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BusinessCasualBlog.com's Top 10 Twitter Click-throughs 11/22-11/29/2008

"...(T)he exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?"

I've always thought that Twitter's own tagline is a misnomer, of sorts. Increasingly, I'm thinking the tagline should change to be more like, "...what interests you right now?"

For me, Twitter has grown to become a source of new information and knowledge.  Not just about information and knowledge about what my contacts are doing, but also about topics that seem important to them at the moment.

In this on-going series, I've compiled my top 10 list of most interesting click-throughs in the past week.  These have been gleaned from all the cool folks I follow on Twitter.  To help introduce you to some of them, I've include links below to their Twitter ID.  They're cool and I'm happy to encourage you to follow them, too.

Top 10 Twitter Click-throughs Nov 22 - Nov 29, 2008

• tweetsgiving.org. (@akipta). Why interesting: They raised over $10,000 in just 48 hours--enough to fund a new classroom in Tanzania. How'd they do it? Through the power of Twitter and social media. No matter how you slice it, that rawks, guys.

• Change.org (@decart). Why interesting: The link on the left is specifically to the cause of human trafficking on the change.org web site. (That also happens to be a personal cause through association with my wife, who works for a non-profit addressing those kinds of issues.) However, the whole site is worth taking a look at; it's another great example of using "crowdsourcing" to change the world.

• e-Learning for Kids: free courses for children globally. (@jpapakalos). Why interesting: It's a site hosted by a global non-profit foundation dedicated to "fun and free learning on the internet for children ages 5-12 with courses in math, science, reading, health and computers." And that's cool.

• PostSecret. (@phdebre). Why interesting: A site that posts the secret thoughts of people who submit them anonymously on a postcard. (I knew about this before but had forgotten about it. It's worth a visit if you're learning about it now for the first time.)

• The 2008 report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). (@tawnypress). Why interesting: Download the report from Helge Scherlund's e-Learning News Blog. Read his summary, but also read page 12 of the report-- the sections on "Promising Findings" and "Disappointing Findings."

• Video interview: Guy Kawasaki on the Power of Twitter. (@stejules). Why interesting: He said this: "Social networking, specifically Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and those kinds of things, I use only one of those, I use Twitter..."

• BusinessWeek.com - Help Needed for a BW Story. (@johnabyrne). Why interesting: How often does a major international news publication ask for our input on a story? Well, it probably happens more often than we think. But, I've been pretty impressed with John Byrne's (Editor in Chief, BusinessWeek.com) use of social media in the evolution of the businessweek brand; it's an example of an organizational leader who "gets it."

• Alltop News and Announcements Email List. (@guykawasaki). Why interesting: It helps those of us who auto-tweet Alltop listings to customize which tweets we send. I'm all about mass customization.

• Blog post: Don't Be That Guy. (@shannonpaul). Why interesting: Because, I keep running in to "those guys" who round around shouting their messages about what they want from their social network contacts without giving much in return or listening to the community. You definitely don't want to be "that guy."

• Blog post: Were You Taught How to Network? (@jpapakalos). Why interesting: The idea about introducing "networking" skills (in a social/professional sense) into the academic curriculum is an idea whose time has come.

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Trainers and Instructional Designers as Social Media "Apostles"?

I was introduced to a refreshing voice this week in Richard Reeve's posts over at the Catskill Cottage Seed blog. It's refreshingly... poetic? I guess that's the word that comes to mind. That and perhaps reflective.

It's different from the blog-sea of opinions, rants, and pedagogy (mine included) that characterize the typical blog posts gracing my RSS list.

In today's blog Richard introduced the idea of the social media "apostle." This, in deference to the term of "evangelist" which you and I have heard a bunch about.

A new role keeps leaping in front of me as I continue to wade further into social media: apostle. I’ve heard the word evangelist used, and indeed those who are creating the tomes of content on this development deserve that moniker. What I’m talking about is the transmission of this practice one on one, seated at a computer: guiding folks as they sign up for accounts, helping them get over the fence, through the door, around the obstacles…sneak them under their fears.

