tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67915737995966495112024-02-07T17:29:50.541-08:00Naked BlogMy public personal thoughtsMartin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-54265561496322083822019-07-22T07:58:00.000-07:002019-07-22T08:08:06.576-07:00Cycling to work ... half way to the Moon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">100 miles a week, 4,500 miles a year for over 30 years ... that's 135,000 miles or 5.5 times around the world and over half way to the moon ... good for mind, body and planet it's a great way to get to work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For over thirty years I cycled to work and back across London and lived to tell the tale ...no mean feat considering the dangers for cyclists on London roads. I used to joke that cycling in London is a contact sport ... speak to any cyclist and they can go on and on about the accidents they have had. There were weekly minor incidents and close shaves with cars and on average I would be knocked off badly once or twice a year, on three or four of those occasions I could have been killed and on one occasion I was seriosly attacked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cars don't drive themselves ... it is the people inside them that cause the problem ... its like they are in a little bubble .. or for some drivers more like a tank with turret vision where they only pay attention to other tanks and not see cyclists. The main problem I had was drivers pulling out of junctions, turning left and cutting me up. I've even had rubbish thrown over me from out of car windows both accidentally and on purpose ... its not funny to have cans of beer shaken and then opened to fizz out over you or half eaten fish and chips thrown over you .. such is the arrogance and contempt that some car users have for cyclists.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The one good thing about cycling through central London is that cars can't travel that fast and are often stationary, stuck in jams - in fact it was always quicker and more convenient for me to cycle to work than take the car or train and a hell of a lot cheaper as well ... I must have saved a small fortune and help save the planet at the same time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cycling is an excellent cardio-vascular exercise and to be able to build this into your commute to and from work</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> is far better than three or four hours in packed commuter trains with people coughing and sneezing around you or sat in a car .. there's enough sitting for office bound workers as it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Steve Jobs described the computer as like a bicycle for our minds but I have heard cycling described as travelling at the speed of thought. Exercise is good for your mental health and cycling to work was good for my mind - endorphines at the ready I'd arrive at work with a natural high - relaxed and in a good positive mood happy and ready to go and deal with the problems and stresses of IT systems and services management and then at the end of the day ... able to peddle away any frustrations. Compare this with arriving at work after sitting through traffic jams and road rages or being jammed in a train carriage or delayed ... the main thing to delay you on a bike is a puncture but with quick release wheels and a spare tube you can be back on your way in about 12 minutes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cycling to work gets you outside, even in the city you come to appreciate the seasons and the weather ... darkness, sun, wind, rain, snow, heat and cold, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">they are all part of the experience - I've even had a bird poop on me twice as I've cycled along ... both times in the eye ... "bird's eye" I used to think to myself. You do get a better connection with nature on a bike and using only your own energy you are not polluting the planet in any way ... heaven knows how much in CO2 emmisions I have saved cycling around during my life for </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">135,000 miles is only the distance commuting to work over 30 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">HG Wells once said that "When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race." ... long may we ride :)</span></div>
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-17033750400975408072018-04-09T03:45:00.000-07:002018-04-09T03:45:24.634-07:00The Meaning Of Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is the meaning of l</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ife, the universe and everything ...</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> as far as we know humans are unique in thinking about this and its been one of the major motivating forces in our history shaping art, religion, politics, philosophy, science as well as being behind many conflicts and wars.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything is...42!” ~</i> Douglas Adams</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Success, fame, fortune, love, happiness ... winning, getting ahead .... t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">he answer to the meaning of life is as varied as the people who ask it but the meaning of life is less about knowing the answer than in being able to ask the question at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure How amazingly unlikely is your birth" </i></b></span></div>
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<b>~ Monty Python - Galaxy Song</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In many ways life is like a game but its not a game to win or lose it's a game to appreciate </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">- its taking part that matters ... don't let it be that "l</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ife is wasted on the living".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.” </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>~ Joseph Campbell</b></span></div>
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<i>“Live each day as if your life had just begun.”</i> </div>
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~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe</div>
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-23772776000075927902018-03-14T05:05:00.003-07:002018-03-14T05:05:35.953-07:00Stephen Hawking: Our Guide To Life The Universe And Everything <div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwsP7pPt5DsxjRkag1U6c7qdvHDeqEP1q_F-aE58M9CaLshYyo2xL4SGJ4ikHjR-g6ZmPVWSysoIOpcYTQV3_zb5v9K-7gYTgw-wt9-9_dbB-ZyFNJG0RUraW04f4Y7kuHQVi4RCfTg/s1600/hawking.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwsP7pPt5DsxjRkag1U6c7qdvHDeqEP1q_F-aE58M9CaLshYyo2xL4SGJ4ikHjR-g6ZmPVWSysoIOpcYTQV3_zb5v9K-7gYTgw-wt9-9_dbB-ZyFNJG0RUraW04f4Y7kuHQVi4RCfTg/s640/hawking.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"We are all time-travellers, journeying together into the future. But let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit. Be brave, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done." </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We project ourselves onto the world ... we create gods in our own image, we create the world in our own image and we create the future in our own image. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Good vs evil, love vs hate, generosity vs greed - we have choices ... Stephen Hawking is a positive inspiration let him be our guide to life the universe and everything and the future we create.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Be curious, be optimistic and keep trying</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Be playful and have a sense of humour</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer."</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humour."</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We are not perfect ... b</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">e humble,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">be open and be willing and able to change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist.....Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist” </i></b></span></div>
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<b><i>"Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking."</i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change."</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Be enthusiastic and have romance and passion </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion. "</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And most of all ... love</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"If you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.” </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love."</i></b></span></div>
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-63422562533257446732018-01-23T07:03:00.001-08:002018-01-23T07:03:21.706-08:00Why I Don't BETT<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Why I don't BETT" ... its not totally true ... I've been 4 times 1985, 1993, 2013 and 2014 .... but its only the first one in 1985 when it was called the “Hi Technology and Computers in Education Exhibition” at the Barbican Centre that I really chose to go to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in 1985 microcomputers were new and young and so was I and so was BETT. The 1980s were exciting times in computing - microcomputers revolutionised computing - where once computers were the size of a room and cost millions of pounds now they could sit on your desk and cost just hundreds of pounds .... £125 in the case of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. 1985 ... this was way before we had access to the Internet and we had to rely on a few computer magazines and papers for our IT news and I used to soak it up like a sponge. I remember going to the Barbican to see first hand and get hands on with some of the new stuff all in one place. The BETT show in 1985 was like the microcomputer scene at the time - hobbyist in nature and full of DIY type electronics interfaces and programming ... it was less about solutions and more about DIY and potential. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 1993 the BETT show moved to Olympia - it was just 10 minutes walk from where I worked so it wouldn't take too much of my time to just drop in and take a look. Almost 10 years on from my first and last visit to BETT I can remember how much bigger and more professional the whole thing had become ... it had become a trade show and Microsoft had a big presence. I remember visiting the Microsoft stand with its classroom of computers and trainers and being shown Windows For Workgroups .... it was all very slick and I even got a T-shirt ... something that did come in useful as a rag for DIY jobs later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even though BETT was just 10 minutes walk from where I worked I only went there once in10 years ... it had become a trade show peddling solutions ... it was all about business ... BETT might as well stand for the Business Education Technology Trade show and I was no longer interested.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The size and weight of BETT distorts reality and as an IT manager I used to brace myself as staff returned from BETT with requests for the latest must have tech solutions for their teaching ... usually just tech equivalents for what they were already doing ... like students putting their hands up to answer a question. I remember having to buy, setup, support and maintain costly and complicated voting systems that literally never got used in a real classroom ... stuff like this seemed like a dream at BETT but were a nightmare in real life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After 1993 the Internet arrived and I could find the information and discussions about tech I wanted on-line - I had always preferred to use real world technology rather than the edtech stuff that was specially designed for education ... its seemed better to me for people to use the things they would find in the real world rather. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And so it went on the gravity created a monster and BETT couldn't fit into Olympia anymore - in 2013 it had to move to the industrial warehouse of the Excel centre and that's when Google asked me to present about my work with the Cloud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, 20 years after last visiting BETT at its first show in Olympia I went to its first show in Excel to present in 2013 and 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I spoke about the problem with education technology ... that it is costly, complicated, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">scary and frustrating. Sometime during the naugties I remember attending a presentation by Microsoft at their Reading centre about the latest version of Sharepoint ... the salesman said told us that it was complicated but not to worry as they had an ecosystem of support partners and consultants. This summed the whole thing up for me .. edtech was a gravy train for the industry ... a complicated thing that locked you in, put you on a treadmill and made you dependent - its enough to make you want to pull your hair out. Compare edtech to consumer tech like Facebook or Whatsapp today .. its designed to be simple and easy to use .. consumer tech isn't designed to need consultants and support. It's as if edtech is stuck in the last century .. the glory days of the late 90s before digital tech became common place and everyone carried a super computer in their pocket - edtech still hasn't got its head around mobile tech and that students can do so much more with their own tech than schools and colleges can do with theirs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I spoke about Bring Your Own .. where students and teachers could use whatever tech they felt comfortable with - not just hardware but software and applications as well ... as an IT manager I didn't want to control what could or could not be used - I wanted to facilitate people making use of the stuff they felt comfortable with .. and most of it could be had free or Ad supported and was much better than the education sector had to offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Education is a huge sector ... its no wonder that technology capitalists are trying to capture it. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next to BETT 2013 was a huge amusement trade show with a load of "one armed bandits" (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">slot machines ) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">at the entrance ... it could almost have been the BETT show itself and I talked about this at my presentation. I spoke about tech dependency and how the edtech capitalists are like drug pushers .. "get em while they are young" and "get em hooked" by giving it away at first. "Get em dependent" and "get em on to the hard stuff" by pushing samples and trials that lead to needing more and more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Edtech is a business of self interest ... a complicit gravy train ecosystem of news, conferences, awards and trade shows pulling and pushing those in education to hop onto the platform for a good milking and even some fleecing on the treadmill. Its good business, the edtech fanboys love it, make a living from it and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them and teachers can walk away with the latest tech charms, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">talismans</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> and snake oil solutions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ultimately BETT is a good day off for most people and when they get back to work they will need to justify the time away in some way - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">BETT is so large you must be able to find something there, anything will do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">BETT reminds me of some sort of religious pilgrimage .. an annual </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">edtech journey to listen to the profits (I mean prophets), partake in the rituals, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">find meaning and significance and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">confirm your faith in the edtech for solutions. <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/i-used-to-be-tech-fanboy.html" target="_blank">I used to be an edtech fanboy</a> but even I have only been to BETT 4 times in 33 years - I'm not a believer.</span></div>
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-84973101195535066512018-01-08T09:54:00.001-08:002018-01-15T14:15:56.052-08:00I Used To Be A Tech Fanboy<div style="text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">That's me in the naughties ... incredible shrinking tech and the mobile years :)<br />I used to be a tech fanboy</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm not sure why but </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've been interested, excited and good at tech for as long as I remember and have been lucky enough to have had a career in education technology all my life ... for most of my life my job has been like a hobby - during the earlier years I would have won millions on the lottery and just carried on doing what I was doing ... I was on a mission thinking blue skies and rolling across green fields. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I used to be a tech fanboy - here is my story and why I have changed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Mainframe years</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I first used computers at school in 1974 using punched cards to program an ICL 1900 mainframe at the University of Kent using Algol 68. The punched cards were input to the mainframe via post and a week later we received our output via post on line printer paper. It was amazing to be able to do this .. for school kids to control a multi-million pound machine at a university .. maybe the equivalent today is when school kids video-conference with Tim Peak in the space station and I hope experiences like this inspires kids today in the same way using a computer inspired me in the 1970s. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"May the force be with you"....</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> inspiration is the soft but powerful invisible force in education ... so often ignored by educational managerialism and the obsession with hard data today but more on that later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I went on to study psychology and anthropology at university and then computing and education for post graduate studies. In computing I worked with an engineer to build a voice controlled robot arm called "big ears" to play chess - I wrote the voce recognition software and the engineer wrote teh mechanical control software. In education my main project was around Ivan Illich's ideas in "Deschooling Society" and the potential for computing in future learning</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">. Combining social science, computer science and education has given me a very different perspective than most of my colleagues in IT and education - most of whom seem to have specialised in one side or the other but not both. Like a fish out of water I would argue the importance social\cultural factors to IT people and to educationalists I would argue about the engineering factors of IT - combining the language to the different audiences is harder than it seems. Over time the common ground for communication between IT and education became the the language of business and management but more on that later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>PC years: the first golden age of IT</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I started teaching IT in 1982 - combining IT, social science and education was a real joy and there was real excitement and new developments in all three areas that came together in what I come to think of as the first golden age in education technology during the 1980s. I taught with both mainframes and PCs but in the PC world there was a real revolution going on - there was a Cambrian explosion of diversity ... I remember Apple, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Acorn, Atari, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">RM, Commodore, Sinclair</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">, CP/M, MS-DOS, Wordstar, Wordperfect, Word, Visicalc, Lotus 123, Logistix, Excel, dBase II, GEM, Windows. In the world of teaching there was a revolution going on too - I remember teaching with LOGO, Turtles and the constructionist ideas of Seymour Papert as well as game based learning, lateral thinking, heuristic methods and various non-directive, project and resource based methods. I wrote a PC based Dungeons and Dragons style game that teachers could populate with scenarios to use with numeracy and literacy in game based learning. Way before the Web I wrote a graphical hypertext system I called "Hyperway" that teachers could populate to use for non directive teaching methods .... the logo for my program was a jigsaw piece ... the same style Microsoft used later for Office. I remember participating in inter-department project based schemes and ran one on the local environment involving science, technology, maths, language, performing arts and IT ... scientist and technology made radio sets and we broadcast and received the performance of a script written by the students. Large inter-disciplinary projects like this are so difficult today ... but more of that later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">During the 1980s we didn't have many computers but we did a lot with them. In 1982 I typically had to teach a class of 30 or more with just three BBC micros ... we had to be very skilful in designing activities for small group work for before, during and after using the computers. Through the 1980s and into the early 1990s the number of computers and the number of computer rooms grew steadily. We didn't have IT technicians or any form of IT department and increasing amounts of my time was spent doing IT support work - at first in my spare time but later with greater and greater amounts of remission and in 1993 I was offered the new role of college network manager to look after PCs, software, servers and of course the network. I can't remember how many PCs we had by 1993 but it must have been several hundred and all were networked. The diversity of IT in the 1980s was a challenge to manage and with my IT hat on I started to standardise on Microsoft - the promising new boy on the block for .. well ... everything - network, operating system and applications. People used a variety of applications - the most popular (best of bread) being Wordperfect and Lotus 123 ... I remember challenge of persuading people to change applications and use those from a single supplier. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember the persuasions necessary for secretaries to switch to Word ... fast touch typists at the time preferred to use keystroke combinations to get things done and didn't want to take their hands off a keyboard to use a mouse thing. Standardisation</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> wasn't in the users best interest but IT support just couldn't manage the number of applications involved and we would be able to move faster if we did less ... in a sense this was the beginning of the end ... but more on that later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Network and Web Years: the second golden age of IT</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since the earliest days of PCs I had networked them in some way. I networked every computer in every computer room but the local area networks (LANS) were isolated. In the mid 1980s we started connecting our LANs together in a sort of local area internet that I described to college management as a "Total College Network". In 1996 we had the opportunity to connect our college network to the Internet and go "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/inspirenshare/hwlc-internet-connection-1996" target="_blank">cruising on the super highway</a>" and I</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> took to the Internet like a duck to water. I </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">designed the architecture and support structure that enabled six London colleges to connect their networks to the Internet and the support structure became the JISC London RSC (Regional Support Centre). I set up a college "Cybercentre" with 12 PCs connected to the Internet and enthused to teachers, staff and management to try the Internet and the web and to use it in their life and their work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1996 was for me the beginning of the second golden age of education technology - a period that came to fruition at the start of the 21st century and ran through to the mid naugties. It didn't take long to get web services going and by the end of the 1990s we were using email and had staff, student and college web services in operation. Our DIY web services were way ahead of the time and way ahead of what the network could cope with at times ... I remember Christmas 1999 when the college secretariat put a reindeer animated gif on the staff web server and how this brought the wide area network between our sites across west London to a standstill. O</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">ur </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">student web service later became known as a VLE and later still an MLE, our staff web service later became known as an "intranet", and our college web service later became known as a college website. Around 1998 I remember switching from Pearl to Microsoft ASP 2.0 and writing web based help-desk pages for departments around the college and introducing the MIS department to the wonders of the programmable web.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I fell in love with the web ... it was a panacea for all the problems mounting from the previous generation of IT - the ever increasing number of complex local programs that had to be installed, secured, maintained, updated and supported. With the web we could have it all ... a single simple local application could give people access to an "infinity" of information and applications anytime, anywhere and from any device ... PC, Mac, Linux and even the early PDA "smartphones" people were using. With the Web clients could be "thin and light" ... web servers could do the heavy lifting. In 1999 I became head of IT systems and shortly afterwards head of IT services and I was on a mission to promote the use of mobile, wireless and web - this was the future and I jumped in feet first ... unplugging and stepping away from a desk and a desktop PC to use only a wireless laptop from 2000 onwards and designing everything for the open web for access anytime, anyplace like Martini :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">By 2005 we had pervasive Web and WiFi across one of the largest colleges in the UK - all staff had either their own or a shared wifi laptop\tablet to use for admin and teaching and we had many laptop only teaching environments. This work was featured in a JISC "Vision and Infrastructure" case study "<a href="http://www.online-conference.net/jisc/content/ealing.pdf" target="_blank">Changing to a Wireless World</a>" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"At any point in the building, anywhere I am, everything is instantly accessible to me. As a senior manager, it’s an invaluable tool.” John O’Shea, Division Manager </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">By 2007 we had over 5,000 computers and 28,000 users and the Web was not enough. Local servers to support this scale of IT were increasingly expensive, complicated and numerous - we needed a revolution for IT infrastructure in the same way the web revolutionised the local PCs and software.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Social, cloud and mobile years: the third golden age of IT</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I started experimenting with "the cloud" in 2006 and started a grass roots college experiment with Google apps in 2007 - when people showed anxiety about cloud apps I simply asked them how long they have been using Webmail like Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just as with networks and the Web I took to the cloud like a duck to water - the Cloud turned computing into Martini ... any time, any where, any device. I used to compare being an IT manager with one of those cabaret acts spinning plates ... spending more and more time running around keeping systems running - installing, upgrading, securing, patching etc etc ... with the cloud I could focus on the use of IT rather than IT itself. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> M</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">y vision for local IT infrastructure was server-less, invest in the network because with the cloud </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"the network is our computer".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Web, cloud and mobile... "I love it when a plan comes together" - the late naughties was a golden age in IT - it seemed like "the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed". I was an evangelist for the new era of web 2, cloud and social - leading by example and initiating, supporting and participating in so many projects with teachers and learners .. you can see my video blogs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFCC2CE862D69E43E" target="_blank">here</a> for example - talking with teachers teachers and students about the new tech and with IT people about the changes to make this happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was an IT revolution happening .. staff and students were bringing their own IT into the college in their bags and their pockets. The 1980s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Per_Desk" target="_blank">One computer Per Desk</a> and "<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3357701/Bill-Gatess-dream-A-computer-in-every-home.html" target="_blank">one computer in every home</a>" had become one computer in every pocket. Bring Your Own Device was another piece to complete my jigsaw for IT as "the network" </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">.. we could reduce the number of college PCs </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">and eventually simplify IT to just the network - protecting cloud based systems and providing access as needed anytime, anywhere, any device ... we just need a network. With your own device computing can become properly personal - you can install and use whatever applications you want and with just a web browser you can access personal, work and learning systems as needed anytime, anywhere. Web, Cloud, Social, Mobile, BYOD ... the tech revolution could revolutionise the way we do IT and the way we work, learn and play. In 2008 I </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">re-engineered the college network and systems for </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Web, Cloud, Social, Mobile, BYOD - changing the Internet routing and firewall, installing a new WiFi system with a large scale guest WiFi system and started a large scale shift to cloud applications. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmIG6oL-724Z84HKNTCRd1MPA30TA2OmifC1B0OmD4Ly18uUtXx_aAb1PJoU5u4WdIjkkd3dIc0NtKY9j9I__r1XYjeBaAWtjp4s0bklfCN2G2WQPWfu1UlhyphenhyphenK9GswWxIG13ejokNSw/s1600/inq-tech-hero-awards-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1110" data-original-width="1578" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsmIG6oL-724Z84HKNTCRd1MPA30TA2OmifC1B0OmD4Ly18uUtXx_aAb1PJoU5u4WdIjkkd3dIc0NtKY9j9I__r1XYjeBaAWtjp4s0bklfCN2G2WQPWfu1UlhyphenhyphenK9GswWxIG13ejokNSw/s400/inq-tech-hero-awards-logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">By 2014 we had several thousand daily users of our guest WiFi network, everyone was on Gmail and we had millions of documents on Google apps. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This work was recognised and <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/inspirenshare/ehwlc-google" target="_blank">featured by Google and the national IT press</a> and in 2015 my IT strategy was shortlisted for an Inquirer <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/inspirenshare/inquirer-tech-hero-awards-2015" target="_blank">Tech Hero award</a>: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Martin is a passionate facilitator of projects that explore the potential of new methods and technologies and has been developing an oblique approach to strategy that aims to inspire, facilitate and support holistic IT responses to a new environment where IT is easy, diverse, pervasive, personal, social and connected."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I used to be a tech fanboy</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mainframes, PCs, networks, Internet, Web, Cloud, social, mobile and "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/inspirenshare/inquirer-tech-hero-awards-2015">tech hero</a>" - I've seen each cycle run its course and lead to the next "big thing". My approach is to look into the future early, distribute it in the present and "make hast slowly" ... getting an early start and making continuous incremental changes rather than big bangs. The future is always ... the future - it is always out of reach and something to strive for and technology never stops trying to take us there. However, during the mid 2010s the gears of the technology cycle seem to have jammed and we are left standing on the platform waiting for the next big thing, wondering what's going on and watching the chickens come home to roost. We are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/12/bruce-sterling-on-why-it-stopped-making-sense-to-talk-about-the-internet-in-2012/266674/">losing the Internet</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/24/internet-lost-its-way-tim-berners-lee-world-wide-web">losing the Web</a>, social networks are used for mass surveillance, fake new and lies, smartphones are used to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia">hijack our minds </a>and the security of our devices and systems is like going to sea in a sieve ... leaking our privacy and letting in waves of hacking and malware.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rather than cycling to the future, technology is a treadmill recycling history into the present.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3vxerxZQJ1Dal1Ic5VKiXxxDPrG7LsbDAla0Q1On8erluFS8iaQOk2VMxLgte0ZYJCOuXiKd3hLMpcb2m3hdvu_1z163UKz44FR6bHEm0_045nzaXL04JtefKKCWyUORbXfpvfnY5g/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-01-08+at+16.22.17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3vxerxZQJ1Dal1Ic5VKiXxxDPrG7LsbDAla0Q1On8erluFS8iaQOk2VMxLgte0ZYJCOuXiKd3hLMpcb2m3hdvu_1z163UKz44FR6bHEm0_045nzaXL04JtefKKCWyUORbXfpvfnY5g/s400/Screen+Shot+2018-01-08+at+16.22.17.png" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">That's me in 1976 holding Balzac's "Lost Illusions"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have always looked to technology to help people ... to give them freedom and to make their life, work and play better but technology doesn't happen in isolation .... it is part of human social, cultural and economic context. The leading edge of technology is always refreshing and exciting ... rolling across "green fields" under "blue skies" in a land of milk and honey but the revolution always comes full circle when it "crosses the chasm" to the real world of politics and power. Using technology becomes a faustian pact promising freedom and equality when in fact it seems to do the opposite - used for manipulation and control to reinforce wealth and power and widen inequality. At best digital technology helps a yuppie have a nice day and sell you stuff you don't need, at worst it </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">becomes a utility for control and management. Yes, we have all this amazing access to an infinity of information to binge on but this "fast food" is unhealthy - polluted by noise, lies and fakery and pushing our buttons for attention it threatens our physical and mental health and wellbeing ... is the quality of our lives really any better?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Techno determinists are treated like prophets but their prophecies are more about profits ... technology is not a charity .. it is created by companies with an agenda and a profit in mind. I am concerned about the tech capture and technologisation of everything - shifting and centralising power and capital to tech capitalists. I've seen this in education for example ... where teachers might once have created used and "owned" their own teaching resources like skilled professionals they now operate as part of a <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-managed-learning-environment.html" target="_blank">managed learning environment</a> quality and control surveillance machine ready to turn teachers into semi-skilled labourers ripe for automation and replacement by robots in some not too distant edtech capture drive for productivity and results. I think about the opportunity cost and the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">opportunities lost as so much educational capital gets sunk so determined into technology. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." </i>~ George Santayana</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yes there always seems hope ... there is always the excitement juggling gadgets riding on the front of a tech cycle but remember that what goes up must come down and there always seems to be a down side or an unintended consequence. I still love riding the front of the tech cycle but I have no illusions any more ... technology alone doesn't change things - people do. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is plenty of new tech around: AI, robotics, 3D printing, mixed reality, augmented reality and virtual reality </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My current work with <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/inspirenshare/" target="_blank">inspireNshare</a> is still with technology but its about d</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">eveloping the value of people and focuses on what I call <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/citizen-tech.html" target="_blank">Citizen Tech</a> - simple, friendly accessible and cost effective tech that encourages participation, play,</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> creativity, re-mixing, invention, exploration and experimentation. My aim is to share with and inspire people and like the <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/inspirenshare-butterfly-fx.html" target="_blank">butterfly effect</a> little things can make a big difference </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">- I've lost my illusions about tech changing the world but it can change people and people can change the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-85517125947595681992017-12-29T07:42:00.002-08:002017-12-29T07:42:31.721-08:00Orange or Juice ... Slow Down<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntkIcuYHVk1Mg4da6m2cEb-o0tAOH2OCk_Xsnt7H-Ollea1_Fa8A1JCp1Ov-fFI7wb17qcLIZPsS3vrAQEoG3qndAh5I2QDef8MCAn1kSmzXqgaM0GSIjl00Ml0z_Jbd3153mnpZCkw/s1600/orange.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntkIcuYHVk1Mg4da6m2cEb-o0tAOH2OCk_Xsnt7H-Ollea1_Fa8A1JCp1Ov-fFI7wb17qcLIZPsS3vrAQEoG3qndAh5I2QDef8MCAn1kSmzXqgaM0GSIjl00Ml0z_Jbd3153mnpZCkw/s400/orange.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I never had time for oranges .. all that fiddling around and mess skinning and eating them just didn't seem worth it - just pour juice and drink - job done!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This Christmas I "got it" ... by slowing down and taking the time to skin an orange and eat it I came to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">appreciate how better to enjoy the fruit but also </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">how better to enjoy life as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>"<i>Live fast, die young.</i>" ~ Ed Westwick</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Life in the material world is "fast and furious" ... "faster is the new fast"</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">for competitive advantage and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">there is a "need for speed" to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"move fast and break things" and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> get ahead in the race. We live in a cult of speed ... do more, have more, get more, consume more but we only have so much time and the only way for more is to do it quicker to fit more in ... more, more, more .... quicker, quicker, quicker.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember hearing an interview on the radio with hearing Frank Bruno where he told a joke that like much good humour works on many levels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"I'm getting better at sex ... I managed to finish in under a minute"</i> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>~ Frank Bruno</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Speed is fun, sexy, an adrenaline rush. It’s like a drug and we are addicted. At the same time, the world has become a giant buffet of things to do, consume, experience – and we rush to have it all. The modern workplace also pushes us to work faster and longer while technology encourages us to do everything faster and faster.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>It’s reached the point of absurdity. You can now do courses in Speed Yoga or attend a Drive Thru Funeral. A magazine in Britain even published an article recently on how to bring about an orgasm in 30 seconds!" </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">~ <a href="http://www.carlhonore.com/book/in-praise-of-slowness/" target="_blank">Carl Honoré</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Drive slow and enjoy the scenery - drive fast and join the scenery". </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Producers of consumer products encourage us to <a href="https://www.stylist.co.uk/life/the-60-ultimate-boxsets-tv-series-friends-simpsons-homeland-gilmore/53889">binge for pleasure</a>, while it might make us sick and consume the planet, trumping quality with quantity turns over more stuff and gives the industry a healthy financial turnover and keeps the economy ticking over - there is no profit in the 3Rs (Re-use, Renew, Recycle). Fast-life binge consumerism turns the bucket list into a sick bucket it can turn you into a basket case and kick the bucket.</span><div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>“It is a mistake to think that moving fast is the same as actually going somewhere.” </i> </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">~ </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Steve Goodier</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Has it always been this way ... I don't think so. I remember how people talked about "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_race">the rat race</a>" in the 1960s and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Life_(1975_TV_series)">The Good Life</a> TV series in the 1970s but the race then had only just begun. In the 1970s we imagined the 21st century as an age of leisure supported by machines and technology. Instead technology has turned us into machines in a rat race on a treadmill going nowhere faster.</span><div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."</i> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>~ Eddie Cantor</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Carl Honoré described slowing down as "<i>a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail's pace. It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It’s about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting."</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Beth Meredith and Eric Storm describe s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">lowing down as "<i>structuring your life around meaning and fulfillment. Similar to "voluntary simplicity" and "downshifting," it emphasizes a less-is-more approach, focusing on the quality of your life. ... Slow Living addresses the desire to lead a more balanced life and to pursue a more holistic sense of well-being in the fullest sense of the word'</i> .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”</i> <br />~ Mahatma Gandhi</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In "<a href="http://www.londnr.com/london-lifestyle/going-slow-the-slow-movement/" target="_blank">Going Slow</a>" Tom Faber explains that "<i>Ancient Greeks had two words to talk about time. Chronos is clock time, measured in seconds, minutes and hours. It means much the same as the word ‘time’ does now. Kairos, on the other hand, is a trickier, more seductive concept. It is time measured qualitatively, a moment of indeterminate duration in which an event of significance happens. Kairos is often used to describe moments of perfection, where one briefly steps outside of the passage of time. The early proponents of the Slow Movement sought to reintroduce kairos to the world, suggesting that a hasty, meticulously-planned life forecloses the possibility of these moments of perfection.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>In typically Greek fashion, both were personified. Chronos was a wizened old man carrying a scythe and an hourglass, a forerunner to the Grim Reaper. Kairos was a handsome young man with wings at his heels, the back of his head shaved so that no one could grab his hair and hold him back. Once the opportunity of a perfect moment has passed you by, it’s gone forever."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/eshachhabra/2015/10/31/how-to-work-smarter-not-longer-and-relish-the-slow-life/#691b93b22ba8" target="_blank">Bill Powers</a> discovered <i>"that being “Slow” is not at all Luddite. It means cultivating positive qualities - being receptive, intuitive, patient, reflective - instead of the fast qualities so common today: being busy, controlling, impatient, agitated, acquisitive."</i></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>“Slow down, you move too fast, </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>You got to make the morning last”</i> </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So often "less is more" ... slow down and pay yourself in time and take </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">time to do things properly and enjoy them more. Instead of just going faster all the time </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">try fasting ... try leaving things out and going without. Don't just use technology to go faster but try a technology fast and step away from the computer and the screen and focus on the real world and people around you.</span></div>
