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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Expansion of Answers

Today, I came across a posting by David Holloway known in Second Life as Lowell Cremorne (Pictured below.)

David is the Founder and Editor of The Metaverse Journal.
David/Lowell took some time and expanded on my recent blog entry Questions About Second Life. Check out his take on the questions at Study: Students’ Social Systems Support Successes. I think you'll find the answers interesting and it is always good to get multiple perspectives when seeking knowledge.
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Free e-Learning Stuff


With all this talk about economic disaster, I thought I'd offer some "free e-learning stuff" to help make your day/week/month a little brighter. If we all posted a few free things then each of us could benefit each other and expand our own knowledge as well as others...a silver lining in this gray economic cloud.


If you have anything free to share, that'd be great as we buckle down for a rollercoaster ride of financial news from around the world.
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Monday, September 29, 2008

Real Time Video Game Updates

EA, the gaming juggernaut, has created a video game that updates, in real-time information and statistics that alter how the video game is played...everyday. The game is NBA Live 09.



Here is the marketing description:
NBA LIVE 09 has rewritten the rules and fundamentally shifted the way you look at sports simulation games. Dynamic DNA emulates - with absolute precision - an NBA player in every sense of the word.

NBA LIVE 365 takes the statistical data of Dynamic DNA and brings it to life. NBA LIVE 09 is now constantly evolving and authentically reflects what you see on the court in your virtual experience. Just like the real NBA game, players get injured, free agents sign late, great players go cold and no-names breakthrough. If you're a sports fan, this is a dream come true - NBA LIVE 09 is made fresh daily all season long.
The game integrates performance data from actual athletes into the game continually when online. It does this through the web-connected game console (Xbox 360) that then allows a player of the video game to have real-time, updated statistics driving the performance of his team and individual players. If a player is on a hot or cold streak one night, that information is reflected in the game...the next day.


Any educational implications? Of course. Think of a real-time stock market game or a simulation of the financial market..."what if home prices dropped and thousands of people defaulted on mortages?" Many technologies start in the video game world and then move into mainstream applications and tools.

Imagine preparing for a negotiation or a debate after you have loaded all the traits of your adversary into a "real-time negotiation" simulator. Words from his or her latest speech or talk.

Imagine training to debrief a terrorist when those traits have been programmed into a simulation you've been using for 3 months. Or imagine a driving simulator that is tapped into real-time road or weather conditions. Or a military simulation that actually has data from insurgents current actions allowing you to run some "What-If" scenarios before committing troops to battle.

Imagine going on a sales call with a simulated customer after you have completely loaded his/her buying habits, typical objections, spending amounts and other data into a simulator that updates in real-time. You could test closings or openings, overcome the most likely objections and simulate making the sale before trying it in real-life. With the amount of data available on individual people, the possibilities are endless...and a little scary.

A powerful tool with real-time data is the immediate possibility of doing "what-if" scenarios quickly and effectively before deciding on a course of action. Real-time simulations with updated data...endless possibilities.

What examples can you think of? Is this really a good thing?
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Friday, September 26, 2008

Webinar Resources

Here are some resources to support today's webinar:

A whitepaper titled Embrace Informal Learning: Understanding the tools of informal learning and their impact on organizations.

Web 2.0 Lessons Learned

Tear Down These Walls: Web 2.0 Extends Class

Here is how to start a blog using Blogger.


Also, you can use Typepad or WordPress.


Here is how to start a wiki with Wet Paint


You can also use PBwiki and the service I use WikiSpaces.


Here is a good overview of podcasting.


Here are more step-by-step instructions.


Here is a really great resource on podcasting.
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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Reminder: Upcoming Webinar

Just a little reminder about a webinar I am giving on Friday, Sept. 26th.

The description is below. All are welcome. Register Now. It's free.


Transferring Knowledge to the New Style of Learner:
Extending the Classroom Beyond the Four Walls


Date: Friday, September 26, 2008 10:00 a.m. PDT
Length: 90 minutes

Description: New learning tools are introduced on an almost daily basis. Educators have all they can do to keep up with the latest technology in their field, let alone figure out how to incorporate podcasting, blogs, and wikis into their instructional curriculum. Transferring Knowledge to the New Style of Learning helps address that problem. The presentation describes how Web 2.0 technologies can and are being used in classrooms to provide educators with tools for extending the classroom beyond the school building. Learn how you can leverage these newest technologies to provide your students with rich learning opportunities they can do from the comfort of their own homes
In preparation for the presentation I have answered some related questions at TechSpectives this week.

