E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

The Twitter Experiment – By Dr. Monica Rankin

After a couple of days off from my regular blogging activities, as I went on a business trip to Madrid for a couple of days end of last week to share some more thoughts and insights on social software adoption at an internal event, I am now back once more. Yes, I am back home and it is time for me to resume blogging again.

This time around with something really exciting and truly innovative that has been going on in my mind the entire day, ever since I watched a specific YouTube video that I bumped into from an earlier tweet from the always insightful Mike Wesch referencing an experiment done by Dr. Monica Rankin, Professor of History (The University of Texas at Dallas School of Arts and Humanities), which she then describes more thoroughly at this specific Web site.

I must say that while I was watching through the video I just couldn’t help remembering a blog post I put together a few days back referencing a similar revolutionary change that was starting to take shape in the Learning and Education field. Remember Learning to Change – Changing to Learn? Then you must watch The Twitter Experiment by Dr. Monica Rankin.

In that video clip of a little bit over five minutes she gets to describe how she has been running, very successfully, too!, an experiment by which she uses Twitter with her students to help improve the overall flow of not only the classroom itself, but the interactions, and conversations, of the various students, amongst themselves and also with her. Some pretty fascinating stuff, for sure! Gems like this one are just too precious not to spread them around elsewhere: "Yes, it’s going to be messy. But messy doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be bad".

Then I would suggest you go and read "Some general comments on the "Twitter Experiment"" to find out some more around her conclusions on how effective microsharing in the classroom, i.e. making use of Twitter, has been for her and for her students. Plenty of amazing stuff in there as well, to say the least!

As a teaser, in that specific document Monica gets to detail how the experiment went by providing a short introduction; then talking about the class itself; followed by the plan and set-up; right after that sharing some more insights on the "discussions", their "best practices" to then wrap up with the limitations and strengths of the overall experiment. Very enlightening!

I am not going to spoil the video clip and the rest of the contents from Monica’s detailed document sharing her experiences, but I can certainly tell you that I wish I would have had such an opportunity when I was studying at the University of Salamanca a few years ago, because I’m sure it would have changed my, back then, perspective on the impact of technology in my day to day learning activities. Yes, such is the breath-taking impact of "The Twitter Experiment" by Dr. Monica Rankin that you are about to watch next …

I am sure that, after watching the video and reading through the document, there will be one single thought going through your head: if Dr. Monica Rankin has proved that making use of Twitter can be very helpful to improve the overall outcome of a classroom, why do some businesses out there still object towards fully embracing the concept of microsharing. Isn’t this enough proof, once again, that it works? You tell me …

(Although I think you already know my answer …)

Tags: Microsharing, Microblogging, Mike Wesch, Monica Rankin, University of Texas, School of Arts, Humanities, History, Learning to Change, Changing to Learn, Twitter Experiment, Messy, Orderly Chaos, University of Salamanca, Teaching, Learning 2.0, Education, Learning Activities, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, YouTube, Twitter

Twitter Celebrities and Geeks – Is That Your Online Digital Legacy?

Earlier on today the always insightful Jeff Pulver put together a rather interesting and very revealing blog post on the consequences of leaving behind a digital footprint, through social software, as time goes by, with precious gems like this particular reflection:

"Like it or not, the use of social media platforms like twitter will define our online legacy. The words we say over time will shape and frame the person we are from a digital perspective. Now imagine if some of the people who are reading your tweets will not read them for 5 or 10 years or longer.

How many of us have kids who are growing up at the moment who we would like to be able to talk to about things going on in our own lives but just can’t because they are not old enough to understand and appreciate what it is we would like to share with them? And when our kids come of age, how will they react to the things we said about them on platforms like twitter, in podcasts or in our blogs?

Or what about yourself? How would you like to wake up in 4 years and read something you tweeted about years before and be inspired?"

If you read through the entire article you would be able to see some very interesting points on the kind of impact that our online interactions NOW will have, or may have, in the near future, not just for ourselves, but for those who care about us as well (Friends, family, relatives, co-workers, etc. etc.). Like I said, quite an interesting read and something that I thought it would fit in quite nicely with the couple of video links I bumped into in the last few hours and which, in a way, reflect very much my own digital footprint on how I feel about certain things…

Let’s get started. Remember that blog post I put together under "Twouble with Twitters [...]"? Well, it looks like the folks behind Current have put together another hilariously funny, yet somewhat accurate, I guess (Although I don’t think I could relate too much to it, to be honest), video clip on the status of the Twittersphere: Celebrity Twitter Overkill

I told you, incredibly funny and scarily accurate to some extent, but to a certain degree not my kind of online digital legacy, don’t you think? At least, not the one I am trying to pursue and I am sure that most of the readers from this blog wouldn’t either. However, with this other second video link things may be a little bit different:

I AM A GEEK! by The Society for Geek Advancement

Going through it has made me realised as well that I am not a geek (either), nor do I identify myself as one, nor would want I to be one. And although I realise that some of you folks may well identify yourselves as die-hard geeks, which I think is pretty cool, I guess I will just continue chasing further up my online digital legacy, because so far I don’t think I have found it. In fact, I doubt I would at all. Why? Because, to me, it has never been about the final destination, but more the journey along the way, and much more importantly, what I get to learn on a daily basis. That is my online digital legacy: my day to day key learning activities on the stuff I am passionate about.

