ED 5004 Societal Change and 5005 Learners' Lab

Personal Experiences
For the past several years I have been teaching English in in foreign countries ( Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo and Chiba, Japan; Prague, Czech Republic; Istanbul, Turkey; Xi'an and Shanghai, China; and now Taipei, Taiwan). Prior to teaching English I was employed in mostly arts related activities having studied art and architecture. I received a BFA degree from the University of Georgia. I have lived mostly in Athens and Atlanta, GA in addition to the above mentioned cities and I have traveled around Europe and Asia.

Educational Background
Clemson University (architecture,literature,calculus, etc. courses)
Georgia State University (art,history,literature,evolution,political
science,physics,astronomy,philosophy,etc. courses)
Georgia Institute of Technology (architecture)
UGA art and history studies abroad in Cortona, Italy
University of Georgia (art, literature, psychology, French, calculus, biology,physical education,philosophy,etc. courses) BFA degree
Hobbies & Interests
Traveling, and also reading, listening to music, good conversation, watching movies, tennis, swimming, bicycling, to name a few.

School: American English School
Dept. Head: Patricia Ting
Richard Bloodworth c/o Patricia Ting
# 63, 3rd Fl., Chun-Shin Road, Section 4, San Chung City, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan
Cell: 0911354352

Personal Experiences

For the past several years I have been teaching English in in foreign countries ( Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo and Chiba, Japan; Prague, Czech Republic; Istanbul, Turkey; Xi'an and Shanghai, China; and now Taipei, Taiwan). Prior to teaching English I was employed in mostly arts related activities having studied art and architecture. I received a BFA degree from the University of Georgia. I have lived mostly in Athens and Atlanta, GA in addition to the above mentioned cities and I have traveled around Europe and Asia.

Educational Background

Clemson University (architecture,literature,calculus, etc. courses)
Georgia State University (art,history,literature,evolution,political
science,physics,astronomy,philosophy,etc. courses)
Georgia Institute of Technology (architecture)
UGA art and history studies abroad in Cortona, Italy
University of Georgia (art, literature, psychology, French, calculus, biology,physical education,philosophy,etc. courses) BFA degree

Hobbies and Interests

Traveling, and also reading, listening to music, good conversation, watching movies, tennis, swimming, bicycling, to name a few.

from Dr. Sabet bibliographic references

American School Directory
<http://www.asd.com/>
American Universities
<http://www.clas.ufl.edu/CLAS/american-universities.html>
Blindness Resource Center
<http://www.nyise.org/access.htm>
Distance Learning Resource Network
<http://www.dlrn.org/>
Education World
<http://www.education-world.com/>
ERIC, Educational Resources Information Center
<http://www.accesseric.org/>
EURYDICE, the education information network in Europe
<http://www.eurydice.org/>
National Library of Education (US) gateway to resources
<http://www.thegateway.org/>
StudyWeb
<http://www.studyweb.com/>
Personal Brand:

To share my culture while learning of others' cultures and to equip the learners with the skills necessary to enter the world dialogue.

By using my training in art and architecture (and the other subjects studied at the university level and knowledge gained by experience) as well the English language instruction to speakers of other languages I hope to enable others to take the steps towards helping to create a better world for everyone to live in which, after all, is the ultimate purpose of all education and indeed all human endeavors.

Class Intro

Hello, my name is Richard Bloodworth. For the past several years I have been teaching English in in foreign countries ( Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo and Chiba, Japan; Prague, Czech Republic; Istanbul, Turkey; Xi'an and Shanghai, China; and now Taipei, Taiwan -- so PM to me could be AM to you and vice versa ). Prior to the English teaching I was employed in mostly arts related activities having studied art and architecture and I received my degree BFA from the University of Georgia. I have lived mostly in Athens and Atlanta, GA in addition to the above mentioned cities and I have traveled around Europe and Asia.

I hope this online course will enhance my skills and knowledge in the educational field as well as provide greater career opportunities. The greatest fear I have is that I encounter technical malfunctions so that I can not transmit or receive information for this course via the internet way over here in Taiwan. The other fear, or rather concern, I have about this course is that I find it difficult to schedule the time to read and then complete and write the assignments though I'm sure I'll find a way.

1.3 Everyday involves transition. Choosing only two in a lifetime is a difficult task indeed. There are societal transitions (wars, anti-war protests, bankruptcies, political corruption, supreme court rulings, legislation, revolutions, terrorist attacks, epidemics, etc.). There are those caused by natural disturbances (earthquakes, fires, floods, famine, drought, etc.), the loss of public figures through assassinations (President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Ghandi, etc.) and the natural and unnatural deaths of others (Princess Diana, John Kennedy Jr., Mother Teresa, etc.). There are economic transitions such as the Euro currency. There are medical innovations (laser surgeries, innoculations, medicine, etc.) and technical innovations (computers, transportation systems, etc.). I added "etc." to the end of each list because each list could contain thousands of other examples with each list being amended daily.

All of the above examples are world events but each affected individuals personally and differently. The more personal transitions (births, deaths, education, changes of jobs or residences, promotions, economic problems, accidents, injuries, illnesses, etc.) are individualized and unique to a particular individual. Though I was affected by all of the above mentioned world events, if I were to pick two personal transitions ( or the first two that came to mind ) they would be beginning to teach abroad in Seoul, South Korea and the death of my mother ( and my father, though he died years ago at a relatively young age of a heart attack ).

My Korean transition began with someone who I knew in Atlanta, Georgia who was interviewed by a recruiter to teach in South Korea. He asked me if he should go there and I replied "I would". So off he went to Korea. Then two months later I got a call from him and he said "We need another teacher. Come over here and teach in this school." So I got my paperwork together, which required a university degree, and then packed and headed off to Korea -- just as random as that! When I arrived I knew I had entered another world far away from my previous experiences. My first sensation was that I was in some sort of waking dream (like the neutral zone in William Bridges' book, Transitions). There, there were no English signs anywhere and my utterances might as well have been the barking of a dog since the sounds I was making had no meaning to them and those they were making had no meaning to me. The words on this page would be meaningless to most of them unless translated into their language. I eventually learned the Hangul alphabet ( there are 22 letters and most of them match up to the Romanized letters that we use) and I learned a good deal about their culture such as their historical hatred of the Japanese who colonized them. I also eventually adjusted to their culture and adapted to their way of life. Korea is predominantly Buddhist and , speaking of change, a Buddhist saying states that you never put your foot into the same river twice.

The other transition involved the death of my mother. I had planned on finishing the year teaching in Japan and then return to the USA in April with the idea that I could take a trip with my mother as she too loved to travel. While I was in Japan my mother became ill, partly, I think, as a result of too many medical interventions and the people back home said she wanted to see me. So I left my things in Japan and went back home to see her and I saw that she was not well. I had a good visit with her so I thought I would finish the school term in Japan thinking she would get well before my return in April. While in the school, I got a call from one of my sisters at the end of January who told me that she had died. So I returned to the USA the next day for the funeral and to mourn with everyone back home. When your mother goes, it is a great loss and that numbing neutral zone feeling I experienced while I was far away from her. I was comforted by one Japanese girl I knew who told me her mother had died when the girl was only 7 years old. When I heard the news I cried, as I did when I heard of my father's death, which I think is a primal, biological reaction to such news. My sorrow was not only because of the loss of her life but the realization that it was the end of my future communication, explanations, arguments, discussions, and experiences with the person who brought me into this world.

I think Bridges would say accept the irreversible past, adapt to change and don't burn bridges, build them. Maybe that's another reason he became interested in changes and transitions since a bridge is a structure for transition from one experience to another.

1.4 Discussion: Social Change Example

During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Tse-tung instructed the Chinese people to have as many children as they could, thinking that strength is in numbers, and they obeyed according to the Asian Confucian system. The effect of this decree resulted in a nation of now over 1.3 billion people comprising 1/5 of the world's population and also making Chinese the most spoken native language in the world, 3 times more than English. Now the Chinese government, alarmed at where this exponential growth could lead, has demanded that the citizens adopt the "one child policy" making China a country where, for example, abortion is, rather than illegal, required in many cases. This change in policy changes the Chinese culture, the world's oldest, in many ways. Their language even has different words for "older brother"," younger brother","older sister" and "younger sister" which will, for now, have to fall from use. Moving from a society with families having 10 to 12 siblings to a nation of "only children" or "little emperors" as they call them will cause a shift from the group-centered mentality of the past toward a self-centered mentality and this will vastly alter the national collective psyche and character. This societal and cultural change in such a large mass of individuals will profoundly affect their national structure and institutions. I think these people will begin to demand more individual freedom, mobility, and material possessions. The Chinese government feels threatened by the Falun Gong movement (which, to me, looks as harmless as TaiChi) primarily because it has more members than the Communist Party but its end, I think, will be the result of the will of the people and the result of the policies of its own creation.

1.4 response to Linda

I think of all the recent technological innovations that the internet, along with computers, will alter the world community having an almost revolutionary effect. These inventions in addition to other communication and transportation devices will change the world radically. Now every one can have access to the same world library and can communicate instantaneously worldwide, that is, if their countries and governments allow them access to the internet.

1.4 paddling response to Jacquelyn

I agree that physical punishment has no place in the educational system, or any system for that matter and I think it is, in fact, an uncivilized form of behavior. A reward/punishment system in an educational setting should really be a reward/ no reward system. The students should be made aware that the rewards are a future of enlightenment, advancement, opportunities, knowledge, fulfillment, acceptance, etc. and that the no reward is a future of none of these or their opposites.

1.1 response to Sandy Fowler's brand

Dreams precede reality. Of the two main definitons of dreams ( one definition concerns those random thoughts of the unconscious mind that occur during R.E.M sleep and the other refers to goals, desires, and ambitions), we are referring to the second. Dreams are the initial step toward realization. They form the beginnings of a blueprint or plan to acheive the realization of goals.

Dyad -- to Virginia

Hello Virginia, I'll make a list of some ideas for us to discuss but the first idea that came to mind involves the USA Congress. I was thinking one of the best ways of communicating via computer would be to establish a Chat time and discuss ideas instantaneously. On the east coast of the USA, the way to calculate the time difference for me here in Taiwan is to change AM to PM, on the west coast, the time difference would the same minus 3. So, for instance if it is 12 midnight here I think it would be 9AM in San Francisco (that's where you are, right?). On the operating system I am using here, Windows 98, I have Yahoo Messenger service and on Windows XP I have MSN Messenger service -- but the XP is not connected yet to the internet though I am going to try to connect it soon. How about trying to connect using Yahoo Messenger service either Saturday morning at 10 AM (or Sunday) your time, Pacific Time? Please let me know what ideas you have about how to discuss the ideas (and what ideas to discuss) for the dyad project. Richard

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V: I was unable to go online for three days, then was deluged with eails for one day, then my ISP went down for good. On top of that I was overcommitted. I've revised my commitments.
Richard, if you have not been assigned a more thoughtful partner already, please allow me to catch up with your work by reading all your postings. I will be reading and posting to catch up by Tuesday night. I had to reload my ISP software, and all seems to be working alright now. Sorry, to all!

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Glad you're all right!

At first, I thought we were supposed to write about the same topic but Prof. Sabet said we can write about different topics but just be a "sounding board" to each other. My idea involved the Congress but it also concerns local government as the idea is basically about a procedure for online voting so even if it is about national or federal voting it still is done from the voter's local community. It's basically about a direct democracy and that originates locally.

So what is your idea for an action plan? You, of course, can pursue another idea but if you are interested in what I am talking about then perhaps it can involve public education, on a local level, about the concept and include how to register the voters for this method. But again, you can pursue your own ideas, too. RB

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V: Hi Richard. I'm sorry I've been away so long. My ISP software got corrupted somehow and I was down for three + one days; it's fixed finally, and I'm caught up on campaign work.
I don't have a problem looking at Congress, since I'm obviously a political junkie <g>. However, I think the assignment calls for us working on change in our communities or our jobs. We could look at something that's related, I think, to your interests. How about what motivates or discourages people to register and/or vote in a primary, and to join a political campaign, or not?
I'in SF, and we can get into a chat room (do we have one in our media room, or is there one that's free that you've access to?) but I don't have instant messengers loaded. I won't lie; I'm very afraid of it. I'll do it if I must.
I can meet and discuss further on Sunday, July 27th, you name the time? As you can see, I stay up late usually. I'm in SF, you're right, and naturally I'm not that alert in the mornings as I go to sleep between 2-5 a.m. Let me know. You can write me at boricuavv@peoplepc.com

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Hello Virginia,

At one point we were told to pick a Dyad name. The two that came to mind to me were "Ubiquitous" and "Santa". Do you like either one or do you want to suggest another? (But I am not sure where we are supposed to put these titles).

