ABSTRACT
The discussion of Hargreaves (2003a) in Chapter 1 indicated a number of ideas that are relevant to network theories and knowledge creation and sharing, including the importance of mobilising various kinds of capital, the transfer of knowledge through networks, and the role for information and communications technology (ICT) in these networks. Although some specific networks are indicated by Hargreaves (e.g. local authorities [LAs]), electronic networks seemed to dominate his thinking in relation to sharing (his fourth transformation, ‘using ICT laterally’). For example, he refers to the working practices of hackers or open-source software developers who collaborate online. In arguing for the role of ICT, he talks of:
• schools as ‘nodes’, and ‘hubs’ and ‘satellites’ (to show relationships among schools);
• LAs as brokers for networks; • computer-supported collaborative work, where teachers could work online; • Napster peer-to-peer file sharing as a form of collaboration and sharing; • fostering ‘contagion’ to enable the spread of innovation; • the networks as being ‘self-organizing’, with a ‘web’ as the analogy to indicate
how networks are managed.
