Speaking of positive action, have ya'll seen this? http://altmetrics.org/manifesto/
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 8:16 PM, Mel Chua <m...@purdue.edu> wrote: > On Mar 7, 2012 2:36 AM, "Jim Bowring" <bowr...@gmail.com >> Why the closed-minded vitriol about the academy? Positive actions >> are required! >> > > Jim -- I can see how this might not have come through in my original > message on this thread, but I've found that I'm a harsh critic of the > things I love the most. If I didn't have such high regard for the academy > and its power to affect the world, and had no hope or intention of changing > it for the better, I would not be sitting in the ivory tower right now. :) > > As Seb pointed out, identifying the problems in anything is the first step > to improving them; positive actions tend to stem from visions of how > something could be better than it currently is. Since this mailing list > tends to have a lot of academics on it, my writing here tends to be skewed > more towards the "here's what FOSS does right and academia does wrong; > let's transfer goodness in that direction!" theme (perhaps sometimes > unfairly so). > > Conversely, when I'm in a group of mostly-hackers, I tend to talk more > about the things that FOSS is doing wrong and academia is doing right, and > argue that FOSS should adopt those practices. For instance, FOSS projects > tend to have ridiculously high failure-and-dropout rates due to poorly > designed scaffolding (or a lack thereof), and schools are more proactive > about identifying and aiding newcomers who are struggling. I guess I should > say these sorts of things here more as well -- thanks for inadvertently > pointing that out. > > Either way, the first step to change is understanding -- and I think what > Seb and I are trying to do, as relative newcomers to the academic world > (and experienced denizens of the FOSS world) is to understand and make > sense of our new environment -- and part of that is fumbling around and > saying (seemingly) stupid things and learning from how folks respond to > them. The comments on my blog post (http://blog.melchua.com/2012/** > 03/07/foss-thinking-vs-**academic-thinking/#comments<http://blog.melchua.com/2012/03/07/foss-thinking-vs-academic-thinking/#comments>) > have likewise been illuminating food for thought -- I totally didn't expect > this big a reaction, but hey... that's how we learn. > > Ideas for specific positive actions to take are welcome. I mean, I do need > a dissertation someday. :) > > > --Mel > ______________________________**_________________ > tos mailing list > tos@teachingopensource.org > http://lists.**teachingopensource.org/**mailman/listinfo/tos<http://lists.teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos> >
_______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://lists.teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
