[Xmca-l] Re: Time for a Generational Change

[mike cole]

Hi Anne-Nelly --

The nice thing about the newsletter was that we did not have to put up with
reviewing hassles of the sort discussed on xmca a few days ago. But of
course, it didn't count for careers, so Yrjo pushed us into formal
publications. Ah, for the good old days!  :-))

I tried to reach the Springer article by when I clicked on that link, it
told me that I could pay 39+$ to read it! Lets hope my library can do
better.

mike

On Mon, Oct 24, 2016 at 12:07 PM, PERRET-CLERMONT Anne-Nelly <
Anne-Nelly.Perret-Clermont@unine.ch> wrote:

> Dear Mike,
> For an incredible number of years (34?), I have enjoyed following your
> impulses, seeing growing the network that you created around The Quarterly
> Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition; then came
> your creative socio-technical innovations (yours was the first electronic
> list that I have ever been affiliated to); and MCA, XMCA, etc.
> Many many thanks Mike.
>
> Amitiés,
> Anne-Nelly
>
>
> Prof. em. Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont
> Institut de psychologie et éducation Faculté des lettres et sciences
> humaines
> Université de Neuchâtel
> Espace L. Agassiz 1,  CH- 2000 Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
> http://www2.unine.ch/ipe/publications/anne_nelly_perret_clermont
>
> New
> publication: "Educational settings as interwoven socio-material
> orderings”.Springerhas just offered open access to our recent special
> issue of the European Journal of Psychology of Education - you are welcome
> to take a look & share thislink with colleagues & students:
> http://link.springer.com/journal/10212/31/1/page/1?wt_
> mc=10.CON434.SI_Edu_E
> UPE
>
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of mike cole
> <mcole@ucsd.edu>
> Répondre à : "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> Date : lundi, 24 octobre 2016 19:35
> À : "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>,
> "lchc-l@mailman.ucsd.edu" <lchc-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> Objet : [Xmca-l]  Time for a Generational Change
>
> Hear Yee XMCA -O-Phytes.
>
>
>
> Having removed myself from the active faculty of LCHC which is now in the
> capable hands of Angela Booker and Stephan Tanaka, the time has come for me
> to step back from the doings of MCA and XMCA.  At MCA the new editorial
> team of (in reverse alphabetical order, Jennifer Vadeboncoeur, Bonnie
> Nardi, Victor Kaptelinin, and Natalia Gajdamashko) has taken over as
> editors, and begun the process of carrying the enterprise into a new
> generation. I will remain as a kind of "editor for special projects" for
> the journal and will continue to participate in XMCA.
>
>
>
> But with respect to XMCA it is past time for me to give up what David
> Kellogg has called my "pastoral" role in seeking to coordinate and develop
> discourse focused around provocative articles that appear in the journal.
> The original idea was to provide authors with rapid feedback and public
> recognition instead of having to wait the 2-3 year cycle of replying via an
> authorized journal.
>
>
>
> The reality, as you know, is somewhat different - a mélange of topics that
> intersect, loop back on themselves, and leak out into the semiosphere.
>
>
>
> Luckily, Alfredo Jornet has offered to try his hand at the pastoral role,
> and will be recognized on the journal masthead as *MCA Forum Mediator*.
> Alfredo brings to the task his early career in Spain, his later career in
> Norway, and his present career in Victoria. And all of this international
> experience before has started "his career." Brave soul. Alfredo and the
> editors are considering a variety of options for the future of the journal,
> including importantly, its status as a new medium promoting rapid exchange
> of the news between otherwise isolated scholars with complementary
> interests.
>
>
>
> My participation in xlchc and then xmca has been central to my adult
> education, and I appreciate what I have learned here more than words can
> suffice to explain. There are not so many academic ecologies in the world,
> so enduring those that do spring up seems a worthwhile way to promote its
> reproduction.... keeping in mind Phillip White's reminder that the future
> of development is not predictable at the level of everyday experience.
>
>
>
> As I see it, there are two major failures in this effort over the years.
> The first is the enormous imbalance in the gender representation of the
> participants. With a few periods where the exceptions ended up proving the
> rule, female voices have been conspicuously absent. Academic "guy talk" has
> dominated. Understanding and, if possible, re-mediating that sad set of
> circumstances seems like a major task for the future.
>
>
>
> Second, MCA discourse does not accumulate. The discussions are more like
> chaining than the development of new concepts. As in the Sakharov -
> Vygotsky blocks experiment, we talk about green triangles then blue
> triangles then blue squares, each a legitimate line of inquiry, but
> constantly changing criteria/topics as we go. Every once in a while we
> ascend to the level of pseudo-concepts (these are the cases that evoke the
> most controversy it seems to me). My fond hope is that Alfredo and our
> sometimes engaged tech gurus will provide a more supportive environment for
> the creation of "truce concepts" -- agreement on a broad set of
> principles/empirical embodiments and a research program that identifies the
> limits of the theory and the most fruitful lines of inquiry.
>
>
>
> Thus spake
>
> mike
>
>
>