- The New Yorker : Google’s Moon Shot
- Quote: Google intends to scan every book ever published, and to make the full texts searchable, in the same way that Web sites can be searched on the company’s engine at google.com. At the books site, which is up and running in a beta (or testing) version, at books.google.com, you can enter a word or phrase—say, Ahab and whale—and the search returns a list of works in which the terms appear, in this case nearly eight hundred titles, including numerous editions of Herman Melville’s novel. Clicking on “Moby-Dick, or The Whale†calls up Chapter 28, in which Ahab is introduced. You can scroll through the chapter, search for other terms that appear in the book, and compare it with other editions. Google won’t say how many books are in its database, but the site’s value as a research tool is apparent; on it you can find a history of Urdu newspapers, an 1892 edition of Jane Austen’s letters, several guides to writing haiku, and a Harvard alumni directory from 1919.
- Note: Nothing earth shattering here, but this New Yorker article gives some depth to Google’s pursuits. Must reading for educators, I think, who want to get their brains around the changes and stresses that are occuring. Personally, I hope Google is able to make this happen. – post by willrich
- Quote: We should not reduce the value of participatory culture to its products rather than its process. Consider, for a moment, all of the arts and creative writing classes being offered at schools around the world. Consider, for example, all of the school children being taught to produce pots. We don’t do this because we anticipate that very many of them are going to grow up to be professional potters. In fact, most of them are going to produce pots that look like lopsided lumps of clay only a mother could love (though it does say something about how we value culture that many of them do get cherished for decades). We do so because we see a value in the process of creating something, of learning to work with clay as a material, or what have you. There is a value in creating, in other words, quite apart from the value attached to what we create. And from that perspective, the expansion of who gets to create and share what they create with others is important even if none of us produces anything beyond the literary equivalent of a lopsided lump of clay that will be cherished by the intended recipient (whether Mom or the fan community) and nobody else. –Henry Jenkins
Note: Really interesting post that gives a number of defenses of the potential of participatory culture, many of which I find especially relevant from an education stance. – post by willrich
I think that despite how you feel about the content of books being made available online, it seems that it will be an inevitability. I know Google is trying to make books search-able, which isn’t the same thing, but I think these publishers need to adjust their business plans to accommodate for these inevitable shifts.
Assignment…
Compare and contrast blogs and clay pots.
As Mr. Henry Jenkins stated so nicely, “There is a value in creating, in other words, quite apart from the value attached to what we create. And from that perspective, the expansion of who gets to create and share what they create with others is important even if none of us produces anything beyond the literary equivalent of a lopsided lump of clay that will be cherished by the intended recipient (whether Mom or the fan community) and nobody else.â€
Finally! Another way for me to convince others that the investment of time with the Web 2.0 tools is important for our students and our teachers. My passion is obvious, and that has brought a few people along with me. The art of critically reading and writing are needed so that has brought along a few more Web 2.0 users. The technology is not a barrier, and that has enticed folks to begin using the tools as well. BUT, I am always hearing about the lack of time. We make time to make clay pots. Why not use blogs and Wikis in the classroom?
Time is not an issue in my mind anymore. Teachers and kids need to participate in critical reading and writing. Our data shows that our skills are weak in critical reading and writing, our teachers say our kids are weak in critical reading and writing, and our international colleagues are no longer looking at us as the super power. This investment of time using Web 2.0 tools is along those lines of the clay pots. No, we do not see everyone as a master of clay pots, nor will we see everyone as a master of blogs and Wikis.
Schools are providing time for kids to make the clay pots. All of my friends who are parents have the lovely ashtray/paperclip holder on their desks at home. I even have a few of those pottery items from when I was a kid. Are schools providing time for blogging? Most teachers that I work with will agree that they are not bloggers and still really do not understand the idea behind blogging. They will tell me that students read and write in our schools, but I am not seeing blogs and Wikis as embedded part of our work in education. (I know I need patience.) It makes me wonder about the reading and writing. There is some good writing happening in school districts, but I would love to have more teachers invest one to two hours a week tackling responses to blogs themselves, personally, not in classrooms with kids, but participating in collegial conversations about the art and science of teaching or anything that they enjoy. If they participate themselves, will they see the value of writing on a blog? I think so.
No doubt! Blogging is work. I am sitting on my couch investing a great deal of time writing and trying to sound intelligent, trying to develop a stream of thoughts into a coherent paragraph or two or more. This creative process is the same amount of effort for me when making the clay pots. Being a writer (and an artist) requires practice. I recently helped score some 6th grade ELA exams. What I found intriguing is that kids have sound opinions, and they stated those opinions pretty well, but when it came to supporting their thoughts, they struggled. Yes, they are 6th graders! HOWEVER, I think about the act of blogging. How easily this ties with their assessments and the day-to-day curriculum in New York State. Think about it. I am writing down some thoughts, trying to support my thinking on a choice that I have made. This is not an easy task for anyone.
I wish that blogging and making clay pots would come easier for me. I wish that I could sit down and easily put my thoughts on paper and whip up a clay pot or two on a snowy day. That requires some practice. I am practicing blogging; I will not be a master blogger or a master artisan, but both tie nicely into our curriculum. What is even better is both are engaging and exciting for kids. How fun it is to give Mom or Dad that clay pot? How proud I become when someone reads my blog and responds? That is so much better than giving my teacher some writing to be graded. What fun would it be to turn in the clay pot, get a grade, and toss it into the book bag never to be seen again? This happens every day with essays. The comments and responses on handwritten essays are minimal to what we might find on the web. How awesome would it be to have my peers read my ELA essay and comment back on it? My teacher can still grade it, but now I am going to get some quality feedback from peers. (Of course, think about that. This is not about the feedback of ‘good job, excellent, or try again.†This is about a real person responding to my thoughts. It is not a critique of my work, but rather someone giving their opinion about something that I have written. Think of the rigorous instruction that this requires to teach kids to critically read and respond.)
So, we need to make a decision. What is worth the time?
(On a side note, I hated making clay pots. I don’t plan on making any in the future. I know a few good artisans who make exactly what my mind would make if my hands would choose to agree. But, thank you, to my art teachers for allowing me to practice the craft and recognize quality when I see it!)
On Google books….I can’t help wondering what the reaction was when the first public library opened – the birthplace of open source. Were publishers stirred up then because people would be able to read their works for free (if you don’t count taxes)?