“The first month of watching TED talks online gave me more knowledge, insight, and inspiration than all four years of the glorified status symbol that is Ivy League education,” writes Brain Pickings editor and TED addict Maria Popova in Good magazine’s Slow Issue. Popova goes on describing how neo-education (free education available on demand through online platforms) achieves what traditional education increasingly fails to do — satisfy our curiosity and provide us with endless knowledge.
I can certainly relate to that. Six years of academia gave me the many skills I need to be a social critic and journalist: observe, analyze, criticize, and produce meaningful content. As for knowledge, I’ve already forgotten most of it, to my greatest dismay. Academia, as far as the Liberal arts are concerned, is shaped on a model that is not valid anymore. Its raison d’être is not to give us knowledge but to train researchers — which few of us actually become.
The TED commandments.
The Internet gives me access to an infinite pool of knowledge. TED talks and podcasts (I learned so much through Radio Lab) are a blessing. Their skillful use of storytelling makes it easier for me to get interested and retain information. This might be why storytelling is making a big comeback (local versions of The Moth are popping up everywhere across the continent.) We’re craving for stories, for information that isn’t delivered in a dull and uninteresting way and elicits a whole range of emotions. We’re also craving for a more human way of transmitting knowledge, and going back to the oral tradition.
Social media has also transformed my learning. Through Twitter, I have access to the best thinkers and researchers in my field. I religiously read and ponder over Jay Rosen’s tweets. I have access to his ideas not only for free (no need to buy a book or pay for NYU tuition fees) but also in real time. The discussion and debate also take place instantly. This open, participative thinking process has the potential to revolutionize the world of academia.
Are we going toward a democratization of knowledge?
This man is dangerous.
Social networking for gardeners: the landsharing movement
This post was long overdue. I first heard about sharing backyards initiatives last year while reporting on the rise of urban agriculture. Since then, these initiatives have flourished and others have been created.
A community garden in St-Louis
Many North American city dwellers have the advantage of having a backyard adjacent to their house, and have been increasingly aware of the potential they have for food production. Gardening can be quite time-consuming though, and many of us aren’t ready to get our hands dirty. The solution: letting another garden-lover come over and take care of it all during the season, and pay him back in food or cash. The remaining produce should cover the expenses.
As usual in the post-internet world, garden owners and would-be workers can find each other online. SharedEarth offers a worldwide matching service listings and an interactive map. Most users are located in the U.S., but its fanbase is already slowly growing. Sharing Backyards, another online platform, is strongly rooted in Canada and the U.S.
At the local level, BK Farmyards takes care of Brooklyn gardens, while Urban Garden Share operates in Seattle.
Landsharing brings more to its adepts than food only. Through sharing, neighbourhood residents can reconnect and contribute to building vibrant communities. As summed up on BK Farmyards’ website:
But it’s not only about vegetables. Calgary resident Eliese Watson runs Apiaries and Bees for Communities, a business through which she tends to bee hives located in several gardens. In exchange, garden owers get their share of honey.