What’s the right balance of generalizable knowledge vs specific, contextual knowledge, how does that vary by type of problem, and who holds generalizable knowledge?
What elements of systems change are achievable at what levels — local, national, regional, global — and how can the right people get a seat at
Part of the problem is metaphor. We’re still importing models from legacy media, even as the technical capabilities of the web expand. The “desktop,” the “page,” the “homepage.” But what if we started from scratch with forces native to the web, such as time, movement, depth, interaction?
The Dandy’s aesthetic ruses reveal the performativity of identity itself, the fiction of race, gender and all other categories. For their final trick, the Black Dandy makes themselves visible but not fully legible. The trickster is unknowable because he is always in disguise.
Which does make me wonder: in the face of narrative abundance, what is the appeal of media? Like, it will still be appealing, I know that, but I’d like to understand how precisely.
"So—there are alternatives everywhere, it seems. The feed may not be inevitable, though it's certainly a convenient linear mode for consumption. The question I'll still be thinking about for some time to come: What's a way to make some of our digital interactions feel less like a river (a list) and more like an inlet or bay? Something bounded and contoured in a spatial way?"
One way I visualize this relationship between the form of traditional UI and the function of AI is through the metaphor of a ‘workbench’. Just as a carpenter's workbench is familiar and purpose-built, providing an organized environment for tools and materials, a well-designed interface can create productive context for AI interactions. Rather than ... See more
Research shows that the practice of looping - of teachers staying with a class of students fore more than one year - has a positive impact on student performance. This pattern exists in sports and music - it should feature more prominently in education more broadly. Finland and Estonia use this practice in their school systems.