OLDaily

Waltz: A Distributed Write-Ahead Log
Yasuhiro Matsuda, WePay, 2019/09/11

This is really technical, but interesting on many levels. Waltz is a write-ahead log. When you submit a transaction, your submission is written to the write-ahead log before it is entered into the database and any instructions executed. That way, if the system fails during the database activity, there is a record of what you did. Like other write-ahead log systems, this one accepts input from multiple systems, creating a single point of reference for multiple types of transaction. What's new in Waltz is that it checks the transaction for consistency before it is entered into the log. This enables the log, rather than the databases, to be the source of truth for these multiple systems. The article as a whole describes how this is implemented in detail, but unless you're a database aficionado, this summary should suffice to keep you abreast of the terminology and technology.

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Humans Don’t Realize How Biased They Are Until AI Reproduces the Same Bias, Says UNESCO AI Chair
Tony Peng, Laurence Zhang, Synced, Medium, 2019/09/11

I love the quote in the title, but this article, an interview with John Shawe-Taylor, contains several other gems, including this one: "What we don’t want to have is a situation where people have been turned into robots, being run by other robots who are real robots." Well said. He also addresses AI in learning, and no, it's not about content recommendation or predictive analytics, it's much more basic than that: "(AI systems) can inspire excitement in learning that is more available and widespread, so that learning becomes an ongoing part of life rather than people stopping their education after getting a certificate."

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Writing for Webheads 21-year reunion with original members Vance Stevens, Michael Coghlan, & Felix Zaniboni, and Dan Bassill
Vance Stevens, Learning2gether, 2019/09/11

I've been writing about the Webheads for a very long time now. They're one of those communities that doesn't receive the recognition the tech elites do but who very quietly have done the valuable work of actually creating environments for online learning. This article provides links and reflections around a gathering to celebrate their 21st anniversary. There are links to other pioneers, like the Tapped In community, and Worldbridges, Tutor-Mentor Exchange, and others. Vance Stevens has published a history of the Webheads, and the page lists other publications associated with the group as well. History tends to forget contributions like these, because the proponents are not rich, not connected, not powerful, but let's not forget them, not here, not now.

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On Being Human, Tech and the Abuse of Community
Ton Zijlstra, Interdependent Thoughts, 2019/09/11

Ton Zijlstra asks, "Why doesn’t tech usually focus on me using it for my communities as is, and rather present itself as having me join a made up community whose raison d’etre is exploiting our attention for profit?" It's a good question, and some important considerations follow. "'Scaling does not scale' said Aza Raskin in his Techfestival keynote, and that resonates." Existing communities don't need to scale; "they're fine as they are." So, "don’t seek to scale your tech, seek to let your tech reinforce societal scaling, our overlapping communities, our cultures. Let your tech be scaffolding for a richer expression of society." Exactly.

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