There was a vision: “The destiny of computers is to become interactive intellectual amplifiers for everyone in the world pervasively networked worldwide”.
In the 70s, Xerox Parc was THE research facility in the United States. Technology such as the graphical user interface, ethernet networking, and the laser printer was created at Xerox Parc.
A couple of the principles Mr. Kay lays out are mindblowing:
Fund people not projects — the scientists find the problems not the funders. So, for many reasons, you have to have the best researchers.
This one was particular mindblowing. Find the best people, and provide the support they need to create great things.
Problem Finding — not just Problem Solving
Progress is made on solving problems, and if you can’t find problems to solve, then you’re not making any progress.
Despite clear advantages to advancing digital literacy, schools often experience considerable roadblocks to implementing digital literacy initiatives. Interestingly, accessibility often isn’t the biggest factor blocking this process—more often than not, it comes down to a teacher’s own comfort with social media. Teachers with little to no training on how to integrate digital literacy exercises into…
Two big updates to Google sheets, the ability to visualize data with machine learning and syncing data in Google Sheets to Google Docs or Google Slides. Machine language charting allows you to ask Google Sheets questions about your data, and let Google Slides figure out the best way to present the information to you. This is…
Summary: Across 33 rich countries, only 5% of the population has high computer-related abilities, and only a third of people can complete medium-complexity tasks. Source: The Distribution of Users’ Computer Skills: Worse Than You Think Also, 26% can’t use a computer AT ALL!!!
Written by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris, The Lost Words is a collection of words related to the natural world that are fading from our children’s minds as the “wild childhood” disappears from western society. Source: The Lost Words What a cool sounding book!
The fundamental tension in UX design is that we don’t know what we don’t know. Assertive Instincts hide these gaps in our understanding. If the are especially assertive they can actually slow down better understanding. The only way forward is to question our assumptions, but this is a hard way to live! If you question…
Pediatricians, psychologists, and neuroscientists warn of potential negative consequences associated with constant mental stimulation as a result of interacting with our devices. Without a screen-free space for my brain to relax, stop firing, and just think, I felt incapable of significant mental processing. I could blame the technology for thwarting my attempts at creative thought,…
