We’ve just kicked off a new blog over at blog.scrump.com with a post about Collaborative Filtering and Social Capital.
Recently I have been thinking about how we can apply the techniques of collaborative filtering to people search and recommendation. Indeed we have built Beanbag Learning as a research testbed to allow us to explore possible approaches in this space. There are a number of threads which are starting to come together: collaborative filtering, the social graph, peer to peer, Whuffie and solar magnitude, openness and mutability. I’ll outline them below and try to link to some of the wide range of conversations going on which link these seemingly disparate areas.
Read the rest over on the Scrump blog »
At Jiva we all get the advantage of having 10% time to explore projects a little off the beaten track from our day-to-day work. As I’m not a developer this presented a bit of a challenge for me initially but after a brief rant on my personal blog that struck a chord with a couple of people I found myself with a little project to occupy those spare moments (and my weekends and vacation time as it worked out!)
Bettr is an unconference primarily for start-ups with an education focus but also open to all manner of folk with an interest in this area. We are co-hosting the event with School of Everything and it will take place at DEMOS on the 14th January. The format of the day (in true unconference style) is a bit up in the air at the moment but already more than 30 people have signed up (with a capacity of 60) so it promises to be an interesting get together.
I have hopes that this isn’t just a one off event and that it grows into something more regular and more ambitious that supports innovation in education and the social web much the way Social Innovation Camp is doing in the wider areas. SI Camp is very much an inspiration in the long term but for this first event my expectations are a little more grounded! A smooth running event that allows people to do a bit of networking, listen to some short, interesting presentations and maybe enjoy a beer to finish the day would be a success in my eyes.
We had one of those get together and bond sessions here at Planet Jiva the other day. Except, rather than shoot each other with paint in a rainy wood, we sat in a nice, dry office whilst each of us talked about things that we were interested in. With topics ranging from graffiti to musical theatre (and even some live music), I was pretty surprised at just how creative my fellow Jivaites are when they are not looking to put tutors and parents in touch with each other.
Which made me think. Creativity comes from a willingness to take a few risks, amongst other things. So with our modern obsession with avoiding danger and keeping our kids in a risk-free environment, are we in danger of producing the least creative generation ever? Just at a time when the world will be most in need of free thinking and creative problem solvers. If it takes a washing powder company to tell us that ‘dirt is good’, what hope do we have?
Not for the first time the guys at EduFire have written a thought provoking and timely blog post that I thought I would point to and make a quick comment on.
6 Reasons Why Online Education Will Boom in the Bust is a welcome ray of sunshine amongst the gloom of the global financial meltdown – which it seems that the tech blogs are now covering even more than the mainstream media! At a time where pretty much all you read (or see, or hear) is about how hard the coming months/years are going to be and how companies are shedding staff its good to see that someone is looking for the silver lining!
At Beanbag we are particularly interested in #5 – Larger number of highly-qualified teachers. As more and more people potentially look to supplement (or replace) their income by offering their specialised knowledge to learners then Beanbag becomes a prime route to achieve that. Then as we create more vehicles to connect with the learner community around the Beanbag brand we can offer increased opportunities to connect learners to teachers in different environment, strengthening that connection all the time.
Amongst all the gloom and doom there is one consistent message – any company that comes through these difficult times intact will be in a strong position to push on in the future. EduFire have helped reaffirm my belief that those of us working around education will be well placed to do just that!