Oh Mr. Gee, such an idealist! I wonder how the weather is up there on your high horse?
I don't know why I've got my back up after reading his two posts...I agree with pretty much everything he's saying about the current state of education.
Money is ruining education and it shouldnt be. Universities shouldnt be job training. High school should suffice for employers. You tell em sister! But as long as we're talking about things that shouldnt be. Well, Paris Hilton shouldnt be famous and children shouldnt be starving in Africa and I should be married to a rich supermodel who wants nothing more than to support me.Why does the ideal world elude me?!
I think perhaps why I've got my back up is because Gee is condemning what I'm living through right now.
It's all well and good to question the system, but c'mon Mr.Gee! We haven't had a say in the design of the education system. We've just been a product of it and we still need employment afterwards. So, I'm sorry but I still believe that what universities do and teach must be applicable to todays society. Sad as that is. Unfortunately it's not an ideal world we live in. Your time has past, you're in a wonderfully secure position where you can criticise and lament the fact that university is a bunch of useless hooey detracting from the overall state of academia and human knowledge.
Honestly, even as I'm taking issue with the postings I realize it's ridiculas because to such a large extent I do agree. And I understand that it's useful to question. And people should be educated for a love of education and knowledge.
I think perhaps he's come across a little bit elitest to me? I dont know what it is. But I know I'm sufficiently torn.
As for tagging in museums ... I understand the appeal. You can draw people in, they become more invested and have a deeper experience. But this seems so very dangerous to me! Simon did make a note of trolls and I was extremely happy to see that in her article. But despite this recognition she seemed to gloss over it. Saying ah, well... it's not as big a deal as you'd think.
Madam, I am going to sabotage every interactive museum piece I can. Irrelevant and offensive tags all day long. Because that's what trolls do and they delight in it.
I'm a jerk, I shouldnt have access to metadata.
And if the solution is to screen the user input... doesn't that just negate all of the openness and accessibility appeal? People don't like doing things that are pointless (in general) so if they realize that the time they spend tagging things might not be used in anyway they are far less likely to become engaged. And what about the stupid or pointless tags that will sure result from well intentioned but less insightful patrons? If you decide to remove them have you not just alienated those who contributed those tags? Or even those who might have had similar reactions or ideas for a tag but did not themselves tag? To allow that access and interactivity only to revoke it could potentially be more damaging than to have never allowed user input in the first place.
What of professionalization? The curators and archivists and catalougers? Are we just saying eff em? Applying web 2.0 concepts beyond the computer screen? Anarchy! I understand that curators are fast becoming obsolete but let's not insult their profession before we throw them out onto the street!
Me to we, personalized experiences and deeper engagement.. I'm all for. But we should be wary how we accomplish these things. There has to be a better way than letting the general public screw with metadata.
As Simon says in her conclusion 'it's a trust decision' and that's why I think it's so scary. I know that there are people like me out there who take great pleasure in duping the unwary and overly trusting.
What's that thing they say about bad apples?... The troll will always prevail.
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