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Category Archives: Social Learning
Through the Workscape Looking Glass
Your Workscape is everything in your organization except the training department. It's where work is done and where people hone the skills they need to add value. It's the biggest frame of the big picture. It's relationships and culture and secret sauce. It's the organization as organism. To prosper, you need to nurture it, plant seeds, pamper the ground. It's your job to help the system thrive.
Learning Ecosystem, Learning Ecology, and Learnscape mean the same thing as Workscape. I don't use the word learn with executives, who inevitably think back to the awfulness of school and close their ears. "Let's talk about performance."
The Workscape is a systems-eye view of the workplace. Everything is connected. Rather than try to control nature, we do what it takes to keep the environment thriving.
In the same vein, I talk about Working Smarter instead of informal learning, social learning, and so forth. Some people denigrate informal learning but nobody's against Working Smarter.
Your organization already has a workscape where people are learning to work smarter. That's where all the informal and social learning we hear about is taking place. The problem is that the learning processes are haphazard, often a paving of the cow paths. Many employees and stakeholders miss out—and stumble. Most companies' systems fail to get the job done. Our Workscape ecologies are entering a do-or-die phase like global warming. Management is demanding that the workforce be more effective. "What got us here will not get us there." We must nurture the Workscape or face corporate meltdown.
Global warming signals in Workscapes
We hear that if "it ain't broke, don't fix it," yet most corporate learning and development is broken. 77% of the senior managers surveyed by the Corporate Leadership Council reported they were dissatisfied with L&D. 76% said L&D was not critical to business outcomes. Only 14% would recommend working with L&D. Clark Quinn's recent book, Revolutionizing Learning and Development, slams L&D, which should be named Performance and Development, for seriously underperforming.
Time is speeding up. More happens in a day than your grandmother experienced in a week. Keeping sharp and up to date is now a continuing part of everyone's job. Corporate learning must expand from focusing on the classroom, which provides at best 10% of learning, to the entire organization where learning while doing is the rule. Training a novice may lead to productivity gains in the future. Helping an experienced person impacts the bottom line immediately. Little wonder that the training department is underperforming: they only touch a minority of employees, most of them newcomers.
As many as four out of five large multinationals report they are undergoing a digital transformation. It goes by many names, from Enterprise 2.0 to Radical Management or simply Going Paperless. Altimeter Group defines digital transformation as: "the realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touchpoint in the customer experience lifecycle."* The digital transformation of workplace learning involves moving from the limited training department to the holistic Workscape framework view of the world.
The input may be establishing social learning networks; the output is improvement in the business overall.
Scope of the habitat
Put on your ecologist hat. Let's examine the diversity of species among those people in your Workscape drawing paychecks:
Novices and newbies have been the main focus of training. This includes new hire on-boarding and provision of basic and technical skills (we're all novices at something). This minority uses a disproportionate share of the training department's resources and mindshare.
Experienced producers bring home the bacon yet training departments overlook them. Training departments have single-shot solutions: courses. Courses are rarely appropriate for experienced workers. Many old hands will not tolerate them nor learn from them if they do. They know that experience is a better teacher. Tuning the learning environment to make systemic changes for this underserved population has fantastic upside potential, perhaps enough to get CLOs a real seat at table in the C-Suite.
Top performers are the 20% of the team that generate 80% of the results. A 1% improvement at this level makes waves. This species needs special handling, sometimes including personal service.
Compliance is a red herring that people point to when discussing how deep "training" goes into the organization. However, compliance is not learning. Sure, it's required, but no body's expecting much performance improvement in the area, particularly in its present primitive form.
Alumni are an overlooked opportunity in many organizations. IBM invested in keeping former IBMers abreast of what was going on back at Big Blue. The alumni connected over social media and saw demos in Second Life. The result? An on-going flow of leads from true-believers and those who contract with IBM.
Subspecies. L&D has traditionally focused on the needs of employees on the payroll exclusively, disregarding the fact that partners, customers, subcontractors, temps, service agencies, outsourcers, suppliers, and others are equally part of the value chain. Take the Workscape view. Let's go up to a balcony overlooking a model of your business. Look at the flow of business. You can see that the product is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. Think carefully about who you want to be co-learning with.
The Workscape should address the needs of learners throughout the extended enterprise.
Theoretically, your Workscape — the realm where you'll be wielding your influence on performance and learning — could stretch way beyond your firewall to include nearly everyone the organization interacts with. Imagine how much cooperation will improve if they all read from the same page.
Reading the temperature
The climate for Workscapes is changing, forcing a re-think of how things are connected.
Decision-making is migrating from institution to individual, from training to pull learning, and shifts "power to the people." This is how digital transformation works: digital democracy first. Digital citizens exploit connections and take power. Making the shift is an enormous change management task.
Informal, experiential work is three times more effective than formal, top-down training. Experiential earning is migrating into the workflow at a very fast rate. Spread the footprint of the Workscape to the optimal size.
Workscapes are complex and unpredictable, in perpetual beta. Experiments are cheap. Plant lots (hundreds, thousands) of Workscape experiments and nurture those that catch on. Watch out for monoculture (using only one solution) and the echo effect (making judgments from a narrow spectrum of reality).
Nurturing the Workscape requires competencies such as business problem analysis, collaboration experts, community managers, and moxie. I foresee learning process SWAT teams attacking connection gaps. You don't have these people on board now.
Forget about the traditional way you've trained people. Unlearn your assumptions about courses and top-down learning. Break with the present by looking ahead five years. Start with a blank piece of paper. Take a Workscape perspective. Assess the organizational benefits of:
- embedding learning in work, covering a much larger audience
- setting up learning as a continuous activity, not an event
- leveraging self-sustaining processes instead of one-time courses
- pinpointing high-return activities such as manager coaching
- embracing social and experiential learning
- changing the learning philosophy from push to pull
- employing business metrics to gauge success
- canvasing the organization for opportunities instead of waiting for requests
- focusing on overall business outcomes
- building self-sufficient teams
- extending the Workscape to cover partners, customers, and outsourced services
- making learning a driver with business impact
The learning conservationist toolkit
L&D's collaboration experts and SWAT teams are digital MacGyvers who weave techniques like these into Workscapes:
Make Management responsible for development
- Issue stretch assignments to grow staff
- Mentors, coaching
- Action learning
Personal Learning Network
- Collaboration and cooperation
- Friends and colleagues provide answers
- Peer learning
Performance support
- Job aids, bookmarks,
- FAQs, aggregation, curation
Access to information
- Wiki, inhouse YouTube, internet
- Self-study catalog, portals
Enterprise social network
- Activity stream keeps one up to date
- Platform for conversation
- Opportunity to share knowledge
Communities of Practice
- Professional growth
- Knowledge repository
- Create knowledge
- Individual publishing (Learn out loud!)
- Follow thinking of others
Social learning
- Make conversation easy
- Collaboration
Performance feedback
- Is it working? How can we do better?
- Learning in tiny bites
Instead of taking requests, the traditional role of training departments, learning conservationists actively seek out opportunities where learning will have the most impact.
One group of L&D special agents posted this set of beliefs to explain how it worked to its internal clients:
- We are open and transparent.
- We narrate our work. Need to share.
- We support continuous learning, not events.
- We value conversation as a learning vehicle.
- We drink our own champagne (or mimosas).
- Business success is our bottom line.
- We are not a training organization.
- We value time for self-development and reflection.
- We establish business metrics for every engagement and report back publicly on outcomes.
Changing the physical environment can improve learning.
The staff will use any tool available to improve learning, right down to moving the furniture. A computer manufacturer discovered that its chip designers learned from overhearing conversations among their peers. They replaced a cube farm with comfortable sofas, rolling white boards, and espresso machines — and watched the production of innovative ideas skyrocket.
Environmental impact report
In a 2011 book, A New Culture of Learning, Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown described the kind of learning necessary in this new environment as "whitewater learning"—the ability to acquire useful knowledge and skills while at the same time practicing them in an environment that is constantly evolving and presenting new challenges. They argue that our learning environments need to match the speed and degree of change happening in the world around us.**
The emancipation of both nature and the human imagination depends first on the capacity to 'unsay' the world and, second, on the ability to image it differently so that wonder might be brought into appearance.***
Over a hundred CLOs told us what they were currently doing was insufficient to prepare them to deal with the future needs of the business. Obviously it's time to do something different.
One way to accelerate people's development is to optimize learning by looking at the organization as an organic, unpredictable, complex system. It's time to fix the big picture by working on the level of the Workscape.
*Digital transformation by any other name, Jason Bloomberg in Forbes
**Aspen Institute, The Learning Ecosystem
*** James Corner, "Ecology and Landscape as Agents of Creativity," in Ecological design and planning, George F. Thompson and Frederick R. Steiner, editors, (New York: John Wiley, 1997), p.99. quoted in Design Education and Innovation Ecotones by Ann Pendleton-Julian
Research funded by Litmos
My professional interest is shifting to helping knowledge workers learn and flourish without training. There are millions of harried people out there who don't appreciate that learning is a skill that you can get better at. It's the underground passageway to success. I'd rather work with them directly.
Thinking about learning from the learner's point of view is different from looking on it as a learning executive or instructional designer. Well, most knowledge workers don't know they have an CLO and certainly never heard of instructional design.
Anyway, I am on the lookout for useful metaphors to propel the new book on DIY learning and intelligence.
Experiential learning is the biggest lever in the learning toolbox, so let's start there.
Picture two territories, FamilarLand, where you already know everything and the Unfamiliar Territory which is loaded with people doing things you don't know how to do.
The Unfamiliar Territory is where you can grow. Staying in FamilarLand all the time is stagnating. There's no excitement when there are no surprises.
Since you have all your predetermined opinions, ways of doing things, and beliefs along for the ride, you're happy when lazing around FamiliarLand. Many will be stuck in place there, non-learners who couldn't keep up with the flow. They are slouches; we've got to hang out with the others.
Go-getters will continuously rewire their brains with dashing adventures in the Unknown Territory. With perseverance, they will grow into the roles they're shooting for.
Increasing border crossings will boost organizational knowledge.
Is the metaphor of a journey from FamilarLand to the Unknown Territories and back a useful way to look at things?
In his keynote presentation at Online Educa Berlin last week, Howard Rheingold emphasized co-learning.
Since the teacher learns more than the student, let's all be both teachers and students. Esteemed co-learners, your job is to create new co-learning communities. If a group doesn't exist for facilitate your informal learning, make one.
Peeragogy is a set of techniques for collaborative learning and work. It's a both a discipline and a living book. Howard kicked off the Peeragogy project, many authors contributed to the work, and now a team is dedicated to making it ever better. Housed on a wiki, Peeragogy keeps on improving. Peeragogy walks its talk.
Version 3.0 is in progress and you can help! Join "Peeragogy in Action" on g+.
I made a contribution on Peeragogy in the corporation for an early version of the book two years ago that presaged some of the current buzz about learning ecosystems.
The Workscape, a platform for learning
Formal learning takes place in classrooms; informal learning happens in workscapes. A workscape is a learning ecology. As the environment of learning, a workscape includes the workplace. In fact, a workscape has no boundaries. No two workscapes are alike. Your workscape may include being coached on giving effective presentations, calling the help desk for an explanation, and researching an industry on the Net. My workscape could include participating in a community of field technicians, looking things up on a search engine, and living in France for three months.
Developing a platform to support informal learning is analogous to landscaping a garden. A major component of informal learning is natural learning, the notion of treating people as organisms in nature. The people are free-range learners. Our role is to protect their environment, provide nutrients for growth, and let nature take its course.
A landscape designer's goal is to conceptualize a harmonious, unified, pleasing garden that makes the most of the site at hand. A workscape designer's goal is to create a learning environment that increases the organization's longevity and health and the individual's happiness and well-being.
Gardeners don't control plants; managers don't control people. Gardeners and managers have influence but not absolute authority. They can't makea plant fit into the landscape or a person fit into a team.
In an ideal Workscape, workers can easily find the people and information they need, learning is fluid and new ideas flow freely, corporate citizens live and work by the organization's values, people know the best way to get things done, workers spend more time creating value than handling exceptions, and everyone finds their work challenging and fulfilling.
The technical infrastructure of the Workscape
When an organization is improving its Workscape, looking at consumer applications is a good way to think about what's required. Ask net-savvy younger workers how they would like to learn new skills, and they bring up the features they enjoy in other services:
- Personalize my experience and make recommendations, like Amazon.
