Epic Huggles

10/15 reflection

Wednesday’s guest speaker was very different in a sense that I gave him my full attention his entire lecture.  He put everything into perspective for us students, so it was very understandable and easy to follow him.  It would be cool to work his job for a couple of weeks, just too really get the feel for what he does for a living.  Being able to watch everything change all the time and keep up to date with it, especially the web.  I can see why it is so scary, yet I find it very interesting.  Our discussion groups basically continued his lecture further by talking about how the world is changing so fast through technology; such as, internet, cell phones, and resulting in a lost of social skills.  Our generation has got to live the old technology and live the new technology, but everybody wonders how the young generation of today will turn out in the future, it will be interesting to see.

10/15 Reflection

I really enjoyed yesterday's class.  I think we were all pleasantly surprised about our speaker from Click & Pledge. I enjoyed how he was completely open and talked at our level. He may not understand a 15 year old, but he knows how to get our attention. He also said things that really tied into our readings from this past week.  He talked about how we are creatures of relationships and that internet makes relationships/connections easier, BUT that there is no accountability in our web-world of today, that could potentially be resolved in the future.  He really hit on pure human feelings: we are scared of the unknown and we reach out to others like us.  That again was in the reading, and a criticism of the effectiveness of blogging, etc, about how we are linked together by our interests and not really spreading out too much to see "the other side."

Our discussion was an extension of this, do we think that the age of the internet is a "good or bad" thing.  Being more of a traditional, let me meet you face to face versus a computer person, I was happy to know that I'm not the only one who is a little wary about how intense the internet age is "taking over" and inundating our every day world. I think it was a really good discussion and it would have been kind of nice to extend it (had it not been the end of a 3 hour class). I think just about everyone in the group participated and had an opinion, it was nice to have that full discussion.  I look forward to more discussions like that in the future.

My Rant for Oct. 15

This weeks blog is going to be in the form a rant, because the red sox are losing, I haven't really slept this week, and I'm a little frustrated with a few of my student organizations at the moment. Who cares right? My point exactly. The argument here is that some believe that blogging/wikis actually promote democracy by opening up channels of discussion and collaboration. Social media has this potential to "reverse a process of massification", and allows us to become producers instead of consumers. However, critics of social media believe that this practice is actually reducing us to anti-democratic masses and undermines real life community relationships. It is this latter argument I tend to believe in the most. Blogging and other forms of social media (Wikipedia) do have their uses I guess. Blogs allow us to immediately respond to issues in the world and connect with those with like minded interests, however there is a reason that teachers don't allow their students to cite wikipedia....BECAUSE HALF OF THE GAZILLION BLOGS ON THE INTERNET ARE COMPOSED BY BIASED, HALF-EDUCATED, SOCIALLY AWKWARD INDIVIDUALS (not that anyone in Epic Huggles, Ellipsis, or DC express any of these traits). Whew....had to get that off my chest. Do you not see what is going on here? Half the people in our blog group respond to the discussion question (societal issue) thirty minutes before class starts and then type about three sentences as a response to someone else's work. What educational revelation or new frames of thought should we expect from posts that were written just to be written? Half the time (probably more) none of us read the chapters assigned for that day (unless it says to in the discussion question), so these hastily written blogs are also people talking about themselves rather than the issue at hand. Now I'm admitting that I am extremely guilty of this, and I do believe that most of my posts have just been using my life experiences as half-assed examples of that particular day's topic. I may be the only one doing this in Epic Huggles, but am I the only one gulity of this on the whole Internet? If I'm devaluing your education by providing mindless, quickly typed dribble...isn't there a chance someone else might be too? I admit that I'm new to the whole blogging thing, but it seems like a false hope that our discussions we post will make a difference. I would love it it my weekly blog on this or that topic would eventually be read by some state senator, picked up by the local news, and change the fate of society, but it is a pipe dream. How do you expect to make your voice heard, when millions of people across the globe are trying to do the same thing? The law of the wiki states that "the more people, the lower the quality of the wiki". Same goes for the issue you want noticed...There will be so many other "we-journalists" supplying contradicting information, misinformation, bad data and facts that your message will lose every shred of credibility. I might be in a bad mood today, but blogging isn't just a personal time sink to me: its actually harming our communities. All this time spent hunched over a computer, banging out your thoughts takes something away from the relationships you've built over the years. It you want to become more democratic and be a force of change you can't expect 100-300 word electronic rants to make a difference. A difference is made by forming grassroots groups, getting your hands dirty building up your community in the face of oppression, and physically lobbying to make a change. Yes we can sit at a computer and type about how much democracy is being ruined by politicians, or we can stop the ranting and do something.