So did you come up with an action plan idea? I can email you some of mine if you would like to review it and make suggestions, etc.

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Dear Prof. Sabet,

I am enjoying the ED 5004 course. I have a question about the dyad activity. I know that we are to discuss plans for social change and get feedback and ideas with our dyad partner and write separate papers on our ideas. My question is: Do we each write about our own plans which could be completely different than the other's or are we to write about the same topic? Also, do the topics have to be about educational system reform? I ask this because what I am thinking of involves processes of the United States Congress and not necessarily concerning education per se.

John,

Thank you for the information. I have another technical problem and this involves connecting to the internet. I am now in Taiwan so I got an ADSL cable through HiNet, ChinaTelecom. Their software CD was installed on my Windows 98 operating system so I am connecting to the internet in Windows 98. I also have Windows XP Professional OS and it is supposed to automatically connect to the internet with a cable ( all of my cable connections worked in the USA). However, here, something, in my computer, is blocking access to the internet and I can not connect with the HiNet ADSL. I wonder if you can tell me about some setting I need to change in order to access the internet. Maybe I should install that same CD software onto XP Professional. (By the way, I also have Windows XP Home Edition, in Chinese, and it connects to the internet via the ADSL cable here in Taiwan automatically just like it did in the USA).

I'd like to ask if I can include some creative input into the classes with some supplements I have made and some that I can make while I am there. I can show them to you. By the way, I taught oral English at Xi'an Translators' College and enjoyed it very much. The students there were very bright and talked about all topics although I steered clear (avoided) political and religious discussions since those are always sensitive issues.

Also, can you please send me an email copy of the 6 month employment contract?

And lastly, concerning the ADSL, I think I would need to install some software on my Windows 98 system for the internet cable. I have HiNet on the computer now but I think that is only for Taiwan. Is the HiNet internet cable system used in China or Chengdu? So, as I mentioned, I would need to connect to the internet through my computer (where all my computer files are) as soon as I get there so I think applying and installing a new phone line, etc. might take too much time. What do you think? How fast could I get the internet connection in my apartment?

Thank you,

Richard Bloodworth

RBloodworth99@yahoo.com

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2.1 Terry -- Ripples on a pond

I liked your metaphor about the stones and ripples in a pond and how one cause affects another. I thought of another metaphor, though with a different result, concerning change and growth and in particular corporate mega-expansion. Think of a snowball that begins rolling down a giant mountain-hill and as it rolls it accelerates faster and faster and collects more and more snow, becoming boulder-size, until it reaches and crashes into the flat valley bottom of the mountain, smashing into thousands of little fragments. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

2.1 Two McWorlds: DisneyWorld and Las Vegas

Two of the most McDonaldized population centers in the U.S.A. are Disney World in Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada and each represent microcosms of society at large. Each take into account the factors of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through non-human technology ( Introduction to "McDonalization" by George Ritzer) to produce a pre-
packaged sense of adventure through simulated experiences calculated to extract as much profit as possible from these entertainment centers.

In Disney World, which functions as an urban system, the four trends of theming, dedifferentiation of consumption, merchandizing, and emotional labor (The Disneyization of Society by Alan Bryman) are evident. I will compare the positive and negative aspects of these and other functions. Theming organizes the parks for navigational efficiency though it often gives inaccurate representations of reality such as in the World Showcase at Epcot. The dedifferentiation of consumption intermixes aspects of several systems or cultures though some would say it is a blending, melting pot stirring everything together into one witches' brew. Merchandizing can offer products that people want to buy but these products usually involve some advertising motive and statement and are usually not of an enduring quality. Emotional labor can provide a pleasant atmosphere since everyone likes to be greeted with a smile but often the employees must endure, with a smile, the abuse of some patrons without being to react honestly to being treated rudely.

Disney World has been a showcase for a great deal of creativity and ingenuity while at the same time the park visitor becomes a recipient of passive entertainment that requires no creativity on their part. Once I sent an idea for the park to the Disney organization and they sent the letter back from their lawyers ( they said the letter was being sent back unread but someone, at least a secretary, must have read the letter to determine its content -- another example of how they can consider the public as mindless objects ) saying that they could not accept unsolicited ideas no matter how well intentioned the sender is. The Disney parks have created several innovations that could be applied to other urban and residential environments, many to keep unpleasantries out of view such as underground garbage collection but these innovations would need to be part of a city plan as it is being built. Also, new technologies have been developed by them such as animation techniques and audioanimatronics which has contributed to the science of robotics and could be applied in the future for day to day use worldwide.

Of the themed parks such as the Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney (sanitized nightclubs for adults and shopping), Typhoon Lagoon, etc. , each having their own themed areas within, probably the most useful to society is EPCOT. The Experimental City of Tomorrow, envisioned by Walt Disney as a constantly evolving, changing entity showcasing the new and developing technologies for human use. For all of Disney World's contributions, the entertainment value it creates and the pre-digested experiences and simulated "adventures" that may give some people a distorted sense of reality. The assembly line approach to passive entertainment creates a stress free experience where no thinking is required.

Las Vegas is really Disney World for adults more so than EPCOT and its main attraction, gambling, has the effect of barring children from most of its facilities, namely, the casinos. Las Vegas, like Disney World, keeps as much unpleasantness out of sight as possible though much of Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" surely goes on behind the scenes but the surface is as slick as stainless steel. Having the appearance of shopping mall makes some adults long for the seediness and character of cities. But being the commercialized package that it is, this is a planned environment and any seeming spontaneity is actually a mathematically calculated spontaneity, of course, in the favor of the casinos. Theming is heavily apparent in the Las Vegas casinos with circus, New York, European, Egyptian, medieval, etc themes abounding.

One of the main influences of these places is the economy so these places, they say, are just giving people what they want to have. The other influences that create change are technological and social and all of these are evident in Disney World and Las Vegas. These two places demonstrate the changing values and tastes in the main stream of society while satisfying the customers' demands and their systems are being incorporated into the world at large.

2.2 McThis and McThat (changed to: Ronald Rules)

McDonaldization, according to George Ritzer in "McDonaldization, The Reader", has the characteristics of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through nonhuman technology. I think also, on the world scale, it involves five main areas: globalization, standardization, capitalization, commercialization, and transience. I will comment on each and mention positive and negative aspects of each.

Globalization has the positive effect of bringing the world together in a spirit of peaceful sharing and communication but at the same time it seems, to some, to threaten local and traditional cultures. However, this complaint is similar to the one that claimed that computers would make people more machine-like where, in reality, they allowed people more free time to pursue activities such as sports or reading and instead of threatening local cultures they strengthened them since people can communicate in their own languages worldwide if they want to. Also, McDonaldized institutions in foreign countries must respect and be sensitive towards the local cultures, hence, the mutton burger in India.

Standardization has many positive and negative characteristics. No one, for instance, wants every light bulb screw mount thread to be different from all of the others. But if everything in the world were completely standardized then everything becomes average and then there is no room for greatness or originality or even negatives such as nastiness or evil. Standardization creates convenience, efficiency, lower costs, predictability, calculability, and low stress but it can also create boredom, low stimulation, and no imagination. The other problem is the quantity/quality issue. In order to acheive the desired quantity which results in efficiency and lower costs, often it is quality that becomes sacrificed.

Capitalization involves stimulating a local economy but also having the profits sent back to another country, usually the United States. Some people would brand this as a form of cultural imperialism and others would say it a form of sharing the wealth of the world except that most of the invested institutions are located only in the developed countries leaving the undeveloped countries lagging even farther behind.

Commercialization is a way of appealing to the broadest audience possible. McDonald's is a highly advertised company so it could be said that 1/3 of the cost of eating a hamburger there is advertising. Advertising agencies choose market segments to advertise to and one market group McDonald's advertises to is children so that the young children will nag their parents until they are taken to a McDonald's. Also, commercialization refers to appealing sometimes to the lowest common denominator to appeal to the majority mainstream of a society and it uses whatever methods are necessary such as exploiting the cuteness factor to bring in the children and customers such as in house restaurant playgrounds, toy cartoon characters, gifts, and, of course Ronald McDonald. All of these trappings are harmless, but often the fact that these are basically places where food is to be eaten gets lost on the wayside. In this system, packaging can be more important than the product itself, such as when the printed box costs more than the cereal inside.

Transience is a part of everything in life. Since all of life is like a flowing, changing river, these McDonaldized institutions can adapt to change in social and cultural situations and environments and can likewise adapt and absorb new technologies as they arise. They often have a drive-through fast food feel with their plastic containers and take out bags far away from a traditional French meal with candlelight and wine. People can still have these kinds of traditional meals but they are also offered the choice of fast food in our fast paced world.

So, all in all, McDonaldization is not a threat to any established order with its attending globalization, standardization, capitalization, commercialization, and transience just as fire, electricity, and nuclear energy are not dangerous in themselves unless they are misused. The danger is that every aspect of society could become McDonaldized so that we have McSchools ( I teach in one now which is one reason I am taking these courses... so that I can get McOut), McJobs, McChurches, McDoctors,...McEverything so that a general overall dumbing down of society could occur and create McCandidates who later become McPresidents.

AMENDMENT: Globalization also includes the worldwide effect on the natural environment imposed on it by human beings. Population growth acceleration, the spread of infectious diseases, malnutrition, the ozone layer depletion, natural resources depletion, the introduction of invasive species, the extinctions of species, and food and water supply depletion are referred to by Athony J. McMichael in his paper "Population, environment, disease, and survival: past patterns, uncertain futures".

2.1 Response to Tracy Peterson's How I see change

War is one of the man-made disasters, as opposed to the natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, that function as agents for change. The following comment is in way meant to trivialize the soldier and civilian lives that were sacrificed during the 2003 Iraq War but in many ways that war, really a hostile takeover in my view, was a McWar partly created for media consumption and political reasons and some say for financial gain. I think most people liked the idea of removing Saddam Hussein from power but I think some other methods could have been used. Besides, by most reports now, he is still alive.

Response to Terry 2.2 response "have you ever been to either of the 2 places?"

Yes: Disneyland, once; Disney World and EPCOT, twice; Tokyo Disneyland ( a copy of the Magic Kingdom except it includes one exhibit about the history of the Japanese culture and the park is full of Japanese people and signage in Japanese), once; Las Vegas, twice.

2.2 comment to LaTasha about "McWork in Europe"

I personally thought that essay was a little on the alarmist and sensationalist side. In defense of McDonald's ("poor" McDonalds --everybody picks on them), most of their food is prepackaged or prepared in view of the customers so I think what was described about what was done to the food would be very rare, if not nonexistent. Someone could say (such as bragging teenagers) something liked that occurred when in fact it did not. I think it would be much more likely for something like that to occur in a traditional restaurant where the kitchen is out of view and behind closed doors. Food could be picked up off the floor or much more could be done without being seen.

Unit 3 required reading : http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/publicat/cdic-mcc/18-1/a_e.html

"The Use and Abuse of Participatory Action Research" Park

3.1 Effective Means for Studying Change Reason, Park, Frow, and Morris

In "Three Approaches to Participatory Inquiry", Peter Reason lists the approaches as co-
operative inquiry, participatory action, and action inquiry.

Co-operative inquiry is a humanistic approach and a self determining approach at identifying a problem and then arriving at a solution plan. This involves a critical subjectivity and self assessment. He mentions this process occurring in four phases: 1. propositional knowing 2. practical knowing 3. experitial knowing 4. return to propositional knowing or re-
evalution.

Participatory action involves the actual doing of the research project. The researcher is involved in the project and often one of the group members himself. The plans are to be executed by the members of the group in order to achieve the desired results.

Action inquiry and action science are ways of putting inquiry into practice and require "consciousness in the midst of action", sort of a sociological self-consciousness. As the action inquiry is put into use, Tolbert (1991a, n.d.) mentions four types of social power: unilateral (Hobbes), diplomatic (Rousseau), rational (Kant), and transforming (Rawls). In addition, he mentions four types of conversation used: framing, advocacy, illustration, and inquiry.

Experiential knowing, or emperical knowledge, is a step toward accomplishing the objective(s) and concrete reality is the connection between subjectivity and objectivity" (Paulo Freire, 1982). Peter Reason mentions that in the participatory action research prospective, ideology, epistemology, knowledge, and power power are bound up together in accomplishing the actions' objectives.

In "What is Participatory Reasearch? A Theoretical and Methodological Perspective", Peter Park states that participatory research is a way to empower people and much of this procedure sounds to me like the approach taken by political activists, usually involving human rights issues. It empowers people so that tools such as the computer are part of this movement whereas television (passive entertainment) is not.

