Final Thoughts

Before starting People Knowledge and Management, I had a strong interest in ideology and politics, in the power of the online social networking phenomenon to instigate change, and the civil, digital and privacy rights movements.

I made the decision to take this course with the intention of possibly learning about maybe one or two of these areas of interest to me, maybe connecting a few of the dots along the line. The chance this course was offering me to explore such relationships was a very appealing one, and arguably the main reason I decided to take up the course.
 

What I’ve gained over the past semester through  our weekly readings and topics is a broad theoretical and meta-theoretical engagement with a multitude of philosophies and ideas. But it has also allowed me to visit every area of interest I had hoped to look into.

I've been able to cover great meta-theoretical philosophers, like the ever salient theories of Foucault and or the extremely convoluted ontology of Zizek.

I've been introduced to new thinkers like Barlow and Dervin that have opened up (but also confused) a whole new world for me.

I've been able to bring my own knowledge and experience into the course - and have subsequently had the pleasure of introducing Christakis and Fowler, Julian Assange and even my favorite rapper and all time hero, Robert Foster. 

But beyond all of all this, what People, Information and Knowledge has allowed me do is weave web of connections between all these thinkers and theoreticians. This course has allowed me to tie all of this together in a way that significantly broadens my understanding of how information, knowledge, society, and the people within them function. 

But I don't mean to say this is the end. Quite the contrary. I have more questions now then before I begun the course:

What is the ontological and epistemological underpinning of the Social Network theories?

Can a certain type of new ideology be employed to dismantle networks that are characterised as a conspiracy?

Furthermore, is it possible to create an ideology, that will counter a network’s tendency to be exclusionary, to  function for its own interests as a super organism?

How can Social Network theory be employed to empower marginalised networks characterised by a small world dynamic?

And furthermore, to what extent is the purpose of libraries to provide members of a marginalised network social mobility?

Is it enough to provide social mobility to such people or must libraries also take on a critically pedagogical approach to ensure a chance for marginalised people to change the tide of dominant discourses within society?

And I could go on and on.

In a way it's funny, I started my life at uni studying psyhchology, as a very isolated and melancholy student. I was very instrospective back then and made little contact with others. Now I begin my Masters with full knowledge of the importance of social networks in changing the very fabric of society. I hope, more than anything, that this course will allow me to build networks that will help me pursue such questions.

Ultimately, I believe that the People, Information and Knowledge course has allowed me to develop a robust intellectual framework to approach my future studies and I am grateful to have had the privilege of taking on this course.