Speaking For All MankindRandom notes on politics, government, science, and technology.
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Can’t multitask. Can’t run Flash. No webcam. Limited to only apps in the Apple App Store. Seriously?
Waiting for the DroidPad which will blow the iPad away.
I’ve always liked Roger Schank since I read his Tell Me a Story back in 1991. In fact, he’s the impetus for my interest in mental models. His insights in teaching and learning are well-grounded in his experiences in teaching college classes and his consulting work to many large companies. That’s why his latest opinion on being realistic about the effects of technology on learning. “Learning is learning and technology is technology. The two are related if and only if the technology makes it possible to learn something that can be learned in no other way.”
Amazing video! Now, speaking as a public administration and public policy scholar, I am fascinated to see how this will change government in the next decade.
Watching the Olberman/Maddow wailing over Obama’s spending freeze proposal. I am especially enjoying the Republican glee over their supposed victory on this front. The Republicans do not see the trap that has been set for them in the midterms.
From Go strategy – “Reduction: Placing a stone far enough into the opponent’s area of influence to reduce the amount of territory he/she will eventually get, but not so far in that it can be cut off from friendly stones outside.”
The midterms will be a major setback for the Republicans.
Stowe Boyd promises three reasons why social networks are killing search but only delivers one. But it is a big reason – lack of innovation in search technology. I think that the increasing adoption of the semantic web will spur a new wave of innovation in search. Maybe a merger of search and social media?
Fun post from Future 2.0 on how to be an expert without really knowing anything. A better read is the think piece on how to think about the future.
Nineshift is reporting on the Brookings Institution educational conference sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. According to Nineshift, the conference has some interesting initiatives but the participants are missing the bigger picture: the shortage of knowledge workers. According to Nineshift, by 2015 there will be a shortage of 14 million knowledge workers. Nineshift argues that instead of trying to solve the problem with the inexpensive way of encouraging two-year degrees, that the US needs to promote universal education with the goal of increasing the number of four-year degree-holders.
Other nations have realized the value of universal education and its power to revitalize the economy and well-being of the citizens. Ireland is the most notable example and one can argue that the rise of India and China is due to their emphasis on education. American politicians claim to advocate education but after thirty years of concentrated effort, the US still lags behind other countries. Clearly we need to rethink our approach and commit to bringing about universal education.
According to Forrester Research (thanks for the link from Read Write Web). If you are responsible for government agency communications, you will want to look at Figure 1. How is your agency’s social media strategy serving the various groups on that ladder?
I was talking to a friend about my January 14th posting where I wrote about being “unfollowed” on Twitter after an exchange over the validity of informal learning. He laughed about it and told me that I shouldn’t be so sensitive. “It happens all the time.” he said.
“Well, then social networking has achieved a communication first,” I replied. “Remember the constant quote from our professors in the communication program? That you cannot not communicate.”
“Yes.”
“Well, it appears that social networking technologies can create new and more immediate ways of communicating. And it also appears that social networking technologies can now make it possible to fully not communicate.”
That is a powerful unintended effect with major societal ramifications.