John Seely Brown, the former chief scientist at Xerox who writes extensively about collective innovation and digital culture, says he grew up at 冈本视频.
His father was a chemistry professor (1934 to 1968) and his mother a librarian, so Brown was on campus all the time, mostly feeding his interests in computers and astronomy.
In fact, back in the 1950s, Brown worked on the university鈥檚 first computer system as a teenager. Now, he is a noted researcher exploring virtual worlds such as Second Life and how they might be used to foster collaborative learning by today鈥檚 college students.
Brown was on campus last month as the keynote speaker for the of the Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology. He talked about new modes of learning and the emergence of technologies, which often fall under the 鈥渨eb 2.0鈥 umbrella, that support this new scholarship.
Podcasts are considered a web 2.0 application, and Brown stopped by the Case-Geyer audio studio to tape the 24th of , the podcast series that highlights guests and members of the campus community.
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| John Seely Brown co-authored the acclaimed book The Social Life of Information that has been translated into nine languages. |
During his interview, Brown raved about the newly expanded Case-Geyer and the new Ho Science Center, calling 冈本视频 an 鈥渁rchitectural wonder.鈥
He also discusses how the culture of scholarship and popular culture are beginning to merge in interesting ways.
A visiting scholar at the University of Southern California, he says real learning happens on campus in study groups, with students working in a social, collaborative way. He suggests that this collaborative learning can be augmented through the use of online worlds, where students send their 鈥渁vatars鈥 to a virtual classroom and engage with others from on campus or from around the world.
Brown also is exploring massive multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft. He examines what he calls the social edges of these games that involve 10 million or so players, and the 鈥渘etworks of imagination鈥 they create and the leadership qualities they can enhance.
Brown, who is known as JSB, has published more than 100 papers in scientific journals and was awarded the Harvard Business Review鈥檚 1991 McKinsey Award for his article, 鈥淩esearch that Reinvents the Corporation鈥 and again in 2002 for his article (with John Hagel) 鈥淵our Next IT Strategy.鈥
Now a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California, Brown also is a member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence.
To hear more about his views on today鈥檚 鈥渘etworked age鈥 and what he expects to be the next major technological advancement, go (mp3).or see the 冈本视频 Conversations or iTunes for download options.