Thus ends my rant on ranting...

Alex

Discussion Q for Oct 15

I think the blog groups have made class more though provoking, and I have definitely retained more information that I usually do. I think they have enhanced the democratic capacity of the classroom. Ulises discusses three  features of a democratic public sphere and I think our blog interactions satisfy all three.

First, there needs to be a balance between ability to produce and consume ideas to have a democratic public sphere. Since we are educated about the topics (if we've all done the reading) then we can all contribute intelligently and have the capacity to understand what everybody else it writing.

Second, a democratic public sphere must have affordable and effective means of producing ideas. A blog allows for immediate and effective responses and it's free. A potential problem he mentions regarding the Internet is that if we start believing the Internet solely because it's the Internet (so it must be right), and don't realize that it was just another person posting the information we're reading (who could very well be wrong). By not questioning what we read on the Internet, we're "devaluing those people and making ourselves into idiots" (p. 345 reader). He also says that the more people involved, the lower quality of information. In our case, since me meet and discuss and put names to faces then it's a lot easier to not make the mistake of forgetting about the human on the other side, and our groups are small and knowledgeable.

Third, ideas are translated into action. He argues against the feasibility of this, however, saying that often, the Internet just enforces the status quo since you're not forced out of your "narrow group identity" (p 346). I wrestled with this a bit because on the one hand, we are all college students, most of us are upperclassmen, uap/epp majors, the list goes on... but on the other hand, we didn't really know each other before this, we have different backgrounds, interests, goals etc. So we all have something different and valuable to contribute and are breaking out of a group identity (we were randomly assigned into a group), I'm just not sure to the extent.

He says that "actions speak louder than words". Although I find the discussions we have interesting and informative, I don't see many of us switching up our opinions or taking action because of something somebody said in one of their posts... but then again, are we actively trying to persuade people to take action? Not really....  So perhaps things might be different if we were trying to push our opinions/agenda onto our group mates, but as of now it does seem like we are just expressing preexisting opinions, albeit, interesting ones.

I think the blog groups have made class more though provoking, and I have definitely retained more information that I usually do. I think they have enhanced the democratic capacity of the classroom. Ulises discusses three  features of a democratic public sphere and I think our blog interactions satisfy all three.

First, there needs to be a balance between ability to produce and consume ideas to have a democratic public sphere. Since we are educated about the topics (if we've all done the reading) then we can all contribute intelligently and have the capacity to understand what everybody else it writing.

Second, a democratic public sphere must have affordable and effective means of producing ideas. A blog allows for immediate and effective responses and it's free. A potential problem he mentions regarding the Internet is that if we start believing the Internet solely because it's the Internet (so it must be right), and don't realize that it was just another person posting the information we're reading (who could very well be wrong). By not questioning what we read on the Internet, we're "devaluing those people and making ourselves into idiots" (p. 345 reader). He also says that the more people involved, the lower quality of information. In our case, since me meet and discuss and put names to faces then it's a lot easier to not make the mistake of forgetting about the human on the other side, and our groups are small and knowledgeable.

Third, ideas are translated into action. He argues against the feasibility of this, however, saying that often, the Internet just enforces the status quo since you're not forced out of your "narrow group identity" (p 346). I wrestled with this a bit because on the one hand, we are all college students, most of us are upperclassmen, uap/epp majors, the list goes on... but on the other hand, we didn't really know each other before this, we have different backgrounds, interests, goals etc. So we all have something different and valuable to contribute and are breaking out of a group identity (we were randomly assigned into a group), I'm just not sure to the extent.

