“And then I send stuff off to Linus. So, Linus trusts 10 to 15 people, and I trust 10 to 15 people. And I’m one of the subsystem maintainers. So, it’s a big, giant web of trust helping this go on.”

Web of Trust’ Networks of trust are becoming very important to the way we create products/services where each individual on the network is a potential contributor. There are just such networks in the enterprise as well, and they play a big role in how tacit knowledge is transferred in the organization. Increasingly, social networking tools are available within the organization and analyzing these networks gives a good idea who the knowledge leaders in an organization are, and which individuals form their network. The ability to target and influence knowledge leaders will lead to similar effects on their networks as well.

“…consider Android, which threw away everything from Linux except the kernel, and they built something totally new on top of it. That’s a great proof point that the Linux kernel itself has to be really, really flexible to let people do something like that. It still meets the needs of a very big market, which is pretty funny to watch…”

While this may seem far-fetched, the instant I read this. I was thinking this is exactly how the LMS will be in couple of decades; there’ll be one crowd sourced root kernel. Each provider would use that kernel in their own way; what’ll be cool is there’d be a huge offering of interfaces, infinite customizations, almost an individualized system even. The data contained would be open and you’d be able to seamlessly go from vendor to vendor, perhaps an individuals data would follow them from system to system.

“Then you get to the tiny consumer devices, which is where I like having fun, because I do USB. I work really hard to get everything supported, and we don’t know of anything these days that isn’t. I was in Tokyo the other day for the Kernel Summit and walking around Akihabara and trying to find devices that we don’t support. We had all the kernel developers there and we couldn’t find anything.”

This just points to the power of crowd sourcing. Perhaps eventually any (even all?) content that gets created will be totally compatible with the kernel system. Every user of the system will be a content generator and consumer; the system and its interface will only act as an intermediary.

Will Moodle evolve into this system or will another ecosystem similar to the Linux model emerge in the learning space? I look to it positively, either way it’ll make learning easier and better focused.

The post Will Learning Adopt the Linux Model for Development in the Future? first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

First impressions suggest that it does sort of look like the Kindle with the curved edge plastic case. Check out this Engadget video that shows it being used.

The similarity begins and ends with the plastic case, while the Kindle uses a physical keyboard, the Sony reader uses one that’s virtual software-based, the Nook uses a color touch screen for navigation. It comes with 3G and even includes support for WiFi, a feature the Kindle lacks. Overall, this looks like a device to beat Kindle, given its features and price point. I’m sure we are going to see many more such readers out in the market soon.

At this point, some of you are wondering why I’m going on about eBook readers when I typically write about instructional technology and elearning. If it isn’t obvious already, I’m a big fan of such readers and I think they’re going to have a substantial place in academic and workplace learning because of these four factors:

1. Displays – eBook reader displays tend to use eInk technologies and these are much more soothing on the eyes and users can spend very long periods of time working with such displays without eye strain. With a display format that’s typical of a book such readers can be used irrespective of location.
2. Operating System – While Kindle came with its own proprietary operating system, the Nook comes with Android. Just having an operating system on the device opens it up to a wide range of applications that would typically have been considered suitable for a personal computer. I’d think it’s only a matter of time before some enterprising individuals or group of individuals hack the Nook to make it capable of being more than just a eBook reader.
3. Capable of Interaction – A great display and an operating system do not a capable device make. The ability to interact with the device is critical if it’s to be effective in learning applications. I think the Nook is going to set of a trend that will lead to eBook readers being transformed from page turning static content to dynamic interactive content.
4. Connectivity – eBook readers seem to come with increasing numbers of connectivity options. While the Kindle came with 3G, the Nook goes a step further and includes WiFi. Couple this with increased 3G and WiFi coverage across the globe, and the eBook Reader goes beyond just page flipping into a connected device that can be used to surf the web, summon content, and a host of other connected activities.

