Blogging: No comment

Found a great post and discussion thread on the Freakonomics blog about why people do and don’t comment on blogs. It is enlightening to see the gamut of reasons that people cite for not posting comments on a blog. Many of the reasons also beg the question of what role blogs will play in the future and whether one on one interaction is really plausible for blogs.

Here are a few of the reasons listed for not commenting:

• No linear connection between comments and the original post
• Intimidated by the excellent writing style of the blogger
• Takes time to post a coherent comment
• Need to read through other comments to avoid duplication
• Don’t feel you have anything useful to add
• Too many passionate views so no one will listen to your comment
• Blogger is a SME and I couldn’t add anything
• Read blog using a reader rather than going to the actual blog
• Fear ridicule from other bloggers

And the # 1 reason is that many blogs require registration and login, which is time consuming and it requires you to remember your username and password.

Any comments? :-)

BTW, if you haven't read Freakonomics make sure you check it out. Even my wife enjoyed it and she wouldn't claim to know anything about economics.

Mind mapping

I came across a great post on mind mapping for all you visual thinkers out there. If like me, you like to create visual references while you learn, you will find this post very useful. Several references and links to useful mind mapping tools. Make sure to check out the comments section as this has lots of good stuff too.

Have fun mind mapping!

Portable learning content

In my previous post I was deliberating about content overload. Here is another side of the argument about content. Actually it is more of a side view as it relates more to the presentation of content, rather than the amount. I think portable content is great and this is indeed one of the main ideas behind the SCORM standard. Portable is great, but is learning content a case of if you build it in many formats they will come? Does your average corporate worker have the time and inclination to search for content? The main idea behind a LMS is to store content centrally, so how does this relate to multiple formats? Besides, many LMS'es still struggle with video content, but this is a side issue.

What are your thoughts on content formats and dealing with the large amount of content out there?

Informal learning vs. Information overload

It is amazing to me how many people don't actually know about blogs. I mention blogging and their eyes glaze over. Then you mention podcasts, wikis, my space etc and they are ready to run. I keep wondering whether this sentiment is shared by many of the corporate folks out there. Is informal learning a reality when people have day to day tasks to deal with? Will your general business user really take the time to look at blog postings to solve a problem?

I think the answer is yes and no. It depends on the type of person and the type of job/task. It also goes further than that though. I think that with sooooooooo much content being available, it is paramount that content be organized in a way that people can get to it in an easy way. This kind of goes contrary to blogs that are supposed to be free flowing/ informal thought sharing arenas. Considering the number of blogs out there, are we going to get to a point of information overload? Most blogs cover a myriad of different topics so how do you filter through all the white noise to get to the info you need?

Search engines are getting smarter and all the search engine optimization (SEO) literature is telling web builders/designer/content contributors that blogs are the best way to go. If you want your site ranked on the top search engine you better write content and you better write often. So does this mean more is better? Do we leave the content aggregation to search engines? Where does this leave your corporate user looking for info? Are we going to get to the point of information overload or are we there already?

What are your thoughts?

Is custom training content the future?

The information age is upon and most of us are trying to make sense of how all the changes are going to impact our lives and more importantly our careers/industries. Anyone that says that they are totally comfortable and up to date on all the latest changes is kidding themselves.

This month’s big question across many of the eLearning blogs relates to the issue of DYI learning. Can all the new technologies allow for informal learning to replace much of the formal learning that is currently in place? Pulling, creating and sharing custom content is becoming easier with technology such as blogs, Wikipedia, You tube, podcasts, Skype, RSS feeds etc. It is a cliché, but the list really is endless. It is an exciting time for all, not only in the eLearning industry but anyone interested in organizational development.

Below are some links to interesting reading. Not a coherent post, but rather just sharing interesting reading/viewing that I came across.

Are we ready for personal knowledge management (PKM)? For a great overview on PKM check out Harold Jache’s blog post entitled Calgary eLearning Network - PKM. For an excellent analysis of formal vs informal learning check out the learning circuits post The Numbers Behind Informal & Formal Learning Lastly make sure to check out Connectivism: What's happpening with content.

So do you think informal learning will become pervasive? Are people able to spend the time to filter through all the content that is available? Based on some scanning Yahoo Pipes is not yet well understood although RSS readers are now freely available and extremely user friendly. I guess my question is whether the average employee has the time and interest to filter through all the noise.