Learning2.0 : Journey to about2findout.com

As a follow-up to my last post, I'd like to introduce the 'Monkey Pride'. Andrew Keen calls us bloggers and web2.0 contributors the monkeys that run the show. So show some monkey pride!

Labels: andrew keen, cult of the amateur, monkey pride

I'm a monkey: spot the 5 differences.

The most controversial speaker here at Online Educa Berlin was no doubt Andrew Keen, the author of 'The cult of the amateur'. Every hype or (r)evolution needs its Antichrist, and Andrew Keen is very good at crying out his disgust on the monkeys and children that are running the show in the web 2.0 world, instead of Harvard professors, and the danger of sites such as Google and Wikipedia - all founded by hippies. I actually enjoyed his keynote. A story is not complete without its other side, and he certainly is good at counterbalancing all the euphoria around web 2.0 and the democratization of the Internet. "The monkeys are running the show."

In my humble opinion, what is going on here is the defense of relevance of expertise. For a very long time, expertise has been a monopoly, decided by the ones-who-knew. Publishers and others decided who was an expert and who was not, and what was worth hearing and what was not. It's a logical flaw to think expertise will necessarily bring greater truth to the table in that model. I'm a Belgian in a foreign country at the moment, and not a day goes by without people asking me about the political state of Belgium (don't worry, we have 6 other governments that still work, just the federal one takes a long time to take off, it will happen, don't worry.) I've only seen correct facts and analysis of that in the Dutch newspaper, other even quality journals like the New York Times get facts all wrong. So that is the world of expertise.
That world now has a competitor: the monkeys that blog, write Wikipedia pages etc. Competition is good. Expertise shouldn't have the monopoly on the truth. To me what Andrew Keen's point is about is the defense of the expertise against the wisdom of the crowds. I like the new world where both have their place and will compete for relevance. Hey, the experts have a cost disadvantage and a quality advantage. It's a fair fight. In the first years of this 2.0 thing traditional expertise-relying business share will drop, but it will remain relevant next to us monkeys. We are just finding a new balance in a competition for relevance. Personally, it excites me.

So I'm one of the monkeys... I blog, therefore I'm a monkey.

Labels: andrew keen, blog, cult of the amateur, online educa

Yesterday I attended a very nice pre-conference workshop here at Online Educa Berlin on Web 2.0 and social software. It was given by two profs from Italy (Sarah Gut and Susanna Sancassenni) that explained in a very clear was what they were doing with their students. It is interesting to see how even Flickr photo annotations can be used for language learning, just as wiki's, personal blogs, diigo annotations, etc. During the workshop we were also asked to work out a learning event that uses web 2.0 principles and tools. The project we came up with at our table is actually something I believe in would really work: an intra-company learning community with a common goal to become good at presenting. (There are so many bad presenters, also here at the conference.) I have to find back the photo they made of our project, but from the top of my head it included:
- social network site to make a profile (Ning for example)
- a plan to become good at learning and share it (wiki/blog)
- finding learning resources and experts (links to YouTube, courses,etc)
- sharing your experiences in learning blogs
- ask a question (how do I deal with this difficult audience tomorrow?)
- using Google Docs or similar to collaborate on presentation design
- using Slideshare.com to prepare and get feedback on the presentation delivery
- recorded teleconf calls to exercise Q&A

It was an interesting workshop, especially because it opened my eyes on what is really, really happening in universities right now. Oh boy, we from the corporate learning function have no idea what is heading to us in 2-3 years time. That is another reason for me being here: this is the only conference where corporate learning professionals can preview the learning that Nextgen youngsters get right now and will expect to get from us when they enter the workforce.

Labels: online educa, web2.0

I've arrived in Berlin, and I'm preparing for the annual Online Educa conference. Berlin is cold, but still above 0 degrees, no snow, no rain, and Christmas markets everywhere. I did eat my annual 1/2m bratwurst yesterday. Some habits shouldn't die.
One thing I noticed is that they introduced the 'Ampelmann' traffic sign everywhere. It used to be a DDR (East-Germany) thing only, and you used to be able to tell if you were in the former East-Berlin or West-Berlin by looking at the traffic light, but they guy is so popular now they put him everywhere. He even has his own shop. BTW, am I the only sick little twisted mind that sees a 'Erectionsmann' rather than an 'Ampelmann' in this?

I'm giving a presentation on the IBM Knowledge Factory on Thursday. As part of that I experimented with Google Maps to create a map of all Knowledge Factory locations worldwide. It was quite easy actually. You need to have a free Google account and log on to maps.google.com. Then in the tab 'My maps', create a new map of your own and give it a title. Next you can add locations to it by simply searching for them and selecting 'add to your maps'. On customized maps you can have signs, areas and lines. You can share your maps or keep them private.

You can see the map on: http://maps.google.be/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=nl&msa=0&msid=107011651517167640797.00043fe5446ddfb17a21e&z=0&om=1

Labels: ampelmann, berlin, google maps, online educa

Now that a beta version of my site has just gone live, it is time to promote it! So I've decided to try out the world's most famous Internet advertisement company: Google. Google has a paying service (that generates about all of its income by the way) called AdWords. It allows you to create the familiar ad campaigns you see on the Google search pages. The principle is simple: you create your ad and link it with a list of keywords. Then you say how much you are willing to pay per click (I chose 0.09 euro cent because the estimator didn't give any results below that) and a maximum amount you want to spend a day (I chose 5 euro). An auction mechanism then determines what users will see your add based on the search terms they entered and other advertisers that bid for the same words.

The setup of the account was easy. You get the choice between a starter and a standard account type. The differences are listed here. I had to go for a standard account because otherwise I could only target one country. There is a lot of help assisting you choosing the right keywords and settings. But you should very carefully check the review page just before you sign up! All of the sudden Google had changed my maximum rates to 500 euro a day and 9 euro per click. I suppose a calculation error with the comma, but not funny if it is your money. So I went back and changed it. I also linked my AdWords account with my Google Analytics account.

I obviously don't want to go broke on AdWords because I'm running a completely free site here, but I want to see its effect and play around with it. The campaign I'm running right now is about the World Aids Day Quiz. I'll let it run for 1-2 weeks and let you know its impact in a follow-on post.

Labels: about2findout, Adwords

I added a quiz type to about2findout.com. It is called the 7of9 quiz, and the concept is simple. The quiz has 9 questions. As before, every question will get you 1, 2 or 3 points according to its difficulty level. After you've done all questions and if you answered at least 7 or more questions correct, you will get double points for the quiz.

The Author Zone now has a new button to create the quiz. First you edit the quiz by just adding the IDs of 9 questions. They don't have to be your own questions even, you can add any question. Next you can preview, publish or promote your quiz, just as you can for individual questions.
Please let me know if you like this new feature and how it can be improved or made easier.

The site has just gone live with its first quiz, the Aids Day 2007 Quiz. World Aids Day is traditionally held on Dec 1st, which is also my target date for the going live. Try it on:
http://www.about2findout.com/quickcode.aspx?code=AMH7E .

Labels: 7of9, about2findout, quiz

AIDS has been around for more than 25 year now. Despite the fact it has killed more than 25 million people since 1981, AIDS is still unspoken and unknown in many countries. What do you know about HIV and AIDS? Take the 7of 9 quiz and share it with your friends!

http://www.about2findout.com/quickcode.aspx?code=AMH7E

This quiz is also the opening quiz on the brand new about2findout.com quiz 2.0 site, a site dedicated to questions, answers and quizzes. Hint: create an account if you want to keep scores.

Labels: about2findout, AIDS, HIV, quiz, World Aids Day

I just realized I haven't posted an article in just under a month. First I was on holiday in Florida, then work got in the way and the last week I've been very, very busy preparing the go live of about2findout.com on Dec 1st. So it was just silence before the storm really :-). In fact I just uploaded both the brand new about2findout.com quiz 2.0 site to the root of the domain, and moved the experimental about3findout.com site to another server. So if you made links or bookmarks before, you will need to update them. The blog hasn't moved.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Berlin, where I'll attend the annual Online Educa Berlin conference on e-learning. It will be the fourth time I'm going and I'm looking forward to it as usual. The conference is a unique place with a mixed crowd of business and academics, and it is the time of year I go to contemplate on the work I've done so far, and what I want to do the next year. I'll be giving a session on the IBM Knowledge Factory and social software, and chairing another on learning in the enterprise.

Labels: about2findout, berlin, online educa