Society and Information Technology in Second Life

Wednesdays, January 9 - July 30, 2008, 4-6, SLT/PT, 7-9 pm ET

on Berkman island in Second Life - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Berkman/114/70/25

 Course homepage - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

 

Instructor: Scott MacLeod (not on Harvard's faculty) = Aphilo Aarde (in Second Life)

http://scottmacleod.com/papers.htm

 

 

 

 

July 9 2008 Soc and Info Tech class transcript

 

 

 

[15:58]  Amilah Baxton: they give lessons here

[15:58]  Bjorlyn Loon is Online

[15:58]  Connecting to in-world Voice Chat...

[15:58]  Amilah Baxton: hello Aphilo

[15:58]  Connected

[15:58]  georgica Graves: buna Afilo

[15:58]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) Good Afilo

[15:58]  You: Hi Amilah, Georgica

[15:58]  Enapa Pennell is Offline

[15:58]  Amilah Baxton: :)

[15:59]  You: Welcome to Society and Information Technology

[15:59]  Boston Hutchinson is Online

[15:59]  Amilah Baxton: thank u

[15:59]  01 Hifeng is Online

[16:00]  You: where today we'll continue to explore through conversation envisioning a global, degree-granting, open, free, virtual world University, using a Wikipedia model, with great Universities as key players

[16:00]  You: Hello Boston

[16:00]  Boston Hutchinson: Hi Aphilo

[16:00]  Amilah Baxton: okay i might ahve difficulties to follow

[16:01]  Amilah Baxton: i am not an english native

[16:01]  Amilah Baxton: have*

[16:01]  You: Today I'd like to examine the role social Networking software might play

[16:01]  Amilah Baxton: great

[16:01]  georgica Graves: avand in vedere cum functioneaza translatorul meu numai de conversatie nu sunt bun

[16:01]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) taking into account how it works translatorul my only conversation are not good

[16:01]  You: Not a problem - what language do you speak, Amilah?

[16:01]  You: Hello Trinity.

[16:01]  Trinity Coulter: hello there :)

[16:01]  Amilah Baxton: german, korean, dutch

[16:02]  Amilah Baxton: hello Trinity

[16:02]  Amilah Baxton: :)

[16:02]  Amilah Baxton: hi boston

[16:02]  You: To reiterate - today we'll continue to explore through conversation envisioning a global, degree-granting, open, free, virtual world University, using a Wikipedia model, with great Universities as key players

[16:02]  Boston Hutchinson: Hi everybody

[16:02]  georgica Graves: buna ziua ma scuzati dar nu v-am vazut

[16:02]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) Welkom scuzati me but we have not seen

[16:02]  Claryssa Schmidt is Online

[16:02]  You: And you speak Spanish, Georgica?

[16:03]  georgica Graves: eu sunt roman dar vorbesc un pic franceza

[16:03]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) I'm talking novel but a little French

[16:03]  You: We've explored a number of themes over some weeks now, and the beginning of the wiki for this Global University is here

[16:03]  You: http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com

[16:04]  You: What translator are you using, Georigica?

[16:04]  georgica Graves: copii eu sunt prea batran pentru studii ,am 73 de ani

[16:04]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) Children I'm too old to study, we have 73 years

[16:04]  You: We're gradually adding courses and Unviersity-related information

[16:04]  You: to the wiki above,

[16:04]  Boston Hutchinson: Looks like Romansh? Swiss?

[16:05]  georgica Graves: am mai scris SUNT ROMAN

[16:05]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) May I wrote IS ROMAN

[16:05]  You: and it would be helpful to add translating technologies, as well.

[16:05]  You: Are you Swiss-Romansch? Or in Romania, by any chance?

[16:06]  georgica Graves: sunt roman din Romania

[16:06]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) are Roman Romania

[16:06]  georgica Graves: acum se vede ce sunt?

[16:06]  xgeorgica Graves: (ro->en) now see what are they?

[16:06]  You: I'm curious also about free courses in your languages Amilah and Georgica and others - can you possibly please share links here?

