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Archive for the ‘Web 2.0’ Category
Multi-level experience
Author: richard11 Aug
by laffy4k
Cameron Neylon and the full web2.0 experience:
[Via OpenWetWare]
Earlier today fellow OWW blogger Cameron Neylon gave a talk at the Institutional Web Managers Workshop in Aberdeen and did so, not only for those present at the venue, but also to anyone with internet access.
Cameron set out to stream the talk via webcast, have updates via FriendFeed and also microblogging via Twitter.
The presentation was viewed by quite a few folks and many participated on FriendFeed. Cameron even stated that he noticed 20 new followers on his twitter account!
Giving talks can be stressful as is, so this requires some congratulating for the effort. Great work Cameron!
It is very likely that presentations in the near future will not only be in-person and streamed on the web, but also include much larger back channels using FriendFeed and Twitter.
There will not only be a way to enlarge the audience, but all these conversations can be examined in order to get a much better idea of how the presentation went and what effect any new data will have on other investigations.
Presentations will not simply be monologs anymore but will have be just a part of the overall conversation. This means scientific information travels farther, faster, with greater vetting by peers than ever before.
Technorati Tags: Education, Social media, Technology, Web 2.0
Open Access Textbooks
Author: richard8 Aug
by SoftPIX_Techie
Interview with Flat World Knowledge:
[Via Open Access News]
Dian Schaffhauser, Textbook Publishing in a Flat World, Campus Technology, August 6, 2008. (Thanks to Garrett Eastman.) An interview with Eric Frank, co-founder of OA textbook publisher Flat World Knowledge.
See also our past posts on FWK.
The idea of an Open Access textbook publisher seems foolhardy at first blush. But Flat Earth has a plan that just might be viable.
Technorati Tags: Education, Open Access, Social media, Web 2.0
More about education
Author: richard7 Aug
by nattu
FIVE QUESTIONS…for Jane John:
[Via eLearn Magazine]
No matter what one does for a living, everyone today needs good online research skills. According to Jane John, past president of the Association of Independent Information Professionals, the key is to first clearly define what it is you need to know. In this interview John also explains what specific skills teachers and students need to navigate our ever-growing sea of information, and how leaving time for reflection can help illuminate the real meaning and value of that information.
Some discussion of the approaches students will take, including the importance of synthesis. Current education spends a lot of time on analysis, breaking things down into simple easily remembered bits.
Web 2.0 promotes synthesis. Being able to bring facts together in order to create knowledge will be important aspects of future learning.
Schools and Creativity
Author: richard7 Aug
by Conspirator
Do Schools Kill Creativity? A Comical Inquest at TED:
[Via HarvardBusiness.org]
If you think of yourself as someone who understands creativity, this is an essential talk by Ken Robinson, from the TED Conference. He calls into question the antiquated teaching models we have in the Western world, and asks many great questions about creative thinking and the business world.
Key quotes from Mr. Robinson:
“My contention is that creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated with the same status.”
“They’re [children] not frightened of being wrong. I don’t mean to say being wrong is the same as being creative. What we do know is if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you won’t come up with anything original. And by the time most children get to be adults most children have lost that capacity.”
It’s a funny, enlightening and well reasoned 20 minutes. Highly recommended.
Video: Do schools kill creativity, Ken Robinson, TED
Ahh. Education. Always good for some nice discussion. This is a very entertaining talk, though.
Most schools do drive out creativity in many students but I think they also force some students to become more creative, in order to get around the roadblocks presented by schools.
Just as patents/copyrights put barriers in the way of innovators, requiring them to find a new way forward , so too can public education.
However, these students would probably be creative no matter what, while the vast majority will have creativity pushed out of them. It is a real waste. This is one reason I expect public education to see vast changes.
The following represents a model of the approaches that may be taken using Web 2.0 tools. It is really simplification of what is possible. The question is how fast this model in some form is adopted.
Working together to solve problems in a collaborative fashion results in faster innovation cycles. This will be true in school also. Ones that use Web 2.0 approaches to teach will find that their students are more creative and better able to solve difficult problems. This will be superior for solving the complex problems seen today than the 19th century approaches we use today.