Also, here is a link to a previous webinar I did on the topic of Second Life for the same organization.
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Questions about Second Life

Recently, I received a some really good questions related specifically to Second Life but primarily are about virtual worlds and the use of these worlds for education. I'll answer the questions here since I think they reflect concerns that many educators have related to the social networks and Second Life.

1) Kids use these “places” like Second Life, Facebook, etc. mostly for socializing.

I have to agree. Kids mostly use these tools for social reasons. For several reasons: I think kids are very social and tend to use phones, pre-classroom time, and in-the-hallway-time all for socializing with each other. So the primary motivation for kids to use social networking tools are for non-academic purposes. Additionally, they don't have many alternatives to socializing in these places because there are not many educational-focused social web sites that are designed to provide to help or assist with learning in the same format as existing sites focused on socializing.

But surprisingly, kids use social networks for educational purposes on their own. One study called Creating & Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social--And Educational--Networking indicated the following:

Students report that one of the most common topics of conversation on the social networking scene is education. Almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork.


I have blogged about this in Teens, Tweens and Social Networking Unfortunately I can no longer find that entire report but here is an article that summarizes much of the report. Research: Students Actually Use the Internet for Education.

2) Currently, it seems that much of the Second Life work is more about SL itself — how to use it, what you can do, etc. -- rather than the actual educational effectiveness.

This too is true. Why? Well one reason is because the technology is so new that people need to understand how to use the technology before they can study it. It needs to be up and running before it can be studied. Having said that, people are now starting to publish some research articles and case studies about Second Life but it is still relatively new. Although, I have seen a good deal of initiatives in terms of research starting to surface.

But if you want to study social networking in online worlds, there are a number of articles and research studies that have used the World of Warcraft as the virtual world being studied and other online role play video games. In fact a good book for setting the stage for researching or looking into virtual worlds is a book called Synthetic Worlds.

Also, look into other works by Edward Castronova. Here is an article by Castronova Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier

Also in the May issue of the Harvard Business Review research conducted at IBM on the topic of social worlds and networking. Check out Tony O'Driscoll's posting titled HBR: Leadership’s Online Labs also check out a good summary by John Rice titled Study: MMORPGs Critical in Developing Tomorrow’s Business Leaders

3) Much of educators’ enthusiasm falls short of the mark by deferring to what could be called the “You can...” syndrome. That is, the endless possibilities inherent in a system are the source of excitement, but get nailed down in very few instances.

Again, I agree. The educational community is still nailing down what works and what doesn't but this is true in the adoption of all new technologies. I've written about that in The Metaverse Hype, Decline and Realism Cycle--We've Seen It Before. so we are in the stage of "You Can..." but the only way to get out of that stage is to actually do something with the software and then study the results. One school doing a lot of "actual work" in the area of Second Life is Ohio State. Check out the VITAL Lab at Ohio University. Check out their videos on YouTube. One example is posted below.

Also, check out this posting about a science lab in Second Life.



Here is a link to many different VITAL Lab videos.

Certainly looking for other resources or ideas, please feel free to contribut and comment. Great questions, thanks for the input and please let me know if you agree or disagree with the answers.
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Who is in Charge?

Sorry to do this again but it is really on my mind.

Ok, so one of the guys who wants $700 billion dollars as soon as possible to bail out the rich investment banks who greedily took on too much debt was, not too long ago, one of those people we are bailing out. Man this is the fox watching the hen house.

This man, Paulson, was the CEO of Goldman Sachs Group (GS) for 8 years and was with the company for 15 years during the build up to this crisis (that no one saw coming). Over one five year time he received in compensation over $46.74 million dollars. No wonder he is fighting salary caps for executives.
*Remember Goldman Sachs is the one company that Warren Buffet has given $5 billion dollars to keep a float.

In fact, as written in an article by Slate when Paulson was nominated for this current position.

