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Building Keenston
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Building Keenston
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Here, you can take part in discussions about the website development, make your suggestions and also vote.
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Dear Friends
We have updated the logic behind the mechanism of earning points on our website, so we have adjusted the number of your points according to the new logic.
Now you will only earn points by either getting reactions to your content from other users or giving reactions to other users' content. Thus you can track your progress of how much useful stuff you have learned (things that changed your view or things that you disagreed with etc.) and how you have impacted others (how many times your content triggered reactions from other users).
We also have a new rating of the most impactful Keenstonites that demonstrates:
1. Top Enlighteners - users who got the most "Enlightened me" reactions to their content.
2. Top View Changer - users who got the most "It changed my view" reactions to their content.
3. Top Contrarians - users who got the most "Respectfully disagree" reactions to their content.
4. Top Artists - users who got the most "This is Art!" reactions to their content.
You can find the rating board on either our homepage or "Our dwellers" page and you can select one of the four ratings and the period.
Keenston uses the so-called freemium model, which means that some functionality is free and some features are only available if you pay. You can participate (comment, react) in all the debates, discussions or take quizzes as much as you want, but in order to create your own debates, communities or blog posts, you have to buy premium membership.
But why don’t we allow everyone to use all the features free of charge because most websites work like this? The reason is: we do not serve ads to our users AT ALL. Those “free” websites are not as free as one might think… These websites earn money by selling the data about their users to advertisers. The more users they have the more they can earn from the ads. Yes, you don’t pay directly with cash, but you do pay quite a lot with your attention. This is why advertising revenue models make these websites use different techniques to capture as much of your attention as possible.
Since we’re a debating platform, whose goal is to promote critical thinking, let’s be objective... Advertising revenue models can be rather beneficial to users. Users don’t pay cash for using the website/app and in exchange they allow the website owners to serve targeted ads to them. The website owners earn cash, advertisers show their ads efficiently to the proper audience and the users see the ads that are as relevant to their interests and needs as possible. Indeed, users don’t see irrelevant ads, for the most part, they see ads that are based on their browsing history and their online profile. It is clearly a benefit to users and it seems like every party wins in the end.
However, if you go to a website that uses the ads revenue module, you’re not entirely in charge of what you see on the website. Machine learning algorithms show you what you’re more likely to click on based on your previous actions and based on the users who demonstrate a behavior similar to yours. Very often, these websites know you better than you know yourself. Whether, it is ethical or not is debatable (tell us what you think in this debate).
We created Keenston to foster critical thinking and we do not believe that this goal resonates with the advertising revenue module. We would much rather have a few thousand people who pay a small monthly fee, know what they pay for and see what they want to see than have millions of users whose attention is sold to advertisers.
And what is it that you pay for? You pay for the ability to connect with people who are self-aware, who are able to challenge their views and who want to understand other perspectives. This is why our only public module is Debates, where there MUST be an alternative to a certain viewpoint making everyone see at least two different perspectives on a certain issue. Our people also come to Keenston to create their small learning communities, they can start making a small change. Only you get to choose which community to follow, no algorithm will ever push you to do anything.
We do not want to create another addictive website whose goal is to maximize the time you spend browsing different pages. We’d like to create a platform that would allow people to improve their critical thinking skills. The freemium model will not make us do everything to maximize time on site. We’d rather strive to maximize the number of “Enlightened me” or “Changed my view” reactions. Thus, we’ll know that people do indeed learn while using Keenston. In order to learn or enlighten other people, you don’t need to spend hours on Keenston every day :-)
Hello Sasha
Really nice to read your thoughts. And I didn't know that you took part in a college student exchange program...
I had three different literature professors at college, which I entered at the age of 13 and got my degree at 18 1/2 years.
For the last two years our professor was challenging us. One of his tricks was to bring up a question. After that he waited for a moment looking for raised hands - and then said: First of all you, followed by the name of the student, then you right afterwards, you're the third to response, and so on.
So the first student started. At the end of his or her answer, our professor gave the word to the next student without interfering or saying something. And the tricky point was: while you listened to what the students before you had to say, you sort of had to constantly revise your own answer so as not to repeat what was said before. Or to put the focus on another detail, or challenge one of your students' argument.