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-47270432878562956642017-12-13T04:47:00.002-08:002017-12-14T02:26:33.720-08:00Don't Drive ....Motivate<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Driven" ... I hear this more often now than ever ... why is this and what does it mean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I see this as a symptom of our captivation with technology .. our tech capture and the "technologisation" of people by data ... the need to measure and control ... to drive ourselves and others as if we were machines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today leadership and management is about data management and people (if there are people) are driven via data. People are nothing more than resources ... a set of KPIs on dashboard dial and driven as if they were automobiles. There is no soul in a machine ... a dashboard dial doesn't have an inner life, it's simply a dependent variable indicating responses to management stimulation. </span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-72810f51-464b-cd7d-1839-ea71af99171a"><img height="533px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/tYDGz6XxIhjbLH6oSh_ff09Dwl8NMH5Zc6GagH-9K8phRjDw97qwABIJ88mfmr2Caqwplzl9-hh6lLPOWKutqsVhvVv2pVlf8BtYa9VcMDZZwtaiLmOmLcM_onCpdKIQ--KWAFr5" width="358px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Data has reduced people to laboratory rats - </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">soft machines ready for replacement by real machines as soon as possible.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Leadership and management has been replaced by technique and technocrats more comfortable with "well oiled machines" and data than they are with people - </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">algorithms and data are a convenient comfortable way to make decisions without judgement</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The problem with being driven by data is that its like doing makeup while driving using a rear view mirror ... it might make you look good and its great at showing you where you have been but its no use for showing you where you are going or where you want to go ... it's dangerous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Data driven behaviouristic</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> leadership and management is only skin deep - i</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">f you treat people like machines then they will behave like machines ... "jobsworths", working to rule only capable of what they have been programmed to do - expect and get nothing more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The problem with data driven leadership and management is that people aren't machines, they are more than simple dependent variables - they have their own minds and it is their independence, diversity and autonomy that makes valuable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Treat people as people and they will behave as people ... they will "go the extra mile", they will be flexible, creative, imaginative, excited and inspired. Don't drive people but motivate them .. inspire them with vision, passion, enthusiasm and excitement and they will give this back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Leaders and managers - if you behave like a soulless machine then you deserve to be replaced by a machine and you will be - for the good of your people and for yourself ... be a person.</span></div>
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-58269940778210717892017-12-07T07:45:00.002-08:002017-12-08T01:46:28.238-08:0010 years With Social Media<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What a year 2007 was ... there was a Cambrian Explosion of technology or better still a sort of <a href="https://twitter.com/timekord/status/933022625772834818">Great Ordovician Diversification Event (GOBE)</a> - there were so many different things emerging from the bubbling web primordial soup. Where the Internet had connected computers now the web was connecting people - revolution and change was in the air there was a big explosion of social networks. </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><b>"The Web does not just connect machines, it connects people" </b></i>~ Tim Berners Lee</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After more than a decade of mundane and mediocre Microsoft </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">monopoly there were new kids on the block - there was a lot of experimentation and IT was getting exciting again.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> I was buzzing with excitement and joined Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Linkedin and Youtube as well as Blogger, Flickr, Delicious, Second Life, Netvibes and Page Flakes and a whole lot of other things like Google D</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">ocs, Google Pages and Zoho Docs and somehow managed to do all of these things at the same time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">That anyone could write the web and not just read it was a revolution - I felt empowered and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I loved the freedom and openness of it all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I published my IT strategy openly on the web as a blog for comment - Miles Metcalf commented from China that I use the word change rather than re-engineer ... using engineer just showed my IT background but I totally "got it" and understood the change. I started a work related IT services Twitter account, Google Page and Facebook Group for IT Services.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I started video blogging on Youtube blog and started re-engineering our network to accommodate guest devices and social media. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The Network is Our Computer" was my philosophy</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> and my mission - </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the computer network had support computers and people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was an evangelist for the new era of web 2, cloud and social - initiating, supporting and participating countless projects with teachers and learners. I was the head of IT promoting social networks for teaching and learning arguing against the staff trying to block Facebook from classrooms.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Use their weapons against them" was the unfortunate phrase I ended up using with teachers who wanted to block Youtube .. as I could see how effective the "weapons" of social media could be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am a psychologist, a teacher and a technologist - all these things came together with social networks and education and I experienced first hand by teaching students how powerful social networks are in engaging students - using blogs, Youtube, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook instead of essays to engage students. Teaching, learning and education became exciting ... when lessons ended students wanted to carry on with what they were doing - making blog pages, Google pages, Facebook posts and Youtube videos. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rather than just "stand and deliver"</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> w</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">e could flip learning and develop peer learning - having students research and create content on-line anywhere and use social nets to peer review work. I remember one project where business students were asked to research the impact of the "front of house" on a business and then make Youtube videos for peer discussion in class - students went off in groups and created all sorts of format from Fawlty Towers to Newsnight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We engaged everyone and all subjects, it was inclusive - higher education, special needs, foundation and pre-entry, ESL - social networks were especially useful for students outside the college such as those on work placement. An especially effective technique was the student eAmbassador and what I call "true flip learning" ... social networks were a thing for young people and it was empowering for them to teach staff how to use it - students felt important, it boosted their self esteem but it took open and confident teachers to do this.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpBuVRXBvt_zJvUvUvsERPd_o192fymfSirg-VZtQDEvbXCS2XcL2ATYp12-zyoxpPfE9pIEMklLSjKToS9Y7GkyuP3S5v5o-WbxcDCk_d8iHv9Gwei1VXGGfJZz_6e7YG0LOJrwurA/s1600/eambassadors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="969" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpBuVRXBvt_zJvUvUvsERPd_o192fymfSirg-VZtQDEvbXCS2XcL2ATYp12-zyoxpPfE9pIEMklLSjKToS9Y7GkyuP3S5v5o-WbxcDCk_d8iHv9Gwei1VXGGfJZz_6e7YG0LOJrwurA/s640/eambassadors.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Student eAmbassadors working with staff on better ways to communicate with learners</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Web, social and mobile were coming together at speed in a combinatorial explosion of possibilities. In 2004 Tim O’Reilly described the changes taking places on-line as Web 2.0, and in 2009 there were a new set of changes taking place but the term Web 3.0 just didn't capture it so Tim O’Reilly and John Battelle coined the term <a href="https://conferences.oreilly.com/web2summit/web2009/public/schedule/detail/10194">Web Squared</a> for the exponential change "when web meets world". This was the future, it was changing fast and it was exciting. Oh how we marvelled at the exponential growth in Facebook users and Youtube hours uploaded every minute - Facebook was the size of nation states and it would eventually eat the world.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">These were the innocent and happy childhood days of social networks and while we would love to stay childish forever it is the nature of things to change. Rather than the web meeting the world the world met the web. Social networks "crossed the chasm", went mainstream and social networks became social media platforms - stages for all human life both good and bad to play out along with big business, politics and power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was a revolution and by 2012 the wheel had turned full circle - we were back where we started.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In 2008 Jonathan Zittrain saw the writing on the web walls and wrote about "<a href="https://arstechnica.com/features/2008/06/book-review-2008-06-2-admin/">The Future of the Internet</a>" and by 2012 Anil Dash talked about "<a href="http://anildash.com/2012/12/the-web-we-lost.html">The Web We Lost</a>" and Bruce Sterling said <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/12/bruce-sterling-on-why-it-stopped-making-sense-to-talk-about-the-internet-in-2012/266674/">It Stopped Making Sense to Talk About 'The Internet'</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The land of milk and honey had started turning sour - </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the network was being monetised to sell people and weaponised by those in power.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The crunch time came in 2013, Edward Snowden showed us "the dark side of the moon" and the extent of "big brother" surveillance and in 2014 Tim Berners-Lee warned "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/24/internet-lost-its-way-tim-berners-lee-world-wide-web">How the web lost its way – and its founding principles</a>"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A new generation of the web and social networks went underground into the dark and new diverse explosion of personal, ephemeral and encrypted communications tech became "the new thing" - Gimpse, Blink, Wickr, Signal, Telegram and Snapchat for example. The open web was disappearing behind walls. At the same time established social networks became . well established ... colleges and employers were using them and using them to "spy" on students ... why would students want to use Facebook now anyway.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Clay Shirky was a long time advocate for students to bring laptops, tablets and phones into class and use them, the web and social media at will but <a href="http://mediashift.org/2014/09/why-clay-shirky-banned-laptops-tablets-and-phones-from-his-classroom/" target="_blank">in 2014 he told students to put them away</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Allowing laptop use in class is like allowing boombox use in class — it lets each person choose whether to degrade the experience of those around them."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">real wake up call for me and I had to re-examine my whole philosophy in light of how the web and social networks had changed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was on the rebound from technology - from being one of the "hyper-connected" I appreciated, enjoyed and advocated being off-line and off-grid - it was refreshing. Leading by example gave lessons, presentations and lectures without tech at all - I used to quote John Hagel "<i>I must apologies for not having any Powerpoint slides</i>" :) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> B</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">y putting away my own tech </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I found a new engagement with students - there was more interaction, discussion and questioning ... it was like rediscovering teaching all over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Disconnecting from the virtual world let me connect with the real world ... we get so busy having to take a share a photo or video for on-line presence we lose presence in the real world. I often went out deliberately "naked" without tech ... just old fashioned cash, no smartphone or even a watch - I was on the rebound, like a an alcoholic not wanting to touch a drop. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is a need for balance, "don't</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> throw the baby out with the bath water" there is a lot of good in social media but given the way it has changed Howard Rheingold's <a href="http://blog.sfgate.com/rheingold/2009/06/30/crap-detection-101/" target="_blank">Crap Detection 101</a> is more useful now than ever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Technology today is different from that of 2007 ... smartphones are not as intrusive as PCs and laptops and used in the right way they are super effective in education. Stepping away from the education tech capture of "stand and deliver" "death by powerpoint" or the back to teacher face to the machine of the standard IT suite and into a less tech intrusive environment with mobiles is quite exposing but super refreshing and helps facilitate multiple forms of pedagogy and a more Socratic method if you like that type of thing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, here I am in 2017 .. 10 years on from the last major tech revolution and waiting for the wheel to turn again and history to repeat ... will there be a "next big thing" and <a href="http://beta-martin.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/the-next-big-thing.html" target="_blank">what will it be</a>? Old technologies never die ... they just fade away ... all the old technologies are still part of my life - mixed up together. I have seen the early users of social networks jump ship looking for "the way we were" ... many going to Medium and the blogger community there, many others going to </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mastadon (<a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/04/like-twitter-hate-trolls-try-mastodon/" target="_blank">Like Twitter, Except Way More Civil</a>). The openness of Twitter causes problems but I still like it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have always treated my on-line presence as a singularity - I put everything into Twitter and feed this automatically into Facebook using the Facebook Twitter app and post the most of the same items into Linkedin. I have been treating each social network the same all these years and don't really want to change but I may get more out of them if I use them differently. I will keep putting everything into Twitter. I have been trimming my network on Facebook to those people I actually know - I'm thinking of breaking the link to twitter and using Facebook as a social network ... there is more conversation on there than Twitter anyway. Linkedin is the most civil and professional but less interesting and rather self aggrandising ... I might start "mis-behaving" and put more political and controversial posts into it just to see what happens :) G+ is a bit of a ghost town ... </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I mostly only post things about Google into it these days and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm seriously thinking of not bothering but a few people I know use this and not other networks so its useful to keep this going at least a bit. Because no one uses it much G+ is a good social network for education ... there is no worry about it getting mixed up with personal life and it links well with Google's education stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm not sure if there will be a social media\network next big thing ... I think all the variations on this have been played out and that we have to use what we have but probably change and adjust how we use them - we have woken up we just need to #staywoke. </span><br />
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-31563099786981266172017-11-24T04:49:00.002-08:002017-11-24T04:49:49.481-08:0010 Years On Twitter<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I Joined Twitter on the 16th of October 2007 .. <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/whats-in-name-why-timekord.html" target="_blank">why Timekord</a>. My first tweet is below ... it sort of sums up the excitement with new tech and the experimentation of the time - the Vye UMPC was a new thing and so was Twitter - lets have a go and see what happens ... ... lets try them together :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">During the mid naughties the Web and PC had spread and combined to enough to provide the oxygen for an explosion of innovation and optimism - it was like a Cambrian Explosion of technology or better still a sort of <a href="https://twitter.com/timekord/status/933022625772834818" target="_blank">Great Ordovician Diversification Event (GOBE)</a> - there were so many different things emerging from the primordial soup and Twitter was one of the most exciting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember people describing Twitter as micro-blogging rather than social network and squeezing things into 140 characters </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">including URLs</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">was a new challenge and a challenge many rose to - recipes crunched down to just 140 characters or less for example :) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In academia we are used to expanding things ... having to crunch what you want to say into 140 characters including URLs hashtags and any </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">@ references was a new skill I had to learn. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in 2007 I was used to the system providing the features I used ... and the feature creep that caused systems to get fatter and more complicated. One of the wonderful and refreshing things about Twitter back then was that it was so simple and people could DIY their features. It took me quite a lot of head scratching to get used to the idea that hashtags were just something people made up - a recognised and super useful feature that was DIY by the users of the system rather than the producers of the system. The same applied to the way you could reference other people .... using RT (retweet) or HT (hat tip) for example. I really got the hang of Twitter DIY when I wanted to reference a link I came across from another user but wanted to add my own take on the link and didn't want to simply RT what they had written so thought of writing something and using VIA @xxx ... only to find out quite a bit later that this was a recognised DIY method.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first few years on Twitter were a wonderful time of DIY and relative openness - Twitter accounts had RSS feeds so you could bring Twitter feeds into whatever news reader you were using along with all the other RSS feeds you had from blogs and websites for example. There was a hive of activity using the Twitter API - there was talk of not having to use the Twitter application itself and Twitter becoming a sort of protocol rather than a platform. There were lots of third party applications to access Twitter with, there were many programs accessing the Twitter API to carry out social studies and the first bot type systems that interacted programatically with Twitter and its users via the API. I remember how people hooked up sensors to objects and how they tweeted their condition ... e.g. moisture sensors in plant pots to tweet "I need watering" when the soil was getting dry or using Twitter as a protocol to communicate with an actuator to water the plant when it received tweets from the plant about getting too dry. I remember how objects tweeted their condition ... how Tower Bridge would tweet if it was raised or not. Yes ... it looked like Twitter might become the communication mechanism for an internet of things as well as people ... before the Internet of things became a thing :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">What a moment it was when I got my first re-tweet .. there were other people out there who were listening to what I said and even thought it worth passing on. The world seemed to be getting flatter ... anyone could be heard and amplified by the network - we were all connected and the butterfly effect and seven degrees of separation were real and we felt we could make a difference. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember the Hudson river plane crash in 2009 and the excitement about how the news broke on Twitter first and how mainstream media used the Twitter feeds of normal people as sources in their reporting - the citizen journalist became real and the implications of this reverberated around the network.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember how I picked up several news stories first on Twitter - for example, using Twitter late one evening in 2009 I noticed many people tweeting that Michael Jackson had been found dead ... I checked some trusted mainstream news sites and found some stories about this which confirmed it. And so it went on ... news breaking fast and often first across social media to be confirmed later on mainstream traditional media.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were so enthusiastic and techo-optimistic .. social networks were a web of people for people ... people were practically streaming their lives openly on-line ... I remember (<a href="https://twitter.com/hrheingold" target="_blank">Howard Rheingold</a>) tweeting about his cancer treatment for example and how people were literally giving birth and dying on twitter - having their monitoring equipment tweet. People were frequently tweeting photos of their food and drink ... I guess it was important to them and did no harm but </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Why do I want to see what people have had for their breakfast</i>"</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">was a common reason for people not wanting to use Twitter.</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> People were getting addicted ... we read about couples breaking up because one partner (usually a man) spent so much time tweeting ... social media addiction was emerging but at this time it was an older generation rather than teens. The problem with social media addiction in the naughties may have been with people </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">crossing over with baggage from a previous era of tech ... treating social media like a bucket rather than a stream. With a stream ... </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">if you missed something .. it was "water under the bridge" but if you carried the behavioural baggage of something like email you worried about missing something and needed to keep emptying the bucket.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember being an early adopter of using Twitter in education ... to Tweet college news, IT services news and in teaching and learning. I used Twitter with students in peer support experiments - to ask questions and get advice among themselves, from me and from the wider community. The ability to see what famous people were saying and doing in real was something new and you could even get replies from them ... that a college student could get a reply from a famous thinker was mind blowing. I encouraged staff and students alike to take to Twitter to learn, it was a useful tool in research - this was the future!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2009 was I think the sweet spot for Twitter. The number of Twitter users tripled and the first user (Ashton K</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">utcher @aplusk) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">got to a million followers. Twitter was really taking off and growing fast - we were all getting excited ... this was the future and we could all be part of it. I remember how social media jobs came into marketing - there was one marketing job I remember advertised on Twitter (naturally) for someone to spend time on a tropical island and just tweet about what they were doing and how wonderful it all was! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2009 was the time when <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/social-media-across-chasm.html" target="_blank">Twitter crossed the chasm</a> to the mainstream and Twitter itself </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">started to change and become mainstream. 2009</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> was the year when (just like a mainstream platform) Twitter started to add system features for things people once did for themselves .. it was the year the Re-tweet became a button.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The "platforming" of Twitter has continued as it has diffused through society and it has lost its early charms and around 2012 or 2013 people started saying its looking more like Facebook. Twitter is no longer "an exclusive club" ... the early adopters have to mix it up with everyone - people, trolls, saints, sinners and everyone in between. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've noticed how many Twitter early adopters have left in the last year with an attitude of "good riddance" as they look for </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">something new to find </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"the way we were" but </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Twitter is poorer for their absence - I</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> miss their contribution and their conversation.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have been lucky with Twitter ... I haven't been trolled. O</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ver ten years m</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">y Twitter network has been honest and "organic" - I follow only a small group of people who </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">tweet about things of interest to me or </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">interact with me - this keeps my Twitter feed manually manageable. I have created a few lists but don't use them - I </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">like my Twitter social network mixed up as it comes in a single stream. I just don't understand how anyone can honestly follow several hundred people let alone several thousand. I'm aware of the dangers of the filter bubble so take care to follow some people who have very different points of view to mine ... this can be uncomfortable but is essential if you want to learn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Twitter ten years ago ... we thought it would be the future but not this future. We looked forward to a flat earth and political spring where citizen journalists and the voice </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">of the people would call out the abuses of those in power. We were naive ... the network has been weaponised by those in power against the people ..</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> trolls and bots nudge us with lies and hate ... did anyone foresee the controversy of social media influence on the</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> US election?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We shouldn't be surprised how Twitter has turned out ... all human life is on the platform .. the good, the bad and the ugly and like any technology it amplifies ... it amplifies </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the good, the bad and the ugly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2017 has been a wake up call for Twitter ... concerned people have for a long time been calling for it to be treated as a media outlet and be responsible as such. Twitter must open its eyes to see itself as a </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">social media rather than </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">a social network. Twitter will have to change and adapt to the new reality .. 2018 is going to be a crunch time for Twitter - it needs put reputation on the line and </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">be bolder in how it manages its network ... it needs to think of itself, and its users, as a community... </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/technology/twitter-end-anything-goes.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0" target="_blank">It’s Time to End Your Anything-Goes Paradise</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is a lot of good on Twitter and I won't be abandoning it and I look forward to seeing what happens in the next 10 years.</span><br />
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-67528081196053405052017-07-16T04:35:00.000-07:002017-07-17T02:23:45.215-07:00No News Is Good News?<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mainstream news that is ... I'm not talking about sports, music, science and even technology news and things like that but news programs like News at Ten or Newsnight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the last few days I've been not bothered to watch or listen to mainstream news and even avoided it and I feel a lot better for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The problem with mainstream news is that its dominated by politics and those interested in power - its no wonder that its these very people who are so obsessed with news itself and the more extreme they are the more obsessed they are with the news and controlling it. Mainstream news is dominated by actions of the borderline or full on sociopaths in positions of authority ... the scheming manipulations of power and greed. Listening to so much if this on the mainstream news just leaves a bad impression of humanity and our future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The other problem with mainstream news is that it seeks out the negative and so often exaggerates it ... I guess news editors know what we like as good news doesn't "sell" nearly as well as bad news. Watching the mainstream news leaves me feeling pessimistic about the future ... a future of just one bad thing after another.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I was young I paid no attention to politics and mainstream news - I was full of hope and optimistic about the future .... to my older self my younger self was naive ... but he was very happy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm thinking of getting back to the mindset of my younger self by avoiding politics and the mainstream news ... it might make me happier but is this responsible ... shouldn't we pay attention to the conniving of the rich and powerful ... wealth and power usually go together. The news has changed since I was young ... in free countries the news is no longer the platform and cheerleader of the rich and powerful ... its highly critical - they don't like this but we do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think the way mainstream news has become more critical over the years exposes the rich and powerful for what they are ... news isn't naive anymore and it's this that is behind what I see as depressing and negative.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"I haven't changed but I know I'm not the same" </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You open Pandora's box and take the red pill and there's no no going back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We need mainstream news the way it is ... it holds those in power to account and there are those equipped to do something about it but fo</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">r most of us mainstream news increases our awareness but as an act of voyeurism ... we can only watch but can we do anything? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mainstream news ... I'll take a more balanced diet spending more time doing other things and I'll see how this goes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old." ~ </i>George Burns</span></div>
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-89830326666777732142017-05-29T10:34:00.001-07:002017-06-06T02:35:43.311-07:00Memories Of My Mum<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A little while ago mum died. She had vascular dementia and had been exponentially declining over the last few years and especially the last months, weeks and days. We had been prepared for a long time but its different afterwards. I can never ask her about anything anymore - tell me about you and dad after the war? What did you dance to at your wedding? What was that place we went to on holiday in 1976? She can't answer these things anymore - she is gone forever. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It sounds odd but memories help you remember and memories that are shared or made together in a sense help someone live on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even though my mum was very unwell and could remember little towards the end she could still make and share memories </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">but now she's gone it's different ... she can't make or share memories anymore - I can only play back the memories she made and shared ... </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I can only remember,</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here is how I remember my mum in the words of my dad "<i>like a whippet" </i>.. she couldn't settle and would always be doing something - cleaning, washing, gardening, walking and walking the dog. In her last weeks the nurses in the ward she was in recognised her as the "<i>the lady who was always out with her dog and would stop and talk to everyone</i>". </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">She used to say that at school she liked sports and often told me the story of how she rode all the way from Dartford to Southend and back with a group of friends on her racing bike just managing to get back to Tilbury in time to get the last ferry across the Thames. I remember that racing bike laying next to dad's charismatic town bike in the shed ... mum's story gave that racer a sort of talismanic presence to me. I</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">t's only much later in life when she would have to sit down and even then she would be quite active listening the radio - up to date with the news and with a point of view.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"A worrier"</i> ... another way </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember my mum in the words of my dad. Restless and not being able to settle mum would always be changing her mind - taking things back to the shops, having to redecorate ... dad having to move the furniture around, changing the wallpaper and carpet. Restless, worrying and not being able to settle but once she found what she liked she would settle and stick with it - she knew what she did and didn't like and liked what she knew. She </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">didn't like me experimenting with new routes when driving her somewhere and</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> wasn't one for trying exotic new food much - she would be quote happy with fish and chips anytime, anyplace. As a kid I always remember she liked a drop of Mackeson and in later life a drop (or more) of Baileys. In her earlier years she liked her holidays at </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Warners holiday camps, i</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">n later years the same resort in Malta year after year and she always loved </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the little seaside town of Minster. Mum would be thinking about a holiday months in advance ... buying little bits and packing them away throughout the year - mum would pack the suitcases for holidays weeks (if not months) in advance. And so with her final trip ... something she had "packed" for more than 15 years ago - she would often tell me about how dad and herself had paid for and booked their funeral and how I should do the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mum had an impulsive, naughty, even rebellious side - you could see a gleam in her eye when she would say "<i>I'm not supposed to but</i>". S</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">he would often tell stories of how as a teenager she rode on the back of brother Roy's motorbike - going really fast and reckless through country lanes and saying how much she liked it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My mum and dad were from a simpler time - there wasn't much money and life was what you made of it rather than what you bought with it. There were a lot of simple pleasures like sitting in the little"greenhouse" dad made at the bottom of the garden - mum and dad spent so many happy hours down there. When they eventually had a car they used to love driving down to the little seaside town of Minister at the weekend with sandwiches and a flask of tea and looking out over the sea together. I have fond memories of mum and dad and the the little seaside town of Minister, its where we took our first proper family holidays - it isn't far away but back in the early 1960s it was the furthest we had ever been - I had no idea where it was ... it was like another land ... a "holiday land", a holiday camp where everything was new, fresh and different. We stayed in little "chalets", we ate in a communal dinner hall where there were waiters, there was a dance hall and dedicated all day everyday stuff for kids - I</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">felt like Charlie in the chocolate factory. We would go walking outside the camp .. pop into the tiny shop just outside, the cafe at the end of the road just before the beach and along the seafront to Sheerness and the penny arcades.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dad was always a good swimmer - he would go straight in while mum paddled about with us ... feeling the cold - "<i>its best to get your shoulders under</i>" dad would always say to us. Mum had a big fear of letting go in the water - I never thought she would ever be able to swim but later in life - with dad's help she learned to swim and she loved it - she was so proud when she told me that she could swim a length of the pool. Every friday night mum and dad would walk down to Dartford swimming pool and on their way back have a treat of fish and chips from the chippy on east hill - a simple pleasure and they loved it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/story/20140417-why-does-music-evoke-memories">Music evokes memories</a> and reaches the parts that others can't - I saw this with mum towards the end when one of the nurses used a music program in her ward. Mum and dad used to like country music and you really could see mum's lights come on when they played music that was from the soundtrack of her life Elvis Presley, Jonny Cash, Glenn Campbell, Bread, Percy Sledge, Roberta Flack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mum and dad liked to dance - every Friday or saturday night they would go over to the tiny "Brent School Old boys social club" where they would dance. Sitting around the tiny round ables full of drinks and eyes stinging from the tobacco smoke I can remember my dad getting up putting out his hand and saying to mum "fancy a foxtrot". It seemed to me as a kid that they used to dance to everything - I'm sure I can remember my dad saying "fancy a jive", "fancy a quickstep" ... I think I can even remember "fancy the cha cha cha" :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you remember someone and their life - it has to be a collage not a single image ... a set of video clips not a single frame. I have the stories of mum from before I was born .. being evacuated to the west country during the war, marrying the boy next door, riding on her brothers motorbike and cycling to Southend and back. I have the memories of mum that are part of my whole life until a little while ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If I had to save just one memory of mum and dad that would be in the dance hall in at the Warner holiday camp in Minster upon sea - it must have been about 1963 when I was 5 and mum would have been about 30. The band started playing "Moon River" ... mum and dad got up and went on the dance floor and for some reason I followed and waltzed around with them. I remember this so fondly and I love this song and its the song my wife and I danced to at our wedding.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-75574580252926912742017-04-23T03:25:00.001-07:002017-04-23T04:18:08.768-07:00Running Lessons: Now Is The Time<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are thinking about running or if you feel like running then now is the time ... don't put it off to another day ... "just do it".</span><br />
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<b><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Strike while the iron is hot"</span></i></b></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes it can be your body that feels like it ... if so "just do it" ... let your mind follow ... this is always the best way as at least your body seems OK and you can't do the run without your body:) Sometimes it can be your mind that feels like it .... if so "just do it" ... mind over matter ... let your body follow - it will catch up but be sure to listen to your body and take care. If both your mind and body feel like it then you are lucky - this is the best way to run .. mind and body in harmony and if you don't run too far or too hard then they will still be in harmony at the end of the run :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"<b><i>Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.</i></b>” <b>~ </b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Allen Saunders</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you have a pair of trainers and a pair of shorts and your feel like it then you have no excuse .. just put on an old T-shirt and you are ready. Make sure you have a pair of running trainers though - other sports trainers will be a a problem but cheap running trainers are just fine - mine cost £15 from <a href="https://www.decathlon.co.uk/" target="_blank">Decathlon</a> a few years ago and I've done nearly 1,000 miles in them!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>"<i>The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.</i>"</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You know yourself best so start with a short run you are comfortable with - round the block, to the park and back .. .it doesn't matter how far or how long it takes or if you walk or even stop for some of it - the most important thing is to </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">make it enjoyable .. this isn't meant to be work or hard labour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Start small and easy - its good if you have a circular route so that if you need to you have a plan B .. a short cut back to the start. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the time feels right go a bit further.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My first run was a sort of oval route out towards a local park - this meant I could cut off and run a shorter oval if I needed to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This run was the slowest and most exhausting I had done ... believe me - it gets easier each time you run. I repeated this run each weekend a few times - then added a little bit more each week - adding laps round the park and then going through the park and beyond adding a bit more each time until I was running half marathon distances every weekend and with serious hills as well!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Running lessons ... the things you learn in life can be applied to running and the things you learn from running can be applied to life .. maybe I should have called <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/running" target="_blank">this series of blog posts on running</a> "zen and the art of running" :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its important to make a start ... you can try to plan everything to the last detail and try to get everything right and go for a "big bang" but things change and you may end up in a sort of planning procrastination and never actually get started. Get started early with small steps and build up. Be flexible, experiment and learn and adapt over time </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">rather than start late with a big bang. </span><br />