In the learning development world, we should be preparing for this wave of devices. Books were great information stores and learning tools, eBook readers shouldn’t be any different. However, unlike a book, the reader has many other capable features, and eLearning developers should look to target this platform next.

On another note, I wonder if the advent of cheap and capable eBook readers will finally result in the end of civilization’s environment unfriendly obsession with paper.

The post Kindle and Nook: eBook Readers in eLearning first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

In India, the mobile phone has revolutionized communication and India is now one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phone services, with growing usage and increasing penetration. According to TRAI, there are 286 million wireless subscribers in India, June 2008, of which 76 million were capable of accessing data services. The increasing ubiquity of the mobile phone begs for it to be used as a learning tool. It would be a shame if we were unable to leverage it to improve socio-economic conditions in our vast population.

Mobile phones are not just communications devices sparking new modalities of interaction between people; they are also particularly useful computers that fit in your pocket, are always with you, and are nearly always on. Like all communication and computing devices, mobile phones can be used to learn. The content delivered would depend on the capabilities (features) of the device accessing it.

There are many kinds of learning and many processes that people use to learn, but among the most frequent, time-tested, and effective of these are listening, observing, imitating, questioning, reflecting, trying, estimating, predicting, speculating, and practicing. All of these learning processes can be supported through mobile phones. In addition, cell phones complement the short-attention, casual, multitasking style of today’s young learners.

Without proper research its hard to arrive at the worth of the m-learning market in India, any projection is unfounded; and is also due to the improbability of being able to predict the rate of technological (read network) adoption and penetration. However, empirically, we are seeing an increasing interest in mLearning. This example of mobile learning shows an application designed for women in villages without access to proper prenatal care.

Similar to India, it’s hard to quantify adoption in more developed markets. It’s well known that Asia and Europe are far ahead in terms of mLearning adoption compared to the North American market. The US market for Mobile Learning products and services is growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7% and revenues reached $538 million in 2007. It would be fair to say that revenues in Europe and Asia will be equal to if not greater than the North American market.

Almost every sector will benefit from the use of m-learning, however we feel three primary areas that will feel the biggest impact: Education , Agriculture and Healthcare

Additionally, rural communities will benefit tremendously not just from mLearning, but the mobile technology as a whole. Mobile devices are far cheaper than personal computers and do not depend on a continuous power supply to function.

There is a definite appeal in gaming for learning using mobile phones. Currently, several companies are experimenting with game-based learning technology for mobiles. However, the feasibility of such an approach depends on the cost of development and deployment of such applications, which are quite high at this time. With increasingly capable hardware and connectivity available and dropping costs, it’s only a matter of time before learning games on mobile become commonplace.

In the future, we will see mobile phones, computers and various other computing/media devices (iPods, Digital Cameras, PDAs, etc.) we use converge into a single personal mobile computing device. At such a time, the differentiation between eLearning and mLearning will cease to exist; all learning will be electronic and mobile.

The post Mobile Learning in India first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Those of you have heard of HTML 5 will know it’s a new version of HTML and XHTML being promoted by Google and Apple in a bid to move the web away from proprietary technologies like Flash, Silverlight and JavaFX. It makes HTML more powerful by adding new elements like video and audio. A list of new elements in HTML 5 can be found here at IBM’s site and the draft specification is available here at W3C’s site.

So what’s the big deal?
Well, let’s take a quick look at some of the new elements included and you’ll know.

Canvas – Web developers can now create 2D drawings controlled by JavaScript. This would help in creating interactive graphs, games, and presentations easily. Key benefit is that web developers can do this using JavaScript directly in HTML 5 without relying on technologies like Flash or Silverlight. Here is a quick tip. While you are considering to design your website, always seek professional help from agencies who extend such srevices. You can avail the affordable web design perth for instance.

Video & Audio – You can play video or audio in HTML 5 WITHOUT any plug-in required (like Flash or Silverlight], simply by using the new audio and video markup tags.

