It's a Curation Nation - Information is Currency

University of Chicago professor and social critic Neil Postman once said, "The challenge of the 21st century is to turn information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom." This prescient analysis was an apt summation of the current state of the internet and social media.  For the blogging world, this flood of information - or "content" - is the life's blood of the network. 

For an excellent analysis and understanding of the world we've created - and what that might mean in a business sense - internet afficionados should read Steve Rosenbaum's inspired and insightful Curation Nation: How to Win in a World Where Consumers are Creators., available on Amazon or its own website.  Rosenbaum offers a historical perspective on the entire idea of "curation," which is basically the filtering and re-packaging of all the noise out on the world wide web. Basically, what I am doing now with this entry and its inherent links is "curation" of information about curation.

Michael Jordan Always Better Than Kobe ... and Everyone Else

With the exit of Dwight Howard from the LA Lakers, it also appears to be the last chance for Kobe Bryant to equal the career titles of the man he's always been compared to - and aspired to be (or surpass). That's the analysis from YahooContributor Lucas Bowen in a great analysis for YahooSports. The reality of Kobe's career is that he never secured a title - or even a playoff berth - without a premier big man in the lane, one who was clearing the way for his outside game. Michael Jordan dominated like no other player ever has or will, and he did it with the likes of Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley. It's simply not a reasonable comparison, Bowen writes, and perhaps the exit of Howard from LA can also clear the way for the exit of Kobe and the end of this tiresome discussion. Michael Jordan will always be the greatest basketball player ever.  And, don't even get me started on Lebron James because in that case, there's only one argument to be made:

Ohio School to Arm Staff

The news reports that an Ohio school district has cleared the way to arming its teaching staff if the individuals have a gun license.  This is not, in my opinion, the correct response to the SandyHook shootings, though clearly that is the impetus. Schools should not seek to arm citizenry, but instead should implement a School Resource Officer program in all schools. The program is "well-regulated" and time tested. Certified law enforcement are trained to shoot in a crisis; the average person is not. More than likely, increased gun presence increases the margin of error, and law enforcement officials I've heard do not support a more armed populace as a safety measure - especially in schools. Granted, there is concern that an SRO is not always present or in the right place, for we know that Columbine High School had an SRO on campus.  But procedures have changed since then.  And, for evidence of a trained professional armed guard being the appropriate response to gun violence, I would point to the armed guard who brought down a shooter at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs in 2007.  In this case, it was a trained security officer who saved the day, not the average citizen.  When the average citizen carries a weapon and responds to "trouble," society is more likely to face a situation like George Zimmerman stupidly and irresponsibly shooting an unarmed man out of fear ... and maybe ill will.  As a final thought, I would offer some insightful commentary from Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing.  It's not specifically about schools - but it says something about arming any citizen with the intent of making the world safer or preventing crimes.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdSGSZfbnA&safe=active

Schools Should Learn from Effective Schools

Granted, there are many problems with simply trying to emulate in one school with a select group of students the same practice, producing the same results, in another entirely different school with a different select group of students.  However, that's not to say we can't learn from success - a point well-made by Greg Anrig - From Health-Care Reform, Lessons for Education Policy.  I don't always agree with Greg, but I like the way he thinks. Interesting findings from a UChicago consortium that studied effective schools:

The consortium identified five key organizational features to advancing student achievement:

• A coherent instructional guidance system, in which the curriculum, study materials, and assessments are coordinated within and across grades with meaningful teacher involvement;

• An effective system to improve professional capacity, including making teachers' classroom work public for examination by colleagues and external consultants, and to enable ongoing support and guidance for teachers;

• Strong parent-community-school ties, with an integrated support network for students;

• A student-centered learning climate that identifies and responds to difficulties any child may be experiencing;

• Leadership focused on cultivating teachers, parents, and community members so that they become invested in sharing overall responsibility for the school's improvement.

There was also research from the National Center for Educational Achievement which offered these common characteristics of successful schools:


The common practices they found in those schools included a high degree of engagement between administrators and teachers in developing and selecting instructional materials, assessments, and pedagogical approaches; embedded time in the workweek for teacher collaboration to improve instruction; an openness among teachers to being observed and advised; close monitoring by administrators and teachers of testing data to identify areas where students needed additional support; and personnel who dedicate time to extensive outreach to parents and coordination with community groups and social-service providers.

