Flickr

Group discussion
====On Flickr I posted a question about beauty in nature since most of the pictures Amy and I posted were pictures of nature in which we saw silence. There were more responses than I had expected, but the discussion continued as follows:====

**Beautyin nature**
====It's amazing what you can find when you pay attention to the world around you, just like the niña extranjera in the Spanish reading the other day. Where is the beauty in nature? Posted at 5:02PM, 27 July 2011 EDT==== ||
 * || ====**amfuerst says:**====

====Excellent intertexto, Allison! Do you think la niña extranjera simply noticed nature more because she was locked in a tower and had nothing else to do? It makes me start thinking of technology as a constraint. How many do not stop to look at flowers because our gaze is towards our I-phones and gadgets? Posted 25 hours ago.==== || ====Good point about how much we can see if we pay attention to the world around us! Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Autumn point good point...about the constrain of technology! So true that many are so into their phones and gadgets that they aren't able to enjoy the nature around them! We need to take the time to smell the flowers! Posted 24 hours ago.==== ||
 * || ====**AutumnBangoura says:**====
 * || ====**Becca Vargas says:**====
 * || ====**Akirbz says:**====

Have you tried to capture nature in a photo only to realize you missed experiencing the moment? Sunsets are always better through your own lens! Posted 24 hours ago.
|| ====I have totally experienced that Amy. Normally pictures don't quite capture the essence of the real-life experience. I agree with Autumn and Becca as well about technology constraints as well...More people have second-hand experiences of nature now through Google image searches. I've shown my students my pictures of Tulum, but they don't quite capture the same feeling of awe as standing there in person seeing the ruins side by side with the nature that has taken over it (but then also has been beaten back by Man so that we can see the ruins once more). Posted 23 hours ago.==== || ====I agree Amy and Allison. A picture never does capture the moment in its entirety. A picture is just a snapshot and can never hold the true feeling of the moment that you are in. It can definitely bring back memories and allow for reminiscing, but it can never capture the feeling. Posted 23 hours ago.==== || ====The beauty in nature, just like the beauty in a person, needs to be enjoyed, experienced and relished. It is all ephemeral. What captures it the best and lasts the longest are our perceptions that turn to memory, and then they go with us. Posted 21 hours ago.==== || ====it never captures the moment entirely but it does freeze what is there. It almost ends up becoming not the moment itself, but something new - a photograph or painting that can be seen by people who were not there, don't know the artist,, and don't know the context, and are looking for something in it that stands on its own. Hmm, didn't know I was going there, and this thought is kind of breaking my mood - but dare I say...kind of like a transcript. Posted 20 hours ago.==== ||
 * || ====**amfuerst says:**====
 * || ====**plopes22 says:**====
 * || ====**palmer.louise26 says:**====
 * || ====**JulieGoraj says:**====

====This discussion shows how a community of thinkers sprung up very quickly among those who commented. Many times the next person who commented incorporated what someone had said previously, agreeing, disagreeing, synthesizing, supporting. There were also times where other topics or facets of the topic of beauty in nature were introduced, thereby broadening our understanding of what beauty in nature is and how it is affected by the rest of the world around us, in this case we discussed technology quite a bit and how it can be all-consuming not leaving time for the simple joys in life, such as smelling the flowers as Becca suggested. The connections everyone made with others' comments and the discussions in class, other classes at MATSL and their previous experiences are all amazing. I especially am struck by Julie's last comment, which takes in several people's comments and then transfers her understanding to connect photographs with Action Research and transcripts, and now that I read her comment, I am inclined to agree with her. I would not have made that connection without this community of thinkers, and that is what digital literacy and using these types of collaborative sites, (blogs, twitter, flickr, etc) is all about. It is through interaction with others' different perspectives that we construct new meanings about the world.====