Some info: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/technology/12google.html?ref=technology

Besides the obvious – competition with the world of iPhone apps – it’s definitely an interesting thing to note about opening up app development to the masses, promoting active engagement and involvement from end users, and indicating just how ingrained mobile tech, namely our phones, have become in our every day lives.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/5_key_trends_of_2010_half-year_report_for_the_web.php

The LMS space is filled with so many proprietary systems that cost and the risk of over-specializing may be impede and/or limit many organizations from really engaging and participating in an organized approach for their learning goals.  I’ve worked a little bit with other learning management systems, namely, Moodle, and it’ll be interesting to see how the space of more open-source systems may impact on how we manage and approach educational needs from a system’s perspective.

How one approaches not only their web design, but also how they reach out to their target audience (or constituents) is very different.  A non-profit’s brand is closely intertwined with its identity, and in turn, its identity – what it does, what it stands for and represents, what it creates and produces, what it defends – speak directly to a certain group of individuals.  And it is these individuals who will provide the kinds of brand-building, presence-developing, and ultimately, fund-raising, that most, if not all non-profits depend on.

The ownership of ones’ brand is extremely important, but in some respects, I find that the need to truly own one’s identity, to truly identify what one actually does and specifically, provides and offers, is of particular significant to a non-profit organization.

Certainly, it is increasingly easier and cheaper to spread the world about non-profits.  The lack of resources (both personnel and monetary) are no longer barriers that are insurmountable.  Twitter and its kind (twitpic)

An example of using YouTube to support non-profits (it’s a dated video, but I think still relevant):

I’ll elaborate more about how digital media (and all its fun, related aspects such as online marketing and campaigns, community building, etc.) come into play as non-profits seek to expand their networks, fundraising capabilities, and brand presence.  For the time being, I’ve listed some information here that could be a helpful start.

Useful links:

NTEN: Nonprofit Technology Network

Wild Apricot: a non-profit technology blog

Big Duck: communications for non-profits blog

Mobile Active: global network of non-profits applying mobile tech to serve their needs (this is definitely something I’m very interested in exploring)

It’s supposed to be similar a game similar to Sim City, wherein players will need to confront the various energy, infrastructure, economy, and social issues that cities encounter every day.

Perhaps, though, it challenges some current perceptions of higher education (and education, in general) and the sorts of practices that both learners and instructors/teachers/other educational professionals engage and participate.  I remember the perplexity and confusion that rose from M.I.T.’s announcement of their Open CourseWare project.  The thought of posting curriculum and courses for free, enabling individuals from all over the world to access content and information from such a prestigious and arguably, exclusive, institution – what does that mean?  Would people even bother to pay and physically attend a college anymore?  Obviously, this project has not made M.I.T. seem any less desirable for thousands of prospective students each year, but it does bring up some interesting considerations.

Still, how does the Internet and open learning impact, influence, and inform the kinds of ideas we have on learning, information and knowledge acquisition, and content creation?  In a broader, perhaps more far-reaching scale, how does this entire process impact the lives and livelihoods from social and economic perspective?  I’m only in the beginning of this conversation, but I welcome the opportunity to probe further at how the changes in the educational arena will, can, and are currently impacting our world.

Additional info: here

Learning the English alphabet with today's technologies

There’s been research probing the role of technology among today’s children and young adults.  What does it mean to have grown up during a time where there was always a cell phone and the Internet?  Moreover, how has the inclusion and use these technologies and games, as well, inform the practices, actions, thought processes, and assumptions that both children and adults make?

At some point, it stopped.  Suddenly, there was all this so-called grown-up concern of things called feasibility, practicality, marketability, and profitability.  How do we address all those things, but still come up with innovative products, tools, and services that achieve these market and profit-driven goals while simultaneously embracing a sense of marvel and open possibility.

I’m reminded of lab experiments conducted during physics classes that involved working with slinkies and using plastic toys and coins (purchased at one of those 99 cent stores) as props for constructing projects.  In graduate school, non-digital game prototypes developed in game design classes stretched my imagination how to use seemingly rudimentary and ordinary items to create and simulate a play experience.  Perhaps as our society continues its rapid and constant transformation and evolution, making use of these sorts of imaginative and creative processes that we seem to situate only in childhood, could play a larger role in how we think about technology – its function and role – in our lives.

I find these all to be interesting questions, many of which have already been explored by researchers and educators.  Moreover, with the current economic environment in the U.S. (and perhaps, collectively, around the globe), what does it mean to be adaptive not only to how one consumes, creates, and critically analyzes information and content, but towards how one relates and uses that information?

And, thus, this leads to even further questions regarding the increasingly widening gap between the countries that “have” technology and those who do not.  Beyond the issues of hardware and software accessibility, how does one even begin to address those challenges of effectively and productively using these tools to obtain, understand, and create knowledge and information?  There are times I feel that so many countries, companies, and communities are speeding ahead in all this creative experimentation in technology, while basic, core challenges are only expanding and deepening in so many other places.  How do we start and/or continue to create a more even playing field?