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HARVARD AND JOHNS HOPKINS #1 AND #2 IN THE 2011 “TOP 100 SOCIAL MEDIA COLLEGES" RANKINGS, IVY LEAGUE PLACES 5 SCHOOLS IN TOP 25

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--StudentAdvisor.com’s Spring 2012 Top 100 Social Media Colleges© rankings demonstrates the varied power of social media in colleges and universities around the world today. Harvard University (#1) has risen back to the top of the rankings displacing Johns Hopkins University (#2). Both schools have extraordinary social media communities and continue to innovate and execute their social media strategies exceptionally well.

 

The University of Kentucky (#7) proves they are not only excellent on the basketball court by winning the NCAA 2012 title, but that they are also actively engaged through social media. According to the university, the social media elements of their “see blue” admissions marketing campaign targeted at prospective and incoming students have even been embraced by the faculty, staff and alumni on their own accounts. In addition, they had remarkable social media outreach during the NCAA March Madness Tournament. When the Mayor of Lexington, KY declared Friday, March 30 – Monday, April 2, 2012 as “Big Blue Days”, the university alerted their social media community far and wide of the momentous recognition.

The latest Top 100 Social Media Colleges list published today features a new member to the Top 10: The University of Washington – Seattle Campus (#9). The university is actively creating programs focusing on social media such as Video Bootcamp: How to Shoot, Edit, and Upload Video to the Web. They believe video is fast becoming a "lingua franca" for web communication.

At St. Mary’s College (#88) students used the class of 2015 Facebook page to find the perfect roommate before ever setting foot on campus. Every Monday in April, Morehouse College (#99) hosted “Morehouse Mondays” where admitted students ask questions via Facebook to admissions and financial aid advisors. Full Sail University (#19), added over 75,000 community members on Facebook and Twitter since September.

Dean Tsouvalas, Editor-in-Chief, StudentAdvisor.com said. 

“Social media has revolutionized university engagement.  The algorithm for the Top 100 takes into account student populations ranging from over 67,000 at Arizona State University (#45) to 1,100 at the University of Hawai’i – West O’ahu (#55).  In addition, the use of image sharing social networks, like Pinterest and Instagram, has exploded in popularity. The schools on our list do an incredible job of harnessing the power of social media to keep their own communities informed and show the world what they are all about.”

Duke University (#44) uses Google+ Hangouts to interact with incoming students. Social Media Coordinator Sarah Hyde of Seattle University (#96) wrote a case study on social media crisis communication called “Snowmageddon at Seattle U".¹ Marquette University(#74) is one of the most innovative users of Pinterest with organized pinboards for alumni, campus life, basketball and other student interests.

Mount Holyoke College (#77) has begun almost exclusively using social media for alumni fundraising and is piloting a new mobile payments app that enables students to pay for purchases around campus. Oregon State University (#67) has created an amazing video called "Social Life's a Beach,” that humorously reviews social media best practices.

At the California Institute of Technology (#78), they hosted their own TEDx event with student speakers and University-related talks. Videos from the TEDx Caltech event have accumulated thousands of views on YouTube. And when Elon Musk delivers Caltech’s commencement address you won’t have to be on campus to watch as it will be streamed online.

The “Presidential Prerogative”, the blog by President Robert Henry at the Oklahoma City University (#93) and his hilarious video of the “stealth candidate” for Provost is surely “must see”. At St. Johns University-New York (#39), they used social media to announce scholarship opportunities.

Rounding out the Top 100 is Biola University (#100) with their upcoming digital ministry conference that features a session titled "Becoming Social Media Savvy Without Losing your Soul”

The Ivy League had the most schools in the Top 25 Social Media Colleges with five schools.   Eastern colleges had 13 schools making the Top 25 Social Media Colleges list. 

Top 25 Social Media Colleges

• No 1 - Harvard University(Cambridge, Massachusetts) - Returns to the top spot. The Harvard Social Media Dashboard shows how it's done by incorporating video, Facebook, Twitter and more.
• No 2 - Johns Hopkins University(Baltimore, Maryland) - The Blue Jays drop, but still soar when it comes to Hopkins Interactive. Read any of the 25 students blogs to get an insider's view.
• No 3 - University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana) - ND has a gorgeous, new homepage. The blog network is extraordinary. Our favorite? The candid and enlightning posts by Don Schindler the Director of University Communications.
• No 4 - Columbia University in the City of New York (New York, New York) - Impressive that Columbia hosted a social media weekend with over 500 attendees from 50 cities. The social media directory rocks.
• No 5 - Stanford University (Stanford, California) - Stanford is introducing five free online classes, following a successful pilot last fall that drew more than 350,000 participants around the world.
• No 6 - Ohio State University-Main Campus (Columbus, Ohio) - OSU e-mailed 100,000+ high-school students with this pitch: Why not get to know the real Ohio State? and matched up current and prospective students via social media.
• No 7 - University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky) - The mayor of Lexington, Kentucky honored the NCAA men's basketball champs with Big Blue Days. The Wildcats proudly spread the word throughout social media.
• No 8 - Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) - Digital Media Festival celebrated LSU undergraduate students who produced intellectual and creative work using digital media. Students submitted their work through YouTube and Flickr.
• No 9 - University of Washington-Seattle Campus (Seattle, Washington) - UW snags a spot in the Top 10. Their famous KEXP radio station has far more Twitter followers than the official UW account.
• No 10 - United States Military Academy (West Point, New York) - The cadets stay ahead of Annapolis thanks to Major Olivia Nunn, West Point Public Affairs Executive Officer & Social Media Chief. Check out our exclusive interview with Major Nunn for more.
• No 11 - University of Oregon (Eugene, Oregon) Without a doubt Oregon's Social Media Index is our favorite. The Foursquare stops provide a handy self-guided campus tour.
• No 12 - The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) - The recent panel discussion on The Use and Abuse of Social Media in Higher Education featured UT faculty and students. All were encouraged to post comments live on Facebook.
• No 13 - Emerson College (Boston, Massachusetts) - Emerson's extraordinary social media class was invited to dinner by NFL star Chad Ochocincoafter a successful Twitter campaign.
• No 14 - University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida) - Many colleges have trouble keeping track of official vs. unofficial school-related social media accounts. UF just released a social media account approval policy to keep things organized.
• No 15 - Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) - This spring break, 30 members of Yale's professional staff attended a three-day "social media boot camp." Not bad, Bulldogs.
• No 16 - Princeton University(Princeton, New Jersey) - We are big fans of the I <3 Princeton video that features some of the more than 1,100 faculty members, nearly 8,000 undergraduates, graduate students and almost 6,000 employees.
• No 17 - Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) - Easy to use Social Media Directory. The daily blog Dartbeat even explains Why Dartmouth Kids Like Sundress Day.
• No 18 - University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida) - On the UM Facebook Page fans got to decide what jersey and hat the Hurricanes baseball team would wear on game day.
• No 19 - Full Sail University (Winter Park, Florida) - This digital arts savvy university is rocking social media. Since September they've added over 75,000 community members on Facebook and Twitter.
• No 20 - Butler University (Indianapolis, Indiana) - The smartest use of Facebook's timeline is Butler University. They took a lifetime of milestones and essentially created Butler's life map. Very well done.
• No 21 - Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) - Researchers at CMU released analysis of political content censorship of social media in China. Deleted messages include terms ranging from "Falun Gong" to "Iodized Salt".
• No 22 - Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts) - Earlier this year Berklee College of Music launched the Berklee Music Network, an exclusive social music community. The online community will be a place for musicians to collaborate, look for gigs and more.
• No 23 - University of Oklahoma Norman Campus (Norman, Oklahoma) - True Sooner fans can now prove their undying love to OU. Check into 5 or more places on Foursquare and you will unlock the Boomer Badge.
• No 24 - Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia) - Spelman Professors are leveraging social media in the classroom. Art Professor, Arturo Lindsay is using Facebook as part of his New Genre Art Forms class for his smARTpower project Bearing Witness.
• No 25 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Massachusetts) - MIT climbs up in the rankings 24 spots. Their Sociable Media Group, part of the MIT Media Lab, just might be pioneering the next wave of new social media tech too.

