Silence and Voice

I was emailing a new colleague, Luke, and his post about Northern Voice jarred my memory about the Hacktastic Wiki Blogging session he facilitated at the conference. He said:

"I liked the comment from the woman that said something to the effect of: "It seems like blogs are a subset of wikis. So why don't we just use wikis all the time?" Good question."

I never thought about this before the conference, but now it seems there is a convergence between the convenience of blogs (that have definite limitations) and the robustness of wikis. 

Hmmm. blog + wiki = bliki? I wonder if this is where Movable Type and WordPress will be heading, as the wiki applications are most certainly heading there now.

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I was finally able to stitch together the final board image from the "New Rules for the New Communities" Moosecamp 2007 session that Nancy White and Lee LeFever facilitated. I saw lots of pics of this on Flickr, but I think my stitched image can hold its own. Click on it to see the full size one!

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I have always been hesitent of using Flickr, but in the spirit of social media and everything else at Northern Voice, I uploaded them under my name: jeffreykeefer. I hope some people will find them interesting.

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What tags are people using for Northern Voice 2007 blog posts or Flickr or Podcasts? I recall hearing mention of northernvoice and nv2007, but want to confirm this since I have started seeing lots of other tags around.

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So, after regretting that I did not take my computer with me to Northern Voice 2007, I now have a lot of blogging to catch up on--part blogging withdrawal and part wanting to share some of my experiences, and part wanting to implement some of what I learned with and around this social media.

Flying home from Vancouver to Houston to New York, Continental Airlines was kind enough to upgrade me to first class on the crowded flight back to New York's JFK Airport. Who did I end up sitting across the aisle from? Evander Holyfield. He was funny, animated, affable to having his picture taken (by me) and numerous others on the plane, and an overall pleasant gentleman.

I have never met a professional boxer before, and while I have always thought the sport to be a bit rough for me, actually meeting this man and listening to him almost wax philosophically about work and life while speaking with his traveling partner and the flight attendents, I was not only impressed, but I gained a new appreciation for different perspectives. That may in itself be a good take-away from Northern Voice.  

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Well, here I am in beautiful Vancouver (much warmer than I expected for Canada--another example of how much I have to learn about how big and varied our world is) for Northern Voice, and I regret I could not bring my computer with me. I have a lot of things I have been thinking about that I learned from some of our collegues there, but there is one I need to blog about now (the rest will follow when I get home). BTW, thank you Robin for bringing and then lending me your computer!

I was inspired listening to Lee LeFever speaking about his The World Is Not Flat experiences. He inspired me to consider doing some travel blogging from some of the conferences I attend, such as from my AHRD conference next week when Sophie and I present the findings from our research project 197 Do Practitioners Use HRD Research (and Why or Why Not). I have to ask Lee about some suggestions and best practices for how to blog in a new physical surrounding, with and without the regular, daily technology. Lots to learn.

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I completely agree with the post on bavatuesdays about Planet Northern Voice. There will be a lot of realy interesting people at Northern Voice later this week. Want a taste? Click the banner:

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Last night I attended my first meeting of the Social Media Club New York. There were some general social media discussions (such as an interesting preview of Vent Box) and then some really interesting talk about the use of social media with political campaigns. I was generally quiet throughout the meeting, with the exception of asking a question about what happened with Howard Dean's campaign that supposedly had a lot of support among young bloggers. I was interested in gauging the audience and learning from so many people who were steeped in social media, and as I am identifying more and more as a researcher, I find the more I listen the more I am able to learn (though I know learning does not automatically or magically happen this way, either!).

Sanford Dickert was interesting, as was Noel Hidalgo, Joshua Levy, and as always Howard Greenstein. Thanks to Michael Meyers for getting a (somewhat thinner) picture of me during the evening. 