Learning is done by interactive means to gain empirical, practical knowledge. In the school where I am teaching they use the term TPR meaning "Total Physical Response" which means that the students become actively involved following the philosophy that people retain much more by doing and experiencing than only by reading or watching. For example, if someone were to try to learn a foreign language by watching television programs in a foreign language, not much would be retained. But if he were to take an interactive language course in a classroom or online then much more would be retained. So interaction is a key element in learning.

Participatory action research seems to be a type of group existentialism where the group carves out its own existence and a type of political empiricism used to enable people to better their lives. In addition to the impoverished populations mentioned, this method could also be used in prison populations and institutions for people with mental and physical disabilities. In all cases, the procedure is defining a problem, then establishing a plan, and then executing those plans. And also in all cases, interaction and participation are key to the success of the participatory action research. Maybe the participatory action researchers could take a more concise approach by distributing T-shirts with the Nike slogan and following the advice "Just Do It."

3.2 Discussion: the Practice of Participatory Research

In "The Use and Abuse of Participatory Research", Rebecca S. Hagley says that previous types of orthodox and traditional research were done as if the subjects were being viewed through a microscope or telescope while being in a cage or as performers on a television show. The researchers stayed with their projects using just enough time to get information for their research projects and then left. Hagley uses the phrases "hit and run" and "fly in and fly out" to describe these situations. The information obtained became "research for the empire strikes back" or, worse, "dead reports on dusty shelves".

Then participatory action research came along to rectify the situation. The idea is that the researchers and the group participants become actively involved to better the lives and conditions of those involved. This activity is a "means of putting research capabilities in the hands of the deprived and disenfranchised people so that they can transform their lives for themselves". As with every system there are pros and cons but the effect is for the positives to outweigh the negatives.

Concerning participatory action research, Hagley mentions the principles of equity (public or private?), restitution (repairing damage done by the research activities or restoration to the original conditions), procedural justice (bureaucracy or the insolence of office?), autonomy (problems that can result from being unsupervised or unregulated and also to avoid speaking for the people represented on their behalf and instead letting them speak for themselves).

The ethics involved in the participatory research process should be addressed also. Abuses that can arise, other than those in the four principles mentioned above, are worth looking into. For example, the community members could be exploited for a particular desired outcome and they become used as puppets or guinea pigs, specimens to be experimented on. A company hiring a researcher to achieve positive commercial results for the company rather than bettering the lives of the population segment that is involved in the research project is also a concern.

Every activity or organization can have outlaws that are corrupt or dishonest but if the procedures of participatory research are followed ethically then the desired effect can be achieved.

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3.2 PAR Hagley:

Abstract

This paper outlines the characteristics of PAR, participatory action research, so that interested investigators can determine if their project fits the criteria. The author introduces some key concepts in critical theory that drive the political analysis dimension of PAR and lay to rest concerns about validity and legitimacy. Types of PAR are reviewed according to the brand of knowledge focused on in the research, and some examples are given. An emerging critique of PAR is offered and some abuses of PAR are described. The major ethical principles of social justice that guide PAR are outlined. References to epistemology and specific methodological demonstration projects are included. Suggestions for future use in chronic disease research are offered.

Key words: Critical theory; empowerment; ethics; oppressed groups; participatory action research; research design; research outcomes; research utilization; social environment

Introduction

Participatory action research (PAR) is the gloss for a number of research traditions that emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. Researchers such as Paulo Freire1 broke with conventional approaches to gathering data "on" oppressed people. Phrases such as "hit and run" and "fly in fly out" research indicate that communities are astute as to how research is used to manage them. In many quarters, distrust is still expressed. "Research for the empire strikes back" is a droll observation about one extreme of abuse, while "dead reports on dusty shelves" refers to the needs assessment or prevalence study that is done to be seen to be doing something, when in fact the political agenda is not to respond to the need. By contrast, "participatory research is a means of putting research capabilities in the hands of the deprived and disenfranchised people so that they can transform their lives for themselves."2

Characteristics of PAR

Hall3 outlines seven characteristics of participatory research that bear repeating here so researchers can evaluate their proposals or projects using these criteria.

The "problem" originates within the community or workplace itself.

The research goal is to fundamentally improve the lives of those involved, through structural transformation.

The people in the community or workplace are involved in controlling the entire research process.

The focus of PAR is on oppressed groups whose issues include inaccessibility, colonization, marginalization, exploitation, racism, sexism, cultural disaffection, etc.

Participatory research plays a role in enabling by strengthening people's awareness of their own capabilities.

The people themselves are researchers, as are those involved who have specialized research training.

The researchers with specialized training may be outsiders to the community, but are committed learners in a process that leads to militancy (fighting for change) rather than detachment.4

Characteristics of PAR

Hall3 outlines seven characteristics of participatory research that bear repeating here so researchers can evaluate their proposals or projects using these criteria.

The "problem" originates within the community or workplace itself.

The research goal is to fundamentally improve the lives of those involved, through structural transformation.

The people in the community or workplace are involved in controlling the entire research process.

The focus of PAR is on oppressed groups whose issues include inaccessibility, colonization, marginalization, exploitation, racism, sexism, cultural disaffection, etc.

Participatory research plays a role in enabling by strengthening people's awareness of their own capabilities.

The people themselves are researchers, as are those involved who have specialized research training.

The researchers with specialized training may be outsiders to the community, but are committed learners in a process that leads to militancy (fighting for change) rather than detachment.4

Critical Theory and Political Analysis

PAR requires doing a political analysis and having a shared understanding of the authority and power relations of all parties involved, be they individuals or bureaucratic offices. In the traditions of PAR this analysis has been critical, informed by one of several critical theory traditions. These theories grew out of movements that analyzed political events and attacks on democratic process, such as those in Germany and Italy before the Second World War. See the work of Stevens and Hall 5 for references to the major critical theories in the context of introducing some key concepts.

An important concept that is more easily described than applied is that of demystification. Newcomers to the field balk at this concept because it sounds like Marx's famous notion of getting rid of false consciousness. In today's milieu, this might smack of "political correctness." The intent is for an honest assessment of where the power lies and where there is systematic disadvantage, failure to advocate or merit not being recognized or acknowledged. Demystification is uncovering the "truth" that is predicted to be hidden or denied by those in power resisting change, wishing to keep control. This process is a beginning point for Freire's method of "conscientization."6 However, Freire's approach includes belief in the freedom to change relations and in learning to do it by doing it.7

A related concept is that of hegemony, formulated by Antonio Gramsci,8 who saw that fascism rose to dominance in prewar Italy by enlisting the co-operation of the people in their own domination, in conformity to fascism and in managing their own complicity. The concept of hegemony is central to PAR because it is only through awareness of how they contribute to their own oppression that the (community) researchers themselves can begin an empowerment process. The Gramscian tradition considers every person to have the capacity to be an intellectual, able to peel off the layers of mystification in "common sense" or what feels normal, embarking instead on what makes "good sense" informed by knowledge gained in the participatory research process.9

The concept of reflexivity10 invites clarifying power relations by locating oneself within the authority and power relations. Foucault11 has confirmed for PAR advocates that knowledge is power, and discourse is the means of negotiating knowledge/power.12 One type of discourse, research, is acknowledged as one means of regulating society and is therefore political. PAR challenges the ideal of seeing researchers as neutral and unbiased, without vested interests, etc., because it purposely champions the community engaging in its own research. PAR studies are accorded success because they achieve goals and outcomes. Research utilization is both process and product in participatory action research.

Types of PAR According to Knowledge Focus

Brydon-Miller4 lists three types of focus in the projects that have been successfully transformative using PAR.

Technical knowledge and empirical analytic techniques as required, for example, in clean water systems, reforestation, sewer systems, reallocation of food sources and mapping of traditional hunting, trapping and land use

Dialogue and human interaction techniques to generate knowledge, understanding and new relationships and roles (See Tandon's work with villagers in India;13 see also the research of Stevens and Hall 5 for efforts to shift from routine harassment by police and a high rate of sexual assault in a community, to a reduction of sexual assaults in that community related to better relations with police.)

Social action, which can use empirical and interpretive techniques directed at generating joint program development (Examples here include women's health programs, birth control programs, street patrol assistance for homeless people and community kitchens for co-operative, low-cost nutrition. For the women's health example, see Chand and Soni's work.14 )

A fourth type of PAR is evaluative PAR, which has taken the form of showing up the partisan interests of conventional researchers, especially in such areas as environmental and occupational health research.15 In addition, PAR is versatile enough to be able to incorporate or adapt traditional evaluative methods of research.16 Evaluations may be icing on the cake representing restructuring, and they may be instituted by the community to monitor satisfactory functioning of new facilities or relations.

A fifth type of PAR can be seen in the Appalachian Land Ownership Study, undertaken as citizens' research in three states in the US. Coalitions were organized to teach the citizens about tax law and investigative methods; because multitudes of citizens volunteered their time, absentee landlords were brought to accountability.17

Critical theories inform the analysis of how institutions are regulated by various forms of discourse and of how discourse can be counter-managed by those subject to hegemony. Critical theory situates PAR in the camp of qualitative research with a rigorous theory base. Yet PAR is also able to incorporate quantitative methods that may be useful. See the research by Oquist18 and Fals Borda19 for elaborations on epistemology and methods for conducting PAR, i.e. transforming reality.

Abuse of PAR

The most common abuse of PAR is using its good reputation, gained from its ethical relations and practices, while conducting research within the conventional sets of relations. The obvious motivation is to retain control of research and to be accountable to one's bureaucracy, which calls for efficiency in research. PAR, being in community control, may not appear to be efficient and may ignore institutional deadlines. Researchers may be uninformed about the community's history and oblivious to signs of oppression, and they may be incompetent at doing the political analysis necessary to remain accountable to the community, which may be composed of several conflicting traditions.

Since there is a growing stable of PAR facilitators in the growing private research market, principal investigators can hire a facilitator who may come through with adequate results in the conventional research spectrum. In such cases, the principal investigator can passively be an agent for powers interested in managing the community. A close reading of their reports sometimes reveals infantalization of community leaders or belittling of the community's problem-solving abilities and political institutions. Principal investigators may exploit capable young people who can speak the local language, using them as research assistants. These possible abuses of PAR indicate no concept of who should own the research process and no critique of how or whether any of the information will further take advantage of the community. No mention is made of how the researchers have befriended the community in order to gain the privilege of truncating and controlling the research process.

Principal investigators, facilitators and community research assistants may believe they are grooming community members to be researchers so that, in the long run, the community will have its own research base. However, numerous excuses abound for putting off recognition of the community's own research base. These excuses might include that the community is fractionalized, it does not have the expertise required or the research process is muddied by conflictual politics. These realities have been transformed in PAR, which refuses to accept any excuse to ignore the community's rights to self-determination. Within PAR, one is asked to resist being a pawn for the bureaucracy or company that merely infiltrates the community to get the community to comply with its interests. Beware of research that uses the facilitator and the community members as puppets.

Ethical Principles

Social justice principles of equity, restitution and procedural justice20 are important concepts in PAR. Equity embodies ideas that are qualitatively different from those of multiculturalism. The latter promotes equality but does not recognize that there is systemic disadvantage that requires counteraction and compensation. Restitution acknowledges institutional responsibility in creating conditions that must now be rectified. The concept of procedural justice values how relationships are lived, how interactions exclude or refrain from including, how particular elite individuals holding office practise dominance and perpetuate systemic disadvantage, how racism hurts and humiliates and is denied, how its perpetrators are unwilling to examine their own practices and how resistance to change is manifested, for example, when institutions have righteous sounding policies that they do not put into daily practice.

A fourth ethical principle of PAR is autonomy. The facilitator respects the autonomy of the people, avoiding speaking on their behalf, and he or she reports to the community when asked to play a mediator or interpreter role, always accountable to the people. In PAR, autonomy is complex because conflicts may arise between individuals and groups, and between groups.

Credibility of PAR

A social "fact" gaining credence through PAR is that one's position in structures of subordination shapes one's ability to see the whole.21 PAR is a way of galvanizing this holistic perspective among the participants. By honouring the extent to which the research process is actually a political process and by always working out the terms of relations as the process goes along, PAR is gaining credibility in the research community as a research process as opposed to just an everyday political process. PAR relies on honesty and veracity both in declaring agendas (reflexivity) and in carrying out the research and implementing its goals. On this foundation, both validity and legitimacy are grounded.

