Discussion - Looking For Stories About Corporate Wikis

I started this blog saying that I wanted to explore Blogs, Wikis, and RSS feeds. I am learning to blog. Last Sunday, 12/03/06, the New York Times Magazine feature article was on the Intelligence Spy network. The article described the paradox inherent in creating a secure network. The different intelligence agencies had very secure network communications within their agency but very little ability to share information with other intelligence agencies. Rather than creating intelligence information that is sharable and actionable, they were creating secret information that was not easily sharable. The article also described a wiki the intelligence agencies has begun to use. One story in the New York Times Magazine really made the point about the power of a wiki. When the private plane crashed into the New York apartment building back in October, within 20 minutes a page was posted on the intelligence community wiki. In short order over 80 intelligence analysts found the page and shared comments and information. The intelligence community was able to quickly determine that the crash was not a terrorist event.

The New York Times Magazine article helped to push my learning about wikis one step forward. It was the story that really helped me to understand the implications of new technology and a cultural shift in how a intelligence agency shares informatoin. I got reminded about how powerful stories are in my learning process. Now I am looking for a couple of good storied about how wikis are being used in the corporate world.

Learning 2006 videos, MP3 and PDF files now available

For those of you following this blog you know that I am writing about my learning experience at and following Learning 2006. On the conference wiki most of the videos from the keynote presentations are now posted. If you missed the conference this web site is a resource for you to listen to some of the main plenary discussion at 2006. Click here to to the wiki.

Keeping Up With Technology

Jim Louderback, PC Magazine did a session on "Technology to Watch For - Devices that are changing learning" (scroll down to find the session if you are interested in listening to Jim's trend analysis). As I reviewed the video of this session last weekend, I realized just how important these sessions are for me. I count on these types of conference session and my participation in the Masie Consortium conference calls and region meetings to keep up with all the technology changes. I just do not have the time or the energy to play with and explore all of the new and emerging technologies. So what is happening in my learning process...I am becoming more conscious about how I learn.

Blogging my 2006 learning has also been a really interesting experience for me. Just the process of writing this blog has forced me to focus on my learning process. Without this blog I am sure that my learning process would have been "over come by events" and the conference learning experience would have drifted out of my conscious mind.

How practical is this new technology?

This blogging thing is no easy task. In a world where everything is "go, go go" I find it hard to find time for this new informal learning adventure. So how am I adapting to this new adventure. Each day I find myself spending at least some time thinking about this blog and my informal learning path coming off the Learning 2006 conference. Making the commitment to writing this blog was also a commitment to pursuing the personal learning experiences at the conference. Without that commitment many of the new ideas would be getting "cold" and more distant in my mind.

So time is my big challenge. My daily ritual includes a cup of coffee with cream and 45 minutes of quiet time each morning. That seems to be the time when I write here in the blog. Once the business day starts there seems to be not time at all for this learning activity. Was reading the Q2Learning newsletter this morning and came across the article, "the Medium (is Not Always) the Message". If you click on the link you can get a download of this two page article. Some interesting questions about time, focus, goals and promoting independent learning. Time is up for this morning. More later.

A Brochure Transforms My Thinking

I arrived at the Learning 2006 hotel at Disney World around noon on Sunday. I was planning to attend the Masie Consortium at 2:30 p.m. so I had some time to kill. Got registered for the conference and took myself to lunch.

For information about Map of Future Forces Affecting Education

I was going through the program and conference folder. In the binder was one brochure, a CD of conference sponsor materials and the Learning 2006 program. It had been a couple of years since I have attended a Masie event and I was struck by how things had chanced. It use to be that you got a suitcase full of materials, reference documents and sponsor literature. Now, all that stuff was compressed on to a CD. So I sat there at lunch a little curious with just two things to read, the brochure and the conference program. I picked up the brochure and started looking it over. Words on one side and a graphic on the other. I am a VISUAL LEARNER so I went right to the graphic and started a learning experience that has had a significant impact on my thinking!