He says that "actions speak louder than words". Although I find the discussions we have interesting and informative, I don't see many of us switching up our opinions or taking action because of something somebody said in one of their posts... but then again, are we actively trying to persuade people to take action? Not really....  So perhaps things might be different if we were trying to push our opinions/agenda onto our group mates, but as of now it does seem like we are just expressing preexisting opinions, albeit, interesting ones.

October 15 Discussion Questions

The democratic capacity of a classroom is not something you typically hear about nor have the chance to discuss. As a result, just having the opportunity to do so speaks to our classroom's democratic capacity.  In most classroom settings, at least in college, the direct focus is on the instructor and with the exception of the occasional question from a student, the communication is primarily one-way from the instructor to the students.  The democratic capacity of this sort of classroom is far less than ours.  With only a small portion of time devoted to lecture each week, our class is much more geared towards student involvement.  This is taken to a whole new level with the formation of our blog groups that provide an outlet for discussion, presenting of new information and means of learning.  If online blog groups and increased student involvement in class were the only differences between our class and others, I would still support the notion that our class structure has enhanced the democratic capacity of the classroom. But in addition to these methods, we also meet each week in person with our blog groups, an extremely valuable component, to further discuss topics.

Many of the arguments against internet-based social networks, such as a blog group, are centered around their lack of physical interconnectedness, formation of weak and distant ties and absence of local importance according to Shapiro.  Although these arguments hold some weight in my opinion, the fact that our blog groups for class not only participate in a shared, online social network but also have a weekly psychical presence with one another in which further discussion and information sharing takes place, lays to rest many of the concerns of a blog group or other social network.  Having an open, online public forum to publish our thoughts makes the expression of ideas less restrictive and hopefully gives one the power within to say how he or she really feels.  A blog group also encourages each of its participants to formulate a well thought out comment before publishing, providing for an efficient discussion of worthy thoughts and ideas. Responses to these comments, whether it be through the online blog or in person during class or blog group meetings, allow for deliberation and feedback; only furthering the democratic capacity our class.

As far as fostering relationships among class members, the blogs do little in my opinion.  As Shapiro states, the fluidity of online social networks creates weak bonds with others at the expense of strong ties to those who are closer to us.  People feel less obligated to these social networks because they are easily replaced by another.  They lack the glue to keep participants involved and accountable like a physical community has.  In terms of our class blog, it is slightly different story because we are graded, but I think what Shapiro said about weak bonds among participants still holds true for class blogs.  If we could have chosen those in our blog groups instead of randomly being assigned to one, the relationships we had established already would have been enhanced by participating in a blog group together instead of trying to get to know and establish a basic relationship with a whole new set of people. Again, it is the blog group meetings during class that truly makes up for the faults in just online blogging.  Face-to-face interactions are by far the best to established a relationship with someone and being able to connect someones' blog with a face and further discussion goes a long way in creating a sense of community and commitment to the blog group.

I have to agree with Katherine (http://sdn.typepad.com/epic_huggles/2008/10/discussion-fo-1.html) about her speculation regarding how social networks have changed since the article The Six degrees of Lois Weisberg was published.  Myspace and Facebook have certainly made an impact on the degree to which people are connected.  Are there more Lois Weisburg's now with these social networks?  It sure wouldn't surprise me.

The democratic capacity of a classroom is not something you typically hear about nor have the chance to discuss. As a result, just having the opportunity to do so speaks to our classroom's democratic capacity.  In most classroom settings, at least in college, the direct focus is on the instructor and with the exception of the occasional question from a student, the communication is primarily one-way from the instructor to the students.  The democratic capacity of this sort of classroom is far less than ours.  With only a small portion of time devoted to lecture each week, our class is much more geared towards student involvement.  This is taken to a whole new level with the formation of our blog groups that provide an outlet for discussion, presenting of new information and means of learning.  If online blog groups and increased student involvement in class were the only differences between our class and others, I would still support the notion that our class structure has enhanced the democratic capacity of the classroom. But in addition to these methods, we also meet each week in person with our blog groups, an extremely valuable component, to further discuss topics.

