Author Archives: Norm Friesen
"Note to Self:" A Genealogy of the internal dialogue from Aurelius to Vygotsky
Referencing Foucault’s notion of “technologies of the self,” this paper/chapter traces the notion of the self-reflective, self-directed dialogue from the practices of the late Ancients (e.g. Aurelius) through Vygotsky to today’s digital tools of self-management and self examination. Here’s a link … Continue reading
Faculty ProD Keynote: Simulation, Stimulation & Silence – Learning Online and Off
I gave this keynote at an excellent professional development event at my alma mater, the University of Alberta in August. CTL TECHKNOWLEDGY Symposium Keynote Here’s the abstract: Almost 20 years after the popular adoption of the Internet, we are still … Continue reading
Posted in Media Theory, Phenomenology
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"On beyond Ong:" the bases of a revised theory of orality and literacy
J. Coleman’s Public reading and the reading public is excellent book that goes way beyond its ostensible medieval specialization, and offers a comprehensive critique of the antiquated ethnocentrism of the Ong / Goody approach to orality and literacy. This approach, … Continue reading
Posted in History, Media Theory
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Bernhard Waldenfels: Responsivity and Tele-absence
Two things regarding the contemporary German phenomenologist, Bernhard Waldenfels (pictured, right, with his wife Christine on his way to a Merleau-Ponty seminar in 1961): I’ve tracked down a hard-to-find piece by Waldenfels in which he explains one of the main … Continue reading
Posted in Bernhard Waldenfels, Phenomenology, Writing
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"Problems with Identity" – Chapter from Forgotten Connections
In the final chapter on identity, Mollenhauer embarks on what I believe is a tour-de-force conclusion to his book Forgotten Connections. Building on Sartre and others, Mollenhauer defines identity as our often challenging relationship with ourselves, and illustrates the characteristics of … Continue reading
Posted in Klaus Mollenhauer, The Self, Writing
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Education, Media and the End of the Book –a view from German media theory
Just finished a draft of this paper with Rainer Leschke. It incorporates a number of concepts and references familiar in German media studies (Medienwissenschaften), including notions of a Leitmedium, of Medienvergessenheit and media-systems. But these aren’t all necessarily German. One of these … Continue reading
Posted in History, Media Theory, Writing
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Educational Change & the Longue Durée: An Analysis of the Anatomy Lecture
Proof of a paper, co-authored with Wolff-Michael Roth, soon to appear in Educational Philosophy and Technology. Here’s the abstract: Although there are many points of continuity, there are also a number of changes in the pedagogical form of the anatomy … Continue reading
Posted in History, Lecture, Media Theory
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“Note to Self”: The Genealogy of Internal Dialog in Educational Material & Practice
An abstract and short paper I’ve been working on as a conference proposal: This presentation provides an overview of the history of the “internal dialog” as a pedagogical form whose variations have played a key role in educational materials and … Continue reading
Posted in Media Theory, Textbook, The Self
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Klaus Mollenhauer’s Hermeneutics
… and his refusal of descriptive phenomenology [slideshare id=23613926&doc=mollenhauersrefusal-130628061753-phpapp02] Audio/slides for a presentation I recently gave at a conference on education and phenomenology at the Humboldt University, Berliln. Here’s the full text. In this presentation, I undertake an informal reconstruction … Continue reading
Posted in Klaus Mollenhauer, Presentation, Writing
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Wandering Star: The Image of the Constellation in Benjamin, Giedion & McLuhan
Did Walter Benjamin’s powerful metaphor of the “constellation” wind up becoming the titular figure in Marshall McLuhan’s Gutenberg Galaxy? Benjamin and McLuhan actually have something in common besides a shared interest in recent material histories. This commonality is a personal … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Theory, Media Theory
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