Rod Boothby has published a very good white paper on Web Office: The Next Wave in Productivity Tools. You can download the paper from our site or go to Rod's blog for a copy. Here are some things that I think are spot on:
Rod starts out with portrait of the MBA graduating class of 2006 that describes my own vision of networked learners;

The average MBA graduates in 2006 are not just knowledge workers. They are capable of being highly networked internal entrepreneurs and innovation creators. Their ability to connect is not just about email, BlackBerries, text messages and voice-mails. They are intimately familiar with all those tools, but ultimately, expertise with those one-to-one connectivity tools is just the price of admission.What makes these new graduates so effective is their ability to work efficiently with large virtual teams and their amazing ability to maximize the power of their personal networks.

He organizes the new tools that these graduates bring to their jobs into 4 main categories: blogs, wikis, social networks, and project coordination.
The article includes a good table that surveys the different components of what Rod calls Web Office and gives you examples of each of them. He goes on to talk about how these Web 2.0 tools and services can be linked together in the enterprise. This is his distinctive vision and it is both right and very powerful:

Imagine if everyone in your organization had a blog that described them, includedtheir resume, a list of all their skills, and
was automatically kept up to date with a list of all the projects they were working on. You could call these types of blogs
“People Pages”. That is the beginning of an enterprise blogging solution. Here’s what my team is building for our firm of 130,000 auditors and consultants.
We are starting with 5 types of blogs. Each has a fairly narrow focus. Except for the People Pages, each type of blog is designed to be written by a group of people. We are creating an automatic crosslinking script. Add someone to the list of people working on a project and the script automatically updates their People Page. We are also setting up automatically generated directories. When someone creates a Project Page, that project will be added to the directory of all projects. By adding this minimal amount of structure, we are going to be able to help people find the information they need when they need it.

Rod goes on to talk about what the impact of this structure will be for IT and how you manage and train using this kind of environment. This is an important paper. I hope you take the time to read it.
(Full disclosure: Rod Boothby is a member of the Advisory Board of the Otter Group.)

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I had a kick-off meeting for a project we are doing with the American Library Association yesterday. We are developing a prototype course for ALA called Library Futures. It will be delivered in a Learning 2.0 format using blogs, aggregators, and podcasts as the delivery systems and for user publishing and interface. (You can read about it here.)

I want to call your attention to one very nice thing that we have done that I plan to do for all of our new courses: build a shared set of resources using del.ici.ous. Here's how we are doing it:

Everybody involved needs a del.ici.ous account. (To sign up go here; it's free and once you get it, you'll never stop using it.) Once you have an account, then you should add a del.ici.ous plug-in to your browser. (For Firefox for the PC go here; for Firefox for the Mac, go here; for Safari go here; for IE go here.) When you have installed your plug-in, you should be able to tag any link from your browser to your del.ici.ous account.

Then you need a shared “tag” for your resource list. For the ALA project, we selected ALAL2. So now any time I come across something that I think would be useful, it gets tagged ALAL2 and saved into my delicious account.

Here's the cool part: when you click on your tag (in our example, ALAL2), you will be given the option of clicking on all items tagged by anybody as ALAL2:

By clicking on the “all” link, you get this url: http://del.icio.us/tag/ALAL2 and a list of all items tagged:

And you get an RSS feed of the shared tag: http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/ALAL2. When you add this feed to your aggregator, you will be notified any time anybody tags anything with the ALAL2 tag.

This is a great way of building a shared set of resources for a course, project, or team.

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We're happy to announce that our preferred RSS aggregator, Blogbridge, now has the power of reading lists (in the weekly version).

Reading lists are a critical tool/service for the emerging world of Learning 2.0. Dave Winer who developed the code for them, defines them as follows:

Reading lists are OPML documents that point to RSS feeds, like most of the OPML documents you find, but instead of subscribing to each feed in the document, the reader or aggregator subscribes to the OPML document itself. When the author of the OPML document adds a feed, the aggregator automatically checks that feed in its next scan, and (key point) when a feed is removed, the aggregator no longer checks that feed. THe editor of the OPML file can update all the subscribers by updating the OPML file. Think of it as sort of a mutual fund for subscriptions.