I am somewhat new to thinking formally about social media, and this was my first exposure. I find that I need more time to process new information and concepts, so after tossing these issues around for a few hours, there are three thoughts that have occurred to me from last night that I want to raise:

1. Why do people believe social media will play any role in the 2008 campaigns?
• Granted, the politicians may create blogs or wikis or the like, but I believe they really want money and votes and are not likely to attend to issues that will not garner these two. If anything, I think they will use social media if it will help them achieve this duel objective. From a voter's perspective (me), I do not expect anything else from them, and thus do not think social media will play much of a role in the campaigns -- especially in the manner as encouraging democracy and voice. Why would they want my input if it does not generate revenue or affect positive voter turnout? 
2. Now what?
• There was a lot of passion and energy in the room last night, so I want to ask what is next? How can this energy be translated into the betterment of society by actively involving and engaging one another in a flatter, more democratic society (of which I am an advocate)? I think that is exactly the goal of Social Media Club, and that is one of the reasons I joined as a Co-Founder.
3. Whose voice is heard?
• I really enjoyed the discussion last night, and while the participants were a very polite and bright crowd that I hope to meet again and get to know, and while they were mixed in ages, it was a predominately homogeneous crowd. With the diversity and population in New York City, I found this surprising. Granted, I do not know anything about the average demographics of those actively involved in social media, but this surprised me nonetheless. Many of the participants seemed passionate about engaging and involving people in the democratic process, and for this I am energized. Nonetheless, whose voice is heard regarding social media is partly determined by those who are involved in it, so I am wondering where everybody else is and how to reach these populations. 

I am looking forward to our next meeting, and am wondering how I can get more involved and contribute to this work from my background and experiences in education, research, and practice.

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I am attending my first meeting of the Social Media Club New York tonight. It meets at 6:00 at the offices of Fleishman-Hillard (220 E. 42nd St. / New York, NY 10017).

As I have recently joined, this will be the first real event for me. Stay posted . . .

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I am working late tonight (again) and just saw this commercial on the tv that is playing in the background. It always makes me laugh, so I thought I would share it with anybody else out there who can also use a pick-me-up. Click it to go to the YouTube video.

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I keep thinking about JetBlue's recent fiasco with their flight cancellations from the storm five days ago. I have only flown JetBlue once, and while it was ok, I have never been a fan of the airline since I am not fond of their corporate workplace model that promotes an almost fanatic (i.e., blind) loyalty the employees have. I wonder if that clouded management's preparations for storms and other unforeseen issues? Who will suffer with the hundreds of canceled flights, the losses in public approval and goodwill, and the damaged customer loyalty? Management? Senior management? Investors?

While the lack of planning was probably related to costs savings demanded by senior management (a la Wal-Mart), somebody down the line will end up paying for it. If revenues dip and those who fly the airline become disenchanted, then layoffs are always a possibility (though I am only speculating), and it will be the very loyal workers who will see their employer is just like many others--cut costs however and whenever possible that always results in cutting the loyal laborers themselves.

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This article from the BBC, Setback for Church conservatives, chronicles the turmoil in the Anglican (Episcopal in the US) community over its stance on homosexuality. The Anglican communion is a bit more progessive than their Catholic counterparts regarding being gay (I speak from having studied and completed a graduate degree in dogmatic and systematic theology from a conservative Catholic lay institute attached to a seminary), but I can't help but think of the early Christian Tertullian, who (around the year 200) wrote:

'See how [these Christians] love one another.'

Yes, they love one another so much they are ready to break their church apart because of a gay bishop. I did not know he was such a threatening person, but this must truly be the largest problem facing humanity now, or at least facing the Anglicans. Thankfully war, terrorism, global warming, and the perrenial poverty and hunger are somehow manageable situations. After all, Catholicism has held that such homosexuality is an intrinsic disorder, and look how well they are doing? The Catholic population is growing because it is growing older, while the Anglicans are starting to sniff a more inclusive rather than exclusive religious practice. Perhaps the WWJD method may be interesting to think of here, but I digress. I wonder who will attract a larger audience? 

