Stephen Downes

We have of course completely missed the 31 day October challenge, but no matter, you can pick any starting day you want. This project was prompted for me by a video from the prolific JoseMonkey ("I find people who ask to be found"). It's a short 4 minute tutorial on how to edit the OpenStreetMap (OSM). This service does a lot of things Google Maps doesn't do, including a robust search API that helps people like JoseMonkey find this in the videos people send him. The challenge web page suggests people check the Discourse Thread if they need help, but I didn't really find that helpful; what would be cool is an AI that provides instructions for each day's theme (but not an AI that actually edits the map - this is one of those things I think we need people to do).

I'm really sympathetic with educators' frustrations trying to keep up with rapidly changing AI technology. Some of the recent changes: "OpenAI will retire CustomGPTs at the end of the year. It will also get rid of Prism, their collaborative writing interface for scientists... they've changed the interface and hidden features like Study Mode that were once prominent via a drop-down menus." There's a digression in the article to explain AI agents and to recommend Han Lee's explainer, It's a-Me, Agentic AI. Marc Watkins has an agent "curate a newsletter, emphasizing what stories matter, how they're connected, and how I might bring these into the classroom." Again, I don't rely on AI for any of this, depending instead on my own hard-earned pattern recognition skills to find and filter sources. It's a choice each person must make for themselves. 

Ajay Chavda has developed a lot of commercial websites using WordPress but in this article he reports that he is moving on. The article as a whole is a list of WordPress's weaknesses and failings. I can relate, having done my own share of WordPress dev over the last few years. Some of the issues are minor, but some would require a major revision. Turning off the advertising in the admin interface is easy. Sandboxing plugins, on th other hand, isn't something you just do overnight. I agree with the the users who hate the Gutenberg content editor. Chavda is moving to Hatamoto (and this post is on the Hatamoto website, so take it with a grain of salt) but I think a lot of people are looking at Ghost as an option.

This post introduces Wednesday's #LTHEchat on Bluesky (which I assume is a series of posts using the hashtag, like the old Twitter Chats). But it's also a good discussion of inclusive communities of practice (ICoP) or Inclusive Collaborative Practice (ICP). "We define ICP as the intentional process of working with others in ways that value diverse perspectives, distribute opportunities fairly, and create environments where everyone can contribute, belong, and thrive." Obviously (to me, at least) this matters any time you're working in an international or multicultural context, which is most of the time, and also takes into account differences and preferences in communication and other elements of interaction.

According to this short item, "Students can now access hundreds of textbooks from providers in the U.S. and India including OpenStax, Open Textbook Library, and S Chand Publishing, right in Gemini Notebook at no charge." I tested it (illustrated) and it does indeed work (you can also import commercial books into your Notebook at a charge). There are more providers than just those listed; I saw eCampus Ontario in the results, for example. What I wonder is whether any money is passing from Google to the providers of these open textbooks. Via Mark Oehlert.

I like this, and would add that it applies to more than just the architectural profession. As in so many others, this field has created a 'hero' mythology that defines our creations as 'statements' with our name on them, according to this article. But this mythology is now dead, and maybe we should think of the architect (or any professional) as someone who 'reads the room', identifies what's of value and what's important, and sets the stage for the emergence of creative ideas and practical solutions, no matter where they come from. Via Mark Oehlert, who comments, "we need to be focused on recapturing the time and cycles that AI will inevitably free up and figuring out how move up the value chain."