Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Being there - that feeling we can't achieve online

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

"Feelings are worth more than quality," writes Alastair Creelman, quite acurately. "Even if there are billions of photos and films from all angles of, say, the Taj Mahal, I would still take at least a hundred more just to show that I have also been there." I have been to the Taj Mahal, genuinely the world's most beautiful building, but my photos are to remind me of that experience, not to show that I've been there. So, yeah, we would like to be there. I would like to be there. But it's scarce - time and space are scarce. Yesterday I took part in events in Britain, Montreal and Ottawa. Just a typical day. And 'being here' would have been impossible for all three. People pay a lot of money to 'be there', but money is scarce, and for many people the money isn't there at all. The choice isn't - and never has been - between being there or being online. The choice has always been between being online and not being there at all.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 22, 2024 08:34 a.m.

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