JoelFoner.com

What is the Impact of Computers Making Discoveries?

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every Tuesday at 12pm noon U.S. Pacific / 3pm Eastern time

This Tuesday, June 8 at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

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This Week’s Topic

What is the Impact of Computers Making Discoveries?

Science fiction abounds with stories of machines that are more intelligent, faster and understand things that humans do not yet understand. What if computing technology gets to the point where computers can figure things out, in essence making new discoveries, that we do not yet understand? How will this change society, our place in the world, and our understanding of sentience?

Recent results created by a system nicknamed the “Eureka Machine,” and a few others seem to have potentially put us on the path to this future. This system, with no programming to understand physics per-se, was fed movement data from two connected pendulums, and in a day returned the classic Netwonian formula for the laws of motion as “the one thing in common from all the movements it observed.” The system is now being used to explore other areas of science, and has already generated results that, while mathematically correct, are not yet understood by the scientists involved.

Another system nicknamed Adam is credited with completing the entire discovery process, including creating hypotheses and exploring them, on it’s own, for the first time.

While these are only early successes, those involved believe that they represent only the beginning of what these sorts of systems will ultimately be able to do. Where does this path lead?

Join us Tuesday at 12PM noon U.S. Pacific / 3pm U.S. Eastern time for an interactive discussion, and thanks for being part of “We Are The Network”!

If you do not have a Second Life account and would like a quick start to attend the session, please contact me for more information.

Best regards,

Joel

Reading links below – have fun and see you soon!

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Does Global Social Communication Cause Bad Behavior or Reveal It?

Please join our global discussion group
every Tuesday at 12PM noon U.S. Pacific / SL time

This Tuesday, Mar 30, at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

Click here to teleport to the Epoch Institute in Second Life™
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This Week’s Topic

Does Global Social Communication Cause Bad Behavior or Reveal It?

This week’s news of serious threats against politicians, after passage of the U.S. health care bill, got me wondering “Are the Internet, the media and video games the causes of increased bad behavior, has bad behavior actually increased, or has global instant communication revealed the reality of the human condition more clearly, in a way we were not expecting?”

Many articles (and people) proclaim that the Internet, the media and video games are the primary causes of increased bad behavior. It is easy to rationalize increased bad behavior based on exposure to the environmental messages from the Internet, media and games, however might not be the case. However, it wouldn’t be the first time that a seemingly obvious conclusion does not explain the nature of human behavior.

What is bad behavior, in the context of global social communication? Is it taught and learned? Is it different, and if so, how is it different than bad behavior in face to face and non-online settings? Do parts of our social belief systems encourage or support the on-going existence of bad behavior “by design”? Is it important to us for bad behavior to be present (just throwing out a random hypothesis here…)? Is there value in bad behavior, or can we extract value from it? Has bad behavior increased, or are we just now able to see the scope of it more clearly? What are the causes, can we determine them, and what, if anything can be done about it?

This week we’ll discuss the nature of “bad behavior” in this context, both to better understand what it is, explore the causes, and see what may lie ahead of us as global social communication continues to develop.

Join us Tuesday at 12PM noon SL for an interactive discussion, and thanks for being part of “We Are The Network”!

Best regards,

Joel

Reading links below – have fun and Read more…

Is it Time for a Disruptive Solution for Modern Education?

Please join our global discussion group
every Tuesday at 12PM noon U.S. Pacific / SL time

This Tuesday, Mar 16, at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

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http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wells/97/56/27

This Week’s Topic: Is it Time for a Disruptive Solution for Modern Education?

A Caveat

You may be used to quick discussion starter posts for We Are The Network sessions. This is not one of those posts! I sat down to write this, realized that many threads wind together to create context for this discussion, then figured I should try to get them into written form. I hope this is interesting. Research for this session also turned up a number of interesting web references. Please feel free to add comments with relevant references. Thanks in advance for reading, and for being part of We Are The Network – here we go…

A Personal Experience with some nice results

This weekend I presented three different topics at the Virtual World Best Practices in Education 2010 conference:  ”Creating and Adapting Educational Curriculum for Virtual World Delivery,” “Delivery Skills for Connecting with Today’s Digitally Immersed Students in Face to Face, Social Media and Virtual World Settings” and “Adapting Agile Scrum Project Management for Face to Face, Social Media and Virtual World Education Projects.”

The conference included 176 presenter sessions in 48 hours, over 1000 pre-registered attendees (I’m still waiting to find out the total number of participants), and an enthusiastic, global audience. I presented some challenging material, and received comments from participants that the sessions interesting and highly engaging. A few said they were trying to multi-task but kept being drawn back – which was really a nice response!

