Tag Archives: Twitter

Block 1 - Cyberculture, Blog posts, Lifestream

TWEET: Play and playfulness

Leave a comment

via Twitter https://twitter.com/nigelchpainting
February 01, 2017 at 01:09PM

This is one of those news stories that at first sight appears to be about expending valuable academic resources on trivial matters.  However, as with other areas of research there will be spin-off benefits in fields that perhaps have more benefits to society.

As the article points out Prof Sandholm said that the algorithm could be transferred to a range of other uses.  This is not just about poker,” he said. “The algorithms can take information and output a strategy in a range of scenarios, including negotiations, finance, medical treatment and cybersecurity.  Now we have proven the ability of AI to do strategy and reasoning, there are many potential applications in future.”

This playful approach to research can yield unexpected dividends and, as such, it would appear that the approach can be as important as the outcome.  The early research into Graphene at The University of Manchester, by Prof Andre Geim and Prof Kostya Novoselov is a story of playful experimentation.  “Andre and Kostya frequently held ‘Friday night experiments’ – sessions where they would try out experimental science not necessarily linked to their day jobs.”  The first time Graphene was isolated, their basic technique consisted of removing  “some flakes from a lump of bulk graphite with sticky tape”.  Today “Graphene is a disruptive technology; one that could open up new markets and even replace existing technologies or materials. It is when graphene is used both as an improvement to an existing material and in a transformational capacity that its true potential could be realised.”

Play and playfulness takes me back to the IDGBL (games) course and the work of  Johan Huizinga (1995) and Caillois (2001).  In Huizinga’s classic work, ‘Homo Ludens: Man the player‘ he defines play as a key building block of human civilisation’.  He shows how play can be seen in the arts, poetry, philosophy and even in the law and in war.  Caillois’ typography builds on these theories and categorises various forms of play, which have proved useful in many contexts, including in education.

I can’t remember whether it was in IDGBL that we looked at Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work (1990), but he defined an optimal state of being in adult humans (flow), that also seems to have a lot in common with play and playfulness.  Flow in this context is “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it”.

So the lesson is, perhaps, that we shouldn’t underestimate the power of play and playfulness or dismiss them as trivial or frivolous activities.

References:

http://www.graphene.manchester.ac.uk

Huizinga, J. (1995). Homo ludens: A study of play elements in culture.  Boston: Beacon press

Caillois, R. (2001). Man, play and games. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. (Preptint edition; original work published 1958)

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience

Block 1 - Cyberculture, Blog posts

I have a new follower on Twitter!

Leave a comment
I think these notifications of new followers are relevant to the community cultures topic, but to tidy up my Lifestream I’ve copied them all to this page.  I’ve also indicated the date and time each one was posted and whether or not the new follower is a fellow student:
Published on: 26 Mar 2017 @ 04:46

Crochez is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Researching #historyofeducation and #sociologyofeducation
Also into #oralhistory #yarnbomb #homeschool #skiing #vegan #crochet #tinyhouse (11091 followers) http://twitter.com/_crochez
 Published on: 25 Mar 2017 @ 08:06 – a ‘bot’ I presume 

b2bYellowpages.com is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Free listing allow buyers and sellers to locate or advertise products and services to and from other businesses. (52417 followers) http://twitter.com/b2bYellowpages
Published on: 18 Mar 2017 @ 05:40 – another bot, this one was a result of the Tweetorial posts

MuleSoft is now following me on Twitter! Bio: MuleSoft makes it easy to connect the world’s applications, data and devices. (59039 followers) http://twitter.com/MuleSoft
Published on: 18 Mar 2017 @ 00:35 –  probably another bot, this one was a result of the Tweetorial posts

Pyramid Analytics is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Bridging the gap between business and IT user needs with a self-service Governed #Data Discovery platform available on any device. #BIOffice #BI #Analytics (6729 followers) http://twitter.com/PyramidAnalytic
Published on: 17 Mar 2017 @ 22:30 

