I’ve been thinking about a possible link between a specific personality type (introvert) and social media success for several months and what it means for learning in the workplace. (I haven’t done any significant research on this topic yet.) I can’t synthesize this provocative older post from Venkatesh Rao but his insight was this: …the word "social" in the term "social media" represents the ultimate in misleading advertising, and is responsible for many failures and a lot of disenchantment, especially within the enterprise. Here are the parts of his post that became my initial ear worms: thoroughly introverted, unsociable, egoistic, and ornery individualists take to (social media) like ducks to water social media amplifies the human traits of social manipulation and exploitation successful social media efforts are fueled by self-interest social media attracts extroverted, harmony-seeking, consensus-driven people who end up carcasses So I went looking and found some opinions about his first bullet point… On introverts Peter Cashmore wrote about introverts here (and noted that a very popular social media personality, Guy Kawasaki, described himself as a loner). Cashmore ran a poll and reported results showing 61% of Twitter users considered themselves introverts (only 13% described themselves as extroverts). In another post, Mark Dykeman reminds us that the difference between introversion and extroversion lies in the effect other people have on us.  He thinks social media removes the need to connect in person (something extroverts are more comfortable with). He quoted Laura Thomas at Dell: "social media is very introvert-friendly (because many introverts) are more comfortable writing their thoughts/feelings than they are speaking them." Dykeman also notes that Darren Rowse (who has a huge online presence) said: "as an extreme introvert I enjoy social media as it gives me social content but in a measured way." Lou Covey wrote that social media is attuned to introverts  because it levels the playing field. Russell Miyaki wondered if, because social media is a controlled environment, introverts can be connected with their own world online and be by themselves at the same time. Brent Leary, a self-described "introvert with an accounting degree for crying out loud" wrote about his success with social media. Sandy McMullen, talking about the book Twitter Revolution, noted that social media allows those with a preference for introversion to reveal themselves after the have had a period of time to reflect on what and how they want to present themselves. Anthony Vultaggio thinks introverts have a distinct advantage with social media. "[Online] social networking is a solitary activity done from the privacy of one’s personal computer. Traditional introverts…lack the need for feedback…they reach inward." Here, Jim Blasingame interviews Patricia Weber (a former corporate trainer) in a poorly titled podcast about whether or not social media is a tool or a crutch for introverts (assumes there’s something wrong with being an introvert). She notes that social media, while used by all personality types, can be a productive. She thinks an introvert can be a good bet for getting a social media strategy rolling or to keep it rollling. I’m not a big fan of Myers-Briggs but this is interesting. Breanne did an unscientific survey of 296 people on Twitter and found that INFPs are more represented than other personality types (14.7% in the Twitter sample vs. 4.4% of the general population.) A good instructor can keep all personality types engaged but I suspect many introverts keep quiet in the  classroom and may not have their voice heard. Perhaps social media offers introverts a platform for their voice. Now I’ll just have to think a bit more about the other three points I took away from Rao’s post.

Here are the slides from a webinar I did on "Google Tools for Online Learning" earlier today along with some links that I promised. Using Google For Online Learning View more presentations from Janet Clarey. Google products covered: Alerts Blogger Blog Search and Book Search Calendar (Doug Belshaw example) How to use Google Calendar as a tool for lesson planning Search (including simple uses) (Maurer and Sapper reference: " is learning still a necessity?)" Docs Gmail Reader Custom Search Groups iGoogle Mobile Video Why businesses use Google business video Sites| Desktop Chrome Wave Chinnery, G.M. (2008). You’ve got some GALL: Google-Assisted Language Learning. Language Learning & Technology, February 2008, Volume 12, Number 1, pp. 3-11. Educause (2008). 7 Things You Should Know About Google Apps. Educause Connect. Google for Educators Posts from our group blog, Workplace Learning Today: Why Google Apps Are Moving Out of Beta The Risks of Cloud Computing Thanks for attending.