Many of the arguments against internet-based social networks, such as a blog group, are centered around their lack of physical interconnectedness, formation of weak and distant ties and absence of local importance according to Shapiro.  Although these arguments hold some weight in my opinion, the fact that our blog groups for class not only participate in a shared, online social network but also have a weekly psychical presence with one another in which further discussion and information sharing takes place, lays to rest many of the concerns of a blog group or other social network.  Having an open, online public forum to publish our thoughts makes the expression of ideas less restrictive and hopefully gives one the power within to say how he or she really feels.  A blog group also encourages each of its participants to formulate a well thought out comment before publishing, providing for an efficient discussion of worthy thoughts and ideas. Responses to these comments, whether it be through the online blog or in person during class or blog group meetings, allow for deliberation and feedback; only furthering the democratic capacity our class.

As far as fostering relationships among class members, the blogs do little in my opinion.  As Shapiro states, the fluidity of online social networks creates weak bonds with others at the expense of strong ties to those who are closer to us.  People feel less obligated to these social networks because they are easily replaced by another.  They lack the glue to keep participants involved and accountable like a physical community has.  In terms of our class blog, it is slightly different story because we are graded, but I think what Shapiro said about weak bonds among participants still holds true for class blogs.  If we could have chosen those in our blog groups instead of randomly being assigned to one, the relationships we had established already would have been enhanced by participating in a blog group together instead of trying to get to know and establish a basic relationship with a whole new set of people. Again, it is the blog group meetings during class that truly makes up for the faults in just online blogging.  Face-to-face interactions are by far the best to established a relationship with someone and being able to connect someones' blog with a face and further discussion goes a long way in creating a sense of community and commitment to the blog group.

I have to agree with Katherine (http://sdn.typepad.com/epic_huggles/2008/10/discussion-fo-1.html) about her speculation regarding how social networks have changed since the article The Six degrees of Lois Weisberg was published.  Myspace and Facebook have certainly made an impact on the degree to which people are connected.  Are there more Lois Weisburg's now with these social networks?  It sure wouldn't surprise me.

Oct. 15 Discussion

Blogging, along with blog group meetings has enhanced the democratic capacity within the classroom.  Blogging has enabled our group to discuss a variety of topics and issues, each with multiple and differing perspectives.  Because each blog is given their own power to independently run their discussions, it has allowed for a better flow of ideas, in a peer-to-peer format.  The flow of our discussions have increased as the class has progressed because the smaller groups have enables us to interact on a more personal level.  Blogging, as a form of social technology has enhanced the deliberation aspect within our group, as well as creating a democratic capacity.

On a larger scale, social technology is equally important and productive.  It has created the ability for a democratic public sphere to promote a balance between an individual's ability to produce and consume ideas in an effective way, which can be translated into action.  Social technology can be used for a variety of issues and topics within any public sphere.  The reader describes social technology as an "opportunity to...become producers, not mere consumers, making it possible for as many people to express as to recieve opinions" (344).  This opportunity allows an individual to feel more connected with a particular issue, and express his/her opinions in a 'public forum.'  This exchange of ideas is a quick and responsive method, which is enhanced by the effectiveness of the internet as a social tool.

Feedback and responsiveness within a social network is imperative.  With this in mind, a techniclogical social network allows for a series of thoughts and ideas to possible be put into action.  Because this type of social networking is "an outlet...the realization of opinion in action is controlled by authorities who organize and controll the channels of such action" (346).  The possibilites that blogging and other online networking systems offer are endless.  Whether it is a group of individuals excahnging a list of thoughts on a paricular topic, or a network designed to take action, the internet has enabled the effectiveness of response in terms of action. 

