I have forwarded that note to potential partners. But there must be
others out there who could help.
I wonder who the President of AERA is? :-)
mike
On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 7:46 AM, kurt squire
<kurt.squire@gmail.com> wrote:
Great questions! I'm not really sure. My own thinking is really
only just forming on it. It seems like the seeds are there with
Michelle Obama's agenda. But as one might predict, it doesn't seem
like you can really address health without addressing these other
issues about property ownership, etc.
I'm a pretty novice social organizer, but it seems like something
needs to be done to raise awareness that this is even an issue. I
guess that Pollan's work has gathered a lot of attention, but I
dont see as of yet any real movement toward having fresh food in
schools for example.
I do know that Ben Stokes is discussing organizing a convening
around mobile social activism to tackle these issues, and trying to
get MacArthur Foundation support for it. He's in LA so there are
many similar issues to what you see, I'd suspect.
Either way, I'm on board! Let's organize!
On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 3:56 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
wrote:
So how do collaborate to get these issues on the national research
agenda, Kurt?
Locally, the fruit app wouldn't work for the population we work
with because the fruit trees have been cut down and paved over and
the only fresh food they can walk to is at the 99 cent store.
Public transport is
mimimal and expensive. Unemployment is staggering. etc.
And all we get is celebration of a wireless world while the poor of
other countries get our digital waste. Bah humbug.
mike
On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 12:42 PM, kurt squire
<kurt.squire@gmail.com> wrote:
Couldn't agree more, particularly on the mobile apps. A student,
Seann Dikkers and I have been studying youth with mobile devices,
and we have a piece we're putting together arguing for them as
devices that amplify interest, personal power, identification, and,
yes, probably class distinctions. The Educational Research &
Development Group I'm in at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
is working on a variety of applications around personalized
medicine to try and deal with these issues of health & class, but
it's an uphill battle, to be sure.
Some of the most interesting work I've seen in that area is
participatory mapping. Another student of mine, Jim Mathews has
been using mobile devices with high school kids for them to map
their neighborhoods and then create mobile media learning
experiences that highlight social, environmental, or economic
issues. He's been very interested in how one can apply
participatory mapping techniques in educational settings... there
are fantastic examples of people mapping the healthiness of
neighborhoods (i.e. how far must you walk to find fresh fruit or
vegetables?).
Jim also turned me on to Neighborhood Fruit, a great app that shows
you where fruit trees are growing so that you can eat free fruit.
Probably you folks in California will have more trees appear than
we get in Madison.
cheers
kurt
On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 11:49 AM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
wrote:
A clear weakness in this medium is the prominent display of
contextual
clues to guide interpretation. Using irony, which i do a lot in
oral speech
and too often online, is extremely iffy.
I agree that the online gaming environment is rich in potential for
what
most of us in xmca (I am guessing) would see as creating rich
environments
for educational activities. To Rafi's list I would recommend that
those
interested google "Quest Atlantis" or "Sasha Barab" and of course
Donna
Russell is an XMCA member who has worked in this area.
David Kel's comments about multi-aged play groups and zopeds is at
least one
of the serious points I take out of his most recent rumpusy posting.
Simultaneously, I have a growing suspicion that the spread of
iphone apps
for educational and health purposes is going to prove both a bigger
wedge
between classes and an big ecological challenge. I see
consideration of
these possibilities nowhere in the discourse on the marvels of
ubiquitous
mobile wireless computing. Perhaps its me who is missing the point.
mike
On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 7:40 AM, Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu>
wrote:
>
> On Apr 10, 2010, at 10:30 PM, Rafi Santo wrote:
>
> > From the date on the article (March 22), I'd doubt that it was
an April
> Fool's joke, though the author certainly does himself no service
by using
> somewhat of tongue in cheek and polarizing argumentation strategy
("schools
> are broken, let's replace them with video games!", if I can
paraphrase...).
> >
> My university library doesn't provide access to some important
journals,
> but it does allow me to read Jonathan Gough's columns. I'm
copying two here:
> in the first he solves the global energy crisis; in the second he
muses on
> the wonders of capitalism. April Fool's joke? No, he is this
witty and
> provocative every week, for a living!
