What Does It Mean for a Data Catalog to Be Powered by a Knowledge Graph?
Alex Woodie,
Datanami,
2023/03/31
I have two main thoughts about knowledge graphs. On the one hand, they aren't models of how we think - human thought, unlike a knowledge graph, is subsymbolic. The neural network is a graph, but not a graph of concepts or words. On the other hand, knowledge graphs, as shared social artifacts, are super-useful as a way of representing what we, as a society, have come to believe. This utility applies to artificial intelligence as much as it does for humans, it it is near certain that something like knowledge graphs will be used to supplement large language models in AI. That's why the concept of social linked data is so important to the future of AI, even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment.
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Mastodon Explained by Common Craft
Lee LeFever,
YouTube, Common Craft,
2023/03/31
This is the first Common Craft video mentioned here in a while. Using the metaphor of concert passes, it describes the difference between Mastodon and Twitter and why it matters. I'm not sure the metaphor works, exactly, but every contribution toward making the difference clear is welcome.
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Education expert John Hattie's new book draws on more than 130,000 studies to find out what helps students learn
John Hattie,
The Conversation,
2023/03/31
John Hattie announces that "Visible Learning: The Sequel is published this month. It is informed by more than 2,100 meta-analyses about achievement drawn from more than 130,000 studies and conducted with the participation of more than 400 million students," though of course a lot depends on what you're measuring and how you measure it. You'll have to pay money to read the book, though this article provides some useful highlights. Factors that improve students' performance include "computer tutoring that provides immediate feedback, particularly when using artificial intelligence", and "flipped learning, whereby students are given the content to learn before coming to class," among other strategies. As always, to my mind, the key question concerns what counts as 'student performance' - we want to support the full range of educational outcomes, and these often extend well beyond the content knowledge being taught in class.
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Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing
American Educational Research Association,
2023/03/31
It's a few years old, but I had occasion to review it (241 page PDF) during the course of a work project and felt it should be passed along. These standards are concerned with establishing the validity and reliability of tests and surveys used in educational and psychological research. Validation of this sort is what distinguishes the off-the-cuff taxonomies we might find in blogs and popular media and the instruments designed for more formal research. Not that these measures are without grounds for criticism, but they represent the findings decades of psychometric research (like this) and cannot be dismissed lightly.
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OpenAI-Based Instructional Design Generator Nolej AI Now Available
Kristal Kuykendall,
THE Journal,
2023/03/31
As Ben Williamson says, "It's becoming clear that LLMs are going to get plugged in to EdTech at rapid pace this year." This THE article references "a new OpenAI-based instructional content generator for educators, called Nolej AI." It's similar to the MiniCourse platform I tried last week, and which now supports creating carousel courses on LinkedIn. Meanwhile the discussion on how (or even whether) to use AI continues to roil. A statement (8 page PDF) from the U.K. Department for Education (DfE) stresses that "personal and sensitive data must be protected and therefore must not be entered into generative AI tools" and that schools must "continue to protect their students from harmful content online." Meanwhile, UNESCO urges countries to follow its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Again, it's not like people haven't been working on this, as I've previously documented (publication). See also The Importance of Data Ethics in Research and Education.
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Twitter's Moment of Truth Approaches
Paris Marx,
2023/03/31
If you're reading @OLDaily on Twitter, this may be the last day you see it. According to an Elon Musk tweet, non-paying Twitter accounts will no longer be promoted in personal feeds. Assuming this is true - and there's no reason to suppose it isn't - this makes Twitter a pay-to-publish platform. If this comes to pass - and I'll know tomorrow if the blue @Downes check mark is removed - then @OLDaily will cease publication on Twitter, and both of my accounts will be frozen. Note that OLDaily will continue to publish on the web, by email newsletter, on Mastodon, and by RSS. Via Doug Belshaw.
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Bicycle
Bartosz Ciechanowski,
2023/03/31
As an avid cyclist, I found this interactive article explaining the physics of a bicycle very engaging. hjat makes the article work are the animations using simple force diagrams to explain how and why "the simple action of pedaling to move forward and turning the handlebars to steer makes bike riding an effortless activity" (I wouldn't say effortless but I get the point). The article draws you in with deeper and deeper explanations, including especially the detailedaccount of why spokes are designed the way they are. As a rider, most of the effects were familiar to me (for example, the mechanics of tightening the spokes) but understanding the physics behind that adds to my ability to do the task. Via Gerald Ardito.
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AI-Powered Genealogy: Revolutionizing Family History Research
Carole McCulloch,
Essential Genealogist,
2023/03/31
This is one of a wave of courses and lessons designed to help people learn how to use AI in various tasks; this one describes how to use AI to conduct genealogy research. This is not an endorsement of the course; I haven't looked at it beyond reading this article. The key point here is that it exists, and signals the rise of a new cottage industry. I've seen a number of similar courses, and might add to this post as I see more.
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