Blogging session Frances is leading a session on blogging. I'm taking my notes in my blog. Erm. I THINK I'm in the right session....We're looking at setting up iGoogle - erm - I've been using that for some years now... Helped the lady I was sat next to, so felt I was of use even if I didnt learn anything.
Fun activity - using the Internet to search for 3 facts on someone I'd never met in the room. The person looking for me discovered that I'd had my hand up a cow's bottom and that I'd stayed at the Imperial College Halls in June. Scary, huh? - but my choice to use Twitter and tell the world what I'm doing. Enjoyable discussion about our online profiles.
Would love to do this session again but at a more advanced level
...online collaboration tool providing a social network.
I'm planning a demo of Huddle at Bloomsbury on 29th Oct. Give me a shout if you're interested...
Benefits of Web 2.0 (preaching to the converted, but anyway) -engaging students by encouraging use of new techs and collaboration with peers -freedom of costs, maintenance, etc
Email still top collaborating tool.
Impetus for change comes from the students
Emplyability skills changing
Give users what they want, not just the latest, cool trend
How is Huddle being used?
Staff collab portal
Collab reserach
DL/WBL students
international office
summer school
Who's using it (local to Bloomsbury, anyway) LSE, UoL
What about Google Wave? Huddle will integrate with it if customers want that. There is overlap, but seen as complementary according to Huddle and Google. Huddle is out-of-the-box collaboration and does not require development, like Google Wave does.
Data servers are located in the UK (Docklands) Hosting service - SLAs, security
Rigorous and constant updates and upgrades; works with all browsers;iPhone and Blackberry Apps available
I'm chairing this session!!! So notes may be brief as I'm keeping a close eye on the time!
1) Designing game-based learning activities in SL Maria Toro- Troconis, Imperial College
Study set up to explore game-based learning in medicine
aim to explore gender-related differences between groups
Surveys conducted to examine users' feelings - no sig diffs found between two groups using or not using SL
Females found SL SLIGHTLY more useful than males
Recommendations - students had probs getting used to it; orientation really important before letting students loose for e-learning
what are the practicalities of sharing resources developed in SL..?
www.elearningimperial.com
2) If we dream it, they come? The self-efficacy of students new to SL training Kathryn Trinder, Glasgow Caledonian University
Many projects already running at the university; wanted to look at SL, which had been set up predominantly for marketing
Aim was to look at ways to deliver rather complex mathematical concepts
introduction/orientation - 2 hours - 20 students in two groups; avatar creation, personalising and finding friends, basic navigation
Students took some time to change their mindset that SL was for LEARNING not PLAYING
There is a steep learning curve and the university is planing to include SL training built into general ICT training
Making sure students understand the purpose of the envt - that it's there for learning. Etiquette/guidlines are a good idea. Dont really want to restrict students from exploring, but they need to understand what is expecting of them.
New environment for existing gamers was tricky to work with
www.gcal.ac.uk/cuthere
3) Virtual Reality: designing learning environments in SL Fay Cross, Unviersity of Nottingham
Created a replica of the university's Trent building in SL
Library project
Geography project - building scaled models of the Lake District
Why build building in SL when there's no weather??! It's a human want to do this as a first stage in exploring a new environment
The changing nature of HE - Globalisation, Massification, privatisation
Our collective challenge - UK and US are overshadowed by China and India; need to educate citizens for new types of work (equipping students with the rght set of skills); STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is a key for a competitive workforce; sustainability; transforming info into meaningful knowledge.
Analogy of school being like a trip on an aeroplane - putting all your faith in one person to take you on a journey where you have to turn all your electronic devices off.
Understanding what students want - their values, wants, needs, dislikes; putting the learner at the centre of HE.
Why is technology relevant? Expanding reach to high quality education to all; nurturing communities - in/formally. enabling relevant, personal and engaging learning; giving educators more insight and more time
Opps for technology - agile, efficient and connected learning systems
making change possible - 3 key considerations: people, process, technology
I'm not quite sure how these three papers related (again). The students involved were working on very different courses (Level 1 vs Masters vs vocational FE courses ) and were using very different applications (Echo360, e-portfolios and a whole bunch of gadgets). ALT-C, eh?
1) Student perceptions of the value of lecture recordings as a learning resource Lisa Carrier, Dominic Pollard, Imperial College
* Over view of Echo360 and the tools that are required * Pilot projects run in MSc Management and MSc Allefy (dept of medicine) * Students only on campus for five sessions, so Echo360 was appropriate; English as a second language for many * Evaluation - reasons for using the recordings; no change in attendance; revision purposes; students reported that they engaged more during the f2f time (which they knew was limited) by asking questions and taking less detailed notes because they knew they would be able to access the recording at a later time.