> =============
> The life & opinions of Julian Gough
>
> I have decided to devote this column to doing only good.
> I shall start by solving the energy crisis. Now, crisis is a
terrible
> description and shortage is worse. The terms of this debate have
been set by
> the oil industry, whose worldview was formed when atoms were
solid. Oil
> industry executives still see cars as the solution to the global
threat
> emanating from horses (who, scientists once predicted, would bury
the
> world's cities under 20ft of manure by 1950). But how can you
have a
> shortage of energy in a universe made out of nothing but energy?
On a planet
> half of which is bathed in high-energy radiation at all times? A
planet with
> a core of solid, crystalline iron, which rotates in a boiling
slurry of
> molten rock so energetic it can burst through the earth's skin to
consume
> cities? A planet with a moon that hauls entire oceans, whales and
all,
> several meters up in the air, twice daily? Earth's air pours
forth raw
> electricity, in billion-volt bolts, at a global rate of 100 times
a second.
> Absurd excesses of energy lash us from every direction, it's a
miracle we're
> not all dead. Shortage? The crisis is one of overproduction.
> Yet people are faffing about attempting to run cars on soya oil.
Stop it!
> It's embarrassing! Where is your pride in technological advance?
Way back in
> the 1970s, spacecraft already used fuel cells and solar panels
and elegant
> gravitational slingshots around distant planets and yet we, in
the 21st
> century, are still trying to move forward by essentially lighting
our own
> farts.
> What is this obsession with the internal combustion engine,
anyway? German
> engineers can perfect it all they want, they're still setting off
explosions
> in a tin can, in order to rotate a stick, so that mechanical
gears can turn
> a wheel, with a 15 per cent energy efficiency. It's Victorian.
And nuclear
> power is no advance. Nuclear power plants are just used to boil
water. They
> are giant kettles. We cracked the atom and we used it to make tea.
> Why aren't we having more fun with this? Look, if we can't find a
way to
> generate power from an iron sphere which is the size of the moon
and as hot
> as the sun rotating in a magnetic field beneath our feet, then we
deserve to
> sit in the dark until the fission reactor that floods us in
energy rises the
> next morning.
> For the love of God, our planet is flying through the sun's
magnetic field
> at a shocking speed. While spinning. It's just a huge dynamo,
waiting for
> someone to tap it. All you have to do is run 100,000-km wires
out of the
> earth's magnetic field and into the sun's field. What? How? Make
the wires
> out of stuff that's already up there. Use old nuclear warheads to
blast a
> few iron asteroids into geosynchronous orbit around earth. Voilá!
Tiny,
> fixed moons of solid ore. A little factory builds a big factory
from the
> asteroid's material and off you go. Finally, gently lower one end
to earth,
> at the equator, using space-elevator physics, and connect it to a
global
> grid. Do I have to do everything for you?
> It's an ideal way for America and China to rebalance their
accounts with
> each other, while building something more productive than
machines for
> spin-drying lettuce. America needs to replace its dilapidated 1950s
> electricity infrastructure, and China needs to generate
electricity for a
> billion people without cooking the world. Not only would a global
dynamo
> generate no greenhouse gases but the heat from the dynamo would
be radiated
> into space. (Besides, in the next few years, America and China
will need
> something exciting to do together that isn't a war.)
> You also end up with the bonus of a space elevator, which lowers
the cost
> of getting stuff into orbit a hundredfold, so only the first wire
is really
> expensive. And the wires would look great at night: big glowing
lines
> stretching off into the darkness. Especially if you hung
ultrathin sheets of
> glittery solar panel off them too, doubling the energy return.
Nature was
> fun while it lasted, but humans now own the planet. We might as
well
> decorate it.
> Sure, converting some of the earth's orbital and rotational
energy into
> electricity would eventually slow the planet down, lengthening
the day and
> the year, but we'll enjoy the lie-in. And we could declare the
extra days
> holidays. No, no, your thanks are unnecessary. Just name December
32nd after
> me. (And before the protesters get started, tidal friction is
already
> slowing the earth's rotation. Go picket the moon).
