Scottish Government Library Information Literacy newsfeeds

‘My whole world was falling apart’: Father of teenager prosecuted for neo-Nazi terror offences...

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 20:01:36 +0100

...16-year-old son Tom* were about to fly out of the UK to a family funeral when they heard their names being read out over the ... the Terrorism Act.”The power is used at UK borders to stop people entering or leaving the country, and “determine whether...

Parents must alert police to terrorist-sympathising children if they don’t want them to be...

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 18:49:02 +0100

Around 13 per cent of terror suspects arrested in the UK are now under the age of 18, and the majority of those are linked ... passed on to other services, such as education, housing and mental health, for alternative support.A further 23 per cent...

Vulnerable groups are right to be nervous about the end of shielding

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 12:51:44 +0100

...anything beyond sighing with relief that the education and future of its children was no longer to be in the hands of Gavin... I have spoken to Scope, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Disability Rights UK about this. They are all unhappy. No wonder...

Heidegger (1889 - 1976) on teaching and learning

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 11:57:32 +0100

Heidegger is not a learning theorist, he is a philosopher and his thoughts on teaching and learning are largely found in his philosophical work, although within this he does have more precise thoughts on teaching and learning. Despite his membership of the Nazi Party, announced in his inaugral address in 1929, when he succeeded his teacher Husserl, he then went on to exclude Jewish faculty members, including Husserl, he remains a hugely influential thinker. Another idiosyncrasy was his secret affair with Hannah Ardent, a Jewish student 17 years his junior, who went on to be one of the most important political theorists of the 20th C.

Despite this, his break with the Western tradition of metaphysics is what attracted him to the critical theory movement, through to post-structuralism, with his recentering or grounding of human experience in being, not the metaphysical systems of Western thought.

Dasein

In his great work Being and Time (1927), Dasein is a being-in-the-world, not like the Cartesian ego, self or subject but within a process of being. Thinking and learning are just ways of being or engaging with the world. One must also react to and engage with the world. It follows that learning is a form of caring about (besorgen) the world, so not just thinking but interest in what is being learned. It is only if one cares that one learns, going forward to inquire and get involved with learning about the world. In this sense, he puts more emphasis on what is often called the affective side of learning.

One is thrown forward in life, with what one wants to be, one’s future potentialities and abilities to be, drive one forward. Learners and teachers must be seen as being in the world, not subjects that have to learn about the world. One must interpret learners as first attuning through being attracted, vaguely interested or bored; then see language or discourse as the shared form of being; these lead towards goals in life that come through learning.

Teaching and learning

In What is thinking? (1954) teaching, learners and learning are seen within the context of deeper more authentic thinking. To teach or learn is to avoid the superficialities of ordinary thinking. He takes the case of a cabinet-maker apprentice, who more than just learns how to use the tools. One must find the essence of the process in the activities and the essence of the wood itself.

He takes this insight to reflect on the relationship between the teacher, learner and learning. In a wonderfully intense passage he explains why teaching is harder than learning, as the teacher must not be the presenter of knowledge, a didact or pedagogue, but let the learner learn. Teaching is an exalted matter and not to be confused with titles, such as Professor.

Learning is far more than basic accumulation of knowledge and practice, more than even doing. The learner must respond and relate to the deeper effects of the craft. Using a hammer ‘ready-to-hand’ does not involve consciousness in any rational sense, which may even hamper its use. It is a deeper engagement with the project.

Technology

In a typically Hedeggerian analysis, there is far more to technology than any instrumental theory. Technology marks this era, as the last in metaphysical thinking, with technology replacing previous systems of belief. There is an ‘enframing’ with technology put into a ‘standing reserve’, in advance of consumption. In that respect it is similar to the Nietzschean analysis of the world having cleaved into the lived world and something metaphysically separate. He sees technology, as a system, like a metaphysical system, that distorts our thinking and actions. However, he avoids any trite dismissal or negativity around technology, as it is also a prelude to thinking more authentically.

Influence

Heidegger (along with Nietzsche) are two huge existentialist influences on post-structuralists such as Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard. Derrida, in particular, rejects but builds on Heidegger for his deconstructive approach to texts. That is not to say that the influence was entirely fruitful. Hedegger’s rejection of the language of Western philosophy - the subject, object, act and content - for the language of being (Sein) which is prior to the oppositional systems of appearance and reality, also led to the fragmentation, invention and playfulness with language that took these theorists, not only further away from philosophy but also any semblance of relevance or usefulness for teachers and learners. The dissolution of human nature in favour of just being-in-the world or feelings has led to de-anchoring that leaves many stranded in personal resentment.

