Affinity Spaces and Public Spheres

Affinity Spaces and Public Spheres
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Introduction
The COVID19 pandemic has transformed how we conduct education programs. Lockdowns and other health recommendations, including social distancing, have necessitated remote learning. Schools have had to pursue a radical shift to online learning. The internet has been instrumental as its established stage and sophistication have made it helpful in achieving the education goal. However, setbacks include slow implementation, infrastructure and cost challenges, human resource allocations, and technicalities on internet technologies and user experience. The internet platform has created the affinity space, which involves lessons on internet platforms (Nygard & Skaftun, 2017). The method challenges traditional public sphere Learning. It offers different tools, methods, and expertise. Therefore, this article aims to research the two platforms, the role of Twitter and political and non-political discussions, education leaders' position and conversation on the platform, and how typical leadership is manifested according to public sphere and affinity space literature materials.
Affinity Space 
Affinity spaces are perceived as learning environments. It is an effective learning environments where individuals with shared interests gather and engage with each other to gain expertise on a particular subject (Gee, 2004). Affinity spaces can be understood as unlimited spheres such as the internet, public locations, and hybrid environments where people engage with each other and learn. These platforms can integrate digital media (videos, podcasts, and @symbols) to make it more interesting (Gee, 2004; King, 2010; Curwood, 2013). The platforms offer diverse alternatuves for learning.
The affinity spaces allows interconnectivity, complexity, and flexibility. Individuals come to this space how and when they want (Gee, 2004; Gee & Hayes, 2012). Digital affinity spaces are wholly based on technology. The affinity spaces bring people with a common interest and varied knowledge. These two features are part of the 1 features considered critical in affinity spaces. Individuals share knowledge, resources, and collective intelligence (Gee, 2004). Notably, indivdiuals coming together contribute exprinces, skills and knwoildge. The pool benefits the members by creating a sense of purpose and resource-shairing.
Their are traditional and digital examples of affinity spaces. The affinity space concept has evolved from a traditional face-to-face interaction environment, like churches, and now includes technologies. Besides, affinity spaces takes forms like online games (MMORPG), social media and digital contents.
Online platforms, like Twitter, have a low entry barrier, which encourages irrelevant content and spam that challenge the goals of the groups. Twitter can be used as a learning platform for educators and integrate an informal learning approach (Greenhow &...