Stephen Downes

Goof article by Audrey Watters partially focused on the history of technology but mostly focusing on the idea of networks in pre-internet technology. This is important because a lot of the things that are networks - the phone company, the rail system, television - aren't exactly models of distributed democracy. She writes, "When we talk about the potential for 'networked learning' today, I think (I hope) we mean something different. The promise: the Internet – and the Web in particular – enable a readable and a writable platform, where a multitude of voices can express themselves as creators not just consumers and not just through text but through a multitude of media – audio, video, still images, code." Quite right.