A Discussion on Audrey Watter’s article “Why ‘A Domain of One’s Own’ Matters (For the Future of Knowledge)”
Those issues of the internet that are the most general, permeate into all corners and sections of the internet – least of all educational platforms and technologies. The general themes can quite easily and logically be rephrased to specifically address the technologies of VLEs.
Watters seems very much concerned about these issues, but also outlines both their cause and, simultaneously, their remedy. For her, these issues stem from a lack of transparency and understanding of internet technologies and the inevitable passiveness of using them. The original purpose, as she sees of the internet, was the open sharing of information and collaboration on knowledge-building. To once again participate in these purposes, scholars must be involved in the actual creation of the VLEs that they are using to share and collaborate in.
Overall, Watters seems to assert that the internet is much more radical than the sum of its parts. Its issues and its potentials are far deeper than the mere outline of them. They impact the very formation of knowledge and the expression of identity. To be a passive user in an online “silo” is to lack the perspective to see outside of that silo.
@ambensmith
