The World Is Complicated
Two interesting quotes from recent books:
From The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Release 2.0 by Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2006 (pp. 10-11):
The flat-world platform is the product of a convergence of the personal computer (which allowed every individual suddenly to become the author of his or her own content in digital form) with fiber-optic cable (which suddenly allowed all those individuals to access more and more digital content around the world for next to nothing) with the rise of work flow software (which enabled individuals all over the world to collaborate on the same digital content from anywhere, regardless of the distances between them). No one anticipated this convergence. It just happened – right around the year 2000. And when it did, people all over the world started waking up and realizing that they had more power than ever to go global as individuals, they needed more than ever to think of themselves as individuals competing against other individuals all over the planet, and they had more opportunities to work with those other individuals, not just compete with them. As a result, every person now must, and can, ask: Where do I as an individual fit into the global competition and opportunities of the day, and how can I, on my own, collaborate with others globally?”
From Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, Penguin, 2006 (p. 67):
In its purest form,[peer production]is a way of producing goods and services that relies entirely on self-organizing, egalitarian communities of individuals who come together voluntarily to produce a shared outcome. In reality, peer production mixes elements of hierarchy and self-organization and relies on meritocratic principles of organization – i.e., the most skilled and experienced members of the community provide leadership and help integrate contributions from the community.
There has been some preliminary discussion about issues of technology innovation, peer collaboration and hierarchies on the jlearn2.0 wiki.
Although the books cited above refer primarily to corporate culture, practical implications for Jewish education, particularly for peer collaboration, are intriguing. How does this mesh with Jewish educational values? What are some challenges? Do these concepts carry over into the offline world?
Ideas? Comments?