www.scalewatcher.co.uk

Making Sense Of New Technologies And Media: An Opinionated Digest by George Siemens - Apr. 19 08

Robin Goods Latest News — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

An endless list of great resources, links to great journalistic articles and to memorable quotes, are what transform this weekly digest of blog posts by George Siemens into a multidimensional lens through which you can gather yet another glimpse of the many changes taking place all around you. Photo credit: Franziska Richter Media, technology, news, learning... all intersect with each other in a million different ways. It is by looking at the intersections, at the crossovers, at the contamination points that one get best a glimpse of what is coming next.

Tools for Your Video Career

Online video is where blogs were about 7 or 8 years ago - on the threshold of large scale adoption for content creators due to ease of creation and sharing. Tools for your video career is a useful, though basic, resource on how to get started with creating, sharing, and streaming video.

The "New" News Process

The graphic in this short post - The "new" news process - captures part of the iterative, evolving, multi-faceted, and multi-contributor process of where we are going with education. Journalism today has shifted from a broadcast model to an interactive model with reader input/feedback. I see no reason why we don\'t take a similar view of our educational resources. Instead of having the educator present "read this" material to learners, a more desirable model would be for learners to interact/ critique/ update/ improve existing learning materials. It will likely result in greater learner engagement (which in turn we generally conclude with result in "better" learning), but also the resource will be more valuable for future learners as it (the resource) is more current and reflective of multiple perspectives.

Is Knowledge Representation Becoming More Visual?

Is knowledge representation becoming more visual?

"Emeritus Professor Alfred Crosby suggested that visualisation and measurement were the two factors most responsible for the rapid development of all of modern science."

I\'m not comfortable with the notion of "knowledge visualization" (information seems more appropriate), but there is little doubt that visualization plays an important role in how we make sense of abundance. A visualization is, partly at least, a form of aggregation, bringing together many individual elements into a pattern. In complex environments, we need to ramp up how we interact with information. As information becomes more abundant, we need to interact with the patterns produced, not the individual elements.

Teaching at a Crossroads

John Connell explores Teaching at a crossroads "...in an age where technological development has changed the game in education, changed it to its core, the innately conservative nature of the formal institutions of education are recognizing such shifts only very slowly, and in some places hardly at all." John\'s discussion of the notion of "pedagogy first" resonates with some thoughts I expressed recently on my connectivism blog. It\'s a discussion with many conflicting perspectives...but it\'s important that we consider different elements of teaching/ technology and theory/ practice, even though the process gets a bit bumpy at times ;).

Journalism Will Survive the Death of Its Institutions

I love this statement: Journalism Will Survive the Death of Its Institutions:

"When our central institutions blew up, people asked many of the same questions I hear among journalists today. Without these institutions, who will fund the mission? How will we attract the talent we need to make the transition? Just as journalism without newspapers seems inconceivable now, it seemed inconceivable to many then that innovation could continue without the might, resources, and sheer heft of the companies that formed the core of the high tech industry."

Perhaps we can say the same of education?

Shaping our Future: Toward a Pan-Canadian Elearning Research Agenda

I\'m pleased (and for that matter, even excited) to announce an upcoming online conference - Shaping our Future: Toward a Pan-Canadian Elearning Research Agenda. The conference will run for a period of three weeks, beginning May 12. While our focus is on the Canadian context, I think anyone involved in research and learning technologies will be able to benefit from the conference. Registration is available by clicking on the "login" button top right of the page. From the conference description: "Canada is one of the only countries in the developed world without a national strategic plan to research, develop and harness new technologies for teaching and learning. E-learning, in combination with other forms of delivery, affords potential to increase not only accessibility, but effectiveness and enjoyment of both formal and lifelong learning for Canadians of all ages." Week 1 will kick off with a presentation by Terry Anderson, followed by discussion of Anderson and Buell\'s paper Towards a Pan-Canadian E-Learning Research Agenda (.pdf) Week 2 will have 4-6 presentations (titles/abstracts will be posted soon). Week 3 will be a wrap up discussion on next steps forward

Virtual Worlds

It would appear that there are many more virtual worlds in existence than I was aware of... have a look at this list of 100+ virtual worlds (via Brett Bixler). A quick skim through the list reveals a heavy emphasis on the youth market. Wonder if they\'re more receptive than older populations?

Am I My Brother\'s Web 2.0 Gatekeeper?

This is a slightly confusing and conflicted article - Am I my brother\'s web 2.0 gatekeeper?

"The thing is, there has always been too much information. That is to say, there has always been a great deal of bad information, or badly presented information, along with the good and the well done. So there has always been a role for the person who had the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff and the temerity to consign the chaff to oblivion...My point is that there is no need, nor has there ever been one, for "gatekeepers." The information has been there, for anyone with the time and resolution to dig for it and learn to make sense of it."

I find myself agreeing with what the author is saying at stages - i.e. the importance of people (networks) to help make sense of the world . In other areas he ends up expressing points that I disagree with - such as the view that information has always been available. It may have been there, but barriers to access treat information as if it\'s not there for many members of society. I read a fair number of journal articles...but I don\'t link to them here. Unless you are a student of faculty member, you likely don\'t have access to many articles in academic journals. So is the information there? Of course it is. But it can\'t be accessed by a large portion of society. And that\'s the problem. Wikipedia, for example, is too often viewed from the perspective of "is it valid/truthful". That\'s not the real point. Wikipedia is accessible. It fits into the information habits of web users. Online, like it or not, access trumps authority. Educators need to understand that key distinction.

