Brooklyn-based web developer Katherine Champagne has created a web extension for Google Crome that you can use to customise all the images in your web browser to be pictures of Ryan Gosling. The extension, named Hey Girl, is intended to get more females into web programming. That’s definitely one way to do it, Katherine! Note here the element of play, the speculation about what will happen if we could change the images in our web browser to something we like better. These days a lot of things are customisable when it comes to our own web use, so Hey Girl is not a new idea. Still, it’s an experiment. And we like experiments.
Interesting article on how the American legal system is cracking down on use of the bitcoin for illegal purposes. I see this as similar to the way in which industrial media has responded to the threat of networked media by attempting to copyright and place regulations on every bit of content they own on the web. I’m not one to encourage unlawful behaviour, so in this case I think regulating the bitcoin is a positive. However, I find it fascinating that in a world of rampant internet piracy and the ability to foster anonymous online identities, the digitalisation of information also leaves a significant ‘paper trail’ (ironically named). The bitcoin claims to be anonymous for its users, but it is still able to be monitored. So it would seem that cold hard physical cash is still the most effective means of transacting illegal activities… Live long The Sopranos.
FYI, #BBB represents “Bring Back Brian”.
My takeaway idea from this week’s readings on design fiction comes from the Knutz, Markussen & Christensen reading “The Role of Fiction in Experiments within Design, Art & Architecture”. What stood out for me in this reading is how we can use “what if” questions to speculate about what the world could be in the future. The reading uses the example of sci-fi stories and how they always invite us to imagine a scenario that has not yet come to be; in other words, a world that, for now, only exists as a future possibility. Take Gattaca, for example. What if we could modify our genes to be better looking, more intelligent, more successful than others?
When we ask “what if”, we are not looking for a definitive answer. It is a more explorative exercise than that. Using “what if” questions can be useful for thinking about the changing nature of the network, and what possibilities these new changes might present to us.
I also made the connection between the idea of the “what if” and Chris Argyris’ theory of double-loop learning. For me, asking “what if” is ingrained deeply in the double-loop system, and this is because in order to undertake double-loop learning, we need to ask ourselves, “What if I try a different approach, rather than repeating a process that does not work or is not as efficient as it could be?” Speculation is very much a part of this process of questioning our assumptions about something, reassessing them and attempting a different direction. You don’t necessary know if your new approach is going to work, so until it does, it remains open and speculative. I’m not sure how accurate that interpretation is, but, you know, I’m speculating…
In class last week (Week 2), Georgina posed an excellent question: if I write a good blog post explaining an idea from one of the readings, and it helps someone else understand that idea better, will I get 2 bonus marks? A very good question. So far, the bonus tasks are being treated as responses to an imaginary FAQ in the form of a tutorial, which only really rewards the tech-savvy students. So what about those students whose strengths lie in research and thinking through ideas presented in the course? A system for measuring these skills will hopefully be implemented when we get to doing the wikis. For now, I’d like to point out the blog post that sparked this conversation, in which Georgina uses the metaphor of building a house to help explain what she thinks double-loop learning is.
The idea of the ‘unlecture‘ is a fascinating and disruptive one. Disruptive not only to the traditional structure of a university course, but also to our thinking around how information should be delivered by academics to students. As a practice, I’m onboard with it. Learning does not mean absorbing information in a top-down, one-to-many model. To learn is to share and to challenge. When we challenge, we disrupt.
I look forward to participating in the next unlecture. Hats off to any students who choose to participate too.
Image source: http://blog.vegasnative.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/vlcsnap-2010-12-02-06h58m12s20.png
