One of the reasons I founded Learning Life in 2012 is to help publicize scholars doing research of interest and importance to the broad public. There are many scholars in the United States and abroad doing research on everything from health and safety, to history and literature, to human and animal behavior, that matters to our lives. Much of that research though ends up in books or academic journals few people read. Of course, some of it is shared via radio, newspapers, magazines and blogs, but the audience still tends to be a self-selected group of more educated people. If academics are serious though about informing and empowering more people – especially those least educated – we can and should do better.
Learning Life’s approach to public education is different. As helpful as going to school, taking a free course online, visiting a library, or reading a book can be, we believe we can reach more people by spreading knowledge on the surfaces of everyday life, from napkins, cup sleeves and placemats, to t-shirts and posters, to social media accessed on smart phones, tablets and personal computers. In other words, rather than expect people to come to education, Learning Life aims to bring education to people. This is especially important to reach those least inclined to come to or get an education.
Since 2012, Learning Life has partnered with local institutions – like Washington D.C.’s Newseum, and the City of Alexandria, Virginia – to help them educate the public about local and national history using napkins, wallet cards, tote bags and fortune cookies distributed free to the public at their doors as well as at stores, restaurants, cafes, ice cream parlors and farmers’ markets (check out our short video on Learning Life’s Newseum project).
But Learning Life also disseminates educational content (e.g., quizzes, facts, expert answers to big questions) via our website, e-newsletter and social media pages (check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest) on a daily to monthly basis. Through Learning Life’s website, e-newsletter and social media pages, we have promoted the research of a few scholars, like Brian Wansink’sfood behavior studies, historian Eric Kurlander’s work on Nazi era history, and philosopher Joshua Rust’s examination of the ethics of ethics professors.
But we want to promote more scholars, so here’s our invitation:
If you do research that’s interesting and important to the public, Learning Life wants to help you promote it, absolutely free of charge. Choose one or more studies you have conducted on a topic, and email us at email@learninglife.info with copies of the articles (alas, we can’t examine books unless the book is fully available electronically). That’s it. You don’t have to do anything else.
We’ll review your work, and if we find we can use your research to produce facts, a quiz, or other educational content that’s interesting and important to the public, we’ll let you know via email, then produce the content and email it to you for your approval before we publish it at our website and/or disseminate it via our e-newsletter and social media pages.
Alternatively, you may create your own quiz, brief facts or other educational content about your research, but if you would like to do so, please contact us first so we can provide you with some guidelines.
Note: we cannot guarantee promotion for all comers. Promotion will depend on the number of scholars who respond, our editorial judgment as to the public utility of the research submitted, and the Learning Life staff time available.
Of course, if we do promote your work, we will cite the research as yours, and offer a link to your website, blog or other page online (if available) where readers can go to learn more about you and your research. If your research does not go out of date, we will promote your work on an ongoing basis via our Facebook, Twitter and/or Linkedin pages. As our social media audience grows, so will grow the number of people exposed to your research.
Feel free to contact us at email@learninglife.info with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
In 2011, I began talking with people about my plans to found Learning Life. The original idea for Learning Life came to me several years prior, literally in a dream exciting enough to wake me. But I did not start talking in earnest about Learning Life until 2011, when I decided to leave academia to chart this new course and career.
One day, I spoke with a friend and thoughtful academic who skeptically challenged Learning Life. Her challenge went something like this:
“You’re not spreading knowledge, you’re spreading information. There’s a big difference. And the information you’re spreading is disconnected facts. Knowledge, however, is a mix of facts and analysis (or theory), and the analysis organizes the facts into a coherent and penetrating whole. You can’t really understand facts without analysis, and that takes more than disconnected facts printed on a surface, or published online. That takes reading, thought and discussion developed over days, weeks, months or years.”
There is truth to this challenge. Learning Life is spreading information, and better understanding the world we live in requires more than just facts, but intelligent analysis to incisively organize the facts.
But facts still matter. Indeed, people need facts to think. Imagine trying to understand virtually anything in the world – how the internet works, how plants grow, how governments or economies operate, etc. – without knowing facts about whatever you are trying to understand. Research shows that the more one knows about a given topic, the better one remembers, comprehends and problem solves on that topic (see my earlier blog post “On the Importance of Knowledge” for more on this).
Learning Life spreads information as an invitation to knowledge, and as part of knowledge. We do not claim that information is all one needs, but rather that information is necessary to knowledge, and hence should be spread. The facts we spread on the surfaces of everyday life are intended to stimulate conversation and learning that might not otherwise occur in everyday contexts. And, by connecting these facts to further learning online, we invite people to develop their knowledge.
Learning Life’s approach – spreading information on everyday surfaces and connecting those surfaces to further learning, fun and reward online – is not cure for all our ills, but it can and should be part of public education, that is, part of any democracy’s effort to inform and empower its people.
In light of the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, we offer the following brief demographic and historical information that can help make sense of the two countries and the tensions between them.
Russia:
Current population: 144 million
Ethnic Ukrainians comprise less than 2% of Russia’s population.
Established in 1721, the Russian Empire, was one of the world’s largest empires, surpassed in size only by the British and Mongolian empires.
A series of military defeats in World War I led to the toppling of the Russian Empire in the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the rise of the Soviet Union under Vladimir Lenin’s leadership in the early 1920s.
The Soviet economy industrialized rapidly under Joseph Stalin’s brutal rule (1928-1953), but stagnated in the following decades.
In the late 1980s, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced “glasnost” (openness) and “perestroika” (restructuring) which eventually led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union into Russia and fourteen other independent republics in 1991.
Ukraine:
Current population: 45 million
Ethnic Russians comprise 17% of Ukraine’s population.
Much of Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire from the latter half of the 18th century through the Russian Revolution in 1917.
Ukraine experienced independence only briefly from 1917 until 1920, when it was taken over by the Soviet Union.
Under Soviet rule, Ukraine endured two famines that killed eight million Ukrainians. Another 7-8 million died at the hands of German and Soviet armies during World War II.
Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Sources: CIA World Factbook’s entries on Ukraine and Russia, available at:
Learning Life has been blessed with some remarkably experienced, skilled and smart volunteers. Among our volunteers, Dan Cassidy is a veteran, having been involved for more than a year in Learning Life’s young life.
Dan’s pleasant demeanor belies an accomplished and focused non-profit professional intent on making a difference. Dan is a 27-year veteran of the association and nonprofit profession, having held executive management positions with associations in the higher education, business and medical industries, many with operations located around the world. Most recently, Dan served as Chief Operating Officer of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and he is currently the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Dan earned a BA in Accounting from Catholic University, an MBA in Finance from George Washington University, and is a certified public accountant (CPA). He is an active member of the Operational Excellence Roundtable, the Finance & Administration Roundtable (previously its President), and the American Society of Association Executives.
Asked why he chose to volunteer with Learning Life, Dan responds “I choose to work with Learning Life because I believe in the positive impact social entrepreneurship can have on individuals and communities. The opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with a startup social enterprise like Learning Life is exciting.” Dan has advised Learning Life on organizational strategy, fundraising and non-profit incorporation, and has made helpful improvements to our website and donation page.
Beyond Learning Life, Dan is active in his local community serving as a volunteer for, among other things, the Fairfax Area Office on Aging, Southwestern Youth Association sports, and his community homeowners association. He resides in Clifton, Virginia with three California natives – his significant other Kathy, along with Annie the dog, Sally the cat, not to mention a garage full of sports equipment.
To learn more about volunteering with Learning Life and other ways you can help, contact us at email@learninglife.info.
