Tag: information

Categories
Digital

David Weinberger: Too Big to Know

Here’s a book I’m keen to read, that has recently been reviewed in Times Higher Education:

The worry that we are being overwhelmed by information is not new. Five hundred years ago, the spread of printing presses led some thinkers to bemoan the mass reproduction of books and the negative impact it was having on learning. The rapid adoption of personal computers and the embedding of the internet in our work and personal lives have given a new generation of naysayers even more to complain about. The technology consulting firm IDC claims that in 2011 1.8 zettabytes (1.8 trillion gigabytes) of information were created and replicated globally – the equivalent of a pile of DVDs stretching to the Moon and back, and growing at such a rate that by 2020 it will be halfway to Mars.

Of course, a lot of these data are the digital exhaust we leave behind as we snap photos and post updates to Facebook and Twitter, and the 200 billion spam emails sent every day. However, there is also gold to be found among the detritus, and, as David Weinberger shows, the digitisation of information is transforming how we work and learn, with profound effects on global economic and social development. The central hypothesis of his wide-ranging but highly readable book is that knowledge is created differently in the emerging digital age than has been the case in the rapidly receding age of paper.

Read the full review.

Categories
Academic Digital

"Information is available to buy…" #lwf

There’s been an on-going industrial-institutional complex at play here for at least the past 30 years that has ensured the continued irrelevance of technology to learning in the formal setting which has been a gift to those in government who would like to opt our learners out of the 21st century and return to back to basic teaching practice. This would be fine of course if our learners where joining a back to basics, 1950’s world after they leave their formal education.

You know what I’m talking about here, technology designed to replicate and support existing teaching practices and formal learning environments which quite frankly haven’t changed a great deal since the mid-20th century. As I’ve oft said the problem with this approach is that we get the same, often mediocre, results only quicker.


This is a fascinating video…

When I retired the Handheld Learning Conference after 5 years at the height of its growth and success (2,000 international delegates) it was because I believed that the argument had been won. I just couldn’t see the point of more navel-gazing about devices. There could no longer be a question about the value of the connected learner who had near permanent access to learning via their mobile device.

Or could there?

Naively I didn’t count on the legion of practitioners or IT job-worths who were still thinking in the context of the mobile or tablet device as a laptop replacement and set about retro-fitting these modern marvels with the same garbage that didn’t work very well even on laptops. They must have missed the memo about the shift in computing that has left the desktop PC all but dead and the laptop on death-row.

So my question is what will happen when every learner has their own iPad like device, permanently connected to the internet without filtering and other controls?

What disruption might this enable?

So the analogy or even challenge that I make is what would the Napster of learning look like?

Read the full article.

Categories
Digital

Winchester e-network

To go, or not to go?
I’ve signed up to go to a talk tonight at Winchester School of Art (room unspecified!). I’m not sure that this is as valuable as checking through my interview preparation for tomorrow, 2 hours to decide…!

Web Analytics: An Entrepreneur’s Tale. Professor David Jackson.
David Jackson is the Chief Executive of Site Intelligence Ltd www.site-intelligence.co.uk . Site Intelligence are a leading developer and supplier of Business Intelligence software systems to international blue chip organisations including Dyson, Open University, SAP, B&Q, Tesco, Boots, and Cancer Research UK. David has a proven track record of business development and international management, having played a leading role in taking Oxford Molecular Group plc from start up to a major international company. He has operated at Board level as Chairman, Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer and Business Development director in a number of private and public companies.

With a PhD in Natural Product Chemistry, he built an internationally recognized research group at the University of Nottingham specialising in the application of advanced biophysical and computational methods to the issue of rational drug design based on natural product templates. The group raised over £3M in funding in 1990/91 and was regarded as one of the leading European groups of its kind and played a significant role in the department’s 5* research rating. He has over 200 publications in recognized journals and currently holds an honorary professorship at the University of Nottingham.

Given the massive global shifts in advertising spend towards the internet and the power of web analytics to measure and model the impact of web communications, David’s presentation has much to offer entrepreneurs in start-up businesses through to multinational organisations. For the School of Art, David’s work and thinking have major implications for the worlds of Web and Advertising Design. In 2007 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton, Winchester School of Art.

Site Intelligence Ltd
Site Intelligence is a market leader in web analytics, providing a range of enterprise level products and services that deliver a measurable and quantifiable return on investment for online marketing and e-business initiatives. The highly adaptable core application, VBIS (Visitor Behaviour Information System) is available with standard tools or can be tailored to fit precisely to customers needs, and transforms online business data into accurate, adaptable and actionable information – enabling customers to gain the insights they need quickly and cost-effectively.
Site Intelligence products and services are used by organisations across a wide range of industry sectors and span all types of website, including transactional e-commerce sites, brand communication channels and portals, online publishing, extranets and intranets.

Comment from Paul Wright, Website Manager, Dyson plc
“We changed our existing web analytics provider to Site Intelligence, having looked at four of the leading vendors in the UK. Perhaps the most powerful element which convinced us about Site Intelligence was the VBIS SiteViewer which is very easy to use through its intuitive design and clearly identified core ‘hotspots’ on our website.”

www.e-network.org.uk/

Categories
Life(style)

Where has the week gone?

The week has disappeared in starting on the journey to becoming a life coach, job searches/applications, interviews with temping agencies, many hours of freelance work using Joomla, and generally re-aquainting myself with Winchester, and some of the people in it! It’s been great being back on Campus at the University of Winchester where I still know so many people… it’s a lovely, friendly, community-based University… of course it’s not perfect, but I like it!

Discovery Centre
I was very impressed to get a chance for a real look at the Discovery Centre (formerly ‘The Library). Spectacular looking building, friendly staff (although I’m not too sure about the ‘sweatshirt’ look), and up-to-date books which I want to borrow (alongside a cafe, a shop, internet access, an art gallery, and I don’t know what else yet). It was easy to sign up, and I have already made use of a number of the facilities, and I’ve only really been inside for about half-an-hour.