[16:06]  You: Hello Claryssa, Elana

[16:06]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi

[16:07]  Amilah Baxton: hey guys

[16:07]  You: Your flag is Romansch, is it? There's no way yet to search from images to words that I know of, let alone search on Second Life prim creations

[16:07]  You: Hi Amilah

[16:08]  You: So I'd like to examine the role that social networking software may play in the development of global university

[16:08]  You: particularly in terms of knowledge and course generation.

[16:09]  You: To reiterate - today we'll continue to explore through conversation envisioning a global, degree-granting, open, free, virtual world University, using a Wikipedia model, with great Universities as key players

[16:09]  You: and part of this involves potentially 200 nation states

[16:09]  Sean18 McCarey is Offline

[16:09]  You: and eventually most languages that have internet access, drawing on

[16:09]  You: wikipedia's languages to start.

[16:10]  You: The wikipedia model as a starting place for global university

[16:10]  You: makes such production of courses that anyone might take relatively easy

[16:10]  You: and many people may potentially enter courses

[16:11]  You: As I envision it, like Wikipedia, this would be all free to students

[16:11]  You: and open

[16:11]  You: Hello Andromeda

[16:11]  Trinity Coulter: Aphilo, what do you mean by "open"?

[16:12]  You: But, if we engage credit and degree -granting , say over a ten year horizon

[16:12]  You: with a great Universities already matriculated student body to start - such as Harvard's -

[16:12]  Morrhys Graysmark is Online

[16:13]  Sean18 McCarey is Online

[16:13]  You: then the openness of such courses would depend on to some degree whether the courses were for credit and degree - within an existing system to start, such as Harvard's

[16:13]  You: or not

[16:14]  You: And the extent of course listings could be very large, and create an archive of courses

[16:14]  You: Charlie Nesson, who founded Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society

[16:14]  Andromeda Mesmer is Offline

[16:14]  You: said today he's not a fan of degrees or credit

[16:15]  MT Lundquist is Offline

[16:15]  You: but I think - drawing on, for example, MIT's Open Course Ware project - of 1800 syllabi and essentially courses, including many video lectures

[16:15]  You: that it would be relatively straightforward to develop such a

[16:16]  PoopMaster Boozehound: I love information society, Pure Energy

[16:16]  You: catalog, add cameras in a very few selected classrooms with graduaate instructors

[16:16]  You: working with faculty and offer credit for, say, students traveling abroad

[16:17]  You: who are already matriculated.

[16:17]  You: But in terms of http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com

[16:17]  Andromeda Mesmer is Online

[16:17]  You: I'd also like to explore the possibility of making available school university for

[16:18]  You: the developing world

[16:18]  Gwyneth Llewelyn is Offline

[16:18]  You: where people could add courses to teach and take

[16:18]  MT Lundquist is Online

[16:19]  You: How to articulate an already existing University system that is degree granting, and could extend this virtually and gradually

[16:19]  Amilah Baxton: what exactly do u mean by developing world?

[16:19]  You: with knowledge generation for the developing world

[16:19]  You: through an online University portal isn't yet obvious to me - MIT OCW has already done this, but not for credit

[16:19]  You: Amilah

[16:20]  Amilah Baxton: yes

[16:20]  You: I'd like to start with, for example, the 8 One Laptop Per Child countries

[16:20]  You: as ways to focus such a project on the developing world

[16:21]  You: These include Rwanda, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Birmingham, Alabama

[16:21]  Amilah Baxton: okay that's a really good idea

[16:22]  Gwyneth Llewelyn is Online

[16:22]  You: Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Haiti

[16:22]  Arawn Spitteler is Offline

[16:23]  You: Mongolia, Colombia and Ethiopia

[16:23]  Amilah Baxton: what's 8 one laptop perchild? is it an existing project?

[16:23]  You: to start - and, in this wiki, simply include opportunities in these languages for people to add courses to teach and take

[16:24]  Amilah Baxton: any kind of courses?

[16:24]  You: One Laptop Per Child - OLPC - is a MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) project

[16:24]  You: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olpc

[16:24]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[16:24]  You: to make a $100 laptop available to the developing world

[16:25]  You: and they've begun with the above countries.

[16:25]  You: Nicholas Negroponte, Walter Bender and other MIT Professors, many of whom are assoc with the MIT media lab

[16:25]  You: started this project

[16:25]  Amilah Baxton: MIT is a university?

