I wanted to let you know that OoVoo 1.5 has been released with some really great features. You can now use OoVoo for free phone calls as well as recording your videoconferencing sessions. Find out more about OoVoo by going to OoVoo.com. I had a chance to use the video recording feature and it works extremely well-it is a great tool for doing interviews and recording them. Take a look at it when you get the chance!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
OoVoo 1.5 is Released
I wanted to let you know that OoVoo 1.5 has been released with some really great features. You can now use OoVoo for free phone calls as well as recording your videoconferencing sessions. Find out more about OoVoo by going to OoVoo.com. I had a chance to use the video recording feature and it works extremely well-it is a great tool for doing interviews and recording them. Take a look at it when you get the chance!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Challenges 2008
At the end of 2006, I spent some time thinking about 2007 and wrote a post challenges and predictions for 2007. This was a great exercise and the fact that I had not considered my big challenges for 2008 made it harder to do my Conference Planning for ASTD TechKnowledge 2008. When I was writing that post, I told myself that I really needed to sit down and define what I see as some of my bigger challenges right now. So, here they are ...
Well, actually before I dive in, I should provide some background to give context...
My goals for all of this are to accelerate my learning, continue to build my network, and find interesting opportunities. In terms of accelerating learning, blogging is definitely the best for me. However, I still get many more discussions with prospects through personal interaction and blogging lags a bit on that front. When I sit back and look at how I was introduced to various opportunities, my personal network that was built through years of different kinds of face-to-face interactions is still the biggest winner. Part of this is that geography has impact. The closer someone is, the more likely I am to work with them.
But maybe I'm missing better choices here. Can I be doing things different online to build personal relationships that rival what I have in my face-to-face network? Will this net more interesting opportunities? Challenge #2 - How can I help individuals within corporations become better at work / learning skills? I'm convinced there is a need here. People need help. I’m pursing a bunch of different avenues here to get smart on this topic. More on this during the year.
Challenge #3 - How do I get involved in more projects that really will make a difference? The projects I like the most are those where I'm working directly with a start-up on their core systems, or working with a company where the project will impact people in a way that directly ties to the bottom line. There's no question of whether it has impact. There's obvious linkage to what matters. I see this happen on projects such as:
Challenge #4 - Get smart on Advisory roles that would make sense
Out of the many people I talk to, in some cases it might make sense to take an Advisory role. Several have asked. Normally the conversation stops as we mutually struggle with defining a model that works.
Well, actually before I dive in, I should provide some background to give context...
At any one point, I’m actively working with about 5 clients helping them define their direction around use of technology to support human performance. I will also be working a little bit with roughly 5-10 other clients. I typically talk with 2 or 3 new prospects each week who come to me randomly mostly based on personal introductions from people I know or through my various speaking, writing, blogging, etc. I spend probably 1-2 hours initially looking at what they are doing, and offering high level thoughts. A small percentage of these turn into actual clients and some percentage of the clients who engage my for consulting turn into clients who engage the designers, architects and developers from my staff.
In general, I love doing this. I really enjoy looking at a wide variety of interesting challenges and new ideas in different kinds of organizations. It’s fun to work for a lot of different people who often bring very creative ideas and varied skill sets. Life is not dull. In fact, if I could summarize my biggest challenge - and it's the same challenge every year - it's finding more interesting people, companies, etc. to talk to about what they are thinking about doing and trying to figure out creative ways to help. Of course, I need to break this down and think through this in more detail ...
So, when I look at 2008, some challenges jump out at me:
Challenge #1 - How do I balance time spent between blogging, direct conversations, small group virtual conversations, small group networking, speaking at virtual conferences, speaking at conferences and writing?My goals for all of this are to accelerate my learning, continue to build my network, and find interesting opportunities. In terms of accelerating learning, blogging is definitely the best for me. However, I still get many more discussions with prospects through personal interaction and blogging lags a bit on that front. When I sit back and look at how I was introduced to various opportunities, my personal network that was built through years of different kinds of face-to-face interactions is still the biggest winner. Part of this is that geography has impact. The closer someone is, the more likely I am to work with them.
But maybe I'm missing better choices here. Can I be doing things different online to build personal relationships that rival what I have in my face-to-face network? Will this net more interesting opportunities? Challenge #2 - How can I help individuals within corporations become better at work / learning skills? I'm convinced there is a need here. People need help. I’m pursing a bunch of different avenues here to get smart on this topic. More on this during the year.
Challenge #3 - How do I get involved in more projects that really will make a difference? The projects I like the most are those where I'm working directly with a start-up on their core systems, or working with a company where the project will impact people in a way that directly ties to the bottom line. There's no question of whether it has impact. There's obvious linkage to what matters. I see this happen on projects such as:
- Metrics-driven performance support tools
- Performance support tools and workflow
- Integrated psychometric models
- Matching Algorithm
Challenge #4 - Get smart on Advisory roles that would make sense
Out of the many people I talk to, in some cases it might make sense to take an Advisory role. Several have asked. Normally the conversation stops as we mutually struggle with defining a model that works.