- Make it easy for me to connect with friends, like Facebook.
- Keep me in touch with colleagues and associates in other companies, as on LinkedIn.
- Persistent reputations, as at eBay, so you can trust who you're collaborating with.
- Multiple access options, like a bank that offers access by ATM, the Web, phone, or human tellers.
- Don't overload me. Let me learn from YouTube, an FAQ, or linking to an expert.
- Show me what's hot, like Reddit, Digg, MetaFilter, or Fark do.
- Give me single sign-on, like using my Facebook profile to access multiple applications.
- Let me choose and subscribe to streams of information I'm interested in, like BoingBoing, LifeHacker or Huffpost.
- Provide a single, simple, all-in-one interface, like that provided by Google for search.
- Help me learn from a community of kindred spirits, like SlashDot, Reddit, and MetaFilter.
- Give me a way to voice my opinions and show my personality, as on my blog.
- Show me what others are interested in, as with social bookmarks like Diigo and Delicious.
- Make it easy to share photos and video, as on Flickr and YouTube.
- Leverage "the wisdom of crowds," as when I pose a question to my followers on Twitter or Facebook.
- Enable users to rate content, like "Favoriting" an item on Facebook or +!ing is on Google or YouTube.
Some of those consumer applications are simple to replicate in-house. Others are not. You can't afford to replicate Facebook or Google behind your firewall. That said, there are lots of applications you can implement at reasonable cost. Be skeptical if your collaborative infrastructure that doesn't include these minimal functions:
Profiles – for locating and contacting people with the right skills and background. Profile should contain photo, position, location, email address, expertise (tagged so it's searchable). IBM's Blue Pages profiles include how to reach you (noting whether you're online now), reporting chain (boss, boss's boss, etc.), link to your blog and bookmarks, people in your network, links to documents you frequently share, members of your network.
Activity stream – for monitoring the organization pulse in real time, sharing what you're doing, being referred to useful information, asking for help, accelerating the flow of news and information, and keeping up with change
Wikis – for writing collaboratively, eliminating multiple versions of documents, keeping information out in the open, eliminating unnecessary email, and sharing responsibility for updates and error correction
Virtual meetings – to make it easy to meet online. Minimum feature set: shared screen, shared white board, text chat, video of participants. Bonus features: persistent meeting room (your office online), avatars.
Blogs – for narrating your work, maintaining your digital reputation, recording accomplishments, documenting expert knowledge, showing people what you're up to so they can help out
Bookmarks – to facilitate searching for links to information, discover what sources other people are following, locate experts
Mobile access – Half of America's workforce sometimes works away from the office. Smart phones are surpassing PCs for connecting to networks for access and participation. Phones post most Tweets than computers. Google designs its apps for mobile before porting them to PCs.
Social network – for online conversation, connecting with people, and all of the above functions.
Learning used to focus on what was in an individual's head. The individual took the test, got the degree, or earned the certificate. The new learning focuses on what it takes to do the job right. The workplace is an open-book exam. What worker doesn't have a cell phone and an Internet connection? Using personal information pipelines to get help from colleagues and the Internet to access the world's information is encouraged. Besides, it's probably the team that must perform, not a single individual. Thirty years ago, three-quarters of what a worker need to do the job was stored in her head; now it's less than 10%.
Retreat gear
Thursday I'm off to a retreat in Texas. People are talking about what they will bring. Coffee, vino, whatever.
I think of UTAOU people as life designers, not instructional designers. Surely we can bring something beside stimulants and depressants. I'm going to bring a bag of weird stuff to try to get our motors running:
In the bag are:
carpet boules
German magnetic Continue reading
Learning by doing
Your social wishlist
How will you take advantage of your in-house social network?
Use networks to create services and share collective intelligence
Your company will install an in-house social network. The only question is how soon. Wise Chief Learning Officers are thinking about how social networks will augment learning & development.
Imagine that a Senior Executive in your company returns from Thanksgiving weekend having read white papers from IBM that say social business is the next step in the overall evolution of business. Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company had already told him that brainpower has become the engine of innovation. It's inevitable that businesses will construct networks that connect everyone in their ecosystems to co-create and deliver services that delight customers and share collective intelligence. Social business is the flavor of the day in the C-suites of the Fortune 500.
The allure of social business is captivating. McKinsey, MIT and others report that companies that embrace social business models:
- reduce time to market
- increase the level of innovation
- speed up access to knowledge
- reduce operating costs
- make in-house expertise easier to tap
- increase employee satisfaction
The social business juggernaut has arrived and the time to get on board is now. Front-running companies are installing social networks like Chatter, Jive, Connections, Socialcast, Yammer, Socialtext, Sharepoint, Ideo, and HootSuite like there's no tomorrow.
The exec secured a mandate from the executive committee to experiment with social networking in three areas of the company, international sales, manufacturing resource forecasting, and learning & development.
You're Chief Learning Officer. You've been doing your own research on "Enterprise 2.0" and learning networks. You appreciate that social business — connecting everyone in the organization in networks makes sense. You've also sensed a groundswell in the learning and development community favoring social, self-directed, "pull" learning.
You recently read a compelling argument that people in knowledge organizations learn three to four times as much from experience as from interaction with bosses, coaches, and mentors. And they learn about twice as much from those conversations with others from in classrooms and formal learning programs.
Social business is the flavor of the day
in the C-suites of the Fortune 500.
You could deliver a much bigger bang for your training buck by greasing the skids to make experiential learning more systematic, coached, and attractive.
The senior exec called you to his office and explained, "We're going to experiment to find out how in-house social networks might strengthen our L&D and a few other areas in the company. Several vendors of social network suites have offered us incredibly deep discounts if we make up our minds in the next two days. I know it's a sales gimmick and they don't think we can do it. I need you to give me a one-page list of the capabilties you require from social software to make the most of social learning and carry out your vision of what we need to do. It's an outrageously short fuse request but do your best."
Let's test your skills and ability. What functions would appear on your list?
Close the magazine, take out a sheet of paper, and jot down your requirements. What features would you need and why?
Here's an example
Mobile access – Half of America's workforce sometimes works away from the office. Smart phones have surpassed PCs for connecting to networks. More people Tweet from their phones than from their computers. If we don't have mobile capabilities, we'll lose more than half of our audience.
Jot down what you need. Turn to page ____ to check your list against the nine features on our wish list.
EDITOR.* This answers section goes on a page further back in the book.
Requirements for in-house social learning network
Profiles – for locating and contacting people with the right skills and background. Profile should contain photo, position, location, email address, expertise (tagged so it's searchable). IBM's Blue Pages profiles include how to reach you (noting whether you're online now), reporting chain (boss, boss's boss, etc.), link to your blog and bookmarks, people in your network, links to documents you frequently share, members of your network.
Activity stream – for monitoring the organizational pulse in real time, sharing what you're doing, being referred to useful information, asking for help, accelerating the flow of news and information, and keeping up with change.
Wikis – for writing collaboratively, eliminating multiple versions of documents and email, keeping information out in the open, eliminating unnecessary email, and sharing responsibility for updates and error correction.
Virtual meetings – to make it easy to meet online. Minimum feature set: shared screen, shared white board, text chat, video of participants, ability to record. Bonus features: persistent meeting room (your office online), avatars.
Blogs – for narrating work, maintaining your digital reputation, recording accomplishments, documenting expert knowledge, showing people what you're up to so they can help out.
Bookmarks – to facilitate searching for links to information, discovering what sources other people are following, tracking down experts.
Mobile access – Half of America's workforce sometimes works away from the office. Smart phones have surpassed PCs for connecting to networks. Phones post most Tweets than computers. Google designs its apps for mobile before porting them to PCs.
Social network – for online conversation, connecting with people, and all of the above functions.
Search – for locating needles in haystacks.
* Note: This is the version of the article I submitted to CLO under the title H0w Will You Take Advantage of Your In-House Social Network? The article that appears in the magazine was edited by CLO editors. The edited version is always close but rarely the same as what I send in.
What Universities Must Learn About Social Networks
What Universities Must Learning About Social Networks
By Jay Cross | Chief Executive Officer, Internet Time Alliance
Increasingly, businesses are looking to more social approaches to employee learning and development. Higher education institutions must capitalize on this shift.
Co-written with Chris Sessums | Director of Educational Research, Internet Time Lab
THE ISSUE IS NOT whether you are going to become a socially networked university but how soon.
Businesses are being transformed into social businesses.
Social business is the flavor of the day in the C-suites of the Fortune 500. A social business is one where all the members of the corporate ecosystem (employees, customers, partners, and customers) network with one another to delight their customers
IBM describes socially networked corporations as the next step in the overall evolution of business. Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company say collaboration and collective intelligence are the engines of innovation. The first question from new hires, accustomed to doing their homework and living their lives with friends on their networks is "Where's the social network? Where do I post my profile? How do I search for information?"
Networks are the glue that connects us. No one works alone. It takes a team to get things done. No one learns alone either. Others show us the way, share their know-how, and help us make meaning of the world. We rely on colleagues and social networks to separate the signal from the noise; their advice makes our experiential learning productive. Collaboration is the key to success in both working and learning; they usually take place simultaneously.
The social business bandwagon has arrived and companies are installing Chatter, Jive, Connections, Socialcast, Yammer, Socialtext, Sharepoint, HootSuite, and more to replace outmoded intranets and improve the way they transact business. McKinsey & Company reports that implementing social business creates:
- Improved business performance (profit, productivity, margins, etc)
- Increased operational efficiency
- Stronger outcomes from knowledge intensive work
- Easier methods of capturing and retaining institutional knowledge
- Better awareness about business opportunities and colleagues needing help
- Richer cross-department contamination and collaboration
- Reduced email traffic and information overload
- Cheaper and quicker mechanisms to connect colleagues, find and reuse knowledge
- Improved cross-departmental communication
- Reduced travel expenses
- Facilitating the emergence of collective social capital and limiting duplication of effort
- Stronger employee engagement and motivation
- Increased satisfaction of partners and suppliers
- Reduced supply chain costs
- Lower on-boarding and talent retention costs
- New levels of business agility and faster cycle times
Social and informal learning are the hottest trends in corporation learning and development. Social networks empower workers to engage in self-determined "pull" learning. People learn their jobs while doing their jobs. They learn more in the coffeeroom that in the classroom. Some training departments see this as learning being out of control; workers flock to it for the same reason.
Many companies rely on Facebook, Twitter, and other consumer applications to connect their people. Others will never do that for reasons of security, lack of the ability to customize, limited feature sets, or the risk of relying on a wildcard like Mark Zuckerberg.
The question you have to face is not whether or not the university needs to provide the social networks that can supplement our educational offering whille at the same time bringing us together to operate more effectively.
Universities have a mandate. Most students, faculty, and administraters use social networks extensively outside of school. They will use them with your blessing or without it. Mobile devices route around IT; amateurs can bid software slaves do their will.
Some schools are comfortable encouraging students, faculty, and adminstratoin to use consumer apps on the open web. Most universities we've talked with are concerned about their responsibilities protecting students. But beyond making alternative social network connections available, a school with no internal networks is pushing its consitutents out into the street. It's like hosting a teenage party. You don't enjoy being chaperone for a messy event but if you don't like the thought of the kids partying down at the beach on their own.
A handful of universities have adopted some aspects of web 2.0 but none have taken it all the way. Students everywhere joke about pre-historic systems. What universities need to do is make up their minds about the inevitable and get on with it.
Universities will transmogrify into networked universities.
Students, faculty, and staff share numerous benefits of social networks. Furthermore, universities need to become networked to meet the needs of businesses seeking training. Their employees already know how to use the networks and will adapt better to the learning experience.
By introducing social networks, corporate students will be able to organize study groups, share notes, and better prepare for exams and projects by using these networks to foster peer-to-peer collaboration.
It isn't just to the benefit of students, though. Faculty use social networks to support communication and information sharing among committees, teams, and research projects. Institutional staff use social software to improve communication with students for both recruitment and retention purposes. Development offices use social networks to stay in touch with alumni and support them with news, information, and networking opportunities.
Each of these areas of the university may benefit from sharing next practices, facilitating cross-department collaboration, facilitating collaboration among departments or teams, streamlining business processes, building support for strategic initiatives, and reducing internal email.
