Edutainment and research keeps getting easier with tools like the iPod and inexpensive recording attachments that are a little more than $69. You can record lectures, research interviews and media interviews with your iPod and upload them to your computer and create your own podcasts. Now that's edutainment!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Strike It Out Grandma With Wii!
Here is the rest of story from the previous post! As you can see this senior knows how to bowl a virtual strike, and she is not alone. The average gamer age is 32 and climbing. These folks are going to mess up the curve and are already bringing the family hour back with a little friendly - or should I say - serious competition!
Don't believe me, check out The Washington Post.com story that has been all over Digg.com on this issue!
Yes, and now you can see the rest of this story with just you and Wii!
Seniors Are Leading The Edutainment & Convergence Charge With Wii Addiction!
By Chris A. Heidelberg III, Managing Editor & Producer
Just In case you thought I was joking about the seniors playing Wii check out this photo. As you know, this is the version of Edutainment Today that focuses on the visual image more than text, so I figure that this picture says a thousand words!
By the way, this photo is not from New York City where there are huge lines to buy a Wii which I will show later, these senior are literally from Omaha, Nebraska in middle America. The silent majority has spoken: casual games are hear to stay and learning or serious games are a big part of the future of learning, assessment and competency development according to experts such as John Paul Gee, Marc Prensky, Robert Wisher, and Clark Aldrich. So get your game on!
The Wii Is Still A Hit With Seniors And They Got Game
Hey if you want to see some really competitive video game action all you need to do is to go to your local retirement community, senior citizen home or just call your grandparents if you are blessed to still have them! The Wii has become so huge with seniors that many are confirmed fans, and yes some have confessed to being Wii gaming addicts.
I have been writing and speaking about the impact of casual games with edutainment for the past four years and the Wii has been at the top of the list for the past nearly two years. When I spoke about this at the Ragan Web Content Conference in Chicago, I was greeted with some surpised looks and some exciting looks from some of my students who had heard about this phenonemon.
You can read more about this story on our sister site http://edutainmenttoday.wordpress.com andThe WashingtonPost.com.
I have been writing and speaking about the impact of casual games with edutainment for the past four years and the Wii has been at the top of the list for the past nearly two years. When I spoke about this at the Ragan Web Content Conference in Chicago, I was greeted with some surpised looks and some exciting looks from some of my students who had heard about this phenonemon.
You can read more about this story on our sister site http://edutainmenttoday.wordpress.com andThe WashingtonPost.com.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Verizon Makes The Right Move By Getting On Board With Google's Android - For Now
Now here's another sign of the apocalypse. Verizon Wireless is embracing the open approach advocated by Google's Android because it makes common sense, it may become mandatory like Carter Rules, and it is an excellent preemptive strike just in case Google wins the 700Mhz spectrum auction and radically changes the business model and all of the rules. Verizon cannot lose with this approach. There is nothing like an 800 pound gorilla named Google to get people to change their core business values and adopt new business values. Your move AT&T!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
It's Vegas Baby and It's A Light Show
Viva Las Vegas as this beautiful shot from the top of the Eiffel Twoer at Paris, Las Vegas during CES 2007.
Who says you can't travel the world and learn something in Vegas?
The sheer artistry and the use of color is something to remember when creating your blog. It's all about getting your attention and keeping it so that you come back. Nobody does it better than Vegas, except for Disney, and they both take your money for a lifetime of memories.
Now that my friends is edutainment with convergence to boot with all that digital gaming taking place!
Michael Jones of Google Using the iPhone
Now here is a perfect example of business and education working together.
In other words what we have here is Michael Jones of Google on stage at the 2007 2.0 Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California shortly before the release of the iPhone in May.
The crowd at the time was saying oooh as this example of edutainment with convergence has gone viral on the web and has remained popular even though over 1 million people worldwide own the device.
This is the power of convergence!
The Ultimate Disruptive Technologies: The iPod Family
The many versions of the iPod and now the iPhone have changed the way that people listen, see and obtain media and entertainment.
Increasingly everything is being narrow-casted to the individual based on individual tastes.
This new line up of disruptive iPods now have brought iTunesU and AppleTv to the party and they may be the way that many of us learn in the future considering that Duke, Stanford, MIT and Cal-Berkeley are part of the movement!
Remember, iPods can and should be utilized as business and learning tools because of their ability to replay, record and re-learn outside of the traditional learning or business environment!
These devices bring power to the individual for the greater organizational good, and its a perk that people love! Hey its the holiday season, do it!
Here Is A Close Up Of The iTouch iPod
This is what the iPhone could become if Google wins the spectrum auction.
You would not have to have a carrier in the normal way. You could use GoogleTalk to conduct conversations instead of AT&T and it would all be cloud based and VOIP.
iTunes and YouTube would become your video outlets and you can use Google search, Yahoo and Flickr to posts to your sites with this tool. This will happen within the next 2 to 3 years if Google wins the spectrum auction and takes phone service to the advertiser based model. Consider if whitespace technology is adopted for HD television on the the blank broadcast channels.
Most local television stations will have at least 3 broadcast channels and one could see local universities or companies providign education and training online, via broadcast or via cellular and cloud based distribution points.
Businesses will be able to narrow cast to existing and potential customers through social networks like Facebook and Google's search. The possibilities are endless!
iPod Touch - The Next Generation of Ipod
Plain and simple touch and voice technology will coming at us in waves within the next few years.
The iPod touch with some quick lessons produced this photo.
If you don't have a touch screen don't worry, you will soon. So get in the game and don't fear it! The key with all technology is ease of use when trying to adopt a new technology (Davis, 1989).
Nintendo Wii - It's Virtual Reality
Good luck finding one of these in stores!
This is the Nintendo Wii!
It has an addiction factor of 15 on a scale of 1- 10 and some of its biggest fans are senior citizens.
It is serious competition and few plasma screens have made the ultimate sacrifice due to over-exurberant players over 65, not to mention the younger ones.
This is also a great team building exercise that doesn't require great skills.
Gaming With A Sony PSP
The game is called Lumines.
It is very addictive! It is extremely addictive!
But guess what, it teaches decision making, consequences, spatial reasoning, critical analysis, and problem solving skills.
In a multi-player online environment, it teaches teamwork, collaborative skills, communication skills and even language skills since players in this environment often live in different nations.
(Bonk & Dennen, 2005; Gee, 2005; Prensky, 2006; Wisher, 2000)
This Is A USC College Student's Bag - And He Is Not Alone!
I know what you're thinking when you see this picture of a college student who appears to be a USC student with all of these gadgets: he is not learning jack!
Wrong answer! He is a digital native and he learns different than many of us. Because I just stopped going to classes last spring I actually recognize myself with many of these tools at work! Guess what I actually use most of them as short cuts for learning new skills, information and for conducting research.
So just because there is a lot a junk in the trunk, does not mean a person is playing games without a purpose! LOL!
By the way how many of these devices can you name? How many do you own? How many do you actually use? How many of these devices do your friends, children, spouse or significant other use on a regular basis?
Questions! Questions! Questions! This is what drives convergence, and it is coming to a classroom and office near you no matter how much bosses try to ban them as just games or gadgets. That is not what the research or the Armed Forces of the US thinks!
They don't spend billions on this stuff for nothing and research it, and then go totally digital unless it works (Bonk & Dennnen, 2005; Wisher, 2000, 2007).
The Future of Learning and Business
If you don't believe that the future of learning and business is gaming, you have obviously missed the memo. When the Defense Department spends billions on smart weapons and creating a digital armed forces, it is time to re-think how we educate civilians with the use of simulation and gaming.
Academics such as Aldrich (2004), Gee (2005), Halter (2006), Jenkins (2006), Prensky (2006), Tapscott & Williams (2006) and Wisher (2000, 2007) have spaking about the potential of gaming to transform the education and training from a 19th century model to a 21century model for digital immigrants. Nations, universities and government agencies now have to develop gamers and science fiction writers because of the real prospect of cyberware. Don't believe it? Well the Pentagon was not talking much but there were several reports of cyber-attacks on our computer networks as well as other Western nations from Chinese hackers with alleged military intentions to swipe sensitive data. So you may want Johnny or Jill to play games for strategy and for analytical reasoning purposes.
You Can Capture The Essence of Travel
Conside this trip and how it visual stimulates anyone. Take a look at the rich detail of this image and what does it say to you.