Kevin Yu is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Co-founder & CTO @socedo transforms B2B marketing with social media by democratizing #CloudComputing & #BigData. Husband of 1, dad of 2, tech and sports junkie. (68521 followers) http://twitter.com/kevincyu
Published on: 17 Mar 2017 @ 22:10 – fellow student with a sense of humour and quick on the draw.  One of my favourite followers 🙂

Cheese Lover is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Lover of #cheese and interested in #education (0 followers) http://twitter.com/CheeseLoverBot
Published on: 17 Mar 2017 @ 10:41

Ben Williamson is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Digital data, ‘smart’ technology & education policy. Lecturer @StirUni (1621 followers) http://twitter.com/BenPatrickWill
Published on: 17 Mar 2017 @ 10:41

Dr. GP Pulipaka is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Ganapathi Pulipaka | Founder and CEO @deepsingularity | Bestselling Author | #Bigdata | #IoT | #Startups | #SAP #MachineLearning #DeepLearning #DataScience. (19910 followers) http://twitter.com/gp_pulipaka

Published on: 16 Mar 2017 @ 21:26


Michael J.D. Warner is now following me on Twitter! Bio: CEO @ThunderReach ⚡️ #socialmedia #marketing + VIP digital services ➡️ https://t.co/Rf6jA4EIEo • ig @mjdwarner • ✉️ceo@thunderreach.com ⚣ #gay 📍toronto • nyc (98298 followers) http://twitter.com/mjdwarner
 Published on: 16 Mar 2017 @ 20:42 – another bot

Featured Heights is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Elevating your #brand with creative websites & engaging marketing. Sharing #marketing, #webDev, #design, #ux & #socialmedia resources. (2281 followers) http://twitter.com/featuredheights

Published on: 16 Mar 2017 @ 18:41

Lisa 🐥🐦🐤 is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Social media, Twitter trainer, blogger, marketing specialist, content marketing, real estate, news, nature photos, pets, wanna be meteorologist from RI (20802 followers) http://twitter.com/Lisapatb
Published on: 16 Mar 2017 @ 16:44 – another bot?

Lumina Analytics is now following me on Twitter! Bio: We are a big data, predictive analytics firm providing insightful risk management & security intelligence to large, regulated corporations & government clients. (10786 followers) http://twitter.com/LuminaAnalytics
Published on: 12 Mar 2017 @ 23:01 – fellow student

Diego Rates M is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Tweets about Design, Science, Art, Community issues. Student Msc Dig Ed, U. Edinburgh. Founder: Pixel Learning Open Project: https://t.co/tasnKcS9SY (649 followers) http://twitter.com/RatesDiego
Published on: 8 Mar 2017 @ 22:41

Joyce Weber is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Sometimes the wrong choices bring us to the right places.  (18 followers) http://twitter.com/joyceweber7431
Published on: 7 Mar 2017 @ 00:43 – my nephews partner and a friend of a fellow student.  Serendipity doing its thing.

Jo Alcock is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Freelance trainer, researcher and coach with a background in librarianship. Passionate about helping others develop. (4642 followers) http://twitter.com/joeyanne
Published on: 25 Feb 2017 @ 17:28 – fellow student

Linzi McLagan is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Encourager. Storyteller. Life is short. I am determined to make it great. (136 followers) http://twitter.com/LinziMclagan
Published on: 21 Feb 2017 @ 13:10 – wasn’t aware I had ‘followed ‘It’s a fabulous life’

Its A Fabulous Life is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Thank you for following Its A Fabulous Life (751 followers) http://twitter.com/ItsaFabLife_

Published on: 20 Feb 2017 @ 19:50 – fellow student

Myles Thies is now following me on Twitter! Bio: (27 followers) http://twitter.com/Tauraco

Published on: 20 Feb 2017 @ 17:25 – fellow student

Cathy Hills is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Tech, education, lifelong learning. Curious and interested. (98 followers) http://twitter.com/fleurhills
Published on: 20 Feb 2017 @ 13:10  – fellow student

Stuart is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Learning/Assistive Technologist & MSc Digital Education student (120 followers) http://twitter.com/learntechstu

Published on: 17 Feb 2017 @ 06:10 -…it’s taken a while but my social life finally merges with my academic life!