Practical considerations.
Universities face many of the same pressures to embrace social networks as corporations. It simplifies and streamlines the transactional aspects of administration, it encourages open communication and shared decision-making, and it provides a learning ecosystem that enables students to co-learn in order to supplement the formal aspects of their education.
If you're with us thus far, you next question is "Now what?" You have four or five options for turning on your social network.
Here are some suggestions that draw on Chris's experience developing and purchasing university-level educational software and Jay's work with corporations using social networks to implement experiential learning.
Don't boil the ocean. Start with one team, unit, or department with a crying need and potential social network champions. Build on that success to inspire other groups to join the effort.
While institutions could get help from their LMS vendor, we advise they don't. Social networks do different jobs than a Learning Management System (LMS). As social learning began to create a buzz, LMS vendors have responded by tacking blogs and microblogs (tweet streams) onto their registration and delivery systems. A bloated LMS suffers the same downside as a Swiss Army Knife. It may be handy to carry a leather punch and Phillips screwdriver in your pocket, but if you plan to do a lot of cutting, you'll be better off with a single-purpose knife.
While it may be easy to develop a rudimentary social networking system in-house, it is advisable for higher education institutions to bring in a contractor who can develop a specific type of network and protect its security and growth.
Beware of any supplier who is not dedicated to building social networks. The tools of the social web are in constant flux. It takes a dedicated software provider to keep up with evolving user interface conventions and emerging technologies. Activity streams, a "river of news," are the lifeblood of today's social networks. Activity streams were virtually unknown until Twitter popularized the format a few years ago. "Favoriting" popular content so the cream can rise to the top caught on after Facebook made it de rigeur. In the last six months, mobile access has become essential. Six months hence, HTML5 will be an absolute requirement. Keeping up is a nightmare unless network software is your primary line of business.
Don't use software developed by a faculty member (unless you're Carnegie Mellon, Duke, or maybe Stanford.) The ease of assembling software applications from plug-and-play modules and checkboxes has led numerous faculty members to build social network systems in-house. This is like building a factory with Erector Set. Relying on such "free" software is penny-wise and pound foolish. Homebrew software is difficult to maintain, and often breaks when volumes increase. Keeping everything humming may require access to the author.
Choose the tool/application based on the types of relations/relationships you want to foster and build, not on the features of the tool. Prepare simple guidelines for implementation so that participants know what's expected of them.
Very much like the continuous changes in social network software, network security is a day to day concern. Security experts work 24/7 to keep a step ahead of crackers trying to crack into their systems. Student and faculty privacy are sacrosanct. It's vital to have pros lock the doors shut and be ever vigilant. We're amazed when we find elegant software written by faculty that misses something so fundamental as privacy protection.
You have to weigh the values and culture of your institution to decide whether to provide a protective "walled garden" or the rough-and-tumble of the social internet.
Generally, we suggest: Design for short and long term goals. Measure gap closings, not simply engagement. Define clear objectives. Solve nagging problems. Pay attention to relationships. Get leaders involved. Create rewards and incentives for participation.
Where do you turn for your in-house net?
Sign up for one of the commercial social networks solutions like Jive, Connections, Socialcast, Yammer. Downsides: can be very pricey. Also, someone's going to have to map your terminology and ways of doing things. These packages generally start life as a blank canvas. Do a pilot test with a moneyback guarantee to get a feel for things. Pick an area where communication has been a major stumbling block and there are enthusiastic
Several groups are preparing social networks built particularly for universities with academic and administrative starter kits already on board. these are start-up companies, so you have to put up with some rough edges but in return you can probably make a good deal. one of the more mature efforts, San Francisco-based GoingOn, has installations in this area, that area, whatever. A lot more of these will be popping up.
We both understand Moore's Law: everthing gets faster, better, and cheaper at an exponential rate. If it hasn't fully sunk in, Moore's Law is what made you feel stupid when you recently bought a computing gadget, only to find a faster model for less money a short while after.
Open source "social network in a box" software is under development that will cost less than a nice learther sofa. That's a one-time fee, not a subscription. Just as you shouldn't avoid buying new technology, because there will always be a better and less costly alternative on the market in the future, don't hold off experimenting today. You might as well start reaping benefits now.
Isn't this how organizational learning cultures progress?
Jane Hart's post yesterday on The differences between learning in an e-business and learning in a social business got me thinking about the evolution of learning culture in organizations.
It's all to0 easy to mistakenly think of formal learning as the antiquated, primitive way of doing things, something an organization shucks off as it becomes enlightened and gives its people the autonomy to work on their own. The notion of stages suggests that a corporation hops from one stage to the next, abandoning past approaches as it advances.
What really happens is that one innovation is built on top of what's gone before. Just as bicycles did not eliminate walking and cars did not do away with automobiles, informal learning doesn't snuff out formal learning. That's why models like 80/20 and 70:20:10 retain the 20 and the 10.
Think of it this way. Most organizations begin life with classroom learning and experiential learning:
As organizations mature, they take advantage of other methods of formal delivery, for example eLearning. Often this gives the worker more say-so about when to attend and sometimes whether to take part at all. They also improve the effectiveness of experiential learning by enlisting managers as coaches who give stretch assignments to develop their people and by developing practices that nurture self-directed learning.
Take a core sample of overall learning and you still find classroom training for newbies, compliance, and technical subjects. As the organization progresses, it adds more layers to the mix of learning going on. The newer approaches often diminish the importance of the lower layers but does not eliminate them.
Bear in mind that all learning is part informal/part formal and part social/part solo. These diagrams are conceptual, not derived from actual measurements.
The ultimate stage is the convergence of work and learning. As Jane points out, you don't get this far just unless the organization has become a social business. Check her list of learning practices (the right column). Jane describes both the way people learn and the way the business functions; the two are inseparable.
Be careful not to confuse the progression of learning for the organization with the progression of learning for the individual:
Typically, the individual does phase out of most formal learning over time. Been there, done that, moving on.
Bonus question: Where would you place your organization in the progression to the convergence of work and learning?
How to Replace Top-down Training with Collaborative Learning (2)
Second post in a series. In case you missed it, here's the first.
Who's going to be involved?
Every Kind of Employee – Temps Included
In the Hierarchical organization, employees were the only people who received corporate training. Aside from compliance training and new product introductions, most training focused on novices – either newhires who needed orientation or workers mastering a new skill or subject.
It's not that seasoned and elder employees weren't learning; we all learn all the time. Rather, they weren't learning as well as they might. HR and training departments overlooked experienced employees because they learn experientially, from stretch assignments and mentors rather than from courses and workshops. Learning by experienced employees was left to chance.
Two out of three Chief Learning Officers neglect experienced employees, but these are the very people who make money for the company. New hires and novices aren't very productive. Raise their proficiency by 20 percent and next to nothing hits the bottom line. Raising the proficiency of top performers by 20 percent can double the bottom line. A wise Collaborative organization focuses its efforts where they'll have the most impact.
Pre-employees and alumni
Talent managers advocate pre-employment training and internships. As an example, they encourage college students with an interest in banking to participate in bank training and perhaps work at the bank during summer break to see if they enjoy it. The bank gains a leg up in recruiting and knows more about job candidates before making an offer. On the other hand, many former employees remain loyal to their firms, and sometimes even provide leads for new business. Andersen Consulting, IBM, and Goldman Sachs pay attention to so called "offboarding" as well as onboarding. They have set up social networks for alumni and help them keep up with new developments. Many alumni are future customers.
The Extended Enterprise
We need to start thinking of businesses as extended enterprises, especially when it comes to learning, because really, each business includes distributors, suppliers, temps, partners, contractors, and, importantly, customers as well, all in addition to employees.
Michael Porter's concept of the value chain taught us that the values and costs generated by your suppliers and distributors are passed along to your customers. Since learning improves performance, it's in your interest to help these people learn to do better work. Customers and prospects
"An educated customer is the best customer," said retailer Sy Sims. Colearning with customers may be learning's new frontier. Google is teaching people to use more of its services in online courses. Google could have produced a slick, buttoned-down, tech-oriented training program, like they did for Google Wave, but this time around, Google chose a friendly, avuncular fellow to lead you through the ondemand session. He's not a salesperson; he's a research scientist, a true-blue Googler! He gives encouragement: you're on the path to being a Power Searcher! He's casual, very approachable and looks like he's talking to you from his living room. He stumbles occasionally. He comes across as authentic, the type of guy you'd enjoy talking to at a bar.
By doing this, Google is building customer loyalty. Co-learning builds trust. As other companies realize the potential of learning as a marketing tool, we're going to see a lot more programs like this.
Help your customers become better at serving their own needs. Beyond that, learning with one another forges of trust and goodwill. Co-learning – adapting to the future – with customers is an unexploited marketing strategy.
Who should control learning?
People are at their best when they're doing things for themselves, when they "pull" what they need rather than have things "pushed" on them.
Hierarchies work well when the future is predictable and things aren't prone to change. The objective in a stable situation is to get better at what you're currently doing. Organizations develop programs, training among them, that promote conformity.
Collaborative organizations outpace hierarchies when the future is unpredictable and change is rampant. The objective in a dynamic situation is to get better at whatever comes along. Wise organizations develop platforms with standard interfaces to maintain flexibility and spark innovation. These organizations give workers a say in what they learn and how they learn it. They provide a variety of means of for workers to get the information they need. Instead of rigid training sessions, the organization supplies a platform that nurtures self-directed learning.
Companies accomplish the transition from Hierarchy to Collaborative by handing over more control to those that are closest to the customer. This may seem radical, and change can be unsettling, but this is a key to becoming a Collaborative organization.
How self-directed learners learn
When given the choice most workers prefer to learn from experience. Experiential learning takes place in the course of trying to accomplish something, often by mimicking what other people do, by trial and error, and by asking colleagues and experts; this means experiential learning is often informal learning, done outside of the classroom. Mentors and coaches give assignments that provide new challenges and therefore require learning.
Conversation is the most important learning technology ever invented. People love to talk with each other. Conversations have magic to them. Look at a written transcript of a conversation and it sounds incoherent; true conversation is a mix of empathy, emotion, body language, shared understanding, nuance, and cultural norms. Conversations are the stem cells of learning. Improve the availability and quality of conversation, and you automatically improve the amount of learning taking place.
A survey last year asked managers how they learned their jobs. Informal chats with colleagues ranked #1, followed by Internet search, and trial and error. Workers value social learning (collaboration, networking, and conversations) and informal learning (community membership, Internet search, blogs, curated content, and self-study). Both social and informal are deemed more important by employees than company documents and training.
Jane Hart offers great advice on how to design a learning ecology to match the way contemporary workers learn. It's no longer about delivering courses in training rooms.
Here are some tips from Jane on this subject.
• Think activities, not courses.
• Think learning space/places, not training rooms.
• Think lightweight design, not instructional design.
• Think continuous flow of activities, not just respond to need.
• Think social technologies, not training technologies.
Digital Natives are the generation that grew up glued to computer screens. For them, networks and technology are second nature. Stanford psychologist Phil Zimbardo says that by the time the average boy reaches the age of 21, he has spent at least 10,000 hours playing video games. This alternative reality rewires their brains. They're accustomed to living in a highly stimulating environment where they are in control. Their world is made up of decision making, researching and collaborating all at the click of a button, anytime, anywhere, so they won't put up with traditional training which says what they will learn and when. If Digital Natives aren't allowed to act, they will refuse to play the game.
Digital Immigrants are those who grew up before interactive computing took hold. Some are in denial, trying to get by without going digital; they will become fossils. Elders who do want to join the Network Era have an opportunity to barter with the Digital Natives, something called reversementoring. Immigrants swap their organizational savvy and deep smarts for the Natives' help in using technology.
The learnscape, that overall platform on which learning takes place, must accommodate both Natives and Immigrants. It must be easy to access and understand. It must let people take control of their learning and participate actively.
The next post in this series will address how to build an infrastructure to optimize collaborative learning.