~@ccseed

That paragraph got me thinking (which I supposed was the intent) about the role of instructional designers and trainers in changing real world hearts and minds in the appropriate and effective use of social media in business.

I can't put my finger on it yet, but there's something here I want to flesh out more for a post later.

In the meantime, I'd be curious about your thoughts. Feel free to comment, twitter or email.

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From BusinessCasualBlog.com to you -- "Thank You."

On this day of reflection about all the things we each have to be thankful for, I wanted to post this article that is a dedicated "thank you" to you. 

You were kind enough and interested enough in me to connect and follow my blog posts.

Maybe you subscribe through RSS, maybe it's through e-mail, or perhaps you follow me on LinkedIn or my "tweets" on Twitter. 

Whether it's one-degree of separation, or six, it doesn't matter.  However we're connected, I'm glad we are. 

Thank you for reading.  Thank you for commenting.  Thank you for tweeting. 

 

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Where's thanksgiving?

Last year my wife and I headed to a thanksgiving celebration with her side of the family. We do this thing every year where we go to thanksgiving with her side of the family and christmas with my side. Then we flip-flop the following year: thanksgiving with my side, christmas with hers.

(Courtesy: rachel_r. Under creative commons.)

We were going to thanksgiving.

I don't know what got me thinking about last year's thanksgiving celebration but the memory's with me now.

I remember I wasn't terribly excited to be headin' out for the thanksgiving celebration last year. We were going to thanksgiving to see her family and it was going to be a long drive to Mesa, Arizona from our place in Orange County, California.

The trip promised to be even longer, too, because of some tension that had been building up between my wife and I just prior to the trip. Some of it family related, others just because I wanted to pout about something or other. Probably a male thing. Maybe as an outlet for the long road ahead.

Maybe, too, there was some selfishness on my part. The fact is, I was silently miffed we weren't spending thanksgiving with my siblings.

You see, my siblings and I are very close. Whenever we get together for anything, we've been known to produce dopplers of echos all the way down the block regardless of whose place we host the event at. And if it was an event like thanksgiving? Well, fuggedaboutit. We were just one of those "loud families" whenever we got together.

I guess in the context of all of that I was, however unfairly, comparing the raucous jabs, digs, pinches and belly laughs that traditionally mark the Aclaro-siblings' thanksgiving celebrations to my perception of now going to thanksgiving to a place where the atmosphere was going to be somehow, well, not.

Where's thanksgiving?

It started with the traffic.

I simmered and stewed the whole way. Even though it really wasn't as bad as all that, what little pockets we managed to run in to somehow validated for me that thanksgiving was already a bust.

It continued with the weather.

Thanksgiving with my siblings is typically up in northern california. Well, we call it northern but latitudinally speaking, it's really more central to California, just north and east of San Francisco bay by about 45 miles.

The cold nippy, sometimes damp weather that traditionally marks this time of year in that part of the world somehow makes for a cozier thanksgiving celebration.

One of my favorite things: hangin' on the deck with my brother and sisters sipping hot chocolates while soaking-in my sister's and her husband's panoramic view of San Pablo Bay.

Not, I thought, like the weather that we were hell-bent on driving steadily towards in sultry 'ol Mesa, Arizona.

I stewed. We were going to thanksgiving to a place where there wouldn't be all that cold, nippy, cozy, hot-chocolate-y, sibling stuff that I enjoy. Where's thanksgiving in all of that?

We arrived.

And, of course, when we got there, the weather was, indeed the not-nippy... thing.

We got to my siblings-in-law's place and enjoyed a nice quiet preamble while dinner continued to bake. It was nice to catch up. It wasn't raucous and nippy and chocolate-y, but nice.

Where's thanksgiving?

It started in the living room.

My brother-in-law caught us up on recent events. My wife caught up with her sister. Mom-in-law interjected unmentioned details. The game droned on unwatched in the background. Meanwhile our niece and nephew tugged at my arms vying for attention and a chance to go to the playground while dinner preparations continued.

