tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29780552498931251632024-03-13T16:33:25.123+00:00TechnoWaffleaims to look at new technology and the latest hype to see if it is the best thing since sliced bread...Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-55186999743464342292018-03-16T15:42:00.000+00:002018-03-16T15:42:09.646+00:00The Practicality of Online Learning
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="375">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073697537 9 0 511 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
As I suggested almost ten years
ago in the book "<i>The Future of Learning: Insights and Innovations from
Executive Development</i>”, education has experienced its biggest shift in
millennia over the past few years, moving away from the paradigm of a teacher
at the front of a classroom imparting their knowledge and being the ‘sage on
the stage’. Facilitation of learning, or the ‘guide on the side’ is how
executive education tends to aim at try and make the learning stick, and with
the advent of social technologies, there has, of course, been a big shift
towards the ‘crowd in the cloud’ where the barriers to imparting knowledge have
crumbled and individuals learn from each other, where anyone can set themselves
up as an expert and help others on subjects ranging from strategy and corporate
responsibility to maths and mentoring. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
An important feature of all
these learning delivery methodologies (or ‘teaching’) is that they revolve
around ‘knowledge’. Knowledge, of course, is essential, but one doesn’t
need a teacher to acquire the knowledge - one can sit quietly with a textbook
or one’s favourite websites and read the knowledge. The way people used
to. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hUx_1EHLMVk/WqvljqOKqZI/AAAAAAADsiI/F3xsC-bunIYqDrpVVTm2xh43WjzOKkJ6wCLcBGAs/s1600/knowledge-is-power.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="675" height="258" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hUx_1EHLMVk/WqvljqOKqZI/AAAAAAADsiI/F3xsC-bunIYqDrpVVTm2xh43WjzOKkJ6wCLcBGAs/s320/knowledge-is-power.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
What none of these methods are
really good at doing is teaching ‘skills’ - both soft skills and hard skills.
They can teach you the theories about teamwork, or influencing skills. You
can learn everything about leadership that has ever been written and expose you
to great political and business leaders who can explain their own theories on
what made them great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is still
knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing the knowledge does
not mean you will know how to use it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
They can teach you the principles
of creating a Net Present Value for an investment or developing a strategy for
expanding markets, but things would still simply remain theory, with the only
practical side being case studies of successful, or unsuccessful situations
that other firms have experienced in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With the world of business changing at the pace it is, where some
estimates suggest that up to 85% of the jobs in 2030 do not yet exist, reading
about the past is not always going to be relevant for the future and the
knowledge of a dozen PhD theses will not help a manager actually manage better
until they have seen what works when, how and why.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
Hult International Business
School’s mission is to be the most relevant business school in the world, and
there have been many discussions on what ‘relevance’ means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the undergraduate program this means
preparing students for their future careers, by not just teaching theories and
business frameworks (which they do need to know) but, more importantly, giving
them a practical experience of applying the knowledge they learn in real-life
business challenges with clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 brands
such as Unilever, Amazon, Ferrari, McLaren, Virgin, UBS and Micron.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What this does is convert the knowledge into
skills, the skill of analysing a client’s problem, researching the
organisation, the environment and the competition, recommending solutions,
delivering those recommendations and thinking about stakeholder management
throughout.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
Online learning, as we all know,
can be an excellent way of transmitting knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The textbooks of the past can be read online,
of course, but the larger publishers have, for a long time, provided an online
environment accessible to purchasers of the textbook, where students can go
through quizzes and simple games to test their understanding of the materials.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
Transmitting lectures online is
not new – the Open University in the UK made high-level knowledge on a wide range
of subjects available to the entire population by filming academics, predominantly
with bushy beards and woolly jumpers (starting, as they did, in 1971), and
broadcasting the lectures on the BBC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Move on almost fifty years and everyone is able to record anything on
their phone and post it on YouTube, from lectures on quantum physics from the
world’s top universities, to individuals explaining how to calculate a Net
Present Value, or use the business model canvas, or change the inner tube on a
bicycle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once again, however, whilst
very useful, this is all about transmitting and imparting knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how do we teach skills through online
learning? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
The acquisition of skills, of
course, can only come through practical experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one thing to know how a piano works,
but it takes practice to play it well, converting the knowledge into a skill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
And so it is with all relevant
and practical learning – creating opportunities for the student to practice the
knowledge they have learned and, in so doing, acquire the skill.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
The worldwide web has
revolutionised our lives by giving everyone instant access to the world’s
knowledge from their mobile phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Delivery of that knowledge is through text, pictures, audio and
video.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The knowledge can be tested through
online quizzes or online submissions (such as reports or videos) can be assessed
by peers around the world, showing how the ‘crowd in the cloud’ can be both
teacher and student at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
The challenge for online
learning, however, is how to provide the practice needed to turn the knowledge
into skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to ensure students are
engaging online with a project the way you can be sure they do in the
classroom, when they are face-to-face with the client and the mentor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to ensure everyone is listening to the
brief – in short – how can you be sure that the student through online learning
is paying attention and not, for example, on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,
WeChat or Twitter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least in the
classroom you can walk around and see what everyone is up to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And environments like MOOCs are great in
theory but have a very low completion rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A challenge for educators everywhere is far more urgent for online
educators: how to engage the disengaged?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
The most common way to engage
students in an online practical challenge is through a business simulation,
where individuals or teams work on a ‘fake’ challenge and the ‘sim’ regularly
gives feedback on their performance via the virtual stakeholders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simulations are great for practicing with
new-found knowledge in a safe environment where the worst that happens is that
you lose the ‘game’. There are no real clients to disappoint and no real cash
to lose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best sims provide
opportunities for blended learning, where the participants have an offline
element, such as talking to investors to request funding, or presenting to a board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This approach can work very well in small,
local environments (such as at business school where all the students are in
the same building) and whilst the meetings and presentations can take place
through a virtual meeting tool such as Skype, GotoMeeting, Citrix or Zoom, it
is again too easy for the underperformers to hide, quite literally, off camera.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
All of the online media
described above are very two-dimensional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The ultimate goal of online learning is not to recreate the offline
experience (mainstream education has also always struggled with the question of
how to engage the disengaged and deliver practical learning experiences to
scale) but find a consistent way to deliver both knowledge and skills to a
large virtual audience and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> that
it has been received, acquired and absorbed by the students or participants.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
Virtual worlds have been a
promising opportunity for over 15 years but they have been the preserve of
technology evangelists, geeks and early-adopters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very large percentage of millennial and
Generation Z (such as one would find in an undergraduate student body) are
surprisingly, shockingly, ill prepared for online interactions. There is a
false but widely held belief that young adults are digital natives and
therefore completely comfortable with all technology, when the reality is that
many confine themselves to a small selection of apps on their mobile. They
don’t necessarily know, for example, how to use Microsoft Office efficiently,
or use the shortcuts that will help them use their laptops. They do not always
know how to add an email address to their mobile phone and they have not all
experienced virtual reality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
In summary, while online
learning is a godsend to all of us to quickly clarify confusions and enable
self-paced learning for the busy executives, empowers those far from a major
seat of learning to experience the wisdom of the world’s greatest thinkers and
allows the crowd in the cloud to share their expertise (we are all experts in
something in our own little way), it faces the same problems the traditional
educational systems have always faced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even when we get to the stage that we can implant a chip in our brains
which instantly accesses all the knowledge in the world, we still need to learn
how to use that knowledge and convert it into a skill. On a personal level, I
cannot wait for the chip, and am fascinated to see how the educators of the
future will focus on the practical.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.45pt;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-19911897419007230932016-01-05T09:55:00.000+00:002016-01-05T09:55:06.270+00:00Why Customer Experience must be at the heart of Digital Strategies<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Gartner’s Hype Cycle shows how the point at which adoption and implementation of technologies by the general public and organisations lags behind the hype surrounding the technology. That time-lag could be months, but in the case of some technologies it could be years… virtual worlds and augmented reality being a case in point. It is only now, 10-15 years after people started talking about the potential of virtual worlds and multi-user virtual environments such as SecondLife that the hardware is finally catching up (through immersive 3D viewers such as Oculus Rift and the type of non-tactile interface provided by the type of technology running the Microsoft Kinnect gaming console), in the same way that 4G connectivity and the speed of mobile phones allows for augmented reality to become viable proposition. Wearables have gone through a much shorter hype-cycle, with consumer-orientated products such as the Apple, Samsung or Motorola watches being desirable gadgets selling in large numbers.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">But the technologies mentioned have still not achieved the critical mass for organisations to make them an imperative to achieve competitive advantage - most people still use their mobiles for Facebook, texting and that old-fashioned habit of calling people.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">What has changed with the growth in the technologies are two important factors: </span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">that there are large segments of the population, who might be a core target audience for a particular </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">organisation, for whom these new technologies are used on a daily basis - organisations can only know this by understanding their customers through research, communication and insight; and </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">people are becoming more impatient as the variety of information they have available on their mobile devices allows them to be more connected, share their content more easily and find information quicker. </span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">A result of this is that any organisation that puts obstacles in the way of allowing a customer to complete their desired task in the moment is in danger of losing that customer to a competitor. This could mean providing an app that allows the customer to purchase the goods or services on the mobile (at the very least, a mobile-friendly website); allowing them to talk to a customer-services representative when they want to and not just during normal office hours when the customer is at work and potentially not able to call; and allowing the customer to share their experience, or the product with their circles of friends.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">For many organisations, these principles of putting the customer experience first are obvious and have been a part of the way they have interacted with the customer for many years now… but there are still shocking numbers of organisations that do not put their websites and mobile interfaces through user testing, who allow design to overrule functionality, and who fail to realise that whilst we all embrace new technologies to some extent, there are thousands of sub-groups and niches within any target audience where both the luddite and the technophile need to be catered for.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
Organisations who ignore either of these groups are doomed to lag behind their competitors...</div>
Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-17012479074244252542015-11-13T16:13:00.002+00:002015-11-13T16:20:40.839+00:00Why Cybersecurity is not a tech-imperative, but a business imperative<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ayTQEEMAlUk/VkYIzuQA6MI/AAAAAAACPhg/ibta0Bko4Ho/s1600/Image%2Bof%2BLens%2BPassword%2Bby%2BSalvatore%2BVuono%2Bfrom%2BFreeDigitalPhoto-net.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ayTQEEMAlUk/VkYIzuQA6MI/AAAAAAACPhg/ibta0Bko4Ho/s320/Image%2Bof%2BLens%2BPassword%2Bby%2BSalvatore%2BVuono%2Bfrom%2BFreeDigitalPhoto-net.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Lens Password by Salvatore Vuono from FreeDigitalPhoto-net.jpg</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Cybersecurity is the watchword of the day. Hardly a day goes by without mention of the hacking of a large organisation, be it <a href="http://www.technowaffle.com/2015/10/why-talktalk-hack-is-crisis-of.html" target="_blank">a large tech company</a>, the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/10/hacker-who-broke-into-cia-director-john-brennan-email-tells-how-he-did-it/" target="_blank">emails of a high-ranking security official</a>, or a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/us/office-of-personnel-management-hackers-got-data-of-millions.html?_r=0" target="_blank">government database</a>. There are those who call for tighter restrictions on what data organisations hold about individuals, in the vain hope that this will help mitigate the risk of the data being hacked. <br />
What it should do, however, is highlight the gaping hole in the agendas of the executive boards of those multinationals, where the people responsible, ultimately, for corporate governance and recruiting the C-level executives, are unable to ask the right questions of the management and, therefore, unable to determine if the companies are being sufficiently vigilant against the threat of hacking. <br />
<br />
An organisation’s IT strategy, which would (should) include cybersecurity, needs to be driven by the business, the organization’s board, rather than from the IT department itself, which would be a case of the tail wagging the dog. The problem is that with so few board members understanding technology, they don’t know what questions to ask – and probably feel that they should be enquiring in to the specification of the firewall, the level of data encryption or the quality of the antivirus package.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q02V75kJCeQ/VkYIoE0-i2I/AAAAAAACPhY/LW4I7XlPLz0/s1600/Advice_Image%2BStuart%2BMiles%2B%2BFreeDigitalPhotos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; font-size: 18.6667px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q02V75kJCeQ/VkYIoE0-i2I/AAAAAAACPhY/LW4I7XlPLz0/s200/Advice_Image%2BStuart%2BMiles%2B%2BFreeDigitalPhotos.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Advice_Image Stuart Miles FreeDigitalPhotos</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
These questions, however, are precisely the ones for the IT department to consider. But the board needs to think about compliance, their fiduciary duty and their responsibility to increase shareholder value. When these three elements might be compromised by the implementation of the organisation’s technology, the board needs to pay attention.<br />
<br />
And so hacking is for the business to think about, at the highest level, as it goes to the heart of one of the biggest risks modern companies now face. Hacking will happen. <br />
<br />
Data is needed to provide products and services for customers and to create competitive advantage. The solution is not to reduce the amount of data held, but to ensure it is properly protected. The boards need to know what questions to ask and whom to ask them of. They need to ask what value the data has on the open (or black) market? What are the potential losses to the organisation if the data is stolen? And how can the organization create a culture where everyone is focused on these questions and is able to raise an early-warning when vulnerabilities are found?
Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-18871343015960544972015-10-26T13:22:00.003+00:002015-10-27T12:33:35.324+00:00Why the TalkTalk hack is a crisis of leadership and culture, not technology...<h3>
TalkTalk getting talked about</h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PSyXoyPc62w/Vi4khSKDYKI/AAAAAAACOMs/fgJypoLx8Ns/s1600/Screenshot%2B2015-10-26%2B13.02.45.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PSyXoyPc62w/Vi4khSKDYKI/AAAAAAACOMs/fgJypoLx8Ns/s320/Screenshot%2B2015-10-26%2B13.02.45.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TalkTalk website 26 Oct</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thursday night's news (22 October) featured an interview with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_Harding" target="_blank">Dido Harding</a>, CEO of <a href="http://www.talktalkgroup.com/" target="_blank">TalkTalk</a>, the British telecoms group which, according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TalkTalk_Group" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> "<i>is a company which provides pay television, telecommunications, internet access, and mobile network services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom</i>".<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34636308" target="_blank">The big news</a>, for those who hadn't heard, was the sustained <a href="http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DDoS_attack.html" target="_blank">DDoS attack</a> the site received on Wednesday and where personal data belonging to some (or all) of the 4 million TalkTalk customers was stolen by what were referred to as 'Russian Jihadists' (and later turned out to be a 15-year-old boy in Norther Ireland).<br />
<br />
Ms Harding (or Lady Harding as perhaps she should be known, after being made a life-peer in 2014) did a good PR job of going around the media and saying 'mea culpa' and 'we made a mistake' and opening herself up to the public drubbing and the <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=LON:TALK" target="_blank">fall in TalkTalk's shareprice of 20% in the past 5 days</a>.<br />
<br />
The method of entry the hackers used was, apparently, 'SQL injection', which cyber-security experts suggest is a known access point and is easy to protect. <br />
<br />
<h3>
The PR piece</h3>
On her appearance on the BBC News she also that she didn't know if the data was unencrypted. Even though it was later suggested that it was encrypted, it took her until 3 minutes and 20 seconds into the announcement before she gave the message that customers should check their bank accounts for unusual activity and other simple precautions they should take, suggesting customers' concerns were not the highest of her priorities. <br />
I am a TalkTalk customer and yet, despite the impressive ability the company has to update me regularly about new channels I can subscribe to or when I've rented a new film online, they didn't get around to contacting me personally about the issue until gone 3pm on Friday... almost two days since the attack apparently happened. Perhaps while Dido was talking to the media, someone could have drafted an email and a text? The text wouldn't have taken long... they didn't have a message on the website for a couple of days either.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The Reality</h3>
Modern companies will be hacked. This is a fact of life. Just as employers should learn to <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/?K=9781137024817" target="_blank">trust their employees and embrace the possibilities of social technologies</a>, so they should also trust the fact that hackers (who are, themselves, a social technology - allowing multiple people to work together, virtually - to break into computer systems) are going to try and attack them. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/23/talktalk-criticised-for-poor-security-and-handling-of-hack-attack" target="_blank">It's not as if TalkTalk hadn't been victim of attack before</a> and they should have been better prepared to respond to it. You don't expect banks to keep your money in a cardboard shoe-box under the counter. You expect them to take every precaution, including signature and PIN identification measures, extra iD and a big strong vault because you know that there are those with a penchant for sawn-off shotguns and wearing ladies' tights on their heads who are likely to be tempted to attempt to steal the money.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A Leadership Problem</h3>
All of this highlights the fact that the problems at TalkTalk are not ones of technology, they are ones of leadership. Not just Ms Harding's leadership in not appearing not to fill key I.T. roles within the organisation, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34636308" target="_blank">although the fact that there are personnel changes</a> should not change, in the short-term, the status quo of an I.T. system.<br />
<br />
The leadership failing is throughout the organisation, not just with C-level executives. It seems very difficult to believe, that no one in TalkTalk's I.T. department was aware of the failings of the systems they were maintaining. It seems more likely that they either chose to not say anything (and in so doing, showing, in my opinion, a lack of leadership and personal responsibility) or were too scared to.<br />
<br />
Everyone can show leadership by influencing everyone else in the team to perform to the best of their abilities for the benefit of the team. Everyone needs to take personal responsibility for their actions and the actions they can influence. And everyone should be thinking about the ethical aspect of what they do - are they doing the right thing?<br />
<br />
<h3>
<a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/?K=9781137024817" target="_blank">Embracing Social Technologies</a></h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tmUWoUm2uyI/Vi4jR_v1ilI/AAAAAAACOMg/NyCulIfT9do/s1600/%25E2%2580%259CComputer%2BFraud%252Cfinancial%2BFraud%252C%2BConcept%2BBackground%25E2%2580%259D%2Bby%2Bhyena%2Breality%2Bfor%2BFreeDigitalPhotos-net.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tmUWoUm2uyI/Vi4jR_v1ilI/AAAAAAACOMg/NyCulIfT9do/s320/%25E2%2580%259CComputer%2BFraud%252Cfinancial%2BFraud%252C%2BConcept%2BBackground%25E2%2580%259D%2Bby%2Bhyena%2Breality%2Bfor%2BFreeDigitalPhotos-net.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Computer Fraud,financial Fraud, Concept Background” <br />
by hyena reality via FreeDigitalPhotos.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
TalkTalk failed, furthermore, to embrace the hacker community outside the organisation, possibly believing that if they didn't engage with it they wouldn't get hacked? Perhaps they could have taken a leaf out of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/whitehat/" target="_blank">Facebook's 'White Hat' programme</a> which invites hackers to identify bugs and vulnerabilities in Facebook's system and, if they had not been previously identified, earn a minimum of $500 (with no maximum - the bounty offered is based on the severity of the vulnerability) - with over $1.3million paid out by February this year and one hacker receiving $30k for identifying a serious hole in Facebook's security.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/about/appsecurity/programs-home/" target="_blank">Google have a similar program</a> and by January this year had <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/google-paid-white-hat-hackers-more-than-15-million-dollars-2015-1?r=US&IR=T" target="_blank">paid out over $1.5million</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This kind of crowdsourcing is not new (Facebook started in 2011, Google a year before that - and crowdsourcing itself goes back over ten years before that). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
TalkTalk have failed. The technology flaws were unacceptable, but it is the management who are struggling: having failed to think beyond the basics, failed to inspire their teams to do the right thing, and failed to prevent both customers and investors losing faith in them.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-16643151614087352592015-10-20T20:47:00.000+01:002015-10-20T20:47:01.527+01:00What do you do with customers who aren't digital?<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34570344" target="_blank">A news article today</a> explained that "<i>Over 12 million people, and a million small businesses in the UK do not have the skills to prosper in the digital era</i>". This is worrying on so many levels:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>how can we be sure our current and future employees understand how to engage online?</li>
<li>how do we reach the non-digital customers, particularly if our products and services are essentially internet-based?</li>
<li>what training can we provide, to the general public, to help them reach a higher level of engagement and comfort with digital?</li>
<li>what can we do, as managers, within our own organisations, to better equip our teams, our peers and those further up the food-chain so that when we discuss a digital marketing campaign, a plan to manage knowledge online or engaging with our stakeholders through social media, they don't just smile, say 'there there' and mark you down as criminally insane?</li>
</ol>
<div>
The digital divide is one that affects every area of society, as I discuss in <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/?K=9781137024817" target="_blank">Making Social Technologies Work</a>, there are large parts of the world getting further and further behind as their societies persist with slow internet connections, a slow uptake of connected technology (be it PCs, laptops or mobile) and, very importantly, as businesses continue to ignore the potential benefits of embracing Social Technologies.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXn5h017NO8/ViaZu8ps3pI/AAAAAAACOFc/gIvfv3on8GM/s1600/%25E2%2580%259CLaptop%2BAgainst%2BWorld%2BMap%25E2%2580%259D%2Bby%2Bnattavut%2B-%2BFreedigitalphotos-net.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXn5h017NO8/ViaZu8ps3pI/AAAAAAACOFc/gIvfv3on8GM/s320/%25E2%2580%259CLaptop%2BAgainst%2BWorld%2BMap%25E2%2580%259D%2Bby%2Bnattavut%2B-%2BFreedigitalphotos-net.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Laptop Against World Map” by nattavut (Freedigitalphotos.net)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Access to the internet, the World Wide Web, should not be considered a 'human right' enforceable by law... it is access to impartial information that should be considered that - however it is delivered. But when those connected to the web benefit from cheaper products and services, greater access to information, which includes impartial information, and when they are able to create their own businesses at near-zero cost, or meet new like-minded people or watch fluffy kittens falling off a shelf (which makes them feel good for a short time), the importance of the digital divide becomes more apparent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is not in itself that some people have greater access than others where the problem lies, but that the benefits grow exponentially for those connected, and those who are not fall further behind. In the same way that someone learning to read at the age of 20 will fall significantly behind someone who started learning at 5 years of age, so are the socio-economic benefits to the metaphoric 5-year-old hugely increased by starting early.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The solution, of course, is education. Educate governments to open access. Educate businesses of the benefits of embracing the web, and social technologies, for marketing, knowledge management, stakeholder engagement, research, new product development. Educate employees how they should engage with social technologies. Educate the population of the benefits of doing everything online, from buying products to paying their taxes, from keeping in touch with family abroad to meeting new people.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The education usually needs to start at the top. Politicians. Civil servants. C-level executives in large organisations. </div>
Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-33967891711688297052015-10-02T19:49:00.000+01:002015-10-02T19:49:12.517+01:00Why do we still blame the tools, not the workmen?<div dir="ltr">
On the same day that I attend an evening session at my son's school to discuss the use of an online maths resource the pupils will use for their maths homework called '<a href="http://www.mathletics.co.uk/">Mathletics</a>', I see <u>two</u> stories about schools that have banned screens in the education process and, on one case, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/29/the-no-tech-school-where-screens-are-off-limits-even-at-home?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Hootsuite" target="_blank">where they were discouraged at home too</a>, where the school's charter says "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/29/the-no-tech-school-where-screens-are-off-limits-even-at-home?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Hootsuite" target="_blank">We are against all forms of electronics for small children and only gradual integration towards it in adolescence. That includes the internet.</a>"</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The articles included <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/new-approach-needed-to-deliver-on-technologys-potential-in-schools.htm" target="_blank">a report by the OECD</a> which had been interpreted by some sites and other media to suggest that children learn 'worse' with computers than without.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The suggestion by the other schools is that screens are damaging to the education of the children. I wonder if teachers are concerned that the kids have difficulty concentrating, and are constantly distracted by the screens.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
It calls to mind the CTO who told me, while I was researching my book, that employees using social media during work hours was not a technology issue but a performance management issue. If the managers who wanted him to block Facebook so that their teams were not distracted were better at motivating the teams, distraction wouldn't be an issue. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
And back in the eighties when I was temping in over a dozen different offices, I found plenty of ways to distract myself if I was bored or felt unchallenged. This was before the internet. Back then we had books. Newspapers. Magazines. Comics. Telephones. Doodling. Tea breaks. Toilet breaks. Extended lunch breaks (down the pub for a game or three of pool).</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Banning something doesn't get rid of it (drugs, alcohol during prohibition, homosexuality or abortion in decades past) and often makes it more attractive. Forbidden fruit and all that.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2WBPm8uSNc/Vg7RF1YZ5lI/AAAAAAACNxg/pFccMeZ09XU/s1600/Boy%2BChoosing%2Bby%2Barztsamui.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2WBPm8uSNc/Vg7RF1YZ5lI/AAAAAAACNxg/pFccMeZ09XU/s400/Boy%2BChoosing%2Bby%2Barztsamui.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“Boy Choosing” by arztsamui<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr">
Children who don't have access to screens will not learn how to code. How to hack machines. They won't have access to the wealth of knowledge available on there web. They won't learn how to create and edit videos, record music, publish their own creativity.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
What is frustrating is that the charter from that London school banning all screens seems to echo the rejection of technology by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_life_in_the_modern_world" target="_blank">Amish societies</a>. Of course one can learn well without screens. Of course screens can be distracting and can be a disincentive to concentrate. But the reality is that people have screens all around them. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
What they need is education and training on what constitutes sensible and appropriate usage. When to use screens and when not to. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