> Much of the research has been done: many of the satellites
passing over
> your head already use electricity and a kilometre-long wire
dangling into
> the earth's magnetic field to raise and lower their orbit.
> And one of the nicest things about this plan is, unlike burning
all the
> oil, it's reversible. If we later found a cleaner, cheaper, more
fun way to
> generate energy, we could push electricity back up the wires.
Resistance
> would become assistance: instead of slowing us down, the sun's
magnetic
> field would speed the earth up and haul us into our old orbit,
as if it had
> never happened.
> Well, that's the energy crisis solved. Next month, I shall bring
about
> world peace.
>
> Julian Gough is the author of "Jude: Level 1" (Old Street
Publishing)
> April 30, 2009
>
> ============
> The sacred mystery of capital
>
> BYLINE: Julian Gough
>
> LENGTH: 1962 words
>
> Many prophets foretold the disaster. Rending their garments, they
cried
> that these works of man deviated from all that was good and
proper, and
> would bring destruction. The prophets were mocked. Some were even
driven
> into the wilderness. But then it came-a freezing of markets, a
collapse of
> structured products, a destruction of asset classes and a global
credit
> crunch. Foretold by the prophets, yet somehow unpredicted by the
risk models
> of banks and governments, it wiped trillions of dollars from the
value of
> houses and dumped families out in the street in numbers far
exceeding those
> of Exodus. The crisis threw communities, and commodities, into
chaos-from
> New Zealand to Iceland, from soya to oil-and many bankers were
fired and
> great was their woe.
> Of course, the idea of economics as a religion is not new. As Max
Weber
> pointed out early Protestants saw economic success as a sign from
God that
> one was of the heavenly elect. It was a small step from there to
seeking
> success to ensure one would be saved. Capitalism, as Walter
Benjamin said,
> silently took over Reformation Christianity and replaced the
religion with
> itself: it became a religion, the western religion. So when
Protestantism
> arrived in America, in its purest form, so did capitalism: the
Catholic
> Spanish Americas never thrived economically, in contrast to
Protestant,
> Anglo-Saxon North America. My own experience bears this out-the
collapse of
> Catholicism in Ireland in the 1990s mirrored the rise of
capitalism: the
> Celtic tiger was Protestant.
> But religions evolve, and recent events show that capitalism has
begun to
> evolve less in the manner of the Galapagos finches (whose beaks
adjusted
> over millennia to suit the berries of their individual island),
and more in
> the manner of the Incredible Hulk. Incredible Hulk capitalism can
expand the
> muscle of its credit so swiftly that its clothing of real world
assets
> cannot stretch fast enough to contain it. Expansion, explosion,
> collapse-Incredible Hulk capitalism sprawls, stunned and shrunken
again, in
> the rags of its assets.
> Or, returning to our religious analogy, if capitalism was a
religion, it
> would now be a delightfully demented pseudo-scientific cult.
Incredible Hulk
> capitalism is to the capitalism of Adam Smith what Scientology is
to the
> Christianity of Christ. Both modern high finance and Scientology
use the
> language and tools of science to ends that are religious, not
scientific.
> Both meet a need, a yearning which the old forms of religion and
capitalism
> no longer meet. The need for a mysterious power greater than us,
in which we
> can believe. It must be powerful-but it must also be mysterious.
And mystery
> has been vanishing from the world ever faster, ever since Galileo.
> We know what the stars are made of, and can compute their course
through
> the heavens for the next 10,000 years. We can explain the storms
and floods
> that were once evidence of the wrath of God. But as the advance
of science
> has removed the divine mystery from much of life, the advance of
free market
> capitalism has put it back. Only modern economics can now provide
forces
> that we don't understand. And we need that in our lives.
