Rapid E-learning Authoring Tool - PowerManual Demo

You may recall this post where I discussed a new Rapid E-Learning authoring tool I was beta-testing for a friend.

If, like me, you've spent extended periods of time creating manuals from other media formats, you'll appreciate the hard work and, to be honest, tedium involved in generating, formatting, proofing, and finally producing documentation to accompany ILT and WBT courseware. However, it's a necessary task, and generally something I just get on with doing, usually with a certain bad grace (if I can't delegate it to an intern or other downtrodden junior contributor).

In my first post on the topic, I suggested that the utility tool simplified this repetitive, time-consuming, and error-prone activity: in my estimation, it cut production time of documents converted from PowerPoint presentations by 80%.

Well the utility is now complete; it's called PowerManual, and I've created a quick (six-minute) How To demo which covers

• Context
• Introduction to PowerManual
• Downloading the application from PowerManual.ie
• Installing PowerManual
• Creating a manual from a PowerPoint Presentation

Click here to view the demo in 800x600 Flash FLV format, or enjoy the YouTube version (below):




I've made a PDF of PowerManual-generated file I created for this demo available on my website; click here to view the PowerManual sample file.

I'll be undertaking a complete review of PowerManual's functionality over the next few days, so watch this space.

_____

Links:

PowerManual Website http://www.powermanual.ie
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Mobile E-Learning Channels - More on the ELG report

In my last post on this topic I outlined some of the key findings from the E-Learning Guild 360 Report on Mobile Learning. Today I'm going to discuss the context for mobile learning (m-learning) in a little more detail.

Now read on...

Dr. Conrad Gottfredson, head of the Performance Support Lab & Seminar at the Masie Center, has described the requirement

for an orchestrated set of performance support tools to meet each learner’s moment of need

(2008, p.1)

He defines these as the Five Moments of Learning Need as:

1. When learning for the first time
2. When learning more
3. When remembering and/or applying what’s been learned
4. When things go wrong
5. When things change

He considers the requirement for a multi-channel publishing platform to ensure the currency of training information, as well as its relevancy to learners to be a central component of learning and development, particularly in the organizational context.

Similarly, with the emergence of the read/write web, the ability to contribute information and learning to the totality of an organization's knowledge is quickly gaining value; as we move to a learning 2.0 paradigm, people are not just consuming, but also creating learning, and mobile technology is a being seen as a means to facilitate this learning modality.

According to the report,

...we see that, as Guild members become more experienced in e-Learning, they embrace new approaches to e-Learning more often than people with fewer years of experience. Survey results consistently show that experience in e-Learning encourages growth and experimentation, and does not foster complacency.

[However] a large number of eLearning Guild members seem stuck with the notion that “Mobile Learning” means taking existing training courses and delivering them on a small screen with little or no interactivity. ... But some Guild members need to get out of the trench of thinking “m-Training” and think “m-Performance.”

(pp.6-7)

To support this assertion, Wexler et alia outline the growth in asynchronous learning modalities over the last decade, and note in particular the growth of podcasting and m-learning as content- and knowledge delivery channels (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. A comparison of selected training modalities

Based upon the evidence of the data collected in their survey, we can say that learning and development professionals are implementing e-learning-based training interventions almost as frequently as they rely on traditional classroom-based instructor-led training to deliver courses to learners.

The report also suggests that a competency in developing and delivering e-learning grows over time (and in experience), learning professionals implement non-traditional learning initiatives more frequently than heretofore (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Use of m-learning delivery channels distributed by professional experience

More...

________________

References:

Wexler, S. Brown, J. Metcalf, D. Rogers, D. and Wagner, E. (2008) MOBILE LEARNING What it is, why it matters, and how to incorporate it into your learning strategy. [Internet] Available from: http://www.elearningguild.com (Subscription required) [Accessed 21 July 2008]

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The Mobile Segment of the Learning Marketspace - new report

A few months ago, I received an e-mail from a correspondent about my view on opinion might be on

mobile learning (m-learning) and mobile device adoption as an e-learning delivery mechanism in the future (video lectures, e-book reading, short message texting).

With the emergence of so-called 'smart' mobile devices including the BlackBerry and the iPhone, the potential to deliver learning content via this channel provides some tantalizing opportunities for learning professionals to enable learners access information on-demand - and for the first time - On-the-Go.

Now read on...

