Comments on Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes: Technologies That Facilitate Generating Knowledge and Possibly Wisdom

Abstract

Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes (2009) argue that Web 2.0 media are well suited to enhancing the education research community’s purpose of generating and sharing knowledge. My response first articulates how a research infrastructure with capabilities for communal bookmarking, photo/video sharing, social networking, wikis, and mashups could enhance both the pace and quality of education scholarship, complementing federal investments in cyberinfrastructure. Then, I argue for a second, more provocative and controversial usage of this research infrastructure: an experimental attempt to generate “wisdom.” An interconnected suite of Web 2.0 tools customized for research would provide three capabilities important for wise advice: (a) a virtual setting in which stakeholders of many different types could dialogue (b) about rich artifacts grounded in practice and policy (c) with a set of social supports to encourage community norms that respect not only theoretical rigor and empirical evidence, but also interpersonal, experiential, and moral/ethical understandings.