The Ivy League had a "Facebook-Off" and Harvard students were far and away the most social media engaged.  They clicked the "Like" button 1.688 million times or made 17,055 comments on Facebook, more than any other Ivy League School.  The Ivy League also placed five of their schools in the Top 25 Social Media Colleges.

Compiled By: OnlineUniversities.com 

COMMENTARY:    Harvard University has the most social media engaged student body of any university bar none.  Although Harvard's student body numbers only 6,641, their rich history, world renouned alumni, including numerous Nobel Prize winners, and reputation as the arguably the pre-eminent academic institutition of higher learning in business, law, science and technology make them a hot bed of communication and discussion throughout the world.  Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates two of the most well known non-graduating alum, give Harvard a certain cache, and many of Harvard's students have made it their life's quest to become the next Zuckerberg or Gates. 

One of my favorite films is "The Paper Chase" (20th Century Fox 1973) starring Timothy Bottoms as "Hart," a first year Harvard Law student and  John Houseman as "Professor Kingsfield," a notorious and legendary contracts law professor at the Harvard Law School.  Lindsay Wagner plays "Susan," Hart's love interest.  Susan also happens to be the daughter of Professor Kingsfield.   The film combines just the right combination of light comedy and high-tension drama. The film does a great job of showing the pressures encountered by first-year law students at Harvard University.   John Houseman won an Academy Award for Best Actor.   Enjoy.

 

 

 

Courtesy of an article dated May 1, 2012 appearing in Enhanced Online News, an article dated May 1, 2012 appearing in Student Advisor and an article dated May 3, 2012 appearing OnlineUniversities.com 

GIRLS ARE SMARTER THAN BOYS WHEN THEY ARE YOUNGER. BUT WHY DON'T THEY PURSUE MORE CAREERS IN MATH AND SCIENCE?

IF GIRLS HAVE SLIGHTLY HIGHER IQS AND GET BETTER GRADES, WHY ARE THEIR NUMBERS DISPROPORTIONATELY LOW IN MATH AND SCIENCE CAREERS?

I still remember learning in grade school that men were better at math and science, and women were better at English and art. The teacher (who was a woman), presented the information as a general fact--noting that these were just loose guidelines that could differ from person to person--and I didn’t question it for a second. You know, until I grew up a bit and realized the very premise was preposterous.

But as this infographic (which is really a narrative of sorts) shows us, it’s not enough to right the wrongs of gender perception when people grow older, the damage has already been done.

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A lot of these facts are likely nuggets you’ve heard before, like girls performing worse on tests when they are required to mark their gender. But seeing each factoid lined up in pseudo-chronological order, from a grade schooler to a professional, it seems inevitable that women don’t stake their place in industries already dominated by men.

The picture is incomplete, of course. We don’t see how the comparative self-esteem of men evolves over the same time. But it’s safe to say that, when only 16% of students in engineering classes are women, we’re doing something wrong--especially when we can all benefit from some fresh perspective.

Twenty years or so after that day in grade school, I’m a writer and my wife is a scientist. I guess that, given these gender-professional norms, you could make a joke about who wears the pants in my family. But it could never offend either of us. No matter what we do, she’ll still be smarter than me anyway.

COMMENTARY:    These are alarming statistics.  Makes you wonder what is the underlying cause of the loss of self-esteem among females.  Perhaps it could be that women simply do not care to pursue careers requiring too much math and science.  There are fewer of those type of jobs, and many of them are in academia or technology centers like Silicon Valley, and they very often do not pay very much, than jobs in the private sector.   Whatever the reason, it makes you wonder if the math and science "gap" that economists talk about and reasons why American universities are producing fewer engineers than China, Europe and India per capita is because of that gender gap in math and science.  

In a blog post dated September 29, 2011, the U.S. is producing more science and engineer graduates (undergrad and graduate) in 2008 than they did in 1998.  However, the state of science and engineering in the U.S. is still strong, yet the nation's lead is shrinking, according to the latest report from the National Science Board.  Based on a wide range of data - from R&D spending to higher-education trends in science and engineering fields - the group's Science and Engineering Indicators 2010 report suggests that U.S. dominance of world science and engineering has deteriorated significantly in recent years, due in large part to rapidly increasing capabilities in China and other Asian economies.

However, U.S. high-technology employers have given our educational system a bad rap, claiming that we don't produce sufficient science and engineering students to fill their employment requirements.  They always seem to bitch about the limitation on H1B visas.  We have already outsourced nearly 20 million jobs overseas, and employers are trying to do the same thing by importing more science and engineers at lower wages.  I remember a "60 Minutes" documentary about why they hire foreign engineers.  They claim they are smarter.  I think that's bullshit.  The real reason is economic--they are cheaper.  U.S. employers are using the H1B visa as a gimick to reduce overall science and engineering wages.   I say, hire American, keep those jobs here, and provide incentives for U.S. students to pursue science and math courses. 

It appears that the shortage of females in careers requiring science and math is not strictly a U.S. problem.   A similar problem exists in India, a bastian of math and science graduates, and important source of software engineers for Silicon Valley.   In fact,  the percentage of females studying science, engineering/technology and medicine are in the low teens when compared to their Indian male counterparts.   Only 15.8% and 16.5% of India's graduate and doctoral candidates are female respectively.   It would not surprise me that similar numbers exist in Japan, a very male dominated society, but I don't have the data.    If anybody does, post it in the blog.   

