OLDaily

Data is useful – but context is king
JISC, 2021/02/09

According to this article, " Data can tell us ‘what’, but not ‘why’. This is the message presented by Prof Bart Rienties, professor of learning analytics at The Open University (OU)." I think he's presenting a narrow view of 'data' as (say) the statistics we get from on learning analytics. Data tells us not only 'what', but also 'why', 'when', 'how much', and 'who cares'. But it's all data - the statistics, the conversations, the interpretations, the explanations. I think he is conflating explaining (which is what answers why-questions) and massaging (to help 'shape the narrative' by going beyond the data, or should I say, inserting opinion in place of data). That's why he says, "Understanding what data is useful to improve services and inform decision-making was important... but having the opportunity to discuss the context was key."

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New research shows how journalists are responding and adapting to “fake news” rhetoric
Mark Coddington, Seth Lewis, NiemanLab, 2021/02/09

Problems like accusations of 'fake news' are faced not only by journalists but by knowledge workers generally, including researchers and educators. This article looks at how journalists have responded, focusing on two major strategies: accountability and transparency. Of these, I think the latter has the most impact, because it shows not only whether something is true or not, but makes clear the process behind what that fact was chosen, what sources were consulted (and what sources weren't) and how the editorial decisions about what subjects to cover are made. We need more of that.

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Zoom fatigue in students? Professor on Twitch says take a lesson from gamers
Jeremiah Rodriguez, CTV News, 2021/02/09

Ryerson University professor Kristopher Alexander isn't the first to say that online learning should draw lessons from video games, but the advice is timely and relevant during the pandemic. "Twitch, Discord, YouTube live streaming, this is what we've been doing for how many years? It's just now, that the pandemic has forced people to be like, ‘this is the thing?’ Yes, of course, it's been a thing." Quite right, and of course it's more than just streaming video. "He relies heavily on Twitch’s live chat feature, traditionally used for gamers to 'engage with the person on the other side of the screen.'" The trick, though, is doing everything at once - doing something, explaining it, organizing screens, streaming video, and handling the backchannel. People who can do this have a unique skill.

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Ethics of the GameStop Short Squeeze
Doug McConnell, Practical Ethics, 2021/02/09

I think there's a pretty good object lesson in ethics around the GameStop short squeeze (previously covered here) but I hope that instructors discussing the lesson view it more broadly than Oxford research fellow Doug McConnell. For the most part, his discussion is focused on whether it was legal, with a brief excursion into who would be to blame and whether they would get caught. But there are many more things to discuss. For example, do hedge funds deserve the losses they were forced to take? Was RobinHood justified in cutting off trading to retail investors? Is it fair to treat large self-organizing groups of independent investors according to the same rules as large companies with centralized decision-making? I think all of these merit discussion, and are far more interesting than "was it legal?"

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Planetary
Planetary, 2021/02/09

People have been talking up Clubhouse recently (for example), but an exclusive Apple-only app featuring famous people does nothing for me. This app, a distributed open source social network based on following conversations and communities rather than personalities makes much more sense to me. Planetary is based on the Scuttlebutt decentralized social network platform and has an iOS app, a desktop version, and more. And I like the ethos: "Experience freedom, practice tolerance and appreciate the diversity of humanity.

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