ON STAYING CONNECTED!

Me pontificating at COTR

UPDATED MARCH 2013
Almost 20 years  ago now Howard Rheingold, one of the pioneers of virtual communities, said that " a tremendous power shift is underway ... this power shift is about people and our ability to connect with each other in new ways... " Speaking at the first Writers' Retreat on Interactive Technology and Equipment conference sponsored by the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Rheingold noted in 1994 that he was struck by the "citizen-to citizen movement now known as virtual community" popping up everywhere he travelled.

I was at the conference preparing to teach my first Writing for New Media course at College of the Rockies where I was also working on a grad program in New Media Communications launched a year later. Very few people at the time agreed with Rheingold and other internet pioneers who believed as I did that we were embarking on the biggest societal change in communications since the days of Gutenberg and his printing press.

I spoke on the topic of how the Internet could defeat politicians, or help them win,  at an annual conference of the Canadian Association of Journalists in 1995,  and argued, that in due course, it would be a major contributing factor. Interestingly, the old guard in the room vehemently disagreed with me, while campus journalists supported my position.

The old guard, and me, had never heard of Barack Obama in 1995.

Fast forward to now! You don't hear much about virtual communities now, as all the talk is about social networking sites, one of the fastest growing and popular uses of the internet. The power shift has occurred despite the naysayers then and now, because of our need to connect, one with the other, especially because we now live in the world of many-to-many medium as Rheingold also predicted.

Take the popularity of Facebook for example. I joined  at the suggestion of some of my former students, and I extend great thanks to them. I have been able to reconnect with so many people with whom I had lost touch for many years, and catch up on thouple of examples.

By 1998 at least five of my students were involved in online romances, and if meir lives. Facebook is also an example of the success of new media with its convergence of all media to digital forms.

At any given time on Facebook, "friends" are using text, still photos, videos and all kind of cool things to communicate with one another and a broader audience if they wish. One-to-one and many-to-many!!!

However, the communications potential of Facebook and Twitter is not being maximized as far too often it is simply a one-way street. For example, journalists use Twitter primarily in my view to retweet among themselves as part of some mutual admiration society.

While teaching new media at COTR I made many fearless predictions about where we were headed. At times I really didn't have a clue but knew something big was happening. Let me share a cemory serves me right, three had gone off to meet their new loved one. They met in chat rooms.

In my office at COTR

One day in the lab, one student who was deeply involved in chat rooms was pounding away on her computer, when suddenly in a burst of anger rushed from the room, went outside and lit a cigarette. I went out to see what had happened. It turns out that the virtual friend turned out to be a he instead of a she, or vice versa, I just forget, but the emotions were every bit as real as in any budding romance.

Finally, in the COTR library where students had access to computers, they were banned by the powers-that-be from accessing chat rooms, which in those days was the main reason the students wanted to use the computers. To me it was a sure sign that big changes could not be far off. The kids were way ahead in social networking, while the established order wanted to ban them from the practice. Now kids are "tweeting" and "facebooking" -- at least for the moment.

Me in 2011 in Orlando, FL

When I think of it though, my generation liked to pass notes around the classroom to our friends, which of course was forbidden. Now they stay in touch by texting each other on cel phones, and using Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. Plus ca change. Plus c`est la meme chose.

I would love to hear your comments on social networking and its place in your life, and how you enjoy staying connected with others.

All children are special with needs!

"MOM" Muriel E (Hunt) Morris

When I was an editor at the Chatham Daily News more than 40 years ago, my mother decided to come from Chapleau and spend the summer with me. To keep herself busy during the day, she decided to take a summer course in education.

The times they were a changing in the late sixties in more ways than one, and education was included. Mom, who had taught school for 34 years at the time became increasingly frustrated with the new thinking in education being set out by the professor.

One day the professor said in effect that teachers must "account for individual differences" in children, and used some other trendy words in his lecture. Mom, who had not said a word in class all summer, raised her hand to ask him a question.