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For the FBO industry, just how good a year 2012 will be depends solely upon how much flight activity there is in the corporate and private aviation sectors. After all, parked aircraft do not use fuel nor require the services of FBO staff.
Overall for 2011, the industry saw a slight improvement over 2010. Based on TraqPak data from research provider Argus, after a sharp spike in the number of flight hours in the beginning of the year (the industry saw approximately 40,000 more business aircraft flights in March's yearly peak of 265,000 than there were in February), activity remained consistent (at approximately 250,000 flights a month) for the remainder of last year.
As we enter what appears to be a contentious election year, most in the industry believe that 2012 will be at best more of the same. With the business community still facing uncertainly on a variety of topics, such as unemployment, payroll taxes and healthcare, the coming elections will provide little incentive for politicians to hammer out quick solutions and consequently, there is little hope for major policy initiatives, according to industry experts.
"We're now heavily into the political 'silly season,' as I like to call it," said John Enticknap, president of the industry consultancy Aviation Business Strategies Group. "That's going to keep going all through 2012." Therefore, he predicts few substantive changes will come out of Washington during the year.
"I think at this point most of our members see next year as kind of a continuation of 2011," said James Coyne, president of the National Air Transport Association and a former member of Congress. "We have the phenomenon of an election year ahead of us, and so I think it's predictable what kind of rhetoric we will be hearing. I think the White House, from everything we can gather, is going to be speaking scornfully of the top 'one percent' and the top 'one percent' play a pretty important role in our industry."
While all the election travel by candidates could boost business for some FBOs, it will likely be offset by TFRs set throughout the campaign to protect President Obama and Vice President Biden as they stump for votes.
From across the Pond, the European debt crisis could hamstring significant economic progress in two of the traditional top business aviation regions, North America and Europe, as the Euro-zone nations attempt to institute policies to safeguard their currency.
"Clearly there's a lot of concern about Europe right now," Coyne told AIN. "European companies bring a lot of business to American airports and FBOs. If the economy weakens in Europe, corporations that frequent the U.S. may be coming less frequently, so that's something that is worrisome to us."
Another major issue facing the FBO industry this year is currently playing out in California, where a public advocacy group has filed a lawsuit seeking the immediate end of the sale of leaded aviation gasoline, as well as punitive damages from FBOs and fuel distributors, for the distribution of what the group describes as an environmental health hazard. As the matter winds through California courts, NATA and the industry are concerned not only about the ramifications in the Golden State in the event of a negative ruling, but also of the spread of similar cases to other states. This could cripple the piston-aircraft industry, which is the backbone of most pilot-training programs.
All of this continuing uncertainty leads to a cautious forecast by industry insiders. "I see some pickup but nothing significant," Enticknap said. "If FBOs see five-percent increases, I think they will be happy with that."

