This caught my eye recently: ” the joy of engineering is in creating something out of nothing; you start with an idea and then some time later, you make it a reality “. Not only does it sound a bit like what we’re doing here at Jiva, it also perfectly expresses the often hidden, creative side of engineering. Unfortunately, it also ignores the long, hard slog that usually accompanies the creation of an engineering masterpiece. So if its 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, which is the bit that generates the satisfaction once the idea becomes reality. After all, if it was easy, anyone could do it…
Sometimes you come across ideas in the oddest of places. I’ve been reading Theodore Zeldin’s excellent book, ‘An Intimate History of Humanity’ recently. Without going in to details, the author looks at aspects of the human condition in their historical and psychological context. So as an example, in one chapter, he looks at the art of conversation, how it has developed and its pivotal role in the acquisition of knowledge. I’ve never really thought about it, but it would seem that for long periods of history, people didn’t use conversation to find things out at all; quite the contrary, conversations were just a way of furthering your own points of view or flattering the relevant King, Queen or other powerful person in your life. If that sounds like a depressingly familiar concept, it made me realize that in the context of the internet, we have a similar distinction. Tools like Twitter and Facebook Status Updates are an excellent way to propagate your own views and flatter the relevant celebrity/organization/person in power, but a poor way to conduct a real conversation. Tools that allow a genuine dialogue to take place, ideas to be developed and knowledge to be acquired seem to be much thinner on the ground. So perhaps the time really has come for tools like Google Buzz and Jiva Tech’s Tutorhub. We’ll see.
@infinitegraph That is a joke right? I build a web app using your db and you expect me to plaster that all over it?
After some initial scepticism by the market watchers, it would seem that iPad fever is in full swing at the moment, with all the attendant noise, PR and a headlong rush by the Taiwanese to produce clones to join the party. For my own part, it was the latter that made me sit up and take notice. From what I’ve read, iPad style tablets based on Google Android operating system will be hitting the streets shortly in the $100-200 range, roughly translating to a £100-200 price tag, or something similar to the cost of an iPod Touch.
This made me think. Despite common perceptions, innovation never happens in smooth progressions, it happens in step changes, followed by periods of calm and I sense we’re about to see just such a shift in the way we educate our children. Here’s a few reasons why:
One: the emergence of clever, education focused applications. I’ve blogged before about the heaps of cool start-ups focusing on education and the US VC’s that have been backing them with money.
Two: the device. Up until now, the target platform has been the PC/Mac, but there’s a couple of reasons why a tablet is a much better idea in the classroom. It weighs less; with all the books and PE kit they have to carry, adding a laptop would be the straw that breaks your children’s back. Its more appealing. Its less unwieldly. Who’s got space on the average desk for text books (they won’t be going away soon), exercise books, pens and a laptop. It plays music.
Three: money. You wouldn’t risk your child taking a £600 iPad, Macbook or laptop to school in their rucksack, no matter how cool they thought it was. But plenty of kids take their iPod Touch. So why not a £120 Android based tablet?
Three: a generational change in attitudes. From the dawn of time to the days until my days at school, education hadn’t changed much. My children think that’s because I was educated at the dawn of time, but the reality is that a couple of millenia didn’t really change much. But as the Horizon Report shows, the current “Facebook Generation’ don’t really understand why they have to travel back in time whenever they enter the classroom. They’re hungry to use the cool stuff inside the classroom as well.