[Air-l] The internet: a catalyst for consensus or individual thinking?

[goldenberg anne]

Hi everyone, 
First I wanted to say that I'm new to the list and I'm very pleased to
see intersting conversations going on here.
(+ I'm french so forgive my english. :) )


I'm myself studying argumentation and legitimation in wikis, as new
form of politicized cognition. I think that what I'm studying is
related to Lucinda's question.
To my idea, the early litterature about "collective
intelligence" (Levy,1994) has focused a lot on collaborative
possibilities in online community. The focus was more on the result
of new possibilities of collective participation, than
on the actual processes.

They might be lots of consensus in some knowledge or practices
communities, but I'm not sure this is the common law. 
And I think consensus has to be studied or at least question too: 
Why people agree?
Is it because the community is very homogene?
Is it because only one personn knows about the subject ?
Is it because no one else is allowed to tell about the subject ?
Is it because this particular knowledge or pratices is shared by all
those who read it ?
Is it because this not exactly a knowledge but a very formal
information ? (time, place, identification...)

My opinion is that where there is collaboration, theres is a good
chance to find lots of discussion, debate, dispute, that sometimes
result into a "fork" (no more collaboration) or even "wars".

In fact, lots of collaborative devices answered this "need for
discussion" by proposing a division into two parts :
one for collaborative construction (stabilisation), and one for
discussion (argumentation).
In lots of wiki, this would be the page + the discussion page.
I'm also thinking to this little software for synchronised
collaborative edition called Gobby, that looks like an IRC canal, plus
a multi writers (multicolor) text.
Even if live collaboration may alow little time for lond debate, this
channel of discussion is helping also to reach convention, to ask for
help, to clarify a concept...etc. 
(note : I've observed the use of this device mainly during meeting of a
community groups, when the debate were occuring mosty face to face)

In conclusion, my point is that collaborative pratices are neither
leading to more individualism nore to more consensus, it's might be
to more debate. My hypothese is that people participating need to get
skilled to act in this debate, and these skills might be not only
technical or rethorical but also deeply in relation with the practice
or the knowledge in question.

thanks,
Anne Goldenberg

Ref: Pierre LEVY, L'intelligence collective. Pour une anthropologie du
cyberspace, Paris, La Découverte, coll. "Science et société", 1994

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:03:23 +0100
"Lucinda Dunn" <ldunn at agency.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> I was wondering if we could have a thought share/ debate around this
> question:
> 
> Many people have championed the 'interactivity' side of social media
> like blogging and virtual worlds in allowing individuals to find their
> voice again and express their personal opinions. At the same time, in
> his new book 'We Think', Charles Leadbetter predicts that future
> society will crystallise around the principle of participation, and
> that a collaborative approach will replace our 'individualist'
> consumer behaviour. 
> 
> I am wondering, do we think that the internet and social media are
> helping people think in a more independent-minded way or is it
> becoming just another tool of consensus thinking? Will the increasing
> use and integration of the internet into our daily lives and
> communities develop a more individualist or a more unilateral
> society? For e.g Most blogs just copy over what other people are
> saying instead of expressing individual/ more personal opinions.
> 
> Quite a vast and vague question I know. Has anyone thought about
> anything related to this theme? Would be v. interested to hear your
> well-informed thoughts...
> 
> Thanks,
> Lucinda :)
> 
> 
>   
> -----Original Message-----
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
> [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Michael Baron
> Sent: 28 March 2007 16:05
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: Re: [Air-l] Any good Free E-Learning Platforms out there?
> 
> Thank you very much for your suggestions.
> I guess I will try Moodle.
> Thx again. I really appreicate everyone's assistance.
> 
> 
> On 3/28/07, Jeremy Malcolm <Jeremy at malcolm.id.au> wrote:
> >
> > Michael Baron wrote:
> > > Hi, All
> > > I am trying to find a good Platform (e.g. something similar to
> > Blackboard or
> > > E-Courses) that will enable me to deliver online courses free of
> cost.
> > Is
> > > there such a platform? My training institution is small and can
> > > not
> > really
> > > afford to subscribe to turnitin etc.
> >
> > Moodle seems an obvious choice.  It is developed locally (to me) but
> > used worldwide, and I attended our local IT industry awards last
> > week where it walked away with two gongs.  See: http://moodle.org/.
> >
> > --
> > Jeremy Malcolm LLB (Hons) B Com
> > Internet and Open Source lawyer, IT consultant, actor
> > host -t NAPTR 1.0.8.0.3.1.2.9.8.1.6.e164.org|awk -F! '{print $3}'
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> >
> 
> 
>