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-74091058918710075182017-01-01T06:46:00.002-08:002017-01-02T05:32:37.395-08:00Reflection Is For Life Not Just For Christmas<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Christmas and the end of year is like an alternative reality - we put trees in our homes, eat parsnips and think about, talk about and <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sponsored/21-things-british-people-only-6861919">do things we don't normally do</a>. <br /><br />Christmas and the end of year is full of reviews of the year and predictions for the year ahead it's fun and also a sort of annual catharsis - its just a pity we don't do this more often.<br /><br />"How are you" ... busy is the socially acceptable response but what does this mean. Busy these days is all about objective personal productivity and behaviour - its as if we have internalised the workplace in our everyday life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thinking, let alone reflecting, isn't seen as being busy - we can't see it and we can't measure it - its not seen as productive behaviour, completed tasks are what count. In everyday life we are too "busy" to think .... personal productivity and busy behaviour is what matters - its like a <a href="https://www.edge.org/conversation/clay_shirky-gin-television-and-cognitive-surplus">cognitive heat sink</a> "dissipating thinking that might otherwise have built up and caused society to overheat." <br /><br />Thinking and reflection are crucial in learning but I'm not talking any form of SMART planning and analysis and ticking off goals and achievements in the way many institutions corrupted and appropriated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice">reflective practice</a> in appraisals as another means to control and oppress employees. I'm not talking about reflection for intelligence through objective behaviourist analysis of data to turn ourselves into robots - that's artificial and machines are better at this anyway. I'm not talking about reflection as a technical report technologised by devices and data to objectify, quantify and consume ourselves.<br /><br />I am talking about reflection for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience">sentience</a> "the capacity to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively" through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-reflection">self-reflection</a> "<i>the capacity of humans to exercise introspection and the willingness to learn more about their fundamental nature, purpose and essence.</i>" I'm talking about reflection in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind" s_eye="">mind's eye</a> "<i>to see things with the mind</i>", to let the mind wander and listen to your internal dialogue, emotional and mental life. I'm talking about reflection to enrich our lives through subjective self awareness by looking inside to find ourselves.<br /><br />The information age is only just beginning - developments in artificial intelligence will raise great philosophical and even existential questions about what it means to be human. We share intelligence with machines but sentience makes us human and we should be human every day .... reflection is for life not just for christmas.</span><br />
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-69706287939661235682016-10-21T07:40:00.000-07:002016-10-24T04:15:07.822-07:00Closing Windows<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Computerworld report that" <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=http://www.computerworld.com/article/3131906/apple-mac/ibm-says-macs-are-even-cheaper-to-run-than-it-thought.html&source=gmail&ust=1477145665879000&usg=AFQjCNGyfFM10TDlLPh2sqKzU_SS1T029g" href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/3131906/apple-mac/ibm-says-macs-are-even-cheaper-to-run-than-it-thought.html" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">IBM says it is 3X more expensive to manage PCs than Macs</a>"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">While Apple PCs are considerably more expensive than Windows PCs they can be easier to manage and use - I have found this - I switched from using Windows to Mac four years ago and "get it". I also noticed that about 5 years ago most network engineers I came across seemed to be toting Macs instead of Windows laptops.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“Give employees the devices they want, manage those devices in a modern way, and drive self sufficiency in the environment .... we have to go out and manage the Mac environment 104 fewer times a year than PC”. </i>IBM are using <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=https://www.jamf.com/&source=gmail&ust=1477145665879000&usg=AFQjCNEHGqPotJSwD7wlFA3Oz8vztJdlNg" href="https://www.jamf.com/" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jamf</a> to manage their Macs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now ... I can't imagine a large scale change to Macs in education but the options for PCs are becoming more diverse again (after nearly 30 years of Microsoft hegemony). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm quite a fan of Google Chromebooks - they are even cheaper, easier to manage and secure than Macs and fit well with my web-cloud philosophy. Chromebooks are making quite an impression for student use a Chromebook a lot - especially when I want security.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now ... while Linux is used widely in data centres its not made the same impression for end user PCs except on programmer and developer PCs. I'm wondering if we might see more Linux coming to PCs in the near future. Dell for example are still selling Linux laptops - from the affordable <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3552-laptop-ubuntu/pd?oc%3Dbn55220%26model_id%3Dinspiron-15-3552-laptop-ubuntu%26l%3Den%26s%3Dbsd&source=gmail&ust=1477145665879000&usg=AFQjCNFt12JQrHCdWsYUWxesZsSeW5gOlw" href="http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-3552-laptop-ubuntu/pd?oc=bn55220&model_id=inspiron-15-3552-laptop-ubuntu&l=en&s=bsd" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Inspiron 15 3000</a> at £169 + VAT to their high end developer XPS laptops.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Linux can breath new life into old Windows PCs and I'm quite a fan of this - refurbishing old PCs with Linux and using them as their own is great project for IT students - this story from a few years ago is a favourite of mine "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=https://www.linux.com/blog/pennsylvania-high-school-rolls-out-1700-linux-laptops-students&source=gmail&ust=1477145665879000&usg=AFQjCNGOcWDjf-OGntJVV2_ahjPzR6gpPA" href="https://www.linux.com/blog/pennsylvania-high-school-rolls-out-1700-linux-laptops-students" style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Pennsylvania High School Rolls Out 1,700 Linux Laptops to Students"</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Linux is an example of what I call "<a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/citizen-tech.html" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Citizen Tech</a>" - its cost effective technology that allows "</span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">creativity, re-mixing, invention, exploration and experimentation in the science of craft." One example of this is the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/inspirenshare/eambassadors-chromium" style="color: #4d469c; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">eAmbassador Chromium project</a> I ran </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where students installed </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_OS&source=gmail&ust=1477145665879000&usg=AFQjCNGddcdSX6GiSoDyHhJJ9y8ppCTxJQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_OS" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Chromium OS</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"> onto old Windows PCs - it was amazing to watch students demonstrate how to install Chromium </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in less than 5 minutes and remix an old PC into something useful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Talking about remixing ... <a href="http://www.jide.com/remixos-for-pc#downloadNow" target="_blank">Remix OS</a> is an Android flavour of Linux with loads of Android Apps and support for PC style elements such as </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">mice, keyboards, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">a </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">windowed interface,</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> file manager, system bar, and a dock at the bottom of the screen for apps.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The current era is starting to remind me of the time before the PC was made politically correct by IBM and Microsoft - back then in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was tremendous innovation from the diversity of stuff that was around. Back then we had the BBC Micro ...... today we have the BBC BIT. Super cheap nano computers like BIT, PI, Arduino and CHIP are another development with interesting potential for personal computing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It could be that interesting times are coming - the PC market is shrinking and at the same time new PC devices are becoming available for personal computing. Smartphones have become mainstream and now ....... new options are emerging for what is comes next.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its just over 3 years to 2020. Every mid decade a new era in IT begins to go mainstream - in the mid 1970s it was PCs, in the mid 1980s it was LANs, in the mid 1990s it was the Internet, in the mid 2000s it was social & mobile (web squared) and now ...........</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Note ... I'm using PC to refer to both desktop and laptop versions of "personal computers" whatever operating system they are running be that Windows, MacOS, Chrome, Chromium OS or the various flavours of Linux.</span></span></div>
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-37175889858470757252016-09-22T09:19:00.004-07:002016-09-23T09:44:17.718-07:00Cloud Thinking<div style="text-align: center;">
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Ready Steady Go .. design thinking from Oracle</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The cloud is now a mature technology now and I am starting to question the value of conferences which are primarily about the cloud as if it is something new so I came along to speak at the <a href="http://www.computingsummit.com/cloud" target="_blank">Computing Cloud and Infrastructure Summit</a> with some scepticism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Technology has come to dominate thinking about information technology - we may as well write it with a little i and a capital T (iT) but there is a reason the i comes before the t - the technology is a tool .. a means of achieving an end with the information. Can we think about IT without the T ... this reminds me of a magazine I used to read a very long time ago called "Informatics" and the field of informatics is something Wikipedia describes as "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informatics" target="_blank">not to be confused with information technology</a>"</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"The field considers the interaction between humans and information alongside the construction of interfaces, organisations, technologies and systems."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the same way that technology has come to dominate thinking about IT so systems thinking has come to dominate our thinking about so many things such as organisations, processes and products.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">While the cloud is a mature technology there are companies and suppliers which are late adopters and it these late adopters who might in fact gain the most. For late adopters it becomes a case of change or become irrelevant and literally left behind and left out as the world changes around them. It was refreshing to hear suppliers talk about the need not only to change their technology but to change their thinking and to use the cloud to shift from thinking about technology and systems to thinking about information and design.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oracle's exhibition was a refreshing experience of design thinking to engage and interest people rather than systems thinking which is best suited to engaging machines. Oracle used an <a href="https://anki.com/en-gb" target="_blank">Anki Overdrive</a> race track kit with three cars which people could drive using three tablets - this was attraction enough but Oracle connected telemetry from the cars to collect, store and analyse data and trigger events such as a drone taking off to attend if a car had an accident and spoke about connecting each car's data to individual Facebook chatbots which could have conversations about the car. with people. Oracle also gave a simple yet great demonstration of frictionless IT by having the driving tablets automatically read people's delegate badges so that names appeared magically on the scoreboard along with their lap times and ranking. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the cloud the network is our computer and at the</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Computing Cloud and Infrastructure Summit</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> there was plenty of networking taking place - it </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">was an enjoyable and relaxed event full of great conversations about how the cloud can facilitate new ways of thinking about what we do by helping us shift from technology and systems thinking to people and design thinking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Below are a couple of short ad-hoc videos I made with the Oracle team talking about design thinking, IoT, the cloud and their exhibition. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Bring design thinking into the technology space to bring out different possibilities"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">~ Pin Patel of Oracle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anki Overdrive, Data, Cloud, IoT, Raspberry Pi, Drones and Chatbots</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My conversation with Stuart Sumner about the different reasons to use the cloud </span></div>
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-73988132824701456762016-08-28T07:34:00.000-07:002017-04-23T04:16:19.335-07:00Running Lessons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Learn to enjoy your run - enjoy the journey</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back in September 2007 I had an epiphany about measurement and wrote "<a href="https://martinking.wordpress.com/2007/09/08/loneliness-of-the-long-distance-educationalist/" target="_blank">Loneliness of the long distance educationalist</a>". I realised that the reason I started running had been lost and replaced by measurement and analysis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>We should be careful that the act of measuring an activity doesn’t become more important than the activity itself.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I started running to to get out in the open, get some exercise and see the area where I live. Trying to beat the clock on 2, 8 and 13 mile circuits meant I was deliberately "zoning out" to run through pain - disconnecting from my internal state and the environment I was running in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Running against the clock - I might as well have been on a treadmill.</b></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Measurement and performance analysis has its place in activities that involve competition, definition and repetition but I started running to explore my inner self and the outside world. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;">Running against the clock - I might as well have been on a treadmill - this is the way some people like it but for me it wasn't the reason I was running outside. </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I realised that my experience of running with measurement is a lot like the experience in education with measurement - it changes the activity. Education cynically talks about the learning journey but in reality focuses tighter and tighter on (exam) results and the destination with ever greater levels of measurement and performance management.</span></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Children have a natural “thirst” for learning, experimentation and play but in so many this disappears and as they pass through the school system and like my running against the clock the purpose of education can be lost and spoilt by testing and measurement to such an extent that for many young people learning in school painful and alienating. The education system itself is possibly one of the causal factors in the problems we have with young people today.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The education system is configured and stuck in developing the workforce skills of the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">previous century</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The education system is configured and stuck in developing the workforce skills of the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">previous century - what </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://twitter.com/hjarche" target="_blank">Harold Jarche</a> calls </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">‘Labour’ - compliance, diligence, and intelligence for routine work and standardized jobs. Our education system has thunked down to measuring, testing and training </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">r</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">outine and standardised skills </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">on treadmills </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">rather than education.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Our education systems need to change radically to focus on learning rather than labour.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rapid changes in technology are causing life to become anything but routine and standardized. The information revolution is just getting started and there is the potential for radical change and uncertainty ahead </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">- our future generations will need the skills to adapt to the unknown and deal with uncertainty</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">. Routine and standardised skills and work are expected to be dis-intermediated by new technology - learning is the key survival skill for an unknown and uncertain future and our education systems need to change radically to focus on learning rather than labour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For the sake of our future the education system needs to be able to learn and be able to change. The education system must find a way to accommodate and not just assimilate and it must accommodate curiosity, creativity and imagination as well as more easily tested and measured rational analytical behaviours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I run to learn and I am still learning to run - I will be writing a short series of blog posts about this called "running lessons" - lessons for life and the world of education.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"<a href="http://jarche.com/2016/08/connected-curiosity/" target="_blank">connected curiosity</a>" ~ </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hjarche" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Harold Jarche</span></a><br />
<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-75736024384023111292016-06-20T06:15:00.000-07:002016-06-20T06:18:10.161-07:00The Fallacy of Data Politics<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” ~ Winston Churchill </span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The future is a wonderful place ... it doesn't exist except in people's minds ... people can describe it however they want so its no wonder that politicians spend so much time talking about it.</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My view of politics is that it should be about principles, leadership and vision ... an underlying "philosophy" framework that guides everyday decisions and gives them meaning. However, what I increasingly see is politics as a self interested retail business like power play with politicians driven by data looking for market share. In politics today gaining power and winning is everything ... what happened to principles?</span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Lies, damned lies, and statistics"~ Mark Twain </span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Decision makers and politicians today have outsourced their minds and are driven by data and in "like me" cognitive bias assume everyone else has also outsourced their minds to data to be manipulated, driven and even programmed by numbers and data.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The UK EU referendum lays bare the the problems of outsourcing arguments to data - "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2016/jun/15/eu-referendum-lies-myths-and-half-truths-video-explainer" target="_blank">Vast numbers have been thrown around that turn out to be misleading, highly speculative or both</a>" without even considering the <a href="http://www.digitaltonto.com/2015/the-downside-of-data/" target="_blank">downsides</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_bias" target="_blank">biases</a> and <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2015/10/07/how-data-does-political-things/" target="_blank">inherent politics</a> of data. </span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there" ~ Charles Kettering</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rather than short term self interest I see politics and the UK EU referendum about philosophy, principles and vision - about what sort of world I want to live in.</span><br />
