See below for selected writings from this blog and LearnOutLive:
Language Learning Is Dead, Long Live Language Learning!
“In the future, noone will have to learn languages,” my grandpa said and adjusted his ski goggles. “With the help of technology you’ll one day be able to speak and understand every tongue on earth.” We were inching our way up over a steep…
The Lost GoodReads Scrolls
I’ve always been a big advocate for hosting your own websites, not relying on Big Tech companies exclusively to keep your stuff safe. It may feel as if your profile on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter is “your home” online, but we’…
Über die Prosa Joseph Roths
Es gibt zu viele Bücher in dieser Welt, und manchmal geht man blind an den besten vorbei, ohne den blassesten Schimmer, was einem entgeht. Und bei all dem grellen Gewimmel der Bestsellerlisten und häufig enttäuschenden Neuerscheinungen ist es vi…
Vom Überglaube an das Wissen und der Wiederkehr des Mythos
Wir befinden uns in einer Zeit, in der wir jeglicher Form von Wissen einen hohen Stellenwert beimessen — ob es sich dabei um sogenanntes “Grundwissen”, “Allgemeinwissen” oder “Fachwissen” handelt. Wir alle wi…
When Physical Objects Become Virtual Reality
I still remember the time I first laid eyes on the paperback edition of one of my books which had previously only existed as a digital edition. It was as if this book had finally become “real”, transplanted from the evanescent stream…
On The Life of Things
As human beings, we live in a world of things. There are small ones, big ones, raggedy, round and shiny things all around us. Some of these things are made in factories, others are made by hand. Some are complex, others seemingly simple. Some are exp…
Work and Play: The Gamification of Everything
Regardless of its specific form, work is an essential part of our lives. We work for good grades, we work to get a good job, then we work overtime, we work day and night, we work all week long, we work till we drop. For something so mundane and seemi…
Als das Internet noch Unsozial war
Weißt du noch, wie es damals war? Als die meisten Webseiten noch öden Orten glichen, auf die man oft nur durch Zufall stieß — arglos zusammengezimmerte Codegeflechte, die irgendwo in der digitalen Wildnis darauf warteten, sich ruckartig auf…
10 Arten, wie das Internet uns krank macht – und immer noch keine Lösung…
Gestern stolperte ich über einen Artikel, der unverhohlen die Leiden des modernen, digital vernetzten Wesen schilderte. Der Text trug die Überschrift: “10 Arten, wie das Internet uns krank macht und eine Lösung” und beinhaltete das Üb…
Hätte Goethe getwittert?
Heute Morgen bin ich über ein interessantes Interview mit dem Verleger Reinhard Matern gestolpert, das schon allein in sprachlicher Hinsicht lesenswert ist. Abgesehen von den Beschreibungen, wie Matern erste Bücher im Selbstdruck in Umlauf brachte…
Associative Doing: a Theoretical Model for Work in a Hyper-linked World
For many people, the Internet has become an irreplacable part of both work and entertainment. Whether we’re sending an email to our boss, marathon watching series on Netflix, doing research, shopping on Amazon, managing our online bank accounts…
Hidden Capitalism In Life Hacking & The Quantified Self
Life hacking and the “quantified self” movement are all the rage recently. People time their life and work patterns and wirelessly populate spreadsheets with their performance. Shiny little gadgets and apps record our sleeping habits and…
The Beast of Untamed Time
There used to be a time when we had to wait 7 days for the next episode of our favorite TV-series; when we needed to hang on until the next morning for our latest fix of news; when a written message from friends and family took many days to arrive. W…
The Practice Of Not Knowing: A Third Method Of Foreign Language Learning
When learning a new language there are those things we need to know, those things we need to practice and a million other things we don’t know. 1. Knowledge Is (Passive) Power Knowing something usually doesn’t take a lot of effort. Either…