Quotes

Replied to a tweet by Kevin M. Kruse (Twitter)
Let’s be honest. If you’re going to have someone sign a Dr. Seuss book that isn’t Theodor Geisel, at least get someone truly consequential—and for a good reason.

Front inside cover of Dr. Seuss' book Green Eggs and Ham with Sam and a plate of food on the right and an inscription dated 11/19/94 "Chris, Keep Hope Alive!" above the signature of Jesse Jackson

Quoted The Californian Ideology by Richard Barbrook & Andy Cameron (Mute)
We need to debate what kind of hypermedia suit our vision of society - how we create the interactive products and on-line services we want to use, the kind of computers we like and the software we find most useful. We need to find ways to think socially and politically about the machines we develop. While learning from the can-do attitude of the Californian individualists, we also must recognise that the potentiality of hypermedia can never solely be realised through market forces. We need an economy which can unleash the creative powers of hi-tech artisans. Only then can we fully grasp the Promethean opportunities of hypermedia as humanity moves into the next stage of modernity. ❧
As true today as it was 25 years ago.
Quoted from Lecture 2 of The City of God (Books that Matter) by Charles Mathewes (The Great Courses)
Augustine [of Hippo] knew the power and the danger of idolatry and celebrity. And he knew the danger of both was first to permit the idolater to offload the duty of thinking onto their idol. And second to seduce the celebrity, in turn, into thinking his fans have nothing insightful to say. That treatment of a fellow human, a fellow christian, would be not the achievement of theology but the avoidance of it. And he went out of his way in his life and in his words to forestall such approaches.
Annotated Dear Bob, by Jeff Jarvis (BuzzMachine)

I learned long ago in my career that shorter is harder. When I started Entertainment Weekly, I decreed that long reviews usually waste readers' time with critics showing off. Shorter can be smarter.

One doesn't measure comprehensiveness with a clock or a ruler. Longer is not deeper. ❧

I was particularly struck by two quotes in the comments which are very similar to a popular saying by Blaise Pascal.

Are these truisms proven out on a daily basis by Twitter?

Annotated FACT CHECK: Did Mark Twain Pen This Quote On Kindness? by Aryssa Damron (checkyourfact.com)

Christian Nestell Bovee often receives credit for the quote. “Kindness: a language which the dumb can speak and the deaf can understand,” he wrote in his 1857 book “Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies.” ❧

black and white photo of Mark Twain

Annotated An Outline for Using Hypothesis for Owning your Annotations and Highlights by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (boffosocko.com)

Create an IFTTT.com recipe to port your Hypothesis RSS feed into WordPress posts. Generally chose an “If RSS, then WordPress” setup and use the following data to build the recipe:

Input feed: https://hypothes.is/stream.atom?user=username (change username to your user name)
Optional title: {{EntryTitle}}
Body: {{EntryContent}} from {{EntryUrl}}
{{EntryPublished}}
Categories: Highlight (use whatever categories you prefer, but be aware they’ll apply to all your future posts from this feed)
Tags: hypothes.is
Post status (optional): I set mine to “Draft” so I have the option to keep it privately or to publish it publicly at a later date. ❧

Posting this solely to compare my Hypothes.is highlights and annotations on my website with Will’s version.

I’m still tinkering with mine and should have a Micropub based version using IFTTT and Webhooks done soon.

Quoted from email about "Policy change in regards to Social Media use for social learning from Centre for Innovation, Leiden University" by Tanja de Bie, Community Manager (Centre for Innovation, Leiden University via Coursera)

The Centre for Innovation of Leiden University has always strongly supported social or collaborative learning in online learning:  the interaction between learners facilitating learners, whether that is in discussion forums, peer review assignments or in our Facebook groups, contributes to a deeper understanding of subjects, and prepares learners to apply their knowledge.

However, the Centre for Innovation has a responsibility to our teachers, learners and volunteers, under GDPR and our own Privacy Policy. Based on this we conducted a review of different platforms that we made use of for collaborative, social learning and have decided to move away from those that do not allow us to meet our obligations and promises to those in our care.

Therefore we have decided to close all Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups and Instagram accounts currently under control of the Centre for Innovation, per the 29th of March 2019, and have adjusted our courses accordingly.

You can direct any questions or remarks in regards to this policy to MOOC@sea.leidenuniv.nl.

Kind Regards,

On behalf of Centre for Innovation, Leiden University,

Tanja de Bie, Community Manager

At least part of Leiden University is apparently making the moral and ethical call to close all their Facebook related properties. Kudos! They’ve already got a great website, perhaps they’ll move a bit more toward the IndieWeb?

📑 There are only three places that have a ‘the’ in the front of their name: the Vatican, The Hague, and the Bronx.

Annotated Just Kids from the Bronx by Arlene Alda (justkidsfromthebronx.com)
“There are only three places that have a ‘the’ in the front of their name: the Vatican, The Hague, and the Bronx.”  ❧
—Mary Higgins Clark

📑 I don’t want to be a brand. | Cheri Baker

Annotated I don't want to be a brand. by Cheri BakerCheri Baker (social.cheribaker.com)

To participate in the economy, we’re encouraged to shape ourselves into a strategically pleasing form, always with a sale in mind.

Isn’t the phrase

we’re encouraged to shape ourselves into a strategically pleasing form

almost exactly what women have been attempting to fix with much of the feminist movement? We should all just be ourselves. Trying to “stay on message” is just painful. The message should be: “This is my life, and I’ll do with it as I please.”