Day: May 16, 2017

Perspective(s)

by dougpete, posted in Computers, Education

As a blogger, there is nothing more exciting than writing something that generates a reply or comment from someone who happens to drop by your blog.

That happened recently when I gave some preliminary thoughts about Windows S and I appreciate reading the thoughts/perspectives from those who cared to drop off a thought or two.  Quite frankly, it was very interesting reading on my part and maybe more insightful than my original post.  You can’t ask for more than that.

To be fair, we’re still a way from the release of this product and hardware and software vendors will have a great deal of say as to how this will roll out.

If you’ve got the time, check out the comments.

Embedded in a reply from Cal Armstrong was an eye opener for me.  It took me off into a completely different direction.

The only thing a proprietary store does is ensure a profit-path for Apple/Google/Microsoft and arguably add some convenience in finding them (Tucows had reviews). And in Apple’s case, an opportunity to impose a US cultural perspective.

The bold text above is mine.

As a Canadian, and Ontarian, I did some real thinking over this comment.

I know that many folks, including me, will change their keyboard layout to Canadian and make the default dictionary Canadian.

But, does a keyboard a culture make?

  • Canadian culture is more than a US keyboard with a u added in words like colour.
  • Canadian culture is more than a British dictionary because we have tires and not tyres.

Of course not.  But, seeing things spelled differently over and over again starts to make you think that it’s true.  Ditto for content that you read.  There are always perspective and points of view in writing.

So, if we believe that Canadian culture is important, what are we prepared to do about it?  Will you only use Canadian content material?  Teacher-librarians are wonderful people to have a discussion with about the appropriate selection of learning materials.  Do you put as much thought into the selection of computer material from your device’s store or from wherever you get your resources?  Or, do you just throw up your hands and say “It’s either this or nothing”.

In your classroom, what does it mean to you?

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OTR Links 05/16/2017

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.