Monthly Archives: May 2011

Metaphor and cultural ‘truth’

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Rob Farrow

In the week that The Guardian reports that the UK is investing in a programme for cyber-defence, The Atlantic carries an article which says that US intelligence services are attempting to analyse the use of metaphor in order to uncover … Continue reading →

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Transhumanist Technologies

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Rob Farrow

Transhumanism is the idea that technology should be used to fundamentally alter the natural physical, cognitive and psychological limitations of human beings and human Being.  DVICE recently published a short list of technologies on the verge of being released that … Continue reading →

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OER: Shared or Exchanged?

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Rob Farrow

There’s an information page on OER at PBworks. I wasn’t sure about this, though: It could be argued that sharing implies an open model (sharing with all) and exchange a community based model which relies on mutual benefits within a … Continue reading →

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Dispelling myths about OER

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Rob Farrow

The JISC open educational resources programme is the largest scale OER initiative in the UK. It’s so big – and involves so many organisations – that the overall aims of the project may not be entirely clear.  Lorna Campbell’s post … Continue reading →

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Debating OER

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Rob Farrow

I’m taking place in a public debate this July about the value and future of Open Educational Resources (OER).  I’ll be taking the ‘anti’ side against Martin Weller, even though we’re both effectively advocates of OER in our day jobs. … Continue reading →

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This Is Your Brain on Art

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Rob Farrow

Why does Ramachandran continuously feel the need to reassure us that we can gain knowledge about art from neuroscience without losing anything? It seems to presuppose, at the very least, that the other option is a possibility, that looking for … Continue reading →

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A Facebook guru’s thoughts on social networking

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Rob Farrow

“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads,” Hammerbacher says. “That sucks.” via This Tech Bubble Is Different – BusinessWeek.

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Taking the pixels: upscaling 8-bit graphics

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Rob Farrow

I am unreasonably excited by the prospect of classic games being given upscaled and given a new lease of life. Check out the research paper for a breakdown of the complicated algorithms that make it happen.  I got lost a … Continue reading →

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Experimental Physics and The Limits Of Human Knowledge

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Rob Farrow

Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director of the CERN nuclear research laboratories, sets out his thoughts on the changing limits of human knowledge in this short article at The European.

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Hello world!

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Rob Farrow

I’m Rob Farrow and this is my blog.  I’m a researcher at the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University.  This blog is a place where I track and comment on news and research, discuss technologies and their use … Continue reading →

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