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-82557549924149065612016-06-09T01:47:00.001-07:002016-06-09T02:00:35.885-07:00I would #lovetolearn Magic<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Festival of Learning used to be Adult learners week - its a celebration of lifelong learning and as an adult life-long teacher and learner I encourage everyone to reconnect with the joy of learning we once knew as children ... before it was drilled out of us in the name of exam performance and quality control during our years in compulsory education.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Magic is very special - it is human, social, practical and has a wow factor .. its cool ... if only the education system were like this. Magic exists between people - you can't do magic on your own, to computers, to animals or just talk or write about it - seeing is believing ... or as is usually the case - disbelieving - especially when you see close up street magic done by the likes of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUu4kDq228Q" target="_blank">Dynamo</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Magic works because we are human - <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/this-is-your-brain-on-magic/385468/" target="_blank">magicians are cognitive artists</a> - rather than scientists. While Arthur C Clarke might argue that "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws" target="_blank">any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic</a>", and a lot of magic involves technology, ultimately magic its an art and a social performance. For the time being at least I just can't imagine a robot performing magic. Managed learning environments, machines, computers and robots might have technical prowess that we might marvel at but "a drum machine has no soul" - can they engage us in the same way a human might. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a lifelong teacher I'm aware that teaching is like magic - a socially constructed human cognitive art event. Take a look at Steve Wheeler's blog post "<a href="http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk/2013/11/just-illusion.html" target="_blank">Just an illusion?</a>" where he explores the nature of human perception with his students and uses a magic trick to encourage lateral thinking about problems and human nature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A robot teacher has no soul - it has no magic - can it engage and inspire like a human teacher ... human to human.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a lifelong learner I like to feel the magic of learning - the excitement, curiosity, playfulness and wonder of learning like a child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You might think that learning about magic might spoil it but that's not the case. Learning magic doesn't break the spell - being shown how its done is just as good as the trick itself (see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQCaxoQlSIw&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">David Blaine explain a trick</a>) and understanding how and why it works is fascinating as are the reactions of people when they see magic. Every performance of magic is unique and not something for rigorous quality controlled standardisation - "<a href="http://rebelmagic.com/david-blaine-teaches-card-trick-staff-esquire/" target="_blank">the art is in the way you communicate the trick</a>".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Magic is a celebration of humanity and I would #lovetolearn magic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its not surprising that magic isn't on the standard curriculum but you can learn it in the lifelong adult education ecosystem - <a href="http://www.hotcourses.com/courses/greater-london/magic-training/17386/" target="_blank">search hot courses</a> for example. You can of course learn magic from books, on-line (e.g. <a href="http://rebelmagic.com/" target="_blank">Rebel Magic</a>) or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=magic+tricks+tutorial" target="_blank">searching Youtube</a>.</span><br />
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-91623172747541952182016-03-26T07:44:00.000-07:002016-04-07T04:35:14.228-07:00Smart School<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I started Smart School it was was something different, it was the first of its kind and a pilot for Umbrella's successful big Pharma Academy chain across the UK. We came to call these schools "Farms" but at the time it was an obvious choice for my parents trying to do their best for me and I was lucky to get in - mostly because at the time it was experimental.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember my first day - everyone was nervous, it was like a blind date ... or rather an arranged marriage. I worried about what I had gotten into but kept telling myself that it was for the best and that I would be better off in the long run and that the experts really knew their stuff. We assembled in the school lecture theatre where Peter the resident Principle greeted us and introduced the staff, the school and its principles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember Peter's induction address clearly - how he spoke so confidently and persuasively about success based on measured performance and how the Smart School process is the most efficient and effective way to guarantee results. He spoke about evolution and quoted someone or something called the Bullet Proof Executive saying “Going back a million years, humans had fire, One guy used it to stay warm, and the other said ‘That’s cheating.’ One of those is our ancestors, and one isn’t". He spoke about the coming robot revolution and the need for humans to "level the playing field" by enhancing their cognitive abilities to "race against the machines". He then almost put us to sleep (for we were not yet medicated) with data, data and yet more data about the numbers of people taking smart drugs in education and business and about the advantage it gives those who take them. He spoke about the dangers of underground BYOD or Bring your Own Drugs use and spoke about the ethics of using them - about the need to be honest and open about using smart drugs. It was during the bit about ethics that another student showed me her smartphone ... she had Google'd the principle and found out his middle name was Deon - we weren't sure what this meant but had to cough and sneeze to disguise our laughter. It also turns out he isn't actually a principle at all but something called a CEO or Chief Executive Officer - we joked that this should really be Chemical Enhancement Officer and had to cough and sneeze all over again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The CEO introduced us to Eduard the eLearning manager ... this went without explanation but we took this to mean the Enhanced Learning manager. He took us through the schools regime saying that where other schools have an MLE, Smart School is a Medicatedl Learning Environment practicing Medicated Learning Enhancement. He went on to say that where some educationalists talk about a PLE, Smart School is a Pharmaceutical Learning Environment practicing Pharmaceutical Learning Enhancement. We then went for a tour around the school, it was nothing special, just like any other school really except the pharmacy. The pharmacy, we were told, is where our Smart School education will really take place. The eLearning manager was based in the pharmacy - he called it the PE room - a place where our brains get a work out. We also came to call the pharmacy the PE room but to stand for Pharmaceutical Education". There wasn't really much in the PE room except shelves of "Smart Ass" (Umbrella Pharma's own brand nootropic) and there wasn't really much for the eLeaning manager to do in the PE room except prescribe and administer the daily dose of the "Smart Ass" suppository or "magic bullet" as we came to call it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember my first time - the first time I took pill. Suddenly the "mist" cleared - I could see clearly - everything was easier - I could remember stuff, I could work stuff out, I could solve problems, I was a Smart Ass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember how everyone absolutely aced their exams - we all excelled, everyone achieved, ofsted rated Smart School as outstanding and so began the Umberella Pharma chain of Academies and so began my problems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember graduating from Smart School armed with a wad of top grade qualifications, Smart Ass pills and ready to race against the machines ... except the machines had already won. There were no smart jobs for me and where there were jobs I just couldn't compete against the machines - no matter how much of a Smart Ass I became.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">No one likes a Smart Ass!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I started Smart School it was was something different - now I had left Smart School it was time to try something different.</span><br />
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-76060423336556689272016-03-10T08:48:00.001-08:002016-03-14T09:01:19.141-07:00The Smartphone Achieved Escape Velocity - Can Education?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Image: Computerandyou.net http://goo.gl/xXBP6m </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A typical smartphone has considerably more computer power than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)">Deep Blue</a> that beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997 - back then IBM's Deep Blue was the the 259th most powerful computer in the world with 11.38 GFLOPS... the Samsung Galaxy S6 with its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exynos">Exynos 7420 GPU</a> measures 210 GFLOPS!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only has a smartphone got orders of magnitude more computer power than the computers that got us to the moon back in 1969 but a typical smartphone has a faster CPU and more memory than the average satellite today. Bristling with sensors and communications and benefiting from significant research and development efforts and economies of scale today's smartphones are extremely capable devices and cost effective devices that have caught the attention of NASA. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhoneSat">PhoneSat</a> is a NASA project that uses unmodified consumer-grade off-the-shelf smartphones and Arduino platform to build <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniaturized_satellite#Nanosatellites">nanosatelites</a> and launch them into Low Earth Orbit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2014 was the year in which the smartphone achieved "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity" target="_blank">escape velocity</a>" - breaking free and moving away forever from the gravitational attraction of the previous generation. 2014 was “<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/22/yahoos-marissa-mayer-by-end-2014-yahoo-will-have-more-mobile-traffic-than-pc-traffic.html" target="_blank">a tipping point for Internet</a>” and <a href="http://marketingland.com/nielsen-time-accessing-internet-smartphones-pcs-73683" target="_blank">when mobile users exceeded PC users for the first time</a>. In 2015 Ofcom reported that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/06/smartphones-most-popular-way-to-browse-internet-ofcom" target="_blank">smartphones are the UK’s most popular device for getting online</a> and Google confirmed that there are now<a href="http://searchengineland.com/its-official-google-says-more-searches-now-on-mobile-than-on-desktop-220369" target="_blank"> more searches on mobile than on desktop</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: center;">The smartphone </span><span style="text-align: center;">is a technology paradigm shift and herein lies the problem - many haven't recognised it yet and attempt to assimilate it into preconceived modes of use.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember the computing - telecommunications merger narratives of the early noughties. Back then - in one corner we had <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_PC">Pocket PC</a> style devices mostly from the computer industry and in the other corner the mobile phone devices mostly from the telecommunications industry. And then, along came the iPhone - although it was from the computing corner Apple put all the pieces together and created something new and different. Charles Arthur describes the iPhone like a <a href="https://techpinions.com/how-alphago-illustrates-the-warm-bath-and-ice-bucket-view-of-technology-progress/43992">cold shower</a> - a shock to pretty much everyone and something so dramatically different from what has gone before it upended our expectations. More than just a computer, more than just a telephone - the smartphone is more than the sum of its parts - the smartphone is a new generation of technology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thomas Kuhn used the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit%E2%80%93duck_illusion">duck-rabbit optical illusion</a> to demonstrate the way in which a paradigm shift could cause one to see the same information in an entirely different way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its clear that many still see the smartphone in old ways. During the 1980s Microsoft helped bring about the last paradigm change from mainframe computers to personal computers but appear stuck and incapable of going with the shift to see smartphones as a new generation of device.<span style="text-align: center;"> </span>Microsoft still see the smartphone as a combination of phone and computer and present the new Microsoft Lumia as "The Phone that works like your PC".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The iPhone was released in 2007 - this blog post is almost a decade out of date but the issues with understanding the smartphone today are as pertinent for some today as they were in 2007. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inattentional_blindness">Perceptual blindness</a> causes many to fail to see objects or stimuli that are unexpected and quite often salient and almost a decade on the <a href="http://www.eoht.info/page/Ships+not+seen">ships are not unseen</a> the smartphone is treated as if its a computer or a phone in the same old way or ignored completely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its clear that the education system has perceptual blindness when it comes to information technology and like Microsoft still sees the smartphone as a "phone that works like your PC" - seeing it as just another content delivery device or as John Traxler puts it in <a href="https://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform-feature/what-killed-the-mobile-learning-dream-26-feb-2016" target="_blank">What killed the mobile learning dream?</a> </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"we've ended up with mobile access to virtual learning environments that are being used as repositories. So, in practice, students reading their notes on the bus."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I suspect that the education system's perceptual blindness to the smartphone may be permanent rather than temporary and may in fact indicate a more serious and systemic problem in adapting to change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While the smartphone may have achieved escape velocity - can the education system and what will it take for it to do so?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For the education system "What got you here won't get you there" - John Traxler sees this in <a href="https://www.jisc.ac.uk/inform-feature/what-killed-the-mobile-learning-dream-26-feb-2016" target="_blank">What killed the mobile learning dream?</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Mobile learning has stalled. It has spent quite some time barking up the wrong tree, looking backwards and inwards"</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The way in which institutions have traditionally provided desktops cannot simply be extended to laptops, mobiles and tablets"</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">John suggests the education system needs to open up and open out - enabling students to use their own equipment. However, if students bring and use their own technology this shifts and challenges traditional dynamic of control:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>When students bring their own devices, they also bring their own services and connectivity, and whereas we used to make the rules by which they could use the desktops or by which they could access the network – because it was ours - in future it will be their network and their devices.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Suddenly, students are bringing all of their habits and expectations with them about who and how and what they learn – and that isn’t necessarily limited merely to accessing whatever stuff the lecturer puts on the VLE. That's quite challenging in terms of the lecturer identity.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://martinking.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/education-technology-a-crisis-of-relevance/" target="_blank">Education technology has a crisis of relevance</a> and needs to stop fearing our young learners and to connect with them in ways that are meaningful to them rather than the institution? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The education system has to <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/how-to-change-education-system-open-box.html" target="_blank">open the box</a> and <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-to-change-education-system-race.html" target="_blank">race with the machines</a> if it is to have any chance of remaining relevant and achieving escape velocity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But its not just about technology <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-to-change-education-system-race.html" target="_blank">"</a><a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-to-change-education-system-race.html" target="_blank">We need 21st century pedagogy matched with 21st century technology!"</a></span></div>
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Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-25515038629214062542016-03-09T06:00:00.000-08:002016-03-09T06:00:06.864-08:00Driverless<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Driverless cars symbolise our trajectory with technology - there can be no better symbol of transition from the 20th century industrial age to the 21st century information age. As the automobile increasingly embodies digital technology and replaces the human driver with IT and AI it becomes the embodiment of the coming robot-AI revolution - the automobile truly becomes the auto-mobile - built by robots and now driven by robots. In the same way that automobiles embodied and symbolised the challenges and opportunities of the 20th century industrial revolution the auto-mobile will embody and symbolise the challenges and opportunities of 21st century information revolution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Throughout history transportation has expressed our relationship with technology: from the wheel to horses, trains, boats and planes - transportation technology has had a deep and wide transformative effect on society, culture and individual lives. The auto-mobile will have and will represent yet another historic transformative affect of technology on society, culture and our individual lives. While we still haven't got our flying cars the self driving auto-mobile really is like science fiction but we will no doubt take it in our stride and adapt as we live through it just as people adapted to the horse-less carriage .... the early days of the auto-mobile might see the equivalent of people walking in front with a red flag but eventually the technology will develop and mature and find its place in the <a href="https://www.wordnik.com/words/technium" target="_blank">technium</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The general current state of technology is represented by assistance - devices and systems that help us in our everyday lives at work, rest and play - from the blender in the kitchen to Internet search engines and the cars, trains and buses that move us around to the satnav and digital maps we use to find our way around. We are immersed in a world of assistance technology and as this technology becomes increasingly digital it will evolve faster - becoming ever more capable and intelligent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember being impressed by the route planning systems in the 1990's - how amazing it seemed that software could work a route through the network of possibilities from the start, finish and travel options I entered. It was usually possible to beat route planning systems with local and personal knowledge and experience but they were very useful for longer journeys and in unfamiliar places. I was impressed by SatNav but also remember the early stories of people ending up in the wrong places or taken through very inappropriate routes. Today, SatNav is reliable ,convenient and in most cases better than us at navigating ... to such an extent that it is about to go from assisting us in driving the car to driving the car for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The evolution of driving assistance can be found in the stories of most digital technology - while some technologies fade away out of context in an evolutionary dead end those that find a context and ecosystem develop exponentially - changing from large, expensive and rare to become small, cheap and pervasive. Driverless cars are on an exponential curve. For example, Lidar (Light Detection And Ranging) sensor systems used to provide the auto-mobile with information about its environment <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/12/04/the-75000-problem-for-self-driving-cars-is-going-away/" target="_blank">used to cost as much as $75,000</a> but are due to become available for less than $500, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/quanergy-s3/" target="_blank">Quanergy Says Its Solid-State Lidar For Driverless Cars Will Cost $250 Or Less</a> in 2016 and that we can see this technology to reduce to $100 or less by 2020. The <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/14/us-government-plans-to-invest-4b-into-autonomous-driving-research-over-the-next-10-years" target="_blank">US Government Plans To Invest $4B In Autonomous Driving Research Over The Next 10 Years</a> and private <a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/01/the-days-of-human-driving-are-numbered.html" target="_blank">Big bucks and partnerships are inventing heavily in self driving technology</a>. Many predict that assisted driving technology will be commonly installed in new cars by 2020 and that we will take for granted digital assistance and control from the <a href="https://www.google.com/landing/now/" target="_blank">Now</a> style of <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/13/google-maps-for-android-gets-predictive-with-driving-mode/" target="_blank">Google Map's predictive driving mode</a> through delegated driving actions like highway cruising and parking to the full autonomous driving auto-mobile by the mid 2020's.