2) Using an e-portfolio to assist first year students through their transition into higher education Philip Alberts (Brunel University)
* developing online activities, providing support of their engagement with eportfolios * 3 intervenion programmes - getting started with the VLE, HE preparation, Personal Development programme with e-portfolios * measuring participation - monitoring size of eportfolios as developing and rate it was used. * Access depended on what was going on i.e. less access during exam times * lecturers were unable to support since not all their students were using eportfolios * Conclusion - all level 1 students will be using e-portfolios
3) New Modes, New Minds - Use of CAMEL collaborative methodology to develop a multi-disciplinary community of practice around mobile learning in The Sheffield College David Kay, Ian Chowcat, Julia Duggleby, Dave Pickersgill (Sheffield College)
* introducing mobile learning by involving all stakeholders in the College * A lot of equipment was purchased in a short space of time e.g. Nintendo DS', PSPs, notebook PCs, etc * 27 curriculum areas involved - those interested came from a variety of subject areas * Aims included to enhance e-confidence across the College and training the next generation workforce * Making change happening and developing strategies as the project progressed as well as afterwards * Trying to change the culture to trust students accessing the Internet on their own devices * Evaluation - people very keen to try out these tools; wanted training but seemed happy to have a go without much * Developed a community of practice for peer-support; used Moodle to support what was happening with the project * People started to think differently once they'd discovered what the tools could do; assessment habits developed too.
I'm wondering what the students did with the Nintendo DSs - would it have been educational??? Oh - apparently ESOL students and Brain Training to share scores. Peer collaboration nice - but this project doesnt seem very strategic: "here's a bunch of kit, have a play..." not all supported either. Maybe I misunderstood?
Not really sure about SL, its application to learning and teaching and the point, really, other than its usefulness in Distance Learning. However, this afternoon I'm chairing a SL session so thought I ought to brush up a bit.
1) Bioscience students get a Second Life @ UEL (Rose Heaney)
Getting on the SL bandwagon - only one academic was interested initially
Lab experiment set up in SL for Bioscience; 2 test groups for demos - 1 in a lab and 1 in SL demo. Students in the latter group asked better and fewer questions and seemed to acquire better understanding of the concept. The SL group liked the environment and would want to use it again.
Does not replace real life experiment - unsure if SL is the best platform, Going to look at a Flash-based platform next year
results have been published and are available
The forensic lab is being used as a problem-based learning too with a crime-scene housel
Now have 6 academics using the Health and Bioscience island. Sustainability is key to the future use of SL
Useful for the DL learning students who will be able to interact with virtual patients, as would not have the experience otherwise
Evaluation - conducted by questionnaires, quizzes (for students during the course) and interviews
Bought in a service to develop the island
Induction to SL is vital fro take-up. Training for functions and controls - orientation area and f2f session for induction. Plus basic handouts.
2) Fusion of mobile technology and SL in a learning environment to support transition from school to university (Universites of Glasgow, Stirling and Sheffield)
Project is InterLife - developing tools to assist with transitions in life. This presentation focused on the transition between school and university in SL (other project is team life - 13-18 year olds
Research aims to establish whether SL can support educational contexts
From baseline research, they have identified the issues and challenges of students moving from school to university.
InterLife is a private island in SL and contains a student union plus tools allowing students to reflect on the change in their life and their personal development: a "skybox" for every student.
pilot activity - induction to movement; profiles to be presnted in a gallery
3) Dreams into (Virtual) Reality (Kate Boardman, Teeside)
pre-evaluation design of SL use in learning. Kate has only seen three examples of good practice of SL in education
Basic typology - providing space for students to collaborate - wikis/discussion boards use is not great, so why would"beach and cushions" use of SL work?
Campus replicators? Not applicable to all
Set up avator, now what (MY reason for not knowing what do to next...)
Visual environments - what should it look like - cf turning your favourite books into films. Does it matter what it looks like? Kate went through examples of different venues used (available on her slides) - a French cafe, canteen, dwelling, office
Analysing the type of building against the scenario it's for, whether the staff member cares what it looks like and whether it achieved the learning outcomes
Same questions can be asked when developing a VLE
http://tinyurl.com/klb-sl
Interesting presentations which have given me food for thought in terms of applicability. Some things I am still pondering... What happens once the novelty wears off? Really they need to be focussing on the learning outcome, otherwise we're JUST replicating the real world. Dont just join the bandwagon...have a real reason and purpose (like a VLE).
