­
Technology and communication: less leads to more -- Updated — ICT & Computing in Education
  • Front Page
  • Search
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Menu

ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
  • Front Page
  • Search
  • Newsletters
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
  • Info
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman

Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman

Technology and communication: less leads to more -- Updated

May 13, 2021

When it comes to communication, being restricted is definitely better, ie more conducive to effectiveness, than having no limits at all. I was reminded of this by a recent presentation by Steve Wheeler, in which he cited Pete Yeomans on the subject of text messaging. He said:

“Mobile phones are forcing children to become more literate. Without the ability to txt, they cannot fully participate in their own culture of communication.”
— Pete Yeomans

This is true, and it reminded me of several other thoughts I have had on the subject, and a great discussion with Matt Pearson.

Get to the point

In general, being restricted forces you to get to the nub of the matter without padding or persiflage. The most difficult essay I was given at university was:

“Explain the monetarist view of inflation and unemployment, and how to cure them, in no more than 500 words.”

To give you an idea of how hard that might be, the number of words in this article so far comes to 1185. When I was in charge of teams of people I asked them to summarise issues for me on a side of A4 paper, but my boss was even more restrictive: he wouldn’t even look at anything if it was longer than half a dozen bullet points.

Oulipo

Interestingly, since writing the original version of this in 2012 I’ve discovered a school of writing known as the Oulipo, the french acronym for the “workshop of potential literature”. The Oulipo approach to creative writing is largely based on constraints, such as the lipogram, in which you write a piece of text without using a particular letter. If you are reading this in time, I’ll be teaching a very short course on Oulipo in June 2021.

Brevity is the soul of wit

Girl texting, by Terry Freedman

Shakespeare was dead right when he put those words in Polonius’ mouth, in Hamlet. My own view is that if you can’t explain the essentials of something in 140 or 160 characters then, to quote from that great philosopher Long John Baldry, “you know, you just don’t know what it’s all about”. Brevity often leads to creativity. See, for example, these examples of award-winning fiction in 140 characters. Have a look, too, at these start-up stories in 140 characters.

Flash fiction, in which you have just 100, or a couple of hundred, words in which to write a short story, is much harder to write, yet more satisfying to read (in my opinion) than the longer variety of short story.  Hundred word challenges are standard fare of creative writing specialists, and can also help to encourage children to write (presumably because the task seems to be less daunting than a longer piece might. Such innocence!). Have a look, for example, at Julia Skinner’s brilliant and popular 100 Word Challenge website. If I were an employer, I would specify that job applicants send me their CV (resumé) accompanied by a letter of application comprising no more than 140 characters; it would certainly cut down on the reading, if nothing else.

To read a wonderful take, by a 13 year-old girl, on the usual essay “What I did in the summer holidays”, see C? I Tld U So, Didn't I? TxtN Isn't So Bad Aftr Ll, Unl Ur /:-).

The KISS principle

We have all heard of the “Keep it simple, silly” approach to explaining stuff. It works (see, for example, Freedman’s 5 Minute Rule).

Once, faced with the challenge of how to get my students to remember two major, and conflicting, views of why people save, came up with the idea of expressing them in a couple of blues songs. The textbooks went into long and laborious explanations, replete with graphs and indecipherable equations. The students could not see the wood for the trees. Yet having been presented with these blues songs in a single lesson, they grasped the basic theories immediately – and remember them when I tested them 6 months later. As Matt Pearson said when I told him about this recently, the blues song format provided a structure and a really simplified version of the theories which the students could delve into more deeply. I think he is right, and I think a similar idea could be applied to any theory. In case you're wondering, here are the lyrics. And no, I won’t be singing them for you any time soon!

Savings blues

By Johnny Keynes and the Marginals

You know I woke up this morning, and saw that my income's way too low

I said woke up this morning, and saw that my income's way too low

I said to my woman, I ain't gonna save nothin' no more

My woman told me, she thinks that stashing my cash is wrong

Yeah my woman done told me, that stashin' my cash is so wrong

She don't seem to understand that I might wanna buy me some bonds.

One of these days, gonna get myself a well-paid job

Yes I got a feeling, I'm gonna get myself a well-paid job

When that day comes, gonna stop being a no-savings slob.

Savings blues

By Irving Fischer and the Classicals

You know I woke up this morning, and saw that interest rates are way too low

I said woke up this morning, and saw that that interest rates are way too low

I said to my woman, I ain't gonna save nothin' no more

My woman told me, I oughtta stop spending my cash

Yes my woman told me, I gotta stop spending my cash

I told her interest rates are low, so ain't no point in buildin' up a stash

One of these days, interest rates are gonna rise again

Yes I got a feeling, that interest rates are gonna rise again

When that day comes, my days of spending are gonna end

How technology can help

Technology can be used in several ways to force students (and teachers!) to be brief:

  • Using Twitter automatically restricts people to 140 characters – in fact, even less when you consider that you have to include your Twitter name and (ideally) allow room for others to add their own comment if they retweet your tweet. (In my opinion, services that allow you to type longer tweets miss the point.)

  • Using text messaging on mobile phones has the same effect.

  • If you want to limit the number of words people write, eg for a story, set up a survey form with a paragraph field for the story, and restrict the number of characters allowed in the space to 5 times the number of words in your limit. Thus a 100 word story would be allowed 500 characters, which would be roughly correct.

Finally, I should like to apologise for the length of this article, which contains twice the number of words I usually aim for. All I can say is that being incredibly brief is an ideal to aim for, but not always attainable. But I trust you will agree that not a word has been wasted!


If you found this article interesting or useful (or even both!), why not subscribe to my free newsletter, Digital Education? It’s been going since the year 2000, and has slow news, informed views and honest reviews for Computing and ed tech teachers — and useful experience-based tips.

In Leading & Managing Computing & ICT, News & views, Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags 140 characters, 160 characters, Matt Pearson, Pete Yeomans, Steve Wheeler, blues, sms, text messaging, texting, twitter, Oulipo
← Teaching online: IndexIn case you missed it: Converting an offline course to an online one -- ebook →
Recent book reviews
Backlist: The Written World
Backlist: The Written World

Writing was invented ‘only’ a few thousand years ago. It’s a fascinating story.

Read More →
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce

What does it take to become an expert? And what can the Computing teacher do about it?

Read More →
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution

The title of this book invites curiosity: what were the other three ‘revolutions?

Read More →
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps

Some of these stories are so richly told, it can almost seem as though you’re right there with him.

Read More →
Review: Pen Names
Review: Pen Names

OK, so this has nothing to do with education technology, but we all read (I hope!). A very interesting examination of the pen names some authors have adopted, and why.

Read More →
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History

There's a really interesting section in this book about how ceramic storage of data and information is probably the most likely medium to stand the test of time.

Read More →
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps

The subject under discussion here is how human physiology has developed in different ways, in response to different conditions around the world.

Read More →
Review: Social Media for Academics
Review: Social Media for Academics

This book is very readable, and if I sound surprised that is because it’s not always true of academics!

Read More →
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

Read More →
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too

Despite the relative paucity of immediately obvious National Curriculum links, teachers will find several of sections of this book to be highly engaging.

Read More →
Dig+Ed+Banner.jpg

Contact us

Privacy

Cookies

Terms and conditions

This website is powered by Squarespace

(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved