Tales of Things is a new site that links online with the real world. So far it seems that a photo and a place are much the same. They offer a 2D barcode for any site or object, then link in stories as other media.

so i have started with a few places in Lancaster - both campus and city centre. The "Star of CCTV" badge is an extra.

will789gb (1)

Thinking about #likeminds in Exeter. The circus has left town. Not sure where it is. Easter in Lancaster so I plan to stay for a while and check out the campus. I have looked at location services and cannot make much sense of them. It could work better if each location had some significance. Previously i thought about a walk towards the Learning Zone but so far on Gowalla I can only find a web company in the InfoLab, the Management School and Pizza Republic. These are each at one end so could do as a start. Assume MJR Web is more or less the cafe. Broadly positive about social media with some sort of quality idea as well. Moving to the Management School cafe for critique. Ending up in Pizza Republic for reflection and connection with civic society. (This may get more complicated by the time of the Experimentality conference with more locations)

I will bring a video camera but batteries are always low so mains electricity is a factor. Chat show mode assumed for the moment.

Still thinking about the Experimentality paper about Check / Study. I would like to concentrate on why both words are used and what they mean in Japan and USA. But I am not sure about the context. So far there is not much around management turning up on the Experimentality stream. Also my blog / citizen journalism / web video approach is going in another direction to the structured paper. So I think I will go more into blog mode and come back to a paper nearer the time.

There are three groups of words, three sections, each could have a #tag. #dsm2 for dark side of mode 2. In other words why don't academics have much concern for quality theory? Clearly this is a generalisation. Cloudworks from the OU has quality in the scope and is engaged in practice. But my guess at the moment is that this is rare in the UK.

#checkstudy could work PDCA or PDSA. Try it anyway. My claim is to be mostly on topic. There is something about experimentality at the core of ISO management standards.

Social media or social communication are still on track to remain topical through 2010. Various # apply. Online Information Looking at relation to quality theory offers some interesting case studies. Document control?

Which bit to start with for a paper depends on the rest of the conference but meanwhile online, any connections can be explored.

Over the next few months I intend to do several stories about print around IPEX and the London Book Fair. I need to speculate about Online Information in December to make sense of this. So a similar approach to Experimentality could take in other events that have not yet happened. Then revise it during the rest of the year. There is a new network called Stringbag that appears to continue research on learning organisations. I got lost on how this discussion related to network learning. It seemed to be a bit disjointed from practice. So the Network Learning conference will be interesting and more will emerge from Stringbag over time. It starts in April with a real space conference for subscribers, the freebie online version follows later.

Web Science may be a new subject but not well known yet. I think it includes emerging properties or unintended consequences. So although the web seems to be doing ok anyway, further study may result in better understanding. There is a conference in April but I will probably better understand the version at Olympia in December. Maybe David Weinberger again as a speaker would clarify the science.

Usually I find that Online Information clashed with the Deming SIG of theCQI. Maybe this year it won't matter. Perhaps the e-book and social media will have moved up the agenda to Tuesday or Wednesday. Or there could be a half day meeting followed by a 9 or 10 bus.

Trying out new Amazon widget

The Guardian has a comment from Joe Moran that seems to me to express what a lot of academics think about quality. The linking words are "excellence" and "transparency". There is almost nothing here about how any sort of quality theory might be useful for a university. (Or a PDF file for that matter)

He has got a point obviously. But how to get past this for some sort of conversation?

Still trying to understand the dark side of mode two and other complex issues. But this comment is maybe clearer.

Not sure how to change the scale so have done a screen grab for Phoroshop

Click to view it a bit bigger.

You have to go to Cohere - http://cohere.open.ac.uk for more detail.

Trying out code from Cohere

Checking Steve Wheeler blog again, found this in response to another comment
.