[16:26]  You: Yes, any kind of courses, but particularly those that would be useful for

[16:26]  Imper Fegte is Offline

[16:26]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[16:26]  You: Yes, in Cambridge - with an engineering and technical focus

[16:26]  You: It attracts some of the best students in the United States and from around the world

[16:27]  You: (Massachusetts) - especially with a technical focus, but it's a large University with courses in many subjects

[16:27]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[16:27]  You: So how might social networking facilitate this Gloval University project?

[16:28]  Widget Whiteberry is Online

[16:29]  You: If anyone could post courses in all subjects including, for example, yoga, watsu and other "harmonizing" courses, but starting from the MIT OCW program, which is quite academically focused

[16:29]  You: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

[16:29]  You: and which are free - and this is important, too, for the developing world

[16:29]  You: especially

[16:29]  You: and using a wikipedia model, which already has a talk option, where people can

[16:30]  You: talk about differences, and where all conversations, as

[16:30]  You: well as changes are saved

[16:30]  You: how might we today here flesh out the possibilities for social networking, building on

[16:31]  You: both this wikipedia talk option, as well as the remarkable popularity of social networkings software like facebook.com, tribe.net and myspace, etc.?

[16:32]  Amilah Baxton: flesh out?

[16:32]  You: envision anew how social networking software might make knowledge generation through courses and idea exchange in global university richer

[16:33]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[16:33]  Eme Capalini is Offline

[16:33]  You: dynamic, exciting . . .and a new process, as well as build on the knowledge production possibilities that have developed, say, over the past 900 years of Unviersity, and even more, since the academy in ancient Greece?

[16:34]  You: Thoughts?

[16:34]  You: I know some Harvard Law faculty on facebook who are continually making connections with new people

[16:35]  You: every day, for example and these are all resources and minds who can share knowledge together

[16:35]  Elenna Brun: The one lap top project is great, but people in those countries need connectivity, too

[16:35]  Arawn Spitteler is Online

[16:35]  You: in new ways, based on conversation - an idea that of knowledge generation that emerged in ancient Greece - and now no longer bound by place, or discussion in a specific place

[16:35]  You: The possibility to add

[16:36]  You: and exchange ideas in novel ways, and in real time, with information technology is immense, exciting and remarkable.

[16:37]  You: Observations - what would developments of facebook or talk in wikipedia add to Global University or knowledge generation in specific fields?

[16:37]  You: Boston? Elenna? Andromeda, 01 Hifeng? Amilah, Claryssa

[16:38]  Elenna Brun: interaction, for starters

[16:39]  You: For one, it would provide direct communication channels between specific knowledge sources - individuals, I think.

[16:39]  Amilah Baxton: yes it is but not too many people know about it, i have been to africa and 3rd world countries. i am sure there are alot of students that would be greatful to make use of a free global school. first they have to hear of it though

[16:39]  Amilah Baxton: it should be advertised on facebook myspace etc

[16:40]  You: Yes, Amilah - and perhaps available on the equivalent of the iPhone - because that may be the device of choice

[16:40]  You: but how has wikipedia spread in Africa, I wonder.

[16:40]  Amilah Baxton: google

[16:40]  Amilah Baxton: lol

[16:40]  Amilah Baxton: that's how it spread here in europe

[16:40]  You: I think the number of African languages Wikipedia is in is one way to count

[16:41]  You: :)

[16:41]  Amilah Baxton: most people get on it by coincidence

[16:41]  You: I agree, and word of mouth, and utility, and by the opportunity to be information producers

[16:41]  Harper Beresford is Offline

[16:41]  Amilah Baxton: yes

[16:41]  You: instead of consumers, which is what this information technology revolution offers in remarkable ways

[16:42]  You: We can all be producers of information, now, with world wide reach and this will only grow

[16:42]  Amilah Baxton: u said i phone device of choice

[16:42]  Amilah Baxton: what do u mean by that

[16:43]  You: and with global university, we might all become teachers or learners of any course material we want and with the ability to create new course material.

[16:43]  Amilah Baxton: so this global university already exists?

[16:43]  You: I think, amilah, cell phones are a most popular device in much

[16:43]  Amilah Baxton: true

[16:43]  Amilah Baxton: but if u talk of third world...

