.
.
.
On 10/07/2010,
in change, changing business models, dangers of the status quo, disruption, education technology, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, internet, leadership, new business models, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
Reinventing management for a networked world — one of topics/presentations at Educause 2010
From DSC:
The following summary of this presentation is a powerful message that I’m looking forward to hearing (emphasis mine):
Over the past decade, the Internet has had a profound impact on just about every organization around the world. It has enabled dramatic efficiency gains in core processes and has radically changed service delivery in industries as diverse as education, financial services, publishing, and entertainment.
However, the greatest impact of the Internet is likely to come over the next decade as it starts to reshape the traditional management processes and structures that are used to run large-scale institutions. The management practices found in most organizations today trace their roots back to the Industrial Age or to medieval religious orders. While this model was well suited to a world requiring conformance and discipline, it is woefully inadequate and even toxic in today’s world of accelerating change.
To thrive in the years ahead, every organization must become as nimble as change itself—a challenge that will require a fundamental rewiring of our tradition-bound management principles and practices.
Unlike most organizations, the web is a cauldron of innovation; it is extraordinarily malleable and highly adaptable. In these respects, it already exhibits exactly those qualities that will be most critical to organizational success in the years to come.
That’s why the management model of every organization will need to be rebuilt on the fundamental values of the web: freedom, openness, transparency, collaboration, flexibility, and meritocracy. In this provocative and practical presentation, Gary Hamel will lay out a blueprint for “Management 2.0” and outline the steps you can take to help your organization to become as adaptable as the times demand.
State of the Internet in Europe — from pingdom.com
In July we had a look at the worldwide state of the Internet. Now the time has come for something a bit more specific, the state of the Internet in Europe. We’ll look at this from two angles. First, which countries in Europe have the most Internet users, and second, which countries have the highest Internet penetration. Both are relevant in their own right.
Since Europe is such a diverse market with a multitude of countries and different languages, it makes sense to look at these countries separately. This contrary to the trend where people sometimes try to think of the European Union (much of, but not all of, Europe) as some kind of equivalent of the United States. The language issue alone makes the comparison moot.
On 09/17/2010,
in digital textbooks, elearning, internet, new business models, open courseware and systems, publishing,
by Daniel Christian
Nine important trends in the evolution of digital textbooks and e-learning content — from xplana.com by Rob Reynolds
Per Rob Reynolds:
I gave a presentation last week in which I talked about nine trends that we’re currently tracing with regards to digital content in Higher Education. These are the critical trends that we believe will determine both growth and innovation in this market. Here are the nine trends along with a brief comment on each.
- The increased disaggregation of content and the breaking up of the traditional textbook model
- A proliferation of e-content and e-learning apps that support content disaggregation and new product models
- A merging of the current rental market and the e-textbook market
- A wide range of license/subscription models designed to respond to consumer demands around price and ownership
- The growth of Open Education Resource (OER) repositories
- The development of a common XML format for e-textbooks, shared by all publishers and educational technology players
- The importance of devices and branded devices
- The development of e-commerce and new product ecosystems that challenge the traditional college bookstore
- A move from evolution to innovation and revolution
.
Also see:
The vanishing line between books and Internet — from Forbes.com by Hugh McGuire
The inevitability of truly connected books and why publishers need APIs.
But everything exists within the EPUB spec already to make the next obvious but frightening step: Let books live properly within the Internet, along with websites, databases, blogs, Twitter, map systems, and applications.
From DSC:
I’m about to take a class on the future of teaching and learning…and I have to tell you that I was very disappointed to be presented with a syllabus “featuring” a textbook from 2004…geez.
On 09/13/2010,
in business, future of higher education, internet, journalism, publishing,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
Again we see the power of the Internet to set up exchanges and to innovate around/personalize methods of providing information. I post this because:
1) I’m interested in journalism;
2) I’m interested in new business models and how the Internet impacts business models;
3) The same type of dynamic/thing may occur w/in higher education. So this is something we should be taking pulse checks on in the future.
.
.
