Wednesday, June 22, 2005
There's a new blog in town: Bill Bruck's. Maybe he'll help us make blogging more interactive. Bill characterizes blogs as Commentaries, Clippers, and Travelogues. I'd never thought of Internet Time Blog as a travelogue but if you count armchair travel, I guess it fits.
I'm arriving at Seatac tommorow at 1:00 pm on Southwest for Gnomedex. I'll barter scintillating conversation and maybe even some gas money for a shared ride into Seattle. Email me. Or call my cell at 1.510.528.3105.I am looking for a new doctor in Berekley, either a Family Practitioner or a General Practitioner. Know anyone? Email me.
Rant. I don't understand people who make personal commitments and don't follow through. For example,
- A guy comes up to me at a conference, tells me his wife is studying the origins of eLearning in her graduate program. Could she email me a few questions? I offer to send her a 30-page paper I've written on the topic. I give him my card and ask him to ping me. He never emails me.
- A woman promises to send me a copy of her presentation. I give my card. I never hear from her.
- A vendor at a conference wants me to try his product. I tell him I'll test it and if I find it worthwhile, I'll review it in my blog. He takes my card, but I never hear from him. (This was Mimeo, but it could have been any of dozens of others.)
- A reporter from Greece asks for my written responses to questions. I agree, saying all I want is a copy of the finished article. Or a URL. I receive nothing back. Same thing has happened in Germany and the U.K.
- A fellow wants to partner with me. We identify all sorts of synergy in working with one another. I tell him we can start by posting an article on my site, see if it grabs people's attention. He says sure. Six months later, I haven't received anything from him.
I just finished reading a proof of a new book, Lessons for Tomorrow by Ned Davis. It's a rallying cry for saving America's schools. If any educational foundations are looking for a fresh voice, this is for you. Common sense, shocking, yet prescriptive. I'm still reeling from Ned's observations that 60% of Americans have never read a book.
My research into informal learning is coming along nicely but I still need stories. Roger Schank and JSB and others have convinced me that's the only way to create a compelling book. Do you have a compelling informal learning story? Tell me. You might well get a free book out of it.
Walking around the neighborhood today, I came upon a driveway filled about 4' deep in stuff, surmounted with a sign reading FREE. In the heap were six or seven PCs, a dozen phones, at least a dozen keyboards, a box of transformers, twenty file cabinets, a dozen inboxes -- many with pens, paperclips, PostIt's, and pennies--and two Apple LaserWriter printers.
I need to get more sleep. I was just persusing eLearning Centre and misread Epistudio as Estupido, something entirely different. G'night.
BETA | jay 6/22/2005 08:44:00 PM| WRITE JAY |
2 Comments:
" I'm still reeling from Ned's observations that 60% of Americans have never read a book."
Can you clarify what "never read a book" means?
Never read a novel. Never read a book from cover to cover. Never read any part of a book.
Reference for "never read a book" is Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture, W.W. Norton & Company, NY, 2000, p. 36. A review I found via Amazon's A9 search: "Berman provides a familiar litany of what's wrong: 53% of Americans don't know that the earth takes one year to revolve around the sun; 60% of adult Americans have never read a book; 70% of Americans believe in the existence of angels."
From another review: "The depressing facts are that the average American cannot spell, over 60% of adult Americans claim never to have read a book, 50% believe in UFOs, 42% cannot find Japan on a map."
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