[16:44]  Amilah Baxton: people there do not have cell phones like that

[16:44]  You: of the developing world, and the screen of the iPhone may be worth thinking about as a most likely way to interface the Web in the future

[16:44]  You: Yes, but I think people in the 3rd world or the developing world, are more likely to come into an iPhone like device over a one laptop per child, if only for cost

[16:45]  You: although the olpc is a program designed specifically to overcome such barriers in the third or developing world

[16:45]  You: So as producers of information - which facebook allows us to explore, as do Wikipedia entries and the talk option

[16:46]  You: - we can become conversants in knowledge production - youtube and google video also allow us to share ideas richly

[16:46]  Veeyawn Spoonhammer is Online

[16:46]  You: If you want to learn about how to build things in Second Life for free, go to

[16:47]  You: Torley Lives on youtube

[16:47]  You: And all of this is free - including Global University -

[16:47]  You: so, Amilah - this is the very beginning of a wiki for global university

[16:48]  You: http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com, where you can already go and start to take classes, if you are oriented to learning on your own

[16:48]  Amilah Baxton: so i could basically go and offer a free course if i wanted to

[16:48]  You: for example, at MIT's OCW

[16:48]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[16:48]  You: so, this global university is already open - as of about 2 weeks ago, and like wikipedia

[16:49]  You: it will grow by all of us adding to it - wikipedia is huge and is a remarkable example

[16:49]  Amilah Baxton: u were talking about degrees and stuff i didn't really get that

[16:50]  Amilah Baxton: like i said my english skills are really limited.....sorry

[16:50]  You: of consensus knowlegdge production, that we have all shaped - not without its flaws - but knowledge generation, when it takes on new processes makes flaws interesting

[16:50]  Alexicon Kurka is Offline

[16:50]  You: and which social networking will also enhance

[16:51]  Chinadoll Lulu is Online

[16:51]  You: One way to facilitate degree-granting, and I'd like to explore other options,

[16:51]  You: is

[16:51]  You: to start with already matriculated students - say Harvard or MIT students studying abroad -

[16:51]  You: offer them credit for courses they take in virtual worlds -

[16:52]  Amilah Baxton: ohh okay

[16:52]  Amilah Baxton: for free as well?

[16:52]  You: by putting a camera in a few selected classrooms - and then gradually allowing people to gain degrees

[16:52]  You: There's the rub - because if you start with already matriculated students at Harvard or MIT, they are paying tuition - and a lot - and while

[16:53]  Amilah Baxton: so only for students of the chosen university, will other users be able to visit the classes as well?

[16:53]  You: and, on top of this, Harvard's schools are conservative, so they may never give credit for virtual world classes

[16:54]  Amilah Baxton: or do u just offer that form of learning to the universities and their students...

[16:54]  You: and then the developing world wouldn't be able in this system to take such classes, although they could take courses from the global university wiki, and learn a lot

[16:54]  You: Are you from Germany, Amilah?

[16:54]  Amilah Baxton: no

[16:54]  You: Because, if one started with the German University system, for example, which, as I understand is free

[16:54]  Amilah Baxton: well i was raised here i am of korean heritage

[16:55]  Amilah Baxton: not any more

[16:55]  Amilah Baxton: :)

[16:55]  You: and very high quality, then you might

[16:55]  You: be able to extend such a system on a world wide basis

[16:55]  You: So what I've outlined above

[16:56]  You: is one way to articulate eventually a degree granting approach with an already existing Global University wiki, where courses may grow and grow

[16:57]  You: We might also just wait, and see if already free University systems that offer Ph.D.s would get added to this wiki - one's we don't know about

[16:58]  You: Other thoughts about how to articulate social networking, global university and degree and credit granting?

[16:58]  You: Do you know of any University systems around the world that offer free Ph.D.s that are extensible to the WWW or will develop a web approach

[16:58]  You: ?

[16:59]  You: Because, that's ultimately a great strength here - the possibility to draw from and aggregate 200 different nation states

[16:59]  You: educational systems into a kind of wikipedia model.

[16:59]  You: ... free-to-students

[17:00]  You: Yes, Andromeda

[17:00]  You: ?

