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The Markedness of Identity

//storify.com/francesbell/women-as-marked-form/embed?border=false[View the story “Markedness and Identity” on Storify] This little exchange on Twitter brought to mind a story of when I worked in a Computer Science department. Out of a staff of about 30 academics, there were two women, and women were in a minority in the student group too. I guess that sensitised me…

Blogs- identity balance and meta homes

Since I retired from full-time employment two years ago, I have been planning to revamp my blog to become my personal web site. I have had a quiet time for personal reasons but I am finding the new me and I’m ready to reach out a bit more. One of the things you lose when…

A table of cMOOCs – can you improve this?

During the course of a research study that Jenny Mackness and I are doing, we have been thinking about cMOOCs. What have been the subjects and purposes of the various courses that might style themselves as cMOOCs? Who does cMOOCs and why? It’s difficult to say what a MOOC is – apart from it being a Massive…

Reflection on #fedwiki: Two Tales of Two Forks

Reflection of Fedwiki Happening If you have read my last two posts Dazzled by diversity and Layers of meaning at #Fedwikihappening, you will know that I was one of the privileged people who took part in a Fedwiki Happening, led by Mike Caulfield, and inspired/ supported / birthed by Ward Cunningham. It has been an amazing…

Layers of meaning at #Fedwikihappening

I am taking part in a two week experiment with a federated wiki, and this a good explanation of what it’s about. I don’t really know how I managed to get on board and sometimes feel like I got on the wrong train, and with a forged ticket, but I do know that I am…

Dazzled by Diversity: forking, federation and simulation

This post is an answer-free zone. Sometimes different ideas come to my attention around the same time, and I have a strong feeling that they are connected but I don’t really know how. I think that I will just place them down here side by side and see what connections they spark for me or any readers…

Between Athenians and Visigoths: what lies between polar positions in public discourse online

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (variously attributed – Google it) In his graduation speech, Neil Postman characterised two groups from history, the Athenians and the Visigoths, each of which has since disappeared but has left their mark on subsequent cultures. For…

An Interactive Exploration of the Near Future in Educational Technologies

“The future is there… looking back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we will have become.” ― William Gibson, Pattern Recognition To be read in conjunction with Jenny’s post Higher Education in 2025 Jenny Mackness and I are giving a presentation with this title to Southampton University’s ILIaD Inaugural Conference on 3 November….

Starting Networked Scholarship MOOC #scholar14

I am feeling slightly nervous as I write this post. I have a few other introductory posts to MOOCS that I started and didn’t finish but this one WILL be different. I have enrolled at https://www.canvas.net/courses/networked-scholars , completed my profile, posted my introductory message and had a look at who has joined and why. It’s…

Homophily, Intersectionality and Institutional Cultures as played out on Social Media

This has been a bad week for trust and humanity on the Interwebz. First Kathy Sierra left Twitter for reasons she gives in this article (having already been driven off social media and public engagements in 2007), then Julie Pagano who describes how she became a tech feminist killjoy from working in the tech industry….