November 19, 2002
Serendipity
Browsing through the reference material accompanying the Collaborative Learning 2002 online event, I discovered this absolute gem from my friend Marcia:
- Learning from Experience is a great collection of resources from Dewey to the present day. Read Marcia Conner's opening essay to get the essence of learning by doing.
Think back on learning to ride a bicycle, use a computer, dance, or sing. We took an action, saw the consequences of that action, and chose either to continue, or to take a new and different action. What allowed us to master the new skill was our active participation in the event and our reflection on what we attained. Experience and reflection taught more than any manual or lecture ever could.
Kurt Lewin wrote that little substantive learning takes place without involving something of all three aspects.[1] Learning also involves feeling things about the concepts (emotions) and doing something (action). These elements need not be distinctive. They can be, and often are, integrated.
Cite: Conner, M.L. "Learning from Experience." Ageless Learner, 1997-2002. www.agelesslearner.com/backgrounders/experience.html
November 17, 2002
It's not easy being small
eLearning Forum has a great session coming up this Friday morning. Chuck Fred (author of Breakaway) and David Batstone (founder of Business 2.0) are going to lead a lively discussion atop the Bank of America Building. Here's the blurb I wrote for it:
- Speed and Values vie for the top spot on every CEO’s list of priorities. Charles asks, “How can we fulfill the promise we make our customers faster than our competitors can?” David asks, “What is it about the modern corporation that makes joining it feel like we’re making a Mephisto bargain for our soul?” Both take a pragmatic, can-do approach. Together, they will investigate how the intersection of speed and values can unlock the power of eLearning and human potential.
So what's so tough about being small? Yours truly is juggling more tasks than he can keep in the air. I was at eLearning Guild in San Diego most of the past week so Friday was the first time I sat down to figure out how to take credit card orders from my website -- because I have to tell our caterer how many are coming by the end of Tuesday. Last night I got the credit-card-fu cobbled together and emailed the eLearning Forum memberships, but now I'm getting nervous.
This is eLearning Forum's first event in San Francisco (we've met for several years in Menlo Park). Two days is not much time to draw a crowd. Argh. What else can I do to promote the event?
I've got an idea! Why not join us? Friday, November 22, 8:30 - lunch. It's going to be great.
November 15, 2002
Hoot Hoot
Hoot
by Carl HiaasenNormally, I love Carl Hiaasen's books, what with the former governor turned eco-terrorist who subsists on road-kill, the villain with a weedwhacker instead of a hook where his hand used to be, or the theme-park sleazeball trying to peddle a dead Shamu as catfood. Hoot is something else again.
"Has Carl forgotten how to write?" I wondered. "Too much time in the Florida sun?" Hoot is more Jerry Lewis than Dennis Miller, move Bill Murray than John Belushi. Slapstick. Middle of the road. Simplistic.
Only upon finishing the book did I notice that this was Hiaasen's first novel for "a younger audience." An Amazon review notes, "Carl Hiaasen is riding the wave of adult fiction writers down-shifting their word processors to 'Kid Lit' in the wake of Harry Potter."
I find it confusing when an author messes with his brand without informing his customers. How about a big "Kid Lit" sticker to let us know what we're getting?
November 12, 2002
Googlism.com
Ask Googlism.com what eLearning is and it will tell you:
- elearning is not knowledge management
elearning is child's play
elearning is live ·
elearning is burgeoning
elearning is focused on the individual learner
elearning is the next big thing
elearning is technology
elearning is as varied as education itself
- elearning is used by organisations that need to re
elearning is not important
elearning is utilizing technology to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of learning
elearning is critical to it's future health
elearning is the key by melanie liew
elearning is best defined as the category consisting of training and learning over the web
elearning is instructional content delivered over the internet
elearning is likely to be found in its potential to provide
elearning is giving pharmaceutical companies faster
elearning is easy and engaging
elearning is the use of digital technologies to equip pharmaceutical company employees
elearning is a way for individuals or groups to learn new knowledge and skills using computer network technologies
elearning is learning that is supported by information and communication technologies
elearning is not only changing how we learn
elearning is a dynamic process that provides learners with real
elearning is the delivery of instructional material in electronic formats
elearning is a powerful learning system that makes knowledge and information accessible to you
elearning is a
elearning is internet based training and instruction
elearning is quickly becoming the ?enterprise initiative of fashion
elearning is likely to go and how quickly it may or may not get there that we talk about it our other venues and
elearning is a unique web site specializing in online instructor
elearning is also significant
elearning is a hot new area that leverages internet technologies in the delivery of instruction
elearning is today the most important area of research
elearning is an emerging industry that utilizes high technology to provide learning
elearning is often "self
elearning is more than using technology for "just in time" training
elearning is web
elearning is an effective
elearning is great
elearning is a social reality
elearning is being flaunted as a compelling new approach to quickly and effectively learn these necessary new
