NEW STUFF!!!!

I am currently beginning a new semester and have decided to continue on my path through advanced digital media by repeating the course to further develop my ideas and technical skills.

We were asked for the first assignment to read and respond to the first chapter of "A New Culture of Learning" by Thomas Douglas and John Seely Brown.

In essence, the first chapter of "A New Culture of Learning" is describing some changes that are occurring in the infrastructure of contemporary society and how those changes are affecting/conflicting with tradition learning models of the 20th century. These changes involve the evolution of technology and media; specifically how their evolution has created new ways to exchange ideas, altering the traditional concepts of the public forum. The chapter articulates a change from a stable, controllable infrastructure to a more fluid one. It describes how the internet has created a world of learning that has infinite possibilities and how learning is no longer bound specifically by a classroom setting. This is allowing for learning at every stage of life as well as permitting the ability to constantly play with new ideas. The method of learning that the chapter suggests is the "Arc of Life" learning model where constant play, investigation, and imagination can occur. This is not to negate the value of traditional learning techniques but rather to augment our understanding of the new tools to which we have access.

The chapter tells the story of a young boy, Sam, who is learning how to use the internet. He begins to play with some new programs that are designed to not only teach children the fundamentals of web design and computer science, but to introduce the children to a community of like minded individuals who can play, critique, and modify the games that he designs. This could never occur before the evolution of the internet, and Sam is now able to learn things that would never have been permitted by a tradition education setting. His experience is expanding tenfold as a result of the addition of a public forum to the process of learning game design/ programming.

I find this to be true in contemporary society, the fact that we all have infinite resources at our finger tips as the result of increasing connectivity between like-minded individuals. Currently, we are all, consciously or unconsciously, receiving and responding to new ideas as well as contributing our own ideas to the public forum as a result of innovations in social media. I also agree that the internet has created a platform for endless play, investigation and imagination. This is expediting the evolution of ideas in many ways, but I often wonder if we benefit. History has proven that we often consider an infinitely expanding world and we often eat our own words when we take things to far, or find out the actual limits of what we can do. What I am saying here is, when moving forward with a new  concept/idea, is a sense of reservation necessary? Will we, in our excitement, make errors that cannot be undone in the future? Is it possible that these changes may not be what we think they are?