Warning: The internet is almost full

Due to the extraordinary explosion in video, blogs, news feeds and social network postings, the internet is dangerously close to running out of room.

Nothing can grow forever, and exponential growth is always short lived. We're running out of disk space, so if you have something left to say, better hurry. Once it's full, it's full.

Of course, the decentralized nature of the net means that it will never be physically full. As long as we can keep making hard drives, we won't run out of space to store those inane videos of your Aunt Sally. What is full is our attention.

Ten years ago, you had a shot of at least being aware of everything that mattered. Five years ago, you had to be really selective about what you took in, but at least it was possible to know what you didn't know. Today, it's impossible. Today, you can't even read every article on a thin slice of a thin topic.

You can't keep up with the status of your friends on the social networks. No way. You can't read every important blog... you can't even read all the blogs that tell you what the important blogs are saying.

Used to be, you could finish reading your email, hit "check email" and nothing new would show up. Now, of course, the new mail is probably a longer list than the mail you just finished processing.

The internet isn't full, but we are.

- Seth Godin [Seth's Blog]
7:53:19 PM    

Online collaboration tools available for VET practitioners. Education Network Australia (edna) has released a suite of free online voice tools to further online collaboration and communication for those working in the education and training sectors. The online voice tools were recently integrated into edna’s online collaborative spaces, edna Groups. This means that all edna Groups now have free access to the following tools: Wimba Live Classroom, Wimba Voice Recorder, Wimba Voice Board, Wimba Voice Presentation, and Wimba Podcaster. [Vocational Education & Training Headlines]
6:59:20 PM    

On "Chinese Whispers" in the history of psychology. I've picked this up rather late, but it alludes to a substantial problem represented in professional education programmes, including teacher education. Rarely have lecturers actually read the original, primary sources for much of the research they report, and even where they have done so, they may have chosen to represent them in a manner which is more consistent with their own beliefs or interests than the evidence warrants. I confess I've done it, too. By noreply@blogger.com (James A). [Recent Reflection]
6:52:46 PM    

On the devil in the detail of teaching practice. I'm not generally a great fan of over-hyped Malcolm Gladwell, and the overall starting point of this article[~] that by culling the worst 10% of teachers school standards in the US could be greatly improved[~]is contestable to say the least (although "instructional quality" does come out with a high effect-size in Hattie's meta-analysis of educational variables).

However, here he does offer a very accessible discussion of the problems of judging the "worst 10%", and his eavesdropping on a panel assessing teaching skills on video is fascinating and informative. Assuming, of course, that the panel are focusing on significant behaviour. By noreply@blogger.com (James A). [Recent Reflection]
6:52:03 PM    

Urbanization: 95% Of The World's Population Lives On 10% Of The Land. A new global map measures urbanization from the new perspective of Travel Time to 8,500 Major Cities. The map fills an important gap in our understanding of economic, physical and even social connectivity. [ScienceDaily: Latest Science News]
6:43:08 PM