Since the usual rituals for determining validity are often not in the repertoire of PAR, the research community has looked askance at how old issues such as representativeness, generalizability and reliability are handled. The communities wanting to use PAR ask such questions as "Whose problem is it?" and "How much of the total budget for research and development actually accomplishes the developmental goal or implements recommendations?" To get a sense of whose interests are accomplished, read Norman's22 work on the global budget of research and development.

Receiving funding for PAR requires the same procedures as in traditional research for arguing the importance of the problem and the fit of the method with the nature of the problem and for reviewing the responsibility of the funding body to the population and to the problem as well as to competing populations or groups.

Emerging Critiques of PAR

Communities in a process of empowerment, notably First Nations, are questioning the need for outside facilitators of research, saying PAR does not go far enough in bringing their communities into the research and development arena. They are developing their own theory base and research programs.23 This challenges the romantic idea of "partnering with communities" to do research and advocacy. It asserts the power of the community to find its own research consultants and hold them accountable. Counter-management is a different idea than partnering. When group autonomy is respected, counter-management is transformed into management under self-
determination.

The Future Use of PAR

Participatory action research, accepting the politics of research, requires a good emotional intelligence quotient (or EQ),24 a high tolerance of conflict and excellent group process skills. By definition, PAR is a research method that employs group process to generate and utilize research. PAR offers families and communities an approach to enlightened decision making that values the knowledge of practitioners and of persons with disabilities or those experiencing the effects of chronic disease.

Pedersen and Fernandes25 describe decisional remodelling of those with decision-making powers. Such innovations can be used in future adaptations of PAR offering methods for balancing self-interest with collective interests and dominant interests with subordinate interests. It can offer those with chronic illnesses a way of empowering themselves, deliberating as researchers and creating new communities for living with chronic disease. PAR could help to uncover the truth about environmental causes of chronic diseases and where responsibilities for restitution lie. Let us value and explore this frontier for fruitful research.

Author References

Rebecca S Hagey, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, Faculty of Nursing, 50 St George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H4

Rebecca Hagey is a founding member of Anishnawbe Health Toronto, Canada's first urban aboriginal community health centre. She received the Praxis Award from the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists for participatory action research on diabetes in the native community, which led to the establishment of the centre. The award recognizes the synthesis of research, theory and practice toward real world problem solving.

3.3 Study of Change examples

The one catalyst of change in the teaching profession, as well as in my art related experiences, that overwhelms all of the others is technology. Another important catalyst is social movements. The two together cause most of the changes in society including changes in the educational system. In the English as a foreign language field, as in all fields of education, there has been more use of computers, intermedia, and the internet.

In the school where I have been teaching the in class teaching methods are based on the experiences and the recommendations of the experts in the teachers' manuels who base their ideas on academic studies and their personal experiences. To develop the students' skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, the school and teachers use visual and audio techniques to stimulate and interest the students. Using the methods of warm up (to activate them), vocabulary, sentence patterns, drills, pre-teaching activities (to introduce a concept), and relevant activities to create a participatory environment where interaction is used to instill the information. These are followed by reinforcement and then enrichment activities all using the concept of total physical response.

Studies have reinforced what people have already known and that is that people learn by practicing and doing. So, to learn another language it is crucial for the students to all talk and listen to each other. For this reason, often the classes engage in pair work or group work so that they are all talking to each other in the language that they are learning. Though some teachers at first might find this distracting there is valuable learning going on during these activities. In a traditional language class, where each student speaks one at a time, each student might talk for less than one minute per class and this can add up to less than one or two hours of speaking time in a whole school year. Utililizing the participatory pair and group work method the speaking time could be increased up to 60 to 120 hours of speaking time per student in a school year. This method stresses learning by doing and, utilizing this interactive approach, much more information is transmitted and retained.

3.1 name-labeling response to Kerry

Down's Syndrome was once called mongoloidism but that label offended Asian people. In some cases, these labels are for people outside of the affected group because, for example, I don't think someone with Down's Syndrome would be aware of the subtle differences in the terms. However, I think it is a good idea to have the change of a labeling term because it affects the way these individuals are treated by the rest of society.

3.2 Response to Kerry on Ethics

I mentioned in the discussion about participatory action research that these techniques could be used in prison populations and institutions for people with mental and physical disabilities. Of all of these groups the group that could be the most vulnerable and most easily exploited and manipulated would be the mentally retarded (and children as well), depending on the severity of their conditions, since many of them would not be aware that they are being exploited. There have been several activities utilizing the participatory action research techniques and the one that comes to mind first is the Special Olympics. Activities like this would surely boost their morale but I would imagine all of this is coordinated by people outside of the group of the event's participants. With the help of their parents and interested facilitators these people could develop, for instance, unions for the menial and repetitious labor in which they might be employed.

3.2 Another Response to Kerry

Here's one of the most extreme examples of public manipulation. In China, the people there have to go along with whatever the government says. While in China, I took took a boat trip down the Yangze River from Chonqing to Wuhan to see the Three Gorges -- sort of like taking a boat trip through the Grand Canyon, though the Three Gorges are not nearly as large. The boat trips stopped one week after I went because the under-construction world's largest dam was being closed causing the river water to rise. This will create the largest lake in China and the world's largest artificial lake. The rationale was that this would control the flood waters, create a water reservoir, and supply needed electricity though experts say this could have been done with a series of smaller dams. As a result of this grandiose project over a million and a half people were relocated up the hills or mountains and entire towns were demolished. The water will cover thousands of temples, former towns, archaeological sites, and the natural scenery of the Three Gorges, radically changing the natural environment. If this dam were to ever break, or be bombed, a tidal wave and flood rushing from Wuhan to Shanghai would engulf millions of people. We can all hope and assume that will never happen but then no one ever thought the events of September 11, 2001 would ever happen eith

3.3 To April Pugh

Now they're going to have to call them socially unsecured numbers or social insecurity numbers.

3.1 to Kerry

That's definitely a good example of exploitation and manipulation of the public.

3.1 Another example

Here's an extreme example of public manipulation: In China the people there have to go along with whatever the government says. While in China, I took a boat trip down the Yangze River to see the Three Gorges, sort of like taking a boat trip through the Grand Canyon, though the Three Gorges are not nearly as large. The boat trips stopped one week later because the still under-
construction world's largest dam was being closed causing the river water to rise. This will create the largest lake in China and the world's largest artificial lake. The rationale was that this would control flood waters, create a fresh water reservoir, and supply needed electricity though experts say that these objectives could have been accomplished with a series of smaller dams. To construct this grandiose project, the relocation of over a million and a half people to up on the hills and mountains, and elsewhere, was implemented and entire towns were demolished. The resulting lake will cover thousands of temples, former towns, archaeological sites, and the scenery of the Three Gorges, radically changing the natural environment. If the dam were to ever break, or be bombed, a rushing tidal wave and flood would engulf millions of people from Wuhan to Shanghai. We can all hope and assume that will never happen but then no one ever thought the events of September 11, 2001 would ever happen either.

----

July 28, 2003: Prof. Sabet,

Here is the Concept Plan with a title page, though I might reword the title later. I plan on putting the final paper on PageMaker 7.0 so that all of the pages will be composed and numbered. Can you open PageMaker? If not, I could paste the pages onto another format before sending it.

I plan on having a deeper discussion of democracy beginning with the Greek philosophers and going up to contemporary political conditions. Can you please tell me more specifically what you mean by consolidating the core concept?

One question I have is again about the Dyad Activity. Under the Unit 4 Dyad Activity the instructions are to meet with the dyad partner in the Course Room "(under the thread that is specifically designated for 2-person dyad activity)". Is that under the heading "Dyad Activity" in Unit 4 or under the first one in Unit 2 or elsewhere?

4.1 It's Globalization

In the world today there are many social movements such as human rights, women's rights, civil rights, peace movements, democracy movements, socialism movements, aborigine movements, gay rights (same gender marriages are granted in some countries now which would have an affect on the attitudes and social structure of society and this is creating a backlash amongst some groups such as the Catholic Church), the use of credit cards and electronic money, the Euro currency (an example of a peaceful revolution, though and economic one, that occurred in January 2002) and the list goes on.

All of these movements are important and many involve all members of society (human rights movements, democracy movements, peace movements, etc.) but some involve minority groups (aborigine movements, gay rights movements, etc.) or segments of society (the women's movement though this directly affects 1/2 of the world's population) but, to me, the movement that most affects everyone everywhere is globalization.

Some see globalization only in business terms, as a phenomenon instigated by business investments, but it is a cultural phenomenon as well affecting all aspects of society and all people in society and it is a phenomenon created by, bought into, and perpetuated by people and is therefore a social movement. The globalization movement is generally organized and executed by the businesses and groups that expand their operations internationally. Globalization is bringing the world together using the advances of technology, and though there are still pockets of local traditional culture, the people in the modern world are creating a new culture borrowing from all of the traditional cultures and blending them together into one new world culture where people have access to the same utilitarian, consumption, and cultural products as discussed in "McDonaldization, the Reader" by and edited by George Ritzer. ( However, it should be mentioned that there are also undesirable aspects to globalization such as the spread of disease and pollution and the depletion of natural resources).

Styles of clothing are changing the world over from traditional costumes to western wear. A hundred years ago people would see only kimonos and robes in Japan now they see coats and ties and T-shirts and shorts. Food of every ethnic variety is available worldwide. Music, movies, and books are distributed worldwide, though many are translated into local languages, as are household products, appliances, and consumer products of all types. Restaurant chains that started in the United States are now more prevalent in other countries than they are in the U.S.A., restaurants such as McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken might have more individual smaller restaurants in the United States but the restaurants in China are numerous and their dining halls are cavernous and full of people eating fried chicken so I would say that, in total, much more chicken is eaten at Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in China than in the United States. These restaurants have become social meeting places where all types of people can congregate. Another aspect of globalization is communcation using telephones and the internet. Also, fortunately for native English speakers, English is being adopted as the international verbal language.

With international travel and world communication via printed matter, telephones, and the internet utilizing satellite and cable technology, a great social movement is unifying the world into one diversified world community and culture whether everyone in the world likes the idea or not.

4.2 The social movement that has impacted me most personally

Some would call the Internet a technological movement but it's use by a growing number of people classifies it as a social movement and it is the social movement which has most affected me as can be witnessed through my email correspondences, internet surfing, and online courses, to name a few. (I have just read that Flash Mobs are the newest manisfestations of this movement -- similar to Happenings in the 60's -- where people are instructed over the internet where to meet and then given instructions at the meeting place, where hundreds of people meet, as to what the mob activity will be such as chirping like birds and crowing like roosters and then chanting "Nature" in Central Park in New York and then leaving or meeting and then clapping hands about nothing in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel and then leaving.)

The Internet has had a profound impact on the world and on me personally. For example, these online courses, which can be taken from anywhere in the world, would not be possible without it. Everyone has heard of Bill Gates but not many know who the inventor of the World Wide Web is. The original concept and technology of the Internet came from the U.S. military with the idea of making a communication system that could survive a nuclear war. The Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, stated that "the vision that I have for the Web is about anything being potentially connected to anything." This has the potential of even further blurring the boundaries between nations and ideologies and is in fact causing this to occur now.

In "Transnationalism, Localization, and Fast Foods in East Asia" by James L. Watson in "McDonaldization, the Reader" by George Ritzer mentions that some aficionados especially those connected with "Wired" magazine assert that "Internet enthusiasts have already begun to create a global culture that will negate -- or at least undermine -- the traditional state." and: "Web visionaries also predict that ideologies based on class, religion, and ethnicity will recede as the global system becomes a reality. This new utopian literature is reminiscent of early Marxist visions of a stateless, classless world devoid of ethnic and religious divisions. Underlying globalist theories is the idea that people the world over will share a common culture." This has already begun to happen.

The Internet and the World Wide Web forms a world communication system, a world library and information system, an information storage and an information retrieval and dispensing system, commercial uses for a worldwide marketplace for buying and selling, and online courses, among others. Much of the use of the Internet is behind the scenes but its social impact is profound and it is one of the instruments that is helping to create a new world culture.

4.1 Response to Chris concerning Political Correctness -- A Rose by any other name

I once worked in a summer camp for disabled children and we were told in a handout to try not to use the term "handicap" because the origin of the term derived from disabled beggars who would hold a cap in their hand to collect money from passersby. Now with "handicapped parking" signs everywhere (as they were at the time the camp was held) that meaning has dissolved and the word has been ensconced into daily use. That is just an illustration of how meanings and connotations of words can change over time.

