I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when this class started. The idea of a history class centered around technology seemed somewhat of an oxymoron, but I was really surprised to see how much the digital concepts we discussed in class turned up throughout the centuries. More surprising, though, was how different the format of the class was, and how much I learned from it. Taking this class has really opened up my eyes to changes that have been going on in the world, ad I hope to change the way I learn, interact, and share because of it. But now, let's look into how I learned to meet the course requirements.
History:
The Internet Before Computers
The Motor of the Internet
Smartphones and the Digital Divide
The way we studied the historical concepts in this class was amazing. This was the first class I've taken where students were allowed to take control of the topics, do their own research, and share their knowledge with the class. I was able to learn a lot more about my century this way, because I was able to look into the areas that interested me the most and focus on that. Classmates who did the same and shared the highlights of their research made a good overview of the major themes, events, and people of those time periods, and how they related to the class. My reading for the class, "Ghost Map" was also a really interesting read into the time period. While there wasn't as much of a connection between my eBook chapter (openness) and the historical content, there were some examples we drew from, and the history played a lot into the other chapters.
Core Concepts:
Crowd Sourcing and Crime
Forced Open Source
If You Give a Business a Cookie...
Accessability
I feel these concepts made up a significant chunk of my learning this semester. Ever since I first booted up linux I've been an advocate of openness, but this class took my vision beyond the computer screen and showed me how the concepts that have become common place in the digital world can, and should, be applied in the physical as well. Not just openness, but all the concepts, including participation (
Crowd Sourcing and Crime ), information (If You Give a Business a Cookie...), and control (Accessability). I found classmates and professors posts highlighting these concepts throughout history and in modern society extremely insightful, and now I myself see them popping up everywhere. I've gained a deeper understanding of what openness really means, the deeper and further reaching effects of participation and control, and the true importance of information, both throughout time and in our ever-changing digital society.
Digital Literacy:
Henry Darger
Weaponized Media
Open Sources
Invitations
I feel like this class was a trial-by-fire in learning digital literacy. We were thrown into the deep end of connectivity with a goal and a deadline, and tried not to drown in the see of information. Honestly, though, the experience of filtering out who to follow on Google+, tracking down just the right information, keeping this blog, making presentations- it's been quite invaluable. Often in classes we're sheltered from the 'real world' in an ivory tower where we write our papers, turn them in, and pat ourselves on the back because a professor thought we wrote well. This semester, though, the leashes we had grown so used to were cut off. When I was told to go study the 18th century and present what I found, I was pretty lost. There were 100 years in there! Which ones am I supposed to research? But that's the point, I guess. I slowly realized that I was supposed to dig in and find what I liked. I bounced it off people around me, got their feedback, and shared it with the class via my blog, google+, and our presenations. Later, with the eBook, we took that model and blew it up to a larger scale, researching concepts like Openness, contacting actual professionals, and broadcasting what we made to the world. This class has really taught me how to find the right ideas, create my own, and share them in the right ways.
Self Directed Learning:
Under Your Nose
I feel this is kind of covered by the digital literacy- if you're not digitally literate, you're going to have a hard time learning on your own. The opposite is also true, if you're not learning on your own, then your digital tools are being used the wrong way. Everything we learned in this class about self-directed learning was a tool to help us learn about our time periods and digital concepts. So, if I had to point to a particular blog post about self-directed learning, I'd point to that one up there. However, the blog as a whole, as well as everything I threw up on my google+ feed, is a lot better evidence of how I grew and learned about self directed learning. I also had plenty of opportunities to try out what I'd learned here in other classes - it's amazing how much info is out there about computer science! I was completely floored.
