The geniuses behind Google Maps recently announced Google Wave, which they are calling a “personal communication and collaboration tool”. It is a browser application (HTML 5) that brings the opportunity to “collate” and evolve emails and traditional documents into a real-time collaborative experience that will integrate instant messaging, wiki (read-write) and social networking components. You can also easily embed these “wave” conversations on blogs to share the discussion…pretty cool!
BONUS points – Google Waves works on Android mobile devices. I repeat…Google Waves works on Android mobile devices. Check out the video below!!! I cannot wait to try out on my G1. Being a huge fan of Gmail and Google Documents, I just signed up for the alpha and am VERY, VERY interested in how a tool like this can be used to streamline business communication and collaboration. HEADS UP teammates and peers out there, get ready for the Mark Wave…coming soon!
They are not only calling it an application but also a platform and protocol. Being open source, Google is looking for the community to try out, see what works and extend it to make it better.
I like this quote about email-
“…email (aka snail mail), which was invented 40 years ago, is still today is the most popular communication tool….but lacks the experience of real-time SMS etc. ”
Just getting back from San Jose and a million thanks to Brent and the Guild for an absolutely amazing DevLearn08 (#dl08). The event was held in the beautiful Fairmont hotel near Adobe headquarters and was jammed packed with inspirational keynotes, deep dive concurrent sessions and physical + virtual connections with fellow bloggers, tweeters and learning professionals.
What were your favorite presentations? I was able to catch excellent conversations and sessions on mobile learning (Judy Brown, BJ Schone, Barbara Ludwig, David Metcalf), immersive learning (Mark Oehlert), instructional design using the semantic web (Rueben Tozman), micro-blogging trends (Michelle Lentz), new work literacy (Tony Karrer)…and many, many others. Of course, there was a lot of tweeting going on and informal aha moments. Special shout out to my new T-Mobile teammate Jeff Tillet, who I am excited to dive into new media learning solutions with.
Keynote Highlights
Tim O’Reilly – follow the alpha geeks, early adopters and people who need training the least (high performers). Reach out to them and turn them into mentors, as well as provide convenient resources, reinforcement. Then study successes.
Dan Roam says – break every problem into Who, What, Where, Why and How…all you need is a napkin and sharpie. By the way, I tested the PowerPoint slideshow drawing feature, which is cool and can even convert to a slide object.
John Medina – covered a few of his 12 Brain Rules and how the education system counteracts how the brain has evolved to process and store information.
LinkedIn, da Vinci and Qik dinner
The days and nights were crazy busy, and in a few cab rushed evenings, I was also able to meet up with Jackie Danicki from Qik in beatiful Palo Alto for dinner, see the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Technology Musuem, drive around Google-land and get a tour of LinkedIn headquarters, where we rocked out to Guitar Hero and got free snacks and fruit drinks in the LunchedIn kitchen. Special thanks to my co-presenter George Aston’s cousin Scott (LinkedIn web developer) for the dinner and tour…look forward to further tech discussions.
Thanks to everyone for coming to our 402 session on Using Rapid Video…it was almost a full house, which was cool. After quick hitting brain and film theory fundamentals with video examples, we broke the session into a hands-on video workshop with three groups tasked with props, storyboard and a Flip camera to rapidly create content. George and I were stoked by the amount of participation and levels of creativity. Please find what the groups created below on YouTube, as well as our slide deck in SlideShare. Also, if you are interested in current trends in user generated video, check out my article in Training Solutions Magazine.
402 Workshop Videos
Group 1 | Using paper props
Group 2 | Using real props
Group 3 | Using a flip chart and markers
Note: First few audio seconds for each video have a slight delay…not sure why…maybe a Vista issue with Flip software???
Technology can be used to amplify, enhance and extend how we share information. We can engage in one-to-many conversations using mobile devices and share real-time video using tools like Qik. Not since the invention of the printing press, has the world seen such a revolutionary shift in communication.
While reading Problogger, I found this inspirational video showing how Glenda Watson Hyatt uses blogging to connect with people in a very revolutionary way. Glenda is a web accessibility consultant who was tasked to investigate the accessiblity of the blogging platform WordPress. She describes the evolution her written word from email to “hitting the publish button” for her first blog post.
I will be attending the I wish I was going to theK12 Online Conference to check out Mathew Needleman’s Film School for Video Podcasters presentation. It looks very hands on, practical and what is the f-word…oh yeah, FUN! As with any craft, film theory can make a world of difference when it comes to the final reel. Whether it be tips like the 180 rule, shot selection or using a well executed montage, technique can enhance the experience, or (if used incorrectly) distract from it.
If you are into eLearning and are planning to attend the next eLearning Guild DevLearn08 in San Jose this November, come by a presentation/workshop that I am presenting with collegue, George Aston, called “Getting Hi-fi with Low-fi!”, in which we will cover using simple and cheap video props with solid film theory to create effective video learning experiences.
The writing is on the wall, regular people are getting their hands on easy to use tools to create and deliver video…aka user generated video content. Besides marketing specialists and social media enthusiasts, eLearning professionals can also benefit from not only harnessing the (video) power of their organization, but also getting their return on investiment from rapidly developed content.
Here is a presentation video preview from Mathew’s blog:
A few sections in Mathew’s presentation video preview totally remind of the movie Be Kind Rewind, which has a bunch of movie remake gems with Jack Black and Mos Def.
eLearning is a term that is applied to a wide range of content delivery. Some are page turner “click here to continue” modules, some are interactive simulations and others are well crafted rap songs, such as “Design Coding” performed by rapper Poetic Prophet, aka SEO Rapper, which can be found on the YouTube channel m0serious TV, in the How to Style category.
But can Robert Mager dance to it…
With a running total of 324,979 views, the Design Coding video is an example of a new school of eLearning design, which thinks outside of the box and takes the “B” out of boring and it turns it into “beat”, as in 4/4 time signature. The content is well scripted and covers the basics of web design in 3 minutes, 22 seconds, all executed in a body movin’ tune that your younger sister and even your grandfather can dance (or code) to. When is the last time you had a web design course in less than five minutes that you can rock out to with your iPod?
Call to action to increase the temptation
use appealing graphics they create motivation
if you have animation
use with moderation
…describe your doctype so the browser can relate
make sure you do it great or it won’t validate
check in all browsers, I do it directly
gotta make sure that it renders correctly
some use IE, some others use Flock
some use AOL, I use Firefox
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Posted by badsquare 