I make a subtle distinction between anywhere and anyplace, Jose. My take on this is that anywhere litterally means any geographical location, whereas anyplace means any situated presence. One is measured in miles or kilometres, the other in psychological space - the learning space or coceptual (thinking) space one finds oneself in. Probably deeply philosophical, but it shows me that anywhere is not necessarily always the best time to learn. One must also find the best 'place' - the most opportune and comfortable situation within which to learn.

This sounds fair enough. So maybe we need A4 learning. I think a choice of devices is important. The styles of writing and presentation can be assumed as part of this.

A3 learning could be an academic aspect to work with around social media. I still think something is missing from the #likeminds approach. Through Twitter I found the Steve Wheeler blog again a couple of days ago. Probably through cloudworks at some point but i can no longer find the tweet. Steve writes about a "moving experience", remembered as if a Martini slogan -'anytime, anyplace, anywhere, there's a wonderful world you can share'. Thing is that anywhere and any place are more or less the same. To arrive at A3 we may need "any device" ( part of a sometime Adobe slogan I think )but the idea may be much the same.

The trouble is that time and space shift quite rapidly once the web is engaged. It is not just a resource arriving into your current situation. Steve links his own previous paper on a "martini model" from a decade previously in Berlin and a story about Dan Caldeway in a PDF. This is a journal extract but confesses to be partly fiction.

"Any device" could mean in any style or length. A tweet or a paper, video clip perhaps or reconstruction. The availability of learning resources is an aspect of social communication. More links will turn up to established sources.

I try to find the core process or script in a situation. The rest of it can vary and it is easy to get lost. On Facebook for example people in Exeter have to accept that we live in Plymouth.

test of video



not the best production values, but part of a test phase in expanding Deming ideas online

I think I will contribute something to the Experimentality conference about the Plan-Do-Study/Check- Act loop. There is some interest but it could be in a session with other speakers. My suggestion is to link to views on the "dark side" of Mode Two knowledge and also look at elearning as an example of how quality ideas are applied. I would hope to argue that there is a bright side to Mode Two and that quality is worth a look anyway. However there are some claims around social media at the moment that seem a bit vague and overextended. Also the advertising industry is deeply involved. There is a case for forms of critique as part of the mix.

Here in Exeter last week we had a visit from #likeminds. Still trying to work out how Exeter continues as normal life.

Meanwhile on Twitter today I found a link through Timbuckteeth for a quick guide to social learning in organisations. Four minutes on YouTube. http://dlvr.it/5GBc Not sure if this counts as an academic reference. The #likeminds event was not connected to Exeter University as far as I could tell. Perhaps "informal learning" could be a linking topic.

Workshops from Online Information continue themes around social networks. This confirms my impression that exhibitions continue round the year. they are now blended with online and spinoffs.

eLearning Maturity Emerges From Middle Management
Adobe Relaunches Acrobat as Stealth Flash

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This is a draft story for OhmyNews. Same text in both the learn9 and IPEX2002 blogs. May need to split later. When the editors add "in a related story" to one of the paragraphs you know you may have to start again.
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Towards Maturity presented new research last month at Learning Technologies which showed that a surprising proportion of people working on training and development are unaware of how much senior management realise the benefits of introducing e-learning. The model on offer is to demonstrate value rather than complete a project that management understands and supports. One explanation for this could be that the technology introduced is changing faster than is generally known. Adobe concentrated on Flash and video with much less time for corporate documents such as flat PDF files.

The recent survey shows that e-learning results in 11% cost saving, 28% time saving and that the volume of use has gone up by 48%. In the area of business agility, 82% believed they could deliver learning interventions faster and 59% reported improvements in ability to implement changes in products and procedures. However the survey also showed that 38% do not know if line managers agree productivity has increased (36% are unsure) and 28% don't know if new solutions are now focused on business performance (33% are unsure). This is a perception from people working on e-learning and not a direct form of research on management. There is still the implication that about a quarter of line mamgers both know that e-learning has contributed to productivity and communicate this to the people involved. Similarly it appears that about 40% of line managers communicate about business objectives.

