Our dynamic conversation this week was a deeper dive into the consideration of the human nature of writing. Thanks to Jenny and Maya’s excellent and truly interactive pathfinding session, we were able to consider the significance of meaning in writing. In foregrounding this elusive yet critical component of our very “humanness,” we contend with the plain truth that a chatbot is never a human (even if it trained to replicate our human qualities). What we discovered in authoring some poems while partnering with chatGPT is that we cannot conflate word form (or agile word-pattern-making) with meaning. The over-abundance of cliche rhymes, interchangeable descriptions, and commutable themes seemed the identifiable hallmark of the “basic” chatGPT writing. It does pass as comprehendible, and even entertaining, sometimes mildly pleasurable. Yet, in conversation together we were also able to discern that meaning is something that pulls us deeper into our communion with the world. Did our poems do that? Not really.

Meaning is a will or intention to connect with others, which lives beyond the “first level” or superficial acknowledgement of our own ups and downs. In seeking meaning, we recognize astounding truths that are actually universal yet profoundly unique (at once). In this sense, meaning cannot simply lie in our own feelings. Rather, meaning is the poignant reminder that we are not alone in our complex experiences of the universe, no matter how unique we are.

As an additional reflection, I would like to add that to live a meaningful life should (imho) be the ultimate goal of living – a goal that must in some sense be realized through the intention to build some form of connection with others.

But I digress, …maybe the big question underlying all this debate is not so much about tech tools. Rather, it is about us. How are we going to handle ourselves around these machines? If we have succeeded in making the machine that can “mindlessly generate text” we all must know that the machines are here to muddy-up the already dirty-waters-of-the-world for us. This leads me to think that intention is the real sticking point, because we have always placed such a high value on this when we read. But in a new world wherein there is often no intention since the machine delivers the text (and a machine on its own never has an intention), then what are the real stakes of writing today? Maybe what is really at stake is the discernment and the credulity of the reader? What is real, for now, is that the problem of obscuring that line and blurring — bullshitting — what’s human and what’s not, has the power to unravel society. Make no mistake, this is a game changing moment on a multitude of levels.

Our agenda slides

Updates on your Final Project

A new idea! The plan is now that we will develop a microfiction AI futures collection written by all of you, along with Dr. Maha Bali’s American University at Cairo students (in Egypt). Speculative microfictions are shortstories about our collective near-future.  Thematically, this collection will be about your imagination when considering the impact of Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT. What is extra exciting is that all of your stories will be written with AI assistance (so plan to partner up with ChatGPT or Sudowrite perhaps)! The collaborative collection will include a AI microfiction from each Kean student and each AUC student. What will be very poignant is that we are planning an editorial process of collaboration between the classes, with feedback and connection between all of you in the development of your shared final collection. A formal assignment write-up with our steps in completing this group project is on its way soon. This note merely serves as a “forecast” update for now.

Your to-do list

Our class pathfinders for next week will be Chelsea & Jonathan. They have chosen different themes, so be sure to select one reading from both of their selections.

Chelsea’s theme: AI and it’s Influence on Teaching (Pick 1 or 2 from below):

• “How Should Schools Respond to ChatGPT?” The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/learning/how-should-schools-respond-to-chatgpt.html.
• Huang, Kalley. “Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach.” The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/technology/chatgpt-artificial-intelligence-universities.html.
• —. “Lesson Plan: Teaching and Learning in the Era of ChatGPT.” The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/learning/lesson-plans/lesson-plan-teaching-and-learning-in-the-era-of-chatgpt.html.

Jonathan’s theme: Artificial Intelligence, Race & Technology (Pick 1 or 2 from below):

• Joy Buolamwini, “How I am fighting algorithims with bias” TED Talk, November 2016.

• Safiya Noble on algorithms of oppression. Podcast, article (Engine Failure) and TED videos available https://logicmag.io/03-engine-failure/

Blog 7 due by next class. Reflections on readings from pathfinders Chelsea & Jonathan. See you next week in our usual classroom!

This week is Spring Break, and I am glad you are all able to take a bit of time to recharge and renew. I imagine you are all catching up on much needed rest. As we discussed, resting is a critical part of being human, and cannot be ignored.

