Review of "The Web of Knowledge" by P. McKercher, J. Bonne, and A. Rogers

Journal Review of “The Web of Knowledge”

Ray Etheridge

Western Washington University

McKercher, P, Bonne, J. and Rogers, A., (December 2002) The Web of Knowledge: Vision, Design, and Practice. Retrieved from http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/bonne2.htm

Review

The article is practically a biographical account of how James Burke’s Knowledge Web came about. It begins with a simple telling of how James Burke, who first became famous because he could speak Italian and, therefore, was hired to do a program on the Sicilian Mafia and how it’s success lead to the TV studio to ask him to present, in one sentence, a proposal for what he wanted to do next. His inspiration to do the show Connections then lead to his interest in education and the creation of the K-Web, http://www.k-web.org/ or the Knowledge web. The article them goes on to detail how the knowledge web developed as a collaboration with Silicon valley programmers and how it was almost lost in the dot.com bust but was resurrected when a teacher(telling that part) prodded him not to abandon it but let teachers and students actually make it themselves rather than having it provided for them. The K-Web is based on the concept of constructivism and goes beyond interactivity to engage it’s participants in immersion and educational virtual reality or edVR. By involving students and educators alike in its creation it allows for a constantly changing, adaptable and high level thought generation, such as organization, evaluation and synthesis, in a way no traditional education could possibly conceive of into the next generation as a true community of learners.

Initially the reader wonders exactly what the authors are intending as it rambles on about a wide variety of subjects but, fortunately, it manages to pull all the strands together and reveal their purpose. To explain, expound on and encourage exploration of the concept of educational virtual reality in general and the K-Web in specific. In its detailing of how separated, dispersed and specialized knowledge, and the mastery of it has become, such as how a friend of Burke got his Ph.D. for the study of the use of the comma in the writings of Milton, the article manages to invite the reader to start to consider how, especially in this modern age, we need to be able to see the big picture and explore the connectedness of things rather than on expound in detail about specifics and minutia. While the article does remind us that basic skills are necessary, they are no longer sufficient for a proper education. The article intrigued me enough to go out and find the Knowledge Web for myself; I hope that an exploration of it proves it to be as useful as it promises to be.