Sensors everywhere. Infinite storage. Clouds of processors. Our ability to capture, warehouse, and understand massive amounts of data is changing science, medicine, business, and technology. As our collection of facts and figures grows, so will the opportunity to find answers to fundamental questions. Because in the era of big data, more isn't just more. More is different.
"All models are wrong, but some are useful."
So proclaimed statistician George Box 30 years ago, and he was right. But what choice did we have? Only models, from cosmological equations to theories of human behavior, seemed to be able to consistently, if imperfectly, explain the world around us. Until now. Today companies like Google, which have grown up in an era of massively abundant data, don't have to settle for wrong models. Indeed, they don't have to settle for models at all.
Sixty years ago, digital computers made information readable. Twenty years ago, the Internet made it reachable. Ten years ago, the first search engine crawlers made it a single database. Now Google and like-minded companies are sifting through the most measured age in history, treating this massive corpus as a laboratory of the human condition. They are the children of the Petabyte Age**.
This interesting article in Wired magazine describes how cataloging massive amounts of data has changed the way we think....about ourselves, our work and our lives. I know that I do my research very differently NOW than when I wrote my Master's thesis in 1980....but this isn't just about research. It raises questions about how much information we collect and it's usefulness. Click here to read the article in Wired. Also, check out the links for a variety of opinions.
**The Petabyte Age & related links
On the rules of the game...Collecting information has become commonplace and we all fill out every form, dotting every i. It is not just changing the rules, but changing the game. Read more....
On marketing...One of the most significant differences between the interactive medium of the Internet and traditional offline channels comes down to the massive volume of data produced by people browsing the web. It's not just okay to have the data, the data must inform decisions. Read on...
Google as Biology...Biology based biotechnology is the next information technology but in order to do so, biotech should harness good IT patterns and mimic its massive computing practices to handle the enormous amount of constantly accumulating data...i.e.Keep your eye on Google. Read further....
Parents started it...Babies being born this very second will have their entire lives digitally recorded once they've left the womb thanks to their eager parents. Once they're old enough to master a language and access a computer, they'll take over that roll themselves by Facebooking their preschool classmates and emailing around cellphone photos of theirboogers and crayon art. None of that sounds too outlandish until you wonder what celebrities or politicians do in the future when their entire lives can be perused by complete strangers. Instantly. Privacy being irrelevant. Read it here.....
We've all had students who wanted to recreate themselves by changing their name. But does a name define identity? And in this age of "digital-ness", is changing a name enough to change who you are? Jamie Mackenzie, in this month's FNO, questions this seeming shift to a digital reality.
F(rom) N(ow) O(n): The Educational Technology Journal
Two articles in this month's technology journal FNO, mentioned ideas we have been discussing at MPA. The first, A Whole New Brain, a review of Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, and suggests that the shift toward right-brained thinking and how it might affect future education just might be a rehash of old ideas pioneered by Ted Sizer and his Coalition of Essential Schools. It is interesting to note that what Ted Sizer wrote twenty-five years ago seems like the basis for many of the skills needed in the "21st Century." Hmmm.
The second article, What Digital Age, is a treatise aimed at getting us to consider what "going digital" really means. Mackenzie suggests that used wisely, digital resources can help us find "deep time" but might also prove divisionary. He believes that it is a matter of choice and judgment. Check out FNO to read the full articles.
The ability to communicate face to face and hold the attention of others is a vital human skill, says Greg Philo of the UK Guardian. Is new technology damaging our ability to communicate? Fingers flying, people can blog, email, enter chat rooms and even vote together. But, as we type our trillions of words, something is being lost. Facebook is not the same as face to face and, as our virtual skills increase, he wonders if our ability to communicate using speech is on the decline.
He muses that the great tragedy, of course, is that the phone was invented before the computer. If it had been the other way around, internet forums would now be buzzing with the exciting news: "Have you heard (type, type, type)? There is this amazing new gadget (type, type). Now you can talk directly with people (type, type, type). And they can, like, hear your voice. Without all this flipping typing." Read on....
