tom abeles wrote: > this conversation in several variances is being considered currently > elsewhere on the net, particularly around the issue of virtual worlds > Yes, and virtual worlds are a topic which have been severely overlooked in much discussion related to the digital divide - perhaps because infrastructure lags so much that it isn't even seen as an issue. > Steve's example is right on target. academics hold the center stage because > they control the grades/certification which provide for student advancement. > That is the one unique product that universities, in click or brick space > have to offer. And it is the one reason in the dominant US model that get's > student attention for the sage on the stage > Yes, I agree - though I have a clear bias as an autodidact. But even as an autodidact, I admit and perhaps even celebrate the sage - but sometimes the sage is not in the nestled cave of academia but instead is the person next to you, literally or figuratively. And this is where collaboration comes in - the sages are all over. The trouble is finding the good sages - and not everyone can find the good sages since not everyone considers critical thought and challenging of the sages as good practice.
Sages, sages, sages. What we're really talking about is osmosis; the moving of knowledge through a permeable membrane. And let's be fair - people, like water, have a tendency to take the shortest route unless there is some culture that enforces the longer route. 'Here there be dragons', that sort of thing. So here's a good question for people in and out of academia: Which membrane is more permeable, the academic institution or the sea of knowledge (with admitted large portions of debris, some toxic)? > What business has found out, as have many others, is that social networks > (those articles that Steve cites as examples) allow knowledge to be gained in > entirely different and collaborative fashion, a fashion that academics might > call cheating or disrespectful of the sage. While, Mark is right, that these > technologies will find a place in The Academy, they are, almost more > importantly, a mirror for the educational system which passively makes the > point that Steve so eloquently made. The brick space structure with the sage > is a vestigial manifestation of the good old days, going back to pre-print > where knowledge was transmitted by those who had the information stored in > their heads or had access to the very few collections of knowledge such as > the libraries of Alexandria. > And those few collections of information were only available to the select few - and those few taught their own perspectives of what they read instead of opening the information to be challenged. > It is not important that universities adopt the technologies as much as that > they realize that, all factors considered, a brick space campus in its > current embodiment is probably untenable- note the increasing cost in human > lives (adjucnts) and rising tuition. > And not to forget the decreased affordability due to large portions of the population not having as much buying power with recent developments in the global economy. -- Taran Rampersad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.your2ndplace.com http://www.opendepth.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/ "Criticize by Creating" - Michelangelo "The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
