In the learning profession we’re used to thinking of “electronic performance support” as textual (“snippets” of information), but performance support in the future may be much more visual (video, augmented reality) and mobile (in phones as well as cars and other equipment).
Through Makeuseof.com, I’ve discovered CrocoDoc, an application to copy edit documents online. The application allows you to “mark up, fill out, and collaborate on PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint slides, and web pages.” Think of it as an online alternative to sending Word files with tracked changes back and forth by e-mail. (RN)
The eLATED Group in Toronto (which I helped start about four years ago) meets every two months for drinks and talk about eLearning. eLATED stands for an affiliation of ELearning Architects, Trainers, Educators, and Designers.
The next eLATED event is on March 25 and sponsored by CeLEA – the Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance. CeLEA Chairman Barry Nicolle, along with other Directors and members of CeLEA will showcase the Canadian elearning industry and speak to how the organization is contributing to a strong elearning community in this country.
Everyone knows about GPS and the arrival of voice recognition in cars (“Call So-and-so”), but this Wall Street Journal piece mentions some new 2.0 possibilities for cars:
Drivers will get their food recommendations from “the cloud,” not from billboards.
Your local PTA or sheriff’s department could have a social media site that, with your permission, lets you know through that car’s speakers that the approaching intersection is a dangerous one—perhaps reminding you of an accident involving someone you know.
Ian Brown is one of Canada’s most important authors and journalists. In this Globe and Mail article, Mr. Brown reviews Jaron Lanier’s book You Are Not a Gadget.
Jaron Lanier is a composer, visual artist, musician and computer scientist. Mr. Lanier is credited with coining the term virtual reality. Ian Brown describes this book as “a crushing smack-down of the way digital culture undermines individuality.” Mr. Brown notes that Jason Lanier:
“…won’t use social media such as Twitter or Facebook, because they force people to describe themselves in reduced, multiple-choice formats. Their primary purpose is not convivial, as we imagine, but capitalistic – to harvest marketing data. You may not feel like a gadget reading You Are Not a Gadget, but you sure can feel like a dupe.”
About 20 years ago my daugther Jennifer and I went to Cape Cod to watch whales. Having just read Summerhill, A.S. Neill’s important book on schools, Jennifer and I talked about “integrative education” and on the long drive home we discussed inventing a game based on how to save whales from getting caught in fishing nets.
I was reminded of that discussion while watching the inspirational TED talk by Jane McGongial on “how gaming can change the world.” If games are so motivating to solve problems in virtual worlds, she argues, why not develop games for solving real problems? Jane has done just that – with a PhD. in gaming theory, and several games invented to learn about and solve real issues. Some of the games that Jane McGonigal has had a hand in developing are:
Jane’s bio on the TED site adds that “McGonigal also works with global companies to develop games that build on our collective-intelligence infrastructure — like The Lost Ring, a mystery game for McDonald’s that became the world’s biggest alternate reality game, played by more than 5 million people.”
Check the video below, and be inspired!
If you like what you hear, there is lots more Jane McGonical on the Internet:
Last week I posted about the MIT Technology Review’s list of the 50 “most innovative companies in the world.” A few days later I picked up the March 2010 issue of Fast Company to find the front cover headline “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.” Well, the two lists don’t overlap very much (only 11 companies on both lists), because the TR editors are looking for technology companies, while the FC group is looking for innovative businesses in general. FC puts Facebook at the top of its list, while TR doesn’t even include it.
Not surprisingly, the FC list is much broader in scope while the TR list is concentrated in 5 industries – energy, computing, the web, biomedicine, and materials. In addition to listing its top 50, FC also lists its top 10 in 24 categories. Here are the companies that are included in both top 50 lists:
Amazon
Google
First Solar
Hulu
Intel
IBM
GE
Synthetic Genomics
HTC
Athenahealth
Twitter
This shows how arbitary lists of top companies really are. Nevertheless, they are fun to read, and sometimes useful. I plan to check out the solar panels from First Solar, the first company to get the price of its panels under $1 per watt. (GW)
Through Steve Rubel (who’s blog is well worth bookmarking) I’ve discovered Instapaper. This is a simple but useful tool to “save web pages for reading later.” Open a free account with Instapaper, drag the “Read Later” widget to your bookmarks bar, and click the widget whenever you come across something you wish to read. Then, [...]
In March 1985, Symbolics, Inc. registered the first internet address ending in dotcom.
Just five other companies registered dotcoms in 1985.
It took until 1997 to register the one millionth dotcom.
(Interesting factoid: About 1.7 billion people – one quarter of the world’s population – now use the internet).
(TW)
Dotcom marks silver anniversary | 15 March [...]
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