I’ve blogged about SOPA and PIPA, but it doesn’t stop there. Those concerned about Internet Freedom also have to think about ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) that has captured increasing attention this week.
Kathryn O’Hara, then president of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association, wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper last year to urge the Canadian government to allow scientists to speak freely with the media. Here’s a quote from today’s Globe and Mail:
Ms. O’Hara wrote “Take off the muzzles and eliminate the script writers and allow scientists – they do have PhDs after all – to speak for themselves.”
The government did not change its policy. The standard operating procedure still requires that all media requests for interviews be vetted through public affairs officials in Ottawa. Sometimes, scientists are cleared to speak – often they are not.
Contrast that with the “scientific integrity policy” adopted last month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States.
NOAA’s new guidelines – which make it clear scientists can speak about their work any time, to anyone – flowed from a memo President Barack Obama sent to the heads of executive departments in 2009. In that missive, he affirmed his support for transparency in government and urged directors to foster a culture of scientific integrity.
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In Canada, government scientists who want to talk to the media still have to get permission from public-relations officials, who can silence anyone they want.
If they can’t talk to formal media, I wondered if Canadian scientists are using social media to share their findings and a quick search found this site, where they indeed are doing just that!
I’m still thinking about the value of our ability to share using social media. The little things we like to contribute (and the reasons why we are compelled to do this) made me take a new look at a short (45 second) experimental video I put on YouTube not quite four years ago. Related to the family glass hobby, this video has now had over 72,000 hits (yes, it’s hard to believe).
There’s nothing special about the production of this video — it’s just a bunch of still photos cobbled together with iMovie. I was playing with ideas related to recycled glass and YouTube offered some free, very psychedelic music that inspired me. There’s really not much more about it that I can say. I’ve posted other videos intended to promote a message but this really doesn’t have any of that going for it
YouTube analytics shows interesting facts about who is looking at this video, but there’s no real pattern that I can discern. The hits come from all over the world, from slightly more females than males, from many search engines and linked pages, etc. The best news is that most people watch it through to the end (well, it *is* short).
The whole thing is sort of mysterious (why do people view this video?) but it seems to sum up why we should care about not allowing overly-protective legislation to shut down what’s great about the internet — anybody’s few moments of whimsical self-expression can be “out there” and that’s something to be cherished.
b.t.w. I *like* the Khan Academy and I don’t get it when educators are dismissive of it. I know it’s sort of “talking head” content, but as a resource to go along with a whole range of other ways to teach and learn, allowing students to watch as many times as they want, make comments, etc., I think it’s great.
I probably can’t — and don’t want to — change the world. The very nicest thing I’ve been told in a long time is that I influence others in a quiet way that often becomes apparent to them some time later. “Quiet” doesn’t equal high-profile world changer but it is definitely a mode of being that suits my personality. And I do want to actively participate as much as possible in the good change I see happening all around me so that’s why I’ve spent a career in education. I’m especially interested in the technology/communication advances related to social media.
because I’m passionate about not losing the important freedom of expression we’ve recently acquired by being able to blog, tweet, share photos, videos, etc. We can use this responsibly without the being shackled by the harshness of proposed legislation. My childhood piano teacher (who I thank for giving me a view of education that was astonishingly progressive for a woman who was 60 years older than me) said “the freedom to swing your arm ends at the other person’s nose”. I get that we shouldn’t use the new communication tools, or any other tools, to hurt others. But let’s not tip in the opposite direction and lose all the potential for great sharing and learning.
Clay Shirky, as always, describes it very well:
And, keeping with the “what-impact-do-I-really-have” motif, here are three separate comments from the instructor evaluation in the most recent course I taught:
- She has a talent to pull student’s out of their comfort zone and to “think outside the box”. This was not a negative attribute in a Master’s level instructor and facilitator.
- I like the approach of letting us figure out things ourselves. My sense from the group is the majority don’t like that approach. The social constructivist approach to learning works for me.
- I wouldn’t let her train my Cocker Spaniel.
I guess I have the ability to make some of my students think and make others get angry. Of course I think the first student completely understood what I was trying to do and the second one I appreciate for being honest enough to let me know that he or she saw others in the group who did NOT want the opportunity to learn by doing. To that ‘Cocker Spaniel’ commenter, I just have to say that grad students shouldn’t require ‘training’. If I’m there it’s for another purpose altogether. My belief system is strongly oriented towards encouraging people to learn how to learn. That’s not generally what you do with dogs and it’s why grad school is not obedience school. I have never wanted to spoon-feed educational content to anyone.
Mynna, born, I believe, in 1895, would be close to 117 years old. She lived into her 90s.
Back to my childhood piano teacher…. she told me that the word education came from the Latin “educa” which she translated as “to draw out”. Nothing about cramming in facts! Thank you Mynna! You were a quiet influence that is still apparent to me all these years later.
