ulises mejias

Here it is: PDF of the full dissertation. Right-click and choose Save As…
mejias__networked_proximity.pdf (1.2 MB)
I’m removing all previously posted drafts from this blog.
There are important differences that make this final version much better.
Abstract
Networked Proximity:
ICTs and the Mediation of Nearness
Ulises Ali Mejias, 2007
The network as a map of interconnected elements or nodes has become a favored [...]

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Networks have become a powerful metaphor to explain the social realities of our times. Everywhere we look there are attempts to explain all kinds of social formations in terms of networks: citizen networks, corporate networks, gamer networks, terrorist networks, learning networks… and so on. Information and communication technologies—in particular the internet—and the structures they enable [...]

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As I have suggested before, we have not done enough in the field of Education and Technology to address Lyotard’s concerns about the commodification of knowledge through the digital technologies we use (commodification means the transformation of things with no monetary value into things with monetary value —or commodities— through their subordination to the logic of capitalism). To put it in alarmist terms that are certain to catch your attention: If we are to take Lyotard’s analysis seriously, the gadgets and gizmos we are currently enamored with —edublogs, eduwikis, eduRSS feeds, and such— are nothing more than the tools of hegemonic capitalism.

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UPDATE: For those who rather read the article online, I have pasted it below.
Back from Barcelona, where we had a wonderful time! Currently swamped with work and life, so the summary of the congress is going to have to wait a bit. However, I wanted to share the link to an article I just wrote [...]

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Introduction: Detours on the road to abolishing distance
“The frank abolition of all distances brings no nearness… Everything gets lumped together into uniform distancelessness.”
(Heidegger, 1971, pp. 165, 166)
Heidegger’s remark seems to call attention to the fact that technology’s much celebrated victory over distance fails to deliver everything it promised. While technology might be able to facilitate [...]

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The relationships we form online with people we have never met in “meatspace” are real, to the extent that they involve real social transactions. But what kind of relationships are they? In what ways do they differ from actual (I use the word here to mean the opposite of ‘virtual’) relationships? Can online relationships affect and shape us in the same way?

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