This means that “editors” can build collections of RSS feeds and “readers” can subscribe to these collections. I have built a collection called “Otter Learning 2.0″ which includes good feeds around the topic of learning 2.0. I built this collection within Blogbridge and published the aggregated list of feeds as a “reading list.” Here is the url: http://www.blogbridge.com/rl/3247/Otter+Learning+2.0.opml. When you click on this url, this is what you see is a listing of all of the rss feeds in the list:

But this list is not static. It is dynamic in that I continue to find new feeds that I think belong in the collection. So when I add a new feed to the list and update the opml, people who have subscribed to the list will automatically have their collections updated.

This ability to share collections has important implications for learning. Imagine, as we do, that courses become collections of feeds. While someone enrolls in a course, then all they have to do is subscribe to the course reading list and they automatically get all of the feeds they need, organized in one place, and dynamically updated as needed. Imagine that an enterprise starts to distribute all kinds of things as feeds. Reading lists (and the directories to manage the lists) will become the next step in managing RSS in the enterprise.

OK. So we're very excited about this and kudos to Pito and his development team for making it happen. Now here's how you can subscribe to Otter's Learning 2.0 Reading List. You must be using the Blogbridge Weekly Version as this is still a feature in beta testing. Once you have downloaded Blogbridge, all you do is add a Guide and copy this URL into the reading list menu:

http://www.blogbridge.com/rl/3247/Otter+Learning+2.0.opml

Now you are subscribed to this list. And when I make changes your aggregator will keep your list up to date.

We will be publishing new tutorials that show you exactly how to do this. And you can read about how to create and publish your own reading lists on the Blogbridge blog. And if you want to share a reading list you have built that you think our blog readers will like, send us the opml url and we'll publish it here.

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Our business has had an evolving set of mission statements over the years, but now we've landed on one that I think is going to stick. It is:

“Teaching people how to learn”

It is so simple and straightforward and resonant. And it fits with the work we have been doing.

In the past our work was really about bringing expert knowledge and ideas from places like Harvard and MIT to the “broadest number of people.” Through that work, we developed a well-honed understanding of how to be really good learners and how to use new technologies to be smart, productive and competitive. This is so important for individuals, but also for organizations and enterprises. In order to flourish in today's world, we need to re-learn how to learn.

When I give talks, I often say that I am not smarter than anybody else, but because I am a very good learner and because I have learned how to learn with the newest technologies, I often know things a bit earlier than others. That makes me appear smarter. In this world where knowledge is a commodity and the flow of new information is much bigger than any one person could possibly manage, being a good learner has become a critical skill. When we talk about Learning 2.0, what we are really talking about is how to be the best learner you can possibly be. And the best learners are  often the best collaborators. Being really good at learning is often about tapping into the collective wisdom of the right group of peers. And being a good peer is about informing the group with your own intangible, personal intelligence.

The focus of our work next year will be on bringing these ideas to our clients and peer networks. We will be working on building our own learning network so that we can incorporate as many people as possible into sharing this mission. There are many ways that you can join us: we have a couple of positions open for work here at the Otter Group. We are also building a network of experts who are using podcasting to share what they know. We currently have three podcasts going on negotiation, innovation, and learning 2.0. We are going to add three more in the New Year on personal productivity, “being green,” and “weenie nets.” We're open to including your expertise in our network, so if you have something to say, please let us know.

We are also launching a Learning 2.0 boot camp, where we will introduce your organization to the ideas and methods of Learning 2.0. In the boot camp you will have a chance to take what we are developing and apply it to how you work and learn. And we will be continuing our own Learning 2.0 podcast series to help disseminate these ideas as broadly as possible.

We will be forming an advisory board, as well as a Learning 2.0 network, where we regularly convene (virtually to start) to deepen our connections and shared learning. If you would like to be part of either of these groups, please write to me.

I'm very excited about what's coming. And I'm very proud of our employees and associates. This is a shared journey and we hope that you will find a way of joining us.

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My colleague Will Thalheimer has just started blogging (after a big push from me). His blog can be found at Will at WorkLearning.
Will always has interesting things to say so I will be reading his blog and have bookmarked it under the Learning 2.0 category on del.ici.ous.
My only disappointment is that Will chose Typepad for his blog rather than our blogging software, Pingware. Pingware is better than Typepad on a number of fronts, including very good built-in search, the ability to subscribe via category, and a system of components that are completely programmable. It has a much better notification structure, where readers can select how they receive information (via email or subscription) down to the category and its comments. Pingware offers much greater flexibility than Typepad. Pingware has also just added a comment spam-prevention feature where you must type a hidden word before you can post a comment. This has completely eliminated spam from our blogs.
Typepad has been having some performance problems lately. This is something that seems to be endemic to the blogging platform. We have also experienced problems that the platform seems to have stabilized and our hosting partner, Tucows, is doing a great job of troubleshooting the platform.
So Will, before you get all “linked up” on Typepad, reconsider.

