Futuring and Innovation: The next 5,000 days of the Web

Kevin Kelly discusses the next 5,000 days of the Web on Ted Talks

Imagine for a moment that you summarized the Web's development as the first 5,000 days (13.7 years) that led to the Web as we know it today. Travel back in your mind 13-14 years. What were you doing prior to the Web?

In 1986, my family and I ran a BBS for 150 Mac users out of our home. Sending email messages in 1988 across a defense network required long email addresses that identified the machines en route.

What will the next 5,000 days of the Web offer in terms of capability and use? Kevin Kelly compares what we know today to what it will be like in 13.7 years.

The statistics from today's Internet use help us to put our experience into perspective.

The Web 2.0 has provided us with a wealth of free collaboration, broadcasting and social tools. In the future, Kelly's notes that your identity and your ability to find friends across future social sites will be consistent as you travel between tools.

For the Semantic Web, Web 3.0 and the giant global graph to be effective, we need to be open to sharing our data in addition to sharing web pages and our computers. I can see a few barriers to open access when it comes to private and sensitive data.

Moving to a world with the easy retrieval of data will require a culture shift from today's compliance and control to an effective information accountability system that supports the fair use of data. How we feel about web privacy and the protection of data limits what we share today.

Linking things between the Web and the real world, as noted by Kelly's observation about the Internet of Things helps us to experience a seat on the plane or to reserve a table at a restaurant, as I proposed in my Futuring and Innovation course introduction.

I wrote my introduction before watching his video and am gratified to see that his vision of the future aligns with mine. *chuckles*

Will we become co-dependent on the future Web as Kelly suggests? *grins* His summary notes that We are the Web and we will become the machine. What do you think?

He concludes by observing that the result from the next 5,000 days (13.7 years) won't be the Web that we know today, only better. It will offer a smarter, more personalized and ubiquitous experience.

I am ready for it! Are you?

Freedom Writers' Diaries - Erin Gruwell at ISTE NECC 09

Erin Gruwell shared her inspiring story and the stories from her students as they learned a love of literature and to develop their voices. She showed several video clips that were heartbreaking in their honesty and empowerment.

We left NECC 09 energized and ready to develop the stories of our students. Her work with the 150 teachers across the country on the use of technology reminded me that despite our level of technological sophistication, we all have hurdles and challenges to overcome.

If they can do it, we can do it! *cheers*

I had a grand time working at the Second Life Playground and want to thank Lisa Linn, Scott Merrick, Susan Toth-Cohen, Peggy Sheehy, Bernajean Porter, Marianne Malstrom, Lloyd, Laura Sheehy, Pamela and our wonderful Second Life educators!

See you at ISTE 2010 in Denver! *waves*

ISTE NECC 2009 - Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's keynote address at the ISTE NECC 2009 conference began with an analogy of Fleetwood Mac's success with the album Rumors and how the band struggled to perfect their music over the 16 albums that preceded it. #necc09mg

Without 10+ years of hard work, it is hard to achieve mastery. The live blog and discussions over twitter reflected on this thought. Some felt that it did not account for the creative genius of the talented educators who are new to the practice of teaching.

My thoughts? Practice makes perfect is not always the outcome, despite how long some folks practice their craft. Learning from experience and creating knowledge from it aligns with my constructivist philosophy. One of my favorite quotes comes to mind.

Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

(attributed to Will Rogers and Barry LePatner)

We need opportunities to fail and to learn from failure in order to appreciate and achieve success. #necc2009mg

I enjoyed last year's keynote address and the reflections on the wisdom of crowds. This year, I'm humming "Rock on, Gold Dust Woman" and looking forward to tomorrow's sessions. *grins* #necc09 #necc09mg

Conferences for May - June

For the Global Learning Forum event in May, Andy Stricker, Mike McCrocklin and I are working on a paper that analyzes the benefits of collaboration in the game simulation. The measurements include interdependent group decisions and how the leadership role transfers within virtual teams. It builds on John Bransford's research on anchored-modular inquiry.

It also reminds me of Dr. Bransford's 2006 presentation on collaboration and cooperation. In Second Life, we floated on red seats above his maze where the participants needed to work together to open and navigate through each room. The ceiling was cut away so we could observe the action and video screens lowered around us so we could see video examples from the experiment.

After the presentation, we were able to wear a device as we entered the experiment during an informal tour. A copy of his transcript is available from SimTeach.