This is not about teaching a curriculum that will solve all our problems. This has been attempted for the last 150 years. This is about changing the basic manner in which we teach children.
It will be less authoritarian, with less of a stern headmaster using a top-down approach and more of a collaborative approach. Rote memorization of things like what year an event happened will not be as important, since this will be too easy to find online. But understanding the results of an event, how it changed the world, will be among the important skills that will be taught.
In a Web 2.0 world, finding information is easy. Using it to create knowledge is more rapidly facilitated by working in groups.
And because Web 2.0 tools make explicit many things that are usually hidden in today’s approaches, it will be possible to tease out data such as each person’s contribution. Those that try to freeload on the backs of their group can be more easily identified and dealt with.
I do not expect it to be Nirvana but schools that adopt more of the approaches, particularly with older students, will find they are more successful at meeting many of the metrics being used today, at least the ones examining creativity and innovation.
Don’t make work work
Author: richard6 Aug
When Play Becomes Work:
[Via elearningpost]
Shankar Vedantam explores the widely accepted belief that extrinsic rewards can get people to do things. Research studies, Vedantam shows, points the other way around — external rewards kills the inner drive.
“External rewards and punishments are counterproductive when it comes to activities that are meaningful — tasks that telegraph something about a person’s intellectual abilities, generosity, courage or values. People will voluntarily perform intellectually arduous work, for example, because it gives them pleasure to solve a puzzle or win a game of wits.”
For this to work, there needs to be a way for the telegraphing to get disbursed throughout the community and allow others to know about the intellectual abilities, etc.
If this is not done, most people will feel like schmucks, taking on arduous work with no real group compensation. The reward does not have to be much. Intellipedia just used a small spade.
In fact, it works better when the reward is something small, almost frivolous, when the reward is for the work done, not when the work is done for the reward.
There is a great story (it may be from HP) whose details I can not recall. Essentially, an engineer walked into the boss’s office and let him know that a big project was complete. To show his pleasure, the boss picked up some incidental object in the office (like a hammer) and gave the engineer the first Golden Hammer award.
The group passed the award around whenever someone did something outstanding. The rewards have to help strengthen the connections, not break them.
Technorati Tags: Social media, Web 2.0
Digital notebooks
Author: richard4 Aug
by Marcin Wichary
Electronic notebooks are cool, and so is RDF:
[Via business|bytes|genes|molecules]
Had a conversation earlier today, all about RDF and linked data. I am a big believer, which is why posts like this one by Cameron Neylon on A new way of looking at science? bring a smile.
Andrew Milsted, a PhD student, enabled an RDF dump of the content in the lab notebook used by Cameron’s group (and others I suspect). The result, a graph that shows each post in the notebook as a node and links between posts as edges. It is a universe of the work going on in the lab, and how that work interacts. It would be interesting to see the dynamics of this graph evolve, and various other ways of visualizing the underlying data and relationships. It would also be cool to put this up on the web as linked data and link it to data outside Cameron’s lab. Might even lead to some very interesting observations and relationships.
This is a simple example, but highlights why it is so important to be able to put data into machine readable formats. RDF is a naturally good model, since it highlights relationships within the underlying data.
As shown here, the digital material can be examined for links and mined in ways that are just impossible today. Linkages between pages, data and comments could be examined. Possible relationships between projects could be highlighted. Areas for collaboration could be determined.
Context can be added to data in order to create a deeper examination of the information created.
The groups that more rapidly embrace these sorts of approaches will be able to turn the creativity cycle faster, increase the rates of diffusion of innovation in the community and find solutions to complex problems that are unsolvable by simply analog approaches.
Technorati Tags: Bioinformatics, Science, Social media, Web 2.0
The four ‘ayes’
Author: richard1 Aug
Kansas, We Owe You One (Updated Election Video):
[Via Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English -]
I’m not sure how this happened, but there is an error in the original version of the “Electing a US President” video. The original version says that there are 3 congressional districts in Kansas. As we discovered today, via a nice email from Gerry Deman of Kansas, there are actually 4 districts.
