Have we learnt anything from the truckloads of research, case studies, best practice forums and global communication summits etc. which provide the evidence that the Australia's telecommunication companies are stifling the economic benefits of mobile e-learning (m-learning) ?
Is this issue just economics or is it that the education sector needs also to face it's own demons ?
Seems not. Let me explain how it occurs for me.
I spent some magic moments today walking around the park, gardening and generally lapping up a beautiful sunny Sydney with my partner, stepson and one fluffy white dog.
I played chess with Chaim and avoided another slaughter on Halo. My partner and stepson now watch Stephen Spielberg's AI and debate how humans can love a cyborg. The Sims game characters are no longer at risk of burning to death in the kitchen and I've managed to get the old VCR hooked up and working again. The phones are charged, the dog's asleep and I no longer battle sleep deprivation and warranted hostility from a doting family by battling script and closed-loop softwares.
Things have come a long way in a year.
I sit here in this poky little warm house and compose simple questions to complex issues and share these with the world using connected online spaces and places.
Things have come a long way in twelve months for me and this feels like it's only the begining - the chink through which I look at the bigger picture.
I recognise that things have changed, the world has changed, the way in which I communicate has broadened and generations which I've sired and nurture....... connect differently.
These connections are now very different. Easier. Permeant and resonating far deeper than ever before.
I am one of the lucky ones who has access ........by virtue of paying for it. The morality of encouraging others to also embrace a networked future particularly within an educational context ( and paying through the nose for it ) worries me though.
I constantly butt heads against closed doors, disbelieving network marketeers and educational law enforcement .
It seems we are at the threshold of great change and very fearful of it.
Nothing in the mlearning arena has changed ....at least nothing that sensibly and critically provides open access to the enabling technologies many students and educators seek to mesh with networked e-learning.
To ellucidate I refer to empty shells which could powerfully inform ways forward for learners amid the Australian access and economics 'internetworked blocking' debate as Dr. Marcus Bowles put forward critically a year ago.
The rage, the angst and the hands in the air can still be seen in many areas of education where words and wisdom could quell.
Are global communication networks still defending market share by confining mobile data transmissions to high-cost cellular networks ? What is their profit margin ? Where does a 'deal' for educators come into the bargain ?
Nowhere it seems.
I'm a small fry in this conversation - I admit that.
I search constantly for evidence that the education sector is ready to support environments that embrace the 'always on', to pedagogy that supports ubiquitous handheld technology as a learning enabler, to network access that prioritises what students 'choose-to-use' and provides high-speed access to learning materials that are disaggregated as funky transmissable digital learning objects.....as popular with learners as SMS is with mobile phone users.
Why are we still blocking the worlds biggest and fastest growing networked sociopedia ......SMS ?
As a foundational technology, why have we decided that the only use for SMS warranted in educational settings is for punitive measures such as informing on students whereabouts ?
Why are teachers still messaging students from their own personal phones at great risk of any audit procedure particularly as the 'inbox' gets full and the only option is to 'delete'?
These are the same questions I was asking a year ago !
A handful of trials does not cut it for me and many educators want answers, alerted to the evident breach in technology communications protocol and the charges associated with use this technology.
To balance the above I feel heartened to note the http://www.engageme.net/ blog I naively slaved over was made mention by Geoff Stead in the progressive paper Emerging_Technology_Accessibility.
The questions of MMS for educators collectively seeking to realise learning outcomes and engage students with ease and authenticity is shared by many and evidenced in a post picked up by Stephen Downes .
I do seek an authentic counsel with global telecommunications providers who will assist and realise this solution for educators who employ everyday handheld technologies as part of teaching and learning. In doing so we will realise great things. I'm following a number of conversations and drawing a number of blanks here at home.
Here's a few links to what I'm listening / reading/ watching tonight;
1. We Make Money Not Art
2. Mobile Active
4. Bop Secrets
5. SmartMobs
6. Itu Int
7. Orbiz
8. Why Elearning Fails?
9. Assa Edu
10. 160 Characters
11. CTAD UK
14. FERL BECTA
15. FutureLab
16. Eportfolios
17. BECTA - gold
18. UTA FI
19. Speed Of Creativity
20. WTVI
21.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Everything For Nothing : Web 2.0 Antics
Today I had some serious fun over at http://www.moblog.co.uk/blog/moblobro06
Not only are people actually doing something there, it seems to be a reasonable resonance of the awareness that educators are seeking better ways of working...in spite of the issues they find themselves in due to the aging architectures of the respective institutions.
On the way home I had a chat with Anne Paterson about web 2.0 and then upon retiring back to my computer station console and operating suite, I composed the following thought about how web2.0 rhymes with poo ;
.......................or maybe the ambiguity of it all is the good part.
Now here's a thought - the paradox of the web 2.0 question discussion routine is that educators ( organisations) could be creating their own spaces / places and 'catching' students at it ....actually setting up free spaces within which you can do what you will........ like a node on the outside of a well worn wart.
Register a floppy name, chuck in some mash and offer everything for nothing.
Seriously now I can see that connections, web2.0, names and wrap arounds that occur with this concept seem all so feasible. Perhaps I should buy server space and become a content enabler, cramming peoples lives into little digital spaces and zapping them occasisonally for dollars ....or would that make little sense."
I think I'll stick to teaching - at least for the next six weeks anyway.
Not only are people actually doing something there, it seems to be a reasonable resonance of the awareness that educators are seeking better ways of working...in spite of the issues they find themselves in due to the aging architectures of the respective institutions.
On the way home I had a chat with Anne Paterson about web 2.0 and then upon retiring back to my computer station console and operating suite, I composed the following thought about how web2.0 rhymes with poo ;
.......................or maybe the ambiguity of it all is the good part.
Now here's a thought - the paradox of the web 2.0 question discussion routine is that educators ( organisations) could be creating their own spaces / places and 'catching' students at it ....actually setting up free spaces within which you can do what you will........ like a node on the outside of a well worn wart.
Register a floppy name, chuck in some mash and offer everything for nothing.
Seriously now I can see that connections, web2.0, names and wrap arounds that occur with this concept seem all so feasible. Perhaps I should buy server space and become a content enabler, cramming peoples lives into little digital spaces and zapping them occasisonally for dollars ....or would that make little sense."
I think I'll stick to teaching - at least for the next six weeks anyway.
Moblobro Address
1. main menu
1. contacts
2. names
3. options
4. add new contact
5. contact name – add the contact name moblobro
6. select ok
7. press ok for phone number – no number needed.
8. search for contact ‘moblobro’ in your contacts area
9. select
10. add detail
11. add this email address
12. mb-moblobro06-password@moblg.net ( needs to be exactly as this appears it is the number 06)
13. select ok
14. got to camera
15. take picture
16 press send
17. add some text ( what the photo is about)
18. select send
19 . select email address
20 search for the moblobro email address and then please send
.......seems to have helped a few people anyway.
1. contacts
2. names
3. options
4. add new contact
5. contact name – add the contact name moblobro
6. select ok
7. press ok for phone number – no number needed.
8. search for contact ‘moblobro’ in your contacts area
9. select
10. add detail
11. add this email address
12. mb-moblobro06-password@moblg.net ( needs to be exactly as this appears it is the number 06)
13. select ok
14. got to camera
15. take picture
16 press send
17. add some text ( what the photo is about)
18. select send
19 . select email address
20 search for the moblobro email address and then please send
.......seems to have helped a few people anyway.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
[M]applications : Mobile Learning Inquisition
A consistent ( maybe a little more persistent) complaint that educators run the risk of coining as a descriptor for their non-engagement with mlearning is that creating, developing, syndicating, distributing, leveraging and employing mobile content in teaching and learning is......wait for it........ problematic.
Duh! Isnt everything and dont we have to find ways for it not to be ?
I've picked up ( thanks to technorati )that Stephanie Rieger a mobile content developer with CC flair over at http://www.yiibu.com/ coined my name then purports that the main mobile learning / publishing etc. problem ;
"...... is the astronomically high barrier to entry for small content producers (never mind schools or students.) "
Stephanie is pointing at the least of the problems small content producers face ( never mind educators ) engaging with this new and emergent communication technology ie. cost is hardly the issue - it offers little by way of reference to the many projects that are seeking ways to better understand how, what, why and where such networked learning using these mobile technologies can be achieved.
Content production is rife - what educators need is less bumf, smokes and flame and more effective advocacy. Sound like a union official somewhat.
Let me explain...........
I dont bemoan someone out there with their partner making a go of it in content developer land however sneaking a little torch on the politics of the now irritates me. Especially as the digital distinctions between development and pedagogy are often sorely tested - one seems to be constantly feeding on the breaches of the other.
Stephanie brings up some solid points to consider however - saying that I must go on... a bit ;-)
The main problem as I have experienced time and time again with individuals, organisations and global consortiums dipping their toe into the mlearning arena is that the policies governing privacy, child protection, copyright and budgets seem to strangle open and constructive dialogue as to how these technologies can be intergrated as part of teaching and learning.......oh for a beer for every time I've stated that one.
Then there is the laws governing IT access, firewalls and best practice, AQTF, SCORM, audit trails, best practice, learning objects, training packages, toolboxes and other blah getting in the way.
I dont for a moment imply that we relax security to induce sympathetic innovation rather we engage as a pro-active sector, standing up to telco's , software developers and web2.0 providers with an informed and unified position. Fat lot of good if your pushing the barrow up hill hey ?
Developers for the mlearning world feed like guppies to fishflakes in a stagnant pond. Its a fact. It's cool , it's now and it's lucrative. Jump on and raise your flag provided you know a billion others are doing also. What about the poor old haggard educator trapped in his technology deprived outhouse classroom.....the most modern equipment occurs in his students pockets.
