minimal-viable-learning

Minimal Viable Learning

<https://www.schoolofcommons.org/labs/minimum-viable-learning>
September 2020 - December 2020

__PUBLISH__ Published on the etherdump of Varia: https://etherdump.vvvvvvaria.org/

__LEARNING_TOGETHER__
__PEDAGOGY__
__TOOLS__

- - < Minimalism is for us a departure point to make space for other possible forms of technologically mediated learning. (...) Important for us is to understand how minimal technologies can maximise a learning experience. >

***About this pad***

Welcome to our ***pad*** , aka Etherpad, an open-source, web-based collaborative real-time editor, that allows authors to simultaneously edit a text document, and see all of the participants' edits in real-time. As you may be noticing it also displays each author's text in their own color. Etherpads typically also have a chat box as another form of communication between editors.

In this project we dive into the Etherpad as a learning environment, as a place for collective learning with/from each other. And we ask:

How is (or could) Etherpad be an educational environment?
How could minimal and viable tools shape collective learning?
How could collective learning shape minimal and viable tools?

Unpacking the title ...

Minimal

Minimal computing.
How is the etherpad minimal? And how not?
What is the computational ecological impact of this technologies?

Viable

Viable for collective work.
For Varia, a tool becomes viable if we can work with it collectively.
How is the etherpad a viable tool for being together and learning together? And how not?
On accessibility:

the colour code assigned to authorship may not be readable if one is colour blind; colour schemes can be adjusted to the need though won't solve the issue in the case of achromatopsia (seeing in grayscale);
in case of dyslexia fast moving text while typing, not defining clear breaks or text hierarchy can also exlude people to participate;

Learning

Exploring modes of learning together online.

Hospitallity — how to be a host?
Moderation

COllective Conditions on the Etherpad

We gathered examples of collective usages of the etherpad, how different communities set the conditions, conduct codes, scores and more for collective learning experiences.

***Etherpad instances***

Hosting initiatives

* <https://framapad.org/en/> (Framasoft, FR)
* <https://framapad.org/en/info/> (listing by Framasoft)

Artist-run pads

* <https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/> (Varia, NL)
* <https://altpad.vvvvvvaria.org/> (Varia, NL)
* <https://pad.constantvzw.org/> (Constant, BE)

*

***Etherpad welcome messages/padtiquettes***

-- Varia:

     v _____ v _____    _   _ v _____ v   ____      ____       _      ____
     \| ___"|/ |_ " _| |'| |'| \| ___"|/v | _"\ v v| _"\ vv /"\ v | _"\
      | _|" V | |   /| |_| |\ | _|" R \| |_) |/ \| |_) |/ \/ _ \/ /| | | |
      | |___    /| |\ v| A |v | |___    | _ < I | __/   / ___ \ v| |_| |\
      |_____| v |_|v   |_| |_| |_____|   |_| \_\   |_|    A/_/   \_\ |____/ v
       <<   >> _// \\_ //   \\ <<   >>   //   \\_ ||>>_    \\    >> |||_
       (_V_) (_A_)(_R_) (_I_)(_A_) ("_)(__) (__) (__) (_P_)(_A_)_D_) (__) (__)

Welcome to the etherpad-lite instance hosted by Varia!
You are most welcome to use it but please take note of the following things:

VISIBILITY:
- The pads are not indexed by search engines, but anyone that knows its URL is welcome to read and edit it.

PRIVACY:
- The contents of the pads are not encrypted, meaning that they are not private.
- Anyone with access to the server has the possibility to see the content of your pads.

RETENTION:
- We make our own backups, meaning the the contents of all pads sit on our harddrives potentially indefinitely.
- Because the identity of a pad author cannot be confirmed, we don't respond to pad retrieval requests.

ACCESSIBILITY:
- If you rely on the content of these pads, please remember to make your own backups.
- The availability of the pads is subject to cosmic events, spilled drinks and personal energies.

CODE OF CONDUCT:
- Both the physical and digital spaces of Varia are subject to our Code of Conduct <https://varia.zone/en/pages/code-of-conduct.html>

If you wish to publish a pad to the Varia etherdump <https://etherdump.vvvvvvaria.org/> add the magic word __ PUBLISH __ (remove the spaces between the word and __) to your pad.

