Write Technology

Microsharing Tools Comparison Paper & Matrix

All this travel is keeping me from a lot of original content. Here is my latest post from bub.blicio.us, which I think you'll enjoy.

I follow Laura Fitton on Twitter and am usually either enlightened or entertained by her tweets. Her company, Pistachio Consulting, has released a paper and a comparison matrix on microblogging (or microsharing) tools used in corporations: Enterprise Microsharing Tools Comparison: Nineteen Applications to Revolutionize Employee Effectiveness. According the paper, there has been an uptick in this sort of corporate communication as the economy has a downturn and corporations cut back on travel costs.

Concurrently, employees see the collaboration, networking, problem-solving and other productivity benefits of web 2.0 tools and want to apply them at work. These tools directly contribute to knowledge capture and management as workforces are scaled back and baby boomers retire, and they boost motivation and retention, especially among millennial generation employees.

CIO magazine’s October survey of 243 IT executives found three-quarters plan to freeze or cut their IT budgets. There is a critical need for cheaper, more versatile ways for information to flow within the enterprise. Enterprise-grade versions of Twitter may be the low-cost solution that fills this need.

By researching 19 microsharing tools and their uses, the team came up with several key findings, including that your employees are probably already using some sort of microsharing tool and that these tools should also communicate with the “gold standard” of Twitter. The report goes on to define, and classify, these 19 different tools, listing advantages and disadvantages of each. Finally, they list the questions they asked users of these tools.

I’ll be referencing this paper in a presentation I’m giving on microblogging in education. As a big proponent of informal learning, I think microblogging helps inspire others to share and learn. “Watercooler learning” is evident in Twitter, and Laura touches, unintentionally perhaps, on these learning and training concepts.

Microsharing for organizational communication and collaboration fundamentally changes how employees interact with others and grow their professional capacity. Microsharing connects people in ways that promote mutual support, rapid networking, inspiration, mentoring and idea exchange.

This is incredibly useful for anyone looking to add a Twitter-like tool to their arsenal of internal corporate communications. As is pointed out in the paper, there aren’t any case studies yet, as usage is still too new.

You can download the paper and/or matrix free from Pistachio Consulting.

Enterprise Micro Sharing Tools Comparison 11032008 - Upload a Document to Scribd

Beloit's Mindset List

cross-posted from bub.blicio.us

I opted to cross-post this item because it's not only interesting for looking at your future employees, but also, your future trainees.

Every year Beloit College prepares the Mindset List, which provides the worldview of the incoming freshmen. Most of those freshmen were born in 1990, which rather blows my mind, and they will graduate college (ideally) in 2012. The mindset list is almost freakish - I can't believe some of these references.

The list is great at making you feel old, but it's also fantastic for looking at those folks who will be your employees in about 4 years or so. From that perspective, a mindset list isn't a bad idea.There are 60 items on the list; I thought I'd share just a couple. 

4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.

18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.

22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

28. IBM has never made typewriters.

33. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.

34. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.

51. The Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

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Cheers!
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, Pownce, and FriendFeed.
 

The Social Media Conversation Prism

Brian Solis, of PR 2.0, worked with Jesse Thomas to create the Social Media Conversation Prism. I'm interested in looking at this prism and thinking through how this applies to Learning.

(click the image to see a larger version)

Brian says:

The conversation map is a living, breathing representation of Social Media and will evolve as services and conversation channels emerge, fuse, and dissipate.

If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear or see it, did it actually happen?

Indeed. Conversations are taking place with or without you and this map will help you visualize the potential extent and pervasiveness of the online conversations that can impact and influence your business and brand.

As a communications or service professional, you'll find yourself at the center of the prism - whether you're observing, listening or participating. This visual map is the ideal complement to The Essential Guide to Social Media and the Social Media Manifesto, which will help you better understand how to listen and in turn, participate transparently, sincerely, and effectively.

As conversations are increasingly distributed, everything begins with listening and observing. Doing so, will help you identify exactly where relevant discussions are taking place, as well as their scale and frequency. This dialog can be charted into a targeted social map that's unique to your brand.

So how does this apply to Learning? Obviously, every time we try something new, listen to something new, involve ourselves in something new, we Learn Something.  I think this sunflower of social media also helps us decide HOW we want to learn. Picking a petal that best appeals to our own learning style (or that of a majority of our students) and focusing on those tools can make a difference. HOW do we want to continue the conversation?