The Australian Flexible Learning Framework and many other progressives bring some balance to this equation.
As do a million other educators battling their own organisational demons.
Get at the coalface and watch what your manager does when you tell them MMS is it for the day .... Try and sneak $500 AUD into your yearly budget for ' mobile related expenses'.
Duh! Isnt everything and dont we have to find ways for it not to be ?
I've picked up ( thanks to technorati )that Stephanie Rieger a mobile content developer with CC flair over at http://www.yiibu.com/ coined my name then purports that the main mobile learning / publishing etc. problem ;
"...... is the astronomically high barrier to entry for small content producers (never mind schools or students.) "
Stephanie is pointing at the least of the problems small content producers face ( never mind educators ) engaging with this new and emergent communication technology ie. cost is hardly the issue - it offers little by way of reference to the many projects that are seeking ways to better understand how, what, why and where such networked learning using these mobile technologies can be achieved.
Content production is rife - what educators need is less bumf, smokes and flame and more effective advocacy. Sound like a union official somewhat.
Let me explain...........
I dont bemoan someone out there with their partner making a go of it in content developer land however sneaking a little torch on the politics of the now irritates me. Especially as the digital distinctions between development and pedagogy are often sorely tested - one seems to be constantly feeding on the breaches of the other.
Stephanie brings up some solid points to consider however - saying that I must go on... a bit ;-)
The main problem as I have experienced time and time again with individuals, organisations and global consortiums dipping their toe into the mlearning arena is that the policies governing privacy, child protection, copyright and budgets seem to strangle open and constructive dialogue as to how these technologies can be intergrated as part of teaching and learning.......oh for a beer for every time I've stated that one.
Then there is the laws governing IT access, firewalls and best practice, AQTF, SCORM, audit trails, best practice, learning objects, training packages, toolboxes and other blah getting in the way.
I dont for a moment imply that we relax security to induce sympathetic innovation rather we engage as a pro-active sector, standing up to telco's , software developers and web2.0 providers with an informed and unified position. Fat lot of good if your pushing the barrow up hill hey ?
Developers for the mlearning world feed like guppies to fishflakes in a stagnant pond. Its a fact. It's cool , it's now and it's lucrative. Jump on and raise your flag provided you know a billion others are doing also. What about the poor old haggard educator trapped in his technology deprived outhouse classroom.....the most modern equipment occurs in his students pockets.
The Australian Flexible Learning Framework and many other progressives bring some balance to this equation.
As do a million other educators battling their own organisational demons.
Get at the coalface and watch what your manager does when you tell them MMS is it for the day .... Try and sneak $500 AUD into your yearly budget for ' mobile related expenses'.
Not.
Why should we be charged $0.50 per MMS message when collectively we can realise learning outcomes and engage our students with ease and authenticity ? Why should we pay vast sums of money to support broadband dreaming initiatives and be sold the 3G dream as a direct credit card debit ? Why should educators seeking new and innovative ways to engage with students be forced to crawl on their knees and beg for bits of plastic and connections whilst battling the chash-poor politic ?
Add your own questions to the list as this is only the tip of the iceberg.
I'm so sick of answering questions and then framing them to suit the party politic it brings me to make more comments and continue this conversation further - disclaimers attached.
The main sticking point in realising mlearning, the always on classroom or the hip-top window to learning is not in asking more questions or winging about what they are doing to us .
The main reason (as is the case with so many of our attempts to embrace change) within our own psyche.
The overarching policy for the use of mobile devices in educational settings particularly those in the K-12, VTe sector in Australia is 'turn-it-off'. Period.
What we need are mobile safe zones ...curricula that states "......so....answer it. It might be important and while your at it ..think of this." Thats when we've made it - when your fancy mobile ed. apps. will get purchase.
I'm speaking here of acknowledging, permitting and mapping ways in which students can plug into learning using their own handheld technologies, how teachers can gain permission to incorporate, propogate and generate learning using what their students preference - not some old clunky beast of a PDA that spits our more damn text.
Stephanie states that we need:
"......an open network (the internet,) some open platforms and formats (HTML, CSS, JavaScript,) an ability to bypass carriers in the publishing and distribution process (publish on the web and/or share using MMC cards or bluetooth,) and an authoring process that mere mortals can beginning to participate in. Until that day speaking of personal publishing and content re-purposing for phones is sadly just not realistic "
I agree that a open mobile enabled LMS with portability and DET configured access which clones or ports user generated content to an MLE would be more than helpful....much like they are developing in Spain, Portugal, England and Brazil....Africa's not far behind.
I could add another few acronyms although that would add a few more millions to this mobile architectural dream.
My learner's speak of it this way and i dont think they are speaking bullshit.
"My future does not lie in your friggin' firewall. Your funky avatars and piss poor PC's wont convince me that dinosaurs need to teach me anything. Where's the website i created last year ? Why did you ditch it?"
I do believe I have an Aging VET Practitioner paper floating around somewhere in the blogosphercity so i must admit I'm biased towards a change in attitude too.
Stephanie goes on to say ; "......until that day speaking of personal publishing and content re-purposing for phones is sadly just not realistic. "
Totally disagree. Rubbish. Sadly so far off the mark.
I've been personally publishing and growing content for regeneration in a multitude of digital formats for years.
In fact, I've spent bugger all on publishing content to the web that seems to be of immense interest to others and with permission to author what I did with my 'disengaged' ( not far off disrespect is it ?) students with SMS, aerosol and graffiti I realised the police Ministers attendance and purchase of artworks at SGExpo : Midland TAFE Campus, TAFE WA with a next to nothing budget. Skite. Rant. * Sits back down *
My total digital journey costs to Parngurr Community cost me $ 42.50 AUD. Thats a 1/100th of the total budget.
Check the hits count, follow the trackbacks, dont attempt to tell me the kids were not engaged cause they now have a 40 page plus+ jump off point to talk to the world.....legacy and hysteria will prevent it.
I'm suprised the site has been crashed into yet. Next point .
Stephanie states ; ".......lack of complete dependency on carriers, and ability to publish and share your own stuff is where the user-generated mobile (learning) content will likely start—and where it will continue to flourish (all-be-it slowly.) "
Again.............. unlikely. I disagree. OMG!
They need to complement each other. Putting it in a box and saying 'slowly does it' does little to convince me of anything other than what I already know about educators with small heads and long necks.
Web 2.o is in your fridge. The pervasive nature of technologies and the interdependencies of connected learning environments demand that educators connect via the world wide web, the virtual world of the mobile-sociosphere and you will need to prepare for the onset of mobile 3.0. User generated content is an old hack term for " things I've done that I'm prepared to share".
I have no dependency per say on a mobile carrier to transmit the data ... I choose to pay for it as do a zillion others because I realise ten times over my investment in immersion equity.
Stephanie Reiger wraps it up with a series of pointers, points and links to products wand other opengarden guff and leaves us with ; "...........Testing costs alone are ridiculous and usually involve creating variants of your content for dozens (if not hundreds) of handsets.
And then we have distribution.......designer fish bowls and low lights and printing presses that continue to pump out tons of paper....oh......mobile phones....nup.....they are switched off. Period.
Stephanie continues;
"......Unless the content is likely to yield high returns and fits into one of their portal schemes; carriers don’t seem to want it on their networks. "
Forget the damn content. Forget the distribution.
This is the age of ICT's - where communication with a capital 'C' is sandwiched between what IT would otherwise retard. Youtube and MSNSpaces will profess that the change in how we consume our learning will be beyond the read/write/web.
We need;
> A distributive model - across DET for mobile CMS and nodal LMS systems which integrate with a students transportable PLE would be a better thing to bargain for. I see lots of console operators and little user-generated learning experiences. We need more learning suppositiories.
> Access- to students handhelds not the other way around. We need ways to communicate with them - through them. SMS would be a good start and not for punitive measures and constant.
> Realistic action - We are still struglling as a sector to acknowledge that students actually own mobile phones never mind turn them on in a classroom.
Research would suggest our punitive measures are what in fact creates teachers who are disengaged - the students are highly engaged. Teachers are out of the loop.
I dont generally reserve such publications in response to others opinion that is narrow and ill-defined however Stephanie's blogpost barely cuts above the soured mustard and so warrants a reply.
I'm looking for things to grow with, to get excited about.
I'm looking up at the sky and wondering how much the flametrees will bloom this year.
More often than not I'm looking at good ideas as skeletons, well picked and discarded for bland fare that sustains unthinking herds.
Dont worry - most of us are still at what is mlearning ? Overall I take my hat off to the yiibu idea and realise that it will be a long hard road to realise uptake. Maybe when I take my hat off an realise that I'm balding like the rest of them that I'll do the same ....jump ship, take a chance on romance......live a dream and realise a fortune.
Somehow that seems so much more real today than a year ago.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Gary Lienert
It would seem that some educators at least have things they can say they are doing. Again I'm pointing at Gary Lienert.
Goood on ya gazza !
Your a freaking legend :-)
Ps. With a moblog title of http://www.moblog.co.uk/blog/hydroponics you are sure to get some visitors !
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Mlearning : Importance.
As I reflect on my own experience of where mobile learning fits into the teaching and learning in a real and working context, it is apparent for me that the concepts governing the use of mobile comunication technologies are far closer to home than I often acknowledge with others.
I came across this image the other day amongst the hundreds of others relating to the use of mobile communication technologies in education. This image speaks a billion words for me and hits home again and again my need to better understand ways to positively engage and communicate with others acknowledging that ( in spite of lifes challenges) I have a voice and a point of view that may resonate with others experiencing the same things with their families.
