Thoughts on this and that
05-May-2005
permalink email this- Stephen Downes
- Jyri Engestrom's blog
- Flosse Posse
- Why some social network services work and others don't — Or: the case for object-centered sociality
- attack on tagging
"the term 'social networking' makes little sense if we leave out the objects that mediate the ties between people......social networks consist of people who are connected by a shared object."
Lets substitute the word e-learning for social networking. It gets us close to the true nature of e-learning. And it raises some interesting questions. Like - what is the object? Is the object the learning materials or or it the learning application. Me - I go for the second.
Doing a lot of thinking but not much posting at the moment. Want to try to get more substantial pieces on this blog - but when to find the time to write? So more half thought out ideas, notes etc.
Some stray (and perhaps connected thoughts)...
Was struck this comment on the Flosse Posse site "Even though the CC-concept is ideal for passing and sharing materials freely within ethical rights, the concept of transferring generations of knowledge via the form of cc-information seems still kinda ideal as saving the "legacy" at this point. This not so black and white issue relates also the to the pedagogical orientation of the teachers..."
Well I'm not so sure it is kinda ideal. It remains information. It is of little use without the ideas and 'feeling' of the creator plus something about its use in practice. We have failed to capture this so far. This is why I am so obsessed with the idea of distributed metadata - about being able to track to an object is used and add to that metadata trail through use.
On the subject of metadata (and connected I think) - read Jyri Engestrom's blog last week on "Why some social network services work and others don't — Or: the case for object-centered sociality". Interesting stuff - Jyri says:
"the term 'social networking' makes little sense if we leave out the objects that mediate the ties between people......social networks consist of people who are connected by a shared object."
Lets substitute the word e-learning for social networking. It gets us close to the true nature of e-learning. And it raises some interesting questions. Like - what is the object? Is the object the learning materials or or it the learning application. Me - I go for the second. I think learning materials are part of the subject of learning. Its the application which mediates the ties between people (and so in my book qualifies for the title of a learning object!).
It also starts explaining why some e-learning works and some doesn't. If we just have 'learning objects' as classically defined, there is nothing to mediate the learning.
OK - that was the second stray thought. And the third? Am a little puzzled by Stephen Downes' attack on tagging. Seems to me that while tagging is of some limitations it still has much potential - especially in allowing people to ascribe their own meaning to an object. Of course the object plays a role in mediation of different meanings - the meanings of the initial person who tags it and the person who uses it and of course the meanings will not be the same but there is meaning none the less.
Will return to all three of these issues at more length I hope.
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