As with your little ones probably, my niece and nephew are pristine little livewire bundles encased in polite, congenial little outer shells. I relented and offered to walk with them to the playground. Just a walk. After all, uncle Mel just got done driving a long way.

It continued at the playground.

By the time we got to the playground, I was already glistening with little mists of perspiration. Somewhere along the way I -- me, myself, I --challenged them to a race.

First it was to "the corner of the building." Of course the trick to winning any such races is to not let them know which part of the corner I was talking about. Tip: That frees you up to declare yourself the winner by having arrived at the closest, most convenient corner before either of them do.

They're quick studies though, my niece and nephew. They proceeded to win the next series of races that I was compelled to participate in. After all, I started it. Their inner livewire now protruded through cracks in their polite little outer-shells.

They logged their first win at "the little tree."

Then to "the swing set."

Then to "the slide."

Over the next half-hour my wife, her sister, my brother-in-law and my mother-in-law all managed to find their way to the playground, too.

Say what you want about "how cute" it is to see grown men and women running around swing sets, merry-go-rounds, monkey bars and slides. I think it all looks out of place. Surreal and out of place.

But there I was in the middle of it all. Sometimes leading, sometimes playing follow-the-leader. But I was definitely the alpha-primate when it came to the monkey bars.

It culminated at the swing.

At some point I remember headin' to one of the swings for a sit-down. After all, uncle Mel had just got done driving a long way.

Now I can't remember which of us had their butt firmly planted in "my swing" but they weren't havin' any of it.

Finders keepers and Mel's the weeper.

And that's when it happened.

I remember inhaling in preparation for a jovial little protest. I held it at mid-stream. And looked to my left.

I saw my niece and nephew laughing at their uncle's antics. They had that "let's do it again" gleam in their eyes. And we were going to do just that, again.

I looked across the sand to where my wife and her sister were engaged in close sibling conversation about only they know what. But they were smiling. Every few exchanges I could see them soaking in the same scene I was. (Were they laughing at me or with me?)

Just off to the side I saw my mother-in-law and my brother-in-law pointing and laughing at who cares what.

We weren't all that loud, but it wasn't quiet, either. I'd say maybe even a little raucous.

And there I was in the middle of it all. Me with my sandy chicken-legs and mists of perspiration beading on my forehead gettin' ready for another round of race-you-to-the-slide, or some such thing.

God what a mess I was! I had just got done driving a long way, after all.

And again I saw that I was in the middle of all that. And they were, too. Right smack in the middle. And I remember thinking, this is thanksgiving.

I finally let out that breath of air I had held in mid-stream a few moments earlier. I let it out in a silent, steady breeze of recognition. It had finally clicked.

The whole time I was busily going through the motions to go to thanksgiving, I had forgotten to give thanks.

What was earlier about to be a voice of protest, turned into a silently uttered, "happy thanksgiving."

(Courtesy: Gisella Giardino via a license under Creative Commons.)

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Open wide! YouTube looks a little different today. Does it mean anything?

After a bit of speculation in recent weeks about whether or not YouTube was going to switch its player to the widescreen format, the guessing's finally over. Today they pulled the trigger on that.

So this morning I'm a little like our cats after moving their food dish. (Something has changed..? My "regular stuff's" still there, but something changed...?)

Widescreen was actually viewable on YouTube even before today. By tweaking the video URL (the "http:" address in your browswer's address bar) and adding "&fmt=18" at the end of the address, we were able to switch between "normal" quality and high def.

Where wide screen was available in the high def version, it was shown. But to get it to fit within the old player (termed "4:3" for the ratio of width:height), the wide screen videos (16:9, again that ratio-thing) were shown with black bars across the top and bottom. Also the video shrunk to get the width of the 16:9 video to squosh into the old 4:3 player. Got all that? Well, here are "a thousand words" more to describe it.

The difference after today is that a video that was created in widescreen (16:9) format will fill the entire display area of the new player.

Meanwhile, videos that were created in the "normal" (4:3) format will now populate the center of the new player such that vertical black bars appear along the sides .

But here's the deal. It's worth keeping in mind that, even with the new widescreen format on the YouTube site, you'll still have to think about how you that video displays on your website. For example, many (most? some?) of you know that to embed the video into your website, blog, etc. you'd simply grab the embed code from the video's page on YouTube. But, notice that even though the video displayed on YouTube is in widescreen format, the associated embed code is configured for "normal". (See below.)

Below is the same widescreen movie above but using the embed code provided. Notice the difference. It reverts back to the old wide-movie-in-a-normal-player scenario.

For my part, I welcome the changeover. I don't think it's huge news but , like any new change, it will require us to think and maybe act a little differently about the formats we create our movies in and to be a little more conscious about the way in which we want to have our YouTube videos displayed on our web sites.

Quick question: Do you know of a way to get widescreen video to show as widescreen on your web site? I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't tweaked around with it yet. If you've got the answer, share!

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Share, share alike: How pathetic is that? How cool is that?

I've been meaning to do this follow up to a post I made last week about liveblogging the ASTD-OC meeting last Wednesday. What wasn't communicated was some interesting conversations I had with professional colleagues after the meeting. (Guys, I'm tellin' ya, if you're in ASTD and don't take advantage of your local/monthly meetings, I'm tellin' ya, you're missing out on some great opportunities to connect.)

After the guest speaker's presentation a few folks who saw me furiously typing away during the presentation had questions for me about liveblogging, blogs, Twitter, our chapter's discussion forum on LinkedIn, etc.

Basically, I got lots of questions about social media and social networks, in general.

I was especially interested to learn there are many opportunities to help train members of my local chapter about the ins/outs of social networks. To hear one of my colleagues mention that they'd like to participate more in the dicussion forum but can't remember how to navigate their way to the forum, and must typically wait for the forum digests so they can click-through, sorta clinched it for me. I suspect where there are two or three who are visible, there must also be ten more who aren't.

So, in my ongoing effort to change hearts and minds, I'll be creating a screencast series about getting around LinkedIn and other things social network-y. Be on the lookout for those in upcoming posts. (If you'd like to help, let me know. I'm thinking we might develop an outline together, agree to some standards for video format, dimensions, and so on, and then divide and conquer.)

Along those lines, I'm also considering hosting a workshop early in the new year for my local chapter. If you're in ASTD-OC (Orange County) and believe this would be a value-add, please comment or send me an e-mail. Let me know, too, if you'd consider co-hosting that workshop with me. Afterwards, I'll share with all of you any materials I use by posting links to them on this blog.

Another point of interest from last Wednesday's meeting was a little side discussion about the culture of social networks. In the process of explaining the value of Twitter, as on example, I found myself describing community values in some networks to be such that an underlying culture has evolved based on respect-in-exchange-for-giving.

I wonder if you agree: My point was that more and more social networks seem to be evolving an uderlying set of values that bestows respect upon those who give to the community, while chastising those who push their links and wares without having first "earned the right."

Do you agree?

That got me thinking: Is that what I'm doing? I'm incurring personal cost and effort to create things to give to my peers? In part, for the purpose of earning the right to receive respect from my peers?

I guess, in a word: yes!

*Gasp...* Wouldn't that be a terrible thing? That we should all go around helping each other, seeking to share knowledge, make things so we can ultimately give them away; to make connections for new acquaintances with others whom we know from our personal network? All this so I can be respected and accepted by my peers? Gosh, how pathetic is that?

Or, how cool is that?

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Good Source Material for Your Next Presentation on Social Networks and Corporate Learning.

Attribution: Flickr photo by YellowFilter

The October 2008 issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine had a one-pager by Josh Bersin, principal and founder of consulting firm Bersin & Associates.

Why it's worth reading.

The article, "Social Networking and Corporate Learning" is a quick read and could serve as a jumping-off point/research source for you if you're preparing a presentation in the future about, say, the impact of social networks in the corporate learning environment.

