Why are we embedded in social networks?
In my quest to better understand 'social' I revisited this TED talk this evening. One of the key take away points was about the network interconnections: it is the ties between people that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The architecture of the ties we have around us has more influence than we may think. Our quality of life could be said to depend on the architecture around us. Collective intelligence forms super organisms – which ties in with my post a couple of days ago… http://simbeckhampson.com/2012/02/10/the-power-of-collective-intelligence/
The benefits of a connected life out-weight the costs. With the inherit intent to spread good, social networks have the power to transform in ways unimaginable without them. Inspiring TED talk, worth 20 minutes of your time.
#learning #community #collaboration #collectiveintelligence
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Nicholas Christakis: The hidden influence of social networks
We're all embedded in vast social networks of friends, family, co-workers and more. Nicholas Christakis tracks how a wide variety of traits — from happiness to obesity — can spread from person to pe…
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Whale Sharks Don’t Live in Fish Tanks
Co-Existing: Bridging Cultural Differences
Before we begin you may want to pop the kettle on and make a fresh cuppa – this post is not short. An interesting thing occured this evening. A photographer by the name of Shirley Lo +1′d three of my posts on Google Plus.
Social Learning Explained
An excellent post getting to the essence of what social learning is.
#learning #sociallearning #enterprise #communities #collaboration
Reshared post from +Jane Hart
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Social Learning: what actually is it?
Following my last post Social Learning: Are you starting from the right place, I was asked to explain what “social learning” actually is in an organizational context. Rather than provide a bland definition, I thought I would provide some quotes from some key resources that will give a flavour of what it is all about.
If you haven’t yet come across The New Social Learning book (by Marcia Conner and Tony Bingham), this is a must-read. Marcia explains:
“At its most basic level, social learning c…
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Chrome Extension: Discover Hangouts on Google+
#googleplus #chrome #collaboration
Reshared post from +Hangout Canopy
Hangout Canopy is now available for download. – Please share and +1We are proud to be back online after a brief hiatus. During this time we took the opportunity to add some new features, improve performance, and fix little bugs.
What is Hangout Canopy:
Hangout Canopy is a Google Chrome extension that allows you to discover hangouts from all over the world. Hangout Canopy shows you a real-time stream of public and limited hangouts. Hangout Canopy is used by thousands of people, all contributing and benefiting from the new connections they have made. The chrome extensions is available from the Google Chrome Web Store.
Download: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dbjbjpicplblhgkjjdbplpgkmhojmjom
Website: http://hangoutcanopy.com/
Release Version: 1.1.0
Developers: +Robert Pitt +Brian Aldridge +Mohammad Eshbeata
Thanks: +Moritz TolxdorffNew features added:
- I'm Feeling Lucky, a button that shoots you into a random hangout
- Donation Page (PayPal) added, for those that can spare a few dollars to support the free extension.We hope you enjoy the new version and we hope to see you in a hangout soon.
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Step Back and See the Big Picture (Video)
#video #enterprise #collaboration #humour
Reshared post from +Rand Fishkin
Great video – hope this spreads across the web rapidly.
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Discussion: Google Plus Keyboard Shortcuts
#google plus #tips #collaboration
Reshared post from +Siegfried Hirsch
Keyboard Tip – goto to the Google+ Search Box with /you may know about j and k keyboard shortcuts in Google+ to go to the next and previous posting (VI reminder) and now I have found, that the / can be used for Search. Did not know that, till today.
So if you are on Goolge+ you can just hit / (slash) and voilá you are in the search box and start typing your search keys. Nice
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Collaboration, pure!
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The Challenges of Collaboration
After reading this article, my first reaction was, ‘Great! How is this going to help improve collaboration and trust… it’s not, is it?’ Without trust, collaboration dies; without collaboration, trust is never born. Continue Reading
Let the workflow and people determine the technology, not the other way around. #web20 #strategy #learning
Snipped a few gems from this article… resonates!
Instead of focusing on how people use the tech and aligning it with their overall performance goals, they focus on just the technology.
Let the workflow and people determine the technology, not the other way around.
perhaps the goal of collaboration shouldn’t be about reducing costs or increasing the amount of work that each employee can do, but about how well each person can now do their job once they are networked in the human cloud.
Is Collaboration a Crock? …reading
CrowdSource: Using QR Codes for Self Updating Learning Materials < End of the textbook?
Over the past few days / weeks I’ve been exploring QR codes and yesterday I posted a video from Brazil where an innovative project created a book containing such codes. Every seven days the URL destination would change and therefore the book took on a living presence, constantly updating content without the need to re-print the code.
I’ve spoken with a few people about this and there has been much excitement and brainstorming on its potential uses.
As I was on a call to @learninganorak discussing this, @berthelemy added his take on it via a tweet..
“I prefer rss as a way of getting self updating learning materials.”
Although this initially dampened our enthusiasm, it did lead to the creation of this crowdsourcing post – let’s explore it’s uses…
So, it’s time to get your thinking caps on ->
1) What applications can you see for using QR codes in learning where the link to the material changes on a regular basis.
2) What are the impacts, the postives and the negatives.
