Open Everything : The Rolling Gallop

[ image : sridgway ]

I met Mark Pesce a couple of years back and he had been booted from one job and was courting a thousand others.

He’s right….of course.

How the f…. can we convince huge beaucratic environments to do anything more than lock down learning further and put more roadblocks in place with ICT’s ? Open the doors and maybe using the commercial brilliance of the web some say.

Here’s some more on what he is stirring up here in the land downunder.

Connected, challenging, futurist.

FOC08 : Online As Convenience

[ image : FOC08 ]

Paradoxical you must admit but who ever questioned whether a living conversation had occured between two persons on either phone………outwardly facing vehicles like many an educational organisation and it’s parralelled policy particulars.

Responsible for it’s own reference. Facilitating a need for a wall…..to climb over.

I have to hand it to Leigh Blackall who’s efforts to network an open and OER FOC course are very cool….in as much as I’m interested in what I can contribute rather than what transpires. That’s a certain.

It’s the only time in my living memory that I’ve been listed in the ‘A’ section of a list of bloggers;

1. Alexander Hayes http://www.alexanderhayes.com/
2. Amy Lenzo http://allislight.typepad.com/facilitating_online_commu/
3. Bernadette Harris http://www.harrisbromly.com.au/
4. Brian Shimelonis http://bcsfoc.blogspot.com
5. Bronwyn Collins http://brononline.blogspot.com/
6. Bronwyn Stuckey http://bronst.wordpress.com/
7. Bruna Ori http://curlygrl.blogspot.com/
8. Cathy Deckers http://cdeck77.wordpress.com/
9. Concetta http://edusnacks.edublogs.org/
10. Craig Hansen http://nzsetrust.org.nz/?q=blog
11. Cristina Costa http://knowmansland.com/learningpath
12. Daryl Cook http://darylcook.com/category/personal/foc08/
13. Deb Thompson http://mediateachspace.blogspot.com/
14. Derek Chirnside http://lits.gen.nz/
15. Diane Holmes http://dianez.wordpress.com
16. Dreig http://www.dreig.eu/caparazon/eng
17. Elaine Dittert http://elainedittert.blogspot.com
18. Gabriela Sellart http://foc08.tumblr.com/
19. Greg Barcelon http://servant02.wordpress.com/
20. Greg Szczotka http://onlinecommunites.wordpress.com/
21. Illya Arnet-Clark http://illyasoet.wordpress.com/
22. Jan Hunter http://janfoc08.blogspot.com/
23. Jeffrey Keefer http://silenceandvoice.com/
24. Jennifer Verschoor http://www.jenverschoor.wordpress.com/
25. Joao Alves http://joaocarlosalves.eu
26. Joy Zhao http://joyzw.blogspot.com
27. Kay Lewis http://906703fockaylewis.blogspot.com/
28. Kirsten Marais TBA 6-8-08
29. Leigh Blackall http://facilitatingonlinecommunities.blogspot.com/
30. Lynn MacEachern http://www.facilitate2yes.com/
31. Malik Richardson http://mrarrah.teacherlingo.com/default.aspx
32. Maria Pophristova http://mimonche.blogspot.com/
33. Marie Casas http://sxyshandy.vox.com/
34. Mary Loftus http://livnlern.blogspot.com/
35. Mike Bogle http://techticker.net/category/foc08/
36. Mike Taylor http://foc08.wordpress.com/
37. Minhaaj ur Rehman http://minhaaj.blogspot.com/
38. Naketa Ferguson http://blog.core-ed.net/naketa/
39. Nellie Deutsch http://nelliemuller.blogspot.com/
40. Octavio Lima http://education.ning.com/profile/OctavioLima
41. Olubodun Olufemi J http://tutoring-e-online.blogspot.com/
42. Peter Efland http://phefland.wordpress.com/
43. Robyn Honeman http://rhoneman.blogspot.com
44. Russell Thorp http://russtreflect.wordpress.com
45. Sarah Stewart http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com/
46. Sean McKee http://www.seanpmckee.net/blog
47. Shane Roberts http://shane-tech-teach.blogspot.com/
48. Stian Håklev http://reganmian.net/blog
49. Sue Wolffe http://suewolff.com/Perspectance/
50. Sylvia Currie http://blog.webbedfeat.com/
51. Tim Davies http://www.timdavies.org.uk/
52. Tom Murray http://www.tommurray.us
53. Valerie Taylor http://valerie.posterous.com/
54. Vida Thompson http://VidaFOC.blogspot.com
55. Vishal Roopun http://www.v-roopun.blogspot.com/
56. Wayne http://www.waynethinks.com
57. Nancy Riffer http://www.nowpracticingcommunity.blogspot.com
58. Olaug (Ollie) Gardener http://olliegardener.blogspot.com/

