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I was in Sri Lanka in June and July, so I stopped by at A. F. Raymond’s to meet an old friend Shannon Raymond. Three books, with a Sri Lankan angle. Shannon recently published a coffee-table book on the Kandy perahera. It’s a visual documentary of dance, hence the title. “Kandy Danced” Shannon vehemently claims, “I am not a photographer!” Yet one day in 2020 he borrowed his brother’s Nikon D850…

Three pieces around the theme, ‘the work of our hands.’ The first, a story from Canada. Johann Xavier, and old friend, now owns a 35 acre farm with maple trees outside of Oakville. At the time of writing he was ‘evaporating’ the maple in his sugar shack. A few days ago he and his family created a network of lines after tapping into the sugar maple trees. The story is so interesting, from a…

I ask this only because I am a photographer, and I find myself not taking the same kind of pictures I used to. One reason is pretty obvious. I rarely use my Nikon now. I use my phone. I know. I know. I never thought that day would come! I am on record saying that a smart phone is a very expensive camera that pretends to be a phone. The ratio of phone calls made to pictures taken is probably…

Spending time in Sri Lanka helped me reconnect with many of my friends in advertising, media and journalism. On this podcast, you will hear about writers I met during a recent visit to Sri Lanka. (Click on the album cover to listen.) I was fortunate to be able to attend the Gratiaen Awards in June because my friend, Lal Medawattegedara’s book, “When Ghosts Die” was shortlisted for an Award. It…

So I wandered around this very spot a few days ago to catch a train to Surrey. I didn’t realize that the Big Brother story I had read five days prior, about Amazon’s involvement with Network Rail in England using CCTV cameras, featured Waterloo station. (This picture appeared in a June 17, 2024 WIRED magazine article I reference for your reading.) I’m not a fan of Amazon for various reasons, but…

I spent some time in Sri Lanka over summer and ran into someone whose company has begun using AI —everyone I met seemed to be in love with OpenAI. Before I could get on my hobby horse about plagiarism and cheap hallucinations he noted that they were very clear about ‘fencing off’ the content they feed the algorithm, so that it won’t run amok. That’s a more sensible approach to have on this…

They don't get on their phones in school, and this is the result - eBooks!

As a new batch of eBooks begin to roll out, the excitement is palpable. A stark historical record of an event largely forgotten. It’s that time of the semester, when my 7th graders begin to write and publish their eBooks. The idea of being a ‘published’ author fires them up. They have stories waiting to take flight, and I see my job as a technology teacher paving the runway. Consider these…

How and why a student newspaper lives amid these 'news deserts.'

Answer me this: QR code or printed menus? The smell of newsprint, or a PDF on your phone? I only ask because I’m conflicted too. I use both. That PDF file on a six-inch screen is annoying to read, but is easily magnified with a two-finger ‘pinch’ of its vector format. A newspaper, however (folded and crumpled and even slightly out of date) still draws me in. I keep old copies of the Wall Street…

Photo by Growtika on Unsplash On a whim, I logged into a site called Air AI, that promised the usual moon and the stars. A call was triggered, and ‘Alex’ called my number. I was expecting to be rid of my cynicism (especially after testing Bard and ChatGPT many months ago.) After all, Air AI is promoted as “the world’s first ever AI that can have full on 10–40 minute long phone calls that sound…

Not to alarm you, but this year the ‘Doomsday Clock’ was forwarded to… 90 seconds from midnight. Ten seconds up since last year. Speaking of timing, in the next eight minutes of your time I will focus on just four topics as we close the year: Newspapers and AI. Writers and page editors of our student newspaper. Focus# 1: News If a newspaper falls in the forest, will anyone read the 12 point…

So I just began testing Bard today. Before I dipped my toes into it, Google hit me with a series of cautionary notes, to set my expectations low. Here’s the first: “I’m Bard, your creative and helpful collaborator. I have limitations and won’t always get it right, but your feedback will help me improve.” Followed by this pop-up about expecting the ‘inaccurate’ and ‘inappropriate.’ So here’s…

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay I was looking for inspiration as to how to get my students to plunge a reader into a story through a character, and I remembered Winston Smith. Perhaps he’s not as famous as, say, Peter Parker. But he’s embroiled in quite a web, don’t you agree? It’s been years since I’ve read (and reread) Nineteen Eighty Four, but there’s an impression of Winston I still…

For now, AI is more hype than substance.

There’s Human Intelligence, and Artificial kind. I wasn’t taken up by the recent bluster about AI which arrived in 2022 all dressed up, but wearing flipflops. Somehow there was a mismatch between its promise and what it delivers. I did give it a try, however. Just like I once wandered into ‘Second Life’ slightly skeptical. Is this real, I wondered. Are we there yet? 1. AI ART – THE LOW-HANGING…

Invasion of privacy takes place every minute of the day, while your phone is lying there. Check those apps. Read the privacy statement. Control. Alt. Delete!

Image, courtesy Michael Geiger on Unsplash Let’s see what you make of this privacy statement. You’ve probably clicked on hundreds of similar ones and never cared to read them. Beware! Many companies count on you doing just that, so they pack all kinds of double-speak into it. You’re basically giving away the farm, and provide them with a legal defense to spy on you. When you visit our websites,…

The disinformation virus, here to stay.

I have to admit, I am a terrible skeptic when it comes to what people share on our networks. I’m especially weary of what sails through WhatsApp. Are you? I belong to just four groups but I bet you subscribe to more. I often delete those memes and videos labeled ‘shared many times.’ Which means I have to either opt out of the network (and miss a grand aunt’s anniversary, and family pudding…

Lessons from podcasting at Benjamin Franklin High School

To cut to the chase – I loved it! Now for the rest of the story. Podcasting is nothing more than a person with a mic and a story well told. But, on a production level, it could get complicated when you add stuff like a ‘DAW’ or a digital audio workstation – a fancy term for a recording and editing software. Or multiple guests. I love the spontaneity of podcasting, letting guests be themselves,…

Mansplaining spinfluencers I know diddly-squat about.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay I may sound like a panjandrum (a word that rear-ended me the other day) because I’m not a huge fan of neologisms. Some of these recent words seem to be arriving by the truckload. It’s one thing to say ‘nonversation’ and ‘hangry’ — at least they mean what they sound like. But when did staycation and mansplaining become OK? Who comes up with this stuff? The…