hopeful monsters
I said 'I think they might also be what are called "hopeful monsters".'
She said ' What are hopeful monsters?'
I said ' They are things born perhaps slightly before their time; when it's not known if the environment is quite ready for them." Nicolas Mosley, Hopeful Monsters, p.71
So begins John Laws' book A sociology of monsters.
It has me thinking of hopeful monsters I have born as well as ones I have been close to.
They are hungry beasts filled with anguish.
17 years ago I go gave birth to a megalomaniac, and she has persevered with me in adjusting to her from demanding infant terrible to beautiful young lady. Happy Birthday!
Other monsters birthed included a radical rewriting of a part of a curriculum related to the learning of mental health nursing. Might have been cutting edge; there was blood on the floor.
And monsters I am close to; the birthing of a new papers for 1200 students at a time.
I'm currently in an online course CCK08 which is for thousands so maybe I will learn how, or at least not go in to the planned one quite so innocently.
Plus am invited to help YL write guideline for moving into instant messaging as a means for counseling.
Today I begin reading Law's (1991) A sociology of monsters; Essays on power, technology and domination.
Tongue in cheek, but perhaps connectivism learning theory is a hopeful monster.
ReplyDeleteTo stabilize the theory further would need to align/enrol more actors in the belief system. George Siemens and Stephen Downes have certainly done this in a phenomenal way; inviting thousands globally, connected onto a free or pay (and be eligible for credit) uni paper. As a case in power and domination, the developers of such theory need to be able to detach people from previously attached beliefs, to capture their attention, attach them or at least align them, in exploring this educational theory, have the technology domesticated and user friendly, convince a University to host this, and sustain the collaborative endeavour involved in this huge 12 week performance. wow. And they concurrently have enough space in their lives to do discussion forums day and night as well as present at efest nz. Ontological politics at play. Truly awesome.
Having looked at such heterogenous semiotics might also assist us in understanding how some hopeful monsters ' scarcely look like monsters at all...'
NB this hopeful monster analogy is not intended with any derision, it is the collage of a new entity.