Bibliography

Heidegger, M., Macquarrie, J. and Robinson, E., 1962. Being and time.

Blake, N., Smeyers, P., Smith, R.D. and Standish, P. eds., 2008. The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of education (Vol. 6). John Wiley & Sons.

Heidegger, M. and Krell, D.F., 1980. Basic writings–nine key essays, plus the introduction to being and time. Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie, 42(1).

GB News Claims 'Demonstrably Untrue Remarks' Were Made About Troubled Station On Question Time

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 10:51:58 +0100

...News”.Question Time also saw shadow education secretary Kate Green MP also airing her views on GB News, commenting: ’We... ”The BBC declined to comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.Andrew Neil’s exit from the station this week followed much...

Be tolerant of everyone’s decision on jabs for children, expert urges parents

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 10:17:19 +0100

...children are eligible for the jab across the UK after the chief medical officers of the four nations advised younger... But they suggested that wider issues, such as disruption to education, should be taken into consideration and examined by...

Are the Wombles really the best children’s characters to tackle the climate crisis?

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 06:15:05 +0100

...towards blaming individual citizens marks the UK government as deceptive and untrustworthy on this most important topic,”... But Steinberger remains concerned about the general approach to climate education, saying children of all ages should be...

Grief runs deep in Musa Qala as Taliban victory brings weary relief

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 05:00:04 +0100

...allowing girls a primary education, and women working in health and education to keep their jobs.But from Musa Qala these ... than any drive for education.“People were not interested to send their girls for education and now is the same,” said...

‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ Is, Finally, a Good Movie Musical!

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 04:58:53 +0100

...delighted and moved by it.While a smash in the UK, the show hadn’t really made a splash yet in the U.S. I didn’t know much... A GOAT.What to watch this week:Sex Education: Netflix’s most underrated gem of a series. (Fri. on Netflix)Everybody’s...

Unvaccinated students urged to get Covid shot during freshers’ week

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 00:01:00 +0100

...arriving at university campuses across the UK over the next few weeks.Professor Stephen Powis national medical director of... ”Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK said: “We welcome this reminder to students from Professor Powis...

Re: JOB OPENINGS: The American University in Cairo: Libraries & Learning Technologies

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 18:44:55 +0100

Dear Colleagues

The American University in Cairo library is seeking an enthusiastic,
dynamic and proactive individual to lead the research and instruction team
in the position: *Information and Digital Literacy Coordinator*

Reporting to the Associate Dean, the Information and Digital Literacy
Coordinator, a faculty position, will provide strong leadership in the
development, delivery, evaluation of information literacy instruction by
library faculty, and in the overall assessment of the library's instruction
program. The incumbent will work to enhance students' learning and
critical thinking skill development while enhancing and offering
state-of-the-art delivery of the LALT 1020 course and other instruction
offered by [...]

Covid levels rising among schoolchildren in England, data shows

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 16:35:11 +0100

...results show a mixed picture across the UK. “While Scotland continues to have the highest level of infection, the sharp ... grounds alone.However, on Tuesday the UK’s four chief medical officers decided to go ahead with the move after considering...

Volunteering with my children didn’t quite go according to plan

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 15:08:33 +0100

The appointment of former refugee Nadhim Zahawi as education secretary I fear will used as an excuse for this government to... The Independent has launched a petition urging the UK government to be more ambitious in its plans to take in Afghan...

Like herpes simplex, Johnson’s ministers had begun to seem like a lifelong condition

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 14:39:41 +0100

...Williamson, who has finally been dethroned at education. It was beginning to look like once you had Williamson, you had him ... or Tony Crosland, but maybe we get the education secretaries we deserve. In which case, you have to wonder what this...

Has England become the worst place to be a student?

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:47:16 +0100

...with any professors. You don’t get the libraries, facilities, extracurricular activities and so on. UK universities are...