Has the hive mind entered a new memory, where the collective distributes before the individual has had a chance to say a thing or is it possible that ICT’s now offer a new opportunity for spiritual enlightment to those individuals who contribute to it’s ethereal architecture ?

Back to business. ‘A’ is for …hole right ?

I dipped into the Google group last night and added my bit on Facebook however there is just a huge wealth of knowledge being dissected here and the Facebook thing is just a distraction.

2 minutes today saw me lost in the world of Joao’s Netvibes compilation….there’s a lot to be said about RSS readers that openly aggregate as opposed to Google reader that internalises ( ok it has an out section too with difficulty )

Leigh rightly posed in the Google group;

I think your challenge has something in it that could be used for this 2
week question however - what is an online community? Perhaps you could write
or point us to writing that explores the notion of commercial entities,
marketing initiatives and surveillance organisations taking advantage of a
sense online community for reasons other than the shared purpose and
understanding of those actually IN the community. I’m talking specifically
about Facebook and their data collection methods and terms of service, not
to mention darker conspiracy claims beyond that… I think the concerns that
FB raised in critics last year can be extended to a consideration of online
communities generally, and the platforms and technologies we use to
facilitate them.

Well, I could go on forever on what Facebook and like-minded companies do with private album-of-the-day information ……but, hmmm, maybe what’s at stake here is something richer which I’d rather spend time talking to, around, with.

The nature of networked and online communities in themselves are no more or less the individuals value in contributing information , engaging in the luxury of indulgently re-defining that which has been a steady composition over the development of time or as some would attest regression of human behaviour.

Somewhere I’ve read that a very small percentage of the internet is formed by those that create and contribute content and the proportion of those who use the internet to foster and support networked communities that require facilitation is miniscule in comparison to the greater proportion of those who simply seek, navigate and consume contribution only or partially. Does that matter ?

For me facilitating online communities might be re-defined as;

• a bridge into establishing connections with individuals
• an effort fraught with change and contentment in varying degrees
• governed only by the ability of others to contribute
• value laden or value driven ( rarely both )
• ostensibly NOT technology oriented rather mediated ( filtered is a closer portal descriptor)
• generationally permeated with re-orienting helplessness into positive possibility
• circumstantial ( more epitaphs are written online than off )
• largely influenced by populace nomenclature ie. group, networked, guild, Society, committee

But of course , getting back to this weeks topic I have occasionally been asked ..”WHAT”… is online facilitation and tried hard to avoid describing it as ;

a fleeting series of Wikipedia entires governed by superbly clever and rogue 19 year old Russian mods.

Out comes the butchers paper. Circles, arrows, fancy words. So perhaps ICT’s thwart our learned states and challenge the manner in which we have otherwise locked our cloistered cafe’ conversations and colloquims up into.

A convenience.

Maybe an online community is a convenience.

Usefulness & Value

I often preface my posts with an image which I garnish from the undending array of 2.5 CC at FlickrCC - just one of the best cool tools I know of. Very useful….

I link to the source and in doing so acknowledge the brilliance of the creator. I’m also showing I suppose some reverence for the time and space in which the object has transcended a limited range of visual brilliance, appreciation and allowing it to inform another way to lighten the lives of others.