The multiple levels and multiple forces on the map jumped out at me as I looked at the graphic. This was not a simple picture, but one that captured my curiosity. I ponder and I read, I pondered some more, I finished my lunch, pushed my salad plate to the side, spread out the brochure and pondered some more saying to myself, "this is really cool!" Here is some more information on the Forces Affecting Education if you want to explore yourself.

What was so interesting about the graphic was how it presented multiple layers of trends, issues and stakeholders. Our education model has been really a one size fits all model. When you spend a little time reviewing the graphic you realize that a linear model does not begin to address the issues facing education. As I was getting up from the table my mind was really engaged and I was very excited about this multi-level model. The brochure captured my thinking but did not provide one clear solution. I have gone back to that graphic a number of times. I have talked with friends about it. The information and the way it was presented has really engaged me. Dare to say I think I have shifted my thinking, maybe even learned something!

Below is some basic information about the graphic. If this really interests you best contact the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and order a hard copy of the map. You can look at it online on the website but the graphic is large ( 28" x 11" ) and you get the best full perspective with a hard copy of the brochure. Sometime in 2007 there will be an interactive web version of the graphic but it is not available yet.

The map is structured as a grid that presents the intersection between six key drivers of change—trends—and five critical impact areas. Taken together, their multiple intersections suggest an emerging future landscape of issues, concepts, and phenomena that will shape the broader context for education and its stakeholders. Consider the map a guide to a future landscape rather than a comprehensive representation of a definitive future.

2006 – 2016 Core Drivers of Change
Six driving forces of change form the core of the map forecast. These major trends form the vertical column on the left side of the map:

• Grassroots Economics
  
• Smart Networking
  
• Strong Opinions, Strongly Held
  
• Sick Herd
  
• Urban Wilderness
  
• The End of Cyberspace
  

The five critical impact areas form the horizontal columns on the top of the map and include:

• Family and Community
• Markets
• Institutions
• Educators and Learning
• Tools and Practice

The graphic is populated with elements across these columns and rows. The elements include Trends, Hotspots and Dilemmas.

Doing and Learning

Dave Hopla did a plenary presentation at Learning 2006 on "Muscle Memory and Learning" that I found quite fascinating. I watched him complete 99 of 103 free throws while he made his presentation. He really engaged me with his comments about visualizing, practice and feedback. The following day I had the opportunity to participate in the Pit Crew Training available at Learning 2006. Both learning experiences engaged me, but in different ways.
Listening to Dave and watching him complete free throw after free throw really got my attention, he walked his talk! That made an impression on me. His presentation got filed in a part of my brain where "important information" goes. That is the stuff that I can recall with ease. Also in that part of my brain is a vivid "to do item", get out on the basketball court soon to practice what I learned from Dave - make it my own!
The 30 minute Pit Crew Training and two tries at doing the pit crew tire change against the time clock was a second learning experience. There were all sorts of lessons learned in that 30 minute training experience. The learning stays vivid in my mind. "Doing" accelerated the learning experience and lessons learned are vividly recorded for playback. One example of a lesson learned - accuracy vs. speed, I can see the pneumatic wrench in my hands and the sequence I learned for taking off and putting on the lug nuts on the front tire. The instructor talked about accuracy vs. speed. In our first "pit stop" against the clock I was focused on speed, and wouldn't you know it took twice as long to get those lug nuts off! The time on the first round was over 38 seconds. On the second round, with more focus and the first round feedback, I concentrated on accuracy. Time on the second try improved by 10 seconds. There were five of us all working together. What I describe here is only my part of the team experience. And what is important to share here in the Blog this morning is my reflection on how I learn by doing.

Blogging

Two things happen when I am exploring new ideas, I find myself writing and talking about the new ideas. Learning and doing go together for me. Writing has always been a private experience for me. Journals are the place where I dialogue with me, were I discover me. There are always surprises when I write, new connections occur, new ideas pop up on the page. When I am learning I am also talking with my friends about new ideas. Conversations are a safe place to explore new ideas.

So this Blog is a whole new world of exploration for me. The writing part feels familiar, the public nature of a Blog is a new experience and a challenge for me.

I am going to start this Blog with an exploration of new ideas, thinking and learning that are emerging from my experiences at Learning 2006. More to come.