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I stopped by the Apple Store in Cambridge today and took a look at the video Ipods on display. I think they are a superb tool for mobile learning. At the Otter Group we are planning to load them up with video and audio graphics podcasts to replace distributing things via the web and on DVD. Aixa has put together this nice graphic to give you an idea of what a video Ipod might look like as a elearning course platform:

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Are there generational differences in how people prefer to learn? This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education reports
on research done by Richard Sweeney, university librarian at the New
Jersey Institute of technology says “yes.” I am squarely in the boomer
generation, so it is hard for me to judge how accurate this is. Could
those of you who read this blog who are “Millenials” weigh in and let
us know if you agree with these certainly gross but interesting
generalizations?

Born between roughly 1980 and
1994, the Millennials have already been pegged and defined by
academics, trend spotters, and futurists: They are smart but impatient.
They expect results immediately. They carry an arsenal of electronic
devices – the more portable the better. Raised amid a barrage of
information, they are able to juggle a conversation on Instant
Messenger, a Web-surfing session, and an iTunes playlist while reading
Twelfth Night for homework. Whether or not they are absorbing the fine
points of the play is a matter of debate…..
He was walking through the library one afternoon when he noticed a
student watching a video of a lecture given by a popular professor of
mathematics. Mr. Sweeney assumed that the student was in the
professor's course, but the student bashfully told Mr. Sweeney that he
was in another professor's class. “He reluctantly went on to describe,”
the library director says, “that he could learn the material better
from this professor on this video.”
It was then, Mr. Sweeney says, that he had the first inkling that
students these days are more apt to take control of their learning and
choose unconventional, technological methods to learn better. He talked
with the director of distance education and learned that the largest
percentage of distance-education students at the institute were
students already on the campus.
Soon he noticed more and more students gathered in groups at tables in
the library, passing around information on their laptops, pulling
information off the Internet, and learning together.
“In some cases, they weren't going to class,” he says. “This was their
class. They elected to work in a group and skip a particular class,
which worried me.”
But he was looking at it from his own perspective, he acknowledges.
From their perspective, he says, the behavior was simply “practical”:
how to learn the material as fast as possible, with the least hassle.
“The technology was a huge enabler for them to be able to do the things
they do differently,” he says.
Mr. Sweeney then embarked on research about the generation, reading
what other scholars and commentators had to say about the newly dubbed
Millennials…..
Sitting in his office, its walls covered with pictures of his six
children (two of whom are Millennials), Mr. Sweeney ticks off some of
those differences:
“They have no brand loyalty,” he says. They “accept as their right” the
ability to make choices and customize the things they choose.
They are more educated than their parents and expect to make more
money. “Many more have changed majors and expect to change jobs and
careers,” Mr. Sweeney says. But they often wait until they are already
well into a major or a career track before they decide to make a
change, he adds.
Playing with gizmos and digital technology is second nature to them.
“They like portability, and they are frustrated by technology that
tethers them to a specific location,” he says. Studies show that
Millennials don't read as much as previous generations did. They prefer
video, audio, and interactive media.
They multitask. “They are much more likely to mix work and play than we
are,” he says, “playing a game or chatting while they are doing an
assignment.”
“In grade school, they were pushed to collaboration,” which explains
the popularity of group study in college today, Mr. Sweeney says. “The
collaboration,” he adds, “is both in-person and virtual.”
Moreover, “they want to learn, but they want to learn only what they
have to learn, and they want to learn it in a style that is best for
them,” he says. Often they prefer to learn by doing.
Marc Prensky, a video-game designer and futurist whom Mr. Sweeney cites
in conversation and in articles, would take these notions further. The
Millennials, or “digital natives,” as he prefers to call them, feel
hemmed in by an educational system that continually looks to history,
that does not take young people seriously, and that squelches
creativity, a key characteristic of Millennials.
“What we're really losing is the sense of why kids need an education,”
Mr. Prensky says. “The things that have traditionally been done
– you know, reflection and thinking and all that stuff
– are in some ways too slow for the future. … Is there a way
to do those things faster?”