Here’s what we’re doing about it:
We have created a new, corrected version of the video. It’s embedded below and we have replaced the video on the original blog entry (and embed code) with this new version. We’ve also replaced the downloadable versions in the Store and other places where it is shared.
Unfortunately, this means that two versions will exist on YouTube, because it’s impossible to replace a video. By deleting the original version, we break the connections to the You Tube players on blogs that embedded it. If you embedded the original version, please do replace the video with this new version.
It’s a good thing that folks like you keep us in check so we can limit the potential confusion. We’ll count better next time, I promise.
So the video put up yesterday had an error – The wrong number of congressional districts in Kansas. A trivial fact in the scheme of the presentation but one noticed by someone in the community.
After being made aware of the error, it was a pretty easy thing to fix. And, because of the ease of use for current Web 2.0 tools, the new version was up and running very quickly.
This is an example of how the iterative process found with Web 2.0 conversations can investigate some information, identify where it can be improved and then implement those changes rapidly.
The Four ‘Ayes’ of the Iterative process:
- investigate
- identify
- improve
- implement
The more rapid each turn of the iterative process is, the faster perfection is approached.
Technorati Tags: Social media, Web 2.0
Quick update on social studies
Author: richard31 Jul
It is so much easier to understand US government with these few videos. One very well done recent one and an old time classic.
Video: Electing a US President in Plain English:
[Via Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English -]
Using a low tech approach, coupled with the latest Web 2.0 approaches, allows Common Craft, a very lightweight company to distribute an incredible message. It reminded me of this oldie, which can now be re-seen due to YouTube.
Or this one:
These are all novel information transfer tools that just were not available to us even a few years ago.
Technorati Tags: Government, Social media, Web 2.0
A different metaphor for me
Author: richard30 Jul
by b0r0da
Life At 35,000 Feet:
[Via A Journey In Social Media]
This whole subject of social media proficiency and enterprise 2.0 begs for analogies, so let me try a new one on you:
Getting good at this stuff is like an airplane trip.
At the outset of an airplane journey, it’s all hassle. Finding the right flight, getting to the airport, dealing with security, disposing of all your liquids, taking off your shoes — awful stuff. At the gate, it’s lousy food, no seats, delays and weather, airplanes full of cranky people — none of it fun.
Eventually, it’s time for takeoff. Lots of rumbling, vibrations and strange noises. If you’ve never flown before, you look around and wonder “is all of this normal?”.
Finally, you break through the clouds. The captain turns off the seat belt sign. Everyone relaxes and settles in. Drinks are served. You’re on your way.
Well, we’re pretty much at that stage in our journey. We’re at cruising altitude.
My choice of metaphor would be visiting a big city for the first time, say New York. Don’t know anyone. Where anything is. How to get anything done. The buildings are awfully big. And there sure are a lot of people.
Then, after just a few days, the real benefits of the town are apparent – great restaurants, lots of things going on, people to have a drink with, so many
bead stores. We adapt to the huge increase in information and learn to take advantage of it.That is where EMC is now getting to.
I came back from an extended trip, and looked at the internal platform. I saw a continuous stream of beefy, engaged business-oriented conversations on dozens of topics. I saw that we had a half-dozen new communities springing into formation, each with a high degree of business value, and conducting themselves with confidence and enthusiasm.
We’ve entirely lost the golly-gee-whiz-this-is-all-so-new feeling that permeated the activities of the first few months. Everyone seems to know what to expect, how to engage, and how to leverage the new social computer.
Nobody asks for justification any more. Nobody wonders how this platform compares and contrasts with other alternatives. Nobody is waiting for the Official Word that this is a sanctioned and supported activity.
Example 1 — Content Generation
EMC creates a lot of content. Sometimes, I think we don’t make products, we just make stuff that talks about our products.
Historically, this stuff went to the Official Corporate Portal. There was a long and somewhat cumbersome process to get stuff reviewed, approved and posted on the portal. There were insufficient mechanisms for sorting and finding stuff — and presenting stuff in an attractive fashion. And, like most Corporate Portals, it slowly turned into a big pile of stuff that many people didn’t think was entirely useful, and could be better.