Courtesy of an article dated March 21, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design

KHAN ACADEMY LAUNCHES NEW IPHONE APP, NOW HAS OVER 2,600 VIDEOS AND 4 MILLION UNIQUE MONTHLY USERS

Offline learning is the latest tool for the unorthodox education organization. Here's how that and other new features will power Khan Academy's new app.

Khan Academy, the wildly popular YouTube lecture series, has launched its free, new iPad app in Apple's store. The enhanced version of Khan Academy includes time-syncing between devices--no Internet connection required--an interactive transcript of the lectures for easy searching, and a handy scrubber for moving between parts of the lectures. Perhaps more importantly, now that more schools have begun adopting Khan's lectures for their own classrooms, the iPad app could possibly replace or supplement textbooks, saving cash-strapped schools and students a lot of money.

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The major benefit of the app is offline learning.  Khan Academy Lead Designer Jason Rosoff says. 

"If you're going on a road trip or if you're taking mass transit and you don't have cell service, or whatever, you can get the content."

The iPad frees Khan Academy from the constraints of a laptop and Internet connection. Rosoff says the app will remember where users left off viewing and sync progress between devices (though, for the initial version, both devices will need to connect to the Internet before going offline to sync).

Second, with inspiration from TED, Khan lectures will now have an interactive time-stamped transcript, which is a convenient search function, considering some of the lectures can be quite long.

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Last, just like a textbook, users flip back and forth between different parts of the content.  Rosoff says.  

"People scrub a lot in our videos."

The app will have an enhanced version video scrubber (the scroll bar at the bottom of a video) that makes repeating areas less painful.

For the growing number of schools that are adopting iPads, the most impactful potential for the app is for Khan Academy's "flipped classroom," in which lectures are watched at home by students, and then assignments are completed collaboratively in class, where a teacher is present. Shantanu Sinha, President and COO of Khan Academy says.

"The teacher is free to do a lot more of the human interaction." 

Intrigued by the idea of the flipped classroom, a pilot program in the Los Altos school district in California has started using Khan's online lectures for a substantial portion of the learning. Teachers use visualization software that could track student progress in the lectures, and they've discovered that some students were often mislabeled as "at-risk."

Sinha says.

"Very often, students who thought they were horrible in math, who were labeled bad in math by schools ... in many cases, they were just struggling with a very specific topic.  Without the ability to explore lectures at home, struggling students were left behind as teachers progressed through the lesson plan. But, when students could focus on problem areas at their own pace, they could overcome weaknesses and catch back up with the class."

The initial version of the iPad app doesn't include the visualization tools and exercises necessary for a Khan Academy classroom, Rosoff says, but once the tools are part of the app, schools may adopt the Khan lecture series as a electronic textbook replacement. That'll also give Khan more time to address early feedback about the tools in later app updates. 

Find the new Khan Academy iPad app here. 

COMMENTARY:    In a blog post dated August 24, 2010, I first profiled Khan Academy's Sal Khan.   He gave up a successful career as a hedge fund analyst to teach children using his self-taught YouTube teaching videos.   Bill Gates caught his eye, and the rest his history.  

The fact that Bill Gates has applauded his work and also invested $1.5 million into Khan Academy is a testament to Mr. Khan's importance to teaching.  If Bill Gates gives you his seal of approval, then that is a huge plus.  

 

This past Sunday, March 18, 2012, Khan Academy founder Salman Khan was interviewed by Sanjay Gupta for CBS' "60 Minutes" television program. It was an incredible interview showing Khan at work putting together his famous teaching videos.  

 

The new Khan Academy iPhone app will allow students to work on Khan Academy teaching lectures the ideal teaching platform.    

Khan Academy Highlights:

• 2,600+ learning videos in its library. 
• At the end of December 2011, Khan Academy saw 4 million unique users. That’s up from 1 million in the same period in 2010, and up from 3.5 million in October. 
• The Khan Academy team is currently made up of 22 people, and they’re hiring ~1 more per month. 
• “I’d say that 90% [of the videos are shot] in 1 take. 99% are 2 takes.” 
• “I will definitely do much more advanced mathematics in the next year than what we have now.” (This resulted in Michael Nielson, leading quantum computing expert and author of the standard text on the subject, to offer his assistance right in the thread)
• Foundation grants received todate:
  • Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation in July 2011 - $1.5 million
  • Google in July 2011 - $2 million
  • The O'Sullivan Foundation in November 2011 - $5 million

In March 2011, Salman Khan spoke at TED 2011.  Here's the video.

 

Courtesy of an article dated March 19, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design , an article dated November 4, 2011 appearing in TechCrunch 

GOOGLE VENTURES PLANS TO EXPAND ITS START-UP UNIVERSITY PROGRAM, MEANS NEW BUILDING WITH 24,000 SQ FT OF SPACE

After seeing many of its portfolio companies come to life with newfound traction after participating in its Start-Up University program, Google Ventures has decided to expand the program, and will soon move it from the 12,000-square-foot building it occupies to a space nearly twice that size.

Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris is looking for companies that are “transformational.”

The firm, which calls itself “the most operational VC firm in Silicon Valley,” is backing technology companies at a faster clip than rival firms–making two investments per week, on average–and is looking to engage with company founders on a level that is probably unknown outside of the Googleplex in Mountain View.

Not only will the new building feature a theater-style lecture hall where more than 100 people can gather to hear advice from the valley’s top business leaders, the new, 20,000-square-foot space will feature a dedicated “user-experience laboratory,” where entrepreneurs and investors can watch from another room as volunteers actually use technologies under development. (Venture Capital Dispatch previously wrote about the firm’s expansion plans.)

If Google Ventures seems like the “helicopter parent” of venture firms, there’s a simple reason for that.

Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris said.

“We’re not trying to enable the next generation of online casinos.  We’re looking for stuff that’s transformational. … We’re looking to make a dent.”

For every investor at Google Ventures, there are six high-level staff members—all of them industry veterans and experts in various fields—whose sole purpose is to help portfolio companies get over hurdles, Maris said.

Among their areas of expertise are product development, recruiting, user-experience design, legal matters, growing the number of users and recruiting staff.

Google Ventures is entirely separate from Google Inc., and investments made by the venture division do not always indicate a larger interest from Google. However, the firm—which has its own separate building—shares the same drive that Google has for going after the big problems.

While the firm only publicizes a fraction of the deals it makes, Google Ventures has bets in life sciences, mobile technology, cloud-computing and big data, all areas that have the potential to shake up the status quo. The firm—which reports to the top brass at Google—has about $200 million per year to invest.