They will not, as I fear some of the children at the schools that reject screens might be, unprepared and even fearful of spending their days with screens. That is how many, if not most, of us spend our days. We use screens. If the screen stops someone learning appropriately, or working efficiently, then the teacher or manager needs to look hard at their own techniques.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Stop blaming the technology, and start looking for more creative solutions that do not banish technology but embrace it and put it in context.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
What I can hope for is that those children will go up, clueless, and ready to read the umpteenth edition of my book '<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Social-Technologies-Work-Consultants-ebook/dp/B011CXMTCA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441907224&sr=8-1&keywords=making+social+technologies+work" target="_blank">Making Social Technologies Work</a>'... I can but hope.</div>
Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-47235551002006574772015-06-24T23:04:00.000+01:002015-06-24T23:06:39.447+01:00Old News dressed up as New NewsAs someone who tries to keep their eyes on technology, innovation and the actions of the big online companies to see what's happening next, it is rather shocking to occasionally see old news polished up as new.<br />
<br />
An example of this is from today's <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/33256814/gmail-adds-an-undo-send-email-tool-for-its-users" target="_blank">BBC News</a> showing an article about Google's wonderful email service, Gmail, providing an 'Undo Send' function for up to 30 seconds after an email has been sent.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/0B7F/production/_83834920_458046608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/0B7F/production/_83834920_458046608.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Shocking because the feature in question has been a 'Labs' feature, available to all Gmail users, for many many years.<br />
<br />
For me this is as heinous a crime as believing that a song on X Factor (or it's many equivalents) is original without realising that it had been written and recorded 30 years previously.<br />
<br />
As I've mentioned previously, a fine example is those who think <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs" target="_blank">Steve Jobs</a> invented digital music, the digital music player (iPod) and mp3s. I, like many, <a href="http://secondhandsongs.com/work/546/versions" target="_blank">had an mp3 player long before Apple</a>'s guru realised the potential of music and the company I worked for sold legitimate, legal, digital audio downloads long before iTunes thought people would pay for stuff online.<br />
<br />
This is not to denigrate the wonderful job Jobs did in marketing something that the pioneers couldn't get out of the 'Innovators' stage of the Diffusion of Innovations curve... they didn't even reach Early Adopters in some cases - but they were, clearly, the future.<br />
<br />
So Google having an 'Undo' button on Gmail is not an innovation. It's not a revelation. it's not fascinating. It's clearly a slow news day... and thank Christ for that. If we got through a day without a massacre somewhere in the world being reported by the news, then hooray for out-of-date tech news!Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-53017037578534125682014-02-28T18:55:00.001+00:002014-02-28T18:55:20.634+00:00Gamification of LifeAfter a long time with no time to post, I find myself posting on Gamification whilst listening to a talk by <a href="http://www.yukaichou.com/" target="_blank">@Yukaichou</a> from <a href="http://enterprise-gamification.com/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">Enterprise Gamification Consultancy</a> at <a href="http://www.hult.edu/" target="_blank">Hult International Business School</a> organised by a student <a href="https://twitter.com/NKakuev" target="_blank">@NKakuev</a>. He has been listed a 'top-5 gamification guru' on a UK Leaderboard apparently and having been to other talks about gamification, here is someone with 10 years' experience that appears to actually know what it is about.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwNkVDPX24s/UxDWHFuvfeI/AAAAAAABYrs/XaSlkhEs6oQ/s1600/gamification-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YwNkVDPX24s/UxDWHFuvfeI/AAAAAAABYrs/XaSlkhEs6oQ/s1600/gamification-1.jpeg" height="299" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Source: http://www.profacts.be/blog/?p=846</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
One of the examples he talks about is how to create a game called '<b>FoldIt</b>' to help create a protein structure for the AIDs problem. The problem existed for 15 years and was solved in 10 days.<br />
<br />
Another example listed is <b>SAP Community Network</b> where they added game elements into their system and managed to increase their Active Users by 1300% and Activity by 2300%. As Yu-Kai says, this is not a start-up - that 1300% growth is significant when one is talking about SAP.<br />
<br />
Example 3: <b>Autodesk </b>- where people go to different countries and people solve different problems. It might be fixing a bridge (etc.) and you have to use a free trial of Autodesk - the trial use increased 54% and Sales Revenue increased by 29%.<br />
<br />
Yu-kai wrote a list of <a href="http://ow.ly/u6WzG" target="_blank">Gamification stats that are useful to help show ROI</a>. <br />
<br />
He then went on, through this whistle-stop tour of Gamification, to talk about the<b> Schopenhauer Truth Hype Cycle</b> (compare to Gartner's Hype Cycle)<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Ridiculed </li>
<li>Violently opposed </li>
<li>Regarded as self-evident</li>
</ol>
<br />
Which sounds like the process people go through with feedback... which brings us to Gartner saying that 80% of gamification attempts will fail due to bad design. So how do you get better design?<br />
<br />
Good Game Design asks the question "How do I want my users to feel?"<br />
<br />
Yu-kai went on to talk about <a href="http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/octalysis-complete-gamification-framework/" target="_blank">8 core drivers that make games fun</a> (do check out his blog for the meanings behind the headlines), but that also make us want to hang out with friends. These core drivers are:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Epic Meaning & Calling</li>
<li>Empowerment</li>
<li>Social Influence</li>
<li>Unpredictability</li>
<li>Avoidance</li>
<li>Scarcity & Impatience</li>
<li>Ownership</li>
<li>Accomplishment</li>
</ol>
<br />
Yu-kai gave a great talk about what gamification is and what works, what does not work and how people who want to use gamification should focus on engaging users rather than just causing addiction. He has a framework called '<a href="http://www.yukaichou.com/octalysis.html" target="_blank">Octalysis</a>' based on the 8 core drivers above. He plots a matrix showing Discovery, Onboarding, Scaffolding and Endgame against Achievers, Explorers, Socialisers and Killers.<br />
<br />
What surprises me is the number of people who still don't know what Gamification is, let alone whether or not it should be for them. This is the same noise people made when social media first came about: 'it's for kids' or 'it's not relevant for my business'. If you can make people enjoy engaging with your business, they will. It should be obvious... I'll watch with interest how much people continue to treat this as 'new' over the coming years.<br />
<br />
So why the title 'Gamification of Life'? Is life a game? There is an end-point. There is a level of competition in every aspect of life: key points of the game (school, university, grad-school, relationships, marriage, children, jobs, careers, career-changes, recognition, fitness, beauty, wealth, longevity, popularity, altruism....) can cause people to compete and compare themselves with others (favourably or otherwise).<br />
<br />
A lot of apps focus on this to help people eat less, do more exercise, spend more sensibly... so it would be interesting to see how this could be used to help individuals 'improve'. Essentially, I'm thinking of how to gamify therapy: we all need that!Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-32707642767842566052013-07-19T15:09:00.001+01:002013-07-19T15:09:39.086+01:00Gamification for Business...Further to <a href="http://www.technowaffle.com/2012/08/how-to-name-tech-products.html">my post a year or two ago on gamification and trade-fairs</a> here's an infographic that benefits for businesses...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<p>
<a href="http://www.onlinebusinessdegree.org/2013/06/10/winning-at-their-own-game-the-business-benefits-of-gamification/"><img src="http://www.onlinebusinessdegree.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Gamification.jpg" alt="Winning at Their Own Game: The Business Benefits of Gamification " width="500" border= "0" /></a><br /><b>Infographic courtesy: OnlineBusinessDegree.org</b><br /></p>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-73685218983608804292012-08-07T16:37:00.002+01:002012-08-09T06:04:12.981+01:00How to name tech products<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-igfRD0nZA34/UCE2CDkRGII/AAAAAAAAWUA/FqVxbF6R9h4/s1600/Image+Alphabet+Toy+by+mistermong+at+FreeDigitalPhoto-net.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="29" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-igfRD0nZA34/UCE2CDkRGII/AAAAAAAAWUA/FqVxbF6R9h4/s200/Image+Alphabet+Toy+by+mistermong+at+FreeDigitalPhoto-net.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
What’s in a name? Would an Apple, by any other name, smell as sweet? Would Jobs and Wozniak have had as much success with their company if it had been called Lemon? Would a Blackberry be better as a Raspberry or a Gooseberry? Would Raspberry Pi sell as quickly if it was Apple Pie?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
With tech products there is no hard-and-fast rule of what works and what does not. Is Apple’s habit of naming OSX versions after big cats (Panther, Puma, Mountain Lion) better than Google’s rule of naming Android versions after deserts (Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice-Cream Sandwich, Jellybean…)? Does it make one product more likeable than another? Does it make it more reliable? Does it sell more? Are either of them fundamentally better (leading to greater brand recognition and helping drive brand loyalty) than Microsoft’s Windows versions (Windows 95, 97, Millennium, XP, Vista, 7)?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Some tech products have names that have little more thought behind them than no one else had the name and the inventors liked it (see Firefox). Others used branding experts to exhaust all possibilities in the search of the one, true, perfect name (iPod). Some brands are vanity projects (Dyson and Dell) whilst the actual product names are instantly forgettable (Latitude E6320 anyone?).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
In an age of multiculturalism, anyone thinking of branding has to think how the name will be received in different countries and languages. Mitsubishi should have consulted their Spanish office when deciding to call their 4x4 ‘Pajero’ (which has connotations of self-pleasuring in the Iberian language) and, because it has to succeed in the USA to gain global acceptance, the name must be easy to pronounce in English.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
It can have connotations of space (Galaxy) or be an acronym (Vaio). It can be frivolous (Twitter) or a compound pun (Pinterest; Instagram). It could even evoke the beginnings of a burning fire (Kindle).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Having been asked to write something (above) for ZDNet Asia but for which I have been asked to include less questions, I created another version. My inability to self-edit efficiently means I am including both versions in this post.... with full disclosure and apologies for repetition:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
People who create, design and program tech products, have long had a sense of playfulness. Perhaps it is the ability to create something from nothing, and name it, that gives a sense of power. It is different from naming a child as one must consider the feelings and opinions of one’s spouse, relatives, the child’s grandparents and, in some cases, if the name is so odd, if it will lead the child to get beaten up at school.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
With tech products there are no such limitations. But there are no rules either. Some fruit are suitable names… but not all fruit. An Apple computer would perhaps not have the image it does if it were a Lemon or a Banana. Calling a smartphone a Blackberry might seem obvious now, but would we have embraced it if it had been called a Raspberry or even a Gooseberry?</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
The idle sound of birds talking led to the name Twitter…but it could just as easily have been Natter, or Cheep-Cheep, or Noise. Raspberry Pi, the new open-source credit-card sized computer, has as much connection to its name as Apple Crumble or Strawberry Sigma. The two main sources of computer operating systems have very different nomenclatures but neither indicates, at all, what the products actually are nor what they do. Some names, therefore, are designed to clearly differentiate themselves from the previous version, or maintain an air of seriousness some might consider appropriate for a business, such as with Microsoft Windows’s Millennium, XP, Vista and 7. Some try to exude power and passion, such as Apple’s OSX Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion over the same period. Some try to suggest a sense of fun, as with Google’s mobile operating system Android, which uses deserts in its naming: Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Some product names have little more thought behind them than no one else had the name and the inventors liked it (see Firefox). Some brands are vanity projects (Dyson and Dell) whilst the actual product names are instantly forgettable (Latitude E6320 anyone?).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
In an age of multiculturalism, anyone thinking of branding has to think how the name will be received in different countries and languages. Mitsubishi should have consulted their Spanish office when deciding to call their 4x4 ‘Pajero’ (which has connotations of self-pleasuring in the Iberian language) and, because it has to succeed in the USA to gain global acceptance, the name must be easy to pronounce in English.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Tech products often try to suggest the future, or science fiction. So any suggestion of space is valid, as with Samsung’s Galaxy range, or Sun. Acronyms will sometimes work, such as with Sony’s Vaio range, whilst some companies go for compound puns, such as with Pinterest or Instagram. A verb suggesting the beginnings of a roaring fire might, for some, be a strange alternative to paper-based books (Kindle).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
One can go through a complex branding exercise to try and suggest a name that summarises the essence of the product (iPod), or one can name a product after one’s daughter (Apple’s Lisa or the MySQL database) or a popular TV programme (Python) or an item of clothing the founder wears (Red Hat Linux).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
In summary, there are no hard-and-fast rules about what names work and what names do not. The only rules are:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
a. Make sure no one has used it before;</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
b. Make sure it can be pronounced in English;</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
c. Make it memorable.</div>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-1505054533824905022012-06-08T14:31:00.001+01:002019-12-24T10:45:07.222+00:00SEO and how to search on GoogleFrom a recent project run for <a href="https://www.hult.edu/en/programs/masters/international-marketing/" target="_blank">Masters in International Marketing</a> students at <a href="http://www.hult.edu/" target="_blank">Hult</a> in conjunction with <a href="http://www.greenlightdigital.com/" target="_blank">Greenlight</a>, <a href="http://www.greenlightdigital.com/?c=B" target="_blank">the SEO specialists</a>, one of the key learnings for students was how to build links and the importance of link equity for SEO.<br />
<br />
It is, therefore, always nice to see learning in practice - and this embeddable widget from OnlinePhD.org is a fine example of how to do it. Their simple graphic was on <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/06/07/google-search-tips/" target="_blank">Mashable</a> and shared from Mashable's pages over 1000 times - and each embedded copy of the widget will include (if not explicitly deleted) a link to OnlinePhD - thereby making the site more popular in the eyes of the great Google and, therefore, more likely to increase its Google rank.<br />
<br />
So, since it is useful, and to remind myself in the future how to get better results from Google, I have also embedded it here. Kudos to OnlinePhD (or their SEO advisers).<br />
<br />
UPDATE: In January 2013 OnlinePhD.org contacted me asking me to remove the links in this blog to their site as they are accused of Google of 'over-optimising'. Hmm... strange...but always one to oblige...the links have been removed...Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-33053325642151430432012-05-17T16:42:00.001+01:002012-05-17T16:50:48.128+01:00Where do ideas come from?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/" target="_blank;"><img border="0" height="269" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4OF507AyZ4s/T7TrCfoQj0I/AAAAAAAAOWo/FwykCV1xsfU/s320/Image+FreeDigitalPhotos+-+Idea+Business+Man+by+chanpipat.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">Image by chanpipat from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Creativity is easier said than done. Where do creative people get their inspiration from? Where do ideas come from? When is an idea a good idea, and when is it fantasy? In business terms, how do you identify an idea that has 'legs' or potential to become a sound business?<br />
<br />
Much has been written on the creative process and how to become entrepreneurs. Much comes down to luck. <a href="http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/" target="_blank">Malcolm Gladwell</a>, in his book '<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/1846141214" target="_blank">Outliers</a>', points out how the biggest names in technology: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates" target="_blank">Bill Gates</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer" target="_blank">Steve Ballmer</a> (founders of <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/" target="_blank">MicroSoft</a>), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs" target="_blank">Steve Jobs</a> (from <a href="http://www.apple.com/" target="_blank">Apple</a>) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_McNealy" target="_blank">Scott McNealy</a> (from <a href="http://www.oracle.com/index.html" target="_blank">Sun Microsystems</a>) were all born between 1954 and 1956 and, through the luck of location and access to computer facilities at a young age when most could only dream of using a computer, were able to get large amounts of experience (<a href="http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/outliers_excerpt1.html" target="_blank">10,000 hours according to Gladwell's rule</a>). Had they been older they probably wouldn't have had access to the tools to get that valuable experience - any younger and someone else might have got their first.<br />
<br />
However, luck suggests there is nothing one can do about 'ideas' and creativity. A quote often attributed to everyone from <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/thomasjefferson" target="_blank">Thomas Jefferson</a> to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0326418/" target="_blank">Samuel Goldwyn</a> via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain" target="_blank">Mark Twain</a> and <a href="http://www.thomasedison.com/" target="_blank">Thomas Edison</a> says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>I'm a firm believer in luck, and I've found that the harder I work, the luckier I get</i>."</blockquote>
It isn't just about hard work either. As Seneca, the Roman philosopher from the 1st century AD, said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.</i>"</blockquote>
So if one wishes to take these quotes as guidelines for achieving success, one has to work hard and be ready to embrace new opportunities. If one takes that a little further, identifying opportunities is no easy task. It involves risk. It involves change. The risk averse are unlikely to be successful entrepreneurs, but there is no reason to think they might not be highly successful corporate executives.<br />
<br />
Coming back to the issue of ideas, again much has been written about where ideas come from. Online guru <a href="http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/" target="_blank">Seth Godin</a> has also posed the question and <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/11/where-do-ideas-come-from.html" target="_blank">produced a list of 20 points that might help</a>. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2010/06/where-good-ideas-come-from.html" target="_blank">Steven Johnson</a> wrote a whole book on the topic (although, focusing on "<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-From/dp/184614051X" target="_blank">Where <i>good</i> ideas come from</a>") which he's presented at <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html" target="_blank">TED</a>:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<object height="374" width="526">
<param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf">
</param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/>
<param name="wmode" value="transparent">
</param>
<param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff">
</param>
<param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2010G/Blank/StevenJohnson_2010G-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/StevenJohnson-2010G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=961&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from;year=2010;theme=the_rise_of_collaboration;theme=unconventional_explanations;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=how_the_mind_works;event=TEDGlobal+2010;tag=collaboration;tag=innovation;tag=novel;tag=science;tag=technology;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" />
<embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="526" height="374" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2010G/Blank/StevenJohnson_2010G-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/StevenJohnson-2010G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=961&lang=&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from;year=2010;theme=the_rise_of_collaboration;theme=unconventional_explanations;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=how_the_mind_works;event=TEDGlobal+2010;tag=collaboration;tag=innovation;tag=novel;tag=science;tag=technology;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"></embed>
</object>
</div>
<br />
Johnson has essentially summarised that which many others have said many times. Steve Jobs said:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>Creativity is just connecting things.</i>"</blockquote>
A very wise woman once said "<i>Ideas come from connections.</i>" <a href="http://www.geog.ucla.edu/people/faculty.php?display_one=1&lid=3078&modify=1" target="_blank">Jared Diamond</a>'s book on the fates of human societies: "<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel" target="_blank">Guns, Germs and Steel</a></i>" connects all the dots of human development to show how luck and connections were fundamental to some societies developing more technology, infrastructure and art at a faster rate than others. Luck in terms of the natural resources available where they were (including minerals and beasts of burden) and connections in terms of being able to exchange ideas and technologies ("I'll swap my axe for your spear") with other societies.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, therefore, one should not think that one needs complete isolation to think, meditate and that an idea will materialise, fully formed, in one's mind. The mind will reach that idea through a long line of connections. The thoughts might rest on a window, and from there one might think of the glass in the window, the sand that makes the glass, the liquid nature of glass, the liquid falling on the glass (rain) and eventually to the irony of liquid protecting us from liquid. Or with more knowledge of the chemical properties of glass, one might be able to connect the dots and create a window that is more liquid in hot weather providing a cooling effect, and more solid in cold. Clearly, I am not an engineer...<br />
<br />
So if you need an idea, connect your subject matter to others. See how other societies live. See how other specialists work in their field. Can their knowledge be useful in your field? Can yours be useful in theirs? Connect to people. Connect your business to others. Network. Through connections, ideas will flow.<br />
<br />
Surely therefore, <a href="https://plus.google.com/" target="_blank">Google+</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, and <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>) will generate endless ideas...right? Just as soon as everyone stops talking about Justin Bieber...<br />
<br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-28333742398220297312012-05-15T16:21:00.001+01:002012-05-15T16:21:55.367+01:00Why we self-filter information...<a href="http://buzzmachine.com/2012/05/08/creepy/#disqus_thread" target="_blank">Reading a post by Jeff Jarvis on lazy journalism</a> and the easy target of new technology bringing the end of the world as we know it, I was inspired to add my tuppence-worth....<br />
<br />
This is the issue that affects much of media. Bias. It has been accepted for decades, if not centuries, that different newspapers will prefer different political parties and will skew the reporting to reflect that. The paper one reads (if you still read dead trees) will usually reflect your political stance and how you vote - certainly in the UK.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XoskDhY2Ujk/T7Jx3O6KvqI/AAAAAAAAOPI/_zM8CZiUyDY/s1600/Image+Coffee+With+Newspaper+by+Stuart+Miles+FreeDigitalPhotos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XoskDhY2Ujk/T7Jx3O6KvqI/AAAAAAAAOPI/_zM8CZiUyDY/s320/Image+Coffee+With+Newspaper+by+Stuart+Miles+FreeDigitalPhotos.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Strangely there are still many who believe that editorials in traditional media are more worthy than blogs, which are ultimately editorials by unsponsored individuals. No less coherent or knowledgeable, necessarily. But by not having a behemoth organisation behind the writer, the opinions are for many less relevant.<br />
<br />
And so it goes with new technology. If one wants to believe <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/24/facebook-twitter-myspace-google-add-on" target="_blank">Google</a> is evil, one will self-filter news and articles to focus only on those that conform to one's world-view. Ditto <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CHQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fcommentisfree%2F2011%2Fmar%2F06%2Fjohn-naughton-apple-dominates-market&ei=JHKyT8LcFMGphAfhw8jQAg&usg=AFQjCNEB8-tquCDDYAU_3k6nAJgZdxDvfw&sig2=HG2mAZO45ALLnjlb_giHXA" target="_blank">Apple</a>. Ditto <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/29/how-evil-is-facebook" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. Ditto the <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/11/the_internet_is_the_root/" target="_blank">internet</a>. <a href="http://www.dotdust.com/the-mobile-phone-is-the-evil-253.htm" target="_blank">Mobile</a>. <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/cell-phones-are-tracking-devices-that-governments-police-big-corporations-and-stalkers-can-use-to-easily-track-your-movements" target="_blank">Location</a>...<br />
<br />
It is frustrating, therefore, for those of us who 'get' technology, to see the myths being repeated time and again by lazy journalists.<br />
<br />
I haven't self-filtered the various stories to focus on the <a href="http://buzzmachine.com/about/" target="_blank">Jeff Jarvis</a> one that agrees with me, have I?! ...oh wait...<br />
<br />
But heaven forbid that I should ever find a newspaper or site that agreed with me completely.... sometimes one needs naysayers and the small-minded in order to rant and vent....so long as everyone does rant and vent and does not simply accept the words of the sponsored without question...<br />
<br />
This message has been sponsored by the <span style="color: yellow;">Campaign for Ranting At the Press</span>.Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-6035158681085255692012-04-25T15:39:00.000+01:002012-04-25T15:39:26.128+01:00How does Google Drive controversy?Having been a fan of <a href="https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">Google</a>'s products for many years, with <a href="https://mail.google.com/" target="_blank">Gmail</a>, <a href="https://docs.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Docs</a>, <a href="http://maps.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Maps</a>, <a href="http://googledesktop.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-desktop-update.html" target="_blank">Google Desktop</a> (RIP), <a href="http://www.android.com/" target="_blank">Android</a>, <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/home" target="_blank">Picasa</a>, <a href="http://scholar.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Scholar</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/chrome" target="_blank">Chrome</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Books</a> and <a href="http://translate.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Translate</a> figuring prominently in my private use of technology (oh - and I use <a href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="_blank">Blogger</a> too) - not to mention the work use of <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/" target="_blank">Google Analytics</a> and <a href="https://adwords.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Adwords</a> - I was looking forward to the long-awaited <a href="https://drive.google.com/start#home" target="_blank">Google Drive</a> - an online storage facility for all and any files so that I don't need to remember a USB stick or have my laptop to ensure I can get to any file anywhere. I already pay around $5 a year to increase my storage on Gmail/Picasa etc. to 20GB. Very reasonable I think....although I've noticed that this deal no longer exists and the nearest other option is to pay $2.49 per month (just under $30 per year) for 25GB. I'm not happy about this...but it's not a huge burden on finances.<br />
<br />
When I got an iPad from work, I discovered the joys of <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox</a> and having all my documents sync'd on the work laptop, the home desktop and the iPad... but being very price-sensitive, chose the basic version (i.e. free) with a 2GB storage limit. It forces one to clear out documents and folders every so often rather than continuing to accumulate files that will never be read again - which is no bad thing.<br />
<br />
So with the <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/introducing-google-drive-yes-really.html" target="_blank">launch of Google Drive announced yesterday</a> I immediately thought that as soon as there is functionality built-in to the various iPad apps that currently link to Dropbox, I'll be able to switch to G-Drive.<br />
<br />
But then, of course, the controversy starts with some people trying to show that Google is now 'evil' (in contrast to their motto 'Don't be evil') by combing their Ts&Cs, adding 2 and 2 together and getting 3.14159. <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/" target="_blank">ZDNet</a>, a site that is usually a reliable source of tech news, has an article entitled "<i><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/how-far-does-google-drives-terms-go-in-owning-your-files/75228?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zdnet%2FBTL+%28ZDNet+Between+the+Lines%29" target="_blank">How far does Google Drive's terms go in 'owning' your files?</a></i>" by <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/search?q=zack+whittaker" target="_blank">Zach Whittaker</a>. Zach tries to highlight a difference in the Ts&Cs for Google Drive which say:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Your Content in our Services: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.</i></blockquote>
<br />
What was missing from the article is the same line in the Ts&Cs that both Dropbox and Microsoft have, which says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Some of our Services allow you to submit content. You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours.
</i></blockquote>
And of course the post is riddled with comments explaining the '<i>what's yours is yours</i>' part with others saying that Google is the anti-christ, should be burnt on the circuit-boards of public opinion and wondering what Google would do with their data?<br />
<br />
So, with no other information available other than my own common sense, I imagine that what Google wants to do is have the right to crawl our files to identify trends and gather data. They won't be 'reading' our files, but if they can identify x% of G-Drive users have Britney Spears photos, or y% have a last will and testament, that might be of use to the wider public.<br />
<br />
There is another use, however. <a href="http://translate.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Translate</a> works not by translating every word in turn like a first-year language student with a well-thumbed dictionary, but by comparing phrases and finding the same phrase on the internet with a translated version and making an assumption that the translated phrase will hopefully work as a translation for the new text also. Surely, therefore, if Google suddenly has access to more data with which to mine such translations, the better? Surely the ability to see how documents are written (by people who probably do not have a blog or a website) will help formulate semantic language generators for artificial intelligence? <br />
<br />
In the same way that you should not leave sensitive data on a laptop, iPad or mobile phone without having a password block on the machine and encrypting the actual document (how many laptops, iPads and mobile phones are stolen every day, compared to successful hacks of online document repositories?) one should be careful about encrypting documents before storing them online.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.originaloldradio.com/joe_e_brown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.originaloldradio.com/joe_e_brown.jpg" width="156" /></a>But there is a big difference between actively reading my emails, documents and data, and allowing computer code to analyse it. If it were not for Google's 'bots' identifying key terms in my emails, they would not be able to offer me a great email product for free subsidised by ads that I was able to quickly blank from my vision. If it were not for my house being on Google View, I would not also be able to use the service to see other places that help me when driving or walking to an appointment. <br />
<br />
Google hasn't sold its corporate soul to the devil. I personally don't think they have abandoned the ethos of '<i>Don't be evil</i>'. But corporations, as with all organisations, are just like people. And as Joe E Brown (right) said at the end of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/" target="_blank"><i>Some Like It Hot</i></a>: "<i>Nobody's perfect!</i>"<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/APgcSNVITTI" width="640"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-55858845353798115022012-03-21T11:30:00.000+00:002012-08-13T14:08:53.189+01:00Using Social Media to Get a Job<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As more means of communication become available,
different managers in different organisations have varying degrees of
familiarity and ability with those media.
In short, some are tech-savvy, some dream of the time of parchment and
quill pens. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Unfortunately, for the job
seeker, this means you have to cover all the bases to try and get your CV and
job application in front of the recruiter: including sending a CV and covering
letter printed on quality paper (100gsm) in a large, hard-backed envelope, with
the address printed and not hand-written.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l_l0fdtltqc/UCjnQ-tLZNI/AAAAAAAAWbE/lqbMKEWTbbs/s1600/LinkedIn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot from LinkedIn profile" border="0" height="232" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l_l0fdtltqc/UCjnQ-tLZNI/AAAAAAAAWbE/lqbMKEWTbbs/s320/LinkedIn.JPG" title="LinkedIn" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fortunately, however, more and more
managers are embracing new technologies and trying to find out as much about prospective
employees as possible in the shortest time possible. They do this by using the
internet and social media in particular.
So, tips for the job-seekers are:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Google yourself. See what sites
the first 10 links refer to and what images come up. Are they suitable?
Are they the kinds of links you would like a future employer to see? If not, do
what you can to change the websites listed or remove images that are less than
flattering.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Manage your settings in Facebook to
ensure no embarrassing information is public. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you intend to specialise in a
specific area, build your personal brand by posting comments and opinions both
through Twitter and by creating a blog. On Twitter follow people
interested in the same subject area. Find interesting news and information on the
subject and retweet it. Connect to people when relevant. Blog on the
subject, particularly if you have several years experience and are able to
share insights into the issues affecting your industry. Remember to keep
everything professional – you want a future employer to find it and rate you on
the strength of the information posted – and you need to ensure others who see
the blog (including former employers, co-workers or clients) will not take
offence.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Build your profile on LinkedIn. This
involves putting as much information as possible on the platform as you would
on a CV – giving employment history, skills, responsibilities, achievements and
so on. List the university and post-graduate education... unless you’re
very young, school information should not be relevant. Ensure you have
uploaded a photo and connect to all colleagues, former classmates, clients and
other business contacts. Get colleagues, former employers and clients to
recommend you on LinkedIn. The more senior the person the better.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Use LinkedIn and Twitter to connect
to people in organisations that interest you. If you see a vacancy in
organisation ‘XYZ’ and a friend’s contact on LinkedIn works for ‘XYZ’, then ask
your friend for an introduction through LinkedIn and, if granted, ask the
contact, nicely, if they can give you any suggestions on how best to present
yourself for the advertised role. What is the organisation looking for?
Who would you be working for? Use social media as your future employer
would and find out as much as possible about the organisation and the people
you would be working for. This will allow you to adapt your application
and, hopefully, the interview, to show how you are a perfect fit with the
company.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-19719344088931188262012-02-21T17:15:00.001+00:002012-12-12T17:02:33.858+00:00What is Glocial Media?<br />
I started running sessions on Social Media and its impact on business in 2006. I would often use the byline for the sessions “It is not just <a href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>…” which even today seem to be the only platforms large parts of the business world have heard of. Even some of the post-graduate students I teach now are still ‘offline’ when it comes to social media. Some of the students, however, are far ahead of the curve and are harnessing social media to create new business ideas.<br />
<br />
However, just as social media is another country to many people, social media in another country can be completely different. Most English-speakers will think only of platforms from the USA when they think of social media… the ubiquitous
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>,
<a href="https://twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/" target="_blank">YouTube</a>. Whilst those platforms do have international reach and dominate the global social media netscape, individual countries and regions often use them in different ways or have their own platforms that have proven far more popular with the native population.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mpD-X8bFlbQ/T0PPsch5IGI/AAAAAAAAKMU/ErRtTyukN8Y/s1600/ViewsfromtheINside.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mpD-X8bFlbQ/T0PPsch5IGI/AAAAAAAAKMU/ErRtTyukN8Y/s320/ViewsfromtheINside.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Students from the <a href="http://www.hult.edu/en/programs/master/digital-marketing/" target="_blank">Masters in Digital Marketing</a> at <span id="goog_1956178358"></span><a href="http://www.hult.edu/" target="_blank">Hult International Business Schoo<span id="goog_1956178359"></span>l</a> gave a presentation during <a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/london/" target="_blank">Social Media Week in Londo</a>n at <a href="http://www.01zero-one.co.uk/" target="_blank">01Zero-One</a> in Soho, in the heart of London on just that. The presentation, entitled “<a href="http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2390" target="_blank"><i>Views from inside: Social Media from around the globe</i></a>” gave a whistle-stop tour of ten countries and how social media has been used there.<br />
<br />
Fernando Martinez (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/fermart19" target="_blank">@fermart19</a>) kicked off talking about Colombia and how <a href="http://www.groupon.com/subscriptions/new?division_p=st-johns" target="_blank">Groupon</a> enjoyed first-mover advantage for a year, at most, before two clones were produced by the large media organisations in Colombia who had direct and easy access to the local businesses. He also explained how Colombia has a very high level of creative digital talent, to the extent that a lot of web design for the USA is outsourced there. In summary, there is a lot of competition and with a young and tech-savvy population, only good products and services will survive there.<br />
<br />
Staying in Latin America, Larissa Sabino Erbacher explained how Brazil, with over three times the population of the UK, uses social media as it behaves offline, to be friendly and communicative. E-commerce and business networks are growing, but the vast majority of social media use is ‘traditional’ social networking through <a href="http://www.orkut.com/Main#Home" target="_blank">Orkut</a> (<a href="https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">Google</a>’s first foray into social networking before <a href="https://plus.google.com/" target="_blank">Google+</a>) which accounts for 60% of Orkut’s total traffic.<br />
<br />
From Brazil, the talk took us to Germany where Jennifer Bahr (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/jenny_bahr" target="_blank">@jenny_bahr</a>) over 35 million people are registered on social networks, with 96% of the 14-29 age group on a network. Over the half of the German inhabitants are online and 90% of them belong to the group relevant for advertisement between 19-49. Whilst Facebook and Twitter are the most popular platforms in Germany, three related networks appealing to different age-groups and are by invitation only: ‘<a href="http://www.schuelervz.net/l/schueler/" target="_blank">SchülerVZ</a>’ is for school kids, <a href="http://www.studivz.net/Default" target="_blank">StudiVZ</a> is for students and <a href="http://www.meinvz.net/Default" target="_blank">MeinVZ</a> is for professionals. <a href="http://www.wer-kennt-wen.de/" target="_blank">Wer-kennt-wenn</a> connects people by geography whilst if you want to do business in Germany, you cannot rely on LinkedIn alone: <a href="http://www.xing.com/" target="_blank">XING</a> is the German equivalent to <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> and is three times more popular. With over 22% of Germans accessing the internet on a mobile phone, it is little wonder that ad-spend for mobile has doubled at the same time as TV advertising has fallen.<br />
<br />
It is hardly surprising that Germany, the richest country in Europe, uses social media differently to Greece… hanging on to solvency by its fiscal fingertips. Ioanna Koliou (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/IoannaKoliou" target="_blank">@IoannaKoliou</a>) explained Greece doesn’t really have local social networks apart from zoo.gr, with 33% of the population on Facebook and LinkedIn seeing a surge in popularity thanks to the growing unemployment rate. A key role of social networks in Greece, however, is for protest. The “<i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0_dN_gQmEg" target="_blank">Bring them Back</a></i>” campaign aims to apply pressure on the <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank">British Museum</a> to have the <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/what_are_the_elgin_marbles.aspx" target="_blank">Elgin Marbles</a> returned to their home, not helped by the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/17/thieves-raid-ancient-olympia-museum" target="_blank">recent theft by armed robbers of ancient artefacts from Greek museums</a>). The online campaign incorporated a YouTube video that went viral in Greece. The global economic crisis has hit Greece harder than most and Facebook is being used to organise protests against the austerity measures and, to those who are tired of Greece’s image on the global stage, Peter Economides has tried to ‘<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsDaJfNlio8" target="_blank"><i>Rebrand Greece</i></a>’ using <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/kooboo/brand-greece" target="_blank">social media</a>.<br />
<br />
Moving across the Mediterranean, Africa is the 2nd most connected region by mobile subscriptions and Egypt has the second largest internet usage in Africa.... (Nigeria is the first). Yasmeen Marie (@<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Yasmeen_Marie" target="_blank">Yasmeen_Marie</a>) showed how social media in Egypt became an international issue when <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Yom.Elsawra.25.January" target="_blank">a Facebook group</a> was set up to protest on 25 January which went viral. There was no specific intention to create a revolution, but when the government tried to stop the 25 Jan meetings, people got behind the movement, with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12272836" target="_blank">over 2 million people at one of the protests in Tahrir Square</a>. When the authorities blocked internet access, Google and Twitter provided a service called ‘<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/speak2tweet" target="_blank">Speak-to-Tweet</a>’ where users could call an international number and dictate a message. The messages would be tagged <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23egypt" target="_blank">#egypt</a> and were available to those in Egypt by dialling the same numbers or going to <a href="http://twitter.com/speak2tweet">twitter.com/speak2tweet</a>. An interesting example of how an online phenomenon was able to transfer offline to overcome censorship.<br />
<br />
