One of the beauties of David Gauntlett’s Making is Connecting is the way it develops a fundamentally simple idea with successive layers of richness and power. The cover captures the kernel of the book: the core thesis that making (with hands and brain, resourcefully) is connecting (in terms of relationships, meaning, learning); the context that […]
Social Software
Progressive austerity and self-organised learning
A month or so ago, my friend Guy, whose children are educated at home, treated me to one his occasional rants. “People know there’s an Arms Lobby,” he said, “so they’re very wary about calls for more spending on Defence and question whose interests these serve. But there’s an Education Lobby too, and it always […]
Round-up of talk and interviews
In a brisk (?!) follow-up to my last blog entry, I did a talk to teenagers from three Sheffield schools on the subject “Big Brother is Logging You”, sharing the platform with Dave Pattern, Library Systems Manager at University of Huddersfield, who also featured in the TILE libraries event. This was part of the Sheffield […]
Applying the lessons of Last.fm to libraries and learning
If fans can discover interesting new music by comparing their listening profiles with those of people with similar tastes, why not apply similar principles to students’ discovery of books as they explore how to get the most from university libraries. I have an article in the Association of Learning Technology’s current newsletter. It’s based around […]
Social media old and new: two contrasting networks
It’s a year since I did a ‘compare and contrast’ blog post about two initiatives to build networking activity. To recap briefly, the RSA is a 254-year-old membership organisation devoted to art, design, business and the environment, currently with around 28,000 ‘fellows’, which launched a Networks initiative on 22 November 02007 (I didn’t go). The […]
Looking for examples of social networking for professional development
I’m copying here something I’ve just added to the OpenRSA blog, relating to some work I’m doing in collaboration with Seb Schmoller: I’m looking for examples of organisations (or looser affiliations of individuals) who are using social software for professional development. Does anyone have any suggestions that I could follow up? By social software I […]
Does the nature of social networks limit their growth?
One idea in John Naughton’s 02007 round-up/02008 predictions struck me: that social networks like MySpace and Facebook “are likely to peak because ego-centric social networking is intrinsically limiting: after you’ve ‘befriended’ everyone you know, what else is there to do?”. He continues, Next year will see mass outbreaks of a Facebook fatigue, as busy professionals […]
More on building networks
Photo copyright and cc-licensedby Lloyd Davis. It was about 15 years ago, as I was planning my escape from my job in the civil service, that I became interested in the activity of networking — both personal networking (as a way of finding new work opportunities) and the creation of networks that make links between […]
On networking events: broadcasting information or building relationships?
Networking events are everywhere and all the time these days. Especially in metropolitan centres like London. They come in all shapes and sizes, too. Yesterday I attended two, almost back to back, which showed very different expectations and architectures — if that’s not too pompous a word — for what makes good networking, and how […]
Net, Blogs and Rock’n’Roll is published
My book is out in the UK. If you buy it from Amazon.co.uk, you’ll make me happy. If you can add to the reviews for the book, you’ll make me even happier. I believe the book is out imminently, if not already, in the US as well — based on the Amazon.com page, where you […]