[…] Matthew, Renée, Eli, Colin, Chenée, Clare, Stuart, Daniel 1, Daniel 2, Philip, Helen M 1, Helen M 2, Helen W, Myles, Linzi, Dirk 1, Dirk 2, Cathy, Angela, Nigel […]

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Jeremy, thank you for some wider positioning / reflecting on the metaphor I adopted – it’s very illuminating for me. The sense of borders and control coincided with me reflecting on previous work with David Delaney’s 2010 book ‘Nomospheric Investigations: The Spatial, The Legal and the Pragmatics of World Making’ (London, Routledge), which I also refer to in a Lifestream post entitled ‘@philip_downey Not been to law school…’ The MOOC as a nomosphere was a helpful background metaphor for me, and generative in framing it within the airport site.

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Hi Matthew

I liked your visual artefact a lot and I think you did achieve “the familiar but unsettling” really well.

The Framed video recalled Memory 2.0 – as if a precursor to it, set in the past, with the photographer remembering or imagining someone and an element of this reverie being interactive as he was led to the perfect viewpoint for his shot.

Framed was much more gentle and less threatening than Memory 2.0, which set it in contrast to the photo montage of your Pinterest board. Some of the double eye images and the Blow your mind photo did provoke a “double take” and I liked the juxtaposition of those with vintage, royalty and animal photos. It was a great assemblage and called to mind ideas about the representation of cultures, as well as themes of time and human modification and perfectability. Another strong impression I got was the multiplicity of viewpoints as if in celebration of the mix and the impossibility of categorising or polarising.

Cathy

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Hello Matthew, perhaps when it comes to preparing the digital essay you might want to think about experimenting with something in video form? Give it some thought and, assuming we agree it’s an appropriate format for the subject of the essay, we could talk about places to host it (Vimeo for instance attracts many fewer comments) and the use of images (for instance looking at Creative Commons).

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I’m enjoying reading your reflections here, Matthew.

‘On the readings front, I regret I’ve not found time for a biblical reflection on Donna Haraway. She’s threaded through various postings, and a lot of my thoughts. I’ve got stuff to say, and I’m trying to think how to say it. I’d like to try something multimodal in that regard.’

Perhaps this is something you could come back to within the digital essay towards the end of the course? The assignment will give you more time to work with some of the ideas we encounter in the course, in a way that it’s hard to do within the lifestream blog. We can talk about this (or any other essay ideas you have) later in the course.

‘Walking into daily chapel the next day, hearing the piano playing, it wasn’t the same sound for me as on previous days. A lovely moment when the Lifestream spilled over into the non-digital everyday. I value those moments.’

I’m glad that our encouragement to think about music and sound has contributed to this lovely (and eloquently described) moment. As Sterne suggested in his historiography of cyberculture (2006), we have a tendency to heavily emphasise the visual when perhaps sound and other form provide a lens for thinking about the digital. Of course, ‘lens’ itself has a strong visual orientation so perhaps I’m also guilty of perpetuating this notion!

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This works really nicely as an accompaniment to your own weekly summary of the lifestream, Matthew.

That it’s so difficult to keep up with all the varied content coming into the lifestreams perhaps says something not only about digital culture, but also about the mixture of opportunities and challenges of education within digital contexts more generally?

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Thanks Matthew, I’m listening to this now whilst reading your blog. Thanks for drawing it to my attention.

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Helen, well done on surviving a week on a stand at any trade show – a truly exhausting prospect. I’d love to probe the instrumentalist impulse some more, given that it is so widespread. I resist putting it down simply to limited reflection; I presume there are some political / cultural wirings running through it, but I can’t feel my way towards them. Any thoughts / literature on this – from Helen, of others?

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[…] loved Matthew’s reflections on ‘Gumdrop’ […]

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I was on a stand demonstrating O365 at BETT…it was a long week.