Not since Nelson Rockefeller served as vice president during the Ford administration has a senior government official arrived in Washington with such a high net worth. Paulson owned some 4.58 million shares in Goldman Sachs (including restricted stock) worth about $700 million...and surely has millions more in other instruments.
Of which he had to liquidate or put into a blind trust, but he is certainly not hurting from this "crisis".
So now he wants us to give $3,000 for every person in our household to bail about a Wall Street crisis which he helped to create...let's see him cough up some of his net worth first. I see him having very little skin in the game but being very belligerent with Congress.

The first thing that should be done is to throw this guy out!
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Meeting the Guys from Unity 3D

Currently I am working with a group of educators and others on the early stages of creating an educational video game to teach middle school students concepts related to engineering. The project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Specifically, we are attempting to teach in an adventure game concepts in the areas of Science, Math, Engineering and Technology (STEM). The game opens in the wilderness of Alaska and involves the requirement of creating a shelter to teach concepts of heat flow and engineering design.

So as of now, we are in search of a game engine to serve as the platform for the development of the game as we work in parallel on our game design document (critical item) and 3D assets.

As part of our effort, we got together with the folks from Unity 3D to see what they had to offer and whether or not they'd be interested in some type of partnership with our developers. We are really impressed with the folks and with the Unity 3D game engine. Lots to consider as we look at some of what Unity 3D can do.

The gentlemen in the black shirts are the Unity 3D folks. From left to right are Sam Kalman, Tom Robertson of Whitebox Learning, Amir Ebrahimi, myself and David Helgason, CEO and Co-Founder in the back and Michael Hacker from Hofstra and Tom Higgins Product Evangelist in the front.

It was a great meeting and good discussions.

More about the game and development process as it progresses.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Eduverse Foundation Presentation


This morning, I had a great time giving a presentation to a group over in the UK via a mash up of Skype and Second Life. I presented to the Eduverse Foundation Symposium. Of course I would have liked to have been there in person but, since it was a virtual world conference, I figured that a virtual presentation made a lot of sense and is less time consuming.

So using the video of Skype on one computer and the world of Second Life on another, I gave a tour of MSIT island and talked about different learning designs for virtual worlds.

Here is an image of my computer with Skype:


And here are some helpful links for those who attended the webinar and anyone else who may be interested.

Second Life Session (list of links to blog entries I've done about Second Life and 3D Worlds)

Learning Archetypes for 3D Worlds

Summer 2008: Learning in 3D Class (explains a little about the course design for the class I taught this summer.)

Second Life for Your Health
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Monday, September 22, 2008

Visit with Calhoun Wick

Cal Wick and I pose for a picture at the Fort Hill Company in DE.


Last week I had the opportunity to visit with Calhoun Wick, author of the book The Six Disciplines of Break Through Learning. Cal is also the winner of Will Thalheimer's Neon Elephant Award which Cal received in 2006.



Cal is the founder and CEO of the Fort Hill Company which specializes in Follow-Through Management™. The "Big Idea" of Cal is that training doesn't stop after the course or e-learning module is delivered, instead, it is just beginning. (like all big ideas, the beauty is in the simplicity of the idea and the "rub" is in it's execution.)

To streamline the execution, Cal and his company have created tools to continue the accountability for learning and for sticking to those "learning action items" well beyond the class session. We had a great discussion and Cal indicated that the problem with the ADDIE model of instructional design is that it focuses only on the training and ends basically after the training or learning event is concluded. There is rarely any follow up or follow through.

What Cal and his company have done is to create tools to facilitate and drive the follow up process. These tools are well designed and encourage a person's learning peers to hold each other accountable for applying what they learned in a class to situations on the job. If you say you want to delegate more effectively, you rate your delegation growth every week and your peers provide encouragement and feedback on your progress. It is a powerful and effective method of extending learning beyond the four walls of a classroom or the confines of a single e-learning module.

The concept also reaches beyond ADDIE and forces designers of instruction to think about a learning process instead of a learning event. Powerful stuff.

If you get a chance, go hear Cal speak and, at the very least, check out his book on the subject of the six disciplines and think how you can transform your learning events into learning processes.

