Two-way Communication with One-Stops?

One of the many mysteries I’ve been pondering lately is why the public workforce development system has been so slow to adopt interactive communications to connect to their current and potential customers. When I participate in established social/business networks such as LinkedIn, I find strong representation from each of the industrial sectors that form the customer pool for workforce development services. Economic Development professionals are well-represented and active participants. Education professionals have established a similarly strong presence (although it appears to have developed in the Academic/University setting and gradually spread from that base to representatives of non-degree granting institutions).
It would seem that the One-Stop system, given its charge to serve as an intermediary between job-seekers, training providers and employers seeking individuals with needed skills, would be at the forefront of a technology that fosters individual growth and development, connects to an untapped source of potential customers and provides ready feedback from the current consumers of our services. Today’s interactive tools provide an especially cost-effective means for facilitating two-way communication among professionals, between workforce professionals and consumers of the services they provide, and between workforce professionals and the businesses whose current and projected skill needs provide the basis for determining which services are needed .
While corporations have invested heavily in integrating these technologies into their internal and external communication strategies, as an industry, we have yet to accept that this clear direction taken by our primary customer is relevant to our own business practice.
Perhaps it stems from our roots in government, a remnant of a hierarchical culture of thinking that insists on controlling information flow from our agencies to the public. Despite the fact that decades of experience have provided some justification for this manner of thinking, when the communication behaviors of the populations we are paid to serve change, we must change in similar fashion or risk insulation and irrelevance.
It’s hard to let go. I’ve read tales of federal agencies paying consultants to develop elegant Facebook pages to tap this new trend in communication yet barring their employees from accessing the communication interface they have created. Interactive networking tools support the sharing of individual views rather than the collective group speak that becomes the preferred manner for a bureaucracy to interface with those it is intended to serve. Moving in that direction requires an elevation of the trust we place in those that we employ. It requires a commitment on the part of the agency to integrate these methods into their culture and develop appropriate controls which minimize potential liabilities while supporting the individual growth of those who represent our agency and provide the face of our services to the customer.
Why do an increasing number of professionals in other disciplines seek and read the comments and opinions of those they may know very little about? From my personal perspective, it stems from a hope that I may find knowledge or perspective that is beyond what I currently have or have at my disposal. The social network provides a structural link to converse with individuals removed by several degrees of separation yet whose network map lends the credibility of the intermediates who connection us to lend a measure of validity to our consideration of what is said.

Here's a presentation that Tom Stead, WIRED Associate Director for Education delivered to a group of educators last week. Great overview of the importance of digital media for education.

Also, take alook at some of the snapshots of WIRED Island located in the Links on the right sidebar.

Tom Stead Presentation-ISTE

View more presentations from WIRED Staff.

Avatar and Empire

My first hands-on foray into interactive media was my introduction to the virtual world of Second Life. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I downloaded the client onto my computer. First, I was informed that needed to set up an account and choose a name for my avatar. The surname had to be selected from a list of alternatives (I chose Queller) but the first name was left entirely to my imagination. After surprisingly little thought, I chose Andrew which, in retrospect, is pretty darn boring. Second Life is populated with exciting names like Firethrower, or Moriash or Zurl so I have to wonder what my selection of Andrew from these unlimited possibilities says about me. Having completed the naming, I got to design my physical appearance. Admittedly, that’s a pretty cool opportunity. But once again, I could push the envelope only so far. I had the option of being any race, either sex, a mythological being, or even a furry (that’s what it’s called when you take the body of an animal). I could dress in anything from Edwardian robes, to armor, have wings or horns, pretty much whatever I was capable of imagining, but instead my first avatar was grey-haired, wore glasses and a little overweight. With a universe of possibilities, I instead recreated myself in my own image (okay, maybe a little slimmer and a little younger, but essentially, it was me). One more instance of my inability to accept and engage in the full potential of a new, digital reality. Somehow, taking advantage of the opportunity to recreate myself seemed dishonest, like I was representing myself as something that I wasn’t. Never mind the fact that I had read that some surprising percentage of the provocatively dressed temptresses you see in Second Life are really males living out some curious fantasy, and equally many of the intimidating warrior-types were overweight and bookish office workers in the real world. Despite that knowledge, I was afraid to break free from the real-world shell that defined my personal limits.
It was especially exciting to discover that in Second Life, everyone can fly. Flying provides the freedom to soar over new places, checking out unfamiliar lands from a safe distance before making landfall. That, along with the equally cool power to teleport, promotes a sense of freedom not available in the real world. In addition to providing the means to swiftly escape any uncomfortable or awkward situation that arises with another avatar, this freedom from the laws of physics offers wonderful possibilities for those coping with physical limitations I the real world.
I have gotten more comfortable with time. My current avatar (still Andrew, you can’t change the name once you selected) is younger, more handsome and muscular, and has the long flowing hair that’s only a distant memory of the 60’s for me. Just when I begin to think I’m becoming a digital native, comfortable in this new skin, I have to admit the compulsion to somehow reveal to any new Second Life acquaintance that I’m not really what I appear to be. It is getting easier, though. Maybe next year, I’ll go with the wings.

