Dr. Dean (Twitter)Love hearing @acroom invoke Jane Jacobs in terms of why we should care about design. Urban theory, history of New York, are great analogs for tensions in technology, teaching, and learning. #OLCInnnovate pic.twitter.com/taXxvqBg0e
— (((Dr. Dean))) (@dr_jdean) April 3, 2019
Fri, May 10, 2019, 8:15 AM
After 7 years of weekly Friday Coffee Meetups, we're changing up the format a bit! As you FCM fans know, a big part of what happens each week is the community-- the people you meet. Put on a name tag, and introduce yourself. And it's AMAZING the people you meet, isn't it? You might be talking to a rocket scientist or a real estate broker. Last week I met someone who is creating a new and improved port a potty that is less offensive/ more enjoyable and environmentally friendly! That's what brings me in each week.
And it's a little bitter-sweet sometimes when you're in the middle of a fascinating conversation, and you have to stop, sit down and listen to a fascinating speaker instead. So NOW you don't have to.
Occassionally, we'll have an Open Networking Friday to mix things up. And that's what we're doing Friday, May 10th. Same great coffee, same great people. See you there!
The Bit Player Trailer from IEEE Information Theory Society on Vimeo.
In a blockbuster paper in 1948, Claude Shannon introduced the notion of a "bit" and laid the foundation for the information age. His ideas ripple through nearly every aspect of modern life, influencing such diverse fields as communication, computing, cryptography, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, cosmology, linguistics, and genetics. But when interviewed in the 1980s, Shannon was more interested in showing off the gadgets he’d constructed — juggling robots, a Rubik’s Cube solving machine, a wearable computer to win at roulette, a unicycle without pedals, a flame-throwing trumpet — than rehashing the past. Mixing contemporary interviews, archival film, animation and dialogue drawn from interviews conducted with Shannon himself, The Bit Player tells the story of an overlooked genius who revolutionized the world, but never lost his childlike curiosity.
Read Chapters: The Ethics of Design, How Designers Destroyed the World, and Moving Fast and Breaking Things
I was very reticent about this book at first, but it is way more essential than I initially thought! I knew I was going to know almost all of the examples, and I’ve generally been right on that account so far, but he’s going beyond the problems with potential solutions. I was worried it was going to be something that I would appreciate and heartily recommend to others without getting much out of it myself, but it reads quickly and easily and there’s a lot here that I want to come back and ponder about further.
Despite the fact that I don’t feel like a professional web designer by trade, what he’s talking about here are standards of human care and interaction that anyone who makes anything should be thinking about on a daily basis. Whether you’re building or creating things for others or even making your own daily life, at heart, you’re designing something.
If Chuck Chugumlung hasn’t come across this book yet with respect to his Design X Pasadena group, I’ll recommend it heartily to him.
I also find myself thinking a lot about how people are building and designing technologies in the edtech space. May of the researchers, professors, and instructional designers I know are immersed in some of the ethics and morals behind using these technologies. Generally I hear them talking about what they “wish” they had as tools, but often they seem to be stuck with things they don’t really want and are then attempting to figure out ways around these technologies after-the-fact so that they can use them in an ethical manner. They really need to stand up, refuse to use what they’re given, and demand better design from the start. Even if they’re incapable of building their own tools, they’re slowly, but surely going to loose the war if they don’t move upstream to where the actual decisions are being made. Fortunately some of the work I see in the OER space is being done at the grass roots where people have more choice and say in the design, but I worry that if they’re not careful, those tools will be siloed off with bad design choices by for-profit companies as well.
A nice, and even hopeful introduction.
Directed by Roxann Dawson. With Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Brandon J. Dirden, Costa Ronin. After picking up a distressing piece of intelligence, Elizabeth takes extreme measures to get close to a Soviet negotiator; Philip shares some stunning news with Henry.
Directed by Daniel Attias. With Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Brandon J. Dirden, Costa Ronin. In the aftermath of a disastrous operation, Philip and Elizabeth clash about how to handle things with Paige. Stan struggles to contain the growing risks of Sofia and Gennadi's fraying relationship.
Directed by Matthew Rhys. With Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Brandon J. Dirden, Costa Ronin. Elizabeth targets an old source who could tip the balance of the upcoming summit, as Philip deals with business at the travel agency. Stan learns an old friend is back in town.
Directed by Chris Long. With Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Brandon J. Dirden, Costa Ronin. In the season 6 premiere of The Americans: it's autumn, 1987, and as a major arms control summit looms, Elizabeth is pushed to her limits as never before. Philip, meanwhile, has settled into running the newly expanded travel agency - until an unexpected visitor makes a disquieting request.
Directed by James Burrows. With Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes. Jack realizes he lost 13 gold coins he's supposed to give Estefan at their wedding to avoid a curse. Will is concerned that Grace is the only one compromising in her relationship with Noah. Karen shows up at a dinner party with her new date, Nikki.
