I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the approximately 80 glajillion social networking/social media applications out there these days and the amount of time it takes to be active in them.  Obviously I cannot actively participate in hundreds of networks - at least not with anything worthwhile, so I pick and choose and see what applications look helpful or interesting.  Sometimes I’ll try a new site or application because a friend recommends it, but not always. Sometimes I’ll read some tech blogs and see what they’re talking about and how they feel about something before I dive in.  I’ve found myself joining sites just so I can say “Yep, I have an account there, and yes I’ve tried it”, but what good is that doing? If you’re not actively participating in the site/network then how do you *really* know what the value is?

I tend to feel lately, that there’s so much of a rush to try the latest and greatest, up and coming “new thing” that it’s almost as though we’re stuck on the information super highway of social apps - speeding along, signing up for this thing and that thing without any real idea how it might help us. Just full speed ahead, packing more into every day, squeezing more “to-do” items into our lives.

As we were driving down the highway yesterday I started to think about how the internet really does feel like the “Information Super Highway” these days.  On long trips, I tend to be a person that avoids large highways even though I know they’re the fastest route from point A to point B.  I stress when traffic becomes heavy and claustrophobia sets in. I look for the nearest exit to get me to a small, quiet back road that will head in the same direction as the highway, but allow me time to see some scenery, some people, and smaller towns.  I can see how the people live in certain areas and get a feel of the community there.  The big highway doesn’t afford me that opportunity. I’m going as fast as is allowed, all in the desire to get to my destination as quickly as possible, but I’m missing all the good stuff along the way.

I’m starting to feel the same way about social networking. I am a geek, I love online communities, new gadgets, and the new shiny things that come our way on a daily basis.  That being said, none of those things matter if you never take the time to look around and see who’s living in your online communities.  If we continue burning gas, putting the pedal to the floor in the hopes that we’ll be the first to sign up and use every new thing that comes along, we’ll miss all the good stuff.

When I first joined my friend Syene’s BBS in my local town, my online community was all about the ‘local’ people.  We had picnics, we met together and played L.O.R.D. and got to know each other.  When the first internet provider showed up and we connected to the rest of the world, then the local community died down a bit for me because I was amazed at the idea of meeting people from all over the world.  I traveled all over the US, Canada and Europe meeting people in person that I’d met online and it truly changed my perspectives on many levels.  Now, interestingly, I find myself using my online communities to focus, once again, on my local community.  I’m certainly still keeping in touch with what people are doing outside my local area, but the most rewarding relationships I have these days are right here in my hometown.

It feels good to take the back roads again.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting older or wiser, but I find that more and more of my time these days is spent putting things into perspective and making decisions about what is important to me. I started out this year telling myself that I would only spend time doing things that were ’soul-stirring’ for me. So far I think I’m doing a decent job of that, but I have to stop occasionally and reevaluate where I am.  I know that I’m the kind of person that can get very wrapped up in things. I’m really eager to participate and join new communities and make a difference.  I’m also the kind of person that has had trouble saying ‘no’ to things in the past.

I’m doing better with it though, and starting to make decisions based on how valuable my time is to me, and how much of an impact I think I can have on things I’m doing and.. here’s the big one - how IMPORTANT is this to me in the whole scheme of things.

I read an older post today on 43 Folders and the very last item on the list helped, once again, to bring things into perspective:
Get pickier - You are the sole person in your life who gets to decide where your time and attention can go. Take that responsibility seriously by not wasting time on junk. You know in your heart what’s really important to you — does the current direction of your time and attention reflect that? Is “kid hugging” time where it should be in proportion to “Blackberry checking” time? Be mindful at the highest level about where you focus your energy, and always strive not to squander it on undeserving activities.

And there it is. Perspective.  For me though, it’s not that activities are ‘undeserving’ - not at all, in fact. Most of the things I’m saying “no” to these days are very deserving and are things that I’d probably enjoy doing - *IF* I had unlimited time - but I don’t.

Social media and social networking are powerful amazing things. I thank my lucky stars every single day to be part of such wonderful online communities.  That being said, if I let myself get completely wrapped up in every single community, every single event, every single committee, every single meeting.. I have no time for me.  I need time for me. I’m better for everything else, when I take care of “me” first.

Read a fantastic post this morning about videoconferencing and virtual worlds - which is better for education? Seems virtual is. (surprise, surprise)

This blog post from Campus Technology talks about Sun’s Project Wonderland and the Media Grid. I was in Boston in January for a summit about the Media Grid and posted about that initiative at the time.  It’s a great project and certainly has some exciting potential for education in the coming years.

It’s certainly not time for everyone to abandon all other virtual worlds and run to Project Wonderland and the Media Grid, but it’s exciting to think about what changes lie in the future and how virtual worlds will really start to shape how we learn, interact, and build communities.  With Vivaty’s public beta, Google’s “Lively”, and the announcement that avatars were able to move from one virtual world (Second Life) into another (Open Sim), this is a crazy exciting week for people working with virtual worlds.  So glad to be part of it.

