 having the students 374 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 having the teachers 375 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's the real trouble 376 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thinking aloud 377 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 willing to tell the story 378 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the process of the learning 379 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the investigation 380 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you could call it blogging 381 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Curating 382 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how do you take care of your stuff 383 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not to protect it 384 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not to even make sure you can transcode it 385 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 those things are important 386 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but how do you arrange it 387 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the people who will come to see it? 388 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for yourself as you contemplate it 389 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now as scholars 390 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we're pretty used to the idea of curation 391 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this has to do with dissertations 392 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and scholarly articles and so forth 393 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Many students in my opinion come to college 394 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 believing they have nothing to curate 395 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they will generate nothing to curate 396 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 during their time in school. 397 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They'll have transactional exchanges 398 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with professors who mark their work 399 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and those pieces of paper get put in a box 400 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'd like students to think 401 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that they began their life's work 402 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when they come to school 403 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and finally sharing 404 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now that I have done it 405 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now that I've arranged it 406 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now that I've thought about it 407 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm going to put it out there 408 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because it may be valuable to someone 409 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because I may find the unmet friend 410 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because as it was said 411 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so memorably by John Todd in his presentation 412 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Meaning happens when the two people connect" 413 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Very important 414 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Much of the way education is set up 415 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 militates against each of these 416 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let alone all of them together 417 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and yet we all know 418 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that one of the great things 419 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about the technologies that we use 420 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 these information and communication technologies 421 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that they not only allow these things 422 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they amplify them, they augment them 423 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they turn them up to eleven 424 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they make that feedback happen 425 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and when I try to explain this to my students 426 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I inevitably go to Jimmy Hendrix 427 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 playing the Star Spangled Banner 428 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at Woodstock 429 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they say: "Why are you showing us this?" 430 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I say: 431 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Because he knows how to control feedback 432 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He knows how to play feedback 433 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that's what you need to know 434 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The effects that get unleashed 435 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in this recursive practice 436 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think are most powerful 437 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on the open web 438 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 using Web 2.0 affordances 439 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or whatever the web is going to be 440 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as it goes forward 441 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because the Web is not just a platform 442 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for these things 443 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it is the natural outgrowth of our desire 444 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for these things 445 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That makes the web itself recursive 446 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And students have an intimation of that 447 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, 448 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they have a feeling about that 449 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from their own use of social media 450 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but they think that's somehow 451 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know 452 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that couldn't be right 453 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they get to college and they find 454 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that no, that really isn't right 455 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we have a template for you, young man 456 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but I think their intimations are correct 457 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so what's the answer 458 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't have it 459 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 however, here's a framework 460 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for thinking about what... 461 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is what I use when I try to dream 462 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as big as I can 463 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I try to think about 464 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 helping students understand cyberinfrastructure 465 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and how to build one for themselves 466 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to be able to be architects of their own digital lives 467 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which will mean as we go forward 468 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that they need to be worrying about 469 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the things we worry about 470 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but productively together 471 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 narrating, curating, sharing 472 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is a definition of cyberinfrastructure 473 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from the American Council of Learned Societies 474 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in their report on cyberinfrastructure 475 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 called "Our Cultural Commonwealth" 476 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Cyberinfrastructure is something more specific 477 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 than the network itself, 478 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it is something more general than a tool 479 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or a resource developed for a particular project, 480 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a range of projects, or, even more broadly, 481 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for a particular discipline." 482 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's the sweet spot 483 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's not just the network 484 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's more specific than that 485 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 yet it's not so specific 486 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that it's simply the tool you use 487 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for a particular project or a domain 488 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Something like an alphabet 489 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Anybody here play Little Big Planet? 490 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Little Big Planet people raise your hands. 