Exploring Wikipedia - Some Big Questions Left Unanswered

The more I read about Wikipedia, the more impressed I am, if not by the ease of use, but by the shear number of people who contribute and how well it is organized. There are project teams in many corporations that only wish they could operate and cooperate as well as this almost totally volunteer project does.

I get that people just start writing about things and others contribute. I understand that people with strong interests or good credentials use RSS to signal new content they can then review, edit and add to. I'm not sure how all the links get made, but I assume it's by those wonderful volunteers. I'm amazed at how well all these contributors follow the unpublished rules about how to organize and present information. And I'm impressed that there are only 5 people that earn money working for Wikipedia - you'd think there were many more!

My biggest realization: These people are passionate about their topics. Passion is a key ingredient for peer production. They have to love contributing to for the simple joy of doing so. Having grown up with a generation that was focused on "me", it's amazing how people will contribute their time, almost anonymously, to make things like Wikipedia and Linux possible.

But my two biggest questions remain unanswered:

• How did they get started? I can't find a lot of information about this, but I'm very curious to know how they got their initial contributions. How did they let people know they existed and what they were trying to do? How did they generate that passion?!!??


• How do they monitor it? In several places I've read about how they freeze or remove entries that are inaccurate or inappropriate or fail to meet their standards. But HOW do they do that? It seems to me that it would be an overwhelming task for 5 staff people. I'm sure they get alerts for new or changed content, but still ... there are a LOT of changes everyday and I don't see how they could possibly keep up with it.

A co-worker says I may never find the answers to my questions because the unwritten code on the Internet is that you don't write about yourself. You don't "brag." You let others write what they think is important about you.

So ... I may never know! But I'm still impressed.

Multi-Tasking with Podcasts

I love the news. But I'm not always in front of my TV at 5:00 and 10:00. And I'm not always listening to the radio "on the 8s" to hear the news. Broadcast news just isn't always convenient.

A podcast is different. You can download it now, and listen to it later. When it's convenient. Even when you're doing something else.

Tonight I didn't get a chance to listen to my news podcast or walk the dog until 9:30. But I accomplished both by 10:00.

I'm really liking these podcasts.

Exploring Bulletin Boards - Better Collaboration than Blogs

Before I started this class, I thought a blog would be a great addition to some training -- a way to sustain discussions after the class had ended, a way to keep in touch and keep the message alive. Once I got into blogging, I discovered it wasn't the pandora's box I had hoped for. Blogging was more of a guided discussion -- the leader has to continually post new things and followers can't bring up new topics, at least not very easily.

I wanted a blog where anyone could post ideas or questions and everyone could respond to anyone's ideas. That doesn't seem possible, at least not with the free blogging software.

Then a co-worker introduced me to bulletin boards. That's what I was looking for.

The person who establishes a bulletin board can set up topics as an initial structure - much like a wiki. But once the board is up and running, the members can add topics and create postings just like the owner. The board grows and evolves based on the members knowledge and interests. A couple of boards we looked at had "General" or "Misc" pages where people could bring up topics not even related to the purpose of the board. We were looking at a Science Fiction board and there were "General" posting about Hurricane Ike, the World Series and the Presidential election. People on these boards go there because of a common interest, and once they bond with other members, their friendships expand to areas beyond that one common interest. Nice!

If you want to see what a bulletin board is like, check out the Armour Archive and StarDestroyer boards. These were obviously started for people with a specific area of interest, but just look at all the things they share and talk about. They even teach each other how to make armour -- yes, the kind they wore in King Arthur's time!

I could see this being very valuable as follow-up to some training classes. I'm currently working on a cultural change initiative. Obviously, this is not a one-and-done thing. We are very dependent on leaders keeping that message alive. We're asking them to do things that they aren't used to, so they're not sure how to do it. No matter how hard we try to anticipate what leaders will need so we can cover it up front, the reality is that once this gets rolling, leaders will come up with questions we never dreamed of. They will also see successes that are worth sharing. They will have ideas that we didn't. A bulletin board would be a great collaborative forum to sharing all of this and creating a supportive community of leaders.

Too bad our IT "security" isn't buying the whole bulletin board concept yet.

Guess we'll just keep trying.

Exploring the Net Generation - Everyone is Still an Individual

A comment to one of my previous postings about the Net Generation was a good reminder ... while generations as a whole may take on various characteristics, not everyone in the generation takes on every characteristic that is ascribed to that generation.

Some research I found interesting labeled Net Geners as consumers who (because they are typically still young) are good at spending their parent's money. The comment pointed out that this particular Net Gener had worked 4 jobs so he did not have to ask his parents for money to go to college. I'm sure there are many like him. But there are obviously many who are not like him as well.