“<a href="http://wearemba.com/2011/05/12/russia-the-dreamland-of-social-brands/" target="_blank">Russians</a>” meanwhile “<a href="http://wearemba.com/2011/05/12/russia-the-dreamland-of-social-brands/" target="_blank">are the most engaged users of social media in the world, spending an average of 9.8 hours on social networks. This is almost double the global standard</a>.” Stacey Boguslavskaya (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Social_Net_Pro" target="_blank">@Social_Net_Pro</a>) explained, however, micro-blogging (such as Twitter) is not popular and Russians are not keen on location based services. The big winners in Russia are local social networks such as: <a href="http://vkontakte.ru/">vkontakte.ru</a> and <a href="http://odnoklassniki.ru/">odnoklassniki.ru</a>; perhaps partially due to the weather encouraging people to stay at home and connect online. Russians prefer to use local platforms, so there is huge potential for entrepreneurs who can create Russian versions of <a href="https://hootsuite.com/" target="_blank">Hootsuite</a>, <a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" target="_blank">Tweetdeck</a>, <a href="http://www.yelp.com/" target="_blank">Yelp</a>, <a href="http://www.quora.com/" target="_blank">Quora</a>, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> or <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>. Finally, Russians have an average of 1.5 mobile phones, but only 11% of them are smartphones.<br />
<br />
India, in contrast, has far lower mobile penetration with only 5% of the total population. But with a population of 1.2 billion people, that equates to 61 million people or almost the entire UK population. India is, according to Priyanka Ganguli (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/priyaganguli" target="_blank">@priyaganguli</a>) , a country where change is a constant. What is popular today will be old hat tomorrow… Hi5 was the leading social network before giving up its place to Orkut. That in turn gave way to Facebook, but Twitter is now more popular. What matters is how trendy the site or platform is and how connected it is – whether one’s own network has made the move or not. Another issue to think about is how the government in India is implementing monitoring and censorship of social media.<br />
<br />
From the biggest country in the world to one of the smallest, Angela Cheong (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/angelacfw" target="_blank">@angelacfw</a>) explained how Singapore has a household broadband penetration of 104% and 70% of the 5.1 million population have smartphones – the highest in the world. The smartphone is fundamental to accessing the internet in Singapore with mainstream Western sites such as Facebook, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="_blank">Blogspot</a>, Twitter and LinkedIn dominating social media behaviour. Corporate use, however, has not matched that of individuals, with only 30% of organisations using micro-blogs, 40% using social networks and 50% using video sharing – and when they use social media, they do not always understand how. An example shown by Angela was how SMRT, the main train company, failed to respond with information when a train was stuck underground with thousands of commuters on board, in the stifling darkness. The company ignored its Facebook account to feed information to the general public and only set up a Twitter account several days later after a series of further mechanical failures. They tried to make a big deal of not fining a passenger who broke a window on the train to let in air – with a resulting public backlash to the mere suggestion that the passenger could be fined having a far worse effect on their public reputation. A study has shown that local brands can achieve the same level of recognition as major brands like LV, Adidas and Gucci with a good social media strategy.<br />
<br />
Taiwan could not, however, be more different to Singapore. In Taiwan, Facebook penetration has grown by 7000% in Taiwan in the two years since a Chinese language version was launched – essential for any platform hoping to launch in Taiwan – but still tends to be the preserve of good looking young people who like posting photos of themselves. Michelle Chen (Pin-Hsien Chen <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/pinshian" target="_blank">@pinshian</a>) explained that ‘normal’ people tend to prefer the anonymity offered both through not needing to post photos nor use real names on Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). The two largest BBS in Taiwan are <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=ppt2%20bbs%20taiwan&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ptt.cc%2Findex.bbs.html&ei=d85DT6ebEMXNhAeO0eW2BQ&usg=AFQjCNHIq_c3TGAbp-W_2rnBRYMABJYHIw&sig2=OnKft-yBxcsMBpTHrzoD9Q" target="_blank">PTT</a> and PTT2 with 1.5 million registered users and around 10% of total internet users in Taiwan. The boards focus on specific topics, such that there is even one on ‘gossip’ which is used by journalists as a pseudo Wikileaks. To show the importance of BBS in the minds of the Taiwanese, it is worth mentioning that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Xo2Uo7QSk" target="_blank">they had a film</a>, á la ‘<i><a href="http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/" target="_blank">The Social Network</a></i>’:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T0Xo2Uo7QSk?rel=0" width="640"></iframe>
<br />
Finally, the Philippines is not, as Aaron Joshua Barroso (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/mraaronjoshua" target="_blank">@mraaronjoshua</a>) explained, just about eating dog, nurses and caregivers. The event was nothing if not informative and I, for one, did not imagine the Philippines to have a population of 94 million people spread over 7000 islands. The internet penetration is not that high at 30%, but there is an 80% reach of mobile phones and the country is the SMS leader with over 2 billion text messages sent every day – an average of 26 texts per person per day. Most people going online to watch videos, blog and engage with global networks such as Facebook, <a href="http://www.friendster.com/" target="_blank">Friendster</a> and <a href="http://multiply.com/" target="_blank">Multiply</a>, but it does have home-grown clones such as <a href="http://piclyf.com/" target="_blank">PicLyf</a> and <a href="http://www.churpchurp.com/" target="_blank">Churp Churp</a> for photo sharing and microblogging.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
So what does this mean for the future of social media? Facebook is all-dominant and there is no micro-blogging service to rival Twitter. There are, however, still very large regional clones of the social networking platforms that are more popular – an important point to remember when trying to reach audiences in those regions. Mobile is, as has been pointed out often, huge in some countries – meaning digital marketing must think of the platform of distribution and not assume everyone will have a large computer screen to view the content. Finally, social media is about people connecting with people – for socialising, dating, gaming, recruitment or revolution. People will find a way to connect regardless of the channels. If the internet breaks, they will go mobile. If technology breaks, they will go back to offline methods. They will connect, however, and will look favourably on those that facilitate those connections.<br />
<br />
And what is 'Glocial Media'? A term I thought sums up the trichotomy of social media today: it must be <b>glo</b>bal, <b>loc</b>al and so<b>cial</b>. <b> </b><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-40748046067035047702012-01-30T16:16:00.003+00:002012-01-30T16:17:43.395+00:00What new marketers need to know<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Following a request from a colleague, I thought I'd turn this into a post. Five questions (with my answers) aimed at newly graduated marketers:</span><br />
<br />
<ol style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">How did you discover the world of Online Marketing?</span></b></li>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I was an expert in music before finding gainful employment in the internet and was recruited as Director of Content & E-Commerce to a start-up selling CDs and other music-related products online. They needed someone who knew their ABBA from their Zappa and could segment music lovers from medieval madrigals through to garage and grime. My role naturally included all non-music related content and marketing too and expanded to include all areas of digital. The slow death of the music industry helped me decide to focus more on digital in the future than music.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>What are 3 common mistakes that marketers make?</b></span></li>
<ol style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" type="a">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">They forget who the competition is. Marketers often only focus on the brand competitors, and ignore the other things that compete for the customer’s attention and wallet.</span></li>
<br />
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">They forget who the customer is and what they want. Marketers often focus on showing how great their brand is and how different and special it is compared to the rest – when in many cases the customer simply wants something reliable and to know they have made a sensible purchase. This all comes down, clearly, to buyer behaviours and psychographic segmentation.</span></li>
<br />
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">They forget about the marketing mix (on a basic level, Product, Place, Promotion, Price) and focus only on the Promotion or advertising side. <a href="http://www.zara.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/home/uk/en/zara-W2011-r" target="_blank">Zara</a> is an example of a highly successful global brand that has had minimal advertising, but has been extremely effective using other elements of the mix, by paying a premium for core locations of their stores, competitive pricing and ensuring the client base know that their products are fashionable and also only available for a limited time before a new collection arrives.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>What advice would you give to young marketers after they graduate?</b></span></li>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8r_YBOmvl4E/TybAQMfxM5I/AAAAAAAAKDg/O-MY9TQRvGY/s1600/Advice_Image+Stuart+Miles++FreeDigitalPhotos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8r_YBOmvl4E/TybAQMfxM5I/AAAAAAAAKDg/O-MY9TQRvGY/s320/Advice_Image+Stuart+Miles++FreeDigitalPhotos.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="background-color: black;">Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</span></span>
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ol style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;" type="a">
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Don’t set your sights too high at the beginning;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Get experience in as wide a variety of roles and jobs as you can; and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Only think about specialising after a few years.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ol style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The reason for this is that if you start work in an agency you might find it very hard after a few years to get work on the ‘client side’ where the demands are different (you might have to do a lot more stakeholder management inside the organisation). </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Equally, if you are only ‘client side’ within an organisation, you might find it very hard to make the jump to agency. Equally, if your role is more offline or broadcast media, then you might find it difficult to convince a future (or existing) employer that you are also capable at the digital side, and vice versa. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The analytical side of SEO, PPC and so on can be less attractive to some than, for example, being on the creative side. But having those analytical skills is essential and will grow in importance as more data becomes available through the use of mobile devices by larger sections of the population.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<li><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Google has recently introduced a new social media platform, <a href="https://plus.google.com/" target="_blank">Google+</a>. Do you think that one day it can take over <a href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>?</span></b></li>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Can it? Yes. Could it? Yes. Will it? No idea. Remember that 5 years ago <a href="http://www.myspace.com/" target="_blank">MySpace</a> was the all dominant social network, and 5 years before that it was sites like ‘<a href="http://www.friendster.com/" target="_blank">Friendster</a>’ or ‘<a href="http://www.friendsreunited.com/" target="_blank">Friends Reunited</a>’. It looks like Facebook has achieved now a global domination that makes it harder for others to overtake, but there are still more people not using the platform than are. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And many people choose not to have a social life on social networks and only use them for business connections or as productivity tools. So there is still scope for someone (it might be Google, it might not) to produce a platform that adequately deals with all those other uses. All the social networks are currently limited and, for me, frustrating. Twitter, equally, is a very limited tool and there is no reason why another tool cannot topple it. </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Remember in the 90s Yahoo! was all-dominant, everyone had a Hotmail account and there were dozens of search engines available that people would use according nothing more than aesthetics (they all worked equally badly). Any firm that thinks it is unbeatable is setting itself up for a big fall.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Do you believe that Facebook’s $100B IPO is setting a precedent among all the social media competitors? </b></span></li>
</ol>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Is it setting a precedent where the social media competitors believe now that the market is ready to understand they have a future? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Yes. </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Is it setting a precedent where good business models in the social media world can have successful IPOs? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Yes. </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Is it suggesting that all social media organisations are worth tens of billions? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>No.</i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Like everything, <i>it depends</i>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Some large organisations might get equally high billing, but it all comes down, unsurprisingly, to the business model. How do they make their money? If they rely on advertising (as Facebook does) is there enough revenue to sustain it? Is it profitable now? Is it likely to be profitable?
