Category Archives: Emergence

I can’t believe I haven’t heard this question before

Posted on September 5, 2005 by Brian

Comparing and contrasting how much more effectively CNN harnesses the efforts of citizen journalists than educators do, Alan Levine asks: “Is there an equivalent of Citizen Teaching?” Just how novel that question seems is almost shocking to me. Along those … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | 4 Comments

“Who knows, perhaps this could become a party game.”

Posted on August 30, 2005 by Brian

I’ve been letting a lot of noteworthy stuff slide this week, but this post on gaming by Bryan Alexander is too juicy to pass up. He’s roused to indignation by a dismissive essay by Christine Rosen in the New Atlantis, … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | 2 Comments

A wee bit more on ‘the new digital divide’…

Posted on August 18, 2005 by Brian

A quick follow-up to yesterday’s meandering post… Jeff McClurken commented that it’s a bit too easy to posit all students as comfortable with social software, when an apparent majority of them are not embracing these technologies. My experience with students … Continue reading →

Posted in Abject Learning, Emergence, Webloggia | Tagged | 6 Comments

The Conversation

Posted on August 17, 2005 by Brian

A throwaway line in one of yesterday’s posts (“There’s an unmistakable energy out in the community right now, and I feel sorry for the people in our field who have yet to jack into it”), prompted a couple of comments … Continue reading →

Posted in Abject Learning, Emergence, tech/tools/standards, Textuality, Webloggia, XML/RSS | Tagged | 5 Comments

Posted on February 1, 2005 by Brian

Consider the day’s events: The Register posts an interview with a link spammer, regaling us with tales of the big money to be made pushing PPC (pills, porn, casinos), the many technical advantages spammers enjoy, and their near-limitless prospects for … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | 1 Comment

[Textologies] – High-tech highbrow stalking

Posted on September 30, 2004 by Brian

Oh my, this is sooooo groovy. ‘Following “The Man of the Crowd”‘ is a 24-hour walk in which two participants, linked by text messaging, drift separately through the city in an alternating pattern according to the movements of strangers. Based … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | Comments Off on [Textologies] – High-tech highbrow stalking

Cool Tools for Back to School

Posted on August 30, 2004 by Brian

The new issue of EDUCAUSE Review presents a set of features on some of the groovy tools and applications that are seeping into higher education: “blogs, wikis, swarms and games.” Stephen Downes does a great overview on educational weblogging, one … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | 3 Comments

The social software juggernaut — coming soon to a PC near you…

Posted on May 25, 2004 by Brian

I’m going to file this under “no comment”… Bottom-up collaboration is about exposing information and letting others decide what they want. This eliminates one of the biggest barriers to information flow: The fear that something you send out will not … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | Comments Off on The social software juggernaut — coming soon to a PC near you…

Why phones are replacing cars…

Posted on May 21, 2004 by Brian

A rather bold assertion from The Economist. In a social sense, mobile phones are replacing cars: Phones are now the dominant technology with which young people, and urban youth in particular, now define themselves. What sort of phone you carry … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | Comments Off on Why phones are replacing cars…

Oh My! News by Million Camera Phones

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Brian

An interesting short piece from Ohmynews on the sociology of personal technology: When Japanese national team scored a goal, the soccer stadium in Japan was instantly filled with thousands of flash lights bursting out of ubiquitous Nikons and Canons. Korean … Continue reading →

Posted in Emergence | Comments Off on Oh My! News by Million Camera Phones