Posts Tagged ‘david sable’

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

Reality Bites HARD

Reality bites…hard…very hard.

This time, though, Reality is not relative; it’s not decided by cultural or social norms; it’s not linked to social channels or digital magic….

The Boston Marathon Massacre is a Reality defined by death; murder; terrible human destruction; terror; and at its core – hatred…pure and simple. This Reality bit and it bit very hard.

Yet, make no mistake. This is a Reality that is global – it’s a Generation World phenomena…it’s a Reality we have watched; read about and become inured to…until it bit us…up close and personal…but it’s the same Reality nevertheless.

How many of us have seen or read or heard about or even, sadly, experienced similar events in other parts of the world?

Schoolchildren murdered; wedding revelers maimed; policemen gunned down; holy places destroyed…we shake our heads and wring our hands – if even that…and somehow are thankful we don’t live in those places…until it happens where we are…again…

New York; Oklahoma; Seattle; Los Angeles; London; Paris; Moscow; Madrid – places we don’t associate with terror yet have all been victims – some multiple times.

Baghdad; Mumbai; Karachi; Cairo; Beirut; Jerusalem…these are some of the geographies that trip off our tongues as we deplore terror and its aftermath – but unless we live there or in the region, I’m afraid that our interest level and attention span is short and getting shorter.

Until it happens here – here being wherever we are…and it happens to people like us…close to us…people whom we can relate to in everyday cultural and social terms.

Let’s be clear – whatever makes us uniquely who we are…socially; religiously; nationally…whatever divides us geographically…whatever makes us unique by tradition – can often divide us…sadly…but hate for any of us comes from the same place…Listen:

“Hate is the father of all evil.” – David Gemmell

Evil is a global Reality. It knows no boundaries; respects no laws; is not contained by fences or borderlines; has no prejudice, in that it often attacks its own.

Generation World…an outcome of our digital potential…has also given evil new and richer spawning grounds as our magic gets perverted…think Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars….

The Quest is on…

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

What do you think?

Posted by David on 04/22 at 03:45 PM
Monday, April 8th, 2013

“To be, or not to be…”

“To be, or not to be…”

What the hell kind of question is that?

Poor sentence structure–not clear…to be what?…or not to be what?

No one talks that way, Will! Write it over or you will never get anywhere…don’t worry, we will help you develop it the right way….

Imagine that William Shakespeare had to submit his prose to a new software grading system developed by edX, “that uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written answers, freeing professors for other tasks.”

According to Anant Agarwal, the president of edX (a nonprofit joint venture of Harvard and MIT) and by the way, an electrical engineer, students should not have to wait days or weeks to receive their grades. Instant feedback will help them learn quicker/better, and the ability to submit and resubmit until they get it right makes a powerful tool.

“O Romeo, Romeo!  Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

Romeo? What kind of name is that, Will? And why repeat it? No, no. Keep at it…you will get it right….

Dr. Agarwal was quoted as saying “there is a huge value in learning with instant feedback. Students are telling us they learn much better with instant feedback.”

Yes, and no doubt that is true. Put your hand on a hot stove and the point is made….

And, clearly multiple-choice tests have always been about quick feedback to level set knowledge gains…but getting the facts right does not equate to wisdom.

Nor does having a computer grade essays–which are reflections (or should be) not of knowledge as in facts…but of wisdom…synthesizing facts and a million other variables into something unique and wonderful, and human.

Frankly, I can’t imagine what is more important for a teacher/professor to do than to be individual with every individual–even if it takes time–that’s the point of teaching, no?

Do we want to create generations of homogenized people–who write and think and dream the same way?

Software can be magic, but at the end of the day software is only loops of code and routines that interact with the data it encounters. And the written word is not data–not in that sense.

We are losing perspective here. The beauty of humankind is that we all have that little bit of unpredictability, that edge of what the hell, that carpe diem ability that confounds the best shopping software and drives impulse purchases–not to mention creates Shakespeares and Einsteins and you and me.

Read about edX, see what you think–I find the premise wrong and the output dangerous and counterproductive.