Three Doors...and Probability

You\'ve likely seen the "three doors of choice" in cartoons, TV shows, and movies. In theory, the general view is (and I saw this recently in the movie 21) that if you have options of door A, B, and C, you have a 33% chance of getting it "right". Let\'s say you select door A. If one door (let\'s say door C) is then eliminated, the question becomes: should you change your choice? On the surface, it would appear as if you are still dealing with the same percentages...but in reality, you have a better chance of getting the right door if you change your choice to door B, as it now has a greater possibility of being correct (door A still has 33% possibility (not 50% as would be assumed with the existence of only two doors), but the potential of door B being correct is now 66% as the probability of door C is subsumed into door B). What\'s the point of this? Well, according to an article in NY Times, many prominent experiments on cognitive dissonance don\'t account for the potentiality shift to the remaining unselected option...and as such, these well known experiments may not be as authoritative as is often thought.

Originally written by George Siemens and published as weekly email digest on eLearning Resources and News. First published on April 18th 2008. To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge". ...

Fireworks Accident and Injury Statistics

Recent Family Articles — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It is hard to imagine the Fourth of July without fireworks. More people ignite simple or homemade fireworks each year than attend large-scale fireworks displays. But simple fireworks such as bottle ro...

Shopping for Air Conditioners

ServiceMagic Home Improvement Articles — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It's time to prepare for the unbearable waves of summer heat. Whether you're building a new home, your air conditioner has collapsed, or fallen into disrepair, the process of buying...Learn more about Buying Air Conditioners

Oscar De La Renta Dinnerware Productsc

Recent Home Repair Articles — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Oscar de la Renta's Cana Garden dinnerware steps up the delicate scale. This collection of silver gifts for the home creates a sense of style and personality. Enameled, the interior of the bowl is...

$17 Billion Chemicals Market to Suffer the Impact of Modern Technology

AQUA GENESIS PRWeb Press Release Account ID 108901 — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Environmentally friendly electronic hard water treatment Scalewatcher and other similar products are taking a portion of the $17 billion chemical water treatment industry. Aqua Genesis Co hired to develop marketing for Scalewatcher in North America. (PRWeb Mar 24, 2006)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/03/prweb362347.htm

Water treatment bypass loops having ozone and chlorine generators

freepatentsonline.com: Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons -Patents — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Water treatment bypass loops combining ozone and chlorine injection, and an adaptable clamp apparatus to support efficient retrofit installation of forward bypass loops (around filters) or reverse bypass loops (around pumps) and associated equipment are disclosed. Combined injection of ozone and chlorine exploits high oxidation potential of ozone to enhance oxidation effectiveness of chlorine while still retaining longer lived residual effectiveness of chlorine, particularly against biological and organic contaminants. A method for reducing costs of salt chlorine generation electrolysis cells and power supplies by using ozone to reduce deposit buildup on electrode plates is also disclosed, as is an apparatus for generating chlorine for use in water treatment in bathing facilities without requiring addition of sodium chloride or other halogen salts to water in a swimming pool or spa.

Internet Video Trends: Video Aggregators and TV Platforms

Robin Goods Latest News — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How is video on the Internet going to evolve in the coming months? Key trends have started to emerge as well as specific categories of video publishing and distribution sites that did not exist before. Among these one emerges as particularly interesting for all online independent publishers: The Internet TV Platform. Photo credit: Hypermania

"Internet TV Platforms, give media owners the ability to control how video is published on their own sites and syndicated across the Internet. Rather than existing at a single destination, Internet TV Platforms underlie thousands of properties and brands creating economies of scale in technology, delivery and distribution."

Jeremy Allaire and Adam Berrey, two key individuals behind Brightcove, one of the major Internet TV platforms, look in a rational and analytical way at these new online video publishing and distribution trends while creating an easy to understand reference map of the different new categories in the online video publishing and internet television arena. Something I might add, which can be quite helpful if you want to start seeing the forest from the trees. Here, their recent Internet TV Platform future report:

Internet TV Platforms Come of Age

By Jeremy Allaire and Adam Berrey Time to reflect on the forces that shaped the Internet TV industry during the last year and the trends that will define it in 2008.
Internet video surged into the mainstream in 2006 with the explosive growth of consumer video sharing sites. The leader in the category, YouTube, became a household name, and everyone watched in awe as they were swallowed by Google for $1.65 billion. But 2007 showed us that video isn\'t just for aggregators, it\'s fundamental to the Web. The last 12 months saw an explosion in video publishing across a wide array of websites. Video is becoming so pervasive that if you have a web property without video something is wrong with it. The deep investment in online video publishing and distribution by media companies in 2007 brought a new category of online services into the limelight: Internet TV Platforms. Internet TV Platforms, give media owners the ability to control how video is published on their own sites and syndicated across the Internet. Rather than existing at a single destination, Internet TV Platforms underlie thousands of properties and brands creating economies of scale in technology, delivery and distribution. As we move through 2008, we have an Internet video market divided into two major groups: 1) aggregators and 2) platforms.

Aggregators

Aggregators bring consumers together at a destination. Three big categories of aggregators are shaping the Internet video landscape:

Consumer Sharing Sites
Commercial Video Portals
Social Networks

Platforms

Platforms enable website publishers and content owners to build their own online properties, syndicate video to other properties and monetize their content. The relevant platforms for Internet video break out into three major categories as well:

Internet TV Platforms
Community Platforms
Uber Ad Platforms

Before we look at how the new Internet TV ecosystem that emerged in 2007 will play out in 2008, it makes sense to dive a bit more deeply into each of the six major categories that define the market.

Aggregators

All three categories of aggregators share the same core business model which is to aggregate consumer traffic at a destination and monetize it with a variety of advertising strategies.

Consumer Video Sharing Sites
Consumer sharing sites are built around user-submitted video, although they are starting to embrace professionally submitted video. This category has largely collapsed into a handful of players, with YouTube the dominant force. Others in the space with scale include DailyMotion, Veoh and MetaCafe. All of these sites are attempting to leverage their traffic into meaningful distribution opportunities for mid to long-tail commercial producers, though there are no major success stories in terms of revenue. The Consumer Sharing Sites continue to be plagued with the challenges of piracy and the low-quality of user-generated content. Some of the 2006 players have been shut-down and others are on the chopping block.

