Twitter as a public sphere?

I.

Over the next month, I am going to discuss issues pertaining to education as a public good. The purpose—or purposes—of education has become a polarizing issue (for an introduction to this topic, see David Labaree’s “Public Goods, Private Goods”). Some argue for education to improve democracy; others argue for education to improve the economy. An individual’s opinions about the purposes of education often shape his or her thoughts regarding educational issues such as school choice, standardized assessments, common standards, and Race to the Top.

Because my views rarely fit either / or categorizations, I am going to state some of my basic assumptions upfront. 

• First, we ought to strive for education as a global public good. That is—even though education as a public good is imperfect in its current form, and possibly any form—quality education available to everyone worldwide ought to be our principal goal. 
• Second, education fulfills individual and communal interests at the same time. In other words, a college education may help an individual become socially mobile and democratically inclined. 
• And third, while education ought to be available to everyone, the shape of education (i.e. curricula, testing, schooling options, etc.) ought to be publicly deliberated to meet local needs and interests. As such, forums for discussion are essential. This last point brings me to the idea of the public sphere.

II.

For those unfamiliar with the origins of the public sphere, the most popular treatment of the concept occurs in Jürgen Habermas’s The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. He provides three criteria:

•     Everybody treats everybody as equal. Social status is irrelevant. 
•     The participants agree to discuss and question issues related to the common good. 
•     The forum is all-inclusive. 

The public sphere is situated within Habermas’s larger interest in communicative rationality, the idea that we may achieve mutual understanding through discussion. 

Where does the public sphere occur in contemporary society? Options range from community meetings and parent-teacher associations to newspapers columns, television shows, and radio stations. Opportunities for public discourse are key. However, considering the above criteria, each of the options contains shortcomings. The reason pertains to the core of the concept. As Nancy Fraser points out, the idea of the public sphere itself is fraught with problems, including issues of bracketing social differences, providing equal access, and ignoring subaltern counterpublics. 

Nevertheless, I have recently heard academics suggest Twitter as a new public sphere. The social media, they argue, is our 21st century version of the 18th century coffee house or salon. I understand the allure of social media as a public sphere, but I am not convinced.

So, what do you think? Is the increasingly popular social media a new public sphere?

Next week, I will discuss my thoughts regarding the promise and peril of 140 characters or less.

Using social Media to improve learning

Last week, I discussed the use of social media to collect data and improve trustworthiness. In this blog, I talk about the benefits and pitfalls of social media to improve learning. 

I want to begin with a few underlying assumptions: First, standing still is not an appropriate strategy to improve underperforming schools and districts. The world is moving faster than ever. A trademark of successful schools is not only the ability to manage the massive challenges of day-to-day operations but also anticipate and embrace educational innovation, including technology. 

Second, schools in general and learning in particular are changing. Brick and mortar schools become less important every day. This is both good and bad news. The open source movement has the potential to democratize knowledge. Even students attending the worst schools will have access. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the most underperforming schools will most likely be the last to adopt digital learning and teach the skills necessary to capitalize on digital learning opportunities. Just as we have seen with charter schools, unequal implementation will lead to uneven opportunity. Counter to the hope of the movement, the participation gap may exacerbate the achievement gap. 

Education is changing, and that leads to uncertainty. School administrators have responded by prohibiting social media use in schools and establishing guidelines for use outside of schools. Reasons include the need to govern access to inappropriate content and guard against inappropriate interactions between teachers and student. I view these responses as shortsighted. Rather than dealing with social media, administrators are ignoring it. S. Craig Watkins recently discussed the problems with current technology use policies. Most importantly, the hardline stances illustrate the growing divide between how people interact and learn outside of school and what they do inside of school. 

Education is changing. Schools that incorporate blended learning like USC’s Hybrid High, School of the Future, and High Tech High are setting the standard for educational innovation. Informed uses of technology have the ability to improve access to and facilitate learning for all students. However, school administrators and teachers must first have the courage to embrace change. The transition will not go smoothly and will include failures. Sometimes, though, the reward is worth the risk. Besides, what’s the alternative? Stand pat? Defend the status quo? As far as I can tell, change is the only option.

Using social media to collect data and improve trustworthiness

This is the first of a two-part blog where I discuss the use of social media in research and practice. Today’s blog emphasizes methodological concerns. Next week, I will discuss social media in schools.

As regular readers of the blog know, I am conducting an ethnography that focuses on the lives of seventeen- and eighteen-year-old male teenagers in a low-income neighborhood. My sample includes a range of participants organized into three categories: low, middle, and high academic achievers. A small percentage of adolescents do not consistently use social media. Those teens— illustrating that opportunity aggregates discriminately in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods—most often live in low-income households, have the worst grades, and uneven access to technology. The majority of students, however, regularly use social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It is a critical part of their lives.

How does a researcher incorporate social media data into a study? Few ethnographers blend real world and digital data; danah boyd is the most obvious exception. Even fewer methodologists have provided practical guidance. That should be of no surprise considering the sluggishness of the publication process and the rapidity of technological innovation and adaptation.

Researchers cannot ignore social media; however, students are adopting it in numerous ways, which makes data collection difficult. To make things even more complex, a divide still exists between the physical and digital worlds. In the future, apps like Path will potentially blend the two and provide innovative data collection tools and access previously unavailable. But, for now, we are in a sort of technological and methodological hinterland. 

During my study, I have approached social media data as part of document analysis. I friended and/or followed my participants and created lists in Facebook and Twitter. Everyday, I have checked the lists. For notable posts, I have done screen captures and uploaded and coded them using Atlas.ti—an alternative, as my colleague June Ahn did for a recent study, would have been to create a program to collect the posts.

Last week, I sat in a 12th grade class. The 40 students listened attentively to the teacher, or so I thought. As I checked Facebook, I saw a post from one of the students: “LMS  [like my status] if you want to date me.” I also saw a series of tweets from another student who was chatting with a friend. Both appeared to be listening in class. This example illustrates the value of collecting social media data. The scenario also highlights the value of social media data for trustworthiness. How does a researcher know his observations and interpretations are accurate? Social media data presents an option for triangulation. 

Educational settings are complex. Social media and technology only adds another layer to the complexity. Just as technology is changing the ways in which teenagers interact, it will also reshape every aspect of qualitative research, from collection to presentation. The challenge facing all qualitative researchers moving forward will be to integrate technology into their own methodological thinking.