The working draft of HTML 5 indicates a need to find suitable open source code which works on all browsers without licensing or patent fee. The Mozilla Foundation has already implemented the open source Ogg Theora and Ogg Vorbis codecs for video in the beta of Firefox 3.5 and Opera is also working on similar lines. To add to this Dailymotion has launched a new R&D platform, dedicated to open source video format and has announced that it would be re-encoding 300,000 videos to Ogg Theora and Vorbis formats. We believe this could well be the ultimate threat to Flash which currently has monopolistic control in delivering videos online.

Interactive Elements – details, datagrid, command & menu
These are interactive elements included for development of web applications. The plan is to include more such elements in the future. This would help the web developers display data in structured formats and make it easier to implement. This could ultimately prove a big threat to the open source Flex Framework [while it uses proprietary Flash technology] – one of the preferred platforms for developing RIAs these days.

How does HTML 5 affect eLearning Development?
HTML and Flash are most commonly used today for developing elearning content. HTML is used for simple ‘page-turner’ type of courses while Flash is used for interactive courses that contain animations and/or audio. Like most other eLearning developers, we prefer developing content using Flash over HTML because HTML can’t support rich vector graphics with animations essential for delivering an engaging learning experience.

However HTML 5 has the potential to change all that. If developers can create animations, play audio and video without having to depend on Flash or Silverlight that would excellent. HTML 5 is particularly useful for organizations with ‘no plug-in’ policy because it will render natively in HTML 5 capable browsers. Also HTML 5 would help create more platform independent applications which can run across browsers eliminating the need for testing on multiple browsers.

So is Flash Dead?
No, not just yet! Flash (or perhaps Silverlight in near future) would still be useful for developing high-end interactive courses and games based learning. Flash Professional has a very good designer developer workflow which is important in eLearning development. It remains to be seen what workflows emerge for development in HTML 5 and if they can be adapted for eLearning development.

Most importantly – it’s a dampener – HTML 5 is not going to be around anytime soon. The final draft of HTML 5 specifications will be ready by 2012! According to Ian Hickson (a Google employee and a co-editor of HTML 5 specification) the proposed date of release would be in 2022 – which is 13 VERY LONG years from now. Since browser developers have committed support and started working on including essential HTML 5 tags, we could realistically start seeing some eLearning development in HTML 5 by the end of 2010, of-course with some constraints. A serious push for eLearning development in HTML 5 is still some years away. Till then Flash and Silverlight can breathe easy. However, they must quite rest; they must try making more progress on their products to force HTML 5 to do additional catching up. You can bet Adobe will not let one of its acquired cash cows (Flash) die easily.

Ryan Stewart [a platform evangelist for Adobe] has made an interesting comparison between HTML 5 and Flash in this blog post which shows that there is a lot of work required before HTML could actually reach to the level of Flash Player 10.

Here is a video Ian explaining how HTML 5 works for the techie folk who may like to see it in action:

The post HTML 5 and eLearning Development first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Take a look:

The Cogain project was funded to the tune of 2.9 million Euros and has an objective to make this technology available freely to all. This is just what they’ve gone ahead and done; compatible with Tobii and ITU GazeTracker.

As I watched the playing of Warcraft without using hands, the immensity of this development struck me. This year has marked the emergence of spectacular human computer interfaces that don’t need peripheral devices, Microsoft showed off Project Natal earlier this year and now we see this particular example. In both cases, the interface has moved from devices that are held in your hand to devices that can track specific human activities. In the future we can be pretty sure that such interfaces will abound.

This technology was designed for and will substantially improve disabled access to computer mediated interactions. I wonder if it will affect the way interaction designers think about human computer interfaces and the dominance of the keyboard and mouse. Interaction designers have long considered keyboards and mice as the ONLY input devices for computers; with that changing, will designers challenge conventional graphic user interfaces driven by those input devices? Will there be a new wave of ‘more human’ interfaces?