From a different point of view, there is a growing concern that modern democracy is in danger because citizens lack interest in politics and are little informed of political affairs and important policy issues. With the rise of new communication technologies, new deliberative potentials are being explored. Online interactions may enhance the scope of political deliberation while maintaining deliberation's beneficial effects. The referenced study reviews theories of deliberative democracy and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in an attempt to understand those new deliberative possibilities. An experiment was conducted to compare the relative outcomes of a deliberation performed in face-to-face and computer-mediated settings. The results suggest that both online and face-to-face deliberation can increase participants' issue knowledge, political efficacy, and willingness to participate in politics. More here.
Email-free Fridays? Some companies in the UK are introducing email-free Fridays to encourage interaction between employees. Read on...
Additionally, Karl Cushing of Computer Weekly offers ten tips for better emails:
1) Keep e-mails short and to the point, and use subject lines properly
2) Re-read the message before sending to ensure it is relevant and clear
3) Use the 'cc' and 'bcc' functions appropriately: does that person really need to be copied in on this e-mail?
4) Never add an attachment unless it has been requested and always include the information in the body of the e-mail where possible
5) When attaching Word documents, do so in the 'rtf' (rich text file) format to remove any scripts and macros
6) Compress large files before sending as attachments
7) Never reply to spam, under any circumstances
8) Archive e-mails effectively and realistically, keeping only the ones that are truly relevant
9) Avoid overuse of the 'High Priority' or 'Urgent' labelling of e-mails, because it loses its value or meaning
10) Ensure that the person has the necessary application to open the attachment you are sending (and ensure the file has no viruses)
MPA has recently established guidelines for email to help foster communication between parents, teachers and others. Look for more information on this topic.
Marina Dale, Renae Wantock, Jay Springer, Jake Eibon and I attended a presentation last evening hosted by Apple Computer about "Creating 21st Century Learning Environments." This seminar pulled together speakers from a variety of backgrounds who presented a snapshot of current technologies that would help educators develop teaching strategies for the newest generation, the Thumb Generation. It turns out, the whole time I was taking notes, I was also "google jockeying" or looking up resources quoted in the presentation to make links in this entry. Hmmm.
Stephanie Hamilton, a high school teacher of English, history and mathematics for many years and, after leaving the classroom, twelve years in district technology leadership positions in Texas, joined Apple in 2000. She said, "Your educational value has to be something more than just about the content." She implied that content, while an important commodity, was fast becoming irrelevent with all of the numerous resources at students' disposal. Paraphrasing Thomas Friedman in the World is Flat , she said that teachers need to think not only about technology as a tool but also about technology as an environment.
Pete Markham, Apple Systems Engineer, presented specific Apple technologies to aid in creating these environments including using GarageBand and iTunes U.
Other key points included:
Changes in Information
print-based vs. digital
the experts vs. democratization of information (Wikipedia)
textbooks vs. open courseware
What are modern students like?
Creative--Mobile--Multitasking--Collaborative--Producers
New voices in digital awareness:
James Paul Gee
Think violent games are harmful? Think again. James Paul Gee, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, proves that we all need games in his new book, “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.” Read on...
Tony Wagner (Harvard University)
- Global Competition: “Did You Know" video on youtube. The top 25% of students in China outnumber the entire population of the US.
- Global Interdependence – global warming, internet security, where are those things stored? A virus will travel the world 6x before it burns itself out. This is what kids have to think about.
- Information is ubiquitous – if I can google the answers to the test is that cheating or is that resourceful? {What do YOU think???} Do we have to completely rethink the assessment systems?
- Workplace Innovation – the workplace has completely changed with the advent of the Internet. What are companies looking for in the next 5 years that are not coming out of schools today?
- Student Experience – outside of school has changed tremendously. Texting, communicating, problem-solving – not multi-tasking but parallel processing. Students are totally connected to each other –text each other, etc., when they come into school we tend to shut that down. We tend to shut down their creative collaborative side.