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have no doubt that an auto-mobile will park better than I can and eventually drive better too - this is convenient but the problem comes when delegation turns to abdication. Through creeping conveniences we are choosing to take ourselves out of the loop and with eyes wide shut letting machines do more of our thinking - driving us from routine technological dependency to a matrix of cognitive technological dependency. We are not lemmings, there are choices - for example, <a href="http://www.hawkeyeinnovations.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hawk-Eye</a> is more accurate at line judgements in tennis than humans but the game chooses to use human line judges and a system of appeals to the machine rather than have only the machine - keeping humans in the loop adds interest to the game. I'm sure we will see decisions like this in the future - while some companies may chose to go fully automated for economics and control others will chose to distinguish themselves with their use of people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our future relationship with technology becomes a whole lot more "interesting" as on the net it will be increasingly difficult to detect if you are interacting with a robot. Machines will interact and collaborate not only with us but among themselves - in the future we will come across autonomous machines - they will not only be able to drive themselves but will <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/18/when-the-bus-will-be-its-own-boss/" target="_blank">work for themselves</a> and for other machines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Driving has been used as a metaphor of management machismo for decades - "driving change", "driving profits", driving this and driving that. Driving technology is set to flip this metaphor - already managers are more than proud to call themselves "data driven" .... but this style of <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/04/heres-how-managers-can-be-replaced-by-software" target="_blank">management is amenable to replacement by machines</a> while at the same time <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/25/whos-the-robot-boss/" target="_blank">workers seem to prefer working for robots</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The exponential trajectory of driverless technology can be seen in many emerging technologies of our time such as AI, Robotics, 3D printing, AR, VR, 360 and 3D imagery. While we overestimate the impacts of change in the short term, we underestimate the impacts of change in the longer term. While these technologies will become very interesting in five years time, in ten years time they look set to tip us into an emergent combinatorial, immersive and pervasive technology environment - a singularity in terms of rapid change and complexity that while the horizon moves towards our feet we cannot see over it to predict even that far ahead.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">New relationships with technology together with the scope, scale, speed and complexity of changes due to come at us from an increasingly connected digital world will present significant challenges to society. Developing our education systems to prepare future generations will be crucial in accommodating impending <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Shock" target="_blank">future shock</a>. The world economic forum recognises the problems we face - in their recent report <a href="http://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs" target="_blank">The Future of Jobs</a> they warn that</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“During previous industrial revolutions, it often took decades to build the training systems and labour market institutions needed to develop major new skill sets on a large scale. Given the upcoming pace and scale of disruption brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, however, this is simply not be an option. Without targeted action today to manage the near-term transition and build a workforce with futureproof skills, governments will have to cope with ever-growing unemployment and inequality, and businesses with a shrinking consumer base"</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The World Economic Forum recommends rethinking education systems and incentivizing lifelong learning - saying that</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"Most existing education systems at all levels provide highly siloed training and continue a number of 20th century practices that are hindering progress" </i>and that <i>"Businesses should work closely </i></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">with governments, education providers and others to imagine what a true 21st century curriculum might look like."</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our education systems are stuck teaching our future generations the very skills that are threatened by driverless technologies - memory based and logical rational analytical reductionist "left brain" style skills that are easy to test and measure but also easy to replace with machines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Autodesk CEO <a href="http://www.industryweek.com/manufacturing-leader-week/peering-autodesks-crystal-ball-future-manufacturing" target="_blank">Carl Bass also highlights the problem </a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Factories now are almost all completely automated.... We’re not going to create those kinds of jobs. The question is, Can we create other and even better jobs? We need to reform the American education system. We’re educating people in some ways for a future that doesn’t exist anymore, and I think that’s a real crime that we’re perpetrating on our children. The future is going to be in taking their knowledge and creativity and passion and turning it into interesting things"</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our education systems are teaching future generations to be drivers in a driverless future. Our education systems must shift from teaching people how to navigate to teaching people how to explore. Machines excel at navigation - our education systems must rebalance and shift from teaching people those things which machines can do better than us to teaching things that people still do better than machines - imagination, creativity, holistic and synthetic thinking and most of all the ability to learn rather than just remember because the future is unknown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The World Economic Forum warns:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>"It is our actions today that will determine whether we head towards massive displacement of workers or the emergence of new opportunities.</i>"</span><br />
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-529797156437336002016-03-06T05:52:00.002-08:002016-03-06T05:54:05.151-08:00Smartwatch: The Education and Technology Arms Race<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGaXEYmJGvfHljaqkBdY4q6EJKmydcOVar8qW16z9bIngIciiE5OCxcaQXv3UrZ7HuJSaz1_SGAxS4zApIyyRJr18d7N5n4Y8azl4aT_HOuEgoHf8TeCpULsfXtWAztpOQJr40ug2nQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-05+at+16.30.17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGaXEYmJGvfHljaqkBdY4q6EJKmydcOVar8qW16z9bIngIciiE5OCxcaQXv3UrZ7HuJSaz1_SGAxS4zApIyyRJr18d7N5n4Y8azl4aT_HOuEgoHf8TeCpULsfXtWAztpOQJr40ug2nQ/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-03-05+at+16.30.17.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Image: "First Watch For Easy Studying" </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">24kupi.com</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I started teaching during the microcomputer revolution of the early 1980s. Before the revolution computers were large, expensive, inflexible, rare and centralised - they needed a room. After the revolution computers were small, cheap, flexible, common and personal - they needed a desk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The microcomputer revolution gave the education system the personal computer and a paradox - on the one hand we have technology intended to be personal but on the other hand to be used in a setting intended to be shared and controlled - this "<a href="https://martinking.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/education-and-technology-doing-the-monster-mash/" target="_blank">monster mash</a>" created the education technology arms race that education has been locked into ever since.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've experienced the education technology arms race first hand over 35 years from all angles - as an IT manager trying to "defend" educational systems and policies and as teacher and learner trying to use the software, systems and technologies I want.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Don't press this button" ... as an It manager I'm familiar with the technology arms race - with students a restriction becomes a challenge! If you block or filter something students will find a way around it, if you lock something down students will find a way to unlock it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Creativity through necessity precipitates learning of course but its debatable how interested the education system is in creativity or learning - its certainly interested in content delivery and testing in a <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-managed-learning-environment.html" target="_blank">managed learning environment</a> and this type of student creativity detracts from that and increases the education system's arms budget as we have to spend more time and money securing and defending what is essentially personal technology but used for institutional purposes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The education system appropriated the microcomputer revolution for management and turned personal computers into terminals for managed learning environments - the diversity of the revolution became standardised, monopolised and mundane.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've watched each successive wave of personal computing be corrupted by the education system. The latest being tablets and the use of tablet management systems to lock down and provision devices for students - in many cases turning tablets into books for content delivery and consumption.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Education technology is big business - just consider the amount of technology in all its forms that goes into the education system every year - computers, data projectors eBoards, software, network cabling, switches, firewalls, routers, servers, backup systems, UPS systems, licences, support, maintenance, consultancy etc etc etc. Technology is a major cost in education today and its been a nice little earner for the education technology industry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each wave of personal computing has provided the education technology industry with opportunities and they have responded to promote whatever is "the next big thing" and package it as "the next big solution" for the education system.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Personal computing has become more personal as it evolved through a continuum of forms from desktops through laptops, pockets (smartphones) and now wearables. Where once students main access to computers was at a college controlled desktop these days nearly every student is packing their own computer and bringing in their own laptop, tablet, smartphone or smartwatch (and any combination of all of these) - computing has become a whole lot more personal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The personalisation of computing has created a <a href="https://martinking.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/education-technology-a-crisis-of-relevance/" target="_blank">crisis of relevance in education technology</a>. On the one hand the education system is still offering educational IT as terminals to big, expensive, inflexible, complicated, centralised and controlled institutional systems while on the other hand students are using personal consumer technology that is small, cheap, flexible, easy and convenient.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The personalisation of computing has opened a new front in the education technology arms race ..... students are bypassing education controlled systems - students are arming themselves and bringing in and using their own devices, networks and resources.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The technology industry is arming both sides - on the one hand the large corporate suppliers and the others that you can find at the ever expanding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BETT" target="_blank">BETT show</a> who have been selling technology solutions for education to the education establishment for decades while on the other hand those such as <a href="http://www.24kupi.com/" target="_blank">24kupi</a> who have recently been selling technology solutions for education to students.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wearable tech like the <a href="http://www.24kupi.com/" target="_blank">24kupi</a> smartwatch are the first ripples of a technology mediated tsunami of problems for the education system as it is today. On the one hand the smartwatch offers an excellent device for easy studying - It has 4 Gigabytes of integrated memory and can store text, pictures, video and audio for easy access on a zoomable display that can be set to scroll. What's more, the watch can record audio and has a wireless earpiece so you can set the watch to play back recorded or uploaded audio. With features like this I would have expected the education system to embrace personal computing like smartphones and smartwatches but this is not the case - far from embracing student personal computing the education system has from the outset sought to block and ban it - from the decade old calls to block Facebook to the current controversy and calls to ban <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35716523" target="_blank">"cheating" smartwatches</a> - the reason being that students can use them to look up facts and notes on theor writs rather than remember them in exams.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The education system knew that wearables were coming and the usual battle lines were being formed between "education technology evangelists" and "education technology conservatives" about using them in teaching and learning. The difference this time round is that the issue with smartphones is being taken up by students rather than the system - students are entering the education technology debate and rather than being talked about they are talking ... in fact rather than talking they are doing and it is the education system that is having to respond. Student personal computing is shifting the power dynamic in education - while the education system finds this challenging to say the least - I find this exiting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course, the technology development continues and already the "cheating watch" has progressed. The 24upi watch has exam use enhancement so that the watch appears black unless you are using special glasses. As is the case with technology new generations of personal computing are only going to get cheaper, smaller, more powerful and more pervasive - new waves of personal technology are going to flood the education sector - images of Canute can't help coming to mind but rather than attempting to stop the tide smartwtaches show its <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/smartwatch-time-to-examine-education.html" target="_blank">time to examine the education system</a> and for the education system to accommodate rather than assimilate student personal computing.</span><br />
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-12977274170125359732016-03-05T05:18:00.000-08:002016-03-05T05:18:40.733-08:00Smartwatch: Time To Examine The Education System<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnaynsvDAC4vL_aL2TB-c8IVptGiydiRIS9T_xLMgph-RhjJ4lPxM1XxTtwNo-SXts-UM-ihnkW0dju3ppbawh2PntPgg3tadYI1yA32U49_UBlrwoWY4EmvGD5xTL_gMWgsCBpKQLJg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-05+at+10.33.01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnaynsvDAC4vL_aL2TB-c8IVptGiydiRIS9T_xLMgph-RhjJ4lPxM1XxTtwNo-SXts-UM-ihnkW0dju3ppbawh2PntPgg3tadYI1yA32U49_UBlrwoWY4EmvGD5xTL_gMWgsCBpKQLJg/s640/Screen+Shot+2016-03-05+at+10.33.01.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from Youtube video "How to pass any exam -24kupi Watch" https://goo.gl/IO3isW</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_qoWxuOeDM" target="_blank">Imagine a world where you can pass any exam without any problems</a>"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> ... introducing the first watch that can store all your knowledge in one place. With 4Gb of memory you can add endless text and pictures. A clean and clear view of text will allow you to write down your answers fast and easy - you can set your scrolling speed as you desire - making you less suspicious by not touching your watch at all. In case the teachers get suspicious - don't worry the watch has an emergency button to switch the watch to clock mode and lock al the buttons so it appears as a normal watch - you can also erase all the files on the watch in the block of an eye. The watch supports connections with a wireless mini ear piece - this will allow you to write down your answers without looking at your watch at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Joe Sidders, deputy head at Monkton Combe Senior School in Bath, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35716523" target="_blank">contacted the BBC</a> to warn that the rise of small wearable devices risks becoming a "nightmare to administer" - He wants exam boards to take a tough line on this - and to challenge businesses making such devices available. He raises concerns that if such devices were in wide circulation it would call into question the validity of results. At his school Mr Sidders immediately raised the issue with school management and a decision was made to add watches to the list of electronic devices confiscated from pupils before they enter an exam room. <a href="http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/Amazon-cheating-watch-sparks-wristwatch-ban-Bath/story-28861324-detail/story.html" target="_blank">Mr Sidders said</a> "We already take away mobile phones and Apple watches and those sorts of things that are meant for communication outside of the exam hall, but this is literally a device sold as a cheating aid. "They're pretty indistinguishable from a normal watch."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-to-change-education-system.html" target="_blank">The education system is like a game</a> - a competitive platform game of levels, tests, rules, players and outcomes and like any game the education system has "cheat" modes. Education system cheat modes are available to all players - the system "games" statistics with creative massaging and packaging - focusing on those things that gain the most "points" and excluding or reclassifying the problematic reality of certain students, results, courses, funding etc so that sectors and institutions are reported in their best light ... gaining league table position etc. Educational management "game" the system by "pouring old wine into new bottles" - reusing and repackaging courses and content and with minority report style "pre-education" selection to maximise success rates. The rich and powerful game the system by using private schools and tutors and by taking up residence in the catchment areas of public sector schools who game the system best. Students game the system by sharing, collaborating, and copying and using memory aids in examinations. Its only when students game the system that the people talk about cheating. Its only when students play the system that the other players in the game talk about cheating.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students have "cheated" exams for as long as there have been exams that test facts, memory and correct answers. Students would write down facts and conceal them in creative ways in the things they are allowed to take into an examination room. Today, micro-electronics offers many more ways to conceal and access facts and information - just take a look at the WikiHow <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Cheat-on-a-Test-Using-Electronics" target="_blank">How to Cheat on a Test Using Electronics</a>.</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I only remember things I can't look up" ~ Einstein</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wearable technology offers powerful new ways to discreetly access facts and large amounts of information - effectively technologising and outsourcing memory and in so doing presenting an existential threat to any education system that is predicated on content delivery and the examination of facts and memory - its no wonder the education system is up in arms about the threat of smart watches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is the logical conclusion that examination halls will have airport style security where students are scanned for electronic devices?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is the logical conclusion that examination halls will have examination rooms where students are strip searched for any concealed aids?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And we haven't even touched on <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/life-hack-nootropic-mind-bending.html" target="_blank">Nootropics</a> - cognitive enhancers or so called "smart drugs" that anywhere between 10% and 20% of students might already be using to temporarily improve their "executive functions" of attention, alertness, focus, concentration and working memory during exams. The possibility of purchasing 'smartness in a bottle' is likely to have broad appeal to students - its no wonder that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/oct/01/students-smart-drugs-boost-grades" target="_blank">students turn to 'smart drugs' to boost grades</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is the logical conclusion that examination halls will have medical rooms where students will be required to give urine samples and blood tests to see if they have been taking performance enhancing drugs?