Webinar: Copyright, Creative Commons and Open Educational Resources in Virtual Instruction

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 12:07:44 +0100

There is a free webinar Copyright, Creative Commons and Open Educational Resources in Virtual Instruction on 29 September 2021, 12.30-13.30 (Hong Kong/UTC+8 time - so e.g. that is 5.30am UK time). "In this webinar, we would like to discuss the potential and affordances of Creative Commons (CC), Open Educational Resources (OER) and CC/OER-enabled pedagogies with some examples in training. Through the webinar, participants can reflect on better practices and design considerations in CC/OER-enabled pedagogies." "Through the training, participants can reflect on better practices and design considerations in CC/OER-enabled pedagogies. Upon completion, the participants will be able to: Identify copyright owners and avoid infringement; Identify the opportunities and challenges of adopting CC and OER in the curriculum; and Use CC and OER to facilitate classroom learning and assessment." Registration at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSefVXaXW8t3JPw7Qtl5rTernyLvJFiZ6eUUUelVSJHvhnlOwg/viewform

'Strictly' returns: The weekend's top TV 17-19 September

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 11:45:52 +0100

...on the week's telly.Sex Education - NetflixTeen drama hit Sex Education is making a much-anticipated return to Netflix ... band's rise to fame on their trips to the UK from their US home, starting in small venues and pubs in 1989 and leading up to...

Sustainability must start with universities if the fashion industry is to change

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 11:44:50 +0100

...with sustainability literacies – the information, skills and aptitudes – to challenge existing systems and structures...

University of St Andrews principal ‘thrilled’ as it is named top in UK

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 11:06:08 +0100

...13th in the UK rankings.In fourth place was the University of Strathclyde, which was 17th in the UK rankings, while the ... Aberdeen was fifth in Scotland and 20th in the UK league table.Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, principal and...

St Andrews beats Oxbridge institutions in national university rankings

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 10:57:51 +0100

...Andrews was named top university in the UK.No university before now has been placed higher than the elite Oxbridge ... been around for 600 years, but topping our UK rankings for the first time truly marks St Andrews ‘arrival’ as a serious...

Government reveals plans for post-Brexit data regime

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 10:37:41 +0100

In the last few days, the UK government has begun a public consultation on its plan to reform data protection legislation in the wake of Brexit entitled Data: A new direction. It says the aim is to create a more “pro-growth and pro-innovation” regime to achieve what the (now former) DCMS Secretary Oliver Dowden dubbed a “data dividend” for the British economy.

As regular Panopticon readers will know, the UK’s data protection regime has principally been driven by the EU framework – most recently in the form of the GDPR. Following the end of the Brexit transition period from January 2021, the GDPR (which during the UK’s membership of the EU had direct effect) was transposed into domestic law with minor changes. This means there is now the ‘EU GDPR’, in force across the 27 Member States, and the ‘UK GDPR’ which is applicable in the UK.

Even before the UK GDPR came into force in January 2021, however, the government had stated its intention to diverge from EU data protection law as part of its National Data Strategy, at least to some extent. These proposals are the first concrete step in that direction.

The consultation addresses the proposals in five broad categories:

Using data for innovation – The governments wants to clarify the scope of the ‘legitimate interests’ ground of lawful processing under Article 6(1)(f) of the UK GDPR. The aim of this proposal is to avoid what the government considers is unnecessary over-reliance on the consent ground, which it says has led to “consent fatigue” among data subjects. Under the proposal, legislation would provide an exhaustive list of pre-approved legitimate interests for which businesses would not need to balance their interests in processing the data against the rights of the data subject. The proposed interests to which this would apply include “using personal data for internal research and development purposes, or business innovation purposes aimed at improving services for customers”, which would provide businesses with a relatively broadly framed basis for processing.

The consultation document also sets out plans in relation to AI, including the proposed removal of the human oversight requirement in solely automated decision-making (ADM) under Article 22 of the UK GDPR – perhaps in favour of a ‘legitimate interests’ test for the use of ADM.

Another important area of reform concerns anonymisation. One proposal is to create a new test for determining when data will be regarded as anonymous which would take account of the actual risk of re-identification, reflecting the approach of the CJEU in Breyer v Germany C-582/14 (that the question of whether data is anonymous is relative to the mean available to the data controller to re-identify it).

Reducing administrative burdens on businesses – There are a raft of proposals in relation to red tape: overall, the government wants to shift away from formalistic ‘box-ticking’ approach. This reflects concerns from businesses that the balance under existing legislation is generally weighted too heavily in favour of data subjects, placing excessive burdens on companies. A theme underlying these plans is a desire to ensure the data protection regime helps rather than hinders the UK’s economic competitiveness.

Proposals include scrapping the Article 30 record keeping requirements, removing the duty to carry out data protection impact assessments (DPIAs), and increasing the threshold for mandatory reporting of data breaches to the ICO to tackle “over-reporting”. In broad terms the plan is to replace the current accountability framework with a risk-based, substantive approach to privacy management.

Notably, there are also proposals to permit companies to charge fees for dealing with subject access requests, to address the significant burden currently faced by businesses in that area. Views are also sought on extending the ‘soft opt in’ for use of personal data marketing purposes under the PECR.