subset: commoncrawl


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FOUR teachers with a combined service of 116 years called time on their teaching careers last week, bidding an emotional farewell to their colleagues and students at Penryn College.
Assistant head teacher, Ros Bastian; head of science, Lee Franklin; head of humanities and geography teacher, Steve Clifford, and head of house and English teacher, Linda Muller, were the VIP guests at a staff get together ahead of their final day at school.
Head teacher Marie Hunter paid tribute to foursome who she said "had served the young people at Penryn College so very well." She added: "They have made a real contribution to the numerous young people they have taught over the years and I wish them a happy and healthy retirement."
Mrs Bastian joined the school in 1978 and progressed from the PE department to a senior management position.
She has always been passionate about ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to develop their sporting talents as well as enjoying their school experiences.
Mrs Muller, who joined the college in 1982, was a head of year for many years and was instrumental in introducing, with Mrs Bastian, the house system. She is described as "a passionate English teacher."
Mr Clifford arrived at the school in 1985 and led humanities at the college as well as teaching geography. He had organised numerous field trips in this country and abroad.
Mr Franklin joined the staff in 1995 and has made "a major contribution" to outdoor education at the college. He is a keen kayaker and has shared this love with many of his students.


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REMEMBER the name Kortney Hause – that's Blues boss Gareth Ainsworth's message after another excellent display from the young defender.
The 17-year-old was making just his sixth ever professional appearance, and the fourth start, against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday but a rock solid performance from him kept the Pilgrims at bay.
Wanderers have kept two clean sheets in the four matches Hause has started and Ainsworth admits he'll have a tough decision to make when experienced campaigners Dave Winfield and Gary Doherty return from injury.
When asked about Hause's display on Saturday, Ainsworth said: "I think you'd best start writing that name down because I think he's going to be a top player.
"He's got the potential to be a huge player in the game. He can play, he's cultured, but when he needs to battle he can battle.
"I had a little bit of a go at half time to the back two. Their clearances weren't the greatest, they hesitated, but there was none of that in the second half."
Wanderers ended Saturday's game with five teenagers on the pitch, while Argyle could call on the likes of former Premier League defender Darren Purse and Northern Ireland international Warren Feeney to batter them into submission.
Ainsworth said: "Kortney at 17 is a second year apprentice, which is phenomenal to see when you've got someone like Darren Purse at the other end."
Team mate Sam Wood added: "He's showing his quality. He's still only young and needs to keep working on his game but he's going to have a big future if he carries on."


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Ancient Writing
Reprinted by permission from "Artifacts of Ancient Civilizations" by Alex G. Malloy
The written word, the most important means of communication, has always been the main aspect by which, a people establishes itself as a civilization. By inventing a writing system, a people could progress from a simple agrarian group to a more complex society which has the ability to form governmental system, and to educate its members. Writing, as the tool of mankind, has enabled men to become learned scholars, brought separate cultures within each other�s reach, and preserved historical events and happenings for posterity.
Cuneiform, probably the oldest system of writing, was employed by the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians over 200 years before Christ. At first, this wedge-shaped writing represented, in pictorial form, a few animate and inanimate objects. These signs then arose to depict phonetic values. Therefore, before long, cuneiform developed into a clearly defined linear script which could be used consistently and easily by Western Asiatic scribes.
Hieroglyphic Writing
This ancient script, called by the Egyptians �the speech of the Gods� was used mainly for inscriptional writing. Even as early as 3000 B.C., hieroglyphic writing was a highly developed pictorial and ideographic system. Strangely enough, although this formal style was to last over 3000 years, it never flourished, nor, indeed, spread past the borders of Egypt. Subsequently, with the rise of the incoming Greek and Latin languages, this beautiful script died along with great dynasties of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
Hieratic Writing
When writing on papyrus and ostraca for business purposes, the ancient Egyptian scribe turned from hieroglyphic script to hieratic, which was a cursive derivative. Not only was hieratic used for business and religious texts, it was, in contrast, also used for profane writing. Hieratic was not utilized instead of hieroglyphic writing, but rather in conjunction with it- a quicker, �shorthand� script of a sometimes laborious hieroglyphic script.
Not to be confused with Jewish-Aramaic, Aramaic was often called Syriac by the Jews. It was a script used by the heathen neighbors of the Jews- the Aramaeans. The Aramaeans were wandering tribesmen who eventually settled in modern-day Syria around the 11th or 12th B.C. Their script was alphabetic rather than pictorial, and from its conception progressed into a rather cursive script. By the 7th century B.C., Aramaic had become not only prominent, but the official language of the Near East, particularly of the Persian Empire.
Originally an offshoot of the Canaanite language, Hebrew began to become distinct around the 11th century B.C. Its use continued for 500 years, until somewhere around the 6th century B.C. For a long time, sample of early Hebrew writing were scarce, but over the past century hundreds of inscriptions have been founded, are an important source of information about the language and period of the Old Testament.
Edessan Syriac
Edessa, in northwest Mesopotamia, was one of the first centers of Christianity in the Syriac-speaking world. It was an island in a primarily Greek-speaking area. Edessan Syriac was a branch of Aramaic which became the most important language in the Eastern Roman Empire after Greek. The language gradually died out, except for some liturgical passage, because of the conquering foreigners � first the Persians and then the Arabs.
One can never underestimate the importance of the Greek language, because most of the European languages are related to ancient Greek. The Greeks attributed the invention of their alphabet to the Phoenicians, from whom they learned the ability to write in approximately the 11th century B.C. At first written from right to left, Greek the progressed into being written alternatively from either right to left or left to right. However, it was only after 800 B.C. that it became commonplace to write left to right. Greek writing is not frequently available. Usually when it is encountered, it is in the form of an inscription on an object, or a name signed on a Greek vase by its maker. Papyrus fragments with Greek writings are highly sought after.
The Coptic language is the only offshoot of the Greek which developed into a non-European language. Up until the 20th century, Coptic liturgical verses were still spoken in the Christian villages of Upper Egypt. Consisting mainly of Greek letters, Coptic does contain a part of its Egyptian heritage by using seven letters of the Demotic languages or script. Demotic script was used in the Late period of ancient Egypt.
Classical Latin
The Latin language was spread by Roman legionaries throughout most of the Roman Empire. It is the ancestor and basis of the Romance languages, for example, French or Spanish, and has influenced the majority of all the Europeans languages. Today, it is thought that Latin originates from both the Greek and Etruscan alphabets, not purely from the Greek languages, as was previously believed. An accurate date for the beginning of Latin is unobtainable; however, it was probably created approximately in the 7th century B.C.