I have to say: this made an interesting and really challenging discussion and teached you how to think fast and better listen to arguments.
He had been a professor for didactings at university too, teaching how to become a teacher. And had studied the piano. And was not afraid of shouting out in class if he wanted to emphasize something.
I still remember one of those exclames:
"... and not always potatoes for breakfast!!!" when we discussed a book which discribed a period in European history when the farmers were in war because of their new religious beliefs. The title was: "Goetz von Berlichingen" written by Goethe. The man had been a knight in the years around 1480, led the farmers in this war. Most people who had read the book can remember at least one sentence: "He can lick my arse!" At the time when Goethe brought this theater peace to the theatre in 1774, this was outrageous...
It is a pitty, I agree, when teachers don't think outside the box. This might have to do with the fact that there are too many main stream oppinions and too little people not really capable or willing to think outside their box.
Personally, I don't think that the invention of all the new technologies have really changed things to the better - or not yet. Too many blogs are a rude exchange and frighten away decent thinking people from taking part in such discussions...
But when we think back to the events in history after the invention of mass printing of books by Gutenberg: many shit storms had happened back then, leavelets hung everywhere with crude and unsettling ideas whatsoever - and nobody could really control that...
What would society be nowadays had books not been printed and allowed everyone to learn to read and write on their own. OK, this has been ages before and does not help to improve anything in teaching nowadays, right?
What I try to say: in society's, some changes, backslashes, troubles as a reaction to developments take their time. It's quite often, that there are waves, or sort of a pendulum swinging to one side, then again back again. So it will take time till the people learn to handle the social platforms, avoid being part of a mob, checking the meaningfulness of an online statement, and make their own minds up whenever someone comes up with claims or strange thoughts which cannot be or become true...
So, we should teach our children in class more about how to check out and handle information - is it trustworthy, helpful or the opposite of it, what lies behind the message or between the lines etc.
Let us not forget: The new technologies brought about a real change too! You can search the internet far and wide and find good information about whatever you are interested in...
On the other hand: There are tons of misunderstandings and worse things floating around the globe, and it's hard to tell apart and know which is which for many people nowadays.
Many get confused and focus on one "brand" / belief / side etc... In my view we should rather open up our minds and listen to different opinions so as to make up our own minds about things. We may still keep some of our basic beliefs and principls. Which does not mean that we should stick to every bit of it for the rest of our lives but should adapt constantly and ask ourselves if one particular topic can still be seen as we did in the past or should be revised, for good reasons...
The only constant thing in life is that it is constantly changing - even much faster nowadays than it used to, that's right.
But even so, let us not forget about what our ancestors went through in terms of changes. You only have to go back in time to see that.
And therefore we should not fuss about petty things but see the big picture and think of ways to form the future instead of lamenting about now or before...
I hope I was not coming across as too much of a preacher writing down these lines...
Thinking for yourself is essential! So you are invited to do so when reading my post:)
Very Kindly,
Urs
Hello Sacha
Is there a possiblility to just record a message and send it to anyone of the dwellers?
Videos are possible, I saw, but never used it so far.
Thanks for replying - no hurry, though...
Urs
Promoted
My name is Sasha and I’ve sat in a lot of classes in my life! After high school, I spent six years earning my first degree (5 years at a Russian University and 1 year as an exchange student at an American college) then I took a break and worked in Moscow eventually deciding to spend another 2 years to earn my Master’s degree in the US. I’ve spent 18 years on formal education and certainly I’ve learned a ton. However, I’ve also realized that there are many flaws in the conventional educational system. Very often, education is conflated with indoctrination and educators mold a person into another conforming worker rather than into an independent, unique, inquisitive and creative thinker. This is not right.
I studied at a regular high school and all kinds of students were brought together into groups of 25-30 people. Despite their different mental faculties, everyone was given the same material and there was always a disparity in how quickly students picked up the material: the slower students were not treated differently at all. That made these students hate their life in high school. For those students who were coping with the material, the whole purpose of the school was to turn them into efficient test takers who could then use their test results to enter universities and make their school proud. However, nobody gave a damn about what the individual student was interested in. Most kids were competing for what their parents and teachers thought was the right fit for the students.
