Productive myopia: Racialized organizations and edtech

This paper reports on a two-year, field-based study set in a charter management organization (CMO-LAX), a not-for-profit educational organization that operates 18 public schools exclusively in the Black and Latinx communities of South and East Los Angeles. At CMO-LAX, the nine-member Data Team pursues the organization's avowed mission of making public schools data-driven, primarily through the aggregation, analysis, and visualization of digital data derived from quotidian educational activities. This paper draws on the theory of racialized organizations to characterize aspects of data-driven management of public education as practiced by CMO-LAX. I explore two examples of how CMO-LAX shapes data to support racial projects: the reconstruction of the figure of chronic truants and the incorporation of this figure in a calculative regime of student accomplishment. Organizational uses of data support a strategy I call productive myopia, a way of pursuing racial projects via seemingly independent, objective quantifications. This strategy allows the organization to claim to mitigate racial projects and, simultaneously, to accommodate them. This paper concludes by arguing for approaches to research and practice that center racial projects, particularly when data-intensive tools and platforms are incorporated into the provision of public goods and services such as education.

The Gnawer of Rocks by L. Flaherty

Flaherty, Louise. The Gnawer of Rocks. Illustrated by Jim Nelson. Inhabit Media, 2017. The Gnawer of Rocks, written by Louise Flaherty and illustrated by Jim Nelson, is based on the author's memories of a story she heard as a child from an Inuk storyteller, Levi Iqalugjuaq, in Nunavut in the 1970s. The book, which feels like an incredible mix of picture book and graphic novel, focuses on a traditional story about a creature called Mangittatuarjuk and two young women who fall into her clutches. Nelson's artwork follows the layout of a comic book, using word balloons and panel captions, which makes for an immersive reading experience following two girls who discover a trail of beautiful rocks outside of camp which lead them from the bright and colourful world of home into the increasingly dark and frightening world of Mangittatuarjuk. The book mixes Inuktitut terms throughout, but does include a glossary at the end. The story does get both gruesome and horrific in the cave of Mangittatuarjuk, but the story, which would be great for older school children, does include a warning in the author's note. A really great introduction to traditional northern Canadian stories, the book includes an introduction for context and acknowledges the original storyteller as well as the reasons for this type of story and its likely role in the lives of children. An excellent read for children who are already comfortable with scary stories. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Kirk MacLeod Kirk MacLeod is the Open Data Team Lead for the Government of Alberta’s Open Government Portal. A Life-Long reader, he moderates two book clubs and is constantly on the lookout for new great books!

Data managers' perspectives on OAIS designated communities and the FAIR principles: mediation, tools and conceptual models

PurposeThis paper presents results of a study on data managers' perspectives on the evolution of Designated Communities and the FAIR Principles using an example of a geological repository.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed 10 semi-structured interviews with data managers at a state geological survey and qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts.FindingsThe Designated Community for a collection in this data repository has evolved from petroleum industry users to include academic researchers and the public. This change was accompanied by significant user interaction changes from in-person, reference interview-style conversations to anonymous digital, automated interactions. The main factors driving these changes were developments in technology which allowed the data managers to shift data discovery and access into the online environment. The online data portal has seen increasing non-expert use, driving the data team to develop additional services for these new communities. Repository data team participants varied in their familiarity with the FAIR Principles and their perceptions of the FAIRness of the data in the repository.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to one organization in the United States. However, the results are applicable to other data environments working through the tensions between high-level global frameworks such as FAIR, and continuing to serve the day-to-day needs of their designated communities. Continued work on how to assess success in this complex space is needed.Originality/valueThis paper lies at the nexus of two digital preservation frameworks and contributes to a limited extant literature providing guidance on implementing the concept of a Designated Community in practice.

The Dream Catcher experiment: blinded analyses failed to detect markers of dreaming consciousness in EEG spectral power

The Dream Catcher test defines the criteria for a genuine discovery of the neural constituents of phenomenal consciousness. Passing the test implies that some patterns of purely brain-based data directly correspond to the subjective features of phenomenal experience, which would help to bridge the explanatory gap between consciousness and brain. Here, we conducted the Dream Catcher test for the first time in a step-wise and simplified form, capturing its core idea. The Dream Catcher experiment involved a Data Team, which measured participants’ brain activity during sleep and collected dream reports, and a blinded Analysis Team, which was challenged to predict, based solely on brain measurements, whether or not a participant had a dream experience. Using a serial-awakening paradigm, the Data Team prepared 54 1-min polysomnograms of non-rapid eye movement sleep—27 of dreamful sleep and 27 of dreamless sleep (three of each condition from each of the nine participants)—redacting from them all associated participant and dream information. The Analysis Team attempted to classify each recording as either dreamless or dreamful using an unsupervised machine learning classifier, based on hypothesis-driven, extracted features of electroencephalography (EEG) spectral power and electrode location. The procedure was repeated over five iterations with a gradual removal of blindness. At no level of blindness did the Analysis Team perform significantly better than chance, suggesting that EEG spectral power could not be utilized to detect signatures specific to phenomenal consciousness in these data. This study marks the first step towards realizing the Dream Catcher test in practice.

