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History of JavaScript: Browser wars, ECMAScript, Node.js, TypeScript, and React
Valeriii Filatov, PVS-Studio, 2026/07/13

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This is a great overview of the 30 year history of JavaScript, one of the most fundamental innovations underlying web browsers. I remember the early days of Mocha and more or less many of the developments that followed, though I admit some things - like React - weren't really for me. And I never did approve of the renaming to ECMAscript just for copyright reasons. Still, great read.

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The Governance of Belief
Carlo Iacono, Hybrid Horizons, 2026/07/13

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Good article, generally correct, and sufficient to make many people rethink how they come to believe what they believe. Carlo Iacono rests heavily on the need to rely on evidence for belief, which is fair enough, and which to few people do, but there is also room for explanation as to why we arrive at beliefs without evidence, how reliable they are, and what we should do when the evidence is lacking.

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Guidelines for Designing AI Technologies to Support Adult Learning
Jennifer Redding, et al., ACM, 2026/07/10

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This is a comprehensive paper offering 19 'guidelines' for instructional AI systems. I think it may be a popular approach because the overall result is that 'AI should not change anything', exemplified by this sentiment that "instructors... frequently highlighted the alignment of AI tools with their personal instructional approach because using AI tools with contrasting approaches can be a challenge." The tools studied were all 'personal tutoring' tools, and though the authors worked in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework the outcome is still by-the-book 'personalized' instruction.

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A visual introduction to information theory
Henry Pinkard, Laura Waller, arXiv, 2026/07/10

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I learned this stuff in grad school when I was studying Fred Dretske's Knowlegedge And The Flow Of Information and recognizedIt immediately when I later encountered M.G. Moore's theory of transactional distance. It's the foundation of instructivist learning theories. This 'introduction' goes into a lot of detail, but will reward a careful reading. I didn't think information theory is the foundation of knowledge, but it's still useful to know.

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Game Design + Pedagogy + Leadership = Experiential Leadership
Clark Aldrich, 2026/07/10

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Not a bad post drawing similarities between game design, instruction and leadership, all leading toward a concept Clark Aldrich calls 'experiential leadership' (because everyone knows new leadership theories are where the big money is). The best bit is the chart comparing aspects and timelines of the three; it's worth a critical look.

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Thinking Like a Network 2.0
Curtis Ogden, Network Weaver, 2026/07/10

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I've argued at length over the years in favor of network organization of, well, everything. It's important to understand what this entails. This article offers a good list (quoted): adaptability instead of control; contribution before credentials; giving first, not taking; resilience and redundancy instead of rock stardom; diversity and divergence rather than the usual suspects and forced agreement; intricacy and flow, not bottlenecks and hoarding; self-organization and emergence rather than permission and the pursuit of perfection; shift focus from core to the periphery; from working in isolation to working with others and/or out loud; from “Who’s the Leader?” to “We’re the Leaders!" I know, it's a long list, and your internal sense of value resists mightily giving up power, control and wealth. But ask - who made you value these things? How well are they serving you?

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Before you build AI agents, build your company brain first
Amar Dhaliwal, valueIQ's Newsletter, valueIQ, 2026/07/10

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Almost the only resource LinkedIn is showing me these days (as, I think, it tries to make mobile web browsing useless) is some or another claim that your AI model needs structured data (such as semantic graphs or ontologies) in order to work. This article isn't one of the LinkedIn articles (it's an email subscription) but it carries similar advice. I disagree. Yes, you should provide your AI with a lot of context. But the context doesn't need to be structured like computer code.

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EIU Global Liveability Index 2026
Economist, 2026/07/09

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It should always be understood that indicators such as this don't actually measure, they instead promote a specific agenda and then rank accordingly. Such is the case with the Economist's Most Livable Cities index, which includes access to private health care and access to private education as among its desirable features. This link is too the actual report, not the magazine's (paywalled) summary or some other overview.

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Research infrastructure: why confidence, not technology is the real challenge
Sara Moverley, JISC, 2026/07/09

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Good article (and not excessively wordy, which is a treat in the current environment) outlining challenges and trends in research infrastructure procurement. The core challenge isn't technology, it's confidence - how can you make major decisions in such a rapidly changing environment? The trend is toward hybrid infrastructure, allowing partners to opt for capability according to their own current needs. Good link near the end to a resource on mapping federation journeys.

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Poverty of Attention
Ian O'Byrne, Digitally Literate, 2026/07/09

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"Who retains the capacity for independent thought, and who controls the conditions under which others get to. The capacity to think clearly is stratifying by nation, by literacy, by wealth." So writes Ian O'Byrne. He's not wrong, but we need to understand that the answer isn't to go backwards - that takes us to a time when disparities were even worse. Still, the question of who gets to have agency, and ergo the education that makes it possible, is a fundamental social justice question.

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Google NotebookLM's Short Video Overviews turn dense PDFs into 60-second TikToks
BlazeTrends, 2026/07/09

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I'm sure the model is impressive, but this part of the description (not from Google) seems made up: "NotebookLM is directly targeting the visual muscle memory we all built scrolling through Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. The human brain is now highly adapted to absorb 60-second vertical bursts of information. Google simply swapped out the entertainment for your actual class syllabus." Some of us may have become habituated to the form, but there's no evidence of cause and no possibility of adaptation.

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On 'cognitive presence'
Clark, Learnlets, 2026/07/08

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I thought maybe Clark Quinn would sharpen or clarify the concept, but no. Instead, he says that while he likes it, he's worried that executives might not understand it. So he's scoring about for another term. Now I have my issues with the CoI framework it comes from, but this is not one.

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