Media Literacy: Activities for independent communication via media in an information society, and the technologies and knowledge that support these activities (Source: digitalstorytelling)

Photo credit: Stephan Ridgway edited by Daniele Bazzano

Inside this Media Literacy digest:

• Foreverism - Foreverism encompasses the many ways that consumers and businesses are embracing conversations, relationships, and products that are never done.
• Disaggregation of Higher Education - David Wiley draws a parallel between the disruption of the printing press on power structures of western society.
• Data Center Overload - As individuals become more distributed (think “clouds”) in data storage and social interactions, data centres become more important.
• Why Group Norms Kill Creativity - A homogeneous group is often not very effective at creativity. Individual diversity, connected, produces substantial advances.
• ED-MEDIA 2009 - It will be interesting to see how the increased use of social media will contribute to conference interactions, connections, and quality of participant experience
• Social Network Analysis: an Introduction - ...a great introduction to many network concepts from Barry Wellman and Alexandra Marin.

Inside the Media Literacy digest, George Siemens ushers you into a fascinating journey to make sense of how new media technologies are changing how you work, learn and communicate.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Foreverism

We can always use new terms and buzzwords in the English language. Foreverism crops up occasionally. I hope the term goes away soon... but the concept of conversations that are never done and data that never disappears is worth thinking about.

Trendwatching considers the subject in detail:

“[Foreverism] encompasses the many ways that consumers and businesses are embracing conversations, relationships, and products that are never done. Driving its popularity is technology that allows them to find, follow, interact and collaborate forever with anyone & anything”.

Disaggregation of Higher Education

At E-Learn 2008 in Las Vegas last year, I finally met David Wiley f2f. He’s one of the most sincere, engaging, and thoughtful people I’ve had the honour to meet.

At the conference, he presented on the disaggregation of higher education. He has posted slides on a similar theme on slideshare.

David draws a parallel between the disruption of the printing press on power structures of western society... and a similar potential impact of the open education movement.

Data Center Overload

Ever stop to think about what happens behind a search request? Or the infrastructure required to upload an image to Flickr?

I personally don’t spend too much time thinking about the complex system that supports the most basic online activities: searching, buying a book, finding a friend on Facebook or Twitter. Yet - as this article argues - Data Center Overload - data centres are the industrial facilities of our era.

As individuals become more distributed (think “clouds”) in data storage and social interactions, data centres become more important:

“Much of the daily material of our lives is now dematerialized and outsourced to a far-flung, unseen network.

The stack of letters becomes the e-mail database on the computer, which gives way to Hotmail or Gmail.

The clipping sent to a friend becomes the attached PDF file, which becomes a set of shared bookmarks, hosted offsite.”

Why Group Norms Kill Creativity

Collaboration, cooperation, communities of practice, collective intelligence, and similar concepts have become very popular concepts in society, business, and education.

Any system of organization must pay utmost homage to the primacy of the individual. Wisdom of the crowds is often misinterpreted as suggesting that people are intelligent when they think together.

It’s more accurate to say that people are intelligent when they think alone and that this intelligence is amplified when they connect. It’s a subtle but vital distinction.

A homogeneous group is often not very effective at creativity. Individual diversity, connected, produces substantial advances.

A group can refine, extend, augment, and even perfect certain concepts and ideas. But, as this paper states - Why group norms kill creativity:

Unfortunately groups only rarely foment great ideas because people in them are powerfully shaped by group norms: the unwritten rules which describe how individuals in a group ‘are’ and how they ‘ought’ to behave.

Norms influence what people believe is right and wrong just as surely as real laws, but with none of the permanence or transparency of written regulations... the unwritten rules of the group, therefore, determined what its members considered creative. In effect groups had redefined creativity as conformity.

ED-MEDIA 2009

ED-MEDIA 2009 is less than two weeks away (disclaimer: I’m program co-chair).

We’ve been experimenting with Twitter, Ning, Flickr, and blogging.

It will be interesting to see how the increased use of social media will contribute to conference interactions, connections, and quality of participant experience (there’s a research project for someone) - i.e. does social media live up to its hype?

I’ve had the pleasure of conducting a few interviews (posted on the conference blog): Alan Levine and Nancy White.

I will post additional interviews next week. Craig Montgomerie has posted interviews with Rick Mrazek and Tom Reeves.

Social Network Analysis: an Introduction

I am a big fan of Barry Wellman. His pioneering work in networks has a history that extends well beyond current hype in social networks.

In my work with connectivism, I’ve found Wellman’s work insightful, relevant, and more informed than the often shallow network conversations now occurring.

I interview him a few years ago and urged him to start a blog. He said his research required long lead times and data analysis... and sharing in “transition data” could be misleading. While I would still like to see him blog, Barry Wellman is on Twitter.

With Alexandra Marin, he has published a paper on Social Network Analysis: An introduction (.pdf). It’s a great introduction to many network concepts - you’ll be hard pressed to find a more concise and readable paper on the subject (Stephen Downes will likely find resonance with the discussion on “networks, not groups”).

With network interests now springing eternal, it’s important to turn attention to the “now what?” I addressed this partly (ok, I whined) during the International Enterprise 2.0 conference: understanding structure is a foundational concept.

The next, and possibly more challenging and value-laden, step is to consider how we use information and social networks to shape messages and influence learning and institutional design.

Understanding how information flows is like understanding how physical products move through a supply chain. Altering the chain is the next important area of focus...

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on Jun 15th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the author

To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits:
Foreverism - juliengron
Disaggregation of Higher Education - msv
Data Center Overload - Sebastian Kaulitzki
Why Group Norms Kill Creativity - Eric Isselée
Social Network Analysis: an Introduction - norebbo