[iDC] Spammer de la Silicon Valley

[George Siemens]

Hi Janet - thanks for your comment. 

Just a small note on one point you made:
"If people become concerned that Google has too much gravity and that this
is a risk for them or that its signal to noise is a concern they will find
or make the alternatives."

I agree with this. It happens regularly. We route around, through, and over
barriers. I do think it's important to also consider what we've experienced
in the past so that we don't get to the point where we have to route around
Google/alternatives. We've all experienced microsoft's (or AT&T, or IBM)
dominance. Perhaps, instead of jumping from one bad situation to the next,
we can consider implications before we are too involved/committed. In a few
years' time, we'll be happily begrudging google's web (mobile?) dominance.
Why wait until it's an issue. Why not consider negative directions before
they lead us on unpleasant paths?

Wrt your statement of internet affording more interactive/collaborative
approaches as compared with traditional broadcast models, we still bring our
broadcast mindsets into the use of new tools. When I deal with educators,
the challenge rests in forming a conception that we can do different things
with these tools, not simply mirror what was done before. I recently
reviewed Freeman Dyson's Imagined Worlds. He presents a view that Kuhn's
concept-driven revolution is less frequent than tool-driven revolutions
(though often there is overlap). In recent discussions on the list -
including course outlines/reading lists, the emphasis on open source,
collaboration, P2P - form the basis of a conceptual shift in
information/knowledge exchange. For most people, the reality of the
revolution (if we call it such) will be felt in the tools they
encounter...and understanding how these tools foster different practices. A
k-12 teacher in a classroom working with blogs and wikis may not care less
about information democracy and knowledge dissemination. The focus is more
on tools and potential use. And these tools form the backbone of an entirely
different revolution in teaching and learning - not driven by concept
shifts, but by discovery of different affordances.

George