FINAL PROJECT: Tag! You’re It!
– A Celebration of Loose Ties

How connected am I? To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I am connected “to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach”…Thanks to the phenomenon of weak/loose ties. Whether by the artifact of these words frozen in light for you to find, and like the clues in nature GOD has left for us to find Him, or by knowing me in person as JESUS came in the Flesh that we might know the Father personally, we have been connected, no matter how briefly.

That momentary connection has exposed you to the “tags” associated with this course (CCK08, Connectvism, George Siemens, Stephen Downes) and with me (Arieliondotcom, http://www.arieliondotcom.wordpress.com, http://www.arielion.com, http://www.paulaboutlife.com, Christian) and the other connections we in turn have made. And those ties will strengthen should you make connection with us or any of these concepts repeatedly or choose to “Google” any of them. In those connections, change as they may over time and different contexts, knowledge may be sparked and, like flying embers, ignite other connections, knowledge, learning. In reading these words you have been exposed to these connections and the network(s) they involve. You are now a (very weakly tied) node in that network. Tag! You’re (a part of) it!

I started the course wondering if there were ties between Connectivism and Christian Missions, whether GOD Himself used this as a method of sparking knowledge of Himself to humanity. I think I’ve shown, through applying the concepts of what George and Stephen call Connectivism to the history of Christian missions, that He has and does and that “Connectivism” is just a new label for it. Now that concept has been passed to you, whether you choose to pursue it or not. Those paths may lead all sorts of ways, whether Christian or non-Christian, the process is the same.

And that is the joy of learning. To be free to connect or not, willingly or what seems to be serendipitously, to people with information and connections to other people.

As part of this project I’ve asked a few friends to pass the word that “Connectivism = My knowledge is in my networks.” They are, in effect, missionaries of Connectivism. You can see the results in the comments section of this post. It’s an emergent thing. Like the old commercial, “you tell two people, then they tell two people, and so on and so on.”

Some of the very issues we discussed during this class came into play. Some people didn’t trust the technology and were afraid information about themselves would get out. Some just didn’t know how to do it (though I explained the process repeatedly). Some chose not to make this connection. Others used it as an opportunity to read the posts here and deepen their connection to me and with the subject. And we will never know who the “anonymous” posters are, or who passed the information to others, who else read it and made that connection though they chose not to let us know here, like hundreds of people who initially started this course and then…? Maybe you’ll see a connection with a name in one of the comments and that will spark something in you. But either way, even for a moment, you and they are linked loosely by light.

I’ve included other loose ties of mine, some stronger than others, throughout this presentation and even in another (virtual) world, Second Life. Thanks to Fleep Tuque, another “tie” which I hope strengthens, who I came to know through this course, I’ve created a “monolith” there like the one in 2001 A Space Odyssey to inform folks in that world, even briefly, about myself, Connrctivism, and the History of Christian Missions.

My monolith is a cube. 
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Madhupak/67/40/62/?title=Arieliondotcom%27s%20Monolith
On one face it shows my avatar used on the Moodle and my arielion.com site. On three sides it shows what I think are the three key foundation concept maps about Connectivism and its relationship to Christian Missions. And on the top is a picture of my avatar from Second Life so they can recognize me there (and find the monolith and my nearby “office” as they fly overhead).

You are now at least (if not more so) loosely tied to this network. What you choose to do with these weak ties, to pursue or disconnect, is at least partially up to you. I hope you’ll pursue strengthening those to me, if not Scripture, and JESUS, so that, “if GOD choose”, our connection to, and knowledge of, Him and to/of each other, will be “but better after death.”

Try this one first:
Self-running version (m4v) for Ipod and Quicktime

If not, try one of these:

Click to advance from one screen/slide to the next.
Quicktime Version

PowerPoint Version (should work for Mac in KeyNote, too)

On YouTube here