elearnspace

Third Places

The concept of third places - "social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace" - is gaining a fair bit of attention. Teemu Arina assigns space-based attributes to serendipity in his "Serendipity 2.0: The missing third places of learning" presentation. I indirectly addressed this in my University of Manitoba blog on coffee houses as "penny universities". Richard Florida suggests that "hotels and some airline lounges provide a possible glimpse into the future of third places". New Media Consortium states in their whitepaper Social Networking, The "Third Place", and the Evolution of Communication (.pdf) that the internet is the new space "where people connect with friends, watch television,listen to music, build a sense of togetherness with people across the world, and provide expressions of ourselves which are themselves forms of communication". Constance Steinkuehler views online games as third spaces (.doc). Third places have been with us since recorded history. New technologies and media, however, are providing a new shape and new ease of access to these spaces. The question comes down to: how can we as educators make use of these spaces as informal learning tools.