If every student has a well of information (areas of interest, favorite resources, interesting classes they took, etc), then what better way to tap that well than establish a peer-network that allows for resource-sharing. To put it in geek-speak, if every student is a processor of whatever media or educational input they recieve, the more processors that are put to work on a particular problem, the faster it is done. I don't mean to take the idea of students-as-resources too far or dehumanize them in any way. I am reconciling a number of ideas not all of which are on the technical end of the spectrum:

1. Computers were first concieved of as extentions of the brain which would "amplify human thinking and communication" Reingold, 59
2. With the advent of the internet (ARPANET, BBS, then Usenet, etc), there was a consious effort to democratize the technology. The idea was to give more tools to more people and allowing them to talk to eachother, thereby creating the possibility of community
3. Fast forward 30 years and there are active communities all over the net, some of these are "intellectual communities" which allow for rapid growth of ideas and collaboration among the community members
4. My undergraduate experience was shaped by my constant hunt for resources in my areas of interest. American Studies is rich in part because all of the classes taken to fulfil the major and resources used its students are not centralized in one location or department. However, this very thing can inhibit a student's sense of fellowship within the department.
5. Can an online outlet be created for AMST students which would encourage a sense of community and allow students and teachers alike to collaborate and share ideas?

Wired Magazine has an interesting article on generation Y and how they interact with the world. Wired 14.04: Dream Machines:

..the Internet has morphed what we used to think of as a fancy calculator into a fancy telephone with email, chat groups, IM, and blogs. It turns out that we don't use computers to enhance our math skills - we use them to expand our people skills.

When it comes to how young people are interacting with information both in the virtual world and the real one, Will Wright says that this generation of gamers are processing information differently than their predecessors and "treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption". This assertion lends more support to the evidence of a rise in producer culture as Stephen Carson, Senior Strategist at MIT OpenCourseWare describes:

..The idea of learners as consumers of learning objects (even if they "custom-tailor" their learning experience) may be misguided. Learners may well be most usefully thought of as producers of learning resources as well.

This affirms one of my thesis statements that the students themselves are the biggest untapped resource in the AMST department.

To continue a point that I made in the previous post: Howard Reingold insists in The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier that online communities occur in "a cognitive and social [place], not a geographic place." The concept of identifying with a virtual space, which is a primary part of engaging in the community that 'resides' there, "requires an individual act of imagination."

The different mental models people have of the electronic agora complicates the question of why people want to build societies mediated by computer screens. A question like that leads inexorably to the old fundamental questions of what forces hold any society together

Quotes from pages 51-53

The society that Riengold is discussing is one that is formed by its members through choice and common interest. Given that students have chosen American Studies as their major, does this implicitly make them a part of a community of common interest, even if it never meets as such outside of classes and a handful of special events that relatively few attend?

I do not imagine that every AMST student would participate in an online community, whether it manifested in a message board, wiki, or blog. Much like Reingold's example of the WELL, I would imagine that "16 percent of the people [would] contribute 80 percent of the words". The beauty being that anyone is free to participate when they feel inspired to do so, but all can benefit from the conversation.

I am struck by the idea that the interactive online community that I am proposing should model discourse rather than cater to casual or disengaged users.

The notion that education has become a passive activity for most of the consumers (students)-- that it is something that is being 'done to them'-- has pervaded my discussions with teachers at UMD. How can I expect to interest students enough to participate in online discussion when they don't talk in class?

I have heard from both of my teacher interviewees that online discussion is not a venue that allows reticent students to participate, as they had initially hoped. Quiet students remained quiet. This anecdotal evidence suggests that online interaction will not change a particular student's level of participation in discourse. Interestingly, many of the returned surveys from students have indicated that not only is a certain amount of participation in online discussion required for some classes, but their teachers expect them to have better thought-out arguments than in class. This perception that written observations are placed under greater scrutiny than comments made in class may account for some of the reluctance my interviewees have seen.

I am not interested in implementing an online course website, but an electronic agora where discussion and resource-sharing occur almost entirely outside of class. Users (students, primarily) are empowered to participate at whatever level they choose. Give students the agency and see where it leads. Just more food for thought.

Via BoingBoing today. This a documentary about the state of the internet in 1972. The most interesting part is that resource-sharing is championed as primary goal for ARPAnet. How can their dreams be better realized today? The technology is already there...

From its inception, my vision for a new AMST site included a blog and/or resource list that would be produced by both students and administrators. My theory is that more 'content producers' lead to a more active, live webspace-- one that is not an official function calandar. I have been looking around for models of community blogs and fortunately ran across the SXSi (South by Southwest Interactive) community blog this evening. I am looking for more. I know that livejournal groups are pretty active, but I am not very familliar with their structure.

On another note, Marybeth Shea brought up some interesting points re: social networking and teens from a parent's perspective a few weeks ago. Ypulse is an interesting blog about teens and technology. I scanned back a a bit into the archives and there is a healthy mix of tween rags and alarmist traditional media articles interspersed among the web stuff. I was particularly interested in a sort of op-ed piece on the disconnect between those of us who are optimistically looking at the future of technology and the relative apathy of the generation best equipped to take advantage of it (Gen-Y, apparently). This parallels a discussion earlier today in the Library of American Broadcasting, where UMD-grad David Weinstein spoke about the optimism of future-oriented thinkers in the early days of television only to have their beautiful vision of interconnectivity and education come crashing down with American Idol. I haven't been watching, so I can't comment on this next sign of the apocalypse.

[side note: I refrained from using the term "futurist" because of some compelling debate of the term here by Paul Saffo of The Institute for the Future.]

This blog is a document of the progress on my thesis.

I have collected 54 completed internet use surveys from students who are primarily juniors and seniors in American Studies.

Intro to the survey:

American Studies Majors--

I’m working on my thesis in American Studies this semester. I’m studying emerging culture on the Internet with a focus on its use and applications in the AMST department. I want to understand how you are using the Internet, both for classes and for fun. Please answer the questions as well as you can and feel free to include additional information. Many of the questions can be answered by multiple-choice responses. While this survey is providing crucial information for my research, it is has a secondary function as a user-needs analysis for the redesign of the departmental website.

Thank you for your time and participation!

Emily Brecht