I have made it very clear to anyone who would listen that I do not get the blog. For me, in this learning experience, I look at the design of the blog as invasive and unnecessary. In the beginning of this class, I played well with others, but quickly began to realize that this is one technology, no matter how hard I try, I cannot willingly embrace.Podcasting, twitter, wikis, etc., much discussed in class, provides us with a tool to spread the word. It is a great way to learn French, listen to 3 guys discuss & bitch about wine or any of a million any other ways for learning and personal development. Podcasting leaves a one way trail of communication while many of the others, with commenting, etc, allows a back and forth of information sharing.The potential anonymity provided by the Internet allows people to shape their identity however the author wants. We have had this argument over and over again throughout the semester which has come down to two different identities. The blogs that we’re following can give us a glimpse in to anyone’s inner sanctum. It really is my firm belief that identity is not only shaped by the ways we picture ourselves, but the outward projection of our actions and words. So it has come to this. I’m throwing out the blog to end all blogs. This grand experiment has been an eye-opening experience. There are tons of ways that we can use these emerging technologies. For me, blogging’s not one of them.
Tim, Jean Marie & Bennett’s podcast
Using Jean Marie’s blog post as a springboard to discuss unintended consequences of technology in education new implications of educational uses.The Human Aspect Enjoy
Metropolis and the fall of the dot-com
I have to say that I’m really glad to read this article from Nardi & O’Day. For so long, I have felt like I was the only one who was sort of middle-of-the-road about technological advancements. Reading the summary of this now-80 year old movie kept bringing me back to the downfall of the dot coms and the thoughts that the internet was dead. It seems to me that the dot-com boom was fueled by this technocrat belief that the INTERNET! and TECHNOLOGY! was the way to go. the be-all and end-all, if you will. So much of the problem stemmed from these companies, founded and based in a broom closet in silicon valley with no people on the back end to maintain day-to-day business. As Cole mentioned last week, we’re now seeing the a return to successful internet business and companies. Why? Having seen that there needs to be a more realistic approach to technology, we’re finding a more human side to these developments. I am in the process of transferring my restaurant’s domain from one company to another and the hosting from one site to another. (a task I think I really don’t understand, but that’s another post for another time). During this process, what I’ve found so surprising is that every time I call either registry company or hosting company, it takes me no time at all to get someone on the phone. I think we’re finally coming around to the fact that while technology greatly improves our lives, there still has to be a level of human interaction present.If we can maintain this path of combining the necessary human qualities with technological advancement, I think we’re on the right track.
two sociologists walk in to a bar…
Interestingly enough, reading this literature is like drinking booze. the more I consume, the fuzzier my brain gets. eventually, i’m cross-eyed.But I wonder how a barroom conversation with Wenger would go? It would be interesting to analyze the interactions and social networking going on at your favorite watering hole. The couple discretely nuzzled in the corner, attempting to avoid being noticed; the group of 9-5ers stretching out an after-work happy hour; a lonely guy at the end of the bar; the group of college kids at the pool table smoking cigarettes and drinking cheap beer; the scene makes up a community of practice, doesn’t it?The participants in this community of practice are interacting with each other in a variety of different ways. Where it seems that each of these groups of people (while interacting with each other) are not part of the overall “Bar Community of Practice,” through their presence, there are all part of the larger group. They are all obeying social norms which are not learned in a lecture or studied from a book, they are following social norms and bar etiquette commonly observed by the group.I wonder if this is how Wenger would see things?
credential crud
After viewing a video of an illiterate high school teacher, we had to seriously rethink our ideas about the value of credentials and reevaluating our expectationsThe teacher acquired the necessary knowledge to get by and skate through a system where literacy was not expected, but assumed. Having failed (either of his own right or having been failed by his education system) to learn to read at an early age, Corcoran was able to figure out how to cheat his way through secondary and post-secondary education to earn a teaching certificate. How do we assess the value of credentials earned? We think that it’s reasonable to assume that from each and every college or university that awards degrees, there is a percentage of graduates who have either been socially promoted, squeaked through or generally did not earn the degree on his or her own merit. Obviously, Corcoran made his way through the machine. Whose responsibility was it to ensure that he had the skills necessary to succeed in the world? more specifically, whose responsibility is it to ensure the value of the credential that this high school English teacher held?It doesn’t work when we attempt to attach a business model to an educational model. Children that come to us come with their own set of variables. These children are not coming to us as blank sheets of paper on which we can write our lessons, they are coming to us with life experiences already written all over them. As educators, it is important for us to avoid simplifying the educational process of our children in to a rigid business model which allows people to fall through the cracks and fail to succeed.
another attempt at defining the undefinable
In our first episode, we refered to Brad Paisley’s song “Online” as a tounge-in-cheek example of how people recreate themselves online. As we look more deeply in to the definition of identity, we’re going to continue with the same example. See the following lyrics to the first verse of the song:
I work down at the Pizza Pit
And I drive an old Hyundai
I still live with my mom and dad
I’m 5 foot 3 and overweight
I’m a scifi fanatic
A mild asthmatic
And I’ve never been to second base
But there’s whole ‘nother me
That you need to see
Go checkout MySpaceLook at the second verse/refrain… It’s interesting to see that verse one focuses on the creation of an alternate identity based on what the “computer geek” thinks is a cultural norm, or more specifically what’s going to make him more physically attractive.
