Digital Futures by https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx Position paper notes en-us 2017-10-16 09:15:13 UTC 2023-02-17 18:19:46 UTC hello@padlet.com Survelliance Culture ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197258435 Lyons (2017) -  Lyon is well known for his work on the surveillance society, but has recently turned his attention to what he calls “surveillance culture”, where “people actively participate in an attempt to regulate their own surveillance and the surveillance of others” (p.824). This active participation, he argues, is “formed through organizational dependence, political-economic power, security linkages, and social media engagement” (p.826). He discusses situations which go beyond the “general collusion with contemporary surveillance” (p.829) into a so called “soft surveillance” context where populations “participate in, actively engage with, and initiate surveillance themselves”. The paper explores “surveillance imaginaries and practices”, including sharing, exposure, desire, and visibility.]]> 2017-10-16 09:16:24 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197258435 Algorithms, Governance and Governmentality ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197260050 Introna’s key argument is that the actions of algorithms – which are inscrutable and executable – are “not just in the world, they make worlds” (p.27). For this reason, he argues that we need to pay careful attention to them. He offers three perspectives on how the “problem of governing” can be thought about in relation to algorithms: that algorithms should be governed directly (by code being made more ‘open’ or ‘transparent’, for example); that algorithms enact governance themselves (for example through facial recognition at airports that identify passengers); and that algorithms actually contribute to creating expertise, subjects and so on through a process of governmentality. Introna uses a governmentality perspective to analyse the workings of plagiarism detection in contemporary academic writing, arguing that:
'the prevailing rationality, and the governing technology, has produced a very particular regime of practice when it comes to academic writing. The inheritance from these governing practices is complex and multiple—for example, they have enacted a particular understanding of what academic writing is, what plagiarism is, what students are, and what teachers are. '(p.37)

This paper also includes a helpful walkthrough of what an algorithm actually does and its philosophical dimensions and implications.

]]> 2017-10-16 09:24:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197260050 'Algorithms are opinions embedded in code' ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197260558 O'Neil, Cathy (2017). The era of blind faith in big data must end. TED Talk, 13:18minutes. https://www.ted.com/talks/cathy_o_neil_the_era_of_blind_faith_in_big_data_must_end . Taking a firm position on the issue of trust and technology, O'Neil (the author of the recent book 'weapons of math destruction') describes algorithms as "opinions embedded in code", and urges her audience to look past the apparent objectivity of algorithms and see them as tools that primarily work to replicate the 'status quo' - often with many biases attached. She argues that algorithms can be checked for fairness, and fixed.]]> 2017-10-16 09:27:29 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197260558 Surveillance Capitalism ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197260945 In this paper, Zuboff argues that big data serves as the foundation of a new “logic of accumulation” she has termed “surveillance capitalism”, which “aims to predict and modify human behavior as a means to produce revenue and market control” (p.75). She theorises and explores in depth why metaphors like ‘extraction’ and ‘data exhaust’ are problematic. Of particular interest is her discussion of the use of big data and surveillance practices to erase the very concept of trust by “emptying the contract of uncertainty” (p.81). ]]> 2017-10-16 09:29:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197260945 ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197261103 2017-10-16 09:30:00 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197261103 Hacked body ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197261733 https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/21/15999544/biohacking-finger-magnet-human-augmentation-loss]]> 2017-10-16 09:32:49 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197261733 The quantified life ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197261985 Quantified Life (Ajana, 2017): This short documentary by Btihaj Ajana draws out some of the possibilities, and threats, linked to the use of technology to continuously monitor aspects of our bodies, such as health, movement and diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI75kMqctik&feature=youtu.be ) ]]> 2017-10-16 09:33:38 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197261985 Data Ghosts in Facebook ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197262680 http://smethur.st/posts/80772121]]> 2017-10-16 09:37:03 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197262680 Complexity ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197262847 2017-10-16 09:37:53 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197262847 Serendipity ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197263179 Serendipitous teaching through twitterbot?]]> 2017-10-16 09:39:46 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197263179 Anonymity ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197263654 http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/social-productivity-anonymity]]> 2017-10-16 09:42:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197263654 Obfuscation ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197263733 http://www.universitypressscholarship.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/view/10.7551/mitpress/9780262029735.001.0001/upso-9780262029735-chapter-002]]> 2017-10-16 09:42:54 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197263733 The Challenges of Platform Capitalism ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197264661 The platform business model is predicated upon a voracious appetite for data that can only be sated by disregard for privacy (and often workers' rights), and constant outward expansion. As they become ever more central to the global economy, this article argues that it's incumbent on us to understand how they function.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/doi/10.1111/newe.12023/full]]> 2017-10-16 09:47:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197264661 Gilliard and the pedagogy of platforms ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197265021 digital redlining and narrowing of futures through data https://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/7/pedagogy-and-the-logic-of-platforms]]> 2017-10-16 09:49:25 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197265021 A vocabulary for thinking about the future ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197265525 Doctorow, C. (2012). A vocabulary for speaking about the future. Locus Magazine, January 2012. Web version: http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2012/01/cory-doctorow-a-vocabulary-for-speaking-about-the-future/ . In this short editorial for a science fiction magazine, Doctorow argues that when science fiction “predicts” the future, it is actually “inspiring” it. He goes on to discuss the implications of agency. His is an optimistic vision: “’Prediction’ implies a future that we hurtle towards on rails, prisoners of destiny. Having a route-map for the railroad is nice, but wouldn’t it be better if we could steer?” Importantly, he stresses the value of making engrossing language for talking about both desirable and undesirable futures – and argues that this is the job of the science fiction writer. Might it also be a job for educators?]]> 2017-10-16 09:51:30 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197265525 Beyond current horizons report: scenarios for the future ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197265814 Facer, K and Sandford, R (2010). The next 25 years?: future scenarios and future directions for education and technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26, 74-92. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00337.x/abstract . Facer and Sandford draw from their Beyond Current Horizons project to describe how educational futures work can be socially and ethically engaged, and why it matters that it be so. They describe the project’s use of various ‘foresight’ techniques and methods including scenario planning, and show some implications of their findings for the future of education.


