Harnessing PlayStations to Fight Disease

Sony's PlayStation 3 is expected to be one of the hot must-have items this holiday season... and it might have an unexpected benefit for public health.

The Internet-ready game device contains a powerful Cell processor -- the same model used in IBM's supercomputers -- as well as ample hard drive space (up to 60GB), inspiring a project by Stanford University to harness the power of all these online PlayStations.

The project, Folding@home, is similar to the seti@home initiative that utilized the processing cycles of idle PCs to search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. In this case, the project has created a distributed computing system out of idle computers to run complex calculations and simulations so that scientists can analyze proteins related to Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cystic fibrosis, and other challenging diseases.

The project, active since 2000, has 1 million CPUs online. One estimate is that a network of 10,000 PlayStations would increase the speed of conventional calculations by a factor of five. A network of 100,000 machines would make it 50 times faster.

To participate, PlayStation users should visit this page on the Folding@home site. Windows, Linux and Mac users can also download software to participate.

Source: CNN.com

Temperatures in Northeast Could Rise by 12 Degrees by 2100

Cool, crisp New England weather could become a thing of the past if climate warming trends continue unchecked. A two-year study by the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment has found that, by 2100, the average temperature in the Northeastern US could rise by 12 degrees F (nearly 7 degrees C).

Typically, cities in the Northeast have only a couple of days each year when temperatures reach 100 degrees F. If the warming trends continue, days of triple-digit temperatures could increase to anywhere between 9 and 28 days... making New England weather feel more like that of the Deep South. And imagine what the South will feel like!

The good news in the report, however, is that a reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by only 3% could reduce this warming trend. In one low-emission scenario, the temperatures could rise as little as 3.5 degrees F.

Source: Reuters

Top Ten Reasons To Blog and Top Ten Not to Blog

Updates recent studies show additional reasons:

• Blogging and Social Networking Boosts Your Social Life.
• Blogging -- It's Good for You.

Update on Nov 21, 2007 - There's been a lot of discussion recently around using blogs for learning and I wanted to point to a few newer thoughts on this:

• Learning and Networking with a Blog (Deleted Scenes)
• Blogging - I'm Pushing Harder Now
• New Debate on Value of Blogs and Wikis in the Enterprise
• More eLearning Bloggers

I must say that the response to The Learning Circuits Blog: The Big Question for October: Should All Learning Professionals Be Blogging? has been fantastic and it's great to see such a wide variety of thoughts on the subject. I wanted to summarize, for everyone, the responses in a completely unbiased way. :)

Most everyone, who has at least half a brain, and certainly most of the responses made it over that hurdle, came back and said more or less what Mark Oehlert said “My answer is ..........yes........and no.” Even those who were pretty adamant quickly qualified their answer so that it was really a “maybe.”

The only consensus I found was that it’s a loaded, ambiguous and actually pretty lamely worded question. I wonder who came up with such a lame question. Sheesh. But, let’s try to muddle through this anyhow.

Oh, and before I offend anyone, I’ve taken a few liberties by paraphrasing what people wrote into their posts and comments and instead have included in this post what they really meant to say. However, if I used quote marks, they really said that. But I may have used them slightly out of context. :) Oh, and finally, to all of you who commented or put up blog posts already, if I didn’t happen to quote you out of context, I apologize.

Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Blog

10. Because you stopped learning anything new a couple years ago and it’s about time you started again.

Or as Karyn Romeis & Barry Sampson both said - I’ve learned more via blogging over the past year than I learned in the preceding several years!