Imagine if your first kiss had been graded on a computer, or your first…you get the point….!

In a “big data” world where more and more tech leaders are calling for more and more human insight, I find this so-called “advance” to be way out of touch.

Listen:

“I would trade all my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.” Steve Jobs

And lucky for us edX never graded Socrates….

“In the beginning….”

God! God…will you ever learn to write?

What do you think?

Posted by David on 04/08 at 06:50 PM
  • You raise many good points, especially about creating a homogenized culture. But the thing I believe is the bigger question doesn't surround the implementation of edX, but deciding whose voice will the voice the algorithm deems "right". It doesn't seem to be a stretch to say that because this program is written by Harvard and MIT, it will a) hold ...
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    Posted by Josh on 2013-04-09 18:23:41
  • Great article. Learning is optimised when conversaitons are started. And had. And software cannot yet create a conversation with nuance, tone, personality (one worth connecting with at any rate). I understand the point of grading but I think grading comes better from a human rather than a benchmarking system. I remember those teachers whom had a big influence upon my life. Not ...
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    Posted by Richard Boland on 2013-04-08 21:43:46
Monday, April 1st, 2013

Does Facebook Know it’s Mobile?

Facebook is a mobile company. Already. FULL STOP. In fact, as much or more so than AT&T or Vodafone or Telefonica or whatever local carrier you use in your country or region. In fact, as much as Google or Microsoft or Samsung or Nokia – only different.

So I am mystified by the digibabble and speculation surrounding a potential Facebook phone – whether a good idea or bad is a secondary issue – and the continued chatter and noise that refuses to acknowledge what is versus the continued hope for what might make money for investors with little or no value for users like you and me.

First and foremost – more photos and status updates are posted to Facebook from mobile sources than from computers – DUH!!! Why is this a surprise? Why is it even written about? If all we did was sit at our desks…think about how boring life and Facebook would be…we are all out and about – restaurants, shows, museums, movies, stores (yes…stores), parks, vacations, sports events, you name it – with our friends, significant others, families – whomever – OF COURSE WE POST…that is the point – NO?

Cell phones began our liberation and smartphones continued our exodus from slavery to freedom. No longer were we chained to cables and no longer were we limited to voice calls.

The carriers were at a loss – they wanted greater value than they could get from a mere pipeline – they wanted to charge premium prices for the data they carried – and while they were the original abolitionists of the tyranny of place – they became complacent…collected fees and engaged in price wars. Meanwhile the Googles and Apples of the world were re-imagining the way we untethered.

Search went local – as did we – and as we go, so goes Facebook and Instagram and just about every other social platform idea you can think of – not to mention those that were created to be obviously walkabout like Foursquare, Waze and OKCupid, which allows people to scout dates based on their location.

Bottom line: Facebook is mobile – as mobile as you and me. What they haven’t figured out is how to charge for it – make money from advertising – create bigger shareholder value…although I’d bet most of us agree that user value is still fairly high….

All of which leads us to the matter of the Facebook phone. WHY? Limit development to one maker of hardware? Limit access to holders of a piece of plastic and metal? CRAZY!

Access is in fact the new ownership – who cares what hardware I have so long as I can access the Facebook platform? Make me better apps, more useful sharing tools and YES, please figure out how to deliver me the right advertising in the right way so you can make some money and continue to develop your platform and not end up charging me for access….

GUYS – follow the content…please – don’t follow the analysts who still don’t get what mobile is….and who only want to drive stock price, not user value…Listen:

“The only reason I made a commercial for American Express was to pay for my American Express bill.” Peter Ustinov

I hope that Facebook doesn’t lose the plot….

What do you think?

Posted by David on 04/01 at 04:14 PM
  • David, totally agree. FB has been late to the game in figuring out that everything is mobile, when I am sitting at my desk it is only another view into my connected world. Until recently FB mobile client did not allow for me to create a group! It said go to a computer...at least that is fixed. I have been using ...
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    Posted by Jacob Ner-David on 2013-04-03 07:21:29