As I think about the effects of blogs and wikis in the classroom and on k-12 education, I think back to its purposes. Blogs are about me and my ideas. Wikis are about us and our ideas. Each of these two electronic writing tools has its original purposes deeply grounded in traditional communication mediums - diaries and newspapers.
Traditionally and in a short summary, writers would write and immortalize their thoughts into words on paper. The papers could get lost, or become published. If it get published, there will be feedback such as discussions, revisions, etc which translates into more writings. This is my understanding of the traditional communication cycle with writing. However as everybody is beginning to find out, the concepts of blogs and wikis has changed the 'feedback' part of the cycle especially the speed.
Communication has always been about sharing information. However sharing takes a lot of time if we used non-electronic mediums to transfer information. Using electronics, people can now share information almost instantly! But what does this newfound speed mean?
How do people place value on information when information is non-stop? Is there a standard value system for information?
John Naisbitt says that we are "drowning in information and starving for knowledge". He is correct! Most people have no clue what to do with all the information they see.
Blogs allow us to create electronic talking spaces. Wikis bring people together to negotiate on an idea. Assuming everybody in the whole world responds to a posting or contributes to a wiki. How all their responses help move that person towards their goals? Ah yes, personal goals!!!...
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I have a question / thought about the speed of the publishing cycle and the size of the system. Since anyone can create a blog, for sure we are drowning in published blogs. How do we as the people who want our published thoughts (blogs) read, commented on, and refined get our blog noticed and into the common thought process for the masses? With such a glut of blogs, how does one person stand out from the masses?
ReplyDeleteOnyxviper, I'm thinking about the same question. It seems like you have to establish a reputation. Somehow you have to do things to "advertise" and establish your value. Maybe one way to advertise would be following and comment on other peoples' blogs. I'm still thinking about it.
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