Dr. Flowers @AlliFlowers@talkedabout.social

If you enjoy someone's post on #Mastodon go ahead and click the star. If someone tells you that's meaningless because there's no #algorithm, ignore them. Sure, boost the post too if you want others to also see the post, but don't think telling someone you like what they posted is somehow unimportant. In real life I don't tell someone, "good job," or "well said," or "I love that," for the sake of some algorithm, I do it because I'm human and they are too. It's fundamental to being truly social.

I wrote this article six months ago, detailing how we are on a disturbing parallel track with #Weimar Germany. The Nazis used #propaganda and conspiracy theories to blame the loss of WWI on “Jews, liberals and communists” who become #scapegoats for a hate cult. Sound familiar?

In 1923, Hitler attempted an insurrection called the Beer Hall Putsch, was sent to a cushy jail for a year, wrote Mein Kampf, and came out even stronger.
https://jimstewartson.substack.com/p/fourth-reich

Trump went from claiming he didn't know who David Duke is to welcoming Nazis with open arms to his home. GOP's silence is predictable. This is who they are.

Join me. Sign up to organize & make sure MAGA/GOP/Trump never win again: https://bit.ly/3hPcCM9

Universal Design is often thought to be a new word for differentiation. UDL has been around for decades, though, and has a different meaning. UDL is based on predictable variation—we are planning to the “edges” in our classrooms. #Differentiation is added after lessons are designed to meet the needs of individual students. They work in concert, but the foundation is #UDL. #edutooter #education #Inclusion

#FediPoll: because of the recent influx of new folks, I‘d like to repeat the "where are you located?" question and see if thing’s have changed. So: where are you?

In the first reply to this I will make another poll specifically asking for US-Americans, don’t worry 😉

Boost this if you like!

Having run my own test mastodon server, I can tell you that boosting is REALLY important. That's how posts propagate between servers that are not federated together.

I may get a bit technical, and it can be hard to describe but it's something like this:

Let's say that you have 2 servers, A and B that are not connected. They have their own federated timelines that is vastly different.

let's assume they have their users @a@A and @b@B that are mutuals. If user @a@A sees something interesting on theirs federated timeline and boosts it, user @b@B will see that on their own home page. But more importantly server B will now know about and download that post, and everyone else on B server will be able to see that post on their own federated timeline!

And that's why you boost, guys! It helps posts to spread.

#FediTips

Wouldn’t you need both? You need to model curation but also have moderation in place that is selective about what outside contacts are allowed in. But I could be wrong. What worked for me as a parent may not be what I would enforce as policy in a K-12 school. As a tech director, I realized that this has to be a community conversation handled by our most skillful educational leaders (not always the person holding institutional authority, like a superintendent or principal/head).

And, that the worst of our fears may happen but is unlikely, making draconian controls unnecessary. You should be prepared to act, but not hold others back in learning and exploration and learning as much as possible through “real life exposure.”

I do endorse a problem-based teaching approach after building a strong foundation.

@AlliFlowers @tedcurran @scerruti

Ted, I’m not sure walled gardens work for young adults or teens. There is something to be said for exposing middle and high school students to the open web, making their work subject to viewing, but having strong moderation in place…so you can use unfortunate occurrences as teachable moments, but not show-stoppers. Otherwise, no one would do anything unless they wanted to get into trouble. :-) For K-5 students, I have no objections. But at some point, young people year to connect with a world outside the one carefully cultivated for them. It is artificial and they know it. Instead, we must model how to best behave and act in the public sphere and invite them to do so with us. @tedcurran @AlliFlowers @scerruti

@scerruti @AlliFlowers Stephen, I’m not sure we can make it safer except by law, and there are many spaces beyond the control of adults in one locale. To motivate children, we first have to teach them how to interact well, build trust, and learn. That is a job, as Dr. Flowers points out, for parents or teachers in loco parentis. A few thoughts that remain true from my perspective: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-loco-parentis_b_771926

@AlliFlowers @scerruti @mguhlin Applying the concept of scaffolding to this issue tells me that they need a safe, supported, non-public space to try, fail, make mistakes, get feedback about those mistakes, and learn-by-doing what works and what doesn't. I had great success introducing juniors and seniors to blogging this way. An authentic intro to copyright issues, digital citizenship, and web tech they wouldn't get otherwise.

Trickle down economics was invented by conservatives in the 1980s to justify massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. It’s been nothing short of a disaster.

At Protests, #Guns Are Doing the Talking

Armed Americans, often pushing a right-wing agenda, are increasingly using open-carry laws to intimidate opponents and shut down debate.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/us/guns-protests-open-carry.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I do not like that this needs to exist, but I'mma boost it until it's not. Do likewise, as you will.

This is very cool.

A new, modernized National Archives Catalog just launched. The new Catalog’s focus on scalability will allow the agency to reach its goal to get 500 million digitized pages in the Catalog by September 2026.

The fully redesigned online public access Catalog makes accessing the agency’s holdings more intuitive for the user and improves the search experience by generating faster results.

https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/ngc-preview

Early in-person voting starts in Georgia today
PLEASE get out there and vote
PLEASE help others to get it done too!
PLEASE support Senator Warnock
LET'S GO!
Here's a resource to find your polling place, check mail-in ballot status and more:
https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/

Future Americans will look back on this as the era when billionaires ruled U.S. elections. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/billionaires-provided-15-percent-funding-midterms