Digital Signposts

These pages will speak for themselves.

Here is an inspirational project in its early stages, but already worth a visit. Thanks to Information Aesthetics for the pointer.

 

The Cult of the Amateur and the Cult of the Arrogant

Image credit: Factory Joe

The premise, that the accessibility of digital media is leading to a cultural decline with a resulting loss of authoritative information, media and study, is Andrew Keen's message in his polemic,  Cult of the Amateur.  Recently, together with John Gorman he has been posting on the Brittanica blog (really a forum), claiming to have a prima facie case that Web 2.0 is a key factor in this decline. John Connell refutes this with an excellent analysis of Keen and Gormans's vision of an elitist culture,  in which 'the uneducated' have no place; a paradox in itself, when they claim to be promoting real 'learning and study'.

What is also disturbing is their cult of arrogance evidenced by their continuous disparaging  of the 'amateur,'  which worryingly  seems to be catching on, and is well illustrated here.  Amateur is not synonymous with low standards, as any amateur sportsman or women will testify, along with  thousands of amateur musicians from all over these isles and beyond. Historically amateurs have always played a vital part in our knowledge.   Gilbert White,  Charles Darwin, Rousseau and Leonardo could all be considered amateurs, whilst in more recent times Arthur C Clarke's vision has led to the communication satellite.  Some areas of science such  as astronomy rely heavily on amateurs, to discover new stars and comets. Perhaps Keen and Gorman would do better to acknowledge that amateurs do, and will have a vital role to play in our culture and that amateurs can be experts.  Of course professionals are professionals and will be experts in their field, but  expertise is not devoid of serious consequences.

Meanwhile teachers and students are benefiting from hundreds of amateur  initiatives including the videos posted on TeacherTube. Perhaps not always as polished, but often a damn sight more useful than the paid for "content' offered by commercial suppliers to education. And those that  (are allowed) to use Web 2.0 tools are motivated and inspired by other 'amateurs' working, sharing, discussing and collaborating to explore new models for learning.

There are some great teachers out there...

image credit:stroinski

Every now and again the old chestnut about good teachers and bad teachers surfaces, usually prompted by government, unions or perhaps Ofsted, recently Steve Jobs joined the debate.  We already have technologies to ensure every student has access to a great teacher, whether that teacher is physically present in a classroom or even a physical teacher, well, that is another question. The teachers could be teachers, they might be experts in their field, perhaps people who have stories to tell, and just as importantly other students. Technology will let them collaborate, inspire, share, communicate and support each other. Technology gives us, as teachers, the chance  to re-evaluate our work.  It is almost certain there are new roles for teachers working individually and in teams, moving between classes or even schools, and countries. It calls for vision. It is likely that sooner or later technology will require us to change our definition of good and bad teachers, with hopefully far fewer of the latter. I suspect Steve Jobs is fully aware of this.

Are we impressed?

Apple.com/uk

Apple.com

Apple have just released the first three iPhone videos ready for its impending release in the  US. Having watched them I  have to confess I am impressed and its certainly got my must-have buds going. Do I need one?  Well that's another matter, but as we will have to wait a bit longer here in the UK, I have got time to think about and it and gauge the reaction from across the pond. But it will be with us quicker, letting us experience the new touch UI first hand, than the more expensive  Microsoft Surface Computing as mentioned in my previous post. Thanks to David Pogue for the alert, as he says it will probably start a (predictable) flame war; in fact there are already some interesting comments on his post. Anyone else impressed?