Collaboration:
On the Shoulders of Giants
Most of what I learned about collaboration was learned during the eBook writing process. And during the writing process, I didn't post write many blog posts, because I constantly talked with the people who were writing it, and our work was released every monday anyways. Don't let that fool you, though, as this class's experience has been one of a kind in learning how to collaborate. I was able to look into how large projects like linux and other open software collaborate, and we applied some of their principles in our own group. I became a 'gateway' for the ebook, David for the presentation, Caleb for the social graph, and Alena for the visuals. By each of us focusing on less, we could accomplish more. I also learned the importance of collaborating with others outside your group. The input and feedback others gave us was invaluable in guiding our efforts and ideas. It was kind of a blow when my focus, the ebook, was delayed until after the class was over, but that in itself was a lesson in collaboration - just because you have a focus, doesn't mean you get to ignore everything else. Fortunately we were all still included in each others projects, and I was able to help out (albeit not as much as I would've liked) with the other projects we were working on. In short, while my experience with collaborating had its ups and downs, I learned a ton.
So that's how I met the learning requirements for this class! I learned a lot outside of those, and I'd like to write about that too, but I'm afraid that will have to wait until after finals. Best of luck everyone, and it's been a pleasure delving into the digital depths with you.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Event invitations evalutation
Unfortunately, nobody I invited came to our amazing exposition on digital society. I thought I did a pretty good job of inviting people, and I found quite a few that were pretty interested, but I guess not! I didn't see anyone on the twitter stream from my invite list, and though I didn't check the uStream or whatever it was called, I doubt anyone showed up there either. I guess people just have a lot on their plates, and an invitation to a 'digital revolution' isn't what they're looking for in on a thursday night. However, it was a good experience to reach out and spread the word. Here's some of the high-lights from my invitation efforts.
1) One of the first people I invited, I didn't actually get the name of, though I did post about him last week. I overheard him going off about a paradigm shift in education, the opening of the publishing industry, the need to educate kids in content creation - Golden! I thought he'd come for sure, but in retrospect I should've done more than show him the website and extend an oral invitation. As old-school as they are, sometimes fliers serve as a really handy reminder.
2) I emailed Dale Stephens from Uncollege.org earlier in the semester about something for a blog post, and he emailed me back! So, I emailed him again, inviting him to come check out what we've got on Open Education and the changes it could bring. In his defense, he says on his website that it takes him a while to get to new emails. Too bad 1 weeks notice isn't enough, because I think he would've had some really good input!
3) Randall Munroe, from xkcd.com - While he doesn't have any particular ties to openness specifically, he's a little bit involved in everything that's going on in the 'interwob'. It's easy to tell from his comic and blog that he's passionate and knowledgeable about copyright, open source software, and open science. Also, I went to school with his brother! Unfortunately, this small tie was not enough to illicit either a response or participation. Oh well.
4) Eric Raymond - I hold no grudges against this man for not getting back or participating, because he has already done so darn much for openness. I've followed him on Google+ for the past couple of weeks, and after referencing a lot of his work for the Openness chapter, I felt it a good idea to invite him, citing how his works had been central in my research and linking to the website. It's okay Eric. You can check it out when you're finished with your next open-source project.
5) Prof. Roper - The head of Computer Science for undergraduates here at BYU, I invited him along with the rest of his CS 124 class. He seemed kind of interested when I explained what it was to his class, and recommended everyone show up for the refreshments, but looks like brownies weren't a big enough of a draw.
6) Ping Chu, my friend's dad, is a system analyst for Capitol 1. He's an extremely intelligent man, heavily involved in computers, and even though he lives on the opposite end of the continent, I thought it highly likely he would show some interest. I did invite him via facebook, though, so he probably didn't check it in time. I did invite 100+ other people on facebook, but I haven't heard anything back from them either. Maybe facebook just isn't that great for this kind of thing?
7) I take that back, I got feedback from two people on facebook. Although, both people had already been invited by others (six degrees of seperation?) When I did get feedback on this event, the further people were from the actual locale, the less excitement they showed. I tried encouraging people to participate online via stream or twitter, but lets be realistic - most of the people I know think twitter is retarded, and I can't say I disagree entirely.
8) I also invited my roommates! They're actually nice guys, I promise, but they aren't the most technical of people. Thus, when invited to a seminar on how digital openness will change society, they looked confused, asked what digits were, and went back to playing with rocks. Honestly, though, they aren't interested in the digital world. Ironic, since they spend so much time on it...