491 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 OK, good 492 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Little Big Planet people grab into the little sponge 493 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Little Big Planet is a game done 494 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 by a company called Mollecule 495 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the Sony Playstation 3 496 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So it's commercial 497 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's proprietary, etc... 498 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That said, Little Big Planet is not the only game 499 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to build authoring tools into the game 500 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it's one of the most conspicuously successful 501 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at doing this 502 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so when you buy Little Big Planet 503 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you buy the game 504 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and within the game 505 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the tools to make more levels for that game 506 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in other words 507 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you're able to be within that environment 508 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and be both a participant 509 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and a producer if you choose to be 510 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when you make the new levels 511 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can upload them 512 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the media Mollecule server 513 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh yes, 514 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're getting great business advantage from this 515 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but look at the way they're framing it. 516 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You upload it to the server 517 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 then people can find you by author's name 518 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they can find you by ranking 519 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can tag them 520 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ingenious, fun, creepy, boring, brilliant, wow 521 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 right? 522 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can favourite the ones you like best 523 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in about a year and a half 524 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 one million levels 525 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 have been uploaded 526 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the Little Big Planet server 527 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at Media Mollecule 528 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 one million 529 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let's say that the Theodore Sturgeon's Law is true 530 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 90%of them are piffle 531 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there are still 100.000 532 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and because my son is very patient with me 533 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a learner 534 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 though I am slow 535 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the bonds of love mean that 536 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he's going to be there for me 537 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he has taken me through 538 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some of these user-generated levels 539 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you know 540 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're really diverse 541 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they're really cool 542 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they're really interesting 543 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're examples of an outpouring of creativity 544 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in what James Gee calls "the producerly mode" 545 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in a subdomain of a larger domain 546 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you could call it undergraduate research 547 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you could call it service learning 548 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you could call it situated cognition 549 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can call it any number of things 550 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's cool 551 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's fun 552 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's work 553 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it involves the whole person 554 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there's gotta be a way 555 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we can make it happen in education 556 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 more consistently than it does 557 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or at least to think about it in these terms 558 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so kids don't lose hope 559 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here's a Little Big Planet 560 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's the graphical user interface 561 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 called cPannel 562 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the hosting service 563 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at Bluehost 564 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which is where I've got my stuff 565 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and my stuff is there 566 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have backups of my stuff 567 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, I trust no-one 568 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be a little skeptical 569 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and yet I'm committed 570 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here are the things I can do with 571 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the graphical user interface 572 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at the level of systems administrator 573 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or someone who plays one 574 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 through a GUI 575 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here are the things that I need to think about 576 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now look at this 577 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this allows me to be producerly at the level of the server 578 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for my own digital life. 579 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There's a getting started wizard 580 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 okay that's fine 581 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I need to know about changing passwords 582 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I know sometimes my students think about 583 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 changing languages 584 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that would be really cool, etcetera 585 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 email, managing your own email 586 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can have a thousand, two thousand email boxes in here 587 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 your file system 588 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they've got to know about that 589 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 these are not terribly difficult things 590 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but they are important 591 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and taken as a system 592 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they become more important 593 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I like my students to have a digital presence 594 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where they can track who comes to see them 595 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's an important part of the narrating, curating and sharing 596 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and it can all be automated of course 597 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you've got a choice among several 598 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 security - we'd want our students to think about that, right? 599 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but I'd want them to think about it as digital citizens 600 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 architects of their own cyberspace 601 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not as people who have to find the website 602 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that tells them what safe computing is all about 603 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at our school 604 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That should go without saying 605 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because they're thinking about this already 606 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They're going to have multiple domains 607 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or they should. 608 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Data? 609 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Data Literacy is vital 610 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can they have a nodding acquaintance with databases? 611 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sure 612 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and then the software down here 613 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is kind of interesting 614 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 software and services 615 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 one click: which blogging platform would you like? 616 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 try out several 617 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 groupware, livechat, utilities, content management, 618 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 client management 619 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 do we have to do all of those? 620 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No 621 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Do they have to read all the books in the library? 622 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No 623 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Do they have to take all the courses in the catalogue? 624 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No 625 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Why do we have more there? 