As I have read several of the posted blogs, Crystal and Mary-Lynn's wonderings about what technology is stripping away from our humanity resonated with me.
McLuhan suggests that "When everyone is involved with everybody, how is one to establish identity? I have been thinking about this statement and the implications for my work. I receive, on average, over 30 emails a day. If I don't respond and keep on top of it, the email pile grows exponentially everyday like dirty laundry. People are expecting immediate turn around time on queries. It makes one look incompetent if you answer some one's email five days from the time they send it.
I feel like I am becoming more and more chained to my computer. Rather than someone coming to my office to talk to me in my new school, or me venturing out of my office to talk "in real" with someone, we are both using the technology, and isolating ourselves from human contact in the process.
So how then, do I establish my identity with teachers when so much of the communication is no longer face to face and coming through the medium of email. How is my identity as an educator communicated? How much of my "humanness" is relayed through this technology? I may be involved with everyone and everyone is involved with me, but what are the implications for really "knowing" each other? And how will "identity" be re-imaged and redefined by the use of present and future technology?
All I can say is that I have to force myself to break the chain, leave the chair, and walk up to someone and talk "in real". I am actually frightened of who I will become as a principal in the next 15 years as the technology becomes more prevalent and pervasive.
McLuhan also challenged that "nothing is inevitable so long as we are willing to pay attention". To me, paying attention is the act of questioning and reflecting. Let's continue to consider the impact of certain technologies possibly aiding in a decent down into the maelstrom. I am looking forward to talking to all of you about these thoughts and others "in real".
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4 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly Lorelei. In fact I really do not even like discussing your blog entry through this blog.
Wouldn't it be so much more meaningful if we could all have this conversation in class tomorrow?!?! This is not how I like to have educational conversations. See you tomorrow in person!
but are we going to have all these conversations in class? i agree that in-person conversations are different, sharon, and possibly better in many ways, but i am personally finding that this way of blogging gives me a chance to reflect on people's ideas in a deeper way than i probably would in the midst of a real-life conversation, especially in a big group. like a piece of music, an oral conversation takes place in the context of time - and once it is over, it is over. obviously you might still remember it and it might provoke you to some other action in some way, but the conversation itself is gone. in group discussions i often find that the "moment" for saying something passes - the conversation takes a different turn, and the thing that one wanted to say or was wondering about no longer is relevant to where everyone else in the conversation is - and one doesn't end up developing one's idea or train of thought. one nice thing about these blogs is that people are able to see your thinking in a more complete (albeit more isolated) way than they may be able to in a conversation. to return to my music analogy, a blog conversation is more tangible - more like visual art, if you will - and it allows for a different kind of interaction.
i feel like i am getting a better idea of what my classmates are really thinking and wondering about through these blogs than i do when we sit and talk together in class. i wouldn't want to do away with conversation and in-person discussion and debate, of course, but i think that the two modes of communication have the potential to compliment each other well.
oops, i spelled "complement" wrong. if i knew how to edit my comments, i would correct it - but at least you all now know that i know i made a mistake! that being said, i am sure that blogs and oral conversations have nothing but nice things (compliments, get it?) to say about each other...
This is an interesting conversation that is context specific: it’s happening on our blogs (and maybe I’m wrong but less so in class). We are writing to each other about our thinking in writing.
Last week, my class started to deconstruct email using McLuhan’s ‘four laws’ after reading an article in the Winnipeg Free Press. This article cited research that indicated that there is a tendency for people to communicate differently on email than in other written communication forms or face-to-face. These researchers found that people lie/cheat more frequently and are less kind on email. I started to think about how our class is communicating in our course. Since blogging is one of our central modes of communication, what kind of blogger am I? Is my image as a blogger the same or different than I am in class or in private? How much of my thinking am I ready to make public? Why would I go public? Is it because I want people to look at my thinking as contestable and worth entering into a conversation? Am I doing it because I want to get an A in the course? Who really is my audience for my blog? How do I comment on people’s thinking on their blogs? Do I comment differently in class than I do in blogs? What is the message of this medium/mode?
There should be multiple ways into the conversation we’re having here. As Lorelei questions whether ‘technology is stripping away our humanity’ and others talk about face-to-face communication, are we all doing enough to create those spaces? In this class for instance, do the conversations we are having on nicenet continue in some form in class discussions? Is it important to our understandings of 21st century curricular thought and our relationship as a cohort to intertwine these modes or mediums? We are a cohort in name for this course and are we practicing as one?
I’m going to make a point of following up with some people about their writing this week, face-to-face, to make sure I am helping to create more space to compliment or support the thinking we’re doing here in the blogs.
By the way, how does my blogging image connect to how you see me in person? Let me know.
cora
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