Cheetah spot by spot: Read all about all the spots!

This is not exactly an article about another Cheetah feature. Instead of bothering myself writing about another one, I point you to someone who already done it:

Carlton Doe, a very well known IDS specialist, author of several books and user groups presentations has just written a new book about IDS 11.10.
The book should be around on time for IDS 11 GA. You can see a reference to it on the author's website.

I don't have any information about the book structure or contents, but given the author's history and background, I sure hope this will be a great and informative book where all the spots are covered.

Cheetah spot by spot: Derived tables in FROM clause

Here we are for a very quick note on another usability feature of IDS 11.10 (Cheetah).
This time we'll see derived tables in the FROM clause of SELECT statements. This referrers to the possibility of "creating" tables on the fly as sub-querys in the FROM clause.

If you work in an environment where the developers also work with other RDBMS software you've probably had a few situations where they ask you: How can I do it with Informix?
There were two answers for this:

1. If using IDS 7.31, we would have to use temporary tables
2. If using IDS 9.40+ we could use the collection derived tables: TABLE(MULTISET(SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE ...))

Usually none of this would be welcome. Sometimes we have to make the query in environments where the use of temp tables isn't acceptable or desirable (ETL tools for example where we might not have control over connection lifetime, so we cannot guarantee that the temporary tables will be there when needed). The second option looks strange to an Informix outsider, and in some situation it may force the query to be different depending on the RDBMS to use - This is not desirable to application developers that want to be RDBMS neutral.

So, once more, IBM decided to ease our lives, and implement what is also an ANSI standard: Derived tables. Let's see an example:

select
o1.*
from
orders o1,
(
select max(order_num) , c.customer_num
from orders o0, customer c where c.customer_num = o0.customer_num
group by 2
) as max_orders(order_id,customer_id)
where
o1.order_num = max_orders.order_id

This is possible in IDS 11.10. In IDS 10.00 we could use:

select
o1.*
from
orders o1,
table(multiset(
select max(order_num)::integer as order_id, c.customer_num::integer as customer_id
from orders o0, customer c
where c.customer_num = o0.customer_num group by 2
)) max_orders
where
o1.order_num = max_orders.order_id

So, it was equally possible, but the syntax would be non-standard and looked more complex.
Note: The cast to integer (::integer) is required because the fields are of type SERIAL which is not allowed in MULTISETS.

For those that use this form, when you upgrade to IDS 11 you may want to consider rewriting your queries. Accordingly to the SQL syntax guide manual, the performance of a query written in the new format is "as least as good as a that of a query that uses the Informix-extension TABLE (MULTISET ( SELECT ... )) syntax to specify an equivalent derived table in the FROM clause". This insinuates that there may be performance advantages in this syntax. This is probably related to the fact that IDS does not materialize derived tables that are considered "simple". Clauses like aggregates, order by or unions define this tables as complex.

So, this is a very simple feature with usability, ANSI compliance and application portability in mind.

Foleo-from Palm

In a rather interesting move, Palm recently announced a new product called the Foleo. To the unassuming eye it looks very much like an ultra-light portable laptop computer. However, as described on the Palm website it is meant to complement their line of Treo Smartphones. You can think of it like having a sidecar attached to your motorcycle to carry that extra person. In this case, the Foleo allows you view all of your contacts, email, and the web favorites on a large10 inch screen that you have stored on your Treo Smartphone. With a push of the button on your Treo Smartphone you effortlessly transfer all of the information so that you can work on a larger screen with a full size keyboard. It will be interesting to see how the market responds to this new class of products since everyone seems to be going towards small multifunction phones. Palm added that is looking into users being able to use the Foleo with other Smartphones that are coming down the pike like the iPhone. The Foleo is based on the Linux platform and will include Documents to Go which will allow you to work with the native file formats for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Likewise, you can access your email using Versamail or Outlook Mobile.

The Foleo is powerful enough to be able to handle attachments as well as being able to open and preview PDF’s. The Foleo can also store and open pictures that are formatted in png, jpg, or gif files. The Foleo has built in Wi-Fi and can access the Internet via Wi-Fi hotspots. If you are unable to find a hot sport you can use your Bluetooth enable Smartphone to access the Internet. The Foleo is certainly and interesting device which is slated to be released at an introductory price of $499. While it is billed as a Smartphone companion, some may see it as an alternative to a laptop computer or for that matter a portable note-taker. For all of us in the field of assistive technology this could prove to be a very useful light weight tool for word processing, note taking, and accessing the web. Time will tell how well this device will accepted in the marketplace, but from where I sit it could be the tool that fits between the portable notetaker and a full fledged laptop. Considering its functionality and power and access to the web this tool may find the sweet spot for schools to purchase.

Creating a Blog on Blogger

Great little video from folks at Google that shows how to create a blog on Blogger.



This is both a good example of a brief eLearning piece, but also helpful if you are considering creating a blog.

A Fourth Grader Wikipedia Update

I just wanted to relate something that I think shows the power of a Wiki in general and Wikipedia particularly.