…And Then the Big Surprise

There was, however, a big surprise. In the view of some participants, the learning received was better than had it been delivered in person! Although some of this result is based on the platform, my belief is that a large part of these successes were based on the use of a non-traditional instructional approach. I’m pretty certain that the same results could be generated in a pure face to face setting as well, and now know that virtual delivery works just as effectively with these techniques. As a result of these sessions I’ve been approached to deliver virtual sessions (some live video with bi-directional remote, to an international conference, and some in virtual world settings) at other conferences.

Are we on The Brink?

After years of work in face to face, online, mixed reality, social media and virtual world settings, this experience really got me to thinking. If these techniques and platforms have gotten to the point that some think they’re equal to or better than an in-person experience, are we on the brink of the disruption of another industry—one whose basis has been beyond question for years?

Research for this week’s session turned up many interesting findings, including Read more…

An Exploration of Game-Based Education

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every Tuesday at 12PM noon SL (US Pacific Time)

This Tuesday, Mar 2, at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

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This Week’s Topic

An Exploration of Game-Based Education

The incorporation of game-like elements have started to become more common in educational settings, as well as in business. The typical reason for these additions have been to increase “engagement” and interest. In some cases there are clearly documented improvements in objective results.

In this session we will explore common game-based approaches, find out how game-based curricula and approaches can enhance education, and discover situations where game-based learning may be ineffective or even counter-productive.

… I wonder if I put up a leaderboard and keep track of points for number of comments in the discussion whether it will further enhance the depth and quality of the discussion? (kidding… sort of?)

Join us Tuesday at 12PM noon SL, and thanks for being part of “We Are The Network”!

Best regards,

Joel

Reading links below – have fun and Read more…

“Part 2—Working Measures Of Virtual World Engagement and ROI”

Please join us for a discussion every Tuesday at 12PM noon SL (US Pacific Time)

This Tuesday, Dec 29th, we will be at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

Click here to teleport to the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

This Week’s Topic

Part 2—Working Measures Of Virtual World Engagement and ROI (Return On Investment)

In our last session, we attempted to arrive at key measures to determine “The ROI” and “Virtual World Engagement” for virtual world and social media projects. I say “attempted” because we ended up with a variety of different positions and views on what constitutes the value center for engagement and ROI. Ultimately we decided that there is no single measure of value or ROI (other than dollars at the end game for business projects which could be measured in multiple ways, and measurable improvement of some sort for educational and social action projects.)

At the close of the discussion there was strong consensus that we needed another session on this topic. Actually it was closer to “we are going to continue this,” and so we will!

We decided that the path to metrics is to build a catalog of prototypical goals for various project scenarios in business, education and social action, with the premise that this will lead to some specific measures.

Please bring Read more…

The New Mainstream 3D Virtual World Project

Today’s mainstream users of 3D virtual worlds have expectations and needs that do not match those of pioneering explorers of these platforms. New projects are measured in different ways, and expecting a mainstream project to be successful using an explorer’s strategy is like expecting that you can win a road race riding a tricycle.

Early 3D virtual world experiments were driven by explorers trying to push the boundaries of possibility. These projects tested the feasibility of ways that a 3D virtual world could be used, and focused on trial scenarios to prove or disprove a particular usage theory. Success was often measured on technical terms, with users whose involvement was project focused and short term.

Mainstream projects take feasibility as a given, and create an environment to support day to day use by the regular members of an organization — as an educational platform, a place to enable distributed teamwork for global companies and academic institutions, as a virtual classroom environment, or a “better conference call”.

Mainstream projects have user-driven success metrics. Merely passing the “it works” test does not mean automatic project success. Successful mainstream projects result in “normal users” who are happy with the environment, find it to be compelling, continue to use it willingly and recommend its use to others. They judge the environment on how it improves their day to day experience while doing their real work, not based on whether it is a cool technology or has promising possibilities. They also have limited motivation to learn a new environment as an exploratory exercise, and must find value in the experience quickly in order to justify additional effort.

Mainstream 3D Virtual World Project Success Factors

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Tonight I went to an event called “Pokin’ Holes”, “a podcast/live stream show for young people starting companies to get feedback from the most talented young professionals students and entrepreneurs in Boston.” (from the Pokin’ Holes web site).

This was an inspiring event from many perspectives, and I’d like to give a big callout to Cort Johnson and Jake Cacciapaglia for a great concept executed flawlessly.

Pokin’ Holes provides a forum for young entrepreneurs (under 30 years old) to present startup companies and get feedback from a panel of three guests (also under 30 year old entrepreneurs and professionals), as well as from the attendees in the audience, who were tonight in large part Bentley business students, on their business strategy and advice on next steps.