The new CEO of Linden Lab visited Global Kids today where a group of teenagers were working in both New York and Chicago learning about Tanzania as part of the “I Dig Tanzania” program.  Mark Kingdon spoke with the students and seemed to be really impressed with the work they’re doing.

Some quotes from the video where Mark talks about his feelings related to Global Kids and Second Life:

I, for one, couldn’t agree more.

The blog post and video are here.

Saw this post this morning on one of my favorite blogs, The Bamboo Project Blog, by Michele Martin. I love her blog and find something valuable there on a daily basis. Truly.  Michele’s post refers to a post by Christine Martell that refers to a learning framework by Ray Jimenez on social media and learning.

In reading Michele’s post I was thinking about how this still relates to the discussion that we’ve been having in our local learning community recently about “open invitations” to participate and the desire to involve everyone.

As Michele points out, some of our learners might certainly be ready to participate, but perhaps not in the way we would want them to, or in the way we think they should.  I think this is really important.  We may feel that it’s easy and perfectly natural to comment on blogs, edit wikis, and take part in online conversations and even if we extend an invitation to others, it may not work.  We can open our arms as wide as we can, have snacks and refreshments waiting for them, and we may still not have anyone come to our party. Why? Not because they are refusing to participate.. they’re uncomfortable with the ways we’re asking them to participate.

Not only do we need to think about inviting people to be part of our community, discussions, and learning but we need to be aware of the different levels and know where our co-workers are.

I think most of us agree that we want our learners and co-workers to be creators and contributors, but they may not be ready for that. They may not feel comfortable starting a blog, creating virtual content or even editing your wiki. In fact, I feel completely comfortable as a content creator and even I’m intimidated by editing a wiki. No idea what it is, but I’m always a little hesitant to do it.

That being said, these are all things to think about as we think more about “Open Content” and invitations to participate.  Not everyone’s ready for the four-course meal. We might need to just offer some appetizers at first. At least that way, everyone’s at the party.

I read yesterday about a new blogging service called Posterous. When I read it, I thought it sounded simple and interesting, so in about 10 minutes time I’d created my own Posterous blog and had uploaded numerous items.

The neat thing about Posterous is that it is brilliantly simple. You don’t even need to set up an account to use it. You email post@posterous.com from whatever email address you’d like and then it creates the blog for you. That’s right, you don’t create the account, Posterous does.

There are no bells and whistles with Posterous. No fancy, schmancy templates or designs to choose from. It’s plain and simple and frankly.. that’s why I love it.

I think that it has potential to be a good thing for people new to blogging or intimidated by the dashboards, templastes, choices, publishing/saving/drafts, etc from other blogging services.

You say what you want to say.. in an email, and Posterous makes it a blog. I dig it.

Check mine out here.

There’s been a lot of discussion happening in my world related to learning design and learning spaces. The local Penn State community has been talking about the Learning Design Summer Camp and the way that it’s being organized.  The entire concept behind it is that it’s now up to the community to organize it, plan it, and make it happen.   The recent blog posts by Cole Camplese and Chris Stubbs talk about this, and start the conversation about Web 2.0 and open participation.  You should really read both if you have time.. they’re worth it.

Those posts have now led me to think about learning spaces as well.  I will be speaking at several upcoming conferences related to virtual learning spaces, and how we are rethinking where learning can actually take place.  As I start to toss all these things around in my head, it’s as though our entire culture is so close to the edge of change that I feel as though I should put up some signs or something to let everyone know that it’s all about to explode… and in a big way.  I think that the more we dive into the meaning of community and participation online, the ‘water cooler’ no longer exists in the back corner of the office, but on websites, mobile phones, and in these tools of technology that are changing our lives.  We’re no longer stuck asking our office mate if they know how to do something, because we truly.. have a world of knowledge at our fingertips. If we’re feeling particularly personal we can twitter a request that no doubt, several people will answer. If we’d rather remain a little more quiet, we can ask Google who will provide us with so much information on any particular topic that we’ll have to filter it ourselves.

I’ve been asked to participate in several EDUCAUSE sessions this fall and winter to discuss learning spaces and initiatives. Initially I was really focused on the spaces I’m creating in Second Life for our online students.  More and more though, I’m seeing that almost every online community and conversation is a learning space in itself.  Like so many other people have been saying lately, this is a very exciting time to be thinking about our culture and how we learn and communicate.

A quick search under “Places” for “coffee” in Second Life (without the mature areas showing) puts my little coffee shop in Mill Pond at number 3 on the list.  It also puts my island, Mill Pond, at number 7.

If we turn on the ‘mature’ areas, we’re listed at number 4 and number 8.

Now, if you search Places and select only “Hangouts” from the drop-down menu in search? We’re number one out of 48 hits listed for “coffee”. Pretty neat stuff.