Commercial Video Portals
Responding to both YouTube\'s growth, and the multiple challenges it presents to media owners, as well as leveraging in some cases existing audiences, a number of viable commercial video portals are emerging. Within this category there are a several different models. In ad supported content, there are now destination sites and desktop clients. Both are starting to adopt a business model that is more favorable for media owners, which uses a 90/10 or 80/20 revenue split with content owners controlling ad sales and getting most of the revenue. The portals include MSN Video, AOL Video, Yahoo TV, MySpace TV, Hulu, and Comcast/Fancast. The desktop clients include VeohTV, Joost, Adobe Media Player (AMP) and Bablegum. The other major model is paid content, and while that hasn\'t gotten the same momentum as ad-supported content, the players in this category bear some mention. The three notable solutions are iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon, but there are many other players in this space as well. As commercial content libraries open up in response to favorable economics and business deal structures, these outlets are becoming more important pieces in the \'distribution toolbox\' of Internet TV. However, in a world of open distribution it will be difficult for the Commercial Video Portals to differentiate with content, so they will have to depend on experience, integration with other consumer services, or other means to create competitive advantage.

Social Networks
Social networks like FaceBook, MySpace, Bebo and iGoogle (with its expected introduction of OpenSocial-based features) are in many ways orthogonal to the Internet video market. But as these services become platforms, they are starting to emerge as viable outlets for commercial programming. Because they aggregate so much traffic, they\'re hard to ignore for any publisher trying to reach new audiences. We expect they will increasingly compete with Consumer Video Sharing Sites and Commercial Video Portals as focal points for consumer usage of online video.

Platforms

In many ways, the three relevant platform categories are completely different than the aggregators both in terms of their business model and how they are deployed on the Internet. Platforms run behind the scenes making it possible for content owners and programmers to build their own branded websites and control their own distribution and destiny. They operate in a business model that is almost always built around charging for usage of their service in one way or another. In 2007, platforms came of age and that sets up important trends for 2008.

Internet TV Platforms
Unlike end-user destination sites, Internet TV Platforms act as operating platforms for online video publishing and distribution throughout the Web. At their core, Internet TV Platforms allow media owners of all sizes to operate direct-to-consumer websites and syndicate online video to aggregators. These platforms gain scale and value as more publishers use them, and are increasingly able to act as hubs for distribution, advertising and programming strategies. Brightcove helped to define and launch this category in 2005, and we have the largest scale of any player in this space. But the category really came into its own with in 2007 with several other players including the Platform (owned by Comcast), whose primary focus is acting as a hosted asset management system and good ingest/output mechanisms, Maven Networks, an online video startup that has gone through several incarnations to get to its current state as an Internet TV Platform, and Move Networks, whose proprietary client-side player technology is used by several major broadcasters for delivering full-length episodes.

Community Platforms
The second major platform category that gelled in 2007 is the Community Platform. Community Platforms like KickApps, Ning, Prospero, and Pluck make it easier to build branded destinations with deep community features including profile pages, comments, ratings, blogs, forums, and chats. Where the Social Networks build community at a single destination, Community Platforms let thousands of destinations develop around specific interests, topics, niches and brands. Community Platforms are largely complementary to Internet TV Platforms, and we see most of our customers using both along with a Content Management System to build out their web properties. But there is some competition around the area of user generated content (UGC). Many of the community platforms support services for accepting video uploads from consumers or they integrate with these services from Internet TV Platforms.

Uber Ad Platforms
If you weren't online in the spring you might have missed the buying spree that happened as the first generation ad serving platforms were bought up by major online media players. The flurry of acquisitions was part of a much larger trend around the development of what we like to call Uber Ad Platforms. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL are the four big players in this category. They're all focused on building Uber Ad Platforms that provide a one-stop-shop for access to ad serving, ad networks and all sorts of strategies for optimizing yield. The Uber Ad Platforms will deliver ads in every major format across every major medium, and they are waging a battle that will reshape the technology and media industries in fundamental ways. The reason is simple: bits plus ads is a winning combination. We all spend more and more time with digital media whether that\'s on a computer monitor, TV, phone, game console, radio, etc. and the ability to deliver ads in these environments has become a massive business that will continue to grow. By integrating across screens, ad formats, targeting capabilities and sales strategies the Uber Ad Platforms hope to control how the digital world is monetized and, of course, participate along the way. The Uber Ad Platforms are just taking shape. While they come online, niche ad network and technology players are battling each other with either unique technology strategies or specific genre and category focuses.

Trends in 2008

As video content owners and website publishers walk into 2008, we expect several major trends will shape their strategies in the Internet video market.

Branded Destinations
Nothing about the Internet changes the fundamentals of media—value is created by controlling the content or controlling access to the audience. Media companies with established brands and new start-ups will continue to build successful branded destinations so they can control the access to audiences. We expect these destinations will leverage Internet TV Platforms, Community Platforms, and Ad Platforms to compete with the major aggregators by offering consumers a more focused and differentiated experience, including exclusive content, and by giving advertisers a better environment to build their brands.

Audience Networks
Because of the power of the big aggregators to reach new audiences, content owners will continue to develop distribution strategies that place elements of their content library into wide distribution, in most cases with advertising attached. Because there won\'t be a one-size-fits-all solution, content owners will depend on Internet TV Platforms to help them manage the complex policy and technology challenges associated with implementing Internet distribution strategies. They will use audience networks to bridge the gap between aggregators and their own branded destinations, which will make the web as a whole a much more interesting place.

Audience Monetization
To date the advertising focus in the Internet TV market has been on monetizing video streams. But this focus is both shortsighted and not nearly as effective as thinking about how to monetize audience. By developing audience-centric strategies, content owners will look for new ways to blend ad formats, insertion policies, and targeting tactics across pages, short-form video clips, long-form shows, and open distribution. While they are more difficult to plan and execute these ad strategies deliver greater yield and a much better user experience, which means better sustainability. These strategies will also take advantage of both direct selling and integration with Uber Ad Platforms.

