http://www.pnas.org/content/107/12/5334.full

This essay by Christakis and Fowler (co-authors of the fascinating book Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape us, looks briefly at how cooperative work is contagious. This has ramifications for forming a culture of cooperation in our classes, assuming that cooperative behaviors online are not substantially different from other forms of social community (a big if, of course).

Johnson's thesis draws on infant psychology to show how we never stop being babies in the way we fundamentally relate to the world through our bodies, which is the generator of all meaning. Meaning is fundamentally an aesthetic and kinesthetic.

This book is a few years old, but I read it last week for the first time. I agree with original NYTimes reviewer, who says the arguments of ths book seems both obvious and novel at the same time. Christakis and Fowler show the power of our connectedness--and give some practical examples of how this does (and does not) work in virtual space.