Creativity With Convergence Tools Is Addictive
As you can see from viewing this photograph, it has become easier than ever to create and transform visual images with software, web tools, and user friendly computers like the one in this photo.
The point of this photo is to make you think! Think about how you can transform the mundane into the context of a greater narrative that speaks of you and your organization's mission.
This is the portrait of the modern thinker consumed inside the global village and painting a picture that can now speak 1000 words in several languages simultaneously. This is why we get addicted to our Macs, PCs. cell phones, Blackberry's, iPhones and games. There is a human need to express ourselves.
Now This Is Truly Remarkable!
This is what happens when old mediums of telephones and photography meet the new mediums of wireless technology, the Internet, microprocessors, and digital photography and software. This my friends and colleagues is convergence. The iPhone was the cited as the invention of the year by Time Magazine for 2007.
The potential for entertainment, education, and business is limitless. Why did I show the iPhone again? To remind you to keep your eyes open and focused on things like iTunesU and YouTube where elite universities such as Duke, MIT, Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley have posted courses for download. How about Digital Duke where courses can be downloaded to iPods and iPods are given to students for free for classes that podcast? Business can benefit tremendously from these tools!
Convergence Can Trap You With An iPhone
The iPhone is such an addictive convergence device that people literally want to live in the phone ala "I Dream Of Jeannie." The fact that this photo could be shared instantly on web that it created a buzz for an upcoming site titled iTrapped.com tells you everything that you need to know about the viral power of the web when one utilizes free tools.
See You At Ragan - In Chicago - My Kind Of Town
You know Old Blue Eyes was right when called Chicago my kind of town because that is the only reason why this snow wimp is getting on a plane and presenting my research at the Annual Ragan Content Management Conference.
I will be giving an hour interactive workshop on how to utilize Social Media to augment your organization's marketing, communications, advertising, and learning organizations. I will be providing the benefit of my twenty years of experience as a producer, director and writer in the private, public, academic and non-profit sectors and how social media and new media can assist your organization in meeting your communications objectives through convergence technologies and web tools.
Am I excited? Yes! Is it great to do a dry run one week before I formally present my study in the academic environment? Yes! Is a professional audience of your peers sometimes a tougher group than old school academic? Ooh! That is too close to call, but I will let you know in two weeks or so!
Naturally, I am going to Chicago in December with snow in the forecast again! Well, I just want to get to the event safely, give folks some valuable information, and return safely! Since I just taught myself how to use blogger in its new rendition, I am proud to say that it is extremely user friendly. It does not hurt that Google also provides video posts directly from YouTube which I plan on trying for the benefit of my session. I think this will make the class more interactive and innovative. We may actually utilize some of the research data from the participants to improve this blog or create a new one.
Hey, you can expect a few blogs from Chicago! I am really interested in setting up my PowerPoint presentation in the slideshow mode directly from the site for my next presentation next week as part of a shock and awe moment for the professors to liven up the usual boring PowerPoint moment with a highly interactive version. Now that's edutainment!!
I will be giving an hour interactive workshop on how to utilize Social Media to augment your organization's marketing, communications, advertising, and learning organizations. I will be providing the benefit of my twenty years of experience as a producer, director and writer in the private, public, academic and non-profit sectors and how social media and new media can assist your organization in meeting your communications objectives through convergence technologies and web tools.
Am I excited? Yes! Is it great to do a dry run one week before I formally present my study in the academic environment? Yes! Is a professional audience of your peers sometimes a tougher group than old school academic? Ooh! That is too close to call, but I will let you know in two weeks or so!
Naturally, I am going to Chicago in December with snow in the forecast again! Well, I just want to get to the event safely, give folks some valuable information, and return safely! Since I just taught myself how to use blogger in its new rendition, I am proud to say that it is extremely user friendly. It does not hurt that Google also provides video posts directly from YouTube which I plan on trying for the benefit of my session. I think this will make the class more interactive and innovative. We may actually utilize some of the research data from the participants to improve this blog or create a new one.
Hey, you can expect a few blogs from Chicago! I am really interested in setting up my PowerPoint presentation in the slideshow mode directly from the site for my next presentation next week as part of a shock and awe moment for the professors to liven up the usual boring PowerPoint moment with a highly interactive version. Now that's edutainment!!
