An ABC discussion of attention and the visual cortex. (Reviewing Masataka Watanabe et al.’s paper in Science, Attention But Not Awareness Modulates the BOLD Signal in the Human V1 During Binocular Suppression)
News of Real Madrid’s use of Cisco’s Connected Stadium Wi-Fi at the the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. “Along with Cisco StadiumVision, the two solutions will allow Real Madrid C.F. and its sponsors to connect with fans in entirely new ways. And by bringing high-definition video of the game to the numerous screens located throughout the stadium, spectators will be able to catch all the action and enjoy exclusive content, even when away from their seats.”
A link from Stephen Downes to the chaos leadership graphic in the Steve Collis must pay post on the Design for Learning blog. (By coincidence I found Stephen’s link a day after discussing with Shane Fudge his PhD research: “This study aims to utilize a multi-disciplinary approach involving Crisis Leadership, Chaos Theory and Complexity theory, to attempt to initiate an advanced understanding in Sports Events Organising Committee members to recognize the state of constant adaptation their organisational systems exist in today. By drawing on elements of complexity theory, the study seeks to analyze how a leader’s cognition may improve their cognitive complexity when dealing with and understanding the non-linear and dynamic nature of the systems they work within. The nature of the study is to collect qualitative data to fill the research gap regarding how a Sports Event Organising Committee may utilize a different leadership paradigm to improve their crisis management skills, as well as measure the effects of implementing anticipatory systems on the organisations behaviour. “)
A delightful week of discovery that added to my introduction to Olegas Truchanas.
This week I have been overwhelmed by the number of connections I am finding in relation to open learning and sharing. Some of these connections include:
many universities have an educational technology department that is focused on PD. Research institutes devoted to understanding the intersection of education, technology, systemic reform, and pedagogy are less rare. Several years ago, Phil Long (CEIT) and I discussed the need for a collaborative network of research labs/academies/institutes that were focused on researching learning technologies, not solely on driving institutional adoption. Perhaps it’s time to revisit that idea.
Discovering A.K.M. Maksud’s 2006 paper The Nomadic Bede Community And Their Mobile School Program after listening to an interview with Irene Khan. Boat schools bring a different perspective on edgeless learning opportunities and mobile learners. (Sharing this paper with a colleague brought me Simon Shum and Alexandra Okada’s paper Knowledge Cartography for Open Sensemaking Communities (2008) from the Journal of Interactive Media in Education and from another colleague Kenn Fisher’s discussion of Mode 3 Learning: The Campus as Thirdspace.)
Finding Cisco’s paper (June 2010) on Hyperconnectivity through a Diigo link. Hyperconnectivity is defined as:
active multitasking on one hand, and passive networking on the other. Passive networking consists largely of background streaming and downloading. Ambient video (nannycams, petcams, home security cams, and other persistent video streams) is an element of passive networking that opens up the possibility for the number of video minutes crossing the network to greatly exceed the number of video minutes actually watched by consumers.
In the past year, the Cisco paper notes that:
it has become clear that visual networking applications are often used concurrently with other applications and sometimes even other visual networking applications, as the visual network becomes a persistent backdrop that remains “on” while the user multitasks or is engaged elsewhere. This trend accompanies what is sometimes called the widgetization of Internet and TV, as network traffic expands beyond the borders of the browser window and the confines of the PC.
Traditional approaches to community regeneration which define communities in solely geographic terms have severe limitations. They often failed to deliver on key social capital improvements such as improving trust between residents or fostering a greater sense of belonging.
In this report we argue for a new approach to community regeneration, based on an understanding of the importance of social networks, such an approach has the potential to bring about significant improvements in efforts to combat isolation and to support the development of resilient and empowered communities.
Noting in Harold Jarche’s post Innovation through network learning that he now takes for granted his “network learning processes, using social bookmarking; blogging and tweeting, and these habits make collaboration much easier”. He observes that:
However, these habits and practices have taken several years to develop and may not come easily to many workers. One difficult aspect of adopting network learning in an organization is that it’s personal. If not, it doesn’t work. Everybody has to develop their own methods, though there are frameworks and ideas that can help.
All this before I started exploring the treasure trove that arrives in my in box each day from Stephen Downes! Early on in the week I noted Stephen’s comment on Education and the Social Web: “A theory of connections can’t be just about forming connections; it has to be about the organization, shape and design of networks of connection, patterns of connectivity. And to me, this means that we need to design learning systems to meet personal, not political, social or commercial, objectives.” Later in the week in a discussion of two MOOC posts, Stephen suggests that: “It’s about attitude and approach. If you’re looking for someone to tell you how it works, you will find a MOOC confusing and frustrating. But if you take responsibility for your own learning, you will find any connection in a MOOC either an opportunity to teach or an opportunity to learn. No instructions necessary.”
This week has underscored for me the rich possibilities that can occur in shared spaces. My thoughts keep returning to Dharavi and the opportunities for personal wayfinding in shared spaces that afford a collective, connected experience too. I am very hopeful that the University of Canberra’s Commons ideas can stimulate innovative use of place, space and time and lead to an exciting edgy practice.
I have read some interesting posts this week.
Clyde Street 