{"id":52,"date":"2016-11-19T20:12:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T20:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/?p=52"},"modified":"2016-11-19T20:12:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T20:12:17","slug":"echo-chambers-and-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/2016\/11\/19\/echo-chambers-and-empowerment\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo Chambers and Empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"clenchfish-600-black1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2016\/11\/war-goes-viral\/501125\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2006\/12\/10\/magazine\/10Section2a.t-4.html<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The past month has been characterized primarily by a theoretical and conceptual approach to technology. Aside from the routine and functional daily engagement with email, social media, cloud based collaboration and presentation software, my interactions with technology have been abstracted into the realm of contemplation. Unfortunately, these ruminations have trafficked in uncertainty and wariness. Mirrored by the current developments in geo-politics, nationalism, and warfare, the reflection of social technology looks increasingly repellant.<\/p>\n

I write this with a degree of trepidation given the context of this blog, yet I feel that trepidation is what is unfortunately an overlooked resource in the current climate of social technologies. I have purposefully framed this post with two articles from the Atlantic and The New York Times respectively. These two articles are symbolic of the consciousness with which I approach the current time and space of technological collaboration and education. One need reach no further than the results of a recent presidential election for evidence of the power of social and media technology to stoke the fires of fragmentation, mistrust, and \u201cgroup-think\u201d. The baffling results have shaken me out of my malaise of self-congratulatory consumption of these technological platforms. The article from the Times revisits the concept of \u201chomophily\u201d, which is a theory in sociology that people tend to form connections with others who are similar in characteristics such as socioeconomic status, values, beliefs, or attitudes (freedictionary.com). The implications of this concept for our work as citizens and educators have so many layers that a blog post could not possibly do justice. I simply wish to speak for myself when I voice my (paranoid) mistrust of the culture of subscription that seems to characterize the foundational operating structures of \u201ccollaborative social technologies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the tone of this post does not reflect my deep affection and attachment to the types of 21st<\/sup> century technologies I am vaguely referring to here. I do believe in the power of customized and disruptive learning. I am an advocate for cloud based educational platforms to foster conversation and cooperation. All this post is meant to convey is that in my current \u201csea-changed\u201d state I can no longer passively enjoy and promote them. My subscriptions to groups, feeds, communities, profiles, and channels are now a seeming reflection of the information echo-chamber that degrades human understanding.<\/p>\n

So, how do I negotiate with this seismic shift shaking the core of my love for technology, media and information consumption? I am obviously left with more questions than proactive responses, which leads me back to the concept of trepidation<\/em>. What if one was to venture out into the terrain of trepidation to seek out cross-ideological dialogue? The desire to avoid conceptual agitation, the apprehension to embrace the other\u2019s <\/em>perspective, seem actions that deny the fertile ground for the process of learning. In the last few weeks I have sought out alternatives to the feeds I am used to. Actively listening to the voices habitually kept on the peripheries. For now, this is all I will do, seek out opportunities to attend to the thoughts that disrupt the comfort of my homophily.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not one shall be forgotten who was great in the world. But each was great in his own way, and each in proportion to the greatness of that which he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2015 S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2016\/11\/war-goes-viral\/501125\/ http:\/\/http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2006\/12\/10\/magazine\/10Section2a.t-4.html   The past month has been characterized primarily by a theoretical and conceptual approach to technology. Aside from the routine and functional daily engagement with email, social media, cloud based collaboration and presentation software, my interactions with technology have been abstracted into the realm of contemplation. Unfortunately, these ruminations have trafficked in uncertainty … Continue reading “Echo Chambers and Empowerment”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-face-2-face-sessions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/56"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/jordansmall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}