Contextual Publishing
One of the key insights from the last two years is that short-form online video does best when it\'s placed in a context. The context could be created by pages in a website, comments from users, line-ups in a player, etc. Regardless of how it\'s done, getting the context right means you can put the right video clips in front of a viewer, which makes everyone happy. We expect that contextual in-page video publishing will grow, and that it will be extended to slideshows and audio content as more and more rich media is brought out of silos and into the core of websites.

High-Quality Video
The explosive growth that has happened with the major network episode players, and the increasing access that consumers have to long form, high-quality video will push Internet TV closer to traditional broadcast TV, and widen the opportunity for brand marketers that covet the deep engagement created by a full-screen, immersive experience.

Originally written by By Jeremy Allaire and Adam Berrey for Brightcove and first published on December 1, 2007 as "Internet TV Platforms Come of Age" - Edited and illustrated by Robin Good ...

Design Future: Passionate, Self-Interested Design May Be Tomorrow Designer Best Path

Robin Goods Latest News — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Design scientifically or design for yourself? Design for a specified and scientifically identified marketing target or design for your own pleasure and usefulness? Two really great questions. But to evaluate what may be the very best possible answer to both, I think you need to see beyond design philosophy and into economy and market changes, which are now led by early movers and avant-garde designers on the web. Photo credit: Sgame In a long-tail economy, where the loss of shelf space and finite inventories has given rise to new niche industries, to increased and deeper differentiation of products and to opportunities for many small producers to become sustainable without the need for hugely-sized audiences, it may be best indeed to design for yourself without compromises rather than design for a gradually fading mass-audiences. The word of the game today is personalization. There is no more need to have a design or product that fits the needs of millions. Economies of scale have changed. Production and transportation costs have changed. Digital products have near zero inventory, stocking and delivery costs. The need to design for the lowest common denominator while appealing to the largest possible number of people is gradually coming to an end. The future, if we can make it through, is all about designing around designers true needs and passions. Vocational design? No, but certainly a healthy comeback to design roots, where design is not created to sell more of the same to the largest number of people while strictly looking at the economic return of this but, is done on the impulse and personal need to create something useful to improve or make more accessible something that is already there. Photo credit: Ron Chapple Studios

Design personas, are visual and text based artifacts which help design agencies and their clients to reference and communicate more effectively about their target audiences by prototyping imaginary individuals (personas), which are described and pictured in high detail, while being built on statistical or reference data about the target group the product is being designed for. Personas can be indeed a great design tool to help designers communicate more effectively with their customers, facilitating the design and evaluation process by virtue of creating a somewhat more realistic point of reference that should help in getting away from personal, emotional and ego-driven design choices to a more rational, scientific and shareable design approach. Joshua Porter has just published a couple of very interesting articles focusing on this very issue. But while his focus is more on whether it is really true that professional design needs to use personas to be effective, mine is really about seeing how design (or a significant part of it) may gradually evolve away from marketing-based research stats and target generalization and toward a more personal, passionate and self-interested design approach. The planting ground for "industrial", "mass"-oriented design is gradually shifting to niche, personalized and passionate design, giving way to thousand of self-sustainable niche markets in which smaller but much "tighter" audiences buy tools that match much more closely their specific needs. Not only. In this emerging un-massified markets, audiences identify more also with designers attitude, lifestyles and credos, and when they buy a new design they really are trying to buy the whole association of themselves with the ideas and motifs of the designer behind it. Niche, personalized, custom design are now as easy to market and distribute than it has ever been possible making the break-even point for custom design revenues much lower than in the past. So, the only resistances still limiting more of such passion-based and self-interested design are only the lack of such awareness as well as of the art and science of online marketing.
Here some of interesting points, Joshua Porter has made in his article about personas. He writes: "Steve Portigal, whom I've met and whom I don't think is insane, recently said in a presentation that "personas are user-centered bullshit". But, what is really a persona?

"What most definitions don't say is that personas are a document. They might be a poster, a word file, or a PDF. But they are a document that represents an archetypical person that is passed around design teams. ... Personas or personae are fictitious characters that are created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic that might use a site or product. Personas are given characteristics and are assumed to be in particular environments based on known users' requirements so that these elements can be taken into consideration when creating scenarios for conceptualizing a site or product. Cooper (in The Inmates are Running the Asylum) outlined the general characteristics and uses of personas for product design and development. In the context of software requirements gathering, a user persona is a representation of a real audience group. A persona description includes a user's context, goals, pain points, and major questions that need answers. Personas are a common tool in Interaction Design (IxD)" (Source: Wikipedia)

Yes, highly acclaimed designer, Alan Cooper, is the man who has actually invented personas and their application, with the specific goal in mind to be able to design for a "broad audience of users". But, as Joshua Porter, correctly points out, "when you design for a broad audience you can't design for each individual, you must make generalizations and design for those." In the book, The Essentials of Interaction Design, Alan Cooper writes:

"...the key is in choosing the right individuals to design for, ones whose needs represent the needs of a larger set of key constituents, and knowing how to prioritize design elements to address the needs of the most important users without significantly inconveniencing secondary users."

It couldn\'t be said more clearly. A design approach which is based on generalizing the characterizing traits of a few representative enough individuals to create a product that can satisfy the largest number of users possible. But is this the best approach to design innovation and creativity? How can new ideas and innovative approaches be implemented if I am always concerned with satisfying the largest possible number of users? OK, it is evident that my reasoning here is purely speculative. I am not arguing that existing design projects and professionals should stop designing while using some of these approaches. I am only hinting at the fact that the premises on which this approaches have grown upon, may see soon new competition arising from a new, uncompromising design trend: passionate, self-interested design.

"Cooper's solution is to do real research on folks, grab the trends out of that research, and create personas out of them to help spur discussion and decision making. Part of that "creating personas" step is to give them a name, a face, so that they are easily referenced. ...The problem is that personas are, by definition, an abstraction of research. Personas represent a summary of research from many different people. In other words, it's a generalized construct. But when you place a very specific picture of a person on that persona while giving it a name, you've made it particular again. You're asking people to treat it as an individual person. You've taken the summary and made it specific."