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Examination is the tail that wags the education system dog - its no wonder the dog barks when its tail is pulled. But rather than barking at everyone else its time for the education system to take a long hard look at itself and the role assessment and examination - as <a href="https://twitter.com/timbuckteeth" target="_blank">Steve Wheeler</a> asks in <a href="http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/the-cheating-watch-scandal-are-we.html" target="_blank">The 'cheating watch scandal': Are we victims of our own devices?</a></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"what if the exam system was reformed? What if, instead of asking students to repeat what they had learnt in class, the examination required them to solve problems, show initiative and criticality, ask questions that haven't been asked, create something new they hadn't been taught? What if exams were more focused on assessing how well a student could learn, rather than what they had memorised? Then, perhaps bringing 'cheating watches' into the exam room wouldn't be a problem at all."</span></i><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information" ~ Paulo Freire</span></b></i><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Education - we need to move from knowledgeable to being knowledge able" ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwesch" target="_blank">Mike Wesch</a></span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its time to change the education system and if exams are the tail that wags the dog then <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-to-change-education-system-change.html" target="_blank">changing exams might be the way to change the system</a>. The OECD Pisa tests have long been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics" target="_blank">heavily criticised</a> by progressive educationalists BUT ..... ironically may just be the method by which radical change in the education systems may be achieved since the OECD Pisa tests deeply influence educational practices in many countries. <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/exclusive-new-pisa-teamwork-test-will-be-game-changer-schleicher" target="_blank">Andreas Schleicher predicts the new Pisa teamwork test will be game-changer</a>. The new test has "computer-based tasks where students work through a “chat” function with computer-generated virtual collaborators to solve a problem .... the measurement focuses primarily on the way a pupil engages with others, rather than solely on the correct solution".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For <a href="http://inspirenshare.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/how-to-change-education-system-think.html" target="_blank">an education system that tends to think inside the box</a> the fact that OECD Pisa tests will measure teamwork, communication and collaborative problem solving are quite likely to precipitate these things into significant existence in education systems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The problem with collaborative problem solving is one of control ... The OECD PISA tests achieve the test control by using "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatterbot" target="_blank">chatbot</a>" collaborators - the use of "chatbot" collaborators in education will be highly controversial and highly significant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">AI and robotics are developing exponentially and will play a major part in the future and many fear that our children are '<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11993842/Children-destined-to-lose-out-to-robots-due-to-outdated-exams-system-says-head.html" target="_blank">destined to lose out to robots' due to outdated exams system</a> bringing chatbots into the exams will I think be like letting students use calculators. In the early phases in the "<a href="http://www.wired.com/brandlab/2015/04/rise-machines-future-lots-robots-jobs-humans/" target="_blank">rise of the robots</a>" we will <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/07/02/how-to-race-with-and-not-against-machines/" target="_blank">race with the machines</a> - collaborating with AI and robotics to get things done - we need to bring collaboration with people and technology firmly into the education system as soon as possible and develop these skills and techniques for the system and for our learners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Martin King</span><br />
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-55457881920219687212016-03-04T12:47:00.003-08:002016-03-04T12:58:31.183-08:00Maker Movements at the iMakr 3D printing Show <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij69CCDYX6C-7pBMSGRnM6J-6gcJhOOYpXTpNdY2KsHlbAzJAMwHjLAE8QyeUNldqsyXZuSQ2zJ9QAJLxUM69Zhxj1VjfVHP-uI-P9tEi6Y6ruDGPKSC94HuoHoHeQDghuZQ-0ToBUrg/s1600/choc+prep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij69CCDYX6C-7pBMSGRnM6J-6gcJhOOYpXTpNdY2KsHlbAzJAMwHjLAE8QyeUNldqsyXZuSQ2zJ9QAJLxUM69Zhxj1VjfVHP-uI-P9tEi6Y6ruDGPKSC94HuoHoHeQDghuZQ-0ToBUrg/s640/choc+prep.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Preparing the chocolate for the ChocEdge Cocolate 3D Printer </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is a growing interest in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture" target="_blank">maker culture</a> but still very few places to easily find out about it, see what's going on, see stuff and buy it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is a growing interest in 3D printing but still very few places to easily find out about it, see what's going on, see stuff and buy it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.imakr.com/en/" target="_blank">iMakr store</a> is a place where you can find out about, see what's going on, see and buy stuff for 3D printing. iMakr are helping to grow 3D printing maker culture in London with a relaxed environment</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The iMakr store reminds me of the early days of the public Internet - the Internet Cafe's of the mid to late 1990s and how many of these had a cool vibe about them as they spread awareness and access of the new technology and its potential. Whereas the early Internet cafe's had a certain intensity about them (no doubt largely a coffee induced caffein buzz) iMakr is more relaxed and inviting reminding me more of an art gallery where you can walk in, look around and ask questions. Like an art gallery iMakr puts on regular events and helps build awareness of 3D printing from free training sessions to evenings for toy makers, jewelry makers and general enthusiasts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On 3 March 2016 the iMakr store in London put on a general <a href="http://imakr.co.uk/2016/01/27/desktop-3d-printing-show/" target="_blank">Desktop 3D Printing Show</a> with product displays, demonstrations and <a href="http://www.imakr.com/en/content/94-desktop-3d-printing-show-speakers-list" target="_blank">presentations</a> - I popped in to find out more about and to take a look at several 3D printing technologies I hadn't seen in action before - chocolate, SLA, large scale printing, Pens and scanning. It's one thing to read about, see pictures and videos of something but nothing helps understanding better than physical experience.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsrXYuXu0vwohGHxk1imotPJMwyjneuCa84h39aLsjUBWmjO6-swCd35PWKgQsDZxrYR0mlI1uMK07SlRoXeWaUIJc2kJ51UBT5wK05jKcQvtX-2WBSXpZ5zOAAutbeATiKGTF002mw/s1600/choc+print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlsrXYuXu0vwohGHxk1imotPJMwyjneuCa84h39aLsjUBWmjO6-swCd35PWKgQsDZxrYR0mlI1uMK07SlRoXeWaUIJc2kJ51UBT5wK05jKcQvtX-2WBSXpZ5zOAAutbeATiKGTF002mw/s640/choc+print.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The ChocEdge Chocolate lettering took about 5 minutes to print</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Every time I run a 3D print session people ask about printing chocolate and get quite excited about the idea. I have an idea that for any 3D print event you must have a chocolate printer - it really draws attention. I hadn't seen a chocolate printer in action so was looking forward to meeting the people from <a href="http://chocedge.com/" target="_blank">Choc Edge</a> who were displaying, demonstrating and presenting downstairs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mark Jones from <a href="http://chocedge.com/" target="_blank">Choc Edge</a> gave me the low down on chocolate printing. Chocolate printing depends so much on the source material - the chocolate. Its so important to get the chocolate right and in this the 3D printer adds to the skills of the chocolatier rather than deskilling or disintermediating them. Once the chocolate has been prepared, melted, sucked into the ChocEdge stainless steel syringe and loaded into the the printer then printing with a chocolate printer is much like I expected it to be - its much faster than printing with plastics as the resolution and temperature is much lower. The nature of the material (chocolate) also determines how you print - 2 dimensional objects are fast but going to 3 dimensions is more challenging mostly due to the need to cool layers properly. In terms of failed prints chocolate printing has amazing properties - you can either eat them or recycle them!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwUx8_VgNkLfu5lixhUiGvnEw40sKb4WJv2eJOIi3OnVYiuMWK4xJSrehFrfdzgsDXvQkhMJWC-UDaDJWUTo_0-PPLj7qkrwmY5I2SD5Q0Y6SLZ15ZXvdeoU1wWRx1KKPANFznVS9fA/s1600/Fab+Lab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwUx8_VgNkLfu5lixhUiGvnEw40sKb4WJv2eJOIi3OnVYiuMWK4xJSrehFrfdzgsDXvQkhMJWC-UDaDJWUTo_0-PPLj7qkrwmY5I2SD5Q0Y6SLZ15ZXvdeoU1wWRx1KKPANFznVS9fA/s640/Fab+Lab.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Welcome to the Fab Lab - the Gizmo top down DLP 3D printer</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just around the corner from <a href="http://chocedge.com/" target="_blank">Choc Edge</a> was another class of 3D printer that I haven't seen in action before - stereolithography (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolithography" target="_blank">SLA</a>). SLA was where 3D printing really began and is now resurgent due to its speed - I was keen to find out more and see one in action. <a href="http://www.gizmo3dprinters.com.au/" target="_blank">Gizmo</a> were demonstrating their new super speed top down DLP 3D printer. While there is a lot more fiddling around with chemicals that makes it more "messy" and fiddly than an FDM printer - once it gets going its a lot faster than a standard FDM printer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had a fascinating conversation with makers around the Gizmo demonstration. One of the makers was describing how "old" photographic companies are getting into 3D printing - Kodak staying optical with SLA and Polaroid going solid with FDM. He also mentioned how the "old" chemical company BASF is "selling spades in the gold rush" ... producing materials for most types of printing - SLA, FDM and laser sintering. Another maker came specifically to see the Gizmo DLP printer before buying one - saying that it would give him a a big speed to market advantage over those using FDM printers. I asked him about SLA printers and colour - the problem of printing objects with more than one colour but also the potential to mix resins like paint for custom colours - he explained that he normally only prints in white - it being faster and cheaper - he paints colour on objects after printing.</span><br />
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3D Scanning with the <a href="http://www.einscan.com/" target="_blank">Einscan Pro</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Upstairs the impressive strobing of the <a href="http://www.einscan.com/" target="_blank">Einscan Pro</a> handheld 3D scanner couldn't help but draw attention. 3D scanning is something else I hadn't seen in action before so it was useful to see how the people from Einscan built a 3D model by scanning an object.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">3D scanning is often overlooked compared to 3D printing but new technology developments such as <a href="http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/realsense-overview.html" target="_blank">Intel RealSense</a> may bring a revolution to 3D scanning in bringing down the cost and integrating it into a new generation of smartphones.</span><br />
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Polaroid talking about their ModelSmart 250S 3D Printer</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">FDM is still the mainstream 3D printing technology used by makers and there were plenty of these being displayed and demonstrated. Everyone knows Polaroid's innovative reputation with quick and easy photography - I was curious to see what they were doing with 3D printing. Polaroid were showing their ModelSmart 250S 3D Printer and in line with their reputation have focused on ease of use - its reasonably fast as well. The printer is self calibrating works together with the software and propriety smart chipped cartridges to give what Polaroid describes as a"plug and play" 3D printer. The software will predict the time and amount of filament an object will need to print - very helpful where you have to cost and charge for 3D printing. the printer has internal Wi-Fi-enabled camera for remote monitoring of projects - again this is useful where others are using your printer and one thing we often like to do with our 3D printers is to stream them live printing on the web. The features of the Polaroid printer would make it very useful in education and for the first time user - although no pricing was available I have my concerns that the cost of the printer may work against it for some of the market it os aimed at.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the Polaroid stand was an impressively large and articulated wooden Octopus. Polaroid shared a moment with me - the 3D print tool 2.5 days and cost £60 (one cartridge of wood filament) while a carpenter would take 6 weeks and cost £5,000.</span><br />
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Delta Wasp 3D printer</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm familiar with desktop FDM printers where the print bed that lowers, it was a surprise to see printers where the print head moves up and there were many on display at the iMakr show. It was very useful indeed to see the likes of the <a href="http://www.personalfab.it/en/" target="_blank">Delta Wasp</a> 3D printers in action to get a real sense of the capabilities of large scale 3D printing.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The iMakr 3D Printing Pen</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've always thought that a 3D printing pen would be convenient and cheap introduction to 3D printing but I've never seen or used one myself. At the entrance to the iMakr show was their 3D printing pen and some samples of things made with it- at just £59 plus a reel of standard PLA filament you can have some sort of experience of 3D printing. It was useful to have a go, it was nowhere as easy as I thought it would be but after a few minutes I got used to it and managed to 3D print initials although I appreciated that a lot more practice would be needed to make anything in 3D. With 3D print pens beware that they can be quite frustrating at first and and quite a bit of patience and practice is needed to grips them. The other impression I had of using a 3d print pen one of making and crafting rather than 3D printing - it is a manual tool after all.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">3D printed electric guitar (body)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And finally ... no 3D print show would be complete without some cool objects on display - there were plenty at the iMakr show but my favourite (apart from the chocolate) was the electric guitar!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">iMakr put on an excellent show with a great mix of 3D printing technologies, products and speakers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Every minute is made worthwhile at the iMakr store!</span><br />
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6791573799596649511.post-77588087874037202162016-02-29T03:12:00.002-08:002016-02-29T03:14:22.157-08:00My Frame In The Art Of Ethics<br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnTaZksqxLXJQgBuqjtXmR6TtpN1ec-raPITLY0QcecuzNwnjisVKLBxAuotvbOC4dtzuXX2EZeviv46AcAFLuzzCAzP0Wdj2r7Jlgip9GULE77oxwMa7CWmxxQXCMHCIS7H0Msp_zTQ/s1600/hands-framing-bright-future-field-of-yellow-flowers.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnTaZksqxLXJQgBuqjtXmR6TtpN1ec-raPITLY0QcecuzNwnjisVKLBxAuotvbOC4dtzuXX2EZeviv46AcAFLuzzCAzP0Wdj2r7Jlgip9GULE77oxwMa7CWmxxQXCMHCIS7H0Msp_zTQ/s640/hands-framing-bright-future-field-of-yellow-flowers.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;">Ethos is the distinguishing</span></span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"> beliefs and principles that guide how you shape, place and frame ethics in <a href="http://kingmartin.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-art-of-ethics.html" target="_blank">the art of ethics</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;">My ethos </span></span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;">In the art of ethics</span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;">places the frame around interactions with "the other" - where the other might be human, animal, machine or system. As such I don't consider the ethics of items in isolation but only items in interaction. Thus it is possible to consider the ethics of a system or a machine and even the ethics of machine - machine interaction etc.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;">Here are the simple principles of my ethos - framed as diametric continua to guide my moral compass:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 25.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 25.2px;">Or let me at least try to live by my ethos of simplicity ....</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 25.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 25.2px;">Here are the simple principles of my ethos - a list of opposites to guide me - always trying to be as far on the left off all of these as I can.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversation, Dialogue and Democracy Vs Command, Control and Autocracy</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I consider ethics to be an art and socially constructed and relative then it only makes sense (dare I say logical) to consider the methods of social construction such as conversation and dialogue to be ethical. I just can't see commanding and controlling of the other to be in itself ethical. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider conversation, dialogue and democracy as ethical.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider command, control and autocracy as unethical.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Open Vs Closed</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;">For real conversation, dialogue & democracy all relevant information has to be available to all parties thus openness is fundamental in my ethos. In contrast to openness -</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;"> s</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ecrecy lies behind </span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;">what many people consider unethical behaviour such as cheating, manipulation, deceit and misdirection.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;">I consider ethical that which is open.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 25.2px;">I consider unethical that which is closed.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Freedom and Free Will Vs Determinism</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For real conversation, dialogue & democracy all parties need to be respected as independent and autonomous with their own ethos.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider ethical that which respects diversity and freedom.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider unethical that which determines, controls and manipulates.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Simplicity Vs Complication</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 25.2px;">For real conversation, dialogue & democracy all parties need to be able to understand. Issues and information should be made available in forms that are accessible to all involved - so often "the devil is in the detail" - so often complication is used to hide things to enable manipulation, misdirection and deceit. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider ethical that which is simple and easy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider unethical that which is complicated and difficult.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Equality Vs Inequality</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;">For real conversation, dialogue & democracy all parties need to be respected and treated as equal - this helps promote fairness and win-win scenarios rather than winner-loser scenarios. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider ethical that which is and promotes equality and win-win </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider unethical that which is and promotes inequality and win-lose </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Diversity - Monoculture</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For real conversation, dialogue & democracy there has to be and we have to respect different points of view - there has to be diversity. Diversity is also an important principle in adaptation and development.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider ethical that which is and promotes diversity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider unethical that which is and promotes monoculture.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Help Vs Harm</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;">We cannot </span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 25.2px;">have real conversation, dialogue & democracy if any party is under threat in anyway - its like negotiating with terrorists. </span></span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 25.2px;">"Do no evil" types of statement are common in framing ethics but this is about avoiding negatives - I think ethics should be positive and should be about promoting the positive rather than just about avoiding the negative.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider ethical that which is and promotes help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I consider unethical that which is and promotes harm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There you have it - my ethos as a simply as I could put it - a list of opposites.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Obviously some of those may come into conflict depending on circumstance and context but I will always try to stay on the left - I shall always try be ethical through conversation - my ethos seeks to be positive and to help by promoting openness, freedom, equality, diversity and simplicity.</span><br />
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<br />Martin Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280473937545450914noreply@blogger.com0