tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55705078473384876372024-03-13T11:55:56.694-04:00literacies caféchit chat about adult literacy (actually and tangentially)literacies publisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17857629139253650971noreply@blogger.comBlogger396125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-68506117699996152802012-05-01T15:00:00.003-04:002012-05-03T20:50:52.173-04:00may day message from the frontlines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I found this comment by Kim Solga in response to Margaret Wente's despicable rant about the Quebec student protestors and thought I should post it here. I am not linking to the Wente column because it is so hateful but you can find it over at the Globe and Mail.<br />
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Kim made her comment at 5:01 AM on May 1, 2012. And it seems like a perfect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day#Canada" target="_blank">May Day</a> post. Thank you Kim! Happy May Day everybody.<br />
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I looked up Kim Solga and found these links - <a href="http://publish.uwo.ca/%7Eksolga/Kim_Solga_%40_UWO.html" target="_blank">this</a> and <a href="http://works.bepress.com/kimsolga/" target="_blank">this</a>. Not sure if this is the same Kim Solga or not but it looks like a good match.<br />
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Update: I emailed Kim and it is the Kim in the links. She sent me a lovely reply. She is a good ally in the Please Wake Up Brigade.<br />
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And here are those good words randomly tucked away amongst almost 1200 other comments:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I'm constantly amazed at how easily many who comment miss the larger picture of columns like these. C'mon, everyone - think critically about this story!<br />
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Are Quebec's students spoiled brats? I have no idea - I don't know any of them. The media image isn't pretty, but, then, the media isn't a public service - it's a for-profit industry in this country. For-profit industries are not generally kind to those invested in not-for-profit ideals.<br />
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Are all these students Arts and Humanities majors? Again, I doubt it - there's no census-taker in the crowd, and Stephen Harper has certainly assured StatsCan will be unavailable for comment - but it's very easy to make blind and frequently wholly inaccurate assumptions about demographics.<br />
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Every one of us who has graduated from a Canadian university has benefitted - and rightly so - from subsidized schooling. Whether you are successful or not is a matter of many factors - including how our culture, at any given moment, has chosen (or been pushed, by a mix of government and private interests) to value certain kinds of "knowledge" over others. Right now, we're encouraged to believe that only science and business grads will get jobs later, because that's the "real" knowledge that "matters". In fact, smart students across the disciplinary spectrum will find work, because the industries thriving the most right now are those that are creative and adaptive. Just take a look at Apple, famous not just for great computers but also for hiring a lot of very different kinds of people with a wide variety of skills.<br />
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As for the rest of us? Sorry, Ms Wente, but we are in fact victims of neoliberal capital's power to pull the wool over our eyes. We're oddly back to the same aggravated discourse about winners and losers, science and business vs everything else that we were having in 2007-08, before the bottom fell out of the markets. Why have the consequences of that fall-out adversely affected the middle classes, and not those far higher up the food chain? And why are we not angrier about it?<br />
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Perhaps we're all too busy trying to blame Quebec's postsecondary students for a much, much larger problem.</blockquote>
<b>Update 2: Erika Shaker has another excellent response to Lady Wente over on <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/behind-numbers/2012/05/educated-analysis-or-cappuccino-logic-responding-quebec-studen" target="_blank">Rabble</a>. </b><br />
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Wendell writes on his blog about another <a href="http://literaciescafe.blogspot.ca/2012/03/menial-no-more.html">industry-driven approach</a> to adult literacy: "<a href="http://wendell-communitylit.blogspot.ca/2012/04/opposing-adult-literacy-due-respect.html">with due respect</a>"<br />
<blockquote>
"There's a myth that Business is a vital stakeholder in literacy; that Business supports adult literacy work, though it naturally wants us to spend conservatively. But there is no such thing as Business. There are only business people. Some of them are friends of literacy. Some of them are not."</blockquote>
Food for thought.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1D4OXm2UHN4/T6COB1RzNqI/AAAAAAAAFsg/DVrhrPGQ3nQ/s1600/cow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1D4OXm2UHN4/T6COB1RzNqI/AAAAAAAAFsg/DVrhrPGQ3nQ/s320/cow.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-64843659430579937352012-03-19T13:23:00.054-04:002012-03-21T12:16:45.668-04:00menial no moreI am currently attending the <a href="http://www.on.literacy.ca/whatwedo/lfw/menial_no_more" target="_blank">Ontario Literacy Coalition Menial No More Webinar</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3nS8ZfXfig4/T2drT1O5H4I/AAAAAAAAFqc/8tUt6U4P1gM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.13.21+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3nS8ZfXfig4/T2drT1O5H4I/AAAAAAAAFqc/8tUt6U4P1gM/s320/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.13.21+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>We start with talk about <a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/35/0,3746,en_2649_201185_40277475_1_1_1_1,00.html" target="_blank">PIACC </a>and other data to set the scene. And then we are told about how the skills required of even the most low-paying jobs are changing and increasing. The National Occupation Classifications are no longer an accurate reflection of what is happening in workplaces.</p><br />
The WE below are customers:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xYQhef4dGm4/T2drtuC2rwI/AAAAAAAAFqk/cHo9bAbZ7WA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.23.22+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xYQhef4dGm4/T2drtuC2rwI/AAAAAAAAFqk/cHo9bAbZ7WA/s320/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.23.22+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Working in a coffee shop as a barista is no longer a job that does not require skills. We are told about an example from Loblaws: new expectations are that all employees are able to ensure product freshness and know where products come from.</p><br />
What are other jurisdictions doing to meet this challenge?<br />
