Google vs. Wikipedia...

Google has announced a collaborative encyclopedia that will feature experts writing on topics. Some FLOSS and Wikipedia supporters think this is a bad thing. I'm not sure why. Yes, Google wants to put ads on the pages (call Knols). And yes, maybe we should keep an eye out to make sure that knols aren't given precedence in organic search results. But seriously, do you really believe we can take all the wonderful wisdom of the world and store it in the servers of a non-profit organization that makes money from donations?

Capitalism and free markets have made everything more efficient, useful, and accessible in terms of the Internet. Why should Societal KM be any different? Google innovates because it has talent and money. Not all innovation needs money, but very few innovation projects succeed without it. Who's going to pay for Wikipedia as terabytes of data are added? What are the long-term consequences of people involved in FLOSS projects literally dying, losing interest, or, God Forbid, waking up one day and realizing that there is economic value in their efforts which they aren't getting paid for. I vote for Google. Because, you know, anyone who's motto is "Do no Evil" seems like a good candidate for something.

While the debate rages, however, I am interested to see what a knol looks like. This site might be more like the About.com expert model than Wikipedia. No one seems to sense that connection.

1/2 laptop per child...

Nicholas Negroponte is upset because Intel is picking on him and his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. While it appears that Intel has made peace and joined the OLPC board, its competing product called Classmate is selling well in foreign countries. Intel's Classmate, which uses MS Windows software, is an interesting case study. Many countries are telling Negroponte, who is on leave from his MIT position, that they can't go wrong with "Windows" and questioning who will train and support the OLPC computers.

The FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) community has always said that foreign countries would embrace Open Source software due to its low cost. But what if the shortage of talented support staff in developing countries pushes them to Windows? Microsoft is offering a cheap version of Windows to many foreign countries. Interestingly, Intel got involved in developing Classmate because it's fierce competitor, AMD, was providing chips to the OLPC project.

I've always admired Negroponte's idea. But he can't be mad that the free market has stepped in. If his true goal is to put inexpensive technology in the hands of emerging nations then it doesn't matter who gets there first, non-profits or companies. But if his ego and lack of knowlege about free markets block the path to a collaborative solution, then shame on him. He should be proud that it was his effort has spurred industry to emulate his OLPC computer. But sometimes, academics (and I am one), aren't the best people to run multi-million dollar projects.

IDMAa

I just returned from the International Digital Media Arts Association conference in nearby Philadelphia. The conference is centered on academic digital media programs and the organization has provided some great networking and knowledge opportunities to me over the last five years. While I enjoyed learning about college programs, I especially enjoyed the commercial media companies that came to show their work. Peter Rivera from AOL spoke about how the new AOL is about content and media. Two executives from the highly successful creative agency Schematic showed some impressive work and spoke about the need for "fearless" problem solving employees with broad skills and training.

More than anything, though, the commercial enterprises validated our program at LVC. People spoke about the importance of technological education that is interdisciplinary develops critical thinking, emphasizes problem solving, and builds skills for adaptive learning. It's a theme across the spectrum of technology and high tech companies. If you don't know what kind of company you'll be in 5 years, then you need people that can learn and adapt to the changes that technology and the marketplace bring.

Social Tolerance for Disagreement

Warning: this is not a technology post. As a I tell my students, you need to engage in the world around you. This is this THAT kind of post.

But it's not really a political post. Ward Churchill, the academic from Colorado who said that the World Trade Center was filled with "little Eichmanns" during the 9/11 bombings, was fired. The university claims it was due to research misconduct and not the the comment he made. I don't really care. My interest is the ACLU and supporters who ran to his aid to cry "academic freedom". Where were these supporters when Lawrence Summers said that men are better at math that women when Summers was President of Harvard? No one said that was protected by academic freedom (even though he was an administrator, he certainly deserved the freedom faculty have).

I don't agree with either statements made by Churchill or Summers. But that doesn't mean I favor canning them, either. Welcome to the dirty secret of academia, we're tolerant here...to comments that come from the left. We ARE NOT tolerant here in academia for comments that are conservative, critical of people or groups that we consider "diversity groups", or comments that favor business, capitalism, or money. You can make all the outlandish comments you want if it's leftist. If you get fired, well count on help from individuals and groups "committed" to academic freedom - the ACLU, and others who hold out academia as the last bastian of tolerance and egalitarianism. When these tolerant police come running into save you, please don't ever mention that you shop at Wal-mart, outsource your web projects to India, believe in strict interpretation of the bible, or don't favor homosexual marriage. Because they'll leave faster than they've assembled.

We need tolerance for disagreement in this country. Not tolerance for any particular group of people, idea, or worldview. The polarization of politics and the hateful nature of social discourse has only begun to draw attention to this problem. Let me know if you have ideas on how I can build tolerance for disagreement into college classes.

Where I have been?

Yes, I haven't posted in quite some time. I've been in New Zealand with my family and a group of my college students. You can see all of our posts from NZ off our NZ blog. I used the time to not blog about technology, business or anything work related for 6 months. A true international experience to re-adjust. I did do some research on the knowledge transfer between academics and practitioners in NZ. I also taught a class. But a break from the normal is always good. I'm back!

Google wants your health records.

I'm all for solving problems. It's what I've been doing in business for almost 20 years. But Google solving the healthcare records problem by maintaining your records doesn't diagnose well for me. Google sees a future with people in charge of their own healthcare records. This part is good. The part where Google keeps feeding me ads based on my record is not so good. Google only gets revenue from ONE place, advertising. So it presumably has a better relationship with its advertisers than it has with me. Does this seem like the company you want to protect you're super-secret private medical records?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a communications professional and love advertising. But ads have their limits (at least to me). I don't envision a world where advertising revenue can be used to solve all of our social problems. I think our government, despite its methodical slowness, still has the best shot at this.

Certainly, Google's solution has its problems. Remember when MS wanted to keep all your passwords with Passport? Multiply that by 1000 when it comes to sensitive medical information. Maybe this trend of knowing everyone's personal stuff - blogging your personal stuff, people knowing where you're at, and all things celebrity - has an upshot. Possibly, by the time Google gets health records uncranked, people won't care if others see their medical records. They'll mash their medical records with their e-harmony dating profile, bank statement, and twitter GPS location. "Hi, I'm a mildly diabetic obsessive compulsive Leo who loves horses, kayaking, and books by James Paterson and I have a $351.42 in my bank checking account after my last check cleared for my car payment while I was sitting at Cyndi's House of Nails on 16th St." Maybe transparency isn't such a good thing...