626 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To amplify the possibilities 627 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To give them some room to roam 628 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Some room for discovery 629 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A place to play 630 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean, those of you who've heard 631 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 either Jim or me or Martha Burgess talk about 632 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The Bluehost Experiment 633 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in Washington 634 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where we essentially let the staff loose in this environment 635 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is the next step for that 636 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in my Little Big Planet 637 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 put the students in this kind of sandbox 638 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let them play, let them innovate, let them discover 639 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what if you give it to 4000 students 640 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and there are only 100 works of staggering genius emerging 641 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 oh well, that would be ok 642 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 more scripts, e-commerce 643 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 marketing, photo galleries 644 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 webmails, website builders 645 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a couple of wikis 646 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you can get in there and install your own 647 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they don't have a one click install for me wiki 648 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which is a regrettable omission but 649 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can get in there 650 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's pretty outlandish 651 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when we were South by Southwest 652 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 somebody very some high I'd say 653 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at the end of the presentation said: 654 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Are you saying that our students 655 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 need to be system administrators? 656 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I thought about it 657 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and my first impulse was: 658 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh No, not at all..that would be extreme 659 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and than I thought twice and said 660 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yes, actually that is what I want them to be 661 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 system administrators 662 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if it is easy enough to do 663 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which the graphical front makes it 664 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and if system is understood 665 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not just as a particular installation 666 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but as a metaphor for their digital lives 667 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they'll have to be system administrators 668 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for their digital lives 669 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what are they going to do when they graduate? 670 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what are they going to do when 671 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're raising children? 672 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 None of this is going to roll back as we move forward 673 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Every book will be digitized 674 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Every journal will be digitized 675 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's a good thing potentially 676 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but only if people are able to think about this 677 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in this personal way 678 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "When radar was new it was found necessary 679 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to eliminate the balloon system for city protection 680 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that had preceded the radar. 681 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The balloons got in the way of the electric feedback 682 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the new radar information. 683 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Do you get that? 684 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The advanced defensive capability 685 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was stymied by the old defensive capability 686 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Such may well prove to be the case with much 687 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of our existing school curriculum... 688 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that's true 689 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Let's talk about openess a little bit 690 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What does it mean to be open? 691 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we talk about openess we usually think 692 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to be open to the world 693 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Everyboy can see it 694 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's where you're going to be exposed to 695 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the most massive network effects 696 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So I like this, obviously 697 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think a lot of us here do 698 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 although there have been 699 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some really good interrogations of the idea 700 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but there are other levels of openness as well 701 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or to put it another way 702 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 places that are closed where we can't see 703 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the things are closed 704 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What about being open to each other in a learning community? 705 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What about the teacher to the learner? 706 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the learners open to each other? 707 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To what extent does the Blackboard discussion forum 708 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 make the participants actually open to each other 709 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To what extent are learners 710 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ready to talk about their vulnerabilities to the teacher 711 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and oh, maybe they're not willing to do that 712 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because the teacher is not willing 713 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to talk about his or her vulnerabilities to the learner 714 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Vulnerabilities are fine 715 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's actually where the learning happens 716 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To know as we are known requires identity markers 717 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is a non-trivial factor 718 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Any adult that says this is a trivial factor 719 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 has forgotten what is was like to decorate a locker 720 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or is denying the fact that they actually agonized 721 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 over the choice of the Welcome mat for their front door 722 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These are non-trivial factors 723 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and finally open to ourselves 724 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To what extent do the learning experiences 725 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we co-create or impose 726 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 open us up to self-awareness or meta-cognition 727 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The thing about the personal cyberinfrastructure 728 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that once the students have begun to build it 729 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it can then be the object of 730 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 narration, curation and sharing itself 731 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at a meta level 732 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let's get together and talk about 733 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the cyberinfrastructure you built 734 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 why did you build it that way? 735 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what does that represent about you as a learner? 736 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or as an architect? 737 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what the one I built? 738 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what if we modularize 739 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and start swapping it among ourselves? 740 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like levels of a game. 741 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where we can rank the efficacy of the various modules 742 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we built on our own and together 743 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 then you learn something about yourself 744 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that would be ok 745 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is a discussion forum in Blackboard 746 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it looks like email 747 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Why does it look like email? 748 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's a rethorical question. 