That’s really what I’m after when I rant about access and useability for learners within or outside of the organisational or institutional firewall of protectionism. Concentrating on the guilt and bad feelings that come from being blocked access to new and emergent ways of working using networked communication technologies only seems to heighten my anxiety further. It’s debilitating and I’m actually beyond feeling this way so why do i contiue to engage in the debate ?

What not just give up and find ways to avoid confronting this challenge ?

I acknowledge that I feel angry and dismayed that no one in management is “getting it” but then upon reflection and consideration I realise that in fact they ( management ) in fact are getting it loud and clear …….and that carefully orchestrated planning and history have contributed to that decision making process. I also acknowledge that my expressions of dismay and helplessness are not helping to inform progressive thinking ……..rather drawing upon the vitriolic and senseless mindlessness that erupts from repeat unrequieted ( is that how you spell that word ?) access to that which makes it all easier.

Readers and my colleagues know that I often lapse into fits of sardonisim….. and feeling trapped in situations also leads me to kick-out at the constraint.

Nor am I one to sit in amongst the constraint and accept that this is the way it is and just accept it like a drone. What I’m doing is expressing how I’m FEELING…….I’m feeling trapped ( it’s a feeling and not a pretty one ) HOWEVER, in expressing it I’m seeking ways to move on and experience success, supported and encouraged, connected and really achieving creation. It’s perhaps the base human expression as Jo kay suggests that makes it possible to then contemplate the way to empower oneself which in turn empowers others by example.

The problem ( I’m now thinking…..ticking away here) is less in the fact that there is a reluctance in the education sectors to readily embrace new technologies and use them as part of the education experience, but more of a sociological value as to the affect such technologies have on the other aspects of being human and alive. Take for instance online learning for part-time educators in time poor cities with chronic shortages of beauty and health. Or, consider resource rich lock-step employees trapped in isolated communities where access and useability are seventh to the local football field. Which looks more like war and why ?

Where does openess help rather than induce introspection and anxiety of self value ? maybe pushing for an open view of what’s happening inside only add’s to the anxiety ? When does a wiki not become a wiki ? Just because it’s closed and dosent exist for public view ?

Technology I propose itself is not necessarily the challenge rather the myrid of challenges it poses for base human communication as we struggle to engage in meaningful and human-rich deep and slow experiences without interuptions. Maybe the ’social’ in social networking technology is in fact an enigma and that in fact we’d be better off analysing and informing the debates from a values assessment of technology mediated interaction without it’s “noise”.

That would then render this expression of mine …mute. Best I concentrate on what it enables rather than what it refutes. Find some connectedness amongst the humdrum and show connection in action in a world immersed in security conciousness.

Whilst I’m on the topic, policy ( broad sweep of hand ) seems to me to be a resultant rather than a guide in all of these discussions and helpless expressions. Process oriented action research that informs action ie. Graham Wegner seems more useful than philisophical nuances that inform policy which then governs the manner in which we re-value interaction and devolve responsibility from.

I commiserate with Kim Flintoff and find that he’s willing to openly ( humanely) express himself and suggest perhaps that he’s also not trapped by cynicsm rather seeking connectedness to remain sane and positive.

After much mirth last night Stephan Ridgway, Robyn Jay and Julie Collareda finally broke into fits of laughter at the novelty of re-positing the ridiculousness of where rhetoric is taking our organisations as a whole as they struggle to comprehend the whole change occuring from right underneath them. Not only are humans becoming more complex but the rapidity of the connections means nothing remains un-observed.

Our resolve - It’s our ability to harness survaillant as core capital rather than bork at it’s borgness.

Open up rooms in ourspace.

Turn the machine off occasionally.

Smile more readily.

Seems worthwhile to me. What do you think ?

Read Write Blah.

. .

“……some who complain in the staffroom about not being able to turn off from school when they get home……..they just want their paycheck and to keep doing things the same way they been doing it for the last 10/20 years.”

Alls well…..

…….that ends well and by the sounds of it at least 8 out of 10 things were covered in the Learning In The 21st Century gig hosted by education.au in Adelaide today.