My own daughters have ( whether by my instigation or their own ) had an avid interest in how these technologies work. From an early age my youngest has shown a keen interest in how phones connect with others and all the features that allow the user to interact with others. My moblog keeps "informing" my oldest daughter Kamahli as to what's happening in my life and my blog ( Blogger is my primary site ) seems to give her an idea that I'm trying to make sense of where these technologies fit into the current pedagogy.....fancy words aside, we discuss it's contents and she fires off salvos of her own discoveries and interests.
I'm also reflecting on some of Geoff Steads comments in FERL BECTA UK - this was published in May 2005 yet I have followed some of his ambitions back to 2003 when my own research into this area began in interest.
The interaction that occurs between people when they have genuine and immediate uptake within their own learning environment with educators who are keen to explore the ways mlearning can enhance learning are summed up in Geoff's points;
[Quote - http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=11528 ]
- Because we trusted them with expensive phones (we hardly lost any, by the way!).
- Because it addressed a wide spread of needs, not just the targeted ones (confidence, IT skills, communication, social status etc).
- Because it can be done in privacy.
- Because you don’t need a computer
- Because you don’t need to work for long – short bytes are best
- Because learners have more control, and the learning is less formal
I believe that learning that includes or incorporates the mobile technologies that students own, have access to and preference is at the heart of the challenge that education organisations face, now and in the future.
The questions and positions that we as educators adopt with respect to mlearning are respected when we acknowledge that the simple, small and seemingly insignificant 'games' that students of all ages play using these technologies. At the heart of our current ICT's in schools is the letter - capital "C" - communication.
My own research question / stance could be framed as - How can we improve the uptake of mobile communication technologies in a teaching and learning context acknowledging and incorporating the mobile technologies that students own and/or have access to ?
Or more simply and more pertinent to my present situation accompanying the former question - What challenges do educators face as they seek ways to employ mlearning as part of their everyday teaching and learning duties ?
I am entirely convinced we are at the crossroads in the Australian educational context with these issues and challenges.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Human-Computer Interactions
I coined this as part of a AVTRA presentation a couple of years ago;
'The relational paradigm of human-computer interactions which meld user experience with curriculum will always challenge learners and educators within the VET sector.
Harnessing the interpersonal relationships that have developed with the assistance of these emergent mobile devices however, seems to be at the pinnacle to the authenticity crisis the VET sector as a whole faces with it’s aging practitioner population. Interacting with a shifting field of virtual spaces and places, where interaction is fast and seemingly disjointed may well be isolating a generation of elders who not so cleverly use nomenclature such as ‘disengaged’ to describe those learners who opt out of the instructivist mode for service delivery. '
Seems the only words that need changing are 'instructivist' to ' connectivist' - a huge paradigm shift in two years dont you think ?
'The relational paradigm of human-computer interactions which meld user experience with curriculum will always challenge learners and educators within the VET sector.
Harnessing the interpersonal relationships that have developed with the assistance of these emergent mobile devices however, seems to be at the pinnacle to the authenticity crisis the VET sector as a whole faces with it’s aging practitioner population. Interacting with a shifting field of virtual spaces and places, where interaction is fast and seemingly disjointed may well be isolating a generation of elders who not so cleverly use nomenclature such as ‘disengaged’ to describe those learners who opt out of the instructivist mode for service delivery. '
Seems the only words that need changing are 'instructivist' to ' connectivist' - a huge paradigm shift in two years dont you think ?
Monday, May 15, 2006
EduSpeak : Mlearning
Having delivered the another workshop on the use of mlearning or mobile learning with educators, I get the distinct feeling that the concepts of connectivity between mobile devices and the interent have little resonance if using such terms as 'mlearning'.
It would seem that the whole idea of mobility is still very fresh in the education sector whose general policy is for mobile connectivity to be limited to that of out of class time.
What I am heartened to notice though is a distinct change in the acceptance that such a possibility exists for learners to use mobile handheld technologies , particularly those in the VTE sector as part of their teaching and learning environment.
The whole idea of e-portfolios being supplemented by the generation of digital content using mobile communication technologies is probably a post overdue here. Running out of time so back to the drawing board.....for now.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Doodles : Mobile Poo and other things....
Leigh Blackall makes a point about LMS (again) over at Teach and Learn Online the scourge of the nomenclature of the networked technologist educational paradigm - .... .........more big words for saying what could be said very simply.
To quote Leigh;
".............Its pathetic isn't it, but I truly believe that the reason free and open source software and free and open ways of working have not been duly recognised sufficiently in education is simply because of the names.............................."
Uh - simply ?
I consider that, to realise free and open ways of working as almost biblical in dimensions - the resistance to working openly without fear or favour is like a soap saga, epic in proportions and hitting the 33rd re-run cause' its comforting and 'real'. Why would Neighbours be in it's umpteenth year otherwise ? Are we comfortable as educational consumers yet or has web2.0 actually created a new consumer of which organisations are yet to better understand how to market and wrap it all in e-business protocols?
The softwares of the open web are simply tools to build bridges with. whereas it's the condition of humanity in a time of great fear and conservative plight that prevent ways of working truly unfolding. Face it - we are at war - our children are dying of diabetes - the television is now about whats happening inside prisons like Big Brother - I'm contemplating resuming smoking tobacco full-time ......again............. just to fit in.
Phew.......I could rattle off a couple of hundred more reasons that free and open source software et.al are not taken up in education, but the whole concept of FOSS and bloggerdom is to unlock the domains of conversation whilst preserving the rights of the digital warriors - precisely what an LMS cannot realise.....at least not directly. They are complementary at least.......... sometimes.
If your seeking an example from me that ellucidates this concept of sometimes - http://alexanderhayes.edublogs.org/links/ - then check out my "new" attempt at defining what has occured for me as an educator.
I'm now using 'open' to define that which at least allows others to see whats happening in that space and in other related spaces and I'm using 'closed' to define that which I've created and now either have no access to nor considering this space as transparent in any respect other than that the login portal is an open URL feature.
All the content that I created for hundreds of students / educators to use are now locked away in some server that I have now access to whatsoever . I wonder what on earth the respective institutions are doing with the content now.......?
I can understand this approach from a privacy point of you but this brings me to the topic of 're-useable learning objects'. This is a familiar topic with educators who seek the sustainability of their learning objects ( shall we add this one to the list Leigh ?)
I do get Leigh's take on the soft, ploppy names for web2.0 spaces and places of late and the downward network of terms to snare a glance or two from web surfers;
"..........Moodle rhymes with doodle; blog sounds like poo; drupal sounds like a late night let down; wiki sounds like... well I dunno really, but GIMP! that says it all! "
I must admit I'd be hard pressed to sell Gimp as a key term in a networked learning conference context and so have refrained. I get strange looks when I say mobile blog ( flying poo ) and mlearning ( I'm Learning) and thats only the begining.
Maybe we could compare acronyms and synonyms to truly unravel the ridiculous ways in which we waywardly work. In conclusion..........
I'd rather stay on the open road and say that at least LMS environments allow you to point out. There was a point in time when even the hyperlink feature was disabled.
If you been following the politic of the educational now in Australia you'll realise that this 'taken-for-granted' feature may soon be reactivated. heaven forbid.....and I'm only marginally religious.
To quote Leigh;
".............Its pathetic isn't it, but I truly believe that the reason free and open source software and free and open ways of working have not been duly recognised sufficiently in education is simply because of the names.............................."
Uh - simply ?
I consider that, to realise free and open ways of working as almost biblical in dimensions - the resistance to working openly without fear or favour is like a soap saga, epic in proportions and hitting the 33rd re-run cause' its comforting and 'real'. Why would Neighbours be in it's umpteenth year otherwise ? Are we comfortable as educational consumers yet or has web2.0 actually created a new consumer of which organisations are yet to better understand how to market and wrap it all in e-business protocols?
The softwares of the open web are simply tools to build bridges with. whereas it's the condition of humanity in a time of great fear and conservative plight that prevent ways of working truly unfolding. Face it - we are at war - our children are dying of diabetes - the television is now about whats happening inside prisons like Big Brother - I'm contemplating resuming smoking tobacco full-time ......again............. just to fit in.
Phew.......I could rattle off a couple of hundred more reasons that free and open source software et.al are not taken up in education, but the whole concept of FOSS and bloggerdom is to unlock the domains of conversation whilst preserving the rights of the digital warriors - precisely what an LMS cannot realise.....at least not directly. They are complementary at least.......... sometimes.
If your seeking an example from me that ellucidates this concept of sometimes - http://alexanderhayes.edublogs.org/links/ - then check out my "new" attempt at defining what has occured for me as an educator.
I'm now using 'open' to define that which at least allows others to see whats happening in that space and in other related spaces and I'm using 'closed' to define that which I've created and now either have no access to nor considering this space as transparent in any respect other than that the login portal is an open URL feature.
All the content that I created for hundreds of students / educators to use are now locked away in some server that I have now access to whatsoever . I wonder what on earth the respective institutions are doing with the content now.......?
I can understand this approach from a privacy point of you but this brings me to the topic of 're-useable learning objects'. This is a familiar topic with educators who seek the sustainability of their learning objects ( shall we add this one to the list Leigh ?)
I do get Leigh's take on the soft, ploppy names for web2.0 spaces and places of late and the downward network of terms to snare a glance or two from web surfers;
"..........Moodle rhymes with doodle; blog sounds like poo; drupal sounds like a late night let down; wiki sounds like... well I dunno really, but GIMP! that says it all! "
I must admit I'd be hard pressed to sell Gimp as a key term in a networked learning conference context and so have refrained. I get strange looks when I say mobile blog ( flying poo ) and mlearning ( I'm Learning) and thats only the begining.
Maybe we could compare acronyms and synonyms to truly unravel the ridiculous ways in which we waywardly work. In conclusion..........
I'd rather stay on the open road and say that at least LMS environments allow you to point out. There was a point in time when even the hyperlink feature was disabled.