The Google Effect - Sets Up A Showdown With Telecomms In The Spectrum Auction
Google's announcement that it will enter the 700 MHz spectrum auction in January has had a ripple effect in the fields of entertainment and education. From an entertainment perspective the two leading cable giants Comcast and Time Warner cable announcement yesterday that they would not be participating in the auction for wireless space with a reserve price of $4.6 million. It is literally amazing how the convergence of events - no pun intended - has created a showdown of epic proportions when the auction begins on January 24, 2008.
Why? Well for starters telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon have favored a closed network approach while Google has successfully lobbied for an open network approach that will allow consumers to utilize any electronic device to access the Internet. Google and believe it or not Microsoft are part of a tech industry initiative to utilize white space - or open local television channels - as access points for the Internet once local television stations begin broadcasting in high definition as required by federal law in February 2009. Preliminary tests have been promising for white space technology, but a recent demonstration for the FCC did not totally convince the regulatory body. However, the white space model is simply the Google model in disguise because it advocates an open system that allows consumers without cable to access the web and utilize an advertiser driven model that mirrors broadcast television.
The telecommunications duopoly of AT&T and Verizon and the cable duopoly of Comcast and Time Warner Cable have been so busy running attack advertisements against one another that Google has managed to make an end-run around them by first introducing the Android system which will create an open mobile system that of course will run Google ads and YouTube video ads across mobile platforms. The decision by Google to succesfully lobby the FCC for limited openess to the winner of auction may actually help maintain a form of net neutrality or openess for consumers even if Google does not win. The cable companies blinked yesterday and got out of the race which radically exposes AT&T and Verizon. AT&T has been riding high with the iPhone and its merging of Bell South into the fold, and Verizon made an error by not taking the iPhone but has been successfully in implementing its FIOS network and breaking the cable monopoly.
For the first time the telecommunications companies face an adversary that is smarter, leaner, more creative, more popular, and more consumer oriented than they are. Did I mention that Google is loaded too? This is problematic for the telecommunications companies. Why? Because Google will not rest until it has an open Internet with an advertiser based model rather than the subscription based model that has failed miserably on the Internet and will impact cable subscriptions soon as consumers will migrate to many to the Internet and HD broadcast television as well as iPods and gaming devices for entertainment.
The question becomes this: is it cheaper for these companies to settle and split up the Internet and allow Google to utilize its Android platform and advertiser-based model or is it better to keep the status quo? Verizon recently announced that it would open up its network, but to paraphrase Ronald Reagan and Walt Moss in All Things Digital- one must verify before one can trust the Soviet Ministry as Moss refers to the telecommunications industry. AT&T would actually be smart to open up its network, so that its iPhone partner, Apple, is not left to fight a war against hackers who keep opening up the iPhone because of its exclusive deal with AT&T. Look for Apple to get out of this deal once, it can so that it can distribute the iPhone 3.0 version across platforms, especially if Google wins spectrum space in the auction. Apple is the wild card in this whole auction deal. Why? Three of its board members sit on Google's board including Google CEO, Eric Schmidt and Nobel winner and former VP Al Gore. This is probably why Google did not openly compete against the iPhone but instead created an open platform that a 3G or maybe even a 4G iPhone, by the time the AT&T deal is done, could thrive with the Mac operating system. Apple would be a logical partner for Google and Apple could also help Google by creating its own social networking platform of iPod and Mac users to compete against Facebook and arch-Google competitor, Microsoft.
Social networking demands loyalty and a voracious fan base and nobody this side of the Boston Red Sox Nation, Chicago Cub Fans, Yankee fans or Dodger fans are as loyal as Mac fans. If you want to see Facebook get nervous watch what happens if Mac uses a social network with Google ads to show programs on iTunes and to promote AppleTv which could use a boost. The television networks could use the help with the write strike creating losses by the day. Moreover, the longer the strike the more it may embolden writers to cut their own side deals with Google, Apple, Amazon and even Microsoft for digital content.
The networks have been so busy trying to make Apple and Google conform to their antiquated ways that they are facing a war from within that will never be over! Why does NBCU walk away from a $15 million because they want Apple to change the most succesful and profitable online media downloading business that Apple essentially created? Why does NBCU and music executives expect Apple to give them a piece of the iPod? HULU is unproven, and it may end up just like AOL video and a bunch of other pretenders who took on Apple's iTunes. NBCU should have developed HULU and made it profitable before cutting ties with Apple. Besides Apple customers with iPhones will still be able to view HULU for free, and so will AppleTv customers.