I've been reviewing some of the literature on this topic over the last number of weeks, but before I elaborate on my conclusions, The E-Learning Guild in their usual timely fashion have released their latest 360 Report on the topic. In the report, Steven Wexler et al (in a potentially contentious move) define Mobile Learning as:

Any activity that allows individuals to be more productive when consuming, interacting with, or creating information, mediated through a compact digital portable device that the individual carries on a regular basis, has reliable connectivity, and fits in a pocket or purse.

(p.13)

My initial reaction to this definition is that it omits any reference to the acquisition of new skills, knowledge, or expertise via this learning channel. In my view this is a key aspect of any definition of e-learning; I elaborated on the topic in a series of blog posts at the beginning of 2008 (you can find out more by clicking here) when I endorsed Don Morrison's definition of e-learning (including its subset m-learning) as:

The continuous assimilation of knowledge and skills by adults stimulated by synchronous and asynchronous learning events – and sometimes Knowledge management outputs – which are authored, delivered engaged with, supported and administered using internet technologies.

(2004, p.4)

As I said at the time, I'm open to debate on this definition, but I've still to find a more comprehensive definition of the discipline than the description as elucidated by Mr. Morrison.

But I digress.

The key findings of the E-Learning Guild research include:

• About 20% of E-Learning Guild members use podcasts "sometimes or often"
• 17% use m-Learning "sometimes or often" in their organizations.
• Members with seven or more year’s experience in e-Learning use Podcasts one third more frequently and m-Learning 26% more often than members with six or fewer year’s experience.
• Asia Pacific leads all geographic regions in m-Learning adoption, with 21% of members using Mobile Learning sometimes or often. Canada lags with nearly 11%.
• 37.5% of Guild members completing the Mobile Learning survey indicate they plan to do more m-Learning in the next year.
• Blackberry is the most popular development platform with about 47% of Guild members that plan to implement m-Learning targeting Blackberry devices. Windows Mobile is next with 27%, followed by the iPhone with 15%.
• Over 80% of Guild members that have implemented m-Learning have seen improvement in learner/user access and availability.
• Nearly 60% of Guild members that have implemented m-Learning have seen improved user performance.

More...

________________

References:

Morrison, D. (2004) E-Learning Strategies: how to get implementation and delivery right first time, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Wexler, S. Brown, J. Metcalf, D. Rogers, D. and Wagner, E. (2008) MOBILE LEARNING What it is, why it matters, and how to incorporate it into your learning strategy. [Internet] Available from: http://www.elearningguild.com (Subscription required) [Accessed 21 July 2008]

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Learning - the Zeigarnik effect

Here's an unusual but potentially very useful instructional strategy, one that takes advantage of peoples' need for resolution or for closure. The Zeigarnik effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.

Russian psychologies Bluma Zeigarnik first studied the phenomenon in the late 1920's after her professor, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, noticed that waiters remembered orders only as long as the order was in the process of being served.

Research indicates that:

1. the Zeigarnik effect is likely to appear if the subject is "ego-involved" in the task to some extent (such as in a learning activity)
2. the effect is more likely to appear if the task doesn't seem to be part of the training plan
3. the effect is most likely to appear if the subject has set a genuine level of aspiration in the interrupted task

Musicians intuitively use this effect when writing musical 'hooks,' or for concluding pieces of music. By using a "suspended" chord, where the third has been displaced by either of its dissonant neighbouring notes, forming intervals of a major second or (more commonly) a perfect fourth with the root. The resulting unexpected dissonance is then satisfyingly resolved by introducing the displaced note.

This can be heard to great effect in the main musical theme of Pinball Wizard by The Who (which transitions from a F#sus4 to a F#maj), or more sophisticatedly, as a plagal or "Amen" cadence in the final phrase of The Beatles' She's Leaving Home, or the coda (with typically Baroque flourishes) of Bach's Canon alla Decima, Contrapuncto alla Terza.

In Gestalt psychology, the Zeigarnik effect has been used to demonstrate the general presence of Gestalt phenomena: not just appearing as perceptual effects, but also present in cognition.

The implication of this is that learners who wish to remember material better should take breaks in unrelated fields or games before completing exercises.

... so the next time you see me playing Civilization 4 when I'm supposed to be writing that white paper, I'm learning.

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Pale Blue Dot

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.

This image of Earth taken from Mars' orbit represents my theme today.

While doing some house-keeping on my YouTube Favourites recently I re-discovered again an except from Carl Sagan's work Pale Blue Dot.

Rediscovered again? Are we going all Sam Beckett here? (No. Not Quantum Leap Sam B. - the playwright Sam B.)

...begin again all over more or less in the same place...

Now read on...

The original Pale Blue Dot photograph of planet Earth was taken by Voyager 1 from a distance of nearly seven billion kilometres (4 billion miles) as part of the Solar System family portrait.

It showed the Earth suspended in [the illusion of] a ray of sunlight [caused by the spacecraft's lens optics], against the vastness of space. This image had a much more profound effect on me than the Apollo 8 Earth Rise image - partly because, I suspect, I never knew a time when Man hadn't visited the Moon, and Earth Rise was always there as part of my socio-cultural heritage (much a kids today can't envisage a mobile-phone free world I guess), and it wasn't really that far away anyway.

The personal value of this image of "a mote of dust suspended on a sunbeam" is not only what it represents to us as a species, but its purpose as a semantic denotation, or what what David Jonassen would call "an object to think with." And inevitably, that leads to Carl Sagan and his exposition on what the Pale Blue Dot represents. People my age who grew up under a sky increasingly filled with communications satellites were the first generation to be exposed to the mass media and all that came in its wake; so we saw the (soccer) World Cup live from Argentina, and we also saw hijacked planes and embassies stormed before our eyes.

And we also saw what a diverse world we were a part of (and believe me this was important if you lived on a mostly green island on the western edge of Europe, just a few degrees south of the Arctic circle), through documentary series like Cosmos and David Attenborough's Life on Earth. There was an immediacy and an almost visceral quality to the narratives presented; a Shock of the New, imparted by these amazing colour images beamed into our living rooms (yes kids, before that TV used to be in both colours - black AND white). Better than fiction.

Now listen on...

Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

___________________
References:

Beckett, S. (2000) How it is. Avalon Travel Publishing.

Sagan, C. (1994). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Random House, New York.

___________________

Image source:

Earth and Moon. Photograph courtesy NASA/JPL/Main Space Science Systems. Mars Global Surveyor. May 8, 2003. [Internet] Available from: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/
earth_from_mars_030522.html [Accessed 2 July 2008]

Pale Blue Dot. Photograph courtesy NASA/JPL. Voyager 1. February 14, 2001. [Internet] Available from: http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=601 [Accessed 2 July 2008]

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The Cool Curve - a strategy for delivering learning in innovative ways?

I picked up on this presentation on Damian Mulley's blog, so thanks for him for that.

This presentation from Professor Toby Moores discusses the idea of the Cool Curve.

The Cool Curve

Moores is the CEO of SleepyDog, makers of multimedia quiz content for the Playstation game console (among other projects). In the video he talks about being creative while matching your output and work to an audience and potential clients; in essence how to inspire your audience with ideas / content / knowledge in a cool / inspiring / interesting way, without "spooking the horses" and being too innovative.

He discusses a 'halo' zone around the perimeter or threshold of the curve (similar in my view to Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development) where audiences are comfortable with the newness of the approach being taken to the delivery of concepts or ideas without experiencing cognitive dissonance.

As an example, Professor Toby Moores talks about Vincent Van Gogh: a highly talented artist who's concept curve did not align with potential audiences of his time, but now is famous for creating some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive art pieces, as well as being a great influential on successive generations of painters and other creative types.

I must say that I find the Cool Curve concept intriguing and an idea that has potential for the learning and development marketspace, especially as it seems to work as an effective concept development process for games designers, and there are a lot of resonances between the two industries.

Except they have more money than us, obviously.

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New Moodle releases: updates available for v1.9.2, 1.8.6, 1.7.5 and 1.6.7

Latest releases from Moodle - according to Martin Dougiamas they have packaged a new release for the current 1.9 version of Moodle, as well as new releases for older 1.8, 1.7 and 1.6 versions.

Each of the new releases contains long lists of minor bug fixes (see the release notes for details).

Several security vulnerabilities were also fixed in all versions, so it's important that you upgrade existing Moodle sites.

The Moodle team recommend that even if you can't make major upgrades in the near future, you should at least upgrade to the latest stable package for your version. (For example if you have 1.8 already, then it's very safe and easy to upgrade it to the new 1.8.6 because there are no new features, just bug fixes)
All releases are available, as usual, from the Moodle download site.

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E-learning 101 - a very good primer

I blogged recently about how Internet search terms can lead you down some unusual highways and byways.

None more true than today: for some obscure reason I Googled "elearning" + "boat." Now while I'm a pretty good swimmer, but I hail from a land-locked county and never had any affinity for boats and whatnot. (I did watch The Cruel Sea recently, so maybe...). But I digest.

One of the search results was for the veritable How Stuff Works site's How E-learning Works page, and I have to say that it was a good an introduction to e-learning as I've seen (and better than some from people who should know more about the topic).

The article characterizes e-learning under the following topic headings:

• Introduction to How E-learning Works
• What is E-learning?
• Levels of e-learning
• The Psychology of Learning
• E-learning and Retention
• Self-paced
• Interactive & Motivating E-learning
• Benefits of E-learning
• E-learning Tips
• E-learning and College Courses
• E-learning Tools

Check out the site for an illuminating ten minutes' reading.
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Learning On-Demand: Report

Bersin & Associates Principal Analyst Chris Howard has just sent me their recent report Integrating Learning into the Enterprise.

The document covers the following topics:

• Planning & Strategy
• Content Development
• Learning Programs
• Learning Technology
• Analytics & Measurement
• Talent Management
• Leadership Development

Mr Howard would assert, and I would agree, that a transformation is taking place in organizations, and we are witnessing the emergence of Learning and Development as a distinct domain from Training. I would suggest that in time the L&D domain will supersede the latter discipline, particularly in knowledge-based sectors of the economy, as organizations begin to address the challenges of the New Economy.

Now read on...

In the first five years or so of this century, organizations began to develop and implement training content on the Internet, leading to a proliferation of e-learning courseware. By 2007, more than 30 percent of corporate training hours were delivered via the web (O’Leonard, 2007).

With a degree of experience of in delivering e-learning, organizations that have been delivering online training for many years are beginning to understand that online "page-turner"courseware has limitations, specifically:

1. 'Traditional' page-oriented courseware is often not powerful enough to develop deep levels of skills and competencies
2. Courses that take hours to complete can become tedious and hard to finish
3. Online training lacks the instructor- and learner social, interactivity, and community dynamic experienced in the classroom

According to the Bersin & Associates report:

However, a new solution is emerging. The widespread availability of search engines, blogs, podcasts2, Web 2.03 applications and mobile devices4 has turned the web into an interactive, user-led experience.

Why take a one-hour course when you only need a five-minute module to answer a question?

Employees now expect online learning to be as interactive, easy to find and media-rich as the rest of the Internet. We call this new approach, “learning on-demand.”

(2008. p.2)

So, what is learning on-demand?

Learning on-demand also called "just enough" or "just-in-time" (JIT) learning (be it actionable knowledge, informational assets, web-based learning objects, or performance support tools) provided to an knowledge worker while work-based tasks are being undertaken - for example, if using an electronic performance support system (EPSS), this occurs within the context of the workflow. In a learning on-demand environment, courseware, references, help files, documents, Webcasts, audio, video, books, and presentations are all made available when and how a worker needs them.

In addition, learning on-demand can be complemented by more formal training methods made available in an integrated environment that features blended learning. The employee (or his / her manager) decides which training methods and / or tools to use – enabling “self-directed learning.”

(2008, p.6)

The concept of just-in-time learning has been around for over a decade - indeed, in the 1990s companies like Prometheus Software (the first COTS e-learning vendor I had to pleasure to work for) had the marketing tagline 'Turnkey Training Solutions' to support their learning on-demand solutions.

The facilitator for the current implementation Learning on Demand is the general availability of Read / Write Web technologies, such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts and advanced search capabilities.

As companies build a wealth of learning assets, they want to enable their employees to “Google” the learning they need.

(2008, p7)

We can say that organizations often have hundreds to thousands of courses, webinars, reference sources, FAQ databases, videos, podcasts, mobile content and other knowledge assets available in digital form. The challenge is how to make this information available for employees, up-to-date, easy to find, as well as aligning with the the day-to-day job requirements for workers.

According to the report,

a new element has been added to this mix – collaboration. Web 2.0 technologies have made the web a world of self-published information and provide direct access to people. Peers and subject matter experts (SMEs) can work directly with each other to exchange knowledge – bypassing more formal approaches that are provided by the training organization. In many cases, the best source of learning is not an instructor but, rather, an expert in the field.

Learning on-demand then can be described as a knowledge-centric solution to help people identify, locate and access specific knowledge and domain experts to enable workers solve task-based problems.

More...

_________________

References:

Howard, C. (2008) Integrating Learning into the Enterprise: A Look at the IBM Enterprise Learning Portal. Bersin & Associates. [Internet] Available from: http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?
docid=10336676&id=demand Accessed 8th July 2008

O’Leonard, K. (2006) New Technologies for Corporate Learning: Part 1 – Podcasts, Blogs, and Wikis. Bersin & Associates. [Internet] Available from:

http://www.bersin.com/Lib/Rs/Details.aspx?
docid=10335168&id= Accessed 8th July 2008

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Wearing your technology...

Because I'm busy doing stuff, I'm less active on my blog than I like to be. So to keep you engaged and reflecting I've posted a Thought for the Day, today.

It was going to be

We live in a world that believes God is dead and Elvis is alive. Go figure.

But instead its:

Information technologies are more like clothes than like fire. Fire is a wonderful technology because, without knowing anything about how it operates, you can get warm just standing close by. People sometimes find computers, televisions, and telecommunications frustrating because they expect these devices to radiate knowledge. But all information technologies are more like clothes; to get a benefit, you must make them a part of your personal space, tailored to your needs. New media complement existing approaches to widen our repertoire of communication; properly designed, they do not eliminate choices or force us into high tech, low touch situations.

Chris Dede

Normal service to resume presently.

______________

References:

Dede, C. (1995). Testimony to the US Congress, House of Representatives Joint Hearing on Educational Technology in the 21st Century, Committee on Science
and Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities.

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Web 2.0 technologies and learning professionals' opportunities and challenges: LCBBQ July 2008

This month’s Learning Circuit Blog Big Question is should learning professionals be leading the charge in the use of Web 2.0 technologies. More precisely:

• Should workplace learning professionals be leading the charge around these new work literacies?
• Shouldn't they be starting with themselves and helping to develop it throughout the organizations?
• And then shouldn't the learning organization become a driver for the organization?
• And like in the world of libraries don't we need to market ourselves in this capacity?

Should workplace learning professionals be leading the charge around these new work literacies?
The short answer is "Yes, with an if...". Long answer is "No, with a but...". Yes, learning professionals should be at the forefront of orienting and guiding knowledge workers in the use of read / write Web technologies. Knowledge work is, at it's heart, about problem-solving, and knowledge workers are employed to utilize their skills to find solutions to organizational challenges. We can say that knowledge workers are performing at their optimum when they:

• use their deepest skills
• work on many projects at the same time
• know how to allocate their time
• can multiply the results of their efforts through soft factors such as emotional intelligence and trust (Francis Fukuyama, Manuel Castells).

If Web 2.0 technologies enable knowledge workers to undertake these tasks, I believe that it is in the remit of the learning and development arm of knowledge organizations to support this.
However, given that any such learning interventions are undertaken within organizations, there is a corporate responsibility to ensure that any learning initiatives to support learning about Web 2.0 technologies be endorsed by board-level approval of the program with all that entails, which should include

1. recognition for the initiative
2. acknowledgement that it may be difficult to capture metrics on knowledge worker performance enhancement attained through these technologies by more traditional assessment techniques
3. that the learning programs themselves will probably be non- or informal in character, as these Web 2.0 technologies are by their very nature, non- and informal
4. implementing Web 2.0 technologies will probably require substantial investments of time, expertise and capital.

Finding solutions to these challenges is difficult, and many organizations may not understand that this domain is too new to be properly understood at this time.

Shouldn't they be starting with themselves and helping to develop it throughout the organizations?
In my experience, the "throw it over the wall and see where it lands" approach is a non-starter. While learning professionals are typically highly-motivated individuals who expend personal time and effort staying "ahead of the curve" in terms of their own skills and competencies, a "viral approach" to learning in this domain can only have success if the learning professional in question is highly influential within an organization (and probably a C-level executive).

For a "footsoldier" to attempt to modify work practices within a large organization would meet high levels of resistance, particularly from managers who have no desire to change production processes that probably work very well, given the potential disruptions entailed in transitioning to a more collaborative environment.

Shouldn't the learning organization become a driver for the organization?
Most learning professionals would say "Yes", most execs would (probably) say "No."

In my view, organizations function best when the organization's business goals are aligned with their learning goals; ideally the two should support and drive each other. If learning professionals can persuade the executive team that a Learning organization is an Earning organization, then they will usually receive the support to operationalize innovative learning initiatives.

Like in the world of libraries don't we need to market ourselves in this capacity?
Yes, yes, and yes again.

If you are familiar with the 1989 motion picture Field of Dreams, you'll know the mantra of one of the lead characters is "if you build it, they will come."

Yes, if you build it (the learning initiative) they will come.

...But only if they know it's there.

I believe that it is the responsibility of learning professionals both in an individual as well as in a departmental capacity to broadcast what they do and they services they offer at every opportunity. Without resorting to spin, lies, and weasel words, the only way your voice will be heard in the bustle of the marketplace (whether internally within an organization or externally facing) is to "say it loud, and say it proud" about your learning and development offerings and services.

Use what ever resources are at your disposal to do so, and don't forget that as a trainer, you're probably in a position to influence a wider range of individuals in your workplace than those in any other department, except perhaps for Human Resources and ICT.

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Elearning Companies in Ireland: RFI

I use the fantastic StatCounter.com Website and Blog Analytics service to measure my Elearning Curve Blog's metrics; this is not just because they're an Irish company, but also because they provide very comprehensive and granular logs and metrics.

Among other things it enables me to review are such statistics as

• site usage
• page loads
• popularity of site by location (for an English-language site, I've an unusually large group of readers in Brazil, for example: Olá! Como vai?)
• location of subscribers (hello also to my most northerly reader in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada)

...and so forth.

According to my "Most popular keyword" reports, a very common query is "e-learning companies ireland." A recent Silicon Republic report states that there are over sixty such organizations based in Ireland, but from my researches no directory of these companies is available online.

Now, we all know about Skillsoft, WBT Systems, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Electric Paper, Intuition, and so forth, but who else is out there?

I (and seemingly quite a few other people in the blogosphere) would like to know.

So, if you send me your company details via the Comments link at the bottom of this post (name, URL, location, market space etc), I'll put them together in an easily accessible online directory, not for any other reason than nobody seems to have undertaken this activity before - that I'm aware of, anyway.

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E-Learning and the Economic Downturn: A Salutary Lesson

And Lo! it came to pass that a friend of mine who would describe herself as a training practitioner based out of Hartford, CT. found herself bereft of employment, for the economic downturn that is called Recession was cast upon the land, and the days were dark.

Straitly was she in need of employment, forasmuch as without an income, the door of her house would be riven and the walls of her home would fall down flat, and the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they would take from the treasury of the house.

And it came to be that by the power of the mighty word processor and the e-mail, posted she her résumé unto many an organization, including unto those that call themselves Financial Institutions.

And so it was that with mighty trumpets the Tribe of Human Resources responded to her. And they declared unto her that without a special power called "financial experience" she was as a beggar cast into the night, and they smote her down into the good earth with the jawbone of the Ox .

And she was afraid.

And so it was that she said this tale unto me, and she beseeched unto me "What is this Financial Experience in Fund Management that they speak of?"

And I said unto her:

"Verily, fear not these Children of the Almighty Dollar!

For it has come to pass that they are responsible for many a woe among the people, including the fearsome Enron Scandal, and the lending of the silver and the gold in the Sub-Prime Sector, and the Dealing upon the Inside, and the Credit Crunch, and Bear Stearns and Northern Rock shall be as naught. The Prince of Citigroup and the chief of the tribe of Merrill Lynch will rightly fall upon their swords, and they will be mocked when they speak of Golden Parachutes, for they spoke not of fiscal rectitude, and the Walls of The Street did tremble.

Believe ye in the power of Education and Technology, and the Learning that is called 'E'!

For in days to come, the Children of the Almighty Dollar will see that they too are mere knowledge workers, like unto all others in different sectors of the economy.

I say unto thee, they will cry across the land:

"Oh woe are we who were blind! We could not see that learning and development skills are cross-discipline! And frankly we could have done with a bit of expertise from outside the narrow confines of the financial world considering the fix we're in! We thought ourselves as blessèd among ordinary knowledge workers, with skills in software and pharmaceuticals and such.

Oh! Vanity! Pride! In our ignorance of the meaning of the global economy we have been led astray from the path of righteousness!"