Arguments for the motion: A content repository; no learning takes place. PLE is the way forward: VLE is a factory system delivering a standardised curriculum with no differentiation. It is now dysfunctional and does not fit the need. A ridiculous divide between learning and technology VLEs are not fit for purpose. Technology is socially shaped; we need to think about and examine the consequences
Arguments against the motion: The VLE provides the framework needed for the mass majority who do not use web2.0 It's not yet dead - it's a solution that allows learner to access their learning VLE is not yet complete There isnt actually a clear generation gap We can't leave learners to their own devices Live, kicking and necessary The VLE is not a thing - it's a point of discourse Providing the right environment for learning to happen. Our learners are not Google Generation, Digital Learners otherwise they wouldnt come to us
Frances Bell from Salford University welcomed all 600+ delegates to ALT-C 2009 with some context about Manchester and its industrial past.
Tom Boyle, co-chair of ALT-C and professor at London Metropolitan University, introduced the theme In Dreams Begins Responsobility. His wish is for delegates to realise dreams and find the evidence of respondisility.
Gilly Salmon, the other co-chair, and professor at Leicester University, reflected about collective dreams and creating new ways of dreaming realistically. THe future can be viewed as building on trends from the past - an incremental innovation, but also to reclaim some radical, new thinking of our own. Implementation plans need to be written up and shared collectively. A huge challenge to address as we enter the second deacde of 21st century.
Keynote speaker: Michael Wesch - Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, USA
Mediated Culture/Mediated Education Changing the lecture theatre/campus with wifi -> connecting students to the an mammoth archive. Viewing things from outside the box - Michael descirbed his visit Papua New Guinea - no running water, electricity, etc. He lost his identity whilst he was out there because the things that were important to him in his life were no longer available or meaningful out there.
Media are not just tools or means on communication; he proposes that media mediate relationships; as media change so do our relationships and culture.
Rethinking ourselves - rethinking education High drop-out rates in High School in the US; psychological drop-outs where students dont really want to be in university. Disengaged, not into uni - but VERY engaged in American Idol! Examining the history of insignificance - theories are that is started with the industrial revolution, growth of surburbia, television (i.e. to be significant you need to be on TV) Media saturation -> the MTV generation. Michael examined a brief history of the use of the word"Whatever" With so much media available to us, it makes us feel important - and flattered. And relates to a higher feelings of narcissism and rise of individualism.
Generation Me, Jean Twenge (Why Today's young Americans are more confident, assertive and miserable than ever before The search for identity and recognition in a culture where those things are not given; the search for the authentic self; Disengagement and fragmentation.
What does the world of Web 2.0 lend ? not controlled by the few, not one-way, created by, for and around networks not masses, transforms individual pursuits into collective actions, makes "group" formation "ridiculously easy". Why this matters deeply - we know ourselves through our relations with others; new media create new ways of relating to others; new media creates new ways of knowing ourselves. Examination of You Tube and the use of personal webcams. The medium shapes the possibilities of how we communicate but also how we know about ourselves The platform we choose shapes the message we deliver to students. So the message of the lecture theatre conveys a message that the instructor is correct, you can discuss, you're there to learn specific information. But the world is changing: From students being knowledgeable to knowledge-able The point is the purpose not the platform... leading to new possibilities for the word "Whatever"
Live blogged during the session - so no grammar or spell check! Hope this gives you a sense of what happened.
Presented by Lester Holt - award-winning journalist covering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, olympics and election. Weekend edition anchor of NBC News. Think he might be well-known in the US!
Holt admits he was not a very disciplined student - and didn't always do what he was supposed to. He WAS interested in technology, though - he felt he was born 30 years too early. Suggested that the BbWorld audience could have helped him get better grades.
Discussing the power of cell phones - the significance of mobile tech and changing the world of journalism and education. Creating new opportunities for boht industries - the borders are shrinking to form a global community. What happens in other countries effects us where we are.
Roles of journalists and teachers are similar - inspiring, educating, communicating. WE consume news differently now and "news" is a relative term. Journos are using new tech to deliver reactions and news instantly - mobile devices used widespread e.g. in Iran mobile phones, Twitter, cameras prevailed despite the government's attempt to crack-down on its use.
