Human Nature Is Not a Machine: On Liberty, Attention Engineering, and Learning Analytics

This article undertakes a literature review to examine learning analytics through the lens of attention engineering. Informed by a critical literature synthesis from the fields of cognitive science, history, philosophy, education, technology, ethics, and library science, this analysis situates learning analytics in the context of communication and education technologies as tools in the manipulation of attention. The article begins by defining attention as both a cognitive activity and a metaphysical state intrinsic to intellectual freedom. The Progressive Era concept of attention engineering is then introduced and reinterpreted in the context of attention scarcity and academic capitalism in the Knowledge Era. The affordances of information and communications technology replicated in educational technology to facilitate data capture, analysis, and intervention in the form of "nudge" learning analytics are outlined as evidence of contemporary attention engineering in education. Attention engineering in education is critiqued as antithetical to students' intellectual freedom and development as self-sufficient learners and independent thinkers. The academic library's role in teaching and promoting attentional literacy and attentional autonomy is explored as a response to the intellectual freedom challenges posed by learning analytics as a form of attention engineering

As patologias nos modos de ser criança e adolescente: análise das internações no Hospital Psiquiátrico São Pedro entre 1884 e 1937

This study is part of a project that objectives to trace a historical panorama of discursive nets that characterize what society considers divergent at a determined moment, as well as introducing the paradigmatic changes concerning the diagnosis of what is considered pathological in the ways of being a child or an adolescent in different times of history. The theoretical and methodological reference is based on the Michel Foucault’s genealogical perspective, and also in his analysis about abnormal people and psychiatric power. This article introduces the analyses of the period between 1884 and 1937. It evidences that discursive nets about pathologies in the childhood and adolescence’s territory identify some discontinuities and continuities: discontinuities from diagnosis found, but continuities about social exclusion strategies.Este estudo é parte de um projeto que tem como objetivo traçar um panorama histórico das redes discursivas que caracterizam o que a sociedade considera como desviante em um determinado momento, assim como apresentar as mudanças paradigmáticas que ocorrem no próprio diagnóstico do que é patológico nos modos de ser criança e adolescente ao longo do tempo. O referencial teórico e metodológico fundamenta-se na perspectiva genealógica proposta por Michel Foucault, assim como em suas análises sobre os anormais e o poder psiquiátrico. No presente trabalho apresentaremos a análise do período de 1884 a 1937. Constata-se que as redes discursivas sobre as patologias nos territórios da infância e da adolescência permitem identificar algumas descontinuidades e continuidades: descontinuidade do ponto de vista dos diagnósticos encontrados, mas continuidade no que se refere às estratégias de exclusão social.Este estudio es parte de un proyecto que tiene como objetivo esbozar un panorama histórico de las redes discursivas que caracterizan lo que la sociedad percibe como desviado en un determinado período, así como los cambios paradigmáticos que ocurren en el diagnóstico de lo que es patológico en los modos de ser niño y adolescente al largo del tiempo. Los fundamentos teóricos y metodológicos se sostienen en la perspectiva genealógica propuesta por Michel Foucault, así como en su análisis sobre los anormales y el poder psiquiátrico. En el trabajo actual, presentaremos el análisis del período de 1884 a 1937. Se constata que las redes discursivas sobre patologías en los territorios de la niñez y la adolescencia permiten identificar algunas discontinuidades y continuidades: discontinuidad del punto de vista de los diagnósticos, pero continuidad en lo que concierne las estrategias de exclusión social

Reports of conferences, institutes, and seminars

This quarter’s column features reports from the New England Technical Services Librarians Spring Conference, entitled “iLibrary: Digital Futures for Libraries,” and held May 3 in Worcester, MA; the Acquisitions Institute at Timberline Lodge, held May 18-21 in Timberline Lodge, OR; the North American Serials Interest Group Conference, entitled “Creating Harmony from Dis-Chord,” and held June 7-10 in Nashville, TN; and, a National Information Standards Organization Webinar, entitled “Making Better Decisions with Usage Statistics,” and presented June 13. © 2012 Elsevier Inc