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">There are companies that have great ideas, as many did in the dot-com boom of the nineties, that haven’t properly thought about how to make a business out of the idea. Any organisation that successfully bridges that gap should feel confident about being able to have a successful IPO… but it is unlikely that they will get close to Facebook’s evaluation.</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-9245094342261756402012-01-12T17:03:00.000+00:002012-08-13T12:57:26.870+01:00How to stop the endless stream<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqzt0jZbWDZ5zBwFzk4EunbMYPO748ItTgo8LxgxC_XxU4I8FVAg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqzt0jZbWDZ5zBwFzk4EunbMYPO748ItTgo8LxgxC_XxU4I8FVAg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'<a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://ourmastermindsgroup.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/information-overload1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://ourmastermindsgroup.com/blog/163/are-you-dealing-with-information-overload/&h=450&w=450&sz=47&tbnid=Srzp-Dk0aDzzTM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=90&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dinformation%2Boverload%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=information+overload&docid=yGFJAMXs8Pq1dM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KPgOT_-4F8f58QPa3IndAw&sqi=2&ved=0CEgQ9QEwAQ&dur=616" target="_blank">Information Overload</a>'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://www.everyoneactive.com/" target="_blank">Everyone</a> <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/complains" target="_blank">complains</a> <a href="http://www.pof.com/" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:TOO" target="_blank">too</a> <a href="http://www.muchmusic.com/" target="_blank">much</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information" target="_blank">information</a> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/these" target="_blank">these</a> <a href="http://www.days.co.uk/" target="_blank">days</a>. '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload" target="_blank">Information overload</a>'. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536048" target="_blank">We</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=LON:ARE" target="_blank">are</a> <a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/constantly" target="_blank">constantly</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB451GB451&sourceid=chrome-instant&ie=UTF-8&ion=1#hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB451GB451&site=webhp&q=bombard&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=Z_MOT-KGD8am8gOZl4j4Aw&ved=0CDMQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=4c26890357e371b1&ion=1&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">bombarded</a> <a href="http://www.freefind.com/" target="_blank">by</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/imghp" target="_blank">images</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/about/messages" target="_blank">messages</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising" target="_blank">advertising</a>, <a href="http://www.hotmail.com/" target="_blank">emails</a>, <a href="http://cooltext.com/" target="_blank">texts</a>, <a href="http://www.funnystatus.com/" target="_blank">Facebook status updates</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/" target="_blank">tweets</a> <a href="http://www.theiet.org/" target="_blank">and</a> <a href="http://www.good.is/" target="_blank">good</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Fashioned" target="_blank">old-fashioned</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news" target="_blank">news</a>. <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/" target="_blank">And</a> <a href="http://www.ladieseuropeantour.com/" target="_blank">let</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S" target="_blank">'s</a> <a href="http://www.notdoppler.com/" target="_blank">not</a> <a href="http://www.startuk.org/" target="_blank">start</a> <a href="http://www.talkingpoint.org.uk/" target="_blank">talking</a> <a href="http://www.about.com/" target="_blank">about</a> <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inanity" target="_blank">inanity</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity" target="_blank">celebrity</a> <a href="http://perezhilton.com/" target="_blank">gossip</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.xe.com/ucc/" target="_blank">To</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Even" target="_blank">even</a> <a href="http://www.findaproperty.com/" target="_blank">find</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example" target="_blank">examples</a> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/of" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="http://www.infogineering.net/understanding-information-overload.htm" target="_blank">information overload</a> <a href="http://www.onsemi.com/" target="_blank">on</a> <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web" target="_blank">web</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/i/" target="_blank">I</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe" target="_blank">'</a><a href="http://http//www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:VE" target="_blank">ve</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&site=webhp&q=wasted&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=X_YOT9L3IIK_8wOegKH4Aw&ved=0CDYQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=4c26890357e371b1&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">wasted</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&site=webhp&q=valuable&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=hPYOT-_1DYXMhAem9fCeAg&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=4c26890357e371b1&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">valuable</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=webhp&tbs=dfn:1&source=hp&q=time&pbx=1&oq=time&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=14620l14620l4l14952l1l1l0l0l0l0l93l93l1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=89b91e8d1440da8e&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">time</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&site=webhp&q=sift&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=rvYOT9nMGoW68gP26MTlAw&ved=0CDYQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=4c26890357e371b1&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">sifting</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=webhp&tbs=dfn:1&source=hp&q=through&pbx=1&oq=through&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=0l0l5l2389l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=89b91e8d1440da8e&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">through</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess" target="_blank">excess</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=webhp&tbs=dfn:1&source=hp&q=examples&pbx=1&oq=examples&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=14077l14077l7l14835l1l1l0l0l0l0l72l72l1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=89b91e8d1440da8e&biw=1366&bih=653" target="_blank">examples</a> <a href="http://www.dollars2pounds.com/" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://www.rightmove.co.uk/" target="_blank">find</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A" target="_blank">a</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1613-6829/" target="_blank">small</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/videohp" target="_blank">video</a> <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/with" target="_blank">with</a> <a href="http://boards.4chan.org/a" target="_blank">a</a> <a href="http://www.nice.org.uk/" target="_blank">nice</a> <a href="http://www.graphicbar.com/" target="_blank">graphic</a> <a href="http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/" target="_blank">that</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16515944" target="_blank">suggests</a> <a href="http://www.infogineering.net/understanding-information-overload.htm" target="_blank">information overload</a>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/ZQqhLQ_unO4/0.jpg" height="360" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZQqhLQ_unO4&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZQqhLQ_unO4&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:SO" target="_blank">So</a> <a href="http://www.thesun.co.u/" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony" target="_blank">irony</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of" target="_blank">of</a> <a href="http://www.howtocomplain.com/" target="_blank">complaining</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_URI_scheme" target="_blank">about</a> <a href="http://www.itv.com/thismorning" target="_blank">this</a> <a href="http://www.and.com/" target="_blank">and</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/addurl" target="_blank">adding</a> <a href="http://www.dollars2pounds.com/" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology" target="_blank">information</a> <a href="http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Overload" target="_blank">overload</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.is" target="_blank">is</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not!" target="_blank">not</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_(TV_series)" target="_blank">lost</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On" target="_blank">on</a> <a href="http://qrcode.kaywa.com/" target="_blank">this</a> <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/product/writer.html" target="_blank">writer</a>. <a href="http://www.everyone.ne/" target="_blank">Everyone</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems" target="_blank">is</a> <a href="http://get.adobe.com/reader" target="_blank">a</a> <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/publisher" target="_blank">publisher</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/today" target="_blank">today</a>. <a href="http://everyone.org/" target="_blank">Everyone</a> <a href="http://www.is.co.za/" target="_blank">is</a> <a href="http://www.newadvent.xn--org%20%20catholic%20encyclopedia%20%20o-qh9x3a/" target="_blank">offering</a> <a href="http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/" target="_blank">advice</a>. <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/everyone" target="_blank">Everyone</a> <a href="http://www.has.org.uk/" target="_blank">has</a> <a href="http://www.something.com/" target="_blank">something</a> <a href="http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&p=thMx..&search=to" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://www.celebrateconference.org/" target="_blank">celebrate</a> <a href="http://www.outdoorresearch.com/" target="_blank">or</a> <a href="http://www.share.com/" target="_blank">share</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/11/us-buffett-idUSTRE80A24U20120111" target="_blank">So</a> <a href="http://www.sign-up.to/" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://www.marksandspencer.com/" target="_blank">mark</a> <a href="http://www.mymaths.co.uk/" target="_blank">my</a> <a href="http://www.webpronews.com/lulzsec-has-some-fun-with-their-1000th-tweet-2011-06" target="_blank">1000th Tweet</a>, <a href="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/" target="_blank">this</a> <a href="http://www.royalmail.com/" target="_blank">post</a>, <a href="http://http//where.com/locations/gcpmwx99y8gj/places" target="_blank">where</a> <a href="http://http//www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2011/8/30/every-journey.html" target="_blank">every</a> <a href="http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/" target="_blank">word</a> <a href="http://is.gd/" target="_blank">is</a> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/" target="_blank">linked</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2012/jan/03/mainsection" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnwvBiRTiFM" target="_blank">first(ish)</a> <a href="http://www.dogpile.com/" target="_blank">search</a> <a href="http://www.resultclothing.com/" target="_blank">result</a> <a href="http://www.on.com/" target="_blank">on</a> <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/" target="_blank">Google</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_loop" target="_blank">for</a> <a href="http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/" target="_blank">that</a> <a href="http://www.word.com/" target="_blank">word</a>, <a href="http://http//www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029800" target="_blank">will</a> <a href="http://www.bethere.co.uk/" target="_blank">be</a> <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://www.link.co.uk/" target="_blank">link</a> <a href="http://www.sportlemon.tv/" target="_blank">from</a> <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/" target="_blank">the</a> <a href="http://tweet.seaofclouds.com/" target="_blank">Tweet</a>:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKNCKSYdP8I/UCjnQFh_skI/AAAAAAAAWa0/gJoIvlxR5iU/s1600/1000thTweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKNCKSYdP8I/UCjnQFh_skI/AAAAAAAAWa0/gJoIvlxR5iU/s640/1000thTweet.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1000th Tweet on 12 January 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-33370007200379818402011-12-28T10:50:00.001+00:002013-07-19T15:15:35.793+01:00How to understand online marketing in an instantHaving several courses to teach next year on Digital Marketing, I'm in two minds as to whether or not I like the inforgraphic from <a href="http://unbounce.com/noob-guide-to-online-marketing-infographic/" target="_blank">unbounce.com</a> as:
<br />
<ol>
<li>it makes my life so much easier... being able to give students the infographic and telling them to get on with it; whilst also</li>
<li>realising that this might make my role teaching digital marketing somewhat redundant.</li>
</ol>
<br />
However, seeing as everything in life is futile and we are all merely passing time until the next change, I share the infographic below...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://unbounce.com/noob-guide-to-online-marketing-infographic/" target="_blank;"><img alt="The Noob Guide to Online Marketing - Infographic" src="http://assets.unbounce.com/s/images/noob-guide-to-marketing-infographic-600.png" title="The Noob Guide to Online Marketing - Infographic" width="550" /></a>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-60183927975600760712011-12-22T23:43:00.001+00:002011-12-22T23:49:20.384+00:00BloMob: the future of digital publishing<div><p>One of the most frequent excuses I hear from clients, students and colleagues when we are discussing blogging and the use of digital publishing tools to encourage sharing and collaboration, is "I don't have time to blog".</p>
<p>One of the reasons I think Twitter is so popular is because the format is so limited that people feel less pressure when posting and can publish ideas without expanding on them.</p>
<p>The problem is that Twitter is limiting as well as limited...and there are many ideas and comments that cannot legitimately nor legibly be reduced to 140 characters.</p>
<p>The growth of tablets like the iPad has probably helped people create content on the go....although it's not easy to type on most tablets while on the move.</p>
<p>Recording thoughts like a personal podcast is possible on a variety of platforms like AudioBoo, but the disadvantage of audio is not being able to skim-listen, unless you are partially sighted and used to absorbing audio information really really quickly. </p>
<p>So what is the future? </p>
<p>There are two sides:<br>
a. It has to be mobile, clearly, to allow people to develop posts on the go.  But that's not ideal as this post can attest....being written through an app on a train....creating links and embedding images is fiddly to say the least...<br>
b. dictablog: being able to dictate thoughts into a mobile or other device and hoping it correctly transcribes the dictation into text. It would also need to become clever enough to insert links and images... and you have the downside of having to speak loudly and clearly into your mobile, possibly in public, definitely looking like a fool.</p>
<p>So what alternative is there?</p>
<p>Simple....keep your thoughts to yourself....            </p>
</div>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-28600630947978959162011-12-14T23:59:00.003+00:002011-12-15T11:22:22.985+00:00Automating value judgements<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CbCAn2-d3ZA/TukzKZyl2lI/AAAAAAAAJts/XUPqX2Lnokc/s1600/60278vaif7f0hul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CbCAn2-d3ZA/TukzKZyl2lI/AAAAAAAAJts/XUPqX2Lnokc/s320/60278vaif7f0hul.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In my role as a professor of marketing and technology, I fully expect to have to assess and grade students. That is part of the lot of a teacher of any kind, from kindergarten onwards (although, arguably, the assessment may take different forms over the years).<br />
<br />
As a conscientious educator, I am keen to ensure all the hard work of the students is also fairly and fully assessed. There are possibly those, as rumour and legend would have it, who throw their papers down the stairs and then start grading those on the top step as 'A's, those on the 2nd step as 'B's and so on down to 'F's on the bottom step.<br />
<br />
Tempting though it might be, I am determined to be as paperless as possible. So far I have saved at least 700 sheets of paper in just one course (assuming double-sided printing) through not printing the submitted assignments. And throwing a laptop or iPad down the stairs to achieve the same effect just wouldn't do. Think of the splinters.<br />
<br />
However, grading 2000+ word assignments is time consuming. If you do it properly, it involves reading each assignment at least twice, possibly more. Comparing papers to ensure the comparative grades in the class are fair. Composing specific feedback (100 words minimum? 200 words optimal?) to help the student understand their grade and improve for the future.<br />
<br />
Group work needs assessment and, by the nature of group work, involves fewer actual papers to read and assess. But it removes the individual assessment and is therefore subject to slacker students benefiting from the hard work of other team members.<br />
<br />