Hurricane Katrina effected students in a terrible way; NBC recorded this as a priority issue. The 2008 elections engaged and enrgised young people. Internet coverage had a fundamental impact on the election. PIcture and images matter.
Goals are the same of teachers and journos - engaging people in people, places, events. Young people are tuning out the old ways of accesssing news and the journos need to stay ahead: blogging and Twittering big deal for NBC. Young people used to seeing raw material not the polished content shown on TV, 24/7. 1 person can now do the job of what 4 people used to do using today's technology - and then sharing it at the click of a button.
A video of the changes in time of TV news broadcasting was shown.
The advent of the digital age has sped up the change in news delivery - e.g. breaking news on TV or SMS alerts, etc. Info shared with more people more immediately. Deadlines for journos are now greatly compressed. People with web publishing tools are competing with news channels. Journos no longer control the flow of information. Leveraging technology to improve the way broadcasting is delivered and managing - similar to teaching.
Stories are more than headlines - digital tech has enabled the storing and preservation of archives, which provides learning opportunities for students and citizens. History will be taught differently with the use and advancement of technology.
Change is certain and the way news is delivered mirrors the exoperience of educators. Advancements are leading to greater personalisation of digital content and collaborative partnerships.NBC is offering access to it sarvhices to Bb users (IN THE US?????) . These partnerships, e.g. Bb and NBC will improve the learning experiences for (American??!!) students; the service is called NBC News Archives on demand.
This session is by far the best one I've been to - not because it was showcasing exemplary practice with Bb or stunning the audience with bells and whistles, but because it offered some real - and very relevant solutions to current difficulties the BLE tech team are facing with running Snapshot locally and with a controller. I hope I can convey everything here - but I have spoken to the presenter and she will a) send her explanatory slides and b) be happy to talk more.
Basically the College (Prince George's Community College) has paid for some bespoke building blocks and installed some FREE building blocks to fix the issue of wanting to run updates on the fly without using Snapshot (they are also hosted and use a controller) without mucking up DSKs and having changes overwritten with the next Snapshot run. Other solutions found were to assist with support issues.
Notes:
The challenge – managing growing Bb demands with no new resources; the strategy was to automate as much as possible.
Snapshot Problems:
1) Getting multiple requests to merge courses. Staff are spending time managing the process in creating files and updating snapshot to rename enrolments to move students.
Solution – merge course enrolment building block - custom built for institution. Staff able to do this themselves – only merging with same DSK and only their own courses. No Snapshot required!
2) Managing DSKs on Linux box with limited knowledge of linux commands; GUI interface preferred.
Solution – building block SmartDSM (FREE!). DSKs can be managed through the GUI; disabling, purging, counting, creating and modifying. The presenter has kept the war files as the building block is no longer available on the web, and will send them to anyone wanting them.
3) Managing Snapshot exceptions – e.g. when info from student records not correct, exception files need to be run manually from commandline – high potential for errors if wrong command run.
Solutions:
a) Manager User in Course building block (FREE) – modifying student enrolment on the fly from GUI. Also poss to change DSK.
b) data manager tool building block - More control over snapshot exceptions. Allows you to manipulate all user course and membership values
User Support issues:
Routine things that are done over and over again – collection of self-service tools for users and admins to be bale to manage things more easily
1)managing user enrol requests
Solution: Enrol non-student user building block
2) managing failed login-requests – providing students info to let them work out why they cant get in – not reading notices.
Solution – user look-up building block – on login page, checks LDAP account, Bb account and tells the user what the problem is.
3) Managing system user activity – hit or miss when determining ad hoc downtimes
Solution - Seneca’s online building block (FREE) – allows you to see who’s logged in the last minute up to 3 hours ago
4) Providing real-time support to users
Solutions – Meebo chat widget (FREE) - embedded on portal page and within Bb
AND Wimba Pronto (FREE) – authenticates against Bb and populates from Bb course/orgs list
5) Determining Active courses – hard to determine with hosted platform. Wanted something on the GUI to provide a report
Solution: course activity report building block – lists in excel content numbers, DB hits, announcement hits – not Learning Objects tools, but something she’d like to move on. Project Astra can identify these tools – in beta.
Lessons learned:
-Empowering users by introducing self-service tools
-free tools v useful to get started
-customised tools are much better
-letting tech team have more time to do other things.
A panel of representatives from 3 Colleges shared the Dos and Donts of upgrading to version 9.
