LearningTimes Green Room

Susan and Dan talk with Will Richardson, author of the http://www.weblogg-ed.com blog, about politics, web 2.0 tools and what this all might mean for civic participation among young people. The topic came after Will wrote about Barack Obama’s networked site.



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Show Notes:

Will noted that Obama is using social tools for political purpose, giving people a feeling that they are part of a larger conversation and directly linked to the campaign and other supporters. In different examples, John McCain is apparently using YouTube to connect with voters, and Howard Dean began blogging back in 2003-04. Attempts to connect to voters (by way of these tools) are going mainstream.

If Will were in a classroom again, he would get kids engaged. He talks about what that means.

Dan notes that in the American political context it is not always safe to show one’s colors, which leads to a discussion of whether transparency by way of media and tools is shifting how we express ourselves and participate. (In fact, Will says more about this in a blog entry posted after the interview was conducted at http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/the-privacy-gap/.)

Fired up and blogging young people …will they vote? We have lots of questions.

Susan notes the same themes of civic participation and youth culture are being examined by the MacArthur Foundation and were part of Diana Oblinger’s address in the recent Connectivism conference.

How does our interaction on the internet shape our behavior? Dan brings up school contexts and concerns, and Will talks about the echo chamber effect (a danger).

Listeners, we want to know what you’re thinking about the use of these tools and politics, and whether this will make a difference in terms of participation.

You can respond using the “Comments” link below or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada). Join us!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Episodes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.