8. Third Places of Learning
First Third Second
“3rd place hosts the regular, voluntary, informal,
and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals
beyond the realms of home and work”
― Ray Oldenburg
10. Serendipic Learning
Serendip - old name of Sri Lanka
“Serendipity is the art of making an unsought finding”
- Pek van Andel
The Three Princes of Serendip: “They were always
making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of
things they were not in quest of”
- Horace Walpole, 1754
Photo: Cocca
12. Zemblanity of Education
“So what is the opposite of Serendip, a southern
land of spice and warmth, lush greenery and
hummingbirds, seawashed, sunbasted? Think of
another world in the far north, barren, icebound,
cold, a world of flint and stone. Call it Zembla.
Ergo: zemblanity, the opposite of serendipity, the
faculty of making unhappy, unlucky and expected
discoveries by design.” William Boyd
18. Technology as an extension of the body
Marshall McLuhan
(1911-1980)
Photo: Don J. McCrady
19. Human Evolution
Homo Habilis Homo Erectus Homo Sapiens
2.5m - 1.8m years ago 1.8m - 70k years ago 250k years ago
Brain: 500 - 800 cc Brain: 950 - 1100 cc Brain: 1000-1850 cc
Tools Advanced tools Art, writing, speech
“Man the Wise” - Carl Linneaus
20. We shape our tools and afterwards
our tools shape us
Marshall McLuhan
(1911-1980)
Photo: JJay
21. Symbolic linking (Symballein: draw together)
Icon (resemblance) A = B
Index (causal relations) A → B
Sign
Symbol (abstract concepts) A ~ B, ✝
Charles Sanders Pierce
(1894)
Photo: Hauntedpalace
22. The spoken word was the first
technology by which man was able
to let go of his environment in order
to grasp it in a new way
Marshall McLuhan
(1911-1980)
Photo: Don J. McCrady
23. We Extend our Bodies
Belief systems Clothes
Advanced technology Sense-enhancements
Controlled energy Advanced social organization
Environmental adaptivity Advanced language
Trade networks, exploration Innovative abstract thinking?
24. Spirit of the Age (Zeitgeist)
Homo ludens (man the player) -Johan Huizinga
Homo creativus (creative human) -Sam Inkinen
Homo aestheticus-informaticus (knowledge-intensive human) -Aki Järvinen
Homo cyber sapiens (technologically improved man) -Luc Steels
Homo electricus (man implanted with microchips) -Michael & Michael
25. Social Web = Noosphere?
• Planetary thinking network
• Interlinked system of consciousness and information
• Global net of self-awareness, instantaneous feedback,
and planetary communication
Teilhard de Chardin
(1881 - 1955) Photo: Don J. McCrady
27. Homo Contextus
Contextus = connected or weaved together
Context = Circumstances in which an event occurs
Homo habilis → Homo sapiens: Brain size increases physically
Homo sapiens → Homo contextus: Brain size increases virtually
Connected human escaping the physical limitations of connectivity
with modern network technologies
Photo: Uli Schneider
28. Homo Contextus
Electricity and light: mechanical age extended our bodies.
Eletronic age will extend our nervous system
Connectivity focus: focusing on diversity of connections to
people who use tools to extend their mind and bodies
High media production skills: for object centered sociality
Prosthesis of thinking: extending cognitive capabilities
Photo: Don J. McCrady
29. Parasitic Learning
Learner using someone as a
teacher through virtual means
without the knowledge or
consensus of the host
Photo: Spike55151
30. Deschooling Society
A good educational system should have three purposes:
1. Provide all who want to learn with access to available
resources at any time in their lives
2. Empower all who want to share what they know to
find those who want to learn it from them
3. Furnish all who want to present an issue to the public
with the opportunity to make their challenge known
Ivan Illich
(1971)
Photo: .AMagill
31. Case: Network Oasis
Collaborative working, learning and
development environment
Space designed to inspire spontaneous and
guided encounters of different individuals
Glow: interface between physical and virtual
Virtual mobility, Hybrid space, Serendipity
Ref: Ilkka Kakko
38. Four questions:
1. What does it extend?
2. What does it make obsolete?
3. What is retrieved?
4. What does it reverse into, if it’s over-extended?
Marshall McLuhan
(1911-1980)
Photo: Don J. McCrady