Addition: I have blogged some simple ideas for extending the classroom at TrainingDay Blog: Think "Learning Process" Not "Learning Event
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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Top 10 Educational Games of the 1980s


Man, I love this post by John Rice of Educational Games Research. It is right up my alley. I grew up playing these games in the 1980s and I love educatonal games, it doesn't get any better than this.

Check out The Top 10 Most Influential Educational Video Games from the 1980s

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Come On...This is Ridiculous...Make the CEOs Pay it Back

Not all performance problems are training related. We learning and development professionals can't save the world if the world doesn't want to be saved. Normally, I do not blog about political or economic matters but the debacle on Wall street is forcing my hand.

Let's start with some figures from a Money Magazine commentary called Blame boards of directors for financial mess

Former Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O'Neal received total compensation of more than $91 million for 2006. O'Neal received more than $160 million in stock and retirement benefits while shareholders lost more than 41 percent of their investment value over the year. Three executives brought in to Merrill less than a year ago will share a $200 million payment as they turn over the company to Bank of America in a last-minute deal to help it survive.

American International Group (AIG) replaced CEO Martin Sullivan after the company posted losses for two consecutive quarters totaling $13 billion. Sullivan's contract entitled him to about $68 million. His replacement, a board member who served as CEO for three months before the company was taken over by the government, will get as much as $7 million.
The replacement Bob Willumstad, 63, is entitled to keep a $4 million cash bonus, 1 million shares, six months' severance salary and life insurance and other benefits.

In another article by Money, they reported that Washington Mutual's Kerry Killinger will retire with $5.2 million in common stock, $14.9 million in deferred compensation and $3.5 million in pension benefits. As you may or may not know Washington Mutual is on the "short list" of might-be-getting-a-bail-out financial institutions.

Now, let's say your are an employee within a financial company and you see the excess and greed that oozes from these organizations, how can you take any type of ethics training, compliance training or any training not focused on making you more money seriously.

In fact, there is no downside for these CEOs not to "work the system." The entire subprime mess and credit bubble is based on financial assumptions that you won't tolerate from your 2 year old (like property values will go up forever or that people who couldn't qualify for regular mortage could always make payments on special mortage products.)

Now the government who taxes me and you without mercy is asking us to pay to bail out millionaires...disgusting. If I don't pay the people to whom I owe money because of my past bad decisions, I am still accountable. If a CEO cheats the system and threatens to bankrupt the United States, he gets a few million dollars and is told to retire.

That attitude trickles down to all levels of the organization. Now, how are we supposed to create training for ethics and compliance. How do we expect salesfolks to be ethical while the CEOs are anything but? In fact, it is getting more and more difficult to find anyone in a position of power who is ethical. From professional sports to presidential VP candidates who refuse to cooperate with investigations or presidents who look us in the eye and tell us "it depends on the definition of the word 'is'. You have to be kidding me.

I've got few answers about teaching ethics to the unethical, just some frustration. Although, I have written about this before:

Training for Mixed Messages

Conspiracy Theory: Teaching Ethics

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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Virtual World Research Needs Your Help

Some colleauges of mine have asked me to forward on this important announcement about Second Life Research.

Participate in a study that examines the experiences of individuals collaborating in virtual environments. To participate, you must have a Second Life avatar and account, and access to a Second Life client on a PC. Participation will involve 2 online surveys and completion of a team exercise in Second Life.

The 1st survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, the exercise about 30 minutes, and the post-exercise (2nd) survey about 15 minutes.

For participating you will receive US$20. In addition, for every 25 teams, prize money will be awarded to the 2 best performing teams with each member receiving US$100. If you desire, payment may be made in Linden dollars (L$),e.g., US$20 is currently worth about L$5200.
If you are interested in participating, please go to the link below by September 25th to tell indicate your time preferences for participation in the study:

Yes, count me in for this exciting research.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Upcoming Webinar

Join me for a free presentation.

I am speaking at a webinar in a few weeks, the description is below. All are welcome. Register Now. It's free.


Transferring Knowledge to the New Style of Learner:
Extending the Classroom Beyond the Four Walls


Date: Friday, September 26, 2008 10:00 a.m. PDT
Length: 90 minutes

Description: New learning tools are introduced on an almost daily basis. Educators have all they can do to keep up with the latest technology in their field, let alone figure out how to incorporate podcasting, blogs, and wikis into their instructional curriculum. Transferring Knowledge to the New Style of Learning helps address that problem. The presentation describes how Web 2.0 technologies can and are being used in classrooms to provide educators with tools for extending the classroom beyond the school building. Learn how you can leverage these newest technologies to provide your students with rich learning opportunities they can do from the comfort of their own homes


In preparation for the presentation I am answering some related questions at TechSpectives this week. Check it out.
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Monday, September 15, 2008

Fall Reading List

Here are some books that I think would be good to read in front of a fireplace on those cool fall days.

The Starfish book talks about the value of decentralized organizations and how they grow and can prosper where centralized organizations have trouble. Orbiting the Hairball is about retaining your creativity in a corporate environment...not an easy task. Extreme Toyota describes the successful traits of the organization and how they were leveraged for success but the book also points about some flaws in the automaker...I love the balance of the book.



If you want learning related books, check out:

From Analysis to Evaluation provides some great tools and ready-made worksheets. Good to have in your library. The E-Learning Handbook provides a comprehensive look at the e-learning industry, past, present and tips for the future. Technical Training has a mis-leading title. This book is about instructional strategies and how to apply them. This is a great book for understanding how to apply instructional strategies to any work you are doing.



In terms of learning may I also humbly suggest:

Gadgets, Games and Gizmos is about transfering knowledge from the boomer generation (currently in power) to the upcoming Gamer Generation. Winning E-Learning Proposals is about how to write an effective proposal (focused on e-learning) and Integrated Learning is about implementing a manufacturing based ERP system using the ADDIE model as a larger framework. They make great door stops also:)



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Friday, September 12, 2008

Thoughts on Innovation...

Here are some interesting lectures on the concept of innovation. A couple are long but all are worth a listen. Many people mis-use the term "innovation" and it sometimes looses meaning when so many claim to be innovative. I think these three videos put the concept on innovation in the right position.







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Monday, September 08, 2008

List to Learn, Learn to List


This month's ASTD Big Question is, again, a series of questions. Apparently one BIG question is not enough for the learning and development community. We aim to exceed expectations.

If you have a to-learn list and are willing to share, and willing to share how you work with that list, that would likely be helpful information.

I constantly have a "to-learn" list. Some of the items are necessary and some are "pie-in-the-sky." I tend to have two methods of working on the list. One way is what I call "wandering." Using that technique, I will open up a piece of software or google a term with no real objective just a need to "learn more about" a particular term, item or piece of software. The other method is what you might call "targted." I have to learn how PayPal works, for example, because I am about to do a transaction. Using the targeted method means I have a specific goal in mind and I need to learn how to achieve that goal.

Interestingly, I find the wandering method tends to have better retention than the target. I target learning when I have a specific task but once the urgency of that task is over, I don't retain the learning as well.
Some items on my current to-learn list includes:

  • More about 3D Worlds (Wandering)
  • Capabilities of Unity 3D (Targeted)
  • Better time management techniques (Wandering)
  • Creating an online store (Wandering, for now)
  • Learning about online publishing (Wandering)
  • Some type of 2D game platform (Targeted)
  • To program in ALICE (Targeted)
  • More about the PA Energy Industry (targeted)

As Knowledge Workers, work and learning are the same, so how does a to-learn list really differ from a to-do list? How are they different than undirected learning through work, blogging, conferences, etc.?

I don't totally agree that work and learning are exactly the same, there is some overlap but there are specific things workers need to learn that do not result in a direct work product. For example, a knowledge worker may need to learn how to write a report more effectively but still may produce a report (work product) on time for the boss by working on the weekend. It would be great for the worker to learn to write more efficient reports but learning to do so is not a work product. The products the knowledge worker produces are work.
My to-do list contains items like:
  • Write assessment report for DPW
  • Write article for magazine
  • Meet with students
  • Invoice clients
  • Conduct training needs analysis
  • Create game treatment

I have to learn some things to complete the list but this is not the same as a "to-learn" list. In Catherine Lombardozzi's case, I would argue that she places "to-learn" items on her "to-do" list which I think is great in terms of prioritization as she indicated, I just don't view what I have "to-do" as a work product in the same way as what I have "to-learn" and maybe that is because learning without an expected work product as an outcome is so much more fun.

Are to-learn lists really important to have? Are they as important as what Jim Collins tells us? I think these list are very important to have as all learning and development professionals need to continually be learning. They can be explicit or implicit but, either way, learning professionals should have such a list.

Should they be captured? Is so how? Not sure they need to be captured. I have a bound notebook I carry around for both to-do and to-learn items that I list in the book, sometimes together, sometimes apart. I also write project lists and concepts in the notebook. One place to track and organize my thoughts. Although, I also have a bunch of post-it notes that serve the same purpose so it is not as organized as I make it sound. I live in a whirl wind of chaos with notebooks, post-it notes, to-do, to-learn and project lists. No to mention things written on envelopes, the back of other pieces of paper and in the margins of books...help.

How does a to-learn list impact something like a Learning Management System in a Workplace or Educational setting? Interesting but most LMSs have assignments or course lists which are assigned to a learner based on a due date (for compliance training) or by a managers so the emplopyee can have necessary skills. Both are nice but not as powerful, compelling or satifying as a personnel to-learn list.

What skills, practices, behaviors do modern knowledge workers need around to-learn lists?First, the discipline of writing a to-learn list is a good exercise, second a periodic review of a to-learn list can be valuable and third, I think learning how to network with others to acquire the necessary learning (once identified on the "to-learn" list is important.)
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Games for Change


A number of sources have recently been discussing the virtues and vices associated with creating games that raise social consciousness.

One great resource are some postings by Jeff Cobb over at Mission to Learn. He has created two lists of games for change. One is called 26 Learning Games to Change the World and the other is 7 More Learning Games for Change. Check out the two lists. Great links to some thought provoking games (some of which are really fun to play and others are a just a social message disguised as a game. Thanks to Jeff for taking the time to assemble the comprehensive list.

Additionally, at MSNBC, I found an article along the same lines called Can video games be a force for change? which has many of the same games listed but with some interesting discussion as well. For example, here is a small bit from the article
Genocide in Rwanda, torture in Sudan, poverty in Haiti, political shenanigans in the United States — video games are tackling some of the most pressing and depressing issues of our time. They’re called serious games, persuasive games and games for change. But while some developers and activists think these games offer a particularly potent and increasingly important method of getting information out to the world at large, some gamers and game industry folks seem to think sociopolitical messages and games go together like dog poo on a birthday cake.
Read the entire article for yourself and decide.
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Saturday, September 06, 2008

Social Networking Not Corporate Enough for Your Company?

If you think that social networking is just a fad or is only good for social things like what album you like or what what book you are reading...but is not appropriate for work...think again.

Some of the most sophisticated information analysis, exchange and monitoring agencies are using social networking software to make their information gathering process stronger and more meaningful. According to the article CIA, FBI push 'Facebook for spies' at the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency bosses are encouraging their staffs to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying to exchange information. The social networking application is called A-Space.

As the article states:
The goal of A-Space, like intelligence analysis in general, is to protect the United States by assessing all the information available to the spy agencies. Missing key data can have enormous implications, such as an FBI agent who sent an e-mail before September 11, 2001, warning of people learning to fly airplanes but not learning to land them.

"There was the question, 'Was that a dot that failed to connect?' Well that person did this via e-mail," Wertheimer said. "A-Space is the kind of place where you can log that observation and know that your fellow analysts can see that."

Now imagine what "dots" in your organization are never connected? What new product is under development in your R&D department that would fit the exact need expressed by a customer just a few days ago? What new sales technique was just used to land the big account that is similar to 40% of your prospective clients? What new training method or other new piece of information is currently lost in your organization because they are lost in an email?

Social networking is a powerful learning and collaboration tool...not just something to do "socially." As a learning and development professional or any other professional, strongly consider creating a social network within your organization. It will collectively raise the ability of the entire organization to "connect the dots."

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Friday, September 05, 2008

Training for Mixed Messages

Many times, training or learning events are seen by executives or management as a cure for something that cannot be "fixed" by mere training or learning events.

For example, ethics, diversity and compliance training in response to specific and repeated incidents cannot and will not be effective if a support structure is not in place to ensure that after the training is over, the employees have incentive to be in compliance, act ethically or value diversity.

Remember, Enron had a strong ethics policy but...it didn't even slow down top management in their race for money and power.

Employees know when executives or management dictates training in one area because they "have to" or it seems like the right thing...while, in fact, they are doing the exact opposite. I think Eliot Spitzer is an example of that. He preached about crime and then committed it as if he were immune. This seems to happen a lot to people in power whether it is in government, academics or private corporations.

So next time you are asked by an unethical executive to create ethics training, consider pushing back. Or when a compliance officer is just trying to check off a box on a list of compliance activities...resist. Or speak up when diversity training is done to simply "look good" to customers.

To underscore my point, view this hilarious video from the Daily Show as an example of how executives or pundents can say one thing when it is in their favor and another when its not. (this does have some offensive comments, therefore, it is not NAFW..Not Appropriate For Work but it is funny.)



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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Sing'n the Virtual Blues for Fun and Eventual Profit


The line between real life and the virtual world of Second Life just keeps getting blurrier and blurrier.

This article on the Rolling Stone blog titled “Second Life” Bluesman Gets Record Deal in Real Life describes how a blue's singer got national recognition and eventually a record contract because of his performances in a virtual world.

As the entry states:
Nashville blues musician named Van Johin has been signed to a record label, thanks to his free performances on alternate computer universe Second Life. Von Johin is believed to be the first artist signed to a contract thanks to their performances in this other world. Aside from his steady schedule of touring small real-life venues, Von Johin also plays a weekly virtual concert on Second Life, which brought him to the attention of scouts from Reality Entertainment, who signed the bluesman after seeing his following online
You can also read what Wired had to say about the signing at Second Life Bluesman Gets First-Life Recording Contract

Here are a couple videos of his work. Have a look and listen.




Here is a link to Von Johin's web page with all the vitals. If you are a fan of the blues, you should check this out.
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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Your Help is Needed in Atlantis


Here is an online adventure game developed by the Indiana University School of Education supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, NASA, and Food Lion.

As the game explains "Your help is urgently needed on Atlantis. The Atlantian council is seeking your advice regarding important matters. On Atlantis, water and air are polluted, fish are dying, cities are decaying, people are sick." The game Quest Atlantis is "an international learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-15, in educational tasks." You can't play it on your own but if you are a teacher or involved in an after school project, you can gain access to the game.

Here are the core elements of the game from the web site:
The core elements of QA are 1) a 3-D multi-user virtual environment, 2) learning Quests and unit plans, 3) a storyline, presented through an introductory video, novel and comic book, that involves a mythical Council and a set of social commitments, and 4) a globally-distributed community of participants. The narrative helps to establish continuity among the QA elements and helps to bridge the fictional world of Atlantis with the real world of Earth, an act of interpretation by each individual child. Central to this narrative is a group of young activists, the Council, who communicate with participating children and help scaffold their activities.

Check out the Quest Atlantis web site for yourself.
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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Google Announces "Chrome"


On Labor Day, Google announced its widely rumored new browser to compete with Internet Explorer called Chrome. Interesting they used a comic book format to show off the features and functionality of the browser. (looks like actual release/download date will be today at some point.)

Another example of how different media are beginning to take on different content. Clearly the media is not the message. This is a serious message in the browser wars and Google has chosen a format familiar with kids and one that is simple and effective for conveying a message. The art work and comic was done by Scott McCloud a well known advocate for taking comics seriously and a writer of "Reinventing Comics" and his well known "Understanding Comics."

Here are some articles on the topic:

Google Chrome Answers the GreenBorder Mystery

Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project (this article provides a great list of features of the Chrome.)

And, as to not waste time, Wikipedia has an entry about Chrome...the beauty of Internet speed. Chrome in Wikipedia.

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Another Game


Here is an educational link a reader sent to me when I called for educational games.

This one is called Kinderweb. It provides online educational games for young children (3-6 yrs). It was put togther 13 years ago and it's still going strong. The emphasis is on early learning and getting kids comfortable with a mouse etc. Lots of identification games which are great for young kids trying to learn a concept like "dog" or a color like "red."

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