elearning is teaching and learning via the use of digital resources
elearning is going to change the world or at the very least our entire learning behavior
elearning is modular
elearning is cur
elearning is based on branded educational content that is proven to be high quality
elearning is not about a fresh start
elearning is taking a lot of criticism at the moment and remaining focused on the learner is the key to avoiding ineffective elearning
elearning is a key strategy that leading companies are using to stay ahead of their competition
elearning is nothing like training
elearning is the outcome of a demanding supply chain for knowledge ? some have called this multi
elearning is
elearning is firmly committed to the view that its credibility with its business partners
elearning is underperforming
elearning is dependent on having a web
elearning is learning
elearning is part of the learning process but it would be very foolish to ditch what you do in favour of a technology
elearning is fairly thin on the ground
elearning is growing elearning is growing as the world continues to re
elearning is usually implemented over a network
elearning is a cost
elearning is pleased to announce the completion of a distribution agreement for its wbt manager™ learning management system with
elearning is being embraced by schools
elearning is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such other web
elearning is a disruptive innovation
elearning is not practical
elearning is the convergence of learning and the internet
elearning is fun and enjoyable
elearning is a journey for every student to acquire the requisite skills and literacy in the digital world that awaits them
elearning is a response to the scalability and cost issues of face
elearning is the delivery of content via all electronic media
elearning is motivating and enjoyable online learning offers more opportunities
elearning is the delivery of learning and training using electronic media
elearning is set to take off in europe
elearning is not to repeat what has been done before
elearning is itself not without its problems
elearning is clear
elearning is found to be a major part of the
elearning is not necessarily easier than the traditional classroom learning
elearning is flexible and convenient
elearning is becoming an essential component to companies' overall business strategies to attract and retain employees
November 09, 2002
Powerless
Thursday a terrific storm swept into the Bay Area, knocking over some major trees in the hills of Berkeley, and we lost power from early evening until midafternoon on Friday. We ate supper by candlelight. Afterward, freed from the pull of the Internet, I propped open Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science and read a couple of chapters in the flickering light, fancying myself something of a modern-day Abraham Lincoln.
Wolfram is appealing. Not that I understand what's really going on with his cellular automata (simple geometry programs that sometimes yield astounding complexity). Reconceptualizing all of science is not high on my list of personal priorities. What I'm enjoying is Wolfram's attitude, his moxie, the sheer audacity of telling the world that what he has discovered has been in plain sight for centuries, and everybody missed it because they were looking for something else. Minor insight gives way to enormous conclusions.
This is empowering -- the concept that one might trip over a simple idea that can unlock major mysteries. It's like beachcombing, one of my favorite metaphors -- and a favorite activity, too -- but instead of finding a pretty shell, I might find a chunk of intellectual capital that could change the world. That's sufficient incentive to keep my curiosity aflame.
The power is back on now and I've returned to dorking around with the technical trivia that enables me to jack in to the web. I just emailed several dozen people that:
Should you need to reach me in the next couple of days, use this temporary address: jaycross@meta-time.com
Thank you. Pax vobiscum.
I think I'll go for a walk.
November 05, 2002
Surreality replaces virtual reality
Salvador Dali. One of the large canvasses with ants, melting watches, elephants on stilts, a pomegranate, his wife as a topless nun, eyeballs and grapes in a bowl, and, today's front section of the New York Times.
Why is this morning surreal? No, it's not just that were he running, Arnold Scwartzenegger would be elected governor of California. No, the truly absurd stuff was reported under the headline, "Tough Issues on Baggage Screening Remain"[understatement].
The Transportation Security Administration plans to welcome the new year by starting to screen ALL checked baggage for bombs. Needless to say, delays are inevitable. Many bags will miss their flights and be delivered to passengers' homes (at a cost of $100/bag).
Never mind that no one has figured out how to handle locked bags. Or that few airports have space available for opening and checking all the bags. Or that current procedures have proved themselves a useful deterrent even though they "sometimes cannot distinguish between explosives and chocolate."
Starting on New Year's, the inspectors plan to rub every bag with a gauze pad to be analyzed by bomb-sniffing machines. They'll check the outside of 40% of the bags, the inside of 40%, and the contents of 20%. So... picture 60% of these unlocked suitcases being opened. Did I mention that they haven't figured out who's liable if your jewelry and camera mysteriously disappear during this process? (Lawyers, start your engines!)
A larger issue is the price-tag for these shenanigans. The government plans to kick things off with 1,100 new builk detecting machines and 5,000 trace detectors. After all, passengers check more than a billion bags a year in the U.S. The big machines cost more than a million a pop. The tab for the equipment will hit $2 billion. (Imagine the cost of the labor to run and maintain this gear, and to oversee all these folks rifling people's bags.)