Social media/Web 2.0 has reached rural New York so I can conclude that it is now sufficiently mainstream. The rest of you wrote about this in 2002. We all have our own ‘mainstream’  indicators - mine were: connecting with former high school classmates I haven’t talked to since high school connecting with fellow Moms (who set up their profile with pictures of their children rather than themselves (?)) connecting with family members who previously dismissed social networking services entirely the decision to-connect-or-not-to-connect with my own kids (DID because the invite came from them) my local newspaper and TV station are following me on Twitter various local seminars about social media and marketing are popping up I’m always thrilled to connect with old friends, other Moms, and family members (a trickle over the last year or two) but this new, "mainstream" wave felt DIFFERENT. This was like, all at once BOOM. Suddenly you expect to see pictures of old dance recitals and family trips to Disney. I guess what’s unique (as far as anything can be unique) is that non-business online connections are pretty much foreign territory for me. Suddenly it felt weird to be the Twitter elite of Podunk (so I changed my location to the rather generic "Upstate New York.") I guess I’m guarding my business identity because I don’t use social media like my new connections use social media. How did I react to this most recent mainstream adoption of social networking? I recoiled. Damned if I know why. I guess I feel awkward (and that says more about me than anyone else). So I’ve been cautious online lately and searching for a home. Kind of silly to be cautious NOW when I have a tendency to write without a filter. It’s not like every other person hasn’t thought about persona(s) and filtering. I’ve come to the conclusion that filtering is something a reader does. And, in the context of online learning, something a learner does (perhaps with our help). I’m beginning to see greater value in customized search engines, published guidelines, and taking a gardener approach to social networks at work.

Just finished up an online presentation, Using Social Medial to Improve Workplace Learning, slides below. I had uploaded my slides an hour early and took care of all the necessary details - shut off cell phone and house phone, banished children from my immediate area, let the dog out, shut the windows, and…special bonus this week…asked my contractor not to run the power saw or pound sheet rock from 1-2 pm. I forgot to tell him the part about me needing electricity and, of course, at 12:55 I lost power. I asked him "calmly" to put it back on and was presenting by 1:02 with a light sweat. Anyway, it went pretty good in my opinion (which doesn’t mean jack.) At the end of the presentation, I tried something different and shared Wordle so we could make a word cloud for two issues: what things make a bad  classroom training session and what an ideal online community would look like. I gathered up text from the chat box. This one is for "bad things." and this one "ideal online community": Le slides: Using Social Media Tools To Improve Workplace Learning Couple of additional notes from the presentation: Most of us reported a dramatic change in the way we communicate, collaborate, and interact at work over the last 10 years. 2/3’s didn’t have a strategy for social media Most of us reported moderate usage social media Some quotes and talking points: "Social learning technologies must be seen as the medium for relationship creation, not information exchange." (Digenti, 2000) "Learning is an integral and inseparable aspect of social practice." (Lave & Wenger, 1991) "We are moving toward a knowledge-era model of education with large-scale social networks involving complex communities and individual identify construction." (Wenger, 2004) "Social learning technologies can bring together and bridge the gap between training and knowledge management - linking knowledge and acquisition, development, and learning. A strong collaboration platform links continued knowledge acquisition, development, and learning." (Bruck, 2007) "It is within complex online communities and networks where social construction of understanding occurs." (Huberman, Romero, & Fang, 2008) References (because, ya know, I’m a researcher ; ) Bruck, P. (2008) Welcome and introduction to microlearning and capacity building. Microlearning and Capacity Building. Proceedings of the 4th International Microlearning 2008 Conference. Innsbruck, Austria. Digenti, D. (2000). Make Space for Informal Learning. ASTD Learning Circuits. Huberman, B.A., Romero, D.M. & Fang, W. (2008). Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope. Social Computing Lab, HP Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA and Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (You must buy this book!) Wenger, E. (2006). Learning for a small planet: a research agenda. Scientific project description.