> Critics such as Naomi Klein are almost exactly wrong when they
say that the
> giddy boom and bust cycles of modern capitalism are forced on
unwilling
> people by big corporations. On the contrary, we the people impose
these
> rhythms on capital. We've always wanted higher highs and lower
lows. That's
> why we drink and take drugs. A flat life is no life; that's why
people kill
> themselves in Scandinavia. Boom and bust, party and hangover:
they are human
> nature, as natural as the seasons or the clap. Modern capitalism
just
> magnifies our urge to binge and purge, on food, on housing, on
commodities,
> on life. Don't listen to what people say-we always complain, when
free to do
> so-look at what we do. In any situation where there is a
> barrier between capitalism and the
> communist/Islamist/Christian/self-sufficient agrarian
alternative, in which
> direction do the people jump, tunnel, swim, smuggle themselves
and their
> children?
> Capitalism is seen as arrogant, but that is merely the rage of
Caliban on
> seeing his reflection. The extraordinary thing about capitalism
is its
> humility and refusal to judge. It will give us what we want; it
will not
> force on us what it thinks we need. Often we are disgusted by
what we
> discover that we want-but that reflects on us, not on the servant
who brings
> us our fetish gear and saturated fats. It would bring us organic
turnips
> just as happily. If we cease to desire a product, the producer
changes, or
> ceases to exist. There is nothing more powerless than a
corporation.
> So how has something so powerless spread so fast? From Adam Smith
to now is
> little more than 200 years. Islam, Christianity and the religions
of the
> east took far longer to cover far smaller territories. And, even
more
> interesting, why has modern capitalism suddenly, explosively,
sped up its
> spread in the past 30 years?
> For a system to bloodlessly replace an entrenched system, the
newcomer must
> offer some significant improvement. And it must offer it to
everyone. The
> religion of Abraham and Moses did not explode across the globe
until Paul
> decided to make the version of Judaism preached by Jesus open to
everyone,
> regardless of birth. Likewise, old-style capitalism was incapable
of
> becoming a universal religion, because it did not offer the hope of
> salvation to all. Only those born into an elite of landowners and
capital
> owners could access capital. But the recent rise of venture
capital threw
> capitalism open to all, and made it at last a potentially universal
> religion.
> Only one other change was necessary, and it came in 1971. For as
long as
> money had to be backed by gold, economics was rooted in the
material world
> (just as Christianity was merely an interesting philosophy for as
long as
> Christ was alive). The abandonment of the gold standard was the
crucifixion
> and resurrection of capitalism; the traumatic and liberating
event which
> allowed capitalism to be purely religious and entirely driven by
faith. As
> with all religions, once its link to the physical world was
severed, free
> market capitalism mourned briefly, then experienced a surge of
energy and
> expansion.
> In an explosion of credit markets, deficit spending and faith-
based money,
> it overwhelmed Soviet and Chinese communism and shook Islamic
societies to
> their roots. It expanded further and faster than Islam after the
death of
> Muhammad. The IMF and the World Bank sent their missionaries to
every
> nation. And their language has now replaced Latin as the
universal language,
> spoken by a sombre, dark-clad priestly caste, but mouthed without
> understanding by the ordinary people. People need that, they
hunger for
> mysteries, a priesthood, shamans in touch with great forces. And
modern high
> finance, like the Latin of the Christian Church, has profound
mysteries at
> its core. Not even bankers know what a collateralised debt
obligation cubed
> really is.
> Where once the essential mystery was contained in the phrase fiat
lux-let
> there be light-now it is contained in the phrase "fiat money."
Money, that
> weightless thing, that spirit that is everywhere and nowhere:
that nothing
> in everything, is the Holy Spirit of capitalism. And its touch
can transform
> you in this life, giving it a big advantage over earlier
religions, which
> offer you only consolation in the next. A bank with a capital
base of $10bn
> can loan out $100bn. Yet with that money, people build real
houses, drive
> real cars, eat real bread and drink real wine. Is this not an act
of
> creation? Is this not a mystery worthy of God?
