The Digital Divide - How will the new online "meritorcracy" of the 21st century impact socioeconomic class mobility in a capitalistic society?

Wow, that is a huge question! And it really leads us to a tangled web of continuous questions (it ironically takes place on a "web" as well).

While I certainly do not know enough about this topic to speak with authority, I do have a couple comments and questions to pose:

1. I love the fact that thanks to Web 2.0 technologies, we are now more than ever, on an equal playing field when it comes to creating and contributing to the global online culture. And this WILL effect offline culture. In many ways it already does.

2. While most of us have access to this technology, regardless of our socioeconomic background, many in rural, urban, and other impoverished areas have not had the support system to understand and use this resource to their ultimate benefit.

3. As a human race we have come so far in the past 100,000 years (a blink of an eye in the history of our planet). For many years, people were concerned with preservation of the species and themselves rather than "contributing to society". Although it's not always considered, many people in the lower strata of the social structure are still in this mode. Who has time (or motivation) to learn to be an online "creator" when they are working in back breaking labor just to pay the bills, heat the house, and put food on the table? Not to mention that they often have to choose which of these three will be their priority for the current paycheck...

4. The above concerns relate to the United States. What about 3rd world countries who don't have our bountiful resources and opportunities?

I guess when it comes down to it, I wonder (not with any distrust or paranoia, just pure wonder!) where the path will lead. Will the online social meritocracy and capitalistic society float through the future in parallel harmony? Will there be a point where fiercely competitive commerce chokes out the unprivileged individual's access to open source opportunities? Will the online meritocracy find hold in the physical world and transform our socioeconomic (as opposed to just social) hierarchy in ways we don't yet envision? Or will we see an evolution of social and economic factors which is driven by a fusion of the needs, desires, and possibilities of our new and ever changing world?

Here is a Blogpost that I found on a similar topic.

A Valuable Learning Experience

In 2005, about 6 years into my teaching career, I met a man that transformed the way I educate and inspire young musicians.

You see, I have always been a teacher who has been willing to surround myself with others more experienced or more talented. There are two reasons for this in my mind. Number one, it exposes my students to a much broader spectrum of learning possibilities. And, number two, it allows me to learn and improve my teaching skills. So when my drumline instructor Mike told me about his college friend Keith who had 12 years experience teaching band in public schools, had just finished Grad school and hadn't yet found a job, I quickly agreed to bring him in as additional help for our band camp.

This was one of the best decisions I have made for the band program at Greenbrier East High School.

Usually, when we have clinicians or instructors come in, they are great when it comes to the hands on experience with the kids. While Keith excelled in this area, he was much more than this for me. He was a true mentor, more so than anyone to that point in my professional career. Through observing each other, we were able to open up a dialogue with one another which helped me discover simple (yet not always easy) ways that I could improve. In addition, Keith always found a way to point out the things I was doing well, in some cases better than he was as someone with more than twice my experience.

Having the opportunity to have Keith come and work with the band has had long lasting effects. It's been a couple of years now since Keith has been able to come and help out our band program. Life moves forward and he now has responsibilities as a husband, father, and business manager in coastal Virginia. But his impact on the students has been passed down from veterans of the band program to the rookies each year. And my teaching methods are forever changed for the better because of his influence.

To gain some more insight into Keith's teaching philosophy and how it has effected the band program at Greenbrier East check out his List of Cliches and Commentary on my GEHS Band Blog.

Trying to Improve Blogging

Learning to blog is a process that like many other skills, develops with practice and experience over time.

Personally, I am beginning to analyze my blogging to make it a more enriched experience for the reader. Check out my most recent posts to my Greenbrier East High School Band Blog . Here you can see the evolution of the blog I post on the most.

At it's earliest incarnation, the band blog was simply about announcements and passing my thoughts to the reader. As the blog has developed though, I have introduced videos, links, and other media which can allow the reader to interact with the blog and have more personal investment in the experience.

As a way to promote my band blog, I have registered it on the Blog Top List site. The theory is that registration on this site will allow people who search for blogs related to my discussion topics to easily find and read my blog. Since it has only been registered recently, data is not yet available as to the effectiveness of this service. I'll post later about my findings in this experiment.

Blogs that I've added to my blogroll

I had the opportunity to check out a couple of blogs of interest today. They seemed pretty cool so now I have them listed in the right hand side menu.

One of them is about music used in games. It has some nice videos embedded of live performances of orchestral arrangements of the music used in several iconic games.

Another is a blog featuring guitar lessons and tutorials. This is a great resource for me as a guitar teacher as well as my students.

Check them out, along with the other links in the menu.

Blogging Lesson

Right now, Rachel, the Globaloria Blogger is giving us a lesson on blogging. She is inspiring me to post on this blog which I've not done in a long time. But...to see an example of the blog I have been working on, check out my Greenbrier East High School Band Blog.

By the way, Rachel if you read this, give me an evaluation of the Band Blog and what you think could make it better.