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<p>The US government has spent $1.5 billion in <i>Career Ladders</i> including 3 programs: <i>Shifting Gears</i>, <i>Jobs for the Future</i> and <i>I-Best</i>.</p><br />
Australia has <i>Skilling Australia</i>.<br />
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<p>The UK <i>Skills for Life </i>WAS the gold standard but they are scaling back because results were not meeting expectations. They are now looking at basing training upon industry standards.</p><br />
What should WE do? (This time the WE means adult educators. I guess.)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mrUE3oJm434/T2dtl_G8LJI/AAAAAAAAFqs/NnuQwQtArZ0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.30.49+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mrUE3oJm434/T2dtl_G8LJI/AAAAAAAAFqs/NnuQwQtArZ0/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.30.49+PM.png" width="400" /> </a></div><br />
<p>The <b>food industry</b> is changing. The Maple Leaf foods layoffs were not just about productivity. They also were about safety.</p><br />
<p>In <b>retail</b>, the Apple Store is becoming the model for customer service. This sector is wondering where their next generation of employees are going to come from. This is the the fastest growing sector. They traditionally hire recent high school and university graduates and this group is shrinking.</p><br />
For <b>non-regulated health care </b>(nursing homes) there is no data.<br />
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<p>The <b>logistics and supply chain</b> sector is growing fast. Most of the jobs in this sector are manual labour but one mistake can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Sixty percent of these jobs currently do not require a high school diploma.</p><br />
<p><b>Mining</b> is thinking in a very progressive manner about how to involve under-utilized segments of our labour market in their industry.</p><br />
<p><b>Hospitality and tourism</b> has set up career ladder programs using Canada Language Benchmarks. This is a good model for us to look at. They are using it in ESL (English as a Second Language) programs but not in literacy programs.</p><br />
<p><b>Manufacturing</b> is starting to rebound and looking for employees. They are investing in training. They have the highest median age in employee group. <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/commentary/barrie-mckenna/manufacturing-hit-hard-but-nowhere-near-dead/article2373097/" target="_blank">This article</a> describes the current situation.</p><br />
<p>Social Service recipients were consulted about what they want. Their number one desire was a job. Most people do not participate in something just for the sake of participating. They want to see a clear route to employment.</p><br />
<p><i>Fast Track</i> in <a href="http://www.mnaflcio.org/news/right-work-laws-get-facts" target="_blank" title="article about right to work legislation in Minnesota">Minnesota</a> is very successful because it has this plus required involvement of employers in developing curriculum or providing space.</p><br />
Training must be <i>Further, Faster, Better</i>, especially for the most vulnerable.<br />
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We shouldn't be mapping, we should be creating clear sight lines to employment.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XY_fNLojcFQ/T2d1y4bvbFI/AAAAAAAAFq0/O0M3sCdy4XQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.43.51+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XY_fNLojcFQ/T2d1y4bvbFI/AAAAAAAAFq0/O0M3sCdy4XQ/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.43.51+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>Our system is very supply oriented. We look at programs, creating learners, learners leave programs.<br />
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<p>We rarely talk to demand side. They do this in the US. It has to be done regionally and with industry clusters.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YyeJsTn5k4s/T2d33AqufwI/AAAAAAAAFq8/51dBDPGoJBw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.45.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="363" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YyeJsTn5k4s/T2d33AqufwI/AAAAAAAAFq8/51dBDPGoJBw/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.45.53+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<p>Traditional LES education uses LES as a foundation that leads to doing. Learners Learn to Do.</p><br />
In the more effective models, learners Do to Learn.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrZnKPSZdII/T2d3-P8q8VI/AAAAAAAAFrE/2XR6BWcM-ow/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.47.39+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrZnKPSZdII/T2d3-P8q8VI/AAAAAAAAFrE/2XR6BWcM-ow/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-03-19+at+1.47.39+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>I (<a href="http://ontarioliteracycoalition.com/2010/09/22/meet-john-maclaughlin-manager-of-program-business-and-partnership-development/" target="_blank">John MacLaughlin</a>) like to think of myself as a thinker rather than a knower.</P><p>These models are not geared for people who would be successful anyway. They are geared for people who are under-represented in the labour force.</P><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dy2jpnRLLR8/T2lU7wAuMyI/AAAAAAAAFrQ/GJlxm56lNu8/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2012-03-21%2Bat%2B12.08.15%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="269" width="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dy2jpnRLLR8/T2lU7wAuMyI/AAAAAAAAFrQ/GJlxm56lNu8/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2012-03-21%2Bat%2B12.08.15%2BAM.png" /></a></div><p>People say to me, this is not possible. This IS possible because it is happening elsewhere in jurisdictions that are spending less money than we are.</P><p>Getting industry involved is NOT getting them involved in committees. We need authentic relationships with employers. They need to be involved in curriculum development and teaching. Classes need to take place in potential workplaces. </P><p>The <a href="http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/eopg/oalcf/index.html" target="_blank">OALCF</a> (Ontario Adult Literacy Curriculum Framework) is a remarkable step forward in creating goal paths but we still have not broken down the barriers between training and work. Certificates should revolve around an industry instead of around funding.</P><p>Why are WE (adult educators) training people the way industry should be training people? Because we cannot leave the training of the most vulnerable to industry. The great thing is that employers are saying this too.</P><div style="text-align: center;">-------------------------------------------------------------</div><br />
Well. I am sure we all have lots to say about this.<br />
