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Posts Tagged ‘linkage’

incentives in schooling (and games)

Time has a fascinating article up about the use of monetary incentives in schooling.

The first thing that struck me was the title: “Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School?” I was glad to see my immediate response echoed during the article. As Fryer points out, we do this all the time as adults; we give bonuses and raises and other forms of monetary reward to employees who do their jobs well. So why is it “bribery” when we offer kids the same kind of incentive we give ourselves? Granted, there are differences between work and school; your son’s math test isn’t used for any purpose other than judging how well he understands math. It doesn’t feed (directly) into a larger economy of labor. And there is definitely merit in learning for the love of learning — as the article duly describes. But the difference is maybe not as absolute as people assume.

What really gets fascinating is the finer-grained material, the evidence for what works and what doesn’t. Rewarding kids for good test grades? Not helpful. Not because they don’t care enough to try and earn the reward; they do. But they don’t know how. Test scores, to the type of kids this study worked with, are not sufficiently under their control. They don’t see how to get from where they are to where they want to be, because the educational system has already failed them on that front. It appears to be more useful to target the things the kid knows are under her control, like attendance, good behavior, and the successful exercise of skills she already possesses. That lays the groundwork for the belief that other things — like test scores — can also be controlled. Education is a game she can win.

I use that phrasing because this morning’s blog-crawl produced a semi-terrifying juxtaposition between that article and a piece on Cracked.com, about 5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted. It lays out how MMOs (which operate on a subscription model) use psychological tricks to make you keep playing, even when it isn’t fun. Which is all about incentives and reward.

Maybe if we ran our schools more like MMOs . . . ?

new pleasures in reading

I’ve said before that I’ve never been a regular subscriber to any magazines — “regular” in the sense of keeping up my subscription for more than a year. (I might have done for Paradox, but they folded.) That’s changed a bit lately, though. First via podcasting: a good deal of my short fiction consumption now comes in via my ears, as I listen to Podcastle (for fantasy) and Escape Pod (for SF), and I strongly suspect the addition of a narrator’s voice has led me to enjoy stories I might have skipped past on the page. Second, as I’ve mentioned before, Beneath Ceaseless Skies has turned out sit squarely in the middle of What I Like when it comes to fantasy, with the result that I’ve become a regular reader.

As a result, I’m discovering heretofore unknown pleasures, that come when you’re a dedicated follower of a particular magazine. It’s like the reverse of Cheers: rather than everybody knowing my name, I know theirs. Certain authors, whose work sits squarely in the middle of What The Editors Like, keep showing up, and so BCS becomes (among other things) “the place that brings me Aliette de Bodard’s stuff.” Since I very much like her work, I bounce a bit in glee when I see a new piece show up there. Sometimes it goes even further, not just an author but an author’s series: Escape Pod has Jeffrey R. DeRego’s Union Dues superhero stories, and BCS has so far published two of Richard Parks’ Heian-period Japanese fantasies, featuring the duo of Yamada and Kenji, the reprobate priest, with a third one on the way. Carried too far, this sort of thing can make a magazine stale — you get the feeling they only ever publish the same dozen people, over and over, and the assurance of a sale makes those dozen lazy in their work — but so far it’s been a source of familiarity and satisfaction for me.

Since I started this by talking about subscriptions, I should mention that both the podcasts and BCS are supported via donations; if you want to toss a few bucks their way, to help ensure they keep putting these stories out, the relevant places to do so are: Podcastle (right-hand sidebar), Escape Pod (ditto), and BCS. (I noted when catching up on stories this weekend that BCS has also added itself to the Kindle Store, in addition to the pdf, mobi, and epub formats of before, if you’re an e-reader type.)

Let’s close with a question: for those of you who are dedicated subscribers to one or more short story sources (print, web, or audio), are there particular authors or story series that are, for you, part of the appeal of that magazine? Conversely, are there any who show up a lot that you skip over automatically, because you know from past experience that they just aren’t your kind of thing?

Signal Boost: want to commission some art?

I’ve mentioned Avery Liell-Kok before; she’s the artist who did (among other things) this portrait of Invidiana, this painting for my game Memento, and the webcomic My Name Is Might Have Been.

