[Air-L] Lesson plans for teaching for a peaceful, diverse world that is safe for everyone

Brian Butler bsbutler at umd.edu
Thu Nov 10 06:59:55 PST 2016


Cristian,

I agree.

However, while it is true we don't like bad things (and we don't like bad
things more than we like good things) it seems useful to understand very
precisely whether we really believe that magnification of good is "better"
and magnification of bad is "catastrophic".

If there is truly and imbalance, it seems critical that it be taken into
account.
If the imbalance is due to how we experience the good and the bad, then it
is important, but very different
(and important to keep in mind as things change...).

Brian B.



—————————————————————————————————
Brian S. Butler, Ph.D.
Professor and Senior Associate Dean, UMD iSchool
University of Maryland
College Park, MD  USA
—————————————————————————————————

On Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 8:38 AM, Cristian Berrio Zapata <
cristian.berrio at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Brian:
>
> Maybe because technology, as it creates enormous benefits, it also has
> caused very big pains, and I do not like to suffer or watch people
> suffering. Pain always leaves a deeper mark than happiness and satisfaction.
>
>
>
> On the other hand, the savage capitalistic way in which technology has
> been developed in recent decades leaves minimum consideration for anything
> different to earnings... so good effects keep less and less in the center
> of technology development. That is why we are discussing this and the
> origin of our worries, isn’t it?
>
> 2016-11-10 9:27 GMT-03:00 Brian Butler <bsbutler at umd.edu>:
>
>> > I try to te[a][ch this as my believe is that technology acts as a
>> magnifying
>> > lens: good wo[u]ld be better, wrong will be catastrophic.
>>
>> Just out of curiosity: Why the imbalance?
>>
>> Technology magnifies "good" incrementally and it magnified "bad"
>> exponentially?
>>
>> It seems like it would be more helpful to encourage students to think
>> about how technology takes human tendencies and change the world (i.e. good
>> -> better and bad -> worse), not that good is better and bad is
>> fatal/catastrophic/etc.
>>
>> Moreover, given that a key challenge of living in a truly diverse world
>> is coming to consensus on what is "good" and what is "bad", how should we
>> frame these conversations so they are useful/constructive/etc?
>>
>> Brian B.
>>
>> —————————————————————————————————
>> Brian S. Butler, Ph.D.
>> UMD iSchool
>> University of Maryland
>> College Park, MD  USA
>> —————————————————————————————————
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 10, 2016 at 7:20 AM, Cristian Berrio Zapata <
>> cristian.berrio at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Jill:
>>>
>>> I try to tech this as my believe is that technology acts as a magnifying
>>> lens: good wold be better, wrong will be catastrophic.
>>>
>>> I propose you and our colleagues to engage in small videoconferences to
>>> talk to our students around the world. I can arrange some sessions where
>>> you can make a brief intervention to show what is happening in you
>>> region,
>>> and your perspective about it.
>>>
>>> Most of us people, students also, live in our little boxes with our petty
>>> problems, too busy to look ahead the cellphone or Facebook. The global
>>> information society has been used to divide and reign, but not to awake
>>> the
>>> mind of youngsters and take them out of the box.
>>>
>>> I already did this with a professor in the USA and it was a good
>>> experience. Talk to others with video conference or recording a video
>>> message; get students to know each other and talk about what is happening
>>> here in Brazil with the impeachment, in Colombia the plebiscite for
>>> peace,
>>> in UK with brexit, and now with the Trump era in the USA.
>>>
>>> There is the problem of language and translation, time zone differences,
>>> technicalities, but we can solve it all if we join.
>>>
>>> That would be my proposal and invitation. Now, in regard to the topics to
>>> share, I think we can create a webpage, a blog or Facebook group, to get
>>> the topics together. I would help in maintaining it if it helps. Again,
>>> there the language barrier might be a problem so, we have to think how to
>>> use the web's transition in our advantage.
>>>
>>> If you agree, I am open to discuss this via Skype, Facebook, WhatsApp,
>>> Hangouts or Telegram and make a plan.
>>>
>>> Greedy corporate leaders and unscrupulous politicians are already joined
>>> into global networks. We citizen are not. This can be an opportunity.
>>> Thanks for you invitation.
>>>
>>> Em 10 de nov de 2016 7:58 AM, "Jill Walker Rettberg" <
>>> Jill.Walker.Rettberg at uib.no> escreveu:
>>>
>>> > Dear all,
>>> >
>>> > After the US elections I am sure many of us, whereever we live, are
>>> > thinking about how to plan next semester’s teaching so that it helps
>>> equip
>>> > the next generation to deal with an increasingly frightening world.
>>> >
>>> > Within internet research, some obvious topics we can discuss are things
>>> > like polarisation of polticial views, filter bubbles, algorithmic news
>>> > filtering and the increasing spread of fake news. More generally, we
>>> can
>>> > design activities that foster critical thinking, empathy,
>>> understanding of
>>> > people who are not like oneself, and relate this to
>>> > technology/internet/media.
>>> >
>>> > Maybe this would also be a good time to bring discussions of
>>> pre-internet
>>> > media and technology and their role in the years before WW2, or even
>>> > earlier dangerous times, and to compare this to social media etc today?
>>> >
>>> > I don’t yet have very clear ideas about this, but I would love to share
>>> > ideas with other internet researchers who teach and who want to do the
>>> best
>>> > we can in our teaching to counteract the racism, sexism, hatred,
>>> distrust
>>> > of government and of others, and general division that is not only
>>> > affecting the USA but obviously Europe and other parts of the world as
>>> well.
>>> >
>>> > I know many of us already teach these things, but maybe not in as
>>> focused
>>> > a way as I think we may need to do in future? Or maybe the resources
>>> I’m
>>> > longing for already exist?
>>> >
>>> > If you have ideas, please share them! If this is something several of
>>> us
>>> > are interested in, we could set up a syllabus/Google doc / Facebook
>>> group
>>> > or something. I’m thinking case studies with readings and lesson plans
>>> > would be a really useful resource and might be a way we could do some
>>> good
>>> > in all this.
>>> >
>>> > Jill
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Jill Walker Rettberg
>>> > Professor of Digital Culture
>>> > Dept of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies
>>> > University of Bergen
>>> > Postboks 7800
>>> > 5020 Bergen
>>> >
>>> > + 47 55588431
>>> >
>>> > Blog - http://jilltxt.net
>>> > Twitter - http://twitter.com/jilltxt
>>> > My book "Seeing Ourselves Through Technology: How We Use Selfies, Blogs
>>> > and Wearable Devices to See and Shape Ourselves" is out on Palgrave as
>>> an
>>> > open access publication - buy it in print or download it for free!
>>> > http://jilltxt.net/books
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
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>>> >
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>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *Cristian Berrío Zapata*
>



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