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this is AI but it felt a lot more guy with broken gear

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[-] zogwarg@awful.systems 9 points 7 months ago

If you keep in the mind the original angst of the students “I have to learn how to use LLMs or I’ll get left behind” they themselves have a vocational understanding of their degree. And it is sensible to address those concerns practically (though as stated in another comment, I don’t believe in accepting the default use of generative tools).

On a more philosophical note I think STEM fields (and any really general well-rounded education) would benefit from delving (!) deeper in library science/archival science/philosophy and their application to history, and that coincidentally that would make a lot of people better at troubleshooting and legacy code untangling.

[-] gnomicutterance@awful.systems 7 points 7 months ago

would benefit from delving (!) deeper in library science/archival science/philosophy and their application to history

Ooh, would you say more about this? I have opinions, but that’s because I’m a programmer now but formerly a librarian & archivist (on the digital side, it’s more common to go back and forth between them; it’s the same degree).

[-] zogwarg@awful.systems 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I'm afraid my thoughts on the matter aren't that deep or well informed ^^.

In no particular order:

  • I grew up in France, and my (probably biased) view, it tends a bit more towards teaching "Literary" subjects, including for engineering students. I think in general this does indeed develop literacy and critical thinking.
  • France has "Professors Documentalist" and we call our school libraries "Center for Documentation and Information" from middle school up, with a few (very) introductory courses on using Thesaurus, Bibliography and digital index cards tools (this may of become enshittified by the availability of google since my time there)
  • I have a small Lexicography hobby.
  • I have a small reading old sources hobby.
  • I think more "Traditional" digital search is still incredibly valuable
  • I think principles predating the digital age are still incredibly valuable
  • The way STEM fields are taught is often focused on "one correct answer", and i don't remember that much focus being put on where the sources come from, comparing differing sources, or even any emphasis on how can be certain a given source has been accurately transmitted to the present age in history.
  • I think information retrieval is a vital skill (especially with the enshitification of google) that all fields when benefit practitionners from being more comfortable with (though of course it's still its own job).
  • I think software engineers in particular, during their education, would be well served by practical examples of reconciling conflicting or uncertain sources, and I think history is a good lens (less abstract vs software).

I'd be interested in your perspective!

this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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