Here we are, spending billions on a program that most sixth-graders could tell you is doomed to failure. Some fanatics will rise to the challenge, finding new ways to evade the system.
The government will divert the smart terrorists to other targets. Why not blow up the airport lobbies? Or the SuperBowl? Or DisneyWorld?
Screening everyone's luggage punishes everyone but the terrorists. The concept is simply STOOOPID. Zero-tolerance on uninspected suitcases will end up making the War on Drugs look like a winner.
What a world! I can visualize Dali's wife Gala, dressed as a baggage inspector, going through a suitcase full of ants and melted watches and dead animals. Your tax dollars at work.
You might think about whether you want to live in a society led by noble values or controlled by little people pawing through your stuff in the back room of some airport.
Then vote.
November 04, 2002
Is Internet Time dead?
Wall Street Journal
Boomtown
by Lee Gomes
Here's an excuse in technology nostalgia: Remember Internet Time?
From its origins, circa 1994, the phrase became canonical during the late 1990s. It was used to describe the accelerated pace at which, in a Web-enabled world, all business was supposedly going to be conducted. Business plans, product cycles, big decisions -- everything would be zipping along at a fraction of their traditional rates.
This is your business brain on speed.
Internet Time, along with cousins like Web Time and Warp Speed, became handy phrases to throw into book titles and PowerPoint presentations as proof of savvy topicality. Into newspaper articles, too; The Wall Street Journal mentioned the idea four times in 1996 but 43 times in 2000.
This column, though, marks only the second time the phrase has been used by this newspaper all year. Internet Time's time was short indeed.
In fact, what with the current free fall in tech spending, Internet Time has been replaced by its evil twin: let's call it Slowth.
Faster product cycles? Why bother? No one is buying anything anyway; take all the time you need.
Like New Economy, the term Internet Time was used seriously by some people, mockingly by others. (Back then, you picked your friends by which camp they belonged to.)
People in the former category invariably mentioned it with a celebratory, even reverential, tone. It seems to have never occurred to them that companies were taking two years rather than six months to bring out a new product because that's how long it took to get the new product right.
One can't help but suspect that Internet Time was a convenient excuse for companies of the period to sell stuff not fully tested, if not downright shoddy.
Back then, though, who would dare complain? People would suspect you were operating with an Old Economy paradigm, a fatal accusation for any career circa 1997-1999.
In retrospect, Internet Time was actually an amalgam of several unrelated phenomenon. In a few cases, the simple existence of the Internet did, as billed, allow for faster products. If you are making software, for instance, your customers were suddenly able to download new versions as fast as you could put them on the Web.
But most of the time, Internet Time was something else. In the fight between Microsoft and Netscape, usually hailed as the ultimate Internet Time battle, it was the sudden emergence of a big market coming up for grabs that drove the frantic pace. There would have been the same sense of urgency had the pair been making the very first generation of patio furniture.
Mostly, Internet Time was just a euphemism for Bubble Time. Venture capitalists were approving business plans in a single breakfast meeting for the simple reason that they wanted to get in and get out before the roof fell in.
The phrase Internet Time is traditionally credited to Tom Paquin, one of the earliest employees of Netscape. As the story goes, Mr. Paquin, around the summer of 1994, was asking other Netscape employees how long they had been at the company -- and how long it felt they had been there.
A four-month tenure, people invariably said, seemed like a year, maybe two. "Ah," said Mr. Paquin, "Internet Time."
That's how the story usually gets told. But Mr. Paquin said last week there was more to it than that.
The phrase, he said, was initially something of an inside joke among Mr. Paquin and his buddies. (And it was used to describe time perception not, as in its current meaning, time compression.) "Then the marketing and PR people picked up on it," he said.
It may be hard to remember now, but back then, Netscape was at the very center of the technology world. It was, for one, going to put Microsoft out of business. Reporters, politicians, the whole world flocked through its doors, asking about its ways, its secrets.
"Internet Time," said Mr. Paquin, was something that Netscape marketers began offering as a window into the company and its new world. People ate it up.
It may have been one of the first instances of a tech company marketing a form of Internet Exceptionalism. That's the notion that the Internet is a wholly new place where none of the old rules apply. That idea, of course, became the central tenet of the subsequent Internet bubble, and eventually ended up costing a lot of people a lot of money.
Mr. Paquin still thinks that Internet Time is a meaningful notion in the confines of technology. But he says it's not, as boosters tried to claim, the new world order.
Says Mr. Paquin, "To say some guy in the chemical industry ought to be shipping new products every six months -- that's just crazy."