However this survey raises questions about models of business where there is supposed to be feedback to policy making or clarity of vision from leadership. Towards Maturity offer a model that starts with learner and work context and defining a need, then moves towards a demonstration of value. This could be a loop that gradually maintains a flow of resources for the projects. But it is not similar to assumptions about management systems in ISO standards where a policy statement has been agreed as strategy. As e-learning contibutes to the capability for changes in products and procedures there is a clear overlap with quality functions.

Perhaps the clarity of feedback has been overestimated in much of the business theory. Areas such as training and quality are assumed to contribute to existing operations but rarely contribute to changes in policy. The recent acceptance of e-learning may have happened through a gradual process that has avoided opposition rather than gaining much support.

Adobe presented mostly about Flash and online conferencing. They appear to have moved away from Postscript related products such as books or paper. Many senior managers would have found the selection of media surprising. PDF files started to be accepted because the design followed the look of a printed page. At Information Technologies there was emphasis on the feature that Connect can be launched from the Acrobat menu. Connect is entirely in Flash. It is rare to see a PDF file even if transformed into Flash paper. There is no way to save the comments or other content as PDF. The feature most promoted was that PDF can now contain Flash for video or sound. So Flash is a native format within PDF. It was mentioned that this could be a way to distribute Flash content even if the Flash player is not allowed within some organisations. The implication is that Flash design is sometimes reaching corporate desktops indirectly, not as the result of any plan.

Edvantage showed a PDF book with video, created in CourseBuilder for a schools in Sweden and Norway. This is still quite rare even though Adobe have promoted the option for a while. The link to schools confirmed my view that a show about adult learning should be held at the same time as BETT, a technology show for schools. They are both in January and BETT now reaches part of Olympia 2. There are different organisers at the moment.

Printweek recently reported that Adobe has closed the Print Service Provider partner programme in the UK due to declining membership. John Cunningham from Adobe UK said "Maybe it looks like Adobe isn't interested in the traditional print side anymore - of course we are, it's still a huge part of our business." However there is no sign yet of an Adobe stand on the floorplan for IPEX, a print show in Birmingham this May. My guess is that the Flash presence at Learning Technologies is a reasonable guide to Adobe marketing energy.

This year there was also a show for Learning and Skills on the floor below. It was not very clear what the difference was. Some stands such as the Virtual College apparently booked too late for the upper floor. Media Training were part of the Technology show last year but they offer day courses so fitted better with Skills. The skills include XML and Flex though they still offer courses on Quark and InDesign. Print design and publishing are still an interest. It struck me that had a sudden flow of mud arrived at Olympia, a future archaeologist might have assumed that there were two levels of mud for different time zones of technology. Media Training represent a balance of media as currently supported ; Adobe on the next level may be seen as normal some time in the future. Enough fiction, I wonder if that will get past the fact checkers.

The Learning and Skills floor also included some training companies that had nothing to do with technology but offered personal development for managers and support for policy development. There was no obvious presence from business schools or universities except for conference facilities. The University for Industry had a large stand as LearnDirect, the trading name they are allowed to use. The word "university" is strongly protected in the UK. From some Twitter remarks I gather there were several people from the Open University at the conference but there was no stand at the show.

The guide to Learning Technologies had an introduction from Lord Puttnam that made a strong case for e-learning and was a solid launch for the event. However there was one theme that I would like to question. He claimed that while educational organisations have a concern to sustain the "moral" position of learning within society, there are also the commercial ambitions of the Murdochs, the Microsofts or the Googles. As Chancellor of the Open University he has a proper concern with this but I think things could be more complicated. Commercial organisations make different claims for their knowledge offers. James Murdoch somehow connects media for democracy and a free market. Google claims a role in organisaing information and scanning content for public benefit. Both claims are contested but there is some sort of moral position.