And that becomes a custom, a habit, a way of doing and designing things that pervades all industries. It becomes so much so the standard way of doing things, that it does not even get challenged anymore. And in the process, what gets lost is the most critical question of all: why are you designing at all in the first place? Are you doing it because this is a way to give something that pays back money, or you are doing it because you want to create something that serve a specific purpose, ideal or need you really have? Nobody designs for passion, self-interest, love or need? Think again. Here are a few examples: Netflix, eBay, Google Apps, Wufoo, Basecamp, Freshbooks, Yelp, Craigslist, Blinksale (suggested by Joshua Porter). Delicious, BlogBridge, Irfanview, Miro, Glance, Swarm-It (yes, little-known many of them, but greatly designed and useful tools created with lots passion and self-interest). And Joshua is right when he states that faced with such evidence the next question begging an answer is: "why don't more people design for themselves?" And the answers, in my opinion are that most designers: 1) are trapped into thinking that they have to sell their skills to design someone else\'s idea to make a living, 2) wouldn\'t know how to market themselves and their artifacts in the online world.
Let\'s summarize with Joshua Porter\'s most inspiring statements why the future of design may actually be more passionate and self-interested than you and I have seen so far:
a) "There's a real difference between being a hired hand on a project for a specific amount of time and someone who has ownership as well as passion for what they're working on (ownership and passion can be exclusive as well, but combined, they pack quite a punch)."
b) "It makes sense to me that I'll do much better work (and help my clients much more) if I'm an actual user of the very software we're designing."
c) "...those people who are designing for others are at a known disadvantage: they're at least one degree of separation away from the people who will use the design. Their challenge is harder.
d) "The short-term, part-time attention of a freelance designer or developer can often lead to clunky, duct-taped solutions after the contract is over and the site is actually being used by real people."
e) "The further a designer is from the people they're designing for, the harder it is to design for them."
f) "...designers who design for themselves will make better designs more easily.
g) "Designers designing for themselves are often passionate. It's hard to do as a freelancer or consultant."
h) "Passion comes from having a stake, having a long-term commitment."
i) "If you are a designer and you're not a potential user of what you're designing, you have a higher hill to climb."
Start thinking now how you are going to climb it.

Originally written by Robin Good for Master New Media and first published on January 24 2008 as "Design Future: Passionate, Self-Interested Design May Be Tomorrow Designer Best Path" ...

How to Descale a Kettle

wikiHow: How-to of the Day — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A kettle that is full of lime-scale not only looks terrible, but takes longer to boil and wastes electricity, because the scale prevents the element conducting heat well. Eventually the element can burn out if it is not descaled, so you'd have to throw it out and get a new kettle.

Making Sense Of New Technologies And Media: An Opinionated Digest by George Siemens - Jan.12 08

Robin Goods Latest News — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the near future, are you going to interact with computers without using a keyboard and mouse? Do you know you can get into the video publishing frenzy with just a cool $120 camcorder?

Photo credit: Victor Gmyria - edited by Robin Good

How about mobile phone projectors, have you yet seen one of these? Is the IT department of your organization going to be soon replaced by utility computing companies? These and a lot more are the new media and communication technology-related news that registered the most interest with George Siemens\' weekly "making sense of new technologies and media" report.

But there is a lot more interesting stuff indeed:

a) Scott Karp, traditional media need to reinvent itself could serve as model for what is coming next in the world of education.

b) Challenges ahead as the existing and growing pattern seeing third world countries export their brightest to the first world is going to gradually change as access to higher education is provided through the internet.

c) Adoption cycle for new media technologies and their uses getting faster and faster.

d) If you haven\'t yet heard about it, Google Custom Search allows to create custom search engines that search only the sources you select. Lijit and Rollyo are other similar tools that can help you achieve the same.

Here in more detail, George Siemens analysis and reflections on some of the most interesting media and technologies emerged in the last week:

Sense-Making of Technology and Media: a George Siemens Weekly Digest

by George Siemens

Online Photo Sharing

Photo credit: Palodurorecords

Not using Flickr or similar online photo sharing service?

Interested in learning how to?

Common Craft just released a new video on Online Photo Sharing in Plain English. We\'re finding these video resources quite useful for our wiki on using social tools in higher education.

Changing Our Relationship With Computers

Photo credit: Zanetta Hardy

The inefficiencies of the computer keyboard and mouse are frequently highlighted. Discussion then moves to how, in the near future, we will interact much more directly with computers. But nothing much has happened.

Until Apple made touch interfaces not only work, but also cool to own (and Nintendo, with the Wii, changed how we interact with games systems). The iPhone and iPod Touch presented the strengths (and weaknesses - i.e. entering text on either device) of touch computing.

While the vision has been there for several decades, the concept is now found in reality. And it has prompted Bill Gates - with the typical Microsoft way of declaring trends once they are blindingly obvious to declare: "that the keyboard and mouse would gradually give way to more intuitive and natural technologies."

Video and Such

Photo credit: Ayhan Yildiz

We have good software available for accessing/sharing video (YouTube), images (Flickr), and audio (iPod). We also have good tools taking pictures (cameras are cheap and usually available in mobile phones) and recording (a simple addition to your iPod).

What we haven\'t had in the past is a decent tool for video - video cameras are too expensive and mobile phone recordings too limited (quality and length). Flip Video changes that. While the recording time is limited to about 60 minutes, the price of the device (just over $120) makes it affordable.

The ability to record demonstrations (please, not lectures!), short interviews, student projects, etc could provide value for educators.

And, only marginally related, this mobile phone projector is interesting as well. For those moments when you must deliver a presentation to family.

Is the IT Department Dead?