Nowhere -- except perhaps in prison or between rival street gangs -- would someone hear "I heard your ol' lady kicked the bucket"; indeed, probably not even "I heard your mother died" or "I'm sorry, I heard your mother died". Possibly someone might hear "I'm sorry to hear that your mother passed away". But most likely someone would hear something like "I'm sorry to hear about your mother". The statement is phrased that way because the speaker is being sensitive to the listener's feelings at a difficult and mournful time in the listener's life. So very often euphemisms are used in order to soften the blow of tragic news or to indicate sympathy or emphathy.

I think most of what is called political correctness is in fact courtesy by another name. It is mostly a verbal movement involving definitions of words and the attempt to use words that are not offensive to most people. There are emotionally charged words that are meant to stir up and inflame negative or sensual emotions such as the notorious "four letter words" and derogatory and defiling words that classify groups or types of people in a demeaning and insulting way and these are words that most people try to avoid using.

And there are words and terms to describe people and occupations. How much more difficult is it to say "sanitation worker" rather than "trash collector" if that term gives that individual more of a sense of dignity about himself? After all, without them, we would be living in an unsanitary world amidst piles of garbage.

So I think "political correctness" falls into the category of politeness or courtesy. Living in or visiting Japan can be a pleasure to most people because there courtesy is the rule rather than the exception. The United States, for all of its greatness, still has many areas it could improve in and one of them is in the area of courtesy. Often people, under the guise of freedom of speech, treat each other rudely without any attempts at courtesy when a rational, courteous approach could have served just as well.

Some people may say that political correctness or incorrectness provides material for comedians but, in reality, no one really wants to be the brunt of a joke and comedy is usually about behavior that people should not engage in or about people mistreating one another or making mistakes in general. For example, no employee would advance very far within an organization who expressed disagreement by throwing a pie in his supervisor's or boss' face, however, that is permissible within a comedic situation.

I think the concept of political correctness is a way for fellow members of society to try to give dignity to the lives of all people and to respect and to be sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of others. Although it can be overly euphemistic at times, I think "political correctness" is an attempt by society to terminologically incorporate the principles of the Golden Rule.

4.2 Response to LaTasha

Your descriptions of the tragedies associated with the Civil Rights movement are very moving and effective -- what occurred to those people can make someone embarrassed and ashamed to be part of the white or European race.

Another disgrace in American history, which occurred well before what you described, was the eradication of the Native American culture and the near extermination of the Native American people.

Summary Cosima Nolinas (Codi) trained as a physician, but decided during her residency to give up medicine. As the novel opens, she is returning to her hometown, Grace, Arizona, to teach high school biology and care for her physician father, Doc Homero, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Her younger sister, Hallie, has just left for Nicaragua to help with agricultural development. Codi's journey back to where she grew up reinforces a sense of aimlessness which she attributes to the death of her mother when she was three years old, to the miscarriage of an unwanted pregnancy when she was fifteen, and to her father's remoteness. She intends her stay to be temporary.

But gradually she is drawn into the community. She restarts a relationship with Loyd [sic] Peregrina, the Native-American father--though she never told him--of the child she lost in high school. She joins the town's struggle against a mining company that has polluted the town's water supply and now plans to dam the river. As her father's condition deteriorates, she learns more about the history of his connection with the town and, by examining the results of a life-long study he has done on a genetic anomaly affecting children born to second-generation inhabitants of Grace, she learns that her own hereditary background is far more deeply rooted in the town than she had known.

Codi's narrative is interspersed with her father's confused but illuminating memories of her childhood, and with the letters she receives from Hallie, who has always been the motivated and determined sister. When Hallie is kidnapped and then murdered by the contras, Codi's first response is to run away once more, but in laying her sister to rest and telling Loyd about their lost child, she realizes that she has found her home and--in her fierce and practical education of the new generation of Grace adolescents--her purpose.

Commentary Set against the chilling ecological and social effects of corporate and political exploitation, this deftly-structured novel tells a story about personal obstacles to giving care, and about the role of action--and activism--in overcoming those obstacles. Doc Homer's difficult social position (his family were town pariahs) and the loss of his wife leave him able to express care for his patients more easily than for his children.

Hallie is almost involuntarily driven in her commitment to what Codi enviously calls "saving the world," but is outraged when Codi expresses this, and accuses her of using her own lack of self-
esteem as an excuse for being selfish: "You think you're no good, so you can't do good things." As Codi becomes more and more committed to doing good things in the aptly-named town of Grace, the fear of doing harm that made her give up medicine is replaced by a peace that comes from relinquishing her insecure individuality for absorption in a community

"Animals dream about the things they do in the day time just like people do. If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life." So says Loyd Peregrina, a handsome Apache trainman and latter-day philosopher. But when Codi Noline returns to her hometown, Loyd's advice is painfully out of her reach. Dreamless and at the end of her rope, Codi comes back to Grace, Arizona to confront her past and face her ailing, distant father. What the finds is a town threatened by a silent environmental catastrophe, some startling clues to her own identity, and a man whose view of the world could change the course of her life. Blending flashbacks, dreams, and Native American legends, Animal Dreams is a suspenseful love story and a moving exploration of life's largest commitments. With this work, the acclaimed author of The Bean Trees and Homeland and Other Stories sustains her familiar voice while giving readers her most remarkable book yet.

5.1 5.2 Discussion

Participatory Action Research involves new terminology for me so that knowledge area is the most significant learning and informational experience for me in this course to date. Also, the essays in George Ritzer's "McDonaldization, the Reader" were interesting and thought-provoking and "Transitions" by William Bridges was helpful and comforting as well as an in depth exploration of the processes of change and transition. How well I see myself participating in the course can be determined by my reading my comments in the Course Room as they begin to accumulate and also by the responses I write to fellow students and the responses I receive from them and from the professor.

we all can relate to the dictionary issue. Some of us may have some idea of the meanings of "recalcitrant" and "pastiches". But I, for one, needed the dictionary for "hegemony", "ecumenism", "polity", "glasnost", "samizdat", and "autarky", to name a few.

5.1 Comment to Chris

I think you have a good attitude toward evaluation/grading/assessment. We can all add your rocking chair metaphor (worrying could also be like running on a treadmill), along with "Life is like a box of chocolates", to the quotations for our personal philosophies.

6 Dyad Activity -- Bibliography

6.1 Discussion -- What forms of change did you see occurring in the novel Animal Dreams? How did you see change occurring? What forms of studying change were portrayed?

There are many forms of change described in Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Dreams", her stream-of-consciousness novel mostly about two sisters and their father who was a doctor but who is now disabled with Alzheimer's disease. Using flashbacks, Native American imagery, shifting verb tenses, and plenty of personal pronouns with no or difficult to find antecedents, Ms. Kingsolver presents a story of change involving family members and the fictitious town and townspeople of Grace, Arizona.

The forms of change in the novel involve societal, familial, value, personal relationships, time, attitudinal, behavioral, and philosophical changes to name a few. The forms of studying change involved the classroom situations and discussions, personal conversations, and the activities of the Stitch and Bitch Club.

Reading her random plot structure writing style was like panning for gold where one sifts through the material to find a few ideas and thoughts that glisten like gold and stand out from the rest of the page. Some examples referring to change are:

(p. 48) Memory is a complicated thing, a relative of truth but not its twin.

(p. 9 ) Pay attention to your dreams: when you go on a trip, in your dreams you will still be at home. Then after you go home you'll dream of where you were.

(p.57) A hand lettered sign where "Nowhere" is meant to say "Now here"

(p. 133) Loyd: ''What do animals dream about?" Codi: " Animal Dreams?"

(p. 262) There is nothing boring about the prospect of extinction.

(p. 269) I watched drenched blossoms falling like wet snow.

(p. 289) What could be more arrogant than to come back and do a scientific study of your own town's people?

In the novel probably the most changeable character was Codi though though there were some minor changes in other characters, such as when Loyd gave up rooster fighting. Also, change was seen as occurring as the results of the efforts of the Stitch and Bitch Club, such as the cessation of the mining operations of the Black Mountain Mining Company.

6.2 Discussion -- Who did you think was the most effective change agent in the novel? What characteristics did that person display that made him or her a good leader in a change process? What did that character tell you about what motivates people to get involved and become a change agent?

The Novel's Catalyst

Even though the entire book seemed to be from Codi's (Cosima Noline's) perspective, since the Cosima sections were written in first person and the Homero sections were written in third person, and despite her dominance in the novel and her sometimes eccentric appearance with her erratic and passionately obsessive behavior for her environmental causes, I think Codi was not the main change agent. Doc Homer (Doctor Homero Noline) might have been a change agent during his life, being a father and a doctor helping people, but during the period of the book he was a passive change agent, as the result of his Alzheimer's disease, by causing people to take care of him in the way that family members care for their ailing elders or parents which causes a change in their lives and in the lives of the people around them. Doc Homer's condition caused Codi to leave Tuscon, Arizona and her boyfriend (couldn't he have come to Grace with her?) to care for him.

Codi became involved in some activism but all of these activities were a reaction, sometimes seemingly a guilt reaction, to the activities of her younger sister Hallie (Halimeda Noline). Codi was an agitator for her personal and political causes as when she mentions the sulfuric acid polluting the river (p.63). After she leaves her boyfriend Carlo in Tuscon to care for her ailing father in Grace, Arizona, she begins to teach. In the high school biology class that she teaches (p.254), she points out the problem of pollution and the destruction of natural environments to supply materials for man made products. When Hallie is kidnapped in Nicaragua, in her class, Codi preaches against the mining companies that are polluting the river and says that the the sulfuric acid in the water would kill the plants in the canyon farms (Chpt. 9) and discusses other environmental issues with the biology class. She even calls the Nicaraguan Ministry of Agriculture and writes the President of the United States, again all in reaction to Hallie's social consciousness.

Though many of her actions were admirable and well intended and even having said all of this about Codi --

indeed most of the book is by and about her -- I think the most effective change agent or catalyst in the novel was Hallie and many of Codi's actions were reactions to Hallie's efforts and actions. Hallie had an effect on everyone from at the very beginning. Even her birth changed the previous structure of her family when her mother died a few weeks after childbirth. As she was growing up, she was compassionate and interested in social causes. She left Tuscon, Arizona to work in the fields and to help and influence the people of Nicaragua. And her end by a death by shooting from the Nicaraguan contras started another change cycle that reverberated all the way to Grace, Arizona, and to Codi, her father, the Stitch and Bitch Club, and the townspeople.

Hallie instigated change all along the way as evidenced in her involvement in Nicaragua, her involvement in the Garden Hotline, and her dramatic death before her thirtieth birthday. As Codi said: "I'm the sister who didn't go to war. Hallie is the one who went south. ..with her heart set on (making) a new world" (p. 7). And: "Hallie was a protagonist of history" (p. 333). And from a dialogue (p. 334):

Homer: She wanted to change the world.

Codi: No, Pop, that's not true. She wanted to save herself. Just like we all do.

Homer: Save herself from what?

Codi: From despair, from the feeling of being useless.

As Codi also said, Hallie believed that it is your actions that make you good or bad. And that is, in a few words, the philosophy of an activist or an agent of change.

6.3 Discussion -- The Stitch and Bitch Club was engaged in participatory research. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? If you agree, what characteristics of participatory research did you see? If you disagree, why do you disagree?
Although they would have never given it the term Participatory Action Research, the Stitch and Bitch Club utilized the principles of P.A.R. The club held its annual fund raising bazaar (p. 82) and Viola, Mary Lopez, Loulou Campbell and the other members of the S&B Club raised money for the club by selling peacock pinatas (Chpt. 17). With their environmental concerns and even letters to the United States President, their club was more than just a group of ladies knitting and complaining or gossipping

In addition to their letter writing campaigns for their causes, the S&B made a hefty profit from their pinatas sales and donations which got the attention of Sean Rideheart (Chpt. 22), a Tuscon art dealer, who, at one point, suggests that the club apply to the National Registry of Historic Places to get Grace, Arizona listed as a Historic Preservation area which becomes another one of their causes.

After Codi Noline speaks at the S&B Club about the local mine using sulfuric acid to retrieve copper which makes blue vitriol, a type of poison, and that the cessation of this method would make the water clear and clean (Chpt. 16), the ladies decide to protest to the local authorities. Probably partially as a result of the campaign of the S&B Club, eventually the vice president of the Black Mountain Mining Co. states that after 75 years of business in Grace the mining company would be ending their mining operations there and would demolish the dam and repair the damage done.

So the reactions, solutions, actions and results of the S&B Club qualifies the club and its members as practitioners of the principles of Participatory Action Research.

6 Disc 1 Response to Lisa Pollard

Society is definitely a major factor in everyone's life and as a cause of change. Society -- the Super Ego in Freudian terminology -- can go back thousands of years ( or even millions of years if genetics is factored in to the equation of the development of society ) and includes the accumulation of all of the languages, laws, customs, beliefs, attitudes, etc. that are part of present day society.