Thanks to Jasmine Dixon for further opening up our questioning regarding the question of ChatGPT (as either friend or foe). Of course the issue of natural language processing and it’s impact on society defies any simple pro-or-con stance, but “the friend or foe” question does help us all grapple with the varying aspects of impact. Perhaps any tool is neutral (inherently), but becomes a source for further concern when put into the hands of human beings. There is the rub. Some people will use the tool to proliferate positive outcomes for many, yet others will no doubt use the tool to manipulate and violate.

No matter what side of the fence we stand, what we have been successful in apprehending is that the advent of chatGPT is a “game changing” moment for education. It challenges what we have known and assumed about the processes and purpose of education. Our understanding of the pursuit and the production of knowledge must necessarily move away from a product and content-oriented enterprise, and lean more deeply towards a process-oriented endeavor. As Paulo Freire articulated in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, mainstream institutionalized education is deeply problematic because it has been understood as a “banking” system where teachers “deposit” knowledge into passive students. Teachers are the epistemological authority in this system, and the overall system reinforces a lack of critical thinking and knowledge ownership in students. If the machine can write so effectively and spit out what students will be tested and evaluated on, what can we do differently to center authentic forms of learning?

Save the Date

A reminder for all of you to remember my Save the Date! announcement for April 26th (1pm or 2pm??). This will be a time slot reserved for a networked/online event, when you will all collaborate with Dr. Maha Bali’s AUC students (in Cairo, Egypt). The topic of your discussion will be the impact of chatGPT, and what students wish for, in light of this new technology in different learning contexts. This event will be one component of your final group project.

Our class agenda slides

Screening Surveillance discussion

I am glad we also had the time to screen the short film Frames (a film produced by the Screening Surveillance Project. The project guides us in critically examining the logic of design within big data systems (that underpin, enable, and accelerate digital surveillance). In Frames, a smart city tracks and analyzes a woman walking through the city. Things she does are interpreted and logged by the city system, but are they drawing an accurate picture of the woman?

As we continue to think about the “human nature of writing” in the face of technology and artificial intelligence, we will continually be confronting the ubiquitous reality of big data surveillance. In that sense, I hope we will be deepening our socio-technological literacies, while shining light on the centrality of current privacy concerns.

Your to-do list:

Be sure to take some time to rest over the break!

Our pathfinders for next week will be Jenny & Maya, and they will connect with all of us in our class Zoom room. I will be sure to send you that Zoom link by email before 3/16. Jenny & Maya have chosen the theme of authorship & the human nature of writing to guide us all.

For 3/16, please read:

• “How to Become a Writer Or, Have You Earned This Cliche?” Archive.nytimes.com, archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/specials/moore-writer.html.
• “Originality.AI 2023 Review: The Premium AI Writing Detection Tool.” Gold Penguin, 10 Jan. 2023, goldpenguin.org/blog/originality-ai-review/. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.
• “How to Develop Your Writing Voice.” Carlow Today & Tomorrow | Creating a More Just and Merciful World, 19 July 2021, blog.carlow.edu/2021/07/19/how-to-develop-your-writing-voice.

Your 6th blog should be a reflection on the above readings.

Enjoy the break!

It was great to resume our rhythm together this week, kicking off our “Pathfinding Series” with thoughts about trauma and care in the classroom from both Bianca and Edna.

I am glad we thought about the concept of flow – a flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. The hallmark of “flow” is that experience of complete absorption in what one does, transforming a person’s sense of time. We thought more together about the critical-creative aspects of this notion of flow verses the possibility of numbing one’s mind when screen-scrolling (without intention or a sense of our own creative connectivity).

This is the trap that we can fall into so easily when using the writing tools at our fingertips. As we continue to consider the human nature of writing and our relationship with the digital tools that can assist us in our work (i.e. AI, natural language processing), we should strive to prioritize this ideal state of creative flow verses the numbing affect of the “zone-out” and disengagement. In this sense, our writing tech tools today present us with a kind of “double edged sword”. When we seek to enhance our personal expression and our own clarity of thought by partnering with AI tools like ChatGPT, we can fall into a kind of hole, trapped and relegated to the sidelines in the face of those tools. How do we keep a check on the ways we use the tools? How do we know when they might take over our own unique creative generativity? Can we sense this “fine line”, and when it is crossed?