Photo credit: Dani Simmonds

Is the IT department dead? Nicholas Carr seems to think so:

"Carr\'s rationale is that utility computing companies will replace corporate IT departments much as electric utilities replaced company-run power plants in the early 1900s.
Carr explains that factory owners originally operated their own power plants. But as electric utilities became more reliable and offered better economies of scale, companies stopped running their own electric generators and instead outsourced that critical function to electric utilities. Carr predicts that the same shift will happen with utility computing."

Boundary-less Living, Working and Learning

Photo credit: Sylvia Bukovac

It\'s difficult to stay current and informed in a climate where everything is changing. Just trying to stay current in the educational technology field is a challenge, never mind trying to follow global political events, media trends, and related other changes.

I find I need a balance between taking in information and reflecting on what the information means. And, of course, experimenting with and implementing key concepts in actual learning environments.

The frustrating irony of rapid information growth is that the more information we encounter, the more time we need for reflection... but the less time we actually have. Boundary-less living, working and learning:

"Meeting the intellectual and creative challenges of the 21st century demands using every ounce of creativity available.
That means building and sustaining a creative environment for yourself, your employees and your family. As a knowledge worker, you need time to think. To innovate. To experience. To create."

Why We Do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies

Photo credit: Gilles DeCrouyenaere

Nice way to burn off a few hours: Why We do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies.

The studies are summarized and quite readable. Included are classics: Stanford Prison, cognitive dissonance, bystander apathy, and others.

Dropping DRM

Sony BMG announces plans to drop DRM:

"The impetus to lift copyright protection represents a sea change for the recording industry, which for the better part of a decade has used DRM to guard against what it considers illegal distribution and duplication of songs purchased online."

Politicians...and Twitter

In 2004, when Howard Dean\'s web fundraising platform did not translate into as many votes as supports had hoped, critics cited it as an example of the limited influence the web had on many traditional processes and aspects of society.

Now, only four short years later, the election hype is again relying on technology ...but with the perspective of connecting and forming existing networks rather than forming new ones (as evident in the 2004 campaign). MediaShift also offers a short commentary on the use of Twitter during the Iowa Caucuses.

Is the Future of Education Lived Now in Journalism?

Industries and fields which are largely reliant on information have been experiencing a long, slow burn which threatens to ignite into a full blaze at any moment. We see flare ups in music, movie, and other media industries.

But the music/movie industries still retain much of their shape - top YouTube videos are mainstream artists like Avril Lavigne. To a certain degree, it\'s the old product expressed in a new distribution channel.

But journalism and news fields are different. Their product ("the paper" or "the radio talk show") has been subject to change for over a decade. And many have moved online to varying levels.

The challenge they have faced recently - and which Scott Karp alludes to briefly as being of a change-or-die nature (be sure to read the comments section - some good points made on both sides) - is with the core of journalism.

Karp calls for journalism to reinvent itself. With sites like ohmynews and tools like blogs and podcasts driven by user contributions, the change to journalism may be more profound than even those who are calling for change wish to see.

As stated before, I follow these media trends with an eye on their suitability as an indication of what we\'ll face in education. As so many elements are unsettled (copyright, access, ownership, LMS vs. PLEs and so on), any model that serves to guide is valuable, even if it is found in the slow burn of traditional media industries.

Immigration

Photo credit: Benjamin Earwicker

I live in a small community south of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The complexion of our community has changed drastically over the last decade due to immigration (just like it changed drastically 80 years ago due to another wave of immigration).

The change within our community raises the relevance (for me) of the Economist\'s overview of global immigration trends.

The educational opportunities (and challenges) are significant. Often migrants are those with skill sets most in need, and are therefore most likely to be accepted, by host countries. Challenges, however, exist when emerging countries export their brightest.

It will be interesting, over the coming decades, to see how immigration patterns change as greater access to higher education is provided through the internet.

Mashups on the Mainstream

Photo credit: ABC News

Peter Tittenberger just sent me a link to a CBC sports hockey mashup. Having spent my weekend in frigid arenas watching my children play, drinking poor quality coffee, and suffering defeat and tasting victory, mashing up hockey clips with audio is a perfect way to start the week!

It appears that the cycle of adoption is much shorter for new technologies and ideas than it was five years ago. What used to take years to gain traction (i.e. blogs and wikis) now happens in months (i.e. Facebook and content mashups).

Personal Search

Personal search (based on preselected sites, not the whole web) has been around for a while. Rollyo was one of the first I came across.

Basically, a person enters sites they want to search, and when some enters a query into the text box, it search only those sources.

Google now offers a similar service (where Google once was an innovator, they are increasingly becoming an imitator - bookmarks, reader, iGoogle, Orkut, etc.): Google Custom Search.

Stephen Downes has created a custom edublog search tool from about 450 sources.

Lijit is a similar service - you can add all your sites, del.icio.us bookmarks, digg submissions, and so on. The Lijit search of my online identity is here.

Originally written by George Siemens and published as weekly email digest on eLearning Resources and News. First published on January 11th 2007.

To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge" .

...

Huge Wind Turbines of WWII Era Upended by New Turbine Models: Time Machine (January 1942)

Popular Mechanics Science Blog — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Wind power has always been a matter of scale. Sixty-five years ago, PM covered the "latest serious effort to generate commercially useful electric power from the wind," a 110-ft.-tall turbine in Vermont with a reported "wingspan" of 180 ft.

