Garry’s Rambles

I asked Mark Pesce, who hosted the afternoon sessions at both the Jimmy Wales and danah boyd seminar to reflect on the Jimmy Wales seminar. Mark’s insights into the challenges and opportunities can be summarised into three areas of consideration

Control vs Chaos (Didn’t Maxwell Smart have a take on this!!)

Although Wikipedia may seemingly have a chaotic model for generating unbiased (we know that at times entries may be very biased) comparisons have shown that the end result has similar accuracy to authorative sources. Mark speaks of three organisational models - a networked model where individuals are connected by need and ability, a hierarchial model where the connections are rigid and imposed and a corporate model in which individuals report to one boss. The rise of the networked model challenges notions such as ‘Who rules?’, ‘who decides’ and ‘who arbitrates the truth’?.

Firewalls vs Freedom (I can feel the tension rising!!)

Web 2.0 is based on an open and collaborative design. However, when issues such as duty of care, privacy and security get mixed with open and collaborative design we kinda like need a better balance than we have currently inherited. There is a fear of litigation factor here that drives the risk dial towards ‘averse’ rather than manage ‘the risk’!! We know bans on Youtube and other Web 2.0 tools will be shortlived, but perhaps this where the slower moving education sector has to go first because of the uncertainty that fast moving technology brings. BTW, did you see the report in the Herald Sun on Tuesday this week. A student took 30 minutes to get around the Government ($89m) filters, and then when they threw the second one at him, it took him 40 minutes. (Employ him now!!) His comments were actually very insightful, ‘Filters aren’t addressing the bigger issues’……

Staying Current vs Staying Present (The new digital divide!!)

There is an interesting debate to be had regarding whether teachers should keep up with the technology. My view is they should keep up with the impact that the technology may have to improve learning!! The kids will keep up with the technology. More importantly, teachers need to know how and use the technology to make them more effective. In a fast moving world this means networks and knowledge generation via peer production. Being connected and an active participant in communities of practice will be paramount. Perhaps we should seek ways to reward people who do this well.

Read Mark’s paper and let me know what you think!!