OLDaily Text Edition ~ Mar 31, 2016

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OLDaily - Text Edition by Stephen Downes Mar 31, 2016
An Animated Carl Sagan Talks with Studs Terkel About
Finding Extraterrestrial Life (1985)
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Carl Sagan is one of my heroes, extraterrestrial life would
be really cool to find, so of course this item interests
me. Not so much you? Oh well. "The conversation touched on
some the big questions you might expect: the compatibility
between science and religion; the probability we’ll
encounter extraterrestrials if given enough time; and
more."
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6 Reasons Platforms Fail
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These are some good lessons; here they are, with some
comments from me:
"Failure to optimize openness" - I see this a lot; the
platform is 'sort of' open, but the developers hang on to
key components of it (eg., 'we will only allow pre-approved
content') which stifle the value.
"Failure to engage developers" - I always think of that
famous Steve Ballmer video
LinkYou have to
engage the broader developer community to invest in it,
otherwise it's a flop.
"Failure to share the surplus" - everybody engaged in the
platform has to win. If you favour one side over another in
a buyer-seller marketplace, your platform will fail.
"Failure to launch on the right side" - I'm not sure I'd
say this the same way the article does. The problem is, if
you have a pre-existing content monopoly, you have to find
a way to break that monopoly, either by enticing existing
producers into the platform (as Netflix did) or by
providing viable alternatives.
"Failure to put critical mass ahead of money" - I keep
repeating the mantra here - companies don't acquire
technologies nearly so much as they acquire audiences. If
you're trying to sell a platform with no users, you have a
real uphill battle.
"Failure of imagination" - pretty much everyone I talk to
is engaged in the existing platforms, and therefore see
innovation in terms of those platforms, and as the article
notes, fail to see the platform play at all.
Good article, worth the read.
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Microlearning, millennials and successful companies
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People are talking about 'microlearning' again. Today's
learners, writes , "are equipped to research what they need
to know and learn about it from various sources such as
blogs, online courses, websites or YouTube videos." This,
mocrolearning. "Microlearning is a method to teach and
deliver educational content through short and concise
segments that cover focused topics while fulfilling
specific objectives." Try to ignore the hype and
sensationalism (like, for example, "...has caused the
attention span to fall to eight seconds
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or the broad over-generalizations about "millennials"). The
main thing is to take the concept seriously, and maybe
follow some of the links for more detail.
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Stacking vs. Replacing LMS; Learner as Content Producer
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Some tereminology from Elliott Masie: "we are seeing more
'Stacking', which means accepting the role of the existing
LMS as the base system for the organization and then adding
Stacks or Layers on top that will create added and more
targeted functionality... In other words, some
organizations are shifting from replacing their LMS to
adding these technologies on top of the LMS. Some may be
limited to a specific line of business or segment of
learners.  Others are layered in almost as extensions
of the LMS." No links, and not much content beyond this
(because it's Masie) but I wanted to make sure I shared at
least this.
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What’s the Difference Between a VPN and a Proxy?
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Useful and clearly explained description of how VPNs and
proxies differ, and what they're best used for. With a
proxy, you simply route your internet traffic through
another server; there is no encryption, but it hides where
your original request is coming from. A VPN, on the other
hand, will encrypt the traffic between you and that second
server. "In summary, proxies are great for hiding your
identity during trivial tasks (like “sneaking”
into another country to watch a sports match) but when it
comes to more series tasks (like protecting yourself from
snooping) you need a VPN."
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Copyright 2008 Stephen Downes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
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