My daughter is a Net Gener in many ways, but she's never used or read a blog and didn't know what a wiki was. I'm sure there are many like her ... and many for whom blogs and wikis are part of everyday life.

I work with a Gen X'er who is into blogs, wikis, bulletin boards, online gaming -- you name it. He's on FaceBook and has everything imaginable on his cell phone. He's an X'er, but he acts more like the Net Generation.

I'm one of those lucky people born between generations. I'm not a Boomer, but I'm not truly an X'er either. When I look at descriptions of these two generations, I see myself in both and I can remove myself from both.

We need to remember that when we describe groups (generations), we are generalizing. It's natural to do so, but when we meet a member of that group, we shouldn't assume all the things we've heard are true about him/her. Individuals will always be unique.

Good Thoughts on ROI

We've been striving to put more measurement around our training -- to demonstrate our impact and ultimately our worth. It's a difficult challenge, but one worth pursuing. I enjoyed this blog, which put a practical slant on this whole issue.

Exploring the Net Generation - Education Makes a Difference

Ran across some interesting stats on the Net Generation. A study by the U.S. Department of Commerce looked at computer use by kids ages 5 to 24. When they broke it out into smaller age categories, their results did not vary significantly from group to group -- 20-25 % only used a computer at school, 50-60% used a computer at both home and school, 8-10% only used a computer at home, and less than 15% never used a computer. But when they compared 18-24 year-olds who were in school against those who were not in school, the results were surprising to me: only 4.4% of those who were in school never used a computer but 45.4% of those who were not in school never used a computer.

Internet use varied quite a bit between the age groups. Not unexpectedly, 61.1% of 5-9 year-olds did not use the Internet. That percent declined with each older age group, but still 15% of 18-24 year-olds did not use the Internet. What about those who were not in school? 48.5 % did not use it.

Amazing how a generation who grew up on technology stops using it when they are no longer in school. I wonder why?

Exploring Wikipedia - Pleasantly Surprised

So ... I finally made time to visit Wikipedia. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. I compared it to the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica and there really wasn't any comparison.

Wikipedia was easier to search and had far more links to additional information. And getting back to the original information once you used these links was easy. I entered a number of searches and always came up with something useful and the headings made it easy to skim and find information.

The thing I really didn't like about Britannica was the ads. They were distracting and irrelevant. Getting logged in was a hassle. It was slower, had fewer links to additional information and very few headings. To be honest, it was harder to find what you were looking for in this traditional power-house of encyclopedias.

So now my curiosity is peaked and I'm hoping to find out more ...
How did Wikipedia start?
How did they get people to contribute in the first place? And how do they get people to continue to contribute?
Do they have any idea how much it changes each day?
How do they check for accuracy? (They must if they can compare their accuracy to that of Britannica)
Did they set up empty pages with topics in the beginning or what? I can't imagine how it came to have so many topics in it!
Who figures out all those links?!?!!!

I have always dismissed Wikipedia because people questioned it's accuracy. Now I'm kind of amazed by the whole thing.

Exploring the Net Generation - Maybe it's the NOW Generation

Net Generation, Digital Generation, Generation Z, even the Silent Generation -- they are all names for a very young and saavy group of kids. Yes, kids. According to Wikipedia, the oldest members of this generation are teenagers and it's youngest are yet to be born. Personally, I liked the name Generation C, with "c" standing for many things: click, content, connected, computer, community, creative and celebrity. The interesting "c" that wasn't mentioned ... collaboration.

My favorite Wikipedia entry was that members of this generation "are active consumers, with a high degree of influence over their parent's purchasing decisions." Oh, how true. I have two members of this generation in my household. They are very good at spending my money and I have to admit, I am very good at making sure I consider their needs before my own. I'm not sure what technology has to do with that spending issue, but it is an interesting characteristic.

The other characteristic I found interesting was that a number of kids in this generation have sleep issues from being awakened at night by text messages. In fact, universities are looking at issues this generation faces due to "mobile phone addiction." I had never thought of it as an addiction, but it is true that the teenagers I know are very dependent on their phones, primarily as a social connection. And yes, I can believe that some participate in text message exchanges at very late hours, even on a school night. I haven't asked, but I bet my own kids would have to admit to that!

This is a generation of immediacy. What they want, they get, and they get it NOW.

It's OK to say, "I don't know."

ASTD has a blog called Learning Circuits. Apparently each month they post a "Big Question". It might be a blog to look at periodically to see what topic they are exploring.

What I found intriguing in terms of blog design, was that this owner encouraged people to post answers on their own blogs, then link to those. What a great way to expand the number of blogs we are aware of in a given field! Since the question is a learning and development question, it is very likely that the blogs you will be linked to are related to that, too.

