Stephen Asunka

Reflections on Social Software - Q&A

1.  What is 'social' about social software?
The affordances of the software can be harnessed to create communities of social interaction.

2.  How is the notion of community being redefined by social software?
The traditional notion of communities being permanent (and oftentimes, closed) entities no longer hold as communities get created as and when the need arises - thanks to social software

3.  What aspects of our humanity stand to gain or suffer as a result of our use of and reliance on social software?
Sharing of knowledge and ideas has become more feasible, but this is to the detriment of the over 3 billion people on this earth who have no access to computing resources.

4.  How is social agency shared between humans and (computer) code in social software?
Humans use the affordances of social software to enhance their social activities, whilst computer code serves to minimize the constraints of social software to human interactivity.

5.  What are the social repercussions of unequal access to social software?
With a social divide being created where only people who have access to social software will be responsible for decisions and actions that affect the larger society, people who feel left out of this social/technological movement are bound to react, probably in unpleasant ways, to ensure that their voices are also heard

6.  What are the pedagogical implications of social software for education?
The Anytime, Anywhere learning afforded by the internet and World-Wide-Web is redefining pedagogy as teaching and learning activities are being migrated from traditional face-to-face settings to learner-centered online settings.

7.  Can social software be an effective tool for individual and social change?
Certainly. Apart from broadening individual perspectives and as such leading to attitudinal and behavioral change, social software is also being extensively used to organize pressure groups whose collective voice often result in societal change.

posted by Steve @ 6:58 PM