Loose Learners Episode 12 Taking a Break
ᴹᵃʳⁱᵃⁿᵃ ᶠᵘⁿᵉˢ (@mdvfunes) on Twitter
john johnston (@johnjohnston) | Twitter
Source for quote Well worth a read!
We returned on October 19th after our summer break. One of us, Mariana, did not just take a break from Loose Learners but also took a break from Twitter and email but not from RSS readers. We spend time talking about the results of this experiment and of the back of that we discuss social media strategies (intentional and zombie like) and alternatives to Twitter from the Indie Web.
We discuss the break in relation to these questions
- Why did you do it?
- How did it go?
- How did it feel?
- What was the result?
- Does Mariana need to “catch up”?
And these lead us off more or less relevant tangents about the value of breaks from social media. Mariana insists that taking enough time to break a habit and learn something new is essential, and we talk about others who disagree or agree. Quite a few internet citizens do this from time to time, some follow a schedule, Doug Belshaw for example. We did not get a chance to play Doug speaking about his own strategies but you can listen the BBC Radio 5 Live ‘Outriders’ podcast, available here [MP3]. Skip to 10:20
We did want to talk about breaks from other digital communication, such as email but we did not have enough time. One notable trend here is this type of away message one of us started to get this summer:
“I am not accessing my emails between 22 June and 10 July. During this time all messages will automatically be deleted.If you would still like me to see your message please resend it after 10 July.”
We had a still web activity on this where in the summer when we asked: Would you dare? Might you be courageous enough to say “I don’t even have an e-mail address. I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages” As Umberto Eco wrote once?
We spent the rest of this episode talking about alternatives to Twitter and how same or different these were in design from it. We talk about Mastodon which we see as similar and potentially too impermanent to publish any meaningful content. We talk about Micro Blog which we both find more courageous in terms of design and possibly offering something that would encourage a different type of interaction if educators were to join it.
We are glad to be back. We return in October on the first Wednesday of the month as usual. We plan to keep going until the end of the year with our Loose Learners show and then review. We welcome any ideas on topics you may want us to cover.
As ever we gave a resounding yes to the core question of your show: Is the internet good or bad for education?
Enjoy.