10/15 discussion question

I do believe that the online blogging along with blog group meetings in the class has enhanced the democratic capacity.  Mills first democratic public sphere is a balance between the ability to produce and consume ideas stating, “as many people express opinions as receive them” I think its expressing pre existing opinions in the blogs groups because most people already have an opinion about most discussion issues, so they just stay with that same opinion.  Mills second democratic public sphere is affordable and effective means of producing ideas stating, “Communications are so organized that there is a chance immediately and effectively to answer back any opinion expressed in public”, which I think is true because everybody can come back with a response in a discussion.  The social media believes it is getting more difficult, which I think is untrue.  Mills third democratic public sphere is ideas are translated into action stating, “Opinion formed by such discussion readily finds an outlet ineffective action”, this is where people have to help each other out by building stepping stones for effective action to be put into place.  The blog groups haven’t fostered more deliberation because where discussing semi important topics instead of life imposed issues or controversial topics.  I also don’t believe the blog group has fostered worth while relationships for me because when this class is over, I’m never going to see or speak to these people again.

Discussion Questions for 10/16

Just a few questions for our blog group in class tomorrow night.
1.    What do you think about the phenomenon of Six Degrees of Separation?
2.    How do you think society has transformed over the past few decades through the lens of media?
3.    Have you ever been part of a virtual community?
4.    What do you think are the benefits of virtual communities? And on the other hand do you think it is harmful?
5.    What do you think is the best way to mobilize this tool for the benefits of society?

Please feel free to suggest any other questions that you think would be interesting.

Chum

Discussion for 10/15

I would say that the online and in-class blog groups have increased the democratic capacity of the class. The first feature of a democratic public sphere (according to Mills from the ideant blog) is "balance between the ability to produce and consume ideas". The fact that we are all required to produce posts and consume and respond to others' posts makes sure we keep this balance. The second feature of a democtratic public sphere is "affordble and effective menas of producing ideas".  Affordable- how 'bout free? Effective- I have seen some ideas form, or at least get a collective understanding of other topics presented. The last feature of a democratic public sphere is "ideas are translated into action". Relating this to the class is a bit difficult because we don't have something in common other than we are in the same class and learning the same material. Not a whole lot of "action" in the social media sense, but action, none the less, in the sense that learning is an action. If we think about the democratic capacity of the class then I think it does increase the possibility that ideas will be translated into action. Prof Goldstein told us in the first class that the information we learn here will be enough to start a revolution. What may lack is commitment, and passion- two things that can be increased from group discussion like our blog groups.

I don't necessarily think that our blog groups have fostered more deliberation. I think this is due in part to the topics at hand. We aren't solving world problems. We aren't arguing highly controversial topics. We are learning and discussing. I think a lot of what we have been expressing are previous opinions on the topics. We haven't encountered a lot of debate or deliberation on any issues so far.

I would say that the blog groups have fostered worthwhile relationships between members. We read in the article about Lois Weisberg how important our connections to people are. Not just for ourselves and our advancement, but the advancement of society (society around us, and who knows.. maybe even society in China!). Being able to connect a blog personality with a face and in-person personality has really bridged the relationship gap. Its hard to justify a weekly blogging relationship as anything special. It is when we get to spend time and discuss in person in addition to the online blogging that I feel real relationships are formed. Relationships I feel that someday down the line I could say.. "yeah I have a friend from a class you should talk to about ________. Here's their email address". The problem with our blog group is we aren't necessarily learning THAT much about everyone's interests because we spend our time talking about other peoples writings.

The Six degrees of Lois Weisberg article was intriguing and amazing at how many people she knew (face-to-face) and was in contact with (probably even on land line phones!). The fact that the article was written in 1999 made me think about how it would be different if written today. How does the popularity of myspace and facebook change social media? Lois Weisberg made me think of a friend of mine. He has 1,623 facebook friends... and counting.  Not to say he is close friends with all of them, but he has a way of contacting them and a way of knowing there whereabouts and their interests. If he wanted, he could have a similar effect as Lois.