Hacking Your Education

The challenges of the 21st century require a new vision and new type of thinking that breaks free of the original models - this is especially true in education.  It's no surprise I am opposed to the rigid K-16 model of education based on "seat time" and the Carnegie unit.  With the rise of MOOCs and concurrent enrollment classes, school systems and communities are starting to see the light and craft innovative approaches to education.  Homeschooling has always bent "the rules," but the Un-schooling model has always fascinated me more.  And this year at the TIE (Tech in Education) Conference in Copper Mountain, Colorado, I learned a great deal more through the story of Logan LaPlante.  Logan's 13-minute TED talk is worth viewing:

Logan was part of a presentation on "Hacking Your Education" presented by Canadian teacher and blogger Michelle Cordy, and that idea has resonated with me ever since.  The idea of "hacking" is not simply limited to nerdy guys spreading computer viruses from their parents' basement. No, not at all. Hacking is about breaking free from the conventions that demand an established path or approach to living and problem solving.  It can be "hacking your life" as a way to be more efficient and - dare I say - happy, or it can be hacking your job or institutions or daily decisions or ... really whatever you want it to be.  In fact, a growing number of people are "hacking their religion" these days, as the rigid institutions of the major religions are leading people to mix-and-match beliefs and describe themselves as "spiritual, but not religious."

A couple of great resources on "hacking your education" are Dale Stephens and Anya Kamenetz, who are innovative writers and thinkers committed to presenting alternatives in a world that is increasingly closing off the traditional pathways to success.  Stephens' book Hacking Your Education should be required reading for everyone who will engage with education institutions in the coming years.  In fact, he reminds of the classic quote from Matt Damon in Good Wil Hunting when the savant janitor schools the Harvard boy, telling him, "You paid $150,000 for an education you could have got for $1.50 in late charges at the local library."  Classic.  And true.  Dale Stephens has established himself with the help of entrepreneur Peter Thiel with the organization and development of a great resource website - UnCollege.  Doing similar work with a comparable message, Kamenetz has been ringing the warning bell for her generation for a few years now since writing Generation Debt.  While that is an interesting, albeit depressing read, I highly recommend her second book, DIY-U: Edu-punks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. 

Regardless of who you are, the idea of education hacking is worth checking out.  It's liberating, and it's the kind of innovation that not only made America strong, but will lead it into the future.

The Sugar Habit - Ditching a Dangerous Routine

I've noted before a desire to eat healthier and promote better nutrition.  In fact, following the information and conclusions of Dr. Robert Lustig, I once posted that "Sugar Is the Devil," and that isn't too far off the truth.  It is a truly harmful component of the average diet, precisely because it is used to such excess. The sad part of America's sugar addiction and consumption is that so much of it is unintentional, as processed food makers have seen fit to slip sugar into nearly everything we eat, from ketchup to bread.  Often this comes in the form of high fructose corn syrup - which has received plenty of bad press over the years, much of it deservingly so.  For a little more information, summing up a lot of the conventional wisdom on sugar, check out Maura Kelly's piece How to Ditch the Sugar Habit, published in the Fitness Magazine on Yahoo Shine.

Kids Menus Are ... Pathetic

"So ... your kids eat that food?"

It's surprising how often we hear that question when discussing a restaurant with people we know.  My wife and I are foodies, and we enjoy good meals at nice restaurants.  And, we spend a lot of time together as a family, which means our kids enjoy good food as well.  Recently, we had a wonderful meal at The Warming Hut in Breckenridge, Colorado where we dined on beef, bison, and lamb sliders, green lip mussels, bison and chorizo chili, and boar sausage.  It was a fabulous meal - which I accompanied with five pours of nice wines for the "Wine Wednesdays" tasting.  On other days we enjoyed calamari, truffle fries, steamed mussels, and more at great places like Modis and Hearthstone, also in Breck.

My kids enjoyed it as well - especially the boar's sausage.  Yet people are surprised that my kids would eat "that food."  As if it is some bizarre concoction of flavors that would gag an eight or eleven-year-old.  Which brings up the issue of the Kids Menu.  You've seen it - it's the same at every restaurant.  There's grilled cheese, pizza, hot dogs, PBJ, chicken tenders, etc.  The food all tastes the same, and it is nothing but starchy and salty.  How someone can justify paying twelve dollars for a PBJ at a nice restaurant is beyond me.  Yet, people do it because they claim "That's all my kids will eat."

Uh, no.

Kids certainly have more limited and distinct tastes than adults.  The subtlety and richness of many spiced and savory foods are sometimes too much for young palates.  However, there is no reason to simply stuff their mouths with mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders just so Mom and Dad can "enjoy" a nice meal.  Kids tastes develop along with their parents, and if kids will "only eat that," it's much more a parenting issue than one of true palates.  

Next Food Network Star - Chris Ousted from Weak Contestant Field

For the show that gave the Food Network Guy Fieri, Arti Party, and Jeff the Sandwich King, this season of the Next Food Network Star is the weakest field of contestants I have ever seen. There are no true "stars" anywhere on this show, and it really makes me wonder about the selection process that led to these contestants. If these are the best potential Food Network Stars, then something is seriously wrong with the screening process.  Were there truly no more interesting, engaging, and skilled chefs and food personalities desiring to be a Food Network Star?  Sad.

