Thursday, February 21, 2008 . 9:01 PM

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 . 7:43 AM

The Future is Now

Remember the futuristic 2005 movie "The Island"?

The Island is about two clones living in an Utopian colony and their escape out of the colony after they question the world they live in. The movie is set in 2019.

One of the scenes in the movie depicts an office environment where a traditional desk, equipment and documents are all replaced by a single interactive desk. In the movie, the desk is touch-sensitive. It responds to both hands and objects like a pen or a ‘control diamond’. The entire table is lit with information and one could open, close documents with the control object.

A similar prototype was depicted in the movie Minority Report, way back in 2002.

And now, the future as projected in those movies may be closer than we think.

Microsoft Surface is the latest revolutionary offering by Microsoft. In a world where we deem everything small to be "in" (read: the iPod, handphones, laptops), the Surface, with it's bulky exterior, certainly looks rather unappealing at first. It's like the total opposite of the cool new MacBook Air.

VERSUS ??

The Surface works by recognising finger movements, and also physical objects. Organizing and transferring photos becomes easier and smoother- so does planning, and ordering food and drinks at restaurants. Plus.. and most of all.. it's that futuristic, sci-fi touch that makes using the Surface appealing.

Initially, the Surface will likely be used in hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, retail, public entertainment venues and the military for tactical overviews.

In reality, may people may not like it. Already, people are raising a hue and cry about the various different shortcomings of the Surface - it's lack of leg room, lagging Internet connection, and of course, the exorbitant price ($5K-10K per unit). The fact is people are generally averse to new technology. But I predict that before we know it, it will be ubiquitous. It'll be like the next mobile phone revolution. As soon as it's commercially available (Microsoft predicts that it will be about 3 to 5 years before this becomes affordable to the public), we may as well have adapted to this new facet of technological evolution.

Effective eLearning: The Third Post

While the Web is good at engaging different types of learners, the core values of learning should not be lost in the process, if there has to be effective learning. There has to be a certain amount of discipline. Respect for a subject is reflected in the way it is learned.

In other words, effective eLearning is a balance of fun and instruction.

Keeping this in mind, what are the crucial success factors for eLearning?

1) An open mindset on the part of the Learner. The term is not eTeaching; it's eLearning. The learner has to get over his or her fear/suspicion of new technologies in order to get informed. A flexible, adaptable mindset is important.

2) More engaging lessons that fully exploits the technology involved. Interaction here is between a computer screen and the learner as there is no face-to-face interaction between peers or the instructor.

3) In terms of eLearning for members of the workforce, effective eLearning also reduces training costs. It also provides a consistent, accurate message. That is, the content should be the same, and if there are any changes, the modified content should be made available to all the eLearners.

4) Effective eLearning is done by understanding how the mind works during learning. The eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions emagazine states that adding graphics to words can improve learning. Furthermore, placing text near the graphics improves learning, too. A right balance of audio and visual input is optimal for learning. Too many graphics- or the other extreme, too many words - can hinder effective learning.

Last but not least, here is a comprehensive overview of the different categories of eLearning.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 . 3:49 AM

In the previous post I had talked about the general features of e-learning 2.0. In this post, I will narrow the subject down to distance education via eLearning tools.

Distance learning has evolved through four or five "generations" of technology in its history. The first form of distance learning was in 1728, and this was primarily through print and mail. Even now, some countries have radio broadcasts on academic disciplines. Nowadays, degrees are increasingly being conferred through the Internet.

We've seen examples of distance learning in our own course at UB. We use to Blackboard to access documents, and some of our subjects (like NTR, MGQ, and so on) were covered through online lectures from professors at UB itself.

Through these tools, our classroom is partially shifted to the Internet. But distance learning is also especially useful for older adult learners. As the article by Adobe, "Delivering on the Promise of E-learning" states, "eLearning has found a particularly loyal and growing audience among working adult learners". In today's highly mobile working world, distance education mostly benefits workers unable to spend their time at a learning institution. Ebooks, podcasts, VOD (video-on-demand) casts, and even certain games (remember SL?) help these students gain an education. The list of technologies that can be used is virtually endless.

The challenges eLearning and distance education in particular faces, are balancing fun and instruction and lack of individualised student attention. Also, students are prone to cheating on online quizzes and exams. I would venture to say that the success of distance education would primarily be the mindset of the student; how sincere the student is about getting their education, and how open and flexible the student is about getting this education through new technologies.

Sunday, February 17, 2008 . 10:30 AM

On Learning: Age-old tradition, innovative new ways

ONE OF MY earliest memories of using the modern-day PC as we know it, was using a software called Encarta Encyclopedia. At the time (1998) it was such a novel idea to have a whole book on a CD-ROM, aided by stunning images, video and audio.

But that was e-learning 1.0, or what we may call "traditional" e-learning.

Maybe it's a mark of the exponential rate of growth of the Web and its associated technologies, that even certain e-learning technologies and methods can be outdated today. Alvin Toffler noted in his book Future Shock that technology was changing so fast that a person in the span of a single lifetime would find himself a stranger in his own culture. Certainly, this applies to E-learning too. Encarta was what I relied on for projects and such. Now, it's been replaced by accessible sources like blogs, wikis, etc., which are less exclusive, yet provide the same wealth of knowledge that was once the treasure of very reputed sources.

Multi-sensory and collaborative

...The features of e-learning 2.0 that distinguish it from traditional learning

IQs used to be the good old way to measure intelligence - a person's capacity to retain knowledge. Not any more. The theory of multiple intelligences was recently proposed by psychologist Howard Gardener. He asserted that each individual manifests varying levels of different intelligences, thus giving them a unique "cognitive profile."