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Lightning struck twice in the same race, but this was a different Bolt. In the 2008 final, he was a one-man show. Last night, he was the No. 1 man in a show. There is no Olympic show quite like "the hundred". It is the cabaret of track and field.
In 2008, memorably, Bolt did not have to run the race out to win, in a then world record time of 9.69s. Last night, he did have to run every step, and recorded a quicker time, an Olympic record of 9.63s. It was the second fastest time in history, only slightly slower than his world record 9.58s at the world championships in Berlin in 2009. He had come to London in search of legendhood, and found it. One million people had applied for tickets to this night, and the fortunate 80,000 hailed him, chanting his name.
In 2008, he celebrated riotously, Last night, he did again, but at one counterpoint momentarily curled up on the track, head down, as if suddenly humbled. "It really means a lot because there was a lot of people doubting me," he said. "This was [an] even greater feeling [than Beijing]."
In 2008, it was all about the finish and Bolt's swaggering flourish there. Last night, it was all about the start. Bolt's Achilles heel is that he is unusually tall for a sprinter, and so is chronically slow in uncoiling himself from the blocks. In the world championships in Daegu last year, he was infamously disqualified for a false start.
"To tell the truth, I was worried about my start," he said last night. "I didn't want to false start again. I sat in the blocks a bit." His coach, having prevailed on him about his starts, had said to him pre-race: "Stop worrying about the start: the best part of your race is the end." Safely away, Bolt reeled in his rivals and at 50 metres was sure he would win.
At 75 metres, he was composed enough to glance at the clock and think about the world record, but he saw that the moment had passed. Though the 100 metres passes in the blink of an eye, there was time still for another impudent thought to enter his mind. "I almost did what I did in Beijing," he said, "but, no, this was right to the line."
In 2008, Bolt was great alone; the only point of reference was the clock. Last night, he was in company, and that made him greater still. The cast consisted of the four fastest men on earth, for the first time gathered in an Olympic final, plus Justin Gatlin, the 2004 gold medallist who subsequently served a two-year drug suspension.
To beat the clock was one thing, to beat flesh and blood opponents quite another. The clock is relentless, but inanimate; it can't mess with your mind. A human can, merely by his presence. In Beijng, Bolt had made all around him seem smaller. It was more than a physical effect.
First among equals in the other lanes last night was Yohan Blake, Bolt's countryman, training partner and inheritor of his world title in Daegu. Though Bolt's false start there notionally was mere misadventure, it implied a sinister subtext, that Blake's occupation of the next lane had panicked him into a fatally fast getaway.
Sprinting is all confidence, and one defeat can precipitate a string. Subsequently, Bolt ran his first plus 10 seconds race for years, suffered injury and in Jamaica's Olympic trials lost to Blake at 100 and 200 metres. At training, Blake made a point of beating Bolt. Sensing Bolt's mortality, the world's other great sprinters closed. Maurice Greene, champion of Sydney, forecast defeat for Bolt.
So the scene was set. Every man in the final had run under 10 seconds this year. In the call room, the purity of their sport was apparent, but also its loneliness and nakedness: no bat, racquet, club or ball, not even a word, just eight men and their itchy feet.
It really means a lot because there was a lot of people doubting me
On the track, of course, it was different. Sprinters dance on the line between showmen and show-off. Purists detest it. Blake, dubbed The Beast by Bolt, performed a passable beastly pantomime. Concerned that he had been upstaged, Bolt enacted a whole suite of mimes. Bolt says it is all to please the crowd, but in truth it is partly to shake out the nerves. Tension is poison to a sprinter.
Nothing pleased the crowd more than Bolt's running. When fellow Jamaican Michael Holding was playing cricket for Tasmania, teammates would stop to watch him run laps. The world stops to watch Bolt. He dragged the field along with him, all except Asafa Powell, who injured himself. Even in this rarefied field, three ran personal bests, including Blake, who was a brave second. Tyson Gay, the world's second fastest man ever, was jostled to fourth.
As in Beijing, Bolt ran another 100 metres at near race speed, rejoicing with the crowd. At first, Blake made to follow, then thought the better of it. The rightful world order was restored. Usain Bolt was out front and alone again.


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by Lauren Shapiro*
What do Tina Fey, Gayle King, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Sheryl Crow, Susan Chira, Ina Garten, Anne Keating and Marissa Mayer have in common? They all proved, at the 40th annual New York Women in Communications Matrix Awards, that it's not just a "boys club" anymore! From the television industry to the White House, the Matrix Awards celebrated women who have made a difference in the communications industry.
As Doris Kearns Goodwin pointed out, she was only one of two female White House interns for Linden B. Johnson out of a total of fifteen, while Tina Fey entered comedy at a time when funny women were the minority among men. Now, we celebrate women who dared to dream big, work hard, start a family and never let anything or anyone stand in their way.
The Matrix Awards was held at the Waldorf Astoria in the infamous ballroom that once witnessed many a New Year's Eve before Times Square became the place to be. The room was sold out and roared with laughter as Oprah joked with Gayle King about how they settle editorial disputes at O Magazine: "Do you see a G on the cover, Gayle?" And you could hear a pin drop as Doris Kearns Goodwin talked of her time assisting Lynden B. Johnson with his memoirs in his final years and Ina Garten inspired everyone to do what they love when she shared her husband's advice before writing the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks: "If you love what you do, you'll be great at it."
While the honorees and their presenters (including Jill Abramson, Mariska Hargitay, Seth Meyers, Anna Quindlen, Lesley Stahl, Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey and Maria Bartiromo) told fascinating and inspiring stories about their time in their respected industries, a common theme became clear – Many of these women were scrutinized for raising a family and continuing to be successful in their career.
It is a double standard that still exists, even in 2010, that a woman who works and raises a family is more likely to be asked "How do you do it all?" than a man who has the same responsibilities. Tina Fey noted that she was posed this question many times at a press junket with Steve Carell (who also works and raises a family). She continued to explain that Steve was never asked that question, which seemed to have a scrutinizing undertone almost insinuating "You're really screwing this up, aren't you?" But what the Matrix Awards and the New York Women in Communications organization proves is that you (man or woman) can be successful both professionally and personally.
Did you attend the New York Women in Communications Matrix Awards? What stood out to you about the event? Please share your thoughts with me and the other readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.
*Bio: Soon after graduating from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, in 2006 with a B.A. in communication and a B.S. in business/marketing, I joined the BurrellesLuce client services team. In 2008, I completed my master's degree in corporate and organizational communications and now work as the supervisor of BurrellesLuce Express client services. I am passionate about researching and understanding the role of email in shaping relationships from a client relation/service standpoint as well as how miscommunication occurs within email, which was the topic of my thesis. Through my posts on Fresh Ideas, I hope to educate and stimulate thoughtful discussions about corporate communications and client relations, further my own knowledge on this subject area, as well as continue to hone my skills as a communicator. Twitter: @_LaurenShapiro_ LinkedIn: laurenrshapiro Facebook: BurrellesLuce


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Square Enix has released a 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years for iOS devices, bringing the original 2008 game to the platforms for the first time. The iOS version features 10 playable tales from the original version, Square Enix's Active Time Battle system, Lunar phases that affect the power of attacks and potions, the ability to combine your party's strengths to launch attacks, Game Center support and widescreen (iPhone 5 and higher) support.
With a full 3-D remake, FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS can now be played as never before. Take part in the epic sequel that unfolds nearly two decades after the events of FINAL FANTASY IV. Classic characters make their return alongside several new heroes, such as Ceodore, son of Cecil and Rosa.
At US$15.99, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years isn't cheap, but it's a game fans of the series won't want to pass up.