DANCERS DREAM EVENTS is now following me on Twitter! Bio: The UK’s Best Dance Socials, Events & Holidays (83 followers) http://twitter.com/InfoDancers
Published on: 15 Feb 2017 @ 17:00 – Tutor

Jeremy Knox is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Lecturer in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh.
Posthumanism and the MOOC: Contaminating the Subject of Global Education
https://t.co/3Bw1XFjMkJ (1534 followers) http://twitter.com/j_k_knox
Published on: 14 Feb 2017 @ 10:20 – bot?

Belbin Singapore is now following me on Twitter! Bio: The World’s GOLD Standard in Team Profiling! To find out more about the team roles, visit: https://t.co/5siZGc5htj (374 followers) http://twitter.com/BelbinSingapore
Published on: 7 Feb 2017 @ 19:40 – fellow student

Clare Thomson is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Educational technologist in #meded, #CMALT. Currently learning to think like an assemblage – posthumanism at Uni of Edinburgh: https://t.co/KmjryO9vbA (392 followers) http://twitter.com/ClareThomsonQUB
Published on: 5 Feb 2017 @ 01:48 – fellow student

Renée Hann is now following me on Twitter! Bio: MSc Digital Education student at Edinburgh; educator & dabbler in the growing of food (46 followers) http://twitter.com/rennhann

Published on: 4 Feb 2017 @ 23:48 – fellow student

Helen Walker is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Edugeek (518 followers) http://twitter.com/helenwalker7
Published on: 4 Feb 2017 @ 17:58 – needs no introduction!
Sian Bayne is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Edinburgh University. Professor of Digital Education. School of Education. (3064 followers) http://twitter.com/sbayne
Published on: 4 Feb 2017 @ 17:58 – fellow student

Philip Downey is now following me on Twitter! Bio: MScDE student at Univ of Edinburgh; Conservative and will respectfully defend your right not to be, but will respectfully exercise my right to call you on it. (70 followers) http://twitter.com/philip_downey
Published on: 1 Feb 2017 @ 12:39 – seriously no idea who…or why!

Amanda Brown is now following me on Twitter! Bio: (289 followers) http://twitter.com/spittingkittyn
Published on: 30 Jan 2017 @ 09:54 – or this one

Roxane is now following me on Twitter! Bio: (13 followers) http://twitter.com/DigiWWWorld
Published on: 28 Jan 2017 @ 22:45 – fellow student, sorry Dirk your photos won’t show for some reason

Herr Schwindenhammer is now following me on Twitter! Bio: Educational Scientist, Philosophical Oddball and Senior TV Professional (33 followers) http://twitter.com/HerrSchwindenh_
Block 1 - Cyberculture, Lifestream, Twitter

TWEET: enhanced humans

Leave a comment

via Twitter https://twitter.com/nigelchpainting
January 29, 2017 at 10:44AM

Well this elicited a few responses and some strong feelings from my fellow students that centred on the question of whether the Paralympics should be a separate event.  I do see some merit in the point they’re making, as one could see this as a form of segregation, however, I believe the question I raised is still valid.  In the same way that we specify criteria for examination conditions, such as open book, calculators allowed etc., will we need to specify similar conditions such as enhancements must be declared, switched off, put in airplane mode etc.?

Block 1 - Cyberculture, Lifestream

TWEET: trying to figure out IFTTT / Twitter triggers

Leave a comment

Apologies for spamming, just trying a different IFTTT trigger

via Twitter https://twitter.com/nigelchpainting

January 28, 2017 at 10:42PM

Edit 06/04/2017 – I won’t clean this post up as it just shows what some of us went through trying to get their lifestream updating automatically.

Block 1 - Cyberculture, Lifestream, Twitter

TWEET: IFTTT frustrations

Leave a comment

via Twitter https://twitter.com/nigelchpainting
January 28, 2017 at 10:12PM

Edit – I’ve since trawled back through my automated posts and embedded the tweets – less IFTTT more OCD!

To be fair IFTTT is a clever idea, enabling a myriad of on-line activities to trigger other activities or entire chains of activities.  From an education perspective it could be useful for helping students understand cause and effect, or the basic principles of coding .