[17:00]  whiteboard: unknown message: fl on

[17:00]  Andromeda Mesmer: I don't know of any, but I can imagine that the oil-rich countries which already offer free university education to their students, could be interested.

[17:01]  Amilah Baxton: crashed :(

[17:01]  You: Yes, that idea has potential - then translation software might become very relevant

[17:01]  You: As I envision it, starting with MIT OCW as the standard, and which already exists has merit for setting a high standard

[17:02]  You: Welcome back, Amilah :)

[17:02]  Diego Ibanez is Online

[17:02]  Amilah Baxton: how is the GU funded? advertisement, webmasters, graphic design etc?

[17:02]  Amilah Baxton: thnx

[17:02]  You: So, let's take a break, and talk more about social networking and this question of degrees - also find examples of free courseware

[17:02]  Alexicon Kurka is Online

[17:03]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com is the wiki for this course

[17:03]  You: and http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com is the beginning of Global University

[17:03]  Andromeda Mesmer: OK

[17:03]  You: We hope to fund it through a foundation, to start

[17:03]  You: And let's meet back at 15 minutes past the hour to continue our conversation - n

[17:04]  You: Soc & Info Tech - Aphilo on Berkman is the Second Life group for this course

[17:04]  You: I'l post the transcript now - to http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[17:04]  Diego Ibanez is Offline

[17:04]  You: see you at 15 minutes past :)

[17:05]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[17:05]  Amilah Baxton: enjoy the break

[17:05]  Gwyneth Llewelyn is Offline

[17:07]  buridan Simon is Online

[17:08]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/July-16-2008-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript

[17:10]  Widget Whiteberry is Offline

[17:10]  Kid Kuhn is Online

[17:11]  Widget Whiteberry is Online

[17:13]  Dena Dana is Offline

[17:15]  You: Hello again

[17:16]  Andromeda Mesmer: Hi

[17:16]  Boston Hutchinson: Hi

[17:16]  Claryssa Schmidt: hi

[17:16]  Amilah Baxton: hey everybody :)

[17:16]  You: I'd love to hear from each of you thoughts about the first part of the class - please respond to any of the ideas

[17:17]  You: Perhaps we might go around to each of us

[17:17]  You: Andromeda, mgith you be willing to begin

[17:17]  Perry Proudhon is Offline

[17:18]  You: Or, anyone?

[17:18]  Chianti Carmichael is Offline

[17:18]  You: How could social networking facilitate knowledge production

[17:18]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[17:18]  You: in global university, and, also, course production?

[17:19]  You: And how might we begin to scan the virtual University Universe, to find out what's already offered?

[17:19]  You: Like MIT OCW?

[17:20]  Amilah Baxton: MIT OCW?

[17:20]  You: I think posting a new item in facebook might elicit some response

[17:20]  You: MIT's Open Course Ware -

[17:20]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[17:20]  Amilah Baxton: thnx

[17:20]  You: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

[17:21]  Amilah Baxton: new item?

[17:21]  You: MIT has organized its open course ware around departments, not subjects

[17:21]  You: Yes, Amilah?

[17:21]  You: o you know of any open courses in korea, for example?

[17:22]  You: Hello Scott!

[17:22]  Amilah Baxton: oh i was just unsure what u mean by new item

[17:22]  You: or elsewhere?

[17:22]  Amilah Baxton: 'posting a new item

[17:22]  You: new courses - that you could, for example, add to global university wiki, like you were adding to wikipedia?

[17:22]  SamBivalent Spork is Offline

[17:23]  You: Expanding the course possibilities beyond the existing MIT OCW, Yale's courses, Univ of Washington's courses, Harvard courses

[17:23]  Cindy Ecksol is Online

[17:24]  You: and Open University in the UK's courses, which are already listed would begin attract more people to add to this wiki.

[17:24]  You: Second Life has some free courses - and like wikipedia and MIT's Open Course Ware

[17:24]  You: the free model has stayed around

[17:25]  You: They are each examples, of nonmarket information production ( or low cost) in Yochai Benkler's sense -

[17:26]  You: from his book "The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom."

[17:26]  You: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Networks

[17:26]  You: To return to the question at hand

[17:26]  You: vis a vis this book

[17:27]  You: how could social networking as a form of knowledge production

[17:27]  You: and nonmarket - transform this global university?