This month's question asked for advice for people who are new to e-learning. I like the idea of one person who answered with a posting in his blog. His first suggestion was to create a "To Learn List", then prioritize it and knock it off one by one. This is not unlike the challenge Robin gave us in class - to identify 3 things we want to explore in more depth and go learn more about them.

Too often as we get older, we think we are supposed to have all the answers. We don't want to admit what we don't know for fear of looking "stupid." But hiding our ignorance has just one problem: it really does make us stupid!

I listened into a panel discussion with a group of high school students talking about how they used technology. The thing that struck me about these kids was how willing they are to ask questions and share information. Information is not power to them ... it's something to be shared. Ask them how they learned about facebook, graphing calculators, wikipedia, cell phones, texting, the Internet ... almost anything, and they will tell you they asked a friend or a friend told them about it.

What a refreshing approach. If you're curious, just ask. If you found something interesting, tell others.

Hmmm. That's what a lot of blogs are all about.

This just proves I'm an immigrant!

One of the e-learning blogs I have found is taking an interesting survey about "technology" of the past. If you're as old as I am and did any kind of research as part of your bachelors or masters degree, you'll do well! Go to his blog and take the survey yourself!

Exploring the Net Generation - I'm an immigrant!

I 've always thought of myself as a native. Afterall, I was born and raised here. But this week, I found out I'm an immigrant. To younger people, I'm the one with an "accent" that I may never get rid of. I am ... a digital immigrant.

Part of our homework was to explore three areas of interest to us. One of mine is the Net Generation - the younger generation that grew up in a digital, networked world. As part of that exploration, I read an article by Marc Prensky called "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants."

I enjoyed his labels of "natives" and "immigrants" and found that a lot of his analogies rang very true. Kids today are natives -- they have always known and used digital technology. They speak the language and don't even think about "how" to use technology ... they just do. People like me are immigrants. We may be facinated by technology. We may learn to use it. But for most of us, it will always seem a little foreign and to the younger generation, I will always have an "accent." This accent includes things like printing my email, editing a document on paper rather than on screen, bringing someone to my office to show her a good web site instead of sending the URL, or calling someone to make sure he got my email. To natives, these accents are hard to understand and when I think about it, I have to laugh. My accent really doesn't make a lot of sense and I can understand why my kids just shake their heads.

Digital natives have never seen or used carbon paper, so they don't really understand why we "cc" someone. They don't know what it means to "dial" a number -- they've never seen a rotary phone.They can't imagine pouring through magazines and reference books at the library and creating 3x5 cards with information for your research paper. They can't imagine a world where you only called home once a week from college because it cost so much or having to write your best friend a letter and wait a week or so to get a response. They can't imagine losing touch with someone just because they moved.

Theirs is an instantaneous world with information at your fingertips. They are used to receiving lots of information at a very fast pace. Instant messaging and instant access - that's what they grew up with. They are used to multi-tasking. They study with the TV on, the text messages flying, an iPod playing, and they still get an A. They are used to being networked. They socialize online and in person or by text. They prefer random access. And games. They thrive on instant gratification and rewards. And why not? That's what they are used to.

I am not.

I want to slow it down. I like my peace and quiet. I like concentrating on one thing at a time. I get lost while surfing the net. I prefer to place my shopping order by phone, even if I found the item on a web site. I like to unfold the newspaper and read it. I tend to call and leave a voicemail when I could send a text. I'm just starting to use the online directory instead of a phone book. And I signed up and went to a traditional seminar (lecture) to learn about how new technology is impacting how students and this new generation learns. Just listen to my accent.

I am an immigrant.

But I'm working to lose that accent.

Open-phone tests?!?!!!

Went to a seminar on how technology is changing the way we learn today. Interesting. But one proposal he made has caused me more thought than most: the idea of open-phone tests for students.

The speaker (Marc Prensky) encourages teachers to allow open-phone tests where kids can use their cell phones to call people and get answers. They can have someone tell them the answer or google it. And if the student's phone is linked to the Internet, he/she can google it themselves! Oh, and if you can't get a hold of anyone outside the class -- just call the kid next to you and see if he has the answer.

I was really with him when it came to allowing and encouraging students to use technology and collaboration to learn. And I agree that projects and activities are often the best way to assess whether a student truly understands and has learned something. But there are some things that we need to know for ourselves. It's not about being able to FIND the answer -- it's about KNOWING it. And if you are taking a test to measure what YOU know, I don't think you should be using technology to "cheat." I mean, why make the students fill out individual tests if they are really collaborating to complete it?

But if you do accept that being able to find the answer is as good as knowing it, then why limit students to cell phones? Why not allow students to use ANY resource -- iPods, computers, books, etc.?

I guess I just think that collaborative test-taking takes the concept a little too far.

If you want to know more about Mr. Prensky's thoughts, check out his web site.