Mass Collaboration: My Muddled Mind or Misunderstood misnomer?

Unsure what is actually meant by “mass collaboration” I decided to consult Wikipedia, the one example that I believed to be a successful digital mass collaborative project. According to Wikipedia, “Mass collaboration is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature. Such projects typically take place on the internet using social software and computer-supported collaboration tools”


I next went to the recommended reading, the Wikinomics website. There, after some perusal, I came across “Beyond the Classroom” in the Wikinomics wiki, which is taking the ideas of Wikinomics and applying them to the educational setting. I have a few comments and questions:

• Are file cabinets really the current common shared curriculum storage option? Haven’t most schools been using shared servers for some time?

• Doesn’t a database of quizzes, lesson plans seem to be contradictory to the co-constructing of the curriculum as proposed earlier in the writing?

• Why are we talking of totally transforming education yet still discussing textbooks? In other areas text book learning is spurned so why are we figuring out how to do more textbooks?

"(In our classroom wiki) 97% of edits (over 9000 overall) were student-generated. . . . This is largely due to there being an explicit requirement to participate - without the reward of grades, I'm not entirely sure if there would be as much effort."
• So is this the 21st century extrinsically motivated hoop jumping? Can’t collaborative learning that encourages analysis, evaluation, and creation also be done in f2f situations?



I think all educators will agree (and have for quite some time)on the need for and benefits of developing collaborative skills in students. And I believe some of the web-based tools will facilitate such collaboration digitally. Perhaps we need to collaborate on the above mentioned wiki.

Meanwhile I’m still struggling with the term “mass”. According to dictionary.com this adjective is “pertaining to a large number of people: i.e mass unemployment; mass migrations." So, I’m curious to find examples of collaboration that truly involve masses. Even though I used to consider Wikipedia to be a good example of mass collaboration, Clay Shirkey in Here Comes Everybody explains that there are actually just a few contributors who do the majority of the writing and work on Wikipedia. Therefore the term “mass” seems to be a misnomer. Let’s look more closely at Shirkey’s analysis and explanation of the Power Law.

“The relationship between audience size and conversational pattern. The curved line represents the power-law distribution of weblogs ranked by audience size. Weblogs at the left-hand side of the graph have so many readers that they are limited to the broadcast pattern, because you can’t interact with millions of readers. As size of readership falls, loose conversation becomes possible, because the audiences are smaller. The long tail of weblogs, with just a few readers each, can support tight conversation, where every reader is also a writer and vice-versa.”

If this so, then how can collaboration ever be “mass”?

What if?

Even if mass collaboration is not realistic , we can all agree on the collaborative mind set that is so well matched to the Web 2.0 world. Therefore, why don’t we be the change we hope to see?

• What if we had created a collaborative ISB wiki on copyright and related issues rather than individually blog about it? Imagine how powerful the collective knowledge, creativity, and original ideas might serve our community?

• What if we had created a collaborative ISB wiki for online safety (rather than individually blogging about it) to be contributed to and consulted by students, teachers, parents, and the world?

How about next time we all put effort in creating a greater “collaborative footprint”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neloqua/11486115/

Web Power--which one?

Where does the power of the Web lie?
I am not sure what this questions means. What do we mean by power in this context? According to Dictionary.com, power means "ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something." So let's explore some possible powers in the webbed world.

Power needed for Web Power
Before we get too intellectual about power, perhaps we need to first look at the power (meaning electrical energy) needed to permit the more esoteric and varied powers the web potentially holds. Here is a great article by the Guardian:
Web providers must limit internet's carbon footprint, say experts: Soaring online demand stretching companies' ability to deliver content as net uses more power and raises costs

Question: What is being done by the biggest users in this arena? Is each of us aware of our own impact and how we might diminish that? There will be no power in the web if there is no power for the web. What if we put everything in the cloud but can no longer reliably reach it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/naughton321/136464207/

Potential Powers

If the energy source can be sustained, there is enormous potential for powers such as:


Power of knowledge: As Sir Francis Bacon is know to have claimed in his Meditations, 1597, Knowledge is Power. The Power-knowledge is a concept coined by the French philosopher Michel Foucault: "Power is based on knowledge and makes use of knowledge; on the other hand, power reproduces knowledge by shaping it in accordance with its anonymous intentions. Power (re-) creates its own fields of exercise through knowledge." If this is so, just imagine the power potential with those connected to Google, Wikipedia, Wikibooks, MIT open courses . . . .

http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1555/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1555R-1095.jpg

Power of Persuasion: Visuals have always been a powerful key to persuade the viewers. For example, look at these Posters of WWII, some of which still are recognizable today.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/idiotbox/2008/05/large_uncle-sam.jpg

For those wanting to tap into this visual power in their persuasive presentations, I encourage you to read Presentation Zen and add Presentation Zen webiste to your RSS feeder!


