Year: 2009

Social Media in International Development – 10 min interviews

Flickr cc image from I need your help and recommendations!

I’m about to facilitate another workshop on social media in international development for the ICT-KM program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). This is the third time for this all-online workshop. In this iteration, we are trying to pay more attention to context of use, rather than focus on tools, tools, tools. The best way I know of doing this is to start the conversation with some stories of use.

To that end, I’m starting to do some 10 minute podcasts with practitioners who are  using social media in their work,  particularly those who work in international development and/or science research for global public  good (as in agricultural research.)

Who would you like to hear from? Who should I talk to?

First up, I’ll be interviewing William Anderson cofounder of Praxis101 . Bill has wrangled with the issues of sharing scientific data with his work with CODATA where he is an Associate Editor for the CODATA Data Science Journal (http://www.codata.org/dsj/index.html), and in his role as the Co-chair of the InterAcademy Panel Task Group on Digital Knowledge Resources in Developing Countries (http://www.interacademies.net/CMS/Programmes/4704.aspx ). He recently ended an eight year term as a member of the U.S. National Committee for the Committee on Data for Science and Technology and as Co-chair of the CODATA Task Group on  Preservation of and Access to Scientific and Technical Data in Developing Countries.

I already have a nice collection of longer podcasts including:

However, the value of a small library of short, engaging stories is priceless. So who should I interview? You? Someone you know of? Let me know! I’d like to harvest a few stories.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons picture, “Go Vote” on Flickr by M-C

Digital Habitats now in print!

On our FLNW tour I shared the proof with my traveling companions. Sylvia took this picture! I’m excited that Digital Habitats: stewarding technology for communities” is now PUBLISHED! You can find the early ordering details on the book’s blog site. It will be a while until it shows up on Amazon.

In case you are a new reader (and have not read my obsessions about the book over the years), here is the book info:

Technology has changed what it means for communities to “be together.” Digital tools are now part of most communities’ habitats. This book develops a new literacy and language to describe the practice of stewarding technology for communities. Whether you want to ground your technology stewardship in theory and deepen your practice, whether you are a community leader or sponsor who wants to understand how communities and technology intersect, or whether you just want practical advice, this is the book for you.

Written by Etienne Wenger, Nancy White and John D. Smith, the book brings together conceptual thinking, case studies and offers a guide for understanding how technology can help a community do what it wants to do. It gives a glimpse into the future as community and technology continue to affect and influence each other.

Future of Learning in a Networked World

Derek relaxes on the Angel's Lake trail, Olympic National ParkSix of us are in Forks, Washington, on our Future Learning in a Networked World 09 Pacific Northwest US road trip. We are at Manitou lodge, all with our laptops, uploading pictures, writing and having a conversation with each other all the while.

Five of us started out in Vancouver after the OpenEd conference. I joined up at Mt Vernon Washington, where we drove down Whidbey Island and hopped the Keystone Ferry to Port Townsend, a quaint old seaport town now quaint tourist town. Then we drove to Port Angeles and the Thortown Hostel where we stayed Sunday night. Monday, after learning we could not drive up Hurricane Ridge (Olympic National Park) due to a rock slide, we hiked the 3.7 miles (2000 ft elevation gain, all up going, all down coming back) to Angeles Lake. Alas, my legs made me turn back – only 10 minutes from the destination. But others made it, one swam and I savored the stories as I nursed my knees back at the car. (Hey, when the sign says Strenuous, pay attention, Nancy!) Then we drove to Forks where we had a lovely dinner hosted by local educator Marsha West and her friends, complete with stories around the campfire. And all along the way marvelous conversations about learning, openess, reinventing education, the pros and cons of the m-word (manipulation) and of course a bit about food. Yeah. I want to share those stories. But…

If I were to put a mood on our collective travels, it would be epitomized by this picture of Derek Chirnside: Laid Back. I made a commitment to myself to blog (each day?) and share my learnings, but I sit here at the computer, more interested in talking with others, going outside, letting things percolate.

Laid back.

So I’m going to go with the flow and simply point you to our photos for now, and hope I can savor, distill and share a bit later.

Australia workshops and appearances in November

crossing signsAre you one of my Australian pals? Interested in spending time learning and talking about some shared interests? Well I’ll be down under for nearly three weeks in November.

Matt Moore of Innotecture and Carol Daunt Skyring have set me up with a roller coaster ride of events, some of which are open to the public and you can register for them now. So here is the run down (there will be a trip blog!)

