🙋‍♂️ Ryan Meetup, internet discourse, strict discipline, and more – Of bits and bytes for March 25, 2024
Internet Travels
Of bits and bytes is my weekly round up of interesting links and ideas I discovered on the internet. It is published on Mondays for the previous week
Learn21 is a proud sponsor of Eduk8me and the Of Bits and Bytes newsletter. Read more about their mission at Learn21.
Meeting all of the Ryans
This past Saturday I was in Chicago for my second Ryan Meetup, St. Ryan’s Day, an event where you have to be named Ryan to attend. There is an exception for significant others, as long as they are not named Bryan/Brian. If you are named Bryan/Brian, you’re not allowed in at all. If this sounds strange to you, you might be right, but it is an absolutely surreal experience. Imagine being in a room where you know everyone’s name?
Last September I flew out to LA for my first Ryan Meetup, the Ryan Rave. I left Ohio at 2pm and was back by 1pm the next day. Here’s hoping I can make the next meetup!
The internet has always been this bad
New research shows that the internet hasn’t really changed much over time. Sure, the technologies have changed and how we interact with each other changed, but what we’re saying hasn’t changed much.These are fascinating findings, especially with how we think how the internet has influenced us.
My biggest takeaway is that with the volume of just dreck that I come across on the web, there must be so many good things I am missing. If you find something good, pass it along!
Pain and suffering are crucial for your growth and success.
Apps
Lacros Chrome browser may arrive on Chromebooks very soon. This is the goal of separating the browser from the operating system on Chromebooks, which will allow things like Profiles to work in the browser on a Chromebook.
Pedagogy
Schools in England are adopting enacting super strict discipline h/t – https://archive.ph/pt9Q7. I’m not a fan of laughter being quashed, especially in school settings.
Have grades become the goal of schools?
“teachers meme grading stickers” Sticker for Sale by NGstil | Redbubble
Technology
The alarms have been raised on the amount of screen time young kids are exposed to, so it’s good to see that Gen Z is looking at correcting that with their own kids.
The earlier version of GPT-2 now runs in an Excel spreadsheet.
Privacy has become more and more desirable, and it’s things like hackers being able to read encrypted AI chats that make it even more important.
Tips
Routine can be holding us back. How can we re-frame the commonplace interactions as something exciting and novel?
Pop Culture
Like, where did our use of using, like, in our conversations h/t – https://archive.ph/9lMhI?
Storytelling is one of our most important tools.
Here’s a list of the best American novels.
When you like can’t stop like saying like – Imgflip
Potpourri
I love it when something comes across so fresh and new, and the layout of The HTML Review is great!
Extra Credit
Here are extra links that I found interesting that may or may not be education related or interesting to you and I didn’t want to lose them.
- ASCII art elicits harmful responses from 5 major AI chatbots | Ars Technica
- Google Drive web app is getting a dark themeÂ
By design, the vast majority of Of Bits and Bytes readers never pay anything for the links, commentary, and tips it provides. But you made it all the way to the end of this week’s edition — maybe not for the first time. Want to support more journalism like what you read today? If so, click here.
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and join your fellow educators on the Eduk8me email list!