Sorting the wheat from the chaff

There has been discussion recently about whether or not blog comments should be moderated. Some maintain an 'open for all' policy, and allow any comments to be posted on their blog. They do so for a number of reasons. Some wish to make posting comments as easy as possible, and want their blog to be as welcoming as it can be. Others do not have the time to moderate all the comments that are posted to their site. It's a very democratic approach.

Several years ago, I took the decision to moderate comments on my own blog, not because I'm undemocratic, but because there are two kinds of comment I will not allow to be published. The first kind are comments that come from people who will be politely referred to as 'trolls'. Trolls post hateful, destructive, off-topic and inflammatory comments, because they enjoy provoking emotional responses and upsetting others. You can imagine how heart breaking that kind of comment could be for children who are blogging. In the UK, under the Communications Act of 2003 it is an offence to send messages that are of grossly offensive, obscene, indecent or menacing character. Two recent court cases have resulted in internet trolls being successfully prosecuted and sentenced to prison. For whatever reasons these individuals post such comments, I don't want that kind of content on my blog, so I usually screen for them, and delete them if I receive them. I dealt with one of my own personal trolls several years ago by openly writing about them here in Dear eLearning 101.

The second reason I moderate my blog comments is due to the increase in spam comments that are coming through, sometimes several each day. This blog currently has an average of 125,000 visitors each month, so the spam messages can be frequent. You can easily recognise most spam messages because they are sychophantic and painfully complimentary, sometimes very bland, and often written in appallingly bad English. They always contain at least one hyperlink. The example (above) is a fairly clear cut case of some sad person desperately trying to get people to click on their links. Who knows what the links contain? They could take you to dodgy sites or open you up for a virus attack.

I don't want these comments on my blog for a number of reasons. I don't want my readers exposed to dangerous links that may infect their computers with a virus or subject them to hacking. Secondly, I only want relevant and useful comments to appear on my blog. Anyone who wishes to comment constructively on my blog is very welcome to do so, but I won't accept spurious or irrelevant contributions. Finally, look at the example below - probably one of the most subtle spam comments I have received recently. Note that there are two hyperlinks, almost invisible in the post. Can you spot them?

Now you know why I screen all the comments submitted to this blog. I want to promote great discussions here, but to do so, I occasionally have to sort the wheat from the chaff. Do you moderate your blog comments, and if so why?



Sorting the wheat from the chaff by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.

Always asking questions

Always asking questions. That's how children learn. They wonder about something and ask a question. Why is the sky blue? Where did I come from? (Are we there yet?) Parents of small children will tell you that sometimes, the incessant 'why?' questions their kids ask drive them mad. When children arrive at the school gates, do teachers encourage them to keep asking questions? Hopefully, in most cases, the entire experience is about asking questions. But the curriculum often militates against good question times. It is so stuffed full of unnecessary content, there is far too little time left for teachers to help children to frame their questions. They must make time, because the bloated curriculum shows no signs of going away just yet. Questioning is far too important to gloss over or push into a corner. Give the kids time to ask questions.

We should be wary about giving too many easy answers though. If you have to give answers, give ones that prompt more questions. As the author Nancy Willard once said: 'Sometimes questions are more important than answers.' Teachers also need to listen closely to children's questions. A misunderstood question can lead to answers that are damaging. Take a read of this account on Pay Attention at the Front.

What about when we grow older? Do we still continue to ask questions? Often, we have learnt that asking questions can sometimes be socially unacceptable. We may have learnt from bad experiences that asking questions can make us look stupid. 'I know this is a stupid question, but...' we start, apologetically ... when we can actually summon up the courage to externalise our doubts about something. Lack of knowledge isn't stupidity. Not asking the question when you have the chance - that's stupidity. The old Chinese proverb says: He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question is a fool forever. I usually give plenty of time for questions and dialogue during my lectures, presentations and workshops, whoever the audience is. It gives time for everyone to assimilate new things and to consolidate their understanding. Who cares if there are arguments or disagreements? That is all part of the (dialectical) process of learning.

