Harold Jarche

Launch and Learn

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Jay Cross is currently focusing on the ROI of organisational learning initiatives and debunking some of the myths and metrics. His notes from the CLO Symposium include this:

Jayne Johnson, director of Leader Development for GE at Crotonville, delivered the final keynote presentation. Someone asked how she measured the on-going effectiveness of Crotonville; she doesn’t. As for cost-justification in advance, no, GE believes in “launch and learn.” Experiment a lot, and keep what works.

The notion of launch and learn reminds me of the cynefin approach to complex environments:

The cynefin framework looks at five domains (the 5th is Disorder) and it shows how our reliance on backward-looking tools, such as best practices, is not a suitable strategy for complex environments:

Complex, in which the relationship between cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect, but not in advance, the approach is to Probe – Sense – Respond and we can sense emergent practice.

Probe-Sense-Respond (P-S-R) is similar to GE’s Launch-Learn approach. When no one can understand the vagaries of your situation in a changing, complex environment then the only thing to do is try out new things based on your best judgement then watch, learn and keep trying new things out. Effective organisational practices will emerge by doing things.

This is the big challenge for Web 2.0 for learning professionals as well. There are no best practices or even good practices. There are things that work for some people, some of the time. As learning professionals, our job is to understand our organisation or client’s situation and look outside to see what others are doing. We have to try things out and see how they work. If we wait for the best practices, we will be too late. This is life in continual Beta (change) and the natural world provides some good examples.

Best open source social networking platform

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I’ve been a fan of Elgg, the open source social networking platform, since I first saw it. Not only do I like the technology but also its underlying framework of user-centricty (which also means learner-centric). I came across Elgg while working on a project to support several professional communities of practice working in a health care region. We had tried some wikis and CMS’s but when we found Elgg (version 0.2 I believe) we finally had something that met most of our needs.

Advance four years and here’s what R/WW has to say in an interview with Dave Tosh, one of Elgg’s founders:

To that end, Elgg can help form the basis of a new generation of social networks. But their platform goes beyond just delivering a solution for the next web 2.0 hangout or social site, although that it a popular use for their software. The Enterprise 2.0 movement is also aided by Elgg as companies wanting to build and customize their own intranet-based social networks have begun to adopt the platform as well.

Dave explains why someone should consider Elgg:

I think there are three main reasons: simplicity, extensibility and openness. The basic version of Elgg is deliberately very simple and clean. Our architecture allows you to easily extend Elgg’s functionality to meet your specific requirements. [and for geeks] Lastly, we fully embrace open standards such as OpenDD, FOAF, RSS, Open Social and OpenID, allowing you to interact with other applications.

I’m very happy to see Elgg mature and continue to remain open in order to provide us with tools that don’t lock us in. As good as a service like Ning may be, you’re locked into their platform.

Work Literacy and a Storm of New Information

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We announced the WL – Web 2.0 for learning professionals online course yesterday and now have over 100 people signed up after one day. This is a six week (or is that six step?) program, covering the basics of Web 2.0 tools and methods, with room for the more experienced to join in and add their expertise to the mix. I’m pretty excited to have all these interesting folks decide to join us. Perhaps it was the price tag? (FREE)

As I was preparing for this online stint, I looked for an image that might convey what we’re trying to achieve. I came across Dave Gray’s sketch, Rain on the landscape of the mind,  on Flickr and thought it was perfect for our endeavour [thanks to Dave for letting me share it]:

A storm of new information passes over the mind – a flurry of activity can bring chaos, excitement, energy, and create the conditions for new ideas – new life – to come into being.

I’m looking forward to Monday …

Free Work Literacy Online Workshop

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On Monday, September 29, Michele Martin, Tony Karrer and I will be hosting a free 6-week learning event on social media for learning professionals. This “course” (kind of like an unworkshop) is sponsored by Work Literacy and the eLearning Guild, in part as a run-up to  DevLearn 2008. All are welcome.