Dos: • Run v9 on a test server • Focus staff on specific tasks – don’t let them play freely, because they wont • Give them Bb assignments to complete on the new features • Use lists of things that have been complained about in the past and show how they have been fixed – a good way of making them aware of the new features • Dont run large training events – people don’t come. Short tutorial training sessions via Jing (5 minute long videos). Focus on short, specific things. One-to-one. • Use school administrators to spread the word; get the upgrade announced at as many meetings as possible • Get feedback from staff the beginning – generate tip sheets from this e.g. FAQs to prepare workshops (if you run them) • offer free lunches • Establish faculty mentors
Don’ts • Assume they will come to the test server – students will, but staff wont. Find a core group of early adopters • Don’t assume that silence is golden – be proactive and ask if it’s working
Some caveats with v9
The new interface can be a little overwhelming? – The edit mode and content browser is different – even confident v8/7 users, who won’t come to training, get stuck.
More than the interface, staff finf the Gradecentre overwhelmingly different.
Respondus in v9 requires a new version. Learning Objects, Wimba, Elluminate all seem to be ok. Bb ran a building block programme where the bigger vendors developed and released updates; smaller building blocks MAY NOT WORK.
Find out which staff members are using the old tools and make them aware of the changes.
In his keynote presentation, Michael Chasen introduced two new young guys, whose company Blackboard has recently acquired. These mere children have developed super-cool iPhone widgets for institutions (though they will apparently work with any web-enabled mobile device). This MobilEdu seems to be the next (very?) big thing to come out of Bb. It IS cool, but it's merely about accessing stuff on the fly, not developing any improved learning or teaching methods. But that's ok - that's what learning technologists are for, right?
Here are a few notes - I expect LOTS more will be coming out of Bb's Marketing monkeys ASAP.
MobilEdu provides a collection of widgets for the iPhone for services that exist on different websites at a university: • Maps, staff/student directories (e.g. accessing LDAP), event calenders, courses (the Bb bit), bills, athletics info (very US-oriented) • MobilEdu is a product which brings these services together on to one place on a mobile device • DEMO – works on any web-enabled mobile device o Maps with GPS built in, so you can see where you are on a campus, as well as routes to other building you need to reach. o Directory search o Course catalogue o Athletics - scores and schedules of teams o Videos – YouTube and iTunes U o News – aggregating all news feeds on campus • The Bb integration: My Courses app – all items for course available on the device; course dashboard • Bb Learn App (BbSync) for iPhone may not necessarily continue to be supported with MobilEdu – Bb hasn't decided yet.
For those who have heard "MLC" (Bb's CEO) speak before, well, you probably didn't miss much as you'll have heard something fairly similar... Still, he is the main man at Bb and it is his party, so he can spout stuff out if he wants to. Actually - it really wasn't so bad. His presentation was broken up with some of the videos on the Bb site - you know, the ones that have ripped off the Apple/PC adverts, showing Bb Classic and Bb NG. Chasen also introduced his new bff, Ray Henderson, former CEO of Angel and now another big boss at Bb. His shorter presentation, which I felt was more engaging and "human", was a nice piece on how the users can help Bb to make the world a better place. Gah - I can't help the cliches - I'm in America, goddammit.
My notes are below:
·Blackboard is really trying to work on its communication channels – usingTwitter, Fb, blogs, Email, Press Release, etc to keep in touch with clients.
·1600 clients represented at BbWorld09, coming from 17 countries and 45 states
·Next phase of Project NG: the influence of tribes –> the BIE (Bb Ideas Exchange), Bb clients
·Long term strategy – universal access to education is a key priority at Bb; sharing of content - entire courses as well as files; single code-base of the system; ability to measure educational results – investigating pay-off of learning tech investment; from the students – better use of mobile and social tech e.g. iPhones compatability.
·Next steps of NG – a good first step was made but more improvements with customisation and interactive content is being developed; K-12 T&L focus - teacher efficiency and flexibility
·Demo addressed these things. The login page is more customiseable. New tools:
oCourse materials selection expanded
oSearches made in other APIs within Bb framework e.g. searching You Tube
oNBC partnership to search for and embed their videos (US only??? Unclear)
oEcho360 tool - only available in US
oGoogle Docs integration
oBuilding block for Kindle to forward content to Kindle device
oWimba – IM tool populated by participants on a course
oWiki – developed with courses, linked to gradebook
oParent dashboard developed for K-12; lesson plans; aligment to US State standards
oReading list gadget to add textbooks that students should purchase with ISBNs – can be used to calculate costs of courses
oAcxiom Identity-X Form – identity-checker to validate that a student is who they say they are. US only??