What are your thoughts on the Social Media Conversation Prism?

Cheers!
--
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, Pownce, and FriendFeed.

Are We Learning Smarter?

Note: This is cross-posted from bub.blicio.us, where I posted it first, and then decided to share here as well.

image by Darren Hester thru Creative Commons

There's a lot of discussion happening right now about Nick Carr's controversial article in The Atlantic Monthly: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

In addition to Carr, there are other voices chiming in, including Maggie Jackson (Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age) and Rick Shenkman (Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter). I heard these two speak, in particular about how the Information Age is really an "ignorant age" on the Diane Rehm show on Tuesday.

I take issue. I think we're getting smarter.

I work a lot in instructional design and eLearning. The world of adult learning is changing. We learn faster and can take in more types of information - we have access to more types of information. It's a fascinating time to work in the industry.

There's a buzzphrase you hear now at all the eLearning conferences: informal learning. I call it watercooler learning. People have all this information about their jobs tucked away inside their heads. With Web 2.0 tools and content sharing, we can not only get people to share that information, we've got people willing to teach each other in an informal setting. It's a wonderful thing to be able to tap that previously hidden knowledge.

There is a lot of reference in the article, and in other supporting articles, to a lack of picking up a book and reading. I still read. In fact, I try to devour a new work of fiction every other weekend. It's an escape mechanism for me. I will never stop loving the feel of the traditional, paper-bound book. No Kindle for me, thanks. I want to smell musty pages and turn the crunchy paper. I love it. I can't imagine wanting to read less. I would go so far as to say that I now have easier access to things like the NY Times Book Review, as well as Amazon.com, which I wouldn't have without the Internet. Those two sites, in particular, often guide me to new books.

Is my attention span shorter? I don't know if it was ever long. Growing up, Sesame Street (you know, the TV) was my babysitter. I'm of the TV generation - I don't know life without it and it was the dominant technology of my youth. Do I now skim web pages to grab relevant information? Yes! Because I'm smart enough to be able to pull out the relevant information. If an article really grabs me, I'll read the whole thing. Do I twitter constantly? Yes! But it has actually improved my technical writing, helping me better condense relevant information into short concise sentences. Not everything you read needs to be lovely prose, after all. Not only that, Twitter has introduced me to a whole community of people, many of whom I've gone out of my way to meet in person and then carry on in-person, intelligent communication.

I don't disagree that there is now a plethora of information out there. For the last two weeks I've only managed about one post a day on this blog because I'm suffering from a bit of information overload - or maybe information fatigue. I'm almost bored with the idea that there is a new startup every day. You've got to really dazzle me now, I guess. But times like this ebb and flow. Whether my mind is a bit jaded or not does not mean that "Google" has made me stupid. It means I need to work harder at separating the signal from the noise.

I'm a big fan of Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You. I honestly believe that the strategic thinking employed in video games is a useful type of learning. I believe that honing my research skills both in a library and online is a good use of my time. And I believe that although we are learning differently now, and parsing information differently, that difference isn't a bad thing. It's evolution of information, and thinking. And I enjoy it.

I want to close with a quote from Stephen Downes on Stephen's Web, in reference to the Carr article:

Sigh. My response is very simple. I read constantly. I write constantly. I also work in images and multimedia. If Google is making me stupid, then I am forced to conclude that without Google I would have been some kind of super Einstein or something.

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Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

 

Unlearning

In our current [to use a buzz phrase] new media landscape, industries are overlapping. I increasingly see overlaps between marketing and learning. I find myself doing more than just dipping a toe in the marketing pool anymore, as use of social media tends to encourage a full dunk.

So I was happy to see it works both ways. I was reading Digital Next, an Ad Age blog, when I came across a post on "Unlearning" that I think is something we should consider in the Learning field.

The writer was watching his 4 year seamlessly adapt to using a Wii controller. When his mother tried it, however, she was unable to adapt.

And then it dawned on me. The technology itself isn't difficult to understand. In fact, Nintendo makes it painfully obvious that they intend to casualize the console. There is very little to retain when using a Wii. What is difficult, is the "unlearning" process. In fact I'd argue that "unlearning" is far more cumbersome than "learning." Through the eyes of my mom, I've handed her a remote control -- one that looks very similar to the same remote she may have at her house that she uses to change the channels on her television. Her use of a TV remote is a learned, patterned behavior, unbreakable and obviously indistinguishable from a product of similar form factor.

