This will all make sense in a moment, I promise.
The biggest annual event in modern media, San Diego Comic Con, has begun, and with it comes the scramble for information. SDCC was huge before the modern age of comic book movies began; today it's close to collapsing under its own weight. Movie studios, television channels and action figure companies jockey for the attention of attendees so heavily that much of the actual comic book news has shifted over to smaller conventions like New York Comic Con.
This is a time when major entertainment news sites shut down due to an excessive amount of page views. It's a situation rarely faced in education, but it illustrates how interconnected the modern Internet is and how emergencies can reveal the various paths of communication. Let's say that a site like Nerdist.com is covering the "Batman v Superman" trailer presentation. Here's a potential timeline of what happens next.
*The blogger from Nerdist.com live-blogs the trailer on Twitter since filming isn't allowed.
*The blogger tweets "OMG! Aquaman just punched Superman in the face!"
*Fans following the twitter feed flock to the website to follow the live-tweeting, causing Nerdist.com to crash.
*Tweets go out that the site is down, causing other readers to flock to smaller sites in the hopes of following the news.
*Simultaneously, news of the trailer's events hit Nerdist.com's pages on Facebook, Tumblr and other social network and blogging sites.
*Readers on those networks and blogs start to seek out news on smaller sites while Nerdist.com works to start up again.
From one tweet, entire sections of the Internet are lit up from fans wanting to keep up with an ongoing event thousands of miles away. Anyone reading the initial site can tap into their PLN resources to find a secondary or tertiary source, giving the smaller sites views even if they were edged out of live coverage. It illustrates why multiple pathways are key when developing a PLN.
I think that Comic-Con is also a great illustration of how separate networks can get linked overtime. By the name, Comic-Con should be about comics. However, it has become just as much an event for movies, TV, and games as well. Even professional wrestlers show up! The communities around these different forms of entertainment have become linked by networks of members, many of whom reside in multiple communities. So the comic fans are linked to the movie fans who are linked to the wrestling fans. In this way, they can all logically inhabit a single convention together.
ReplyDeleteI liked your comment about how "multiple pathways are key when developing a PLN". I could see how having primary, secondary, and tertiary sources increases your visibility in an ongoing event. I wonder if we could even say that these pathways are 'learning pathways' designed to keep the learner informed through different platforms. Ultimately, your PLN is a customized learning experience. What do you think?
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