Social Media Tools for Work & Learning

Amen Stephen – Connectivism

February 6th, 2007

No comments

What I am saying is that learning is instinctive, and that people will pretty reliably emulate the role models they are given.That’s why one fanatic, given the chance to control a child’s environment, breeds more fanatics, why one holocaust denier breeds more holocaust deniers.When looked at from the perspective of a social network, yes, it is true that holocaust deniers can more easily find each other on the net, and that, working as a network, they have a louder voice.

But so do the rest of us.

The danger we face – that we have always faced (and the holocaust is a blunt reminder of that) – is that one voice, or a small elite, will assume the role of arbiter of value, specifically to prevent people from learning the wrong things.

The appalling frequency with which such individuals fail utterly in such roles demonstrates the need to allow all of society, and not a few privileged individuals, to adjudge truth and falsehood. Autocratic rule almost never produces an enlightened society, while democratic rule almost always does.

The protections against slanted information, as described above, are, in my opinion, the properties that characterize successful networks: diversity, autonomy, openness, and connectedness.

Brent Uncategorized cck08 connectivism

The Social Non Profit – My Lens

A social non profit is attuned, responsive and adaptive to the complex factors affecting its constituents and communities. In a social non profit there is an alignment between staff, services, governance systems and online communications. Social non profits value learning and innovation and believe in working smarter by using social tech tools to enhance communication, collaboration and learning amongst staff, volunteers, partners and service users. These organizations believe that strategic use of social media empowers staff, improves services and strengthens governance practices.

Social Web Partners

I'm very pleased to have a number of very capable and talented consultants as friends and partners that work with me from time to time.

Alain Hurtubise (iAutomate.ca) designs and developments web 2. 0 platforms. Alain has over 20 years experience in web design and enterprise systems programming with large corporations. Alain's passion is paying it forward through his work with me in the non profit sector.

Peter Levesque's company, Knowledge Mobilization Works (based in Ottawa) is dedicated to building the capacity of people to create value through knowledge mobilization.

Mark Holmgren (Mark Holmgren Consulting - Edmonton AB) contributes his extensive organizational change expertise along with an array of social media integration expertise.