If you been following the politic of the educational now in Australia you'll realise that this 'taken-for-granted' feature may soon be reactivated. heaven forbid.....and I'm only marginally religious.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Web 2.0 ...again.
I posted this excerpt over at EDNA for expediencies sake;
[ start of post ]
"..............For what it's worth Robin, many people have this attitude to web 2.0 as a defining term for what is essentially as Sean so aptly describes in this moodle thread.
I try to think of using the term web 2.0 sparingly - in an educational context I've lifted my own rant from http://www.alexanderhayes.com/ ;
"..........The risks of web 2.0 are in not engaging with 'it'.The worlds waiting while we ask questions of it and try desperately to frame it for our own purpose (education) using our own language and box it into our own set of guidelines, rules, regulations , standards and so on. Some of it's needed and an awful lot........ not. On that note I expect that students given some encouragement / deadline / choice will select / nominate their own distributed web 2.0 learning spaces and it's not entirely the role of the educator to give it rather listen for where it's happening for the student..."
I'm hearing people speak of web2.0 provision as effective portals for email harvesting, point-of-contact advertising and other nasties.
Robin, you speak of being interested in web2.0 from a business perspective. >.........philosophies and principles around web 2.0 as they apply to business....<.....I can assure you a zillion others also and i know you'll lead the pack if you speak of e-business opportunities for educators using web2.0 technologies. Fact is I was speaking of this very topic with my partner Claire last night ! Ok...fun aside. Others are pointing to the loss of business perspective due to their fascination in the "whirring wheels" of the Ajax twins. Infocult has some fine points to consider on the web 2.0 world roll out.
Bringing it back into the educational context I'm taken taken with Sean's point : "........One of the key characteristics of Web 2.0 is a shift from desktop applications to web-based applications.
The significance of this is that we can access our programs from any computer (and soon any mobile device) with any browser, using any OS.The significance of this [web2.0] is that we can access our programs from any computer (and soon any mobile device) with any browser, using any OS......."
Clap, clap. Mobile web 2.0 is already here.
The challenge will be how NOT to define web2.0 rather let it run it's hyper-course and what would we would be better off doing would be assisting others by framing questions into a coherent position for the Australian educational sector to ensure privacy, security and ......blah, blah.
Ps. What the heck is web 2.0 ?
[End of post]
[ start of post ]
"..............For what it's worth Robin, many people have this attitude to web 2.0 as a defining term for what is essentially as Sean so aptly describes in this moodle thread.
I try to think of using the term web 2.0 sparingly - in an educational context I've lifted my own rant from http://www.alexanderhayes.com/ ;
"..........The risks of web 2.0 are in not engaging with 'it'.The worlds waiting while we ask questions of it and try desperately to frame it for our own purpose (education) using our own language and box it into our own set of guidelines, rules, regulations , standards and so on. Some of it's needed and an awful lot........ not. On that note I expect that students given some encouragement / deadline / choice will select / nominate their own distributed web 2.0 learning spaces and it's not entirely the role of the educator to give it rather listen for where it's happening for the student..."
I'm hearing people speak of web2.0 provision as effective portals for email harvesting, point-of-contact advertising and other nasties.
Robin, you speak of being interested in web2.0 from a business perspective. >.........philosophies and principles around web 2.0 as they apply to business....<.....I can assure you a zillion others also and i know you'll lead the pack if you speak of e-business opportunities for educators using web2.0 technologies. Fact is I was speaking of this very topic with my partner Claire last night ! Ok...fun aside. Others are pointing to the loss of business perspective due to their fascination in the "whirring wheels" of the Ajax twins. Infocult has some fine points to consider on the web 2.0 world roll out.
Bringing it back into the educational context I'm taken taken with Sean's point : "........One of the key characteristics of Web 2.0 is a shift from desktop applications to web-based applications.
The significance of this is that we can access our programs from any computer (and soon any mobile device) with any browser, using any OS.The significance of this [web2.0] is that we can access our programs from any computer (and soon any mobile device) with any browser, using any OS......."
Clap, clap. Mobile web 2.0 is already here.
The challenge will be how NOT to define web2.0 rather let it run it's hyper-course and what would we would be better off doing would be assisting others by framing questions into a coherent position for the Australian educational sector to ensure privacy, security and ......blah, blah.
Ps. What the heck is web 2.0 ?
[End of post]
RadioBlog
Wanna hear it online anytime even if it's owned by someone else ? Ok....forget Napstar where it;s locked from view - now we have radioblog.club that allows you to stream it straight to your desktop.
Johnny cash, Marilyn Manson and all my other favourites are now at my finger tips !
Web 2.0
Says it all for me. ....in a wierd kind of Friday morning kind of way.
I feel that it will probably diagramatically reflect the attitudes of many organisations whose issues with web 1.0 are not yet resolved anyway.
After all....who wants to learn a billion new applications that threaten to engulf the world with complexicity and privacy concerns.
Maybe we could all just throw our hands up in the air at the lack of innovation . Or.........
Maybe the whole idea of students actually having anything to do with the learning construction as too complex and that the 'sage on the stage' is still the way to go.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
SpeckNet
Given that our world in the mobile sense has gone micro ...fast ............ check this out ;
"........ Speckled Computing offers a radically new concept in information technology that has the potential to revolutionise the way we communicate and exchange information.
Specks will be minute (around 1 mm3) semiconductor grains that can sense and compute locally and communicate wirelessly. Each speck will be autonomous, with its own captive, renewable energy source. Thousands of specks, scattered or sprayed on the person or surfaces, will collaborate as programmable computational networks called Specknets.
Computing with Specknets will enable linkages between the material and digital worlds with a finer degree of spatial and temporal resolution than hitherto possible; this will be both fundamental and enabling to the goal of truly ubiquitous computing.
Speckled Computing is the culmination of a greater trend. As the once-separate worlds of computing and wireless communications collide, a new class of information appliances will emerge. Where once they stood proud – the PDA bulging in the pocket, or the mobile phone nestling in one’s palm, the post-modern equivalent might not be explicit after all. Rather, data sensing and information processing capabilities will fragment and disappear into everyday objects and the living environment.
At present there are sharp dislocations in information processing capability – the computer on a desk, the PDA/laptop, mobile phone, smart cards and smart appliances. In our vision of Speckled Computing, the sensing and processing of information will be highly diffused – the person, the artefacts and the surrounding space, become, at the same time, computational resources and interfaces to those resources.
Surfaces, walls, floors, ceilings, articles, and clothes, when sprayed with specks (or “speckled”), will be invested with a “computational aura” and sensitised post hoc as props for rich interactions with the computational resources...."
Smacks of military. I remember reading of such whilst the Gulf war was on years ago.
Now they seem to be commercialising it using educational validation.
Clever.
"........ Speckled Computing offers a radically new concept in information technology that has the potential to revolutionise the way we communicate and exchange information.
Specks will be minute (around 1 mm3) semiconductor grains that can sense and compute locally and communicate wirelessly. Each speck will be autonomous, with its own captive, renewable energy source. Thousands of specks, scattered or sprayed on the person or surfaces, will collaborate as programmable computational networks called Specknets.
Computing with Specknets will enable linkages between the material and digital worlds with a finer degree of spatial and temporal resolution than hitherto possible; this will be both fundamental and enabling to the goal of truly ubiquitous computing.
Speckled Computing is the culmination of a greater trend. As the once-separate worlds of computing and wireless communications collide, a new class of information appliances will emerge. Where once they stood proud – the PDA bulging in the pocket, or the mobile phone nestling in one’s palm, the post-modern equivalent might not be explicit after all. Rather, data sensing and information processing capabilities will fragment and disappear into everyday objects and the living environment.
At present there are sharp dislocations in information processing capability – the computer on a desk, the PDA/laptop, mobile phone, smart cards and smart appliances. In our vision of Speckled Computing, the sensing and processing of information will be highly diffused – the person, the artefacts and the surrounding space, become, at the same time, computational resources and interfaces to those resources.
Surfaces, walls, floors, ceilings, articles, and clothes, when sprayed with specks (or “speckled”), will be invested with a “computational aura” and sensitised post hoc as props for rich interactions with the computational resources...."
Smacks of military. I remember reading of such whilst the Gulf war was on years ago.
Now they seem to be commercialising it using educational validation.
Clever.
Blogging Again.
I've attempted to explain why blogging for me and I'm sure many others is so difficult over at EDNA in the 2006 Network Community Forum.
My first post went like this ;
".......Hi Berenice,
I am now considering the cessation of blogging any further in an educational context. i will restrict my blogging now to creative endeavours which have no correlation, reference to nor any part of my education profile.
The foundation of blogging is ( in my honest and humble opinion )open-word ie. an individual makes public the workings of their thoughts or a process and shares this with a view to entertaining positive possibilities with others.
I am not encouraged to blog in any respect as part of anything that relates to my working profile.My site statistics indicate that hundreds of people if not thousands read my blog/s and a few individuals are now encouraging me to refrain from doing so to ensure that any process that I may be part of remains part of the closed network of knowledge.
I've used blogging, mobile blogging, journalling, e-groups and bulletin boards for years and watched open-word literally change the lives of my learners and their faith in an open training network and indeed the adult education / training sector. I am reluctant to limit my blogging to "pointing" to others, information or cool sites.
I'd prefer to syndicate these and propogate their source widgets amongst blogs that are beyond project purposeful.
Most of what i see teachers use blogs for is nothing more than a heavily moderated version of the existing LMS systems that I will now be bound to operate within.
I wish you and everyone else luck with using blogging in any shape or form as part of the teaching and learning process which actions change, invigorates inclusive and participatory curriculum, fosters global and networked knowledge and puts " smiles on their dials".
Ps. I'm now looking for "classrooms" that manifest themself like the vision of the attached image accompanying this post.
