The Most Popular Social Network for Young People? Texting
Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, 2014/09/30

I can't say I'm surprised that texting would be more popular than Facebook or Twitter - it is, after all, the medium you can use to talk to your friends that doesn't leave a content trail, isn't monetized by advertisers, and won't accidentally become the next internet meme. "Messaging is an everything network. It's identity, it's social, it's intent ("hey do you want to see Spider-Man"), it's location ("yo I'm in the theater"). It's the purest form of social network, so simply social that we scarcely consider it a network."

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Want even more mind-blowing TED Talks? Let’s get more STEM teachers in the classroom. Starting with … you!
Baratunde Thurston, TED Blog, 2014/09/30

Sorry about the super-long title. It's typical of this post, which in turn is typical of the TED approach to education. Which is sad, and (as we see in this video) disappointingly patronizing. "Today, Cultivated Wit launches a co-funded digital campaign to inspire math, science, tech and engineering (or STEM) undergraduates and recent grads to teach." Yes, teaching science and technology and the rest are important. But a video titled (so help me) "I blow minds" isn't going to convince graduates to teach these subjects. Offering them a competitive salary and professional standing will. But I'm still waiting for that TED video.

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A Guide to Evaluating Networks
Madeleine Taylor, Beth's Blog, 2014/09/30

From the original post it took three clicks to actually read the document, and that includes a form asking for my name and email for spamming purposes. But I'm interested in networks and I wanted to see what they had to say about evaluating networks. I could probably have stayed with the original post, although the case studies casebook is a substantial document. My main issue is that, although they are using the word network, what they are actually evaluating are consortia or collaborations. Why do I say this? Well, there's the presumption of a common objective, limited or closed membership, rules and processes - all the hallmarks of a single cohesive organization, and not a distributed entity such as a network. I'd point to their definition or account of what a network is, but they don't have one; all they have are very standard and very ordinary evaluation criteria that would be familiar to any hierarchical organization.

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