Hip Hop Genius

I know our focus is on higher ed, but this was just too good to not share. It's about remixing high school education, but I think there's a takeaway for higher ed too.

On Tweeting the Revolution

As promised, here's a link to Malcolm Gladwell's Small Change (why the revolution will not be tweeted).

If you don't have time to read it, here's Clay Shirky's description of the article and response, in two sentences:

The critique of [social media's] ineffectiveness, most recently offered by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker, concentrates on examples of what has been termed "slacktivism," whereby casual participants seek social change through low-cost activities, such as joining Facebook's "Save Darfur" group, that are long on bumper-sticker sentiment and short on any useful action. The critique is correct but not central to the question of social media's power; the fact that barely committed actors cannot click their way to a better world does not mean that committed actors cannot use social media effectively.

1000 Days Game Announcement

Can digital efforts impact real events? This is a question I continue to struggle with, particularly in this project I've been working on. I worked with a team to develop a Facebook game for ABC News and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. The team included myself, Chris Swain from the Interactive Media Division, and colleagues from the USC Institute for Global Health: it was student driven and produced and was announced this week at the Global Good Summit in NYC.

The Semantic Web

There are many visions for what Web 3.0 will be (or at least three of them) but the Semantic Web is a popular approach.

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

Clay Shirky has been speaking out against the Semantic Web for years and it's worth looking at the source of his argument.

The Work of Writing in the Age of Digital Reproducability

This keynote by Bill Cope (New London Group) was delivered at the Computers and Writing Conference at UC Davis (2009). It's on the Internet Archiver but I've not been able to get embed code so will have to link it.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheWorkOfWritingInTheAgeOfDigitalReproduc&reCache=1

On Siva Vaidhyanathan and Google

Here, as promised, is my review of Siva Vaidhyanathan's The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry).

And, speaking of Google, remember when they decided to stop offering search at google.cn? Thanks to The Atlantic's James Fallows, who, in my opinion, is one of the best bloggers ever, I saw this little illustration right around then:


He found it on a blog called Little Green River. And I think Google should consider making it its yearly June 4th search page banner, as long as Google and China are in a fight, anyway.

Webcam Plus Editing

Here's what happens when a talking head in front a webcam edits his video well:



Click here for more Ze Frank.

It's Just a Ride

All the talk in class today about real life as an ARG reminded me of this:

"All Children Are Born Artists"

David Palumbo-Liu posted a link today to this Ken Robinson TED Talk on Twitter, saying that it pairs well with Cathy Davidson's Now You See It. I think this video also intersects quite well with our readings this week in the Howard Gardner's Good Work anthology, particularly Seana Moran's chapter on "Returning to the GoodWork Project's Roots: Can Creative Work Be Humane?"

How do we utilize the imagination and creativity in such a way that it also instills a sense of responsibility for one's work, especially in the classroom, educational setting?

Playing the Scale Together

Bobby McFerrin shows that it's possible to get a lecture hall full of people to participate in what you're teaching:



Fair to say that the audience is immersed? Or is that the wrong word? And, if it is the wrong word, then what does it mean to be immersed in a classroom?

Forgetting the Old Ways

This might be a bit of a stretch, but when reading everyone's responses to the New London Group's paper, I couldn't get Wade Davis out of my mind.

Among other things, he has written a book called One River about indigenous botanical wisdom in the Amazon Rainforest, and he has given a TED Talk about the tragedy of ethnodiversity loss.

Fascinating and I think tangentially relevant to multiliteracies.

Here's the TED Talk: