In this issue of Media Literacy Digest, open education advocate George Siemens, reports on this week most interesting breakthroughs, events, new media technologies and on the social impact these have on society, work and learning.

Photo credit: Anatoly Vartanov

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Decentralized Work: The Final Frontier – Consider work. Many people are now involved in work that does not require physical presence at an office. Yet, how we define and value work still carries the views from 50+ years ago.
• Value of Visual Thinking – Resources such as this – the value of visual thinking – are helpful in increasing my guilt and sense of inadequacy with visuals and increasing my desire to continue improving how I communicate.
• A Few Web 2.0 Resources – Microsoft and web 2.0 resources (via Stephen Downes) I am not sure how Microsoft defines web 2.0 – not much in the list that fits my definition. However, still a number of useful resources.
• The Chemistry of Information Addiction – The chemistry of information addiction indicates why many people find the internet (particularly under the banner of real-time tools) so rewarding: We crave information and we want it now.
• Using Technology To Improve The Cost-Effectiveness of The Academy – Tony Bates explores using technology to improve the cost-effectiveness of the academy (and part 2). Toward the end of the second post, Tony offers a series of 10 implications. I generally agree with these points, but do not think it offers enough about the systemic change required by universities.
• Personal Learning Environments / Networks: Call For Chapters – Our PLE / N conference is well underway. If interested, the recordings are available (under week five).
• Nowism – Google Wave, Twitter, FriendFeed, and Facebook have given rise to the what is known as the real time web. Trendwatching picks up on this theme and addresses it as Nowism (good list of realtime tools about 1 / 3 of the way in).
• Emerging Technologies, Africa – Introduction to Emerging Technologies, Africa is an open online 12 week course. I am teaching the course with Dave Cormier. IETA is delivered in both English and French.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Decentralized Work: The Final Frontier

The ideologies that give birth to systems remain long after they cease being valuable.

End result: We have systems and policies that function under ideologies / views that are no longer needed, and in many instances, have an overall negative impact. Consider work.

Many people are now involved in work that does not require physical presence at an office. Yet, how we define and value work still carries the views from 50+ years ago.

Taylorism is still reflected in how we see work and employees.

Inside Higher Ed considers decentralized work:

“Whether you call it teleworking, Web working, telecommuting, distance working or e-working, the concept is the same: Work is not some place you go, it is something you do. It focuses on the information-age idea of decentralizing the office, as opposed to the industrial-age idea of bringing everyone to one single location.“

Value of Visual Thinking

I am inept with visuals.

I made a decision at the start of the year to increase my use of visuals in presentation and blog posts. I have not been tremendously successful, but I will keep trying.

Resources such as this – the value of visual thinking – are helpful in

• increasing my guilt and sense of inadequacy with visuals and
• increasing my desire to continue improving how I communicate.

From the post:

“In the design of business, visual thinking will be key in the design of new processes, systems, and structures.

Expect to see the mapping of

• ecosystems,
• flows,
• org charts,
• social systems and
• data visualization.

All of which can help people understand and get behind change.“

A Few Web 2.0 Resources

A few (unrelated) resources on web 2.0:

Microsoft and web 2.0 resources (via Stephen Downes) I am not sure how Microsoft defines web 2.0 – not much in the list that fits my definition. However, still a number of useful resources.

The distance between Microsoft and Google is quite evident in participative / collaborative tools. Google is the web 2.0 poster child (have a quick look at their labs). I think Google needs a strong competitor. Microsoft has had trouble playing that role so far …

IBM & Web 2.0 – a number of videos, websites, whitepapers, etc. on how IBM uses web 2.0.

Adoption of emerging technologies for collaborating and organizational productivity (interesting to note that learning is not an explicit focus) is growing.

The Chemistry of Information Addiction

Information addiction is appearing more frequently as a term to describe how our brain craves information.

The chemistry of information addiction indicates why many people find the internet (particularly under the banner of real-time tools) so rewarding: We crave information and we want it now.

The author states that we find “not-knowing” to be stressful. I am curious how the stress of not-knowing relates to the stress of information abundance – i.e. “significant attainments lost in the mass of the inconsequential”

Using Technology To Improve The Cost-Effectiveness of The Academy

Tony Bates explores using technology to improve the cost-effectiveness of the academy (and part 2).

After exploring the challenges faced by universities, Tony concludes, logically, that:

I believe we need much more variety in institutional structures and models of educational delivery than we have at the current time.

We need in other words more innovation and experimentation, if the challenge of greater access, greater quality and lower cost is to be met.

Only through experimentation, trial and error and a certain amount of risk-taking are we likely to find new models that “work” in that they achieve the three goals stated: more access, better quality, less cost.

The problem with this observation is that traditional universities are generally too tied to existing models to innovate rapidly. I have met with too many departments that have plans like “next year, we will have two courses online“.

There is a sense that the university’s response is mismatched to reality of the scope of societal change.

Toward the end of the second post, Tony offers a series of 10 implications. I generally agree with these points, but do not think it offers enough about the systemic change required by universities.

If we are going to look 20 years in the future, I am less concerned about details such as instructional tactics than I am about the big issues of policy / funding / research / systemic structure of higher education.

Personal Learning Environments/Networks: Call For Chapters

Our PLE / N conference is well underway. If interested, the recordings are available (under week five).

A call for chapters has been issued as well for an upcoming PLE book.

Nowism

Google Wave, Twitter, FriendFeed, and Facebook have given rise to the what is known as the real time web. Trendwatching picks up on this theme and addresses it as Nowism (good list of realtime tools about 1 / 3 of the way in). This briefing is worth a skim.

Notable quote:

The bottom line: While the appeal and influence of “now” has been building for years, societal attitudes, sky-high consumer expectations and new technologies are currently converging in such a powerful way that brands truly have no choice but to go “real-time”:

• In their business intelligence processes,
• in their customer conversations,
• in their innovation labs,
• in their distribution, sales, marketing and branding departments…

Emerging Technologies, Africa

I have posted this before, but, since the course started today, I will mention it again: Introduction to Emerging Technologies, Africa is an open online 12 week course. I am teaching the course with Dave Cormier. IETA is delivered in both English and French.

More information:

• Google Groups – for regular emails from course instructors
• Moodle – English
• Moodle – French
• Syllabus – English
• Syllabus – French

Main landing page for the course.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on October 16th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he develops a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Decentralized Work: The Final Frontier – Yuri Arcurs
Value of Visual Thinking – David Armano
A Few Web 2.0 Resources – TebNad
The Chemistry of Information Addiction – Scol22
Using Technology To Improve The Cost-Effectiveness of The Academy – Stephen Coburn
Personal Learning Environments / Networks: Call For Chapters – Luminis
Nowism – Mehmet Dilsiz
Emerging Technologies, Africa – Marc Dietrich
Emerging Technologies, Africa – Adama01

If you are interested in finding out the key media trends, the events and the new communication technologies that are shaping your future, in this issue of Media Literacy Digest, open education advocate George Siemens, takes you to places, people and new resources to help you make greater sense of this fast changing panorama.

Photo credit: Ndul

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Trends… – What worked pre-internet for managing information will not work today. Little surprise then that trend watching / recognition is quickly becoming a field of value for educators, business leaders, and governments.
• History and Evolution of Social Media – We are still early on the social media hype curve. Letting people connect effortlessly produces all kinds of interesting results. But the implications of easy connectivity are not fully understood.
• The Great Keynote Meltdown – It seems that a poor keynote presentation caused the audience to go into mild mob mode through the twitter back channel.
• Personal Learning Environments Conference –
  The Personal Learning Environments and Networks Conference starts next week (Oct 13-16). The event is free to attend. The event has been organized by National Research Council of Canada PLE Project and the Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba.
• Obesity, Politics, STDs Flow In Social Networks – I am interested in how networks influence learning. To date, this has received too little attention from researchers. Yes, I know, disease research generates more funds for universities
• Real Time Web and Google – Clive Thompson’s argument that the real time web is leaving Google behind makes a few interesting points… but it is essentially wrong.
• Saudi Arabia: KAUST – Education is rapidly globalizing. Local views need to give way to international perspectives. For example, consider the new $12 billion Saudi Arabian KAUST
• Local Politicians Use Social Media To Connect With Voters – Something as simple as an online forum or blog – or even online consultation – is not unrealistic. Decision made in isolation and then dropped on others is no way to run an organization or a community.
• Social Network Statistics – We rely on government to provide some level of protection (in Canada we have fairly rigid rules for the type of individual data that can be shared). Even then, sites like Facebook can gain a fairly accurate “picture” of who individuals are simply by mining network associations.
• Finding Data – Let’s say you have this idea for a visualization or application, or you are just curious about some trend. You can not find the data, and without the data, you can not even start.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Trends…

P. W. Anderson made the statement in the early 70’s that “more is different“. Or, as a slight variation, David Gelernter has stated: “30. If you have three pet dogs, give them names. If you have 10,000 head of cattle, do not bother.”