For during the Boom Years they did utter nonsense and PR, and the diviners they call stockbrokers saw lies; the analysts told false dreams, and gave empty consolation.

Therefore the People of Finance wander like sheep; they are afflicted for want of a shepherd. Go unto them with thine expertise in workplace learning and say unto them "WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE THE STABILITY OF THY TIMES!"

And nail ye them to the wall with high Per Diem consultancy rates, for revenge is sweet.

Here Endeth The Lesson.

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Corporate social networks, long tails, weak ties

Today's post is really a (very) mini case study in the power of integrated corporate social networks, the benefits of long tails in learning, and the strength of weak social ties.

Now read on...

If you're not familiar with the latter two concepts here's a little background: the idea of the strength of weak ties is a theory from sociology; according to its originator Mark Granovetter

the argument asserts that our acquaintances (weak ties) are less likely to be socially involved with one another than are our close friends (strong ties). Thus the set of people made up of any individual and his or her acquaintances comprises a low-density network (one in which many of the possible relational lines are absent) whereas the set consisting of the same individual and his or her close friends will be densely knit (many of the possible lines are present).

It follows, then, that individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends. This deprivation will [...] insulate them from the latest ideas.

(1983, pp.201-202)

The concept of the long tail is something both Jay Cross and Tony Karrer have recently discussed and is example of how the Web (and particularly Web 2.0 technology) changes the way assets - whether physical artifacts like books, or knowledge and informational assets persist for an extended period beyond their supposed "sell-by" date:

Long tails for the enterprise occur when the power to create and publish is widely held, the content can be distributed at near-zero cost and a market exists that connects knowledge workers with a nearly infinite number of content creators.

(Kilian, D. 2007)

Here's a pertinent example of how these ideas manifest themselves in the workplace: last week, I suffered from a niggly problem with my Outlook e-mail client - it wouldn't poll the Exchange server and update itself every 20 minutes as it was supposed to do. So I logged a snag on the corporate Bugzilla implementation about the issue. The IT person, who I would describe as being a a journeyman level of competence (has passed their certification exams and is no longer a novice, but is not yet an expert) wen though all the things your supposed to do to resolve such issues

• ran ScanPST.exe
• checked my e-mail profile
• consulted MSDN
• looked at forums for similar issues based on the Error ID

... as well as some "beyond the call of duty" activities (a time-consuming MS Office reinstall).

All to no avail.

So I got my laptop back and had resolved myself to living with this seemingly intractable minor inconvenience, when a third contributor (a more knowledgeable IT support person), working from home, happened to encounter the issue when scanning through Bugzilla, entered the discussion with a simple "I know what this is."

So, by accessing my laptop via a PC-sharing application, the issue was resolved in about 20 minutes, after 5 days of dead ends and frustration.

The moral of the story is: by developing a corporate culture that encourages wide-ranging participation, and by providing a corporate knowledge-sharing environment (Bugzilla in this case), you increase the chances that somebody you're associated with, no matter how loosely, will have the appropriate knowledge and expertise to find a solution to an issue. The added learning benefit from the journeyman contributors perspective, is that they have added to their knowledge experientially, by interacting with the More Knowledgeable Other. I would suggest that the knowledge asset acquired by being involved in this problem-solving activity has been aggregated into their personal experience schema, enabling them to grow a little more knowledgeable (or even wiser).

Oh yes... the solution to the Outlook issue?

Delete and recreate your profile in Outlook.

_______________

References:

Cross, J. (2008) Strength of weak knowledge sources. [Internet] Available from: http://internettime.com/2008/04/21/strength-of-weak-knowledge-sources/ Accessed 1 July 2008

Granovetter, M. (1983) The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited. Sociological Theory, Volume 1, 201-233. State University of New York,
Stonybrook. [Internet] Available from: http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/SI110/readings/In_Out_and_Beyond/Granovetter.pdf Accessed 1 July 2008

Karrer, T. (2008) Corporate Learning Long Tail and Attention Crisis : eLearning Technology. [Internet] Available from: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2008/02/corporate-learning-long-tail-and.html Accessed 1 July 2008

Kilian, D. (2007) The Learning Organization Meets the Long Tail (Part 2). [Internet] Available from:
http://www.clomedia.com/guest-editorial/2007/October/1949/index.php Accessed 1 July 2008