I read the instructions to "mark up" the lesson plan as an invitation to write notes throughout the text. At first, I was not sure how to do this because it seemed that the marks I was making were blending into the rest of the document (and would have created a very nonlinear document, but also not accessible document). I then decided to change the font color to blue and highlight passages that I was marking. Because I could not tell which marks past collaborators made, I was wondering what this addition to the process might mean -- and if I was making the best choice. One thing I have noticed about critique and exchange in on-line environments is that I rarely know the person with whom I am collaborating. This is a very different process for me. I makes me more aware of how the comment might come across, how my tone might be interpreted, and makes me concerned that the collaboration could have a negative impact on the author. Because I value critiques that are generative, I am not sure how to resolve this. I think collaborating on lesson plans through a wiki could be a wonderful tool for teachers who have had personal introductions and established some trust with each other. I don't have any concerns about people changing suggestions I make on another person's work. In fact, I like that. Perhaps because it removes some of the responsibiltiy of how my words could affect another =). When it is my own work -- well, not every piece needs a collaboration, and not every stage of a work is ready for a collaboration. It can actually be liberating to let go of the control of a piece ... perhaps the complicated part is how we value other's remarks. Do we think everyone has something worthwhile to say about every topic? What happens when ideas we do not value show up on the ideas we've initiated?

Ayiti: the Cost of Life was an engaging game. The game asks the player to select a strategy, and I selected "happiness". I wanted to work to keep the family happy. Brian asks us to consider Steven Johnson's comment "Honeslty, I doubt that video games are capable of dealing with psychological depth at all..." I am surprised to report that I did feel the game accessed some of this depth. Each character had a happiness, health, education meter. Working someone harder for a longer period of time leads to decreased happiness and illness. There are difficult choices and sacrifices that have to be made. It is interesting to consider who the gamer is selecting to sacrifice and why (the father because he is the eldest male? the young daughter? etc.) I played this game with my husband and it provided a unique opportunity to talk about our own beliefs regarding health, happiness, work and family. I find video games very addicting. This is a major drawback for me. I played this game over and over trying to beat my previous "score" -- which was the happiness and success of the family. How do we deal with this quality of video games in education?

Mission: Migration is a useful game to teach players how their choices (specifically how they take care of their property) can help birds migrate. The experiential quality of a game is engaging. (I do not find this game addictive because it is easy to master -- and doesn't have new information to learn.) Younger children may enjoy this game more than older children -- the game is simple and repetitive, and teaches the same lesson. I would use this game in combination with a movie such as "Winged Migration" and perhaps a community project such as building and installing bird baths, feeders, or distributing literature on the dangers of pesticides. I am thinking of recommending this site to a local nature arts center.

I am curious about the space between the "industrial age" and the "digital / information age" in our system of education. What happens as we imagine trying to change? The pros seem to be moments that are opening up during the regular public school day (even during NCLB and testing) that are allowing for new ideas. Charter schools were intended to be "hot beds of innovation" that could bring new ideas back to our public schools. Perhaps the charter school can reconfigure itself to exist as a program within the public school. A branch that can try out new technologies and ideas within a community of public school students and teachers. The benefits seem to be the possibility of a time to try out new ideas and experiment at the local level. I think the community model demonstrated in these social networking applications will be interesting to consider in developing school policy for the 21st century. To me, it seems misguided if the ideas for educational change in the 21st century comes from a team of "experts."

I agree with you about wanting to make the most of this first life. I do wonder if we can separate these lives, or if the distinctions will become academic.

self identifies as female -- also, my experience with male identity makes it difficult to imagine a man saying "no one will love the body that I left behind"

Is this written in blood? I can't quite decipher the words, but am assuming a scrawled secret written in blood involves thoughts of death.Is this a female-gender or male-gender characteristic? This one is the hardest for me to call.

sounds like a male-gendered fantasy -- the size of the exclamation point, and the care taken with the design of the words on the page suggests to me that this person understands what he is saying

Trusting users as co-developers

Harnessing collective intelligence

Requires social interaction (Buffington, 2008, p.36) Free availability to anyone with Internet access (Buffington, 2008, p. 36)

Does this intersect with collage? It seems to adopt similar principles. In some ways, this reminds me of Tristan Tzara's dada forms with realist content. In the exhibit last semester at PSU, it was suggested that collage emerges during times of political uncertainty.

What conditions allowed our society to make this shift? Who is being affected by this?

This is a different history of the dot-coms than I have heard before. Interesting.

Wikipedia: "A meme is a popular neologism for the term cultural trait; that is, a learned thought, feeling, or behavior..."

I've been interested in how Google can function as a model for nonprofit arts associations. I am curious how this is / isn't re-envisioning consumerism. The third paragraph in this section lays out some possibilities to translate into nonprofit arts.