Thank you for these thoughts, all. I am jumping into the conversation midstream, but wanted to respond to John Bell's comment about amateur scholars. <div><br></div><div>I am currently working on methods to address this exact challenge: how do we engage, learn from and cultivate a community of deep thinkers and intelligent individuals who are not self-identified academics? How do we create a system and structure for discourse that encourages and engages the valuable curiosity of those who may not consciously make education their top priority? I speak from the perspective of a recent college grad who is exploring DIY and alternative education models not only as an area of personal study, but also as a possible form of artistic practice and as an alternative to (the seemingly ominous) graduate programs. I do not exist a space of active intellectual push or structured and focused analysis.<div>
<br><div>What gets people's attention more (without violent or offensive confrontation) than being told "You are interesting. You are valuable. You have something to contribute and we want to know about it."? Couple that with the promise that peers will reciprocate and you have something. I believe that creating programs that identify, value, and encourage the exploration of personal interests within a mutually supportive and curious community of learners is key. Make it personal. If people don't feel the need to contribute to the great communal pool of knowledge in a particular field, or they feel intimidated by the prospect of "furthering the field", provide them with an opportunity to further their own knowledge and share what they know to those who value their experience. How to do this digitally and without inflated flattery is another question. Not sure how to ensure humility, honesty and patience that this would require...how to translate this idealistic scenario into some working model...how to take full advantage of whatever attention participants feel able to give to such a skill share/self-propelled insight exchange project...</div>
<div><br></div><div>At any rate, I would love to be part of and start a community like this and I am working to do so. Any thoughts would be appreciated as I begin my own research on the subject.</div><div><br></div><div>
Looking forward to further notes.</div><div>Megan<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 11:50 AM, John Bell <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:john@novomancy.org">john@novomancy.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">But what value would such a score represent to an amateur scholar? For professional scholars it's mostly valued due to pride of influencing the field and tenure committees. Is there another carrot that can be offered to people with deep knowledge but no interest in advancing an academic career?<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
- John<br>
</font><div class="im"><br>
On Sep 6, 2011, at 4:20 PM, Anya Kamenetz wrote:<br>
> So the question would be, to what extent is it feasible to represent a similar type of score, based on references to their previous statements, for amateur scholars? That would be an interesting example of an incentive that's both internal and external.<br>
> a<br>
<br>
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