EdTech Situation Room Episode 155

Welcome to episode 155 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 13, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed YouTube's newly announced terms of service to apparently pave the way for more channel / account takedowns, the latest 2018-19 report "Why Rural Matters," and the importance of addressing the rural/urban political divides which separate many voters in western states like Montana and Oklahoma. The "Long Tail" and the wonderful "Craft With Me" YouTube channel of Gayle Agostinelli was mentioned. The new PBS Frontline special "In the Age of AI," Deepmind AI and its triumph (AlphaStar) over Starcraft 2 world class players, Android users who love the Apple Watch, and Apple's ongoing focus / market differentiation on privacy were discussed. Additional topics included the story of Carson King, College GameDay in Iowa, Venmo, and the raising of $1 million for a local children's hospital overshadowed by racist tweets from the past, as well as articles about the algorithmic darkness of YouTube. Google's forthcoming inclusion of "end of life" date information in ChromeOS settings, Jason's rebuttal to Phil Schiller's (of Apple) public criticisms of Chromebooks, and security articles including discussion of passwords and "security fatigue" and the importance of using a unique password for your Google account were also highlighted. Disinformation research from NPR's Fresh Air program, and resources highlighting both our "age of information disorder) (via @firstdraftnews) and the weaponization of Twitter to counter critics of Saudi Arabia were also discussed. Geeks of the Week included The Noun Project, Andrew Marantz's new book "Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation," First Draft News' Informational Toolbox on Information Disorder, and an alarming video of MIT's Mini-Cheetah's rounded out the show. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.