Now back to the unwinnable war being fought by networks with its backbone: the writers. Why is this war never going to end? Because even if the writers get most of what they want, they know that they can never trust the networks or studios when the next new technology appears. Writers as a group tend to be very smart people, and they are also independent minded too! I know because I have been a producer/director/ writer for 20 years and I have many friends in the business. Some are on strike right now, and they will be cutting side deals within the next year as HD television enters in earnest.
The spectrum auction is going to fundamentally change how we entertain and communicate. It will also fundamentally change how we educate our students at every level. iTunesU has already taken off in its first year and it is only going to grow, so look forward to iPods and iPhones that are book readers in the future to compete with the Sony ebook reader and the Kindle book reader by Amazon. If you think the entertainment war is fierce, wait until academia starts creating digital publishing houses that directly download books via Amazon, iTunes, ZuneMarketplace, Google and other sites to computers and portable devices. The howls that you are going to here is the researchers and writers who will be fighting with college presidents over publishing revenues when tenure is disappearing faster than clothes at a bordello! The other howl will be the publishers who have been charging premium prices for books to the point that books costs have added close to $1000 to the cost of tuition which has continuously risen higher than inflation and maybe even cable rates. LOL!
Google is holding the sword to radically change at least two fields of endeavor right away by simply signing the check in a battle it needs to win after having lost Facebook and Digg to Microsoft. Today's announcement by Verizon that it would be adopting the Android open software that was developed by Google is another sign that the Big 2 are serious since there is a legitimate fear that Carter Rules, which enabled us to buy our own home phones a few decades ago, may be coming to wireless phones too! Why? Because the Asians and the Europeans already have open wireless phones as standard, and they have been fighting Microsoft and Apple on opening up their software. For some reason the US has some of the best technology minds, but we have permitted the intellectual property attorneys, corporate lobbying, and an FCC that forgot that the airwaves belongs to the public and that includes the Internet. I mean we still do have a Constitution and that thing called The First Amendment? Yeah, it has taken a few shots to the gut lately, but its still on the books!
This was long for a first post, but it had to be said!
Why? Well for starters telecommunications giants AT&T and Verizon have favored a closed network approach while Google has successfully lobbied for an open network approach that will allow consumers to utilize any electronic device to access the Internet. Google and believe it or not Microsoft are part of a tech industry initiative to utilize white space - or open local television channels - as access points for the Internet once local television stations begin broadcasting in high definition as required by federal law in February 2009. Preliminary tests have been promising for white space technology, but a recent demonstration for the FCC did not totally convince the regulatory body. However, the white space model is simply the Google model in disguise because it advocates an open system that allows consumers without cable to access the web and utilize an advertiser driven model that mirrors broadcast television.
The telecommunications duopoly of AT&T and Verizon and the cable duopoly of Comcast and Time Warner Cable have been so busy running attack advertisements against one another that Google has managed to make an end-run around them by first introducing the Android system which will create an open mobile system that of course will run Google ads and YouTube video ads across mobile platforms. The decision by Google to succesfully lobby the FCC for limited openess to the winner of auction may actually help maintain a form of net neutrality or openess for consumers even if Google does not win. The cable companies blinked yesterday and got out of the race which radically exposes AT&T and Verizon. AT&T has been riding high with the iPhone and its merging of Bell South into the fold, and Verizon made an error by not taking the iPhone but has been successfully in implementing its FIOS network and breaking the cable monopoly.
For the first time the telecommunications companies face an adversary that is smarter, leaner, more creative, more popular, and more consumer oriented than they are. Did I mention that Google is loaded too? This is problematic for the telecommunications companies. Why? Because Google will not rest until it has an open Internet with an advertiser based model rather than the subscription based model that has failed miserably on the Internet and will impact cable subscriptions soon as consumers will migrate to many to the Internet and HD broadcast television as well as iPods and gaming devices for entertainment.
