Return-Path: <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f7QFXZf00943; Sun, 26 Aug 2001 11:33:35 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 11:33:35 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <3B89149B.2BE27625@strato.net> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: hforster <hforster@strato.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:576] Re: Habermas & Internet X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win98; I) Status: O Content-Length: 5095 Lines: 111 I have used Habermas's Communicative Action in some community negotiations and have found it to be very effective. I feel that there is a place for this within a discussion community on the internet. My present interest is much broader than Habermas. I have been working on the development of a brain-oriented technique for reading. It is my opinion that this work can be brought into an internet community in the context of open systems, open software, free software, etc. To do this successfully requires an understanding of the law of the code as popularized by Lawrence Lessig. This extends into the laws imposed by the software used to power the site. With these as a backgound I next come to the dynamics of internet communities. This is Habermas, Maslow, and many of the Open Systems writers who are less well known to the general public. I am still in the stage of data gathering which I do by observing several lists. I have learned how important the constitution of the list is to its success. Constitution is used here with two meanings. The first is related to the constitutional rules of the list and the by-laws of its operation. These can be formal or informal and to some extent implicit and assumed from other sources. I have found that the constitution of the list membership is critical. The open and free nature of internet communities creates a level of democracy that is well beyond anything that we have known before. It makes obvious the need for good leadership. I can say at this time that the reason I am following the Adult Literacy lists is because of the very positive properties that they are showing. I attribute this to both the general composition of the membership and the leadership. Open Systems is a concept that has much to offer to those who are not in the center of the mainstream economic and social systems. The earliest basic form of the concept opens the restrictive nature of the intelectual property laws for computer software. This fosters individual rights to access and modify products. In other applications it opens the development process to the general public. The indications are that this leads to better products faster. There have been efforts to expand the concept to other areas such as publications, etc. The most successful efforts have been those that parallel the software efforts. My observations indicate that there is a basic symbiotic relationship between the Open Systems movement and conventional capitalism. The most obvious are the transformations that have come in companies such as IBM, Oracle, and Netscape. It is interesting that the defense and security portions of the U.S. governemnt are also moving into this culture for research, development, and deployment. I know that I will be using open systems in the reading area as soon as I can understand what and how. "GEORGE E. DEMETRION" wrote: > On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 17:22:00 -0400 (EDT) hforster <hforster@strato.net> > writes: > >George > > > >Thank you very much for this lead. One of the reasons I have > >followed you in the various lists is because of my interest in > understanding > >community building and communicative action in the internet. This is a > very > >interesting subject and one I hope there will be follow-up to. If you > plan > >to discuss this elsewhere please let me know. > > > >I am not now in my office where my notes and materials are, but I > >look forward to this subject, > > > >Thanks again > >Harry Forster > > > Harry: > > Thanks very much for the comments. I didn't have anything particular in > mind here except to pass on an interesting note. Perhaps you might share > some of your observations about your interests in this issue. > > My take is that the potential is quite phenomenal, though usually > underdeveloped. > > My own use of this format is simply another avenue to writing to > complement academic journal essays, local, program-wide writing, and > personal journaling. > > Though, in addition, what I do like about this medium in particular, is > its immediacy and its capacity to raise and explore a wide range of > critical, sometimes even, disturbingly provocative issues within a very > visible public sector. The recent flurry on NALS on this list, the NLA > and others, is an example. > > I do believe that provocation, in the best sense of the word, is a viable > and valuable dimension of listserv communication. I also believe that > perhaps a quieter building of community is also a quite legitimate use of > such airwaves. I don't see these as mutually exclusive. > > With you, I am quite interested in the NIFL lists in particular as a > discourse system where the politics and pedagogy of adult literacy > converge through the multitudinous voices of practitioners all across the > land of literacy. > > It would be eminently cool if someone sorted all this out and wrote a > book on this. > > Just a bit of meandering on a slow, muggy August eve, just minutes before > my date to watch Biography on A&E. > > Whose next? > > George Demetrion
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