Smoothing spacefor collaboration and innovation

Tryggvi ThayereTwinning

December 3, 2014

Who am I?

• Tryggvi Thayer– Icelandic/American– Project manager @ University of Iceland/School of Education

• Education Plaza: Supporting educators’ communities of practice online

– Research• Future of technology and education

– Past: CEDEFOP, Leonardo da Vinci Programme, Erasmus Programme, many European projects

• Contact:University of Iceland/School of Educationv/Stakkahlíð, 105 Reykjavík, IcelandEmail: tbt@hi.isWeb: www.education4site.org

Today’s Journey– Introduction

• Context• Structure of the discussion

– Key concepts– Space and information flow– Creating and using social spaces

The Big Picture– Birds-eye view of the social media

landscape• Zoom out

• Zoom back in

– Metaphorical discussion• Rich metaphorical theoretical framework

• Metaphor creates new meaning

• Metaphor encourages imagination and experience

Key ConceptsDeleuze & Guattari (1987): A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia

• Striated space• Smooth space• Nomad

Artwork: Marc Ngui @ www.bumblenut.com

Striated Space:• Hierarchical• Layered• Fixed Pathways

Smooth Space:• Continuous• No discernable pathways• No gateways

Nomadding in Smooth Space:– Transcend knowledge structures– Meandering– Discovery– Serendipity– Creating meaning

A Brief Discussion…– What are some examples

of social media creating smooth space?

“Knowmads”(Moravec, 2008)

Creating Nomadic Spaces

• Smoothing the terrain– Access to people– Access to information– Access to dialogue

• Harnessing the power of the “difference”– “… information […] is a difference which makes a

difference” (Bateson, 1972).– IT smoothes the spaces that we inhabit to allow us to

identify and explore differences.

“… difference, and not similarity, [is] the driving force in becoming” (Roy, 2003)

Dealing with the Horizon• Horizon becomes a striating force

– Horizon limits our ability to see beyond the space that we have situated ourselves in

– Even the nomad finds herself in a space striated by the horizon

• Striated space filters information– “Filter bubble” (Pariser, 2011)

We can’t get rid of the horizon but can we let it work for us?

Populating the horizon• Ideas & information from beyond• Use technology to widen our horizon

– But, we are still in a space that is ultimately striated

• Let information find us…– Intelligent agents– Info feeds (RSS, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

Pushing information to our horizon– How can we use social technologies to populate our

horizon with useful information?

Emerging Technologies

• Fantastic possibilities– Merging of the virtual and reality

– Merging of man and machine

– New forms of collaboration

– New forms of learning

The question is not what does this technology do.

It is, what can we do with this technology?

eTwinning as a Nomadic Space

• Facilitates:– Collaboration

– Communication

– Exploration

eTwinning provides a terrain. What you make of it is up to you.

References

• Moravec, J. W. (2008, November 20). Knowmads in society 3.0. Retrieved from www.educationfutures.com/2008/11/20/knowmads-in-society-30/.

• Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

• Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Ballantine Books.

• Roy, K. (2003). Teachers in nomadic spaces: Deleuze and curriculum. New York: Peter Lang.

• Pariser, E. (2011). The filter bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you. NY: Penguin Press.