Two very cool things happened today. I met Mike Bogle and Robyn Jay who are both in important positions working for a change of culture in edutech at UNSW. I was rather animated as I’d had to much coffee and was worried I’d need to defend our rather ‘build it and they will come’ approach to network cultures. Turns out of course that there was no need. These people are well and truly down with the open and distributed mantra - preaching to the converted….but really nice to find some engaged network types on campus working to improve network culture and the literacies. I still fear that it becomes a question of technology/platform delivery. Even in my own strategies I find it hard to not become engrossed in the possibilties of a particular software platforms. When it comes to technology the emphasis/mantra always needs to be on open, flat, and distributed (this often means simple as well) when it comes to development the emphasis should be on cultures and literacies……oh and one other really important thing all this needs to be DOCUMENTED. This is the aspect that often gets lost when you’re knee deep in lovely plugins and endless possibilities. This brings me to the next point - I’m not going to link there again because its getting embaressing but Jim Groom just posted his initial documentation on the network of syndication/aggregation he has over at UMW blogs. It really is a very impressive and mature strategy. And he is completely open about it. Amazing- but then that is the point really…How much more visible to the network is The University of Mary Washinton thanks to this approach and the open nature in which it has been shared and propogated?
If I still have one question/query/slight misgiving is that all this syndication and proliferation of tag feeds becomes pretty hard to navigate over at UMW. This brings me to a point made by Andrew Murphie over at Metapizza - How can we easily present a self/user-managed feed directory and so that students can find a clear central repository of critical feeds and tags for a particular course or activity? How do we make this eduglu work over a number of sessions as iterations of courses and tags amass. The UMW blogs project is so very close to achieving eduglu - maybe with this last step it can truly claim that coveted and elusive mantle.
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 4:46 am
Great to meet you as well Mat!
I was quite happy to see a kindred spirit in your outlook of the the new media landscape as well. I find in interacting within this culture that gaining a grasp of the technology has been the easy part; developing an appreciation of the dynamic, multifaceted nature of the interrelationships in the network - and figuring out how best to engage with it - has been far more complex.
Likewise, determining what my place and my role is in the network is has required far more consideration. The short answer, I think is your role is whatever you decide it to be (and it will grow, mature and evolve), but I think the real mental hurdle to overcome in the early days is that it’s very much a participatory culture in which to a degree we gain only as much as we give.
So in terms of exposing people to the opportunities in this sort of engagement, I think that’s the challenge. I also think the shift in cultures takes time to realise - and an awareness that learning and working with new media involves moving from a culture of largely knowledge delivery, and consumption of information - to one of active participation and a clear sense of ownership in our personal direction and ongoing motivation.
Personally I’m still coming to terms of the implications of this; so someone only just discovering the landscape may not have even made that connection yet. It would seem that’s an area of critical importance to focus on. I think once people develop a recognition of the significance of the experience and the opportunities therein, the vested interest in learning to use the technologies is a given. They become a vehicle to participation, rather than an end unto themselves.
Anyway gotta run, train’s awaiting! Great to meet you and I’m looking forward to more discussions and posts like this one.
Cheers,
Mike
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 9:06 am
[...] lay in the cultivation of holistic sociological elements, rather than a focus on technical ones. As I commented at NewSouthBlogs.org: “I find in interacting within this culture that gaining a grasp of the [...]
on Aug 29th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
My whole issue is my lips move when I think.