Now, it seems that most content comes through our internal social media platform on its way to the corporate portal. Preliminary documents are posted, discussed, debated and revised. The comments are sometimes more interesting than the document itself.
Example 2 — Reach Out And Touch Someone
If you’re in a company of 40,000 people, and happen to be at one of the more remote outposts, sometimes you don’t even know where to start. You don’t know exactly what the problem is, or how to ask the question, or where to start looking.
We’re starting to see more “IHAC” questions. “IHAC” stands for “I have a customer …” followed by a statement of the situation, the ideas that the local team are working with, and an open-ended what-do-you-suggest question.
People chime in with what they know, and what they would do. Sometimes, a debate erupts between contributors as to exactly what the best approach might be.
The posting team not only gets access to a wealth of perspectives, opinions and experiences — but now they’ve got a virtual team to work with. And, of course, the entire discussion lays there waiting for the next person who comes along.
Example 3 — Mac Support
I don’t know about you, but I want to use a Mac at work. So do lots of people. And, like many companies, EMC doesn’t officially support Apple products in the workplace. The reason? It’s too expensive. Fair enough.
Spontaneously, a “Mac At EMC” group sprang into existence. Wikis were created about how to configure things, what to buy, how to work around various problems. I’ve been using it a while, and it meets my needs. Sure, I can’t lob a ticket into IT and have them fix things — I have to take a more hands-on approach — but it works, and it works well.
Just recently, the group figured out how to make the new iPhone 3G work on the corporate network. Now I want one of those, too.
Incremental cost to EMC: zero. That is, until we have to upgrade our entire remote access network to support a bazillion iPhones ;-)
Studies have shown that people will stop doing their own work in order to help someone else with theirs. Web 2.0 just makes this much easier.
Example 4 — The Old Guard Gets On Board
Like any company that’s grown through acquisition, there’s pockets of Old Guard and New Guys at EMC. Subtle but powerful lines divide people into tribes. Inevitable in any large company, right?
The Old Guard has always done things in certain ways, and done them with people they know and trust. Comfortable for them, but not ideal from a strategic perspective.
As of late, several communities aligned with Old Guard interests have sprung into existence. They’ve gotten over their discomfort, and fully embraced open communities of like-minded people. There’s no way I could have made them do this — they had to do this under their terms and conditions.
I don’t know how to put a number on this implicit — yet very significant — change in mindset. I can’t measure it, but I know it’s important, and very valuable.
Web 2.0 tools make it much harder to reside in a simple echo chamber, only hearing from the ‘Old Guard.’ Exposure to innovations can occur in a more organic fashion than sitting people down and telling them things change. People can adjust to innovations following their own rhythm rather than a mandated one.
However, because information flow is so much greater with Web 2.0 tools, this rhythm may also be greater, permitting change to occur at a more rapid pace.
Just as there are many more opportunities in the large social network that is a large city than in a small town, so too do Web 2.0 approaches provide greater opportunities.
Technorati Tags: Knowledge Creation, Web 2.0
Training online
Author: richard29 Jul
by edans
You Want ROI? Try This:
[Via Enterprise 2.0 Blog]
The Times today catches on to a trend we’ve all been noticing for months: Replacing in-person meetings with virtual ones saves time and money. But check out this remarkable ROI story from the article:
“Corporate training and education is a field many companies are moving online, in part to trim travel costs. Darryl Draper, the national manager of customer service training for Subaru of America, used to travel four days a week, nine months of the year, presenting educational programs at dealers nationwide. Today, Ms. Draper rarely travels and nearly all of her training is done online.
Previously, Ms. Draper estimated, in six months she would reach about 220 people at a cost of $300 a person. She said she now reaches 2,500 people every six months at a cost of 75 cents a person.”
There are times for face-to-face meetings but generally training is not one of them. The effects of Web 2.0 approaches on training will have substantial impacts on the bottom line.
Cisco has reduced traveling expenses by $100 million and decreased greenhouse emissions 10% by moving online for meetings. Air travel is down by 25% in some offices at HP using videoconferencing. With air travel being so costly, both in money and in wasted time by employees, videoconference and other Web 2.0 approaches should really explode over the next few years.
These works by SpreadingScience and Richard Gayle are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.