TOP two things employers are looking for RIGHT NOW:
- Creativity and Innovation – that has to be our niche if we want to compete.
- The ability to operate in a global environment – international trade –entire of integration of business and person relationships. The workspace has completely changed.
Today’s Challenge: Student Engagement
Read on...
Dan Pink wrote A Whole New Mind.
Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of "left brain" dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which "right brain" qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That's the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times. Read on...
What is happening in the 21st Century World?
The nature of competition is changing.
The nature of workforce is changing.
The nature of education is changing.
2006 College Grads
USA: 1.3 million
India: 3.1 million
China: 3.3 million
What does this mean for USA? In "They Can't Move the Snow to India," educators are encouraged to "keep reinventing" what they do to prepare today's students for the new global economy.
Century Shifts
- 1-3 jobs in a lifetime vs. 10-15 jobs & more than one career
- Mastery of primary academic civic or career vs. flexibility
- Teaching model based on subject matter vs. information skills
Are They Ready to Work??
As the baby boom generation slowly exits the U.S. workplace, a new survey of leaders from a consortium of business research organizations finds the incoming generation sorely lacking in much needed workplace skills — both basic academic and more advanced “applied” skills, according to a report released today. Read on...
The Wisdom of Crowds
In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future. Read on....
If you are as old as me, a version of this idea was proposed by Isaac Asimov in his Foundation Trilogy more than 50 years ago. For more info on Asimov and his ideas....read on.
Wikinomics
Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics explains how to prosper in a world where new communications technologies are democratizing the creation of value. Read on...
Supporting 21st Century Learning
web 2.0
googlejockeying
podcasting
blogging
folksonomy
wikipedia
social networking
blogs
multiplayer online games
virtual worlds: Second Life
avatars
mashup
Success in a Flat World
Earth Album is a simpler, slicker Flickr mash-up that allows you to explore some of the most stunning photos in the world courtesy of Google maps and Flickr. To begin your journey, just click somewhere on the map, e.g. "India". Note-- since the top Flickr images are used, the images change every few weeks; bookmark this site and check back for a different experience in a month!
Why is it Important???
•planning
•ready for technologies
•user-created content
Old Network Design Principles
Business Model
•used business model
•revenue driven
•cost reduction
•highly restrictive
•functional software solutions
•network centric
•total cost of ownership
New 21st Century Learning Environments
•knowledge creation & dissemination
•creative collaboration
•highly collaborative, interactive and ad hoc
Global changes in the last 50 years have resulted in a continuously accelerating knowledge revolution. In less than a single lifetime, jet aircraft, televisions, transistor radios, hand held calculators, cellular phones, powerful personal computers, the Internet, and iPods have appeared and radically changed our lives. Rapid, inexpensive global communication and travel are a reality. On the down side, information overdose is now a common problem. People in developed nations have 24 hour access to news and entertainment in many forms and vast databases of information are as close as the nearest computer with Internet access.
What are some of the factors...what will continue to contribute to this change?? For some answers to these questions...read on.
In addition to social changes, Internet access has affected other things from sales to poilitics. In the 2000 election in South Korea, the Internet emerged as a powerful political tool that will affect how future elections are run in South Korea and perhaps elsewhere in Asia, according to politicians and analysts. Click to read more...
Over the last several years, the Internet has provided a haven for the seamier side of culture. Children and young adults have been schooled in online behavior, but the allure of open access often with little supervision has a strong pull...stronger, sometimes, than peer pressure or the threat of punishment.
MySpace. YouTube. Facebook. Nearly every teen in America is on the Internet every day, socializing with friends and strangers alike, "trying on" identities, and building a virtual profile of themselves--one that many kids insist is a more honest depiction of who they really are than the person they portray at home or in school. On January 25, 2008, Frontline will air a thought-provoking piece about growing up online. For more info....