]]> 2017-10-16 09:52:47 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197265814 Future of the Internet ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197266013 Pew reports on the Future of the Internet, Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/topics/future-of-the-internet/.]]> 2017-10-16 09:53:42 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197266013 Deconstructive Non-alignment ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197266534 Gough, N. (2013). Towards deconstructive nonalignment : a complexivist view of curriculum, teaching and learning. South African Journal of Higher Education 27(5), 1213-1233.   Gough critiques educational concepts from the past and the present, especially the concept of ‘constructive alignment’, for attempting to erase or neglect the complexity of education. Drawing on multiple examples of complexity, and complexity reduction, in the sciences, he argues that “complexity offers ways to think about educational inputs and outcomes that do not assume that causal relationships between them are, or should only be, instrumental. Complexity suggests that at least some educational processes ought to be characterised by gaps between ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’” (p.1221). He offers his own alternative to ‘constructive alignment’ – ‘deconstructive nonalignment’, which understands curriculum as ‘story’ and ‘text’ that can be used as a focus for ‘speculation and/or hypothesis to be tested’ (p.1224). He closes by exploring the idea of ‘evidence’ as a site of complexity reduction in education.]]> 2017-10-16 09:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197266534 Serendipity - Makri et al (2014) ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197266870 Drawing on data from interviews with 14 creative professionals, the researchers explore strategies for “propel[ing] users in useful directions they might not otherwise have traveled in” (p.2180). The paper reviews previous research on this topic, and analyses some of the serendipity stories told by interviewees. It goes on to explore the strategies identified, and consider how these can be supported by digital information environment design. ]]> 2017-10-16 09:57:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197266870 Minor Urbanism ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197267484 Shepherd explores the ways that technology and the city are intertwined, and how they might be further entangled in the future. He urges us to be critical of oversimplified claims about the seamlessness of these entanglements, and tries to show how "this complex intermingling of people, space and data is a messy affair" (p.484), introducing the concept of "minor urbanism" to refer to "stubborn and resistant gaps and interruptions within an otherwise optimized and efficient urban milieu" (p.486).]]> 2017-10-16 10:01:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197267484 Complexity, Mess and Not-yetness (Ross) ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197268308 This chapter looks specifically at digital education, and uses ideas of mess and complexity to counter the tendency the authors see towards framing the benefits of online learning in terms of “speed, simplicity and efficiency” (p.18). They introduce the concept of ‘not-yetness’ as a way of thinking about emergence, complexity and the unanticipated, and discuss course design, embodiment and accountability through this lens.]]> 2017-10-16 10:06:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197268308 Audrey Watters ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197268823 http://hackeducation.com/]]> 2017-10-16 10:08:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197268823 Mike Caulfield ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197268974 https://hapgood.us/]]> 2017-10-16 10:09:45 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/197268974 Possibility, like time, is a one-way street. ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/198125843 https://teachonline.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/e-newsletters/quantum_leaps_we_can_expect_in_teaching_and_learning_in_the_digital_age_-_a_roadmap.pdf]]> 2017-10-18 08:16:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/198125843 Personalisation? ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199307368 http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar17/vol74/num06/Let's-Celebrate-Personalization@-But-Not-Too-Fast.aspx]]> 2017-10-21 23:43:10 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199307368 Silicon Valley is not your friend ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199307578 “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/13/opinion/sunday/Silicon-Valley-Is-Not-Your-Friend.html]]> 2017-10-21 23:50:08 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199307578 Beyond opening up the black box: Investigating the role of algorithmic systems in Wikipedian organizational culture ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199308329 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053951717730735]]> 2017-10-22 00:15:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199308329 Big data meets big brother: China moves to rate its citizens ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199308390 http://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-credit-score-privacy-invasion]]> 2017-10-22 00:17:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199308390 Towards a radical digital citizenship ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199315586 This paper argues that the ‘digital’ and its attendant technologies are
constituted by on-going materialist struggles for equality and
justice in the Global South and North which are erased in the
dominant literature and debates in digital education. Examples include mining for minerals, Black Lives Matter and the redlining of suburbs due to Silicon Valley wealth.]]> 2017-10-22 03:57:16 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199315586 ToS;DR ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199315703 http://blog.tosdr.org/]]> 2017-10-22 04:01:15 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199315703 Why we're allowed to hate Silicon Valley ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199325680 http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/the-internet-ideology-why-we-are-allowed-to-hate-silicon-valley-12658406.html]]> 2017-10-22 08:10:50 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199325680 Multimodal profusion in the literacies of the MassiveOpen Online Course ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199325871 2017-10-22 08:14:13 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/199325871 Literacy, literacies and the digital in higher education ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/201380541 2017-10-28 03:31:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/201380541 The future of HE ruth_weeks https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/204200282 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/what-will-universities-look-like-in-2030-future-perfect]]> 2017-11-07 04:18:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ruth_weeks/fvgp9zbdo0dx/wish/204200282