The conversations I had with teachers and with other exhibitors about technology, teaching and learning reflected exactly the instrumentalist views which you and James highlight. I read the Bayne paper on the way to the show and this heightened my awareness of the over-riding rhetoric present during the show, that technology is ‘in service’ to learning; it is a ‘tool’ which will ‘improve outcomes’ and ‘engage learners’.

I didn’t get to listen to any of the talks (I missed Ken Robinson(!)), so I’m not sure if a more nuanced position was offered by the speakers in the BETT arena. I fear it probably wasn’t. Also, based on my visits to numerous schools over the years, I fear that the assumptions and beliefs expressed about technology are echoed, at scale, in the wider education community.

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Everyone loves what you guys are up too. This type of clever work
and reporting! Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve added you guys to
my personal blogroll.

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Thanks, James – and, any others, either as visitors or exhibitors, what was it like as an event? I’d not anticipated some might be exhibitors: that, to my mind, widens the aperture quite a bit. Up until now, I’d only thought about people going to ‘consume’ the show, not to ‘produce’ it. The interface there is especially interesting.

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Thanks, James – I knew I’d got it from somewhere. It had stuck as an idea, which is – I guess – a big part of a ‘manifesto’. Great to be reminded of the source: especially since context matters!

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Without watching the timer on the video, I was also stopped by the point just after two minutes: ‘When used correctly, technology will allow for greater connections’.

Whilst recognising the commercial interest of the show, the video has a really instrumentalist feel: technology are ‘tools’ we can use to equip learners with skills. Like you then, I think there’s great value in the work of Bayne and other researchers who encourage us to critique the way that the digital is framed in relation to education, for instance problematising this idea of tech as tools for carrying out our educational aims.

I know that other members of the EDC class did attend Bett either as exhibitors or visitors: it would be fascinating to know whether their experience of the event was affected in any way by reading Bayne’s paper in advance?!

Anyway, a really interesting and critical reflection on the content – thanks Matthew.

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And more generally in response to the weekly summary and you’re blog over the last week, well done on trying to make the connection between content and course themes, whilst at the same time bringing in some of the ideas from the literature. I’m going to comment separately on some of your other entries, beginning with your reflections on the Bett show video which I’ve been thinking about.

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Hello Matthew (and Colin) – interesting conversation here.

Your comment Matthew about ‘practice that works well in this or that setting’ immediately reminded me of the Manifesto for Teaching Online from the Digital Education team which argues that:

‘There are many ways to get it right online. ‘Best practice’ neglects context.’

Just as you (and Colin) say, when we bring a critical eye to education and technology, we begin to unsettle some of the commonly put forward ideas, whether that’s to do with education necessarily aiding learning, or the notion of there being a single ‘best’ way of doing things that we strive for. As you suggest, things tend to be more complex and thus call for a more nuanced approach.

In case the Manifesto is of interest or new to you:
http://ift.tt/2bHFKiZ

Thanks for the interesting conversation.

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cmiller, thank you for some really helpful input here. I’m tracking three things in particular out of what you’re saying.
First, the need for clarity as to what I’m meaning. I’m in complete agreement with that. It’s a challenge to express a bigger discourse idea in a short(ish!) blog entry, and I appreciate you engaging with what I provided. I’ll keep working on the clarity as I post further. I’m especially keen not simply to talk to a narrow population of ‘insiders’, so to speak.
Second, I’m helped by your prodding at stages of development within the technology/theology interface. I’ve not really explored this, but want to. By previous training, I appreciate a genealogical approach to issues, and it would help here. Regarding ‘christohumanism’, I coined the phrase in the moment, and hadn’t googled it. I’ve done that since, especially together with ‘posthumanism’ to sift the results a bit, and some helpful stuff looks like it’s out there.
Third, I agree that many churches and ministers are using technology, even as adept with it. I’m keen to probe whether they’re thinking theologically about it. Thus, for instance, in my settings we often now project the hymns and songs we sing on to a screen, rather than reading from printed books. I’m interested in whether there is any shift in us theologically, fed by such a practice, e.g. a move away from consciousness of the overall ‘flow’ of say a hymn towards the ‘eternal present’ of what is before us on the screen. And does that matter – does it east away at, say, a big-picture sense of things more generally, thinking of Haraway’s dismissal of ‘salvation history’ in her 2007 piece from our set reading (pp. 35, 54). The technologies we use shape our practices, our loves, our imaginings, and I’m keen to explore those dimensions through a theological lens.

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cmiller, thanks for the interaction. Two responses I would make, I think. First, I guess not all our digital engagements will be directly appropriate to education per se, but we’re trying to engage with digital cultures and so breadth of digital encounter is going to be important. But a tension – hopefully a generative one – between these two horizons. Second, I wonder whether ‘pockets of excellence’ might be better framed contextually: something like ‘practice that works well in this or that setting’. For myself, I find that easier to work with than a decontextualised sense of excellence. I wonder if that will help us frame our experiences more fruitfully too.

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I read your post twice and skimmed it several times, went out for some fresh air, then came back to it with a cup of tea, before committing to this comment. I don’t have an existing field of studies to draw upon to make more sense of it than I do. I’m not a scholar by trade, but I embarked on this MSc to learn, and I am interested in what you write because I can feel it scratching away at my brain, even if it’s beyond my initial attempts to unlock its meaning or access the background it comes from.

“I want to help them learn how to read and relate with technology theologically” That quote defines a problem which I could with time, get my head around, and likely end up with a better understanding, as I’m sure your students will too. This course must be boon for you in that regard?! I hope that you get to pursue your area of interest through the programme and in to the dissertation.

From reading Silver (2006 p.1-2) I get a sense of how, like Internet Studies, Technology and Theology could pass through the four stages of development, if it hasn’t already. I googled “christohumanism” and see there’s a raft of information about it already. Is this something you have studied/taught previously? What stage is it at already? I’m sure there is a lot to gain for other elements of AI and robotics to understand more about what makes us human, from every perspective. Religion is bound up in the formation of ethics, culture and more in the UK, and even those who follow no religion would be naive to suggest they are free from influence of a church.

I have two ministers (Church of Scotland) in my immediate family, though I’m not following any religion myself. I see technology in the Church as having similar questions around as it does in Higher Education at a practical level at least. Churches have websites, use powerpoint HD projectors; use social media; hold conferences, workshops and of course services. HEIs do those things too albeit with lectures rather than services. Technology both informs the way things are taught and what is taught, and as is required for the development of technology, it is informed by educational practice. Both strive to answer questions about our existence, and both seem to have serious questions to answer about how to remain relevant in the face of unbridled neoliberal advances for politics and economic practice in many “democratic” countries at least.

My brother-in-law is massively technology adept. He has created online communities around his work in the Church; he has used technology to change the shape of his services and that has had impact on his father’s practice (who is also CoS minister). In turn, the Church is looking at ways that it can do with technology and how it fits in a world with technology (http://ift.tt/2k6fKBj).

But beyond that I look forward to reading more, least of all so I can enjoy some new areas of discussion beyond that of which I would get the chance to, outwith the occasions when I catch my family with a free moment to think on them.

(ref: Silver, D (2006) “Where is internet studies?” pp1-14 in Silver, David, Adrienne Massanari, and Steve Jones. Critical Cyberculture Studies, edited by David Silver, et al., NYU Press, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ift.tt/2jFVNCz.)

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Hi Matthew,

“3. I’ve sought to tie readings and digital encounters back to education. This isn’t always easy to do, “.

I’ve been wondering about this too. I have a working exposure to the connection between education-tech and education (IDEL in the first semester helped greatly with this), and I have a similar grasp of the interface between entertainment technology (films, games, VR) and society. I’m now piecing my thoughts together to try to get the connection to flow through the readings, my own experience and the educational context.

