Module 3: Collaboration

I do believe that humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group. One can observe children (and even adults) who do not know each other, placed in a room together, who will naturally gravitate toward each other for social interaction. It does not necessarily mean that they will work cooperatively or interact appropriately, but it illustrates that by human nature we gravitate toward one another. According to James Fowler (2005), “Human beings frequently cooperate with genetically unrelated strangers whom they will never meet again, even when such cooperation is individually costly” (pg. 7047).
In his video Way-new Collaboration, Howard Rheingold made a strong case regarding the nature of and the natural evolution of collective knowledge in our society. With advances in technology and the implementation of Web 2.0 technologies, the internet is no longer a one-way giver of information. The flow of information and constructed knowledge has the potential to flow two ways as well as to branch out into further tributaries. In true constructivist form, the Web 2.0 user takes the information and reconstructs the knowledge by making sense of it based upon his/her own experiences. This knowledge then flows back into collaborative spaces (like social networks, wikis, blogs, etc.) and is processed and reconstructed by another user with different experiences and different perspectives. However, in that process other users who are in the network of the original user take that knowledge and reconstruct it based upon their unique perspectives. It is quite probable that the original piece of information has become transformed into an entirely new piece of knowledge with the process ready to cycle on. As George Siemens (2006) says, “The end of a process is a product. Our internet-era knowledge is no longer suitable as a product-we can continue to revise, connect, and alter indefinitely” (pg. 53).

Fowler, James H. (2005). Altruistic punishment and the origin of cooperation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(19), 7047-7049. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 836453451).

Siemens, George. (2006). Knowing knowledge. ISBN 978-1-4303-0230-8. A Creative Commons licensed version is available online at http://www.elearnspace.org/KnowingKnowledge_LowRes.pdf.