This is an excellent article that I'd highly recommend for anyone thinking about learning and teaching. Ferrell's key premise is that while disinformation is toxic, more important for our society is the way in which people, collectively, become shaped by how the "public" is represented. 1/9 - ThreadSky

snowdaylearninglab.org • 45 days ago

This is an excellent article that I'd highly recommend for anyone thinking about learning and teaching. Ferrell's key premise is that while disinformation is toxic, more important for our society is the way in which people, collectively, become shaped by how the "public" is represented. 1/9

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snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

"the technologies through which we see the public shape what we think the public is. And that, in turn, shapes how we behave politically." In other words, measures of "the public" are skewed. Answer are what we are "supposed to believe" as Ds/Rs. Poll results in turn reinforces those beliefs. 2/9

snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

My colleague Ioana Literat recently published a book "Not your Parent's Politics" where they explore youth political expression on social media. They highlight the way in which a platforms affordances (what you can do on it) and norms (what people actually do with it) shape the content. 3/9

snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

Visible on this slide, is also the "macro" level systems at play--"the political systems, freedom of expression, polarization, etc." Here is where Ferrell's point about "publics" comes into play. That extra arrow where content in turn shapes norms. 4/9

snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

As a designer, I think about how we can build systems that enable certain actions. As an educational designer, I aim to support new ways of thinking, communicating, or learning. For social media, what designs might disrupt the feedback loop where toxic norms further degrade democratic publics? 5/9

snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

Ferrell notes that there are no, "obvious technical fixes. Any possible solutions involve collective politics in a world where collective politics are only getting harder." In other words, you can't just "teach harder." You can't just educate the individual. 6/9

snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

While I don't have THE answer, I suspect we are often looking for an answer in the wrong place. Rather than assume we can redesign a global communication system to strengthen democratic publics, I suspect we need to attend more explicitly to smaller, more local publics. 7/9

gbottawa.bsky.social•45 days ago

I see the education system as a giant freighter. People in dinghies beside it discuss important ideas and write them on Post-its which get slapped onto the side of the freighter. The freighter smirks as they eventually fall off. Reform may be the wrong verb. The aspirations need to stay grand.

snowdaylearninglab.org•45 days ago

Grand aspirations yes. And we should keep working on big ideas! But big systems don’t turn all at once. Complex systems, like education and societies, change from many small local adjustments. The system change is an emergent phenomenon. We can’t get stuck trying to push the ship to turn it!

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