Lawrence Lessig on the Comedy of the Commons–Ever since I saw Lessig at the I-Law conference at Harvard last year, he’s been one of my heroes. If you haven’t heard him speak, carve out an hour, grab this lecture/discussion on the importance of free culture, go to a quiet space and listen. One of the reasons that I love Lessig’s stuff is because he’s one of those people who can take very complex but important ideas and put them in a way that challenges my brain but in the end, helps me “get it.”

(BTW, just a plug for I-Law which will be held June 22-24 at Harvard this year. Registrations go online March 16, and if there is any way that I can make it, I’m going. Last year’s gathering was by far the most intellectually stimulating experience I have ever had.)

Stephen Downes–Parts 1 and 2 of his Skype interview with Teemu Arina from FLOSSE. The sound quality is bearable at best, but the ideas are very cool, especially in Part 1 where Stephen talks about what he has in store for EduRSS 0.2.
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So most of us bloggers just know that the answer to the above is yes. Especially if most of what we’re doing is blogging in the strictist sense, not journaling, not just linking, but really synthesizing and analyzing what we read. Now we’ve got some real live neuro specialists doctor types who say so as well. (And yes, I did the requisite “can I trust this source?” background check…they seem to have the credentials.)

Here’s the overview:

1) Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking.
2) Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking.
3) Blogs promote analogical thinking.
4) Blogging is a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information.
5) Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.

Some of the detail is interesting as well. Like the fact that

Blogs, with their text-based format, tend to avoid the more manipulative aspects of visually-embedded media.

Which makes me wonder what with the rising tide of media in blogs whether or not we’re far away from Blog TV…

Back-and-forth blog-based exchanges between experts also provide a unique opportunity for young thinkers to witness and evaluate arguments from analogy on an ongoing basis, and to develop their own abilities to think analogically.

Ok…raise your hands. How many of you are having your kids at least read blogs? If not, why not?

It holds enormous potential in education…

Amen to that. It’s nice to think that the “experts” are climbing aboard the blog train these days as well.

(Via Alec Courous)
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