You can get all the workshop topic and registration details on the Matt sponsored workshops in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne here –> Nancy White in Australia

You can get the details on the Carol sponsored workshops and conferences here .

  • Sydney Nov 9th – 2 half day workshops 1) Stewarding Technology for Communities 2)  Graphic recording/facilitation.Hands on, messy fun.
  • Sydney Nov 10th – 2 half day workshops, Introduction to Online Communities and Advanced Online Communities with Matt Moore. Sydney events will held at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern.
  • I’m open and available on the 11th in Sydney. For play or work or both!
  • Canberra November 12th  – 2 half day workshops, Introduction to Online Communities and Advanced Online Communities with Matt Moore. Canberra events will be held at ANU University House.
  • Adelaide November 13th keynoting E-Dayz 09 Day 2 (Thanks to Michael Coghlan)
  • Gippstafe on the 16th with Brad Beach’s group of advanced online facilitators.
  • Melbourne November 17th – 2 half day workshops, Introduction to Online Communities and Advanced Online Communities with Matt Moore. Melbourne events will be held at Abbotsford Convent.
  • Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast Learning Technologies  Conference and Preworkshop, Nov 17- 19. I’ll be keynoting the conference and running a pre-conference workshop. I’m available for play and/or private groups/consulting on the 20th if you are interested. Let me know!

Hopefully there will also be informal gatherings, tweetups  and the like! G’day!

Don’t know where this is going…

Chris Lott posted a really important bit at the end of his overview of Alan Levine’s OpenEd09 presentation on Alan Levine’s Amazing Stories of Openness. And lest I forget, don’t miss the recording of Alan’s work. It is… well… AMAZING! I was lucky to be part of the project with two stories of my own, told by candle light outside a Hawaiian beach bar!

The video of the session is great too, because Alan is always engaging and funny. At the end of his presentation he made a comment to the effect that he “didn’t really know what these stories led to.” But that’s the beauty of the shared experiences: they don’t lead to anything. In the same way that we don’t have conversations at a table (or tell stories around a campfire, virtual or not) and wonder where they will lead. Those stories are the destination… those experiences are what it is about.

A bell rang when I read Chris’ words harking back to EdMedia in Hawaii this June. Alan again gave an incredible presentation on “50+ Web 2.0 ways to tell a story.” During the Q&A I asked Alan what I think turned out to feel like a harsh question. I asked what he knew about people’s USE of all these ways of digitally telling a story? What did it matter? How was this wonderful set of possibilities put to use? He replied something to the effect of Gee, I don’t know. I never asked that question. (my memory, not a direct quote!)

I squirmed in my seat, feeling like I had put Alan on the spot. At the same time, I worried about what we preach when we are all excited about something, about the signals that sends out. Does seeding possibility matter? Does fostering hopefulness? Something really stirred but I did not pursue it.

Then Chris comes along and helps me remember about the power of NOT having a destination all the time. Of things that don’t, at least at first “lead to anything.” Amen! Yeah!

Then I read Chris paragraph again and went WAIT A MINUTE!!! Read it again…

But that’s the beauty of the shared experiences: they don’t lead to anything. In the same way that we don’t have conversations at a table (or tell stories around a campfire, virtual or not) and wonder where they will lead. Those stories are the destination… those experiences are what it is about.

I have to pull two things out. Of course, stories are destinations. But shared experiences don’t lead to anything? WHOA! Yes the do!!!! To me, this is the power of Open Education. Of informal networks and communities of practice.  Shared experiences lead to the kind of learning that often rocks my world.  They just aren’t usually directed. We don’t have a plan for them. Yet.

So in the end, yes, often we don’t know where we are going. But dang, we ARE going somewhere. What matters is paying attention.

Phew, I’m glad I got that off my (very congested, noisy) chest!

P.S. I got sick this week and was unable to drive up to Vancouver BC to OpenEd09. (And no one would have wanted to get near me!) But thanks to an active Twitter stream (cool early analysis here) and live/recorded videos of every session (beautiful organizing, team!) I was able to benefit from much of the content and conversation. Yeah, I missed the beer. Yeah, I missed seeing my friends. That  can’t be replaced, but for a distance experience of a F2F conference, this was one of the best. I should probably write a whole post on this, but tomorrow I join up with my Future of Learning in a Networked World pals to continue the FLNW09 road trip. I missed today – kayaking on Bowen Island – due to this wretched bug I have. If you are on Washington’s Olympic  Peninsula, ping me. You can join us for an hour, a day, etc!

Photo Credit: ManojVasanth on Flickr