I’m wondering where the evidence is of the past 20-30 years of educated thinking on these subjects has actually got us in UK higher education. There are pockets of excellence in the UK HEI sector, and there are pockets of excellence within individual institutions, but the baseline level for education tech improving the attainment of our students? In my experience, it seems to first be used as a means to increase the numbers of students, and only after that has reached a steady state, does the thinking change to drive strategy to actually improve participant’s understanding and ability.

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Philip, thank you for the visit and the reflection on my piece.

You mention transhumanism and the Tower of Babel. From my reading to date, I’m sensing Babel-like elements, but perhaps more regarding posthumanism.

For instance, when reading, I noted down Babel when I came across Haraway (2007: 44): “No objects, spaces or bodies are sacred in themselves; any component can be interfaced with any other if the proper standard, the proper code, can be constructed for processing signals in common language.”

And, similarly, p.45 (there are some italics in the original, not captured here): “Furthermore, communications sciences and modern biologies are constructed by a common move – the translation of the world into a problem of coding, a search for a common language in which all resistance to instrumental control disappears and all heterogeneity can be submitted to disassembly, reassembly, investment and exchange.”

Next week, I’m hoping to write a biblical response to Haraway’s essay, and this will be one part of a larger whole. I hope you’ll comment on it, in due course.

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Thank you for the visit and the comment, Helen. Next week I hope to write a similar piece on Donna Haraway’s essay, which I found very confronting and suggestive, in equal parts. I’d love some interaction on it, in due course. Former students of theology are very welcome!

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The facet of trans-humanism that addresses the removal of human limitations is certainly theological. Having been to seminary and spent my entire life as part of a church system, I am interested in how we encourage others to transcend human weakness and rely on God, or whatever pronoun suits you, to lift us into the realm of super-humans, capable of doing anything our hearts desire.

I personally believe that much of the teaching involving this transcendence of humans to a surreal world of bliss is a violation of the actual scriptural context, but I understand the psychology of our need to have an avenue of escape from the finite to the infinite. I also am a believer in the power of God in someone’s life that can be manifested in unexplained ways. And I fully understand the humanistic focus that such spiritual pathways do not exist outside of ourselves and our own human achievement.

In terms of technology, do you think we (humans) are using this technology much as the ancients did with the Tower of Babel? They strove to achieve immortality by reaching beyond themselves, using their own resources and cunning. And might we one day find ourselves in the same state as they, bereft of self-control and self-determination, at the mercy of the consequences of what we have created?

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I’ve never considered using Pinterest for course work but you have inspired me.
I may give this a try,
Eli

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Matthew, this is a fascinating post. Your background is leading you to have such an interesting perspective on the reading. I hadn’t picked up on the ‘finitude’ notion in Bayne’s argument, and it does suggest a different lens from how I’d been interpreting it, so thanks for writing this.

PS Former student of theology here 🙂

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is there a term for when (e.g.) YouTube suggests one film to you after another, and gradually the trail gets grimier and grimier? Clearly my question assumes a certain user’s point of view, but I hope my description makes sense. If there’s not a term for it, can anyone invent one?

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cpsaros, you’re on the money with the getting sucked into content dynamic. The Pinterest emails are still flowing. Yesterday I got one from ‘them’inventing me to ‘explore this week’s trending searches’. The offer of “girls bedroom ideas, wedding hair and other search trends” was one I found easy to resist. I think their algorithm will have to try harder with me than that. I’ve started keeping the emails from them, to see how that unfolds.

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Good to be the testing-bed for many (welcome, those of you using me as a test for this or that IFTTT recipe – I hope this comes through to you loud and clear). Daniel, thank you for this comment. It’s interesting for my reflections if I am top of the list for everyone on the course. The scaffolding inevitably favours some with greater visibility than others, and no list is ever going to be flat, whether it’s this or a list of search-engine results. Now that I know it’s not just some personalised line-up for me alone, I’d better work hard now in trying to keep you all enjoying your visits 😉

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