I also want to thank Javon for opening up our early thoughts about AI, with a focus on the technology of writing over the ages. From prehistoric pictographs which were an attempt to record experience for those who lived after, to the ancient writing tablets of Mesopotamia, we humans have been trying to signal our experience to others (both in our present and in our futures). The computational models (algorithms) of natural language processing today attempt to predict effective human communication. From time immemorial, we have been trying to predict and represent our experiences to others. This impulse (to communicate with others in time and space) is consistent in our never-ending human effort to create new writing tools, no matter what moment in our human history.

A deeper understanding of care becomes even more critical when we build communities for the express purpose of learning and growing together. If we cannot apprehend trauma and grapple with it together in truth, then we cannot recognize what humaness really is. And in this way, we foreclose possibilities for deeper collective wisdom. Learning is not just about the acquisition of content. (The machines do that better than we do). Learning is about apprehending truths about the human condition. And this requires care. This is in part why I shared with you the story of just one epic fail in this regard. This misuse of ChatGPT to communicate to a community is just a bellwether, …it is just the problematic beginning of a journey wherein AI will be incorporated into the ways we proceed in education and in life. I believe we can do better, if we start to understand the responsibilities we have in our relationship with these tools better.

Our class slides:

Your to-do list:

Pathfinders Jasmine M & Jasmine D have selected three brief readings in preparation for their time next week. Their discussion theme: “Is AI a friend or foe? -Thinking about what is at stake.” Please read the following selections:

• Erik Ofgang. “Free AI Writing Tools Can Write Essays in Minutes. What Does That Mean for Teachers?” TechLearningMagazine, 7 Dec. 2022, www.techlearning.com/news/free-ai-writing-tools-can-write-essays-in-minutes-what-does-that-mean-for-teachers. Accessed 19 Jan. 2023

• Romero, Alberto. “5 Reasons Why AI Is a Threat to Writers.” Medium, 7 Aug. 2021, towardsdatascience.com/5-reasons-why-ai-is-a-threat-to-writers-493350dfae2a.

• Hoffman, R. (2023, January 29). “Technology makes us more human.” The Atlantic. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/chatgpt-ai-technology-techo-humanism-reid-hoffman/672872/

Your next blog os “Blog 4/5” which should cover your reflection on the above readings from the Jasmines and if you would like, you can add some thoughts on the previous selection shared with us by Javon.

See you next week!

I missed you last week, but I am glad to have the recuperation time, and I am now looking forward to our re-engagement with our course and our on-going discussion regarding “the Human Nature of Writing”.

We will pick up where we left off (2/23). I will start our next class with some announcements, some warm ups, and address the Course Calendar which is now complete (with only some minor details remaining).

Afterward, we will kick off our “Pathfinding Series” with Bianca and Edna leading the way. They will prompt us to think about the the importance of care in the context of education and learning. I think this will be a worthy humanist “starting point for our overall deliberations for the reminder of the semester. Their pathfinding theme for Part 1 of our class will be Trauma Informed Pedagogy & Theories of Care for Learning in Community.

After a mid-point class-break, Javon will then take the helm as pathfinder. He will open up the concern with artificial intelligence, guiding us to think about the “Correlation Between Creative Writing in a Humanist Mind vs An A.I. Mind“. In preparation, Javon has shared with us the following brief readings:

Biles, Peter. “Will CHATGPT Replace Human Writers?” Mind Matters, 15 Jan. 2023, https://mindmatters.ai/2023/01/will-chatgpt-replace-human-writers/. 

Kumar, Sunil. “Chatgpt - Is This the End of the Content Writer’s Career? - Let’s Find Out.” Medium, JavaScript in Plain English, 2 Jan. 2023, https://javascript.plainenglish.io/chatgpt-is-this-the-end-of-the-content-writers-career-let-s-find-out-cbbaf4f4376.

Pittalwala, Iqbal. “Is Chatgpt a Threat to Education?” University of California, 3 Feb. 2023, https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/chatgpt-threat-education. 

If you have not blogged on Javon’s theme, no worries. You are welcome to pick up on the ideas he covers in your next blog.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon. xo

It was a pleasant evening spent with American writer and musician James McBride – recipient of the 2013 National Book Award. President Barack Obama awarded McBride the 2015 National Humanities Medal “for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America. Through writings about his own uniquely American story, and his works of fiction informed by our shared history, his moving stories of love display the character of the American family.”

