Tsunami confirms strength and power of digital connections

I was sitting at my desk doing my usual thing when I noticed a couple facebook and twitter updates from @wwwayne (Wayne Hodgins).  Wayne is a brilliant learning colleague formally the Director of Worldwide Learning Strategies at Autodesk.  As a strategic futurist he has presented at many learning conferences including DevLearn in the past.  He blogs at learnativity.typepad.com "Living & Learning Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity from his sailboat.

So, you can imagine the feeling when I first saw this twitter post:

Doing fine in Samoa. Was in harbor when earthquake and Tsunami hit. Bay dried out, boat was hard on ground. Water back in, as fast as it lft

As you are aware, twitter posts the most current tweet at the top of the stream.  If you want to experience the twitter stream from @wwwayne in chronological order, then read from the bottom up.

16:05 local No more tsunami action, looks like we are clear 4now.  Cleaning up, helping others, dealing w/ aftermath.
14:05 local, sad to report that we just found the body of the lost sailor at the end of the Bay.  Helping to console his wife and her plans
13:30 local w/ no more empty/filli of the bay so hoping we've seen the last of it.  Cleanup + search continues, no sign of other sailor yet
LTY Update 22:30 UTC  Moving one family aboard LTY who's yacht is trashed, Ruby back aboard, still searching for missing sailor  Think pos!
Wayne here, got a net connection I'm docked ashore again but we have warnings of more in 2 hours so standing by.
Can relay news to/from island if needed. Wouldn't believe the sights if you had told me about it ... truly difficult to comprehend
One boat beside LTY was floated onto pier, many with severe damage. Luckily LTY, being steel, is Ok. Looking for ways to help.
Internet seems to be out,. haven't checked landlines. Sat phone is intermittent. Currently helping boats get back ashore.
Ruby is Ok, haven't seen her. Couple she is with lost rigging and holed deck. Other couple lost boat.
Back ashore. Boat tied in the same place. Very chaotic and many distraught people. Husband of cruising friends wash overboard, not found.
1 death i know of several swept away+ still missing USCG a joke no one in contol no boats in water Surge setling dn will call w/ more
LTY+me fine circling in mid harbor to stay clear + afloat Ruby ashore i think she is ok with other boaters stranded ashore
seems 2b calming down but will stay out 4while yet What an adventure+ learning experience!
Boat is fine, more waves in harbor, but not as severe as first. Boat and self Ok, others not.
Some damage to boat, cosmetic in nature ... was tied up to a pier when it hit.
Assisting in rescue in harbor. Many boats adrift, lots of debris in the water. Had 2 waves in harbor that dried it out. Now smaller waves.

What was most interesting to me was that there was very little coverage of this event on the regular TV news channels.  Yes, some breaking news snippets here and there, but nothing more than the basic info...and they were 30mins to 60mins late.  There is nothing more compelling than reading a first hand account of "breaking news" as its happening.  We saw this same thing with the "Plane landing in the hudson", and the "Iran election protests".  Its truly amazing!

If you are interested in getting all the information you need when this stuff breaks without waiting and relying on the old school news sources then a great place to start is WolframAlpha.  WolframAlpha earthquake data helped tell the story with visual data.  This image is from Wikipedia and helps give you a sense of the islands that were most effected.
Samoa_Country_map.png‎



Once it was all over we started seeing the iReporter images of the aftermath come into CNN.
This is a great infographic from cnn.com:

From what I can see it looks like the death count is well over 100.  Normally this type of news would have seemed so distant and I, like others, would have simply viewed the nightly news cast images with a sense of disconnectedness.  But it feels very different, and real, when you "witness" the event through the eyes of someone that you know.  Even more interesting is that I don't think I've ever met Wayne F2F.  People say digital or virtual connections, or "friends" and followers, are NOT strong.  After this experience I can without a doubt tell you that it feels the same as if Wayne were a long time friend from gradeschool. 

Our thoughts and prayers to go out to Wayne and the people of the islands.

