Chapter 9: The Wiki Workplace

Unleashing the Power of Us

Enter the "Geek Squad!" -- now a part of BestBuy, the Geek Squad is just one example of a company that depends on collaboration through wikis, video games, and a host of collaboration technologies to build collective knowledge. 

"The continuous flow of new technologies into the workplace has been a key source of change in the way that we work (p. 246). Why do you think education is so slow to adopt new technologies into instruction?  Do you agree that web-based tools "often confound older generations?"

On pg. 252, Ross Mayfield thinks the "solution is collaboration tools that adapt to the habits of the workplace teams and social networks, rather than the other way around." How can we "discover our agenda, and serve it?" How can we best cultivate a culture of collaboration? We have the weapons of mass collaboration, why are we not using them? Or, are we? Do we have inertia? (See "Demographic Kick for Change" on p. 266)

Could you imagine being able to give your students the same 20% time that Google allows its employees, for self-directed learning? What do you think your students could do in that 50 minutes per week? 

Chapter 8: The Global Plant Floor

Planetary Ecosystems for Designing and Making Things

"Winning companies today have open and porous boundaries and compete by reaching outside their walls to harness external knowledge, resources, and capabilities (p. 214). Many products we purchase today are designed, built and assembled by a worldwide network of suppliers. The author offers the following advice, "Regardless of the industry.... Always strive to be the best at what your customers value most, and partner for everything else (p. 236).

How could we build schools, or education institutions based on this model? Should we "orchestrate" on a global scale? Would a "modular approach" work in designing curriculum? Have we created a "transparent and egalitarian ecosystem?" How can costs and risks be shared, or should they be?

Chapter 7: Platforms for Participation

All the World is a Stage, and You're the Star

Open platforms are mass collaboration in action. Similar to information in Chapter 5, this chapter reiterates the idea of mashups, as the tip of the collaboration iceberg! The Katrinalist.net example is amazing. Imagine having 3,000 volunteers help to build a web solution, in less than a week. 

Think of Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay, and the developer communities that have formed around them. 40% of eBay content is uploaded automatically by third-party stores. With it's "open platform" approach, Amazon is noted as the "biggest game in town" and leads in both innovation and viral growth. 

What about the "culture of generosity" that has driven a lot of innovation (ala Wikipedia, and open source software)? Many "generous innovators" have sold their once-free creations to commercial companies (Flickr and del.icio.us both sold out to Yahoo). On p. 206 Om Malik states, "We become the outsourced workforce.... Will we share in their upside? Not likely!" However, those who use these services are contributing to the "wisdom of the crowds."

So, for businesses, platforms for participation "thrives on mass collaboration and embodies all of the wikinomics principles: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally" (p. 212). How could this be applied to schools? Should it?

And now, a word from Don Tapscott....

I'm jumping in between the chapter summaries to share information about the "Flat Classrooms Debate, Live from Qatar and Philadelphia"  --which occurred last weekend, Sat. 1/24/09.  Thomas Friedman, author of "The World is Flat" and Don Tapscott, co-author of "Wikinomics," spoke to the students. Tapscott also offered to send a personalized copy of his new book, "Grown Up Digital" to any student who writes a review of his book on Amazon.com. 

You can tune into the 2 hour Eluminate session, or just play the interviews from Friedman or Tapscott on the "Future of Education" website: http://www.futureofeducation.com/forum/topics/the-flat-classrooms-debate.

You will also see information from Steve Hargadon (the website's author), who shares his frustration with the "technology" for setting up and participating in this online debate.

These types of experiences could be made available to Stevenson students. What responsibility, if any, do we have as educators to make this happen?

Image credit: http://flickr.com/photos/shareski/3232419059/

Chapter 6: The New Alexandrians

Sharing for Science and the Science of Sharing.

Wired Magazine's co-founder Kevin Kelly recently reported that,

"...humans have 'published' at least 32 million books; 750 million articles and essays; 25 million songs; 500 million images; 500,000 movies; 3 million videos, TV shows, and short films; and 100 billion Web pages—and most of this knowledge explosion took place in the last half century. Now add the constant stream of new knowledge created every day; so much, in fact, that the stock of human knowledge now doubles every five years (152)." 

The early Alexandrian Greeks attempted to collect all of the world's knowledge into one huge library. Google is attempting to digitize all books. (See http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/print_library.html). And, once digitized, information can be shared, cross-referenced, and repurposed like never before (154).

Scientific observers expect more change in the next fifty years of science than in the last four hundred years of inquiry. One of the biggest reason for all the changes in collaboration started with the Enlightenment in the 17th century. The Industrial Enlightenment that began in the 17th century formed new ways of thinking and collaborating with like-minded individuals. 

The authors show how the ideas in the Enlightenment have influenced todays quest to collaborate on everything, and make knowledge accessible to those who want it. "New Alexandrians understand that creating a shared foundation of knowledge on which large and diverse groups of collaborators can build, is a great way to enhance innovation and corporate success (178)." 

With all of this availability of knowledge and scientific collaboration, there is some information that remains in private ownership, which in the long run, may affect the direction of research.

How can there be "choice and balance" in education? Are we adequately preparing our students to be able to navigate successfully in a seemingly endless sea of information? How do our students learn and practice the art, and value, of collaboration of knowledge for the "greater good?" 

As a follow-up to this chapter, watch this 4-min video, "We Think." by Charles Leadbeater.



And, his TED Talk: "The Rise of the Amateur Professional"

Chapter 5 - The Prosumers

Hack This Product Please!

This chapter discusses the new age of prosumers, where customers actively participate in the creation and modification of products they consume -- and where “creation” is preferred over the consumption. The chapter begins by relating a discussion between Stanford Professor Lawrence Lessig and Philip Linden, founder of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), or virtual world, known as Second Life -- which just happens to be where the “meeting is taking place.” Second Life is created almost exclusively by the consumers, making them also the producers, hence the term ‘prosumers’.

The authors urge companies to follow the Linden Labs model in “building a 'product' that invites and enables customers to collaborate and add value on a massive scale” (127) such as the Lego Mindstorms (http://mindstorms.legos.com). . . “Companies that learn how to tap the insights of lead users can gain a competitive advantage (128).”

It was interesting to read the authors’ predictions about the evolution of the iPod -- especially since it has somewhat now reached the predicted ‘improved’ state, now performing the functions that hackers first dreamed up, with their “podzilla” operating system -- essentially turning the iPod into a mini-computer. And, anyone can now use the Apple Developer Kit to write their own applications. This has generated a ton of revenue for both Apple and the software authors.

WE ARE THE MEDIA:
There was considerable conversation about mashing and remixing of copyrighted music and the legal battles for Digital Rights Management. I found this interesting as well, in light of the recent DRM-free music now available from Apple (http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatsnew/).

It's important to note that the launch of the Creative Commons in 2002 (by Larry Lessig) has provided great resources for education -- as well as the availability of http://ccmixter.org/ for mixing content.

I was surprised that YouTube was not mentioned in greater depth, especially since participatory music is so prevalent in YouTube. I think the authors "missed the mark" on this one.

As a follow up to this chapter, I would encourage everyone to view Larry Lessig's TED Talk, "How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law" -- (From TED: "Larry Lessig, the Net’s most celebrated lawyer, cites John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights and the "ASCAP cartel" in his argument for reviving our creative culture.")

What other ideas do you have about "prosumers" in education?