I appreciated McBride’s warmth, his candor, his unscripted way of reflecting with us, and his insights into the current American social landscape. Some thoughtful things he stated that I both appreciate and remember:

1. His comment that “when you judge, there is no journey” – this is a thoughtful insight into to the ways people might get stuck due to their own frustration, generating a kind of blanket cynicism that impedes personal growth and more complex understanding of this thing called life.
2. His basic advice to all artists, writers, and creatives: do your work from where you are. Good work starts from what you know most intimately, and where you come from.
3. That a solid educational foundation in the Liberal Arts/Humanities leads us to a more meaningful approach to life. This course of study, founded on one’s innate curiosity regarding the human condition, requires us to grapple with both the world and ourselves. With the “thinking” foundations that come from this course of study, one can constantly calibrate an understanding of what matters, while also seeking better solutions for society as a whole.
4. To quote him directly (in response to the idea of AI and chat GPT as an “efficient” writer) – “A machine can’t love. And it can’t care.”

It was lovely to hear the moderator for the evening ask some of your own questions (I wish there was time for more of them). It also was a pleasure to chat with you during the reception. I am glad we took the time (as a class) to avail of this special opportunity. I think that as humanists, McBride’s work and message of the evening is something for us to incorporate into our reflections on “the human nature of writing”.

What is next?

This coming week, we will kick off our “Pathfinding Series”. I will refine our Course Calendar and insert your selected course readings. And we will start this series with a consideration of the significance of care in learning, with a look at trauma-informed pedagogical strategies. Bianca & Edna will lead the way. This important discussion will “set the stage” for our continued conversation about what is a stake when thinking of the significance of writing in the age of artificial intelligence.

Your to do list:

For our first “Pathfinding” session which will take place in the first half of class this coming Thursday, we will hear from both Edna and Bianca about the critical role of care in education contexts, and we will also consider the impact of trauma on learning. This is an important foundation for thinking about writing from a humanist standpoint.

**Please watch:

• Mays Imad Studio Visit: Trauma-informed Pedagogy and Hope: https://youtu.be/RBEl5G4nA94

**Please read (**select two):

• Joyce Dorado, Dorado, J. D. J., & Zakrzewski, V. Z. V. (n.d.). How to help a traumatized child in the classroom. Greater Good. Retrieved February 12, 2023. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_silent_epidemic_in_our_classrooms 

• Selection from “The Body Keeps the Score” by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbarOxwqg1MZlO4NkM1VGLiJQLICy_27/view?usp=sharing

• Selections from “Wired to Create” by Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregorie (my old Psych of the Arts textbook) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h9j2oLZIs6Qj9yBo-dJv2o1oDuyS9otm/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bK-Gfxj4SBmUXv10rO7Ibw4Hy5jO0uBa/view?usp=sharing

**Blog # 3 due: Reflections on readings above from pathfinders Bianca and Edna

Happy Valentines! xo

We have momentum

Thanks for another enjoyable class with you this week! In building a sense of connection together, we began by sharing some stories regarding our names, and had a good time exploring a bit more of who we are. Trust is such a key part of the learning experience (something that only builds after some time with each other). I am glad to invite some of our time in getting to know a bit more about everyone in the room.

Some announcements:

Remember we will be meeting at around 4:20pm at the Liberty Hall Academic Center for James McBride’s reading and talk next week for class! https://www.kean.edu/news/author-james-mcbride-give-distinguished-lecture-kean

In addition, please consider participating in Research Days to be held Monday, April 24 – Wednesday, April 26, 2023. Kean Research Days is a campus-wide celebration of faculty-student research and creative activity. This annual event sponsored by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs provides students the opportunity to present their preliminary or completed research and creative activities to the campus community. Here is the link to register.

Class slides

Beginning our discussion with “Voice” in Writing

I am smitten with your articulation of what “voice in writing” might be. It is such a critical yet elusive aspect of writing, and I think you captured some it so beautifully in class. I also think you considered the question of voice from your own well-earned experience of writing. I especially enjoyed our discussion of the dreaded “writer’s block” experience – a sensation of being stuck (perhaps due to a blank mind, or more likely, a flooded mind). What is writing, if not thinking in nuanced and refined ways? What is writing, without the communicator’s intention? What is writing without whimsicality and serendipity?