She’s just launched a new website, and is actively seeking commissions. If you’ve always wanted a sketch or painting of something from one of your books (or works in progress), or a game, or something else entirely, drop her a line.

Running with the Pack ARC giveaway

Like werewolves? Want an anthology full of ’em? Over at calico_reaction‘s LJ, Ekaterina Sedia, editor of the upcoming Running with the Pack (table of contents here) is giving away an advance copy. This is, for those who are interested, the home of my Fake Werewolf Paper, aka “Comparison of Efficacy Rates for Seven Antipathetics as Employed Against Lycanthropes;” the rest of the contributors include some of the biggest names in the field of People What Grow Fur Under the Full Moon, Comma, Fiction Concerning. Should be a great antho, and this is your chance to snag a copy before anyone else.

Signal Boost: Fundraiser for Rape Crisis Centers

Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an Advance Copy of Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines.

Over the last few years, jimhines has posted again and again about the problem of rape, drawing on both official studies and his own personal experience as a counselor. Now he’s raising money for RAINN and other crisis centers. Details at the link.

Because of Michigan law regarding raffles, you don’t have to donate to enter the contest. But since fundraising is the point of the contest, you can guess which way I encourage you to go.

a question for the crowd

The urban fantasy community has been reviving itself lately. My contribution to the new burst of activity: I’m soliciting titles of UF novels that break the usual protagonist mold of white, hetero, middle-to-upper-class, Christian (or pagan), and/or able-bodied. So if you’re aware of any urban fantasy with a Jewish hero or a blind heroine or whatever, head on over to that post and let me know what it is, and what you thought of it. (Comments disabled here to keep the discussion centralized in one place. You don’t need to be a community member to respond there.)

Last day of freedom

Tomorrow is the ankle surgery, after which I will be stoned on Vicodin for a while. So if you don’t hear from me, blame the drugs.

Before I go, some linky:

Generic Movie Trailer — oh god, it’s like “Title of the Song.” A hilarious (because accurate) structural breakdown of trailers for the kind of movie that’s trying to win an Oscar, done as a trailer. “And then the music . . . gets . . . hopeful . . . .”

An open letter to conservatives — less funny, but more useful in the long run. Your one-stop-shop for evidence as to what’s wrong with the Republican Party today. Conservatism as a concept, I often think is wrong in the sense of “I disagree with you;” conservatism as it’s most visibly being practiced today in America, I often think is wrong in the sense of “what the hell is wrong with you people?” The letter includes a billion and one links documenting, as it says, the “hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred” currently afflicting the party’s loudest voices.

Marissa Lingen on “fake swears” — back to the funny. Having recalled it during the course of commenting, I think I will revive “son of a hairless kumquat” as an insult in my repertoire.

“Scientific Romance,” by Tim Pratt — best love poem ever. (At least if you’re a geek.)

Holy hell.

Facebook has shut down the group “People Against Racebending: Protest of the Cast of The Last Airbender Movie,” apparently on the grounds that its campaigning against the whitewashing of the movie constitutes being “hateful, threatening, or obscene [… or that it] attack[s] an individual or group, or advertise[s] a product or service.”

I’ve already got a lot of reasons for not liking Facebook. Now I have a new one. And while I don’t know for sure that the people behind the movie (Shyamalan or the production company or whoever) pushed Facebook to do this, it’s certainly the first and most likely possibility that springs to mind. Because that group’s been around for months, with over six thousand members. Something had to bring it to Facebook’s attention and insist it was a problem. And that something was almost certainly a someone — a someone with a vested interest in shutting down protest.

This? Is not. cool. For all the reasons that Hal Duncan outlines at that first link, and more besides. If anybody hears word of useful things to do in response, please let me know.

Ada Lovelace Day

Sadly, she died well before the Victorian book will take place, so if I manage to include her, it will only be in flashback. But today is Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating women in science, and Finding Ada is maintaining an ongoing list of posts (I think not just from this year, but previous years as well). Lots of fun reading; find your favorite Lady Scientist there, or write about her yourself.

I would do the same, but I have to run about a million errands before I lose the use of one leg on Friday. So I’m off to do that.

