Community and More...

I really like reading what Taran Rampersad has to say. Taran is a computer consultant, software developer, and educator for the University of the West Indies School of Continuing Studies and blogs at
KnowProSE.com

He picked up on my post Schooling for Tomorrow:Learning to Bridge the Digital Divide and specifically on the clip (Linux commercial) I used to intro the post. The message of the video really does speak on several levels and I had chosen to only go with one that was relevant to my upcoming NAEHCY presentation. But Taran reminded me that there is more. Much more.

In the commercial one of the voices mentoring the boy from the Web tells him, "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community."  As I read Taran's post I realized, he's right! This is incredibly important.

Then in my mind,  I started making comparisons to technology adoption and Maslow's basic needs model. I began entertaining the thought that maybe the reason Web 2.0 has become so popular is because it really meets basic human needs in a hierarchical way...as individuals move along a developmental continuum to self-actualization.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

      

• Self Actualization Needs (full potential)
• Ego Needs (self respect, personal worth, autonomy)
• Social Needs (love, friendship, comradeship)
• Security Needs (protection from danger)
• Physiological Needs (warmth, shelter, food)

Technology Adoption

Digital Access is level one.  It is most basic in any adoption model. Without access you aren't even in the game. You are dead to the opportunities and potential. From a district perspective this is where  lots of equipment and computers are purchased.  This compares to  Physiological Needs (warmth, shelter, food).

Internet Safety is level two. The focus at this stage of adoption is protection from danger, sometimes at the cost of access and accessibility.  This compares to Security Needs (protection from danger).

Building Community through Virtual learning communities (open- like blogosphere and closed- like gated communities ex. groups in Tapped In) meets the social needs of Maslows level 3.  People are drawn to the Web for love, friendship, comradeship. Trust is established and sharing begins.This compares to Social Needs (love, friendship, comradeship).

Tagging and Linking tie directly to achieving level 4 of the adoption process. As proficiency develops in using Web 2.0 tools for communication and collaboration the basic ego needs are met. You are recognized, quoted, tagged, and linked.  This compares to Ego Needs (self respect, personal worth, autonomy).

Self Actualization occurs with full adoption. Technology is seamless. It becomes a medium rather than a tool. The emphasis is on content, authentic audience, connections, meaningful collaboration, and self-satisfaction which allows the user to reach a place closer to realizing their full potential.

Comments

[Taran Rampersad (aka Nobody Fugazi)]

:-) thanks for the link. I no longer am an educator for UWI SCS, though. I don't know how you got that, but I need to poke around and change it.

Oddly enough, I encountered Maslow for the first time on a philanthropy list last year - the hierarchy of needs was intuitive; I had been using them for some time. Maybe I picked them up somewhere from someone who read them, which completely supports the sharing of data. Knowing the value of something is more important than the person who said it; losing one's self in the team... oh, there I go streaming into the commercial again. :-)

[Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach]

Very cool. So tell me how, if at all you see a connection between open source philosophy and Maslow. Do you agree at all with the connections I have made here?

They just seemed to fit. Is that what you have found in your work?

Sheryl

[Taran Rampersad (aka Nobody Fugazi)]

Open Source philosophy is a reinvention and perhaps a return to the roots of society's quest for knowledge. The Royal Society's original premise was along these same lines, such that (paraphrased) 'Anyone would have access to information'. There's an actual quote in a book on Newton, which I would have to dig up.

My thought on this is a thought others have had before... I came upon it possibly as independently as those who came before did... the idea is that good ideas keep coming back over time. Sharing information is one such thing; where the problem arises is where property became redefined. Lawrence Lessig wrote about this in 'Free Culture' with the example of the property limits of the chicken farm no longer extending to the sky.

So our concept of property and the legal concept of property in these regards kind of helps skew what we do know. And what do we know? Almost everything I have written in this response has been derived from other people; perhaps the original thing I have done is glue it together in the way and shape that I have.

Taking this kicking and screaming back to Maslow - Warmth, shelter and food only seem to be seen as 'property' when the person involved has enough to spare, or when it is threatened. It goes that way up the ladder. A philosophy of sharing, while it has gone on extreme tangents to become socialism, has a lot of benefits.

And this boils down to human survival, I think - a human instinct to survive under adverse conditions. Under stress, a society unites in ways which allow it to react to the stressor, or society dies.

Perhaps in that way Maslow and Stallman are sleeping partners in that the system of copyrights and patents has created adverse conditions for so many in indirect and direct ways. We see it with open content as well, with open standards, and even with hodge-podge attempts at international governance.

So is there a connection? Maybe, but I really think that they may be one and the same, only under different circumstances.