{"id":389,"date":"2009-02-24T23:55:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-24T23:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/02\/techy-learning-mindfulness-and-philosophy\/"},"modified":"2009-02-24T23:55:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-24T23:55:00","slug":"techy-learning-mindfulness-and-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2009\/02\/techy-learning-mindfulness-and-philosophy.html","title":{"rendered":"Techy Learning, Mindfulness, and Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of my major projects at The Center for Ethics these days has been coordinating and overseeing wiki learning environments. For those who have never worked in wiki, it\u2019s a bit daunting. But after the steep learning curve faces light up as users begin to see a world of possibilities opening up.<\/p>\n

Slowly but surely we are dumping expensive proprietary software (the most common is Blackboard) in favor of this free and virtually limitless learning environment. It has tremendous potential to bring cutting-edge research and knowledge to anyone, anywhere, so long as they have the internet.<\/p>\n

With the rise of new technologies, however, it pays to take time to weigh the benefits against risks (in this case to time and effort put in). This is not a good application for the casual user, in my opinion, as it requires specialization in coding and understanding of how the internet works. For those with the time to put into it, it\u2019s fantastic. For those who would only use it from time to time \u2013 the frustrations of learning and relearning the basics probably aren\u2019t worth it.<\/p>\n

This week, those interested in the nitty-gritty philosophy of such learning environments can get free access to the journal EPISTEME<\/a>, devoted entirely to wiki.<\/p>\n

~\n
I\u2019m on \u2018Twitter\u2019 now, as you\u2019ll see on the upper right. So far so good. I\u2019m hoping to keep my \u2018tweets\u2019 informative and thoughtful. We\u2019ll see how that goes\u2026<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
~\n
As for other good software\/hardware, I\u2019m not using bubble.us<\/a> much any more (see below), though I may in the future. It\u2019s a bit clunky. Lots of great features, but just not as smooth flowing as one would need for a brainstorming tool (like a really pretty running shoe that weighs eight pounds).\n

My foxit reader<\/a> continues to get much use and is wonderful. For anyone who has to work with lots of .pdf articles it is well worth the registration price.<\/p>\n

A bit of shareware that I love is Natural Voice Reader<\/a>, which I use to read texts to me. Often I skim along on the .pdf or .doc as it reads, other times I have it save to a .wav and put it on my .mp3 player for my next run to the gym.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

~\n
Maintaining mindfulness through this mental minefeild is an ongoing practice. The urge to multi-task, to jump from here to there to there and back and\u2026 Well, you know how it goes. There\u2019s a great article on this from Bodhipaksa at wildmind<\/a>. I love the quote:\n
<\/blockquote>\n

To do two things at once is to do neither (Publilius Syrus)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well. On that sentiment, I\u2019m off to the gym \u2013 but first something to listen to\u2026.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my major projects at The Center for Ethics these days has been coordinating and overseeing wiki learning environments. For those who have never worked in wiki, it\u2019s a bit daunting. But after the steep learning curve faces light up as users begin to see a world of possibilities opening up. Slowly but surely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTechy Learning, Mindfulness, and Philosophy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of my major projects at The Center for Ethics these days has been coordinating and overseeing wiki learning environments. 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