On The Acquisition Of Knowledge 1/2

The road to the acquisition of knowledge is a well-established path: we've always been supposed to get our knowledge from other people. Parents, teachers, preachers, masters, gurus, and the like, they are the intended intermediaries for us

Before the invention of writing information was handed down through people, from one to the other. The one possessing the information determined who would receive it, and who wouldn't. As such, it was a very effective way to control people

Even millennia after that, information used to be scarce. By 1424, Cambridge University library owned only 122 books. In 1440 the printing press was invented that sped up the speed of printing thus reducing the cost of books

Twitter is everywhere is Twitter

At the Web 2.0 Expo in New York, there's a lot to talk about. And especially, to Tweet about. Which is great, because I'm not there but can follow it now anyway

Some speakers have a huge screen where a live Twitter feed is presented following the Web 2.0 Expo hashtag #w2e. Danah Boyd, a Social Media Researcher from Microsoft gave a presentation that wasn't well received. While she was staring at her paper notes reading her "speech", tweeps in the audience were sharing their frustration - which were of course immediately visible on the screen in the room itself, sparking off other tweets. Cause and effect unsure, Danah was speaking so fast that it was hard to follow as well

Redefining the meaning and goal of Social

Julie Cottin and Alex Williams plea for cutting through the wood by bringing what I call a countermessage

This usually happens when a hot topic or hype gets picked up. A hype is nothing else but a new way to do pretty much the same thing, albeit (much) faster, better, cheaper or more efficient. In that, it is a new means to (roughly) the same goal

After a while, means are being mistaken for goals. Then people start criticising the hype because their perception of it (it is a goal) doesn't allow for a business case, or ROI