Take the reins of the education system — and pull very hard ht @twazzup
“It is time to prepare our children with the skills they need for success in and in the workplace of tomorrow — those of collaboration, critical thinking and creative innovation.” by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
What percentage of the knowledge you need to do your job is stored in your own mind? (via @hjarche)
Excellent post!
Conversations and collaboration
What percentage of the knowledge you need to do your job is stored in your own mind? Or put another way: What percentage of your time do you spend reaching out to someone or something else for knowledge that is essential for you to get your job done? Do you know how much you don’t know?
If 90% of the knowledge needed to get work done is not supported by enterprise software or organizational learning departments, then there is a significant imbalance in most organizations today. Any time you wonder why things aren’t working in your organization, it’s because you’re in a system optimized for only one tenth of what you need to get done.
Thanks to my ITA colleague Clark Quinn for inspiring me to write this post.
Sneffel: It’s a virtual drawing pad that lets student and teachers collaborate < follow @mebassett
I’m so pleased the developer, Matthew Eric Bassett, carried on this project. I used this software on Ning to allow whiteboard interaction as Ning had no own alternative. Since then he’s developed it further, it’s certainly worth taking a look…
Sneffel (the beta)
25353 SneffelBoards served.
Sneffel changes how online education works.
It’s a virtual drawing pad that lets student and teachers collaborate.
It’s a collaborative equation editor that lets students engage each other.
It records your work and lets you replay it again and again.
Collaboration, Communities, Education, Social Learning, Enterprise, Social Media < TOP #ff tweeps…
If you are remotely interested in any of the above topics you really ought to be reading their blogs and following them on Twitter. Personally I’m feeling very honoured to be mentioned in amongst these incredible thinkers / doers…
I would also add @scottgould to this list…
A big thanks to Josh and Sahana for the heads up
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bloomfire
#FF smart ppl: @cammybean @mrch0mp3rs @moehlert @simbeckhampson @ginaschreck @timpmartin @bschlenker
Wallwisher.com for Collaboration
Wallwisher is an online notice board maker. Discussing a new idea? Taking notes? Giving feedback? Voicing opinion? Adding Video or Images… with private and public options available < Like it…
This is an example of a school project.

What is Social Media? by @lavrusik, Mashable – (HT @nancyrubin)
I like no.14…
“Social Media is the instantaneous aggregation and creation of content by the people, of the people, for the people, on the social web.” – Eric Pena
Click through to read a short statement about each item listed.
“What is Social Media?”
1. Collaboration:
2. Network:
3. Conversation:
4. Sharing:
5. Relationships:
6. Multi-dimensional:
7. Inclusive:
8. Information:
9. Community:
10. Personalization:
11. Empowering:
12. A Radical Shift in Communication:
13. Real-time:
14. People:
15. Content Distribution:
16. Self-expression:
17. Unity:
18. Dynamic:
19. Discovery:
20. Power of the Crowd:Read more at mashable.com
A Brief History of the Power of Pull (HT @jclarey)
Leading on from my earlier post today about serendipity (http://bit.ly/cDbeln) – I was guided to this post by Janet Clarey. I’m pretty sure that all of this is a real-time example of serendipity in motion. An earlier comment from Eric about his belief that serendipitous collaboration was at the heart of Amplify’s development confirms that social computing and the creation of communities of practice is indeed the most effective way for creativity and innovation to flourish in the 21st century.
A Brief History of the Power of Pull
a foundational insight: that digital technology was setting in motion a shift in market power from the makers of goods and services to the people that buy them, and to talented employees from the institutions that employ them
Pull allows each of us to find and access people and resources when we need them, while attracting to us the people and resources that are relevant and valuable, even if we were not even aware before that they existed. Finally, in a world of mounting pressure and unforeseen opportunities, pull gives us the ability to draw from within ourselves the insight and performance required to more effectively achieve our potential.
The power of pull puts each of us, individually and together, in a position to collaborate in a complete re-imagination of our biggest private-and public-sector institutions, one that may eventually remake society as a whole.
the only sustainable edge in the future will come from accelerated capability building — creating the conditions to enable people to learn faster by working together.
So how to structure these learning environments?
communities of practice to drive learning and performance improvement.
deep personal relationships were a key to driving capability building. In addition to those essential relationships, it’s key that members of this community represent diverse backgrounds–critical for the creative tension that often arises from confronting different points of view. We’ve found through our years of research and writing that this mix greatly increases the potential for innovation.Read more at blogs.hbr.org
And the goal of a lifetime is…
I’ve been working on my website today, preparing a new service, ‘Software Tours’. The front page has also been changed to reflect a key message… If you get a chance, let me know what you think, your opinions, good, bad or indifferent would be greatly appreciated.
“And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. Recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.” ~ Rene DubosRead more at sites.google.com
When Social Gets Too Much
Hunky Dorey
You’re twenty eight years old, recently married, first child on the way, a successful community manager for a leading retailer, and part of your daily bread and butter is updating the feed on Facebook or Twitter. You’ll spend an hour a day looking through your well researched RSS feeds for one or two relevant articles to post, and perhaps another hour commenting on posts and enganging with your community. Your sorted, your cool, no worries there. Continue Reading






