I find the concept of the personal and the collective, in place of the private vs. the public, to be one of the most relevant and intriguing that we have encountered in the class thus far. The concept not only disintegrates the (mostly rueful) idea that through social media we are living our lives in public, but it also explains why participating in a collective matters for learning. I particularly liked the idea that a collective is not about belonging but about participating. Reading this section of the book, I'm realizing that our weekly blog/video blogs in this class have been assigned to us so that we can form our own collective learning experience with the rest of our classmates.
This chapter also made me think of a number of websites and projects that act as collectives. I was happy to hear Kiva mentioned. Post Secret, also came to mind. The project already blurs the lines when thought of in terms of public vs. private--private secrets, posted for the public to talk about. Seen as a collective, reasons for the project's popularity are clear.
Thomas and Seely talk about Pyra Labs, which later became Blogger. One immensely popular site that started on Blogger (but later moved to Wordpress) is Post Secret, which claims to be the biggest blog in the world without advertisements. Post Secret displays post cards featuring secrets every Sunday. Interestingly, there is no place on the blog for comments, which is in contrast to Thomas and Brown's statement that "The success of a blog is related to two things, neither of which is in the author's control: readers comments and external links." (p. 64). However, these secrets are often posted and discussed elsewhere where they may be relevant (for example, on the ALA Think Tank Facebook group I saw posted a secret about libraries). There is also a Post Secret Community, created by the founder of the project, where people can chat about Sunday Secrets and issues commonly kept taboo. Issues that people deal with in private are also examined and revealed. For example, I remember one secret in which the sender revealed they were afraid of patterns of holes. In a discussion on the community, it was revealed that this is a phobia called trypophobia, and many stepped forward to share that they too had this phobia. A common statement made is "I didn't know this happened to anyone else" or "I've been waiting for someone to post my secret." Those participating in the collective can come and go as they please. Some people join the conversation once to express empathy, while others are long-term participants. Post Secret is one man's idea which requires the community--which becomes the collective, not the public--to participate. As a result, the collective that has formed around the project feels ownership, even if they themselves have never sent in a secret, and the conversation is widespread across multiple platforms.
Thomas, D. and Brown, J.S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Publisher: authors.
Great example about Post Secret. I remember that site being a pretty big deal! Similarly, I like the example in the book of the diabetes community. I warn against researching anything medical online because information isn't always credible and some sites perpetuate irrational fears, but this example talked more about the social aspect of the online site. The online site stressed the importance of doctor visits and medical advice, but also people could share experiences and opinions that doctors cannot provide. This made people feel supported and hopefully less alone in their struggle.
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