Wednesday, March 22, 2006

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?

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