749 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's perfectly transactional 750 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It moves data from one point to another 751 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The trouble is that's not a learning community 752 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Where's the decorated locker? 753 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Where's the doodle on the notebook? 754 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Where's the marker of identity? 755 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Well, it's here. 756 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 phpbb 757 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 one click install 758 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from cPannel 759 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh, you can have an avatar 760 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh, you can choose a username 761 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh you can have a SIG file 762 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a non-trivial marker of identity 763 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it looks nicer 764 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 oh yeah, this post was Wednesday January 16th 2008 765 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 January 18th 2008 while the class was going on 766 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that forum kept active for about 6 months 767 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 after the class was over 768 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Why? 769 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I set it up but I did not choose the templates 770 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for their expressions of themselves 771 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and their identity in that space 772 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there was enough openness 773 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that they could decorate their lockers 774 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some of the forum belonged to them 775 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Well, that was kind of interesting 776 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This thread belonged to them too, BTW 777 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but that's another story 778 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What do we believe? 779 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "The aspiration of our times for 780 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wholeness, empathy and depth of awareness 781 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is a natural adjunct of electric technology... 782 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The mark of our time is its revulsion 783 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 against imposed patterns. 784 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We are suddenly eager to have things 785 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and people declare their beings totally. 786 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There is a deep faith to be found 787 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in this new attitude 788 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 - a faith that concerns 789 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the ultimate harmony of all being." 790 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Strikes you as Utopian? 791 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Strikes you as over-stated? 792 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Is it the Music of the Spheres? 793 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think some kind of faith 794 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Something like this underlies education 795 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Unless we think we are just training Pavlov's dogs 796 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We want people 797 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who will find those strange correspondences 798 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and make them audible 799 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to each other and to us 800 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can a personal cyberinfrastructure do it? 801 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know 802 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I've never got any chance to try that out 803 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I know what happened 804 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when the staff did it at Mary Washington 805 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It was not uniform 806 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the story that doesn't usually get told 807 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that it took 2 1/2 years 808 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of kicking, screaming, biting (that's a metaphor) 809 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There was actually some screaming 810 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of people saying: 811 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How many minutes a day 812 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 do you want me to blog, Gardner?" 813 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I got that, absolutely 814 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I had to bite my tongue because 815 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was about to say 816 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You know, I get that questions from my students a lot 817 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but that would've been bad 818 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that would've been very, very bad 819 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it's the same idea, it's like 820 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can I turn this into a transaction yet? 821 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can I make this job into just a job of work? 822 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you know, beneath all of that 823 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there are all sorts of anxieties 824 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they may be principle resistances 825 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there could be a lot of things 826 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so there was a long way to get there 827 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but when we got there 828 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 well, we got there 829 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and there are five more 830 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 sent back 831 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who got there too 832 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Perfect? No 833 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Decisively different? Yeah 834 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So is this our default? 835 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Is this critical thinking? 836 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know 837 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We live in a risky, dangerous environment 838 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 full of people who are trying to manipulate us 839 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and pick our pockets 840 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's undeniably true 841 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It is true that people acting in what they will say 842 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 will be your best interest. 843 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so hoping that at some point 844 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Stockholm syndrome kicks in 845 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you identify with your capturers and go willingly 846 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 enjoying the digital facelift or whatever it is 847 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but this for me can't be the default 848 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and part of why it's so exciting 849 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for me to be at this conference 850 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that there is another way to think about this 851 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there's another way to think about confidence 852 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe narrating, curating and sharing 853 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 breeds confidence 854 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Western man acquired from the technology of literacy 855 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the power to act without reacting... 856 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Not a bad thing 857 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as the write points out 858 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's important that the surgeon 859 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not be overwhelmed when performing the surgery 860 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In the electric age 861 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when our central nervous system 862 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is technologically extended to involve us 863 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the whole of mankind 864 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and to incorporate the whole mankind in us, 865 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (and make that human kind) 866 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we necessarily participate, in depth, 867 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the consequences of our every action 868 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's what we all fear, 869 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 its what we all long for, I think. 870 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's somehow even the small things 871 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 can be meaningful 872 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Anybody who watches a Twitter stream 873 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in, during and on election, 874 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wants to feel this way 875 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It is no longer possible to adopt the aloof 876 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and dissociated role of the literate Westerner 877 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Overstated? Sure 878 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Extreme? Maybe. 