Economy of Attention

In class Tuesday night, Professor Wilson mentioned having read an article on the "economy of attention." I'd never heard the phrase before, and I was surprised to see a post on that topic in a blog I read regularly, Read/Write Web.

According to Richard MacManus, "The Attention Economy is a marketplace where consumers agree to receive services in exchange for their attention. Examples include personalized news, personalized search, alerts and recommendations to buy. Note that the Attention Economy is different from the tradional meaning of an economy, because it isn't about buying and selling - although ultimately those things may occur."

This certainly applies in education. Our students, particularly in higher ed, "agree to receive services [i.e., knowledge and skills] in exchange for their attention." They are paying not only in money but in time and energy. As faculty, we need to make sure they are receiving what they paid for.

At the end of his post, MacManus links to four other articles on this topic that were published by Read/Write Web.