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But for now, I am just going to say that, for some of us, the sight line to this has been clear for quite a while now:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">However, "[a]s concerns about the skills of the workforce grew, preparation for employment became ever more explicitly the <i>primary</i> (emphasis added) purpose of education" (<a href="http://www.ncsall.net/?id=656" target="_blank">Merrifield, 1998</a>, p. 5) at all levels. As Merrifield put it, "[t]he customers of adult education began to be defined as employers, interested in the ‘product’ of skilled employees"</blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"> taken from <a href="http://www.nald.ca/library/research/cultrwar/page3.htm" target="_blank">this page</a> of<i> <a href="http://www.nald.ca/library/research/cultrwar/page1.htm" target="_blank">Reflecting On Culture Wars In Adult Literacy Education: Exploring Critical Issues In "Contested Ground"</a></i> by George Demetrion, Spring 2000</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">and </div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">An ideological shift occurred between 1990 and 1996. During 1990, International Literacy Year, adult literacy thinking was still characterized by reformist social ambition, and agendas in adult literacy were influenced by lingering Freirean ideologies, or by second-chance rights thinking, or by ideals about overcoming disparities between developing and rich countries’ education. Significantly, however, 1990 had the kind of impact most International Years tend to have -- specialist and fleeting and therefore marginal. By the time the International Adult Literacy Survey was conducted by the OECD and its Canadian partners, the various participating countries engaged with substantially more commitment, and more mainstream policy attention. They typically replaced social transformation ideologies with prevailing ideas about labour market reforms, efficiency, and enhanced competitiveness in globalizing markets. ... In recent years, the global literacy agenda has, however, been set by international organizations concerned with relative international competitiveness of rich countries with post-industrial knowledge-based economies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) whose members are the world’s most economically advanced democracies has been especially prominent; in their calculations ‘relative literacy levels’ have been established as part of a discourse of human capital and economic competitiveness (1992; 1995; 1996 and 1997).</blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Processes of policy making and theories of public policy: Relating power, policy and professional knowledge in literacy agendas</i> by Joseph Lo Bianco, Summer 2004</div>(This article used to be on the <a href="http://www.centreforliteracy.qc.ca/" target="_blank">Centre for Literacy of Quebec</a> site on the 2004 Summer institute page. They have taken it down so I put it <a href="http://www.greedymouse.ca/PDF/lobiancopolicy.pdf">here</a>. I hope that is okay with everybody. Let me know if not.)risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-58737682880221819412011-08-19T15:28:00.002-04:002011-08-19T15:28:35.449-04:00world water week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7DgX4aBBSYI/Tk64g-xHUCI/AAAAAAAAFcg/xjLbOw3Z32I/s1600/www.trust.org.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7DgX4aBBSYI/Tk64g-xHUCI/AAAAAAAAFcg/xjLbOw3Z32I/s320/www.trust.org.png" width="320" /></a></div>More than 2,600 humanitarians and policymakers meet in Stockholm next week to hash out ideas about how to tackle escalating problems surrounding water scarcity and access to sanitation, particularly in urban environments.<br />
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<a href="http://www.worldwaterweek.org/" target="_blank">World Water Week</a> delegates are seeking long-term sustainable solutions that will transform how water resources are managed. The goal is to try and improve the lives of almost 900 million people who lack access to safe water, and more than 2.7 billion who lack access to basic sanitation, according to <a href="http://www.undp.org/water/" target="_blank">United Nations Development Programme</a> (UNDP) statistics.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/stockholm-meeting-to-stir-debate-over-global-water-crisis" target="_blank">Stockholm meeting to stir global water crisis debate</a> by Julie Mollins, AlertNet</div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-18444590284405657642011-08-02T13:14:00.001-04:002011-08-02T13:15:04.567-04:00i'm loving matt damonMatt Damon talks to Piers Morgan about President Obama, audacity and the difference between training and education!<br />
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Matt Damon gets it. He understands why "training" is not good enough for our kids.<br />
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What about adult literacy practitioners and policy makers? Do we understand the difference between training and education? I think we do.<br />
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It seems to me that more and more we are choosing training instead of education for adult literacy learners. Is that true? Is it what adult literacy learners want?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IIvEMgDooWc" width="560"></iframe>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-3231062873642094312011-03-17T01:14:00.000-04:002011-03-17T01:14:20.311-04:00failure and masteryIn this video from TED, Slaman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.<br />
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And more importantly, how to structure learning that rewards experimentation, encourages risk, AND results in mastery. Pretty cool.<br />
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<object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SalmanKhan_2011-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SalmanKhan-2011.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1090&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=new_on_ted_com;event=TED2011;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SalmanKhan_2011-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SalmanKhan-2011.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1090&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education;year=2011;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;theme=new_on_ted_com;event=TED2011;"></embed></object>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-9088568618346542782011-03-08T11:49:00.001-05:002011-03-08T11:49:50.635-05:00an historical gaze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yeyYW0acsaU/TXZdwqWzzlI/AAAAAAAAFNk/jZKE0mfHDek/s1600/REV-PERROTMICHELLE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yeyYW0acsaU/TXZdwqWzzlI/AAAAAAAAFNk/jZKE0mfHDek/s200/REV-PERROTMICHELLE.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>This just in from the <a href="https://client.scribblelive.com/Event/International_Womens_Day_2011" target="_blank">Reuters Live Blog</a>:<br />
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At Centre Pompidou in Paris, in <a href="http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Manifs.nsf/AllExpositions/44638F832F0AFABFC12575290030CF0D?OpenDocument&sessionM=2.10&L=1" target="_blank">Elles</a>, a women-only exhibit I (<a href="http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/05/18/katherine-govier-seeing-through-the-ash-cloud/" target="_blank">Katherine Govier</a>) found this quote from the French artist <a href="http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Perrot&ei=R1t2Tby1EsOhtwfsh7GfBg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMichelle%2BPerrot%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DMQL%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Divnsbo" target="_blank">Michelle Perrot</a>’s “Preface a Une Historie des Femmes, est-elle Possible?” <br />
