Wednesday, May 2, 2012

It takes a cyber village to raise a cyber child

Dear Mr. Shirky,
When I first read your article the only thing that ran through my mind is how much I dislike working with groups. I know you made a lot of strong points in favor of collaborative projects, however the traumatic instances I had with previous groups continued to run rampant in my mind, until I finished reading your article and actually thought about your argument and the point you were making. The first statement of your article that made me rethink my position on group efforts was in the beginning of your article when you said "collaborative production, where people have to coordinate with one another to get anything done, is considerably harder than simple sharing, but the results can be more profound." I do agree with you on this point because different people add different elements and aspects of themselves, and personal experiences, into any project created. To further example what I mean is that one person's weakness may be another person's strong point. Another beneficial way of working together is that one person may be able to view something from a different aspect than the rest of the group. This is very beneficial and helpful in pin-pointing out errors or anything that can become problematic, however just as this is a positive aspect of collaborative work, it can also be a negative one.

When dealing with a group of people, it should always be taken into consideration that there will be multiple mindsets, multiple views, multiple opinions and of course multiple obstacles. I didn't see you touch upon the trials and tribulations, however we cannot forget that such things exist. The beauty of new media and the Internet is that everyone gets a voice, but I feel as though that can also be a bad thing when it comes to collaborative efforts. I know in your article you reference Wikipedia and the collaborators of that and how they worked together, but what happens when there's more people involved and you have more voices to deal with?

Although you did mention that with Wikipedia it began with a group of people that knew one another, but what happens when you're thrown and forced into a group you didn't create with other people with various views? I feel as though that's where things can get pretty messy. . In Susan Cain's article she poses the same question about group work vs. that of individuals. From what I gathered from Susan's article, and in my opinion, he beauty of new media and vast online outlets is that you can be a team on your own, and you can be your own group. Just a thought.

Ayesha Go.


No comments:

Post a Comment