For a one-pager, it's packed with a laundry list of concepts and discussion points to explore in your presentation.

A list of corporate case studies is always a valuable section to include in a presentation, for example. And while Bersin's article doesn't go into detail about each case study (space-imposed limitations, I'm sure), it does give named examples of companies where social networking has been integrated with corporate learning programs.

I'd recommend starting with that laundry list to fast-track the process of sourcing candidates for your own case study(ies). A simple Google search for example using keywords around just one of the companies and programs in Bersin's article yields some great paths for exploration: [Dell IdeaStorm "corporate learning"].

(Personal request: I'd very much welcome a trackback link , a comment or an e-mail if you do such a presentation. I'd very much appreciate a copy for some upcoming presentations I'll be delivering. I'll give proper attribution, of course. For my part, I'll post on this blog links to any presentations I develop for you to download.)

Other key highlights:

Hypothesis: Internet-savvy employees expect learning systems to be as interactive and collaborative as other web sites they use everyday.

Although LMSs are deployed in 70% of large organizations, only 56% of employees use their companies' LMSs.

But, LMSs are increasingly taking a back seat to other applications. They're being viewed more as a "back end system."

LMS vendors have some challenges ahead, not the least of which is to upgrade with new solutions that implement social networking tools.

Why? Social neworking (platforms) helps employees:

• make and maintain vital connections with peers,
• teaches them to use corporate resources,
• teaches them business-specific approaches and best practices,
• teaches them propriety methodologies, and
• teaches them about preferred project management processes.

For learning organizations looking to bring social networking tools to the enterprise, some best practices:

• Identify leaders and SMEs to serve as community moderators, instigators and stewards. (Don't forget to train them how.)
• Give users room to discuss new ideas.
• Place thoughtful limits on content authoring, sourcing and rating.
• Don't allow anonymity. The social networking system must integrate with your employee systems.
• Encourage freshness and frequency with regular content updates by community leaders.
• Promote adoption and ongoing use by celebrating the findings, activity and results of your network.

What'd we miss? Are there other best practices you see in implementing an LMS-integrated Social Network System in a corporate environment?

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My Top 10 Most Interesting Click-throughs on Twitter This Week.

Starting with this week's list, I'm listing attribution for the tweep from whose tweet I got the twink.

• Help Save My Daughter's Life. (@mackcollier). Why interesting: The use of social media to get the word out about a sick loved one...spread the word!

• Blog post: Top 100 Networks for People Who Want to Change the World. (@kanter). Why interesting: Because the world is a crazy place and this gives 100 resources to help make it a little less crazy.
  

• Page 18 of CLO magazine. (@competencymgmt). Why interesting: Pitfalls to avoid when you land the Chief Learning Officer gig. But it applies to all learning professionals. (Oh, there's also an article on page 14 about Social Networking and Corporate Learning I thought was interesting. Why? Because it's one of the things this blog's about, man!)

• Productive Magazine's inaugural issue. (@guykawasaki). Why interesting: Rarely do I get to be there at the birth of a new magazine. (And, they were giving a free download.) ;)

• Digital Youth Research Report. (@writetechnology). Why interesting: Millenials are huge. Baby boomers are huge. They mix in the work place. Need to know how to relate with each other.

• Article: A Glimpse of Drucker's Brain.... (@guykawasaki). Why interesting: I soak up all things Drucker.

• Article: Microsoft to Google: Get Off of My Cloud. (@johnabyrne). Why interesting: There was some (a little, almost un-noticed) dialog on Twitter leading to this being considered as BusinessWeek.com's lead story on November 21. (It ended up being Geithner: Obama's Likely Treasury Choice.)  While both articles are interesting and worth a read, I was more interested in the input the Editor-in-Chief of BusinessWeek.com was willing to have with online community members about what the lead story should be the next day.

• Blog post: Need Your Help... Kids and Philanthropy. (@kanter). Why interesting: Because Beth does some great work and she's asking for help on a noteworthy topic.

