digital connectedness #solstice2015
TRANSCRIPT
Digital Connectednes
sSOLSTICE Conference
Keynote Sue Beckingham | @suebecks
4-5 June 2015
Digital Connectedness The exponential growth of social media and the ubiquitous use of mobile technology has changed the way we communicate both socially and for many also professionally. Digital spaces have to some extent removed barriers enabling social learning that is no longer constrained geographically (spacial boundaries) or by time-zone differences (temporal boundaries).
It is therefore timely to consider our digital capabilities and how these can be used to communicate and collaborate; and through interconnectedness provide opportunities for lifelong and lifewide learning that extend beyond the formal learning we are all familiar with.
This talk will consider why a professional online presence is so important; the value of using social media to develop global personal learning networks; and how through open sharing with our interconnected networks it is possible to develop our scholarly practice.
Neither does any company. Neither does any government. We are all connected AND dependent
on each other.”
Harold Jarche
Connectedness“People need to learn how to connect to new
people on a regular basis. No person has all the knowledge needed to work completely alone in our
connected society.
Social connectedness how people come together, connect and interact.
Micro-level = family, friends, acquaintances
Meso-level = work, closed online community
Macro-level = conferences, open online community
Our ancient ancestors built the Library of Alexandria to gather the world’s knowledge in papyrus scrolls
TODAY smartphones turn every palm into an interconnected knowledge library
the written word would weaken men's characters...
and the abundance of books is a distraction...
English coffeehouses in the 17th century
Video telephony in the year 2000, as imagined in 1910
The Notificator
Social Networking ‘1935 style’'To aid persons who wish to inform friends of their
whereabouts.' Image source: The Guardian
A futuristic utopia...
An outside view...
Childhood memories
The TRI-function reCORDERA portable sensing, computing and data communication device
'tri' referring to the device's primary functionssensing + computing + recording
Letters, call boxes, phone locks....
and even then information overload was considered an issue...
“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”
Herbert Simon 1971
HOW do we connect
digitally?
Hubspot 2012 http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/50-mobilefactsdeck62812
Smart technology growth
Mary Meeker 2015 Internet Trends Report
Mary Meeker 2015 Internet Trends Report
mobile microcoordination
checking the time
checking where our children are
eta expected time of arrival
arranging to meet
checking sport scores
planning meals
perpetual connection
social mediareading
watching video
podcasts
games
texting
video messagin
g
image sharing
social messaging
talking
chat
WORK
SOCIAL
"Connectedness makes us not only connected, but also it has created an
always-on society that lives in real-time where the line
between the real and virtual worlds blur to the point of oneness."
Brian Solis 2015
“Networks of people are being mediated such that people are easily able to see who is connected to whom and leverage loose ties to achieve all sorts of work-related goals.
Individual knowledge is often less important than being connected to the right people.”
Danah Boyd 2013
The evolution of networks
from dyads... to triads...
to close-knit networks... and loose-knit networks...
to complex interconnected relationships
Complex LinkedIn network
diversity and creativity
“Working cooperatively in well established teams is important for the exchange of knowledge and for understanding what others know. However... innovation... arises when new ideas, from people in different groups and communities, are brought together”(Gratton, 2007)
Jesse Stromel (2015)http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/twitter-and-the-locus-of-research/
Information overload?
..or filter failure?Clay Shirky
Our attention [may] span (8 seconds) now less than
Attention spans - Microsoft
that of a goldfish (9 seconds)
WHY do we connect
digitally?
People around the globe mostly use digital devices for three
primary purposes:
• relationship building/maintaining• information gathering• entertainment viewing/participation
Purpose
Not so new but still relevant....
The Civic Long Tail
Social media is creating the conditions for the emergence of a civic long tail, a mass of loosely connected, small-scale conversations, campaigns and interest groups, which might occasionally coalesce to create a mass movement.
From now on, governments everywhere will have to contend and work with this civic long tail.
Leadbetter 2011:10
Digital Citizen: basic digital skills
Digital Worker: intermediate digital skills
Digital Maker: able to build digital technology
Digital Muggle: currently requiring no digital skills
"Every company is a digital company and almost every job is a
digital job" Chris Mairs 2014
http://www.ukdigitalskills.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Binder7-REDUCED2.pdf
Assessment of digital skill level required for different jobs skills
Chris Mairs 2014
Digital Muggle
Digital Citizen
Digital Worker
Digital Maker37%
46%
10%
7%
Nielsen 2015
By 2020
More than seven billion people and businesses, and at least
30 billion devices, will be connected to the Internet.
