How big can a family grow?
I've just got off the Where to, Classroom 2.0 forum, which is pointing out that this is now a large group, and there is now quite some difficulty in maintaining the original closeness. (As an enneagram type 5, that's of no personal concern to me - I'm after information and knowledge, not relationships!).
Still, it raises an important issue for me, and for us all - at length. When is a social network big enough for each one of us. How do we recognise that there are limits for us with regard to what we belong to and can interact meaningfully with? How do we set our own boundaries? And then , how can we help our students develop an awareness of their finitude, and how to set their own boundaries? This seems an important issue in the sociosphere. (I suspect that the answers are to found in a similar way to the answers to how much site blocking should there be in our schools, and how much should we be educating in terms of acceptable and responsible use.)
Ogden Nash published a book of poetry called There's always another windmill. For the enneagram 5's there's always another book/piece of information, for others - there's always another blog, another feed, another mp3, another video clip, another widget. How do you say - yes there's more - but not for me!
Any comments?
Still, it raises an important issue for me, and for us all - at length. When is a social network big enough for each one of us. How do we recognise that there are limits for us with regard to what we belong to and can interact meaningfully with? How do we set our own boundaries? And then , how can we help our students develop an awareness of their finitude, and how to set their own boundaries? This seems an important issue in the sociosphere. (I suspect that the answers are to found in a similar way to the answers to how much site blocking should there be in our schools, and how much should we be educating in terms of acceptable and responsible use.)
Ogden Nash published a book of poetry called There's always another windmill. For the enneagram 5's there's always another book/piece of information, for others - there's always another blog, another feed, another mp3, another video clip, another widget. How do you say - yes there's more - but not for me!
Any comments?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on -
Yes, I keep thinking I have wrestled with this, and then another technology comes out which provides even more information that we have to track (a la Twitter), and it starts all over again.
The other day an NPR interviewer released 10 years of his audio interviews of living authors, all of which looked fascinating, but I realized--as much as I would really love to listen to them, I'm not likely to *ever* do so. The thought really hit me again: this is only the beginning of a tidal wave, an era where learning how to *not* consume more information will be as important as our ability to find information.
Great thoughts, Ian.
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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on
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Steve,
Your last sentence is so profound, it bears repeating: "this is only the beginning of a tidal wave, an era where learning how to *not* consume more information will be as important as our ability to find information."
This is a key point in what we're talking about on the network right now, the discussions about how to move forward with greater numbers and still keep things community-like and meaningful. People have to "land" themselves somewhere so that they're not infinitely scattered. We can't keep consuming and consuming information; at some point some settling has to occur.I like having CR2.0 as a home base. By choosing this I'm leaving out a lot of other possibilities (while still staying informed).
Words to the wise, Steve. Seeing what's going on with web 2.0 is like standing on the banks of a beautiful and swiftly-moving river, fishing, putting the canoe in now and then for extended river trips, meeting others who are also traveling. My cabin by the bank of the river is CR2.0.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on
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This is why I love having you a part of the network: you pay me compliments... JK! No, it's because you are so articulate and your contributions really stick with me. Going from "searching desperately for small streams to to drink from" to "standing on the banks of a beautiful and swiftly-moving river" is a real change, and I'm interested in what impact that's going to have on us individually and in the larger cultural way. And it would seem that we are watching something fascinating--which is a change happening so suddenly that we can observe how different personalities or skill-sets can be pre-disposed to thrive in these different environments.
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Davis on -
It just occured to me that we are talking about what Malcolm Gladwell calls The Tipping Point. I wonder what the "tipping point" was for this network. Who were the Connectors, the Mavens, and the Salesmen. I think the fact that it was started by Steve Hargadon made a big difference. He knows a lot of "mavens" and "salesmen" - he is the perfect "connector" - Thanks Steve!
Now we just need to find the tipping point in our schools to get our teachers to buy in.
Ian - do you have some good enneagram links for us to learn more about what you mean when you say you are a type 5?
-Liz
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Permalink Reply by Ian Carmichael on
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Sure Liz,
The enneagram is a traditional personality sorter. It identifies personality characteristics, typical responses, paths for growth and directions of collapse under pressure. I find it personally very helpful, so I'll bather about it wherever I can(Not here - really). and For those who love quizzes, here's a site with pretty good information and resources. (There are huge amounts of resources, please don't spam this site with them!)
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