Lisa Gualtieri, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine wrote an article called Learn from Rogue Tweeters: 7 Steps to Promoting Your Organization in Twitter. She writes that while organizations are trying to figure out how to use social media in a formalized ( more on that later) way, the rogue employee  just does it, "it" being participating in mutually beneficial dialogue about the company with the general public . You rogue-types know who you are (from the article: "Mark plans to continue tweeting until someone tells him "that’s not your job.")( I would add "or until he gets promoted or finds a sweeter gig.") Why does Mark  (the employee in the article) tweet for OMSHR (the company in the article) when it’s not in his job description? My guess is passion, greater good (it’s safety stuff), dedication, or if-not-me-who? (he’s in IT). Only he knows why but OMSHR is lucky to have him. He is concerned however, that policies may eventually constrain him…he believes the current informal process works because he is "conscientious and diligent." THE CURRENT INFORMAL PROCESS WORKS. So why formalize social media (in my mind a highly informal way to learn)? Or should we be saying "non-formal?" (And go me! for not tripping over that stack ‘o buzz words.) Let’s go on a little Google hunt. Back in 2005, Stephen Downes had some comments on formalizing informal learning based on a CLO article Of course, this [the writers had said that informal learning needs to be integrated into formal learning in the sense that it should be tied to measurable performance metrics] isn’t the point of informal learning at all - but I can see the point. It requires a very careful balance between respecting learner intentions, which in the end drive informal learning, and supporting corporate needs, which are addressed not through demand learning, but rather, by making appropriate informal learning resources usefully and widely available. Respect your learners intentions and make informal learning resources available and useful. Earlier this year Mark Oehlert, in response to a George Siemens post about "formally adopting" informal learning (vs. trying to make it formal…big diff), said: why does it bother me that people/organizations think that somehow they need to "adopt" this mysterious thing called "informal learning."? How about this…the principles of ID can’t handle it, IDs aren’t taught how to design with it, no one knows how to assess its impact and yet we feel compelled to somehow exert our control over something that largely grew up because we failed so miserably in other areas… [ID should] stay the hell out of it. Catherine Lombardozzi, also earlier this year, I think that creating an informal learning strategy in support of business learning needs is mostly about aggregating, organizing, and making available a variety of resources that can support learning on a specific topic, similar to how I’ve talked about learning environments in the past. The strategic part is making decisions about what resources we’ll deliberately support - we can’t possibly corral all possible informal learning resources, and we need to figure out where to start. Aggregate, organize, make available and decide what to deliberately support (formally adopt a strategy) And this, recently from Mike Prokopeak talking to Lance Dublin about a third domain: Formal learning typically refers to structured learning events and programs, while informal refers to unstructured learning that happens outside the bounds of traditional learning events, whether it’s over the water cooler, in the field or through a blog or discussion forum. "There is a third domain," Dublin said. "That’s the domain where you use all these informal tools but you use them with intention. You put enough structure around them so they have a purpose within the organization." [He calls this non-formal learning] The opportunity lies in defining the middle between the two poles, Dublin said. Non-formal learning is structured, but not formal, intentional but not directed. Structured, but not formal, intentional but not directed. Lastly, a conversation I’ve been having in comments with Karl Kapp in What are the Results of Following an Instructional Design Process? in which I’m disagreeing with the idea of Web 2.0 ‘design’ entirely. Karl mentions templates, simplified (read standardized) tagging,  guidelines, etc. As designers, we need to provide templates for meaningful contributions of one peer to another, perhaps a sample blog entry to use as a model, or a method of standardizing contributions, a list of key words so the folksonomy is limited, something that ties strategies to contributions to encourage learning and retention of the content contributed. These elements add structure to the contributions but still allow creativity. What’s your take? Ithink we need more Mark’s and OMSHR’s. Less meddling and a better understanding in the industry of what strategy is.