Power to organize oneself: For those of us who have never enjoyed organizing papers, files, personal documents, etc. the new organizational tools hold huge potential power to tap into one of our dearest resources--time. As a novice, here are a few of my favorites:

• Delicious
• iGoogle
  
• RSS Feeder

What other ones to you suggest?

Power to communicate: None of you are probably old enough to remember living as an expat prior to the internet, but I'll assure you that is was a drastically different life simply because it was much more challenging to stay closely connected to those living elsewhere. Even though many are seeing email a thing of the past, it is still used extensively to connect people. Yes, the social networking, Skype type communications have virtually made the distance seem to disappear.

http://www.bi.no/FellesFiles/_NY DESIGN FRA 2007/artikkelbilder/508 pixler/kommunikasjon508.jpg

Power to take action, make change: Of all of the potential powers, the power for individuals and groups to make a difference is for me the most important one. For an excellent reflection on this, I encourage you to read Social Movements 2.0: Harnessing the Power of the Web for Change.

So, where does the power of the web lie? Potential power is there for the taking--for those who have the energy source and tools to tap into it.

Is the power of the web, like most power throughout history, once again inextricably linked to one's socio-economic level?

It Takes a Village

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13112172@N03/2650906412/

In trying to respond to the question“Whose responsibility is it to teach students to be safe online?” (course two of the ISB Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy), I have surfed and read heart-rendering accounts of cruelty, pain, and death related to cyberbullying.

It would be hard to refute that cyberbullying is a significant social problem. Some of my colleagues assert that it is silly to think cyberbullying is something new—bullying has been around forever. However, if the statistics are to be believed, cyberbullying is different in that it is having a much greater impact on lives and society because the power of the communication tools accessible to our students is exponentially greater than anything we could have imagined when growing up.

As Wikipedia states, “Cyber-bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.” Yes, bullying has always existed, but cyberbullying has magnified impact due to the perceived anonymity of the bully and its almost instantaneous spread like a killer virus.

We, as a society, need to put our collaborative hearts and minds together to tackle cyberbullying around the world. When researching how various groups are dealing with cyberbullying, I was a disappointed to see that much of what is out there deals with punishment. I agree that there need to be consequences for inflicting harm, but researchers have found that the threat of punishment rarely works well as a deterrent for individuals. Secondly, many of such proposed punishments clearly cross constitutional rights in regards to freedom of speech. Take a look at the proposed Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act:

Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Even though we can sympathize with the mother who proposed the Act (her daughter committed suicide directly linked to cyberbullying), most people can quickly see the risk such an act has for our freedom of speech. (See Eugene Volokh’s reaction, professor of law at UCLA School of Law). As throughout the history of communities trying to create a just society, there is the ongoing tension and challenge of balancing individual rights and the common good. (Click here for a more in depth discussion about cyberbullying and the tension of rights and responsibilities in schools.)

So what to do? My proposal in addressing cyberbullying is threefold:

1. We all take responsibility: that means, parents, friends, colleagues, students, adults, citizens—everyone. I was shocked at all the finger pointing and blaming that happens with these cases. Yes, schools have a role, but it isn’t solitary. Yes, parents have a role, but they can’t do it alone. In order for us to make the world a safer and more equitable place, we all need to step up to the plate. Here are a couple of examples where communities are taking a "village" approach:

• In the UK, BeatBullying, a nonprofit organization, believes in a community approach to this issue. They have trained 700 teens to mentor bullying victims in both face-to-face meetings and through a new Web service called CyberMentors.
• Look here to see how one Kentucky community has established a partnership between the police department and students at the high school to tackle the problem of cyberbullying.
• This episode of Adina's deck of teens tackling cyberbullying looks promising as a way of teens taking action.
  

2. Embed the teaching of online safety in the discussion and study of the bigger questions with which society struggles in order for the understanding of the students to be more enduring and more widely applicable. Unless we teach kids to wrestle with the enduring questions of humanity, they will not know how to address them in this ever-changing landscape.

• I haven’t found anything at the primary or secondary level yet. I guess that is an area that needs tackling. If you know if any, please send them my way.
  

3. Look at the root cause of cyberbullying rather than only trying to address the symptoms? At the heart of the issue come the questions: What need is being met for the bully? How can we help kids get those needs met in a healthier, more constructive manner? What are the interpersonal relationships at play and how do we work with improving those? Here are a couple of promising options in this vein:

• CAPSULE, Creating a Peaceful School Learning Environment, a “school-wide intervention focusing on empathy and power dynamics.”
• Childnet International video: This could serve as a good discussion starter analyzing what is happening and why--relating to what students see in their own lives.
  

Does our ES AUP address this problem? Only minimally, in the beginning part about “Respect others”. I think for it to be effective, the AUP needs to be put into kid language and have some very concrete, age appropriate ideas for kids. More importantly, I feel all of this needs to be embedded and woven throughout students’ learning opportunities. Simply signing a sheet won’t solve the problem. It will take each one of us in our global village taking a role to enjoy the power of today's communication tools while simultaneously keeping users safe.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."