Re: Why Lurk...

From: Mike Cole (lchcmike@gmail.com)
Date: Mon Apr 04 2005 - 16:22:51 PDT


Development as breaking away, David. :-)
mike

On Apr 4, 2005 2:06 PM, David Preiss <davidpreiss@puc.cl> wrote:
>
> It is strange, as a (relative) young participant, I have never felt this
> list to be a meeting of old guys. But I guess, everybody can jump in and out
> of this list as it pleases to her or him. On the other hand, I think that we
> should not be afraid to say wrong or mistaken things as those "mistakes" are
> the ones that generate shared learning.
>
> *David Preiss***
>
> *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *
>
> *Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile: www.puc.cl <http://www.puc.cl/>
> *
>
> *PACE Center at Yale University: www.yale.edu/pace<http://www.yale.edu/pace>
> *
>
> *Homepage: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ddp6/>
> *
>
> *Phone: 56-2-3544605*
>
> *Fax: 56-2-354-4844*
>
> *E-mail:
david.preiss@yale.edu, davidpreiss@puc.cl*
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* Mike Cole [mailto:lchcmike@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, April 04, 2005 4:41 PM
> *To:* xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> *Subject:* Re: Why Lurk...
>
> Dale, Fern, Heather et al--
>
> My question about those who read but do not write or otherwise make their
> presence known on xmca was a little
> different than the one answered. In seeking to fix a whole in the (always
> holey, never holy) xmca infrastructure (e.g. the
> people who one sees listed under members are mostly not and the only way
> to find those who are is to act like you are signing up) I was fascinated by
> how many people took the trouble to sign up, sort of describe themselves,
> but never posted a question or observation.
>
> This interested me in particular because I get a lot of email and I think
> the threaded discourse data base for xmca, which is updated daily, is a
> great way to follow discussions. Why, I wondered, would anyone want to go to
> the trouble of signing up just to read? I figured some people might not like
> using the web and prefer to get stuff through email. But its so difficult to
> keep the threads in mind! (Witness the discussion on development, learning,
> breaking away, etc.).
>
> I appreciate the replies to the question of why people like to read but
> don't post-- lots of different legitimate reasons. I personally benefit from
> the diversity that sometimes blossoms on xmca to beat down the myths of
> orthodoxy that over-representation of specific people (I am far and away the
> worst offender over-reprentation-wise) engenders (a word chosen not at
> random).
>
> So, I'll keep mixing it up as best I can, as you will see. But it still
> puzzles me that there are so many signed up members when the discourse is so
> wonderfully googleable.
>
> Cousin mike
>
>
> On Apr 4, 2005 1:21 PM, hpleasa@udel.edu <hpleasa@udel.edu> wrote:
> >
> > In response to Mike's and others' postings about lurking.
> >
> > First of all, I really don't like the term lurking...it
> > sounds too predatory to me. And, as a lurker, I don't see
> > myself as carnivorous at all in my reading of other's
> > postings. Okay, well, maybe a little bit. It's delicious
> > stuff! Anyway...
> >
> > I think of the XMCA list as sort of like a family reunion.
> > When a family gets together, there are all different kinds
> > of networks and relationships that become relevant as people
> > interact with one another. Cousins and "play cousins"
> > interact with each other, Aunts and Uncles, Uncles and
> > nephews, etc. The family reunion metaphor also throws a
> > dimension of temporality/spatiality in there that I think is
> > important. There are different generations present, and
> > people "living" in different places who come together at the
> > reunion.
> >
> > Many times, I envision myself as one of the "youngins"
> > listening to the words and stories and ideas of the four or
> > five or ten old folks (I mean that in the most respectful
> > and caring way) who I consider to be both more
> > knowledgeable.
> >
> > But...while I'm in the circle of people listening to these
> > conversations, I'm also doing many other things that young
> > folks do, and I don't want to be disrespectful to other
> > people who are more thoroughly engaged in the
> > conversation/literature. And I don't want to appear foolish.
> > In "real" family reunions, there are ways to cover up what
> > might be construed as comments that are not quite at the
> > same level as that of the grown folks, but email/threaded
> > communication has a kind of linearity and reflective delay
> > embedded in it that doesn't allow for that.
> >
> > So, that's my reason for not contributing more.
> >
> > Take Care,
> >
> > Heather
> >
> >
>



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun May 01 2005 - 01:00:06 PDT