I've felt guilty in the past that often we don't directly discuss the book and what it says, but since we've each individually had our own "conversations with the author", our sessions then become a method of taking those extant (hidden discussions) and bringing them to a group to have not only discussions with each other, but extend those discussions with other books we've read and connecting them with reading, watching, listening we've done with other sources. In some sense, we're creating connections (conversations) with all the other things rather than necessarily discussing the exact thing at hand. This is a different form of work than the work of the initial discussion we individually have with the author (in this case Adrian Johns) and this is something many book groups don't go past.

I don't feel so guilty about it anymore...

https://www.amazon.com/ab/shelf/

https://library.glendaleca.pbc.guru/

Based on the interface, pbc.guru looks like a custom skinned version of Discourse with managed service tacked on.

https://www.pbc.guru/

Company with a web platform for managed online book clubs.

Found via Glendale Library book club solicitation: https://www.pbc.guru/glendalecalibrary

Initial print fun of the P/V translation of Anna Karenina was 32,000 copies which the publisher hoped would push other translations to the margins. Then Oprah picked it up for her book club... and the publisher ordered another printing of 800,000 copies.

The Brothers Karamazov book club via The Toronto Philosophy Meetup https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/

https://www.reddit.com/r/PhilosophyEvents/comments/14oh2bd/the_brothers_karamazov_1879_by_fyodor_dostoevsky/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uofRqJvc7Lo

https://literati.com/book-clubs/atlas-obscura/

For her online book clubs, Maggie Delano defines four broad types of notes as a template for users to have a common language: - terms - propositions (arguments, claims) - questions - sources (references which support the above three types)

I'm fairly sure in a separate context, I've heard that these were broadly lifted from her reading of Mortimer J. Adler's How to Read a book. (reference? an early session of Dan Allosso's Obsidian Book club?)

These become the backbone of breaking down a book and using them to have a conversation with the author.

https://www.civicsoftechnology.org/events

Instructional Design Working Group - Book Club https://designjustice.org/events-1/2022/id-1stmeet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-icwOk8YFk

It's interesting to see the differences between the bookclubs in this visualization of their related notes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdtLlnho1dI

https://danallosso.substack.com/p/new-obsidian-piketty-book-club?s=r

In addition to using his card index for producing his published works, Barthes also used his note taking system for teaching as well. His final course on the topic of the Neutral, which he taught as a seminar at Collège de France, was contained in four bundles consisting of 800 cards which contained everything from notes, summaries, figures, and bibliographic entries.

Given this and the easy portability of index cards, should we instead of recommending notebooks, laptops, or systems like Cornell notes, recommend students take notes directly on their note cards and revise them from there? The physicality of the medium may also have other benefits in terms of touch, smell, use of colors on them, etc. for memory and easy regular use. They could also be used physically for spaced repetition relatively quickly.

Teachers using their index cards of notes physically in class or in discussions has the benefit of modeling the sort of note taking behaviors we might ask of our students. Imagine a classroom that has access to a teacher's public notes (electronic perhaps) which could be searched and cross linked by the students in real-time. This would also allow students to go beyond the immediate topic at hand, but see how that topic may dovetail with the teachers' other research work and interests. This also gives greater meaning to introductory coursework to allow students to see how it underpins other related and advanced intellectual endeavors and invites the student into those spaces as well. This sort of practice could bring to bear the full weight of the literacy space which we center in Western culture, for compare this with the primarily oral interactions that most teachers have with students. It's only in a small subset of suggested or required readings that students can use for leveraging the knowledge of their teachers while all the remainder of the interactions focus on conversation with the instructor and questions that they might put to them. With access to a teacher's card index, they would have so much more as they might also query that separately without making demands of time and attention to their professors. Even if answers aren't immediately forthcoming from the file, then there might at least be bibliographic entries that could be useful.

I recently had the experience of asking a colleague for some basic references about the history and culture of the ancient Near East. Knowing that he had some significant expertise in the space, it would have been easier to query his proverbial card index for the lived experience and references than to bother him with the burden of doing work to pull them up.

What sorts of digital systems could help to center these practices? Hypothes.is quickly comes to mind, though many teachers and even students will prefer to keep their notes private and not public where they're searchable.

Another potential pathway here are systems like FedWiki or anagora.org which provide shared and interlinked note spaces. Have any educators attempted to use these for coursework? The closest I've seen recently are public groups using shared Roam Research or Obsidian-based collections for book clubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRFTd1MndM

Synoptic Obsidian Book Club

Tentative Schedule beginning on Saturday, March 26, 2022

Week 1

Paul: Introduction and Part 1 Blair: Chapter 1

Week 2

Paul:Part 2 Blair:Chapter 2

Week 3

Paul: Part 3 Blair: Chapter 3

Week 4

Paul: Conclusion Blair: Chapter 4

Week 5

Paul: Any overflow from before?? Blair: Chapter 5

Week 6

(just in case we go over a bit???)

Paul: Blair:

Looks like the schedule in the Vault has changed to starting April 2

Even when taught that some methods of learning don't work, students will still actively use and focus on them.

Are those using social annotation purposely helping students to steer clear of these methods? is there evidence that the social part of some of these related annotation or conversational practices with both the text and one's colleagues helpful? Do they need to be taken out of the text and done in a more explicit manner in a lecture/discussion section or in a book club like setting similar to that of Dan Allossso's or even within a shared space like the Obsidian book club to have more value?

Email Dan Allosso danallosso at icloud (dot) com

• name
• email address
• location / timezone
• permission to release vault contributions and participation in video
• date/time preferences
• suggestions regarding other pieces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19_QNqBQ6LE

https://danallosso.substack.com/p/end-of-book-club-and-whats-next

I could be all in on Debt: The First 5000 years!

The Micro Blog Readers’ Republic https://www.craft.do/s/q4t5GKyMPcWXCp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj-p_KHSBD8

https://danallosso.substack.com/p/obsidian-book-club-the-dawn-of-everything

What a great idea!

I feel like I may have just stumbled on a back alley book club on design.

It's digital books+Hypothes.is+Fight Club...

The rules of Back Alley Book Club:

1. We don't talk about Back Alley Book Club.
2. We don't talk about Back Alley Book Club.

...

1. If this is your first night at Back Alley Book Club, you have to annotate.

I'm game for either, though I've already got a copy of the Wu text which I've started reading since our prior meeting....