With people, businesses and things communicating, transacting and even
negotiating with each other, a new world comes into being — the world of digital
business.
Gartner 2014
Considerations
PersistenceOnline expressions are
automatically recorded and archived
SearchabilityContent in networked
publics can be accessed through search
ScalabilityThe potential visibility of
content in networked publics is great
ReplicabilityContent made out of bits
can be duplicated
Structural affordances of
networked publics
Boyd 2011:46 in A Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Network Sites
Networked Participatory Scholarship
The emergent practice of scholars’ use of participatory technologies and online social networks to share,
reflect upon, critique, improve, validate and further their scholarship
Veletsianos and Kimmons 2012
The Digitally Connected Scholar
A connected curriculum
Fung 2015, UCL
connected learning
"Connected learning thrives in a socially meaningful and knowledge-rich ecology of ongoing participationOnline platforms can make learning resources abundant, accessible, and visible across all learner settings."
The Connected Learning Research Network and Digital Media & Learning Research Hub
"When the topic is personally interesting and relevant, learners achieve much higher-order learning outcomes."
How visible is your learning?
seeking
sensing
sharing
Adapted from Jarche 2014
is how we personalize information and use it. Sensing includes reflection and putting into practice what we have learned.
Often it requires experimentation, as we learn best by doing.
is finding things out and keeping up to date. Building a network of colleagues is helpful in this regard. It not only
allows us to “pull” information, but also have it “pushed” to us by trusted sources. Good curators are valued members of
knowledge
includes exchanging resources, ideas, and experiences with our networks as well as collaborating with our colleagues.
Interconnected networks
Academic research silos be gone!.... Become more open Dr @LauraPasquini 2015
• network with colleagues• solicit feedback and reflect on your research and
teaching• reach multiple audiences• cultivate your identity as a scholar• become more open
Openness is the practice of sharing resources and materials (e.g., syllabi, lectures, research papers) in a way that allows others to retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute them.
Welcome @EricStoller Using Social Media to Listen and Learn about UK Higher Education
Getting Connected
The Lurker
to be in a hidden place : to wait in a secret or hidden place especially in order to do something wrong or harmfulcomputers : to read messages written by other people on the Internet in a newsgroup, chat room, etc., without writing any messages yourself
Vicariousnessexperiences or felt by watching, hearing about, or reading about someone else rather than by doing something yourself
Positive Silent Engagement PSE
I would like to argue that positive silent engagement is not only
valuable, but an essential component of digital connectedness.
We learn by listening. It is no different online
Global digital connectedness
https://press.linkedin.com/about-linkedin
build connections
group discussions
collaboration opportunities
share your expertise
Connectedness
BARRIERS to
connecting digitally
innovators early early late laggards adopters majority majority
Techies
Conservatives
Pragmatists
Visionaries
Skeptics
"Let's try it"
"Get ahead of the herd"
"Stick with the herd"
"Hold on there"
"Hmm... no way"
Digital connectedness takes time, but...
What you plant now you will harvest later
Og Mandino
Why aren’t more people connected globally?
Is it that:
• devices are too expensive.• service plans are too expensive.• mobile networks are few and far between.• content isn’t available in the local language.• people aren't sure what value the Internet will bring.• power sources are limited or costly.• networks can’t support large amounts of data.
The NOW of digital
connectedness
The Power of Facebook in the Gihembe Refugee Camp, Rwanda
The camp doesn't have electricity but people use Facebook every day. Learn more at: www.thesenumbers.org
Internet.org is a Facebook-led initiative bringing together technology leaders, non-profits and local communities to connect
the two thirds of the world that doesn't have Internet access.
Everyone participating in Internet.org has come together to meet this challenge
because they believe in the power of a connected world.
Solar-powered high altitude, long endurance aircraft that can stay aloft for months, can be quickly deployed
and deliver reliable internet connections.
Connecting the world by the sky
Facebook Connectivity Lab
https://twitter.com/internet_org
Inventing the future of connectivity
Project Loon balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth’s surface in the stratosphere. Winds in the stratosphere are stratified, and each layer of wind varies in speed and direction. Project Loon uses software algorithms to determine where its balloons need to go, then moves each one into a layer of wind blowing in the right direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be arranged to form one large communications network.
Google's Project Loon
The first pilot tester to connect to balloon-powered Internet for the first time in New
Zealand
The FUTURE of digital
connectedness
Sue Beckingham | @suebecksEducational Developer with a research interest in the use of social media in education.
Blog: http://socialmediaforlearning.com/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/suebeckingham