Text and Hubris

The difference between Apple as an evil empire and Microsoft as an evil empire player is simple. Where Microsoft’s technology was often a cheap imitation of what was already available in superior products, Apple’s technology continues to be solid, forward-thinking, and well designed. The game has changed and advocates of the open Internet as a creative platform need to step up.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Microsoft has changed a lot. I am no longer embarrassed to dual boot and I do find MS Office 2010 to be a fantastic suite of applications. In a lot of ways, Microsoft has done a lot to repair an image that needed it. That impetus for change didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen without an economic incentive. The same is true of Apple. If you want to help stop the proliferation of dumb licenses, help make the competition better. I am not asking you to code. I am not asking you to become a software designer. I am not even asking you to switch operating systems. I am just suggesting you look at the tools available and decide what works the best not just in the short term, but for the long haul. Use the open tools that are available or push your vendors to create standards-compliant products that can compete.

I know it is hard to compete with a free product. Then again, I don’t really think Apple’s iBook Author software is free. It is, potentially, the most expensive software available today. It pre-emptively takes full commercial control of any creative work designed in the software. I keep reading these arguments that try to liken it to a publisher buying a book and sharing the profits. Some point to Amazon’s publishing its restrictions that I would also strongly suggest everyone pay careful attention to. That said, as far as I am aware, Amazon isn’t dictating licensing based on a software package. I am able to create my work using whatever software I see fit. I can then shop my work to other publishers or sell my creation myself. Amazon only cares when they are the method by which I choose to sell, and that (like choosing Apple as a channel) is purely the author’s prerogative. More realistically, Apple’s stance would be like Microsoft demanding the right to sell and publish every commercial novel that was written with MS Word.

Hmmm….on second thought, let’s not give Microsoft any ideas. I am not so sure they have changed that much.

I took my lunch in order to listen to Justin Reich speak at the Berkman Center. He is the author of an upcoming study that examines how the proliferation of open and free educational resources online could affect the educational divide in terms of income equality. Specifically, he looked at wiki creation and use across a variety of schools at different socioeconomic levels. These wikis were then scored against a standardized metric in order to determine their value.

What he determined was not terribly surprising. Schools with a higher socioeconomic demographics made better use of the wiki technology and more directly targeted that use to student achievement and development. Does this mean these free resources are a problem? Absolutely not, and Reich went on in-depth discussing how the data itself raises more questions than answers both in terms of data collection and analysis. One area of particular note was the need for intra-school research where technology use is evaluated in various economic strata within the same school.

What it does indicate is that we can’t simply expect free resources to suddenly be the panacea to a much deeper problem. It also indicates the need, as Reich mentioned, for targeted and developed educational strategies as opposed to a “dump and hope” method. Without a structure to encourage and develop the skills to utilize material presented, those who might benefit the most will simply continue to be left behind.

Child of the ‘net as I am, I was hoping his presentation would already be available from the Berkman Center. Unfortunately, physics and the duties of interns don’t follow the same schedule. That said, there are several incredible talks already available from their archive [ http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive ]. I strongly suggest watching Justin’s talk when it becomes available.

Justin’s blog can be found here: [ http://edtechresearcher.org/ ]. It includes his Wiki Quality Instrument tools used for evaluating educational wikis.

So I have a bit of a confession to make. For all the fantastic literature I have read in my time, I still have a special place in my heart for those old choose-your-own-adventure style books. That’s right! I loved those crazy, stilted stories that paused at random points to give the reader a choice between two similarly misguided options that only slightly make sense in the larger scheme of the plot. As hokey as they were, these little books were more than mere stories. They were mazes of text. I would find one ending only to turn back to the previous “choice” page, carefully indexed by another finger until the very act of reading the book became a feat of manual dexterity. Eventually, I would find my way through all the twists and turns of the story until I knew every option by heart.

