This post first appeared on aud.life

I've been thinking a lot lately about this phrase "networked learning," about the hype over what the Internet affords us (in education, but more broadly in civil society), about the consolidation of power and platforms (the Facebook-ification and Googlization of the Internet), and what, if anything, we can learn from the rise of television -- specifically the rise and consolidation of cable network channels. What's interesting to me is the role that education was supposed to play in teaching and learning, the space that the federal government (sorta) carved out for public television, and the dwindling of that federal funding. How did we get from the Appalachian Community Service Network to The Learning Channel? And how did we get from The Learning Channel to TLC, the site of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and whatever the Duggars' latest show is called? Why are folks so adamant that the Internet isn't going to take the same course?