I am hosting the Mystical Festival on Acheron LV426 May 15-17 to benefit the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. It is sponsored by Elf Circle's RFL team, Circle of Life.

The Mystical Festival includes crafts, concerts, dances, fashion shows, Second Life classes, fortune telling and Elven magic in a Tolkienesque setting.

Check back for a listing of events and times. We have a series of events from March - June followed by the design of the campsites and run through the Second Life Relay for Life.

June 28 - July 2, I'll be in Washington, DC for the ISTE NECC conference. Many thanks to Lisa Linn for inviting me to participate in the Second Life Playground and workshops. The SL playground will run for three days this year.

CS 820 Week 3 in Second Life

On Thursday, April 30, we held two sessions in Breeze and created recordings of the following topics: selecting measurement attributes, setting goals, creating the usability specification and designing the test procedure, test plan and experimental design.

In Second Life, we gathered to discuss building techniques and created a stool, fountain head and lamp. For those who missed it, the notes are in a notecard giver within the lamp sculpture in front of the building information signs. (See the example at the top left). Click the lamp to get a copy of the notecard. It has instructions, textures and a sample of the finished product.

We also distributed texture folders (through stone), four sound folders, vehicles and the Lyr scripts folder. In the scripts, the tip jar/genie bottle script has examples of how objects can interact with the local chat log or via instant message.

If you did not want the chat log to spam the data collected to the test subject, you could have the object instant message the test conductor privately with the data collected. This is not required for our projects, but good to know. Another method is the llOwnerSay() function. Objects then communicate only with the owner or avatar that rezzed the object.

We are going to hold another Second Life class on Saturday, May 9, 2009, so look for it on the Calendar. The Breeze recordings will be posted on Moodle on Friday.

Have a great weekend!

CS 820 Spring 2009 - Classes 1 and 2

Greetings to our CS 820 Usability and Interaction class. Paul Thor and I are delighted to share this class with you.

We have met twice using Adobe Acrobat Connect (Breeze) and Second Life in April 2009. Our second SL class session was smooth as we moved from our Breeze discussion to building skills in Second Life.

Our first class focused on these Second Life skills:

• creating a Second Life account
• using voice in Second Life
• movement and camera controls
• introduction to the build menu
• introduction to sitting on objects (right click and sit/relax)
• tour of a device that rezzes new scenes (like a holodeck)

During our tour, we visited a coffee shop, the solar system, a Japanese tea room and we returned to the ground to remove and rebuild the castle in about 15 seconds or less. The tour device kept removing content too fast for comfort. *blinks and grins* I need to reset the scripts before we use it again.

During our second class, we used the Build button in the bottom center of the display to learn how to rez or create a primitive shape (called a prim), name our box, set the permissions for it, create a simple script, color it and take it into the inventory. We also noted how content that is returned to us is returned to the Lost and Found folder in the Inventory.

Our class building activities included:

• create a box
• name it using the General tab
• set the permissions to copy/mod/transfer
• used the Contents tab to create a New Script
• used the Texture Tab and color white icon to color the box
• copied our box using the shift key and one of the green, red or blue arrows
• used the shift key to left click both boxes
• used control L to link both boxes into a single object
  

Once we were finished editing the box, we clicked it and noted that it stated in the local chat log that the box was touched. This feature is handy for collecting automated measurements during usability tests.

With this script, we can collect a log that lists the interaction objects that are touched. In the preferences menu (ctrl P), and the Communicate tab, you can display the time in the chat log and store it for later use.

We also tested a student project from a past class. Students received a copy of the procedure for the test plan by touching a box that gave them a notecard with the test cases and instructions on it.

Notecards are Second Life content files that allow us to add text, and drag objects, images, landmarks and other content from the Inventory to the card for easy distribution.

As time progresses, we will examine different types of interfaces, how to texture your creations, how to prototype your class project and conduct usability tests with our class. In addition, you will receive freebie folders of content, including vehicles, tools, a touring HUD, a notecard with landmarks for visiting other sites, more texture folders, scripts, sounds and access to an online tool that writes scripts for you.

See you at the residency and online! *cheers*

HASTAC III Traversing Digital Boundaries

Dr. Sharon Tettegah and I, as editors of a book on Identity, Learning and Support in Virtual Worlds, introduced it at the HASTAC III conference on Traversing Digital Boundaries.