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH THAT HARNESSES COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS

Opportunities abound in healthcare and non-healthcare for innovative pedagogy, products, and services to address the growth of the aging population and ageism. ‘Aging-in-place’ homes and healthcare settings, often ill-prepared to meet aging needs, require redesign to incorporate designs that are responsive to an older or disabled person’s needs. This pedagogical approach used interprofessional/cross-disciplinary collaborative learning to incorporate a person-centered approach to developing evidence-based interior design solutions to transform homes, healthcare environments, and communities. This pedagogical collaboration built networks across disciplines, provided a unique learning environment by focusing on student learning through engagement of cross-discipline undergraduate and graduate students and external collaborators (older adults, healthcare systems). All students participated in the live project within and outside of the classroom utilizing print materials, didactic learning, experiential activities, research, technology, site visits, client interviewing, recording data, team meetings, and designing and presenting a solution to a panel of judges. Assessments indicated students’ appreciation of the project for their professional development and an enhanced understanding of teamwork strategies and cross-disciplinary classrooms for interprofessional learning. This pedagogical approach broke down academic silos and deserves more attention in academia to prepare students with the skills to work with an aging population. As the population ages, it is essential that college courses include approaches to decrease ageism and lead to the building of the workforce. Collaborative learning builds the foundation and networks that will help emerging professionals meet the needs of an aging population.

The Dream Catcher experiment: Blinded analyses disconfirm markers of dreaming consciousness in EEG spectral power

The Dream Catcher test defines the criteria for a genuine discovery of the neural constituents of phenomenal consciousness. Passing the test implies that some patterns of purely brain-based data directly correspond to the subjective features of phenomenal experience, which would help to bridge the explanatory gap between consciousness and brain. Here, we conducted the Dream Catcher test for the first time in a graded and simplified form, capturing its core idea. The experiment involved a Data Team, who measured participants’ brain activity during sleep and collected dream reports, and a blinded Analysis Team, who was challenged to predict better than chance, based solely on brain measurements, whether or not a participant had a dream experience. Using a serial-awakening paradigm, the Data Team prepared 54 one-minute polysomnograms of NREM sleep—27 of dreamful sleep (3 from each of the 9 participants) and 27 of dreamless sleep—redacting from them all associated participant and dream information. The Analysis Team attempted to classify each recording as either dreamless or dreamful using an unsupervised machine learning classifier, based on hypothesis-driven, extracted features of EEG spectral power and electrode location. The procedure was repeated over five iterations with a gradual removal of blindness. At no level of blindness did the Analysis Team perform significantly better than chance, suggesting that EEG spectral power does not carry any signatures of phenomenal consciousness. Furthermore, we demonstrate an outright failure to replicate key findings of recently reported correlates of dreaming consciousness.HighlightsThe first reported attempt of the Dream Catcher test.The correlates of conscious experience may not lie in EEG spectral power.Reported markers of NREM dreaming consciousness misperformed in a blinded setting.Those markers also could not be confirmed in an unblinded setting.

What's My Superpower? by A. Johnston

Johnston, Aviaq. What's My Superpower? Illustrated by Tim Mack, Inhabit Media. 2017. Following her debut novel, Those Who Run in the Sky, Johnston and illustrator Tim Mack have put together the delightful story of a young Inuit girl named Nalvana who sees superpowers in all her friends, but isn't sure if she has one of her own. The book has a bright and colourful style highlighting a young girl's world in the Canadian Territories. Following Nelvana through her story, the reader is introduced to her mother, her unnamed (but adorable) dog, her friends and her community. Her infectious smile and positive attitude come through on every page and as she discovers each of her friends’ superpowers, she, and the reader, begin to wonder about her own. The book mixes Inuktitut terms throughout, and includes a glossary at the end. An excellent introduction to a young girl's world in Northern Canada and with a positive message and vibrant illustrations, the book would work well for young schoolchildren as well as those who might be interested in a view of Canada's different communities and questions about their own superpowers. A great read! Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Kirk MacLeod Kirk is the Open Data Team Lead for the Government of Alberta’s Open Government Portal. A Life-Long reader, he moderates two book clubs and is constantly on the lookout for new great books!