Free Online Collaboration For Small Groups Now Integrates Full Videoconferencing and Screen-Sharing: Adobe Brio Reviewed

Robin Goods Latest News — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Just out of Adobe Labs is a new free collaboration tool: Brio. Adobe Brio is a new free screen-sharing solution for up to three people which integrates text chat, whiteboarding, annotation, video, VoIP / teleconferencing, file-sharing and note-taking. Brio is fully based on the well-established and highly acclaimed Connect-Breeze web conferencing engine fro which it keeps all of its core functions while packaging in a more friendly, simplified and easier to use version. Photo credit: Ophelia Cherry Kudos to Adobe for finally introducing a truly approachable SOHO solution, providing the very best marketing tool-strategy to get Connect on more desks and more of the higher level, paid Connect versions inside small and large companies. This is the right road to follow, and while it has taken Adobe a bit of time to realize it, I am happy to see a large corporation like this starting to make more of the right moves. Another goody coming from Google, a premier I would almost say for the US industry as a whole, Adobe not only integrates VoIP and teleconferencing facilities in Brio, but makes both of them free and accessible also from major European countries including the UK, Germany, France and more. Last but not least, opting for providing to anyone online full and unlimited free access with no string attached to the Brio-Connect, finally allows Adobe\'s super-cool web conferencing technology finally market itself. In fact, if I was asked, I think that real news story to be caught here is the marketing strategy aspect, as while this is clearly promoted as experimental introductory tool with some extra refinements, in my view this only the final step of Adobe\'s full realization of how much potential, market and revenue it has been missing on by keeping some of its really great and yet unmatched technologies accessible only to large corporations with a fat wallet. With the Connect offering first, and now with Brio, Adobe really moves with all its armies to become one of the key players and providers for the whole web conferencing, live presentation and online collaboration industries. Here the details:

Adobe Brio Overview

Adobe Brio is a free basic web conferencing solution integrating all of the core features needed to conduct most online training, presentation and collaboration sessions. "With Brio, you can instantly communicate and collaborate through an easy-to-use, easy-to-access online personal meeting room." The only real limit is a maximum cap of three concurrent participants, including the presenter. Officially labeled as a preview of the next generation Adobe Acrobat Connect conferencing platform, and "built on Adobe\'s Flash platform, Brio operates inside most popular web browsers, so you can start a meeting without worrying if others have a compatible system or the right software." In essence, these are all of Brio key features:

Host unlimited online meetings with up to 3 meeting participants.
Easy-to-use screen sharing
Video and audio conferencing (VoIP + phone teleconferencing)
Text chat, note sharing, whiteboard
Live annotation and markup tools
File sharing among meeting participants
Personal permanent meeting room accessible instantly
Custom URL, personalized, easy-to-remember.
Integrated VoIP, teleconferencing and multi-point video.
Cross-compatible: PC, Mac, Linux
No software to download (small plugin required to do screen-sharing gets automatically installed with a one-click inside Brio)

Adobe has also significantly optimized the speed of the launching procedure making Brio the fastest collaboration I can presently load on my computer. Less than 15 seconds from my click on the bookmark link to my permanent room ready to show my screen. While not immediately apparent to the novice user this is a key usability aspect that many times can break or make fly critical meetings. Speed and ease of access are here strategically critical factors. Kudos to Adobe for this excellent improvement.
What Brio doesn\'t have when compared to Adobe Connect.

No PowerPoint presentation facility
No remote control feature
No recording facility
No advanced quality controls for video
No polling
No multiple custom layouts
No backend management
No tracking and reporting

Key New Traits - User Interface

The Brio interface is the latest incarnation of the already highly appraised Adobe Connect (formerly Breeze) platform. Made simpler and easier to use, even for the least technically sophisticated, the new Brio interface is indeed a step forward both in terms of usability and user-experience. The new major key interface introduction is a floating control panel, resembling a lot the traits of a typical instant messenger, it gets automatically activated when you switch on your screen-sharing session. The benefit is undoubtedly significant, as beforehand, non technical users were baffled when trying to understand how to get back to the controls of their collaboration tool, as these used to appear very small and placed within the window border of content being shared. Not easy to see and not intuitive for those who had not had any training about it. With this new solution the user remains always in "explicit" control of the collaboration tool and never needs to preoccupy herself with finding the screen-sharing controls. For the rest, the menu-based component and "hi-tech hi-touch feel" of the overall interface has been kept intact, with a few refinements embracing typography as well as the legibility of all visible commands. A few additional easy to recognize icon-based command buttons have been placed next to the Brio menu to further facilitate access to file-sharing, screen-sharing and to switching on the microphone when needed. The general "pod metaphor" has been maintained, as well as the ability for the host to fully customize the layout and positioning of each collaboration pod. Brio even remembers all of your settings in between sessions making the presenter life much easier than in the past. In this free version the host cannot create, save and store new "layouts" for the collaboration room, but it can positively re-arrange and re-size any pod in any desired way. Aligning and resizing pods has in fact become even easier thanks to a more effective implementation of the snap-to-grid facility, which has now been enhanced to provide the user with a more visible support during such resizing or pod repositioning operations. Overall, Brio feels good, solid, easy and better than its predecessors in making complexity easy to handle, while providing a visual environment in which the user is highly enticed into making good use of the tools available.