Regards,
Alex Hayes
My second post went like that;
".....Reading over my last post here I must have been having a bad day - lets see....car crash, some negative feedback, headcold, frustrating morning.
Yup, definetly a bad day.
By default, many bloggers take that position when faced with reprimand or discipline measure by employers, family and misunderstanding friends - globally. add the fickle features of humanity to that and the result is a reluctant blogger.
I'm attempting to compose / construct / de-construct my blogging adventures at http://www.alexanderhayes.com .
I'm centralising what I feel might be of use to my learners at that location whilst venturing ever increasingly into virtual and mobile environments that are less text laden. feedback over the last five years is that I'm a shocking writer and should stick to my vocation as a creative visualiser.
In no way does my blogging reflect the direction of any of my employers. It is my attempt to better undersatnd the learning domains , spaces and places that our learners might frequent in the future.
I find the use of blogging using web 2.0 providers such as Google as part of standard work practice difficult to comprehend as the education sector as a whole struggles so much with open-word and authenticity that is currency-up-first.
Please steer me to official policy that details the investigative case studies that shore up and clarify each and every educational bloggers rights whilst ensuring we have clarification on the issues inherent with blogging such as privacy, copyright,digital rights management and child protection - with respect to our blogging journals.
Please show me mobile blogging solutions within DET / ED. and internalised Ajax development that equals that of the web2.0 arena. I'll attempt show you how to use it.
Regards,
Alex Hayes
Ps. having a better day ! :-)..............."
In reflection i think what I said on both occasions was valid.
What's your take ?
My first post went like this ;
".......Hi Berenice,
I am now considering the cessation of blogging any further in an educational context. i will restrict my blogging now to creative endeavours which have no correlation, reference to nor any part of my education profile.
The foundation of blogging is ( in my honest and humble opinion )open-word ie. an individual makes public the workings of their thoughts or a process and shares this with a view to entertaining positive possibilities with others.
I am not encouraged to blog in any respect as part of anything that relates to my working profile.My site statistics indicate that hundreds of people if not thousands read my blog/s and a few individuals are now encouraging me to refrain from doing so to ensure that any process that I may be part of remains part of the closed network of knowledge.
I've used blogging, mobile blogging, journalling, e-groups and bulletin boards for years and watched open-word literally change the lives of my learners and their faith in an open training network and indeed the adult education / training sector. I am reluctant to limit my blogging to "pointing" to others, information or cool sites.
I'd prefer to syndicate these and propogate their source widgets amongst blogs that are beyond project purposeful.
Most of what i see teachers use blogs for is nothing more than a heavily moderated version of the existing LMS systems that I will now be bound to operate within.
I wish you and everyone else luck with using blogging in any shape or form as part of the teaching and learning process which actions change, invigorates inclusive and participatory curriculum, fosters global and networked knowledge and puts " smiles on their dials".
Ps. I'm now looking for "classrooms" that manifest themself like the vision of the attached image accompanying this post.
Regards,
Alex Hayes
My second post went like that;
".....Reading over my last post here I must have been having a bad day - lets see....car crash, some negative feedback, headcold, frustrating morning.
Yup, definetly a bad day.
By default, many bloggers take that position when faced with reprimand or discipline measure by employers, family and misunderstanding friends - globally. add the fickle features of humanity to that and the result is a reluctant blogger.
I'm attempting to compose / construct / de-construct my blogging adventures at http://www.alexanderhayes.com .
I'm centralising what I feel might be of use to my learners at that location whilst venturing ever increasingly into virtual and mobile environments that are less text laden. feedback over the last five years is that I'm a shocking writer and should stick to my vocation as a creative visualiser.
In no way does my blogging reflect the direction of any of my employers. It is my attempt to better undersatnd the learning domains , spaces and places that our learners might frequent in the future.
I find the use of blogging using web 2.0 providers such as Google as part of standard work practice difficult to comprehend as the education sector as a whole struggles so much with open-word and authenticity that is currency-up-first.
Please steer me to official policy that details the investigative case studies that shore up and clarify each and every educational bloggers rights whilst ensuring we have clarification on the issues inherent with blogging such as privacy, copyright,digital rights management and child protection - with respect to our blogging journals.
Please show me mobile blogging solutions within DET / ED. and internalised Ajax development that equals that of the web2.0 arena. I'll attempt show you how to use it.
Regards,
Alex Hayes
Ps. having a better day ! :-)..............."
In reflection i think what I said on both occasions was valid.
What's your take ?
Sunday, May 7, 2006
2006 AFLF Networks Induction Workshop
Canberra was indeed a little chilly but the conversations were great and it's interesting to note how many AFLF Networks this year are centred on exploring the use of networked and distributive web 2.0 technologies.Sean Fitzgerald gave a great presentation on the use of wikis and blogs ( his wikispace is a cool store house of information ) and Jo Kay spoke of the array of things proposed for use in the Illawarra Region this year.
Jo's blog is an example of what's possible with what's available and it's great to see another educator exploring the moblog.co.uk domain.
I set up an edubloggers account today and will probably use that account to speak of concepts and other less daily stuff. Hopefully I can find someone who knows where to access the code to change the header to a sunrise and not a sunset !
Mob-casting
I've been speaking of the ability to mob-cast for a number of years now. The concept is nothing new as the mobilglu mob would attest.
Every time I raise this concept alongside the applications that Australian educators could utilise within teaching learning such as push-to-talk and mobcasting ( EAAC+) I'm poo-pooed and ridiculed.
Comments like ".......cant even get podcasting on the map here.." abound.
I've raised this opportunity to explore this concept again with one of the AFLF / EDNA's voice advocates Michael Coghlan and we will see how far it gets as a debatable topic. I'd be keen to find out where we are as a sector relating to the onset of DVBH which is closer than people realise and the whole idea of Anne Paterson's and I for the uptake and use of mobisodes ( www.mobstr.com ) with students whose primary entertainment console is their mobile phone. I built this frontend early last year .....I'd like to begin using it
There's a whole New Practice's application sitting there and we are ready for it as a sector ....just who will join us /me to explore such a concept and the educational benefits this concept could have for learners in Australia ?
Regards,
Alex Hayes
Every time I raise this concept alongside the applications that Australian educators could utilise within teaching learning such as push-to-talk and mobcasting ( EAAC+) I'm poo-pooed and ridiculed.
Comments like ".......cant even get podcasting on the map here.." abound.
I've raised this opportunity to explore this concept again with one of the AFLF / EDNA's voice advocates Michael Coghlan and we will see how far it gets as a debatable topic. I'd be keen to find out where we are as a sector relating to the onset of DVBH which is closer than people realise and the whole idea of Anne Paterson's and I for the uptake and use of mobisodes ( www.mobstr.com ) with students whose primary entertainment console is their mobile phone. I built this frontend early last year .....I'd like to begin using it
There's a whole New Practice's application sitting there and we are ready for it as a sector ....just who will join us /me to explore such a concept and the educational benefits this concept could have for learners in Australia ?
Regards,
Alex Hayes
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Kobot
Added http://www.kobot.org/default.html to my must read blogger blogs. Sheesh. Will probably keep me busy for a while.
Ecologising Mobile Media : Take Two
I'm composing this post in response to Howard Rheingolds article / paper called;
Ecologizing Mobile Media By Howard Rheingold, Thu Sep 09 11:45:00 EEST 2004
http://www.thefeaturearchives.com/101022.html
All my annotations are in italic for your reference purposes or denoted with an "A." and Howard's with the letter "H."
H. The mobile telephone has quickly, profoundly, and unexpectedly altered many aspects of human life -- social, economic, cultural and political.
A. So did the printing press, and the automobile and so on. It's obvious though, communication technologies have radically altered the e-cology landscape as we know it, both virtually and by physical presence. The mobile phone threatens to be dismissed as a " poor mans penchant " if stripped of it's creative and social, political and cultural potential.
H. Although social scientists have looked into several of these areas of change, little is understood about the whole system of changes: exactly what the late Neil Postman would call a problem of "media ecology." I propose that we -- you, the readers, and I -- apply Postman's "Ten Principles of Technology" (from The End of Education) as probes into this complex storm of forces most people in the world find ourselves experiencing in our daily lives.
A. I cant imagine probing into a complex storm of forces which affect so much of our world as being any more contentious than that of pervasive mobile communication technologies gaining presence all social sectors - all ages and all locations. I'll have to read the Postman article again to reposition myself on the problems of media ecologies.
H. Last November, we had a lot of fun, and perhaps sparked a few insights, applying McLuhan's "Laws of Media" as conceptual probes in "McLuhanizing Mobile Media." In a similar manner, I will lay out here the basic questions as Postman proposed and offer my own takes on answers. But the rest of the exercise depends on reader participation.
A. You've got it. I'm here responding to your prose. I'm responding with little or no reference to your preferred philosophies, a quick flick through the articles, my instinctual twitch-speed response and years of teaching experience.
H. I know that readers of my articles will know more than I do about most of what follows. And perhaps we'll discover that we know more together than any of us knows alone.
A. A great comment, humbling and why I continue to re-read your thoughts and views.
H. 1. All technological change is a Faustian bargain. For every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. I'll go for the low-hanging fruit on this one: a great advantage of the mobile telephone is that people are always in touch, always reachable; and a great disadvantage is that people are always in touch, always reachable. The same capability that grants freedom can also enslave; untethered from a desk doesn't mean untethered from the boss. I'm sure there are others, but this is the most obvious.
