As Rhizo15 leaves the week about content (obviously I was not paying attention), I feel obligated to be the voice at the back of the (now empty) room saying, “But I like content!”
I love it. I’m the kid who sat on the floor reading the encyclopedia. I’m the student who got thrown out of the library when it closed. I’m the one looking up studies on the internet. I love content. All content. The expression of human knowledge, going back for centuries. Give it to me. In books, online, in text, on video. I want it all.
Why do we diss content in favor of connections? I like connections, I learn from them, but only when I bring something to the table. What do I bring? What do my students bring? Understanding of, or questions about, content. Content is what we’ve read, seen, heard.
Let’s not remove content – please don’t take it away. If we do that, we’ll all be connecting and communicating, but about what? About connecting and communicating? I like information – it gives me something to argue about.
Say, all these Rhizo15 tweets and posts I’m reading – they’re content! The product of other people’s minds, set out for me to absorb/enjoy/dispute/misunderstand. We create content, we share it, we respond and the response is more content.
I’ve MOOCed and rhizomed and connected and I still love content. The content we’ve inherited, the content we’re given, the content we discover, and the content we make.
Hi Lisa,
I don’t think the prompt for this week was saying that content is bad – it was saying content is people!
If I may….
“I love it. I’m the kid who sat on the floor reading the encyclopedia (which was written by people often about people). I’m the student who got thrown out of the library when it closed (which is filled with resources created by people). I’m the one looking up studies (written by people) on the internet (this dives into the container vs the content discussion but – maintained by people). I love content (me too). All content (… is people). The expression of human (yes yes that part) knowledge, going back for centuries. Give it to me. In books (people), online (people), in text (people), on video (people). I want it all.”
When you connect with content you are connecting with people.
Agreed! And you may!
Hi Lisa – You’re not alone, I like content too and I like connections. Interestingly many of the connections and conversations signpost me to content, links to papers, books, videos, audio etc. Some of the content I end up engaging with I wouldn’t have come across were it not for the new connections and conversations with individuals in different disciplines. I’m two blog posts behind on Rhizo15 but enjoying reading everyone else’s posts 🙂
Yes, connections and conversations are great ways to find more content. 😉
Natalie, I don’t think there is such a thing as “behind” in Rhizo15. The conversations keep reverberating.
I love this dialogue, concise, precise, and truly Mobius. I lurk in the shadows of Rhizo 15, sticking my head out now and again on Twitter. This week’s content discussion had been fun and thought provoking. Upon reflection, I suppose I would say that content is dynamic and need not be mandated by one person’s (or group’s) perspective as, like life, learning is subjective. The more connections, the more converstation, the better the questions.