> A banker can make a $1bn loan to a mining company. This faith-
based money,
> backed by nothing, electronically transferred, is used to turn
hills into
> holes. The mining company ships the resulting ore around the
world. We live
> in the first age in which faith can literally move mountains. But
as with
> all religious expansions, success bred hubristic dementia. The
elevation of
> metaphysical above physical turned into a kind of contempt for
the physical.
> The world in which over $500 trillion in credit default swaps
could be
> created by mostly US banks was also the world in which the US
hadn't built a
> new oil refinery or nuclear reactor in 25 years, and whose
bridges and
> levees were collapsing through lack of maintenance.
> In any given era, the one true religion is so all-embracing, so
saturates
> every area of life, that it almost vanishes. God accompanied the
medieval
> Christian to the toilet, to bed, judged his thoughts, every action.
> Communism was so all-pervasive that husbands and wives censored
private
> conversations (I live in east Berlin, and even today you can tell
the older
> East Germans by the way they pause before replying to a question,
as though
> they must still weigh up all the implications of speaking
honestly).
> Critics of consumer capitalism despair over the foolishness of
the masses,
> who buy what they want packaged as what they need. But this is to
> misunderstand the transaction. We pray with our money, which is
backed by
> nothing but faith, and a miracle happens-our baskets fill with
goods, far
> more things than we could ever make or grow ourselves. In all other
> religions, you go to the temple and give the guardians food that,
with
> difficulty, you have grown. Under this new, improved religion,
the temple
> gives food to you. What happens, every time we shop in Tesco, is
a miracle
> on a par with the loaves and the fishes.
> Like all true religions, capitalism has entered into the cracks
between
> people, filled the air, so that we can no longer find a place to
view it.
> Except perhaps the desert... A few years ago I attended the
Burning Man
> festival in Nevada. A city housing 30,000 people is built in the
desert, for
> a single week. A Xanadu, dreamed into being every August. Burning
Man's most
> interesting experiment is to run on a gift economy. Coffee and
ice are the
> only products for sale. Every other need must be met out of your
own
> resources or by gift from another. After the festival I helped
take the city
> apart, leaving no trace that it had ever been. While doing so, I
led a life
> that resembled that of a monk. I saw no money for those two
weeks. When I
> was hungry, I was fed. If I needed clothes for the night, or
tools to do a
> job, I asked, and I received.
> Eventually, I returned from the desert, in a 22-wheeler truck.
The truck
> stopped at a truck stop. I went in and took the food and water
that I
> needed. As I walked out, a man standing behind a counter stared
at me as I
> passed. And I stopped, and realised that I would have to find
tokens made of
> paper and hand them to this stranger, and that all the complex
human
> interaction involved in feeding a stranger, and all the
difficulty and sweat
> of raising the food, had been replaced by an entirely symbolic
exchange of
> green paper strips bearing an eye and a pyramid. And it seemed as
wonderful
> and arbitrary as it must to an Amazonian tribesman encountering
the city.
> Back in my city, I switched on my miraculous electric light
("fiat lux!")
> and looked out across the miraculous city which no individual
could have
> built. I saw miraculous light in the window of the rich and the
same light
> in the window of the poor. Many talk about the inequalities of
modern
> capitalism. But the truth is more subtle, and strange.
Christianity once
> preached the equality of man, but could find no way to make the
vision real.
> Communism tried, and failed, to force equality upon us. But only
our modern,
> excitable, faith-based capitalism has delivered this degree of
uniformity
> and equality. Ikea, with its Û6 chairs, is delivering not only
the Christian
> but the communist heaven: everyone equal, sitting on the same
chair,
> illuminated by the same lamp, all over the
> world._______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
--
Kurt Squire
Associate Professor, Educational Communications & Technology,
Curriculum & Instruction
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Associate Director of Educational Research and Development,
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
544b TEB
225 N. Mills St.
Madison, WI 53706
608 263 4672
--
Kurt Squire
Associate Professor, Educational Communications & Technology,
Curriculum & Instruction
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Associate Director of Educational Research and Development,
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
544b TEB
225 N. Mills St.
Madison, WI 53706
608 263 4672