UK Says: Social Networking Offers Learning Opportunities

A government-funded body in the UK just released a report claiming that schools that block access to social networking sites are missing out on a multi-faceted educational opportunity. From better understanding kids and how they use technology, to interacting with them in a comfortable place, to using the innate capabilities of social networking to encourage collaboration and teamwork--there is a lot of good to be had via social networking sites.

The report was done for Childnet International, and funded by Becta, the government body for technology in learning.

"...[I]t's vital that all of us really take the time to understand the way students are using the latest technology, the various features of these new services, and appreciate how these new tools can aid good social interaction and learning," says Says Stephen Carrick-Davies, the chief executive of Childnet International.

I, for one, wholeheartedly agree.

Protecting Ourselves from Ourselves

There's been some recent talk about how we need more regulation around product placement in TV programs.

Seriously?

Don't we think consumers are savvy enough to understand that product placements are designed to sell more stuff? From the Coke cups on American Idol to the dresses worn by actor and actresses... don't we all know and understand that those are all product placements? Isn't that how TV started in the first place? As one big product placement venue?

Is it just me, or does it often seem like we spend a lot of time regulating in the wrong areas?

Less Social Media in China

It's both sad and not surprising that China recently shut down 56.com. I saw the writeup in Friday's WSJ, but evidently, the shutdown happened on June 3. 56.com is basically the Chinese YouTube, and like our YouTube, it's extremely popular. According to the WSJ over 77% of internet users in China watched online video last year (and considering there are 225 million internet users in the country, that's a lot of people!).

A December ruling required that companies providing Internet video streaming to be state owned, but authorities say some sites might be given licenses to continue. We know what this means don't we... if they want to continue providing service, they must in either name or in practice, become government run.

This reminds me of the day of the recent earthquake. I was in China, and we had rented a car and driven out to an infrequently visited portion of the wall. We actually paid someone to walk through their back yard and climb up a homemade ladder up onto the wall. There was *no* one up there where we were - far as you could see - in either direction. Pretty neat. Anyway, coming back into the Beijing, crowds of people were standing around outside the office buildings, patiently waiting. We asked several groups of people what was going on. No one knew. We turned on the radio - no news of what was going on. It wasn't until we got back to the hotel and logged onto CNN that we were able to find out about the earthquake. It's completely unimaginable that we wouldn't have access to information like that in the US, but in China, no one really seemed to expect to know what was going on. They just evacuated the buildings, like they were told to do.

I wonder how long this will continue. The old hacker adage "information wants to be free" is really a universal truth. People want to know. That's why, in the lack of knowledge, we speculate and gossip... I don't think you can suppress information or free will, especially as the rest of the world continues to become more open and China so desperately wants to play a big part in global economy (but on it's own terms).

Is the Internets Making Us Stupider?

Somehow, I recently ended up with a subscription to the Atlantic Monthly. This month, Nicholas Carr wrote an article about the possibility that Google and the Internet in general is making us stupid. His point is generally grounded on the observation that he can't focus enough to read long novels, articles, or whatever, whereas in the past, he could.

I have this problem too.

He has lots of friends who profess to have this problem.

I have lots of friends who profess to have this problem.

He blames the Internet and the ready availability of skimmable information.

"And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."

He quotes scientists that back up his observation, and cultural experts such a the playwright Richard Foreman, who recently wrote that we risk "turning into pancake people--spread wide and thin as we connect with the vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button." We had a guy in my MBA class who was the epitome of this, we referred to him as, "oh yes, R is an ocean of information, but only one foot deep."

So, having just graduated and during school being forced to read LONG BORING HUGE BOOKS, I have an opinion on this:

I have felt this happen.

I don't blame the internet.

It's about discipline.

If you feel that skill fading--go get a book. Turn off the tv. Sit down, make yourself focus. Harpers just ran an Ursula Le Guin article that quoted some really dire statistics about how many book Americans read. (Only 56.6% of Americans had read any book). It's not Google making us stupid, it's our own laziness.