What was unusual about the session was that I gave my presentation from Second Life, using an impromptu feed over Sharon's laptop into the live conference session. After all, we were traversing digital boundaries and what better way to do it than through a spontaneous connection?

Blended reality conferences are not new; we have been conducting mixed avatar and live conference sessions since 2006, but with a lot of prior planning. The photo on the right is from the October 2006 NMC Symposium with the MacArthur Foundation.

Our HASTAC III panel discussion was spontaneous, did not require advance technological planning and was designed to support a variety of delivery models.

As a presenter in Second Life, we had no audio or video feed back into Second Life, so I could not hear or see the live conference attendees nor could I hear my co-presenter. When she appeared, typed a welcome note, asked me to introduce myself, we were on our way to hosting a fun session on identity and learning. It reminded me of being a newscaster in the field, waiting for the cue to begin.

The night before the conference, I ripped my custom-created gazebo apart and into a stage, hoisted my slide viewer against the castle, and let the castle and garden plants form a backdrop for the session.

We had a great time and would like to thank the organizers of HASTAC III and the participants for such a warm welcome!

TCC 2009 Worldwide Online Conference presentations

Greetings! The TCC 2009 Worldwide Online Conference is a great opportunity to explore the content and share ideas with over 1300 educators in 90+ international presentations and keynote addresses on education, technology and tools.

While the live conference sessions have ended, each Eluminate session was recorded and remains in the archives. In this post are images from the Second Life sessions that were either held synchronously in Eluminate or only held in Second Life, including Melita Farley's Using Blended Learning to Increase Skills in the Workplace (video recording) and Media Rich Intake Environments for Learning in Virtual Worlds by Annie Jeffrey, Scott Grant and Emily East, held solely in Second Life.

Both of these sessions featured gardens and elegant learning spaces that are designed to relax the mind and invigorate the spirit. The Media Rich session also included tours of a Music Garden and a Chinese College.

It is not too late to enjoy the sessions and discuss the topics with educators, instructional designers and administrators from around the world. Join the TCC conference 'OHANA (a Hawaiian word for family) and participate in future TCC conferences.

On April 2, Nick Noakes, Jeff Hiles and I hosted a TCC pre-conference session in Second Life. The slides from that session are embedded on this blog and available at Lyr Lobo's Slideshare under the title Poised at the Edge of the Unknown: Surviving and Thriving in Second Life.

To my great delight, my Tuesday, April 14, 2009 presentation on Digital Learning Environments Context Sensitive and Imaginative Classes in Second Life was full of new SL users. The slides are available under Lyr Lobo's Slideshare and I'll add content from this session in a later update to this post. Racing to get to a meeting. *laughs*

Defense GameTech User's Conference

Many thanks to Peter Marion, Director, Kent Fowler, Karen Cooper and the Defense GameTech User's Conference team for inviting me to give a presentation and two tutorials at their conference.

The Defense GameTech Users' Conference was held 9-12 March, in Orlando, Florida. The conference plays a key role in enhancing the training of Warfighters. The topics were excellent and both keynote luncheons featured fascinating content.

John Gresham, (spelled with an 'e') is a renowned scholar, game designer and researcher of content for Tom Clancy. He presented a historical retrospective that made the international state of affairs come to life. What an eye opener!

Maj. Gen. Lessel, a visionary force in the Global Learning Forum and Air Force game simulation activities in Second Life, gave a keynote address that made me feel as if he had taken me by the hand and we were touring the Air Force virtual world activities and game simulation research together. It was an amazing journey.

Another conference highlight were the talks given by Dr. Andrew Stricker on the Global Learning Forum's Game Simulation Kit and Erica and Sam Driver's virtual session on the interactive tools and mind mapping capabilities of Second Life. They presented from within Second Life. Check out their document on How to Give New Users a Good First Experience on how to foster great immersive Internet experiences.

After enjoying Erica and Sam's session, I left the auditorium and ran back to my hotel room to present my session on Teaching in an Avatar World as my avatar Lyr Lobo in Second Life. By presenting it virtually, I could rez demonstrate some tools, give meeting spaces and related content to the SL participants and interact with both the live and virtual audience comfortably.

Earlier in the conference, I offered two tutorials that featured basic Second Life skills, designing content and creating activities.

My compliments to the Defense GameTech 2009 team for hosting an excellent conference!