Get a Cluetrain
Internet, and possibly a wider range of technologies, allow community “members [to] communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking” (Cluetrain Manifesto). Instead of harnessing this potential and allowing it to drive education redesign, many institutions of higher education have chosen to maintain the monotone message of higher education as an avenue of providing a better life overlooking the demands of a new generation of better informed students. According to the Cluetrain Manifesto, universities need to “come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships” (#25), the communities of discourse. It is only through being a part of the community, of traditional and nontraditional students, students can have their concerns heard and addressed and universities can become more familiar with the needs of their students. This allows higher education faculty, designers in their own right, to be other-serving, allowing for students to experience the surprise of self-recognition in curriculum (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012).
The resounding chorus of a new generation is “You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention” (#78). There is a desire for people to be seen, to know that their issues and concerns are seen. Technology has afforded the opportunity for individuals to band together and engage in discourse. In these burgeoning communities, concerns can be seen in the gathering of like-minded individuals from around the world. In his book Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky asserts that “tools that provide simple ways of creating groups lead to new groups, lots of new groups, and not just more groups but more kinds of groups” (p. 20).
“These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge” (#9, 95 Theses) We self organize using hashtags, facebook groups, forums, subreddits, etc. and these are the places where we share knowledge and work towards something, be it fanfic, how to hack the drm on a blue-ray dvd, developing a web solution, memes, etc. This describes the internet as a platform that provides a fertile ground for Communities of Practice, with humans as the medium (#19/20, New Clues). The Net is PEOPLE! IT’S PEOPLE! This ties us back to the Medium is the Massage. The internet carries no message until we humans create one. The message means nothing except through us. Hence we are the Medium. Everything on the internet is created for us, by us. We are the designers of that space with every word and media we exchange. “Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy” (#7, 95 Theses) Even in the act of linking (on twitter or facebook, etc), it doesn’t matter where that article exists in the hierarchy of the information architecture of its source. My link will take you directly to that information no matter how buried. You can SEO the piss out of a page, but sharing links over social media will expand its reach faster.
Some Counterpoints
New Clues
12. There has not been a tool with such a general purpose since language.
Adam would argue that the Net is the spiritual successor to the printing press. The printing press brought literature, knowledge, and opinion out of the handwritten realm and into the hands of the common person.
17. A teenager’s first poem, the blissful release of a long-kept secret, a fine sketch drawn by a palsied hand, a blog post in a regime that hates the sound of its people’s voices — none of these people sat down to write content.
Yes they did. These people are in fact the quintessential content creators on the Web and Net. The teenager poured her heart out with every pen stroke and then later when she struck the keys of her computer as the emotions she was feeling radiated from her as she posted her poem. The blogger sat down in one of the last operational internet cafes and did their best to show the world the injustice done in their homeland by those who claimed to be one of them. These people did sit down to write content because they knew the Net was a way for their voice to escape the confines of their smaller world.
18. Did we use the word “content” without quotes? We feel so dirty.
I don’t understand why the authors dislike the word content. The people talked about above weren’t just having a conversation, they were making something, they were creating.
19. The Net is not a medium any more than a conversation is a medium.
Yes, yes it is. The internet is the medium by which we communicate. And that medium in and of itself does allow for a unique style of communication. But the way we talk in person is very different than the way we talk on the net because of the internet medium. The fact that we can choose different identities is because the medium of the internet allows us to do that.
95 Theses
73. You’re invited, but it’s our world. Take your shoes off at the door. If you want to barter with us, get down off that camel!
Is that racist? Lots of countries and cultures barter.
74. We are immune to advertising. Just forget it.
Adam would argue that it’s the opposite actually. We are just desensitized by it. Our email scans our messages and provides its ads based on our conversations. Facebook is constantly bombarding us with ads but because they are text only and on the side instead of the flashing banner ads, we just don’t seem to notice but those ads are still there and are meticulously targeted to us based on the data we voluntarily give Facebook every time we log on. We’re not immune to advertising, we’re give advertisers suggestions on how to better market to us.
StartUp-itis
The StartUp podcast began with the process of asking the members of their community — family, friends, colleagues — about what their project should actually be, and then completed with user testing the app prototype with members of the podcast listening community. Some of this debate tied back to the identity of Alex, as a podcaster, a creator of content, and how that meshes with the highly technical task of designing and developing apps. The process that the Start Up/Google Ventures design team implemented is common to the design world, but it’s the model that Nelson/Stolterman (Rittel 1972) refer to when solving “tame” problems. This process of defining the problem (a podcast app that delivers high-quality content with easy ways for the user to purchase more things, or something), gather and analyze information (brainstorming and interviewing friends/family), generate/assess solutions (sketching), implement (create a prototype), test (user testing/interviews), and modify. While their aspirations are seemingly revolutionary — what if this was the app that people started as soon as they get in their car, the problem they’re trying to solve is essentially trivial and and only would appeal to a niche community of podcast listeners. And wow, how egotistical was it for Alex to have his voice recording walk you through how to use the app? From a designer’s perspective, if you have to show people how to use your app/website, you’re doing it wrong.