9) I invited all my friends who had technology related majors, IT, IS, CS, etc. They all though it was an interesting idea, and since they actually use twitter, I fully expected them to show up. Unfortunately, they were too busy celebrating the last day of classes to hop online and 'tweet' on into our presentation.
10) The day off, after getting little to no response to the event, I started inviting random people in desperation. I'd spent a semester working in this class, and I wanted people to hear about what we've learned, gosh darn it! I got mixed responses from strangers, ranging from confusion about what exactly 'openness' was to the more tech-savvy's excitement about connecting with anything that resembled Linux in real life. A few people gave maybes, and one or two people perked up at the word 'refreshments'. Maybe next time there's an event like this, you should put pizza on the posters instead of Uncle Sam.
So that's who I invited! I shook the dust of an old twitter account I made years ago just for the event, and tried to stir up some conversation there. I saw a few non-classmates show up in the stream, which was pretty exciting! Mostly college students, but the word was getting out there! Like I said at the beginning, I didn't see much response from those I personally invited, but it was good to see that some people did show up. I can't imagine how many invites were extended to get the number of people who showed up there, but I can imagine how hard it would've been without social media. I still would've really appreciated having a flier or two to hand out, and I don't think I saw a single poster on campus for this. Digital campaigning is great, but sometimes you just can't beat spreading the world the old fashioned way.
1) One of the first people I invited, I didn't actually get the name of, though I did post about him last week. I overheard him going off about a paradigm shift in education, the opening of the publishing industry, the need to educate kids in content creation - Golden! I thought he'd come for sure, but in retrospect I should've done more than show him the website and extend an oral invitation. As old-school as they are, sometimes fliers serve as a really handy reminder.
2) I emailed Dale Stephens from Uncollege.org earlier in the semester about something for a blog post, and he emailed me back! So, I emailed him again, inviting him to come check out what we've got on Open Education and the changes it could bring. In his defense, he says on his website that it takes him a while to get to new emails. Too bad 1 weeks notice isn't enough, because I think he would've had some really good input!
3) Randall Munroe, from xkcd.com - While he doesn't have any particular ties to openness specifically, he's a little bit involved in everything that's going on in the 'interwob'. It's easy to tell from his comic and blog that he's passionate and knowledgeable about copyright, open source software, and open science. Also, I went to school with his brother! Unfortunately, this small tie was not enough to illicit either a response or participation. Oh well.
4) Eric Raymond - I hold no grudges against this man for not getting back or participating, because he has already done so darn much for openness. I've followed him on Google+ for the past couple of weeks, and after referencing a lot of his work for the Openness chapter, I felt it a good idea to invite him, citing how his works had been central in my research and linking to the website. It's okay Eric. You can check it out when you're finished with your next open-source project.
5) Prof. Roper - The head of Computer Science for undergraduates here at BYU, I invited him along with the rest of his CS 124 class. He seemed kind of interested when I explained what it was to his class, and recommended everyone show up for the refreshments, but looks like brownies weren't a big enough of a draw.
6) Ping Chu, my friend's dad, is a system analyst for Capitol 1. He's an extremely intelligent man, heavily involved in computers, and even though he lives on the opposite end of the continent, I thought it highly likely he would show some interest. I did invite him via facebook, though, so he probably didn't check it in time. I did invite 100+ other people on facebook, but I haven't heard anything back from them either. Maybe facebook just isn't that great for this kind of thing?
7) I take that back, I got feedback from two people on facebook. Although, both people had already been invited by others (six degrees of seperation?) When I did get feedback on this event, the further people were from the actual locale, the less excitement they showed. I tried encouraging people to participate online via stream or twitter, but lets be realistic - most of the people I know think twitter is retarded, and I can't say I disagree entirely.
8) I also invited my roommates! They're actually nice guys, I promise, but they aren't the most technical of people. Thus, when invited to a seminar on how digital openness will change society, they looked confused, asked what digits were, and went back to playing with rocks. Honestly, though, they aren't interested in the digital world. Ironic, since they spend so much time on it...
