Class 2.27

Analogies:

We opened class today by continuing our discussion of O'Reilly and Bagetelle's definition of Web 2.0, discussing the analogies that you had created in groups. 

It was useful to remember the definition of analogies vs. examples: analogies describe the way something functions by comparing it to something else with a similar function (e.g. the heart as a pump; the brain as a computer; the body as a machine, etc.) while examples are, as I've just demonstrated, concrete illustrations of an abstract idea.

Through our discussion, we established certain criteria for analogies of Web 2.0: 

• collection/accumulation
• interaction

Winners of the Analogy Game: Shalyn, Luna and Cheryl

While there were some very good and creative analogies including magnets (in which metal was analogous to data) and sunflowerws (in which energy was analogous to data), the winning analogy goes to Shalyn, Luna and Cheryl for suggesting that Web 2.0 was analogous to the coffee bar. I selected this idea because I am not only very fond of coffee, but I also like the kind of interaction that the coffee bar describes: people actually talking to each other, sharing ideas. Media theorist Steven Johnson gives a TED Talk that discusses this exact analogy as a way to understand social media: 

MOOC Game: 

Keep in mind that this course asks you to complete one MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).

To begin our section of MOOCs I asked you to collect Pro's and Con's regarding this game using our Google Doc. We then began to discuss MOOCs, but ran out of time.

Some of the benefits that we listed include: 

• free
• open/continuous access
• famous researchers

Detriments included:

• lack of student-teacher interaction
• lack of student-student interaction
• copyright issues

We will continue our discussion on Tuesday. Some issues I'd like to discuss are:

• Concerns about MOOC's 
• - who is concerned?
• - what are they concerned about?
• Learning vs. training
• How should we value MOOCs?
• How should we use them?
• Criteria for MOOCs.

Homework for Tuesday 3.4.14

• Create your own blog (While there are many different platforms for creating blogs, I prefer blogspot. If you have a strong preference for another platform, please discuss it with me). 
• Post a link to your blog in the comments section of my first post, "Introduction 2/26."
• Please read" Norris and Soloway. “Web 2.0 to Social 3.0: The Next BigThing.” TheJournal. Online. Then post a response on your own blog. Please title this response "Entry 1."