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Here is an interesting discussion at Situativity regarding the uses of blogs. One of the problems that I find as far as reaching the critical mass is that people blogging in education do not seem to be a typical sample of people in education which means that the content of educational blogs is not typical of the conversation in the field of education.
- Breaking In (1.000)
- EduBlog Digest (1.000)
- Instructional Technology Institute USU (0.533)
- MIT Open Courseware (0.533)
- ITI Conclusion (0.533)
- Noema and Noesis (RANDOM - 0.533)
4 replies on “Interesting Discussion”
Great point! It raises an interesting question related to the digital divide. Are we at risk of having people excluded from the conversation if they are not participating digitally?
Conversely, does the conversation lack validity or prestige because of those who are not participating (which seems to me to include too many of those who developed their ideas/reputations before the rise of the internet) in the digital conversation?
Seems to me that presige and validity are two different constructs.
Prestige (like Beauty) is in the eye of the beholder.
Validity is (maybe should be) inherent in the construct. If the construct contains truth and honesty, does it make it more or less valid if it comes from Dr B Igshot at Whatever U than .. say .. an obscure clerk in a Swiss patent office?
Now, the argument that the construct may be one-sided or incomplete because those who have additional knowledge have not had the opportunity to contribute that knowledge … this is a valid issue. But that’s true of all media. A peer-reviewed, paper printed research article — while it may be printed in a periodical with “prestige” may be no more valid than a three-way blog post for the exact same reason … those with more knowledge were not given the opportunity to participate.
The Big Issue is — in the case of the journal, the medium is closed and no additional input is possible. In the case of the blog, the only limit is on the people who are willing and able to participate. And the conversation will go on, with or without those with “prestige.”
I kinda hope those with additional knowledge will join in, tho. 😀
I agree that prestige and valitidy are two different constructs, but both of them tend to attract people, which seems to be the central isssue of the discussion, either more prestige or more validity will help to accomplish the goal of attracting wider participation.
I believe that the blog is theoretically as valid (if not more so) as the periodical. The key is that the wider the participation the greater the chance for validity – which is the more crucial construct of the two in the long run.