Also there could be a downside for educational organisations to behave as if morality always demands a distance from commerce. I am interested in "mode two" knowledge, combining academic disciplines in practical situations. Most e-learning research could be seen as like this. I have heard tell of views on the "dark side" of mode two though I cannot find any detail or references.

Two events are coming up that may shed some light on this.

A Higher Education Leadership Summit will have a technology showcase during lunch. Not the scale of Learning Technologies but the issues may be similar. If universities have a different moral basis to most organisations, how will this show up in the conclusions? In Lancaster there will be a workshop on innovation as part of a conversation about experimentality. The description of a future conference includes the claim that the idea of the experiment has helped to "shape the contemporary world of evidence-based policy, clinical trials and audits".

Driven by pervasive informationalisation, we can observe a number of interlinked trends, including: the acceleration and proliferation of feedback loops between action and reaction; the displacement of fixed structures by networks and dissipative structures; the abandonment of fixed goals for continuous repositioning; and the carrying out of knowledge-work in the context of application.

My concern is that the moral case for universities may be seen as depending on distance from application. There are claims for the value of funding for research. In the case of e-learning contributions come from various sources.

The guide to Learning Technologies had an introduction from Lord Puttnam that made a strong case for e-learning and was a solid launch for the event. However there was one theme that I would like to question. He claimed that while educational organisations have a concern to sustain the "moral" position of learning within society, there are also the commercial ambitions of the Murdochs, the Microsofts or the googles. As Chancellor of the Open University he has a proper concern with this but I think things could be more complicated. Commercial organisations make different claims for their knowledge offers. James Murdoch somehow connects media for democracy and a free market. Google claims a role in organisaing information and scanning content for public benefit. Both claims are contested but there is some sort of moral position.

Also there could be a downside for educational organisations to behave as if morality always demands a distance from commerce. I am interested in "mode two" knowledge, combining academic disciplines in practical situations. Most e-learning research could be seen as like this. I have heard tell of views on the "dark side" of mode two though I cannot find any detail or references. It might just mean that there are journal articles with critique of something like e-learning. This could count as "research2 even though there was little engagement or output that could relate to practice. Not sure about this but i would welcome some clues. It seemed to me that there were a variety of contributions to the Learning Technologies event and as it happens I was surprised how limited was the contribution from universities.

Playlist on YouTube for BETT 2010 now includes my own videos plus

Studywiz from Australian TV. They did not have a stand as it turned out. Maybe they have moved online? Also Ubuntu for Netbooks was not shown at the Open Software Village when i visited because of a password issue. But Youtube can usually find something suitable from another place and time.

Video from BETT

more later

Went to BETT yesterday. Some photos on Flickr , video edit tomorrow, then a story for OhmyNews.

Some questions before writing for OhmyNews

Studywiz not on stand as advertised. But there were a lot of posters. What is going on. Very interesting topic of relating to parents through mobile devices, not just the iPhone. That is my guess but not sure.

Microsoft have dropped Grava for Semblio as a way to combine resources, Works ok and will relate to Silverlight at some future point. Cambridge University Press showed a project using it that will launch later this year. But it seems to me that this is all a bit late given the interest in Grava a couple of years ago and it seems further from Silverlight than it was. So Adobe are still ok with Flash. The BBC not at BETT but the iPlayer is well known.

Ubuntu for netbooks could not be shown at the open source stand when I visited because of a password issue but apparently it works well. Anyone visiting please take photos.

I had been thinking about e-learning research ahead of BETT but today the Guardian has got me with a page one splash from "research" universities. They want to keep their funding and relate this to the knowledge economy. Starting though at the back of the education section with a story based on an interview with Chris Higgins of Durham University arguing that "research" universities should get most of the money. Towards the end there is a brief quote from Pam Tatlow of the Million+ group, mentioning a "sheep and goats mentality" and claiming that

British higher education has moved beyond the world of clubs and has a strong egalitarian tradition. There are good economic and social reasons for this.