I use IFTTT along with Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition to trigger home automation activities, although I’ve discovered that these too can yield undesirable results.  For example, at one point turning on my TV and Amp would turn off the lights!

Block 1 - Cyberculture, Blog posts, Lifestream, Twitter

TWEET: Chimeric bio-tech futures

Leave a comment

via Twitter https://twitter.com/nigelchpainting
January 26, 2017 at 09:14PM

Michael Spectre, writing in National Geographic Magazine raises the following question:

“The ability to quickly alter the code of life has given us unprecedented power over the natural world. Should we use it?”

Frightening statistics from the USA show that every ten minutes someone is added to the list of people requiring an organ transplant and every day twenty-two people from that list die without receiving the organ they need.  If you’re on that list, or a family member or friend of someone on that list, your views about altering genetic code and human-pig chimeras might be influenced by the potential to grow the organ you need inside an animal from another species.

Considering that we already farm the same potential donor animals for food the moral and implications might not be so difficult for people to deal with, unless you’re already opposed to the way we treat other species .  Either way the ethical considerations feel like an even bigger issue.   We know that random mutations already occur in all lifeforms and that they are the basis of evolution through natural selection.  But do we truly understand the implications of introducing genetic information into the human gene pool that has resulted from thousands of years of evolution of a different species? The effect could be more immediate than one might imagine – what if doing so were to hasten the development of drug resistant bacteria?

At first sight none of this might seem relevant to digital cultures, so why have I linked this to my Lifestream?  Well initially it was just the serendipity of reading about chimeric bio-futures (a term I have to admit is new to me) on the day the announcement linked above was made.  But, having reflected further, I think a similar moral question can be put to the technologies we apply to education and learning too:

“Just because we can, should we?”

Lifestream

TWEET Why watching Westworld’s robots should make us question ourselves

Leave a comment

This article neatly sums up a lot of the points we’ve debated in this cyberculture block and raises some valid questions about how we will relate to robots as they become more humanoid and at least appear to have their own thoughts and feelings.

“Even if robots are just tools, people will see them as more than that. […] It may be an innate tendency of our profoundly social human minds to see entities that act intelligently in this way. […] It may be difficult to persuade them to see otherwise, particularly if we continue to make robots more life-like. If so, we may have to adapt our ethical frameworks to take this into account. For instance, we might consider violence towards a robot as wrong, even though the suffering is imagined rather than real.” 

I watched this remake of Westworld before I started this course and. even without the added academic stimulus, it brought some interesting moral questions to mind and discussion about those I watched the series with would react in the same situation.

The status of the robots in the series as ‘tools’ was emphasised in a number of ways, not least in that whenever they were taken out of the park to be worked on they were left naked.  While the nudity is probably there for titillation and to attract viewers, it makes it easier to identify who is ‘real’ and who is a machine, it also shows that the humans feel that the machines do not need to be treated with any respect.

To me the point the author of the article linked in the above tweet makes about violence towards robots has one important dimension missing.  If a robot is very ‘life like’ but it is considered acceptable to abuse it in some way, how long before similar abuse toward other humans becomes acceptable?

Not long after watching the Westworld series I watched the film ‘Hidden Figures’ about the black women who were ‘human calculators’ for NASA during the early space race.  The film documents how they were treated and the segregation they faced in both their working and social lives.  I’ve never experienced people of a different skin colour or racial background being treated in this way so the feelings of anger and revulsion I felt when watching the film were raw and painful.  For my twenty-seven year old son they were truly upsetting, and I have to say that this at least gives me hope for the future.   My reason for mentioning this film is that I think there are parallels with the Cyberculture themes we have been studying.  The white people depicted in the film grew up in a society where it was acceptable to treat someone who looked a little different from them as being inferior.

While it is clear that there is more to do towards racial equality, we have moved on considerably since the days of segregation.  I wonder whether we will we see a similar course of events for humanoid artificial intelligence, or sentient androids in future years.

via Twitter https://twitter.com/nigelchpainting

January 25, 2017 at 10:33PM