9. Because it forces you to do your homework (Rodolpho Arruda)

8. Because this is how you are going to learn in the future.

“This is the difference represented in the shift from traditional classroom based learning and network learning. The idea of the latter is that learning occurs when the learner immerses him or herself in a community of practice, learning by performing authentic tasks, learning by interacting with and becoming a member of the community.” (Stephen Downes)

7. Because if you don’t we’ll think you’re lame and don’t know how to do your job.

“What can you know about a professional who doesn't blog his or her work? How do you know they are competent, that they have the respect of their peers, that they understand the issues, that they practice sound methodology, that they show consideration for their clients? You cannot know any of this without the openness blogging (or equivalent) provides. Which means, once a substantial number begin to share, there will be increasing pressure on all to share.” (Stephen Downes)

6. Because it will change your life.

“there is something that happens to a person when they hit that "publish" button - you cross a threshold - you move from consumer to producer - you put your intellectual neck on the line and I really think that you aren't the same person after that.” (Mark Oehlert)

5. Because you’ll hook up all over the place.

“all learning professionals need to exchange ideas with others, to test their ideas, to question their assumptions, to learn from each other in ways that come with dialog. Blogging is great for forming networks based on weak social ties.” (Bill Bruck)

4. Because learning is conversation and that blogging lets you have more and better conversations (Harold Jarche)

“The lack of formality and the ease of cross-referencing other blog content or references means is great to accelerate discussion and promote broader thinking and understanding.” (David Wilson)

3. Because Professionalism is more than consumption, it is contribution. (Rovy Bronson)

2. Because it’s “a swap meet for the mind.” (Nancy White)

1. Because your job depends on it.

“If for no other reason than your job is changing, and you might want to be engaged in the process of what your new job will include.” (Brent Shlenker) and “They don't get what blogs are about and possibly never will. We just need to encourage them towards retirement.” (Barry Sampson)


Top Reasons Why You Shouldn’t or Won’t Blog

10. Because you are too lame

Dave Lee “that all learning professionals should be blogging is about as likely that your ancestors all wrote a novel when the printing press was created or wrote a tv script when the telly was introduced.”

9. Because if you live in the US you don’t know how to write (Peter Isackson)

8. Because you’re a scared little wuss - Fear of Blogging (Wendy)

7. Because you don’t have your priorities straight so you lack the time to read blogs much less write a blog. (almost everyone said this)

5. Because bloggers are narcissists (Peter Isackson) only interested in establishing a Cult of Personality (saw that in a discussion group) – and you’re so not that way.

4. Because you’ll screw up blogging just like you screwed up using PowerPoint. (Matthew N.)

Poorly implemented and/or designed learning technologies are an embarrassment to the field (think shovelware e-learning courses or boring PowerPoint lectures transformed to boring online courses). (Karl Kapp)

3. Because no one really wants to read what you have to say.

“Why should all learning professionals be blogging any more than they should all be presenting at conferences, producing papers, writing books or sharing their views, opinions and knowledge through any other medium?” (Barry Sampson)

2. Because “I know some people that would get nothing out of blogging” (Howard Cronin)

1. Because “my 9 and 11 year old sons have a deeper understanding of the tools” than you do. (Karl Kapp)

Blogs vs. Discussion Groups or Mis-Understanding Blog Reading and Blog Communities

On a new discussion group, eLearningAll, formed by disgruntled ex-Brandon Hall discussion group members, there's been an interesting discussion related to The Big Question on LCB. What's been most enlightening for me is the "bad rap" that blogging gets from people who've probably only visited a few blogs and have been inundated with a general media bias against blogging.

Below I've listed a few of the more interesting reasons that people don't like blogs:

• "you have to go there to 'pull' out information"
  
  Most people participating in blog reading and especially those participating in the blog community do so using an RSS Reader such as Bloglines. They subscribe to the blogs (and other sources) that interest them. Then you just run through the content much like you do threaded discussions. The only time I am "going there" in the world of blogs is when I want to read related links or make a comment.
  
• "A Blog often covers a wide range of topics. Some of it doesn't interest me."
  
  Yep, but again, with an RSS reader, there is little to no investment of time to ignore bad stuff. Further, people who produce bad stuff you never subscribe to or you unsubscribe. The same problem of topics that you aren't interested in happens in discussion groups.
  
