Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

One thing I learned as an IT professional is the best way to get folks to pay attention is to break something.

“That person is really great at x” is often not confirmed by observation.

@dragonsidedd Yeah, we didn’t have that problem years ago :)

We are lucky to have an ever expanding data universe and set of tools.

I travel a stretch of road with multiple low-hanging power lines crossing the road. If flying cars must follow existing roads, then I predict lots of power outages along those roads.

@dragonsidedd yeah, that does make me sound like a dualist, doesn’t it!

I’m tooting with a qualitative researcher’s mindset. If I don’t interact with the data myself, then its richness is lost. If we rely on AI to find all of the meanings/ connections and we never look ourselves, then what are we doing at researchers?

Understanding comes from thinking… actively engaging with ideas. AI may be able to replicate it, but it cannot replace it if it’s a human who seeks to understand.

When I started teaching, there were no locks on school doors. What has changed?

RT Tin Foil Awards: It's interesting when people point out that trust in science is declining, then blame it on scientists and not on the people actively sowing the mistrust to sell you snake oil as an alternative.

I followed lots of folks recently. I’m getting lots of posts in my feed showing students in classrooms. I’m off to unfollow.

Imagine education focused by curiosity, questions, problems. If I could change one thing, it’d be that.

If your data can all be presented in pie charts or bar graphs, I gotta think your presentation was not necessary.

Habituation is real. Change up your routine on occasion. (Yes, I realize all brains do not respond in the same way.)

On Identifying Plants & Technology https://hackscience.net/2023/11/14/on-identifying-plants-technology/

A leader says “I’m going to help you improve communication,” but their writing is ungrammatical and they struggle with coherent sentences when answering questions in public. Do you follow their advice?

Why don’t we just call the false positives of false negatives? Isn’t that more clear than type 1 or type 2 errors?

“X is great.” “X is terrible.” You can’t both be right… unless you are using X for different things.

I’ve worked in education long enough that folks complain how terrible schools are when they are young, then complain schools aren’t like they used to be when they are old.

“When you are unsure what you are talking about, just add in a bunch of extra words… preferably buzz words.”

This seems to be the primary lesson taught in “leader school.”

Want to “improve communication?” Maybe begin with answering email conversations that you start, answering your phone, answering questions in meetings.

The best researchers and the best teachers both have the best questions not the best answers.