[17:27]  You: http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com

[17:27]  You: as nonmarket information production has transformed wikipedia

[17:28]  You: both in terms of the markets for knowledge (encyclopedia britannica and universities)

[17:28]  You: as well as in terms of the freedom of knowledge, if we can speak of it in such a way

[17:29]  You: where the role of authority in terms of knowledge, is transformed by group process

[17:29]  You: made possible by information technology and distributed networks

[17:29]  You: ?

[17:29]  You: Can we free knowledge with global university, too,

[17:30]  You: such at anyone could post, teach or take a class for free

[17:30]  You: and even get a degree eventually, and in a virtual world

[17:30]  You: This, of course, already exists, if one is oriented to learning on one's own

[17:31]  You: go to http://globaluniversity.pbwiki.com and take a class at MIT through OCW for free, or come to this class

[17:31]  You: for example

[17:31]  Boston Hutchinson: Have'nt Google and Wikipedia already done this (freed knowledge from the old hierarchies)?

[17:31]  You: Yes - and these are each examples of Benkler's thesis -

[17:32]  You: but this process continues and it is infinitely extensible -

[17:32]  You: blogs are another example

[17:32]  Boston Hutchinson: yes

[17:32]  You: e.g. globalvoicesonline.org is an aggregator of blogs from nations around the world

[17:32]  You: an interesting example of social networking vis-a-vis global university

[17:33]  You: (and also out of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society)

[17:33]  You: where bloggers, on-the-ground, network and are networked through globalvoices

[17:33]  You: to produce on the ground news

[17:34]  You: quite remarkably, and apart from any existing networks, such as the New York Times, or DemocracyNow

[17:35]  You: So, global university, as an aggregator of courses from similar countries as globalvoicesonline.org

[17:35]  You: and, to start, from similar languages as are in wikipedia

[17:36]  You: and engaging a process, where anyone could add, take or teach a course

[17:36]  Morrhys Graysmark is Offline

[17:36]  You: offers a new development in access to education, especially offering access to the developing world (third world), and everyone

[17:37]  You: Would it be worth having an individuals's pages in global university, like in facebook, to allow for another set of links?

[17:37]  You: and accesses to knowledge generation?

[17:38]  You: and would it personalize the process? Wikipedia, for example, can be both anonymous, pseudonyminous (?) and

[17:38]  You: take one to a personal web or home page.

[17:38]  You: And this model has some merit here, in my mind, since one might add

[17:39]  You: something to the various existing social networking apps, like facebook, myspace and tribe.net

[17:40]  You: While I'd like to build on MIT OCW, but allow for a very open global university, along the lines of wikipedia

[17:40]  You: I'm curious what you find very enjoyable about learning academic courses.

[17:41]  You: How might we incorporate or articulate academic learning at the highest University level

[17:41]  Jayne Urqhart is Offline

[17:41]  You: with great fun, or even loving bliss - thinking way out of the familiar University - learning / knowledge production model.

[17:41]  You: ?

[17:41]  Jayne Urqhart is Online

[17:42]  JenzZa Misfit is Offline

[17:42]  Veeyawn Spoonhammer is Offline

[17:43]  You: Would information technologies allow for a way to create a kind of index that would bring knowledge production at the University level together with enjoyment, perhaps vis-a-vis Csikszentmihalyi's "Flow the Psychology of Optimal Experience"

[17:43]  You: He's a long time psychological researcher at the University of Chicago and now Claremont who has studied enjoyment,

[17:44]  You: often using the "experience sampling method" and also engaging Univ of Pennsylvania's Martin Seligman's research on authentic happiness vis-a-vis Unviersity level academic research

[17:45]  You: especially in terms of courses in global university.

[17:45]  You: How might we introduce a whole new facet to the academic production of knowledge?

[17:45]  You: I don't know anyone in academia who has systematically, or from a knowledge-based perspective examined this.

[17:47]  You: How might one greatly increase the neurophysiology of enjoyment vis-a-vis specific academic disciplines - presumably, academics already find significant enjoyment in their disciplines.