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FJIlDERAL REPORTER,
vol. 72.
In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. This was an action by A. Howard Ritter, executor of the last will of William M. Runk, deceased, against the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, to recover upon policies of life insurance. There were a verdict and judgment for defendant (69 Fed. 505); and on appeal to this court the judgment was affirmed (17 C. C. A. 537, 70 Fed. 954). After the going down of the mandate, the plaintiff in error filed the following petition in this court:
The petition of A. Howard Ritter respectfully represents: That he is the plaintiff in the above cause, which is an appeal fron the judgment entered on the 2d day of December, 1895, in favor of the defendant, to wit, Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, affirming the judgment of the court below. That on the 8th day of January, 1896, a mandate was duly issued from this court certifying that the judgment of the said court below was affirmed, which said mandate has been filed in the court below. That the effect of said judgment in this court was to deny the right of your petitioner to recover certain moneys; and that, since said judgment was entered, no change in the relations, situation, or condition of either of the parties has been made or occurred, but they are now precisely as at the time said judgment was rendered. That your petitioner desires an appeal from the judgment of' this court to the supreme court of the United States. He therefore prays that the said mandate be recalled, and that the said record be directed to be returned to this c6urt, and that such other and further order be made herein as may be necessary to enable your petitioner to take and his said appeal. And your petitioner will ever pray, etc. A. Howard Ritter, Exr.
George Tucker Bispham, for the motion. C. P. Sherman, contra. Before ACHESON, Circuit Judge, and WALES and GREEN, Dis· trict Judges. PER CURIAM. The prayer of this petition must be refused. We do not see that the plaintiff needs the recall of our mandate in order to make his proposed application to the supreme court. The transcript of the record is never remitted to the court below, but remains in this court. That is the case here. The prayer of the petition is denied.
WICIDTA NAT. BANK OF WICHITA et a; v. SMITH. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit. January 7, 1896.) No. 687.
A suit brought in a state court can be removed to a federal court on the ground of diverse citizenship only when the defendant is a nonresident of the state in which it is brought. Thurber v. Miller, 14 C. C. A. 432, 67 Fed. 371, followed.
A national bank cannot remove a suit upon the ground that it is a federal corporation. A cause CllJlnot be removed upon the ground that it involves a federal question unless that fact appears from the plaintiff's complaint.
In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Kansas.
TWs action was brought in the district court of Sedgwick county, Kan., by Sylvester Smith, the defendant in error, against the Wichita National Bank, a banking association established under the laws of the United States, located at Wichita, in the state of Kansas, for the recovery of $5,000 damages for the alleged wrongful conversion of a mortgage coupon bond by the bank. The bank was duly served with a summons in the action on the 15th day of March, 1893, and filed its answer on the 11th day of April, 1894. On the 13th day of August, 1894, the bank became insolvent. and on the 5th day of September, 1894, W. N. Ewing was dUly appointed receiver thereof by the comptroller of the currency. On December, 11:)94, Ewing, as receiver of the bank, filed a motion in the state court to be made a defendant in the action, which motion was sustained, and thereupon, on the same day, the receiver filed a petition to remove the case into the circuit court. The petition for removal states that the plaintiff, Smith, is a citizen of Connecticut, and that the bank was a citizen of Kansas up to the time it passed into the hands of the receiver; that when the bank became insolvent the petitioner was appointed receiver thereof by the comptroller of the currency; that the matter in dispute in the suit "draws into question and comes properly under the" national banking act and other acts regarding the insolvency and winding up of national oanks, and that the controversy is wholly between the receiver and the plaintiff In the action. The state court granted the removal. The circuit court overruled a motion to remand the case. There was a trial to a jury, and a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, and the receiver sued out this writ of error.
Fred W. Bentley (David Smyth was with him on the brief), for plaintiffs in error. Thomas G. Frost, for defendant in error. Before CALDWELL, SANBORN, and THAYER, Circuit Judges. CALDWELL, Circuit Judge, after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court. The removal of the case from the state to the federal court is attempted to be supported upon two grounds. The filst contention is that the removal can be sustained upon the ground that the parties to the action are citizens of different states; but that is a ground of removal only where the defendant is a nonresident of the state in which the suit is brought. Thurber v. Miller, 14 C. C. A. 432, 67 Fed. 371. The bank could not remove the suit upon this ground for the reason that by the provision of section 4 of the act of congress of March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 552, c. 373), as corrected by the act of August 13, 1888 (25 Stat. 433, c. 8(6), the bank, for all jurisdictional purposes, is a citizen of Kansas, in which state it is located. The appointment of a receiver for the bank did not dissolve the corporation. The bank still remained a proper party to the suit. There is nothing in the petition for removal or in the record showing the residence or citizenship of the receiver to be elsewhere than in Kansas. The suit was not, therefore, removable upon the ground of diverse citizenship. It is next contended that the suit was properly removed upon the ground that it is one arising under the laws of the United States. Since the passage of the act of March 3,1887, a national bank cannot remove a suit upon the ground that it is a federal corporation. The federal origin of the bank no longer affects in any way the jurisdic-
FEDERAl." REPORTER,vdl.
move a suit upon the ground that it arises under the constitution or laws of the United States than any citizen of the state in which the bank is located. Petri v. Bank, 142 U. S. 644, 12 Sup. Ct. 325; Burn· ham v. Bank, 10 U. S. App. 485, 3 C. C. A. 486, 53 Fed. 163; Dill. Rem. Causes (5th Ed.) § 107. And upon this record the receiver of the bank has no greater rights in this regard than the bank. In Railway Co. v. Shirley, 111 U. S. 358, 361, 4 Sup. Ct. 472, the court say "that a substituted party comes into a suit subject to all the disabilities of him whose place he takes so far as the right of removal is concerned." Burnham v.. Bank, supra; Railway Co. v. Noyes' Adm'r, U. S. App. 45, 8 O. C. A. 237, 59 Fed. 727. Moreover, the petition for removal does not show that any federal question is involved in the case, and the record shows that no such question is involved. But, if the peti. tion for removal disclosed that the suit was one a,rising under the laws of the United States, it could not be removed by the defendant upon that ground unless that fact appeared from the plaintiff's complaint. Tennessee v. Union & Planters' Bank, 152 U. S. 454, H Sup. Ct. 654; Postal Tel. 00. v. Alabama, 155 U. S. 482, 15 Sup. Ct. 192. The complaint does not show that the suit is one arising under the laws of the United States, but the contrary. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to remand the same to the state court from whence it was removed. Ewing, the receiver, having wrongfully removed the case into the circuit court, must pay all the costs in that court as well as all costs that have accrued in this court.
uoii. of suits by or against it. It hae no greater or less right to re-
FOLEY et at v. HARTLEY et al. (Circuit Court, D. Nevada. No. 602.
EQUITY PRAOTIOB-ABATEMENT-PENDENCY OF OTHim SUITS.
March 2, 1896.)
One F. died Intestate. His widow was appointed administratrix, and instituted proceedings in a state court for distribution of his estate to herself and his mother, brothers, and sister, as his heirs. One H., a minor, Intervaed by guardian in these proceedings, claiming to be an Ulegitimate child of F., recognized as such by F., in writing, in his lifetime, and claimed one-half of the estate, as F.'s heir. The mother, brothers, and sister of F. then began a suit in the united States circuit court, before any jurisdiction of them had been obtained in the state court, to have H.'a claims declared invalid; but, before they had obtained jurisdiction of H. in this suit, they appeared in the state court proceedings by an application to remove the same to the federal court on the ground of diverse citizen· ship, which application was granted. H. then filed a plea in abatement of the suit in the federal court, on the ground that jurisdiction of all par. ties and of the issues raised was first obtained in the proceedings in the state court. HeW, that as there was hut one issue to be tried, which was the same in both proceedings, and as all parties were first served or appeared in the proceedings begun in the state court, an order should be made, in the suit begun in the federal court, suspending all proceedings therein until the questions raised in the other cause were disposed of, or until the further order of the court.


text: OLLU hosts 'Cyber Boot Camp' for local students Posted on Thursday, June 7, 2012 Professor Kevin Barton works with students during a Windows-based workstation exercise. Faculty members in the CISS department of Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) are spending the first part of their summer securing the future of our country by educating high school students on cyber security. OLLU's CISS (Computer Information Systems and Security) department, a designated Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency, is hosting its second annual "OLLUSA Cyber Patriot Boot Camp" for students from Holmes and Southwest High Schools in San Antonio. CISS began its relationship with Holmes last year when faculty mentored students from the Cyber Patriot Open Division team at the school. At that time, the Holmes students were in need of Linux operating system training, so OLLU organized a weeklong boot camp to prepare them for Cyber Patriot IV. Southwest High School was launching their first Cyber Patriot team and was invited to the 2011 boot camp. Both schools returned this year, with participation growing from 13 students in 2011 to 42 students in 2012. However, this year, the focus of the boot camp changed. Many of the students who participated last year have graduated, so OLLU adjusted and expanded the content to assist new team members with the full scope of the Cyber Patriot competition. The students hardened multiple operating systems, both Linux and Windows-based workstations and servers. "OLLU's Cyber Patriot Boot Camp proved successful in its first year. The two schools that participated had strong showings in the Open Division competition of Cyber Patriot IV," said Kevin Barton, assistant professor and director of the program at OLLU. "Southwest was one of just 36 Open Division teams nationwide that advanced to the third round – an incredible achievement, especially considering this was its first year of competition. With a strong performance, Holmes narrowly missed advancing to the prestigious third round." The Air Force Association created the Cyber Patriot National High School Cyber Defense Competition to inspire high school students toward careers in cyber security or other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to the nation's future. Teams enter the competition with either an "Open Division" or "ROTC" designation. Capt. Alphanso Adams assists a student with deciphering code during the Cyber Patrol Boot Camp. Active-duty military members from the 90th Information Operations Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base – all volunteers – will have instructed 48 hours of class when the week is over. They are sharing leading-edge cyber security skills with the fully engaged students. The highschoolers demonstrated their new skills throughout the week in a hands-on virtual environment. Cyber Patriot V begins at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. OLLU's School of Business and Leadership also is a sponsor of the Cyber Patriot Mayor's Cup, which is awarded locally by the Mayor of San Antonio to the San Antonio team with the highest score after the first two rounds of competition. "This year's Cyber Patriot Boot Camp is on track to lift the competitiveness of the participants in Cyber Patriot V," said Barton. "Hopefully, the teams from Holmes and Southwest will advance to the very selective national competition." Tweet