879 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Aloof and dissociated role of the literate professor 880 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Westerner? 881 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Such is the faith in which this book was written 882 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It explores the contours of our own extended beings 883 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and our tecnologies 884 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 seeking the principle of intelligibility in each of them. 885 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 For me the idea of the personal cyberinfrastructure 886 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is about the search of the principle of intelligibility 887 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in our technologies 888 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What the personal infrastructure would be 889 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is a representation. 890 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A creative representation 891 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of that intelligibility 892 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 maybe of that search as well 893 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In the full confidence that it is possible 894 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to win an understanding of these forms 895 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that will bring them into orderly service 896 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I've looked at them anew 897 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 accepting very little of the conventional wisdom 898 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 concerning them." 899 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm glad that a Canadian did that. 900 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Aside from Clay Shirky, 901 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the quotations I read 902 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 were from Marshall Mc Luhan 903 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in Understanding Media, 1964. 904 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know what you knew about Marshall Mc Luhan 905 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when you were going through school 906 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what I knew about him was 907 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how he had a cameo in any hall. 908 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was cheated in my education 909 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Along with some genuinely bizarre things 910 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there were genuinelly prophetic things 911 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in this book 912 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I think they aligned very well 913 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with some of the sense of urgency 914 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and some of the scope of ambition 915 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we all feel, 916 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we all share 917 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at a conference like this 918 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The personal cyberinfrastructure 919 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 may not be the only way to learn this alphabet 920 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but I'd like to try sometime. 921 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Jim? 922 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Rather than bore you with any of my details 923 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let's not lose some of this thread to this 924 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 does anyone have any questions for Gardner? 925 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yes, please 926 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So I was wondering 927 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some of the examples of software that you 928 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's easily installed that you provided 929 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are forums and things like that 930 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if everybody has their own 931 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some of these become more useful in agreggate, right? 932 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so, have you thought about sort of 933 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 certain things being sort of you know, 934 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 individual elements of a presence in cyber insfrastructure 935 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 others aggregating or working across federation 936 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Excellent question 937 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In my dream world the student... 938 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Bryan Alexander is a champion 939 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I do not want your bread right now 940 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but when you are well again, I'd like it 941 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So the idea would be 942 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the student's Baker Club gets together 943 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they talk about how they're going to organize 944 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and of course something is going to be online 945 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because it needs to be 946 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because of these affordances 947 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One student says: 948 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I could put a phpbb forum 949 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Another student says 950 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yeah, and actually did you know 951 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there was this add on? 952 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and then as a group they agree 953 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 1) it would be better to have one forum 954 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 rather than multiple forums 955 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 2) they aggregate their knowledge about 956 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what would be the best instance of that 957 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 3) they put it together 958 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and by doing that 959 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the lights will go out, 960 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the tables will rise 961 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we will join hands and sing 962 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In doing that 963 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what they will be doing is discussing 964 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a particular scripting affordance on a server 965 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but they will be doing it strategically, 966 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in terms of communication needs 967 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and organizational excellence 968 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Doing something other than on a surface level 969 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's the one of the way I imagine it , yeah 970 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 971 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to a certain degree, yeah 972 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in my experience IT departments 973 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 will not have thought in a sophisticated way 974 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about how a blog or a discussion forum differ 975 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 rhetorically 976 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or how they may be able to shape 977 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 student communication 978 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that's okay in a way 979 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as long as they don't prescribe the tools 980 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or limit the tools 981 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have an IT department at bluehost.com 982 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and they're very good at keeping, you know, 983 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 things up to date and the backups 984 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're usually very good at that 985 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so forth 986 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's their work 987 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but what they have done is to provide me affordances 988 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I can explore 989 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so, yeah, I mean I think there is 990 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ideally there would be some interest 991 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the rhetorical questions in the IT shop 992 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and by building a cyber infrastructure 993 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the students would begin to understand 994 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 something of what goes on mechanically as well 995 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there would be a greater opportunity for conversation 996 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, I think it would be ok 997 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if the students made something that broke 998 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They would learn from