In this weekly media literacy digest, open education advocate George Siemens shares key media and technology stories that directly affect your media, your work and and society as a whole.

Photo credit: Viktor Gmyria

In this Media Literacy Digest:

• More Enterprise Social Software Strategies: Issues to consider in your enterprise’s internal social software policy.
• No More Albums - Content sources are disaggregating.
• Who Loses In Open Education? Who loses in open education and the disaggregation of the teaching role in universities.
• Social Media Seminar - Access to social media seminar sessions.
• Cosy Networks Stifle Innovation - Densely connected networks actually serve to stifle innovation.
• Why Groups Fail to Share Information Effectively - When asked to make a group decision, instead of sharing vital information known only to themselves, people tend to repeat information that everyone already knows

Here all the details:

More Enterprise Social Software Strategies

Some readers may find this useful: Eight Issues to Consider in Your Enterprise’s Internal Social Software Policy.

Unfortunately, strategies seem to lead to policies and policies risk being an impediment to innovation. If decisions about communication and interaction are made on legal and organizational basis, rather than innovation and idea sharing (see A threat to scientific communication), social media is somewhat limited at the start.

I respect the need to be cautious and reduce lawsuit prospects. Sometimes, however, we have to push those boundaries.

If we continually squeeze “the new” into the current system, we strip new affordances and potential.

No More Albums

Content sources are disaggregating.

Courses, albums, newspapers, and even TV programs (in exception the 5 min YouTube video) are fragmenting into smaller pieces. Which, of course, increases options for re-creating/remixing (smaller the size, greater the opportunities for repurposing).

Radiohead pushes the boundaries again (remember the pay what you want) by stating they will not be publishing full length albums.

Who Loses In Open Education?

I posted a few thoughts on my connectivism blog on who loses in open education and the disaggregation of the teaching role in universities: Here we are…there we are going.

Social Media Seminar

Earlier this week, Dave Cormier and I hosted our second session on Social Media: Trends and Implications. Session recordings for both July and August are now available.

Dave Cormier and me are still finding the right mix and theme for the show, but I thought this session was a bit smoother than the first. We had good turn out (just over 200) - we held the August event in the evening so individuals from Asia/Australia could attend.

Dave Cormier and I will keep tweaking :).

Cosy Networks Stifle Innovation

More is not always better, especially with a network. Densely connected networks actually serve to stifle innovation.

Granovetter recognized (.pdf) that network formations influence information flow. Beinhocker explored the implications of highly vs. sparsely connected networks. A recent article in New Scientist states that “the over-abundance of connections through which information travels reduces diversity and keeps radical ideas from taking hold”.

The problem?

We are inclined to:

• surround ourselves or


• engage in conversations with people who share our views and beliefs.

Our desire for community of peers is somewhat self-defeating in relation to the impact of densely connected networks.

Why Groups Fail to Share Information Effectively

Hardly surprising: Why Groups Fail to Share Information Effectively: “When asked to make a group decision, instead of sharing vital information known only to themselves, people tend to repeat information that everyone already knows.”

Most spaces/venues of interaction fail to take advantage of the value of critique and debate. Since disagreement in generally not encouraged, we end up sharing information that we think will not cause conflict or upset others.

It takes a degree of self-confidence (and a supportive environment) to ensure contrary voices are heard.

What controversial idea have you shared lately? And, how was it received? Pressure to normalize ideas (and people) is strong and pervasive in groups…

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on August 14th, 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:
More Enterprise Social Software Strategies - Acumenfund.org
No More Albums - Orson
Who Loses in Open Education - Alastor
Social Media Seminar - Dave Cormier
Cosy Networks Stifle Innovation - Solent News/Rex Feature
Why Groups Fail to Share Information Effectively - Spring.org