What started it all...

THIS:

I came across this photo by Googling something (can't remember what exactly) that led me to a gossip site called What Would Tyler Durden Do (Tyler being the fictional character played by Brad Pitt in Fight Club). It's a basically nasty blog that objectifies women, insults people in general and enjoys spreading racism, hatred and just plain meanness.

Anyway, the first post I got at the time was that photo above. The site claimed that it was Demi Moore's behind as Twittered by her hubby, Ashton Kutcher. So I followed the link and found that indeed, it was true.

At first I was still very skeptic; obviously many people use the names and photos of celebrities and create Facebook profiles for instance. So what would be the difference on Twitter?

I had already seen a lot of this "Twitter" logo on many sites but thought that I had enough online networks to sustain me a hundred lifetimes, I didn't need one more.

Well, I'm an addict... What can I do?

So basically Ashton posting Demi's behind is what brought me to Twitter. And it is indeed Ashton sending those famous Tweets to the world and Mrs. Kutcher has her own Twitter page as well. For those who aren't familiar with it (like me a couple of days ago), Twitter is a network platform that allows people to post Tweets which are basically equivalent to the "Status Updates" on Facebook. And that's it. I looked it up a little, and it seems you can add applications and do more stuff, but the initial and most important aim is to Tweet; i.e. let the world know what you're doing this very moment. And by the way, Ashton Kutcher seems to be addicted because he posts a million times a day. For the curious readers, Ashton Kutcher's Twitter's here.

But I digress...

So today, I was checking my Twitter page and because when I registered, I did it from Ashton's page, I am now one of his "Followers" which means that I receive an update every time he Tweets.

And today he posted a very interesting article that someone had sent him as it mentioned his name... And Twitter: "Teaching Twitter could become a class act".

"British schoolchildren may soon be studying the tweets of Ashton Kutcher along with the sonnets of Shakespeare."

On Twritter, Ashton adds: "I strongly believe that social media, search, and Web sourcing is a hell of a lot more valueable these days than the Dewey decimal system" and "It's not an underestimation of the value of literature it's an adaptaion of the way we source it. Educational Darwinism".

I like that. Educational Darwinism :-)

My cousin and I were talking about evolution just yesterday and how some people seem to never be able to change; so now, education which is probably one of the fields where change is the most resisted; well even education is evolving, embracing new values while some people still live in old glories; but here I go digressing again :-)

There is no doubt that new media and technologies have started to take a bigger place in education and in our everyday life in general. There is no doubt that they allow for extraordinary discoveries and achievements we could have never imagined only a few years ago. And with every new generation that joins the educational system, there is no doubt educators will have to speak the kids' language(s) in order to get through to them.

There is also no doubt that the Internet is a pool of crap many, many times. And that truth and knowledge can easily be mixed up with rumors and propaganda. Authors are virtually unknown. Evidences are virtually unsure. And nothing can be "true" or "real" for certain.

But I guess we will have to adapt and learn how to use these technologies to the best we can so that they become knowledge tools rather than brainwashing tools.

So come on everybody, Twitter at will :-)

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My Twitter ;-)