This one goes out to Mrissa

Time for my post at SF Novelists again. Up to bat this month: the First Girl Ever. You know, the Amelia Earharts and Alanna of Trebonds that blaze the way into a new field — but more importantly, we’re also talking about what happens after them.

Comment over there, as per usual.

Sheer. Brilliance.

From mrissa and janni: Tattúínárdœla saga

In English, The Saga of the People of the Tatooine River Valley. An analysis of how George Lucas’ science-fictional adaptation of a Middle High German epic (the Himelgengærelied or Song of the Skywalkers) differs from the earlier and less corrupted Icelandic saga text.

I do wish Lucas had chosen the Icelandic text for the exchange between Veiðari and Lúkr — much less whiny, much more badass and amusing at the same time. (You’d be hard-pressed to beat the Norse for deadpan reactions to doom.)

someone who understands me!

From ellen_kushner, a fabulous website on the topic of long hair. And by “long,” I mean that my own hair (down to about my hips) is maybe on the short side for what she’s talking about. It’s a great site overall, with very common-sense advice for many types of hair (not just long straight Caucasian hair like mine), but what I love it for is this page, with various possibilities only marginally more complicated than my usual braid, and more interesting to boot.

Much of the long-hair advice is stuff I’ve been doing anyway — I don’t wash my hair every day (I don’t need to), I wear it in a braid (though not up) almost all the time, I don’t use a blow-dryer or curling iron or coloring products or anything else of the sort. I’ll probably try some of the other tips, though, especially since they’re generally in the vein of less maintenance rather than more. My hair is long enough already for my taste, but I wouldn’t mind making it even healthier for its length.

link roundup

Little-known fact: March 8th is celebrated in some countries (like the country of my office) as The Feast of Cleaning Up Your Browser Bar.

Con or Bust auction — this closes on the 13th. Bidding for a signed set of Onyx Court books is up to $25 $30, and the money goes toward helping fans of color get to cons they might not otherwise make.

Sirens conference update — I failed to post this in time for the chat on Saturday, but more info on getting involved in programming. Remember, despite the word “conference,” you don’t have to be an academic to participate.

Reproductive Justice linkspam — I hadn’t heard of this organization before, but basically they’re a group that looks past the abortion debate (which has a tendency to dominate the conversation in the U.S.) to broader issues of pregnancy, sexual violence, disability, transsexualism, immigration, economics, and pretty much anything else that affects the ability of women to decide what to do with themselves and their bodies. There are some really heartbreaking stories in there (like the one about confiscating an immigrant woman’s child on the grounds that her lack of English made her unfit to be a mother in the U.S.), and lots of opportunities to take action.

Ignoring people you don’t trust — an interesting look at how the sources of statistical information and analysis can, or should, affect the way you receive that information. On the one hand, the studies claiming smoking reduces risk of Alzheimer’s were mostly written by people affiliated with the tobacco industry; on the other hand, the earliest work documenting a connection between smoking and lung cancer was published by Nazis. So it isn’t a simple question.

A flowchart of where the Google Books Settlement could go from here — a simplified flowchart. Boggle at its complexity.

Johari Window — more than a meme, less than a psych study; click through to choose how you would describe me.

more auctioning

The Carl Brandon Society is sponsoring a fundraiser to help people of color attend Wiscon, a well-respected feminist SF convention. I’m auctioning off a signed set of the first two Onyx Court novels. There are a lot more goodies on offer; details about how to offer, browse, bid, donate, or request assistance here.

Two links make an insufficient post

1) If you’re interested in Sirens (where I’ll be a Guest of Honor this fall), they’ve put up a post about programming, to give you a sense of how it works. The approach is along the lines of an academic conference, but you don’t have to be an academic; they actively want a good mix of people — readers, writers, critics, librarians, etc.

2) Should have put this one up before, but better late than never: Help the Project. Charity auction for the Virginia Avenue Project, “a free afterschool arts and academics program” that mentors kids in a disadvantaged neighborhood. Like many such programs, they’re hurting for funding right now, and in danger of closing down. Auction ends March 1st; details here.