• Blog post: Magpie. (@kidscash). Why interesting: I saw it as a flag of sorts for the encroachment of advertising in Twitterville.
  

• Video: President Bush Can't Get a Shake. (@guykawasaki). Why interesting: It's just sad... so sad...

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President Bush at the G20 Summit - No Handshake For You!

Have you seen this?  It's quick.  About a 1-minute video that I think sort of speaks to a sad state of current affairs in relations with other nations.

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Liveblogging tonight's ASTD-Orange County networking meeting with Futurist Wayne Hodgins.

Heads-up.

Heads-up. This post is gonna be most relevant to ASTD folks. And probably especially for folks in, or considering joining, the ASTD Orange County chapter.

(Update:  Since the meeting/presentation that occurred on the evening of Wednesday, November 19, 2008, I've had an opportunity to clean the notes up a bit.)

For Instructional Design professionals in the local area (Orange County, CA) who haven't attended one of our monthly learning/networking events, these usually start off with some unstructured / informal mingling and professional networking. (Business cards are usually pretty good to have on hand.)

Then, the dinner buffet line opens up and we all continue networking and discussions in the meeting room around table rounds of 6 to 8. The board president usually kicks-off with about 15 minutes of administrative announcements, job announcements, and formal connections of those looking for job opportunities with others who have connections for job opportunities.

In addition to the intros above, the section below lists other events coming up for the coming year that you might want to keep in mind for planning purposes.

Administrivia

The Chapter's President Elect shared some initiatives I'm personally looking forward to for next year.

• Here's a great opportunity for local ASTD Chapter members (and/or others thinking about joining): The chapter will be looking to conduct many affordable workshops in the new year. To pull this off, the chapter will naturally be looking for membership support to host meeting venues and speakers to host workshops. The upside: these represent great opportunities to gain visibility by hosting a workshop or conducting a presentation on topics or subject areas that you have expertise in.

• A special interest group for authors and writers will be kicking off. The focus will cater to getting published.

• There will be a strong focus throughout the year next year on networking. The board will be open to your ideas.

• In January, expect a learning/networking event devoted to structured networking. This is a direct outcome of a focus group that was conducted this past summer.

The Snowflake Effect: Readiness for the Age of Uniqueness.

7:00 PM.

At this point we conferenced in Wayne Hodgins.

Mr. Hodgins conducted his presentation from Orlando, Florida.

Hodgins is an Autodesk Fellow and a Strategic Futurist. His presentation slides will be made available later for download. (Update: See presentation slides below.)

slideshare: www.slideshare.net/wayneh
blog: www.longslowchat.wordpress.com
bio: www.learnativity.com/waynehodgins.html
website: www.autodesk.com/waynehodgins

"A new perspective is worth 80 IQ points"
~Alan Kay

"The Snowflake Effect", what's that about?

Snowflake Effect: Readiness for the Age of Uniqueness

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: snowflake effect)

We're all snowflakes in the sense that no two of us are alike. Yet, if that's true, why then do we design things for sameness? Our development and production models are base on the principle of mass production vs. mass customization.

Moving forward, mass customization is the direction we need to take our development efforts.

One example Wayne uses for mass customization: the music web site born from the music genome project: www.Pandora.com. (Note: I use this service. It rawks! And you have to try it.)

Pandora.com is a free service that dynamically serves music preferences based on user input. It matches user preferences by matching user-identified music songs or artists. Then, based on matching 400+ attributes of the preferred song(s) and/or artist(s) with similar attributes of other songs and artists, Pandora plays mass songs delivered to be in sync with preferences of the user.

The challenge for instructional designers: How to emulate a similar granular customization for learners?

7:30 p.m.

Future Trend: We'll have the ability to granularly define characteristics of people in a similar fashion as, say, Pandora's 400+ musical attributes, such that will we may be able to match human characteristics for compatibility. E.g., Project team composition, more purposeful dating site algorithms, (matching learning modules with human performance needs?)

