The more I use and observe Twitter, the more I get it. It’s not just knowing that the fireworks are amazing in Philadelphia, that Pederson is on Lake Superior, or that Marcie Hull is back to painting. It’s knowing where my friends brains are at — and these are brains I want to follow.
Take for instance, Dave Jakes, who, 11 hours ago said, “ Trying to wrap my head around Chris Sessums’ post.”
So I go to Sessums’ blog and read his take on a Boston Globe piece, Education for the Long Term, where Nolan Bowie calls for a national broadband infrastructure.
Sessums expands on the ideas in terms of digital divide, the topic that I wrote about yesterday, and a post that earned more comments than most of my writings. I’d like to make the point of that post, here, again, and perhaps more pointedly…
That the digital divide is not just that some kids/people know technology better than others.
It’s that they know each other better.
..and there’s power in “knowing-networks.“
My interpretation of Bowie’s article differs significantly from that of Sessums. Bowie’s point was not that “some people know technology better”, but rather that the digital divide is greated by inequities in the level of “access” to that people have to technology.
Bowie further states that when access to these iequities are understood, “it becomes clear that long-term public policy about information technology inherently involves society’s core values concerning power and politics, philosophy, sociology, economics and justice”.
The whole point is not to distinguish between the “knowing” and “unknowing”, but rather to bring everyone into “the know” by bridging the divide and growing these networks.
Argh!! Where’s the edit key?? 🙂
The digital divide is CREATED by inequities in the level of ACCESS
When these inequities in ACCESS are understood…
Understood and acknowledged, la. I was responding not only to Bowie and Sessum’s expansion, but also the comments on yesterday’s 2¢ Worth, and a personal need to drill through the technology, and teaching technology, to illuminate that what kids (primarily) are doing with the technology, the social networking.
I guess that what I’m trying to say is that just putting more computers in classrooms, and working harder to make sure that students are more technology literate only gets us part of the way there. The way that my children are using these technologies to create and work networks will almost as certainly be part of their future as the technology itself — and it is something that even I know very little about.
I guess I’m not doing a very good job of explaining this, or I’m missing something. Don’t know. Let’s see who else chimes in…
Morning David —
I think what you are trying to say — is what I, myself, am experiencing —-
twitter is expanding my knowledge base (in 150 words or less!) It is linking me up to both people’s views and opinions but also their knowledge portals (that perhaps I would never notice on my own!)
It is making my life more current, it is making my knowledge base stronger, and on a real personal level — It is making blog authors I used to read, actually real people rather than just text. (if that makes sense!)
I am late for work — thanks for the thoughts this morning.
Jen
Goodmorning,
I agree with Jen about twitter for the most part and twitter brought me here too.
As for your point- I liked it when you said it at the leadership Symposium and commented on it in my blog. Connectdness, bringing people and ideas together is to my way of thinking the purpose of web 2.0. Connecting students with people around the globe changes their social networks and broadens their horizons. Just the few things we did last year changed the world for our students. Out population is multicultural with 63% of the students on free or reduced price lunch. their world view is generally very limited. To have a 30 minute conversation with students in china or exchange photos with students in New Zealand and Wales opened their eys to a whole new world. I believe that the more opprtunities we provide like that the more powerful and dynamic their social networks will become because they will value new and different voices. I can not solve the poverty problems but I can build a desire to get connected and remain connected and that can change their lifes.
As a young child I lived in Lybia, Argentina, Norway, Ghana, the U.S., and learned to appreciate other cultures. Most kids don’t have that opportunity. I like what Barbara said in her post about the opportunities for “connectedness” of ideas and the broadening of horizons. It seems as if schools are afraid of the social networking aspect-at least mine is (and we work with 16 years to adult). It seems as if we can’t get past this for fear of lawsuits or the evil that is lurking out there.
David,
I work with schools all over the US and have a few unscientific conclusions about the digital divide that may be pertinent.
Many, many, schools with poor students HAVE computers in their schools, mostly purchased with federal money. However, these schools tend to use them for test-prep, and the systems are more tightly locked down. This gives the illusion of having access, but it’s a different kind of access than in most suburban schools.
It’s a not a case of the haves vs. have nots, it’s the do’s vs. the do-nots. If a child can only do on a computer that which is pre-determined by the IT department and software companies, it’s not real access. That child is having an impoverished experience that will not reflect the real world, will not result in any real learning, and will only serve to convince that child that school isn’t relevant to their life. Connecting, computing, following their own interests are simply impossible in these situations.
Kids will use the technology they have, and may even show facility, but schools should be looking deeper than that. Facility isn’t fluency, and we miss incredible opportunities to teach kids to go further and deeper using what they know outside the classroom. We should be challenging them to bring those talents to bear on academic tasks. Instead we ignore those talents or create a battlefield of “us vs. them” playing the filtering game.
Bingo, Sylvia! Just because schools have technology and just because kids are using the technology, doesn’t mean that we are doing our jobs, preparing our children for their future.
Dave, Sylvia makes a really good distinguishing point. I think many of us get aggravated that we are finding so many terrific Web 2.0 sites that would be really useful in the classroom, only to find that the state or local IT department doesn’t allow it to show up at school. We have to move beyond “integrating technology into the classroom” and move toward “integrating technology into the lives of students.” That’s a huge paradigm shift for the “powers that be.”
Sylvia, Dave & Tim,
I am, fact, the IT department, but I am still an educator – that is my first love. The problem is, how can I convince Administration? I need help with this. I actually taught in an elementary school where we didn’t have a web filter at all. It was up to the teachers to help the students make good decisions about where they traveled on the Internet. I am obligated by law because I receive e-rate funds to comply with the CIPA act, but I want to provide these Web 2.0 opportunities for our students. What approaches can I use to convince administration? We had an ugly incident a couple of years ago that happened on MySpace and we’ve had the police called before because of another social networking threat. They would rather block it than deal with angry parents or the police.
Hi Dave…
Little article in this past months Wired with a pretty good description of Twitter.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-07/st_thompson