#lrnchat - Working (or not) with SMEs

If you haven't jumped on the twitter bandwagon because it just seems stupid, then maybe something like #lrnchat will convince you to give it a(nother) try.  Here's a good look at the numbers during last nights #lrnchat from Dave's Whiteboard.  It happens every Thursday night from 5:30pm to 7pm Pacific Time.  For a more pleasant streaming experience use TWEETCHAT.com to not only follow the convesation but to easily respond WITHOUT forgetting to add the all-important hashtag (#lrnchat).  If you miss the live event you can always go back to the archives and scan/read the transcript.  Also, don't forget to "follow" @lrnchat to get more info via your twitter account stream.

Working with SMEs
This was the topic for last night's #lrnchat.  It was very interesting to me, but equally frustrating.  Many of the #lrnchat regulars are big proponents of informal learning, web2.0, learning2.0, yada yada.  And so here we all are talking about a very Learning1.0 activity: Working with Subject Matter Experts.  Yes, we will continue to work with SMEs into the future, but the conversation centered mostly around how to talk with SMEs as if we are creating "courses", and other VERY learning1.0 solutions.  Even those who talk about how our job as learning professionals is changing and MUST change only spoke of how we worked with SMEs in the past.  And yes, I certainly do understand the realities of corporate work, and how things aren't changing as quickly as Web2.0 gurus say they will, but aren't we trying to advance the conversation...move the needle even a little?

Here are the questions that facilitated the conversation:

Q1) What are the challenges working with subject matter experts?
Q2) What tips do you have for working effectively with SMEs?
Q3) What are the advantages and great joys of working with SMEs?

Feel free to review the Transcript to get a feel for how the conversation went.  I cannot spend a lot of time cutting and pasting my favorites here.  But one glimmer of hope that made me smile was mention of needing "beginner's mind" or shoshin: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few."  I also support many tweets of letting the SME talk...just listen, listen, listen.  Along the same lines, DO NOT talk learning theory with the SME.  Trust me when I say, THEY DON'T CARE!  (Unless you are creating a course on ISD and your SME is an ISD)

Technology is Changing how/why/if we work with SMEs
With tools like Articulate, Camtasia, captivate, and the many other open source tools, it is VERY easy for anyone to create media that teaches.  Instructional videos created by NON-ISDers fill the internet via YouTube.  Entire courses are being taught via YouTube.  University professors (another form of SME) have their lectures video taped and freely downloadable via iTunesU.  Quite frankly most corporate training workers have NO formal ISD training.  They are recruited from the factory, the warehouse, the storefront, etc.  THEY ARE THE SMEs...put into training rolls because of their knowledge, skills, and experience.  The technology of today makes SMEs eLearning developers.  It may not make them DESIGNERS but they are developing.  And might I say that some are darn good at getting the job done.  They are not clouded with the "expertise" of the instructional designer.  They approach eLearning development with great enthusiasm and shoshin. 

User-generated content is SME-generated content.  How do we deal with that?  When the SME is making his own tip sheets, tutorials, teaching his own class, and engaging with others via social networks, his blog, and other media, then our relationship with the SME necessarily changes...SIGNIFICANTLY!

DevLearn09 LIVE! - Intro Video via Camtasia for Mac

So my Camtasia (Mac) trial ends today and I wanted to create something quickly to get a feel for the tool. Here's what I ended up with.


Overall, Camtasia for Mac was a good experience. I'm used to adding graphics and other effects in different ways because of my "curse of knowledge". Clicking and dragging objects on the canvas was not working for me...and that was frustrating. But then I realized that I could move stuff around with dials in the properties window. I'm sure with very little effort and time I would be cranking out much more complex and fancy video tutorials.

You can learn a lot more about video, Camtasia, and other tutorial authoring tools at DevLearn 2009 Conference and Expo in San Jose, CA in November. Register before friday and get $100 off.

Talking e-Learning with @leolaporte

5pm PT http://twit.tv LIVE (maybe) #dl09

Posted via email from bschlenker's lifestream