IN/OUTPUTS for 14 to 20 November

In/outputs - a taste plate of stuff that’s gone through my feeds this week

• Could Checking Facebook in Class Help Students Focus? Another link from GOOD, this time from the Education section. It shouldn’t come as a shock that technology is being blamed for why children can’t focus for more than about three minutes. That’s why Professor Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences at California State University, Dominguez Hills, is calling for tech breaks during teaching. While Rosen is not overjoyed about the idea, allowing students to check their phones to see who SMSed them or what’s been posted on Facebook helps them refocus. Although, like Liz Dwyer, I just don’t see schools and universities making time in the schedule for this to happen.
  ♺ Liz Dwyer on GOOD, 14 November 2011.
• Star Wars Fans + Carbon Fiber Enthusiasts = Carbon Fiber Stormtroopers A group Star Wars fans and carbon fiber engineering technicians used excess materials from San Diego Composites to create ace replica storm trooper (A New Hope era).
  ♺ Ali Kleiman on Carbon Fiber Blog, 15 November 2011.
• Turn On, Code In, Drop Out: Tech Programmers Don’t Need College Diplomas GOOD‘s Technology section is running a feature on why recruiters shouldn’t be looking for a programers scholarly achievements first. As the authors note,  ”… a Harvard-educated accountant is a lot more likely to be a good hire then a self-taught one. But programming isn’t accounting.” The crux of the argument; in an environment where “Businesses from Fortune 500s to neighborhood bars need a digital presence to compete… just aren’t enough programmers to go around,” so technology hiring practices will have to change. And so they should!
  ♺ Erin Biba and Bobby McKenna on GOOD, 17 November 2011.
• First Spanish CC movie premieres in Spanish cinema: Interferències Add Spanish film Interferències (2011) to the list of feature films available under Creative Commons. The film follows a young activist theater company riding high on the success of their first play, who are struggling to keep their band together as they develop and rehearse a new play about the state of global economics. (Very timely, given the proliferation and frustrations of the Occupy movement). Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike (BY-NC-SA) 3.0 Unported licence, the film was released in the Alexandra Cinemas (map) and Girona Cinemas (map) in Barcelona on 18 November. The same day the first chapter of the film was released online, with subsequent chapters being released until the full feature is available on 20 December. The project was produced by the Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (Observatory on Debt in Globalization) (ODG) and Quepo Foundation in collaboration with 150+ film professionals, audiovisual companies, social organizations and public institutions. Check out the trailer on Vimeo or donate to the project on Verkami crowdfunding platform.
  ♺ Jane Park on Commons News, 18 November 2011.

Still hungry? Grab the In/outputs RSS feed for weekly tasters delivered straight to your reader.