A. Faust may have been disadvantaged by not having instant worldwide mobile communication. No bargains were attained when i approach this article from that standpoint. The corresponding disadvantage of new technologies are generally the most popular end of topics relating to the technology itself. Humans are essentially self gratifying creatures who adopt something after many others have killed themselves on it. Howard, it's time that you reached for higher fruit. What about the complex and positive social interchanges that enable social change due to the proximity of a human to the 'centre' of the source for their knowledge ? The Blackberry was the mobile worlds way of saying, " Why not work twenty four hours a day and be responsive to your employer at any given instant in ever increasingly cryptic code ?"
H. 2. The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. This means that every new technology benefits some and harms others.With close to half a billion mobile phones sold just this year, I suspect the great divide is not going to remain the one between those who can afford access to phones and those who can't. Increasingly, the advantages are available differentially to those who know what those advantages are and how to make use of them -- the divide between the "know- how" and "don't-know-how" populations. It's a matter of literacy.
A. Technology has in the past been afforded to those who can afford it. Mobile communication technologies are part of a differing concept - spread it far and wide then charge what you like for it once it's imbedded nicely. I'm still seeking the ability to have everything at once but my pay packet says otherwise. Our TELCO's will be subject to massive litigation suits in the future and they know it, provided that they continue to offer "credit" whilst bleeding consumers dry. Servicing a nation is a political mandate - the control of communication destabilises communities and leads to poverty and disenchantment. Technology is part of a world control. Educators supposedly control literacy and yet billions of illiterate people exist because the manner in which knowledge is disseminated is preferential, targeted, devisive and streamed. 'Dont-know-how' populations are no more than 'know-how' populations afforded realities due to those who seek ways to divide and conquer. Mobile Communication technologies devolve this social divide yet create other economic divides the effects of which are yet to be fully articulated.
H. 3. Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives an accomplishments and to subordinate others.Texting favors terseness and is often about staying in touch more than transmitting meaningful content -- the meaning is in the continuous communication and coordination of activities, not the text of the messages themselves. If email reawakened writing, will texting put it back to sleep, or favor poetry over prose?
A. Education could be seen to be part of the human subordination cycle. Behaviourism and the control of social space began in earnest in the late 60's and continues unabated in many western oriented educational institutions. Texting has brought down governments, rendered sportspeople impotent, destroyed careers and caused worldwide RSI. texting has also informed the world of what is actually happening, created the worlds largest virtual socio-pedia, killed the need for email and created poets instead of mindless morons asleep on the cc' key.
H. 4. A new technology usually makes war against an old technology. It competes with it for time, attention, money, prestige and a "worldview". Again, I will take advantage of my position as first commenter by making the obvious observation that untethering communications from the desktop means spending more time on the move, in the park or at Starbucks, and less time at home or the office. Communication addiction no longer dictates agoraphobic behavior patterns.
A. New technologies, particularly mobile communication technologies bring the war to peoples hips and heads. The worldview in my opinion of technologies does not include an awareness that mobile phones are an actual technology...... with an prestige....based on the fact that 80% of the world owns some form of it. Communication addiction arises from an individuals inability to converse openly, fully and without fear nor favour without it. Agrophobia is not part of this equation although many sit quietly, alone pondering this affliction.
5. Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. A new technology does not merely add something; it changes everything.More people can organize collective action with people they weren't able to organize before, at times and in places they weren't able to organize before. The ways cities are used, political demonstrations are organized, entertainment is scheduled and daily life is coordinated are already changing.
A. Technological change can also be viewed as resultant of creative participation. The ecologising of mobile media is in fact viral.....it has changed everything yet we are still to recognise it. Like moths to a light globe, electronic media has a direct and profound effect upon those closest to it source of transmission / admission. The ecologising of mobile media is driven by target marketeers, analysing the effects furthest from the source of litigation. On a more extreme tangent, it's possible that our young people have been subjected to the worlds largest beta test of wearable human computing prior to it's onset as an imbedded and essential prosthetic. Did we lose our need to think when we enabled Google on the cell phone ?
6. Because of the symbolic forms in which information is encoded, different technologies have different intellectual and emotional biases.Mobile voice communication is "hotter" in the McLuhan sense, conveys nuance, and leaves less for the recipient to fill in. Texting is "cooler" and leaves more interpretation of nuance up to the receiver of the message.
A. The ciphers and signs of any technology flicker, differ, collide, intersect or dissapear much like dinosaurs or political dissidents whose questions filled in nuance where least needed. Texting is a language like any other and is probably the worlds most diverse and continuously evolving form of human interaction.
H. 7. Because of the accessibility and speed in which information is encoded, different technologies have different political biases.In Seattle, Manila, Seoul and Madrid, we've seen regimes toppled and Presidents elected because texting enables spontaneously self-organized demonstrations and get-out-the-vote. If broadcast media is biased toward centralized control, mobile media are biased toward decentralized out-of-control.
A. Flash mobbing occurs on all parts of the globe whether to organise a tea party or to topple a government. "Mobile mayhem" is the closest two word descriptor for the chaos of instant messaging that I've come across recently. The encoded and decentralised mesh networks enabled with mobile electronic devices are spelling radical change in the community amongst all others - I agree.
H. 8. Because of their physical form, different technologies have different sensory biases.This is an interesting one, and I'm a bit baffled. Mobile voice communication has a completely different sensory bias from SMS, and picturephoning adds yet another dimension. Readers?
A. Picturephoning or mobile blogging has rapidly spoken a billion words in a thousand pictures. An image of a riot are far more descriptive than a thousand text messages trying to describe the same event. Vlogging or video blogging has brought the whole dimension of accountability and surveillance even closer to the masses seeking to escape controls and regulations. The sensory bias of collective ever-presence is manifesting itself in the pysche of humanity increasingly taking form in explosive and psychopathic cultural collisions.
H. 9. Because of the conditions in which we attend them, different technologies have different social biases.Here is the source of the social collisions we see on trains when people loudly tell invisible others that they are on the train -- the mobile communication device enables every individual to escape to, dwell in, and impose their personal social space on whatever space they are in, private or public.
A. Ditto comment above. I've been writing this sequentially ( chronological order ) so it was interesting that your thoughts Howard intersected with mine.
10. Because of their technical and economic structure, different technologies have different content biases.I can see the audio capabilities of mobile devices improving dramatically, and high-resolution video is a matter of bandwidth, but no content beyond voice and music is going to be widely popular unless it works well with a tiny screen. Those are the ten principles and my brief responses. What are your takes on these?
A. I cant believe that this article is only a year or so off the press and Graham came up with " no content beyond voice and music is going to be widely popular unless it works well with a tiny screen." The biometric capabilities of a 4G phone have a far more profound reason to carry it closely from country to country - our passwords, wallets, banks and entertainment have all converged into "it". High resolution of course is driven by technology access but the micro-content of mobisodes and the uptake of mobile gaming are phenomenal. Mobile media is a rich and evolving e-learning taxonomy. The uses of mobile technologies of tommorow will be bigger than boing-boing is to bloggers today.
Phew ! I'd better re-view this in amonth or so cause' I'll probably have a differing take on this exercise again .
Ecologizing Mobile Media By Howard Rheingold, Thu Sep 09 11:45:00 EEST 2004
http://www.thefeaturearchives.com/101022.html
All my annotations are in italic for your reference purposes or denoted with an "A." and Howard's with the letter "H."
H. The mobile telephone has quickly, profoundly, and unexpectedly altered many aspects of human life -- social, economic, cultural and political.
A. So did the printing press, and the automobile and so on. It's obvious though, communication technologies have radically altered the e-cology landscape as we know it, both virtually and by physical presence. The mobile phone threatens to be dismissed as a " poor mans penchant " if stripped of it's creative and social, political and cultural potential.
H. Although social scientists have looked into several of these areas of change, little is understood about the whole system of changes: exactly what the late Neil Postman would call a problem of "media ecology." I propose that we -- you, the readers, and I -- apply Postman's "Ten Principles of Technology" (from The End of Education) as probes into this complex storm of forces most people in the world find ourselves experiencing in our daily lives.
A. I cant imagine probing into a complex storm of forces which affect so much of our world as being any more contentious than that of pervasive mobile communication technologies gaining presence all social sectors - all ages and all locations. I'll have to read the Postman article again to reposition myself on the problems of media ecologies.
H. Last November, we had a lot of fun, and perhaps sparked a few insights, applying McLuhan's "Laws of Media" as conceptual probes in "McLuhanizing Mobile Media." In a similar manner, I will lay out here the basic questions as Postman proposed and offer my own takes on answers. But the rest of the exercise depends on reader participation.
A. You've got it. I'm here responding to your prose. I'm responding with little or no reference to your preferred philosophies, a quick flick through the articles, my instinctual twitch-speed response and years of teaching experience.
H. I know that readers of my articles will know more than I do about most of what follows. And perhaps we'll discover that we know more together than any of us knows alone.
A. A great comment, humbling and why I continue to re-read your thoughts and views.
H. 1. All technological change is a Faustian bargain. For every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. I'll go for the low-hanging fruit on this one: a great advantage of the mobile telephone is that people are always in touch, always reachable; and a great disadvantage is that people are always in touch, always reachable. The same capability that grants freedom can also enslave; untethered from a desk doesn't mean untethered from the boss. I'm sure there are others, but this is the most obvious.
A. Faust may have been disadvantaged by not having instant worldwide mobile communication. No bargains were attained when i approach this article from that standpoint. The corresponding disadvantage of new technologies are generally the most popular end of topics relating to the technology itself. Humans are essentially self gratifying creatures who adopt something after many others have killed themselves on it. Howard, it's time that you reached for higher fruit. What about the complex and positive social interchanges that enable social change due to the proximity of a human to the 'centre' of the source for their knowledge ? The Blackberry was the mobile worlds way of saying, " Why not work twenty four hours a day and be responsive to your employer at any given instant in ever increasingly cryptic code ?"
