Looking Back at Wikis - My Early Days of DevLearn - and 2015

Nobody really talks about wikis any more. I think the closest most people get to a wiki these days is wikipedia. Bummer.

They were my absolute favorite new tech back in the day. The genius of the wiki was it's edit-ability. Of course today, everything is sharable and editable by multiple people.

Google docs is the best current example. Ho hum... I still dream of an old-fashioned wiki circa 2005-ish.

It's the end of the year so I'm already feeling a bit nostalgic. So imagine my delight when I read an email from PBwiki reminding me that I have elearndev.pbwiki.com sitting idle.

Cool. I wonder what could be there?

Wow! DevLearn2006 stuff...

LOL! Now I remember how busy Heidi kept me at early eLearning Guild events. Looks like I did 3 sessions and sat on a panel discussion:

• RSS: The New Learning Pipeline
• Interactive 3D Simulations w/ Macromedia DirectorMX
• MMOs Gaming and Learning
• Learning2.0 Panel Discussion

Does anybody remember DevLearn2007 and the pocket guides I created for the event? 

Check out the DevLearn2007-PocketGuide.pdf.

From the extreme lack of interaction on the pbwiki site I'm reminded how much these technologies scared training people. I remember the rolling eyes, the many dissenting opinions around security, and my personal favorite...

  "We can't just have everyone creating and editing content however and whenever they want!!!" - Corporate Gatekeepers and fearful training leaders circa 2005

Will anyone admit to being freaked out by this stuff back then? Probably about as many twitter "experts" will admit to "not getting it" when they first signed up.

(Feel free to join the pbwiki and add your comments or memories from back then. Maybe I'll keep it around and breath life back into it.)

Times have changed...FINALLY! 

I'm looking at 2015 as the year everything we longed for back in 2005 has finally come true. Complex corporate cultures are even beginning to come around...even if the old guard corporate leadership continues to struggle with it.

2015 will certainly be filled with new incredible technologies. But for our little world of training and eLearning, 2015 is the year we finally see the culture shift we've been looking for. More on that later.