Author: Kieran
Header image: KF in DALL-E (Mar 1, 2024) Five key elements of Canada’s new Online Harms Act https://srinstitute.utoronto.ca/news/canada-online-harms-five-key-aspects However, some important questions about the bill remain unanswered. (March 14, 2024) EU Parliament passes AI Act in world’s first attempt at regulating the technology https://therecord.media/eu-parliament-passes-ai-act-regulation We finally have the world’s first binding law on artificial intelligence, […]
Header image: KF in Dall-E (Jan 30, 2024) Pluralistic: My McLuhan lecture on enshittification https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/Transcript of the session ⬆Video of the session⬇ My notes ⬇ Enshittification: First, platforms are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back […]
Bell (2023) The Dean of Shandong
Header image: KF photograph – Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, as seen on a wall in a church sacristy in Changchun. The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University (Daniel A. Bell, 2023)https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691247120/the-dean-of-shandong “Surely a full life involves serving the public in some capacity” “Confucius himself was asked for one saying that […]
Header image: See Google Knowledge Panels David Pye was trained to be an architect of wooden buildings, but after a few years in the field the Second World War propelled him into the Navy, kindling a lifelong interest in ships and naval architecture. He then taught for twenty-six years at the Royal College of Art […]
(Feb 23, 2024 – L. M. Sacasas) Secularization Comes for the Religion of Technology: Or, how to make sense of techno-optimist manifestos, the Open Ai/Altman affair, EA/e-acc movements, and the general sense of cultural stagnationhttps://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/secularization-comes-for-the-religion The moment it became an end in itself, that is to say, the moment technology became the dominant partner in the religion […]
Google knowledge panels
Almost everyone has seen these but it’s unlikely that you’ve given them much thought. I have given them quite a lot of thought, so read on and allow me to do some of the heavy lifting for you. ➡ In short, I believe you should claim your knowledge panel (if/when you get one). ╬ Google […]
May you be adequate
Header image: From https://harrypotter.fandom.com/ This post was prompted by my remarking to another teacher that, as in schools in British Columbia, they use a proficiency scale for grading at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.In the end, I worked out my point: “adequate” is the goal. I get the reasoning behind proficiency scales but, in […]
Header image: KF in Dall-E Maxwell, B., Senécal, M., and Waddington, D. (2023). Pedagogical freedom and sensitive issues in school: A companion guide for teachers and school leaders. Centre d’intervention pédagogique en contexte de diversité.[Available for download at Bruce Maxwell’s Academia.edu page] “Primary and secondary school teachers don’t have full academic freedom, but they do […]
Bread at the hardware store
Header image: You Were On My Mind, by Thomas Lerooy (2014) “First the man takes the drink, then the drink takes the man.” Bread at the hardware store Looking back it’s a little bit clearer His folks never had it to give So he grew up without, ~ Feelin real small within And learned best […]
All models are wrong…
All models are wrong, but some are useful. George Box The map is not the territory Alfred Korzybski Gall–Peters projection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall–Peters_projection South-up map orientation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South-up_map_orientation
Header image: KF personal pic Did this course at BCIT in Jan. Two 3-hour online sessions, one either side of a full day (Sat) on-site at the shop at BCIT. https://www.bcit.ca/courses/basic-vehicle-maintenance-and-operation-auto-1050/ The instructor (Naveen Jit) was great; I would recommend this course.
John O’Donohue
Some background: Bäuchle (2021) John O’Donohue: The Fateful Years of a Priest To Come Home To Yourself May all that is unforgiven in you,Be released. May your fears yieldTheir deepest tranquilities. May all that is unlived in you,Blossom into a future,Graced with love. from Benedictus: A Book of Blessing Journey of The Soul One of […]
Header image: KF in Dall-E Deep within every life, no matter how dull or ineffectual it may seem from the outside, there is something eternal happening. This is the secret way that change and possibility conspire with growth. John Henry Newman summed this up beautifully when he said, “To grow is to change and to […]
FIPA For Teachers
Header image: BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association Logo FIPA For Teachers https://fipa.bc.ca/fipa-for-teachers/ Senior High Schools (Grade 10-12): British Columbia Digital Privacy Rights for Youth
The Heart of It, by Oliver Jeffers
A dear friend just gifted me this lovely book, Begin Again, by Oliver Jeffers. Check it out here: https://www.oliverjeffers.com/begin-again Art’s purpose is to imperceptibly shift the ground under people’s feet. Science, technology, engineering, and maths are how we do things. Art is why we do them See the beautiful poem from it below. The Heart […]
Header image: KF personal image Jan 1, 2024 I just got 2024 off to a great start with my regular 8-9 meeting. One of the readings was about the concept of “home” and I shared that, having recently become a Canadian citizen, I am now “home”. But also, more than that, channeling John O’Donoghue, I feel […]
Header image: KF in Midjourney I made my annual donations this month to: I also made my first donation of blood to the Canadian Blood Services. Ireland had been on the ineligible list on account of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) but this restriction was lifted Nov 27, 2023. Now a citizen and no longer considered a mudblood, I […]
Doug Stowe
(May 6, 2024) Maybe Even Build a Boat: Rediscovering the lessons of craft https://hedgehogreview.com/web-features/thr/posts/maybe-even-build-a-boat “Objectives are likely to be much more effective if teachers conceptualize what students might and ought to know, feel, and do at the end of a lesson rather than the beginning”. Petrina, S. (2007). Advanced teaching methods for the technology classroom. Information Science Publishing. https://blogs.ubc.ca/dandt/files/2014/07/Petrina2007.pdf […]
SW9 – Wood
