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Shifting tides: the open movement at a turning point
Alek Tarkowski, Aleksandra Janus, Zuzanna Warso, Open Future, 2023/06/08

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This is quite an interesting report and readers will get a lot out of it, though I can't help but feel it was skewed a bit. The objective was to understand the state of 'open' on the web - where it is and where it's going - and the researchers evaluated this through "interviews with digital activists and open movement leaders." This has them depicting 'open' as a form of activism rather than a set of practices, and a depiction of it as a political movement rather than a social or cultural trend. That's why we see calls for greater coordination, collaboration and shared vision - all things an 'open' internet doesn't need. I also felt the authors struggled to find words to express what they're describing. The 'paradox of open', for example, is that "the 'open revolution' that many within the open movement imagined and hoped for turned out not to be the path that the development of the internet followed, especially in the last decade." That's disappointing, but it's not what the word 'paradox' means.

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A Who's Who on Mastodon
Doug Peterson, doug -- off the record, 2023/06/08

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Doug Peterson points to Miguel Guhlin, who as we know has moved to Mastodon and established a presence there. In particular, he points to a list of EduTooters created by Guhlin. If you want, you can a dd yourself here. " Many of the cool kids have indeed moved over to Mastodon," says Peterson.

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What is the logical form of that?
Mark Liberman, Language Log, 2023/06/08

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This is a nice little bit of discussion on the origin of some of Wittgenstein's foundational ideas in the Investigations. It focuses on the contributions of Piero Sraffa, who convinced Wittgenstein that "language and reality do not necessarily have a common logical form." When we look at a picture, say, and ask, "What is the logical form of that?" sometimes there are no words. This is a pretty important turn in the history of philosophy, and preoccupied Wittgenstein for the rest of his life. Meaning, he eventually concludes, doesn't represent or 'picture' reality; it has more to do with 'use' and 'form of life'. This is really important. We may ask students to memorize 'facts', but what we're really demanding from student is a performance of a certain kind. Image: Wikipedia.

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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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