60-Second Stretch

Back in October 2007, Richard Dennison (works for BT on intranet, social media and knowledge management strategy) found an article in the Guardian on-line that contained the following quote from Jason Calacanis:

“Web 3.0 is the creation of high-quality content and services produced by gifted individuals using web 2.0 technology as an enabling platform. Web 3.0 throttles the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ from turning into the ‘madness of the mobs’ we’ve seen all too often, by balancing it with a respect of expert.”

This is no different from the “evolution of education” that has taken place over the past century (but at a significantly faster rate…eh?):

1. Web/Ed 1.0 was pedagogical—Prior to the 1800s, American education was almost exclusively conducted from a pedagogical model, in which the teacher was the expert in the content area and presented information to the learner who passively absorbed whatever was required. This was remarkably duplicated in Web 1.0, where the content holder (whoever was capable of constructing a web site) became the “expert” (albeit a 21st century version) and the rest of us browsers passively absorbed whatever they spit out.
2. Web/Ed 2.0 is andragogical—Then along came Malcolm Knowles, who, in an effort to counter this model, popularized the concept of andragogy. Andragogy, Knowles argued, was preferable because it was based upon the observable learning phenomena that (A) adults learned what they considered important to them, and that (B) adults needed to be highly participative in the learning process. It should be pretty obvious that this is where Web 2.0 draws it’s inspiration. Thanks to the advancement of the internet, now anyone can create content of his/her own while simultaneously participating in the content creation of others.
3. Web/Ed 3.0 will be/is synergogical—In 1987, Mouton and Blake began writing about a new approach to education, which they called synergogy. Synergogy attempts to avoid the abuses of andragogy (blind leading the blind) and pedagogy (non-participatory) by positioning a truth source to guide the collaborative process of participatory, interactive learning…hence, the quote above from Jason Calacanis.

While many (if not most) conservative organizations will balk at Web 2.0s andragogical methods, those same organizations will likely be more open to the synergogy of Web 3.0, which utilizes the “respect of expert” to coach and facilitate the “wisdom of the crowds.”

As we close out 2007 and head into the 2008 election year I thought it might be helpful to recommend a resource that is available for concerned voters called "On the Issues," found at www.ontheissues.org. On the Issues is a "non-partisan information [repository] for voters in the Presidential election, so that votes can be based on issues rather than on personalities and popularity. We get our information daily from newspapers, speeches, press releases, and the Internet..."

On the Issues documents all findings and does a good job of pointing out the candidates stance on whatever issue may be of concern for you, making it easy to compare. I've found the graphic summary (I am a visual person, after all) to be especially interesting. Here's a sample of those graphics and the Positional statement for the top Republican candidates (in alphabetical order) as they appear on the web site:

Wherever you find yourself on the political spectrum...and I'm sure we all have different opinions...I encourage you to do your "due diligence" and research the issues that are most important to you and your family before casting your vote in the coming weeks.

Happy New Year to you all!