Reflections for September

My mind is like a computer. Like Diderot, I catalog information according to a tested algorithm. This algorithm solves calculus problems and memorizes key points to remember. My algorithm can apply models to bigger arenas and solve complex questions by compartmentalizing data.
My mind is not like the internet. . . yet! The algorithm does not emphasize relationships between old knowledge and new knowledge. It recognizes connections are present, but my algorithm does not involve connecting and thereby enlarging principles. For example, I do not use multiple tags on my gmail account.
Digital Civilization requires me to change my tested algorithm, not because it doesn't work; it's just out-dated. Digital literacy means consuming, creating, and connecting information for depth of understanding. I have failed the literacy test. But in my failure there is hope.
My failure has helped me see the necessity of digital literacy. I am refining my filtering process so I can spend less time searching and more time consuming the information I want. Blogging has made me accountability for my creativity and I am getting better, however slowly. I am connecting topics from classmates blogs and public blogs. I have begun my social discovery. How can I get there faster? Not only what do I change, but also how do I change my algorithm?

Crowdsourcing Videos

I have been amazed recently by the power of one shared idea among a multitude. Prof. Burton cited a book by Jeff Howe that I'll be picking up later this week. This video is one of several that Jeff Howe has presented about crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing breaks the traditional economic trends.

Rene Descartes is the man.

Descartes was mentioned in class and in the reading, but I felt there was more to "I think; therefore I am." I found this video on youtube and a commentary on the OER that I annotated in Diigo. I think the video is better without the music.



Descartes was a deep thinker. I believe if you're thinking doesn't lead to doing then it's not real thinking. Descartes builds the concept of thinking. After reading the commentary, I feel like my thoughts are the power that propels me.
Sometimes, we get caught in the rut; we go through the motions. I worked as a custodian for a summer. It was much easier to just go through the motions, sweeping floors and washing toilets.
However, I enjoyed my work more when I made myself think. I memorized favorite verses, I did large multiplication and division problems math in my head, and I even thought of ways to improve the work place atmosphere.
I believe we can get stuck in educational ruts too. We do what is expected of us to get the A. We want letters instead of knowledge. That's when an unusual phrase from Descartes or whoever can change our mind. And when our mind is changed, we are changed.

5 questions on School Spirit at BYU

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.
This is a really cool tool. You make your own questions, customize your answers and then you can send in through e-mail, post it on a website, or more. I can see this turning into more than just something fun to play with and collect opinions and information.

Diderot's Encyclopedie vs. Wikipedia

I did some flicking through Diderot's encyclopedie. I compared articles with wikipedia. Wikipedia was far more in depth than Diderot, however the base observations were the same.
I read a blog by Kristina Cummins that showed the innovation of algorithms. One commenter exclaimed how amazing it was that something so simple was not created sooner.
My point for the day is that innovation happens with one simple observation after another. It just depends what century it comes in.

Developing Nations

There is so much to say about the development of nations. Careers are based on the idea that people from developed countries want to reach out to developing countries to offer the infrastructure, the education, the security and the health benefits of the First World. But the dynamics of really helping those countries are so diverse. A fellow thinker contemplated the possibilities of technology in developing the USA's bureaucratic democracy into a true democracy. This made me think about underdeveloped countries and their status. I found an interesting blog discussing Afghani development and the negative externalities that may arise from the recent Lithium find. We see similar examples in Africa, where corruption in bureaucracies limits the power of democracy. Would-be world powers flounder. I think we recognize that autocracy could work in a perfect society, but we don't live with perfect people. Open government is the ideal in a non-ideal world. My question: How do we develop nations to the point that they can function and contribute to the world?

Freedom of Progress

The Reformation and the recent Free Software Movement are different revolutions, yet they fight for the same idea: freedom of progression. History has shown two things: 1) free people have no limit to their progression and 2) free people do not always progress.

Reformists pushed for a change in housekeeping. People deserve the right to progress or digress should they please, but the idea of the day was to limit progression in the name of saving traditions.

The Free Software Movement fights the modern authorities of copyright laws like reformists fought the close-minded catholic authoritarians. The Free Software Movement calls for all software to be open for public use (without copyright); it also entails that software should be open for modification and redistribution by consumers.

Now there is a voice from the dust full of promises and warnings to the free people. I reflected on numerous passages of The Book of Mormon, where in God promises prosperity to the nation that keeps his commandments. Progression and prosperity follow proven moral ideals. On the flip-side, we lose that promised progression when we forsake morality.

The Book of Mormon tells of a free people who progressed when they followed God, but eventually they were destroyed because the forsook their moral leaders. (Could a similar destruction happen in the digital age?) Like the Reformation, the Free Software Movement will be successful only if honest, moral people retain control.

Data Gathering

If you learn anything, learn that there is more than one right way to accomplish your digital tasks. I learned yesterday how many types of data gathering sites there are. Mindmeister, creately and bubbl.us to name a few. From the playing that I did, I saw that you could organize ideas and links in a orderly fashion by just playing with the tools or watching tutorials.
I was not able to find a completely free web application for data gathering. While the ones I checked initially said that they were free, reading the fine print unveiled the fact that they each had a free trial period after which one would need to make a monthly or annual subscription. I'll post back when I find a free data gathering app that is always free.

Listening Ears

More than ever, we have an audience. I was inspired by hsmaggie's post"Yeah, but who is reading it all?" She relates a story of her husband's discontinued blogging for his trip because "no one was commenting on the blog, so he figured no one was reading it either". He was wrong, and it turns out our message can go a lot farther than we would expect.

As creating media became more available in the 15th and 16th centuries, standards for publication were lowered. Before the innovation of the printing press, the Bible was the only regularly reproduced publication. Contrast that extreme to the extreme we see today. Anyone can create media through a number of avenues that can be viewed by billions of people worldwide. It takes little more than typing and clicking abilities. The printing press began a revolution. I consider the computer as a continuation and enlargement of that same revolution. We are able to consume, create and connect ideas more easily than ever before, and history would tell us that it's only going to get easier(that is if we remain literate, digitally and otherwise). I'm seeing more and more that our ability to consume, create and connect with the world is the determining factor of success. Perhaps it always has been.

Stupidity is Science

Classes have started for Fall 2010 and the new semester buzz is in the air. As I navigated blackboard this week to find the syllabi for my classes, I stumbled on an article that gave me hope in my continuing journey to graduation and research. In The Journal of Cell Science The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research, Martin A. Schwartz Ph.D writes:

Science makes me feel stupid . . . . It's just that

I've gotten used to it. So used to it, in fact, that

I actively seek out new opportunities to feel

stupid. I wouldn't know what to do without that

feeling. I even think it's supposed to be this way.

In my Civilizations course this semester I know these opportunities will present themselves often. Everyone feels stupid sometimes, however this is no reason to quit and is not an excuse to find an easier route. Recognize that feeling stupid does not indicate real stupidity: it is a necessary part of discovery. The only kind of bad stupidity is recurring stupidity. The other, useful, kind of stupidity becomes a strength as we actively embrace it on our individual paths of discovery.