Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category

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Why we don’t Tweet to Teach with Twitter…

August 27th, 2009
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One of my professors asked this week…

Why don’t we Tweet to teach? http://www.facultyfocus.com/

Many responded that the 140 character limitation of Twitter tweets limits its usefulness as a teaching tool. However, my response was as follows:

“The article you reference in your URL above notes how Twitter is not being used by that many educators. The challenge before us, in my mind, is our need to rethink Web 2.0 as a platform rather than a collection of tools.

Many educators seem to be trying to introduce new tools to their brick and mortar platform mentality. We need a new view. Otherwise, we disconnect from our students in the classroom. IMHO.”

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Posted in Education, Internet, pedagogy, Social Media, Technology

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Twitter as Platform rather than Tool…

August 27th, 2009
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Twitter is not a tool but a platform for collective action and collective call to action. Typical Web 2.0 apps such as MySpace and Facebook are phenomenons of collective interaction but not collective action per se. This is changing. The web has evolved from a network of information to a network of collaboration and now, via apps such as Twitter, to a network of collective action; from “cloud” computing to “crowd” computing.

Therefore, our need is not necessarily more than 140 characters but 140 inter”actors” each reporting their small observation from their unique point of view.

Want to blow your mind and see the power of crowd computing in action via Twitter? Fasten your seatbelt and read this article… http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/evolution_revolution_visualizing_millions_iran_tweets.php… Read More

Remember, you were warned. ;-)

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Posted in Internet, Social Media

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Education’s Battle over Platform…

August 12th, 2009
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The battle between the technofascists and the technophobes is really a battle over the platform for education’s future. Clearly many agree the old brick and mortar platform needs expanding (if not replacing entirely) and technology is providing the ground for that expansion.

However, a principle challenge is the education-centered economy that is application driven. This driving force distracts attention from platform to application and therein lies our problem.

As an example, consider the iPhone as an innovative change within the technology arena. The iPhone didn’t change cell phone design as much as it has changed the platform on which cell phones are now built and focused.

The same holds true for Twitter. Twitter is not producing more twitter-like applications but rather more platform-changing approaches to sharing information. Twitter is not creating merely a new application for gathering collective information as much as it is creating a new platform for collective action.

Until the education community bands together to embrace the new platform, the distracting skirmishes surrounding the myriads of applications appearing on the scene daily (ex: 70,000 iPhone apps to date) will continue to thwart the best intentions. In a way, the present economic crisis prevents us from throwing money at problems in hopes they will be fixed. Now we have to use our heads…collectively.

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Posted in Education, Government, Internet, Social Media, Technology

Youth Awkward in Real World, Prefer Online…

August 11th, 2009
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re: @rww’s recent Twitter referencing http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/your_real_friends_are_your_online_friends_or_so_says_gen_y.php#comment-151573

I would reply:

“Real” friends? Or friends of convenience? Face to face contact is the most risky. Social networking via technology reduces the risk by adding a layer of insulation to personal encounters. But don’t make any mistake! The most valued friendships are the ones that endure the risks we take to build them. Tech offers a path of less resistance for now. But real value comes at a price. Live and learn or live in the shallows.

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Posted in Education, Internet, Mystery of Life, Technology

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Social Media as Symptom…

August 7th, 2009
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Could the social media frenzy be a symptom of humanity’s greater need?… for connection, for escaping the superficial, for overcoming the fear of being alone??

What is it replacing? What did we do with that time prior to the craze? And what are the consequences if the deeper needs do not in fact get met? » More: Social Media as Symptom…

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Posted in Internet, Media, Mystery of Life, Technology

Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 revisited…

July 24th, 2009
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In a previous post, I gave simple definitions of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and speculated on what Web 3.0 might hold for us (realizing of course these are unofficially recognized and ambiguously overused terms).

But now with all the hoopla about Web of Things and Internet of Things, I find further evidence for my original definitions.

Web 1.0 was about information. Web 2.0 is about communication. And Web 3.0 (Or Web 0, depending on your views), is about connection. However, I don’t mean connection in a superficial sense. Rather, like the post-human view, the electro-chemical carbon-based life forms merge with the electro-mechanical micro-sensing world. The connection is a cross-reality (M.I.T. term) linking virtual with real-time.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Until now, virtual reality overcame space-time barriers but real life remained subject to them. Cross-reality bridges this gap to create a new experience. Rather than one or the other, both are merged: A post-human, cyborg (cybernetic organism) view.

What is possible is no longer limited by human imagination. The new paradigm is emerging with the mashup of imagination and computerization. The future is not merely an internet of things as much as the connection of… (you finish the sentence).

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Posted in Biotechnology, Futurism, Internet, Mystery of Life, Technology

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How to Connect with Digital Native Students…

June 6th, 2009
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Recently someone remarked about digital natives being goal oriented which caught me off guard. I’m not sure about ‘goal’ oriented. I think this is why there is a disconnect between teachers and students today. Digital immigrants are ‘work’ oriented but this new generation of digital natives is ‘play’ oriented. If teachers emphasize education’s goal is to make productive and useful ‘workers’, » More: How to Connect with Digital Native Students…

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Posted in Education, Internet, Media, Technology

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Facebook is the blackhole of time…

June 1st, 2009
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Social networking is a huge time burden which would not be a problem if it were real but so much is superficial mumbo jumbo. I’m disappointed in the feeble attempts of my social network amigos who ‘try’ to give the impression they are happy, doing great things, pursuing high goals, attempting marvelous exploits, etc, etc. Where’s the real people? Where’s the deep thought? I can see the surface with my eyes. I want to hear what’s going on in the heart and soul of my fellow earth dwellers.

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Posted in Internet, Mystery of Life, Simple Living, Technology

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The Internet is the Wormhole to the Metaverse…

June 1st, 2009
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I am surprised that so much typical rhetoric was presented in graduation speeches around the country. With so many upheavals surrounding us on many fronts, it would appear some paradigm shifts are required to deliver us from the status quo.

One school superintendent exhorted students to pursue what they love; what they are passionate about. If this is the goal, why is the means so dreadfully presented? If I were a student, I would ask » More: The Internet is the Wormhole to the Metaverse…

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Posted in Education, Futurism, Government, Internet

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Journal 5: “History is a race between education and catastrophe”

April 10th, 2009
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I like this quote from H.G. Wells. Education is that function of society which is nurtured in order to perpetuate the dominant culture. As pressures from inevitable change mount, causing society to face imminent catastrophe, education is typically forced to research a solution that leads to a paradigm shift warding off the catastrophe. » More: Journal 5: “History is a race between education and catastrophe”

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Posted in Education, Futurism, Internet, Simple Living, Technology

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