"Don't you mean that all children are special with needs?," she asked. I don't recall his reply to Mom, but I do know the rest of the class agreed with her. After spending her entire teaching career treating each and every child as special with needs, Mom retired two years later after teaching at Chapleau Public School and at Kekabeka Falls, shortly after I returned home to teach. My mother was Muriel E Morris.

Mom taught elementary school and emphasized the child before the subject content always.

Obviously she had no use for the labelling of children, or anyone else for that matter.

Let me give you an example that involved me. I was teaching economics at Chapleau High School, and almost all the students in my class failed a test. I was having coffee with Mom and pontificating against my class in typical teacher fashion. Mom stopped my little rant, made some suggestions including that maybe I scrap the course content as I had prepared it, and start over. She also suggested I might want to think about finding another career.

"Start where the students are, not where you are," she recommended, adding that she didn't have the foggiest notion what I was talking about when I tried to explain the material on the test.

I took her advice and we started over. In fact, as Junior "B" hockey was very big in Chapleau at the time, I used a hockey rink to teach the factors of production.

Some years later, a school board member, on a tour of the school, stuck his head in Room 104 and asked me, "Is there where they teach hockey?" I replied yes it was and offered to demonstrate. He didn't take me up on the offer.

Today, more than ever, I believe my mother was right, and I was so fortunate to finish my teaching career at College of the Rockies where I helped found a grad program in new media communications which was very student centred. I will always be indebted to Dr. Wm. Berry Calder, the president of COTR, who believed that the future is now in 1994 and supported me as we pioneered web based communications when many told me that email would never really catch on.


The advances in internet technology since I retired in 2000 have been phenomenal, and today I think of the possibilities for a real student centred education system where it is accepted that each child is special with needs.

I would be most interested to hear from you. Please comment or email me at mj.morris@live.ca

BARACK OBAMA: THE FIRST INTERNET PRESIDENT!

At almost the moment he took office on January 20, Barack Obama showed that he is a transformational president in more ways than one -- a new interactive White House web site was launched which will undoubtedly change the way the presidency works, much like his use of the internet to get there changed the dynamics of political campaigns for the future.

The site, http://whitehouse.gov/ has many interactive features but the one that appealed most to me at first glance was the invitation to send an e-mail to the president and his staff. Of course, it means the president will now collect the e-mail addresses of millions of Americans, and can send them messages. much like he does now to his over 10 million online supporters.

In a CNN article about the new site, Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum said in part it is "the tip of the iceberg in what's coming in participatory politics and the relationship between the president and the public." Link to CNN story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/20/white.house.website/index.html

Rasiej sure got that right, and politicians everywhere should get the message. I chuckle in way at the small city mayor who in his sincere desire to improve communications with his citizens has ingtroduced brown bag lunch sessions at city hall where the folks can come and break bread and chat with him. Nice 20th century idea. He may be better advised to maximize Myspace, Facebook and Twitter and start by looking at http://www.whitehouse.gov/

The future is now. Please add your comments, email me at mj.morris@live.ca or comment on my Facebook page.

OBAMA CLEAR WINNER ON MYSPACE!!!

It's no contest between Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama and his GOP counterpart John McCain. Obama is the overwhelming winner. In fact when one looks at the main profile pages of the two, it looks like McCain is there simply because someone told him he should be.

The Obama page http://www.myspace.com/barackobama provides visitors with all kinds of useful information including video clips - and there are separate Myspace pages for students, women, Latinos, First Americans, Obama Pride, veterans and others. It had been updated most recently of October17 with information on early voting. The Obama site also has map of the US where you can join your state's Obama Myspace. There were 735 652 friends and 118 444 messages on October 19.

On the other hand http://www.myspace.com/johnmccain appears to have been last updated on September 8 with information about early voting starting in Ohio on September 30. Not much else there really. McCain's page had 182 725 friends on October 19.

To an outside observer the difference shows the huge generational gap between Obama and McCain, with Obama maximizing the potential of the popular social networking site. McCain looks out of touch with the 21st Century

Take a look for yourself.