Having arrived a week late to the course I’m re-designating half way through week two as the end of week one and summarising where I’ve got to so far.

I’m already finding the course content and the course format fascinating and though provoking.  As well as interchanges with other course participants, it has also prompted numerous discussions outside of the course.

There are so many topics that interest me, from mass-participation problem solving, through artificial intelligence, the privileging of certain information through algorithms, and onward to more fundamental questions about what it means to be human or transhuman.   The challenge is proving to be staying on one topic long enough to gain a useful level of understanding, as well remembering to keep in mind that it’s the educational aspects of these big questions that are most important, at least as regards this course.

I’m always looking for practical applications from this course and I can see parallels in my workplace.  Recently we have been using iPads in our practices in a way that allows our people to learn about our products and services alongside our customers, for example through interactive demonstrations augmented by questions and explanations from the colleague.  In this context, this human-machine combination provides an experience that could not be delivered as effectively by either alone.

Tomorrow is my first experience of the film festival. Having viewed the clips from the first ‘festival’ alone I’m looking forward to the shared experience and discussion.

*(Citation to be added)