Many thanks to all who attended both physically, virtually or in spirit.

Mike Seyfrang has preliminary thoughts and I’m sure Michael Coghlan and Graham Wegner will add their piece later.

Graham passed on some links also - http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1843

Framework - http://www.groups.edna.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=51520

Al upton said hello via Skype.

I was driven to Dubbo NSW and sat with three groups of educators talking about networked learning and wikispaces. The knees gradually on the mend.

So is the head

Wimba: The Next Challenge

It could only happen to me surely….and yet I know it dosent…regularly and it frustrates the hell out of teachers trying to make a go of it and I feel for them as they seek innovation only to have really seemingly simple things stop them in their tracks.

Here I am behind the the four-walled firewall and my VoxPopping DJ dropping attempt at trying to make it into Kerry Johnson’s world has yet again been stopped. I’ll try again from the home office.

Repeat attempts x 5 mean it’s a home job…again.

That also rules out my ideas for Wimba ( with ease ) poking it’s head through the Moodle installs out here in the West. I’ve managed to get Scorm compliant tool box things happening inside and that heartens me somewhat.

Luckily also though I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Graham Wegner , Janet Hawtin and last night Kim Cofino. Some things do work and yet…..

I tried using the CallGraph program to record Kim’s great talk last night but it fell over with no recording present at the conclusion of our Skype talk…..so perhaps Kerry you could extract something from the above MP3 recordings and Vox pop it through EDNA.

There are so many challenges for educators simply with navigation through the web inside large organisations that I’m sure this contributes to the perception that ICT’s are just so close and yet so tantalisingly out of reach hence an attitude of….nice…….if only it would work for us. I’ve eluded to this a little in my presentation which will occur this Thursday in Dubbo with the CSHT& R Faculty…just a little.

Without humour it’s hard to see forward. Without the guts the it’s hard to look back proudly and know that you’ve contributed to breaking down some stereotypes and demystifying some of the fear surrounding networked learning.

Beyond delivery.

I think I’ll invest in the PrettyMay pro. audio Skype recorder. Cant afford to have conversations like this with Kim or others just not record.

Graham, Janet and Kim are all looking for the same thing in this debate. Some sensible approachs to the use of digital technologies involving our most precious asset - our children. having the guts to become a networked and global citizen celebrating difference and celebrating unity where possible.

Beautiful day up here in Orange after the snow fall yesterday.

School Of Everything

Got to give it to them because it works and it flows nicely as a social application and it’s just the sort of site that excites me in it’s potential.

Not so keen on the empahasis on ‘teacher’ however can understand where thats at with so many people defining themselves by the term and little by the action.

Have iconed it and added it to the sidebar and must go explore a bit.

Use the icon if you like.

LinkedIn for teachers.

School Of Everything…..good one folks.

Placing Our Feet Well

Lucychili and I spent till some time late in the morning exploring “value” and other useful process oriented actions which leads up to the May 2nd event in Adelaide.

I dropped a post into the Engageme space as i think this brings that community into the discussion and others related to what it means to be living in DER.…an apt coinage by education.au. Ive started tagging things with Diigo on the area from my own and many others ( hopefully) perspective on the idea of a digital education revolution which I think is alive a well.

Today I made some breakthroughs in the nomeclature governing participation within the MECaT online Moodle project I’m Project Officer for which excites me. I didnt think I’d ever get a SCORM compliant learning object operational but with the help of Grant Casey at CLI and Toolbox Champion, Shane Dowd hey….it’s happening !

Building & Construction online. Has a certain ring to it.

You’ll notice some changes with this site. I’m done with the sardonism.

Sick of the smartarse…out with the old in with the new.

Now on with the business of connecting , creating and building things which inspire others. Feel free to drop me a link with some positive, constructive criticism.

News in the door is I’ll be guest speaking at the AFLF Induction Day for the Innovations area in 2008, down in Sydney, networked and built as a participatory event with a few suprises.

Trialling Evernote, research retained through Diigo and playing with other mashables.