practice Cyber Junk Food
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09 January 2008 | 519 Visits | Rating: 4 (maximum:5)
Cyber Junk Food
Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing's recent observation that the hyper-expansion of cyberspace is making morons of us adds to a small, if steady, drip feed of dissent around the growing ubiquity of innovations like social networking. The data make interesting reading: a majority of Microsoft and over half the BBC's employees have joined the lengthening list of adherents of Facebook. Quite why the European and American so-called initelligentsia should be queueing up to send each other a toe-curlingly tacky heart as a cyber gift; allow themselves to be cruelly exposed to the glare of a public popularity contest or permit their marketing details to be sold on to Google, remains a mystery to me. Meanwhile, research suggests that, far from narrowing the digital divide, the Knowledge Revolution is widening the gap between the technology haves and have-nots - no more so than amongst young people. This 'myth of the cyber-kid' is one of the many pressing questions that will be examined in the e-practice workshop on the 'User Voice', to be held in Brussels on 21st February in Brussels. Come and join the debate.
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Cyber "big brother" food ?
18 January 2008 | 705 Visits | Rating: No votes
Joe,
Really sorry to hear that Experts and EC missed an opportunity !....especially when you read this kind of concern?...let's discuss it seriously during the workshop which you are organising.
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Showing 4 comments
or Cyber Funk food ?
Being interested in more than one perspective, meaning being in the area for a while working in the so called LLL/eLearning area for some years and have having upcoming teenagers looking like "cyber-kids" to me.......Technology and virtual networking/social web networking is dividing for sure .....but more important to me is the side-effect of the "social" peer/tech-pressure on kids to be seen as " really cool" and in the game". On the other hand, I see that it is developping creativity and learns to think out of the box. I am not against multi-tasking either.
So not sure about looking at it only in its negative aspects...is it not the same recurrent problem as for any kind of literature/media/lecture? a matter of independance and matured used of it ? Is it not the role of parents and teachers to help them their way through ? Of course are we parents/teachers prepared for it, obviously not yet. Concerning the adults, they should take full responsabilty of their acts.
Can we not try to take advantage of the added-value of it kowing the downsize effects once we have done some proper research work ?
Cyber Junk Food - we need Jamie!
You are absolutely right. As the UK 's favourite chef Jamie Oliver demonstrated in his recent campaigns to save the world from flab, obesity, and an early grave, you need to engage the participation of a wide range of humanity in the fight against junk and toyism - including school dinner ladies, Tony Blair, Sainsburys, young people and - most importantly - their mums. You also astutely point out that more research is needed. We know hardly anything about social networking - the motivations, social discourses, effects on self-perception, effects on social cohesion and social capital and a host of other important things. But I would say that wouldn't I having just had a proposal on this very subject that I submitted to the EC's ICT programme turned down, on the grounds that I don't know what I am talking about
Spain's Ministry of Health launches "sexual" MSN robot
Joe, you might find interesting this new initiative of Spain's Ministry of Health, just released this week:
Spain’s Ministry of Health, together with the Spanish division of Microsoft, has created a robot called “Robin†to provide “information†about sexual relations, sexually transmitted diseases and other issues. Young people will be able to use the Microsoft Messenger program to communicate with “Robin,†who will be available 24/7 to answer any questions about sex and alcohol.