The post Cogain – Look Ma, no hands! first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

A couple of months back I shared my thoughts on an interesting question relating to the ‘future of workplace learning’ at Learning Circuits Blog. The learning domain is undergoing change like never before; Social Media, Informal Learning, Communities, Virtual Worlds, Mobile Learning, Learning Games, Augmented Reality, and much else. Such is the force of change that the existence of the Training Department itself is under threat – at least in the ‘form’ we know of now. As Harold Jarche and Jay Cross point out in their excellent article “The future of training department”, the training personnel of the future need to reorganize and must try to achieve the following:

– Facilitating collaborative work and learning amongst workers, especially as peers.
– Sensing patterns and helping to develop emergent work and learning practices.
– Working with management to fund and develop appropriate tools and processes for workers.

I concur with what they say, just that this transition will happen quickly in some organizations but painfully and slowly in others. This is captured well in Clark Quinn’s ‘Conferencing Reflections’ where he talks about how the focus of a large number of organizations is still on doing-the-job with training and missing the point when it comes to learning, and how technology can help there.

Where does this leave the learning solutions providers?
It is inevitable that learning providers would need to change too – both in their approach and offerings. In fact the providers need to change before consumer organizations do. They need to be ready with new set of products and services (guess everything would be a ‘service’ in a few years in most cases!). For this providers need to innovate and change internally first.

Pursuing that direction, a few months back Upside Learning set up a dedicated team for ‘Innovation and New Projects – INP’ The idea is to examine the changes in workplace learning space – in learning technology; in the way we learn with new technology; and in how this will affect our market place (and in turn our products and services). We want to be at the forefront and be ready with new age products and services to help our customers. Of course the central thoughts behind this is to ensure our existing customers need not look out for a new supplier for any of the new learning technology they may require.

Why INP?
Well, I feel innovation and its benefits to customers should be linked closely. Sometimes innovation-teams may lose their connection with ground reality and innovate to produce great prototypes only to realize it’s not commercially viable or useful for customers. For this reason, we wanted our innovation team to be involved with some of our projects for customers too. They’re involved with new types or atypical projects, like the development of an iphone app based game quiz recently. We want our innovation team to be early adopters of new technology, to experience it, evaluate it for what’s it worth, and pass on the knowledge/skills learned to other members of the development team.

We hope this will stand us in good stead and help our current, prospective and future customers meet their learning needs effectively. We hope that in turn will help us build on our progress so far.

The post Innovation in eLearning | Upside Learning first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

So what’s Spymaster about – quite simply its leveraging Twitter’s people network, using Twitter APIs to provide a Mob Wars style game experience. By using OAuth , the game is directly linked to your Twitter account; you’ll use the same profile as on Twitter, no need to create an account unlike other web-games. You’ve probably been invited, click through an invite and you’re in Spymaster-land.

Choose your agency, from amongst the British M16, the American CIA and the Russian FSB. Like most strategy games, you have to do some tasks like collecting dead drops or assassinating individuals, you get experience points and money–in the currency of the agency you represent. With this money you can buy weapons and other goodies on the black market to increase your attack and defense points. The key – this is a social game, your attack and defense points are implicitly related to how many people are following you on Twitter and how many of those you manage to convince to join the game. I sent out several dozen invites, got less than half to join.

It’s interesting to examine the immense popularity of this game; in conversation with AV Flox on her blog, Darshana Jayemanne of the University of Melbourne, makes an interesting comment about that:

“The game is similar to some other stuff that’s going around on other sites, and there’s a lot that could be said in general about why these games work. In particular though, I think the sync between the espionage theme and Twitter in particular works very well–Twitter itself feels kind of clandestine, like you’re immersed in these minutiae of other people’s lives as well as sharing select bits of information yourself.

The Twitterverse exists parallel to the mundane world, a bit like Mail Art or the Trystero in Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49. The stress of just how much to share is central to the spy thriller genre in which various bait-and-switches, mirroring and foreshadowing techniques are similar to the feeling you get piecing together some-one’s life from a stream of terse messages.

