I am online with one billion people
This is my first post and this is my first Coetail assignment.
The questions I had to answer – What fundamental principle is the Internet built on? Is the Internet a mass of content or a mass of connections?- gave me a lot to think of. I should start with a definition of the Internet, according to merriam-webster.com:
Internet, noun : an electronic communications network that connect computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world. It gives a very technical definition of it although there are two words that define the principle of which the Internet is built on: network and connect.
I then thought back about how I have been using the Internet for the last 15 years or so.
At that time it started with a simple email address and few emails to reply to. I also used it to send my articles (I was a journalist writing for the local newspaper) via the old 56K connection. Then it rapidly became a way of looking up for information and mainly people to contact. The Internet was for me a mass of content as Jeff Utecht describes it in Reach. It was for me a mass of content without RSS, which before joining Coetail I had clearly no idea of what it was about.
As time went by, the Internet became how we know it today with growing social network.
Since then I have built my own network using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I have used them on a daily basis for personal and/ or professional interests.
And fortunately, I am not the only one! As Will Richardson explains in World without Walls: Learning well with Others. “These tools are allowing us not only to mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online but also to connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together.”
As it is, we now live with new technology and online communication. For my part, I have seen the development of the Internet. I can think before and after the Internet. But what about today’s generation? “Public sentiment is growing (both hopeful and fearful) around the notion that young people’s use of digital media and communication technologies defines this generation of distinct from their elders” says Living and learning with new Media: Summary of findings from the digital youth project. Yet, this article explains that youth “ invested a great deal of time and energy in creating and finding opportunities to “hang out””. Regardless of our age, we all do that! Now, we also do that using the Internet.
I think that the Internet has become part of our daily life. I am embarking in my Coetail journey hopeful that I would find a way to integrate it in my French lessons the way Dr Clayton Christensen describes it in Disrupting class: student-centric education is the future. “The key to transforming the classroom with technology is in how it is implemented. We need to introduce the innovation disruptively -- not by using it to compete against the existing paradigm and serve existing customers, but to target those who are not being served -- people we call nonconsumers. That way, all the new approach has to do is be better than the alternative -- which is nothing at all.”
The Internet is a mass of content and a mass of connections. It belongs to us to connect and to build our networks and communities.
The questions I had to answer – What fundamental principle is the Internet built on? Is the Internet a mass of content or a mass of connections?- gave me a lot to think of. I should start with a definition of the Internet, according to merriam-webster.com:
Internet, noun : an electronic communications network that connect computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world. It gives a very technical definition of it although there are two words that define the principle of which the Internet is built on: network and connect.
Mass of content
I then thought back about how I have been using the Internet for the last 15 years or so.
At that time it started with a simple email address and few emails to reply to. I also used it to send my articles (I was a journalist writing for the local newspaper) via the old 56K connection. Then it rapidly became a way of looking up for information and mainly people to contact. The Internet was for me a mass of content as Jeff Utecht describes it in Reach. It was for me a mass of content without RSS, which before joining Coetail I had clearly no idea of what it was about.
As time went by, the Internet became how we know it today with growing social network.
Mass of connections
Since then I have built my own network using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I have used them on a daily basis for personal and/ or professional interests.
And fortunately, I am not the only one! As Will Richardson explains in World without Walls: Learning well with Others. “These tools are allowing us not only to mine the wisdom and experiences of the more than one billion people now online but also to connect with them to further our understanding of the global experience and do good work together.”
As it is, we now live with new technology and online communication. For my part, I have seen the development of the Internet. I can think before and after the Internet. But what about today’s generation? “Public sentiment is growing (both hopeful and fearful) around the notion that young people’s use of digital media and communication technologies defines this generation of distinct from their elders” says Living and learning with new Media: Summary of findings from the digital youth project. Yet, this article explains that youth “ invested a great deal of time and energy in creating and finding opportunities to “hang out””. Regardless of our age, we all do that! Now, we also do that using the Internet.
I think that the Internet has become part of our daily life. I am embarking in my Coetail journey hopeful that I would find a way to integrate it in my French lessons the way Dr Clayton Christensen describes it in Disrupting class: student-centric education is the future. “The key to transforming the classroom with technology is in how it is implemented. We need to introduce the innovation disruptively -- not by using it to compete against the existing paradigm and serve existing customers, but to target those who are not being served -- people we call nonconsumers. That way, all the new approach has to do is be better than the alternative -- which is nothing at all.”
The Internet is a mass of content and a mass of connections. It belongs to us to connect and to build our networks and communities.
I love the idea that "the internet belongs to us." With all of the privacy laws and government censorship, this is an important attitude to keep in mind. Your comments on how the internet has changed from a mass of information to a community of networks is important, and also something I started to think about after reading the first couple chapters of "Reach". Whereas most educators' may be able to look back and remember when the internet was just an overwhelming amount of information and illegal music downloading, most students only remember it in a community and networking capacity. I appreciate that mass information has become more of a community of information (knowledge of the masses) where Wikipedia articles are corrected by a multitude of experts (and non-experts) and New York Times articles are discussed and dissected by the community that reads them. In a way, even with all the misinformation trolling the internet, I feel like we are getting a more accurate representation of the progress of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling you're like me..someone who remembers live before the internet, but has spent most of their life with the internet. It's a strange space to be in...in some ways we're pretty fortunate because we have been forced to be more thoughtful (grateful?) about what the internet has given us.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to seeing the impact of COETAIL on your French class. There is so much potential and I look forward to hearing more.
Thanks for sharing!