I was a rather efficient test taker and I got a full ride at a university, the university that looked like the right fit for me. Soon I realized that the university experience was merely a continuation of my high school experience with more specialized classes and exams. Perhaps, it was because of my country’s complicated past: the university system was not helping the students become individuals, it seemed like the system was manufacturing new obedient factory workers. Most professors were cowards who did whatever the administrators were telling them to do. There was only one teacher who stood out in the crowd: he was my literature professor. He was not a conformist and he always said what he thought, that’s why he was not liked by lots of his colleagues. I’d say that he was the only professor in all 5 years of my studying at that university who was truly enlightening his students.
In 2010, I went to the US as an exchange student to study at a liberal arts college in a progressive state for one year. The experience was different from that at my Russian university: it was okay to say controversial things in classes and the professors could have very different perspectives. We had all kinds of guest speakers who could have their own opinions. It didn’t seem like the professors depended on the administrators too much and I didn’t see any particular agenda that was dominating the college. It felt rather free.
Six years later, when I started my Master’s program in the US in another progressive state, to my dismay, things were different. The professors were teaching their materials effectively and the students had really high IQs but there was clearly a problem with excessive administration and 99% of the students (at least verbally) had the same views on most societal topics. On top of that, I found such concepts as safe spaces and trigger warnings appalling and contradictory to the idea of challenging your views and stepping out of your comfort zone while attending a college. Political correctness was through the roof and groupthink was taking the reins. Strangely, the atmosphere was even more suffocating than that in my post-soviet university. Something had changed in the American higher education. People who had views different from the accepted agenda were afraid to even slightly criticize the vociferous ideologues for fear of being branded a bigot, which they were not at all. It felt rather totalitarian.
We’re building Keenston to change the perception of how people can be educated, connect those who want to enlighten and be enlightened, help people understand their potential, build their critical thinking skills, be heterodox thinkers, become creators but not copiers and understand the complex world by connecting with people from different cultures. We are going to be an English-speaking site for people who truly care about enlightenment and who want to make education better throughout the world. We will strive to make Keenston as objective as possible; so we will not use echochamber-creating algorithms but give the user as much freedom as possible. We want to foster flexible educational approaches, promote courageous educators, cherish diversity of thought and cultivate nuanced thinking!
#creativity #individuality #diversityofthought #heterodoxthinking
I put together an FAQ page where we now have a brief description of the website sections. Please let me know if it makes and if we can add anything else. https://keenston.com/page/f-a-q And every page now has a brief description as well. You can find the page by clicking on your profile icon.
We finally managed to fully install Quizzes. Now you can add them either into your addresses/events (there's a separate page for them) or make them public. If you make the quizzes public, they will be available to all users in Keenston Testing Center (https://keenston.com/page/quizzes-home)
Hi Urs!
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us!:)
Your literature professor had a really nice approach to teach the students. It seemed like he cared a lot about his students and wanted them to become critical thinkers.
I agree with your point that every coin has two sides. The same argument could be made about fire: when our ancestors discovered fire, it allowed them to cook food but also burn settlements of their enemies. And most subsequent discoveries like the wheel, print, steam or internal combustion engines brought about positive and negative aspects to life.
The current state of technology allows us to do many amazing things like connecting with people from all over the world, learning without going to school and so on. But it also makes us more tribal, lazy and angry.
What's different about this most recent change however is that for the first time in history a small group of rather smart people is able to control the minds of millions using machine learning algorithms all for the sake of feeding this insatiable beast that is the advertising industry. The ads business model requires that users spend as much time on websites as possible. ML algorithms drive users into echo chambers by offering content to the users that suits their views but doesn't challenge them. There's a really good documentary on Netflix "The Social Dilemma" that describes the problem beautifully.
Another problem is that modern technology is very efficient at providing people with dopamine kicks. Using fire, reading books or printing pamphlets and driving cars requires at least some effort, but watching mindlessly endless videos on Tiktok doesn't.. It seems like people are "amusing themselves to death" as Neil Postman put it once. For the first time in history, people are overwhelmed with so much entertainment that it makes them content in the short run, but makes their life meaningless in the long run..
I really hope that this will change and we'll start realizing that this way of life leads to nowhere. Perhaps, small platforms like Keenston will be uniting groups of people around some distinct meaningful goals and the influence of large platforms that use ads business models will gradually wane...
Sasha