Social networking online
Yesterday I had a cool lunch with some friends at a Joe's Gararge, a cool cafe in Brunswick street that even offers free wireless Internet access to its patrons! Tony gave me some good clues about a problem running GameMaker on Ubuntu , Donna and friends gave me some good pointers about Open Source solutions in schools.
Later Bill showed me a book that he has been reading and blogging called "The wealth of Neworks" by Yochai Benkler, a Professor of Law at Yale Law School. I notice that not only can readers buy it from Amazon or Yale, it has a wiki and can be downloaded as a free pdf!
Social networking on Wikipedia It is interesting to reflect on the power of social networking to help people collaborate, cooperate and network online. The shift towards social sharing and information exchange will have a profound impact on our social culture. Yochai Benkler notes in his book that:
"We have an opportunity to change the way we create and exchange information, knowledge, and culture. By doing so, we can make the twentyfirst century one that offers individuals greater autonomy, political communities greater democracy, and societies greater opportunities for cultural self-reflection and human connection." link
Peer production is even challenging our tools and economies of information production.
Wikipedia allows users to view the history of changes to a web page. Although the people listed on this Xvidcap Wikipedia page did not know each other, they each contributed their knowledge and a picture to build up a knowledge resource that informs the public about the details of this open source software. Even the original software author jumped in to make a further contribution and some corrections.
Over a friendly coffee on December 2004, I gave a demonstration of Wikipedia to Nick, our school sports coach. He spotted a serious omission so we pooled our knowledge to start off a few scribbles to create a new Wikipedia page about Johnny Mullagh, an early Australian Indigenous cricket player. Over the past two years there have been dozens of additions including a photograph, battting statistics and a healthy debate about what flag to use.
We all have something to contribute. Last night when Keith discovered a workaround a problem viewing entries on a Moodle wiki, I suggested that he add his findings to this Moodle documentation page that also uses a wiki. I am also exploring the use of a Moodle wiki instead of e-mail to publish our staff and student newsletters and this collaborative space about reprogramable learning objects on wikispaces.
Of course, this doesn't stop us from occasionally sitting down for the odd face-to-face chat over a coffee. If you do, BYO laptop :-)
Later Bill showed me a book that he has been reading and blogging called "The wealth of Neworks" by Yochai Benkler, a Professor of Law at Yale Law School. I notice that not only can readers buy it from Amazon or Yale, it has a wiki and can be downloaded as a free pdf!
Social networking on Wikipedia It is interesting to reflect on the power of social networking to help people collaborate, cooperate and network online. The shift towards social sharing and information exchange will have a profound impact on our social culture. Yochai Benkler notes in his book that:
"We have an opportunity to change the way we create and exchange information, knowledge, and culture. By doing so, we can make the twentyfirst century one that offers individuals greater autonomy, political communities greater democracy, and societies greater opportunities for cultural self-reflection and human connection." link
Peer production is even challenging our tools and economies of information production.
Wikipedia allows users to view the history of changes to a web page. Although the people listed on this Xvidcap Wikipedia page did not know each other, they each contributed their knowledge and a picture to build up a knowledge resource that informs the public about the details of this open source software. Even the original software author jumped in to make a further contribution and some corrections.
Over a friendly coffee on December 2004, I gave a demonstration of Wikipedia to Nick, our school sports coach. He spotted a serious omission so we pooled our knowledge to start off a few scribbles to create a new Wikipedia page about Johnny Mullagh, an early Australian Indigenous cricket player. Over the past two years there have been dozens of additions including a photograph, battting statistics and a healthy debate about what flag to use.
We all have something to contribute. Last night when Keith discovered a workaround a problem viewing entries on a Moodle wiki, I suggested that he add his findings to this Moodle documentation page that also uses a wiki. I am also exploring the use of a Moodle wiki instead of e-mail to publish our staff and student newsletters and this collaborative space about reprogramable learning objects on wikispaces.
Of course, this doesn't stop us from occasionally sitting down for the odd face-to-face chat over a coffee. If you do, BYO laptop :-)