2. THINKING DEEPLY ABOUT
THE SHALLOWS.....
Michael Coghlan
Mobilizethis
22/10/21010

5. BASED ON REFLECTIONS ABOUT:
• THE SHALLOWS: What the Internet is doing to our bra
– Nicholas Carr
• Individual Knowledge in the Internet Age –
Larry Sanger
1. Memorisation unnecessary
2. Collaboration v Individual Learning
3. Books (Deep Reading) v Network Constructed
Knowledge

6. NEW TECHNOLOGY
ROUTINELY
INSPIRES
FEAR OF CHANGE

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-
SjgQvQ
THE MEDIEVAL HELPDESK

8. HISTORY
Socrates feared the end of the oral tradition and
consequent decrease of intellectual capacity
Bishop of Milan (380): silent reading considered
unnatural
Samuel Johnson (18th
c) – 2 kinds of knowledge:
The knowledge you keep in your head
The knowledge that you need to know how to
locate

9. NEUROPLASTICITY

10. INTELLECTUAL ETHIC

“the message that a tool or medium transmits
into the minds and culture of its users”

Internet: “a culture of distraction”

11. DEEP READING; A Poem:
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The reader became the book; and summer night
Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
.......
The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.
(Wallace Stevens)

12. Horizontal Learning (multitasking)
Instant
Messaging
Assignment
SMS
iPod
Surfing
Watching
video/TV

13. HORIZONTAL
V
VERTICAL
LEARNING

14. Vertical Learning (single focus)
Assignment:
What were the
principal
factors that led
to the Indonesian
coup in 1965
and the eventual
downfall of
President Sukarno?
(5000 words)

15. TO CONSIDER:

Are we becoming a distracted society?

Are you finding it harder to concentrate on
one thing for long periods? Are you seeing
evidence of this in others? Does this matter?

Is the 'age of the book', and the age of
enlightenment characterised by deep reading
and contemplative thinking coming to an end?
If so, does this matter?

16. REFLECTIONS ON:
• Individual Knowledge in the Internet Age –
Larry Sanger
1. Memorisation unnecessary
2. Collaboration v Individual Learning
3. Books (Deep Reading) v Network Constructed
Knowledge

17. MEMORISATION
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tanpopo-himawari/2487759975/

18. Collaboration

19. THE INDIVIDUAL WITHOUT A
NETWORK
CC Licensed Image by Courosa - http://www.flickr.com/photos/courosa/3863055058/

20. THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK? AND THEREFORE OF READING?

22. http://flickr.com/photos/32912387@N00/171506548/

23. SLOW LEARNING
"It is going to become very fashionable at
some point to be disconnected," Silicon
Valley futurist Paul Saffo predicts. "There
are going to be people who wear their
disconnectivity like a badge.“
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070111/1a_tech
-noxx.art.htm

24. SLOW LEARNING: A Dangerous but Powerful Idea - Counter
Acceleration and Speed with Slowness and Wholeness
• Geetha Narayanan is Principal Investigator
with Project Vision at the Centre for Education
Research Training and Development (CERTAD)
within the Srishti School of Art Design and
Technology in Bangalore, India.

25. Geetha Narayanan - Slowness as a pedagogy
 consciously embrace the core value of slowness – both as way of being and as a
way of learning
 culture of immediacy values fast knowledge which in turn runs counter to the
development of both the self and the mind.
 The thoughtless and widespread use of technology as the universal solution to
the rising need for fast knowledge is wrong and must be questioned. Often in
developing countries, such as India, the term ‘digital divide’ is used to support the
argument that the use of new technologies, alone, will create conditions of
learning … That is not true
 the new digital technologies are tools that allow for learners to develop their
imaginations, to be able to play and to have fun, to be able to tell stories in
different and exciting ways. But in order to generate value they need to be
integrated into new forms and structures in an invisible and contextual manner -
one where new media arts can sustain social change.
 Slowness promotes “wellness of being”

26. WHAT MIGHT WE BE LOSING, AND WHAT IS THE
TRADE-OFF? (IE WHAT ARE WE GAINING?)

27. Horizontal v Vertical Learning
The discerning eteacher:
• Acknowledges the nature and influence of
horizontal learning (multitasking)
• Knows when to encourage vertical learning
(single focus activity)

28. TWITTER > COMPLEXITY
Howard Rheingold at http://screenr.com/rNl