-- Wikimedia Etherpad

Welcome to the WMF etherpad installation. Please keep in mind all current as well as past content in any pad is public. Removing content from a pad does not mean it is deleted. Keep in mind as well that there is no guarantee that a pad's contents will always be available. A pad may be corrupted, deleted or similar. Please keep a copy of important data somewhere else as well

-- Puscii Etherpad

Welcome to the PUSCII Pad!
This pad text is synchronized as you type, so that everyone viewing this page sees the same text. This allows you to collaborate seamlessly on documents!
Please note this is a public pad, anyone who knows the name of the pad can join in... do NOT use this for confidential information!
Pads that have not been used for more then 3 months will be deleted.
PUSCII Pad is powered by Etherpad Lite: http://j.mp/ep-lite

-- Riseup Etherpad

This is an etherpad service hosted by Riseup. Riseup provides secure online communication tools for people and groups working for liberatory social change.
Riseup depends on donations from users like you to keep going. Please visit https://riseup.net/donate to contribute.
WARNING: This "pad" is a collaborative document that can be edited by anyone who has the URL. If you use an obvious name for the pad, it could be guessed.
WARNING: This pad will be DELETED if 60 days go by with no edits. There is NO WAY to recover the pad after this happens, so be careful!
If you want a pad to be kept for up to one year (365 days) without edits, append the word "-keep" to the end of the pad name.
If you want a pad to be deleted after one day, append the word "-tmp" to the end of the pad name.
For example:
* https://pad.riseup.net/p/1234-tmp => deleted after 1 day of inactivity
* https://pad.riseup.net/p/1234 => deleted after 60 days of inactivity
* https://pad.riseup.net/p/1234-keep => deleted after 365 days of inactivity
Abusive behavior is not allowed on this service. Please visit https://support.riseup.net to report any problems.

-- Framasoft

(...)
––––– Ce texte est à effacer (après lecture si c’est votre première visite) –––––
**ATTENTION**
CETTE INSTANCE PROPOSE DES PADS À EFFACEMENT AUTOMATIQUE !
VOS PADS SERONT AUTOMATIQUEMENT SUPPRIMÉS AU BOUT DE 24 HEURES SANS ÉDITION !
Si le contenu de votre pad quotidien a été effacé, c'est qu'il n'avait pas été modifié depuis plus de 24 heures consécutives.
(EN translation)
----- This text is to be deleted (after reading it if it is your first visit) -----
**ATTENTION**
THIS INSTANCE OFFERS SELF-ERASING PADS!
YOUR PADS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DELETED AFTER 24 HOURS WITHOUT EDITING!
If the content of your daily pad has been erased, it has not been modified for more than 24 consecutive hours.

-- Data Vis Reading Group https://notes.datawrapper.de/p/bookclub-papers

Hello! This is the #datavisclub. Welcome!
We're now reading...six data vis papers
Blog post that explains everything:
https://blog.datawrapper.de/datavis-papers/
--------------------------
Welcome! Today is the day 🎉
You might wonder: What will happen at 6pm UTC?
(This is the agenda, please don't write in this part, but below. If you have questions, ask them in the chat. Thanks!)
We'll start the session with some intros.
Then we'll take ten minutes for each paper.
We'll work through them in the following order:
(...)
(...)
(...)
That's how it works:
- I (Lisa) will announce when we'll get to the next paper in the chat to the right.
- Then we'll discuss it together.
- The question(s) for each paper is always the same:
- What were your impressions reading this paper? What did you like about it? Did you find something unexpecting in it? How will it prove useful for future visualizations you'll create? Would you recommend reading it, and if so, to who?
- If you feel like it, you can write down your name behind your answer.
- (Please don't paste answers to a paper before we get to it.)
- If you want to react to an answer from someone, you can do so directly below their answer.
- We'll figure it out as we go :)
Afterwards, if you still have time, you can leave your feedback & what book you'd like to read next.
--------------------------
Ground rules:
1. Be supportive. Be curious. Be nice. Consider that nobody knows you besides what you write. Meaning, be extra nice with your words.
1. If you have a question, ask. There are many data vis beginners in this room, so you're not alone with not knowing stuff.
1. Don't delete text from other people, just add.
1. Don't even copy and paste text from other people (since that will seem like you've wrote it), just your own.
--------------------------
Who's here?
It would be great to know who made it here! Please write down your name & Twitter handle, where you live & what you're doing, and why you were interested to read data vis papers. (All of these information are voluntary. You're welcome to participate completely anonymously.)

-- Read & Repair

---------------------------------------------------
A few things you should know about this space:
- The pads are not indexed by search engines, but anyone who knows its URL is welcome to read and edit it. It is indexed on the Varia website here <https://etherdump.vvvvvvaria.org/>
- Varia makes its own backups, meaning the contents of all pads sit on our hard drives potentially indefinitely.
- The availability of the pads is subject to cosmic events, spilled drinks and personal energies.
- Both the physical and digital spaces of Varia are subject to our Code of Conduct <https://varia.zone/en/pages/code-of-conduct.html>
Padtiquette:
» Be supportive. Be curious. Consider that nobody knows you besides what you write. Meaning, be extra nice with your words.
» If you have a question, ask. This is an experiment in reading together from a distance.
» Don't delete text from other people, just add.
---------------------------------------------------

***Indexing - Bridging - Achoring — > Etherdump***

- - listing pads (Etherpump)
  - indexing snippets of pads (Etherstack)
  - or erasing (framasoft 24hour lifetime)

