Comments on: “Tribes of the internet” The Critical Role of Higher Education http://generoche.net/blog/2005/12/tribes-of-the-internet-the-critical-role-of-higher-education/ The Times They Are A-Changin' Sun, 13 May 2012 19:37:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Queen Anne Lace http://generoche.net/blog/2005/12/tribes-of-the-internet-the-critical-role-of-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Queen Anne Lace Sat, 24 Dec 2005 19:01:50 +0000 http://generoche.net/blog/?p=94#comment-142 While I have not seen the balzanization in the blog community, I have seen fragmentation within certain Internet interest groups. When my son was dx with autism, I had joined Children of Starving Brains and Autism-Mercury, two Yahoo interest groups. Children with Starving Brains had a very clear directive that under no circumstances could the work of Dr. Andrew Cutler be discussed or referenced; to do so, would be instant banishment from the CSB group. Autism-Mercury's policy was that anything could be discussed; however, as the group grew to over 5000 members, the topics of discussion began to be limited by the administrator. When this occured, additional groups sprouted within Yahoo just like Brynjolfsson and Van Alstyne said might occur. In contrast, I look at this whole scenario in which many public school districts have had to consolidate because of economic and human resources. These new larger school districts are not always as effective as the smaller school districts in terms of educating students because the personalization gets lost and balkanization sets in; for example, after more than 40 years at studying the achievement gap, there is still no consensus on what approach is the most effective. In contrast to the Yahoo groups, bigger was not better either, and as a result balkanization occured and in some cases clear polarization happened like with Dr. Cutler and CSB. While I realize that school districts and Internet communities are not same thing, I am see them as organizations of people that are influenced by both external and internal forces; therefore, I totally agree with role that higher education needs to take but I also think public schools need to be right there too. While I have not seen the balzanization in the blog community, I have seen fragmentation within certain Internet interest groups. When my son was dx with autism, I had joined Children of Starving Brains and Autism-Mercury, two Yahoo interest groups. Children with Starving Brains had a very clear directive that under no circumstances could the work of Dr. Andrew Cutler be discussed or referenced; to do so, would be instant banishment from the CSB group. Autism-Mercury’s policy was that anything could be discussed; however, as the group grew to over 5000 members, the topics of discussion began to be limited by the administrator. When this occured, additional groups sprouted within Yahoo just like Brynjolfsson and Van Alstyne said might occur.

In contrast, I look at this whole scenario in which many public school districts have had to consolidate because of economic and human resources. These new larger school districts are not always as effective as the smaller school districts in terms of educating students because the personalization gets lost and balkanization sets in; for example, after more than 40 years at studying the achievement gap, there is still no consensus on what approach is the most effective. In contrast to the Yahoo groups, bigger was not better either, and as a result balkanization occured and in some cases clear polarization happened like with Dr. Cutler and CSB. While I realize that school districts and Internet communities are not same thing, I am see them as organizations of people that are influenced by both external and internal forces; therefore, I totally agree with role that higher education needs to take but I also think public schools need to be right there too.

]]> By: Gardner http://generoche.net/blog/2005/12/tribes-of-the-internet-the-critical-role-of-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-141 Gardner Fri, 23 Dec 2005 23:44:19 +0000 http://generoche.net/blog/?p=94#comment-141 The developmental aspects (and responsibilities) of education don't get talked about much. Thanks for raising these concerns and home truths here. The developmental aspects (and responsibilities) of education don’t get talked about much. Thanks for raising these concerns and home truths here.

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