Some of these reasons include the "Creative Economy" and a report from Million+ . They are looking at large numbers of people. Some form of knowledge is created through experience on a scale.

BETT relates to this. Not sure what age group limits it but I think the technology relates to other forms of education. More on this later in the week.

In their Guardian article, Michael Arthur and Wendy Piatt write-

Students leave university equipped with skills that are an essential part of a successful knowledge economy.

We live in a world where ideas, innovation and entrepreneurialism are key to prosperity and wellbeing.

However there is a paragraph in the Education section from an interview with from Chris Higgins of Durham

What Higgins has in mind is a small cohort of globally renowned, research-led universities with graduate schools and the authority to award PhDs. Then there might be a bigger group of universities that focus on what he calls their "economic and social environments", and where the teaching "is informed more by scholarship than research, and is perhaps more focused on vocational and professional HE".

So what sort of involvement would the "research" universities have in vocational stuff like IT and quality assurance? I am getting a bit rude but I find journals such as Management Learning very hard to understand and I am not sure they are intended for managers.

Anyway back to a couple of links found yesterday. I have been following Cloudworks on Twitter and linked to a site for e4innovation from Gráinne Conole. This looks interesting and could relate to any organisation. I have not yet read it in detail but notice there is reference to dialogue and a study of EU rhetoric by Vivien Hodgson. My worry is that "research" could be mostly critique with relevance no longer a concern. Looking for the dark side seems to be normal.

However the Cloudworks and Networked Learning Conference websites both have a take on Web2 design so things can only get better. By the way, I think the design of the Critical Management site is just awful.

Last year at BETT there was a stand for LSIS but I cannot find them on the BETT website. They combine ideas about leadership and quality. Not sure how this works but maybe other stands at BETT will have some clues.

Main theme of BETT seems to be playfulness, with Google guesting in a zone hosted by Stephen Heppell from the jolly old University of Bournemouth.

I think learning is part of normal life, not always too hard to follow.

Couple of links for this. Informal Learning is covered in a recent publication -

Formal vs. Informal Learning
Educators—whether in K12, higher education, or corporate spaces—tend to focus on formal learning that involves such things as content delivery, practice, feedback, assessment, and evaluation. However, learning is a natural human cognitive process that is constantly occurring whether someone is in a formal learning setting or not. A simple example of this is how toddlers learn to speak their native tongue. They may be “coached” by parents and family members but barring physical deficits there are no formal classes necessary to learn to speak. This type of learning has been defined as informal learning.

Make, Share, Find: Web 2.0 and Informal Learning
Phil Antonelli

2009 CU Online, University of Colorado Denver
e-book version, available at http://cuonline.ucdenver.edu/handbook/

also there has been nocomment on my post from awhile ago on the Orkut group about Quality Management-

Learning with quality systems, is this obvious?

I have just found this group so the topic may have come up previously.

Is it obvious that learning is a large part of what happens through people in a quality system?

I have tried to get interest in quality theory from people who study management learning. In the UK the people who know about learning tend to have a critical opinion about quality. Perhaps their experience in UK universities has not been pleasant. See "Making Quality Critical" by Wilkinson and Wilmott for example.

So far there has not been much UK academic interest in relating quality theory to researching learning organisations. Peter Senge recognises the connections, see his mentions for Dr Deming in the update for The Fifth Discipline.

My guess is that for most practitioners the links between learning and quality are obvious. Maybe academics just have to be organised in disciplines. Maybe it is just an issue in the UK.

So I think learning can be considered as part of quality practice. I have been looking at previous writing and a lot of it is on how to pass go where the connection is accepted. Still a lot could follow if the learning organisation and quality were considered together more often.

More later on recording music, jazz as experiment. Examples during Experimentality included Miles Davis My Funny Valentine. Not sure what to make of it but kept thinking of this-