- I have to figure out what some of these models might be.
- I have to figure out if and when it makes sense for me to take Advisory roles.
Monday, February 4, 2008
eLearning Attention Spans
Dennis Coxe posted Let me tell you about...Excuse me, what were you saying? about an article: The Post-Literate Era: Planning Around Short Attention Spans. The article is more or less summarized in the following graphic:
Dennis' point is that this points us to designing eLearning that is shorter and to the point.
Dennis' point is that this points us to designing eLearning that is shorter and to the point.
The advent of shorter attention spans that successful learning events need to engage the learner, but I think this concept has often been given lip service while the focus of most learning is on how to save dollars by using software that will allow rapid development of e-learning courseware by the subject matter experts who know their materials. Unfortunately the subject matter expert may not be the best story teller.Great points ... I also wonder if changes around reading styles (see Stop Reading - Skim Dive Skim) doesn't suggest better content presentation formats to make sure that people get the few critical items.
WebShare feature added to Yuuguu
A couple of months ago, I shared with you how I have been using Yuuguu to do webinars and to share my computer screen with colleagues. Yuuguu has really come in handy but one of its downfalls was that the person who you were sharing your screen with had to have the Yuuguu client installed on their computer. Well all of that has changed, and Yuuguu now allows you to share your screen even with colleagues of yours that don't have the Yuuguu client installed- right over the web. The process is very simple simply point your colleague to www.yuuguu.com/share and provide them with your six digit PIN number and voila they can now see your computer screen. This makes Yuuguu incredibly valuable Web 2.0 tool for training and providing support. Combining Yuuguu with OoVoo for videoconferencing make this a great one two knockout punch for training, support and webinars. The Yuuguu client is available for Macintosh and PC computers. Check this application out you will be glad you did!
Social Network Operating System
In the 2008 Horizon Report, they discuss various technology trends including. Their comments around Social Operating Systems is interesting:
This address a critical problem that we face right now that I described in Social Networking Entrepreneurial Opportunities on my SoCal CTO Blog.
Certainly, what we are seeing with OpenSocial and DataPortability represents a possible future state where we can avoid some of this issue. If we could focus on building our "destination" on top of a set of open protocols that provide us with the social graph for users but that allows us to control our destiny, I believe that's the right model in most cases. It reduces friction for end-users and still gives us the leverage you want.
What I found interesting and I disagreed with was the statement that:
Second, I don’t agree that next generation social networking will be based around people rather than around content. My personal experience is that content and social networks are intertwined. Blogs are both content and a social network. There is a social network around del.icio.us, YouTube, Flickr, etc. I’m much more likely to form and keep a social network when there is common interest in some form of content. And as we see more and more niche networks forming – they will almost invariably form around content. In fact, the Social Operating System will make it more likely that common interest and content will be the tie that binds.
If you go to the introduction page for OpenSocial, you can see that it too focuses as much on content as it does on person to person. The image is great and shows that OpenSocial thinks of the social graph as being BOTH people and content.
The issue, and what social operating systems will resolve, is that today’s tools do not recognize the “social graph”—the network of relationships a person has, independent of any given networking system or address book; the people one actually knows, is related to, or works with. At the same time, credible information about your social graph is embedded all over the web: in the carbon-copy fields of your emails; in attendee lists from conferences you attend; in tagged Flickr photos of you with people you know; in your comments on their blog posts; and in jointly authored papers and presentations published online.This is a good definition of what we need from an open layer that allows a transportable, open social graph that we can leverage across various applications.
This address a critical problem that we face right now that I described in Social Networking Entrepreneurial Opportunities on my SoCal CTO Blog.
Certainly, what we are seeing with OpenSocial and DataPortability represents a possible future state where we can avoid some of this issue. If we could focus on building our "destination" on top of a set of open protocols that provide us with the social graph for users but that allows us to control our destiny, I believe that's the right model in most cases. It reduces friction for end-users and still gives us the leverage you want.
What I found interesting and I disagreed with was the statement that:
The essential ingredient of next generation social networking, social operating systems, is that they will base the organization of the network around people, rather than around content.First, I don’t necessarily consider the social operating system to be “next generation social networking” – rather it’s a layer that allows us to have transportable information between all the places that knows about our information. Social networking sits on top of this and provides interfaces that allow us to interact.
Second, I don’t agree that next generation social networking will be based around people rather than around content. My personal experience is that content and social networks are intertwined. Blogs are both content and a social network. There is a social network around del.icio.us, YouTube, Flickr, etc. I’m much more likely to form and keep a social network when there is common interest in some form of content. And as we see more and more niche networks forming – they will almost invariably form around content. In fact, the Social Operating System will make it more likely that common interest and content will be the tie that binds.