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“It is not a matter of establishing some new territory for women, a peaceful reservation where they might desport themselves at ease without fear of contradiction; it is rather a question of changing the direction of the historical gaze, placing the relationship between the sexes at the center of concern.”risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-13036350721505027132011-03-08T10:49:00.000-05:002011-03-08T10:49:58.594-05:00Do you call yourself a feminist?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Q_-f1tYwJF8/TXZPv_yrXlI/AAAAAAAAFNg/_R4UJ7SrZdo/s1600/IWD+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Q_-f1tYwJF8/TXZPv_yrXlI/AAAAAAAAFNg/_R4UJ7SrZdo/s1600/IWD+poster.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/100-years-of-international-womens-day/feminism-shouldnt-be-an-f-word-annie-lennox/" target="_blank">Annie Lennox says</a>:<br />
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Despite the fact that half of the world’s population is female, women’s rights have become marginalized as a ‘minority issue’. Many young women feel that the label of ‘feminist’ is, at best, irrelevant to their lives and, at worst, a stigma to be avoided at all costs.<br />
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Sullied by stereotypes of hairy arm-pitted man haters, the concept of feminism and its principles of equality and anti-sexism need to be refreshed and reclaimed by a new generation. <b>Feminism shouldn’t be an F-word</b>. We should embrace it.<br />
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From Milwaukee to Malawi, women are being short-changed on life chances. From India to Illinois, women face violence just for being female. Of the 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide, the vast majority are female. For many, just getting an education is a real struggle, major decisions such as who to marry and when to have children are made for them by others, and without economic independence or a say in their own future the chances of women escaping the poverty trap are virtually non-existent.<br />
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Whether you’re a woman or a man, this affects you. And you are part of the solution. The impact of inequality is felt by every woman worldwide - your friends, your family, your colleagues, your neighbors, the people you emailed today, the woman in the car next to you, the faces you saw on television and the voices you heard on the radio. How many have been abused or faced discrimination today?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7gXuq4ndc5I/TXZPADBmp_I/AAAAAAAAFNY/eNbudYJk5lA/s1600/mariella-and-darfuri-refu-007.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7gXuq4ndc5I/TXZPADBmp_I/AAAAAAAAFNY/eNbudYJk5lA/s400/mariella-and-darfuri-refu-007.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/06/feminism-global-challenge-one-voice" target="_blank">And Mariella Fostrop says</a>: <br />
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In the western world the greatest triumph of spin in the last century is reflected in attitudes to feminism. Our struggle for emancipation and equality has been surreptitiously rewritten as a harpy bra-burning contest while elsewhere, in less affluent parts of the world, the response is altogether different. From Mozambique to Chad, South Africa and Liberia, Sierra Leone to Burkina Faso, feminism is the buzzword for a generation of women determined to change the course of the future for themselves and their families. At female gatherings all over sub-Saharan Africa you'll find enthusiasm and eager signatories to the cause. ...<br />
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The emancipation of women is the only possible future for the developing world, as it was and continues to be for us. There are too many people on this planet for us to be able to afford to leave nearly 50% of them in penury, uneducated and without a voice. Making women equal partners makes sense for both sexes. My profound hope is that we can, men and women alike, work together to create the circumstances in which International Women's Day can become the cause for celebration it should be.risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-68446848520580532892011-03-02T12:57:00.001-05:002011-03-02T13:02:00.790-05:00100 Years of IWD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/womens-voices" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nK3-Julw5_k/TW6DHYD2uVI/AAAAAAAAFNU/QK1WFXe9Mxc/s320/iwd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
It is that time of year again. For the 100th time!<br />
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I was working at home last year for the Reuters International Women's Day live blog (see details below) and spent quite a bit of time over there reading and talking about where women are today. It was fascinating. If you are using computers with your class on March 8, this might be a fun thing to check out.<br />
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There are some good videos here: <a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/womens-voices" target="_blank">www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/womens-voices</a> that you can watch to get ready for an International Women's Day discussions - either on the live blog below or in your class.<br />
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There is some excellent reading at the Trust Law blog: <a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/100-years-of-international-womens-day" target="_blank">www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/100-years-of-international-womens-day</a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><b>________________________________________________________</b> </blockquote></div><blockquote><b>Call out to all bloggers and Tweeters for International Women’s Day – 8 March 2011</b><br />
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As part of the Women @ Thomson Reuters network’s focus on International Women's Day, <a href="https://www.colleaguefinder.com/EmployeeProfile.htm?employeeId=8005198" target="_blank">Julie Mollins</a> [my sister] has created a dedicated International Women’s Day web page on <a href="http://reuters.com/" target="_blank">reuters.com</a>. Click <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/subjects/international-womens-day-2011" target="_blank">here</a> to view. Not only does this page bring together great Reuters news content, we also have a fantastic dynamic live blog which will capture insights and perspectives from both staff and external contributors around the world throughout the day.<br />
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View our initial blog postings <a href="http://www.internationalwomensday2011.org/" target="_blank">here</a>. <b>We invite you to participate on that live blog.</b><br />
