[Air-l] (no subject)

[Dr. W. Reid Cornwell]

In response to Dana Bodys discussion of MySpace.

 

At last there is some sanity offered to this discussion.

 

Several days ago Nancy Bayme suggested that there is a stigma attached to
having email and chats as a focal point in teens' social life. My research,
observations and common sense tells me that this assertion is nonsense. The
fact is that there is a stigma attached to not having the ability to cell
phones, text messaging, email or chats.

 

MySpace reprensents the freedom of communication offered by the internet.
Gen X,Y and Z have embraced this open communication in ways that the button
down views of academe brethren cannot seem to grasp. Remember these opinions
emerge from an organization that is paranoid about one to one communication
between its members. How can they possibly understand that young people,
however naieve, are not afraid to share their feelings, thoughts and
creativity among themselves.

 

Are there dangers inherent in this openness? Of course there are.

 

The authors of "Cluetrain Manifesto" have expressed this nature of this open
communication with a clarity everyone in AOIR should know. They also clearly
point out that the fear among those in authority is borne of the loss of
control they perceive. Academes by nature thrive on being in control. It is
whipped into them through the rigors of academic training and the power
derived from holding hostage the aspirations of their students. They hang on
to it with unnatural and arbitrary constructs like tenure. They label those
who disagree with these constructs as unprofessional.

 

There is a powerful and immutable disconnect between the connected
generation and those that consider the Internet as a career building oddity.

 

There is a powerful and immutable disconnect between internet entrepreneurs
and the false scholarship of those whose thinking is not vetted by the peer
review of actual competitive experience.

 

Personally have difficulty ascribing credibility to people who won't open an
unsolicited communication even when the subject line is within their stated
interest.

 

Crush open communication and you crush curiosity and creative thinking. Is
it any wonder our education system is in disarray?

 

  _____  


Dr. W. Reid Cornwell
The Center For Internet Research
P.O. Box 6369
Breckenridge, CO

720.212.0719 (phone)
970.485.5109 (mobile)
 <mailto:wrc at tcfir.org> wrc at tcfir.org
http://tcfir.org