This is an asynchronous (no time-scheduled activities) program and each week we’ll identify activities for all levels of skills and interest.

Here’s the program:

Date Title
09/29/2008 Introduction to Social Networks
10/06/2008 Free your Favorites / Bookmarks
10/13/2008 Blogs
10/20/2008
Aggregators
10/27/2008 Wikis
11/03/2008 Implications / Summary

Please spread the word, especially to your less connected friends and colleagues. This may be the introduction they need.

We suggest that you sign up on the Ning network that we’ve set up. It has more information and will be updated as we go along. If you’re having some some difficulties, e-mail me and I’ll see what I can do to help.

We’re also looking for your thoughts on how to get the information out to people who are not online; any ideas?

Being Local

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I spent the weekend helping out with a few community events. We had our Fall Fair, with some great entertainers and also had a farm field day that saw over 5,000 visitors, followed by an environmental trade show on the street – Green4Generations. The latter included a free showing of Who Killed the Electric Car, with David Swan, one of the engineers on the original GM project. David brought along a Toyota RAV4 electric car:

On Sunday I remembered what Lester Brown had said the night before – that there will be a trend toward local energy and local food. We already have our own solar energy specialists in the area, at Ener-green Coop:

We are also supporting local farmers through the Sackville CSA:

Being local doesn’t mean being out of touch with the Web and the global community. You may have noticed that I’ve used WordPress to set up a few of our local websites, keeping costs to a minimum at only $15 per year for a domain name. Our local sustainability initiatives include communicating what we are doing to anyone who may be interested and learning from others. All of this was started by a local outdoor shop, Wanderlust Outfitters. The idea of Community Supported Agriculture is not ours, but we’ve adapted it for local conditions. As Lester Brown wrote in my copy of his book, “Let’s do it!”.

“Climate change is the result of a massive market failure” —LB

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If you want to address climate change, then the best thing you can do is get politically active, according to Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute, speaking here in Sackville on Saturday evening.

Some highlights of his presentation:

  • How many failing states do we need before we have a failing civilization?
  • It is possible to cut carbon emissions by over 80%; we just lack the political will (and Brown has the numbers to prove it).
  • We may be reaching a tipping point in our willingness to do something about climate change but the major obstacles are at the political level.
  • New thinking is happening today and even the oil companies are starting to focus on renewable energy.
  • The trend is toward localisation, for both energy and food. Our food choices will decrease and we’ll move back to seasonal products.
  • We are in a race between tipping points — natural and political. If we can tip the political will, then we can stop the natural tipping points, such as the meltdown of the Greenland ice cap, which will increase sea levels by 23 feet.
  • Based on the advice of prominent scientists and economists around the world, the best way to significantly reduce our carbon emissions are 1) reduce individual income taxes, while 2) increasing carbon taxes.

I picked up a copy of Lester Brown’s latest book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization and look forward to reading it.

Finally, some memorable advice:

Saving civilization is not a spectator sport.

Tools of the Trade

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I’ve been deep into making my technology work this week. One issue was web conferencing and we used Dimdim, which I’ve mentioned before. Dimdim is very simple to use, doesn’t require a plugin, is free for 20 users at a time and is open source. I really liked it but found the audio a bit weak and couldn’t get the video to work (probably a stupid-user issue). I also never figured out how to find a recording of the session (other than the chat text). That said, at least it worked with my Mac, as opposed to HP Virtual Rooms, which I could not even launch. And yes, I know that there are always many variables and perhaps the gerbils on my end were too slow. I also went back and checked out Vyew again, which has improved since I last used it and is still free. It’s a good option for web conferencing but the beta Voice/Webcam didn’t work with my Mac. I guess I’m now a member of visible minority on the Web.