Cross-border data transfers – The government hopes to support international data flows as part of its plans to bolster international trade. The consultation documents states that the government intends its future approach to adequacy decisions in respect of other jurisdiction’s data protection standards to be “risk-based and focused on outcomes” rather than on rigid textual comparisons of respective legislation. Under the proposals, the legislation would also clarify that foreign data protection regimes that afford only administrative (as opposed to judicial) redress will be acceptable. DCMS has previously announced that several new ‘adequacy partnerships’ are planned with priority countries, including with the US.

Use of data in public services – The key idea here is to pave the way for easier data sharing both among different public authorities as well as between public bodies and private companies that process personal data on their behalf – the benefits of which the government says have been highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the government wants legislation to make clear that in such circumstances companies are able to rely on the lawful ground for processing under Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.

Reform of the Information Commissioner’s Office – The government proposes to introduce a new set of strategic objectives for the ICO. There would also be a new statutory duty on the ICO to have regard to economic growth, innovation and competition when discharging its functions, which reflects the thinking running through the reforms.

A new governance model is also proposed, with an independent board and CEO, mirroring more closely the structure of other regulators such as the FCA and Ofcom. It is also clear that the government is keen to reduce the current burden on the ICO to investigate a high volume of comparatively low-level complaints – proposals in this regard include requiring complainants to attempt to resolve matters with the data controller before complaining to the ICO. According to the consultation document, no significant changes are planned to the scope of the ICO’s enforcement powers.

As a final thought, while the consultation contains a large number of proposals, it is clear that the regime envisaged remains rooted in the familiar GDPR framework. That being said, discussion about divergence from the EU approach to data protection will inevitably raise questions about the durability of European Commission’s recently finalised adequacy decision in respect of the UK’s post-Brexit arrangements. The UK government has a tightrope to walk, with pressure to achieve changes that satisfy the business community and enhances the UK’s ability to market itself as a global centre of innovation and growth competing with the need to avoid changes that put the government on a collision course with the EU.

The consultation is open until 19 November 2021.

Katherine Taunton

Invitation to Tender: Information and Digital Learning Module for library staff

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 10:00:00 +0100

Libraries Connected invites information literacy professionals to submit proposals for training modules in information literacy, as defined by CILIP in 2018: Information literacy is the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to reach and express informed views and to engage fully with society. This project is made […]

Wiki Webinars in October

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 08:46:12 +0100

Wikimedia UK is hosting a webinar to help heritage and cultural organisations (including libraries and archives) share their content through Wikipedia and its sister sites. I would like to invite you to that webinar and ask you to pass the invitation along to any staff, volunteers and colleagues who might also be interested. [...]

Violence against women should be prioritised in the same way as terrorism, report finds after Sarah...

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 03:33:00 +0100

...of violence against female victims in the UK.The watchdog report was commissioned by Home Secretary Priti Patel in the ... solution involving police, health and education.Some campaigners say although conversations about female safety are...

Michael Gove pauses planning reform amid Tory backlash

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 01:16:17 +0100

...vaccine production to be ramped up.The UK began its booster programme yesterday, in defiance of calls from the World ... skills agenda also.As with any part of the UK, there is a growing desire to see meaningful impact on climate change also...

North of England ‘suffering brain drain as graduates flock to cities’

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 00:01:00 +0100

...which was funded by the Department for Education (DfE).Policymakers should think about how to attract and retain talent in ... assess how geographical mobility varies by education, socio-economic background and ethnicity.Xiaowei Xu, a senior...

From the Spectrum to the C5: How Clive Sinclair led the UK’s tech revolution

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 22:19:54 +0100

...College, Weybridge – before quitting formal education at the age of 17.He became a technical journalist with Practical...

Data shows how much overlap major streaming services have in movie and TV catalogs, from Disney+ to...

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 22:03:06 +0100

So it would make sense that other streaming services' libraries would overlap with it.It has particular overlap with...

New cabinet minister denied climate change in string of tweets

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 20:20:42 +0100

...PM and climate sceptic Tony Abbott as a UK trade envoy.Ms Trevelyan later insisted she was “proud” of the government’s ... by 2050 and launching a bold plan for the UK’s world-leading hydrogen economy.“As International Trade Secretary, climate...

SEPTEMBER COURSES: Intro to Archives, Genealogy, Salvaging Wet Materials, AV Preservation, and More

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 18:24:25 +0100

Full message available at: SEPTEMBER COURSES: Intro to Archives, Genealogy, Salvaging Wet Materials, AV Preservation, and More