No subject

consciousness should be considered a commodity at all?=A0 If the answer
is yes, well, how do use this commodity to your own benefit?=A0 But if
the answer is NO, well, what kind of future can we imagine where the
most intimate aspects of ourselves are not for sale?

=A02. The Symbolic Relevance of Social Media

To begin with, this dichotomy between the community and the individual
can be understood through deCerteau=92s distinction between strategies
and tactics.=A0 While I am reluctant to invoke St. Certeau (because we
all want to be tacticians!), I think teaching is one area where this
distinction applies really well.=A0 On the one hand, there are
principles and practices that are prescribed, at many levels.=A0 These
strategies can be divided into many categories:=A0 Official doctrine
mandatory for certification purposes, relatively benign distillations
of best practices, stuff that sounds really nice but doesn=92t really
matter, course catalog descriptions, learning outcomes, etc.
Officially, the goal of these strategies is to ensure a basic minimum
level of performance even under the most extreme circumstances.

Then, there is all of the stuff that happens on the fly, occasionally
even contradicting the sort of official purpose of the class: the
tactical realm of the classroom.=A0 In my mind, this is the place where
you take all of the stuff that=92s set out in advance, the stuff that
could basically be automated, and try to find space for freedom in it.

But, in general, I would say that the more radical your teaching the
greater the awareness of strategies and tactics.=A0 The strategic level
provides the official framework which provides for the important
stuff, which happens at the level of tactics.=A0 What a class represents
on paper is the pretext that makes it possible financially.=A0 What
happens off the page is what makes it socially worthwhile.

In relation to social media, I think here, the real validity to this
approach happens at the level of content rather than form.=A0 When we
talk about using the structure of the college experience to cover for
other types of knowledge, we are talking about =93hacking.=94=A0 It=92s les=
s a
technically specific act, than it is an approach to institutional
mechanisms and codes.=A0 As a personal challenge, I take great pleasure
in stitching together various threads of discussion originating in the
classroom into some interesting point.=A0 In a certain sense, I derive a
selfish sense of virtuosity when the discussion runs wild, but then
returns to some critical point.=A0 But in a collective sense, students
need space to run with ideas.=A0 Especially, my students, many of whom
are extremely reluctant to appear too enthusiastic about school, they
need to feel free to generate content, to =93be themselves=94 and argue
with each other.=A0 And, at times, I have to be =93the heel=94 (to use a
term from pro-wrestling), asserting my authority for official reasons.
 But I also hope that they would question my legitimacy.

=A0As a general approach to all forms of knowledge, this mindset can
help structure people=92s approach to technology.=A0 They are going to use
it regardless.=A0 I would hope that the approach they take is one that
is critical, resistant, and ultimately radical.=A0 Highlighting
instances of innovative, grassroots, and radical uses of technology
can both structure students=92 curiosity towards media=85=A0 and it can
serve as a potent metaphor for social behavior.=A0 But in order for
these metaphors to take root, students must first develop a critical
consciousness about HOW and WHY technologies might be put to
democratic use.

3. Interpersonal Exchanges

In general, there is a view that what we =93seek=94 in education is that
which was already within us=85=A0 that education is REALLY about simple
self-awareness, self-actualization, etc.=A0 Much of this comes as a
response to the very real evils of =93empire=92s=94 relation to =93others.=
=94
Anthropology, Literature, History, etc. have all been marred by their
treatment of =93the other.=94=A0 One response is the avoid discussions of
=93others=94 altogether, to do anthropology on yourself.=A0 It is helped
along by the extensively personalized nature of content that social
media is known for.=A0 But underlying this politically correct turn, a
real narcissism is at work: the idea is less that imperialism has been
but to shame, but that it has come home to roost.=A0 =93We=94 have traveled
around the world and, finally, discovered that we really are the most
interesting people on the planet.=A0 Place this attitude on education as
a whole, and it becomes The Wizard of Oz=97you go off to some weird
faraway place (college) and realize that it was all within you after
all.=A0 This narrative works very well in a consumer economy that is
obsessed with superficial =93fixes=94 to persistent problems.=A0 What could
be better than a 4 year self-help course?

But education should confound this mode of fake enlightenment.=A0 Less
important than an encounter with your infinite self (If you=92ve seen
Apocalypse Now, all Martin Sheen needed was a mirror, a clenched fist,
and some booze=97he didn=92t need Kurtz or Vietnam to find himself), is an
encounter with =93the Other=94 as intractable.=A0 Diversity is so often
treated as this =93spice=94 which can lift our boredom, but true diversity
is ontologically threatening, or at the very least, destabilizing.=A0 We
need to learn what it means to have our way threatened.=A0 We need to
figure out what we want to =93defend=94 and what we want to change.=A0 But
more importantly, we need to learn to love across ontological rifts.
Here, I prefer Badiou=92s discussion of =93love=94 in =93What is Love?=94 (=
which
I have addressed in another message to the list).