For the online work I was doing this week, my MacBook has a definite advantage. I automatically get dual monitors when I plug in an external monitor. With several windows open – skype, web conferencing and reference documents, the LMS evaluations went quite smoothly; from my end anyway. If I only want to use the external monitor, I just close the lid on my MacBook and keep working. It doesn’t shut down as a Windows machine would.

I also re-learned several lessons about presentations, but that’s for another day.

Atlantic Social Media

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Third Tuesday NB had a great meetup last night in Moncton, with CommandN TV on-site. They are an excellent example of folks from Atlantic Canada who have worked hard to create their own niche in this market, with growing success. Even though Jeff is the only one on the team who currently resides here, I think that that we may be able to lure them, and many others, here with a simpler lifestyle, cheaper housing, bigger yards, and lots of clean water (more water than we wanted this year).

I engaged in several conversations with start-ups and even was able to connect a few folks. I’m more positive about this business/social/tech gathering, which is very much a grassroots efforts, than many others that have been attempted in our region in the past decade. We had several people drive up from Halifax, which added to the mix. The Meetups cross over industries and disciplines and the inclusion of marketing & communications specialists has given techies a bit more shine. The conversations are just more interesting.

moncton meetup

Speaking of social media, there is a good review of Seven Social Media Consultants on R/WW, even highlighting a Canadian! Check out links to their blogs and podcasts for some more interesting perspectives.

Who do you trust on the Web?

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BBC News reports on Tim Berners-Lee’s warning about trust on the Internet and the fact that unfounded rumours, such as those about the LHC, grow very quickly:

Sir Tim told BBC News that there needed to be new systems that would give websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable sources.

Sir Tim and his new foundation are looking at ways to rate trustworthiness on the Web with something like Google Page Rank. I’m not sure that an external evaluation tool is really necessary and in the meantime each of us can have our own system. I know that I do.

I have developed relationships with:

  • people whom I know personally and trust
  • people with whom I connect on the Web who are consistently trustworthy in what they publish online (at least they admit their mistakes)
  • sources of information that are consistent and I have learned to trust at some level

Quite often I will check on a piece of information before writing about it. Google Search shows me what is being served up on the subject and Technorati tells me who’s blogging about it. I can send out a quick question on Twitter and that network may have some more information.

If I want to check the trustworthiness of a piece of information, I have many options. I can even blog about it –  and we know that there is no greater urge known to humankind than to correct someone who is wrong on the Internet. I’m sure I’ll be told that I’m wrong and then I can make a note about this on my original post and voilà, the Internet is fixed once again ;-)

We have many of the tools that we need to check sources and make sure that we are not being duped. Perhaps we lack the techniques and the motivation to do so. I hope that the next generation finds it more natural to think critically than our television generation does.

Community Platforms

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Dion Hinchcliffe has a good overview of the leading technology platforms for communities of practice, ranking Joomla and Drupal at the top. I’ve used Mambo, from which Joomla developed (forked) and have used Drupal in several cases. I find Drupal to be exceptionally powerful but it requires a skilled team to implement it. If Joomla is like Mambo, it’s easier to get up and running but is not as flexible as Drupal. Anyway, it’s not really about the technology, but good tools can help the community grow and get its work done. Hinchcliffe also offers this example of the lifecycle of a CoP:

I’ve seen communities and members at these various stages and this is a good analogy. In my experience though, progression is not linear and people can depart from all levels. Here are some conclusions from a community of practice/interest I worked with five years ago:

  • A sense of community cannot be forced;
  • communities are self-defined;
  • communities are conversations; and
  • communities evolve over time.
  • Face-to-face contact can be the impetus for online conversations, while online contact can be the impetus for face-to-face meetings.
  • Communities of individuals have stronger bonds than communities of companies;
  • blogging helps to define dispersed communities; and
  • password-protected web sites do not encourage conversation.

Choosing a suitable platform can make your job easier but any technology will constrain the community in certain ways. It’s best to put off the technology selection to as late as possible, once you’ve got the pulse of the people, the work, the values and the vision.