I believe we are in a Golden Age of civilisation. Not everyone has this way of seeing. I hear many commentators, educators and parents express grave concerns about the impact of technology, the internet, mobile devices and computers on young people and education in society generally. To me, it seems pathological, reminiscent of the comic book scare in the […]
In a world where fortunes are sought through data-mining vast information repositories, the computer is our indispensable but far from infallible assistant. Personas demonstrates the computer’s uncanny insights and its inadvertent errors, such as the mischaracterizations caused by the inability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. It is meant for the […]
Next week I facilitate a workshop designed to assist Year 11 students find some useful online tools to support their learning, especially research, collaboration, organisation, study and presentation. There will be a very, very brief presentation and overview of each tool and then students will be free to experiment, exploring the tools of use/interest to them. Do you mind […]
I have commenced experimenting with Startpage – the “world’s #1 privacy search engine” – which has launched in Australia. This search engine accesses “nine other search engines all at once” and does not collect your data. Increasingly, privacy and the regulations which govern the internet are being debated widely, as online life assumes more and more […]
[vodpod id=Video.3185845&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] more about “ Why Wikipedians are the Weirdest Pe…“, posted with vodpod
“Most experts agree that Google won’t make us stupid.” PREDICTIONS
Read Write Web recently posted a story that I thought would garner more comments. I suspect it only had three, as most people agree with Europe’s 17 Golden Rules for Keeping Safe on Social Networks but are breaking some of them out of neccessity. This is what I mean. The following three ‘European rules’ When joining a social […]
Here are the best answers you are likely to read, compiled by the Edge Foundation at their World Question Centre, to this important question. The following passage, from Tim O’Reilly‘s musings on the question, Pattern Recognition, made me reflect about the challenges of staying ‘educated’ and being and ‘educator’ in our ever-shifting culture: “It used to be the case that there was […]
Senator Conroy’s recent announcement about the censorship of the internet in Australia has disturbed and perturbed Australians who reflect intelligently on the nature of our civil society and the freedoms we enjoy. The benignly titled press release, ‘Measures to improve safety of the internet for families’ has been released in the week before christmas in […]
Jonathan Zittrain‘s TED talk from July 2009.
How do you search the web effectively? Another in the ‘Plain English’ series of brief instructional videos. [vodpod id=Groupvideo.1593352&w=425&h=350&fv=] more about “Web Search Strategies in Plain Englis…“, posted with vodpod
This PBS FRONTLINE documentary screened earlier in the year may be of interest. I found it pretty sensational but the chapter on high schools coping with the ‘revolution in classrooms’ and how many teachers were struggling to cater to this generation is worth watching. The anti-plagiarism site Turnitin must be doing a raging business in the USA. I loved […]
I was disappointed that – to my knowledge – no colleague at work took up the Dailylit service suggestion. It is a joy to find a thought-provoking piece you can read in a few minutes in your inbox. I’ve been reading The Best of Technology Writing 2006/7 by installment via this service and it has been brilliant. […]