We also discussed some key questions that I think we will keep visiting over the course of our time together:

Our first experiment

Ou first in-class “experiment” with chatGPT was useful as an early consideration of what the tool will do, in comparison to what a human writer might do (in light of a basic writing prompt).

I asked each of you to write about the difference between high school verses college for about 7 minutes. The results revealed a combination of insights based on experience, memories, and also a broader comparative analysis. You had strong feelings, great “lines” to sum up the vibes of yesteryear, and some profound questions too. Even monitored-bathroom references. When chatGPT answered the same question a few minutes later, it’s response was a well written comparison/contrast argument organized in list form, built upon some fact-based assertions. We considered the pros and cons of the different approaches, and we hit upon the difference in “information for information’s sake” vs. the production of meaning through language. I think this is a useful place to start our overall class exploration of “the human nature of writing”.

Completing Class Calendar

At this stage it is critical for each of you to determine your contribution to our pathfinding series which provides a “spine” for our Course Calendar. You each need to dig deeper that “initial thoughts” and really determine with specificity your plan for presentation. Remember to look closely (research the content) of our Reading Roster in order to confirm what you want to contribute to our discussion. You can also add readings that are outside our roster (if you feel they will enhance your “pathfinding” direction). You can let me know by email if you have new materials that you want me to consider adding to our reading list. **Please email me the working title and the selected readings that will become the basis for your presentation by next week.

You to-do list for next week

1. In preparation for James McBride visit next week:

• Register for James McBride Lecture: https://kean.universitytickets.com/w/
• Read: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/09/812847437/emphasize-the-positive-james-mcbride-on-the-kindness-that-shaped-him
• Listen: The Quarantine Tapes: 092 James McBride (08.05.20): https://www.dublab.com/archive/the-quarantine-tapes-092-james-mcbride-08-05-20

2. Complete your contribution of our Course Calendar. Please email me the title of your “topic/theme” for your “pathfinding week” and the proposed reading selections that the class will read the week before your own pathfinding session. This is due before February 9th.

3. Blog 2 due: Reflect on our class discussion from 2/2. What is your sense of the importance of voice in writing? Write about what you noticed when you wrote about high school vs. college, as compared to what chatGPT wrote about high school vs. college. **Also, please formulate a question for James McBride to answer in during his public lecture next week 2.

We are off to a great start! See you at the James McBride reading next week!

I am really so happy with our launch of the #NetNarr “collaboratory”. I feel the shared enthusiasm in the room for “The Human Nature of Writing“. It seems there are so many open possibilities for our collective exploration of A.I.’s impact on the writing process. As you are all settling into this new semester, the metaphorical allusions you have shared (about how you are feeling at this point) are telling. I can tell that you are juggling things, and that you are definitely an interesting group!

As I mentioned in class, the significance of care, and the sense of trust in community, is critical to anyone’s capacity to learn. And so I am glad we are taking the time to connect a bit as we settle into class together. We will continue the process of getting to know each other more each week, before we jump into our weekly content together. And we will also share some of our thoughts and work with the network beyond our four walls (via Twitter) using the hashtag #NetNarr and also @unboundeq #unboundeq (the Equity Unbound network)!

Thank you for the open invite into #netnarr, Mia. It seems timely, given latest developments in the tech world!
And I appreciated the way you worded your introduction with a focus on humans as writers. I hope to keep an eye on your class and engage when possible#clmooc pic.twitter.com/O8Xk2WgTXF

— KevinHodgson (@dogtrax) January 23, 2023

I am glad we took a look at the Reading Roster together (remember this a “live” document that can be expanded by your own contributions). We have also started “to fill out” the Course Calendar together. At this stage, we have settled your individual dates for the “pathfinding schedule”. Each student now has a specific night this semester for their interactive presentation. Next week I hope you will be able to share a topic (and theme title) that you intend to cover during your own pathfinding session (and perhaps a reading or two selected in light of your thematic choice?). **Please work on refining your theme title for your pathfinding session (to be shared in class next week). And if you would like to work with the other person slated to present on your date, be sure to connect with them to confer about your class theme for that day.