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We have begun to populate dedicated pages on <a href="http://reuters.com/" target="_blank">reuters.com</a> and Thomson Reuters Foundation’s site in advance of 8 March with some initial stories. Take a look at the blog posts on Reuters <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/tag/iwd-100/" target="_blank">The Great Debate</a> site - please feel free to start adding your own responses to these articles. In addition we also have special coverage on <a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/100-years-of-international-womens-day/" target="_blank">TrustLaw</a> and <a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/100-years-of-international-womens-day/" target="_blank">AlertNet</a> broadening the range of topics and angles for reflection. <br />
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This year will be the 100th anniversary of IWD, so perhaps you would like to join the live blog and discuss:<br />
<ul><li>What progress do you believe has been made, or ground lost, on the gender agenda over the past 100 years?</li>
<li>What needs to be achieved over the next decade and into the future? </li>
</ul></blockquote><blockquote>Thomson Reuters Foundation also launched a new page titled <a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/" target="_blank">TrustLaw Women</a> this week. View that page and blog your thoughts. </blockquote><blockquote>Blog on this year’s IWD 2011 theme which is “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women” </blockquote><blockquote>Perhaps you could attend a local IWD march in your area and tweet back. Check <a href="http://www.internationalwomensday.com/events.asp" target="_blank">here</a> for a list of activities around the world. </blockquote><blockquote>Are you hosting an International Women’s Day event? Celebrate by sharing your Tweets with us. Follow us on Twitter at @women_on_iwd.</blockquote><blockquote>We would love to have you contribute on 8<sup>th</sup> March and welcome you to “dip in” and blog or tweet throughout the day.<br />
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Have a great International Women’s Day! </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><b>________________________________________________________</b> </div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-23012238803272822252011-02-26T11:25:00.000-05:002011-02-26T11:25:06.242-05:00hyperventilating over learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-oH_TjW7PTK4/TWkk4o79hsI/AAAAAAAAFMY/6WpBJBiK6R8/s1600/-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-oH_TjW7PTK4/TWkk4o79hsI/AAAAAAAAFMY/6WpBJBiK6R8/s200/-1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/blogs/blog-post-detail.dot?id=8f3a6c31-611e-4c2c-bc12-19752608c8d9#comments" target="_blank">Here</a> is a great story about the power of blended learning written in preparation for International Women's Day:<br />
<blockquote>But how can you not hyperventilate? My students, many of them first-generation Americans and the first in their families to attend college, are doing real research. They are doing the research that was previously restricted to scholars who possessed letters of introduction, invitations, and appointments. My students and I have none of these things. We are in a public school during a recession. And yet, we are true researchers. <br />
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In the morning, students knock on the library door, begging to be let in. “We open in five minutes!” I call. I savor the first five minutes of the day alone with my coffee cup and my own research. Currently, I am researching Berenice Abbott, the WPA photographer known for her “Changing New York” photographs of the city. Her work is among 700,000 archived materials in New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery. <br />
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You don’t have to live in New York or own a library card to access the Gallery. Like Google Books—which also digitizes historical books—the Gallery is available to anyone with an internet connection. All you need is five quiet minutes in the morning with your coffee cup—or four, depending on the day. <br />
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Today I will only have four minutes. Students are rapping on the door, pounding harder. They want in, and come barreling through. <br />
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“Morning, Miss!” “What new books do you have?” “Can I use a laptop?” “Can I borrow headphones?” “How do I embed video in PowerPoint?” “Where are the Shakespeare plays?” </blockquote>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-29884990223599903272011-02-15T15:20:00.024-05:002011-02-26T11:31:48.032-05:00revolutionary literacy<a href="http://twitter.com/EFF/status/36153121642258432" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574016393605178946" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SYulYE_XNak/TVriYKkKZkI/AAAAAAAAFLs/RH8MomG2dRY/s400/eff.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 176px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/navalang/status/37186420514750464" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574017082913624754" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9thDJ1HpuI/TVrjAScGkrI/AAAAAAAAFL0/p0ShBw04i5U/s400/navalang.png" style="cursor: pointer; height: 148px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<br />
So what is the state of the debate on whether or not the revolution will be tweeted?<br />
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It rages on of course.<br />
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I agree with @<a href="http://twitter.com/navalang" target="_blank">navalang</a> that a great addition is to be found here in this blog post, <a href="http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/knowing-and-unknowing-the-egyptian-public/" target="_blank">Knowing and Unknowing the Egyptian Public</a>, by @<a href="http://twitter.com/zunguzungu" target="_blank">zunguzungu</a>.<br />
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His argument, if I read him correctly, is that generalizations about how social movements are developed and how they become effective are not helpful in describing the internal rationality of any specific movement or event.<br />
<br />
If, as Malcolm Gladwell argues, the success of the American Civil Rights movement can be attributed to strong links among activists and a well-developed hierarchy there is nothing that says that the next, equally effective, civil rights movement could not start with weak ties and a flattened hierarchy.<br />
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He goes further to suggest that Western generalizers are reluctant to learn the specifics of movements because they are reluctant about losing their power to create the official story.<br />