I would say that the online and in-class blog groups have increased the democratic capacity of the class. The first feature of a democratic public sphere (according to Mills from the ideant blog) is "balance between the ability to produce and consume ideas". The fact that we are all required to produce posts and consume and respond to others' posts makes sure we keep this balance. The second feature of a democtratic public sphere is "affordble and effective menas of producing ideas".  Affordable- how 'bout free? Effective- I have seen some ideas form, or at least get a collective understanding of other topics presented. The last feature of a democratic public sphere is "ideas are translated into action". Relating this to the class is a bit difficult because we don't have something in common other than we are in the same class and learning the same material. Not a whole lot of "action" in the social media sense, but action, none the less, in the sense that learning is an action. If we think about the democratic capacity of the class then I think it does increase the possibility that ideas will be translated into action. Prof Goldstein told us in the first class that the information we learn here will be enough to start a revolution. What may lack is commitment, and passion- two things that can be increased from group discussion like our blog groups.

I don't necessarily think that our blog groups have fostered more deliberation. I think this is due in part to the topics at hand. We aren't solving world problems. We aren't arguing highly controversial topics. We are learning and discussing. I think a lot of what we have been expressing are previous opinions on the topics. We haven't encountered a lot of debate or deliberation on any issues so far.

I would say that the blog groups have fostered worthwhile relationships between members. We read in the article about Lois Weisberg how important our connections to people are. Not just for ourselves and our advancement, but the advancement of society (society around us, and who knows.. maybe even society in China!). Being able to connect a blog personality with a face and in-person personality has really bridged the relationship gap. Its hard to justify a weekly blogging relationship as anything special. It is when we get to spend time and discuss in person in addition to the online blogging that I feel real relationships are formed. Relationships I feel that someday down the line I could say.. "yeah I have a friend from a class you should talk to about ________. Here's their email address". The problem with our blog group is we aren't necessarily learning THAT much about everyone's interests because we spend our time talking about other peoples writings.

The Six degrees of Lois Weisberg article was intriguing and amazing at how many people she knew (face-to-face) and was in contact with (probably even on land line phones!). The fact that the article was written in 1999 made me think about how it would be different if written today. How does the popularity of myspace and facebook change social media? Lois Weisberg made me think of a friend of mine. He has 1,623 facebook friends... and counting.  Not to say he is close friends with all of them, but he has a way of contacting them and a way of knowing there whereabouts and their interests. If he wanted, he could have a similar effect as Lois.

Oct. 8 Reflection

I thoroughly enjoyed Wednesday's class on learning networks.  The guest speakers provided a lot of great information.  Wednesday's class was also an introduction to the "Witness for Peace" organization for me.  It seems like a very pro-active organization that has evolved into a well-recognized organization that has gained credibility and recognition through its missions.  The "Witness for Peace" guest speakers created a great seg-way into the explanation of NAFTA in terms of Mexico and the United States.  Having a representative from Mexico made the presentation much more powerful.  He reflected on the impacts NAFTA has had on Mexico, and acknowledged that there has been a decrease in jobs since the establishment of NAFTA, and only benefits 5% of the Mexican population.

Organizations like NAFTA are designed to create ties between unlikely groups to achieve a specific goal.  Within our group, we looked at the structure and distribution of power within learning networks in terms of group leadership versus a hierarchy system.  We concluded that this distinction can be blurred into a more hierarchical system, if the network does not clearly outline each members role.  Because networks are made up of voluntary participation, it is important that group goals are roles are established for the betterment of the network.

10/15 Discussion

I think that Blogging does help the democratic capacity of the classroom. In a sense, making blogging a requirement every week has helped enhancing it. Everyone is required to participate and voice their opinions and listen to others' comments as well. So I would say that the online blogging really helps. Just like in Ideant Blog, it allows individuals to be producers and not just consumers. All of us have to participate in making this online blogging more insightful so in a sense enhances the democratic element of the class room.

I feel like blog group every week is actually a completely different issue. It is somewhat still the same idea but in an environment that those who are more talkative/care more about the topics will voice more opinions than those who don't talk as much/don't care as much. So in this sense, it still enhances the democratic capacity of the class room. The outcome of the discussions is decided by the students and not dictated on us by the professor. I guess there is no expression of right and wrong answers; therefore, there is no pressure to say what's right. But there is also the other side of the argument that I agree with as well. Even in blog group, majority still rules. If a few of us disagree with the group's decision, we'd still have to go with that consensus instead of being to voice our own opinion to the whole class.