When considering the pace of information flow today, it makes sense that we need

• new skills,
• new attitudes, and
• new tools to function.

What worked pre-internet for managing information will not work today. Little surprise then that trend watching / recognition is quickly becoming a field of value for

• educators,
• business leaders, and
• governments.

Trendwatching’s monthly briefings are helpful in this regard. It is a well curated list of trends.

If you are interested in something a bit more chaotic, Trendsmap follows emerging Twitter topics.

The curatorial and the visualization of emerging trends approach are first generation attempts at making sense of abundance. We need better tools that are somewhat tied to our context (i.e. search patterns, our interests, needs).

History and Evolution of Social Media

We are still early on the social media hype curve. Letting people connect effortlessly produces all kinds of interesting results. But the implications of easy connectivity are not fully understood.

• Should we have “tech free” zones in schools?
• How does etiquette change when conversation continually flows on microblogging services such as Twitter?
• What is appropriate to post on Facebook?
• What about mobile phone etiquette? Or, perhaps most importantly for educators,
• How should teaching and learning be structured in a networked world?

These questions are already being addressed by educators and researchers (journal special editions and even new journal launches are focusing on the social media aspect of teaching / learning).

A quick look back – to gain a sense of history – is always a good idea.

The history and evolution of social media takes a rapid stroll through various services and potential implications. While the article is not focused on education, it is a good overview of how we got to where we are.

Social networking site: Definition, history, and scholarship tackles a similar theme…

The Great Keynote Meltdown

The Great Keynote Meltdown traces a failed keynote presentation and the response of the audience: “Presentational etiquette is changing along with audience expectations. Twitter is there, and people are going to use it, for good or for bad“.

It seems that a poor keynote presentation caused the audience to go into mild mob mode through the Twitter back channel. This type of critique often happens post-presentation (remember pre-realtime web? “I will not go to that conference again. Poor speakers, badly organized. It was a waste of time“).

The prominence of mobile devices and microblogging services surfaces this type of feedback and amplifies it when conference attendees connect to each other. It is a reality both speakers and organizers need be aware of… and plan for.

What is a conference organizer / keynote presenter to do these days? Create and encourage the use of channels for surfacing criticism and feedback. Hiding failures is not really success.

Personal Learning Environments Conference

The Personal Learning Environments and Networks Conference starts next week (Oct 13-16). The event is free to attend. We will be posting summaries on The Daily, so you might want to sign up for the week to keep track of the conference.

The event has been organized by National Research Council of Canada PLE Project and the Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba.

Obesity, Politics, STDs Flow In Social Networks

Networks are the language of our era – explaining, among other things

• biology,
• information flow,
• disease transfer,
• financial market failure, and
• political structures underlying public voting records.

A recently published text – Connected – addresses how networks influence our lives on a daily basis.

From a promotional article on the book: Obesity, politics, STDs flow in social networks

Examining years of research of their own and from others, the authors conclude that social networks, both offline and online, are crucial in understanding everything from voting patterns to the spread of disease.

People have profound influences on each other’s behavior within three degrees of separation, the authors find. That means that your friends, your friends’ friends, and your friends’ friends’ friends may all affect your eating habits, voting preferences, happiness, and more.

I am interested in how networks influence learning. To date, this has received too little attention from researchers.

Yes, I know, disease research generates more funds for universities. For that matter negatives like disease, obesity, and other challenges confronting humanity provide greater motivation than pursuing positives like learning and development. Maybe that is part of the research problem…

Real Time Web and Google

Clive Thompson’s argument that the real time web is leaving Google behind makes a few interesting points… but it is essentially wrong.

Controversial statements draw more attention (hence, why I am linking to this!), but what Thompson overlooks is that the web is expanding and fragmenting into specialized subsets… not that the core web is changing.

For example, an individual wanting to research Michael Jackson (as stated in Thompson’s article), will not only be concerned with the events over the last few days, but over Jackson’s lifetime.

We use the web for different purposes at different times.

The author also states that Google’s contribution was organizing the web on authority, somehow suggesting that this is not the case with Twitter and Facebook.