And Start-Up University—which offers workshops, lectures, networking, office space and the first-ever user-experience laboratory—will be the place where many of these bets go from obscurity to being household names, Google Ventures says.

The firm has never disclosed the number of companies it has invested in, or how much they invested. But moving Start-Up University to a bigger building means Google Ventures expects more bodies to fill that building.

Maris said. 

“This is a program that people are vigorously signing up for.  We have a waiting list of teachers, and these are all people who have started companies before, and who have been there. We can’t feed this stuff to our portfolio companies fast enough.”

COMMENTARY:    YouTube project manager Rick Klau was brought in as a partner in charge of running Startup University, which offers regular office hours, mentorship and classes to the startup teams backed by Google Ventures.

Klau and Managing Partner Bill Maris spoke to  Cromwell Schubarth on October 7, 2011 about the goals of the Google Ventures fund that was started about two years ago and how the school that was launched in 2011 will help the entrepreneurs it backs "change the world."

Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris, right, brought in YouTube Product Manager Rick Klau, left, to run Startup University, which offers classes and office hours connecting the search giant's seasoned tech team with the entrepreneurs the fund invests in.

Here are some other excerpts from my conversation with the two Googlers.

What is the idea behind Startup University?

Bill Maris:  "The reasoning behind Startup University is similar to the reason why Google has the largest corporate photovoltaic array on the roof at our campus. There was a lot of sunlight falling on the roofs of our buildings. We decided, let's take advantage of that. There are tons of resources here at Google that could help the startups at Google Ventures that we don't want to waste, either. So Startup University was created."

What kind of startups does Google Ventures invest in?

Maris:  "We're looking for great teams and really special people, somebody with goals that may seem really crazy at first but can really make a difference when they succeed.  We're looking for special people, but not crazy people. We're looking for somebody with a really big idea, usually somebody who has a technical background to make that big idea happen. They also have to be somebody who has the ability to adapt their ideas to make it a success.  We are making a 5 to 10 year investment in the companies that we invest in. We want to make sure we invest in somebody we will want to work closely with for that amount of time."

Besides the logical sectors you would expect Google to invest in, such as mobile and consumer Internet, you also back startups in sectors like life sciences. Why?

Maris:   "There is a deep caring at Google and at Google Ventures about improving the world and making it a better place to live in. Part of that is helping people to live healthier lives or maybe find a cure for cancer. A lot of those goals have data needs or have a need for technical expertise from people who work with very large amounts of data like Google does. We have the resources that can make a difference."

Rick, why did you make the move from being a product manager to running Startup University at Google Ventures?

Klau:   "It was too perfect an opportunity to pass up. I have known all of the partners for a number of years now. There's a great group of startups at Google Ventures and I've been given the opportunity to translate for them what has made Google successful.  We have a lot of experience on campus and tens of thousands of people who can help them.  Today, for example, we had classes on how to do user research, how to hire and tech sourcing, how to build the first three to five members of your team.   There will be a lot of experiments we will try and we will listen to the feedback we get to adapt what we offer as we go along."

Are these classes mandatory? (A question both Maris and Klau found humorous).

Klau:  "Definitely not. We only want to offer opportunities that are interesting and valuable to the people in the room. If there are entrepreneurs who are too busy creating and don't want to be distracted, they can do that, too.  Nobody is going to go around saying, you haven't been at office hours or shown up at a class in a long time. Where have you been? That's just not going to happen."

Maris: "If you ever tried to tell entrepreneurs like Sergey and Larry, or the type of people we invest in, that they have to do something like attend classes, you are probably going to get the opposite reaction from what you wanted."

 

Courtesy of an article dated February 10, 2012 appearing in The Wall Street Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch and an article dated October 7, 2011 appearing in the Silicon Valley/San Jose Biz Journal

GE'S VISUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY OFFERS HINTS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MANAGEMENT

Electric turbines being assembled at GE's Greenville, N.C. plant

A PAIR OF REMARKABLE PROJECTS CREATED BY BEN FRY AND FATHOM MAY SEEM LIKE SIMPLE MARKETING. BUT ONE DAY SOON COULD ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE LOOK LIKE THIS?

GE has been riding the infographics train for all its worth, creating a slew of remarkable charts illustrating everything from health ailments and how their linked to how good different countries are at innovating. But they’ve rarely turned the lens onto the company’s own data, which makes these two experiments, by Ben Fry’s company Fathom, so interesting. Both look deep into the welter of data that GE’s products create everyday, and in so doing, offer a little glimpse into what could be possible when infographics make their way from Internet fad to management tool.

 

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The first one shows data gleaned from 713 power turbines, gathered in the course of two weeks. This data was then plugged into this nifty, navigable 3-D chart that shows how each and every turbine is performing over the course of a day:

 

The second shows data from 123,000 medical scans, performed on the company’s CT and MRI machines:

 

The charts are eye-popping, but the real star here is the data. The fact that it’s even being gathered--and the possibility that soon, it could be gathered in real time--augurs changes in the way that businesses might be run. From GE’s perspective, you can easily imagine charts like these being used to figure out whether a turbine or an MRI machine is about to break down. And if you can preempt an expensive repair, then you could potentially reduce downtime and net billions in efficiency gains. (This scenario isn’t fantasy--in fact, one GE employee recently told me that they’re working on that very idea.) In the meantime, you have companies such as Roambi, a startup backed by millions from Sequoia, which specializes in creating interactive charts that interface with a company’s databases, allowing, say, a sales manager to zoom around the performance figures of each of his sales reps.

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The point is, as the data we produce continues to grow--a trend many people call Big Data--there will be more and more value gained by simply making sense of data that already exists. Reams of raw figures like the ones hinted at above don’t help if they’re too big to be captured by human intuition. And that, ultimately, is the great hope of infographics: To help us add intelligence and insight to the digital noise buzzing around us every day.

COMMENTARY:  What is data driven decision management (DDDM)?   The following example should help.  

In the 2003 bestseller “Moneyball,” author Michael Lewis recounts how Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane used data-driven management to reshape a laggard major league baseball team into a world-class winner. Fast forward to the 2011 release of the movie version of Lewis’ book, and one can see how data-driven management – analytics – has come to the forefront of best practices in driving business execution. First, let’s review some of Beane’s management tenets. 

Two of Beane’s methods stand out. First, instead of focusing on traditional metrics like RBIs, home runs and stolen bases, Beane discovered that winning baseball games was more strongly correlated with lesser-known statistics like on-base average, and with his hitters’ ability to refrain from wild swings at the ball under pressure. Second, he focused on elements of the game where success metrics hadn’t been developed in the past due to lack of data – for example, fielding. Beyond tracking fielding errors, a player’s performance was judged qualitatively by coaches and scouts.

