2017 week 7 in review

Work

I was in Houston for the EDUCAUSE ELI annual meeting ¹. It was my first time ever attending ELI (or any EDUCAUSE event in person). It’s a really good community, with a nice mix of teaching-types and tech-types.

I presented a poster about our model for communities of practice at the Taylor Institute - I was given a 45 minute poster session, but talked for an hour and a half straight, as people stayed after the session to ask questions. We’re on the right track. Also, lots of similar initiatives happening, with many offering more mature and robust programs (such as the folks at Penn State, the University of Arizona, among others).

PhD

Working on a theme study for my HRI course. I’ve never written one, so it’s been an exploration. Next, prepping a presentation to the research lab.

Also, working with The Boy™ to get a Rapiro robot set up to use as part of a research project. We’ve almost got it running, and then I can try some code to see how it can move, and how the camera could be used.

Read

• Newsblur starred feed items
  • Annalee Newitz: Op-ed: Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto is a political trainwreck
  • Holly Kerr: City of Calgary kicks off innovative initiative at UCalgary’s Taylor Institute
  • Campus Technology: Top Hat Secures $22.5 Million to Challenge College Textbook Industry
  • Audrey Watters: What’s on the Horizon (Still, Again, Always) for Ed-Tech
  • Kin Lane: What Do You Mean When You Say You Are Training A Machine Learning Model?
  • Cyrus Farivar: What could happen if you refuse to unlock your phone at the US border?
  • Valentina Palladino: YouTube, Disney come down hard on PewDiePie after anti-Semitic stunt
  • Beth Mole: Doctors: Lower back pain is like a cold—minor, annoying, and temporary
  • Mark Frauenfelder: A robot that walks like an ostrich designed to “be the standard for legged autonomy”
  • Cory Doctorow: How to legally cross a US (or other) border without surrendering your data and passwords
• Saved links on links.darcynorman.net
  • Sony’s new active learning appliance
• Medium recommended stories via RSS
  • M.G. Siegler: Being Careful About Your Time
  • Quincy Larson: I’ll never bring my phone on an international flight again. Neither should you.
  • Boris Mann: Akasha Cross-post: Planting the tag-flag for Vancouver, Bowen Island, and Canada

Other

Spending a few days in the Convention District of downtown Houston was… interesting. Next to the hotel was Discovery Park, which had an amazing family vibe even late at night. Lots of people just hanging out in the park. Very cool. Also, public art installations, and a skating rink (which was closed, probably because it was like +20ËšC). The Tuesday conference keynote was briefly interrupted by 500 cell phones simultaneously blasting out emergency SMS warning, as 6 tornadoes worked through the Houston area. Crazy. Missed.