Thanks for sharing this and there is much I agree with... I've also been thinking about how I was when I was younger and as I was reading about the students who aren't involved - I was thinking about myself at that age and I too was pretty much occupied with my immediate world. I read my daily college paper for news and that was pretty much it. Maybe I was a late bloomer, as were most people I knew, but we didn't really start becoming truly engaged and active until our world had opened up beyond our campus and surrounding community. It wasn't until I started working after college that I started listening to the radio regularly (NPR and Pacifica primarily) and reading news (like the NY Times, Alternet, Wiretap, and international news organizations) via online and the paper. So...it also just may be how things go. If you think back to yourself in high school and college - how engaged were you? Where did you get your information? Would you have sought it out like you do now?
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Oliver Moran Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 7:44 PM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge? I agree. Although aren't the cable sports and news channels, the "touch-down by touch-down" mobile updates and knowing where tonights party is just another kind of feed? Just as RSS (and blogs and the internet generally) specialises people's consumption of information, vegging them out á la 'Bowling Alone', then maybe aren't we vegging out on this feed also - the DDN list? What does this mean for the "digitally disenfranchised" - well isn't it their right to veg out too? Should they not have *their* mind-numbing nonsense? Should *they* be able not participate in the numbing of culture also? Oli ------------- Oliver Moran, Digital Media Centre, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Abeles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 6:02 PM Subject: Re: [DDN] RSS: The Next ICT Literacy Challenge? > This thread puzzles me from a number of perspectives. First, RSS while > a > powerful aggregating search tool is still mapping brick space into click > space, the same as what we are currently doing with e-learning using the > standard Learning Management Systems and their variances. It has, as has > been carefully and repeatedly noted, the propensity for overwhelming the > individual and, as some have mentioned regarding the developing world, > chewing up costly bandwidth. What this list, in its pragmatic, > tip-of-the-iceberg, manner shows is that self-organizing networks of human > biocomputers probably is a more effective learning/sorting and aggregating > vehicle. The corporate world, as Knowledge Management clearly shows, has > embraced these self-organizing communities and have developed a variety of > web deliverable vehicles for enhancing these. Wiki's offer a peek at the > possibilities as do blogs. > > Second there has been a side thread about the indifference of "youth" > to > using these knowledge systems and becoming committed to more than vegging > out in front of the telly after classes. Let us dismiss the idea that this > is the older generation just upset with the profligate ways of today's > young folk. Perhaps one needs to look at the "gaming" community" to see > that there is life and hope, particularly if one follows the MMRPG world > (Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Games) where networks of participants > engage each other at levels far expanded from the action on the screen. > And one can not overlook the efforts now with the domain of "serious" > games which are a much wider genre than just those used by the military or > tech folk to check out systems. > > What one might just be seeing is a "bifurcation" impacted by the > arrival > of the web and big pipes. What this means for the digitally > disenfranchised may not imply just wiring the world and putting a computer > in the hands of all. That would be falling into the same trap that > concerns me (see above). > > thoughts? > > tom abeles > > > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.2 - Release Date: 21/01/2005 > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.2 - Release Date: 21/01/2005 ___________________________________________________________ $0 Web Hosting with up to 120MB web space, 1000 MB Transfer 10 Personalized POP and Web E-mail Accounts, and much more. Signup at www.doteasy.com _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.