Header image: Google maps This page is to record my time and learning in and around SW9 at the British Columbia Institute of Technology April 22, 2024: Bowl 1 – “Roy’s bowl” The wonderful Rory Brown offered to give me a few hours of instruction on the wood lathe and I jumped at the chance.➡ […]
Protected: Update 15: Christmas 2023
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u/ArtfuIhacker UBC and IKEA partner in “Light up your Life!” student programs. Fictitious sources announced today that, as part of the new Strategic Harm Avoidance Mechanism (SHAM) campaign promoting anti-racism on campus, UBC has partnered with IKEA to “leverage and synergize student visibility for remote invigilation through Proctorio”. The exciting offer, billed as the more […]
Header image: Decolonizing Teaching Indigenizing Learning. https://indigenizinglearning.educ.ubc.ca I curated this site from July 2021 to December 2023
Header image: KF in Dall-E My first solo publication came out in December 2023. It was the end of a writing process that began with a paper for a course in autoethnography in 2020 which, eventually, developed into one of my comprehensive exam papers in 2021. Forde, K. (2023). Currere: The agentic (re)writing of the self. Currere Exchange Journal, […]
Header image: KF composite in GIMP I will become a Canadian citizen in about an hour. Much to write and think about. After spending 20+ years living on visas in various countries, it was something of a relief to be able to say that I am “home” again. Chambers (1999) A Topography for Canadian Curriculum Theory
George Grant
Header image: KF in Dall-E (Dec 06, 2023) Bring back ‘grumpy’ George Grant and his prophetic conservative message: scholarshttps://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/george-grant-lament-for-a-nation-1.7050666 To Come Home To YourselfMay all that unforgiven in you,Be released.May your fears yieldTheir deepest tranquilities.May all that is unlived in you,Blossom into a future,Graced with love– John O’Donohue, Benedictus: A Book of Blessings (2007) KF See […]
Header image: KF in Dall-E Study Guide – Discover Canada – The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship |https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/discover-canada.html Understanding the Oath Between 1534 and 1542, Jacques Cartier made three voyages across the Atlantic, claiming the land for King Francis I of France. Cartier heard two captured guides speak the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning “village.” The […]
Student Machine Shop Course
Header image: KF personal photo I am really excited that I got a spot on this year’s Student Machine Shop (SMS) course: https://sms-course.phas.ubc.ca/ I applied for the last two years but there weren’t enough slots and priority is given to those in Physics & Astronomy. I’m going to use this page as a wee record of […]
Self-identification: On Irishness
Header image: KF composite in GIMP Our move to Canada was a huge decision. We’ve accomplished what we came here to do and, in the process, laid a foundation for a future here. I am close to becoming a Canadian citizen and this has given me much pause for thought. I spent almost all of the […]
FYI: Britain and Ireland
Header image: KF personal photo Guide to the Uk and Ireland. Except nobody gets offended. Made by u/psycho-mouse.https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/l0n5bt/guide_to_the_uk_and_ireland_except_nobody_gets/ Laudabiliter “A bull issued in 1155 by Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman to have served in that office. Existence of the bull has been disputed by scholars over the centuries; no copy is extant but scholars […]
Header image: KF in Midjourney Zuboff, S. (2022). Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy? The Death Match of Institutional Orders and the Politics of Knowledge in Our Information Civilization. Organization Theory, 3(3), 263178772211292. https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877221129290 “I argue that regulation of institutionalized processes that are innately catastrophic for democratic societies cannot produce desired outcomes.” The Unified Field Perspective KF: The […]
LLM Tetrads (in progress)
Reading: Zuboff, S. (2022). Surveillance Capitalism or Democracy? The Death Match of Institutional Orders and the Politics of Knowledge in Our Information Civilization. Organization Theory, 3(3), 263178772211292. https://doi.org/10.1177/26317877221129290Thinking about: LLMs as McLuhan’s Tetrads ╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬ (May 18, 2023) Technology analyzing technology https://jarche.com/2023/05/technology-analyzing-technology/ ╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬ (Jan 15, 2023) Reviewing ChatGPT Through The Lens Of Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad https://medium.com/@dpontefract/reviewing-chatgpt-through-the-lens-of-marshall-mcluhans-tetrad-2453dbef3281
AI, AI, and chicken nuggets
Header image: KF in DALL-E & edits in Gimp Until recently, when I saw the abbreviation AI, I thought of “academic integrity”. Now see it more often referring to “artificial intelligence”. For this post, I’m thinking about artificial intelligence as artificial learning (AL), arguing that LLM output often only offers a resemblance of learning: a substitute […]
2023 Virtual SoTL Summit
Header image: KF screenshot from linked videoo Pre-service TechEd teachers and their conceptual metaphors of teaching and learningPresented at 2023 Virtual SoTL Summit, Kennesaw State University, GA, USA. (September 21: SoTL Briefs 4C). See the full program here. See the full session here. PowerPoint slides ⬇
Header image: KF in Midjourney Watters, A. (2015, April 25). The invented history of ‘the factory model of education’. Hack Education. https://hackeducation.com/2015/04/25/factory-model Many education reformers today denounce the “factory model of education” with an appeal to new machinery and new practices that will supposedly modernize the system. That argument is now and has been for a […]
Update 13: Back to Changchun
Best to view this page on a laptop/desktop, or in desktop mode on your mobile browser. August 20, 2023I got back from China on Thursday; Nicholle won’t be back until Sept 3. We flew 13 hours to Hong Kong, 3.5 hrs to Beijing, and then took a 4-hour fast train to Changchun. My route […]
The Dwayne Huebner Interviews
Header image: From project file 142 A 2015 collection of interviews with the late Dwayne Huebner, by William Pinar and Joseph Kyser. Edited by Kieran Forde, August 2023.
