Exploring intuition and awareness .... in trusting our own decisions :

"I never know what the next lesson is going to be, because weíre not supposed to know; weíre supposed to trust ourselves to discover it."

-- Melody Beattie

8:01:55 PM    comment []  trackback []

I wish i could start a link blog in Radio.  Then i will be moving my blog to Movable Type soon - am working on setting it up there  - and it should be running smoothly (hopefully!) soon.

So many really neat articles that suggest blogging's going mainstream, that i've been reading - sometimes you find there's very little you want to add - yet you want to share your delight at reading them.  Thats where i think the link blog would be such a super idea.

I've also noticed that many other bloggers have picked up some of these articles too - and i observed that most merely linked them with a short introduction suggesting - "must read".  Haven't seen too much of the usual analysis around on them - yet.  Perhaps a reflection of how well researched and well-written these articles are.

So here's the list  :

• Blogging The Market (or 1.4mb .pdf) - How corporates are turning markets into real conversations - by George Dafermos - as close to a book in format as any i have read.  And is optimistic about corporate blogging.  Even the bibiography alone is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in this area.

• 'My So-Called Blog' by Emily Nussbaum - a well researched article focussing on teen blogging in the New York Times.  Full of youth voices, youth speak, anecdotes, stories.  Its almost like an ethnographic study on youth and blogs.  Still, read between the lines and you will find nuggets that reveal so much about youth culture, their relationships, their own unique communication needs and preoccupations in general as well.

Has some interesting stats too :

"According to figures released last October by Perseus Development Corporation, a company that designs software for online surveys, there are expected to be 10 million blogs by the end of 2004. In the news media, the blog explosion has been portrayed as a transformation of the industry, a thousand minipundits blooming. But the vast majority of bloggers are teens and young adults. Ninety percent of those with blogs are between 13 and 29 years old; a full 51 percent are between 13 and 19, according to Perseus"

• Spinning Yarns around the Digital Fire - Storytelling and Dialogue among Youth on the Internet - a First Monday article by David Huffaker [link via elearnspace blog] - blogging is not really the focus of this article which really is an interesting take on the new cultures of use that the internet is spawning for Generation Y.  How digital technologies (in particular the Internet) add new dimensions to dialogue, storytelling, or collaboration, by engaging the youth in dialogue - whether through IM, online forums, virtual communities and blogs.    

7:34:45 PM    comment []  trackback []

My DSL Link has been on the blink since yesterday.  Silly little problem really - but took over 24 hours to resolve.  The cable comes through the elevator room in my apartment building, and both the dsl link and the elevator went bust.  The elevator company was called, the dsl link provider was summoned, and ultimately the 'technicians' found it was just a short-fuse - in one of the switches.  All it ultimately took was a five-minute operation by the local neighbourhood electrician. 

Sometimes, we do complicate such simple things !

6:42:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

George Siemens talks of problems in Adoption of elearning and knowledge management initiatives and tools and sets out a simple yet useful list of questions for knowledge workers :

"One of the most consistent headaches elearning and knowledge management programs encounter is an inability to reach the full potential of an initiative or new tool (blogs, wikis, collaborative spaces).

The problem can almost be reduced to a formula/rule (principle of actual use):
Each tool/initiative achieves actual use in relation to potential, based on: the nature of tool, the environment of use, and the people using the tool/initiative.

• Nature of tool ñ How complicated is it? How different is it from how work is being done now? Complexity is proportional to adoption and intended task.
  
• People ñ Is the targeted user willing to adopt and explore new processes? Will it save time? Will it result in increased productivity? Will it help them better do their work? Will it improve their sense of competence (or will it reduce competence due to frustrations)?
  
• Environment of use ñ Does the tool/initiative solve real problems for the end user? (or only management)? Do people have to alter their work habits to use the tool? Can they do their job without it (if they can, most wonít adopt it)?"

Issues we must keep in mind in our attempts to introduce corporates to social software like blogs and wikis. Issues once addressed that may increase the chances of acceptance and adoption of these initiatives as systems that help users experience, welcome, and embed, within themselves or their organisations, flow. 

5:27:34 PM    comment []  trackback []