academia

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

I honestly respect academic discussion and I believe academia lays the foundation for what we know and understand. But man, that kind of discussion is just not for me- and perhaps I'm revealing my ignorance here.

The theoretical, the ongoing discussion about the published papers of respected academics, the arguments about pros and cons of each theory and their applications in endless situations -- it all just drones on for me.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Disinterest in Academic Discourse

leelefever — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:11:59 +0000

From time to time, I participate in conference calls and online discussions that are focused on subjects that I should care about: knowledge management, communities of practice, online learning, etc.

More often than not I find that these discussion become academic discourse and generally make me feel the same.

It reminds me of a quote from Edwin Armstrong, who invented the FM radio: "Men like to substitute words for reality and then argue about the words."

I don't want the words- I want the realities. It seems sometimes that reality beats me over the head so often that I wonder why the words matter in practice.

I also wonder why I feel this way. In my work, I want more than anything to live in the future. I don't want to put a theory into practice, I want to do things that
don't yet have words.

Perhaps I've convinced myself (right or wrong) that academic discourse is too focused on the past- especially regarding the Web, where things move so fast.

No matter what, I feel confident that I have learned this about myself and I'm going to stop feeling self-conscious about not being interested in academic discourse- it's just not for me.

Social Origins of Good Ideas

leelefever — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 01:31:07 +0000

The idea from this paper by Ronald Burt is that people who participate in a number of groups or networks are exposed to a wide variety of perspectives and ways of thinking.

By virtue of this exposure, these same people are able see holes across groups and find new ways (new ideas) to bridge the holes. This often results in innovation.

I've only read about 1/2 the 58 page .pdf, but I highly recommend it.

Clay at Many-to-Many has a little more on it:Many-to-Many: Social Origin of Good Ideas

Social Origins of Good Ideas

leelefever — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 01:31:07 +0000

The idea from this paper by Ronald Burt is that people who participate in a number of groups or networks are exposed to a wide variety of perspectives and ways of thinking.

By virtue of this exposure, these same people are able see holes across groups and find new ways (new ideas) to bridge the holes. This often results in innovation.

I've only read about 1/2 the 58 page .pdf, but I highly recommend it.

Clay at Many-to-Many has a little more on it:Many-to-Many: Social Origin of Good Ideas

Paper on Reputation Systems

leelefever — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 16:14:12 +0000

Manifesto for the Reputation Society
Abstract:

Information overload, challenges of evaluating quality, and the opportunity to benefit from experiences of others have spurred the development of reputation systems. Most Internet sites which mediate between large numbers of people use some form of reputation mechanism: Slashdot, eBay, ePinions, Amazon, and Google all make use of collaborative filtering, recommender systems, or shared judgements of quality.

But we suggest the potential utility of reputation services is far greater, touching nearly every aspect of society. By leveraging our limited and local human judgement power with collective networked filtering, it is possible to promote an interconnected ecology of socially beneficial reputation systems â€” to restrain the baser side of human nature, while unleashing positive social changes and enabling the realization of ever higher goals.

Via: Clay at Many-to-Many