Although individuals and collections of individuals can change aspects of society, they are still battling that big ocean called society. This relationship between the individual(s) and society brings to mind the metaphor of the Chicken or the Egg -- which came first? -- since both elements are so interdependent and interrelated.

6 Disc 2 Response to Kerry

Here's my explanation of my rationale:

Every cause has an effect and every effect has a cause.

Sometimes people see only the surface appearance or the effect without knowing the cause of an event. A change agent is a catalyst and serves as a cause of an event. So a change agent is the cause of change and not the person reacting to the cause. The assignment asks for a person who is an effective change agent in Animal Dreams -- and several characters in the book caused and reacted to change -- but change agents can also be catastrophic events such as the events of September 11, 2001, earthquakes, fires, floods, wars, assassinations, etc. Or change agents can be personal events such as births, deaths, weddings, etc.

A change agent is, as the term states, an agent. For instance, the public does not hear much about an actor's (movie star's) agent or manager but often these people arrange and supply the roles for the actor but the public sees only the actor playing a part in a movie. Using this analogy, Hallie would be the agent and Codi would be the movie star.

I am learning to navigate the computer and the through the Course Room so those are useful skills that I am developing. I think the time delay in responses to written correspondence and not knowing if someone has read or received information can be somewhat frustrating but that is the nature of online and written correspondence so I think in general the overall course experience is interesting and productive and there is a lot of valuable interaction and information being dispensed. Most of what is posted into the Course Room involves personal opinions and interpretations so I expect that as the courses progress through the curriculum that the information will become more and more objective. I don't know if I feel any differently as a graduate learner, except that perhaps this online format feels different than traditional classes, but I think, that as the information in the courses become more objective, the student writing will involve more of the objective third person style of academic writing.

7.1 Discussion -- Effective Planned Change

According to Steven Vago in Chapter 9, "Strategies of Change", planned social change, or social planning, consists of three components: targets, agents, and methods. Targets are the intended recipients of change, agents are the initiators or instigators of the change processes, and methods are how the goals of the change processes are implemented and, if successful, achieved.

Social change targets can be individuals (micro), organizations, communities (intermediate), or societies (macro). Change on the micro individual level involves feelings, values, attitudes, perception, and skills and actions. The intermediate group level can involve social, environmental, and task characteristics of ethnic, racial, and religious groups. The macro societal level can involve large and complex target systems such as unemployment, education, agriculture, or health care issues.

Change agents influence, promote, and implement innovation. The two types of agents are leaders and supporters. Of leaders, there are generally six types: directors, advocates, backers, technicians, administrators, and organizers. Supporters fall into the categories of workers, donors, and sympathizers. The agents develop public recognition for the necessity of change, establish change relationships, and encourage innovation and a creation of a continuing and lasting changed system.

Change methods comprise three broad categories. The first is empirical-rational strategies which assume that people are rational and follow their self-interests. The second is normative-reeducative strategies which state that people must change from antiquated ways to new ones. The third is power-coercive strategies which apply pressure using economic, moral, or political power.

Philip Kotler in "The Five C's: Cause, Change Agency, Change Target, Channel, and Change Strategy" from "Creating Social Change" , 1972, lists three ways the agent can change the target: coercion (agent controlled sanctions, reward and punishment, force or violence, payment or gifts); persuasion utilizing the Aristotelian approach with appeals to logos (logic), pathos (emotions), and ethos (values); and education with re-educative approaches such as institutional schooling and. psychotherapy.

Gerald Zaltman and Robert Duncan, in "Strategies for Planned Change", 1977, list the four strategies as facilitative (recognizing the problem and instigating a change process), re-educative (gives rational justification for change and implements "unfreezing" or unlearning), persuasive (change through bias in the way a message is presented, including propaganda), and power strategies (the use of coercion and dependency based on goals, alternatives, and costs of goal attainment).

Also mentioned as forms of change methods are: violence (wars, terrorism, coercion, threats of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, etc.), non-violence [utilizing the direct approach (which meets the violent style of an opponent with non-violence) and the indirect approach (which upsets the opponent's power base's resources and public image and uses third party opinions)] and direct action such as demonstrations and satyagraha. Social movements can be revolutionary, reformational, and expressive. Change strategies can involve bargaining, coercion, and propaganda. Another change method mentioned concerns law and social change as a result of litigation.

Effective planned change is change where the desired results of the change agents are achieved. I think in all cases the right and civilized way to affect change is through rational, non-violent solutions and that a violent approach always leads to disaster.

7.2 Discussion: The Ethics of Planned Change

Of the three components of social change procedures -- targets, agents, and methods -- the issue of ethics is mostly concerned with the methods used by the agents to affect change in the target group.

When individuals are the change targets many ethical concerns arise concerning the extent of behavior modification to be employed and the degree of positive and negative reinforcers (reward and punishment) to be administered. Behavior modification can be done with "drugs, hypnosis, electroconvulsive shocks, brainwashing, and psychosurgery" (p. 336) and with reeducative procedures involving propaganda and institutional instruction.

Robin Chin and Kenneth D. Benne (1985, p.339) identify the three categories of change strategies as empirical-rational (high ethics), normative-reeducative (moderate ethics), and power-coercive (low ethics).

Philip Kotler (1972, p.341) identifies the three methods a change agent can use to influence a target group as coercion (force or power), persuasion, and education (Zaltman and Duncan, 1977, p. 341 also add facilitative strategies where the target willfully agrees to and wants the change so this category would involve high ethics).

Coercion involves force and reward and punishment (relative ethics of varying degrees) and agent controlled sanctions. The threat of force could involve demonstrations (high ethics), non-cooperation (moderate ethics), or violence (low or no ethics). Also, coercion could include payments or gifts to the target area which brings up the problem of "buying" the target or bribery, especially in connection with authorities or litigation.

Persuasion utilizes the Aristotelian approach of logos (logic -- high ethics), ethos (values -- high ethics), or pathos (emotions -- relative scale from low to high ethics). Persuasion is ethical if the information is true and the appeal to logic and the emotions is not based on false information or propaganda.

Reeducation is on a relative scale from low to high ethics depending on the intentions and the methods employed to achieve the desired change. In the extreme, it has the danger of dismissing all previous human knowledge and experience to be replaced by the system that the change agent wants to have incorporated into the target group. That was the case during the so-called Cultural Revolution when Mao Tse-tung ordered that China's university intellectuals be either tortured or even killed or be sent to reeducation camps to relearn their knowledge and be indoctrinated with his brand of Communism, and this procedure I think everyone would say is unethical.

The Vago article mentions the change method of violence causing the injury or destruction of people or property. Torturings, executions, riots, wars, terrorism, etc. involve low or no ethics. Some authors, such as Machiavelli and Nietzsche, say that any means to achieve a desired end is acceptable. But for this argument to contain any ethics at all, everyone would have to agree with the end result and that is never the case. But in order for everyone to agree to with the end result, all who disagreed would have to be among the people who were destroyed or whose properties were destroyed, and that argument seems, to some, to be some sort of argument in support of war.

Non-violence as practiced by Socrates, Christ, Thoreau, MLKing Jr., and Gandhi involved high ethics. The indirect approach of non-violence involves high ethics and the direct approach to undermine the opponent's power base can involve ethics from a scale from low to high. Direct action tactics such as demonstrations and satyagraha usually involve high ethics. Social movements can involve a relative scale from low to high ethics depending on the change methods employed. Legal social change can be of the highest ethics if the procedures of litigation are carried out according to the law with no briberies or illegalities.

A truly ethical approach to change would be one that is good and ethical all along the way and the end result would be considered good and beneficial to all. So, in a revolution, the result should be considered good and positive to everyone concerned in the target group.

7.3 development of the Euro

The Euro is the new single currency that was created as part of the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU member states. There are now 12 member states that have adopted the Euro as their currency, only the UK, Denmark and Sweden have decided not to join the EMU at this stage.

The change-over to the new currency took place gradually and in January 2002, Euro coins and bank notes were eventually introduced into the 12 'euro-zone' countries.

The European Central Bank, based in Frankfurt, is an independent bank that is responsible for controlling the Euro. It is the only bank that may authorise the issue of Euro bank notes.

At present the UK has not adopted the Euro and the debate as to whether we should or not still continues.

7.3 A Peaceful Revolution

On January 1, 2002, a peaceful revolution occurred.

The revolution I am referring to is the introduction of the new currency of the European Union, the Euro, and its development and implementation is an example of an effective planned change process.

Now there are twelve member countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Greece but not the UK, Denmark, and Sweden -- Switzerland is a member of the EU). The change occurred gradually and in phases with banking procedures beginning in advance and coins and notes being introduced in January 2002 and with the European Central Bank, an independent bank, of Frankfurt, Germany assigned as the controlling agent of the Euro.

Reasons for wanting to have a European currencey are: 1) an economic union of the European countries would reduce the risk of war and crises so that any political conflicts could be resolved rather than resorting to coercion or violence; 2) price consistency would foster political and economic stability, in Europe and in the world; 3) increased markets for goods and services in the Euro countries could lead to lower costs and increased international trade; and 4) a standardization of trading procedures.

The planned change process was implemented in the following phases:

First phase: (1957-1969): discussion period, The Rome Treaty laid down some minor provisions.

Second phase: (1969-1979): more discussion and the first efforts towards integration.

Third phase: (starting in 1979): the economic integration process continued. In 1978, the Brussels Summit initiated the European Monetary System (EMS) which began in March 1979 The June 1988 Hannover European Council created the (Jacques) Delors Committee to develop a proposal and conversion plan. In April 1989, the report of the Delors Committee suggested implementing the new currency in three stages:the first, between June 1990 and January 1992, was to arrange cooperation amongst central banks; the second is for the establishment of a European System of Central Banks (ESCB) from 1992; in the third, the participating national currencies would be replaced by the European single currency, the Euro, which occurred on January 1, 2002.

All of this occurred rationally and peacefully, although with some disagreements along the way, which I think is the way all change should occur in a civilized world.

7.1 Response concerning violence to John Grasso.

While in China I got a copy of Mao Tse-tung's little red book (also called "Quotations from Chairman Mao", the one they would all wave together en masse) mostly out of curiosity. One of the quotations in the book said that all revolutions are, by their nature, violent. I don't necessarily agree with that and one peaceful revolution I thought of occurred on January 1, 2002 (discussion 7.3). It was political and social revolution in as well as an economic one.

I think in a civilized world that violence or coercion should be the last resort in resolving conflict, though it might have some intended short term result, I think the long term results are better through a rational solution. Some can justify the use of violence in self defense but that is in reaction to the initial violence that should not have occurred. Also, retaliation is an endless cycle, where one hits the other who then hits back and so on and so on. The battle ends when one side, either through defeat, injury, or death stops hitting back. Christ would often say enigmatic and metaphorical thoughts and one was if someone is hit then he should "turn the other cheek". I don't think he meant for the recipient to become a human punching bag receiving innumerable blows. The way I interpret that statement is that for a conflict to end someone has to stop the fighting. Also, it could mean that conflict should be resolved rationally and not violently.

7.1 Response to Linda

The appropriateness of change methods can vary case by case but I think the best, that is, the most effective and the most ethical, of the three you mentioned, as I understand them, is the empirical-rational method (empirical -- from research statistical results and experience, and rational -- for the logical and reasoning approach).

The normative-reeducative method can be -- like fire, electricity, or nuclear power -- used correctly or misused. To me it seems to suggest a forced conformation. It is true that many of our false conceptions need to be unlearned, or replaced with correct conceptions, from time to time. This happens often in science. An example of this is the change from the Ptolemaic geocentric (earth-centered) to the Copernican heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the solar system; however, the Ptolemaic version remains as a historical reference. But I think the method can be misused too as I discussed in the 7.2 discussion (Changing Ethically) as in the reeducation camps of Mao's "Cultural" Revolution.

7.2 Response to Linda 's Ethics in a Revolution

All's fair in love and war or any means to achieve the correct end -- in this way of thinking all ethics and laws are thrown out of the window to achieve the desired good and ethical final goal, which is almost like cheating on a test to achieve a good grade, isn't it? That's what I meant by being ethical all along the way. Although it might not be possible, feasible, or practical in all situations, the ethical method is still the ideal to strive for.

You said you you had only one question but I think your question covered all of the bases! I think an example of methods, strategies, and tactics that I think are effective I would refer you to the 7.3 discussion (A Peaceful Revolution) and for my view concerning the use of violence I would refer you to my response to John in the 7.1 discussion (Retaliatory Cycles). From the Vago article, the methods, strategies, and tactics I would probably try to use would be: the empirical-rational, persuasion through education (not propaganda), and ideology.