So using a new playbook, Beane began to recruit players with high on-base averages, and provide consistent training and performance tracking to focus his players on getting on base and scoring runs. He also trained his organization to track new types of statistics to gain a data advantage in recruiting and player development. Then, critically, he made a full management commitment to get his entire organization aligned around the new metrics and philosophy. By 2003 the A’s were one of the winningest teams — with one of the lowest costs structures — in major league baseball. 

Performance Management is an oft-heard buzzword in today’s corporate world. Its meaning varies by the industry, function and operating context, but the general concept revolves around a core notion:  the systematic use of data throughout the enterprise to define and clarify goals, measure performance, increase productivity and improve results.

Performance Management rests on the premise that there are efficiency and quality gains to be captured by methodically uncovering and leveraging truths that live in existing systems, new social networking channels and current stores of data. Performance management adoption has grown rapidly in the recent environment of cost reduction, transparency, and compliance where access to data and early detection of problems and trends is mandatory. And the concept has gained popularity with the increased adoption of methods for process improvement and excellence, such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing.

Performance management challenges business leaders because it elevates accountability for results to the same status as accountability for spending. This step forces significant changes in the machinery of business enterprises such as:

• Better definition of intended outcomes,i.e., more realistic, quantifiable.
• Better definition of roles and responsibilities.
• More systematic assessment and management of risks. 
• Better data collection and decision-making processes, i.e., “closed loop” processes with more frequent checkpoints. 
• Greater organization flexibility, i.e., more “nimble” organizations.

Data is the fuel that drives this new machinery. Data-driven performance management allows business executives to plan and manage enterprise program outcomes. Accurate and timely data creates the vital link between executive decisions and the performance of front-line workers.

Today businesesses can live or die on the basis of having too little data, too much data, the timeliness of that data in order to make prudent and timely management decision.  The tremendous amount of data that exists today makes it essential that business managers develop systems and controls to manage this huge volume of data.  Data no longer exists solely in our computers or servers, but it resides in the cloud, on mobile devices, on the Web in every form imaginable from forums to social networks.  All forms of data need to be considered, including text, images, audio and video.  

The following Knowledge Management and Data Driven Decision-Making Flow Chart explains the various steps in the management of data and how that data flows through the data funnel until sufficient knowledge is gained from that data that initiates an action or decision based on that data.

GE has taken data driven decision-management to the next level, but taking huge volumes of data and using data visualization technology, present that data in a manner that is simple to convey and understand.  Data presented and analyzed in this fashion can drive quicker and better quality decision-making.  GE now has the ability to determine at what capacity their electric turbines are performing by individual user, by country or continent.  Likewise, the data visualizations for its MRI and scanning equiment can help it analyze how its equipment is being utilized, how often, and at what capacity. The result is the ability to make decisions about more efficient and higher capacity electric turbines and MRI and scanning equipment.

Courtesy of an article dated February 15, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design

 

HOW WOMEN ARE RESHAPING THE NEW AMERICAN MARKETPLACE, THE ECONOMY, SHARING RECOMMENDATIONS AND DECISION-MAKING IMPORTANT FACTORS

People are often surprised to learn how frequently Affluent consumers use coupons and other forms of discounts. Our latest barometer, conducted in late January 2012, again revealed relatively strong interest in coupons of all types, along with widespread and frequent use. Among Affluents, defined here as the 58.5 million adults living in households with at least $100,000 in annual household income, we found that:

• 71% use paper coupons once a month or more; 47% do so at least once a week
• 54% use online coupons once a month or more; 23% do so at least once a week
• 58% have gotten some kind of “deal of the day” offer, most commonly from Groupon (46%) or LivingSocial (25%), but with significant numbers (5-12%) trying new or more niche-oriented offerings such as those from Amazon, Google, GiltGroup, and Woot.

Just as telling: coupon interest and usage shows little or no drop-off if we examine more elite financial groups, such as those with $250,000+ in household income, or those with $1+ million in assets. The fact is that a strong value-orientation and “love of the deal” are felt widely and strongly among Affluents; they are deep-seated elements of the consumer psyche that were intensified, not created, by the long-running economic downturn. Today’s “deal of the day” and group coupons further boost interest by tapping into additional hot-buttons – the desire for novelty, and the quest to be “in the know” – that add cutting-edge angles to long-standing promotional tactics.

Although interest in discounts cuts across many traditional demographic groups, and reaches well into the upper economic strata, there is a very clear gender difference: women outpace men by 10-20 percentage points on most measures of coupon use. In some ways, the prevalence of coupons across both genders (but led by women) may reflect a broader and more fundamental change in the marketplace, and in society more generally: the continued ascension of women into leadership roles – in the family, in the marketplace, and in society more generally.

That’s a conclusion supported by “Women, Power & Money,” an on-going survey of women we conducted and commissioned jointly by Fleishman-Hillard and Hearst Magazines. The first wave of the study, conducted in pre-recession 2008, set out to examine “today’s successful woman,” and found that virtually all American women consider themselves successful, and have defined success on their own terms; moreover, the study concluded that she had become the de facto CEO, COO, CFO and CPO of most American households.

Wave Four of the study, released last month and titled “Game Changers: Women Defining the New American Marketplace,”* found her impact has grown even more profound, concluding:

“Her influence within the family, and in broader circles as well, has led to an amplification of her preferences – in a very real sense, her preferences have become the de facto defining preferences for today’s marketplace.”

Several factors have converged to shape these trends, creating a perfect storm of environmental conditions that favor marketplace approaches more characteristic of women:

• A persistent economic downturn, favoring value-orientation, frugality, pragmatic expectations from brands, cautious investing decisions, and a willingness to delay gratification.
• The proliferation of information and choice in the marketplace, favoring thoughtful, considered, and researched purchasing decisions.
• The emergence of social media, which expands one’s sphere of influence, and has shaped the attitude that one can and should express opinions (women are more likely than men, for example, to be a friend/fan of a product or company on Facebook).

On a tactical level, these trends have made the market ripe for coupons and discounts, across genders and income groups. More profoundly, they have fostered a fundamental shift in marketplace values, and marketplace power.

* “Game Changers: Women Defining the New American Marketplace” from Fleishman Hillard and Hearst Magazines represents the fourth wave of the ongoing study: "Women, Power & Money." It can be downloaded here.