I enjoyed reading George Siemens "teaching as transparent learning". I think  it touches on the ‘work at learning, learning at work’ carnival theme Dave Ferguson initially started  and that Dave Wilkins, hosting the carnival this month, expanded on describing it as ‘the intersection between work and learning.‘ George writes about his experience as a transparent learner - ‘expressing half-formed ideas’ and receiving feedback. He says: Putting ideas out for discussion contrasts with formal "reach a conclusion and publish" model. I wish I would’ve read that  before I responded (and apologized) for my prior rant (directed at Saul Carliner) in response to an article he wrote for eLearn Magazine. Shame on me. I hate the regret that follows a rant. (Don’t read it though because it lacks punctuation due to a copy/paste malfunction and reads like one giant incoherent run-on sentence. And that makes me want to climb a mountain and scream because I can’t fix it.) And… just so you know, the reason I copy/paste a long response on that particular magazine is that their comment box is teeny tiny and I can’t see what I’m writing. Lesson learned, I won’t be writing anything long over there which is good news for anyone reading their great articles. End of digression. Anyway, the crux of my position is that blogging for work and blogging for personal learning do intersect and that means you should expect half-formed ideas. See, the eLearn article Mr. Sarliner wrote took issue with the erroneous, unverified information found on blogs. You will find opinion and unverified information on this blog. And I won’t start all posts with a ‘this is opinion’ or ‘this is fact’ statement. It’s all my opinion. My interpretation. My reflecting. I would expect you to filter and form your own opinions (and hopefully mine) on the information read. If I didn’t let learning and work overlap here, you’d see either marketing copy and quotes from others with no reflection or the equivalent of peer-reviewed journal articles (which have their own place in academic journals). Back to teaching as transparent learning…George gives an example of how his thinking has evolved by pointing to abandoned views. I think that very idea keeps some people from expressing opinions and ideas. I suspect some lurkers don’t make the jump to commenting or publishing because they don’t want to put ideas or opinions ‘out there’ that may be half-formed. George names some transparent learners - and I’m humbled that he named me - as examples of how watching others learn is an act of learning. I’ve certainly learn from watching others learn. What I’m actually studying now is something like that…I’ll be studying how people ‘learn to be’ kind of within what John Seely Brown call distributed learning milieus (specifically around microlearning/microcontent). Talk about half- baked. Here’s the quote from Brown that I like: Learning occurs in part through a form of reflective practicum, but in this case the reflection comes from being embedded in a social milieu supported by both a physical and virtual presence,  and by both the amateur and the professional practitioner. I’m interested in thinking deeper about what George wrote on the notion of lurking and  communities of practice research specifically as it relates to Lave & Wenger’s theory of legitimate peripheral participation. Thanks for that George. Always great to learn from you : ) I’ll close this out something else George said, My work on blogs, articles, handbooks, and so on is an invitation to engage in conversation, not a proclamation of what I absolutely know. I think I’ll borrow that and put it on my about page. It can be my disclaimer.

The Oxford English Dictionary has a fine description of how to hunker: "squat, with the haunches, knees, and ankles acutely bent, so as to bring the hams near the heels, and throw the whole weight upon the fore part of the feet". The advantage of this position is that you’re not only crouched close to the ground, so presenting a small target for whatever the universe chooses to throw at you, but you’re also ready to move at a moment’s notice. - World Wide Words: Hunker down I think when the economy went to shit, many took a hunker-down, back-to-basics approach to their jobs. I have absolutely no hard data on this but suspect that many people went out and bought rapid e-learning development software (or learned to use what they had) to crank out some elearning. I don’t actually develop e-learning anymore but I went out and bought a long overdue new PC so that I could more efficiently crank. out. more. work. I also took on volunteered for some new tasks and rediscovered by love of interface design and took a no less nonsense approach to school this semester. I hunkered down. I’m not really a hunker down kind of gal though. True, I am a ’small target existing close to the ground’ but I’m much more comfortable avoiding the universe’s debris while bouncing on a trampoline or dodging dodgeballs or something vs. squatting out of site like in a game of hide-n-seek. Guess I’m trying to find my way back. Naturally, the new stuff I wanted to try came with a learning curve so I had to cut back a bit on writing here. I’ve pretty much been getting work done via Twitter but that has come at a price. As a result of not writing and reflecting here on the blog, I’ve got a lot of debris in the brain. I have not yet had a change to write about the unsocial nature of social media or the recoiling reaction I had to an influx of non-business connections on my networks. I didn’t even write much about how everything is getting smaller (album, single song, ringtone…) and what I think it means to our field. Must stand up…