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Well, I lost .6 pounds this week on Weight Watchers! I shared my 5 pounds good news two weeks ago, and then was disappointed last week having gained .4 back. I know those things happen (thank you for your encouragement in this, Michael, Robin, and Ernie). That makes a total of -5.2.

Phew. I need some chocolate!

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I often get so involved in listening to my students' presentations, that I do not always keep the time limits as well as I should. I am looking for a countdown clock that I can bring to class, such as either of these. Most of the ones I see are computer-based, but I need one for the back of the class.

Does anybody know of any other options?

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Tonight, I watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. What a Valentine's Day movie, I know, but it was much better than I expected. As a lapsing Republican, I was not exactly looking forward to this movie, but I thought I should see it as a documentary. I was really impressed with it, and it will be interesting to see what happens once I spend some more time processing it.

Click on the picture to make it larger!

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On the cover of yesterday's New York Times, the article Believing Scripture but Playing by Science's Rules raised an interestnig question about the role of faith within the life of a student whose geosciences doctoral dissertation did not include reference to the earth creationist views he holds. Once again, the science vs. religion issue arises, this time with some within the scientific community crying foul over the possible repurcussions of a newly-minted scientific Ph.D. who approaches religion from a fundamentalist and evangelical perspective.

While the academy promotes academic freedom, I find it interesting how this issue is not seen as cutting both ways--from the faculty as well as from the student perspectives. While I cannot understand from this article what Dr. Marcus Ross advocates or believes about his academic or professional or religious work, I do wonder whether academic freedom should not only be from the perspective of those fully entrenched in tenured academic institutions. What kind of freedom is it that this fellow can fulfill all his academic obligations but still be penalized from those with whom he is not "academically free" to disagree? That seems to me what academic freedom is all about.

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I have used Google as my homepage for about 2 years now, and recently decided that it will be nice to start my Internet journey each day with some content, rather than with a search box. It was around this time that I saw the article in Business 2.0 (nothing like finally catching up on my reading!), which listed Netvibes as one of the disrupting innovators.

I used Netvibes for 3 weeks, and found it easy and useful, but very slow in loading. So slow, in fact, that it often took more than a minute for my personalized webpage to open. I then tried Google's version, which was fast but not as user-friendly. I finally settled on Pageflakes, which loads very fast and it my current favorite.

I know there are other AJAX-based websites that allow us to select and organize our own personalized content, so I am interested to see what comes next. For now, PageFlakes is my favorite.

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I was reading the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, and read an interesting article on lifelogging, which is "continually recording images from their vacations, conversations from business meetings, and even intimate confessions to friends." Strange as this sounds, it involves wearing a camera around our necks or a recorder, and recording everything which is done.

According to one of the researchers,

"I fully believe that we will all be wearing this stuff all the time," said Mark T. Bolas, a visiting associate professor in the film school at the University of Southern California, as he hung a digital voice recorder around his neck when we met a few months ago. "The day before you die, your kids are going to look at you, when everybody else is doing this, and say, You mean you didn't record when you were growing up? You're just going to die and all of this is going to go away?"

Sounds interesting, but somewhat unrealistic. Do I really want to sift through every conversation I had at work yesterday? How about the sound of the subway last week? Bathroom sounds? Arguments? Snorring? CLient meetings (yeah, sure they would give permission!). Why would anybody want to record all that? How would it be tagged to find any of it and make use of it? I don't even tag my own blog, much less look at pictures from five years ago or lecture notes from last my college days. There may in fact be some use or functionality with it, but I am not yet convinced.

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Well, our whirlwind of a week with the Online Connectivity Conference has now ended, and while I have been getting at least 100 emails extra each day, I will miss the creative juices that have been flowing. I will need to spend some time catching up with some of the posts I have wanted to add, so hope the Moodle server remains open for our comments.

