Category: Personal

Quote – I can has Cheezburger in Paradise

If the wacky cats are a fad, they are one that has had surprising staying power, as shown by a recent Cheezburger happy-hour event at Safeco Field before a Seattle Mariners game.

More than 1,000 fans turned up to listen to cat-themed songs blasted over the loudspeakers, snack on miniature cheeseburgers, slurp from plastic cups of beer and pose for pictures with Mr. Huh.

Jenna Wortham, Once Just a Site With Funny Cat Pictures, and Now a Web Empire, NYTimes

wow.

Digital Journalism #kmddj10 @p2pu; Welcome to no-credit college.

Who needs credit these days anyway?  Peer to Peer University (P2PU), if you’re not familiar, is a free, open, online “university” (non-accredited) that offers courses I never would have found at the University of Vermont (no offense UVM, but you’re not exactly pushing the boundaries of higher learning).

This whole notion of free, online, open learning has captivated me, whether through MIT OCW, University of the People or P2PU is a great leap in access for learners everywhere.  After just a week of the Digital Journalism course I can say that the course has very much exceeded my expectations.  Here are a few reasons I was interested in the course:

  • it’s FREE education, man!
  • I run Moodlenews.com, which is fun, but I’m always looking to improve the site so learning a little more about real digital journalism practices will be a good exercise for my brain
  • who doesn’t need to improve their writing?
  • I  need/want/yearn for constructive feedback.  Comments are great (if you get them) but otherwise I’m left wondering where my writing falls on a scale of ‘crap to awesome’.
  • Finally, I want to learn first hand if this model of education is worthwhile.  What happens when students globally take a course for no credit while students locally take the same course for credit?  Can it work?  If it does, what does that mean for the future of credit?  (because they’ve essentially become valueless in that scenario).

And to be fair, these are a few reasons now why I’m glad I enrolled,

It’s my hunch that organizations like P2PU will continue to grow in power and influence in higher education.  Already they’re redefining what it means to take college level courses and grow professionally.  Perhaps someday my kids will earn a degree for free from P2PU based on the legacy of the volunteers that are running it today.  My participation only furthers that goal.

Quote – “In the Singularity University, Humans are so yesterday”

Dr. Barry, a former astronaut and “Survivor” contestant with an M.D. and a Ph. D., has put his ideas into action. He has a robot at home that can take a pizza from the delivery person, pay for it and carry it into the kitchen.

“You have the robot say, ‘Take the 20 and leave the pizza on top of me,’ ” Dr. Barry says. “I get the pizza about a third of the time.”

From In the Singularity University, Humans are so yesterday by Ashlee Vance in the New York Times.

Now they just need to add a camera to the bot to thwart the pizza delivery thieves that take the money and don’t leave the pizza.

Quote – “Mandate…the right to attend college”

Under the rules of unemployment insurance, which has been extended to millions more people since the financial crisis hit, recipients must confirm that they are actively looking for work and generally are not allowed to enroll in college. Last year, the president urged states to loosen these restrictions. But lawmakers can, and should, go much further. The next time they extend unemployment benefits, they should mandate that anyone eligible also has the right to attend college, as long as they’re enrolled full-time in a one- or two-year degree program.

From the Washington Monthly article, Degrees of Speed – Jamie Merisotis and Stan Jones