H. 2. The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. This means that every new technology benefits some and harms others.With close to half a billion mobile phones sold just this year, I suspect the great divide is not going to remain the one between those who can afford access to phones and those who can't. Increasingly, the advantages are available differentially to those who know what those advantages are and how to make use of them -- the divide between the "know- how" and "don't-know-how" populations. It's a matter of literacy.
A. Technology has in the past been afforded to those who can afford it. Mobile communication technologies are part of a differing concept - spread it far and wide then charge what you like for it once it's imbedded nicely. I'm still seeking the ability to have everything at once but my pay packet says otherwise. Our TELCO's will be subject to massive litigation suits in the future and they know it, provided that they continue to offer "credit" whilst bleeding consumers dry. Servicing a nation is a political mandate - the control of communication destabilises communities and leads to poverty and disenchantment. Technology is part of a world control. Educators supposedly control literacy and yet billions of illiterate people exist because the manner in which knowledge is disseminated is preferential, targeted, devisive and streamed. 'Dont-know-how' populations are no more than 'know-how' populations afforded realities due to those who seek ways to divide and conquer. Mobile Communication technologies devolve this social divide yet create other economic divides the effects of which are yet to be fully articulated.
H. 3. Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas. Like language itself, a technology predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives an accomplishments and to subordinate others.Texting favors terseness and is often about staying in touch more than transmitting meaningful content -- the meaning is in the continuous communication and coordination of activities, not the text of the messages themselves. If email reawakened writing, will texting put it back to sleep, or favor poetry over prose?
A. Education could be seen to be part of the human subordination cycle. Behaviourism and the control of social space began in earnest in the late 60's and continues unabated in many western oriented educational institutions. Texting has brought down governments, rendered sportspeople impotent, destroyed careers and caused worldwide RSI. texting has also informed the world of what is actually happening, created the worlds largest virtual socio-pedia, killed the need for email and created poets instead of mindless morons asleep on the cc' key.
H. 4. A new technology usually makes war against an old technology. It competes with it for time, attention, money, prestige and a "worldview". Again, I will take advantage of my position as first commenter by making the obvious observation that untethering communications from the desktop means spending more time on the move, in the park or at Starbucks, and less time at home or the office. Communication addiction no longer dictates agoraphobic behavior patterns.
A. New technologies, particularly mobile communication technologies bring the war to peoples hips and heads. The worldview in my opinion of technologies does not include an awareness that mobile phones are an actual technology...... with an prestige....based on the fact that 80% of the world owns some form of it. Communication addiction arises from an individuals inability to converse openly, fully and without fear nor favour without it. Agrophobia is not part of this equation although many sit quietly, alone pondering this affliction.
5. Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. A new technology does not merely add something; it changes everything.More people can organize collective action with people they weren't able to organize before, at times and in places they weren't able to organize before. The ways cities are used, political demonstrations are organized, entertainment is scheduled and daily life is coordinated are already changing.
A. Technological change can also be viewed as resultant of creative participation. The ecologising of mobile media is in fact viral.....it has changed everything yet we are still to recognise it. Like moths to a light globe, electronic media has a direct and profound effect upon those closest to it source of transmission / admission. The ecologising of mobile media is driven by target marketeers, analysing the effects furthest from the source of litigation. On a more extreme tangent, it's possible that our young people have been subjected to the worlds largest beta test of wearable human computing prior to it's onset as an imbedded and essential prosthetic. Did we lose our need to think when we enabled Google on the cell phone ?
6. Because of the symbolic forms in which information is encoded, different technologies have different intellectual and emotional biases.Mobile voice communication is "hotter" in the McLuhan sense, conveys nuance, and leaves less for the recipient to fill in. Texting is "cooler" and leaves more interpretation of nuance up to the receiver of the message.
A. The ciphers and signs of any technology flicker, differ, collide, intersect or dissapear much like dinosaurs or political dissidents whose questions filled in nuance where least needed. Texting is a language like any other and is probably the worlds most diverse and continuously evolving form of human interaction.
H. 7. Because of the accessibility and speed in which information is encoded, different technologies have different political biases.In Seattle, Manila, Seoul and Madrid, we've seen regimes toppled and Presidents elected because texting enables spontaneously self-organized demonstrations and get-out-the-vote. If broadcast media is biased toward centralized control, mobile media are biased toward decentralized out-of-control.
A. Flash mobbing occurs on all parts of the globe whether to organise a tea party or to topple a government. "Mobile mayhem" is the closest two word descriptor for the chaos of instant messaging that I've come across recently. The encoded and decentralised mesh networks enabled with mobile electronic devices are spelling radical change in the community amongst all others - I agree.
H. 8. Because of their physical form, different technologies have different sensory biases.This is an interesting one, and I'm a bit baffled. Mobile voice communication has a completely different sensory bias from SMS, and picturephoning adds yet another dimension. Readers?
A. Picturephoning or mobile blogging has rapidly spoken a billion words in a thousand pictures. An image of a riot are far more descriptive than a thousand text messages trying to describe the same event. Vlogging or video blogging has brought the whole dimension of accountability and surveillance even closer to the masses seeking to escape controls and regulations. The sensory bias of collective ever-presence is manifesting itself in the pysche of humanity increasingly taking form in explosive and psychopathic cultural collisions.
H. 9. Because of the conditions in which we attend them, different technologies have different social biases.Here is the source of the social collisions we see on trains when people loudly tell invisible others that they are on the train -- the mobile communication device enables every individual to escape to, dwell in, and impose their personal social space on whatever space they are in, private or public.
A. Ditto comment above. I've been writing this sequentially ( chronological order ) so it was interesting that your thoughts Howard intersected with mine.
10. Because of their technical and economic structure, different technologies have different content biases.I can see the audio capabilities of mobile devices improving dramatically, and high-resolution video is a matter of bandwidth, but no content beyond voice and music is going to be widely popular unless it works well with a tiny screen. Those are the ten principles and my brief responses. What are your takes on these?
A. I cant believe that this article is only a year or so off the press and Graham came up with " no content beyond voice and music is going to be widely popular unless it works well with a tiny screen." The biometric capabilities of a 4G phone have a far more profound reason to carry it closely from country to country - our passwords, wallets, banks and entertainment have all converged into "it". High resolution of course is driven by technology access but the micro-content of mobisodes and the uptake of mobile gaming are phenomenal. Mobile media is a rich and evolving e-learning taxonomy. The uses of mobile technologies of tommorow will be bigger than boing-boing is to bloggers today.
Phew ! I'd better re-view this in amonth or so cause' I'll probably have a differing take on this exercise again .
Cossie's : Aussies's : Barbie's : Dazza
Today I passed a street sign ( graffiti ) that read " Wouldnt it be good to share the happiness ?"
Very apt I thought......and hence the premise of this blog post.
Driving back from the CoMC 2.0 'Working The Net ' Learnscope 2006 meet at the Sydney Institute of Technology I reflected on a comment that a colleague James Worner made in relation to the discussion raised in this meeting which went something like this ;
"...we find our selves not composing more questions nor answering any within the context of education with respect to all web 2.0 rather we attempt to find ways to frame these and action awareness...." .....or something to that accord.
I do believe we are at a cross-roads when we consider the effects of web 2.0 and the context of mlearning as it cross-polinates this immense and contemporary mash of applications and web based IP.
A number of scenarios emerged in the meeting and interesting concepts like ;
"....how would you feel if you turned up to an interview 5 years from now and one of your panel held up an excerpt from your blogging past and asked what your position was now if it differed markedly from that of your current address of the selection criteria ?"
An interesting scenario and I'm sure it's already occuring and most definetly with those seeking seniority within institutions or organisations that are struggling to contemplate changes in the way we work due to the advance of the social and participatory web.
I reflect on my conversations whilst I figured my position on the term 'mlearning' and then Sean Fitzgeralds revelations whilst I meandered through an egotistical attempt to build a network to continue the discussion. Thanks Sean....thank god someone made sense of my frustrations !
I sat for a long time today considering where it's got to with respect to the the 'net-on-legs' or the social mobile and participatory web-o-sphere and this is what I came up with - a snippet of what actually happened and a horribly reduced version of what great things occured in the last decade or so.
In 1992, I think it was, I heard of Howard Rheingold and a few years later met Stellarc and all the beginings of what would be a crazy arts /honours / doctorate foray.
The whole idea of including technology in arts performance got me thinking and led to a few amazing projects involving such.
Back in it all in 1996 I met Nigel Helyer and Victoria Vesna and it became apparent that a huge divide existed between the arts and the uptake of technologies as part of an educational social interaction so I set about reading stuff like the early dodgeball and cellular squirell , and sent sms's to the I Like Frank mob in Adelaide.
Much later on the idea of participatory performance resurfaced with metaphonica and other clandestine museum clad edifices in showcase sanitory cubified versions of social particpation challenging the realms of one of my favourites - relational aesthetics.
The whole idea of metiquette was definetly on my mind ( both then and recently ) and the whole idea of a mobile PLE was growing amidst a shitty loss of my entire online course content due to a 'technical hitch'. About 1996 I tossed in the idea that my hardware competed with anything that Yahoo, Google, Livingdot or others had to offer or indeed the organisation that I sought to study with. That began my thinking that the internet is actually the home of my own digital interactions , that galleries are home for my artworks that I'm selling, that my family home is not a workplace and that my participation in social occasions may sprinkle into my working performance but inextricably they are seperate domains.
Blogging is not anything i can pin my finger on.
I cant define what it is yet.
My co-ordination and that of others using mobile devices is already subject to a billion PHD's as are the onset of social bookmarking on the run and so I reckon mobile learning is another set of questions seeking a framework in the education sector. Moblogging or authoring the net on the run is not new, nor is it contestable as relevant in an education context.
Are we still trying to answer an educause or have we matured and realised we live in micro-mesh networks particularly of the mobile form?
