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Dangers of tech metaphors in nature
In Metaphors of Ed Tech I suggested that we should approach metaphors drawn from nature with caution, writing: “it is worth emphasising that metaphors drawn from nature are probably the most prevalent, and the most dangerous, of metaphors. Making appeals to what is deemed ‘natural’ and applying it to any form of human endeavour has led to justifications for social Darwinism, misogyny and repression, with the implication that certain states are naturally occurring and therefore inevitable.” But the opposite is also true – we need to be wary of technological metaphors applied to nature. I came to appreciate this because I’ve been reading Merlin Sheldrake’s intriguing overview of fungal life…
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Social media as festive metaphors
I gave the keynote at the Social Media in Higher Education conference on Tuesday. As it was the in the week before the Christmas break, I chose to adapt my social media choices as 70s disco track idea and use festive metaphors. First of all I emphasised the problems with using metaphors, and how festive metaphors can highlight this – not everyone celebrates Christmas, and not everyone celebrates it in the same way. The metaphor can therefore be excluding or get in the way of the point you are trying to make. I hope there was enough social recognition of the metaphors however for them to be meaningful. I wanted…
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Metaphors podcast round-up
As with the previous version of this post, this is just a prompt to round-up recent episodes of the Metaphors of Ed Tech podcast. I haven’t been announcing each podcast episode release, apart from the ones with guests. You can find all the episodes and links to your preferred podcast platform here. In chronological order here are the episodes and some thoughts on them: Jaws and Mudlarks – unsurprisingly the Jaws metaphor from the Metaphors book is one of my favourites. I use the Spielberg film to explore some of the reactions to the pandemic. Those beaches will be open for this weekend. I also talk about the digital mudlarks analogy for educational…
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Metaphors podcast round-up
Because I figure I spam my socials enough with blog posts, I haven’t been announcing each podcast episode release. I’m opting for the mid-spam option then of rounding up some recent episodes in one post, as a reminder that it exists mainly. You can find all the episodes and links to your preferred podcast platform here. In chronological order here are the episodes and some thoughts on them: Why metaphors and ed tech – the intro to the book really, setting out why metaphors are of interest themselves, and why I think they’re useful as a means of framing educational technology. This was before I pilfered the good mic from…
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What’s in a name? Early internet metaphors
My friend and all round good chap, Rajiv Jhangiani, dropped me a message asking for my favourite current metaphor about the web for a talk he is giving. This set me thinking about some of the early labels we used for the internet and the web, and what they tried to convey. If you are old enough, cast your mind back to the late 90s when the web (and wider awareness of the internet more generally) was still new, and we were trying to understand what it was, and what it could do. Metaphors are very powerful in this respect as they provide a bridge from the familiar to the…
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The Metaphors Podcast
The last piece of my online identity revamp has been to explore doing a podcast. Yeah, I know, very late to the game. In 2056 I’ll start my TikTok channel. The truth is, I played a bit with them in the first flush of enthusiasm in the 00s, but they never really took for me. I think we all have the social media form that best suits our preferences or talents. Long form blogging is my thing. Audio wasn’t it for me, mainly because I have a fantastically boring voice. I remember doing media training once and after doing a pretend interview in which I felt I had responded like…
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Metaphors of Ed Tech is out!
My 6th book (yes, we’re keeping count like Tarantino movies) is out now, published by Athabasca University Press. It’s openly licensed, with digital copy free to read (the print version should be available next month). It looks at a range of metaphors relating to educational technology, divided into the following sections: I like to think there’s something in there for everyone, even if you don’t like or agree with all the metaphors. I had three main intentions in writing the book (apart from the ego kick of writing a book): I think it’s a useful book, but hey, don’t take my word for it, look what Mark Brown said: Weller…
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Metaphors of Ed Tech – coming June!
My next book, Metaphors of Ed Tech has got a release date – June 2022 from the awesome Athabasca University Press. It’ll be open access again, CC licensed. It can be seen as a sort of companion piece to 25 Years of Ed Tech, but stands alone. It’s a collection of metaphors about ed tech, but also a plea to reframe how we think about technology in education. It is also, I think, erm, fun. Mainly though it is a vehicle to get Bryan Mathers to draw a Jaws-inspired cover. I love this so much that I have set up a Spreadshirt shop where you can buy mugs and t-shirts…
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Why “Uber for education” metaphors are flawed (and just rubbish)
I blogged last week about the ‘Netflix for learning” metaphors doing the rounds currently. These are just the latest incarnation in the long running analogy [Insert current tech business] for education/learning. It’s so predictable that I created a random generator for it. What follows is an extract from the upcoming Metaphors of Ed Tech book, which sets out why this type of metaphor is both not very useful, and also potentially harmful in developing effective ed tech. _____________________________________________________________ There is a very strange tendency in technology writing to take any successful business and view it as a universal acid that burns through everything. It seems the most accessible metaphor for…
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Metaphor beach – June review
Highlight: As I’ve probably bored you all with mentioning, I wrote a book recently, “Metaphors of Ed Tech“. It’s sort of a companion piece to 25 Years – one is the narrative approach to a subject, the other the metaphorical. I submitted the completed manuscript to Athabasca University Press in February, and it has since gone out for reviews, which all came back favourably. One reviewer commented that it was “a fun and robust read” and the other that it was “a delight to read”. Those are the types of comments for which you would make up false identities to post on Amazon, so it was an unashamed ego boost…
