Making sense of new technologies and media is becoming one of the essential, future navigation skills. As everyone else is busy looking at the latest web application, what I see increasingly lacking, especially outside of the academic world, is the time and true interest to explore, experiment, question and understand how all of these new media technologies could be best utilized and leveraged for the improvement of our key needs: quality of living, learning, communication and collaboration, social change.

Photo credit: Robert Mizerek

He writes:

"Why are certain technologies adopted and others ignored? Why does one department readily embrace the spiral of idea generation and new methods for collaboration, while another is antagonistic to different approaches?

The challenge of differentiated adoption seems to rest in at least two elements:

a) the nature of change at a systems level (as addressed with the Satir model) and

b) the attributes/attitudes of the people who are key elements of the larger system."

Looking at how we can best extract new knowledge and valuable interaction opportunities from our our worn academic and / or corporate paths, is George Siemen's path of effectively using and promoting new technologies to herald change. This is one of the key reasons why I am so happy to host his weekly analysis, discoveries and new findings.

Here his media and technology report for this week:

Useful Models of Systems Change

Jim McGee, in a short post on useful models of systems change, introduces the Satir change model.

I've been somewhat focused lately on trying to define the nature of systemic change. Why do some ideas resonate with people? Why are certain technologies adopted and others ignored? Why does one department readily embrace the spiral of idea generation, while another is antagonistic to different approaches?

The challenge of differentiated adoption seems to rest in at least two elements:

a) the nature of change at a systems level (as addressed with the Satir model) and

b) the attributes/attitudes of the people who are key elements of the larger system.

Understanding change involves, at minimum, understanding these two elements.

Social Media and Advertising

Advertisers gravitate to large populations. As more eyeballs shift online, advertising not only follows but also changes.

The utopia of 30 second television and full page newspaper ads, where the advertiser controls the message and directs it to several million people, is a thing of the past.

Online, as with our conversations and content, advertising becomes much more distributed, end-user controlled, and relational. The Five Essential Elements of Effective Social Media Marketing explores some of these challenges: "Social media is a big deal, and it’s revealing a giant shift in media, marketing, politics, relationships and culture. Seasoned online marketers understand that while you won’t change human nature, there’s no doubt that business as usual is not going to cut it in this environment."

Working Online, Together

It's great to see innovative approaches to what has long been the desktop suite of applications: Word, Powerpoint, spreadsheets, etc. Google Docs is one of the early leaders. As is Zoho. Microsoft now offers Office Live for online storage and collaborating.

Now Adobe has entered the space with Acrobat - online word processor, file sharing, and most importantly, virtual live meeting space with Connect (up to three participants).

Bits, Bands and Books

What is easy to create and duplicate has limited economic value. Digital content suffers this fate.

Ebooks, video, music, and other content don't have the same value they did when they were scarce.

The entire value cycle of content has shifted. Instead of paying for content, we pay for peripheral elements (I mentioned this in October).

The value point in a climate of abundance is no longer the content element itself. Instead, the value point shifts to our related experiences around the content. Or, as expressed in Bits, Bands and Books:

"the ease with which digital content can be copied and disseminated would eventually force businesses to sell the results of creative activity cheaply, or even give it away.

Whatever the product — software, books, music, movies — the cost of creation would have to be recouped indirectly: businesses would have to “distribute intellectual property free in order to sell services and relationships".”

Net Gen Nonsense

While at CNIE in May, I had the pleasure of hearing Mark Bullen present on the (or lack of) empirical evidence to support the notion of netgen, digital natives, or millennial learners. Any idea is not complete until we consider its opposite. So, he has since set up a blog devoted to debunking the concept of netgen's: Net Gen Nonsense.

Mark also contributes to Teaching and Learning at BCIT blog.

I'm quite comfortable saying that our education systems needs to change, but as Mark notes, the reason for that change is likely not to be found in "changing learners".

Instead, in my eyes, we need to change education for two primary reasons:

1) the changed ways in which we can access, interact with, and create information, and

2) the changed ways in which we can access, interact with, and connect to each other.

Mobile Phones

About 50% of the world's population has a mobile phone.

Pew Internet's Research suggests that not only are more people using mobile phones, but they are starting to use them as the primary phone (instead of landlines).

My use of mobile phones (Blackberry) is limited due to some rather expensive data plans with Rogers. In the late 90's, internet use was a similar issue - online fees were charged by the hour. Once these fees were dropped for unlimited monthly plans, internet use exploded. I find myself currently limiting mobile use due to data fees. Once we get past those...

Future of Education: Innovate Journal

Last year in June, the Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba hosted a humbly titled conference: Future of Education. Following the conference, I was asked by James Morrison to edit a special issue of Innovate.

The journal edition is now available online (free sign up required).

Articles include:

• changing pedagogy,


• rhizomatic knowledge,


• copyright,


• technology adoption,


• YouTube,


• and more.

Originally written by George Siemens and published as weekly email digest on eLearning Resources and News. First published on June 8th 2008.

To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".