January 19, 2012
Architecture professor conducts workshop on Facebook at international technology conference
Mick Charney, associate professor of architecture, conducted the workshop "The Stream of All Human Consciousness: Looking for Mr. Wright, and Finding Him on Facebook" at the eighth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society, Jan. 16-18, at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Although social networking is much maligned by academics as a medium that diverts students' attention away from the serious, sustained pursuit of knowledge, Charney's workshop demonstrated that Facebook, in particular, possesses tremendous latent educational value if utilized in a carefully orchestrated manner in small-enrollment classes. Envisioned by Mark Zuckerberg himself as “the stream of all human consciousness,” Facebook can help students come to terms with complex, multifaceted problems through a versatile hyperlinking capability that is perfectly attuned to the digital dexterity of today’s so-called Net Geners. The result is a vibrant and endlessly interconnected repository of useful information that is simultaneously engaging and revelatory in nature.