Weeknote 05/2015
This week I’m hacking the format of these weekly updates. Bullet points didn’t really cut it last time, and they certainly won’t this week!
Web Literacy Clubs
Work continues apace on Web Literacy Clubs (name TBC). This involves me spending a lot of time in GitHub. I met with Michelle and Lainie this week to discuss whether this was a good idea for those testing the curriculum. The consensus was that we’d be better using the #TeachTheWeb discussion forum for that:
Please do dive into this, even if you’re new to it and/or can’t dedicate much time. We really appreciate the diversity of viewpoints. š
I finished the glossary (for the time being), led a section of the call for testers around co-design, and contributed in a small way to Michelle’s blog post.
I’m planning to run a couple of Web Literacy Clubs. I’ve already organised one to run every other week at North Tyneside CLC with Chris Wilde. This will being on Tuesday 10th February. I’m meeting the Headteacher of my children’s school to see if there’s scope for running one there, too.
Web Literacy Map
I hosted this week’s community call, edited the audio and wrote an overview blog post. We came to a decision about separating out one competency and collapsing two other ones together. Read the post for more details on that.
Given we’re using GitHub for so much stuff at the Mozilla Foundation now, it makes sense to do development work in the Web Literacy Map repository. This now has v1.1 (current) and v1.5 (proposed) sections. We’re tracking changes in the issues section.
Writing
I’ve made an effort so far this year to write a blog post every day. That’s working pretty well so far, as it’s become a habit again!
Web Literacy
In preparation for Ian O’Byrne presenting on the Open Badges community call, I (finally) wrote up our deliverable from the Badge Alliance working group for Digital/Web Literacies. Entitled Considerations when creating a Privacy badge pathway it’s an overview of the process of coming up with the final document.
The other post I wrote on my literaci.es blog was Is grunt ānā click getting in the way of web literacy? This was a reflection on an amazing episode of the 99% Invisible podcast about Doug Englebart and the limitations of making computing devices as simple to use as possible.
Other writing
I’m writing a fair bit about learning pathways at the moment. DMLcentral published my post Learning Pathways: Descriptive or Prescriptive? and I’ve continued to develop a new Webmaker whitepaper on the topic with Karen Smith and Robert Friedman.
Apart from that, I’ve been rather eclectic in my blog posts this week, discussing why you should write your damn book, wondering whether big ideas need big spaces, interviewing Bryan Mathers on visual thinking, creating a mashup visual with a quotation about mythology, and reflecting on the ups and downs of working remotely.
Exercise
I never really talk about this in my weeknotes, but it’s extremely important to my productivity. I’ll talk more about this in #uppingyourgame: a practical guide to personal productivity v2.0 (which now has a contents page!), but daily exercise makes such a difference.
This week I went to the gym on Monday and Thursday, and swimming on Wednesday and Friday. I also went to a pilates class on Monday night and went for a long walk on Tuesday. I also go to the gym on Sundays while my son’s swimming. I lost a stone in weight last year just by doing this – and that wasn’t even my intention!
Miscellaneous
There’s all sorts of other stuff that comes with the territory – responding to emails, commenting on other people’s Google Docs, liaising with other organisations for upcoming projects, commenting on grant proposals, accepting or (more usually) graciously declining invitations to speak at events, etc.
I did enjoy connecting with Valerie Steeves on Wednesday about her academic work and connection to Media Smarts. It was also great to catch up with Martin Waller on Thursday about all sorts of stuff. We’d planned to meet in person, but the uncertainties of the weather (i.e. snow) meant we connected via Skype. I also attended a TTW Talk: Who is Watching You Now – How to be Smart about Data Privacy. It was well-hosted by my colleagues Lucy and Sarah.
Prompted by JP and invited by Adam, I set up a keybase.io account. I think this kind of identity verification is going to be increasingly important. I now have verified accounts on reddit, GitHub, and Twitter – and I’ve verified ownership of dougbelshaw.com.
Finally, Dai Barnes and I are cooking up a not-so-secret plan to host another podcast. We’d be recording this every Sunday night – as we did with EdTechRoundUp back in the day.
Image CC BY LASZLO ILYES