       

Broadly speaking, there are three kinds of learners: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. (The latter refers to learning by actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration). The non-linear architecture of the Web (with its videos, audio, and interactive models of things like atoms), gives, if not a holistic learning experience, effective learning for just about any of the above categories of learners.

Another hallmark of e-learning 2.0 is collaboration. Learning is no longer strictly a one-way communication between an authority and a recipient. Learning is a continuous process of interacting with peers, like-minded people, and exchanging ideas and knowledge in an informal setting. After all, one learns best when one is relaxed. The online community just facilitates such a process, and thus makes learning fun.

To conclude, this blog entry talks about e-learning in the most basic, general sense of the term. The next few entries will talk about the specifics - namely:

-Distance Learning

-Crucial Success factors of E-learning 2.0

Also look out for entries on..:

-Scratching the Surface of better things to come..

-The Millennial Generation: Who are they, why are they the boon and the bane of society today?

Monday, February 11, 2008 . 10:03 AM

E-commerce, internet marketing, e-business. These terms represent specific fields in their own right, yet are all as vast as the Web itself.

Let's take e-commerce, for example. You've got B2C, B2B, and C2C relationships. As B2C in directly related to Internet Marketing, (in the sense that more B2C relationships are built and maintained through Internet Marketing) I'll focus on that so that this entry sounds coherent. It also makes more sense to focus on B2C, as according to some sources, B2B marketers haven't quite harnessed the potential of the Internet as much as B2C marketers have. What does this mean?

More B2C marketers are getting it right when it comes to increase online sales. What are their secrets of success?

My top few reasons:

Superior Design Basically, this means ease of navigation. When visitors do end up on the website, they need clear directions about where to go and what to do.  Search engines, links or targeted marketing campaigns leads them to a page that tells them exactly what they want to know. Simple, up-front, and the product is easy to buy.

Personalization On the Web, you're not face-to-face with the customer. Yet, attention must be instantly grabbed and kept. This is achieved through using a casual, "human" tone in the written content on the Website. Power-packed words and an engaging style that coax the customer into buying the product, are key. A few pictures here and there wouldn't hurt, too. And lastly, comprehensive information (visually, or through text) about the product should be given online.

The right visitors. Relevance is key. There are many ways to make an e-commerce site relevant to the visitor. These include targeted e-shots to pay-per-click campaigns and natural search engine optimisation. After all, once the visitor has that pre-requisite level of interest, snagging them is very easy. Successful B2C e-commerce companies invest in this, wisely.

Customer Loyalty - retaining customers. Firstly, customer loyalty reduces cost-per-sale. Secondly, a loyal customer base results in referrals and cross-selling opportunities. Successful B2C e-commerce companies build a relationship with their customers, engaging them, keeping them updated about new products that come online and enticing them to make a repeat purchase. These are all traditional marketing skills that can be applied to online customers.

Other reasons (which I won't elaborate on for the sake of keeping this post short) are:

Security, and reliability of the website. Shopping is more convenient. Nobody wants their online shopping experience to be marred by being cheated of their money... or worse still, having their personal information being stolen.

Global Reach of e-commerce The Web's flattening effect provides companies with a huge target market from around the world.

Constant learning As I stated above, the business world is "flattened".. there is fierce competition as basically all companies, SMEs and the giants, fight for their customers. This, added to the ever-changing, dynamic nature of the Web, forces the good companies to constantly improve their websites to beat their rivals. This would mean the not-so-good companies would encounter...

Learning experiences. Lessons from failure

We may know of the infamous "dot.com" failures of 2001 and 2002.

The so-called "failures" of e-commerce websites can be used as stepping stones, or rather, learning experiences for those just starting out, or those open to reinventing themselves for the e-commerce scene.

Let's take the case of Yahoo.com

The company was in trouble in 2001-02 because they failed to take note of:

1) Economic Environment - they charged too much and lost ad revenue

2) Competitive Environment - they misjudged the impact of the entrance of Google into the market

Competition was also the reason Musicmaker, the online site which offered music to be shared by users at a price, failed in 2001, thanks to Napster (=free music).

3) Technological Environment - Yahoo! were apparently not using the most advanced algorithm as upstart Google

4) Legal Imbroglios... Lik Sang.com is a gaming retailer from Hong Kong which was forced to close down due to various legal actions brought against it by Sony. According to Sony, Lik Sang was liable for infringement of its trademarks, copyright and registered design rights by selling PS2 consoles from Asia to Europe.

Other reasons:

Failure to globalise

Doing the same thing - refusing to change

Neglecting the customer

Lack of innovation...

Customer service "meltdown".

There's one rather uncontrollable reason why e-commerce has "failed" in some aspects and that would probably be:

10) The buying habits of people are fundamentally the same. People actually prefer going out to a shop, trying things on, and then buying them, rather than buying online.

Internet marketing: crucial skills

The key to successful internet marketing is firstly: Foundations. Building marketable skills and values is the foundation for getting off to a good start in internet marketing.

The second step is to build a routine. Visitors may need to have information regularly - the website must be constantly updated

The power of adwords and keywords can never be underestimated. It directs your target audience to your website.

Going for internet marketing seminars is also a good option. As leading internet marketer Stuart Tan asserts, guidance is the start of most internet marketing venture.

In the end, of course, perseverance, skill, dedication, and the willingness to learn are some of the core characteristics to succeed in Internet Marketing, and even in e-commerce. It is not so much the situation but the attitude that counts in making an online venture succeed.