posted response to my missive from earlier. I thought I'd respond to
the online post.
Derrel Fincher from the Taipei American School has made an impassioned
plea to pull "the plug to a public 'blog' and RSS feed that puts all
of our efforts out of context." Along the way, Mr. Fincher cites some
of my online writings as indications that I believe "the private good
just didn't matter." I guess I have a difficult time seeing much that
is private about a listserv which is archived at a major university,
accessible to all, and published under a Creative Commons license;
having said that, I understand the notion of private and public are
(a) under attack in today's hyperactive and hypertexted world and (b)
a matter of perspective in the first place. This discussion is not
just taking place here, but across the world. For my recent thoughts
about a sliver of this discussion, see "Flattening the World: The 4th
Force," a post at
In truth, however, I suspect that Mr. Fincher and I share more beliefs
than he lets on. Like him, I believe that one task of educators to
prepare our students for "a world we can't envision"
(http://www.derrel.net/resume/resume.htm). And, like him, I believe
that technology allows us to extend the community we build inside
organizations, to communicate and collaborate with each other no
matter the time or the space, and to tap into some collective form of
knowledge (http://www.derrel.net/reflect/me.htm). And, it is clear
that Mr. Fincher is a believer in online tools, having looked -- from
a fairly robust perspective -- at online collaboration and
communication in the classroom
(http://www.derrel.net/omaet/arp/report.htm).
Perhaps our difference then is more about the method than the action?
Mr. Fincher notes, "This kerfuffle could all have been avoided by you
starting the conversation." Indeed. I did post about the
transaction; granted it was after the fact. That post didn't receive
a single response on the list; I now know there were off-line
conversations. There also had been a couple of comments a year ago
about porting the conversation on the listserv to an RSS feed. They
were fairly innocuous, but there was then at least some support and no
voices opposed.
As to my snarkyness on my personal blog: guilty. And fairly routine. ;-)
I think that's it for now. I appreciated Mr. Fincher's response, and
I'm particularly flattered to be named a "revolutionary" and to be
compared to Martin Luther and America's founding fathers. I don't
deserve such praise, as faint as it might actually be.
I look forward to the continuing conversation and whippings (as morale
has yet to improve). As before, you can respond off-line
(pastinson@gmail.com) or here to the list.
Peace,
/s/ Peter
P.S. Mr. Fincher, I hope you take Collabucators back up; I've added
that feed to my reader and look forward to more of your insight.
--
"Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis."
~~ Nicholas Borbonius
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
~~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