The Learning industry is facing something similar. What happens when the digital natives outnumber others in our companies? Many people will need to unlearn a lot of how we do things - how we approach things.

Right now, it's all still new enough that we sort of let it go when our attempt at integrating new media fails. For instance, I am part of a small charity committee. After our first benefit was over, I lost patience with the amazing amount of email and attachments flying back and forth. No one ever knew if they had the latest version of a document and keeping up with the changes in emails was next to impossible. So I created a wiki.

For over a month, I've been pushing the wiki. Posting on the wiki. Adding attachments to the wiki. Then at a meeting last night, one girl says, "I don't like the wiki." Why? "I'm just not happy with it. It's easier to use email."
Translation: I know how to use email and see no reason to add a new behaviour or admit there might be a better, newer solution.

Sigh. She's only 30. But it proved to me that age is not a defining factor in adapting technology. This particular girl is highly intelligent and highly organized. But she relies on paper, binders, and email. This works for her the way a chalkboard works for an older college professor. Why put the notes on Blackboard LMS when the chalkboard works just fine?  Why change what works?

We all have habits we hang onto. I just really believe that in the next few years we will all need to adapt or be left behind. We'll need to unlearn if we want to participate. We can't be afraid to unlearn. So the question becomes, how do we cope with those who don't want to participate? The girl who refuses to use the wiki?

Now is Gone. Did you miss it?

Well, you can try to catch it this Thursday.

Social media and collaboration is the future, and the here and now. The collaborative Web isn’t just for teenagers – it can be used for networking, and for business.       

Social media use the “wisdom of crowds” to connect information in a collaborative manner. Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few.      

Web 2.0-savvy panellists include:

• FRCH & PR Blog’s Kevin Dugan
• Web 2.0 consultant Michelle Lentz
• Pause Magazine Editor in Chief Chris Bergman      

This is your opportunity to get the answers you want about Social Media and how to use it effectively. Join The Women’s Circuit as we talk about the best ways to integrate social media into your business or organization.   

Thursday, April 10, 2008
11:30 am – 1 pm
@ Airport FastPark Offices
250 West Court Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Members are encouraged to bring your friends and colleagues.**Non-members are welcome.**
Lunch will be available, please RSVP at RSVP@TheWomensCircuit.com by 4/8/08.

Generation who?

Tired of hearing the various generational terms thrown around? It does get old, and I admit to being terribly guilty of the offense. Everything from Generation X, Millenials, Digital Natives, Gen Y, they all make it into this blog.

A great Wikipedia entry on the Silent Generation (those born in the 1900s or 2000s) offers a fantastic chart on the generation name game, starting with the Puritan Generation in the 1500s and continuing through the New Silent Generation in the 2000s. It's worth a look.

(Via Boing Boing)

Technorati Tags: generation X, generation Y, generations, millenials, digital natives

Discussions vs Presentations

In the last 6 months I've attended two conferences: ASTD TechKnowledge and Elliot Masie's Learning 2006. Despite some overlap in speakers, these were vastly different conferences. While I enjoyed and benefited from attending both, I think I learned more at Masie's conference, and here's why.

Elliot gave his speakers strict rules - no presentations and only a 1-page handout. (Granted, several speakers squished as much as possible onto the front and back of the handout.) You could see that several speakers were uncomfortable with this format, apparently wishing they had a PowerPoint presentation to hide behind. In most sessions, however, this setup forced discussion. The speaker was more of a facilitator in many cases, and discussion involved anyone who wanted to speak up. It was a fantastic way to get people actively involved in their learning.

Outsourcing your training

Since I'm the kind of person/company to whom you would outsource your training, I'm rather biased. This month's ASTD Learning Circuits has a great article on the growing trend, and how to improve upon that trend. In my experience, the instructional design process is outsourced [to me] rather than just the training. Apparently that is unusual.

Organizations are increasingly relying on expertise from training outsourcing suppliers to fill many of their learning needs. But they won’t discover outsourcing’s full potential to create value until they begin outsourcing their learning processes, not just projects, experts claim. Achieving that comfort level won’t come over night.

Outsourced Training Begins to Find its Niche