There is no getting past it. Detailed, objective and rigorous individual assessment is essential. But how to do it efficiently?<br />
<br />
My first thought was to build the most advanced AI computer in the world and get it to grade the computers. As soon as the patent comes through I'll let you know.<br />
<br />
My second thought was back to throwing everything down the stairs.<br />
<br />
My third thought was carrying on as I have been and grading at 2am until I get through them all.<br />
<br />
So my final thought seems the only viable option, other than me pulling an 'all nighter' or 7. If Amazon, and every e-commerce site worth its salt, can tap into the crowd to assess and vote on how good (or not) individual books are, surely that would work for individual assignments from students?<br />
<br />
All one would need would be a simple website, such as Scribd, where the PDF documents of assignments could sit, visible to the world. The world at large could then read the assignments and grade them. Once a critical mass of assessment is reached (such as 500 votes), the average is taken as the final grade. Space for comments would provide the feedback.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5RfzBheDd5A/Tuk37kCtxtI/AAAAAAAAJt0/3_g-VrU19NI/s1600/371046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5RfzBheDd5A/Tuk37kCtxtI/AAAAAAAAJt0/3_g-VrU19NI/s200/371046.JPG" width="200" /></a>This is, in fact, I am certain, genius. There are only two obstacles to overcome:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Getting that critical mass of people to read and vote on all the assignments in a short timespan; and</li>
<li>Ensuring the students and their families do not vote for them.</li>
</ol>
<div>
If, therefore, you ever see such a business model come into existence, remember you read it here first. Until then, it looks like I have an 'all-nighter' ahead of me....</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;"><a class="tr-caption" href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280" style="text-align: center;">Top image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></span>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-70871379982374693912011-11-25T16:03:00.001+00:002011-11-25T16:05:03.192+00:00The Art of InnovationGuy Kawasaki's presentation on 'The Art of Innovation' is worth recommending not just for the anecdotes, insider view, venture capital experience and pithy rules to innovate, but also for showing how to present to a conference.<br />
<br />
Humour. A good sense of humour is good. If you don't have it, don't try and fake it, but if you have it, flaunt it....<br />
<br />
This keynote was from 2007 - but having only just discovered it 4 years later I thought it worth passing on...<br />
<br />
<br />
<embed align="middle" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#999999" height="271" name="flvplayer" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" src="http://www.zentation.com/viewer/zentationminiplayer_h.swf?passcode=epbcSNExIQr" swliveconnect="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640"></embed><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-86945942457019771192011-11-16T15:09:00.001+00:002011-11-16T17:40:58.759+00:00The only way is up...unless you drill down...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This post is a copy and paste from a brief summary of the state-of-the-nation I had to produce today, giving a summary of the global economic climate at the moment.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As 2011 draws to a close, three years after the start of the current financial crisis, there is no indication of the situation improving. The </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15717593">OECD says all economies it monitors suffered a downturn in September</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> with the U.S., Japan and Russia returning to their long-term trend (</span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2011/11/15/ppi-eases-as-retail-sales-and-empire-state-beat-expectations-the-tide-is-turning/">with the U.S. achieving 2.5% growth</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) but the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Brazil, China, India and the Euro area falling below.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It predicted the G7 countries would grow by just 0.2% while Germany, </span><a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2078rank.html">the world’s second largest exporter</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, falling by 1.4% in the Q4.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Within the Eurozone, the Greek economy contracted by 5.2% in Q3, an improvement on 8.3% in Q1 but still painful. Portugal, the previous danger area for bailouts, shrank by just 1.7%, Ireland and Italy were stagnant and Spain rose by 0.8%, compared with the UK’s 0.5% growth. <a href="http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-15112011-BP/EN/2-15112011-BP-EN.PDF">Lithuania and Estonia, by contrast, rose by 7.8% and 7.9% respectively</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After days of speculation about Italy and Spain needing a bailout with Italian bond yields exceeding the 7% threshold beyond which it is believed they could not pay back the loans, and Spanish bond yields rising, both countries have seen the bonds bounce back <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/german-30-year-bonds-snap-two-day-advance-before-auction-inflation-report.html">after the European Central Bank has agreed to buy the country’s debts</a>. However, confidence in Italy’s economy is still shaky as <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3eaa5e6c-0e6f-11e1-91e5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1drftshT2">yields rose once again shortly afterwards</a>. The focus on Italy remains high as it accounts for <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a86f2a0-1037-11e1-8211-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1drftshT2">16.8% of Eurozone GDP compared to Greece’s 2.3%</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The domestic problems in those two countries, however, have forced the resignation of Greece’s Prime Minister Papandreou and Italy’s Prime Minister Berlusconi have led to a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/13/europe-rise-technocracy-editorial">new era of technocrats</a> with academic economists Lucas Papademos, a former VP of the ECB in Frankfurt, and Mario Monti, a former European Commissioner, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204190504577037552236411064.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">taking the reins respectively</a>, providing a warning to politicians in charge of all failing economies that their successors could be civil servants, not fellow politicians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15733539">UK inflation has fallen slightly to 5%</a> from a ten-year high of 5.2% thanks mainly to current supermarket price wars, whilst clothing, electricity and gas prices continue to rise. By comparison, prices in the Eurozone held steady at 3%, whilst the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/consumer-prices-in-u-s-unexpectedly-fall-0-1-first-drop-in-four-months.html">US rate of inflation fell slightly to 3.5%</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To help boost the UK economy, the <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/787e3b84-1047-11e1-8211-00144feabdc0.html">Bank of England announced it will resume quantitative easing in the near future</a>, whilst the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-lays-out-447-billion-plan-to-boost-nations-economy/2011/09/08/gIQAk3ELDK_story.html">US had aimed to provide a $447 billion boost to the economy through tax cuts and an increase in government spending</a>. This plan was, however, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/us/politics/new-senate-battle-over-obamas-jobs-bill-now-piecemeal.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print">blocked by republicans</a>, leading <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/us/politics/jobs-plan-stalled-obama-to-try-new-economic-drive.html?hp=&pagewanted=print">President Obama to seek new ways to pushing through changes</a> to help housing, education and employment issues. Furthermore, Obama has sought to create a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/14/pacific-trade-pact-china-obama">Pacific-region trade pact</a> with a new <a href="http://www.ustr.gov/tpp">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> rivaling the <a href="http://www.apec.org/">Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/15/eurozone-crisis-britain-germany-tension">Britain has helped the love-hate relationship between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy</a> by giving it something to <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/25ef197c-0f90-11e1-88cc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1drftshT2">join together and fight against</a>: David Cameron and a proposed <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15555812">Tobin Tax</a> on financial transactions which the Tory leader is adamantly opposing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All this, of course, is good news. Whilst the present outlook is bleak, it means that things can only get better. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A brief look at today's FTSE 100 index, showing the past 10 years, shows how things go up, and then they go down. Sometimes they go very down, but they tend to go up over time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sltEs3hIebo/TsP0sPh7zcI/AAAAAAAAH_M/r4b5mvPBhLU/s1600/FTSE100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sltEs3hIebo/TsP0sPh7zcI/AAAAAAAAH_M/r4b5mvPBhLU/s640/FTSE100.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">FTSE 100 Index</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here is hoping that the global economy is going to follow that trend....now just to cross those fingers and toes...</span></div>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-13750482948697937472011-11-09T14:10:00.002+00:002011-11-09T14:10:59.753+00:00How to put out a Flash in the pan...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MeipI5TIVM/TrpdI_I9fbI/AAAAAAAAHzM/WMAMHlNoeXA/s1600/Adobe_Flash_Mobile.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1MeipI5TIVM/TrpdI_I9fbI/AAAAAAAAHzM/WMAMHlNoeXA/s320/Adobe_Flash_Mobile.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/flash" target="_blank">Twitter has been loud this morning</a> talking of Adobe killing off its fancy animation language 'Flash' for mobile devices. The news first came, it seems, on <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/exclusive-adobe-ceases-development-on-mobile-browser-flash-refocuses-efforts-on-html5/19226" target="_blank">ZDNet</a> whilst the Adobe website still talks about <a href="http://www.adobe.com/devnet/devices.html" target="_blank">creating Flash for mobile devices</a>, but then Adobe wouldn't be the first company that failed to tell its web team what it had told the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
Some commentators have been remarking, probably rightly, that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/09/adobe-flash-mobile-dead" target="_blank">Steve Jobs has finally won</a>, beyond the grave, in his war against Adobe. It was in April last year that the Apple anti-Flash venom started spitting. <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/04/10/steve-jobs-adobe/" target="_blank"> Mashable ran a series of emails between Steve Jobs and an Adobe developer</a> that suggested Jobs' hatred of Flash was purely about the stability of the platform and the ability of Apple to be able to lock in both app developers and iPhone and iPad users by making it harder to create the same app for multiple platforms (Android, Windows, RIM etc.).<br />
<br />
The '<a href="http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/04/14/chronicles-of-conflict-the-history-of-adobe-vs-apple/" target="_blank">Roughly Drafted Magazine</a>' blog ran an article just after the Mashable one that gives a nice summary of the real background to the Apple-Adobe spat. In short, it has nothing to do with Flash. It has nothing to do with whether or not Flash is unstable or not. It clearly has nothing to do with delivering a great user experience, as most websites had some element of Flash when the iPad first appeared (not to mention the iPhone before it) which could not be viewed by Apple users. <br />
<br />
So if Adobe won't support Flash for mobile devices, surely it cannot be long before Flash dies out? HTML 5 will take over completely once <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5494574/internet-explorer-9-a-fresh-start-with-html5" target="_blank">Internet Explorer adopts HTML 5 with version 9</a>, (despite many users still on I.E. 6, such as corporate clients too frightened to update anything once they have locked it down enough to make it secure) and no website will be developed using Flash.<br />
<br />
So what is the fall-out to this? Flash developers had better start retraining and fast. Flash trainers had better start teaching something else. Accessibility experts had better start charging for something else as they won't be able to spend hours pointing out how un-accessible Flash is.<br />
<br />
And pages will load faster...(<a href="http://artofthetrench.com/" target="_blank">take note Burberry</a>!)<br />
<br />
And the world keeps turning...it just no longer uses Action Script...Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978055249893125163.post-86293780484207167042011-11-03T14:55:00.001+00:002011-11-03T15:02:12.253+00:00How do you know you have failed?<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b>99 percent of success is built on failure.</b>" - Charles Kettering
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vxxkX62eEUs/TrKiWKeVm2I/AAAAAAAAHy0/QPzjtMAZFHw/s1600/Failure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vxxkX62eEUs/TrKiWKeVm2I/AAAAAAAAHy0/QPzjtMAZFHw/s320/Failure.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
I have recently heard much talk about how all good entrepreneurs have lived through failure and that, in fact, an <a href="http://www.mindpowermarketing.com/why-failure-is-the-most-important-factor-in-success/" target="_blank">entrepreneur needs to fail on the road to success</a>. The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/audio/2011/oct/25/tech-weekly-podcast-tech-city?INTCMP=SRCH" target="_blank">Guardian's Tech Weekly Podcast</a> recently discussed this when talking about the new 'Silicon Roundabout' area of London rich in technology start-ups and why none have achieved comparable success with their 'Silicon Valley' counterparts.<br />
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vxxkX62eEUs/TrKiWKeVm2I/AAAAAAAAHy0/QPzjtMAZFHw/s1600/Failure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div>
Apparently the British don't tolerate failure the way those in the US do.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If one peruses the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537" target="_blank">millions of words recently written about Steve Jobs</a>, much is spoken about his products which failed, his <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/23/steve-jobs-failure_n_1025732.html" target="_blank">personal failure in being sacked from Apple</a>, and how he spoke in the (now famous) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA" target="_blank">Stanford Commencement Speech</a> about how he learned from those mistakes.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But no one seems to know how to answer one simple question:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>How do you know you've failed?</i></blockquote>
There are hundreds, if not thousands of potential entrepreneurs worldwide who have great ideas. Many of them put the ideas into practice and develop those ideas into a functioning product or service or artistic endeavour (such as a composition, an artwork or a novel). Many of them are persistent in trying to get funding for their company or to get others to back their ideas both financially and morally.<br />
<br />
Some are lucky. Through friends, family and serendipitous connections with investors and mentors, they are able to get their business off the ground. They might get a mention in the local press or even the national media. They might present at trade shows or speak at conferences.<br />
<br />
But they do not achieve the critical mass necessary to make the business profitable. Some investors are patient and, as with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, will <a href="http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-819688.html" target="_blank">wait up to seven years before seeing even a modest profit</a>; but many investors are less patient and will stop funding a start-up after a few years of operation. Would Amazon have survived if it had taken two more years to move into the black? Bill Gates said "Microsoft is always two years away from failure".<br />
<br />
When should creatives, in business or the arts, decide to cut their losses and try a different direction? Pulp, the Sheffield band, took sixteen years from forming to reaching national and international success. In 2009, <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/13216053" target="_blank">The Economist wrote how <i>entrepreneurship</i> was finally 'cool'</a>.<br />
<br />
So all the angel investors, VC funding, government grants and deregulation of start-up bureaucracy is great, but perhaps what is really needed is some objective guidance and advice for when someone should persist with their idea because their time will indeed come; and when they should just pack it in and try something different. We could call them "<i>Reality Checkers</i>".<br />
<br />
For those who do wish to persist, I recommend reading the quotes on innovation on <a href="http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/quotes/index.shtml" target="_blank">ideachampions.com</a>.<br />
<br />
Perhaps the best quote for me, however, is by <a href="http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/hhgg.html" target="_blank">Douglas Adams</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<b>A learning experience is one of those things that says, '<i>You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'</i></b>"</blockquote>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>Sealtreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08977844694752065492noreply@blogger.com1