Stephen Downes

Doug Belshaw links to and discusses the idea to the 'scenius'. The linked article notes, "Culture isn't created by outliers. Most new movements and leaps forward in culture usually come from groups of creatives encouraging each other; competing with and arguing with each other; reacting for or against each others' work." Belshaw comments, "there's a new article out by Drs Helen DeWaard, Verena Roberts, Leo Havemann, and Gabi Witthaus entitled Disputatio in the Digital Agora: Opening the Doctorate Through Dialogue. I wonder what would have happened had my own doctoral studies eveolved in the open, among a community of interested people. That wasn't an option back then, and my pursuit of connectionist knowledge in a philosophical sense was a solitary struggle that was ultimately unsuccessful in landing me the title and the degree.