[17:47]  You: How might one increase this, especially with new information technologies

[17:48]  You: - Seligman's research emphasizes engaging one's prolivities or strengths of interest, and Csikszentmihalyi has found that most people report enjoying themselves after their minds have been absorbed.

[17:48]  Kid Kuhn is Offline

[17:49]  You: What could a global virtual world University add to this?

[17:49]  MT Lundquist is Offline

[17:49]  You: The remarkably wide potential for course listings that would increase over the years, might allow people to access to a wide variety of 'flow' experiences.

[17:51]  You: So, choice and accretion of knowledge in terms of enjoyment and about enjoyment with MIT OCW as a starting point and standard for academic knowledge generation are beginnings

[17:52]  You: And as virtual world's develop, we might be able to engage productions of Mozart's operas, in academic courses - very enjoyably, and interactively

[17:52]  You: or, as the global university course wiki already lists" immune attack"

[17:53]  You: a college course on the immune system using a video game approach that is then immersive and interactive (but I haven't tried it and I don't know how sophisticated it is)

[17:53]  You: these may become fascinating

[17:54]  You: but, how do each of you see the possibility of enjoyment and academic courses and info tech accentuating each other

[17:54]  Jon Seattle is Offline

[17:54]  You: in these last five minutes of class?

[17:54]  You: Elanna- I think I saw you typing? Andromeda?

[17:54]  Andromeda Mesmer: Just want to say that some of those ideas are really wonderful.

[17:55]  You: :)

[17:55]  Amilah Baxton: what does accentuating mean?

[17:55]  You: But beyond scope and choice of offering, how does one actually articulate enjoyment and academic knowledge production, I keep asking myself - thanks.

[17:55]  You: Highlighting

[17:56]  Amilah Baxton: okay

[17:56]  You: adding to and making better

[17:56]  You: Well, social networking in this wiki, as we open it up, develop guidelines, and people start adding to it

[17:57]  Elenna Brun: Sorry; got distracted; I think what is added is the ability to interact / study with / learn from many others from varied backgrounds you wouldn't otherwise meet - or from similar others, who for reasons of geography, you wouldn't meet

[17:57]  You: will facilitate an interesting conversation about, latent and explicit, about what is possible

[17:58]  You: And as people start posting courses, more ideas will emerge - thanks to the conversational aspect of knowledge generation

[17:58]  You: THanks, Elanna - and, iTunes is already an example of courses available in video, beyond the MIT OCW, Yale, Univ of Wash. Harvard, Open Univ. UK, that are on global universities wiki

[17:59]  You: bringing in iTunes like software to global university will make mulitimedia possibilities richer

[17:59]  You: So, let's conclude here for the evening

[18:00]  You: We'll meet again for two more weeks.

[18:00]  You: ...here on Berkman.

[18:00]  Elenna Brun: thanks

[18:00]  You: Starting on Tuesdays, with Aug 26 from 3:30 - 6:30

[18:00]  Claryssa Schmidt: thanks Aphilo

[18:00]  You: I'll begin teaching "society and information technology"

[18:01]  Amilah Baxton: thank u so much Aphilo, it was very interesting although i had to decypher every sentence :)

[18:01]  You: starting with the actors, geography and paradigm shift that it entails

[18:01]  You: Keep in touch

[18:01]  Boston Hutchinson: thanks Aphilo!

[18:01]  You: You're welcome!

[18:01]  You: I'm getting the group list for you to join, if you like - for future announcements

[18:01]  Andromeda Mesmer: thank you very much, Aphilo.

[18:02]  You: and I'll post the transcript to the address above -

[18:02]  Amilah Baxton: yes please

[18:02]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/July-16-2008-Soc-and-Info-Tech-class-transcript

[18:02]  Alexicon Kurka is Offline

[18:03]  Claryssa Schmidt is Offline

[18:03]  01 Hifeng is Offline

[18:03]  You: Nice to see you and see you next week :)

[18:03]  Elenna Brun: thanks again, by now.

[18:04]  Andromeda Mesmer: Bye, Aphilo, and thanks!

[18:04]  Boston Hutchinson: Bye all.

[18:04]  You: Thanks - :) bye

[18:04]  Boston Hutchinson is Offline

[18:04]  Amilah Baxton: okay everybody enjoy the rest of your night or day :)