ash

@ashoneil
18 Followers
28 Following
14 Posts
Educator @ University of Windsor
Shameless "social justice warrior"
Enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.
Rest is resistance.

What's your favourite "presentation remote"?

I'm back in the classroom, and my old Kensington PresentAir is not compatible with newer hard/softwares.

Ideally I'd like something rechargable and Bluetooth supported.

I just recently realized that what I truly hate about LLMs is that it devalues language. I love language, I love using it very intentionally, I love how different people wield and work language differently. A well forged phrase can cut right to the soul. Language is literally magic. It can do things where man and machine all fail.

But now with the press of a button you can get sugary pink language goo in any shape you like. And this is sold as an equal replacement to real human language. The insult! The depravity!

I think it might say something about how far language is already devalued. We live in a morass of content marketing and business process documentation and terms and conditions and propaganda and spam. All soulless language that nobody asks for but that people are compelled to create. We can't imagine not creating such language goo. And so we're grateful for the pink goo machine.

You know those stories about how there was once magic in the world but it was lost? This is it. This is how it happens.

When my regional public university is closed-- a likely scenario these days, even after 153 years serving New Hampshire, due to a disgraceful lack of public funding for higher ed-- its gravestone will read:

"Acquiesced To Its Own Defunding"

(Quote from https://tonemadison.com/articles/online-education-is-a-key-part-of-the-uw-systems-austerity-agenda/)

Online education is a key part of the UW System’s austerity agenda

For UW leadership and corporate interests, “distance learning” goes hand-in-hand with cuts to programs and campuses. 

Tone Madison

Lovely article from David Pitawanakwat at UWindsor. I've had many conversations about how the English language does a disservice to some of the work we are trying to do. Like the colonialist language tries to bind us so we cannot move beyond it.

https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2024-06-20/teachings-provide-guidance-living-good-life

Teachings provide guidance to living the good life

<p>Respect is one of the founding principles of Anishnabek culture, says David Pitawanakwat, Indigenous justice co-ordinator at Legal Assistance of Windsor.</p>

Having a great time at (my first) #OER24 in Cork, Ireland. Thank you to my amazing colleague @bonstewart for working on open resources 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion, and giving me an excuse to come back to Ireland ten years after my first visit. And thank you to @nbaker for encouraging my work and supporting this trip!
presenting ‘Just in Time Social Justice’ at #OER24 with my smashing colleague @ashoneil
It's #OEWeek! I am running a workshop tomorrow, for anyone interested: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Vs4J2MyZSIqFzcbBDKr7PQ#/registration
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: The role of 'Open' in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Efforts. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

Open education is a social justice issue. In this session, we will explore how to use our positions of power to open the gates of democracy in our classrooms and disrupt the status quo.

Zoom
@kylemackie unfortunately have to attend online this year, but I can't wait to be back in person in the future!
@copystar oops... can you try now?