Collecting Intelligence

Hello my field daisies!

So here is another update on my time collecting intelligence on the Photo Forum!

I’ve learned so much about the technicalities of photography. For example, user JoeHayys999 posed a question about the difference between a 18-200mm lens or a 55-200mm lens at full zoom. He titled the post, “Stupid Beginner’s Question,” but I did not feel like this was a stupid question because I definitely had no clue how to answer it.

But knowledge soon surfaced and people gave many varying answers.

Someone did not understand the question, but still did their best to answer. I never knew zoom range was calculated by dividing the maximum focal length by the minimum focal length.

Someone gave a really simplistic answer, but to me this explained a lot. Now I know that 18mm is considered wide and 55mm is considered normal.

The winning answer came from waday, who gave a very clear and straight forward answer.

 

To view the full thread, click here.

In his paper, “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century,” Henry Jenkins describes collective intelligence as “the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal” (3). So far the photo forum has answered all my questions about photography. It is amazing how collective group of passionate people can be so helpful.

The beauty of the forum is that it is truly vast in its amount of knowledge. User dowlers44 posted a pretty lengthy post asking which DSLR to buy and what sites to go on to learn more about what lens to use, how to set aperture and shutter speed, etc . User PJoneil suggested he start searching the forum because anything they wanted to know would be in the forum in some shape or fashion.

 

To view the full thread, click here.

I have to agree with this statement. There is just a plethora of information on this forum. By just clicking on the home page of this site, one can see there are many different categories that people can browse and explore. Here is just one section:

 

I never took a photography class in high school or college, yet I feel as if this forum is my crash course to professional photo taking. These days a person can find anything online, and sites like the Photo Forum is educational and interactive, providing a new kind of education that is different from classroom learning. The spaces created online act as radically different learning environments where novices and experts can both participate in the discussion without fear of judgement or ridicule. The typical teacher student dynamic may soon be abolished because “the Internet can provide individuals with the occasion to reclaim education as a space for self-fulfillment and personal autonomy without any restrictions of institutional control and standardized curricula” (Kellner and Kim 6). Collective Intelligence communities such as Photo Forum provide a friendly learning environment where people aren’t afraid to ask questions that may seem stupid. In lecture, we learned that one of the traits of a collective intelligence community is a “sense that sharing knowledge will encourage respect for individuals and their own knowledges” (Jackson, Participatory Culture and Activism). Respect is the key word here. The people on Photo Forum are absolutely respectful of other people’s thoughts, questions and postings. It is truly a wonderful place to learn about photography.

They even taught me that bacon causes cancer!

To view the full thread, click here.

I’m still gonna eat it though >.<

 

Love ya’ll and thanks for reading!

Hope you have a daisyish day!