The Academy in Peril

From LaurasWiki

Opening session at Social Software in the Academy (http://www.socialtext.net/soso-acad/index.cgi), USC Annenberg School For Communication, May 13-16, 2005 (SocialText archive)

A Conversation on Social Software and Traditional Scholarly Communication

Table of contents

1 The Academy in Peril? 2 The Big Picture / The Long View (Laura) 3 Social Software in/with/for the Academy (Seb) 4 In the Trenches (and the cracks) of the Academy (Laura) 5 Social Software and the Spirit of the Academy (discussion)

The Academy in Peril?

Sebastian Paquet, National Research Council of Canada
Laura Trippi, Simon Frasier University
Moderated by danah boyd

Note: Title borrowed from John Cale, The Academy in Peril (http://www.xs4all.nl/~werksman/cale/disc/academy_in_peril.html) (1972)

The Big Picture / The Long View (Laura)

• The accelerating pace of change
  • The Future of [x (http://valiant.iat.sfu.ca/Courses/ElectronicCulture2004/Module3/week2/)]
  • The Long Now (http://www.longnow.org/about/longnowdiagram.htm)
• Technolgical drivers and unintended effects
  • Moore's Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law)
  • System-wide effects: ***The Planet Under Pressure (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3686106.stm)
    • The Planet Under Pressure: diagram (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/04/sci_nat_enl_1096888217/html/1.stm)
  • Approaching a threshold
    • Hillis on the coming threshold (http://valiant.iat.sfu.ca/Courses/ElectronicCulture2004/Module3/)
  • Culture as a complex system
    • Characteristics of Complex Systems (http://necsi.org/projects/mclemens/cs_char.gif) (NECSI New England Complex Systems Institute)
    • dn/a: intelligent life (http://cyberatlas.guggenheim.org/home/index.html): culture as a complex system
    • ILife schematic (http://valiant.iat.sfu.ca/Courses/ElectronicCulture2004/Module3/week2/ILifeSchematic.png/view)
• The role of the academy in cultural evolution
  • Preserves diversity, range, and depth of historical knowledges and knowledge-related practices
  • Fosters the emergence of new knowledge and knowledge domains outside the constraints and mandates of commerce, government, and religion)
  • Context for the process of open inquiry ("open development model) -- intellectual freedom and the scientific method
  • Status of the academy today? we'll discuss in this panel
• The function of social software
  • Context: Emergent network of distributed knowledge:
    • "The Posthuman"
    • Network society
  • Fosters and supports human-centered innovation precisely at the intersection of technology and culture/cognition

Social Software in/with/for the Academy (Seb)

Social Software in/with/for the Academy (Seb) (http://wiki.netvironments.org/index.php/SSAW_Panel_Seb)

In the Trenches (and the cracks) of the Academy (Laura)

Academic faculty practice: 3 application areas (research, teaching, service)

My particular context:

• New school of Interactive Arts and Technology
• Provide cultural studies track
• Practical backdrop:
  • Developing models of "blended learning"
  • Working w/against proprietary CMS

Notes from the field (http://www.netvironments.org/laurazWiki/SocialSoftwareInAcademyNotes)

• For research
• For teaching and course development
  • ECulture Course (http://valiant.iat.sfu.ca/Courses/ElectronicCulture2004) : OSS course platform w/student wikis, weblogs, and IRC office hours
    • Class wikis
    • Class weblog network
    • Lesia Hickey: IRC Network Diagram (http://valiant.iat.sfu.ca/eculture/lhickey/000442.html)
  • Student response: IRCOfficeHours (http://www.netvironments.org/laurazWiki/IRCOfficeHours)
  • Admin response: Unregulated Servers in SIAT Instruction
• For planning and admin
  • SIAT visioning / planning platform (http://tonka.iat.sfu.ca/prevox/)
  • » At the School of Interactive Arts & Tecnology: no UG major that actually integrates art & tech...

• The academy in peril:
  • Potetial that social software can preserve/restore the academy as a space of open inquiry
  • Sense that instead, open inquiry is migrating out of the academy
  • * R. Tagore Plaque (http://www.netvironments.org/laurazWiki/TagoreQuote)

Social Software and the Spirit of the Academy (discussion)

• The Spirit of the Academy: Its values and noble goals, its assets, what to preserve
• The Cultures of Open Source and Social Software
• The Academy Today

Topics to consider:

• The Role and Function of Curiosity
• The Place and Nature of "Applied Research" (double-edged sword)
• Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity (modes and effects)
• Amateurism vs. Mastery and Expertise (in relation to learning, knowledge generation, change)
• Credit/recognition/IP