7.2 Response to Jacquelyn

Yes, I think in the best situation a good result would be possible for both the agents and the target group since often the agents are also members of the target group. Idealistically, I think the most desirable approach is the empirical-rational because it strives to use a logical and rational execution of a plan based on experience. The power strategies seem to use methods of coercion, even threats and violence, so that the members in the target group might not accept the results, having been forced to accept them.

Unit 8 readings:

http://www.komm.ruc.dk/mcmc/extdocs/castells.html (Castells "Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development)

http://www.ciaonet.org/isa/smp01/ (Smith and Smythe, "Globalization, Citizenship, and Technology")

http://www.idrc.ca/books/focus/761/intro.html (Moralez-Gomez, "Development and Social Reform in the Context of Globalization")

*************

http://www.komm.ruc.dk/mcmc/extdocs/castells.html (Castells "Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development)

8.1 Super team: How will you communicate with the team members? share status of your Action Plan with the super team. What is the problem? How will you address it? What changes need to be made? What forms and strategies of change should be used? Provide an outline of your plan and give each other feedback.

1- What is the problem you are addressing?

Direct democracy on the local, state, and federal levels.

2- How do you think you can address this problem?

Through a national dialogue via the media, including the Internet.

3- What changes will need to be made? What forms and strategies of change will need to be employed?

There would need to be changes made in the governmental structure possibly even an amendment to the U.S. Constitution (not easy to do, in fact, very difficult, or practically impossible, at this point, but possibly in the future).

Provide an outline of what you think will be an effective change process and give one another feedback.

Proposition:

Now is the time to utilize modern technology to allow the public to vote directly via the Internet, thus creating government closer to a pure democracy. This could be accomplished by an amendment to the United States Constitution, if necessary.

The implementation of this plan would unfold, develop, and occur in an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary way creating the 3rd House of the United States Congress, the Public Assembly.

Pros and Cons

Phases (1-5) for Implementation

Description of the Structure

Voting Centers and Methods

Implemention

Discussion about Democracy
8.2 A positive change technology has made in your profession or organization:

Everyone is familiar with the negative aspects of technology such as pollution, depersonalization, and the potential demise of local traditional culture. But on the positive side: now people can fly (airplanes), live healthier and longer (medicine), read or dance all night (light bulb), read great literature (printing), listen to great music anytime (radio, CDs), watch dramas or comedies anytime (movies, television), talk to anyone anywhere anytime (telephone), communicate instanteously worldwide (Internet), calculate at the speed of light (computers), move the earth (bulldozers, dynamite), lift extremely heavy objects (cranes, pulleys), go long distances on the ground in a short time (cars), record events (cameras, tape recorders), eat food from all over the world (globalization), to name only a few.

One positive change that technology has made in my profession (as well as everyone else's) is faster and more efficient communication, the exchange of information and knowledge -- all on a worldwide scale.

8.3 websites:

globalization: http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647

This site covers a wide range of globalization and egovernment issues. Under "ideas and knowledge" there are several world issue topics and even introduces a new term (to me) "glocalization" which involves movements for the strengthening of local traditional cultures within the context of globalization. Under "country gateways" the Internet user can learn about globalization issues. Under "development projects" and "business opps" the Internet user can become personally and actively involved in globalization projects.

The title page is well designed and contains a wide range of topics, links, and services. One question I have is: for such a populist website, why did they make the website address so obscure and difficult to write (surely, no one could remember it)?

social change: http://thomas.loc.gov/

This site contains Historical Documents (U.S. Constitution, etc.), the proceedings and bills of the current Congress of the United States. Facts about the government and its branches and explanations of how Congress makes laws as well as the resumes of the Congressmen. The site also has a link for The Library of Congress, another great reference site. It could cover topics such as egovernment and is, in fact, about egovernment itself in the sense that it is dispensing information online. Perhaps someday it could be involved in direct democracy in the U.S.

The site is well designed and informative and I think for it to be really complete it could have the proceedings of every Congress in the history of the United States.

Some other sites concerning egovernment are:

http://egov.mit.gov.in/

www.pdemokracie.ecn.cz/cs/doc/Statut-ang.doc

Some sites listing links for egovernment are:

http://www.democracy-online.org

http://lone-eagles.com/democracy.htm

8.3 Collected websites from other ED 5004 students

<http://www.comminit.com/social-change.html
<http://www.emory.edu/SOC/globalization/

<http://www.polity.co.uk/global/default.htm>
<http://www.seedsofchange.org/planting_seeds.htm>
<http://www.greenpeace.org>

<http://www.translations.com>
<http://www.fourthfreedom.org/index.php>
<http://www.un.org/english/>
<http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200.htm>

<http://globalization.about.com/>
<http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BB128/(httpHomepages)/$first?OpenDocument>
<http://www.arc.org/>

<http://tm.wc.ask.com/>

<http://www.aworldconnected.org/>

<http://www.tecschange.org/>

<http://globalization.about.com/cs/whatisit/a/gzgoodorbad.htm>
<http://media.socialchange.net.au/environment/>
www.globalizazione2000it/globalizationhtm

<http://www.corpwatch.org>
<http://www.ctg.albany.edu/>
<http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/urban_poverty/dev/default.asp>

<http://www.centerchange.org/>

<http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647>
<http://thomas.loc.gov>
<http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/>
<http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/aboutus/>

<http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en/features/details?item_id=305421>

<http://www.centerforthepublicdomain.org/>
CIO.com

tecschange.org

www.leaderschools.org

www.student-service-awards.org

www.cns.gov/challenge/index

www.globalroutes.org

<http://www.Tamu.Edu/Anthropology/Newscult.Html>
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/globe/nation/packages/gaming/>
<http://www.globalenvision.com>

<http://www.globalenvision.com/index.php?fuseaction=library.view_details&itemtype=..>.

<Http://www.organicconsumers.org>
<Http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/mexicofarmers091101.cfm>

www.globalization.com

www.libr.org/sc/ ( soc chng )

www.aimd.org
www.rthomasconsulting.com

<http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/Diversity/>
8.4 What role does technology play in globalization? How does this impact you and your profession?

Technology plays a dominant role in globalization, in fact, globalization would not be possible without it. Communication and transportation technologies allow for instant communication worldwide and fast international travel and trade to anywhere in the world. The fact that everyone in the world is connected by the telephone and the Internet has an effect on everyone and has the effect of decentralizing world organizational structures.

From Smith and Smythe's article, "Globalization, Citizenship, and Technology": "To understand how globalization might empower citizens we must recognize that the information revolution made globalization possible. As Kobrin notes, 'the emerging global world economy is electronic, integrated through information systems and technology rather than organizational hierarchies.' (Kobrin 1998) We are witnessing what has been described as a third industrial revolution 'characterized by the intensive application of information and communications technology, flexible production systems and organizational structures, market segmentation and globalization.' (Cerny 1995)". In the same article, Rowland describes the Internet as essentially anarchic. He refers to a "vision of an alternative libertarian society based on cooperation as opposed to competition." (Rowland 1997) "The Net," says Rowland, "is public space that is shared by millions of citizens but lacks a government."

Technology through many inventions, including the Internet, is making the world smaller by bringing the world together as a result of the instantaneous worldwide flow of information and knowledge and this has made an immense impact on my, as well as everyone else's, profession.

From Smith and Smythe's, "Globalization, Citizenship, and Technology": "Political citizenship, for example, draws upon the Aristotelian view of citizenship as participation in self-rule, the freedom to participate in public decisions".

The growth of the Internet has been a topic of discussion and debate in the media and popular culture and one that has been characterized much more by hype and exaggerated claims than serious analysis. There is, however, some evidence that the Internet has had an impact on the way in which information is produced and communicated. Three characteristics have been identified by a number of analysts. First, many argue, the Internet greatly enhances the speed of communication of large amounts of information, at a relatively low, and certainly declining, cost. Second, unlike the broadcast media, which is a one-way, producer-receiver process, the Internet, more analogous to the telephone, (Rowland 1997) permits interactivity where participants both produce and consume information. The Internet thus creates a rather anarchic environment where information flows, in a largely unmediated way, and can be shared in so as to facilitate collaborative, rather than competitive, behaviour. In addition changes to standards, developments in software and hardware, and government and industry supported initiatives, facilitated a major growth in the Internet in the mid 1990s just as the OECD negotiating process was under way.

To understand how globalization might empower citizens we must recognize that the information revolution made globalization possible. As Kobrin notes, "the emerging global world economy is electronic, integrated through information systems and technology rather than organizational hierarchies." (Kobrin 1998b: 362) We are witnessing what has been described as a third industrial revolution "characterized by the intensive application of information and communications technology, flexible production systems and organizational structures, market segmentation and globalization." (Cerny 1995:607)

Information technologies are thus not only transforming the economy but politics as well offering new alternatives to citizen activity. The Internet, argues Holmes, breaks down hierarchies whether they be political, economic, class, race or gender. (1997:13) In doing so, "by allowing the construction of oppositional subjectivities hitherto excluded from the public sphere, the Internet's inherently decentralized form is heralded as its most significant feature." (1997:13) Others such as Rowland go further, describing the Internet as anarchic in nature. By anarchy Rowland is referring not to the absence of government which creates chaos but to a "vision of an alternative libertarian society based on cooperation as opposed to competition." (Rowland 1997: 340) "The Net," claims Rowland, "is public space that is shared by millions of citizens but lacks a government." While the physical structures of the Net - copper and optical fiber lines and other machinery - may be owned and controlled privately it is the space created when these lines that are filled with data - cyberspace - that must be seen as public space. Concludes Rowland:

The Net exists in that space and is, by definition, owned and controlled by millions of users. It was designed and built to be that way, the design works. The public nature of the Internet is lodged deep in its defining technologies. (1997: 337)

Thus the Net as a decentralized, if not, anarchic, communication system instantiates new forms of interaction and permits new kinds of relationships of power participants. While Rowland views the Net as public space, others see it as permitting a multiplicity of communities, for example, environmental, human rights, to speak to one another, thus, in effect, creating a multiplicity of public spheres existing outside the confines of the state. In effect, the Net decentres and continues citizenship in a different form.

The Net possesses other features that promote its use, for example, its accessibility, low cost, and ability to disseminate large amounts of information quickly. The result is that "there is little doubt that the Internet is an enormously important tool and space for democratic participation at all levels, for strengthening civil society and for the formation of a whole new world of transnational political and civic projects." (Sassen 1998b: 546)

8 Response to Chris (Dyad Activity)

You probably have heard of Martin Gardner. He writes about mathematics and I think he has a newspaper column too. Perhaps you could connect with him about a mathematics website.

Here's a list of his books, some of which are about mathematical games, allusions to literature (one about the mathematics in "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carrol, who was a mathematician) and practical applications of mathematics:

http://thinks.com/books/gardner.htm

8.1 discussion response to Chris

I agree that for the beginning arithmetic and mathematics and geometry courses that a calculator should not be used so that students will learn and memorize the basic concepts. But I could not have done without one in the university calculus courses. To use them in a calculus or trigonometry or physics course the student would still need to know how to construct the correct algebraic equations and variables. The calculator just saves a lot of time for the otherwise time consuming arithmetical calculations.

8 Dyad response to Tracy: Great idea, but I do have some concerns...perhaps when I read your paper next week I'll get specific answers on: How do you know it is really MY vote, what about those without internet access or knowledge, how do you stop people from voting more than once (i.e. using someoneelse's ID?

The security issues that you referred to are addressed during the implementation phases.

Concerning Internet fraud: Internet credit card fraud is about .088% and at that rate

the margin would be 880 votes out of one million,

though this system could be more closely regulated.

Below are some of the security issues as addressed in the Action Plan:

During Phase 3 (3 years):

Software is developed and

security issues are addressed.

Educating the public on the procedures involved begins.

During Phase 4 (3 years):

Voting Centers are established nationwide.

Voter registration numbers are established partly containing

a social security number.

The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting

centers in a way similar to registering to vote and

passwords are chosen.

There is always the statistical possibility of voter fraud but the numbers could be trimmed down to a negligible number much the same way as it is done with credit cards and these online courses. How can anyone be absolutely sure that someone isn't using someone else's credit card or someone else is taking a course for the enrolled student? There is usually a matrix of security solutions usually involving computer intelligence utilizing cross referencing, passwords, statistical probability, etc.