Finally, we present to you: Drunk Kanye Tweets. Discuss.
Our take: Although he identifies himself as a designer, the designer community prevents him from realizing this because of his fame and his not being a bona fide student of design. But in reality, it should not and does not prevent him from doing so. Go home, Kanye, you are drunk.
Isaac Jason Bretz says
The internet is also a medium in the sense that, like television, it could not exist without corporate overlords. McLuhan was prescient with his theories of the global village, but he probably also predicted that the dominant message (language) of the internet would be capitalism: rankings, competition, advertising, , numbers, profits. It would help if we had a public -i.e., state sponsored- search engine in which advertising was not allowed, but I have no idea what that would look like or how it would work. The American Post Office was actually going to provide free email at one time, but that was shut down by congress people with neoliberal agendas.
Brandon says
Is the net a medium? The authors seem to be talking about the emergent sociocultural phenomenon, not the “series of tubes” server and fiber optic infrastructure. Part of me wants to say that the medium is what happens at the point the content hits your senses, that it is partly anchored in device, but I’m not certain to say that for sure. Is it in the extension of our senses and capabilities? Is it in the way some technologies extend our senses in some ways but not in others? If the wheel is the extension of our foot, is the computer the extension of our eyes, ears, and brain? Is a tablet a different sort of extension?
Zach Lonsinger says
Instead of harnessing [the internet’s] potential and allowing it to drive education redesign, many institutions of higher education have chosen to maintain the monotone message of higher education as an avenue of providing a better life overlooking the demands of a new generation of better informed students.
This is a great point. As I was reading 95 Theses and New Clue, I kept thinking of companies like Coca-Cola, Taco Bell, and Starbucks as great examples of how companies should use the internet to connect with, communicate, and engage with their people. I also was a fan of how the authors of New Clues and 95 Theses were against the word consumers. It does have a negative vibe to it. We aren’t market data, we are people, so treat us like people and call us people. But what if institutions of higher education partnered with companies like Coca-Cola or Taco Bell. Okay, maybe partnering is a little far, but they could sure learn some lessons from how these companies leverage the power of the net to be more like the people using or buying their products.
Leah Bug says
I really liked how you weaved the Cluetrain comments with higher education thoughts, however, I’m wondering what type of redesign you are suggesting higher education should take? Are you referring to on-line education degrees? Blended learning approaches? Redesign of existing classroom lectures? I do agree that higher education should be responsive, but one question is to whom? Is it the workforce employers, who will be hiring graduates and need them to have specific knowledge and skills? Is the the students, who may or may not know what they need, in a college degree. What about society and democracy? Do we not need well rounded and educated students to ensure our country remains strong? There are many players involved in this scenario and who should win out?
pul121 says
I agree with you that technology and the Internet have offer opportunities for many voices to be heard. However, we also need to realize there is still a group of people who are marginalized. Do new technology tools really bring people closer or separate different groups of people? Does technology have the power to close the gap? You mentioned that the medium of the Internet allows us to choose different identities. Does everyone need to choose different identities when being online? Why does someone present a different identity online than in real life? What makes his/her identities changeable to feel comfortable? I disagree that you think it is racist to barter with others based on different rules. I think it means to be equal and respect for rules and cultures of people you try to interact.
Michael Sean Banales says
I’m happy to see I’m not the only one who got upset with theses 17-19. I feel as if the writer is a bit out of touch, I feel as if the majority of content is generated by the individuals describes by #17. I’m also not sure how the author could argue that the internet is not a medium, unless he’s intentionally portraying conversation in some peculiar light that makes conversation itself not a medium?
Regardless, I find myself curious about the questions posed by “pul121″(Pei Wei I believe?). I wonder if we truly have closed the gap, or if we are just separating groups of people even further based on who has access to this new medium.
Adam says
To be clear, I wasn’t saying that bartering is racist. It was racist to associate bartering with Arab stereotypes
Katie Bateman says
Is Kanye a designer? I mean there’s also room to argue there that he’s not a designer because he doesn’t actually create with the service of others in mind- someone else creates for him and puts his name on it. He designs narcissistically for himself. Always. Well and maybe for Beyonce. This would not fit the author’s criteria of “design.”