That’s what I am. That’s my legacy…

Tags: Jeff Pulver, Digital Legacy, Digital, Legacy, Online Digital Legacy, Online Legacy, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Social Networks, Conversations, Digital Footprint, Current, Twouble, Celebrities, Twitter Celebrities, Twitter Celebs, Geeks, Twittersphere, Journey, Learnings, Life

Is the iPhone Enterprise Ready?

For a good number of weeks that’s one of the many questions I have been wondering about, on whether the iPhone is ready for the corporate world or not. I have been using mine from a consumer perspective for a few months now and I must say that I’m thoroughly delighted with the overall experience. There are so many things that I could talk about on how I make use of it as a consumer that I could probably write several blog posts about it! Just like that! From the usability perspective, to the couple of dozen applications I use on a rather regular basis, to the Web browsing user experience (Par to none from any other mobile device out there at the moment!), to the overall smart and elegance of using a gadget that makes the mobile world a treat!

However, the problem comes when you decide to take things into the next level and see if the iPhone would be able to make within the enterprise environment. Well, that’s a completely different story. In my case, and sorry to sound so blunt about it, and perhaps a bit harsh, too, I don’t think so. In fact, I know so! It is *not* ready for the enterprise! At least, in my own case.

There have been a number of various different blog posts and articles sharing further details on how popular the iPhone has become within the business world and how more and more companies are starting to pay attention to such mobile experience. Including IBM. And while I do enjoy the numerous positive prospects of using such device at work, I can come up with two main reasons as to why I think such device still has got a long long way to go, before it grabs the attention from the mobile knowledge worker. Specially power users. Why? Here is why …

Like I said, I have been using my iPhone from a consumer perspective for a few months now and I am quite happy with it. A really enjoyable experience. For sure. However, a couple of weeks back I was able to go through the final test for me which was when I managed to connect to the IBM network, through a secure VPN connection, and spend some time navigating through the corporate Intranet.

Ok, you folks know that for over a year ago I have stopped using corporate email (Yes, that well known “A World With Email” mantra), which means I rely plenty more on being constantly connected to the network, whether internal or external. Whether from my home office or while on the road. Offline work for me has been very minimal as of late. Thus, what happened that morning when I took the iPhone for a spin, you may be wondering, right?

Well, it took me a bit over one hour to completely drain the battery of the device to the point where I needed to re-charge it again. Yes, you are reading it right… A bit more than an hour and I had to charge it again! *Unbelievable*, if you ask me, to put it mildly! You know, I wish I would have to work every day just that one hour that the iPhone would allow me to before I would need to find a place to plug it back in again!

The reality is though that when I am away from the office, travelling, talking to customers, on the road, at workshops, or even at conference events, the last thing I would want to do is look for a plug to charge my iPhone. It’s just not going to happen! In most cases, because I may not be even have the opportunity to find one! So you are stuck! Trouble! Big trouble! No, thank you!

The iPhone needs to understand and come to terms with the fact that mobile knowledge workers do even spend more hours working while on the road than at the typical office location and as such relying on a device that will have its battery drained in a single hour of heavy browsing is just a no go. At least, for me!

So, that’s one of the main reasons why the iPhone will never become my mobile computer, as plenty of people have been claiming lately all over the place. Quite the contrary. It’ll just become my casual consumer mobile device for all other trivial stuff where I don’t need to depend much on battery life. So if it goes, it goes. That’s fine.

But you may be wondering what’s the second reason as to why I feel that this device is not ready for the enterprise just yet, right? Well, here is the scenario. I work full time remotely; I have got a Nokia N95 that I use for work (Battery lasts much much longer, by the way, in case you are wondering!); I have got the iPhone. Both with the same phone company.

Yet, while the N95 provides me an incredibly good coverage throughout, both at home and while I am travelling, the iPhone barely makes it. In fact, most of the times the coverage for this device is incredibly poor, which means when people call me they can’t reach me. So they have to leave a voicemail. Which I can only get to when I myself have got that coverage back. If at all! Frustrating… And that behaviour seems to be happening constantly throughout the day and very consistently, too! So can you imagine depending on that critical phone call, for whatever the reason, and you find out that the iPhone has let you down, once again, because of the poor coverage? No, thank you!

Like I said, I am starting to have very high expectations for the upcoming 3.0 release of the iPhone in the next couple of months; see if it would address these two main issues I have at the moment with it. And convince me that once again I can enjoy that working mobile computing experience without taking with me my MacBook Pro. Because otherwise, this device will just be that. A fancy (And expensive!) gadget that I can’t use longer than 1 hour a day, before it dies off again … That may be the time, perhaps, for a change … a change to other smarter mobile devices that understand what a mobile knowledge worker faces every day while getting to work. Because right now the iPhone just doesn’t cut it. And by far!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Productivity, Apple, iPhone, MacBook Pro, MBP, Nokia, N95, Mobile Workforce, Mobile Worker, Mobile Knowledge Worker, Knowledge Worker, Power User, Intranet, VPN Access, Battery Life, Batter, Network Coverage, Coverage, Movistar, Travelling, On The Road, Accessibility, Reliability, Poor Performance, Gadgets, Mobile Devices