COMMENTARY:  

The Economy As At The Core of Female Consumer Behaviors

According to "Women, Power & Money," a survey by marketing research firm Fleishman Hillard, The economy is by far today's female consumer's greatest concern, and this concern continues to weigh heavily on her mind, and her shopping decisions.  Economic concerns have intensified her decidedly utilitarian approach to the marketplace. She seeks value, quality, performance, and above all, substance.  She generally prefers a solid “good” choice over a more expensive “great”choice.  In many cases, she researches purchases thoroughly, and applies complex, category‐specific decision rules in making marketplace choices. And again, her influence within the family, and in broader circles as well, has led to an amplification of her preferences – in a very real sense, her preferences have become the de facto defining preferences for today’s marketplace.  

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The economic stress that has taken a foothold after the Great Recession has affected how female consumers shop.  Here's what women said about how the economy has affected their spending behavior:  

• 75%+ said:  “I shop differently now than I did before the recession.”
• 71%+ said:  “Life is more complex today than it was before the recession.”
• 58%+ said: “Financially, I am worse off now than I was before the  recession started.”

Her Leadership Style: From “It’s all on ME” to “Leading the TEAM”

Clearly today’s woman remains the agenda setter in most American households. She is the family visionary who keeps the big picture in mind,while also plotting the day‐to‐day course for the household and those who live in it. But her leadership style is less about doing‐it‐all herself and being Ms.Independence. Instead, it is a more collaborative and thoughtful approach, one in which she leads the team (at home and away) in developing and executing the agenda. She readily shares both the decision‐making responsibility, and the credit that goes along with it.  

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Women as Media: Expanding Social Circles through Receiving,Broadcasting, Influencing

There’s no denying the impact of online social networks on the female consumer, but it is important to put their impact into context. Her online social networking represents only a portion of what she does online, and of course, what she does online is only a portion of her life. Reading and posting product reviews are more common activities than marketplace‐related activities on social networking sites.  Moreover, in‐person communications – in social gatherings, at work, in retail contexts – remain by far the most widely used methods for communication and influence.

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Improving Lives for Self and Others: The Positive Nature of Her Influence and Communications

Reaching out to others and adding more social elements to her decision‐making is not a sign of insecurity or ducking responsibility. She certainly feels confident and empowered in the marketplace; 71% agree, “Today, I feel confident in my being a trusted source of information to others.” She feels smart and ultimately acts based on her own judgment. Rather, her decision‐making style is information‐oriented, and friends, family and other trusted sources have become among the most influential sources of information that she seeks out.  It is not so much about safety in numbers – rather, it is theexpectation that collaboration will result in a better decision, for herself andthose she connects with.

Her primary reasons for sharing opinions (online and offline) – center around sharing positive experiences, seeing others benefit, and spreading the word about something they feel passionate about. Relatively few are focused on warning others about poor products or services, and only 5% say “it’s what everyone is doing these days.” (Interestingly, men are more likely than women to share product or service recommendations because they are confident that their recommendations are “the right way  to go.”)

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Her Marketplace Needs and Brand Preferences Skew  Practical, Functional

When asked to list the brands women admire across a variety of categories, the brands named most consistently tended to be “solid,” but not necessarily spectacular.  Across a dozen categories, American women were asked to list the brands they admire, and to describe in their own words why they admire those particular brands.  The most cited automotive brands, for example, were Ford, Chevrolet, Honda and Toyota – traditional “luxury” auto brands ranked far down the list. The same admiration of good, if not great, brands emerges across categories. Olay and Cover Girl. Old Navy and Macy’s. Tylenol and SC Johnson. Kraft and General Mills.  

Her practical marketplace approach also underscores why she admires particular brands. Across virtually every category, good and quality are the terms she uses most, with price typically close behind. Certainly there are some nuances by category – she wants health from food brands, style from fashion brands, innovation from technology companies, service from hotels, beautiful designs from jewelry, and effectiveness from over‐the‐counter drugs. But good quality at a good price (in other words, value) is generally her top consideration. (See below; font size indicates frequency of mention).

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Sharing Recommendations Differs Among Generational Categories

The tremendous sway that recommendations have on behavior, for example, skews modestly by generation, but in the big picture, is a key marketplace theme across age groups. As shown in the table below, Millennial women are more likely to agree that recommendations from others can be comforting, and to have made specific marketplace choices based on recommendations; however, more than two‐thirds of Senior women agree with these sentiments as well.  

In other respects, however, the tremendous diversity of the women’s marketplace is apparent. Millennial women more frequently broadcast information and make recommendations, and fully half point to online social networking sites as facilitating their shopping decisions. Millennial women bring a different approach to shopping more generally – displaying a more unabashed enjoyment of shopping both online and offline, and paying greater attention to celebrities. (interestingly, Millennial women are also most likely to describe themselves as “stressed” or “exhausted,” while self‐descriptors such as “caring,” “family‐focused” and “optimistic” are lowest among Millennialsand increase with age).

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Judging from the Fleishman Hillard study, the aftereffects of the Great Recession as created the Era of the Frugal Consumer.  The sharing of information and making recommendations about products and brands through different channels, both online and offline, have become vital in the buying decision.  When affluent consumers making $100K+ are also looking for deals and resorting to clipping coupons, you know frugality is here to stay.

As for myself, I much prefer that my female partner maintain the family budget and do most of the shopping.  Keep me as far away as possible from shopping malls.  I'll shop for groceries to help out, but it's not on the top of my priorities.  I definitely want to be "in" on major purchases, and this matches the findings of the study.  

These days it is very important to take control of your household expenses, knowing where the money is coming from, and how it's being spent.  Establishing a family budget begins with the essentials--things you absolutely need to buy or spend on, and keeping luxuries and discretionary items to a minimum. 

Courtesy of an article dated February 15, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Engage:Affluent

 

HOW RESEARCH GATE, A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR SCIENTISTS, COULD MAKE ACADEMIA MORE CONNECTIVE AND EFFICIENT

More connective tissue may make academia more efficient

GIVEN journalists’ penchant for sticking the suffix “gate” onto anything they think smells of conspiracy, a public-relations consultant might have suggested a different name. But ResearchGate, a small firm based in Berlin, is immune to such trivia. It is ambitious, too—aiming to do for the academic world what Mark Zuckerberg did for the world in general, by creating a social network for scientists. And it is successful. About 1.4m researchers have signed up already, and that number is growing by 50,000 a month.

Non-scientists might be surprised that such a network is needed. After all, the internet was originally created mainly by academics for academics and Mr Zuckerberg’s invention, Facebook, got its start on college campuses. But though the internet has speeded things up, it has not fundamentally changed how researchers are connected. Academic communities are still pretty fragmented, frequently making it hard for scientists to find others doing similar research. And results often are not shared across disciplines.

To make things more efficient and interdisciplinary, ResearchGate wants to help the academic world to grow more connective tissue, as Ijad Madisch, one of the firm’s founders, puts it. As on Facebook, users create a profile page with biographical information, list their interests and research skills, and join groups. They can see what others with similar interests are up to and post comments. They can also upload their papers and create invitation-only workgroups.

