"Many potential individual and community-wide initiatives that would be inspiring and life-changing often go unrealized because there is not enough dialogue, planning or strategies for implementation. What often is needed is simply an appropriate infrastructure that helps information, ideas and resources circulate among members of a learning community or of a local neighborhood. Developing this infrastructure is a critical part of establishing an individual's intellectual praxis and building up a community's organizational capacity. Individuals and communities need the capacity to discuss, interpret and address the changes that are going on around them in a way that promotes renewal and ongoing development." - Dr. Alan Shaw

Dr. Alan Shaw has a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, a M.S. in Computer Science from MIT, and a Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory.

Dr. Shaw is currently an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University teaching courses in Computer Science.

Dr. Shaw's ongoing work continues to involve using technology to address issues concerning education, social justice and community building. His ideas concerning this important subject area revolve around the following themes:

  1. Cooperative Learning Circles
  2. Cultural Epistemology
  3. E-Learning
  4. Games for Mathematical Understanding
  5. Improvisation and Collaboration in MetaCognition
  6. Intellectual Praxis
  7. Learning Through Social Apprenticeships
  8. Neighborhood Information Infrastructure for Community Building and Social Empowerment
  9. Social Constructionism as it relates to Epistemology and Pedagogy

He has written and co-written various articles addressing these themes:

  1. Shaw, A. (2001). "Toward a New Workplace Ethic of Craft and Community." Community News and Views. MI: MSU Center for Urban Affairs. Summer, 13(1).
  2. Shaw, A. & Shaw, M. (2000). "Social Empowerment through Community Networks." In: D. Schon, B. Sanyal & W. Mitchell (eds), High Technology and Low-Income Communities. MA: MIT Press.
  3. Bowman, J., Hammond, A., Shaw, A. & Lincoln, B. (1999). "Urban Cyberspace Initiatives." In: M. Selinger & J. Pearson (eds), Telematics in Education: Trends and Issues. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
  4. Shaw, A. (1996). "Social Constructionism and the Inner City." In: Y. Kafai & M. Resnick (eds), Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in a Digital World. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  5. Shaw, A. (1995). Social Constructionism and the Inner City: Designing Environments for Social Development and Urban Renewal. Ph.D. Thesis: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts and Sciences.
  6. Shaw, A. (1988). Axiomatic Reasoning in Euclidean Space. Masters Thesis: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Computer Science.
Other Interesting Tidbits:

Dr. Shaw and his wife Michelle Shaw, Esq., have 5 Wonderful Children.

Dr. Shaw's current book project: Raising Abel: Helping Black Boys to Excel in Social, Academic and Spiritual Pursuits.

To learn more about Dr. Shaw's work, visit the websites: Imani Information Systems and Linking Up Villages.

You can also send email to Dr. Shaw: ashaw@imanisystems.com