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Welcome to Online Learning Daily, your best source for news and commentary about learning technology, new media, and related topics.

AI, evil, and ethics
David Truss, Daily-Ink by David Truss, 2023/02/07

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No details yet, but as Dave Truss reports, "Google is launching Bard, its version of Chat GPT, connected to search, and connected live to the internet. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, shared yesterday, 'An important next step on our AI journey'." Here's the Google announcement. We all knew this was coming; cue the next round of AI posts from everyone.

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Researchers Discover a More Flexible Approach to Machine Learning | Quanta Magazine
Steve Nadis, Quanta Magazine, 2023/02/07

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So this is pretty cool. "'Liquid&' neural nets, based on a worm's nervous system, can transform their underlying algorithms on the fly, giving them unprecedented speed and adaptability. QUOTE: While the algorithms at the heart of traditional networks are set during training, when these systems are fed reams of data to calibrate the best values for their weights, liquid neural nets are more adaptable. 'They're able to change their underlying equations based on the input they observe,' specifically changing how quickly neurons respond, said Daniela Rus."

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Element
Element, 2023/02/07

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I've been following the Social Linked Data project on Gitter for many years. Well now, all of Gitter is migrating to a new platform, Element. Element uses the Matrix protocol, "an open standard for interoperable, decentralised, real-time communication." It's similar to, but different from, ActivityPub. So this prompted me to finally create a Matrix profile; I'm @downess:matrix.org ('downes' was taken, or was an earlier profile I created, I don't know). Here are other Matrix client applications. A good way to think of Matrix is like an open-source distributed Slack application, where after you join up with a client like Element, you open one or more 'channels' (like the SoLiD channel I'm following). I've created a Matrix channel for OLDaily, #oldaily:matrix.org

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ChatterNet
GitHub, 2023/02/07

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Via Boris Mann we are introduced to ChatterNet, another decentralized social network application. "Chatter Net aims to solve the problem of central ownership of user identity... allow a user to prove their identity to other users without relying on a 3rd party; and allow users verify the origin of some content without relying on a 3rd party." It's described as "a web of self-signed semantic documents. It closely follows (but is not fully compliant with) the Activity Pub protocol." There's client and server source code on Github. The project offers an example of a network using the application, Conversely. Doug Belshaw comments, "I don't think I've ever seen a less human-centric way of describing a social network than Conversely's home page."

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A Validation of AI-Enabled Discussion Platform Metrics and Relationships to Student Efforts
Audon Archibald, Cassie Hudson, Tania Heap, Ruthanne 'Rudi' Thompson, Lin Lin, Jaqueline DeMeritt, Heather Lucke, TechTrends, 2023/02/07

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This study (9 page PDF) "investigated the validity of an AI-generated score compared to human-driven methods of evaluating student effort." The context is "the AI-supported asynchronous discussion platform Packback, which approaches online discussions using protocols based on the Socratic method of questioning" and the evaluation mechanism is "curiosity score is calculated using a proprietary algorithm that includes weighted measures for different quality factors: depth; credibility and presentation, as determined by word count; sentence structure; citations and formatting." It is later characterized as "automatically calculated for each student post based on post length, sentence structure, lack of repetition, and successful use of citation." The study also looked at the effect of various instructor interventions. Based on the description, this appears to be a very basic type of AI with the inputs being purely mechanical (ie., derived by counting) and not interpretive. But the paper is part of wider trend and the quality of the AI will, as we know, improve. Via Juan Domingo Farnós.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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