Everybody’s going Green. If it weren’t so important, it would be annoying. Anyway, I’ve been feeling fairly sanctimonious about the whole thing. I work at home, on my computer. My output is digital, and it is delivered digitally; my printer doesn’t even work. Can’t get much Greener than that, right? Still, it’s got me thinking …
One mantra of the Green movement is “Reuse, Repair, Recycle.” This makes sense in a world where waste and discards end up in massive heaps at every city’s edge – and on huge barges that bob in the oceans. Since I live in that world, the recently repaired and recycled 3R’s feel very like a battle cry. “Go Green – Save Our Planet!”
To make a long story short, I heeded the call. We are reducing our carbon footprint chez Derryberry, for sure. I do feel I’m entitled to some carbon offsets, however, since my work intends to contribute to the common good, especially environmentally, precisely because my medium is digital. But, of course, the challenge is to do better than we’ve done before. In this regard, I’m still exploring what Green means for learning online, and what the 3R’s mean when one’s medium of expression, exploration, and communication is digital. With respectful apologies to one of the sages of our time, “It’s not easy going green.”
In the War against Greenhouse Emissions, I’ve taken a posting to the Digital Front. I’ve given myself the rather enviable title of “Scout and Emissary” (do select your own title whenever possible). My charge is to identify and highlight trends and technologies that are at the digital frontier, so that those in the e-Learning Heartland are well prepared for What’s To Come.
As with everything, there is a catch, though – and here’s the beauty of my plan. YOU will do the reusing-repairing-recycling bit. And the reporting back. Brilliant, isn’t it? A nice brilliant, emerald Green.
The other day, my mother asked me to explain Twitter. It’s frequently in the news now, of course, so she’s curious and wants to stay current. Here’s a challenge: explain Twitter to someone who has never sent or received an e-mail, who has only had a cell phone for six months, and who doesn’t yet know – or want to know – how to get her voicemail. (“They’ll call back if they really need to talk.”)
Twitter isn’t for everyone, naturally. But it can be a powerful communications tool if you are concerned about things like immediacy and reach. While vanity tweets (e.g., “I’m walking my dog and eating a bagel.”) are still a big part of the Twitter universe, business people are finding terrific uses for the service. Several usage models have developed:
- Notifications (“Plane just dumped in the Hudson!”)
- Information-sharing (“Really liked Maureen Dowd’s column today.”)
- Promotions (“New downloadable report available.”)
- Collaboration (“Anyone else having trouble installing ‘BGYD’? Need help please.”)
Forrester pegs the number of Twitter users at around 5 million people today. eMarketer.com estimates that the number of unique users of Twitter will be 12+ million by the end of 2009, and over 18 million by end of 2010. How many of your learners use Twitter? Do you?
Certainly, the usages that have emerged so far are relevant to live learning events. Some groups are taking advantage of hashtags, a feature of Twitter that enables the collection of all tweets (Twitter messages) having to do with a particular topic; I recently attended a conference where participants were encouraged to contribute tweets to the conference’s Twitter page. Does your company have a corporate account? What is it used for? Does your learning organization have a Twitter account? What are all the ways Twitter might be an effective collaboration tool for your company and your learners?
In recognition of its burgeoning popularity, many Web developers have coupled Twitter with other software products and services – even World of Warcraft has a Twitter widget now. Is an LMS/Twitter mashup in our future?
Is there a role for Twitter in e-Learning? Send us your examples and ideas!
Las Vegas recently hosted the IBM IMPACT 2009 Conference. The conference brought key customers of IBM’s Service-Oriented Architecture solutions and services together with IBM’s internal organization and their partner/affiliates. Many IBM executives gave keynote presentations about the new product and service releases their divisions were making. Lots of ways to help partners and customers conduct their work more efficiently and cost-effectively.
To my great delight, the best presentation from this leading enterprise software company came from the least techie corner. Soft-spoken John Callies, General Manager of IBM Global Financing, hushed a room of 2,500 with his discussion of the role of the customer’s CFO in technology-buying decisions.
Callies’ message was clear: CFOs play a crucial, even central, role in every key corporate decision. Our challenge is to help CFOs make critical investments to improve operating performance in difficult financial times. To do this, we must learn “CFO language,” which Callies says it far more important to closing a deal than “CIO/CTO language.” Do your sales and support people know the language of operating vs. capital expense, structured payments (both in and out), and ROI?
Callies asserts that the most critical part of the buying process is determining how to align customer benefits with their cash flows. How do you keep your team’s focus on financial impact? Your learners’ focus? On impact to their organization? To their customers? Do your learning products always include financial impact objectives? Do your online tools encourage, even force, an appropriate level of financial impact analysis?
Are you and your organization squeezing the most customer value out of your offerings? How do e-Learning initiatives support this effort? How do you keep your learners’ focus on impact and value? Remember those 3Rs - inquiring minds want to know.