Reflection for Oct. 8

Great class on wednesday discussing what are and what are not learning networks. It seemed to me that the group left with the inclination that the term "learning network" can apply to numerous groups and organizations, because the terms defining the components of an LN seemed pretty vague (perhaps contradicting). I do agree that in order to effectively utilize one of these networks, and to ensure its success that leadership has to be present. This leadership should be flexible, but if its too flexible and not managing feedback/flows in the right way the learning network could crumble. For example, one of the goals of Powershift this weekend was to revitalize the VA State Network. The VA State Network was a student run organization that connected various universities across the state by means of their environmental student organizations. The officers from each school would meet once or twice a semester and discuss their current initiatives on their respective campuses regarding sustainability/climate awareness. Then the officers would exchange ideas and head back to their own organizations with a new set of tools to use. This network died down though over the years, and in my opinion, this was do to a lack of central leadership, vision, and charisma to continue what the network was designed to do. Earlier today there was a break out at Powershift concerning starting the Network back up, and for the most part it was an success. Hopefully with a new sense of urgency and empowerment the network will help keep students across the Commonwealth connected for years to come. Powershift was tight.   

Class Response - 10/8

I really enjoyed last Wednesday's class, and the guest speakers from Witness for Peace.  I was fascinated by their discussion of NAFTA and the adverse affects its policies  have had on the economy of Mexico, in terms of job creation and economic viability throughout the country.  I was also intrigued by the interconnectedness of the global economy in this day in age.  The economic policies of the United States and Canada greatly affect the output of Mexico and vice-versa. 

In our blog group we struggled to determine what is a learning network.  We came to the conclusion that its was a grouping that facilitated the flow of knowledge and information.  We had a disagreement about if a family constitutes as a type of learning network.  We also struggled with the notion of leadership within a learning network.  Many felt it was necessary to have some sort of task and assignment originator in a group.  I personal felt that learning network were some form of new age thought and are truly effective only in academic-based settings.

Reflection 8th Oct.

I didn't know anything about NAFTA besides having heard the name. A few post have mentioned the presentation being a little one sided and I agree.  I do think the NAFTA presentation was a little bias against America. That kind of goes back to what we were talking about a few weeks ago about working with the media and presenting ALL the information, not just the info that helps prove your point because the audience then feels cheated and is less likely to trust what they've heard. Overall it was a good example of a learning network and how people organize and share information with each other.

In our blog group we had a pretty hard time defining leadership within a learning network. What I took away from our discussion was that the leadership was there to motivate, rather than punish. We also talked about whether or not a family was a learning network. I think a family definitely can be a learning network. In my family, now that my brother and I are older, my parents don't punish us anymore... but we still all share information and learn from each other.

10/8 Reflection

I I have heard of NAFTA in my economic class before. I still did not really understand what it all entails. The presentation in class last week gave me a better idea of what NAFTA was about. I learned a lot about the other side of the argument that the group portrayed concerning what NAFTA is doing to Mexico and other Latin American countries. I also agree with Katherine that the presentation was somewhat one sided. I might just be spoiled for living in the United States and not wanting to admit that other countries are suffering for our wealth. I am not sure what the application that I was supposed to take away from the presentation was. I agree there was injustice involved. I am still skeptical about the way they explained that NAFTA was passed in a anti-democratic manor. It would take a little more research for me to be convinced. My opinion on injustice is it is a wicked problem. As soon as you raise enough awareness to solve one issue of injustice, another one is going to rise. I think the root of those problems is we are living in an imperfect world. Therefore, for injustice to end, we would have to address that root problem rather than issues that arise, because sooner or later, there will be way too many issues for us to put out fire.

