From WebVisions New York 2013, Live from Theater for the New City, Douglas Rushkoff gives his Keynote from his new book, “Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now”.
“Currently serving as Code Evangelist for Codecademy, Rushkoff is the author of a dozen bestselling books on media, technology, and society, including Program or Be Programmed, Media Virus, and the upcoming Present Shock. He made the PBS documentaries Merchants of Cool and Digital_Nation, lectures around the world, and has taught at The New School and NYU.”
The Journal of Strategic Security (JSS), a publication of Henley-Putnam University, seeks manuscripts for an upcoming issue on intelligence analytic tradecraft, training, education, and practical application for the Fall 2013 issue, Vol. 6, No. 3.
The Fall 2013 issue of JSS is a venue for authors to share ideas and exchange information about best practices and lessons learned in the field of intelligence studies. How are intelligence skills applied in different contexts and industries? Are intelligence-related skills best taught in the classroom or “caught” through on-the-job training, and how much does the answer depend on the desired outcome of the instruction?
After conducting an 18-month study, this Task Force concluded that the cyber threat is serious and that the United States cannot be confident that our critical Information Technology (IT) systems will work under attack from a sophisticated and well-resourced opponent utilizing cyber capabilities in combination with all of their military and intelligence capabilities (a “full spectrum” adversary). While this is also true for others (e.g. Allies, rivals, and public/private networks), this Task Force strongly believes the DoD needs to take the lead and build an effective response to measurably increase confidence in the IT systems we depend on (public and at the same time decrease a would-be attacker's confidence in the effectiveness of their capabilities to compromise DoD systems. This conclusion was developed upon several factors, including the success adversaries have had penetrating our networks; the relative ease that our Red Teams have in disrupting, or completely beating, our forces in exercises using exploits available on the Internet; and the weak cyber hygiene position of DoD networks and systems. The Task Force believes that the recommendations of this report create the basis for astrategy to address this broad and pervasive threat.
(Newser) – The Pentagon directly oversaw the creation of a Shiite militia force that set up secret detention sites and tortured opponents during the US occupation of Iraq, as part of American attempts to put down the budding Sunni insurgency, according to a new report by the Guardian that is being called “staggering.” Colonel James Steele, a 58-year-old retired special forces veteran of “dirty wars” campaigns in Central America, was chosen by Donald Rumsfeld to organize the paramilitary forces. A second adviser, retired Colonel James H. Coffman, worked closely with Steele and reported directly to David Petraeus.
“They knew everything that was going on there … the torture, the most horrible kinds of torture,” says General Muntadher al-Samari, who spent a year working with Steele and Coffman while the Shiite militias were being organized. The allegations are backed up by several others, including journalists who say they were with Steele when torture was being performed nearby. Steele and Coffman had no comment on the charges, while a spokesman for Petraeus said the general always reported incidents of torture he discovered. Full investigation here.
After more than 13 years of research convinced him that children have the ability to learn almost anything on their own, 2013 TED Prize winner Sugata Mitra aspires to shape the future of learning by building a School in the Cloud, helping kids “tap into their innate sense of wonder.”
In the spirit of Mitra’s invitation to the world to “ask kids big questions, and find big answers,” we asked four brilliant young people to tell us: What do you think is the future of learning?
Click on Image to Enlarge
Here, their answers.
Adora Svitak, 15-year-old writer, teacher and activist
“One of the most powerful shifts in the future of education will come from not only the tools at our disposal, but from an underutilized resource:the students whose voices have for too long been silent. We’re increasingly pushing for seats at the decision-making tables, empowering ourselves by shaping our own learning, and taking on activist roles both online and off. To me, this signals one of the most hopeful signs of the future of education — the shift from a top-down, learning-everything-from-the-authority-figure approach to an approach characterized by peer-to-peer learning, empowerment and grassroots change.”
“My older brother and I believe kids and grown ups can change the world. We’re on a mission with our web series, Kid President, to do just that. If every classroom in the world could be full of grownups and kids working together, we’d live in a happier world. Kids want to know about the world and about how they can make an impact. Kids also have ideas. It’d be awesome if teachers and students could work together and put these ideas into action. There should be lessons in things like compassion and creativity. If those two things were taught more in schools we’d see some really cool things happen.”
Duke Law School held its annual LENS conference over the weekend. Its theme this year was “Battlefields, Boardrooms, and Backyards: The New Face of National Security Law.” Here is the conference program, and below are the videos of the various speakers and sessions:
List of videos (click on link above to select and view indivbidually):
A Conversation with Brig. Gen. Mark Martins
Hon. Charles Blanchard, “Contemporary Ethical Issues of National Security Law”
Prof. Michael N. Schmitt, “The Law of Cyberwar: The Tallinn Manual”
MG Robert Scales, “Leadership and Civil-Military Relations: The Contemporary Challenges”
Panel: “The Business of Battle: Law, National Security, and the Global Marketplace”
Panel: “Building the Terminator? Law and Policy for Autonomous Weapons’ Systems”
