Tag: quotes

page 61

Postman and Weingartner were talking about inquiry-based education, and how throwing out the “curriculum” and instead having students ask genuine questions that they would then work to answer together – that this would provide a powerful, relevant, and highly personal experience and a richer education. When I got to page 61, I did a doubletake. Was there a misprint? Did a vandal insert a blank page? No. They left the page blank intentionally – not even a page number – for the readers to add their own questions. It’s a simple technique, but one that profoundly changes the experience of “reading” a book, much as genuine inquiry can profoundly change the experience of “education”.

I added two questions, and asked my 5 year old son to ask a question of his own.

perception and reality

…we do not get our perceptions from the “things” around us. Our perceptions come from us. This does not mean that there is nothing outside of our skins. It does mean that whatever is “out there” can never be known except as it is filtered through a human nervous system. We can never get outside of our own skins. “Reality” is a perception, located somewhere behind the eyes.

– Postman, 1969

This sums up so much of what I’ve been thinking about. And leads to so much more…

Gary Winogrand on Risk Taking

I just read a post on the O'Reilly Digital Media Blog about a prolific photographer named Gary Winogrand. I hadn't heard of him before, but the guy shot well over 300,000 photos during his career, all on film.�

�You don�t learn anything from repeating what you know, in affect, so I keep trying to make (the process) uncertain. The nature of the photographic process – it is about failure. Most everything I do doesn�t quite make it. The failures can be intelligent; nothing ventured nothing gained. Hopefully you�re risking failing every time you make a frame.�

– Gary Winogrand, in an interview with Bill Moyers (1982)

Gary also had an interesting take on the editing process. He would apparently leave film undeveloped for at least a year (or longer) after a shoot, so his editorial decisions weren't clouded by the emotions felt during the shoot. He didn't want to be selecting the best shots while he could still remember any details of doing the actual shoot. That is an amazing level of self restraint, something that is probably much, much harder now in the days of instant digital processing and cataloging.�

I just read a post on the O’Reilly Digital Media Blog about a prolific photographer named Gary Winogrand. I hadn’t heard of him before, but the guy shot well over 300,000 photos during his career, all on film.

“You don’t learn anything from repeating what you know, in affect, so I keep trying to make (the process) uncertain. The nature of the photographic process – it is about failure. Most everything I do doesn’t quite make it. The failures can be intelligent; nothing ventured nothing gained. Hopefully you’re risking failing every time you make a frame.”

– Gary Winogrand, in an interview with Bill Moyers (1982)

Gary also had an interesting take on the editing process. He would apparently leave film undeveloped for at least a year (or longer) after a shoot, so his editorial decisions weren’t clouded by the emotions felt during the shoot. He didn’t want to be selecting the best shots while he could still remember any details of doing the actual shoot. That is an amazing level of self restraint, something that is probably much, much harder now in the days of instant digital processing and cataloging.

QOTD: Adams’ Razor

Scott Adams (you know, the Dilbert guy) just posted his version of Occam’s Razor. Scott’s version goes like this:

The explanation that you believe is correct will always seem simplest to you.

– Scott Adams

Soooo true. It’s a better way of rephrasing the old “when you’ve got a hammer in hand, everything starts to look like nails” thing.

Scott Adams (you know, the Dilbert guy) just posted his version of Occam’s Razor. Scott’s version goes like this:

The explanation that you believe is correct will always seem simplest to you.

– Scott Adams

Soooo true. It’s a better way of rephrasing the old “when you’ve got a hammer in hand, everything starts to look like nails” thing.