‘Cause online I’m out in Hollywood
I’m 6 foot 5 and I look damn good
I drive a Maserati
I’m a black-belt in karate
And I love a good glass of wine
It turns girls on that I’m mysterious
I tell them I don’t want nothing serious
‘Cause even on a slow day
I could have a three way
Chat with two women at one time
I’m so much cooler online
So much cooler onlineHow has Pizza Guy created his online identity? What social standards and ideals has he based his definition of cool and desirability on? What level of reality is Pizza Guy operating at? He has all of these people believing he is a certain type of person, certain personality, where does he come to accept who he is? If Pizza Guy has completely immersed himself in his alternate reality, what are the long term effects, how does he separate his real self and his ideal self? What are the implications of this with regard to his personal mental health?
When you got my kind of stats
It’s hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend
But I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight
Every time I loginCommunity and social impacts on the identity of the “undesirable” Pizza Guy are a huge factor in how and why he chooses to recreate his identity online. It’s interesting to think how this affects each of us individually. We may not all be living in our parents’ basement, a lonely mac-junkie, but how many of us have things that either we’ve changed in a disconnected community or would like to, given the opportunity?
web2.0
huh. what a cool video. It really makes you think. I’d like to consider myself down with the technogarble, but in reality, I don’t have a clue when it comes to creating anything. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have the facebook page and I can add stuff to that, but it’s all clicking on other people’s work and putting it in to something that was designed for me to be able to easily use.I guess I’ve never really thought (perhaps intentionally chosen not to think about it) about what goes on behind scenes the internet. I’ve had this blind acceptance mentality going on. it’s pretty cool that these pages are designed in a way to make them flexible for the internet world to use as we like. at the same time…it’s kinda scary to think how this open information flow can change things. the “rethink” section at the end of the video really makes you think.. “rethink copyright, authorship, identity, ethics, aesthetics, rhetorics, governance, privacy, commerce, love, family, ourselves” where does it go from here? the really cool, but really scary question is… where can’t it go from here? huh. wow.
I sucked at nintendo (the original)…how the hell am I going to maneuver virtual reality?
So I’ve just finished reading Rheingold’s article as well as watching his vlog posts. And I guess what i’ve come away with is that I don’t get it. To a certain extent, I see the benefit of interaction and communication with others in the world beyond, but what I don’t get is the use of all these different sites to do so.I’ve always thought that I understood technology. As a matter of fact, I still believe that I generally understand technology and can work my way around various aspects of computers, internet, etc. As I stated in my previous post, my incessant internet browsing usually finds me clicking around facebook, cnn.com, postgazette.com, among other sites. web based communities such as message boards, news sites, blogs, etc provide a great source for getting information. with the internet i now have hundreds of times more resources available to me now than I did ten years ago. What I guess I’m struggling with is the whole Second Life section. I really don’t get it. I understand that the tech is really cool that you can build your own house, office, neighborhood, but where is the learning value. Is it that the digital native generation doesn’t see a difference between the virtual reality of 2nd life and our own world? How should we benefit from this alternate plane of existence as educators? In the workplace, maybe it can be used in role playing. wow. as I’m typing this, I am working this whole thing out in my head and alot seems more clear. (not going to erase and rewrite the blog because i’m sure after I go back and read over what I’ve typed I (and you, the reader) will subsequently be able to see how the chipmunk on the wheel in my brain is beginning to resolve this issue for me.) I’ve always said that role playing is an awful awful tactic to use in workplace learning. if we use something like second life (which, i’m still not 100% clear how it works)…but if we use an alternate reality game for training and workplace education, we can eliminate some of the anxiety role playing causes in training sessions. remove the face to face stress and perhaps we can come up with better learning environments.but back to the negative I go…isn’t human interaction what it’s all about? isn’t that part of the whole “why are we here” question? and how do we make it fair for existing older workers who either don’t understand the technology sufficiently enough to utilize it and benefit from it in training or they simply don’t care enough about new ways of learning to want to immerse themselves in the technology?more questions than answers i’m afraid.
defining the undefinable
Jean Marie Tim BennettWe’ve decided that an individual’s online identity can be summed up only through song. Are you so much cooler online? The internet gives us the ability to be who we want, at any time, at any given place, to anyone.Community is a system of engagement, whereby the computer and internet have broken distance barriers and can be seen as a tool for the facilitation of a conversation.We’re designing spaces to make life easier. it’s a method to meet our basic human needs which fundamentally haven’t changed over time, rather how we satisfy our needs continues to evolve.
new england patriots and identity creation
My apologies in advance to anyone who may be a fan of the pats. it was an incredible game and even more incredible that they lost. i (not so secretly) love it.but the readings that were covered this week talk alot about creating alternate identities in cyberspace. blogs, chat rooms, MUDs (ok, kinda dated article, but interesting to look at it from an earlier position) all give us the opportunity to create an identity which may be either fictitious or (more likely) the identity that isn’t easily displayed in public.See Adam’s Role: It’s Top Secret in the Boston Globe. The Patriots have for years relied on this dynamic duo of Bill Belichick and Ernie Adams, reportedly the uber-genius of the group to develop New England’s dynasty team. Belichick is the face of the team but relies on the knowledge and advise of Adams to perform. Maybe it’s a weak link, but I wonder how this differs from anyone’s identity creation online? and more specifically, think about it in terms of copyright issues? ownership? the above mentioned article tells the reader that belichick and adams are coworkers and more importantly friends. So, he may have permission, but essentially, Coach Bill is using the ideas, thoughts and knowledge of someone else (even if you forget about SpyGate ) without giving credit to the original author.the context is the only difference between the Pats and an individual creating identity online. I’m thinking that it’s not unique to the online environment, maybe just easier.interesting.