Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Ron Newman
Bruce, Yeah, MOOCs and social media, or some hybrid of a MOOC with face-to-face in the form of local interest groups, or something like I believe Prof West is doing, if I understand correctly: online, remote learning in combination with hands-on, in-person learning. Ron -- Ron Newman MyIdeatree

Re: [FRIAM] I reached a tipping point with Google today

2013-01-20 Thread Owen Densmore
On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 4:23 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: > The Nexus 4 fiasco is the most unprofessional fuckup I've seen a large > company execute since Microsoft released Windows 8. > http://things-linux.blogspot.com/2013/01/screw-it.html > --Doug This is so bizarre. I sent the attached when

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Bruce Sherwood
The Shirky article is thoughtful. Thanks for the pointer. A key issue, which Shirky handles well, is the need to compare apples with apples. Many university courses are just plain not very good, for all the reasons he gives. I've seen the kind of criticism of MOOCs that he rightly challenges. Compa

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Ron Newman
Clay Shirky points out the obvious but overlooked re: accessibility of traditional education: http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy/ Ron -- Ron Newman, Founder MyIdeatree.com The World Happiness Meter YourSo

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Frank Wimberly
These comments from the NYT via a Stanford web site regarding the state of MOOCs will possibly be of interest: http://edf.stanford.edu/readings/measuring-success-online-education Frank Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz Santa Fe, NM 87505 wimber

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Roger Critchlow
I expect they'll organize flash semesters where students pursuing similar courses will gather. -- rec -- On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 7:41 PM, Ron Newman wrote: > Merle, > Perhaps you and I should be talking, comparing notes on what's effective > and what's not. I'm working in visualization for MO

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Ron Newman
Merle, Perhaps you and I should be talking, comparing notes on what's effective and what's not. I'm working in visualization for MOOCs. Pamela, Doesn't online education lend itself to inter-student communication even more than it does to instructor-student communication? And being worldwide, hum

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Pamela McCorduck
My heart hopes you're right, Merle. My head wonders. Much education takes place not in the instructor-->student exchange (though that is big) but in the student<-->student exchange, at least in many topics. This might not hold for certain kinds of science and engineering courses, but it certainl

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Merle Lefkoff
Hi Nick, A model for Good Academia is distance learning. As universities disappear in the next decades (they're all elite now considering the cost of higher education everywhere), we will see the birth of a new democracy based on the opportunity for all to be educated. This is the most exciting

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Prof David West
re: marcus' comments about programming - see Peter Naur's "Programming as Theory Building" paper of long ago. davew On Sun, Jan 20, 2013, at 11:49 AM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: Nick wrote: "And I Just Plain Believe in collaborative essays as a tool in the development of thought. "

[FRIAM] I reached a tipping point with Google today

2013-01-20 Thread Douglas Roberts
The Nexus 4 fiasco is the most unprofessional fuckup I've seen a large company execute since Microsoft released Windows 8. http://things-linux.blogspot.com/2013/01/screw-it.html --Doug -- *Doug Roberts drobe...@rti.org d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*

Re: [FRIAM] 3-D guns

2013-01-20 Thread Marcus G. Daniels
On 1/20/13 1:31 PM, Eric Charles wrote: A mostly 3-D printed gun can get off several rounds before failure. It is not a practical long term weapon, but it gets the job done well enough to render gun regulations silly amongst people with the resources. http://www.slashgear.com/staples-easy-3d-pr

Re: [FRIAM] 3-D guns

2013-01-20 Thread Eric Charles
Arlo (and Marcus)... you are correct that plastic gun barrels are not a great idea, but more sophisticated 3-D printers could eventually overcome that. At any rate, it is awfully hard to regulate the sale of smooth steel tubes A mostly 3-D printed gun can get off several rounds before failu

Re: [FRIAM] here we go

2013-01-20 Thread Marcus G. Daniels
On 1/20/13 1:11 PM, Arlo Barnes wrote: Clips are one thing, but it does not seem 3-D printed parts would be appropriate for most parts of a gun. Would they'd perform well enough for short term use by suicidal users? Marcus FRIAM Appl

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Owen Densmore
On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: > On 1/20/13 10:43 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > What would Good Academia look like? > > Overall, I'd say "Good academics" are just members of the set of people > that develop skills to satisfy their curiosity. > > Now the problem is

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Eric Charles
There is tremendous interest in new publication models these days. In psychology, one of the big champions is Bjoern Brembs (another very active blogger fairly early in his career). There is also increased general awareness in psychology of the negative consequences of our current system. Sure

Re: [FRIAM] here we go

2013-01-20 Thread Arlo Barnes
One of the downsides of email's serial format rather than hypermedia's tree format is that I cannot make this message just a child of an earlier message, but instead the whole threas. Old (drafted days ago):To focus on a different aspect: Clips are one thing, but it does not seem 3-D printed parts

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Roger Critchlow
http://yann.lecun.com/ex/pamphlets/publishing-models.html proposes a new model for publication in computer science. -- rec -- On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: > The peer review process itself is flawed. > > http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/ > > From th

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Douglas Roberts
The peer review process itself is flawed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/ >From the article: "Slow and expensive" "Inconsistent" "Bias" "Abuse of peer review" --Doug On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:43 AM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: > On 1/19/13 10:24 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > >>

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Marcus G. Daniels
On 1/20/13 10:43 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: What would Good Academia look like? Overall, I'd say "Good academics" are just members of the set of people that develop skills to satisfy their curiosity. Now the problem is not the difficulty of getting word out, it's the active obstacles to fre

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Marcus G. Daniels
Nick wrote: "And I */Just Plain Believe/* in collaborative essays as a tool in the development of thought. " I think a little recognized outcome of open source software development is the development of thought, and perhaps for some of the same reasons as a collaborative essay. Creating an

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Prof David West
Nick asked Marcus, so my response might be superflous - but "good academics" would be nothing more than the oft espoused, never realized, "community of scholars" that every grad student is invited to join. We have the ideals, just lack the actual practice. As to the more general notion of colla

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

2013-01-20 Thread Nicholas Thompson
Well, Marcus, I certainly agree that bad academics can be very bad. I saw my brother destroyed by his mentor at a Big Eastern University. I share your distaste for the Cult Of The Individual. Ted Talks Make Me Puke. What about good academics? Or is that an oxymoron? What would Good