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Friday, December 17, 2010

Final Reflections

Wow! What a semester! Experimental class. Digital literacy labs. Missionary fireside. Epic final showcase. This has been one of the most fun classes I have ever taken. It has also been one of the most time intensive classes. Here are some things I learned.

  • Blogging consistently is HARD!
  • Maintaining a blog gives you more credibility
  • The Value of knowledge is multiplied when it is shared 
  • Knowledge is like networks, it is only as valuable as the number of people it connects
  • Digital technology is a tool to facilitate human interactions more easily
  • You can learn a lot from books, but it's sometimes better to find an expert and learn from them
These are only a few of the things that I have learned. I would like to post a few of my 'new year's resolutions.' Or ways I will continue to use the things I have learned.
  • Continue a blog, at least one about my next adventure (teaching english in china) and another about venture capital and start-ups
  • Continue to connect with experts to learn more 
  • Connect others. I have helped at least one person get an interview and I want to do more
  • Continue to stay up to date on technology with my own digital literacy labs
Throughout this semester we have learned a lot about history, technology and human interaction. Sometimes it is easy to get enamored with any one of those, but when you can manage all three of them effectively that is when you can create value and help people. We learned a lot about tools but I realized that the tools only facilitate human interaction, they don't compensate for poor content. This class has actually made me want to live a more exciting life. Mark Twain has a quote that goes something like this,

"If you don't have anything to write about in your journal, then change your life"

This class has had a tremendous impact on my academic career, technological knowledge, business prospects and social life, and it will continue to do so long into the future. Just remember the 3 c's Consume Create Connect. See you Soon!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Blog recommendations

This week's topic is about recommended blogs.

Consume-
First recommended blog is Eric Collyer's. First, he uses Wordpress, which I think has a nice format (I am tempted to switch from blogger for the backgrounds alone) and second he is an interesting person that has unique insights. The blog I recommend of his is a book review about a book he read concerning Einstein and Picasso. Eric does a great job of outlining enough of the book that I get a solid feel for what it is about, yet leaves enough to the imagination that it piqued my interest to learn more.

Connect-
I think Ariel does a great job of sharing how to be involved in web 2.0. She probably didn't have that as her intent when she wrote this blog but I think this blog perfectly illustrates the 'wisdom of the crowds' and web 2.0. She is in her linguistics class, finds a resource that is useful for getting ideas for papers and she shares it with her classmates. Boom, instant value created. She didn't have to read a manual about how to be involved in web 2.0 or anything else. She just added value to her friend's lives and that is really what is at the heart of successful bloggers and web 2.0