Social media dissemination: time for a change
2020 March 9 Monday 17:20
Recently it was noticed that the current host ('Disroot') within the 'Fediverse' of inter-connected social media platforms, is no longer accepting new accounts. Fortunately &endash; and this is the whole purpose of the concept &endash; there are other servers to continue elsewhere.
For now, content will reside with 'Neocities' and further dissemination will be via 'Mastodon', where you may comment about posts as they are published; see the hyperlink 'Comment' at the top of this page. citc will use a particular Mastodon server 'Scholar.social'; as the name suggests, it is aimed at academics. Give it a try! :)
Social media technology: vested interests
2020 March 19 Thursday 20:57
Times Educational Supplement (TES) is a British publication for educationalists. In the battle for eyeballs, open source concepts are too disruptive, especially for the current private equity owners:
From: TES Community ... To: citc ... Subject: TES_carll started a conversation with you: "Inappropriate Advertising / Spam" Date: Sat, 07 Mar 2020 12:41:19 +0000 citct, TES_carll started a conversation with you at TES Community: "Inappropriate Advertising / Spam" This is the message they posted: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Your message (alternative social media) contains inappropriate advertising or spam: ---------- If you are seeking a move away from corporate social media platforms there are some interesting alternatives. Currently exploring 'mastodon', part of a 'fediverse' of multiple networks that can talk to each other. Very interesting concept. For example 'scholar.social' as the name suggests is primarily for academics. Twitter without the noise... Hope to see more teachers there! :) https://scholar.social/@citc ---------- This does not follow our rules. Your message may have been removed or altered.It is a bizarre conclusion to make; however considering that tes is a commercial business, perhaps the concept of de-centralisation is a threat. Another perspective they should have considered; let us operate our own "instance" (i.e. Mastodon server)
Abrupt end of a mini-era
No doubt, this start to a new decade will be forever remembered for the coronavirus cov-id-19 "pandemic". So far, a surreal experience of panic, of confusion. With the declaration this week that schools in England are to close tomorrow "until further notice", today became a very strange realisation of the end of term for many (i.e. year 11 and year 13 students). In truth, the year 13 cohort will be missed because due to a personal bias of starting this teaching game with them. A nice bunch, enjoyable to teach with hardly any drama; the less said about the other cohorts, the better ... Good luck people in the next chapter of your lives! :)
Revolution or business as usual?
2020 March 21 Saturday 18:56
Going into the local shop and seeing the empty shelves(!), noticed a headline in the FT (how I wish I could afford to buy that newspaper, but I digress) which opinioned how emergencies have a habit of becoming permanent (income tax, Napoleonic war?). A beautifully sunny day, nice to see children playing in the park, the skateboarders, the tennis players. Reading the web, one wonders what changes the people make will become permanent?
Optional school attendance
Technology makes the possibility of education to be delivered any place, any time? Imagine how government funded schools would be transformed by a system whereby only those that want to be school are (and thus by definition self-motivated to learn), whilst those that cannot/will not attend, if given the technology to do their learning elsewhere and without negative detrimental impact on others?
Universal basic income
The government's Corona virus job retention scheme, could evolve into universal basic income; universal credit now exists, so why not? A quick internet search will reveal a whole host of proponents of this old idea, rebranded for the "gig economy". Presumably it is imperative that for ubi to be successful, it must be an appropriate level; too high and a dis-incentive to be economically active and independent, too low and ineffective to alleviation of absolute poverty.