Learning2.0 : Journey to about2findout.com

Berlin, it's that time of year again! For the fifth time, I'll be attending the annual Online Educa Berlin conference, Europe's biggest conference on e-learning. I've arrived in Berlin a few days ago and am looking forward to a good conference. It's not snowing here (yet?), but the Christmas markets are selling their 1/2 meter bratwurst. I also realise that quite some people that I usually meet here won't make it this year, which is a shame (ill, other job, no travel budget this year,...) .

My current planning for the conference:
- Wednesday I attend a workshop by Jay Cross on his new book 'learnscape', or how to make the learning ecosystem for informal learning work (I think).
- Thursday I'm hosting a knowledge exchange session on my hobby project 'about2findout.com': all things people want to know on building a social web application for learning. It's at 16h30.
- Friday at the end of the conference I'll be chairing the 'battle of the bloggers', where a panel of bloggers will give their views on this years conference.

Labels: berlin, online educa

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

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