text:
Seventeen young men and women who are emerging leaders are being groomed for future leadership roles in the greater Philadelphia Jewish community. They have been handpicked by a steering committee comprised of high-level Federation leaders who are eager to mentor and share their insights with their successors.
Veteran Jewish communal leaders Steve Cozen and Ron Rubin headed up the selection process for The Institute for Advanced Jewish Leadership, which began on September 10. They were looking for individuals who shared their commitment to Judaism, the Jewish community, and to the land and people of Israel. "Ron and I wanted to engage people who were not merely involved in Federation but had already demonstrated a successful track record of active leadership," said Cozen, a vice president of Federation, who has been involved with the organization for more than 35 years.
Cozen believes strongly in Federation's mission. "I have always felt that there is a need for a centralized Jewish organization to provide fundraising and to serve as a meaningful coalition between the religious efforts of our rabbis and synagogues, and the ecumenical efforts of the Jewish people who live in this region," he said, adding "then and now, Federation has tried to meet this need."
He has watched with satisfaction as Federation began the complex process of transformation towards a strategic philanthropy model. "Federation, over the past 12 to 18 months, has evolved from its former role as the epicenter of Jewish life in Greater Philadelphia to its important new function as a catalyst providing strategic vision — an organization that can make important things happen," Cozen said.
"To keep this momentum going, Federation must inspire and engage high-level, current and future leadership," said Rubin, a past president of Federation and a senior advisor to JFRE, the Jewish Federation Real Estate group. Rubin and Cozen put together a committee that many regard as the "Who's Who of Jewish Philadelphia." Committee members include: Leonard Barrack, Federation president; I Michael Coslov, Federation Campaign chair; Gary Erlbaum, co-chair, Federation's Center for Israel and Overseas; Tony S. Schneider, incoming chair of Federation's Policy, Strategy and Funding Committee and a member of Federation's board of directors; Betsy Sheerr, convener of Federation's Leadership Development Advisory Committee, which recommended the Institute's creation. Sheerr also is a past vice president of Federation. Also lending their energies to the Steering Committee are Joseph Smukler, former Federation board chair; and Ann and Murray Spain. Ann Spain is a long-time member of Federation's Women's Philanthropy board and her husband, Murray, is a member of the Federation board of directors.
Institute convener, Mark Fishman, exemplifies the type of rising Jewish leader that Cozen and Rubin are interested in engaging. He serves on the Federation board and has worked closely with Federation professional Rob Meyer, who directs Federation's Leadership Development, to bring new talent to the Philadelphia Jewish community. Despite the demands of being president of Fishman Tobin, Inc., one of the nation's premiere children's apparel companies, he somehow finds the time to serve on the boards of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Center for Learning and Leadership, the Cancer and Blood Institute of Hahneman Hospital, as well as on the Board of Overseers of Duke University School of Law, where he earned his J.A.
Jewish communal leadership is in Fishman's gene pool. His father, the late Bernard Fishman, was a former Federation vice president and served on the boards of Akiba Hebrew Academy (now known as Barrack Hebrew Academy), the Philadelphia Geriatric Center (now known as the Abramson Center for Jewish Life), Jewish Theological Seminary and Hahnemann University.
His mother, Annabelle Fishman, was recently honored at Federation's Lion of Judah luncheon for her longtime commitment to women's philanthropy. In 1978, Fishman founded the Daughters of Rachel, forerunner to Lion of Judah. Her reason for her philanthropic involvement is simple, yet eloquent. "If Jews don't help other Jews, who will," she said, adding, "I'm proud to see my passions being passed on to the next generation, both in my family and in my community."
In his role as convener, Mark Fishman worked closely with Stewart D. Friedman to develop the Institute's curriculum. Friedman, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, serves as faculty leader for the Institute. His area of expertise is organizational behavior, work and life integration, and leadership. Based on his experiences at Wharton, and his work at the Ford Motor Company, he published a book, Total Leadership, which is the basis for the Institute's curriculum.
Throughout the course of the next year, Institute members will meet monthly and learn from major philanthropists and Jewish communal leaders how to define and achieve their legacy as leaders in all aspects of their work, home, community and personal lives.
At the group's opening session, Federation President Leonard Barrack and CEO Ira M. Schwartz discussed the importance of cultivating the next generation of Federation leadership. "One of my goals when I joined Federation 12 months ago was to make sure that the leadership pipeline will never run dry. This initiative is putting this concept into action. The men and women selected to participate in this Institute exemplify the type of leadership this community needs and deserves," said Barrack.
Future sessions will focus on understanding the history of the Greater Philadelphia Jewish community, defining and addressing critical needs and priorities, and creating meaningful social change.
Institute members will travel to Israel together on a mission in May 2009.


text:
Do you have a passion for interior design, or a background in a discipline with a design component? Are looking for an opportunity to delight your customer?
The Opportunity
To consistently deliver superior door-hardware solutions by meeting our customers expectations for functionality and performance reliability, and by successfully achieving the architectural character they aspire to create.
Aligning with three of our core values of teamwork, innovation and being customer driven, you will:Undertake customer sales enquiries that result in sales orders that meet and exceed customer needs and expectations.Undertake customer order processingEnhancement of technical and product knowledge through study and review of training models.Administrative and reporting duties
A generous base salary and competitive performance based scheme is on offer.
About You
To be successful in this role you will need:A highly motivated Team Player you will be self-driven and goal oriented.You will see customer service as the most important part of your job and view co-workers with the same level of high regard.Outstanding written and oral communication with the ability and willingness to actively listen, and to accept input and share information with others recognising that there is value in potentially opposing perspectives.You will have a naturally analytic and inquisitive mind, wanting to know how things work with the ability to break down a problem to smaller parts, determine patterns/connections between situations, determine implications and underlying issues, identify alternatives, and propose solutions.Proven attention to detail with the ability to make sure information that is gathered is accurate and complete.You will be able to multitask with a focus on providing data, resolving issues and service needs through pro-activity in a timely manner, at times, under pressure.
You will need to be available to work 9 am - 1 pm on alternate Saturdays.
A background in a discipline with a design component would be highly desirable.
About Us
Based in an inner Sydney suburb, my client is Architectural Door Hardware, known for supplying stunning door hardware solutions for architects, builders, interior designers and residential customers for more than 20 years.
The boutique and uncluttered Sydney showroom contains both display and working models of many of our quality products and our qualified sales consultants have an exceptional understanding and knowledge of door hardware & furniture.
The extensive product range includes architectural handles, joinery handles, locks and closers. They source our products from some of the best suppliers in the world including suppliers located in Australia, England, Italy, and several others.
With a commitment to finding new and innovative product solutions and offering only those that meet the highest workmanship and manufacturing standards with proven performance reliability, they are recognised for their outstanding Customer Service.
They pledge personal respect, fair compensation and honest and equitable treatment to all employees and are committed to fostering a diverse workforce and a culture that encourages excellence, leadership, continuous learning and innovation and a balance between personal and professional lives.
If you want to be part of a team that consistently delivers quality solutions that meet or exceed customer expectations, apply now.
How to Apply
Please complete the requested work history & education information on the application page. We are not requesting a cover letter or resume at this stage. This is to assist us in assessing your suitability for this role. Shortlisted applicants may be requested to submit a resume at a later date.
If you are inspired by developing customer solutions with beautifully designed products in a creative and innovative environment...


text:
Good Morning, Nicola McLean, And Other News
- Johnny Depp is getting treated like Jennifer Garner now. [Lainey Gossip]
- Anne Hathaway singing rap songs. Goddammit… [Dlisted]
- Redheads, man… [theCHIVE]
- Kim Kardashian is still a vapid cunt. In case you were wondering. [Fishwrapper]
- Jennifer Lawrence was a good choice as Mystique. I take it all back. [Popoholic]
- Bob Saget is a good dad. [Starpulse]
- Lindsay Lohan prank called Oprah because she no longer fears death. [tooFab]
- Amber Heard's doing Marilyn Monroe photo shoots now. [Hollywood Tuna]
- Is Jordan Belfort a model? Then Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't give a fuck. [FilmDrunk]
- Tara Reid's in a bikini. Kill it. KILL IT WITH FIRE. [DrunkenStepfather: Site is NSFW]
THE SUPERFICIAL | About • Facebook • Twitter
Photos: Fame/Flynet


text:
Today is Monday, Dec. 3, the 338th day of 2012. There are 28 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Dec. 3, 1992, the first telephone text message was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth, who transmitted the greeting "Merry Christmas" from his work computer in Newbury, Berkshire, to Vodafone executive Richard Jarvis' mobile phone.
On this date:
In 1810, British forces captured Mauritius from the French, who had renamed the island nation off southeast Africa "Ile de France."
In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio -- the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States -- began holding classes.
In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway.
In 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.
Ten years ago: Thousands of personnel files released under a court order showed that the Archdiocese of Boston went to great lengths to hide priests accused of abuse, including clergy who'd allegedly snorted cocaine and had sex with girls aspiring to be nuns.
Five years ago: A U.S. intelligence report concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but was continuing to enrich uranium.
One year ago: In Atlanta, a defiant Herman Cain suspended his faltering bid for the Republican presidential nomination amid a drumbeat of sexual misconduct allegations, which he condemned as "false and unproven."
Today's Birthdays: Movie director Jean-Luc Godard is 82. Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 81. Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 64. Actress Daryl Hannah is 52. Actress Julianne Moore is 52. Olympic gold medal figure skater Katarina Witt is 47. Actor Brendan Fraser is 44. Singer Montell Jordan is 44. Actor Bruno Campos is 39. Actress Holly Marie Combs is 39. Actress Lauren Roman is 37. Actress Anna Chlumsky is 32. Actor Brian Bonsall is 31. Actress Amanda Seyfried is 27. Actor Michael Angarano is 25. Actor Jake T. Austin is 18.
Thought for Today: "What the world really needs is more love and less paper work." -- Pearl Bailey, American entertainer (1918-1990).


text:
Rochester Optical lenses for Google Glass available Q1 2014
0. phoneArena posted on 14 Nov 2013, 04:10
Less than two weeks ago Google unveiled the upgraded version of Google Glass, their augmented reality eyewear device, and shortly after came the news that Rochester Optical will produce custom prescription, fashion and sport lenses for the improved Google Glass...
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
posted on 14 Nov 2013, 04:16 0
1. spectrums (Posts: 127; Member since: 14 Nov 2013)
Good, I Think Mybe Microsoup Will Copy Paste This Inovations :)
posted on 14 Nov 2013, 12:36 1
2. laheelahee (Posts: 213; Member since: 09 Apr 2012)
The good news is that these lenses will not be more expensive than the company's regular ones. -- awesome!
Comments for : Rochester Optical lenses for Google Glass available Q1 2014