Notes on Future Perfect, Steven Johnson
Peer Progressives: an emphasis on peer to peer creation and dissemination of knowledge (and creativity--if those are separated in anyway) and getting things down, emerging from the notion of distributed rather than centralized networks. Johnson starts with Baran's notion of distributed networks where connections between "players" are diverse and multiple rather than centralized. So, there are many, unlimited really, options for transferring knowledge or people or money or ideas rather than one main clearing house or five or six mid level clearing houses. Where there is no "top" but all are peers.
Johnson argues that the goal of peer progressives is not to dismantle either corporations or government but to advocate for fundamental change in their social architecture. He used the example of "kick starter" the peer to peer fund raising site as an example.
It's a notion of viewing change or progress or even communication differently-with openness and options. While his example emphasizes the power of the digital world, Johnson suggests that this notion can be used in all spheres. I am imagining a DMV that is peer progressive rather than centralized. Of course, the "fear" is always that people will game or take advantage of the system if there isn't substantial oversight and substantial consequences for "cheating".
Is there a way teaching can be "peer progressive?" to the extent that students can get the information/ideas/challenges they need without having to go to the teacher but can locate other avenues I guess it could be peer progressive.
Arguments that google "filters" information in such a way that we are actually narrowing our perspective might be countered by arguments that on the internet other perspectives are just a click away, unlike in old fashioned media where alternative view points might require some serious hard work with another trip to the library or money with another magazine subscription.
Johnson, like Deutsch, believes that history has a direction and it is forward, ever forward.
If you were asked to characterize the net, what would it's characterizations be? It is much harder to categorize than television, and it's always changing. Johnson says at its most fundamental level, the internet makes it easier and cheaper to share information. . .
Suggests for intellectual property rights not only a reward for creating but a reward for sharing, a kind of peer progressive property rights that emphasizes getting the "invention" out to the public immediately (as well as the information, knowledge, material that went into it).
What an idea: to make change after seeing what is working within the context you want to make the change (positive deviance). Two examples Johnson gives is in poor communities with malnutrition in Vietnam, workers found families where the kids were doing well and looked at what those families were doing. They transferred that local knowledge then, through locals, to the other locals, dramatically decreasing malnutrition in a short time. And, the notion of looking at high functioning classrooms to find out what is happening in those rooms and then transferring that information to other teachers.
Johnson argues that the goal of peer progressives is not to dismantle either corporations or government but to advocate for fundamental change in their social architecture. He used the example of "kick starter" the peer to peer fund raising site as an example.
It's a notion of viewing change or progress or even communication differently-with openness and options. While his example emphasizes the power of the digital world, Johnson suggests that this notion can be used in all spheres. I am imagining a DMV that is peer progressive rather than centralized. Of course, the "fear" is always that people will game or take advantage of the system if there isn't substantial oversight and substantial consequences for "cheating".
Is there a way teaching can be "peer progressive?" to the extent that students can get the information/ideas/challenges they need without having to go to the teacher but can locate other avenues I guess it could be peer progressive.
Arguments that google "filters" information in such a way that we are actually narrowing our perspective might be countered by arguments that on the internet other perspectives are just a click away, unlike in old fashioned media where alternative view points might require some serious hard work with another trip to the library or money with another magazine subscription.
Johnson, like Deutsch, believes that history has a direction and it is forward, ever forward.
If you were asked to characterize the net, what would it's characterizations be? It is much harder to categorize than television, and it's always changing. Johnson says at its most fundamental level, the internet makes it easier and cheaper to share information. . .
Suggests for intellectual property rights not only a reward for creating but a reward for sharing, a kind of peer progressive property rights that emphasizes getting the "invention" out to the public immediately (as well as the information, knowledge, material that went into it).
What an idea: to make change after seeing what is working within the context you want to make the change (positive deviance). Two examples Johnson gives is in poor communities with malnutrition in Vietnam, workers found families where the kids were doing well and looked at what those families were doing. They transferred that local knowledge then, through locals, to the other locals, dramatically decreasing malnutrition in a short time. And, the notion of looking at high functioning classrooms to find out what is happening in those rooms and then transferring that information to other teachers.
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