This week gave contestants the opportunity to develop their own food products and market them to some "high powered" food executives.  Finally, a show about the contestants' point of view and what they can offer the Food Network.  Granted, there is a "pie guy," a "meat on the side," a "vintage modern," a "southern ... whatever," a "culinary rebel" (again?), and a BBQ guy; but the presence of a truly compelling culinary vision has been lacking among these lightweights and amateurs.  And, that probably led to the elimination of Chris Hodgson - who is a skilled and interesting chef, but really couldn't "sell" to the judges, even though he claims selling food and his food vision is his whole identity.  Chris Hodgson will, thus, return to his successful restaurants - unless he can salvage salvation on Robert Irvine's second chance show. (see below)

The winners for some strange reason this week were Nikki, Russell, and (ugh!) Demaris.  While Nikki still seems to have the most marketable vision with meat-on-the-side, she is still so clearly not-ready-for-prime-time.  Russell is interesting and the bacon candy looked quite tasty - but there is still something so flat about him.  Demaris ... don't get me started.  She is simply "blah," and there is nothing compelling or skilled about her.

As far as the bottom crew is concerned, Chad continues to putter along, but Rodney is simply gross.  His presentation is sloppy and unappetizing - and I am a pie fanatic.  But watching him cook simply repulses me, and his offerings never look at all appealing.  His crass, folksy, loud persona simply adds to the sloppiness of his presentation, and he is not a Food Network Star.  Stacy is really failing on the point of view angle - "Vintage Modern"?  What?  Didn't the "Retro-Rad" girl fail with this last year? And Stacy is simply the mom who has a child with eating conditions, and she runs a restaurant.  So what.

Very unimpressed lately.  Bob Tushmann warned Stacy last week about the dangers of being "too perfect."  Well, he must love this year's crop because they are nowhere near close to perfect.

** SPOILER ALERT

Robert Irvine has screwed up again, and he has some weird fascination with Lovely's mediocre cooking skills that lead to utterly simple and forgettable dishes.  Chris Hodgson took potato chips and re-crafted them into a clever theme of fish-and-chips by creating a soup from the potato and adding some salmon.  Lovely crushed some potato chips and made a crumble.  Lovely did nothing, absolutely nothing with the ingredient.  She is not star quality.  Sorry Chris.

Google Hires People Who Do Stuff

Talent, according to Google, is over-rated.

Recently, I noted how Google is no longer using its brain-teasers or transcripts or GPA to screen candidates because the company - the best of data crunchers - has determined such measures are a complete waste of time.  I was a bit skeptical of completely dismissing those measures - especially the brainteasers questions because I like them - though I appreciated the feedback from Google's head of PR who explained that what really works in finding quality applicants is "asking them what they have done."

In researching another idea about "un-schooling" I ran across references to writer and speaker Tucker Max who has also written about Google's hiring approach in "Don't Look for Talent; Hire People Who Do Things."  Tucker's piece articulates his own experience with the interns and assistants he's used, and he can validate the benefit of hiring people who know how to accomplish something.

So, as I've long noted to my students, people should focus on developing talents rather than simply getting good grades or, worse, following their passion.

Diet Before Exercise

Diet Before Exercise is pretty much the obvious approach for anyone who truly studies health and nutrition. Plenty of people exercise regularly yet seem to never lose those love handles. That's because you can't spot exercise fat away. It's about diet, and more notably about sugar and white carbs. Cutting those out is the key to any and all weight loss. That said, it's the Fourth of July and I'm heading for a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie. Good eats. Stay healthy.

Donate to Wikipedia - It's Fundraising Time

It's fundraising time for Wikipedia. 

This invaluable site used by nearly everyone uses no ads and takes no government money. If you use it, you should support it. The average donation is$30, but any amount helps. A small donation is not too much to ask to maintain a solidly credible and commercial-free source of information.

Can We Have Competency-based Education

As we consider the necessary redesign of schools, specifically less rigidity and more choice in schedules and post-grad and seat time, the issue of competency based education must be a primary consideration.  In "Considering Competency-Based Education" education advocate and author Tom Vander Ark concedes that the "transition will be tough."  This is a complicated issue - for the definition of competency is ambiguous at best.  Students in my English classes may write thirty essays during the year, and while some maintain A's throughout, I would hesitate to argue they are competent - and "done" - after only a few.  Education builds on itself, and there is much to be said for  repetition and practice and expertise.  That said, Tom's points are well taken and should be part of a more efficient system.