Disruptive Technologies

Course site for Disruptive Technologies. Exploring identity, community, & design.

Week 15: What a Long Strange Trip

It is hard to believe that we’ve only been at this since late January … so much has happened in that time. I owe you all both a very real “thank you” and a longer reflection on what this experience has meant to me. Consider this the thank you, but I will take some time to reflect on this very rich and rewarding experience and share it with you.

Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me, Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been. —Truckin’, The Grateful Dead

Today we see how you have taken the time to bring all of this to closure — Linking community, identity, and design together to synthesize your own understanding of what the last 15 weeks has exposed us to. It only seems fitting that you all own our last 3 hours together. After 6 PM tonight there will be no more “out of class” assignments, no more strange readings from Weinberger or Wenger, and certainly no need to reflect on a piece of glass and aluminum. I sincerely hope you do take some of these things we’ve done and turn them into habits — creating on a regular basis, working to not dismiss new and emergent ideas but instead unpacking them and discovering their affordances, and certainly taking the time to reflect on yourself and the world around you.

My closing thought as we embark on our final week is that the work we created here in this space is like a time machine — you will be able to return to the course site and see what you were thinking about, working on, and making for as long as it stays here. You are co-creators of something that will extend well beyond this week 15 and into the future. If I teach this course again here (or somewhere else) you will be linked to the legacy that is the Grand Experiment of Disruptive Technologies. Welcome to the club!

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1 Comment

  1. It was a privilege to be part of this journey. I have learned so much, and most importantly, I have learned to never stop learning!

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