I had one of those days. Nothing went wrong, but nothing really went right, either. At work, every 1 task on my to-do list spawned 10 smaller sub-tasks, all vexing. Like finding a weed in a garden—a small looking little guy—and reaching down to pluck it. But instead of coming out cleanly, the roots are part of an underground network that is now disturbed. As you pull up the weed, you pull up three sets of roots that disturb the grass and the flower beds within a three-foot radius. Even when you finally get the weed out of the ground and shake the soil off its roots, you wonder if there are bits left in the ground that will grow other weeds in the future.

Somebody remarked that I describe things very well and make good analogies. That made me feel good.

 

 

This afternoon I received notification that my application was accepted to help crowd-edit Nir Eyal‘s new book, Indistractable. It’s set up as a Google doc, and a bunch of people have access to read and comment on everything from typos to high-level concepts. I’m intrigued by this idea, this crowdsource of edits.

I’ve bought in to a different kind of experiment before, where I paid a small amount to have access and provide feedback on a book while it was being written. I should be receiving a copy of the book once it’s finalized, as well. That experiment isn’t over—the book is still a WIP because the author underestimated the time it takes to write a book—but it’s been an interesting way to experience a book.

I haven’t (yet) read Nir’s first book, Hooked, I’ve read many of his articles on habit-forming technology. I appreciate that he’s taking an opposing approach to a subject that he knows well, arming people against it.

More to come on this.

 

 

In higher ed news, it appears that the Saudi Arabian government is helping their students flee from the US justice system. This is appalling, but I can’t say I’m surprised, based on my experiences working with the Saudi government and its students.

In at least four of the cases, according to the Oregonian‘s reporting, the Saudi government paid the accused students’ bail and legal fees. In the case of Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, a Portland Community College student charged in relation to a hit-and-run that killed 15-year-old Fallon Smart in August 2016, U.S. law enforcement officials also believe the Saudis provided him with a fake passport to escape the country, likely via private plane, two weeks before his trial.

What bothers me more about this story is that I didn’t know about it before today, and I feel like I should have. Made clear in the comments section: “Thank you, IHE for finally covering this story which has been in the news elsewhere since December.”

Obviously, reading higher ed news is not an adequate source of information about higher ed. (Hindsight: DUH.)