(Question: Doesn't this define a sort of Orwelian scenario?)

Two other major Trends:

Living in a World of Exponential Change.

Interesting: He shows a graph with a trend series for the exponential growth of computer (see slide #28)... in the next panel, he overlays a graph of exponential growth of human life expectancy. (Interpretation...?)

If you look at ANY change, it turns out that it plots out to be an exponential (not linear, but exponential) curve.

"All" change, as it turns out is exponential. I.e., it's growing at an accelerated rate. Yet, as society and/or professionals, we're prepared only for linear change and unprepared for exponential (accelerating) change.

The new-world workforce.

Change is accelerating... an aging workforce has many implications:

• What if they don't retire?
• Retirement redefined
• Recruitment & retention
• Experience capture, share & re-use.

Another big trend: Shifting From Left-brain to Right-brain.

BooK: Dan Pink, "A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future"

Tasks traditionally performed using logical left side of our brain will "dramatically" shift to tasks that are characteristically attributed to the right side of the brain.

Left-brained tasks will increasingly become automated, freeing up opportunity to focus on creative activities, design, creative development.

Questions:

Denise: When you talked about the personalizatio of "everything" how do you envision this affecting "community"?

Answer: We're not only unique as individuals, but when we come together as a group, we're unique as well. Communities will become ever more important moving forward. But we may have to rethink our idea of communities... today they seem very "noun" oriented. However, in fact, communities are very much "verb" oriented... more dynamic, action oriented. We'll have to rethink our view of communities to be more action-oriented.

Janet: How do you overlay the recent presidential election in context of your comments this evening?

Answer: (He's Canadian, so he's an outsider.) Wayne is optimistic that the future is brighter for the U.S. than before... not a political statement, rather he sees the possibility of U.S. getting past the tendency to categorize people (race, age, etc.)... there seems more opportunity for change moving forward.

Denise: With looking at traditional T&D model of most companies and then looking at technologies available today, how do you see companies being able to take advantage of the newer technologies especially with limitations of firewalls, IT, etc.?

Answer: I think we're still waiting for the revolution to happen... we went toward a trend for a while to create smaller and smaller chunks of training modules, but thinks we're missing the boat... it's not about creating smaller time-chunks of training modules, rather we need to focus on granular EXPERIENCES that are meaningful to people...to focus on technologies that allow us to focus on delivering those experiences.

The Metaphor of Flapping vs. Flying.

Early designs of flight mimicked birds flapping. These designs prevailed for a long time. An outcome of people building upon designs that were a result of prevailing conventional wisdom. It wasn't until started to break away from conventional wisdom that the solution to flying was solved. As it turns out, designers realized it wasn't about flapping, it was about lift and wing shape.

The point being, we gotta exercise our ability to think differently from conventional wisdom in order to create new solutions that innovate.

eLearning challenges are similar... we're mimicking models of conventional wisdom about how learning happens in a classroom. So, eLearning has become about technology and how well we can mimick the classroom in an electronic medium. E.g., creating electronic functionality and features that show "classroom type attendance," features that allow participants to "raising hands," etc.

However, what is really needed is to break away from traditional models. Similar to the metaphor of "flapping vs. flying," the industry needs to break out and focus on "lift".

Rather than focusing on technology and how it can mimick the physical classroom, we should focus on identifying and facilitating granular modules of deeply personalized learning experiences... experiences that reproduce, in a learning context, the "aha" moments people have when having ephiphanies of new knowledge.

We're not there yet, but that's the direction in which we have to move...

[Speaker Concluded]

After the speaker's portion of the meeting, there was some more great informal netowrking and discussions. Some of the folks who were looking for job opportunities had an opportunity to meet with those who had opportunities in their company.

During one of the breakouts I had an opportunity to speak in some detail with colleagues who had questions abou social media and Twitter and LinkedIn and... stuff that would make good exploration for another blog post.

Final point: If you're an instructional designer or a trainer, you should really consider joining a local chapter of ASTD.

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