Stephenson (1999) Cryptonomicon
Header image: KF in Dall-E
Header image: KF in Dall-E “In schools, we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement. Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract, and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” (Crawford, p. 11) […]
More on Maslow
Header image: KF in Dall-E The readings below are listed in chronological order. Heavy Head, R. (2007) How First Nations Helped Develop a Keystone of Modern Psychology. Social Science and Humanities Research Council. Online 3-10-18. ╬ Cross, T. (2007). Through Indigenous Eyes: Rethinking Theory and Practice. Keynote Address. ╬ Blackstock, C. (2011). The Emergence of the […]
Northrop Frye (1984) The Scholar in Society
Header image: KF in Dall-E [1984] The Scholar in Society: Northrop Frye in Conversation https://www.nfb.ca/film/scholar_in_society/ KF: Not do you agree with this but why do you agree/disagree (what do you think?)
Möbius musings
Header image: KF in Dall-E I have been fascinated by Möbius strips for several years now. It began in a Teacher Inquiry class where we were using a textbook called Spirals of Inquiry. At the time, I mentioned to the instructor that the image of a spiral of inquiry didn’t sit right with me as, by […]
Protected: Update 14: Graduation 2023
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Averted Vision
Header image: KF OCT image I went for an eye test yesterday and they took an Optical coherence tomography image of my corneas. It reminded me of this piece that I wrote a while back. It’s not complete yet, but there’s something in it that draws me back to the ideas quite frequently. ╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬ We know that […]
Using my Right to be Forgotten
Header image: KF in Dalle-E The 2016 RTBF policy brief from @article19org is an excellent overview (Mar 29, 2016) Policy Brief: The Right to be Forgottenhttps://article19.org/resources/policy-brief-the-right-to-be-forgotten/… Another overview can be found here: (Oct 5, 2023) The EU’s right to be forgotten is migrating to other countries https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/the-eus-right-to-be-forgotten-is-migrating-to-other-countries.php ╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬ Considering @article19org’s Requirement 1: The courts or independent […]
On humility
Header image: KF personal pic of an old Irish postage stamp “In humility we possess self-esteem, accept ourselves as we are, assets and defects alike, and extend the same acceptance to others. We are learning to recognize humility in others; we are attracted to them and we learn from them.” ― Al-Anon Family Groups, Paths to […]
Tutt (2014) The Revisability Principle
Header image: KF in Dall-E the principle that an individual’s identity should always remain, to some significant extent, revisable; that no person should be tied forever to her identity at a particular moment in the distant past, and that to the extent individuals must forever account for who they were long ago, their individual freedom […]
Header image: KF in Dall-E flyer to amplify the voice of a certain professional ethics perspective on the moral or ethical dimensions of teaching that all too often falls by the wayside in teacher education Chapter 11: Professional Autonomy v Academic Freedom ACADEMIC FREEDOM (cites Petrina 2007) KF: Gradgrindian: From Thomas Gradgrind, a character in […]
Header image: KF in Dall-E https://escholarship.org/uc/item/91d9k96z#main ╬╬ (Apr 2019) ‘Reasserting white power’: behind the psychosis that gave rise to blackface https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/01/reasserting-white-power-behind-the-psychosis-that-gave-rise-to-blackface In his 2006 book Black Like You, Strausbaugh traces the roots of blackface minstrelsy to New York’s Bowery Theatre and young Irish performers darkening their skin in comic imitations of blacks on plantations. The […]
Susser (2022) Data and The Good
Header image: KF in Dall-E https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/index Unless we construct new “sociotechnical imaginaries,” new understandings of the goals and aspirations digital technologies should aim to achieve, the most surveillance studies and privacy scholars can hope to accomplish is a less unjust version of the technology industry’s own vision for the future. Except, perhaps, for some tech […]