***Embedding Etherpads***

workshop Angeliki & Cristina around the "stream": http://82.199.133.204/files/trz/
https://di.versions.space/ (embedded etherpad as guest book, click on Guided Tours)
https://hub.xpub.nl/networksofcare/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Voice_of_Conduct

***Etherpad Publishing Workflows***

Ethertoff <http://osp.kitchen/tools/ethertoff/> is structured as a wiki where each page constitutes an Etherpad.
Constant's RSS function <http://etherdump.constantvzw.org/recentchanges.rss>
~~Relearn Log <~~ ~~https://vvvvvvaria.org/logs/relearn/log.html~~ > not created through an etherpad

***Etherpad sisters***

- https://textb.org/
- https://github.com/hackmdio/codimd

***Warm-up and Cool down Exercises***

[Note to ourselves: maybe we split between "setting collective conditions" and "writing tools"?]

How long is your pad?
- measuring screen width(s)

Etherpad as a Drawing Space

- use only the space bars to draw something together

- drawing with ascii

- - ,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,-------,
  - | ~ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | [ | ] | <- |
  - |---'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-----|
  - | ->| | " | , | . | P | Y | F | G | C | R | L | / | = | \ |
  - |-----',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--'-----|
  - | Caps | A | O | E | U | I | D | H | T | N | S | - | Enter |
  - |------'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'--------|
  - | | ; | Q | J | K | X | B | M | W | V | Z | |
  - |------,-',--'--,'---'---'---'---'---'---'-,-'---',--,------|
  - | ctrl | | alt | | alt | | ctrl |
  - '------' '-----'--------------------------'------' '------'

Introductions, who's speaking
- (°-°) (°.°) (°o°) (°_°)(°_°>)

Entering and Leaving the pad:
- Greetings
  - saying hi or goodbye in your own language;
  - 🤝
- How to think through gestures instead?

Annotations
- tagging systems using icons
  - 🌱, 🧘🏻‍♂️, 🌍, 🖥️, 🚗, 📞, ☀️, 🤖

- tagging systems using keywords/magic words/spells:
  - collectively decide for a list of words/ shared vocabulary to be used for annotating the text; for example:

- - - Magic Words are used by this collaborative text editor to enact certain commands, for example __PUBLISH__ at the bottom of this pad is indexing it on this page: https://etherdump.vvvvvvaria.org/ They are little spells that can be used anywhere on the pad to indicate how we want to interact with the text. New magic words can be added, used, reused or altered during the reading time.
    - __CHOIR__ We will use this term when something is repeated in our copypasting, instead of adding the text again we can use this magic word to signify our pasting (our voice) in time with anothers pasting (their speech)
    - __CANWEDISCUSS__ If a sentence or paragraph is raising questions or flags, we can use this magic word to take it with us into discussion.
    - __POW__ We can use this term when we think what the author is saying is very powerful, effective and/or affective.

- questions for :
- - do we call them still magic words? or spells?
- - how to deal with the specific meaning of a magic word for one session, in relation to the magic words functioning across the whole etherpump ...

Define a system for agreeing and disagreeing
- - +1
  - -1
  - !!!!!
  - ★ ☆

Defining sections
- *･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
- using white space

Highliting sections
- using font symbols or ascii:

- - * * * * * * * *
  - * new section *
  - * * * * * * * *

Creating Groups
- write down a list of topics and ask participants to add their name under it according to their interests;
  - if the number is uneven across groups negotiate how to make it more even;
- tactics for randomizing group formations:
  - write down the name of the participants and order their names alphabetically accoring to the second letter of their names;
  - ask what is the favorite fruit of the participants; order the fruit alphabetically and cluster the corresponding participants into groups;

Meditation (and making breaks)
- timing the exercises or activities in the etherpad helps participants guide their work process and make breaks accordingly; leave '⏲' notes that guide the timing:

- - ⏲ 5 - 10 min
  - ⏲ we will be back at 11h30 ⏲

- include stretching or breathing exercises in between tasks, this helps remind other of moving their bodies and taking breaks; it is also an oppportunity for sharing knowledge on aerobics, yoga poses, meditation techniques,..

Hosting: how to welcome and invite everyone to participate?
- listening
- writing
- inviting to respond/ participate
- checking in
  - use the chat to ask participants how are they feeling;
  - if the tasks are clear;
  - if adjustments need to be made;
  - check in if any of the participants has disabilities or any conditions;
  - check in if participants can follow the pad in terms of connectivity or underlying network conditions;

Parallel conversations: the pad editor vs the chat;
- define along with the participants what threads to be noted down on the pad and which other to be done over the chat;

Conviviality
- if there is a lunch break in between sessions you can ask participants to share their recipes, funny facts or curiosities around the food they are having. Like sharing a meal or sitting around the same table together.