In week 11, I’ve consciously tried to wind back or wind down the Lifestream a little. I understand it is still assessed at this point – but by wind down I don’t mean stop. Rather, I mean ‘refocus’. I’ve tried to be selective about the content I’m feeding in, in order to focus on the assignment, and just feed content associated with that. It’s hard though, as in a sense adding to the Lifestream has supplanted my old habits of storing ‘to read’ texts elsewhere, and telling ‘the story of’ digital cultures through the Lifestream (and my own attempts to subvert algorithms that may be at play) has actually become quite addictive.
That said, I’ve been pursuing two themes in relation to the final assignment: the way that ‘imaginaries’ help create (educational) futures, and the notion of ‘algorithmic literacy’ and the potential to develop this. There’s been more of the former in the feed, but in part I think this may be just because it is better represented in media and research – I’m not convinced that the latter is the less worthy route to pursue.
Here are the ways I’ve been thinking about those themes, and some other bits of ‘life’ that have appeared in the stream:
| Date/link to post | media | linked to (topic) |
| 28 March | Tweet | Poor statistical models used in predictions (‘weapons of math destruction’. Cathy O’Neil) |
| 28 March | Comment on blog | role of algorithms in destabilising the single-author (Matthew’s blog) |
| 28 March | Ben Williamsons’ blog post on how the imaginaries of ‘education data science’ combined with affective computing and cognitive computing are leading to a new kind of ‘agorithmic governance’ | |
| 29 March | Ben Williamsons’ analysis of UK media’s editorial line on algorithms | |
| 29 March | Diigo | How the metrics of a site (FB in the study) prescribe what social acts are appropriate. Evidence that society is shaped by tech as well as the reverse. |
| 30 March | liked on YouTube | Audrey Watters’ talk at University of Edinburgh. Relates to both role of ‘imaginaries’, and also – though less so- to need for algorithmic literacy. |
| 31 March | Podcast from Culture Digitally featuring Tarleton Gillespie and Ted Striphas. Links to a need for algorithmic awareness and/or literacy. | |
| 31 March | Tweet | Book announcement: Digital counterculture& the struggle for community. Link to our community block, and to cyber cultures. |
| 1 April | Diigo | Kirby’s 2010 paper on the role of film in promoting technological ‘imaginaries’, and thereby making them possible realities. |
| 2 April | Tweet | Confirming assignment dates |
| 3 April | Diigo | Snip from programme I was presenting in– meant as an explanation for lack of focus! |
