… punk’s not dead!
Who was it that said something about “bava playing the hits”? I can’t remember anymore given it’s been so dang long since I’ve even had the opportunity. But as fate would have it I’m heading to OER Camp in Hamburg, Germany next week to give a talk (as well as a podcast episode) around the topic “Is EDUPUNK Dead?”
Before you throw those tomatoes, hear me out. I was invited because, however aged, I’m still the EDUPUNK poster boy. I recognize that and, in fact, I plan to have a bit of fun with it.
From the UMW Magazine
I agreed because Jöran Muuß-Merholz invited me and he is a total mensch. I’ve known him for more than a decade now, ever since we did our first podcast about EDUPUNK, OER as infrastructure, Reclaim Hosting, and more at OER16. So, in that regard, there’s a sense of continuity.
I really haven’t been “keynoting” for a while. A good part of that is I haven’t had much new to say. But over the last couple of years—particularly with my work on bava.studio—I’m getting inspired in new ways. The preliminary talk at ILTA about building a blog you can walk into confirmed that. It’s a fun talk that actually has legs and ties back into EDUPUNK, ds106, Reclaim, and everything else I’ve been part of for the last two decades. In fact, bava.studio prevents it from simply being a nostalgia talk—which is what folks might be expecting (if they’re expecting anything at all).
For me, the talk is about how ideas might survive after the technologies that first expressed them disappear. How the act of building spaces for connection outside the mainstream tools is a small act of rebellion, hope, and faith that’s never been more important. bava.studio is standing in for that act of faith, but it could be just about anything, and it doesn’t even have to be a specific “instructional technology.”
Back in 2008 the concern was the LMS. In 2026 the technologies are different, but the question feels remarkably familiar: who owns the spaces where we learn, think, and create?
It’s not a talk about AI; rather, it’s a talk about creating the world we want to live in.
That last piece is key because I probably won’t get too many more opportunities to talk publicly. There’s a whole generation or two of younger, brighter, and cooler folks that need to shape the world they want to see. So this one is a bit selfish. I’m bringing my youngest son to the conference because it’s very much for and about him.
Tommaso is a 16-year-old aspiring artist who wants to create in spite of a world that would everywhere elect to offload the very act that makes us truly special. There’s nothing more valuable in the world right now, and Tommaso’s will to make art in the face of automated uncertainty is what we should all aspire to if we’re going to turn the zeitgeist of fated doom toward a radical alternative of sweetness and light.