• "felt so ... old white guys club"
  
  Hmmm - I'm only 41 so "old" depends on perspective. But, in defense of bloggers everywhere take a look at two of my favorites: Creating Passionate Users by Kathy Sierra and Full Circle Online Interaction Blog by Nancy White. Now, before I get into trouble here - I would NOT say that I personally see much of a "female perspective" from Kathy or Nancy - they just say lots of really smart things and they aren't male. I'll leave it to Kathy and Nancy to defend their age status. Both are quite young at heart and both may actually qualify as not "old" ... whoops, what was I saying about not getting into trouble. Sorry.
  
• "many of these blogs are one-way discussion mechanisms"
  
  Really? Most bloggers will tell you that they want comments. They would like people to respond.
  
• "Success for blogs seems more based on ability to establish readership -a cult of personality. Why is it that the words "me" and "I" are so prevalent in blogs?"
  
  What a loaded statement. One of the things I least like about discussion groups is that you'll get those kinds of loaded terms being used - "cult" - cmon. And while all of us like to have people read our blog - better yet comment or post their thoughts on the topic - most of us will neverhave much in the way of readers. And bloggers who start out to only build readership will generally stop pretty quickly.
  
  On "I" ... Blogs are mostly written in first person because they are an opportunity to share your experience and your thoughts on the subject. Is that a bad thing? I'm not so sure. Part of the reason that I like blogs is because I get awide variety of perspectives and most people are clear that it's their perspective or their experience. See eLearning Technology: Perspective in Blogs (or how Guy Kawasaki almost ruined my blogging experience and especially look at the coments. Oh, and notice who the first person to comment was - "Guy" - that's pretty cool itself and suggests something about the world of blogs.

All I'm saying is sign up for an RSS Reader and give blogs a chance.

At Georgia Church, ATM Means "Automatic Tithing Machine"

Anyone who attends church knows the embarrassment of not having cash on hand when the collection plate is being passed. If you're one of those, Pastor Marty Baker of the Stevens Creek Community Church in Augusta, Georgia, feels your pain.

That's why he has installed "giving kiosks" that allow any of the congregation's 1,100 members to make an offering via credit or debit card. The kiosks allow members to donate to specific church funds, and print out a receipt as well as send a confirmation via e-mail.

Baker debuted what he calls his "ATMs for Jesus" in early 2005, and is now marketing them to churches across the country through a firm called SecureGive. With an eye toward future trends, Baker sees the kiosks as a solution for a "post-cash society," for members who are willing to give, yet who increasingly rely on credit or debit cards in place of cash.

Baker has run into some challenges in promoting the kiosks, such as resistance from older congregation members, congregations that discourage credit card use (the machines can be set to accept only debit cards), and those who feel that not passing the collection plate takes away from the worship experience.

Source: L.A. Times

eLearning 2.0 Adoption - Early Adopters

Interesting post Adoption of Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 Revisited that discusses adoption of these techniques. This relates to several of my posts about eLearning 2.0:

• Adoption of Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 Revisited
• Personal Learning for Learning Professionals - Using Web 2.0 Tools to Make Reading & Research More Effective
• Personal and Group Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools

As a side note - I'm very surprised that the Personal and Group Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools hasn't received more attention. It lays out an interesting roadmap for the practical use of Web 2.0 tools as part of Learning. And it's done in a way that is inline with how most of us learn things every day.

One of the more interesting points in the post cited above: adoption will be driven by having a group of early adopters. But even more so, he gives practical advice on how to support that.

LCB's Big Question - Should All Learning Professionals be Blogging?

Over on LCB, The Big Question for October has been posted:

Should All Learning Professionals be Blogging?

This is an interesting question and it’s quite timely given recent occurrences.

• Brandon Hall Closes Free Yahoo Discussion Groups
  
  In case you hadn't seen this, Brandon Hall has decided to stop moderating and to close their Yahoo Groups discussion groups and BH is starting an eventually paid social networking service. This sparked heated response from people who were heavier users of these groups.
  


