Setting up a Gmail account and Blog were something that I had done years ago. I've always had a Gmail account, and I used Blogger to test-run a blog in which I own today, which is a data driven blog on socioeconomics. With over 2000 people in 12 countries following, the permanent blog can be found here: http://daveashelman.wordpress.com

While I have had photography published, I am seeking to find other visual artist that can bring people together to create a collective effervescence.

I am NOT a fan of online courses. However, with my current teaching and research schedule, as well as graduation requirements, I have no choice but to use an online course. Since the days of Plato, scholarship has been partly about the free exchange of ideas. Online courses stifle the free exchange of ideas. If learning were just about the transmission of information, then online courses would be fine. However, learning is much more than that. Learning is a social interaction, both between students, and between student-teacher. The social interaction is lost in online courses, and for a Sociologist, this is a problem.

However, the times, and culture are changing. After this semester, I will be moving on to a Ph.D. program, where I will be teaching at the college level. Perhaps in the not too distant future, education will simply be the transmission of information and nothing more. It will be the end of thousands of years of learning.