If you go to the introduction page for OpenSocial, you can see that it too focuses as much on content as it does on person to person. The image is great and shows that OpenSocial thinks of the social graph as being BOTH people and content.
Friday, February 1, 2008
New Product from Leapfrog
LeapFrog announced a new product Demo 2008 called Tag which is a touch reading system that takes advantage of Anoto Functionality; the same technology used in the FlyPentop Fusion. Using Anoto Functionlity, LeapFrog can print their books with very small microdots on the page that give the paper interactivity. LeapFrog will be shipping this product in June 2008 and can open doors to reading by creating a very engaging and interactive environment. To see the live demonstration from Demo 2008 click here.
ILO - Special offer from IIUG
The Informix International Users Group ( IIUG ) has just announced in it's January 2008 Insider publication an offer that will allow you to experiment the new IBM training offer: Instructor Led Online (ILO)
This kind of training adds an instructor "presence" to the traditional self-study eLearning scheme. This kind of training includes the usual material, access to a virtual machine environment and the presentations and help provided by an instructor using technologies like conference calls and webcasts.
The obvious advantage of this kind of training is the cost and the possibility of having students spread across geographic locations. Sometimes it's hard to get the required number of students at a specific time, all available in one location. In this situations, ILO can join people that would never be able to get together in a physical location. On the other hand, given the absence of physical installations, and physical equipment that would otherwise need to be provided by the training supplier, the costs can be considerably lower. The costs will be even lower if you consider traveling and accommodation costs for students. Of course this has it's downsides... The interaction will never be the same, but this greatly depends on the instructor and the students. One should, as a student, be as much participative as we would be in a classic training room, and it's the instructor obligation to facilitate the student's participation.
Another common misconception about this kind of training, is the idea that the students don't have to take full time for these classes. I personally have experienced this type of training as a student, and I can assure you this was a full time task. You have to attend the instructors sessions, and you must reserve time for self-study and exercise resolution. Otherwise you'll lag behind, and it will be harder to recover than in a classic training (I'd risk to say, impossible to catch up...). So if you ever think about ILO and you picture yourself attending it while you pursue your daily tasks... forget it!
Some of us, in particular in countries like Portugal, still look at this kind of training with some doubts. Maybe it's because we tend to be less disciplined, or just because we're more conservative, but I really think this can reach a very interesting cost/benefits ratio and also facilitate training for people living in less populated regions.
So, I suggest that all Informix DBA, programmers etc. take this opportunity to experience it, without costs... I think this offer will not include VM access for exercising, but please take into account that in a real ILO training this will be provided. In fact I have the pleasure and honor to have done several exercise tests for IBM Informix courses that were updated to version 11 in this environment. The purpose of this is to make sure that the exercises done in the physical training room can also be accomplished successfully in the VM environment.
The complete info and also the registration for this ILO demo can be accessed directly here. You must be a member of IIUG, but as you probably already know, this has no costs at all.
This kind of training adds an instructor "presence" to the traditional self-study eLearning scheme. This kind of training includes the usual material, access to a virtual machine environment and the presentations and help provided by an instructor using technologies like conference calls and webcasts.
The obvious advantage of this kind of training is the cost and the possibility of having students spread across geographic locations. Sometimes it's hard to get the required number of students at a specific time, all available in one location. In this situations, ILO can join people that would never be able to get together in a physical location. On the other hand, given the absence of physical installations, and physical equipment that would otherwise need to be provided by the training supplier, the costs can be considerably lower. The costs will be even lower if you consider traveling and accommodation costs for students. Of course this has it's downsides... The interaction will never be the same, but this greatly depends on the instructor and the students. One should, as a student, be as much participative as we would be in a classic training room, and it's the instructor obligation to facilitate the student's participation.
Another common misconception about this kind of training, is the idea that the students don't have to take full time for these classes. I personally have experienced this type of training as a student, and I can assure you this was a full time task. You have to attend the instructors sessions, and you must reserve time for self-study and exercise resolution. Otherwise you'll lag behind, and it will be harder to recover than in a classic training (I'd risk to say, impossible to catch up...). So if you ever think about ILO and you picture yourself attending it while you pursue your daily tasks... forget it!
Some of us, in particular in countries like Portugal, still look at this kind of training with some doubts. Maybe it's because we tend to be less disciplined, or just because we're more conservative, but I really think this can reach a very interesting cost/benefits ratio and also facilitate training for people living in less populated regions.
So, I suggest that all Informix DBA, programmers etc. take this opportunity to experience it, without costs... I think this offer will not include VM access for exercising, but please take into account that in a real ILO training this will be provided. In fact I have the pleasure and honor to have done several exercise tests for IBM Informix courses that were updated to version 11 in this environment. The purpose of this is to make sure that the exercises done in the physical training room can also be accomplished successfully in the VM environment.
The complete info and also the registration for this ILO demo can be accessed directly here. You must be a member of IIUG, but as you probably already know, this has no costs at all.
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