There is a really interesting debate going on at the Economist site  just now about the value of social network sites in education:
http://www.economist.com/debate/index.cfm?debate_id=3&action=hall

Even danah boyd - American blog-godess, wears a big hat to protect a
fantastic technical brain - has swung into things;
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2008/01/15/the_economist_d.html

All in all, a very interesting exchange of views. Ewan - unsurprisingly for those who know him - is as passionate an advocate as you can find for the idea.  And Michael Bugeja thinks it’s all just another case of techno-smoke and mirrors.   danah boyd reckons they are both missing the point entirely… and while you have to go to her site to read why ( she doesn’t appear to think commenting is worth doing) she does have a couple of interesting observations to make…

All in all, a good scrap with lots of things to think about as the digital furniture is being chucked around, bar-room brawl style…