8.1 Response to Terry's Response to Jacqueline

In the same way that we all seemed to agree in the CourseRoom dialogue that beginning arithmetic and mathematics students should not be allowed to use a calculator in class or while taking a test (maybe there would be some exceptions such as teaching them how to use a calculator) an artist or graphic artist should not learn art beginning with a computer. Someone learning art should begin with drawing and painting on paper learning all of the basic concepts such as composition, materials, techniques, shading, color theory, perspective, etc. For the visual artist, the use of a computer as a visual arts tool comes after the prerequisites have been learned. I have known some people with no background in art who are able to afford big MacIntosh computer systems with all of their software who learn some of the software and then call themselves a graphic artist. This is not too unlike someone owning a Steinway grand piano or a Stratovarius violin and learning a few chords and then calling themselves a pianist or a violinist (or, even a more exaggerated example, someone owning a player piano and then pressing the "on" button and calling themselves a pianist). Everyone knows it takes years of practice to become a pianist or a violinist and the same is true I think with the visual arts. The main components in a work of art are a good idea and the skill in executing it. The computer is indeed a very advanced and sophisticated technological tool for the artist to use to create a work of art but the main tools in developing an original visual idea are a pencil and paper.

8 Dyad Activity response to Stephanie

The direct democracy action plan is indeed an ambitious plan but I think not as ambitious as the Internet itself: it is just another practical use of the Internet.

I have never been that interested in politics myself but I think I could become interested in a project such as this.

I think one reason many people are not interested in politics is that they feel they are only helpless, uninvolved spectators watching a show from a distance. In a direct democracy the voters become actively involved as participants in the democratic process. This would affect all professions and segments of society and would involve institutional education as well as

educating the public on the procedures involved.

9 Response to Chris

You say you don't like the study of change yet calculus is, as I understand it, the mathematics of change. Maybe you would enjoy the study of change more if it is done using mathematical terms.

9 Next response to Chris: Spare change.....please!

I'm sure calculus involves the mathematics of change in velocity and volume ( If you open the website: http://www.calculus.net/ci2/?tag= , under "Differential Calculus" you will find "Rate of Change" involving derivatives) as does physics with its mathematical formulae describing changes in weight, speed, temperature, etc. I guess I should have said calculus describes a TYPE of change. Chaos theory might be one example of the mathematics of change but what about game theory, topology, statistics and probability, to name a few? One could even say that elementary arithmetic involves descriptions of change: you once had 2 apples then you add 3 and now you have 5. That's a result different from the previous condition, so that's a change too, isn't it? But let's not get too nitpicky since we all might have slightly different definitions of "change" -- some might even equate it with motion.

I remember reading somewhere that you don't drink (alcohol, that is) but I can envision you in a drinking bar, debating with everyone around the table about everything (ever thought about being a lawyer?). But if you do do that, just be sure it's not with Mike Tyson as he might prefer the power-coercive to the empirical-rational approach.

9.1 Study of Change Reflection: The Times They are A-Changin'

I know that change is inevitable and affects every aspect of life, such as physically growing up and experiencing situational, cultural and technological changes. I think this course has helped in teaching how to develop change models and plans using the principles of Participatory Action Research to help deal with changes in our lives and professions. Concerning how I feel about studying change, I think change can only really be studied in retrospect because, like not being able to see the forest for the trees, it can not be perceived objectively while it is happening.

Change involves transition. Transitions can involve endings, the neutral zone, and new beginnings ("Transitions" p. 88). Reactions to negative change can involve denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Elisaeth Kubler-Ross in "Transitions" by William Bridges p. 109); reaction to positive change would involve the opposites of the first four reactions listed previously and then acceptance. To create changes, other than those caused by natural or man made situations, people can plan using the components of change agents, target groups, and methods of change.

Through the course readings and discussions of McDonaldization, globalization, and personal and cultural transitions as well as designing action plans we have learned how to better adapt to and understand change in addition to learning how to become change agents ourselves in order to create change through the principles of Participatory Action Research. The study of change is important and useful in everyone's profession since change is constantly occuring as a result of constant technological and social changes. I think the most important effect of this course is not only that we studied what change is but also how to affect it.

9 Responses to action plan roughs

Michelle: You need to have the right software to draw on the computer but I think that graphs and charts (this is about everybody's papers, mine too) really help visualize and communicate a concept especially involving numbers and statistics plus they can liven up the page so that the reader doesn't see only words on the page. For example, the y (vertical) axis can be the population numbers, the x (horizontal) axis can be the years (or geographical areas), and the graphed line can be the concept illustrated (i.e. percentage of illiterate adults, etc.). That way the reader at a glance can determine if the situation is getting better or worse, increasing or decreasing, or fluctuating, etc.

Chris: Here's an attachment sent with an email from a former student in Istanbul -- actually he wasn't one of my students but he would visit and I'd let him sit in my class(es) and participate (speaking of PAR), he was about 21 at the time in 2001--but anyhoo, it shows the sort of obstacles teachers have to overcome when dealing with mathphobia since the cartoon depicts the frustration many people feel towards mathematics.

Response to Michelle: I have gotten some books on the subjects you have mentioned and plan on doing some more library research in addition to using some online sources -- I have also thought of pursuing this topic more in depth after this course is completed. The literature review in a separate posting discusses the topic of democracy with some mention of direct democracy. I think your idea of researching amendment procedures and precedents is one I should pursue.

In today's world of technology and terrorism I think there is a danger of congregating a government or a legislature all in one building: I think there is a possibility that the fourth airplane in the September 11, 2001 attack was headed toward the Congress building (though most people seem to think it was headed towards the White House). One of the safety features of the Internet is that it is decentralized and therefore much less vulnerable to that sort of attack. I mentioned in the Action Plan that security issues would be addressed over a period of time over several years and this would be done by technology experts (perhaps there could be some sort of separate channel just for voting purposes). Here's what I mentioned in a previous posting concerning computer security: there is usually a matrix of security solutions usually involving computer intelligence utilizing cross referencing, passwords, statistical probability, etc and these could be utilized, developed, and perfected for the online voting process.

Thank you for your feedback,

Response to Tracy: This idea is not one for people who think the Constitution is immovably carved in stone and who are completely set in their ways. That's why I think it could require almost a generation of time to get people to fully adapt to and accept such a plan. If someone is born into a world where something such as that existed then they would view it as the established order.

A rough is just that: rough. I think some aspects of form need to be polished in a final paper including what you mentioned. Also, in the literature review where I quoted some segments involving several sentences, I think the quoted passage should be single spaced and indented to form a quote block paragraph.

Thank you for your feedback,

Unit 10 reading:

http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

search

10 Website for Chris:

http://www.mathsisfun.net/

10.1 Posted website

10.1 Response to "feelings" Kerry's response to Chris

All life experiences can not be peak experiences. Not all emotions or situations can be pleasant (up); some are unpleasant (down) or all areas in between. I've always subscribed to the yin and yang philosophy of opposites. For every situation there exists an opposite. There's good and bad, good and evil, up and down, in and out, hot and cold, masculine and feminine, light and dark, large and small, tall and short, active and passive, right and wrong, yes and no, etc. Each of these terms requires the opposite in order to be defined so one could not exist without the other. So, for example, feeling good would have no meaning without the experience of feeling bad to compare it to.

10.1 Tracy's comment to Chris

I interpreted what you said to mean that teachers should not become ONLY social workers but should become change agents to produce educated, productive students -- but I think good social workers can be change agents too.

10.2 Discussion 1: Education and Social Change

In Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, Thomas Heaney views adult education as Participatory Action Research and as a tool for social change where educational progressivism is a project for modern times. " 'Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists' since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic" (Brookfield 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey, considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over their daily decisions. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens. Even if education is viewed as a "great selector" rather than a "great equalizer" (p. 4), each person can, as a result of education, find their niche, based on their abilities and merits, within a democratic society.

Jack Mezirow, at the Commission of Professors af Adult Education and the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education, wanted to "reclaim the once vital role of the adult education movement during the 30's, 40's, and 50's in fostering democratic social action". He was a believer in "transformative change" which I think is another way of expressing the goals and methods of participatory action research.

Miles Horton makes the realistic observation that "we have repeatedly found that education alone cannot counteract the influence of the establishment on individuals." So all of the influences of upbringing, society, tradition, etc. cannot be altered only by educational classroom instruction though, over time, the educational influence can have its effects (i.e. creationism vs. evolution). Horton believed that action speaks louder than words and as a result of that philosophy founded the Highlander Folk School in 1932, a school that had among its participants many of the facilitators of the civil rights movement. His primary goals in creating the school were to make possible democratic control over people's lives and to encourage the participants to help society to move progressively forward.

Paulo Freire found that adults learned to read much more quickly if there was political significance to what they were learning or in other words practical applications of their new skill. So education would actually succeed more effectively in oppressive situations if the reward for the newfound knowledge was non-oppression. His "pedagogy of the oppressed" was adopted by the "grass roots" adult teachers who applied the principles to help create a more democratic society facilitated by the adult learners. The article mentions that funding can be a problem with the Freire type projects since the funding would usually come from institutions outside of the society that the educational system is trying to help change.

I think my Action Plan is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Horton, Freire, and Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. In my Action Plan the idea and implementation of a direct democracy in the United States on the national, state, and local levels is discussed. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

10.3 Discussion: You as a Change Agent

Words often initiate a change and action follows (the pen is mightier than the sword). Writing and action plans are outlines or general guides or suggestions of how a change might proceed using rational, non-violent methods.

Using the plan I wrote would involve many people and take quite a great deal of time, and educational and cultural conditioning. So the agents of change (myself and all of the people who would want this change to occur and who make some effort to realize it) would need to influence the thinking of the public (the target population) in order for this idea to work. The change methods include the empirical-rational approach in educating the public by using the media (television, radio, the Internet, printed publications, etc.), public discussion and debate, legal documents, litigation, and legislation.

The transitional time between being a non participatory to a participatory direct democracy would be gradual having the effect of being evolutionary, not sudden, as in a revolution.

11.1 Discussion: Significant Learnings

The three most significant areas of learning for me from this course:

1. Participatory Action Research -- which includes co-operative inquiry, participatory action, and action inquiry and involves doing research and activities to achieve a positive result which is beneficial to society and to the group being researched or studied. Our Action Plan papers are our plans and efforts to set in motion the processes utilizing the principles of participatory action research to achieve the desired results.

2. Methods to cause social change:

Power-coercive -- change by force, power, threats, or violence.

Normative-reeducative -- educational reform to fit a new mold, norm, or mode of thought

Empirical-rational -- a rational approach to change based on empirical statistics

3. Vocabulary/social change terminology and concepts: change agents, change targets, change methods (power-coercive, normative-reeducative, empirical-rational), participatory action research, participatory inquiry, action inquiry, change facilitator, hegemony, satyagraha, meso, ecumenism, Baha'i, polity, autarky, etc.

Questions:

It is said that human nature has remained constant throughout history but is technology actually causing changes in human nature?

Changes are made and instigated but can human nature itself be changed?

11.1 response to Michelle

We can't stop change but I think we can alter its outcome. For example , if a giant asteroid were to head toward Earth on a collision course I'm sure human ingenuity would use all of the knowledge and technology it could muster to divert the asteroid's path.

Concerning your question, I guess you would need to let the participants know that there is a reward of some sort as a result of the project.

11.2 Discussion: Philosophy of Change

As I mentioned in a previous posting, all of life is like a flowing, changing river. All living and non-living things change; living organisms change, grow, and evolve. So life, or rather, the universe, is change. All activities -- growing, learning, motion, living, loving, etc -- involve change. In society, culture, fashions, technology, and people change. I think there are describable patterns to all of these processes though we have not discovered all of them and probably never will. Some people have observed that these processes seem to be chaotic and random but I think that if they are understood on a grand scale patterns would emerge.

My philosophy of social change is about the same as it was before the course but my interpretations of change processes and terminology and my understanding of methods of changing target populations through change agents has been changed and enhanced so that I hope I can now perceive the processes of social change in a more knowledgeable, perceptive, objective, and accepting way, but, more importantly, I can now help make positive changes that are beneficial to the environment and to everyone in society.

11.2 response to Lisa

I think it's admirable that you were able to maintain your rational side after the loss of your stepbrother and continue this course though I imagine you were very grieved by what happened. Many people would have allowed their emotions to take over and not be able to carry on normally. I guess the book Transitions was consoling and the contents of this course was helpful to you during that time.

11 Thank you to Dr. Sabet

Dr. Sabet,

Thank you for your suggestions, advice, and insights along the way as we went through transitions during the course. We are not who we were when we began. We have all been changed, at least changed in the area of knowledge.

Thank you,

Richard Bloodworth