Key Features Overview

Video No key changes here. There are none of the advanced controls available to Connect Pro users but all of the basics are there. Up to three participants can show their video at any time during a session. Each one can also "pause" or "stop" its webcam video stream.
Audio A new very accessible button with a microphone icon on it provide easy access to switching on and off the microphone. Though separating the video and audio under separate and physically distant controls may appear at first nonsense there may be some wisdom into this choice. Not to create fastidious sound feedbacks, echo or the distraction that background noise may cause the direct control of the audio channel places each participant in the condition to have to choose when to activate the micxrohone more explicitly rather than giving for granted that it will be always on.
Screen Sharing Essentially the same screen sharing technology seen in Adobe Connect, but with the added floating control panel which greatly simplifies screen-sharing management, annotation and awareness of what the presenter is showing at any one time.
Text chat Basic fully featured text chat facility allows you to talk back to everyone else attending or only to a selected attendee. Auto-URL, font size and color control, date/time stamp and saving of text chat contents are all available.
Live annotation The standard live annotation toolset is available to Brio users with a few user interface refinements making easier the control and adjustments to the various markup tools. Not everything here has been improved as it should have leaving markup tools still with a great margin of improvement both in the selection of tools made availability as well as in their specific usability behavior (e.g.: why in the world would someone want to have filled shaped as default tools to markup and annotate remains obscure to me. From extended use evidence as well as from competitors solutions it appears much better to provide empty geometric shapes (and not color filled ones as Adobe does) as default mark-up tools to allow the highlight of specific content or objects.
File Sharing Brio users can upload and share files with other meeting participants with extreme ease. Maximum file size uploadable it is set to 10MB making the value of this facility somewhat limited though effective in terms of marketig and sales strategy. There instead appear to be no limits in terms of how many files can be uploaded.
User Rights Assignments The host can easily assign different access rights to all Brio session participants. An easy to find control at the bottom left of the interface provides immediate access to this useful functionality.
Change Presenter Any attendee can be elected to be a presenter with a simple mouse selection. Just right click the name of the participant at the bottom of the Brio user interface and select to have her become the presenter.
Invite Others Inviting other participants inside an Adobe Brio session is extremely easy. You can simply copy and paste the URL of your personalized meeting room to any of your instant messaging or email contacts. Brio provides multiple overlapping access points to invite other participants as well as easy copying and pasting of your collaboration room URL. As soon as a new participant reaches your permanent Brio collaboration room you are alerted via a small pop-up window showing up at the bottom right of your screen. You remain always in control and can decide who to let in and who to leave outside.
Other Features and Controls Network performance A set of indicators can be called up to report the status of your Internet connectivity, to determine if you are having issues because of a lack of bandwidth or of a reliable connection. Room URL The room URL is always easily accessible and it is very easy to memorize. Preferences The new Preferences setup inside Brio is quite a nice surprise. Lots of useful controls give you the option to customize your collaboration room and its functionalities in multiple ways. Here a few screenshots showcasing the controls you now have access to.
Performance and Speed While I must really praise the load-up time of Brio after the first access, things are not so cool when I need to start annotating (very frustrating) or to stop a live screen-sharing session. Both operations require much longer than a "normal" response time to execute, leaving the user wondering if something is really happening or not. Being the first Beta release of Brio, it is likely that this is one of the issues that is yet to be improved and resolved before its final official launch. As it is now, it is really sub-par.

Review Summary and Conclusions

With the Adobe Brio availability the scenario for free SOHO web conferencing and online collaboration has been reset in favour of this feature-rich and easy-to-use scaled down version of Adobe Connect. Brio suddenly establishes itself the most comprehensive, feature-rich, cross-platform, web-based conferencing and collaboration system to offer a fully free access platform with no explicit download-install process involved. If there was any reason not to adopt and try out Adobe Connect in the past, Brio forces anyone needing to carry out online presentations, collaboration or training sessions with small groups to go out and check out this new Adobe tool. There is no other competitor in this marketplace that offers this much for this little. I believe Adobe marketing and product development strategy is right on the mark with Brio as I have been explicitly advocating a solution like Brio before. Marketing a free tool to the professional and SOHO audiences may cost quite a bit in terms of infrastructure and support but the I bet that the return in terms of extra paying business for the paid "Pro" versions of Brio-Connect will positively increase. Outside of the three user maximum capacity and some slowness in the switching from one mode to another I have very little if anything to criticize about Brio. I have in fact lots to praise about Brio and would openly recommend anyone to go and test out this new solution right now, while providing here below your sincere feedback. Brio is a breakthrough web conferencing solution offering for the first time access to an enterprise class-level online collaboration technology to the guy next door. Its simplicity, refined and easy to use GUI, and its zero footprint price tag make it an unavoidable staple inside any serious online collaboration toolkit.

Learn More

Originally written by Robin Good for Master New Media and entitled "Free Online Collaboration For Small Groups Now Integrates Full Videoconferencing and Screen-Sharing: Adobe Brio Reviewed" ...

www.scalewatcher.co.uk

Making Sense Of New Technologies And Media: An Opinionated Digest by George Siemens - Apr. 19 08

Tools for Your Video Career

The "New" News Process

Is Knowledge Representation Becoming More Visual?

Teaching at a Crossroads

Journalism Will Survive the Death of Its Institutions

Shaping our Future: Toward a Pan-Canadian Elearning Research Agenda

Virtual Worlds

Am I My Brother\'s Web 2.0 Gatekeeper?

Three Doors...and Probability

Fireworks Accident and Injury Statistics

Shopping for Air Conditioners

Oscar De La Renta Dinnerware Productsc

$17 Billion Chemicals Market to Suffer the Impact of Modern Technology

Water treatment bypass loops having ozone and chlorine generators

Internet Video Trends: Video Aggregators and TV Platforms

Internet TV Platforms Come of Age

Aggregators

Platforms

Aggregators

Consumer Video Sharing Sites

Commercial Video Portals

Social Networks

Platforms

Internet TV Platforms

Community Platforms

Uber Ad Platforms

Trends in 2008

Branded Destinations

Audience Networks

Audience Monetization

Contextual Publishing

High-Quality Video

Design Future: Passionate, Self-Interested Design May Be Tomorrow Designer Best Path

How to Descale a Kettle

Making Sense Of New Technologies And Media: An Opinionated Digest by George Siemens - Jan.12 08

Sense-Making of Technology and Media: a George Siemens Weekly Digest

Online Photo Sharing

Changing Our Relationship With Computers

Video and Such

Is the IT Department Dead?

Boundary-less Living, Working and Learning

Why We Do Dumb or Irrational Things: 10 Brilliant Social Psychology Studies

Dropping DRM

Politicians...and Twitter

Is the Future of Education Lived Now in Journalism?

Immigration

Mashups on the Mainstream

Personal Search

Huge Wind Turbines of WWII Era Upended by New Turbine Models: Time Machine (January 1942)

Free Online Collaboration For Small Groups Now Integrates Full Videoconferencing and Screen-Sharing: Adobe Brio Reviewed

Adobe Brio Overview

Key New Traits - User Interface

Key Features Overview

Review Summary and Conclusions

Learn More