The session tonight was at Bentley University, and was the first time it had been held in a college setting (the start of a college tour). Cort and Jake’s goals for the event are to do everything possible to have people build real action-based relationships through these sessions, to both connect the entrepreneur presenting with people who can actively help achieve the next steps and to build a thriving community of young innovators. It sounds like the typical home for Pokin’ Holes has been a bar with a less formal atmosphere, but I’d have to say this more formal setting fit just as well.

The evening was set up with a while of general networking and open discussion before the show started. The show opens with an interview of the principal of a company in “the hot seat”, to understand the company’s goals and strategy, and present the company’s plan and current status. Tonight the Andy Watson of Greenergy Living had the hot seat.

The show then moves on to a panel discussion with three panelists, whose job it is to get going “pokin’ holes” in the company’s plans and execution. At the conclusion of the panel discussion, the audience is pulled in to have group commentary and discussion.

Tonight had strong attendance and lively discussion all around. I think it’s fair to say that everyone in the room learned some things, had a good time and gave some solid constructive feedback in a positive way.

Thanks to all the folks I met tonight and great work – hope to see you again soon!

We Are The Network: “Excuse me, but did you really say that?!”

Please join us for a discussion every Tuesday at 12PM noon SL (US Pacific Time)

This Tuesday, November 3rd, we will be at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™
Click here to teleport to the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

This Week’s Topic

Have you been here?  You write an email or IM, send it out thinking that it was clear and neutral.  You move on to something else.  Then all of a sudden you get a stormy response from someone who saw something very different in the words you crafted than what you meant.  We all know that it is pretty easy for this to happen in all sorts of discussions, and more so in text conversations than some others.

This week we’ll revisit a spin of an old game… the telephone game… updated as a micro-game for modern times.

“Excuse me, but did you really say that?” is a way for us to explore in role play style various ways that written and spoken communications can be interpreted and misinterpreted, while hopefully having some fun and learning some useful techniques.

Each participant will either chat in text or say in voice one sentence. We’ll all create as many possible realistic interpretations as we can create.  Then we’ll figure out how the original might have been handled differently to increase clarity and reduce the chances of misinterpretation.

Feel free to bring in real examples or make up samples.  Either way I suspect we’ll turn over some interesting things in the process.

See you on Tuesday at 12PM noon SL, and thanks for being part of “We Are The Network”.

Best regards,

Joel

How Can I Get Event Announcements (choose one or more)?

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Please join us for a discussion every Tuesday at 12PM noon SL (US Pacific Time)

This Tuesday,  Sept 15, we will be at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™
Click here to teleport to the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

This Week’s Topic

What are the most effective virtual space designs for business and educational uses? In virtual spaces anything can be built, and structures do not have to obey the laws of physics.  For some reason, virtual world newcomers almost universally assume that the “right” answer is to model traditional physical spaces  such as offices, classrooms, conference rooms, auditorium spaces, with real life proportions and the standard accessories found in our daily lives.

Experience has shown that copying physical space design is often an ineffective solution, when compared to a design that takes full advantage of virtual world possibilities. What are best of breed answers for these challenges?  As an emerging body of understanding, we may be in the best position to start to articulate real answers to the question “How should I design a space for business or education use?”, so let’s give it a try!

In this session we will discuss best practices for space design for business and education uses, including private discussions, small meetings, large meetings, presentations and lectures, and interactive education. I won’t be surprised if this topic becomes another of our “oops, we’d better split this into a few sessions” discussions, as there is a lot of ground to cover.

Please add comments to this blog post with names of Second Life locations, or even better SLURLs that you know of as example solutions for business and education space designs, so that we can discuss them and maybe do a field trip during the session.

Join us Tuesday at 12PM noon SL, and thanks for being part of “We Are The Network”!

Best regards,

Joel

Reading links below – have fun and see you soon!

Read more…

Please join us for a discussion every Tuesday at 12PM noon SL (US Pacific Time)

This Tuesday, Sept 1, 2009, we will be at the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

Click here to teleport to the Epoch Institute in Second Life™

This Week’s Topic

Society is undergoing large-scale transformations, changes that we probably only partly understand at this early stage. Our “totally connected” world is starting to demand new skills. What are the key skills needed to thrive in the 21st century, and how will we learn them?

The rate of change and volume of information available, fueled by access to global realtime information and the evolution of social networks, have created a torrent of distractions along with new possibilities. How will we decide “how much is enough?”, “what should I learn now?” and “what will learning, school and work look like in five, ten or twenty years?”.  How will changes to the nature of work and society alter our careers and thus priorities for learning and skills?

Join us Tuesday at 12PM noon SL for a great discussion!

Best regards,

Joel

Reading links below – have fun and see you soon!

Read more…