#BloomScrolling, #Flora, #BloomStrolling
Category Archives: posse
looks like a little library in Naseby Park. I wonder how it is going to cope with the damp climate in Scotland.
Read: Slough House by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚
Best one in the last few I’ve read. Although the back & forth between different fields of action at a cliff hanger is predictably it works. Politically incorrect attitudes from Jackson still funny. More emotion & connection to the characters.
Re: Big Tech & Digital literacy
I just saw What is Digital Literacy? A guest blog from Andy McLaughlin, University of Aberdeen – DigiLearn and a pointer to the discussion on LinkedIn.
But what do we do there – if we go open source or other methods are we giving our young people the skills to enter the workplace .
Ian Gibson
Ian and John, I’d love to hear your take on the idea that Big Tech’s “efficiency agenda” has been the biggest hindrance to digital skill development.
Andy McLaughlin
There is a lot of interesting ideas popping up in the conversation. I joined in, although I don’t really have a clear idea as to where I stand. Quite quickly I reached LinkedIn’s maximum character limit, so though I’d post here and link in there, POSSE style. Here are the rather ragged thoughts I wanted to post:
Of course in Scotland we have access to an Open Source product in the form of WordPress 😉 But I doubt there is much awareness of Open Source generally among my colleagues. As a primary teacher, I need to get my head round hundreds of experiences and outcomes, leaving little time for the reading, never mind the thinking needed in this area.
Open Source is involved in many work places. Some even owned by ‘Big Tech’. Unfortunately Open Source and open technologies (RSS for example) do not have an army of paid and unpaid evangelists in the same way as ‘Big Tech’.
I am not suggesting we should abandon Big Tech, but we should be able to think about the implication
I recently quoted this:
warning parents that although they think they are giving their children access to the internet, they are really giving the internet access to their children.
BBC World Service – The Documentary Podcast, Assignment: Ireland’s phone-free town
Could we replace parents by educators, children by pupils and internet by ‘Big Tech’.
Not sure I fully grok Big Tech’s “efficiency agenda” but to my mind it might be jumping into using tech too far from the base metal? Just a few (20) years ago, I’d start teaching pupils some basic text editing, a wee bit about the difference between bitmap and vector image software before moving on to more complex tools. I think I’d rather see a pupil ‘misusing’ powerPoint or Keynote to make their own creative images than cycling through possibilities in a more sophisticated tool.
I am also open to the idea that a bit of friction in your toolkit might mean to spending a bit more time thinking.
warning parents that although they think they are giving their children access to the internet, they are really giving the internet access to their children.
I’ve not listened to this yet but this jumped out at me.
Read: The Vagrants by Yiyun Li ★★★★☆ delicately written, horrifying account of lives in post Mao (just) China. There are very few moments of hope but my sympathy for the characters ran deep.
#SilentSunday
.
Walk to Greenside: lots of white butterflies, a few orange tips & some peacocks. A large red damselfly or two, first damselflies I’ve seen this year. Everything green has doubled in volume.
Short walk along the pipe track at Strathblane this afternoon. Quite warm and sunny. Lots of Orange Tip butterflies & a few whites around. A few more photos on flickr.
Image Accessibility Creator · Streamlit
Image Accessibility Creator · Streamlit
Impressive ai generated descriptions and alt text from images. I found adding even a one word helped.
Via Doug Belshaw: How to easily generate image descriptions and alt text | Thought Shrapnel
After taking a screenshot I fed it back to the webpage (too tempting) and got:
Image Description: A screenshot of a webpage with the header “asuo-ai-labs.streamlit.app” shown in the top center. The screen is divided into two main sections. On the left, under the heading “Image and Details,” there is a section for uploading an image. A placeholder box labeled “Drag and drop file here” or “Browse files” is visible. Below it, there is a thumbnail of an image labeled “IMG_9865.jpeg” which is 2.8 MB in size. The image thumbnail shows a European Goldfinch perched on a budding branch against a clear blue sky. Below the thumbnail, there is a toggle switch labeled “Add details about the image,” which is turned on. A text box is filled in with the word “Goldfinch.”
On the right side of the webpage, there is a section labeled “Image Description.” Below it, a detailed description of the image is provided, as well as a short alt text. The image description reads: “The image features a European Goldfinch perched on a budding branch against a backdrop of a clear blue sky. The Goldfinch displays vibrant plumage with a distinctive red face, a mix of black and white on its head, a warm beige chest, and brownish wings with yellow accents. The branch, adorned with small, white buds and green leaves, stretches horizontally across the bottom right of the image, while the bird is slightly right of center. The serene sky comprises soft, light blue gradients without any visible clouds.”
The alt-text reads: “European Goldfinch perched on a budding branch against a clear blue sky.”
Alt-Text: Webpage with description and image of a European Goldfinch on a branch against a blue sky.