Have you ever tried following a trending topic on Twitter? If you are tracking a hot topic, you will have 800 updates each time you refresh. It is a mess. It is like Yahoo in 1997: Topics by categories… but largely useless.

This trend-lover attitude (Ooh, look, it is new, that means it changes everything) is great for drawing attention… but rather useless for anything else.

A contextual, balanced, and nuanced understanding of search patterns and varying circumstance with varying needs is needed. But, it appears nuanced and balanced is now the new extreme.

Saudi Arabia: KAUST

Education can be somewhat insular.

A university campus is a community… a small city. For many students (if my experience can be generalized), understanding the local university environment is a big enough challenge in itself.

It is unrealistic to expect most members of society to be aware of the complexities of higher education in other provinces / states or even other countries.

Education is rapidly globalizing. Local views need to give way to international perspectives.For example, consider the new $12 billion Saudi Arabian KAUST.

Those who proclaim universities have a limited future need to redirect their focus to the enormous funds directed to universities and how national pride (and future identity) are reflected in “world class” universities.

Local Politicians Use Social Media To Connect With Voters

I live south of Winnipeg in a small community.

During my commute this morning, I noticed a section of our street “under construction“. The street was closed off. I have no idea what they are doing. And why.

It occurred to me that I am no longer satisfied in “letting things happen to me“. Perhaps I am influenced too much by participatory technologies, but I like to know what is happening my community.

• Who decided this road should be repaired?
• Why?
• How long will it take?
• What other priorities were shelved as a result?

Not-knowing is not acceptable. Something as simple as an online forum or blog – or even online consultation – is not unrealistic. It takes five minutes to set up a blog. Decision made in isolation and then dropped on others is no way to run an organization or a community.

Local Politicians Use Social Media to Connect with Voters:

“Perhaps most significant to the evolving shift in local political communication is the sense that social media is starting to fill the void left by downsized news staffs or the complete absence of journalists in smaller communities.“

We want information and we want to be involved. That is not asking too much, is it?

Social Network Statistics

The Internet knows us. Really. It does. It knows us at an aggregate level – consider the age / income / children / gender information on social network statistics. But, we are also known individually.

We rely on government to provide some level of protection (in Canada we have fairly rigid rules for the type of individual data that can be shared). Even then, sites like Facebook can gain a fairly accurate “picture” of who individuals are simply by mining network associations.

If I am predominantly friending people with certain religious or political views, I am signaling some level or probability as to my own views. But, it does not stop there.

Facebook has one of my favorite lines about data collection:

“Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as

• newspapers,
• blogs,
• instant messaging services, and
• other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags)

in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience.“

Finding Data

As little as 10 years ago, the barrier to finding data was something like a pay wall (or that the data was in a physical form and you had to go to a library to access it).

Today, data abounds. It is readily accessible. Which is great if you are trying to visualize data and / or interactions. 30 Resources to Find the Data You Need:

“Let’s say you have this idea for a visualization or application, or you are just curious about some trend. But you have a problem.

You can not find the data, and without the data, you can not even start. This is a guide and a list of sources for where you can find that data you’re looking for. There is a lot out there.“

Follow through to the comments – several additional resources listed there…

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on October 9th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he develops a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Trends… – Trendsmap
History and Evolution of Social Media – Dmitry Margolin
The Great Keynote Meltdown – Argus456
Personal Learning Environments Conference – Konstantin Chagin
Obesity, Politics, STDs Flow In Social Networks – CNN
Real Time Web and Google – Chris Lamphear
Real Time Web and Google – Wipeout44
Saudi Arabia: KAUST – University of Bradford
Local Politicians Use Social Media To Connect With Voters – Aliaksei Lakamkin
Social Network Statistics – Pablo631
Finding Data – Hypermania

In this issue of Media Literacy Digest, open education advocate George Siemens, explores and reports on new fascinating stories and insights converging around communication technologies and their impact on learning, work and society.

Photo credit: Michele Piacquadio

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Heading To Athabasca University – I have accepted a position with Athabasca University and, as a result, will be leaving my current position at University of Manitoba. It was a tough decision.
• Social Learning Presentations – Jane Hart shares her social media presentations via slideshare playlist. A total of 18 presentations are available, addressing a variety of technologies, concepts, and frameworks for social learning.
• Narrowing Gap – Face-To-Face and Online – With location-aware software and mobile devices… and the immediacy of Twitter / Facebook, the gap between physical and virtual is shrinking.
• Universities and Research – Most research in universities is not commercialized. For that matter, most likely cannot be commercialized due to specialized nature of inquiry.
• Introduction To Emerging Technologies: Open Course – In about two weeks, Dave Cormier and I will begin our open online course on Introduction to Emerging Technologies, Africa. The course will be offered in both English and French.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Heading To Athabasca University

I have accepted a position with Athabasca University and, as a result, will be leaving my current position at University of Manitoba. It was a tough decision.