An unexamined life is not worth spying on.

The other thing is that we all tend to carry around more devices than any ’60s supervillain anyway. And we love to use them for fun as well as business, to use our devices in support of our vices. It’s a quasi-fetishistic activity, in fact, what Walter Benjamin would have called “the sex appeal of the inorganic.””

That’s a fascinating comment, about the nature of Twitter – clandestine yet immersed in minutiae of people’s lives. That’s one thing that makes Twitter so powerful, it appeals to our nature of wanting to know and share, especially about others. In response to a question about what ‘drives’ a game like Spymaster satisfies:

“It’s all in the design. Games are set up to organize desires around reward structures. So the design sets up the drive. Once you’re hooked to the reward structures, and can compare your success or failure to others (through points or money or what have you), it’s a self-sustaining process. Or so the designers hope. The “become a vampire/werewolf/zombie/banker/whatever” game apps on Facebook got old quickly–their scope was too limited.”

I’m trying to draw parallels in the design of instructional games. How are ‘learning games’ set up to organize desires through rewards? Do we do enough to design reward structures that engage the learner? One aspect that occurs to me immediately is the need to include features like leader boards in learning games where players can compare and contrast their performance. Another is that there has to be a feature that lets players actually observe others performance in the game environment. Such observation helps learning, and let’s players analyze success strategies; understand some implicit game environment rules, and master advanced mechanics in the game.

As I keep mentioning in reference learning game design, keeping a game SIMPLE is never easy. Spymaster did well to keep everything in balance and engaged to the extent that the game is addictive. Try Spymaster, we’ll be seeing more and more of these asynchronous network based games. It’s only a matter of time before their mechanics and architecture seep into learning games.

The post The Spymaster Game on Twitter first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

At this E3 it was Microsoft that made the most news with a slew of new products and technologies. The one that set the game bloggers on fire was Project Natal, a motion sensing camera based device for the XBOX. It’s not a stretch of imagination to foresee that this sort of device will be made available for all platforms.

What’s all the buzz about? Current motion detecting interfaces like Wii involve the user handling hardware, in this case the controller. Project Natal has eliminated the need for that handheld controller. The device (still in prototype) tracks user movement and translates that into control inputs for the Xbox, amazing stuff. Similar technology has existed in the past, but based on the demonstrations Microsoft gave at E3, Project natal has far surpassed it.

Here’s microsoft’s official Project Natal trailer:

I liked what I saw. Will this be the future of control in gaming?
And will eLearning interfaces be able to leverage such technology to make learning more engaging and effective?

The post Project Natal first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

If you peer inside an organization in 10 years time and you look at how workplace learning is being supported by that organization, what will you see? …

One could consider the topic from a sci-fi viewpoint; learning modules à la MATRIX – like Trinity asking Tank to run the training program for a B-212 helicopter. Well, we aren’t quite there yet. Thankfully!

To respond to the Big Question, I put on my futurist glasses, set them to 10 years forward, and this is what I see:

Let me now take off the futuristic glasses and add some caveats:

I would imagine less than 50% of organizations would be considered under a ‘organization 2.0’ category. So we will continue to see ILT, eLearning courses (some of them page turners), and all the other stuff that we see today. These organizations would still have large training departments that create and deliver push-learning.

This post has been influenced by some of the responses to the LC Big Question and also some other articles on the web, all of which are not possible to attribute to at this time. However, ones I would like to specifically mention are the genesis of training and its future directions covered by Harold and Jay in their post.

I read somewhere that in predicting the future you could be “directionally right but specifically wrong”. I hope this one is at least directionally correct. Only time will tell.

The post The Future of Workplace Learning first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Such a technology would impact learning in unimaginable ways. It would allow individuals to repurpose any environment for ambient learning. Will it have an impact on learning? I look forward to hearing your views, comments and questions.

The post TED – The Sixth Sense first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.