This is hard work.=A0 It is exhausting.=A0 And if might not square with a
consumer-oriented education.=A0 This kind of an education, to put it in
a consumer perspective, would be like going to a restaurant, ordering
eggs and potatoes, and having the waitress return with DNA evidence
proving that you are the descendent of alien beings.=A0 =A0Most people
would be inclined to walk out of such a restaurant (or maybe not=85=A0 I
would go there).=A0 But educators need to find a way to pull this off,
honestly.=A0 And, the real implications of education are not the same as
a very strange breakfast, which you can swallow (or not), with
education we are talking about cultivating multiple encounters with
questions frame the very way that people understand themselves in
relation to the world. =A0And, even if education tries to do this, it is
far from certain.=A0 It only could happen.=A0 But, the last thing we
should do is ruin it with pre-emptive declarations of deep
homogeneity.



Some Interesting bits from last month=92s discussion:

Anne Beffel: =94I've noticed a huge shift in how my students at Syracuse
University=A0 relate to their worlds in social and physical terms, which
I believe=A0 impact what they value, and ultimately shape the dominant
cultural=A0 values. Namely, they are constantly checking facebook other
social=A0 networking sites to remain "connected" and feel validated.
Many of=A0 them talk about it as an addiction.=94
https://lists.thing.net/pipermail/idc/2009-June/003475.html

Jeremy Hunsinger: =93I wonder there what you mean by being present in
the moment and having=A0 an appreciation of it.=A0 Because if you talk to
me, and I find if you=A0 =A0talk to most professors and graduate students,
we frequently move off=A0 =A0into our own thoughts in perhaps similar, if
less technologically enhanced ways.=94
https://lists.thing.net/pipermail/idc/2009-June/003478.html

Eric Gordon: =93In this case, the particular and thoughtful
appropriation of=A0 Internet tools challenges the traditional economies
of attention -=A0 both those established by the professorate centuries
ago as well as=A0 those perpetuated by Google and its ilk.=A0 Despite its
dominant=A0 business models, the Internet can help us rethink
traditions; it can=A0 help us break down barriers and transform spaces.
I'm interested in=A0 seeing this happen in the classroom.=A0 I'm
interested in using these=A0 tools to harness distraction as a means of
producing more vibrant (and=A0 dare I say focused) educational spaces.=94
https://lists.thing.net/pipermail/idc/2009-June/003485.html

Eric Gordon:=94 The personal front of attentional=A0 discipline does not
necessarily equal better learning or better=A0 experience.=A0 And the
"tools of distraction," such as Twitter, Google,=A0 etc. can in fact
enhance the learning experience, despite appearances=A0 that suggest the
contrary.=A0 This begs the question of labor, as I am=A0 proposing that
some of the "work" of the lecture be distributed to the=A0 audience and
that educators need to adapt to the subsequent outward=A0 appearance of
this distribution.=A0 Indeed, I am arguing that educators=A0 need to take
part in designing for attention so that they might=A0 participate and
take some control in this distribution.=A0 In short,=A0 assumptions about
the appearance of classroom attention is=A0=A0 monolithic.=A0 The
redistribution of attention in the classroom=A0=A0 challenges these
assumptions and opens up the possibility for better=A0 learning
environments.=94https://lists.thing.net/pipermail/idc/2009-June/003536.html

Michael Goldhaber: =93In addition, today, with the wealth of demands on
attention, some=A0 of which required great creativity, skill and much
labor to=A0 put=A0=A0 together (movies , TV shows, music, etc. ) the averag=
e
educator's=A0=A0 challenge in seducing actual attention has become very
great. This=A0 brings me to the metaphor of choreography . Actual
choreography is of=A0 course amazingly difficult, time consuming, and
requires just the=A0 right highly trained performers to be put into
effect.=94 https://lists.thing.net/pipermail/idc/2009-June/003561.html

Brian Holmes =93Guattari=92s Schizoanalytic Cartographies=94
http://brianholmes.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/guattaris-schizoanalytic-cartog=
raphies/

Goldhaber, Michael.=A0 =93The Attention Economy and the Net.=94=A0 First
Monday 2.4 (April 1997):
http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/519/440