I enjoyed discussing about learning network and the factor of leadership within learning networks. I talked to a few friends who are my parents' generation, and learned that this is a rather new idea. Not a whole lot of people of the older generation really had this experience when they were in school.

reflecting on 10/8

This past class was interesting as usual. I particularly liked hearing from Marco of WFP. As a member of the group that is studying WFP I had already written a little bit about Marco for our paper. Witness for Peace primarily does their media through "word of mouth" and examples of this are the 8-9 speaker tours they do each year. Marco is probably not going all over the US with this message, however, as his tour is just being promoted by the southeast region of Witness for Peace. His message was good, although I feel sometimes the severity or his passion may have gotten lost in interpretation. I wish I had a better background like John on NAFTA, unfortunately I know very little. However I was thinking during the presentation that here had to be some good reasoning behind NAFTA and it had to be helping someone somewhere. Not to justify it, just to say I felt we were really getting only one side of the NAFTA story in class.

Learning networks was an interesting topic for the class and it was good to talk it over in blog groups because I was a bit confused on what a learning network really is. The blog discussion didn't necessarily clear it up for me, instead it loosened up my definition of learning networks. We talked about the difference between leadership and hierarchy and that was really helpful to me. Learning networks need leadership in that they need some people to take care of different things, but they don't employ any type of pecking order. Everyone is accountable to everyone else, even if they are a leader in a specific area. I really like the idea of a learning network and group learning. I think in an ever-increasing globalized world we need to learn from each other and work with one another more and more.

October 8 Class Reflection

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Witness for Peace coming to speak to us and their associated guests (acronym?).  It was interesting hearing so much about NAFTA and how it has really impacted the people of Mexico.  I have studied it before in other classes, but heard mainly about the economic benefits it holds for Canada, USA and Mexico. I even looked it up after class in some of my old textbooks and they mention very little, if anything at all, about the consequences it is having. To learn about such negative impacts from first hand experience was truly awakening for me and just goes to show you can only learn so much from a book.  It was also good to hear some Spanish again and brush up on my foreign language skills.

Our discussion group was productive in the sense we all realized that our understanding of a learning network was slightly off.  We tried to conceptualize the idea again, but it is difficult to put defining boarders around such an ambiguous thing like a learning network.  I think what we decided that it came to down how you look at a group of people and what they do.  Like Scott said, a lot of the clubs and organizations we are in could be viewed as a type of learning network.  A leaning network could also exist in a less traditional method, like our blog group.  Overall, the discussion group left us a bit surprised but with an overall more accurate understanding of what a learning network is.

10/15 Discussion Post

While this class is the first time I've ever blogged before, I have (as probably everyone in the class) experience with online chatting (via AIM). I will admit, it is a bit new/confusing sometimes to me trying to keep up with the "conversation," but I think it is a good source for information and place for discussion and information/interaction.

However, I think my big concern, along with what some of the authors wrote about is the issue of anonymity. While it does allow for people to be more free in their discussion and responses, I think it creates a loss of identity and the personality of a person, leaving just an idea or opinion. In our world that evolved due to human interaction and communication, I feel like we are losing that personal connection with people, and losing a sense of a personal relationship, which I feel is stronger than through an online network.

I do accept that, though, people can become more open about ideas and topics through their interaction with people all over the world and can share them. However, there may not be a democratic consensus about topics as a whole because people will tend to go to blogs that are specific to their interests, beliefs, etc (as Shapiro says in "The Net That Binds"), so there could be multiple "solutions" to problems based around certain beliefs, not an agreement from everyone as a whole.

For the class however, since we are all "interested" in this blog, so we all come to it, I think it has shown a variety of opinions on certain topics, so that kind of counteracts the 2nd point I made. However, we're still not having the discussion face to face or a more personal discussion, which is a hindrance, but I think the discussion groups in class help solve that by allowing us to continue our blog discussion in a face-to-face manner.  I think that allows the use of blogs, etc to be more democratic and have more deliberation on a topic, even while maybe trying to pose a "devil's advocate" stance because online someone may not be able to "read it" that way. The face to face discussion helps solve the lack of inflection and personality that the internet has.