Do you say: Web 2 DOT O ("Oh") Web 2 DOT 0 (ZERO) Web 2 POINT O ("Oh") Web 2 POINT 0 (ZERO) I would never say ‘point com’ over ‘dot com’ but always use ‘point o’ (’oh’) when talking about web 2.0  or e-learning 2.0, etc. Just wondering….what do you prefer to use? Why?

Brandon Hall Research November 5, 2009 "Janet what the heck is cloud computing?" This is a great question and much better than an anonymous question I received via my chat widget, "what is the current state of e-learning?" Seriously. And, to which I responded…let’s try to break that down a bit… First, let me point to some existing definitions cloud computing. I always start with the definitions. Otherwise, it’s all fuzzy. Which it actually it is. Clouds, if nothing else, are ‘fuzzy.’ "Cloud Service and Deployment Models" Workplace Learning Today November 5, 2009 Embracing e-learning and online training in the face of the flu, the recession November 9 at 11:00 AM PT | 2:00 PM ET, Stream 57 is hosting a live webcast from Times Square on the top Embracing e-learning and online training in the face of the flu, the recession, and the demand for better education. The panel includes Anthony Allen — Director of Digital Media, ASTD (American Society for Training & Development), Rick Housler — Office of The Chief Learning Officer, The World Bank, Brian O’Donnell — Associate Director, Department of Medical Education, Centocor Ortho Biotech Services LLC, Andrej Petroski — Director of Learning Technologies, Harrisburg University, and Mark Sharp — Vice President, Atlantic Link Global. Registration here. Follow on Twitter #s57chat. Embracing e-learning and online training in the face of the flu, the recession and the demand for better education. | A Crucial Curriculum | Stream 57

I was signed up to go to WordCamp NYC last weekend but was too much of a lightweight to take the red eye from California directly to WordCamp NYC after the DevLearn conference. Instead, I went home and removed the lint from the dryer vent because, you know, that’s really important. One of the main reasons I wanted to go was to hear Matt Mullenweg. He’s the 25-year old founder of WordPress. Here’s the next best thing I guess…he was interviewed on "This Week in Startups" with Jason Calacanis and Joel Spolsky. Did you know 1 in 3 people online in the US visit a WordPress blog (even though many are not actually used as blogs)? (This blog, in fact, is a WordPress blog.) Random factoid: He went to the same school Beyonce went to (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts). Love this question… Interviewer to Matt: Did you think at some point, Jesus Christ, I’m a fraud, I’m getting myself in over my head. All these guys think it’s going to be a big thing…putting millions of dollars into the company…I’ve got dozens of people working here. Did you ever have that doubt…this can’t be real or this is going to end badly or did you always think it was going straight up? Matt’s answer …I’ve always been careful not to…I’m kind of antihype, anti over-promising so I kind of managed the expectations at a very low level. So saying…who knows how this is going to go. He’s so down to earth. And he’s got a beautiful website and awesome URL. I had to check if it’s WordPress ( I KNEW it would be.)  Here’s what it says: "This page took 0.205 seconds of computer labor to produce. This blog was formerly known as Photo Matt, and lived at photomatt.net. Proudly powered by WordPress. Also powered by ramen noodles, XFN, Ping-O-Matic, and love. Designed by Julien Morel | Joolz.fr" Ramen noodles. Gotta love that.