I have a reason for sharing this. The Iowa Youth Writing Project along with the generous support of Public Space One is transforming the whole concept of the choose-your-own-adventure novel into a performance workshop for children ages 8-11. You read that right. This is a performance workshop. This means that the kids will not only get to craft the script and the many choices available in the plot, they will also get a chance to perform that script for their friends and family in special culminating event. It almost makes me wish I was a kid again!

I wrote my first choose your own adventure story when I was in the fourth grade which is right in the sweet spot for the ages the IYWP is hoping to help. I remember that I even drew pictures, a practice I studiously avoided due to lack of talent, to help make the text more accessible. It was the first time I was proud of something of something I wrote. I can still remember the strange sense of trepidation I felt when I turned the paper in to the teacher. I still feel it today when I send in a piece to a potential publisher. Unfortunately, she didn’t like the piece nearly as much as I had hoped. She considered it “mere plagiarism” (It wasn’t and that little 4th grader in me still screams at the accusation!) and handed it back without a grade. I remember walking away in a hazy blur as the tears threatened to spill. I was devastated.

Luckily, I had a family there to help nurture my wounded creative spirit and my own stubborn nature to drive me forward. I am pleased to know that, for children in Iowa, that support runs even deeper. Not only can they turn to their family for support but they can also look to organizations like the Iowa Youth Writing Project and Public Space One to inspire and encourage their creativity and their confidence in their own vision and creation. If you have kids in the age range, go sign up! Otherwise, offer the IYWP your support in terms of a donation (all classes are priced as “pay what you can” so your donations help!) or through volunteering.

The choice, as you might have guessed, is yours!

*Note: The book from the image above can (and should) be bought here.

Friends of the Iowa Youth Writing Project

Organizational meeting for Iowa Youth Writing Project volunteers.

Date: Friday, September 23, 2011
Time: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Location: Meeting Room A
Group Name:

Iowa Youth Writing Project

Group Type:

Non-Profit Citizen’s Group

Contact Person: Dora Malech
Contact Address: PO Box 10156
City: Iowa City
State: IA
Zip: 52240
Contact Phone: 319-804-9979
Contact Email: dora@iywp.org

Second Contact Name: michelle@iywp.org
Second Contact Phone: 319-384-2814
Second Contact Email: michelle@iywp.org

This event is open to the public.

Linked from The Iowa City Public Library Event Calendar

Here’s a small hint: if you plan on cheating in a class that I took a few years ago, one in which the teacher was kind enough to want to use one of my responses as an example for future classes, make sure to delete my name from the example when you post it on the cheat site and offer cash. It’s a very sad, and very dead, giveaway.

That was my surprise this evening. I’m still not entirely sure what to do about it. As part of my job hunt process, I have been checking search engine results for a my name. Mostly, I am just curious as to what comes up and it’s always nice to know that my sites are the first sources of information about me. When this little cheat site (which will not be linked to or mentioned here) popped up, I was more than a bit surprised.

It took me a little bit to figure out what happened. Apparently, a bit of reading followed by writing three 150-300 word responses are outside the realm of some students. One sad individual decided to post the entire assignment to the site, examples included, and offered $12 for a word document that evening. It always good to know our student’s are learning.

I really have a problem with this type of cheating, particularly, in a college setting. You’re paying to be there. No one is making you go (If they are, then you flunking out is probably a solid option.). All that this type of cheating does is hurt the overall class. Forget all that “you’re cheating yourself” garbage. To be honest, I don’t care about the cheating student, at all. Anyone who is willing to buy their grade is pretty much beyond hope at this point in time, and maybe a few years in the real world is exactly what they need. I do care that a teacher has to waste time and energy on a nothing assignment. Time and energy that could be better spent on students who are trying and who want to, oh I don’t know, get something from the class.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a name just a random alias on the site. This just happened on March 28, so it is very recent. I think I will at least contact my former professor to let her know what is going on. I’m not sure there’s too much that can be done but at least she’ll be aware and that’s better than nothing. If anyone has suggestions, let me know. I would also like my name off the site, but that too seems to be a trick. I’ll update with anything else that may develop.