Our class slides

Your to-do list for next class:

1. Please set up your twitter account and your blog URL and submit this information by completing this form (if you have not done so already).
2. Please look at the Reading Roster more closely, and be prepared to let me know what your topic and theme title will be. You can also share with me any possible reading selection(s) you would like to integrate into the Course Calendar.
3. Watch: “In the Age of AI”, Frontline Documentary, PBS. 
4. Read: Nast, Condé, and @wired. “AI Reveals the Most Human Parts of Writing.” WIRED, 2 Dec. 2022, www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-writing-art.
5. Blog 1 due: Please write a reflection/response to “AI Reveals the Most Human Parts of Writing”. Include an introduction to yourself (if you haven’t done that yet).

 I was so happy to welcome all of you to #netnarr on Thursday evening (1/19) as we took a bit of time together to acclimate to this learning journey. I am excited about getting “Networked Narratives” up and running with all of you, and I am feeling energized by connecting in person.

Some check in and warm up with you:

A review of some of the things we have accomplished so far:

1. We have connected in person and established a sense of the course together.
2. I have shared the overall vision for the class, and discussed briefly the central question of the course – “the human nature of writing” and the impact of artificial intelligence on writing, learning, teaching, and the world in general. (See my first post on this website’s home page for some of these initial thoughts).
3. We have walked through the course website and the syllabus.

Class slides:

What is next?

This coming Thursday evening, we will do some more connecting and getting to know each other, and I will continue to introduce you to the central ideas and questions of the course.

We will look at our Course Calendar and the Reading Roster together, and we will plan our overall “pathfinder” schedule a bit.

*Please create a free WordPress blog.  Each week, you will be writing a reflective blog post that captures your writing and learning process for the week.  Please send me the URL (web address) for your WordPress blog by filling this form out by Wednesday, January 25th.  In addition, please create a twitter account. We will use the hashtag #netnarr to grow our connections and share our work on the human nature of writing. 

I will feed your individual blog sites into our course website, so you will all be able to access and read everyone’s weekly blog posts on the course website under the tab “Student Blogs”.

Your to-do list for next week:

1. Please set up your twitter account and your blog URL and submit this information by completing this form.
2. Listen to the History of #NetNarr podcast.
3. Select a couple of dates you would like to be a “pathfinder” for the course. We will negotiate the Course Calendar next time we meet.
4. Please post your first blog post before next Thursday. Your first blog post is your introduction post. Introduce yourself to #NetNarr class (in whatever way you would like to). Let us all know who you are, in whatever manner you feel comfortable.

Looking forward to seeing you all next week,

Dr. Zamora

Welcome to a new semester! I really look forward to connecting with all of you soon. In many ways, this course has been “brewing” in my mind for a while. It attempts to ask some bold questions about the state of the world, the state of democracy, the state of education.  In short, we will will ask many hard questions together. At the root of our shared inquiry will be the significance of writing. But we will try to connect that to questions about what make us human. I want to think more deeply with all of you about artificial intelligence – questioning its impact on thinking, on learning, and on caring for each other.

What does it mean to write in the age of the A.I., GPT-3? The algorithms can write faster than we can. A.I. has now mastered structure, form, and syntax. Still, it doesn’t have a clue about meaning. At this stage, you can offer a prompt, and the program will spit out something useful within seconds. Prose will be grammatically correct. Words will be coherent. ChatGPT uses the entirety of the open web as it’s data set. It knows basic paragraph structure and it connects ideas together effectively. So where does that leave us human writers? 

For time immemorial, human beings have reached out to the world with words, hoping to connect and communicate, hoping to import both information and meaning to those on the receiving end of an intended message.  We have tried to convey what we know, what we experience, what we think, what we feel.  Writers hope to protect their authenticity and intention, their unique human voice.  But in a world where the machine can do some things more effectively and efficiently, how do we now reckon with the art and science of writing?  What is the impact of artificial intelligence on the world as we know it? How is machine writing a game changing truth? 

In #NetNarr this Spring 2023, we will be a taking small journey together as we attempt to apprehend the significance of the human nature of writing.

If we know that care and community are critical to how we learn, what is the future for learning and education, in a world written (in part) by machines trained on our own human output?

I look forward to meeting for the first time this week, and getting our co-learning “collaboratory” up-and-running together.

See you soon,

Dr. Zamora