OLDaily
@oldaily.bsky.social
📤 135
📥 1
📝 1533
Trust Requires Change Requires Trust #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78588
Alex Usher tends to write from the government and university administration's point of view, and it makes sense, because that's where the money is.
about 4 hours ago
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Folks have asked me how to find and build community #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78587
I've lost count of how many educators have asked about how to build community over the years.
about 8 hours ago
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52 things I learned in 2025 #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78586
I have to say, I love this format, though it seems like a lot of work. David Hopkins introduces it as follows: "Inspired by Tom Whitwell's annual collection of things learned, here are my '52 things I learned in 2025'.
about 9 hours ago
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The End of Debugging #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78585
OK, this would sound dangerous, right? "I asked Cursor: 'Take this React component, make the rows draggable, persist the order, and generate tests.' It did.
about 9 hours ago
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Autonomy and Interdependence #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78584
This is a long discussion of something I don't think was an issue to begin with, but I could be wrong about that, so I'm passing it along.
1 day ago
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Why RSS matters #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78583
In 1998 or so my website was RSS feed number 31. That's the number it was assigned on the Netscape Netcenter, at the time the only platform for reading RSS feeds, where it sat alongside feeds for things like Wired and Dave Winer.
1 day ago
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The Resonant Computing Manifesto #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78582
This manifesto is based on what the authors call 'resonance'. "It's the experience of encountering something that speaks to our deeper values.
1 day ago
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Twitter.new #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78581
This organization is filing to have the Twitter trademark and logo revoked with the intention of reviving Twitter. You can apply for your (old?) username here. Though one wonders.
1 day ago
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Fake Education Might Be the Best Teacher #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78580
I think there's an interesting proposition in this paper, though implementation may be daunting and expensive and come with a surprise result.
1 day ago
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Towards Critical Artificial Intelligence Literacies #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78579
1 day ago
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Comment #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78578
This is from 2019 but Ethan Mollock posted it today and it's still true.
1 day ago
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Effective harnesses for long-running agents #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78577
So I learned today that if I instruct ChatGPT to 'stop guessing' (*) it gets really snippy and reminds me with every response that it's not guessing.
2 days ago
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They Want to Become Trillionaires – by Destroying the Internet #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78576
Aaron Bastani interviews Cory Doctorow in a video that is essentially a recital of Cory Doctorow's greatest hits.
2 days ago
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The newsroom's AI has an agenda #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78575
2 days ago
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Exclusive: AI critics funded AI coverage at top newsrooms #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78574
2 days ago
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Taking Back Control: Why Digital Sovereignty Matters | Ian O'Byrne #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78573
This article contains another iteration of the argument that 'If the product is free, then you are the product' (it's stated slightly differently in the article).
2 days ago
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They have to be able to talk about us without us #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78569
So I think everything Anil Dash says here is right, but it's wrong.
5 days ago
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First Fish Chronicles: EdTech Companies are Surveillance Companies. (Guest Post by Andrew Liddell) #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78568
6 days ago
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AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78567
I've written articles like this - the ones where I take a pile of notes (like, say, these OLDaily posts) from the last year or so, organize them into themes, and then build a narrative around them.
6 days ago
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The Idealized Mind: From Model-Based Science to Cognitive Science #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78566
This open access book (249 page PDF) has several themes. The main theme (as depicted by the author) is that 'scientific models are idealizations of the world'.
6 days ago
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What does it mean to understand language? #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78565
I have mixed feelings about this paper (17 page PDF).
6 days ago
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The Q, K, V Matrices #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78564
This is a useful reconstruction of the transformer architecture introduced in 2017 describing 'attention' and kicking off what would become the AI revolution stating in 2022.
6 days ago
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Beyond Infographics: How to Use Nano Banana to *Actually* Support Learning #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78563
This is quite a good discussion on how to use Nano Banana to support genuine learning activities.
6 days ago
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James Marriott calls my critique “frustratingly naive.” #olda
ily https://www.downes.ca/post/7
8562 I think this is well stated: "The cognitive impacts of smartphone adoption are documented...
6 days ago
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Solving the Puzzle of Cheating in Video Games #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78561
This article discusses the definition of cheating in video games, and in particular the question of whether it is possible to cheat in a single-player game. I think the considerations also apply to education.