I decided many years after bad experiences in school, where some teachers ignored or ridiculed my questions, that I would redress the balance. I took a conscious decision to force myself to ask questions, because I was tired of listening to presentations and then going away without clarification on the finer points. I didn't want to stay ignorant one moment longer. Now, when I sit in a public presentation, and I don't understand something the speaker has said, I ask them to elaborate. It's not a sign of weakness to say you don't understand. The sign of weakness is not asking the question you should have asked. As I have gained confidence, I have discovered that arguing with others, can open up and challenge ideas and help everyone to form their own deeper knowledge of the field. I have even been known to conspire with speakers beforehand to publicly challenge them and ask controversial questions during plenary sessions. It can certainly liven up a discussion.

'Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning' - Albert Einstein.

Image source by Mark Klotz


Always asking questions by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The ripple effect

Anyone who is interested in the social media phenomenon would be very interested to read this from Abday Adhikari, writing in the Guardian:


Every time we publish information on the internet, we are effectively starting a conversation, because people can respond or react to it. However, we are also speaking to a vast, unknown audience and it is easy to get lost in the crowd.


Adhikari is right of course. Anything that is posted on the social web can be seen and read by others, but can also spread more widely than it could by the sole efforts of the author. Those involved in this dissemination can be producers as well as consumers of the content, but as James Slevin (2002) suggests, the basis is almost always dialogical in nature. That is why social networking tools are so powerful and if used appropriately, can have such a positive impact on learning. Much of what we learn, we learn within a social context, through dialogue. We synthesise our beliefs, knowledge and understanding of the world through constant exposure to the ideas of others. Our own views can be modified if others are convincing enough, but we in turn also have the power to persuade others. This process of negotiation often changes individuals, but can sometimes change an entire community, as new collective meaning emerges from the dialogue. A 'wisdom of the crowd' emerges, as each individual member of the network applies his or her own personal expertise and tacit, specific knowledge to solve a generic problem (Surowiecki, 2009)

The power of the network resides not only in the sheer strength of its numbers, but also in its public reach. Howard Rheingold makes an important point when he declares that everyone who wants to be, is on the stage, all are in the audience, and everyone can be a critic (Rheingold, 1993). Most importantly though, the potency of the network is often experienced most visibly in its ability to adapt or change its focus. This process occurs through large numbers of sustained discussions between individual members within a network, and then spreads outward in a gradually activating wave like ripples from a stone cast into a pond. Shirky (2008) says that we now have communication tools that are flexible enough to match our social capabilities. We are susceptible to force of the ripple effect, but direction changes can be made if the network requires them. We can take any number of pathways, but essentially, as those pathways become well trodden, they strengthen and provide more value to the network (see Clark, 2003).

When we post content to the social web we are performing our ideas to a vast and unseen audience. We create the opportunity for dialogue. We increase the likelihood for conversation. I don't know who will read this. But what I do know, is that anyone who reads this and has further ideas or alternative perspectives is free to post their comments to this blog for all to see. Who responds next is up for grabs. It might be me, but sometimes, someone else may get in first to offer their support, rebuttal or alternative comments. That is what makes the social web such a fertile place for the creation of good ideas, and re-negotiation of meaning, but also for conjecture, speculation, rumour trading, and a whole host of other distributed thinking. Some of it is to be avoided, but there is also a treasure trove of great ideas and content out there just waiting to be found, discussed and repurposed. Social media amplify and spread ideas, much further than the reach of any single producer, and I know this: The power of this ripple effect will inevitably increase as networks strengthen, and extend their reach.

References
Clark, A. (2003) Natural Born Cyborgs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rheingold, H. (1993) The Virtual Community. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Shirky, C. (2008) Here Comes Everybody. London: Penguin.
Slevin, J. (2002) The Internet and Society. London: Polity Press.
Surowiecki, J. (2009) The Wisdom of Crowds. London: Abacus.

Image by Seriu Bacioiu



The ripple effect by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.