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Mixed Models for Publishing and Learning

The blogosphere has been full of excellent discussions of how electronic publishing will or will not, should or should not, replace paper publishing. Most of the discussion has focused on an either-or scenario: we'll have paper books or electronic books; we'll have paper newspapers or we'll read the news on a screen. The future of publishing, learning and new technology will be far more promising and more complex than some of us expect.

The good news is that we have choices and that we can access information and knowledge in many different ways. We can now receive news and other information on our iPhones or other devices while we're on buses or while we're sitting in coffee shops. We can watch conference presentations on our iPods and on our computers.

Most of us are now creators on the web as well as consumers. We write blogs, various types of messages and we produce podcasts, both video and audio. Our comments and our content can be read by people throughout the world.

Most newspapers are still producing paper products and are also online. I can still subscribe (and I do) to various newspapers and I can read these same newspapers online. I have a choice. Each day two newspapers are delivered to my door, one local and one from Toronto. On Sunday or Monday the weekend New York Times is dropped at my door. I also subscribe to the Maple Creek News, a bi-weekly paper from my home town.

But I also read headlines and stories from most of these papers online, via applications on my iPhone or Twitter messages. Paper products and electronic messages each serve a role.

Paper books continue to be available in thousands of bookstores in North America, and online, at reasonable prices. Many of these are also available electronically. We choose which format works best for us.

We have many options with regard to learning, and some of these are free. We depend on a combination of formal and informal learning. Even formal face-to-face learning can work effectively in conjunction with distance and e-learning: but most schools and universities in Canada and in many other countries have not supported mixed models of education.

Change is healthy and exciting, and it brings more choice, not less. Paper books, film cameras, newspapers and other tried and true technologies will still be used by some people if they choose them and pay for them. Mixed models of paper and e-books, face-to-face learning and podcasts, and film and digital photography are working.

If you like paper newspapers and books, buy them. If you prefer to use other ways of being informed and communicating with others, use your iPod or computer. The combination of paper and e-products gives us options that could not have been dreamt of even a few years ago. And it will only get more more exciting.

It's Still September

September is the month in which many people, young and old, return to the classroom as students, teachers or facilitators. It's the month that we associate with new boxes of crayons, eager young faces and back to school clothes. Summer is relaxing and enjoyable, but we never seem to accomplish much in July and August. But we get back to work and back to school in September.

Today's College issue of the the New York Times Magazine focuses on teaching, including both traditional and online lecturing. The issue itself, like other online issues of this magazine, provides text, hypertext, blogs, images, and video discussions. If I were a college administrator I would suggest that all teachers should spend some time at this site.

Teaching, publishing, learning, and the businesses and professions which relate to these areas have been changed significantly by new information technology, but some of them have not realized that as yet. Educational institutions, in particular, seem to feel that the 50 minute lecture ('I talk, you write') will always be and should always be the standard teaching process.

I think that we should focus on learning, not teaching, and that those who teach should expect to learn from their students just as the students learn from them.

We need round tables, not lecture theatres.

We need informal learning spaces where students and professors can meet, learn and work together.

We need teachers and facilitators who are part of the world outside of the University as well as part of the institution.

We need teachers who can excite and inspire students as they work with them.

We need more educational institutions who use new information and communication technology to help create a modern learning experience.

I congratulate teachers and institutions who have embraced change and new approaches to learning. If I were a student I would search diligently to find such an institution, one that fostered a quality learning experience, a learning experience that resonated with me and that related to my environment and my goals. I would hope that this experience would result in a lifetime of learning and enjoyment.

No one bought me new crayons this fall: but I have a laptop and and an iPhone and I can continue to learn whatever and wherever I please. It's an exciting time.

More from MacWorld, 2008

Today I was fortunate enough to test an iPhone (still not available in Canada) and also to see the new Belkin Podcast Studio, '...a $100 accessory that basically turns your iPod into a mini podcasting studio – just add a mic.' The Belkin has dual XLR and 1/4 inch channels as well as a built-in mic and speaker which are powered by batteries in the Podcast Studio. It will ship in June. Perhaps the iPhone will make its way north about the same time. Both get rave reviews.

Podcasting was a hot subject at MacWorld this year. There were three days of sessions dealing with various aspects of production, marketing and equipment, and lots of interest in it from participants and exhibitors.

Some of the companies who are represented at MacWorld are small, new companies. They are often staffed by the entrepreneurs and programmers who own and operate the companies. Some of them get lots of visits; some of them do not. They are all excited to tell visitors about their products. The booths are compact, but certainly adequate.

I missed out on at least one test drive, but perhaps next year.

I also missed another opportunity: the MacWorld Napping Lounge powered by pzizz.

I've been to many MacWorld exhibitions and after each one I leave more excited and informed about technology and more impressed with the people who create and market new products.

I'll be discussing some of the new ideas and products presented at this year's Expo at presentations to members of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) in Edmonton (January 30) and Calgary (February 5). For more information on those sessions please call the BPAA office at 780.424.5060.

Creative Time at MacWorld

I've spent an intensive day playing with new technology and chatting with some of the people who have developed it. I've met teachers, IT specialists, developers and representatives of companies of all sizes. San Francisco is a very creative, high tech city, and MacWorld Conference & Expo attracts thousands of local, national and international participants every January to the City By The Bay.

Apple announced a new computer at this year's MacWorld. The new MacBook Air is the thinnest notebook (0.76 inches) in the world and the coolest. I read about it and watched the demo on Apple's website, but I did not expect to be so impressed with this computer. It does not contain an optical drive, but one is available (it plugs into a USB port). However, we don't miss floppy disk drives on contemporary computers and I doubt if most people will miss the optical drive on this unit. It's a computer for people who travel and also for those who love fine design. It's impressive, and costs only $1799.

Apple has also updated Apple TV. US clients can now rent movies, even HD movies, for modest fees and play them (as well as photos and video podcasts) on their television sets. International clients (and I hope that includes Canadians) will be able to do this later this year.

MacWorld includes educational sessions and demos.

And, there's private time for those who blog.

Bound for MacWorld

I'm bound for the MacWord Conference and Expo in San Francisco next week. I'll arrive a day after Steve Jobs gives his presentation announcing new developments in software and hardware so I will have to sit at my my computer on Tuesday morning watching the live blog entries from various sources. It's always an exciting process, one that I can continue when I get to the Moscone Center and join tens of thousands of others who have come to look and learn.

Last year I saw the new iPhone being demonstrated and decided that I would buy one as soon as they became available in Canada. I'm still waiting: but next week I'll likely see a new 3G model of the iPhone and again declare that I'll buy one as soon as they become available here.

I'll also attend mini-courses put on by various companies such as Adobe and, of course, Apple. I'll also visit with representatives of new companies, often companies which are attending their first show with new products, hoping that those products will meet the needs of those attending the show.

I look forward to the excitement of being with a very large crowd of creative and innovative people: presenters, students, designers, developers, young and old.

Watch this blog next week for news and photographs from MacWorld and San Francisco.

iPods and Learning

An article in the November 24, 2007 issue of the Los Angeles Times entitled The iPod Lecture Circuit by Michelle Quinn tells the story of how the iPod has created new learning opportunities for people who are not enrolled at colleges and universities.

BERKELEY -- Baxter Wood is one of Hubert Dreyfus' most devoted students. During lectures on existentialism, Wood hangs on every word, savoring the moments when the 78-year-old philosophy professor pauses to consider a student's comment or relay how a meaning-of-life question had him up at 2 a.m.

But Wood is not sitting in a lecture hall on the UC Berkeley campus, nor has he met Dreyfus. He is in the cab of his 18-wheel big rig, hauling dog food from Ohio to the West Coast or flat-screen TVs from Los Angeles to points east.The 61-year-old trucker from El Paso eavesdrops on the lectures by downloading them for free from Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, transferring them to his Hewlett-Packard digital media player, then piping them through his cabin's speakers. He hits pause as he approaches cities so he can focus more on traffic than on what Nietzsche meant when he said God was dead, then shifts his attention back to the classroom.

iTunes University makes lectures available online. There are currently 28 colleges and universities which post lectures on iTunes, lectures which may be downloaded and played by anyone in the world who has a computer and a connection to the internet. Quinn reminds us that 'unofficial students' do not earn degrees for listening. These students learn for the joy of learning.

Some of them have college degrees and some have never had the opportunity to attend an institution of higher learning.

By making hundreds of lectures from elite academic institutions available online for free, Apple is reninvigorating the minds of people who have been estranged from the world of ideas.

Quinn says that 'Retirees in Long Beach and Weaverville, California, halibut fishermen in Alaska, data entry clerks in London, and casting agents in New York' are learning from some of the world's top scholars. Institutions such as Yale, MIT and Stanford are providing lectures to people who may otherwise have never have heard of distinguished professors such as Hubert Dreyfus.

One can access lectures by Dr. Dreyfus by going to the iTunes Store, searching for his name and downloading any or all of his online lectures. iTune lectures may be played on a computer or transferred to an iPod. iTunes is free software and iTunes podcasts are free downloads.

Free and accessible knowledge helps all of us to learn new subjects and to keep up to date on others. Thanks to iTunes University and the institutions which support it Baxter Wood and other students now have access to a continuing and exciting learning process.

Michelle Quinn and the Los Angeles Times deserve top marks for this excellent article.

Cappuccino U: A Canadian Bestseller

Cappuccino U: A new way of learning and working, a free e-book available on the Spotted Cow Press website, was downloaded by more than 6,000 people in the twelve months since it was released. This book has reached more readers than a Canadian bestseller (5,000 copies per year) and was probably circulated to other readers by those who downloaded it.

Asynchronous Radio: CBC Expands Its Podcast Program

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has been a pioneer in providing podcasts of radio programs. Yesterday it expanded its offerings dramatically: one can now access podcasts of virtually all of CBC Radio's national broadcasts and some of its local items as well.
CBC, BBC, NPR and many other major public networks provide hundreds of podcasts, so many that those of us who love talk radio cannot listen to them all: but we can choose our favourites and listen to them at any time, as many times as we would like.
Public Radio is now largely asynchronous and accessible to anyone with a computer. I listen to podcasts from these networks on my iPod when I'm travelling and on my computer when I'm at home.
And while someone has paid to create these podcasts there is no direct cost to the user.
CBC podcasts are available on iTunes and on the CBC podcasting site.