7 days ago
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Take Back Your Feed: A Simple Guide to Getting Started With RSS (Even If Tech Intimidates You) #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78560
If you're reading this on LinkedIn, this article serves as a simple reminder that you don't have to live that way...
7 days ago
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The Memory Paradox: Why Our Brains Need Knowledge in an Age of AI #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78559
7 days ago
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An Issue... #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78558
Following from the 'future of university' posts here yesterday and today, we have this thread beginning with this post: "An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*.
8 days ago
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The résumé is dying, and AI is holding the smoking gun #oldail
y https://www.downes.ca/post/785
57 This is the sort of thing digital badges were supposed to manage, but really, there was never any hope. "Due to AI, the traditional hiring process has become overwhelmed with automated noise...
8 days ago
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I Went All-In on AI. The MIT Study Is Right. #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78556
So let's be clear about what was defined as 'failure' here: "I got the product launched. It worked (but) I needed to make a small change and realized I wasn’t confident I could do it.
8 days ago
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5 tech predictions for 2026 and beyond, according to Amazon CTO Dr. Werner Vogels #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78555
This article is attributed to Amazon's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) which makes it relevant to read. Other than that, it is laughably bad.
8 days ago
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Major AI conference flooded with peer reviews written fully by AI #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78554
8 days ago
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A Critically Informed Conversation with Terry Anderson: Visions on the Next Generation of Online and Distance Education #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78553
8 days ago
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Is the future of education outside universities? #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78552
This article feels a bit overly optimistic, but at the same time I am sympathetic with the core argument, which is that higher education is to be found increasingly outside academic institutions.
8 days ago
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Generative AI has access to a small slice of human knowledge #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78551
OK, to be clear, I don't believe that the author's father's tumour was cured by the traditional herbal concoction he was taking. My feeling is that, if this medicine really cured cancer, we'd know.
8 days ago
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L’IA au cœur du nouvel écosystème de communication #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78549
If you don't speak French you'll want to translate this item, but it's worth the effort. The headline says "AI at the heart of a new communications ecosystem".
9 days ago
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Creating a Github-Based Webpage with AI #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78548
This is an article that is at once practical and that offers food for thought.
9 days ago
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Representational Realism and the Problem of Tacit Belief #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78547
Does it make sense to treat our beliefs as though they were explicitly represented in the brain? Eric Schwitzgebel offers some arguments that show how this leads to confusion.
9 days ago
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The end of pretend – AI and the case for universities of formation #oldail
y https://www.downes.ca/post/785
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9 days ago
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The art of reimagining universities: a vision for higher education #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78545
According to this article, the problem with universities is that they're siloed. "This made sense when knowledge was more stable, and career paths were more predictable.
9 days ago
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Looking for Root Causes is a False Path: A Conversation with David Blank-Edelman #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78544
9 days ago
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The Testing Effect: Why Retrieval Practice is Your Most Powerful Learning Tool #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78543
The problem to my mind with an article like this is that it sets up a straw man in an attempt to bolster (political?) support for one specific practice.
9 days ago
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Goodbye, ivory tower. Hello, inclusive communities #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78542
9 days ago
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Massification and its Unacknowledged Trade-offs | HESA #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78541
Alex Usher gives the idea of 'massification' of university access a light overview, ending with a call to reconsider what we expected to get from it.
9 days ago
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4 ways you can 'role play' with AI #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78540
These are techniques trhat are used in design or development workshops to test ideas, and they can be used as well as a way to approach interacting with AI.
9 days ago
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If You Want Skilled Workers, Stop Treating Them Like They’re Disposable #oldail
y https://www.downes.ca/post/785
39 I rarely agree with Forbes but they're on point here: "Companies that want skilled workers must fund training, reward mentorship, and support education.
9 days ago
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Is language the same as intelligence? The AI industry desperately needs it to be #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78538
13 days ago
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Who's Grading You on Coursera? The Shift from Human Peers to AI #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78537
Coursera has two problems. The first is that its peer assessment system is broken. The second is that it needs to continue to scale and attract investment.
13 days ago
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Alchemy #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78536
13 days ago
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How citizen archivists in South Asia confront the online marginalization of oral cultures and languages #oldaily
https://www.downes.ca/post/78535
One day I will wrestle with the idea of how there can be multiple knowledge communities, but for now, I wish only to emphasizethe need to preserve them.
13 days ago
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