that, I think 999 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I also think that 1000 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 building on what Gardner said 1001 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a response to your question 1002 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that the actual cyber infrastructure 1003 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as posed by an individual, a domain and a space 1004 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 allows IT departments 1005 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to re-imagine this question 1006 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of aggregating, syndicating information 1007 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as it is happening 1008 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 around space 1009 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so it does not mean like 1010 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the IT department disappears, or somehow the enemy 1011 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but it allows them to re-imagine this notion of flow 1012 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this kind of property of electricity 1013 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that McLuhan is talking about so beautifully 1014 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and if we are talking about electricity and flow 1015 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we're talking about a new property 1016 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 by which we can start to imagine space 1017 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 through the students having their own 1018 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so IT departments 1019 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 should be as much excited about 1020 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the possibilities for this 1021 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 rather than ....ing an age old against them 1022 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's not, I mean 1023 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's a kind of matter of us working together 1024 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to re-imagine the space 1025 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I think that's why the immediate call back to that 1026 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 doesn't capture, I think 1027 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what that model sets up 1028 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a notion and a mode of aggregation 1029 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to kind of build into the syndication 1030 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You have your own cyber infrastructure 1031 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and then you re-imagine it 1032 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and then IT department think about 1033 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what that means 1034 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 right, and 1035 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 okay..how much time do we have? 1036 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 okay 1037 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Great talk. I'm reminded of Larry Cuban's book 1038 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Teachers and Machines 1039 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which sort of talks about resistance 1040 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that the educational system has 1041 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to introductions of technology 1042 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and changing actual educational practice 1043 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wondering if you might comment on 1044 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 your thoughts about how 1045 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the open educational resources movement 1046 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 might make a difference 1047 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in overcoming that structural resistance 1048 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and well, this kind of loops into the IT question as well 1049 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's very easy to paint faculty as stodgy 1050 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 faculty as vilains 1051 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and sometimes it's true 1052 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you know it's easy to say that IT is 1053 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the enemy because they can't think outside the box 1054 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 sometimes it's true, you know 1055 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but there are plenty of people in both domains 1056 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who, if they are able to see compelling examples 1057 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of fresh thinking 1058 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 will say wow..that's cool 1059 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'd like to do that 1060 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that would have addressed 1061 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what I was thinking about with my students 1062 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 just last semester 1063 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that would have gotten me past this point 1064 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where I wasn't able to get them 1065 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to read carefully 1066 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 before they come to class 1067 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but that 1068 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this is one of the great sorrows for me 1069 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a faculty member 1070 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with regard to Learning Management Systems 1071 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 aside from all the other sorrows 1072 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I can't see what my colleagues are doing 1073 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I mean seeing it on the Web 1074 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so I can look at it carefully 1075 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and speak to them intelligently about it 1076 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Why did you design it that way? 1077 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What did you learn from it? 1078 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I think the same thing is true for IT folks 1079 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when they go to..I've been to some IT conferences 1080 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and , you know, a lot of times 1081 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what they are hearing about 1082 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are anecdotes of spectacular catastrophes 1083 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or whatever 1084 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but you're not able to actually... 1085 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and there may be some good reasons for this 1086 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to some extent 1087 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but they're not able to see 1088 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 dazzling examples of innovation 1089 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in a very easy and accessible way 1090 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so I think that open educational resources 1091 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is a lot more than about exposing content 1092 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's about exposing these compelling examples 1093 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of other ways to do it 1094 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's like being able to see multiple 1095 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 performances of Shakespeare 1096 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh..never thought of reading the line that way 1097 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so the play transforms 1098 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know if that answers your question 1099 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but, yeah...ok 1100 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So Gardner, is it too late for them to become curators 1101 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 once they get into Higher Education 1102 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, you know, cPannel for me 1103 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I could do that..I'm an IT guy 1104 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think I think critically about affordances 1105 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but at the same time 1106 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is it too late? 1107 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean..my daughter's eight 1108 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she has a blog, domain of her own 1109 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 shouldn't be starting there? 1110 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we get them for four years here, right? 