The Malone reading was very interesting, even just from a historical point of view. I had never thought about the printing press as such a catalyst to democracy, but of course that makes sense. My favorite quote from the reading was "in all the places where qualities like motivation, flexibility and creativity are important - and that lots of places - decentralization will become increasingly desirable in the coming decades."
Since I work in an academic area of the University, I can clearly see a large discrepancy in the ideas of long-tenured faculty and younger faculty and staff regarding work models and decision-making, usually meaning that "they" want to just make the decisions, while "we" want clear, open discussions. These differences are also quite large when it comes to ideas about technology. Many of the directors and established faculty have trouble grasping why the school would have a twitter account and tend to lean on jokes about how silly tweeting is than try to engage in it or understand what the big deal is. It is almost like watching it all evolve within one department.
Another concept I really liked from the article is that of moving from an idea of command and control to one of coordinate and cultivate. There are some areas where I think my co-workers and I (other business managers within the school) coordinate and rely on each other, knowing each of us has an expertise in something a little different. We have been trying to do this using technology but have had trouble finding ways that are within the University framework that people are comfortable with. The biggest issue I see, and I feel it myself, is trusting each other. When there is a wiki page, or even a shared drive, that many people can access, there is a chance someone will mess it up! Or delete it! Or put a bad word on it! It sounds silly, but if I put a lot of work into something I do feel like I should keep control of it. I guess we are all shifting over time.
The Khan video was great. I am a big fan of TED talks anyhow. I really like how he described the evolution of his idea, that it was meant to help a few people and by accident became a tool for many, many people. Then it was able to grow and now many more people can contribute to it and help even more. What is better than that? It almost made me want to watch some videos to brush up on my calculus... maybe after I graduate.
We are supposed to also discuss our experience with twitter, foursquare and Google+. My first twitter account (@reginatgg) was started a few years ago. I don't remember exactly why, except everyone was doing it. I used it a lot at first, but then began to worry about who would read it and if I would upset anyone, so I eventually just came to use it to retweet things I like.
I started my Google+ page pretty quickly after it started, mostly because my little brother was so excited about it. I do like it better than facebook in that the circles help relieve some of the worries I had with twitter, in not wanting my boss to read it, etc. Plus, I don't have to refuse any friend requests, just put them in the right circle.