The big question is whether ResearchGate will make enough money to keep its investors happy. So far, it is running on cash from Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital, two venture capitalists based in Silicon Valley. A third firm is expected to join them soon. But these people will want a return on their investment.

Some of that may already have come from the Max Planck Society, which runs many of Germany’s best research campuses and had ResearchGate build it a private network. Over the longer haul, the firm hopes to charge companies and universities for using it to advertise jobs, and to operate a marketplace for laboratory materials. It has no plans to post other advertising, though, nor to charge its users directly.

At the moment, most of those users are in their 20s. Their favourite activity is to ask each other questions about practical research problems, from DNA-sequencing techniques to statistical tricks. They are also busy reading each other’s papers: more than 10m have been uploaded. (Most scientific journals now allow authors to post their work on “personal web pages”, which includes profile pages on social networks, according to Dr Madisch.)

The service certainly saves these young researchers trial and error, and therefore time and money. They will probably also like a new feature ResearchGate is planning to introduce in April: a feedback system which lets users rate each other’s contributions. This would allow them to build a reputation other than by publishing papers.

Scientists whose reputations are established may be more hesitant, though, and not just because they are set in their ways. Science is not only about collaboration but also about competition. This limits what people are willing to share. But Dr Madisch is optimistic. Those who have grown up with Facebook, he says, know that sharing will improve their research. And their older colleagues will eventually come around—or retire.

COMMENTARY:    Looks to me like ResearchGate is building a lot of traction among the scientific community.   If you are a research at any scientific level, this is the social network for you.

I looked at the site briefly, and it's homepage impressed me.  It has an interactive graphic that when you run your mouse cursor over it, tells you have many members are in a given scientific field.  I tried it and found that there were 352,100 members in the 'Medicine' field.  

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Members can also click on the Network Graph button a ResearchGate will produce a graphic showing how their network of friends interconnect with one another. 

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ResearchGate individual profile pages are relatively straightforward and easy to understand.  The following profile page is for ResearchGate's founder Ijad Madisch.  It lists basic information including Impact Points (equivalent to influence), Publications, No of Followers and No Following. 

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ResearchGate members can also follow special events and conferences like this one for the Microbial Diversity 2011 Conference.

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ResearchGate members can also list research job openings.

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ResearchGate is never going to be a Facebook or Twitter when it comes to revenues, but it does have potential to generate revenues by charging companies and universities for using it to advertise jobs, operate a marketplace for laboratory materials, operate a marketplace for research papers, and even generate revenues from premium memberships. 

Courtesy of an article dated February 11, 2012 appearing in The Economist 

 

DUTCH KIDS PEDAL THEIR OWN BUS TO SCHOOL

Dutch kindergarden students pedaling their bus to school (Click Image To Enlarge)

In the Netherlands, bikes abound. And now, they even take kids to school. Behold, the bicycle school bus.

The Dutch are bicycle fanatics. Almost half of daily travel in the Netherlands is by bicycle, while the country’s bike fleet comfortably outnumers its 16 million people.  Devotees of the national obsession have taken the next logical step by launching what is likely the first bicycle school bus.

Built by Tolkamp Metaalspecials, and sold by the De Cafe Racer company, the bicycle school bus (BCO in Dutch) is powered entirely by children and the one adult driver (although there is an electric motor for tough hills). Its simple design has eight sets of pedals for the kids (ages 4 to 12), a driver seat for the adult, and three bench seats for freeloaders. The top speed is about 10 miles per hour, and features a sound system and canvas awning to ward off rainy days.

This pedal-powered school bus was made by De Cafe Racer and can be rented out for fun outings in the Netherlands (Click Image To Enlarge)

Co.Exist spoke with Thomas Tolkamp who built the BCO about its origins and how the idea is catching on around the world for the sets of 11 lucky kids who get to arrive in school pedaling their own school bus.

Co.Exist: What was the inspiration for the bus?

Tolkamp: I had already made other big bikes (like the Beerbikes) and a few years ago someone mailed me with the question if I could develop a bike especially for transporting kids. So for that other company (a child care) I made the first bicycle. Some other companies were also interested, so I began to produce more bicycles and have improved the bike.

How many of these have been sold? How many are in use?

We’ve sold around 25 bikes. They are still all in use, except for the very first one, which was a prototype.
 
Does it only come in yellow?

No, we’ve sold bicycles in green, blue, purple, grey, red, yellow, but all [standard] colors are available.
 
How much does it cost?

Around $15,000, so less than a taxi or normal bus.
 
Can the kids alone make it go?

It’s possible to ride the bike without the motor when most seats are in use, but it wouldn’t be safe to ride without an adult.
   
Do you have plans to export it?

We have already exported some bikes to Belgium and Germany, but not this kind of bike. We have gotten frequent requests for information about the bike from all around the world (North America, South America, Europe) but we’ve never sold a bike outside of Europe.
 
Do you think it will work well in other countries, or is it something special about the Dutch culture?

I don’t know really, but what I do know is that people from all around the world like the idea. We have gotten interest from the press all over the world and all people are positive.

I hope I can sell the bike in the near future to a foreign country and see how people at other countries react on the bike. I think it will work well in other countries, because as more and more people [are] becoming fat and "green living" becomes more important, ideas like this get more popular.

COMMENTARY:   The Netherlands is the bicycle capital of the world, with 40% of all traffic movements by bicycle. They have created a bicycle friendly country that promotes a healthier, more active lifestyle for its residents.

In 2009, over 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands according to preliminary figures. The Revenue is expected to be around 950 million euros, an increase of 4 percent from 2008. According to the RAI Association FietsVAK, the exhibition for the bicycle industry.

When people buy a bike, they’d rather buy a good bike”, said a spokesman for RAI. The average amount that was spent on a bicycle last year increased 3.5 percent to an average of 713 euros. In 2008 that figure was 683 euros.

The rise of the electric bike set last year continued. An increase of 30 percent is expected for 2009 with more than 150,000 e-bikes. The electric bike has a market share of 10 percent, with an average selling price of around 1900 good for 25% of the total bicycle sales.

The market share for e-bikes will increase further.

Dealers are still gaining ground as a sales channel for bicycles. Last year 85 percent of the bikes were bought in a real bicycle shop and the previous year it was still 82 percent.

Since 2009, the Dutch bike fleet grew to a total of 18 million bicycles, and probably more by now.

It's difficult to tell whether these pedal-powered school buses would be allowed on American streets because of a lack of bike lanes on many streets, city ordinances, speeders and most children commute to school using public transportation, school buses or their parents drive and pick them up from school.  You would definitely need an adult to supervise the children.  

