All about the Flow...

Every once in a while, you read something that rings true.  It explains how you feel about something or has an application that jumps out at you.  Bear with me. 

I'm taking a course on globalization and lifelong learning.  The readings this week include an article called "Three concepts of globalization" (Bartelson, 2000 if you want to look at it).  One of the sections is called "Globalization as Transcencence".  It includes statements like:

• "Globalization is neither about the inside our or outside in but rather a process that dissolves the divide between inside and outside." (p. 189)
  
• "the old world is about to be replaced by 'information and communication structures' thanks to increased mobility, and the global itself is constituted by 'networks of flows' rather than by preconsitituted units or agents" (p. 189)
• "Flows are decentering, despatializing, and dematerializing forces"(p. 190)

Okay, so why does this appeal to me?  First, because this is similar to the framework that I use when thinking about my work and the service of our unit to the university and the public.  It aligns with our discussions of openness and transparancy.  I would also like to add something else to that list -- maybe "permeability" to express the idea that much of what we're doing now is in cooperation with other units, departments, colleges, and campuses.  So when I say sharing "our" work, I mean the work that all of us are doing together, not just the products of my unit.  The idea of permeability fits with the above quotes that talk about decentering and dissolving the divides between outside and inside.

Secondly, this reflects my slightly-Eastern view of the world as a being comprised by processes in motion instead of static things and external change forces that periodcially sweep across the landscape.  I expect change.  I try to anticipate change.  I welcome change.  We cause change.

This gets into the lifelong learning discussion as well.  I would be very frustrated if I thought that I could take some courses and then be "done learning", only to have the world race ahead of me again.  It's also why I think that I tend to volunteer for things. I love the discovery process.  Plus, a good challenge always leads to new ideas.