Amy Harris

Lecture 4

Invisible Colleges were discussed today. They provide people with an informal environment, before making it formal. It is a place (or space??) to test new ideas and allows you to collaborate with new people.

Third places were also discussed today and interested me quite alot. These are places other than home or work. It is described as a neutral ground where conversation is the main activity. Online forums are currently being described as third places as they draw people with common interests. To many this could be the case, they may feel comfortable in these situations, exchanging as equals.

To me this isn’t the case. Cyber is unfamilar to me and I therefore don’t feel that comfortable using it and I would rather communicate F2F with someone, as I would find that environment more neutral. However, I can see how many people would view cyber as an ideal third place.

Also discussed were the concepts of information and knowledge. I beleive there is quite clearly a difference between them. Information is simply material and facts and these need to be organised and converted and understood in order for it to become knowledge.

It must be in a useable state.