The midden

George Siemens’ new book is available for purchase on Amazon and Lulu. It is also available as a PDF download. Images from the book are also available through a Flickr photoset. The whole book is also available as a wiki which readers can freely edit.

The book is in 2 sections. In section 1, An exploration of Theoretical Views of Knowing and Learning, Siemens examines the ways in which knowledge has changed; from categorization and hierarchies, to networks and ecologies. These hierarchies that are embedded in our organisations are the barriers to change and adaptation, and promote a one-way flow model: the newspaper publishes, we consume; the teacher instructs, we learn; the news is broadcast, we listen. The impact of these changes on organisations is significant in everything from how the organisation is structured and marketed, to how it runs meetings and decides on agenda items.

An alternative model, built around networks and ecologies, and enabled by the rise of social, end-user tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and social bookmarking, allows new methods of information connection, and back-flow to the original source.

Siemens then goes on to look at learning, its relationship with knowledge, and Connectivism (a theory describing how learning takes place in the digital world. He argues that learning has changed from the traditional transmission model (learning as courses) to the learning driven by the constant activity of our life and work. This accretion model involves the learner foraging for knowledge where and when it is needed.

In section 2, Changes and Implications, Siemens goes on to describe change and its implications for individuals and organisations. The individual now has more control, more capacity to create and connect than any time in history. This, in turn, leads to an increased capacity to collaborate, to co-create and to experience a two-way flow of knowledge sharing and dissemination.

An excellent discussion on the changing nature of knowledge and learning in the digital age. Highly recommended.

Cover

Originally uploaded by gsiemens.