Resolution revolution

43 Things is a very timely example of social software, described well by Alan, who wonders about its uses. I'll speculate that it is an example of what Ivan Illich, in his vision of learning webs, called peer-matching:

a communications network which permits persons to describe the learning activity in which they wish to engage, in the hope of finding a partner for the inquiry.

Illich was ahead of his time, he also proposed networks to allow open access to educational [learning] objects and to recommend freelance teachers and educational leaders. The combination of these four networks, Illich's learning web, amounts to the democratisation of education.

We see the traditional gatekeepers of knowledge falling around us. Are schools to be next? Has Illich's time come?

Update: Want to discuss this some more? Join the conversation over at 43 Things.