Can Digital Immigrants be Naturalized?

When I was being oriented to interactive technology, I was introduced to the concept of Digital Natives, a phrase used to describe most young people born after 1980 that have literally grown up in a world of internet, computer games, mp3s, PDAs and cell phones. Marc Prensky , who coined the term, has published some really interesting material describing, from an educator’s perspective, the challenges faced by those of us born in another era (Digital Immigrants) in relating to the language, culture and different mode of thinking of Digital Natives.
I’ve always loved technology. Envious of the latest gadget and interested in exploring new and better ways to get things done, I’ve usually been the person in the office that other folks come to when their computer is behaving strangely or their PDA wont synch. Definitely a geek, but nevertheless I remain a Digital Immigrant … just another Digital Native wannabe. I understand the unique advantages of collaborating digitally, but it’s unnatural for me. My conversations are linear, between me and another person. I get overwhelmed by trying to sort out simultaneous inputs. From my perspective, multi-tasking involves rapidly cycling between two or more tasks and trying desperately to remember where I am on each when I return to it. My baby-boomer brain can’t seem to open two ports at once.
On the social front, I feel somewhat out of place with the Facebook/Twitter culture. I’ve achieved some level of comfort with LinkedIn, because it replicates and expands the ease of conducting the kind of business networking that I’ve learned is valuable in today’s labor market. But, I can’t for the life of me grasp why many people (or any people)would care what show I’m watching, where I’m going this afternoon or want to see my family pictures. So my page fills up with Digital Native’s entries and I visit it increasingly less often these days.
It looks like I’m doomed to remain a Digital Immigrant, a prisoner of the era of my birth, but despite that knowledge, I will continue to covet the latest and coolest new thing. Have you seen what was in the latest Gizmag? Maybe that will prove to be the ticket to my eventually becoming a Digital Native. Then again, probably not.

Genesis

Make no mistake, I wasn’t hired to manage the Appalachian Ohio WIRED project because of any visionary understanding of the capabilities of interactive media or expertise in digital technology. More realistically, I filled the project’s need for an experienced bureaucrat to navigate them through the vagaries of federal grant funding. I was intrigued by what I learned about the project at my initial interview. The combination of science and art, two of my long-time interests, seemed to offer a range of possibilities that I had never had the opportunity to explore. I never expected that in the coming weeks I would get to terraform an island, explore the Sistine Chapel, view earth from space, and even select a new, younger body made to my personal specifications. This represented the beginning of my exploration of interactive digital technology, which today continues to challenge my imagination with the variety of applications that are changing the way people communicate and interact with others. Because I’ve been asked so often to describe what the WIRED project is all about, I decided to create this blog to provide information about the activities of the project, share my learning experiences, and highlight news and events that demonstrate the unbelievable pace of technology and innovation that characterize this global growth industry.