Module 5 Information Ecologies (an example of a PLN)

It's 2.45am in the morning. I can't sleep. I was woken up by my 4yo son because the night light was off in his bedroom and this mid sleep wake up is often the cause of insomnia for me. If I wake enough I lie there and think about stuff. In this case it was Information Ecology. Geeky huh?

I first heard about the subject through twitter when @jamierich36 was discussing the concept with @peterfletcher and other #net11 tweeps probably a couple of weeks ago. I didn't follow the conversation too closely, mostly because my attention has been placed on work things at the lately, but I seemed to think then that this concept was associated with the idea of a PLN quite closely. This is quite ironic as it was my PLN who brought the concept in to my mind and ultimately led to my sleepless night right now.

I had budgeted some time this week to finish off module 4 tasks and was going over to webCT to assure myself of the topics I needed to write up when I started/joined a little conversation with the #net11 tweeps. These folks have become valued members of my PLN over the last few months and not just for #net11 stuff either, so a big thank you goes out to @amyty, @TessaG, @ausi1, @clogwog52, @dsko, @jamierich36 and @peterfletcher (sorry if I missed anyone, it's late and I'm tired) Anyway, as I was saying, I was having a conversation when @TessaG brought up module 5 tasks. MODULE 5 TASKS?????!!!!! I didn't see that in the tasks section of the curriculum pages in webCT!!! "There are no module 5 tasks" I say to @TessaG "Don't Freak me out!!". She says "Oh sorry I thought there were". But she got me worried. So I went back over to the webCT pages and sure enough, squirrelled away in the Module 5 curriculum is a required log entry. And a @ reply from @clogwog52 also confirmed this.

So here is an example of an information ecology at work. Or is it a PLN?

And what are my thoughts on the questions raised in the curriculum?

Here goes, firstly the questions:

1. how might the metaphor of an ‘ecology’ impact on the way you think about, understand or use the Internet?
2. how are the concepts ‘information’ and ‘communication’ understood within the framework of an ‘information ecology’?
3. why don’t we talk of a ‘communication ecology’?

And my thoughts:

1. I'm not sure it really impacts at this stage on the way I think about, understand or use the internet. The reason for this is that I relate PLN (a concept which I have discussed before in this blog and elsewhere) directly to the idea of an information ecology. That is I think they are one and the same thing, just different words to describe the same concept. I gain the information I need via my PLN. My PLN is my information ecology.
   
2. The reading by Felix Stadler sums it up nicely. "Nodes and flows". I have often thought about PLN in a similar way. The people in my PLN are the Nodes. The flows are the communications and conversations we have. The tools to facilitate this communication range from Twitter to Blogger to Wikispaces to F2F to Facebook to the poker table at the local pub. The nature of the Flow might change but the result is the same. I communicate with a member of my PLN, I gain knowledge. An ecology is born.
   
3. And why not a communication ecology? Let's go back to the biological roots of the concept. I think of communication as the"air" the information "breathes". With no communication, the information dies. With no air the ecology cannot exist.

Thanks to my PLN for making me aware of the need to post about this. Thanks to my PLN for keeping me up at night ;) Thanks to my Information Ecology for breathing some air in to my blog post.