The question becomes this: is it cheaper for these companies to settle and split up the Internet and allow Google to utilize its Android platform and advertiser-based model or is it better to keep the status quo? Verizon recently announced that it would open up its network, but to paraphrase Ronald Reagan and Walt Moss in All Things Digital- one must verify before one can trust the Soviet Ministry as Moss refers to the telecommunications industry. AT&T would actually be smart to open up its network, so that its iPhone partner, Apple, is not left to fight a war against hackers who keep opening up the iPhone because of its exclusive deal with AT&T. Look for Apple to get out of this deal once, it can so that it can distribute the iPhone 3.0 version across platforms, especially if Google wins spectrum space in the auction. Apple is the wild card in this whole auction deal. Why? Three of its board members sit on Google's board including Google CEO, Eric Schmidt and Nobel winner and former VP Al Gore. This is probably why Google did not openly compete against the iPhone but instead created an open platform that a 3G or maybe even a 4G iPhone, by the time the AT&T deal is done, could thrive with the Mac operating system. Apple would be a logical partner for Google and Apple could also help Google by creating its own social networking platform of iPod and Mac users to compete against Facebook and arch-Google competitor, Microsoft.
Social networking demands loyalty and a voracious fan base and nobody this side of the Boston Red Sox Nation, Chicago Cub Fans, Yankee fans or Dodger fans are as loyal as Mac fans. If you want to see Facebook get nervous watch what happens if Mac uses a social network with Google ads to show programs on iTunes and to promote AppleTv which could use a boost. The television networks could use the help with the write strike creating losses by the day. Moreover, the longer the strike the more it may embolden writers to cut their own side deals with Google, Apple, Amazon and even Microsoft for digital content.
The networks have been so busy trying to make Apple and Google conform to their antiquated ways that they are facing a war from within that will never be over! Why does NBCU walk away from a $15 million because they want Apple to change the most succesful and profitable online media downloading business that Apple essentially created? Why does NBCU and music executives expect Apple to give them a piece of the iPod? HULU is unproven, and it may end up just like AOL video and a bunch of other pretenders who took on Apple's iTunes. NBCU should have developed HULU and made it profitable before cutting ties with Apple. Besides Apple customers with iPhones will still be able to view HULU for free, and so will AppleTv customers.
Now back to the unwinnable war being fought by networks with its backbone: the writers. Why is this war never going to end? Because even if the writers get most of what they want, they know that they can never trust the networks or studios when the next new technology appears. Writers as a group tend to be very smart people, and they are also independent minded too! I know because I have been a producer/director/ writer for 20 years and I have many friends in the business. Some are on strike right now, and they will be cutting side deals within the next year as HD television enters in earnest.
The spectrum auction is going to fundamentally change how we entertain and communicate. It will also fundamentally change how we educate our students at every level. iTunesU has already taken off in its first year and it is only going to grow, so look forward to iPods and iPhones that are book readers in the future to compete with the Sony ebook reader and the Kindle book reader by Amazon. If you think the entertainment war is fierce, wait until academia starts creating digital publishing houses that directly download books via Amazon, iTunes, ZuneMarketplace, Google and other sites to computers and portable devices. The howls that you are going to here is the researchers and writers who will be fighting with college presidents over publishing revenues when tenure is disappearing faster than clothes at a bordello! The other howl will be the publishers who have been charging premium prices for books to the point that books costs have added close to $1000 to the cost of tuition which has continuously risen higher than inflation and maybe even cable rates. LOL!
Google is holding the sword to radically change at least two fields of endeavor right away by simply signing the check in a battle it needs to win after having lost Facebook and Digg to Microsoft. Today's announcement by Verizon that it would be adopting the Android open software that was developed by Google is another sign that the Big 2 are serious since there is a legitimate fear that Carter Rules, which enabled us to buy our own home phones a few decades ago, may be coming to wireless phones too! Why? Because the Asians and the Europeans already have open wireless phones as standard, and they have been fighting Microsoft and Apple on opening up their software. For some reason the US has some of the best technology minds, but we have permitted the intellectual property attorneys, corporate lobbying, and an FCC that forgot that the airwaves belongs to the public and that includes the Internet. I mean we still do have a Constitution and that thing called The First Amendment? Yeah, it has taken a few shots to the gut lately, but its still on the books!
This was long for a first post, but it had to be said!
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