Blurts

I just read a Forbes article arguing that standardized testing companies have driven secondary English educators to abandon a focus on book-length literature in favor of short documents. Forbes is not exactly a scientific journal focused on careful research methods, but it is a source many would regard as credible so the article was worth a look.

Forbes describes the switch in focus I have just described as focusing on the “atomization of literature”. It acknowledges that a single book (Moby Dick was the example) might take a third or fourth of a year of instructional time, but argued that dealing with lengthy material develops important skills not satisfied by short content.

I must admit that when I first encountered this article I would have thought the focus would have been on the online reading experiences of adolescents which do mostly involve short posts. Adolescent reading habits were not mentioned by the author.

The logic for the author holding standardized testing companies responsible goes something like this. Standardized comprehension assessments rely on the understanding of short text segments – read this and then answer the following question. This is obviously true. The article then contends teachers want their students to score well on these tests and hence adjust their instruction to focus on the reading of short documents.

First, I don’t know that teachers prioritize short document comprehension or that assignments have changed. Second, I do not think it has been established that teachers make a connection between standardized reading comprehension tests and the type of tasks they assign.

I can certainly agree that different skills are required in the reading of lengthy documents or in the integration of ideas from multiple documents from those that are required to comprehend short passages. I also assume educators assign longer documents and evaluate the processing of such material through writing or other means. Whatever issues exist in relationship to the use of standardized testing and the testing industry, the complaint I have described here seems a stretch.

I have reached the point at which I no longer explore the most recent AI services and concentrate instead on a limited number of AI services for the work I do. This is efficient and also allows me insights into AI capabilities at some depth. I am making an exception with this post because I am a fan of the Brave Browser and ecosystem and Brave has introduced an AI tool called Leo that is integrated into Brave.

Leo is a Llama2 large AI tool developed by Meta. Brave presently makes it available within its nightly builds so present users of the standard Brave release will not find it when this post was written. It is easy enough to download a daily build and keep this version separate from the standard version. Leo works great, but you may find other glitches if you experiment with nightly builds.

You may find accessing Leo a challenge at first. The easiest way is to look for Leo under the Settings heading and this will add Leo to the sidebar. Open the sidebar and Leo should now be present as one of the options for what appears within the sidebar

Leo will assume your interest is in interacting with the content presently appearing in your browser window. Leo will make suggestions for prompts you might apply and summarization would seem a good way to start. From that point, you can select from additional prompt suggestions or generate your own. The content generated can be copied and pasted for use in other applications.

I have no intention of abandoning the blogs I write and host, but I have been exploring what I would describe as collective hosting services – Medium and Substack. I have cross-posted a few of my blog posts to Medium for about a year and recently started to add some content to Substack. 

If you are unfamiliar with these services, the following information and comparisons may be helpful. 

Medium and Substack are both popular platforms for publishing and reading content, but they have some key differences:

1. Content Type:

• Medium: Medium is a platform that hosts a wide range of content, including articles, blog posts, essays, and stories. It allows writers to contribute to publications or create their own personal blogs.

• Substack: Substack is primarily focused on newsletters. It’s designed for writers to create and monetize their newsletters, which can include a mix of written content, audio, and other media.

2. Monetization:

• Medium: On Medium, writers can earn money through the Medium Partner Program, which allows members to read exclusive stories by paying a monthly fee. Writers receive a portion of the earnings based on the engagement their stories generate. A membership in Medium is $50 for the year.

• Substack: Substack offers a subscription-based model, where writers can charge a fee for access to their newsletters. If a writer wants to be paid, they designate some of their content as requiring a subscription. Readers who subscribe to read the content of individual authors pay $5 per month/$50 per year for each subscription. Subscribers get access to exclusive content, and Substack takes a percentage of the subscription revenue.

3. Ownership and Control:

• Medium: Writers retain ownership of their content but grant Medium a non-exclusive license to publish it on their platform.

• Substack: Writers retain full ownership and control of their content on Substack, which means they can export their subscriber list and move to a different platform if they choose to.

4. Community and Discovery:

• Medium: Medium has a larger built-in community, making it easier for writers to gain exposure to a broader audience. It also features curated publications that can help boost visibility.

• Substack: Substack relies more on the writer’s ability to build and nurture their own community of subscribers. Discovery on Substack often happens through word-of-mouth or external marketing efforts.

5. Design and Customization:

• Medium: Medium provides a standardized design for all posts, which maintains consistency throughout the platform.

• Substack: Substack offers more customization options, allowing writers to personalize the design and layout of their newsletters to match their branding.

Ultimately, the choice between authoring on Medium and Substack depends on the type of content you want to publish and your preferred monetization model. If you aim to create newsletters and have more control over your content and subscribers, Substack might be the better fit. On the other hand, if you want a broader audience and the ability to publish various types of content, Medium could be the more suitable option.

I do not intend to generate content exclusive to either Medium or Substack and the content I cross-post from my blogs is shared free to both outlets. As a reader, I struggle with the Substack model. I presently have one subscription to a colleague on Substack. I pay the same amount for this single subscription as the cost of a subscription to Medium. Here is a different perspective. I can purchase approximately three Kindle books for the amount I would pay for one Substack subscription. As a reader, I simply do not see the value in Substack subscriptions. I read a lot of content and I would be spending hundreds of dollars on Substack subscriptions to access the equivalent of what I read in books by established authors. To me, Medium seems a more reasonable investment.