9) I invited all my friends who had technology related majors, IT, IS, CS, etc. They all though it was an interesting idea, and since they actually use twitter, I fully expected them to show up. Unfortunately, they were too busy celebrating the last day of classes to hop online and 'tweet' on into our presentation.
10) The day off, after getting little to no response to the event, I started inviting random people in desperation. I'd spent a semester working in this class, and I wanted people to hear about what we've learned, gosh darn it! I got mixed responses from strangers, ranging from confusion about what exactly 'openness' was to the more tech-savvy's excitement about connecting with anything that resembled Linux in real life. A few people gave maybes, and one or two people perked up at the word 'refreshments'. Maybe next time there's an event like this, you should put pizza on the posters instead of Uncle Sam.
So that's who I invited! I shook the dust of an old twitter account I made years ago just for the event, and tried to stir up some conversation there. I saw a few non-classmates show up in the stream, which was pretty exciting! Mostly college students, but the word was getting out there! Like I said at the beginning, I didn't see much response from those I personally invited, but it was good to see that some people did show up. I can't imagine how many invites were extended to get the number of people who showed up there, but I can imagine how hard it would've been without social media. I still would've really appreciated having a flier or two to hand out, and I don't think I saw a single poster on campus for this. Digital campaigning is great, but sometimes you just can't beat spreading the world the old fashioned way.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Openness under your nose
Let's all pretend I've been posting really awesome stuff on this blog instead of working on an e-book that's not going to be released for a while, okay? Great. Now, what I meant to write about - the event! Any and all reading this should attend, either in person or digitally. And for those of you who aren't sure that this is something that's relevant or something the average joe would be interested in, here's a little something for you.
I work as a secretary for the Honors program here at BYU. As I was working at my desk, I couldn't help but here an conversation that took place between one of the directors and a graduate student. He was trying to convince her about how the way english and writing are taught in schools now doesn't help people for the real world. Students need to learn to create early and often, releasing and getting social feedback. He also talked about how the Ivory Tower of academia needed to be more accessible to the average person, and remove copyright restrictions that limited who could view and use research. He went on and on, basically covering every single digital concept we talked about in class. As he was walking out, I did the obvious thing, and invited him to the event (although honestly, he probably could've presented as passionate about it as he is). I showed him the event website, and he seemed really excited, and said he'd tell all his friends.
So what I'm saying is that there are people out there who *actually* care about openness. Not just computer science majors, or people taking classes on openness, but real people- like English grad students. Okay, so maybe he's not a normal person per-se, but he's just one example of the few people I've bumped into this week who have expressed interest in openness. It's an important topic, folks! It affects people, and it has the potential to shape their futures! So, let's invite them all to this even and connect, collaborate, and create.
April 11, 7-8:30
Be there or be square!
I work as a secretary for the Honors program here at BYU. As I was working at my desk, I couldn't help but here an conversation that took place between one of the directors and a graduate student. He was trying to convince her about how the way english and writing are taught in schools now doesn't help people for the real world. Students need to learn to create early and often, releasing and getting social feedback. He also talked about how the Ivory Tower of academia needed to be more accessible to the average person, and remove copyright restrictions that limited who could view and use research. He went on and on, basically covering every single digital concept we talked about in class. As he was walking out, I did the obvious thing, and invited him to the event (although honestly, he probably could've presented as passionate about it as he is). I showed him the event website, and he seemed really excited, and said he'd tell all his friends.
So what I'm saying is that there are people out there who *actually* care about openness. Not just computer science majors, or people taking classes on openness, but real people- like English grad students. Okay, so maybe he's not a normal person per-se, but he's just one example of the few people I've bumped into this week who have expressed interest in openness. It's an important topic, folks! It affects people, and it has the potential to shape their futures! So, let's invite them all to this even and connect, collaborate, and create.
April 11, 7-8:30
Be there or be square!
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