It’s pretty tough to be a newspaper publisher these days, what with the greening of the Internet and a lousy economy. In fact, the print medium in general is facing a complete re-think. The problem for newspapers and magazines – indeed, for any content provider struggling to find a viable, current business model – is that content consumers increasingly expect to access their content online, and to do so for free. So who pays the journalists and reporters who patrol the dusty corners of society to produce the content we want and need? Turns out, TV doesn’t just rot our minds; its business model rots our capitalist economy, too.
It’s not just capitalism that’s taking a hit, either. Democracy stands to take one on the chin if citizens of democratic societies around the globe have less visibility into the workings of our governments. David Simon, reporter for The Baltimore Sun and creator of HBO’s The Wire, summed up the problem during his testimony before a U.S. Senate committee hearing on the Future of Journalism: “High-end journalism is dying in America, and unless a new economic model is achieved, it will not be reborn on the Web or anywhere else. … We are entering a halcyon era for state and local government officials. It’s gonna be a great time to be a corrupt politician.”
Amazon thinks its new e-reader may be journalism’s salvation. Kindle 2.0 now comes in two form factors; Amazon is touting the larger Kindle DX as the ideal device for newspaper readers. I don’t know about that. But I am impressed with the technology, especially since it opens some interesting doors for e-Learning.
For starters, the Kindle DX screen is very easy on the eyes – especially weary, bespectacled ones such as mine. The device is quite light, and briefcase-size. It has a keyboard, so you can annotate the text. The battery lasts forever (well, two weeks). Should you manage to fill up its capacious memory, you can back it up to your computer. But wait, there’s more!
Here’s what gets me excited (not its exorbitant $489 sticker price): each Kindle DX has a unique, customizable e-mail address, enabling its owner to send/receive documents. Compatible file formats include Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC, and MOBI files. It also plays MP3 files. It can read your documents to you (sorry, not your mom’s voice)! And it has a browser with any-time Internet access. Sure sounds like a personal productivity tool to me – and a likely candidate as an e-Learning client device.
Amazon is promoting Kindle DX to the higher-ed world, presuming, I suppose, that the university community is the ticket to mass adoption (buying decision: 1 backpack x $125, 6 textbooks x $200 vs. 1 Kindle DX x $500, 3 e-texts x $10, 1 backpack x $75, 3 textbooks x $200). My hunch? Creative corporate learning, productivity, and marketing types are going to lead the charge in innovative uses, and Kindle corporate buying programs are just around the corner.
It’s long been the case that when times get tough, non-essentials – like training – are the first parts of an organization to get hit. This time around, however, technology-oriented learning professionals are likely to find themselves in high demand. What’s different now?
Today, official unemployment stands at 9.4% in the U.S. When you add in all the people who want a job but have stopped looking, the other official unemployment rate is 16.4%, which equals one in six members of the civilian workforce. That’s, of course, before you consider the people who have been furloughed, so are in employment limbo.
Where are the 25.38 million new American jobs going to come from? How will jobs and job seekers find each other? Are current job seekers going to be capable of filling the new jobs that are available? How will they gain skills and knowledge to position themselves for the new jobs?
Enter the Workforce Improvement Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. ARRA provides new funds to modernize our nation's infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those Americans in greatest need. The Workforce Improvement Act focuses specifically on developing the skills workers will need for the industries and jobs of the 21st century.
Congress has allocated $3.75 billion to be administered by the Education & Training Administration of the Department of Labor; specific programs and grant opportunities are to be issued this month. While government funds are frequently designated for distribution between public and non-profit agencies, this legislation calls for at least $750 million to be made available through competitive grants. Check www.doleta.gov/grants for updated information.
Even if your organization isn’t going to seek grant funding, following the government money can be a good indicator of where you can expect private interest to head as well. As an independent contractor, you may find it useful to affiliate with a social service agency whose interests match those of training grant programs. Likewise, custom developers and off-the-shelf content providers may equally discover new sales channels by staying on top of where the government is spending our reinvestment money.
