No, I am not running from the law

Social Media:

I am new to the social media craze. I do not, nor have I ever participated in My Spacing, Facebooking, Tweeting, Foursquaring, etc. My reason for this is I do not feel comfortable sharing my "personal" information in such a public forum. Thus, you will find my pseudonym "BlankOn Purpose" as my user name and first/last name on the various social media sites for the class. This does not mean that I am anti-social media, only I have my reservations with it.
Some may find this interesting as I am a proponent of civic engagement and I believe the government should lead efforts to increase participation in the political process. While setting up my sites, I had some questions about social media experience:

1.      Does over exposure to social media result in the virtual relationship displacing the physical relationship (in-person)? And is the virtual relationship more susceptible to voyeurism, “a fascinated observer of distressing, sordid, or scandalous events”?

2.      How do the methods of social media’s data presentations (number of followers/friends, time connected, etc.) encourage behavior within its medium? Should they measure other facets of the social media experience?

3.      To what degree do social media affect interaction within the physical environment in comparison to the virtual environment?

4.      What proportion of social media interactions are one dimensional (e.g. read comments on Facebook for multiple hours on end)?

5.      What are the benefits to society of our social media interactions?

These were some thoughts I had while creating my sites for the first time. I’m curious to know what others think.

Future of Work:

I was introduced to this book last year and immediately was captivated by the arguments put forth by Malone. The framing of the employment movement from independent groups, to those highly centralized, to now a decentralized movement primarily due to the reduction in communication costs is fascinating. A couple questions I had while reading the text are related to the affects of Malone’s hypothesis of a movement toward decentralized systems on:

-          Job stability: Decentralization claims to provide a more energized, creative, self-directed employee who is able to utilize information mediums to collaborate with those in need of her/his service. Are our education systems preparing students for social/business entrepreneurship in this manner? Do our spending habits that are highly dependent on credit, allow for periodic episodes of un/under-employment while we look for the next business opportunity?

-          The role of politics: How is the council-manager form of government affected by decentralization? Would staff or constituents determine employment of the city managers and their staff and if so would this infuse politics into a sector of the U.S. municipal governmental structure that prides itself on being apolitical?

-          Education: As mentioned by Malone, “The democratic ideal of the government…has little hope of success unless the people can be well enough informed to participate sensibly in the political process.” As a society, are we prepared to shift from a representative democracy to an absolute democracy if there are serious issues concerning education in the U.S., specifically in public education? Secondly, how do the media influence our education on political and social topics?

-          Decentralized power for the disenfranchised: Does decentralization increase the power of disfranchised groups? This is part of the argument placed by Cameron in the video clip (referring to the “fist” picture) and his claim that information empowers those on the fray of the centralized systems. I cynically doubt that decentralization leads to an egalitarian network of communication which significantly lessens the influence of “traditional powers”. I think that the same way which a few websites receive the majority of visits; networks are influenced by the preference for the attachment and these preferences are more easily manipulated by those currently in power.

Lastly, I agree with Malone in his assertion that managers will need to move from a command and control method of management to a cultivate and coordinate structure. Employees are now more educated and less jobs require manual labor due to the automation feats of new technologies. Thus employees have individual ideas and perspectives that are grounded in educational theories and need less micromanaging. This opens opportunities for individual creativity and responsive interactions.

Videos:

I thought Mr. Kahn was going to use a metaphor from Star Trek—his shirt looked like he should be on the USS Enterprise.  I thoroughly enjoyed his perspective on education and remember his homage for “Encourage[ing] Failure & Expect[ing] Mastery”. I believe the fear of failure can significantly limit our growth and discovery. Here is a link to an interesting website addressing the phenomena: http://www.admittingfailure.com/
Secondly, his comment about the labels being a benefit of time for the individual in the room was deeply profound. He suggests the removal of such barriers through interactive, self-paced learning environments. His approach is a novel solution which has the possibility of reinventing the educational structure.