Weeknote 39/2018

Open Thinkering Weeknotes, weeknote, work

This week I’ve been:

  • Sending out Issue #317 of my Thought Shrapnel newsletter. This one was called ‘The Path to better social networks ’. Thanks to those who make Thought Shrapnel possible via their support on Patreon.

  • Working on the MoodleNet project (Mon-Weds):

    • Onboarding Alex Castaño, our new backend developer.
    • Meeting with Outlandish to figure out the next stage of working together on front-end development.
    • Updating the roadmap.
    • Figuring out my travel and accommodation for MozFest and the US MoodleMoot.
    • Setting up the MoodleNet blog so that technical posts have their own category and are kept off the main page.
    • Writing up last week’s front-end development workshop.

  • Recording, editing and releasing Episode 109 of the Today In Digital Education (TIDE) podcast with my co-host Dai Barnes. We entitled this episode ‘Surveillance and social conformity’ and discussed conformity, social media, Personal Learning Networks, Edward Snowden, surveillance, Big Tech, digital assistants, teaching History, and more!

  • Finishing one fiction book and starting a new work of non-fiction I’ve been looking forward to reading:

    • Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
    • New Dark Age: Technology, Knowledge and the End of the Future by James Bridle

  • Curating interesting things I came across on the Thought Shrapnel blog:

    • Why desk jobs are exhausting
    • Microshifts are more effective than epiphanies
    • An incorrect approach to teaching History
    • Cory Doctorow on Big Tech, monopolies, and decentralisation
    • Airbnb wants to give out shares to its superhosts
    • Experimenting with turning on comments for a week

  • Spending Thursday and Friday in the Lake District up mountains to get the experience necessary to get on a Mountain Leader course. Six more days to go!

  • Writing:

    • Some values-based career advice
    • Quality Mountain Day 14: Whiteside Pike, Ancrow Brow, and White Howe (Lake District)
    • Quality Mountain Day 13: Park Fell, High Street, and Ill Bell (Lake District)

Next week, I’m working four days for Moodle (Mon-Thurs). It’s our monthly co-op day on Friday!