Also see:
- Ebyline launches online content marketplace
- Ebyline Launches News Content Marketplace Exclusive to Publishers and Professional Journalists; Economic Model Rewards High-Quality Reporting, Reduces Operational Costs
On 08/27/2010,
in disruption, education technology, game-changing environment, innovation, internet, leadership, staying relevant, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
Blockbusted: A Netflix Knock-Out, Bad Metaphors on the Path to the Movie Monster’s Bankruptcy — from Fast Company – Technology by Austin Carr
The Blockbuster age is fading, and at last the company is preparing for bankruptcy. In the past two years, the shrinking video-rental store has struggled to stay afloat with $920 million in debt, drowning all the while in revenue losses of $1.1 billion. The LA Times reports that Blockbuster executives and senior debt holders have entered discussions with major movie studios for a “pre-planned” bankruptcy mid-September.
But for everyone other than Blockbuster’s sunny faced spin masters, bankruptcy was about as surprising as another Rocky comeback. Blockbuster’s brick-and-mortar business was unviable in the digital world, and competitors Netflix and Redbox took every advantage to pick apart the dinosaur’s carcass. The company’s numbers have signaled extinction, too, with value withering from $8.4 billion when Viacom purchased it in 1994 to total market value of $24 million today. Continuing the Mesozoic metaphor, here’s why bankruptcy hit Blockbuster like a surprise asteroid.
Netflix Who?
From DSC:
And I would add the questions:
- “Who cares about the iPod?”
- “What does Internet-related technology have to do with our business anyway?”
In a presentation I created last year (see Section II), I used Blockbuster as an example of an organization who completely discounted the disruptive impact of technology..and now they are paying the price (along with much of the newspaper industry).
There IS a lesson here for those of us in higher ed.
I’ll end this posting with the following quote/excerpt:
“This is a pattern we see over and over,” he said, of the many parallels he could draw to Blockbuster’s financial troubles. “If a company is not able to keep up with the changing needs of its customer, it will become irrelevant,” he said.
Ultimately, it was these words which may have saved the company. Blockbuster was not able to keep up with the changing needs of its customers.
Blockbuster has become irrelevant.
Relevant addendum:
- I just ran across this posting on educationstormfront — What Blockbuster Can Teach Higher Ed
Top 4 online video sites to upload videos — from webcamconferencing.amdatablog.com
On 08/16/2010,
in dangers of the status quo, education technology, generational differences, innovation, internet, K-12 related, new media literacies, student-related,
by Daniel Christian
Where will kids put the Internet in the world? — from freetech4teachers.com by Richard Byrne
.
.
Also see:
The future of the Internet — from SmashingMagazine.com by Dan Redding
The Internet is a medium that is evolving at breakneck speed. It’s a wild organism of sweeping cultural change — one that leaves the carcasses of dead media forms in its sizeable wake. It’s transformative: it has transformed the vast globe into a ‘global village’ and it has drawn human communication away from print-based media and into a post-Gutenberg digital era. Right now, its perils are equal to its potential. The debate over ‘net neutrality’ is at a fever pitch. There is a tug-of-war going on between an ‘open web’ and a more governed form of the web (like the Apple-approved apps on the iPad/iPhone) that has more security but less freedom.
Also see:
From DSC:
I very much relate to Dan Redding’s statement, “The Internet is a medium that is evolving at breakneck speed.”
.
…and, speaking of leaving things in the wake….here’s another graphic that comes to mind:
.
Broadband 2010: A Big Slowdown — by Aaron Smith, Research Specialist, Pew Internet & American Life Project
On 06/11/2010,
in Adobe, animation, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, internet, multimedia, web design and production,
by Daniel Christian
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 arrives — from webmonkey by Michael Calore
After spending many months on development and beta testing, Adobe has released the latest version of its Flash Player.
You can download Flash Player 10.1 for Mac, Windows and Linux at Adobe’s website. You’ll need to shut down all of your browsers while it installs. There’s a version of Flash Player 10.1 coming for Android, but it won’t be ready until later this summer. A beta version is available in the Android Marketplace if you want to test it out.
This release is significant for a number of reasons…