Prompt: The Final (week 6)

Reflect on what you have learned in the class and how you will use it professionally as both a lifelong learner and an instructional systems professional (or whatever field you’re in).

I've touched on this in a few different posts, but in the interest of easing the burden of our evaluators, I will specifically address the topic here. ;-)

Coming to FSU for the IS program was a bittersweet choice for me. In my career field I get to drive boats and have very much enjoyed having my "office" on the water. The decision to enter the IS program means that I will be out of my primary career field for the next 4-5 years (at which time I will be eligible to retire). At the same time, I am entering a dynamic and exciting field that I have had some past exposure to. Make no mistake, I do not in the least regret the decision - in fact I am extremely excited about it; it is more like nostalgia.

At the completion of this degree program I will be assigned to a CG training command where I will get to put my new education and skills to work as a full-time performance technologist. How cool is that? The constraints of a government network are considerable, yet the Coast Guard is moving forward with Web 2.0. It will be very interesting to see how far this has progressed when I plug back into the service network next year. I anticipate being able to use blogs and wikis on our internal network and hope to combine several resources into a community of practice. I'm not quite sure what the next few years will hold in terms of professional development outside of my daily work, but am interested in learning more about the ISPI CPT program and networking via conferences.

Last person out, turn off the lights!

I want to use this, likely my last blog entry for the EME6635 course, to reflect on a non-technological aspect of my experience.

The pace of the course and the focus on learning has not prevented people from building the foundations of real friendships. It may have retarded the growth of these relationships, but it has not been an outright barrier. I, myself, have had this experience with a number of classmates and even our leaders (they just might not know it yet!). Sadly, the need to filter has naturally limited some associations, and I am pleased that I will have other opportunities to get to know some of you better in the near future.

I find it interesting (amusing, too) that my Web 2.0 experience has fostered the beginnings of friendships and friendly associations, while not having met anyone (with one exception) face to face. These threads that connect us know not the boundaries of nation or age. I wonder: if we had met in person prior to meeting virtually, would the resultant associations at all resemble where we are today?

I am very grateful for the feedback I have received from each of you and your gracious acceptance of my contributions in turn. I look forward to building on the relationships and contacts we have established in this course.

Very humbly yours,
Kent

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish!

Apologies for the title of this blog entry - I couldn't resist the Douglas Adams reference! In a way, though, we HAVE been hitchhiking around a galaxy of sorts.

The first 15-20 years of the internet experience have allowed us to interact in new and exciting ways. At first, scientists and academicians were able to post papers and projects. That wasn't terribly remarkable; what was remarkable was the ability to embed links to references and related material, resulting in the concept and nomenclature of a web. Techies soon followed, and as word began to spread, more and more people got in on the experience, eventually leading to advertising and commerce establishing a presence on the web portion of the internet. Even with all this activity, the chief emphasis has been on the power of linking via HTML. Returning to our space metaphor, these capabilities were not unlike sending a probe off to a distant planet to deliver communications to and collect responses from a distant civilization.

Of late, we have a new capability that takes the power of HTML to a whole other dynamic level. This capability is known as AJAX and is one of the key enablers of the Web 2.0 technology and experience. Now, rather than send unmanned probes to distant worlds we are able to communicate in real-time. The various tools that enable us to do so have been our vessels these past several weeks.

To borrow another cliche, what a long strange strip it's been! Although the course is coming to an end, happily the voyage continues!

Web 2.0 and Hobbies

Are you familiar with amateur radio ("Ham" radio)? This is an radio service where people can connect with others (all over the world in some instances). Historically, this has involved FM voice, AM voice, SSB voice, and Morse Code ("CW"). More recently, data communication has been growing in the hobby of amateur radio. It is now possible to send and receive email via amateur radio while chillaxin on your yacht in the Caribbean! This is a much cheaper solution to satellite phones... :-) Another implementation of data in amateur radio is called APRS. This is often used for tracking resources in an emergency situation (there are other uses as well, such as exchanging brief messages between stations).

To see a mashup of amateur radio operators using APRS, check out http://aprs.fi/. At any given time there will be information about antenna towers, weather stations, and mobile operators. If you enter my call sign, W5XQM, you can see some of my recent history (when I was broadcasting). As always, there are privacy implications!

Enjoy! Feel free to comment on where Web 2.0 tools are used in other hobby areas.

73,
de W5XQM

Issues such as authorship, copyright and open access

How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally?

I think these are issues that we will be wrestling with for some time to come. I believe that technological advances have provided opportunities that our current legal system will not be able adequately adapt to for many years - if ever! Likewise, our culture is being reshaped more quickly than ever before. Like the legal system, our ability to reflect and consider has been wiped out by the technological opportunities. I know it is cliche, but we are doing the old Ready-Fire-Aim routine (rather than Ready-Aim-Fire).

I am not a P2P guy; I don't download movies, music, or cracked warez. During this course, though, I have repeatedly been tripped up by the ease of using images from the web. If I grab an image for use at home, is that okay? Many would say it is. But if I grab an image for a class project - even if there is no profit to be made - is that okay? And where would one start in obtaining rights to use an image as a private individual? I suspect the majority of the minor violations occur as a result of ignorance, apathy, or confusion rather than actual theft.

Do you Google?

If you don't already have a Google account, you might want to consider getting one after reading this!

Have you heard of Google Voice?
If not, I suspect you soon will. Google Voice is currently an invitation-only service - that means you cannot immediately sign up for Google Voice, but have to request an invitation. I requested one a few weeks ago and received my invite this week.

So what is it, what does it do?
During the setup process, I had to choose a phone number for my account (I chose a California number) and agree to a typical Terms of Service Agreement. After that I configured my profile by adding a couple of numbers for phones I regularly use. I can now share this phone number and have all calls to that number ring one or all of the numbers in my profile. Kinda cool but so what, right?

Well, for those within the local calling area for the number I chose, it allows them to call me without incurring long distance charges. Not bad, but it gets better. In addition, when logged into my Google Voice account I can enter any number in the United States, select which phone I want to use, and press a button to connect the call. For example, tonight I did this to place a call to a Colorado number and connect it to my home phone in Tallahassee. Upon doing so, my home phone rang. When I picked up the line, I heard a couple of ring tones, then the person I was calling in Colorado answered. To summarize, I used the internet to setup a call (that showed up on Caller ID as a California number) between Colorado and Florida - and talked as long as I wanted to for free (e.g. no long distance rates)!

Google Voice is cool in other ways, too!
Google Voice supports SMS, so you can use this number to send and receive standard text messages. This might be useful for those coupon code subscriptions via SMS (?).

Google Voice also has some cool voice mail features. Besides the standard features, you can set it up so that a text transcript of all voice mails is sent to you either as an email or a text message. You can also screen calls by listening in on a voice mail message as it is being recorded, and choose to break in if you want.

Is it Web 2.0?
By the definitions we have been using, probably not - there really is not much that is collaborative about using the service, and I don't think the code is open source. Even so, it is a pretty amazing technology that could have a huge impact on the long distance industry. There have been some recent reports in the news about Google Voice enabled applications being removed from Apple's App Store. Speculation abounds on whether Apple or AT&T is behind this...

What is an expert? A genius?

If you go to an Apple Store, you can spend a few minutes with a bona fide Genius. I know this because I ventured out to Jacksonville last week to get an iPhone serviced. The person who helped me was a Genius - it said so on his shirt!

The whole concept of genius and expertise are morphing before our very eyes. These are interesting times, indeed!