The City University of New York described their how they upgraded a multi-institutional University to Bb8. This was probably the closest resembling institution to the BLE, so I attended the session to see how they were managing. It was useful; managed to take away some tips - my notes are below.
• 23 schools under one school – CUNY • ITS is managed centrally, including Bb; Colleges individually manage business cases for other processes • 140,000 students using Bb6.3 • Snapshot running differently with different databases; administered locally, with individual local business rules • Hard for students studying across more than 2 Colleges.
• Project objectives o Consolidated support o Improved ease of admin
• Domain Architecture – using Community System o Central admin but still allowing for local identies o 1 database with a domain for each school;
• Phased approach – some early adopters (small schools) went straight in for v8 • Nov 07 : stakeholders and communication methods established, Bb Contract negotiated • Roles & Responsibilities set up; project team with reps from each school; project teams in the individual colleges • Problems – large database led to performance issues, which the service pack 3 fixed; they experienced a number of outages – vendors were engaged to get these things fixed (e.g. SUN) • Migrated to hosted platform to mitigate risk • Lessons learned – disaster recovery, testing environment
Seth Godin, author of “Tribes”, provided the opening keynote presentation at BbWorld09 in Washington, DC. Godin - a last minute replacement to the advertised keynote - delivered a very energised and inspiring talk about tribes, sharing his ideas of how people think, how change spreads and how education is moving. Below, I've tried to capture the essence of what he was saying, which is quite hard - his presentation was a lively collection of images and thoughts. But here goes:
The current commercial world relies heavily on mass marketing and mass advertising and this trend has made its way into schools, via semi-"brainwashing" and mind-blowing techniques. Although considered the only way to get messages across, the market-place is demanding that the education sector provides something different.
The non-commercial world is moving away from providing top-down offers to individualisation – e.g. in order to watch TV, we are no longer dependent on the channel schedulers, as we can choose whatever we want to watch, whenever. Godin presented us with an opportunity to think about how we can do things differently; he suggests that tribal behaviour is the method we can use to change the way things are done. Historically there were three main tribes, which were based on religion, work and community. Hence, a common culture connected people.
The tribe of people who want to connect and network with other like people is very powerful. He asked the audience to clap in unison - it took 4 seconds for around 2000 people to clap the same rhythm. Incredible, Godin enthused, given that there was no drum beat to follow. The basic human need to be part of a group; many people wear an unintentional uniform in wanting to be part of a group - for example, football team shirt or gothic white makeup and leather coats.Godin is most interested in how to create a tribe of people who wish to make change. He believes that one person has the power to leverage a tribe.A tribal leader can take on the role of a rock star to their followers no matter how few of them there may be. For example, Garr Reynolds book "Presentation Zen" became a hugely successful and created a leader out of a relative unknown.
The dynamics of tribal behaviour is very interesting and highlights the influence a tribe can have over authority. Godin suggests that making change is now called tribal leadership. Movements start with a committed few, then they grow. How does this happen? He uses the term "positive deviants" to describe someone wishing to make change happen; someone who figures out, without instruction, how to do something a little better. The role of the leader is to find other positive deviants, amplifying their message. Who are these people in an institution? How do we give them a platform? You don’t need to convert everyone – just a few people who care enough to spread the word. Godin suggests that the failure of Kindle (Amazon’s ebook reader) was because there were no social tools built in to allow users to share and network with each other.
In establishing a tribe, you must be willing to let people follow you.The people are already there and ready to be led e.g. the Beatles didn’t create teenagers, Bob Marley didn’t create Rastafarianism . The people were already there to be led. No-one follows a boring tribe – every successful tribe is led by a heretic.A heretic goes to the edges.
Every institution needs someone to shake things up every so often.
Leadership = marketing.
Today, marketing is about one thing – leadership; the best brands grew by leading. They
1)Challenge the status quo
2)Create a culture that stands for something
3)Curiosly look for the opportunities
4) develop charisma
5)Communicate all directions
6)Connect with others making contributions making meaning to make a difference, allowing tribe members to be noticefd and that they matter
7)Commit to the cause.
No tools are needed – you can inspire to be inspiring.
The "4v2" notion:
The people making a difference are the ones doing things for their audience rather than marketers doing things to them.
Godin concluded by asking the audience where their tribe was? He advised that if it’s worth doing, it’s an obligation to lead. So go create a movement!
