Tag Archives: IFTTT

Block 1 - Cyberculture, Block 2 - Community culture, Block 3 - Algorithm culture, Blog posts, Lifestream, Twitter

TWEET: why people really love technology

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I’m gathering together content to present a dystopia versus utopia view of technology for my ‘web essay’ and this interview provides some useful views.

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Comments on Nigel’s EDC Lifestream Blog

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Useful and detailed summary here Nigel – do try to stay within the 250-word limit for these, but yes, sometimes one needs to elaborate. It might be worth trying to extend some of these ideas in a separate post.

‘ To me this is clearly a linking theme and I see possibilities in exploring this in my final assignment for this course.’

Sounds good – so this would be oppositions between ‘pure’ humans and ‘distinct’ technologies? Or dystopia and utopic views of technology? I agree that these are a strong themes that work through the blocks. It would be important to see the different ways this dualism comes about in the cyber- community and algorithmic themes though.

I think you’re right to question some of the dystopia visions of algorithms, and I think we do need to trace the social systems they are embedded in. Some of your examples here are good in this respect: an algorithm that controls a prosthetic limb doesn’t make decisions that ‘plug in’ to the same social conditions as, say, a social media news feed. They are both ‘algorithms’, but the ‘algorithmic system’ involved is more complex?

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Block 3 - Algorithm culture, Blog posts, Lifestream, Twitter

TWEET: Microsoft white paper on the future of education

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Link to Microsoft’s white paper on the way education is changing.

“Learning technology is not a simple application of computer science to education or vice versa”

“Universities tend to be proactive in their approach to preparing undergraduates for the world of work. However, as the employment landscape becomes increasingly fluid, universities must constantly update their teaching practices to suit the demands of the jobs market.”

“This means that students and academics could be working on anything up to three internet-enabled digital devices in a single session: a laptop or desktop, a tablet and a smartphone. Students, like most modern employees, are working on the move, at any time of day, in almost any location as work and leisure hours become blurred by increasingly ‘mobile’ lives”  Yes, definitely reflects my life!

“The primary applications for artificially intelligent systems in HE will occur within marking and assessment. Automated systems designed to mark essays, for example, will reduce the time spent by academics on paperwork and increase their face-to-face time with students or their time spent engaging with research occurring outside of the institution.”  I hope this never happens

“Work in the future will be more interconnected and network-oriented. Employees will be working across specialist knowledge boundaries as technologies and disciplines converge, requiring a blend of technical training and the ‘soft’ skills associated with collaboration.” I think we’re already starting to see this happening

Learner or predictive analytics […] can serve to both measure and shape a student’s progress. Universities will also unlock new insight into how students are engaging in digital and physical spaces.   Very relevant to this algorithmic cultures block.

“Although mobile technology has permanently changed learning environments, all of our interviewees stressed the point that learning technology should be a tool and never the end goal. The ideal university education is still about improving a student’s ability to produce appropriate ideas, solve problems correctly, build on complex theories and make accurate inferences from the available information.” Hurrah!