About
Transapient Musings of an S6 Archailect

Metacognitive trivialities over smooth topologies and Julian knots of subgeometric spaces; a.k.a mastermind Singularitarian, node of the Larger Submind and Clone of the Ineffable Original.

Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/
email: kanzure@gmail.com
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Wed, 11 Jun 2008

New skills for a new era
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Continuing previous thoughts are science education and what people should know, here is an interesting one. Melanie Swan has a new post on her blog about required skills in a hyperconnected, technology-centric world. She writes

the educated person of today must be able to express thoughts in a variety of technology-based media

She goes on to say that this new literacy requires, in addition to writing, a knowledge of “computer software, 3d printing, virtual worlds, synthetic biology and visual storytelling”. While I don’t completely agree with that list, it is clear that our education is not adequate for a world that is changing very fast. Take something like The Bug. Right now, it is something for a select few, but I remember my childhood, playing with mechano sets, DIY gliders, etc. The Bug is today’s mechano set. The other day I talked about peope doing molecular modeling at home, as a hobby. Technology is changing so fast these days that we can essentially never catch up, so what do we do? How do we encourage and deliver this new literacy.

While our education system(s) needs to change to accommodate technology, and not simply pay it lip service, the real impact will come outside of the classroom. Summer camps emphasizing knowledge and technology, an exposure to new ways of communicating, etc. That’s where we, as early adopters can really help. It is also why I am optimistic about the future. For a while there was a big gap in the technological awareness between generations, but that is not likely to be true with the generation that I belong to, or indeed those a little older. Will there be a generation of geeks? Highly unlikely. Human society is not going to change overnight, but if we get more people involved from a young age and make them appreciate, embrace, and respect science and technology, and how they enable us to communicate and explore, then we’ll all be in a better place.

All of this sounds fairly Utopian, and if you catch me in more cynical moments you’re likely to get a much more grumbly response, but even then I don’t see why we can’t get there. Perhaps we will need to just because our video games will force us to :).

On a related note, a lot of us have wondered about the future of libraries. I believe that they should be the gatekeepers of information, providing expertise in tools that help us find and manage information in a virtual world (these libraries will inherently be virtual). I wonder what role they could/should play in helping people with this new literacy.

Fri, 11 Apr 2008

Copyright Lobbies Threaten Federal College Funding
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plasmacutter writes "The EFF is raising the alarm regarding provisions injected into a bill to renew federal funding for universities. These new provisions call for institutions of higher learning to filter their internet connections and twist student's arms over 'approved' digital media distribution services. 'Under said provision: Each eligible institution participating in any program under this title shall to the extent practicable — (2) develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity. Similar provisions in last year's bill did not survive committee, it appears however that this bill is headed toward the full house for vote.' Responding to recriminations over this threat to university funding, an MPAA representative claims federal funds should be at risk when copyright infringement happens on campus networks." We've previously discussed this topic, as well as similar issues.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Carnival time again
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Connexions - edu-modules
http://cnx.org/
ex: math/stats @ cnx.org

posted at: 23:33 | path: /edu | permanent link to this entry

This week’s education carnivals
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This week’s edu-carnivals
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