Learning with 'e's

Poetry Turing Test

If you've read this blog previously you'll know that I'm both a poet and a computer scientist. Recently I have been researching the alleged capability of OpenAI's ChatGPT to write poetry. Some have expressed concerns that AI will soon replace poets, artists, musicians and other creatives. So I thought I would perform a little experiment. Here's a challenge for you: A sort of poetry Turing Test if you will. Can you tell the difference between a computer generated poem and one written by a human being?

Earlier today I asked ChatGPT to write a Pantoum about love. I also wrote a Pantoum, based on the same rules of the fixed form poem. Both are below. But which one is the AI generated poem... and which is mine? I welcome all of your comments.

Jul

Story Machines: Can computers become creative writers?

An old friend and acquaintance of mine from my years in academia recently published a new book. The book is Story Machines, by Mike Sharples. It's one that fascinates me because it combines two of the key interests in my life - technology and story telling. I have been involved in educational technology since 1979, and still teach and speak about my research in the area even today. But I have also, as those of you who follow this blog, grown back into my roots as a performance poet and writer.

Jun

shocks and stares

This is Steve Wheeler at his creative lunatic best. If the crazy cover doesn't convince you, then read on.... He claims that this collection of poetry has been twenty-five years in the making. Although all of the poems are new, the concept goes back to 1995.

Apr

Rite

This is extreme poetry. Not for the nervous. This book cost me most of my best poems. I was saving them for a rainy day, and guess what? It rained for two weeks without a break. So here it is: My grand opus: You better enjoy it.... I'll be watching.

Mar

War Child

It has been quite a while since I last posted anything on this blog. I guess it's the same for many folk right now, what with all that's been going on in the world. It's probable that many have written much less because of lockdowns, wars and rumours of wars. But for me, it has been the opposite. I have been writing. I just haven't been writing academic material.

Feb

YouTube video - Yasmina

I just posted a recording of one of my new poems to YouTube. Yasmina is about the friendship between a young Syrian boy and a farmyard hen. It's a bitter-sweet story, and I hope to enjoy it. The poem is taken from my new collection of short stories and poems titled Small Lights Burning. You can check it out and purchase a copy on either Kindle or in paperback via Amazon.

Feb

Small Lights Burning

Over the years, I have written a substantial collection of poems about childhood, growing up and being young (because I was young myself once ... no, really). It was difficult to narrow down this stack of poems to just 50, but I managed to do it, and they have now been published in a new book called Small Lights Burning. The book also features several short stories - all about children and their imagination.

Jan

New book published (second edition)

I'm very pleased with the new cover for the second edition of Urban Voices. I have added several new poems to the collection and revised some of the illustrations, so I thought a makeover of the front cover might also be in order.

I selected this photo from a series of four I took one rainy late evening as I was walking through Piccadilly Circus in London.

Jan

Legends of Online Learning

A Happy New Year to you (it really has to be better than 2020)! Last month, just before Christmas I recorded a podcast interview with Mark Nichols (formerly of the British Open University and now back working in New Zealand as Executive Director of the Open Polytechnic) for his series titled: Leaders and Legends of Online Learning. Now, I'm flattered to think that someone might think of me as a 'legend' but it was great fun to talk about my greatest passion in life: learning.

Dec

#OEB20

It has been quite a while since I last posted on this blog, but a lot has happened, including my falling ill with a virus infection. I tested positive for Covid-19 and then spent just over a month slowly recovering, but I'm now hopefully on the mend. I did hear a young lad not so long back ask his Mum if she'd had to live through the previous 18 Covid outbreaks. Perish the thought.

Yesterday was a great first session of Online Educa Berlin's virtual event.

Learning with 'e's

My thoughts about learning technology and all things digital.