Mobdeadly suggests it's out there, Anne Paterson suggest's its mainstream.
Leigh Blackall's got an excellent take on what it might take to get managers up to speed amongst a mire of questions / answers and countless positional meetings and still I keep refering back to Howard's manifesto and other bits that keep my dream alive of mobile technologies being unlocked from the sports cupboard for teaching and learning.
Taken that we have cool bloggers like Graham Wegner considering how this reaches into the early ed. sector we are getting getting someplace.
Ron's doing his thing and I'm chasing Bott's for some more posts . Great things are happening out there and I watch and participate where possible.
I'm also inspired by Joi Ito of course and Stephen Downe's keeps my head above water, but all up I'm holding fort on trying to get it into an innovation cycle at present here in Australia trying to realise more than mini mlearning micro-trials and grovelling with TELCO's for assets. Whats your take ? Where do you think we are at ?
Are we still only able to frame mlearning amongst Dazza giving the Saints hell at the Barbie whilst he's wearing his too tight cossies ? I realise I'm operating in an Australian context whilst interacting in an international forum ...........so thats one consolation.
I can sense mlearning has a long way to go before we take it LMS side. I definetly know being creative helps.
Keeps one sane spects'.
Reading this great blog at the moment .
Seems that others are keeping an eye on whats happening here also.
Monday, May 1, 2006
Moblogging - again !
Correct me if I'm wrong.........
What is moblog.co.uk?
The moblog.co.uk group is a server located somewhere in England I think, a bunch of young people who act as administrator, designers and coders and a bunch of code.
Why moblog.co.uk?
Three years of interaction with them (moblog.co.uk) has assured various Australian TAFE / VTE project managers that privacy details are kept secure, no spam has occurred and a strict observance of their own Terms and Conditions continues.
Who is a moblog.co.uk user?
Anyone who registers either for a free moblog, a subscriber moblog ( or a Xilo.com server space purchasee ( I think ?!) )
How does a user begin and continue a moblog?
By registering a free moblog space using an email address and username, the user continues to interact with ‘their” space by sending images of a strict size limit with text either by landline email, MMS or email GPRS from mobile devices. Users have differing privileges when they enter a subscriber status payment with moblog.co.uk.
How does a user delete / change / alter their moblog?
By logging into their respective moblog space using their username and their password. Many templates are available for use or subscribers can make changes to any part of their moblog using the CSS code box .
What is a moblog ?
A moblog is a mobile blog – a blog that can be built on the move using text and pictures which are stored and published in reverse chronological order. A moblog is a “mash” of a number of applications (code) that enables a user to deposit data, tag and comment on other moblogs whilst seeing their work in an international community context. It can be as simple as you want or can be an extensive and complex body of content which can be interacted with in an online context.
What’s the advantage of a moblog over that of a blog?
That depends on the users interpretation of what is advantageous and that which can wait. It’s up to the user and everyone has their own interpretation of what’s good and bad about being able to author their blog from a phone, PDA or their static computer.
Aren’t there other moblog carriers and why aren’t we using them?I’ve tested five different carriers (names unmentioned) and their sites were either unreliable, spam ridden, bot collectors and distributors of spam, unsuitable for my educational uses or personally not my thing – taste, aesthetic, whatever you want to call it.
Is moblog.co.uk part of DET? Where does my student’s content go?
Moblog.co.uk are not part of DET. Your student’s content or your content as a user goes into their server located in England. They are known as a web 2.0 provider to those who work within the confines of the DET LMS.
Does being a user cost me or my viewers anything?
Only when you send things via your mobile phone to your moblog does it cost you. The rate is dependent on your carrier.
Is it hard to make changes to my moblog? How?
Log in with your username and password. Click on edit profile. Make changes as you require.
Why moblog.co.uk ?
Because they are responsible with their users information.
Because they have a large and relatively responsible group of bloggers who are interested in seeing other parts of the world, peoples lives and
Because they have a moderation cycle and users who have the powers to veto any content at anytime.
Because they are reasonable with their “free’ service.
Because their range of templates and setup profiles are relatively easy to implement.
Because they are willing to deal with the education sector and adapt things to the sectors needs by negotiation.
Because they are still there when others have folded and collapsed.
Because their online web 2.0 presence is interoperable, extensible and meshes with many other applications ( if you want the advanced blurb then I can expand on this point but my constant deciphering of this online learning environment should lead others to that knowledge)
What are our options (educators)?
Free service – use moblog.co.uk as it is and rely on moblog.co.uk securing your content, ensuring your privacy as a user. Accept that any changes you require to the way the moblog operates will require paid subscriber status.
Subscriber status – your ability to make substantial changes to your moblog.co.uk blog are available with this option. You can register and pay via Paypal monthly or as a yearly rate.
What are my options if I don’t want to use moblog.co.uk ?
Go find your own – look for key terms such as ‘moblog’ or moblogging’ via Google or some other search engine.
Build you own – negotiate with your local IT guru and build a mobile blog which is “server-side” or in other words within the LMS context. There are hundreds of open-source softwares to do so with and a zillion paid proprietor softwares with licences attached to also enable students / users / whomever to author their content to their PLE using email or their mobile devices. This will ensure your content remains within the confines of your organisation and ultimately will only be accessed by those who have discrete logins / access in this environment
More…….
Moblogging is no longer a fad nor new nor an issue.
Moblogging needs extensive pedagogical research to sustain it’s presence in the teaching and learning context.
Moblogging is beyond blogging – mobile blogs have been around since phones could connect with the internet.
Moblogging is as good as it’s user – a picture speaks a thousand words.
Moblogging is just another small part of the e-learning world.
What is moblog.co.uk?
The moblog.co.uk group is a server located somewhere in England I think, a bunch of young people who act as administrator, designers and coders and a bunch of code.
Why moblog.co.uk?
Three years of interaction with them (moblog.co.uk) has assured various Australian TAFE / VTE project managers that privacy details are kept secure, no spam has occurred and a strict observance of their own Terms and Conditions continues.
Who is a moblog.co.uk user?
Anyone who registers either for a free moblog, a subscriber moblog ( or a Xilo.com server space purchasee ( I think ?!) )
How does a user begin and continue a moblog?
By registering a free moblog space using an email address and username, the user continues to interact with ‘their” space by sending images of a strict size limit with text either by landline email, MMS or email GPRS from mobile devices. Users have differing privileges when they enter a subscriber status payment with moblog.co.uk.
How does a user delete / change / alter their moblog?
By logging into their respective moblog space using their username and their password. Many templates are available for use or subscribers can make changes to any part of their moblog using the CSS code box .
What is a moblog ?
A moblog is a mobile blog – a blog that can be built on the move using text and pictures which are stored and published in reverse chronological order. A moblog is a “mash” of a number of applications (code) that enables a user to deposit data, tag and comment on other moblogs whilst seeing their work in an international community context. It can be as simple as you want or can be an extensive and complex body of content which can be interacted with in an online context.
What’s the advantage of a moblog over that of a blog?
That depends on the users interpretation of what is advantageous and that which can wait. It’s up to the user and everyone has their own interpretation of what’s good and bad about being able to author their blog from a phone, PDA or their static computer.
Aren’t there other moblog carriers and why aren’t we using them?I’ve tested five different carriers (names unmentioned) and their sites were either unreliable, spam ridden, bot collectors and distributors of spam, unsuitable for my educational uses or personally not my thing – taste, aesthetic, whatever you want to call it.
Is moblog.co.uk part of DET? Where does my student’s content go?
Moblog.co.uk are not part of DET. Your student’s content or your content as a user goes into their server located in England. They are known as a web 2.0 provider to those who work within the confines of the DET LMS.
Does being a user cost me or my viewers anything?
Only when you send things via your mobile phone to your moblog does it cost you. The rate is dependent on your carrier.
Is it hard to make changes to my moblog? How?
Log in with your username and password. Click on edit profile. Make changes as you require.
Why moblog.co.uk ?
Because they are responsible with their users information.
Because they have a large and relatively responsible group of bloggers who are interested in seeing other parts of the world, peoples lives and
Because they have a moderation cycle and users who have the powers to veto any content at anytime.
Because they are reasonable with their “free’ service.
Because their range of templates and setup profiles are relatively easy to implement.
Because they are willing to deal with the education sector and adapt things to the sectors needs by negotiation.
Because they are still there when others have folded and collapsed.
Because their online web 2.0 presence is interoperable, extensible and meshes with many other applications ( if you want the advanced blurb then I can expand on this point but my constant deciphering of this online learning environment should lead others to that knowledge)
What are our options (educators)?
Free service – use moblog.co.uk as it is and rely on moblog.co.uk securing your content, ensuring your privacy as a user. Accept that any changes you require to the way the moblog operates will require paid subscriber status.
Subscriber status – your ability to make substantial changes to your moblog.co.uk blog are available with this option. You can register and pay via Paypal monthly or as a yearly rate.
What are my options if I don’t want to use moblog.co.uk ?
Go find your own – look for key terms such as ‘moblog’ or moblogging’ via Google or some other search engine.
Build you own – negotiate with your local IT guru and build a mobile blog which is “server-side” or in other words within the LMS context. There are hundreds of open-source softwares to do so with and a zillion paid proprietor softwares with licences attached to also enable students / users / whomever to author their content to their PLE using email or their mobile devices. This will ensure your content remains within the confines of your organisation and ultimately will only be accessed by those who have discrete logins / access in this environment
More…….
Moblogging is no longer a fad nor new nor an issue.
Moblogging needs extensive pedagogical research to sustain it’s presence in the teaching and learning context.
Moblogging is beyond blogging – mobile blogs have been around since phones could connect with the internet.
Moblogging is as good as it’s user – a picture speaks a thousand words.
Moblogging is just another small part of the e-learning world.
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