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Here’s a nice service provided by Julian Doncaster

Media Encoding Library

Video Format Expo Launched

(*) I would be very happy to accept a donation of a video-editing suite and university computing department to make this possible - or any other offers of help in pursuit of the “broadcast quality” version.

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On Tuesday, October 11th, Kathleen will be giving a talk on RSS Learning Networks at the Mass-ISPI Meeting.

To register, please go to: http://www.mass-ispi.org/

Presentation Description:

Technology was supposed to make learning better, faster, and easier. But
technology-enabled learning has not fulfilled its promise. People are
spending as much as five hours per week looking for information. While
they learn best from one another, the learning management systems
organizations are using do not enable that. Companies want each person
to contribute their expertise to the maximum benefit of the whole
enterprise but until now there have not been systems that make that
possible. What we need is a solution that will increase transparency,
improve knowledge sharing, allow end users to determine what is of
greatest value to them and harness the collective intelligence of an
organization.

This presentation will: 1) Explore a new system for learning and
information management that solves the problems that users experience
with current technologies and methods. 2) See how RSS can be used to
create learning networks and enable powerful personalization and
customization, complex filtering and analysis of all kinds of content
flowing through an organization. and 3) Look at a prototype of an RSS
learning network and two use case scenarios where RSS networks are used
for innovation in a large financial services company and for resource
and project management at a global engineering firm.

The presentation will look at some specific examples of RSS
Learning Networks at Merrill Lynch and some use cases of learning
networks for project and resource management.

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On BuzzMachine there's an interesting discussion going on about “customer service in reverse”

In the continuing Dell discussion, Steve Rubel answers Steve Baker’s question about how companies should deal with lots of bloggers raising lots of customer service issues:

Steve,
over time I think you’re going to see blog search and Web search tools
integrated into CRM systems. This will give customer service the tools
they need to manage individual issues that bubble on blogs. However,
you are right. PR professionals will increasingly need to not only
serve as an organization’s mouthpiece (one of them at least), but also
its eyes and ears. The best PR pros have done this for years. Blogging
just makes it easier to keep our finger on the public pulse.
This is
how we operate at CooperKatz. We monitor the blogosphere for all of our
clients. If we spot a customer issue, we route it to the right party to
manage. Occasionally, we also reach out ourselves to begin the
dialogue.

Interesting… so imagine if rather
than having to go to companies for service — and waiting on hold and
waiting and waiting… — the companies came to us! What a concept.

Think
of that world-in-reverse: You post a need online, tagged with a
microformat (more on that later), and people find you and bid to solve
your problem or sell you their product, selling you with price and also
with testaments of trust.

That’s not the world in
reverse. That’s the world as it should be: The sellers come to the
customers, not the other way around. The customers becomes the
marketplace. I like that.

Now just
replace customer service issue with learning need. Wouldn’t
it be great if the explanations and solutions and training you needed
came to you when you asked for them?

Just-in-time learning or on-demand learning
is supposed to make this possible but these systems that place
information at the learner’s fingertips have one major drawback. The
people populating the systems with information and
training materials need to know in advance what the learner is
going to need.

Learning and communications departments
have the mandate to provide information to employees as quickly
and efficiently as possible but their processes are inherently
reactive. It takes time to recognize that a learning need exists and
then to recruit the appropriate subject matter expert to develop the
solution and then to deploy the “learning object” or “training module.”
There is a place for this kind of process of course, especially when it
comes to compliance issues. But there are many learning needs that
would be better served by a system that immediately taps into the
knowledge of the entire enterprise and aggregates solutions.

Such
a system, what we call an “emergent learning network” enables anyone
who might be able to help to respond. This is the way it frequently
works in the blogosphere. You publish a question on your blog (or as a
comment on someone else’s) and if it’s interesting enough and turns up
in the aggregator of someone who has an incentive to provide the
information you need or direct you to someone who can, then they will
respond.

Having just finished reading Freakonomics I am thinking about incentives. On places like Experts Exchange the
incentive is monetary but in most of the blogosphere the incentive is
in recognition (which of course can translate into money indirectly)
and this is the way it needs to be in the enterprise.

To be successful an emergent learning network needs—

• to integrate with, complement and extend the sources of information already available
• to integrate
  seamlessly with users’ existing work processes, ideally allowing users
  to adapt the input and output interfaces to suit their own needs
• to incorporate design and management of the network that encourages participation
• what else?

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