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We live in an era we can get glimpses of the different ways the stories are being framed. We can read and listen to and watch mainstream media reports side-by-side with what we learn from our fellow "citizen journalists" on Twitter and You Tube. The official analysts can help us organize the information but our own critical literacy skills are forced into high gear as we try to understand the context and the content. These are fine times to be hanging around this little blue planet.risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-11681578709168149672011-02-11T12:11:00.002-05:002011-02-11T12:18:09.742-05:00update 2As you know, Mubarek's speech yesterday was a huge disappointment to people who are fighting for democracy in Egypt. I guess it was one of those "trial balloons" politicians are so fond of :)<br /><br />Today at about 6:30 p.m. in Cairo...<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vDyD2-42G6k" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://twitter.com/acarvin/status/36104734800609282" target="_blank"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 187px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koM1TfamnwA/TVVuHnLDMWI/AAAAAAAAFLk/x2-MUVbq9xo/s400/carvin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572481190994325858" border="0" /></a>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-43889255196951569992011-02-10T12:09:00.003-05:002011-02-10T12:17:13.523-05:00egypt update<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://twitter.com/Ghonim/status/35744988365066240" target="_blank"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 153px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-otXNkZfuFDM/TVQbyxICrTI/AAAAAAAAFLc/BxPh_9DTBuY/s400/ghonim_out.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572109197958622514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112101653445426.html" target="_blank">Hosni Mubarak 'may step down'</a> - Al Jazeera English (live stream <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/2007829161423657345.html" target="_blank">here</a> - Feb. 10 live blog <a href="http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/10/live-blog-feb-10-egypt-protests" target="_blank">here</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12421000" target="_blank">Egypt's Mubarak 'may stand down'</a> - BBC (click on Live tab for updates)risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-13821461295418079002011-02-10T01:00:00.009-05:002011-02-10T01:33:39.455-05:00revolution 2.0<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/egypt020911/s_e33_08865947.jpg" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 249px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TVMUJZinY8I/AAAAAAAAFLM/KT1ssh8c_00/s400/s_e33_08865947.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571819315694887874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">from <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/02/three-weeks-in-egypt/6/" target="_blank">Three Weeks in Egypt</a> with Alan Taylor (The Atlantic)</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">- <span class="if1024">John Moore/Getty Images</span></span></div><p><br /></p><p>On October 4, 2010 the New Yorker published this in a piece called <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell#ixzz1DUyMdPHl" target="_blank">Small Change - Why the revolution will not be tweeted</a> by Malcolm Gladwell:</p><blockquote>The Internet lets us exploit the power of these kinds of distant connections with marvellous efficiency. It’s terrific at the diffusion of innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, seamlessly matching up buyers and sellers, and the logistical functions of the dating world. But weak ties seldom lead to high-risk activism.<div style="overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;"><br />and<br /><br /></div>The evangelists of social media ... seem to believe that a Facebook friend is the same as a real friend and that signing up for a donor registry in Silicon Valley today is activism in the same sense as sitting at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960. “Social networks are particularly effective at increasing motivation,” Aaker and Smith write. But that’s not true. Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires.</blockquote><p>I think the recent use of social media to galvanize a group of web savvy internet users to sign an <a href="http://openmedia.ca/" target="_blank">online petition</a> against a CRTC ruling (that would allow large telecom companies to impose usage based billing on their competition) is an example of how the internet can be an efficient place for communities of interest to come together and advocate. I also think that participating in online referenda about irksome billing policies is qualitatively different than engaging in high-risk activism such as "sitting at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960."<br /></p><p>In the case of the anti-UBB petition, the petition signers saw a good result when Minister of Industry Tony Clement tweeted this:</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://twitter.com/TonyClement_MP/status/32511302500876288" target="_blank"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 163px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TVMMGJsJYYI/AAAAAAAAFLE/RFWShYI77EI/s400/clement.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571810463807267202" border="0" /></a><p>As Gladwell says, the internet <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span> foster a <span style="font-style: italic;">kind</span> of activism but not the kind that requires the activists to develop a strong enough sense of commitment to the cause, and to each other, to support the risk-taking essential to creating deep social change.<br /></p><p>On January 27, the day he was to be detained in Egypt, <a href="http://twitter.com/Ghonim/status/35433747251728384" target="_blank">Wael Ghonim</a> tweeted this:</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://twitter.com/Ghonim/status/30744006358990848" target="_blank"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 165px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TVMHH84MnJI/AAAAAAAAFK8/ndGH2Lt5Ic0/s400/ghonim.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571804997169749138" border="0" /></a><br /><p>And yesterday he tweeted this:</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://twitter.com/Ghonim/status/35433747251728384" target="_blank"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 135px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TVMEailqlbI/AAAAAAAAFKs/m2eBTCTY7Mw/s400/ghonimtweet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571802017995330994" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p>So what is all that about? Why is this participant in the January 25th uprising in Egypt, an uprising where hundreds of participants have been injured and detained and a number have been killed (there is controversy over the death toll numbers but most put the number at over 100), making this claim? Is it because he works for Google and sees the world through a 2.0 prism? Or is he experiencing a magnification of commitment that occurs when a revolution <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> tweeted?