I preliminary finding I had from reading and interacting with my colleagues, there was a great amount of excitement with Second Life, and while the conference was primarily around a theoretical foundation, it is interesting how the theory has been brought, almost seamlessly, into practice. This is a recurring theme in my own research (cf., my upcoming paper presentation at AHRD in March). Nice to see that gap being briedged here.

For all practical purposes, I now have two things to consider--the theoretical foundations of Connnectivism as well as how many see it coming into play in Second Life.

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As a learning professional, today's Dilbert speaks mountains about learning objectives and expectations in and around organizational power (not to mention why what we think and want is often what we do not get.

Click on the picture to make it larger!

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OK, my curiosity was awoken in the Online Connectivism Conference due to so much chatter about Second Life and its use in education, learning, and business. So, I created an account and played around for about 10 minutes. Amazing graphics, and while I only flew and accidentally (sorta) pushed somebody else into the water, I thought I needed to get back to work.

Well, this is related to my work as I am a learning professional.

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Ernie at Little.Yellow.Different. wrote about his experiences, or seemingly lack thereof, of one particular "community" within the "gay community." I replied to his post and started to think about the terminology and its connotations we use in the term "gay community." I wonder if people who use it in fact mean different things at different times? For example, when I think of the "gay community," the only communal, or rather common, element I can think about is being gay. Period. Nothing about fashion or finance or education or zip-code or preferences or bars. Does simply being gay make one a part of the "gay community?" That somehow seems to be too surface-level, but perhaps I am over analyzing this. I think the term "community" has meanings beyond only attraction to one' own sex, but I wonder . . .

What does being part of the "gay community" mean?

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Well, the Northern Voice bloggers have made their decisions, and alas I have not received a bursary to attend the conference later this month. Too bad, as it would have helped with the 3 planes I need to take to get to Vancouver with the combined 12 hour trip (so complicated from New York, it seems!). Well, they have their reasons, and I am glad at least to have had this opportunity to apply for it, especially given this organization is non-profit and run completely by the most dedicated group of volunteers I have seen in a long while.

Well, I suppose that means I will approach my friends at Amex and Visa for their continued funding support instead. As I see myself more and more as a researcher, I plan to continue my research project as I initially proposed it nevertheless. Hey, I like observing experience and phenomena and creating new knowledge!

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Today's OCC conference was wonderful! I really enjoyed listening to Will Richardson who spoke about Connectivism with students. I wish he could have spoken more about it with a higher education perspective, but many of his examples seemed based on his experiences with teaching younger students. I tried to ask a few questions toward the end of the session, only to find out my new microphone has an on/off switch which was, you guessed it, off.

I wish Will would have spoken about the diagram he showed on a slide with his connected contacts around him (in the center). I did not understand what he had that for, and wish my microphone worked so I could have asked him. Nonetheless, I shall ask him here. Who knows, perhaps he may reply.

Posted by Jeffrey at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been attending the Connectivism Online Conference , which is a week-long conference around the work of George Siemens and his thinking around Connectivism. The schedule for the conference is on the University of Manitoba site. I read George's book, Knowing Knowledge, and have beeen struggling with his learning theory. He states that the quantity of information that we face and the amount of learning we do within a network causes our conception of kwoledge to need to be revised. Knowledge, according to George, is no longer that thing which resides within us, but rather more of a shared notion that exists in a more systemic manner.

This reminds me of work in learning organizations, especially with Peter Senge, though on a larger scale. I used to be fonder of this thinking than I am currently, as I can't help but think that learning happens within a person, and if people leave a so-called learning organization, then the learning is no longer present. I wonder how this works in our connected networks that George is discussing? This conference promises to be informative, especially given the number of participants and variety of views that are being expressed.

I really like this, and am becoming increasingly interested in the philosophical foundations of this work.

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It came as a shock to me, but I actually lost one pound while on my second week of Weight Watchers, for a grand total of 5 pounds!

Look, here is my bookmark and sticker to prove it!

As Ernie said last week, water and slight weight fluctuations are ok. I find that this blog as support is quite helpful . . .

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