My son, in 4th grade here in California, was assigned a research report on the California Gold Rush and decided to focus his report on the different routes taken by the 49ers. He used a variety of different resources and particularly used the California Gold Rush Historic Maps from the David Rumsey Map Collection. There is one map in particular that has an incredible description written in 1849 of the different routes: Map of the Gold Regions of California, Showing the Routes via Chagres and Panama, Cape Horn, &c. If you are into maps, this is a fun one to drill down on to see the description.

Of course, my son read the Wikipedia California Gold Rush page (it comes up first in Google). It had a paragraph on the routes, but it didn't include the route through Mexico. It did point us to a detailed article on the California Trail. Because it was rather limited about the routes, my son added a sentence about the route through Mexico and added the Map to the Wikimedia Commons and added the map to the article and added a link to the collection of maps on the topic.

Now 4th graders doing the same project will be able to find that same wonderful primary source.

It's actually somewhat rare that a 4th grader has a primary source like the map, so it's quite a nice little legacy to leave behind. Actually, I don't remember having anything as cool as that to study when I was in school. It's quite remarkable when I think about it.

And it shows the beauty of a Wiki and Wikipedia.

Blogging - I'm Pushing Harder Now

For people reading my blog for a while, if you had been at my recent ASTD presentation on eLearning 2.0 - you would have heard a much stronger appeal for learning professionals to blog as compared to a gentler push that I was giving last fall. When I asked The Big Question for October: Should All Learning Professionals Be Blogging? and then posted some of my thoughts in Should All Learning Professionals be Blogging? while I suggested that YOU should, I didn't push. In my summary of the responses to the Big Question - Top Ten Reasons To Blog and Top Ten Not to Blog - I again didn't push all that hard, though there is an obvious bias.

The reason that I find myself pushing harder is that I believe the evidence is mounting that it's an incredible personal learning practice.

Take a look at what Janet Clarey had to say after her first 100 days - Debriefing myself…a noob’s experience after 100-ish days of blogging:

There is a palpable difference between reading/lurking and writing that I had not fully anticipated. The difference is in the learning experience. If I were to return to a corporate training job I would blog and get others blogging. Culture be damned!

Personal Work and Learning Environments (PWLE) - More Discussion

I've run across a few different posts talking about Personal Work and Learning Environments which I have tentatively started to call PWLE - pronounced p-whale.

Tom Haskins in PLEs are power tools and Cammy Bean in Be the Node tell us:

So all the talk about tools and maps has struck me as odd. How do we quantify or control something that is so unique to each of us? For me, I add -- why bother? Just do it.

The reason why I think it's worth us talking about tools and maps and basically what is your PWLE (p-whale) is that it's helpful for us to figure out how to support our own personal work and learning. This is much like all the discussion around personal productivity tools, but in this case it is more focused on research oriented work that requires learning as a component of the activity.

Michelle Martin has a wonderful post - The Psychology and Skills of Personal Learning Environments and it's definitely worth looking at some of her earlier posts on the topic that you can find through the link. Michelle also expresses concern around the focus on tools:

What I've noticed in the conversation about PLEs is that there's a lot going on around trying to get a handle on the tools for personal learning and how we use them. There's a great deal of discussion about whether or not a PLE should be a single tool or a collection of tools loosely joined.

And points us back to Stephen Downes and the skills that we need to learn to be successful in this new world. That's a great point by Michelle and a fantastic list by Stephen:

Here he talks about the skills that we should be learning for success in this new world in which we live:

• Predicting consequences
• Reading for deep understanding
• Distinguishing truth from fiction
• Empathy
• Creativity
• Communicating clearly
• Learning how to learn
• Healthy Living (which isn't fear and anxiety-based)
• Valuing Yourself
• Living meaningfully--as in having a purpose in life.

But I think we need to add to this discussion more around the specific kinds of actions that we take as individuals on different types of tasks and how this relates to our PWLE (p-Whale).

We can use a models from the PKM world like the PKM skills from Steve Barth:

• retrieving information
• evaluating/assessing information
• organizing information
• analyzing information
• presenting information
• securing information
• collaborating around information

Or something more along the lines of Jeremy Hiebert's:

• Collecting
• Reflecting
• Connecting
• Publishing

I believe there's quite a bit of commonality among the kinds of tasks we deal with (at an abstract level) and we need to help each other figure out how we can effectively and efficiently work through these tasks as individuals, as work teams, as part of a larger ecosystem. This is talked about a bit in Personal and Group Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools - which is something I often refer to during presentations.

Bottom line for me - the discussion of process, tools, skills is very helpful and the more specific people can be, the better. I also am finding myself ever more convinced that we are discussing basically the same thing being discussed in PKM circles and even some overlap with productivity. I'm not quite happy yet with PWLE (p-Whale) as a unifying term - but I prefer it to either PLE or PKM because both of those seem to be taken; somewhat limited in their scope and also seem to imply separation from day-to-day work. One key here is Knowledge Work is Not Separate from Learning.