• Corporate eLearning Professionals are Blogging More
  
  More corporate eLearning professionals are taking up blogging. A couple recent interesting blogs as examples are:
  
  In the Middle of the Curve - Good example post that I cite later: Fear of Blogging.
  
  eTraining in the Trenches - Example post - Who Spends 2 Nonstop Hours on a Single Course?
  
  Learn Me Happy - Example post - A really worrying trend....
  
  and of course,
  
  Corporate eLearning Development - Example - Is Your eLearning Broken?

Okay, so to me this is a timely question, but I want to avoid the "Should all do it?" question. "All" won’t happen anytime soon. Instead, but let me make a case for why YOU should.

Blogs are a Great Personal Learning Tool

As learning professionals, we should all be at the forefront of knowing how to learn ourselves. Writing is probably the single best way to codify personal knowledge. A blog is a fantastic way to do this and at the same time do it in a way that allows you to explore topics with others.

And as you gain experience with blogs, you can start to gain experience with other Personal Learning Tools.

Blogs are a Great New Community Mechanism

Take a look at Nancy White’s great paper - Blogs and Community – launching a new paradigm for online community?

What Nancy calls a topic centric community points out that as posts occur and other people comment on those posts or put up posts on their own blog, a discussion forms. Sure, it's messier than a discussion in a forum, but it allows communities to form in a more organic way (based on common interests). It also allows more of the person to come through. Personally, I’ve connected with several bloggers and have got to know them through their blogs. Brent Schlenker - Corporate eLearning Development - I met through blogging and through that he's going to be on a panel with me at DevLearn. I don’t feel the same sense of connection from threaded discussions.

On this topic, it's worth looking at What's Better to Build Community: Blogs or Forums? What struck me was:

• In general, blogs are great at connecting and bridging to a NEW community.
  
• In general, forums are great at harnessing and growing an EXISTING community.

Put in a different way, blogs allow us to grow a community without going to a single location. A forum or mailing list is most effective if everyone agrees to go to that single location and abide by those norms. Blogs allow community to be formed based on common interests and the community grows and evolves in a very fluid manner.

So, let me end this section by saying that YOU SHOULD take up starts with greatly improving your personal learning and includes a nice benefit of blogging to join an interesting community.

Now Let’s Examine Why You Won’t Start Blogging
The 1% Rule says that in collaborative environments, e.g., discussion groups, for every 100 people who sign up, 89 will lurk, 10 will participate in a limited fashion, and 1 will regularly post content. This has been seen across a variety of collaborative environments. So, history tells us that we should expect relatively low participation levels with Blogs (maybe 1%). However, learning professionals are way below 1% levels.

So, what reasons do people give?

1. Cost or No Blog Tools Available
   
   Whoops, it’s free from a lot of places. Try http://www.blogger.com/.
   


2. Fear – Take a look at the post Fear of Blogging:
   
   

   I had to fight through ALL of these emotions when I started blogging. - Will I be accepted or rejected?- How much criticism will I get?- Will others discover
   that I am a phony and realize that I have absolutely no clue of what I am talking about?

   Note: Wendy got over her fear and does a great job raising interesting questions on her blog.
   


3. Lack of Time
   
   How much time should you spend learning on your own each month about eLearning? Do you think you would be better served rearranging the time you spend to actually codify your learning?
   


4. My Corporation Won’t Let Me
   
   Most corporations have no such restrictions. Of course, you shouldn’t come close to the line of divulging anything sensitive and should avoid calling your boss a jerk, but having a discussion around a topic like – "should we be blogging" – is a great thing to do.

My honest belief is that even if you don't post regularly on your blog, but do post around interesting challenges you are facing, you will find personal value in blogging. If you start, let bloggers know. Post a response to the LCB Big Question. Post a challenge you are facing. If you don't find value, then let me know - because I will be really surprised.

Come on in - the water's fine.