Wisdom of the crowd or stupidity of the mob?

To paraphrase Kevin Kelly, editor at Wired Magazine (see http://www.kk.org), "Between the wisdom of the crowd and the stupidity of the mob lies a very fine line."

We are living in an age where certain things are happening that were previously thought to be totally impossible. For example, we are seeing an exponential increase in the power of the group while at the same time seeing increasing individualism. Think about about it. While expanding our own sense of self through wiki posting, social networks and personal blogs we are at the same time seeing an amazing transformation and expansion of group knowledge via these same tools.

It was once believed that by linking people together across the globe, we would see a homogenization occur resulting in the loss of uniqueness, culture and personal identity. This clearly has not panned out.

There is a big unknown that is yet to come from this and that is, what can be accomplished by adding up all these small bits of personal knowledge and understanding to create something bigger and greater that the sum of it's parts.

This collective intelligence/knowledge has yet to fully reveal it's true potential but one interesting use of it in the business world has been to take advantage of a lesser recognized facet and that is the transparency that comes with it.

In one business case, a company started by lifting all travel expense restrictions. The caveat was that all travel expenses by any employee were posted to a company wide site which was viewable by all the other employees. The essence then is that within this transparency, the travelers are trained by the group as to whats an OK expense and what is unacceptable!

I doubt my company (OHSU) is ready to allow the crowd to dictate acceptable standards, but I'm encouraged to see the introduction of blogs and a lot of participation in some social networks like Linkedin. Perhaps one day the mob will rule, but not today.

Social Networking & The Business World

Social networking (think Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace) is woven deftly into the everyday fabric of the latest generation (gen y). They use social networks as a means of personal expression, communication and sharing experiences. They are redefining the meaning of 'friend' via these networks.

As one conventioneer told his story, it became clear that the use of social learning among this new crowd is more than just idle wasting of time.

Imagine a teen who finds them self faced with a dilemma, say they've just discovered they're failing a class. Within moments of this knowledge they post this problem to their 1200 'friends' on My Space. And within moments of that 15 'friends' write back relaying their own experience with this kind of problem and then provide a dozen different ways ways to handle this with the parents.

By the time the teen gets home they have a well armed, well laid out plan for addressing this issue. Meanwhile, the unsuspecting parent is caught totally by surprise and may find little defense when faced with such a well presented case!

Now, without this sort of techno-thinking ingrained in our own fabrics, how do we as working professionals take advantage of this sort of knowledge sharing and problem solving!?

I don't have the exact answer but I am exploring Facebook, Linkedin and others to try and find out.

How many of you use social networks for problem solving and knowledge sharing?

Shamu, Virtual Classrooms and Wiki-madness

From Amy Sutherland, author of, What Shamu Taught me About Life Love and Marriage, boiled down one key message that was, "what you get is what you reinforce". Meaning that if there is behavior that you do not want from a person, animal, or what-have-you, you should ignore (to the extent possible) the behavior altogether. Conversely, don't let behavior that you do want go unnoticed or unrecognized. So, basically reinforce what you do want and ignore the behavior you don't want.

From a veteran of virtual classrooms, Randah McKinnie, had the following tips.

1. Prequalify your audience with pre-tests and reinforcement of that during the live virtual classroom.
2. Find your own virtual style and pace. You may find it's different than your in-person style and pace.
3. Anecdotes are very powerful learning tools but *only* if it contextually appropriate and contributes to the learning.
4. Practice, practice, practice.
5. Disclose lapses in communication. Like silence on the radio, it can be a killer so don't leave your audience hanging.
6. Be specific with your questions. For example, if you think that's true, display a green check mark and if you disagree, choose a red x.
7. Create a sense of expectations, by letting the students know you will call on them directly for input, and then follow up by doing so.

Sue Gardner, new Executive Director of Wikimedia Foundation described the remarkable reality of the Wiki sensation. The free, open, online encyclopedia is the results of harvested knowledge from the people of planet earth (my words, not hers). It is a remarkable, personal and self-driven collection of facts and trivia. Our assignment by Elliot is to edit at least one wiki page before the end of next week.

What is Learning 2008?

Learning 2008 is an ongoing yearly conference where technology educators come together to share knowledge and connect with others in the field.

Held at the Coronado Springs Resort in Disneyworld, it's a great setting for socializing, learning and getting inspired. Elliot Masie (seen in the yellow jacket to the right) hosts this event and always manages to ask compelling questions from his guests.

In the morning General session that kicked off the weeks events, Elliots asked Arch Lustberg, "what is the most important thing to remember to be an effective presenter?"

He said, "Don't try to be someone you're not. It comes off as bad acting. Don't be a bad actor, be a good performer. Speaking from the heart is the most powerful way to communicate."

More pearls of knowledge (as my college guitar teacher used to say) later...

Educating Adults

I've been educating adult learners in the IT field for many years now. The thing I find most interesting is what motivates people to learn. With adults they have to know it will benefit them in someway before they feel it's worth their time. Learning for the sake of learning is pretty rare, especially in the business world where I teach.

Even for myself, although I find a great deal of things fascinating and interesting to learn, I'm not motivated to attend a class unless I see clear benefit to someway in which I intend to apply it.

What motivates you to learn new things?