</p><blockquote>I think there's an unmistakable effect that the Internet has had on dissident communities, that it has emboldened them. I recall when I was in the Islamist slums of Cairo, a friend of mine that I started to talk politics with silenced me immediately and said in Arabic (SPEAKING ARABIC) "The walls have ears." <p>There was a sense of fear in daily life in Egypt. And what I believe the Internet has given to dissidents is the -- the feeling that there are those in the West who care about them, an ability to talk with other people. So, it's a really -- a very empowering feeling that -- that nothing can take away.</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: right;">David Keyes from <a href="http://www.cyberdissidents.org/" target="_blank">CyberDissidents.org</a> on NPR<br />(see video below - transcript <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/egyptcommunica_01-31.html" target="_blank">here</a>)</p><br /><p style="text-align: left;">Gladwell might well argue that the ties between the Egyptian protesters and other Twitterverse participants are the weak ties of low-risk activism</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://twitter.com/traceyyyz/status/33201786722451456" target="_blank"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 178px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oNzhqbC-6Ps/TVOEX7VQb1I/AAAAAAAAFLU/v9gFz2GKMYA/s400/tracey.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571942710586142546" border="0" /></a><p> but if those ties, however weak, strengthen the commitment and motivation of the people who have ties strong enough to support each other in high-risk activism, perhaps the revolution <span style="font-style: italic;">should</span> be tweeted... and retweeted.<br /></p><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/js/pap/embed.js?news01n47bbq1049"></script>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-47627957696630617232011-02-09T01:41:00.001-05:002011-02-09T02:00:29.226-05:00truthiness in canadaOn October 17, 2005, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colbert_Report" target="_blank">The Colbert Report</a> comedian Stephen Colbert coined the word "truthiness."<br /><br />Here is how <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/06words.htm" target="_blank">Merriam-Webster</a> defines it:<br /><blockquote>truthiness (noun)<br /><br />1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)<br /><br />2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)</blockquote><p>On January 10, 2011, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) released a Broadcasting Notice of Consultation which could legitimize truthiness on Canadian airwaves.</p><blockquote><p></p>The current wording is broad:<br />[Media outlets are prohibited from broadcasting] any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading.<br /><br />The proposed change is an addenum to the previous statement:<br />[Media outlets are prohibited from broadcasting] any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public. </blockquote><p>Here is a petition just in case you think we should stick to the original wording.</p><a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/stopcrtc/petition.html">Keep Canadian Media Honest - Don't Let The CRTC Deregulate Truth in Journalism Petition</a><br /><br /><div style="width: 480px;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?umid=33403"/><param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?umid=33403" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object><div style="font-size: 10px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: center; width: 480px; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px; background-color: black; height: 32px;"><div><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com" title="GameTrailers.com">Video Games</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com/game/.html" title=""></a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/movie/33403" title="Truthiness- The Colbert Report">Truthiness- The Colbert Report</a></div><div style="padding-top: 3px;"><a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://xbox360.gametrailers.com/" title="XBox 360">XBox 360</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://ps3.gametrailers.com/" title="PS3">Playstation 3</a> | <a style="color:#FFFFFF;" href="http://wii.gametrailers.com/" title="Wii">Nintendo Wii</a></div></div></div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-45846518497120511942011-02-08T13:33:00.000-05:002011-02-09T01:38:20.176-05:00legacy numeracyAnother legacy of the Reagan presidency, and of all the hawkish regimes everywhere that preceded and followed him, is off the charts military spending.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9po4ggUl-Ew" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /></div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-31923648534300206892011-02-07T13:25:00.000-05:002011-02-09T01:29:15.718-05:00happy birthday mr. president?Last week there were a number of television moments dedicated to reflections about the presidency of Ronald Reagan on what would have been his 100th birthday. I found it all quite bewildering. Here is one of the reasons why:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Sxz9M36LjYY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /></div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-81881165967395258602011-02-04T13:20:00.001-05:002011-02-05T13:54:38.434-05:00reading serenity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TU2a3yKQqmI/AAAAAAAAFKc/dtVhaCecQOE/s1600/stratfordreaders1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 188px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TU2a3yKQqmI/AAAAAAAAFKc/dtVhaCecQOE/s400/stratfordreaders1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570278597275462242" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Remember <a href="http://quietube.com/" target="_blank">Quietube</a> - the people who brought us that nice clean page upon which to view videos?<br /><br />Well now there is <a href="https://www.readability.com/" target="_blank">Readability</a> who bring us to nice quiet places to read stuff on the internet. You can sign up and pay a fee, a portion of which goes to the writers you read or you can get a Firefox <a href="https://www.readability.com/addons/" target="_blank">extension</a> or <a href="https://www.readability.com/bookmarklets/" target="_blank">bookmarklet</a> for free.<br /><br />These easier-to-read pages are nice for everybody but especially nice for our learners who may struggle to find there way through all the advertorial text, tiny text and flashing bits on so many websites.