Stefon Harris, in this great TED video, explains how the bandstand is a place where you are alive in the moment. He says it’s best when it’s about responding to others — perceiving, and reacting to, what someone else is doing as an opportunity for moving forward. I think what he’s saying applies to much more than jazz (which is intriguing me more and more lately). Awareness and acceptance! The creative flow that happens when ideas are not imposed.
Social media has that potential. A river of thoughts flowing by, waiting for our reaction. Unedited. The opposite of a centralized, censored media source. What you say might change something. How you listen is important too because you are part of something big — not an outsider.
Some of the comments to the TED video include:
“What a great lesson on collaboratively learning!”
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“being open to new possibilities and allowing things to go where they may as new people and new ideas are brought into the equation”
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“Wynton Marsalis explains jazz as a democracy, each member has a say in what is being created, it is the fairest form of music. Bringing a jazz group in is just another way to teach democracy to the listeners, and what a wonderful way to do it! We must listen to each other in order to create a fluid that will inspire others, and ourselves! Tolerance, compromises, praise and criticism lead to a rounded, comfortable group where there is no fear of being bullied”
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“Listening, faith, creativity, cooperation, acceptance – gives the freedom, strength and courage to progress together into the unknown. Really beautiful!”
One of the instructional skills workshop participants I’ve been working with blogged on the topic of work/life balance by saying the following:
“Do we find what we do to make money so onerous that we wish to compartmentalize it away from who we are? Is work the way to make money and life what we use the money for? Is work so strenuous that what we call our life must consist of recovery, recuperation and preparation for the next onslaught of anguish/work?” http://thedarkcorridor.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/iswo-blog-5/
These are compelling questions, and I think they say a lot about our workplace and our attitude. I’m not quite sure who I mean here when I say “our”– but I think it might be anyone who works in an industrialized setting.
Where do I stand on this? I’m someone who’s about to take an early retirement and by February of next year (that’s just a few weeks away) I’ll be “free”. I love education and want to continue working in the field and for me, taking the pension offers the chance to be more selective about the work I do. I hate to say it but a lot of my time right now in my instructional designer role is spent nagging because courses have start dates and things need to be in place on time. Contract work (at least the kind I have lined up) is much different.
Overall, once retired I may actually work *more* — and some of that work will be a new focus related to glass. the hobby that I’ve tried to cultivate over the past several years as part of my own “work-life balance.” So my vision is for lots of variety. That too, may be part of the real secret to work/life balance. It seems to me that the workplace benefits when workers have a range of paths and can choose to grow when they’re ready.
And I believe that through social media I’ll be able to continue growing, keeping up with and contributing to the world of education. Contract work is one thing but I will almost certainly want to explore areas that I’m not “contracted” to do. And I’ll have the opportunity. Unencumbered! Willingly!
I think the whole concept is closely related to what Clay Shirky sees when he talks about cognitive surplus.
One of my favourite quotes of Shirky’s
“We have lived in this world where little things are done for love and big things for money. Now we have Wikipedia. Suddenly big things can be done for love.”
When an adult took standardized tests forced on kids
@johnathanfields tweeted “Successful, educated adult gets crushed by standardized test for kids” when referring to this article, written by Marion Brady:
It’s about a school board member, someone with “a bachelor of science degree, two masters degrees, and 15 credit hours toward a doctorate,” who could only guess 10 out of 60 questions in the math section, and got a “D” on the reading section of a test that is used for Grade 10 students.
He is quoted as saying “I have a wide circle of friends in various professions. Since taking the test, I’ve detailed its contents as best I can to many of them, particularly the math section, which does more than its share of shoving students in our system out of school and on to the street. Not a single one of them said that the math I described was necessary in their profession.”
Horrifying to think that a hugely funded education system has its focus on something that compels a huge number of students to leave the education system feeling like failures rather than supporting them towards lifelong learning.
I am currently working with a group of ISWO (Instructional Skills Workshop Online) students. Part of their workshop requirement is to blog and my role is simply to monitor those blogs and make a few suggestions about how the various postings might connect to:
1. each other
and
2. online information resources outside of the course – particularly those that have the potential to be ongoing and interactive.
The intention is to explore ways of building online communities. When students reflect on their areas of interest and clarify their thoughts enough to feel confident about posting them in a blog, an important first step has been taken. The hope is that they will then reach out to others, and others will read to them, so true networks can form.
I’m a huge fan of the concept of the personal learning network or PLN. Sometimes a similar concept is referred to as a personal learning environment. For me, it helps to think of a visual diagram of all the support, online and offline, that is available to assist with my ongoing learning. There are literally dozens of these at:
Posted by Elizabeth Wellburn 