I have enjoyed working at U of M – particularly with Peter Tittenberger, Director of Learning Technologies Centre, one of the most creative / innovative leaders I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

When presented with an opportunity to work with Terry Anderson, Jon Dron, Rory McGreal, Griff Richards, and others (I do not think I will be working directly with Debra Hoven, but will enjoy the conversations, I am sure!), the prospect of fertile soil for innovation and discussion is too great to resist!

I will post more about position details and work tasks soon, but at this stage, my work will be positioned with the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute and the broader university community in developing a virtual media lab.

It appears I will be able to continue

• my current focus of online conferences,
• workshops,
• elearnspace newsletter, and
• related activities.

In addition to planning a November 1 start date at Athabasca, I have a somewhat hectic speaking schedule for the rest of fall (Portugal, Vancouver, Norway, Barcelona, Toronto, New Zealand).

I believe we are at an exciting time in higher education, where new technologies, new pedagogies, and even new institutional structures, will converge to produce an unprecedented period of innovation in learning and learning sciences.

Change, at personal, professional, and organizational levels is today’s educational zeitgeist.

Social Learning Presentations

Jane Hart shares her social media presentations via slideshare playlist (you can select various presentations on the right-hand side of the embedded slideshare “player“).

A total of 18 presentations are available, addressing a variety of technologies, concepts, and frameworks for social learning. Some level of narration would be a helpful addition, but overall, a good resource to introduce technologically-mediated social learning.

Narrowing Gap – Face-To-Face and Online

With location-aware software and mobile devices… and the immediacy of Twitter / Facebook, the gap between physical and virtual is shrinking.

As Tony Karrer notes, in addressing online / face-to-face conferences:

“What is interesting here is that it used to be that you could count on your in-person audience to be singletasking (is that a word?) and paying attention. Now, they are going to be multitasking just like your online audience.“

Perhaps I spend too much time online, but I would like to do with the physical world (and conversations) what I do online:

• tag,
• sort,
• annotate,
• organize,
• archive (the internet of things?).

Overlaying a data layer on the physical world – such as walking through a historical district and being able to see buildings on your mobile device as they looked 100 years ago – contributes to physical / virtual blurring.

I will take it a step further: The biggest challenge facing technologists today is to provide a seamless method of integrating our online selves and our physical selves. I would argue the two separate selves should not even exist – they will converge into one entity.

Universities and Research

In an idea reminiscent of Swanson’s concept of undiscovered public knowledge, Techcrunch is suggesting corporations turn to universities for a wealth of innovative ideas.

Most research in universities is not commercialized. For that matter, most likely cannot be commercialized due to specialized nature of inquiry.

However, according to TC, entrepreneurs should explore the “motherlode of innovation hidden in the huge stacks of patents and discoveries backlogged at our universities and research labs“.

Universities are attempting to take control of commercializing their own research.Specialized departments have been set up in larger universities to facilitate this task (and, in many cases, revenues from commercialization activities are growing as a percentage of overall funding).

By design, however, higher education is not equipped to function at the speed (or for that matter, the priorities) of business.

I am concerned that a revenue generation focus will cause universities to lose focus of the broader (philosophic / social / exploratory) they play in societies.

Do all aspects of society – health care, education, even government – need to converge on a corporate/business model? If so, where will we find the important counter balance to ensure one model does not come to dominate completely?

Introduction To Emerging Technologies: Open Course

In about two weeks, Dave Cormier and I will begin our open online course on Introduction to Emerging Technologies, Africa. The course will be offered in both English and French.

If you would like to be kept informed about the course (as a participant or observer), please join the Google Group.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on October 2nd, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he develops a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Heading To Athabasca University – Bellestock
Social Learning Presentations – Yanik Chauvin
Narrowing Gap – Face-To-Face and Online – Sergey Peterman
Universities and Research – Yuri Arcurs
Introduction To Emerging Technologies: Open Course – Anyka