1111 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 maybe seven 1112 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how do we drop down? 1113 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 somebody said it's too late...too late 1114 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean I don't know what that idea 1115 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of what too late means 1116 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean we're always in midias res with this stuff 1117 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we're always coming into it and imagining it 1118 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and Gardner, to refine Gardner, 1119 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in that whole of the IT is like 1120 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so many people that I have talked about it 1121 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and inspired back are right here at UBC 1122 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Andrew who is coming from an IT perspective 1123 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was just blowing my mind again and again 1124 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and Scott Mc Millan, I mean 1125 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These are people who are in that space 1126 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who are seeing these examples 1127 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you're kind of rip and remixing it 1128 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from this space to kind of think about 1129 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wow, we can actually play with these modes 1130 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and re-imagine them 1131 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I think, wouldn't students also experience that? 1132 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at any given point in that kind of narrative? 1133 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 excuse me, how much further we would be pushed, right 1134 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the academy, if our students were coming to us 1135 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thinking critically about it? 1136 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yeah, that's right 1137 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so there are a couple of things I want to say 1138 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in response to that 1139 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One is that there is 1140 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a developmental aspect in education, 1141 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which is fine with me 1142 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What it means is that 1143 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 at every point along the learning continuum 1144 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it will be advantageous for 1145 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a mentor, a guide, an expert, a teacher 1146 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to be there to coach the student 1147 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to their zone of proximal development 1148 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's fine 1149 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 another way to say that is 1150 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I do not believe that students will make 1151 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 automatically on their own 1152 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to their own innate drive for self-improvement 1153 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 all the best, you know, choices 1154 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think there is a role for teaching 1155 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now, there's also the developmental capacity 1156 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the human mind, you know 1157 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kids at a certain age are able to distinguish 1158 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like varying levels of volume 1159 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and different sizes of containers 1160 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and at an earlier age, they're not able to 1161 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so something actually happens in the brain 1162 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that makes that next thing kick in 1163 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ahm, so there's always going to be 1164 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it seems to me 1165 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some way in which 1166 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the particular developmental moment 1167 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 will impose certain kinds of constraints 1168 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That said and if anybody knows about 1169 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Jerome Bruner's idea of the spiral curriculum 1170 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's where it comes from 1171 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there's an authentic version of any concept 1172 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that can be taught to any child 1173 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who can read and write 1174 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you pitch it to the appropriate level of development 1175 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you keep coming back to it 1176 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 spiralling upward and upward and upward 1177 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 until that magic hand off moment 1178 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which I think often happens and should happen 1179 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the upper grades of high school 1180 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if it doesn't happen till college 1181 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's still not too late 1182 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's part of the great jolt I got when I got to college 1183 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I felt like they had handed the spiral to me 1184 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's like okay - we've brought you around 1185 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we've brought you around, we've brought you around 1186 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's your spiral now, you know, 1187 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 keep finding the level of the concept 1188 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that gets you to the next spot 1189 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Be your own coach to your own zone 1190 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of proximal development 1191 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this is something I left out 1192 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I should put before you before we're done 1193 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This won't work until it's built into the curriculum 1194 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't want you to think that what I'm proposing 1195 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that kids just get assigned these web spaces 1196 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that's it and that they will magically 1197 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 through tinkering come up with good stuff 1198 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This would be an amazing meeting ground 1199 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for digital experts in the discipline 1200 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 librarians, advisors, student life people, edtech folks 1201 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 instructional designers 1202 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can you imagine? 1203 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 My feeling is students would come in 1204 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and their whole first year experience 1205 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 would be digital fluency 1206 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 by means of building out 1207 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this personal cyber infrastructure 1208 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the first iteration of it 1209 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 then at the end of your first year 1210 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let's have a ceremony 1211 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 let's have a party 1212 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 pick the domain that's going to be your domain 1213 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the next three years 1214 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and make a decision there 1215 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's all coming of age 1216 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's an occasion 1217 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you have to have these rites of passage 1218 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but for that whole first year 1219 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're thinking about narrating, curating and sharing 1220 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the rest of their lives as learners 1221 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I think it could be pretty neat 1222 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, a pretty interesting thing to do 1223 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I want to be on that team 1224 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that works with students 1225 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to say, hey..you're about to do work 1226 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that you ought to be able to care about 1227 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the rest of your life 1228 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if you haven't done it already 1229 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and, I, to get back to your original question 1230 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 one of the most gifted students that I've run across 1231 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in my career is a fellow 1232 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I just taught at Baylor last spring 1233 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he's got his own YouTube channel 1234 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, Stop Motion Lego Animation 1235 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 its most popular stuff gets 40 - 50.000 views 1236 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's been going on since he was 13 or 14 1237 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so yeah, what if that was baked into the curriculum? 1238 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in high school? 1239 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 then they would push us, absolutely 1240 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Yeah, ok thanks