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TU2a8ZYyFMI/AAAAAAAAFKk/Eqg_8Dlqeqk/s1600/stratfordreaders2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TU2a8ZYyFMI/AAAAAAAAFKk/Eqg_8Dlqeqk/s400/stratfordreaders2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570278676524831938" border="0" /></a>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-80385546538176515882011-02-03T13:17:00.000-05:002011-02-05T13:19:57.833-05:00(anti?)social mediaHere is a commentary on online personas from Ross Gardner:<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8UouP8cRYZ8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-56788152484240083862011-02-02T11:06:00.005-05:002011-02-02T14:19:19.921-05:00literacy by the numbers<a href="http://vidaweb.org/" target="_blank">VIDA</a> - Women in Literary Arts - was founded in August 2009 to address the need for female writers of literature to engage in conversations regarding the critical reception of women’s creative writing in our current culture. <br /><br />They have just published <a href="http://vidaweb.org/the-count-2010" target="_blank">The Count</a> - a breakdown by gender of who writes for some major publications and whose writing gets reviewed by these same publication. Here is one example:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TUmJldbE2tI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/0_rhbonik-U/s1600/Slide35.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TUmJldbE2tI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/0_rhbonik-U/s400/Slide35.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569133690866686674" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TUmJrgn0MxI/AAAAAAAAFKE/g3hUfFditjU/s1600/Slide36.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TUmJrgn0MxI/AAAAAAAAFKE/g3hUfFditjU/s400/Slide36.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569133794804642578" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote>We know women write. We know women read. It’s time to begin asking why the 2010 numbers don’t reflect those facts with any equity. Many have already begun speculating; more articles and groups are pointing out what our findings suggest: the numbers of articles and reviews simply don’t reflect how many women are actually writing. VIDA is here to help shape that discussion. Please tell us about the trends you’ve witnessed in your part of the writing world. <a href="http://vidaweb.org/about-vida/contact" target="_blank">Let us know what you think</a> is going on. We’re ready and anxious to hear from you. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We’re ready to invest our efforts and energy into the radical notion that women are writers too</span>.</blockquote><p>No Canadian publications in The Count. I wonder if The Count would be any different here.</p>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-60337341928905600762011-02-01T16:27:00.002-05:002011-02-02T14:19:51.187-05:00literacy alive<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://egypt.alive.in/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="84" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TUh6M0_0eCI/AAAAAAAAFJg/YRylJQ1c3Hs/s400/Banner1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://egypt.alive.in/" target="_blank">http://egypt.alive.in/</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Volunteers have been working on translating the Arabic voice messages left by Egyptian protesters on Google’s <a href="http://www.saynow.com/" target="_blank">Say Now</a> service (which were then, with the help of Twitter, pushed out as tweets on the <a href="http://www.twitter.com/speak2tweet" target="_blank">@Speak2Tweet</a> account) into English.</p>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-84374046484800646622011-02-01T01:39:00.000-05:002011-02-01T01:39:34.362-05:00reading frenzy<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="270" id="flashObj" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=739498714001&playerID=88218671001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAAAn_zM~,B6LaFUvNnt2RhwK5cjOvZ4hHQyd5XXC9&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=739498714001&playerID=88218671001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAAAn_zM~,B6LaFUvNnt2RhwK5cjOvZ4hHQyd5XXC9&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-9580804732832111102011-01-30T16:33:00.000-05:002011-02-01T16:35:38.692-05:00days of reckoning<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="youtube-player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OQnd5ilKx2Y" title="YouTube video player" type="text/html" frameborder="0" height="345" width="560"></iframe>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-47979393106278885282010-06-28T18:55:00.004-04:002010-06-28T19:08:52.171-04:00good for the gander<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TCkrTe8rPJI/AAAAAAAAE38/VEaceVY-o00/s1600/canada-goose.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 166px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_x_uV74NDD9g/TCkrTe8rPJI/AAAAAAAAE38/VEaceVY-o00/s400/canada-goose.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487965234652724370" border="0" /></a>No comment about the G20 here. Lots of that over on <a href="http://storyjuice.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="story juice blog">Story Juice</a>. But just wanted to make a note of this comment from a Prime Minister whose government has put a giant kibosh on any opportunities for publicly funded workers to meet, network, or share professional knowledge and expertise.<br /><blockquote>Even in an age when teleconferences are so easy to organize, said Mr. Harper, there is nothing that can replace getting together with somebody face to face, shaking their hand, talking to them, and understanding their own pressures and concerns. </blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/harper-on-the-g20-torontos-pain-the-worlds-gain/article1621752/" target="_blank" title="Globe and Mail story">Harper on the G20: Toronto’s pain, the world’s gain</a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Maybe Mr. Harper read <a href="http://www.literacyjournal.ca/forum.html" target="_blank" title="Literacies: Web Forums">this</a> :)<br /></div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570507847338487637.post-39891862945797821052010-05-25T18:39:00.003-04:002010-05-25T18:46:13.966-04:00hiatusWow. It has been a long time since the last post and there is lots to catch up on but I do not have time now so I thought I'd post something by someone else who took a long time between "posts":<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SirKenRobinson_2010-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SirKenRobinson-2010.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=865&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution;year=2010;theme=a_taste_of_ted2010;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=master_storytellers;theme=how_we_learn;theme=how_the_mind_works;theme=whipsmart_comedy;theme=the_rise_of_collaboration;event=TED2010;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SirKenRobinson_2010-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/SirKenRobinson-2010.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=865&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution;year=2010;theme=a_taste_of_ted2010;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=master_storytellers;theme=how_we_learn;theme=how_the_mind_works;theme=whipsmart_comedy;theme=the_rise_of_collaboration;event=TED2010;" width="446" height="326"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html" target="_blank" title="TED talk where Sir Ken Robinson asks whether schools kill creativity">Here</a> is the beginning of this speech about education and creativity.<br /></div>risky mousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00077610678672970330noreply@blogger.com0