WeekendReading

Weekend Reading: Super Bowl Edition

Haven’t done one of these in a while, but have managed to collect a bunch of stuff on football that might be educationally provocative or useful for someone. So here goes:

~On football intelligence; minds in context;

~If you’re a fan of North Dallas Forty or ever wondered what life was like (in terms of injuries) for NFL players , especially those on the margins, you’ll find this article by a now retired player/skilled blogger captivating; or this one about the “hard life of an NFL long shot;”

~Or maybe you’re considering boycotting the NFL or wondering why some people might–here’s one argument for it;

~One for the Bears fans–on Doug Plank, the original #46;

~Maybe a short piece of Sports Philosophy on team affiliations and adoption?;

~How the money on NFL teams is distributed across positions (a great visual graphic), including this year’s Super Bowl teams;

~Maybe you’ve been following the whole concussion controversy and want to know more–here is a fascinating article on NFL helmets and here is a piece on the concussion-related litigation and the future of the league;

~Or maybe you want to learn more about the teams playing, in which case you should check out Pro Football Reference (for an example of what can be learned with a bit of time and interest, check out this article on injuries in 2012);

~Perhaps you need to read just one more article (or five) on Richard Sherman.

Weekend Reading

Weekend Reading is a regular feature with three links to fascinating, provocative, or particularly well-written, (usually) long-form pieces collected over the last three years. There will not be a test, but there may be a theme.

Three* thought-provoking pieces just for you…

~On Being an Octopus: It’s about exactly what it says it’s about. Fascinating throughout.

~How Consciousness Works: From Aeon, which has published more amazing stuff in the last six months than I can keep up with.

~The Scientific Riddle of Consciousness?: This one, published in the New Yorker, is chock-a-block with great links, most greatly, to the work of philosopher David Chalmers who will blow your mind if you give him the chance.

~There is Only Awe: Part book review, part reflection on consciousness, the author, Rachel Aviv, is a routinely impressive writer, thinker and researcher. Her stuff is ALWAYS worth reading. This is no exception.

*ish

Weekend Reading

Weekend Reading is a regular feature with three links to fascinating, provocative, or particularly well-written, (usually) long-form pieces collected over the last three years. There will not be a test, but there may be a theme.

As I am sure you are breathlessly aware, Monday is the (pushed back) kick-off for CCC’s “Open Book” big data project.

From your email:

Over the last ten months, the OpenBook team has worked together to create a truly unique data system for the City Colleges of Chicago.  We’ve taken our goal of a data democracy seriously and have built entirely new tools and features that will help OpenBook be a system that is intuitive and easy-to-use for everyone -while providing enough power and complexity to grow with our needs for years to come.

It has been a massive undertaking, but we’re ready to officially open this system for use to every administrator, faculty and staff member at CCC.  We are pleased to announce that OpenBook will officially launch on September 16th, 2013.

What should you know? Well, maybe you learned enough looking at the district office team’s presentation on their project (a version of which was shown during DWFDW). Also, there is a lot of great information out there: big data is a big topic–described as the “steam engine of our time” and as a potential (and real) danger to privacy and as an answer to urban troubles of all sorts, and that’s just on NPR! Some people from the business world see immense promise, others wonder if it’s a kind of mirage.Meanwhile, educators seeing the business trends are scrambling to figure out how to put their huge volumes of data on students to work, as here (mini-grants), here (getting poor kids into better colleges), and here (student performance and advising). Other academics are working retroactively as this fascinating project called “Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere.”

Maybe you’ve read the book, Big Data (interesting reviews  here and here). Or maybe you’re on the side of the skeptics and heard about or checked out the work of one of my current intellectual heroes, Evgeny Morozov, whose book To Save Everything, Click Here is my #1 current book recommendation for anyone and everyone (you can get a taste of his ideas and his voice HERE or in this interview). Maybe you don’t read books. That’s ok.

Maybe you read one of the many stories (as here) detailing the role of big data in the last presidential election. Maybe not. That’s fine. You could take a free, self-paced class on data analysis if you’d prefer. Perhaps you’re not ready for that kind of commitment, yet, though.

You should still know some stuff about “big data” and education. Here are three places you can go to learn about Big Data before the public launch of CCC’s big data project:

~The Rise of Big Data: Unfortunately, this was once free (pretty sure), but is not behind a paywall because it’s been archived. It’s by the authors of Big Data, one of those articles-cum-advertisements/abridgments for a bigger book. Still, maybe you will be interested enough after reading the first few paragraphs to spring the five bucks for it (or better, use a library to read the article (or the book) for free!). Failing that, type “Big Data” into EBSCO and click on whatever you fancy.

~The Meme Hustlers: Evgeny Morozov writes about the language of the advocates of technological solutionism and one particularly effective purveyor of what common techie discourse. You will talk differently after reading this.

~The Tech Intellectuals: A who’s who of the advocates (and critics) of technology talk and theory. Along the way there is lots of good stuff about the fault lines related to the topic.

 

And whatever else, let’s not forget that data is one thing and interpretations of it are another. Should be interesting, regardless.

Weekend Reading

Weekend Reading is a regular feature with three links to fascinating, provocative, or particularly well-written, (usually) long-form pieces that I have found and collected over the last three years. You should expect that each of the links will require some time to explore. There will not be a test, but there may be a theme.

~When Your (Brown) Body is a (White) Wonderland: Tressie McMillan Cottom is a consistently great read. You should be check her stuff out regularly.

~Reacting to Miley: A reflection on the criticism of Miley Cyrus, especially the new forms of it and what they tell us.

~Dave Chappelle Didn’t Melt Down: Maybe you are a fan of his (or not). Maybe you read the NY Times article about his return to stand-up while procrastinating on your syllabus writing (or not). Maybe you read about his latest controversial moment (or not). No matter. Read this. It’s not very long, but it will make you think.

And, just as last week’s theme (philosophy), might have been too obvious to need mentioning, same, too, for this week, but, just in case, I hope it is clear that the theme here is “Consumption.”

Weekend Reading

Weekend Reading is a regular feature with three links to fascinating, provocative, or particularly well-written, (usually) long-form pieces that I have found and collected over the last three years. You should expect that each of the links will require some time to explore.  There will not be a test, but there may be a theme.

~Out in the Great Alone: About the Iditarod. And with any luck, it is an example of the future of journalism. As beautiful to look at as it is interesting to read.

~Will: The story of a young man who aims to go on a long walk.

~Down in the Sago Mine: The story of a miner’s survival.