These pedal-powered school buses really need older children.  In the above picture, the bike bus is pedaled by kintergarderners.  I think these kids are just too young to pedal a bike this big and bulk. I think you would need older children to pedal it. 

The price of the BCO at $15,000 is a bit too pricey for most public schools to bear, then you have potential liability issues.  For those two reasons, I have a feeling U.S. public and private schools would not buy them, so adoption will become an issue.

Courtesy of an article dated February 11, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design and an article dated January 26, 2010 appearing in the Dutch Daily News

 

SWEDISH DESIGNERS ROSAN BOSCH DESIGNS THE VITTRA TELEFONPLAN SCHOOL, A "SCHOOL WITHOUT WALLS"

Vittra Telefonplan School is a school designed without walls by Swedish designer Rosan Bosch

Sweden loves its experimental education, but here’s a venture that’s far-fetched even by Swedish standards: It’s a school without walls.

That’s right. Vittra Telefonplan, in Stockholm, was designed according to the principles of the Swedish Free School Organization Vittra, an educational consortium that doesn’t believe in classrooms or classes. So instead of endless rows of desks, it’s got neon-green “sitting islands” and whimsical picnic tables, where students and teachers gather. Instead of study hall, it has “Lunch Club,” a smattering of cafeteria-style tables on a checkerboard floor for working or eating (or both). And instead of an auditorium, it has a faceted blue amphitheatre that rises up in the middle of the school like a giant floating iceberg. The place resembles a mini amusement park, only with laptops (yes, each student gets his or her own laptop).

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Sounds great for the kids, but yikes, I feel sorry for their teachers. There aren’t any walls for them to order naughty little boys to face.

Designer Rosan Bosch points out that Vittra Telefonplan isn’t totally wall-free.She tells Co.Design 

“There are both smaller and larger closed rooms for different purposes, such as the sound-isolated Dance Hall for dancing, singing, and exercising, the sound isolated Multimedia Lab for working with film, sound, and music, as well as administrative areas and group rooms.”

 There are also assorted interior decorations and fixtures that cleverly double as partitions, like the “conversation furniture,” a towering study nook that’s tall enough to pass for a wall.

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That was the trick of designing a “school without walls”: It had to be open enough to accommodate the free-wheeling aspects of Vittra’s approach to education (no set classes!). But it also had to include some spatial divisions that could promote different ways of learning--another key part of the Vittra method--such as group work, concentration work, show-and-tell, and so on.

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When planning the school, Bosch reached out to both teachers and students. “From the children we learned that there were different types of design that didn’t appeal to them,” she says. To wit: Because they work primarily on laptops not blackboards, they like seating arrangements that let them steal a peek at each other’s screens. Bosch says,  

“We therefore created special furniture that gave them more flexible ways of working side by side and together with their laptops.  For example: spread out on rugspots, sitting side by side on a sitting island or in the organic conversation furniture.”

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Now, the big question: Does any of this actually help kids get a better education? It’s impossible to know for sure. But as Bosch tells it,

“The differentiated spaces allow the children to learn on their own terms, creating different types of learning scenarios. In that way, the design lets the school unfold its potential.”

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COMMENTARY:  I don't know of any young children (or parents) that would not fall in love with the Vittra Telefonplan School. It's a wonderous environment for education and social development. Rosan Bosch is an incredible designer and this school interior design concept demonstrates how far ahead they are.  I love the open school interior design, the furniture, props, private and social gathering areas and limited walls. I wished that U.S. schools could adopt this type of school interior design for the children.  Learning becomes fun again.  The children can form groups and create enduring friendships and relationships without the constrictions of a traditional classroom. The school also uses the latest technology such as Apple laptops.  I am sure iPads will be next.  The next wave of Apple evangelists, no doubt.

Courtesy of an article dated January 24, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design 

A FUTURE OF ROBOTS AS IMAGINED BY CHILDREN: ROBOTS HELP WITH HOMEWORK, DO THE DIRTY WORK, AND ARE BEST FRIENDS

 

Kids have unbridled imaginations and a healthy dose of optimism about what the future might hold. When they were asked about how robots might help them learn and work better, they had some potentially prescient answers.

Today’s adults have lived most (if not all) of their lives without interacting with humanoid robots; it’s only recently that bots like Asimo and Nao have entered popular consciousness. Children, on the other hand, have no reason to believe that advanced robots won’t dramatically influence their lives, and soon. A study (PDF) from research consultancy Latitude recently asked 348 kids ages 8 to 12 from across the world to describe and illustrate an answer to the following question: “What if robots were a part of your everyday life--at school and beyond?” The answers (pictures are in the slideshow above) reveal both how we might interact with robots in the future, and how human educators can do a better job.

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ROBOTS CAN MAKE LEARNING FUN

Unsurprisingly, 75% of the robots dreamed up by the kids were patient, emotionally supportive, and made learning fun. Says one 9-year-old boy in Germany: “When I get home, my robot helps me with my homework. My mother and father [came in and said] no video games now, homework first, but when they saw that I was already finished and had done everything correctly, they were glad that I had made friends with the robot." The robot provides the patience that humans just don’t have.

ROBOTS TAKE CARE OF DIRTY WORK

Dirty dishes? No problem. A quarter of kids surveyed imagined that their robots could deal with chores and boring work so that they might be freed up to focus on learning and creative activities.

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ROBOTS ARE OUR FRIENDS

Most robots thought up by kids had natural social intelligence and plenty of knowledge to share. Two-thirds of respondents thought that their robots could be friends and role models. One 10-year-old French boy describes his dream robot: "He created books for me to read, and we played with toy cars. He keeps my secrets. I can tell him anything, and he gives me advice.”

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ROBOTS ARE COOL

I think we can all agree that this one is already true. Unlike with young human geeks, the intelligence of robots makes them cool in social settings. An 8-year-old girl in the U.S. imagines that her robot is "really smart and everyone likes to talk to her. She has a funny voice, but we do not tease her.”

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Latitude postulates that educators can use the results of the study to see how academic pacing could be more personalized, that kids recognize when academic work isn’t relevant, and that sometimes, self-directed work is a good thing. There’s no better way to personalize pacing and increase self-direction than to use today’s robots--including laptops, iPads, and tools like Lego Mindstorms. When the day comes that we all have humanoid robots, those will help out, too.

COMMENTARY:    As a child my favorite toy was always my metal windup robot toy that had a robot head that would spew out sparks.  Even now, as I write this, I imagine that robot toy, and the smell of molten metalic bits, which smelled sort like electricity.    I hope you enjoyed those kids drawings of their ideal robot.  

Courtesy of an article dated January 21, 2012 appearing in Fast Company