I Just Returned from the Future

clip_image001

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

I just returned from the future.

In one of the strangest experiences I have had in a while, I lived the future as I read about it! I did not realize it for a while but then it struck me suddenly over dinner—”I am what I’m reading!”

Let me explain.

As I write this I am nearing the end of my annual Think Week (you can read details about Think Week in these two articles: How to Reduce Stress While Getting More Done; and in How To Find Time to Focus, Think, and Work). During my Think Week my primary focus is prayer and reading. On this trip I took several books with me including Humility (Andrew Murray), The Culture Code (Clotaire Rapaille), Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (John Piper), Derailed(Tim Irwin), Death by Meeting (Patrick Lencioni), and Generous Justice (Tim Keller).

I also took Anywhere: How Global Connectivity is Revolutionizing the Way We Do Business (Emily Nagle Green). This is the book I was reading when I realized that I was living the future. I will summarize some of the key points of this book and their implications for our schools in a subsequent post but for now let me simply state the theme of the book;

Within the next ten years the global ubiquitous digital network will connect most of the world’s people, places, information, and things, which will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, teach, and learn.

The author, Emily Green, knows what she is talking about. She is the President and CEO of the Yankee Group—one of the world’s premier research firms on the impact of the global connectivity revolution with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

One of the most fascinating parts of the book is her description of five consumer segments: Analogs, Technophytes, Digital Shut-ins, Outlet Jockeys, and Actualized Anywheres (AA’s). As I was enjoying my dinner and reading it suddenly dawned on me just how much I was exhibiting the characteristics of the Actualized Anywheres. The short description of AA’s is that they “bring the concept of a ubiquitously connected consumer to life.” This is when it struck me—-I was literally living the future she was describing!

Here is how I know. I wrote down how I was handling my recreational and work related tasks during Think Week. Here is a short list.

• All of my books, newspapers, and magazines are on my iPad. I read, highlight, annotate, and share my reading content electronically.

• I downloaded a book immediately onto my iPad based on a recommendation from the book I was reading at the time.

• I held a video-call with my daughter and grand daughter using FaceTime on my iPhone.

• I sent an email through Facebook to some friends and family. I accepted a connection request with a professional colleague on LinkedIn.

• I used the Yelp application on my iPhone to find restaurants and read reviews before choosing a place to have dinner. I also wrote my own review on Yelp for the benefit of others.

• I used my Garmin GPS to guide me to the restaurant.

• While driving and while dinning, I used an iPhone application called SoundHound to identify and order songs to download. I liked the songs but could not remember the titles. SoundHound solved that problem.

• I used an application called NoteSelf on my iPad to take notes using a stylus, including notes for this blog article. No paper or pen needed.

• I used the Evernote application to send clippings from the books I was reading to my administrative assistant for her to type so that the information could be put into my Endnote program for future reference and citation.

• I used Logos Bible Software on my computer to study and write a devotional for my faculty.

• I used Adobe Acrobat to print the devotional as a PDF. I uploaded it to Box.net (cloud storage and collaboration) so it could be shared with our parents with a hyperlink in an email, and then I emailed it to all school staff using Outlook.

• I used LoseIt on my iPhone to track my calories and my running.

• One of the books I was reading referenced a 2004 NYT article on how Apple Outflanked Sony in music players (this had to do with Disruptive Innovation). I went to the NYT website and downloaded the article.

• I am using my laptop to type this article using Live Writer, which I will then post to my blog using the same program.

Now, before you react with something like “are you crazy?!” let me highlight the key point. I am using mobile devices connected to a global digital network everywhere I go to get things done and to enhance and enrich my life. I have a seminary’s worth of books in my Logos Bible program. I have an entire library on my iPad for reading. I have a huge music library of beautiful music in my pocket. I can find and read reviews on local restaurants before deciding where to eat. And I was able to speak with AND see my granddaughter even though I am hours away in a hotel.

Some of my readers, perhaps many of them, have no intention or interest in using technology in the ways I describe above. That is okay. They are most likely Analogs. Most people are. All of us fall into one of the consumer segments that Emily Green describes in her book.

What does this have to do with our schools? Plenty! What I just described is how most of our younger parents and our students will conduct their personal and professional lives.

As school leaders we must understand that our younger parents (those born in the mid to late seventies) and certainly our current students and our future parents DO CARE. They will live and work much as I have described above. Mobile computing and connectivity will be a given—it will be woven into their lives. Their expectations are, and will increasingly be, that our classrooms and school-to-home communication reflect the realities of the new Anywhere Global Connectively.

This is a sea change. It is as evitable as the sun rising tomorrow.

Are we preparing our school infrastructures for this change? Are we preparing and training our faculty? Are we preparing our students for the new work world of tomorrow? Are we providing a biblical framework for understanding and using technology for God’s glory? Are we modeling the use of technology for our teachers and other administrators?

This is one of my favorite quotes from the book:

New things are an easy target for those who lack imagination … Years ago, no one understood why e-mail was worthwhile. Now, no one thinks twice about it—but they’re busy talking about why Twitter is stupid. Bob Metcalfe

Let’s put our sanctified imaginations to work—let’s travel to the future and then return to our schools to get ready!

Should Teachers Text, Facebook, or Twitter Students?

Texting_Ariana_Cell_Phone_text

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

Do you think electronic communication between teachers and students should be forbidden or restricted? What are the benefits and risks of texting with students? How have you used texting and/or social networking as an educational tool.

What about Facebook?  Twitter?

Share your thoughts with the hundreds of educators who read this blog.

Why and How to Use Twitter

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

Why should you use Twitter?

That was my first reaction when I was first exposed to Twitter.  Frankly, I had my doubts.  However, as I have gained more experience with Twitter I have discovered that it can be a very useful and powerful tool—the trick is to use it properly to meet your needs.  If it is not used wisely it will merely produce “noise” in your life.

In the Complete Guide to Twitter, the author list the following benefits of using Twitter:

• Being able to “live-Tweet” an event. Twitter’s “moment” when it went from banality to mainstream was at the 2007 SXSW conference when attendees were rapidly twittering conference developments as they happened. People could then stand in front of two large screens and watch the Twitter timelines rapidly and constantly updating with what was happening next. Call it instant messaging on steroids.

• Being able to break the news live from where it happens. The best example of this is, of course, Iran when the public went onto the streets in protest of the 2009 national elections. Iranian tweeters were able to bypass official government restrictions and tweet everything that was going on in their country. It got to the point where “official” news agencies such as CNN and the BBC were forced to get their news from Twitter because their own journalists had been expelled from the country. These messages were then presented on the television screen to the viewers. Twitter messages also give the news a “human face” because they are coming directly from the people most affected by the events in question.

• Being used by friends & family to "follow" each other: are your family and friends in another country from you? Do you have trouble keeping in touch with friends, either real or cyber? Then Twitter makes an excellent tool for keeping in touch and finding out what your family and friends are up to and what they are thinking at that particular moment.

• Real Time Event Search Engine: because of the continuous buzz, Twitter can be considered a rapidly updating search engine, powered by real people. It can be easily used to check what people are saying about currently unfolding events, or to check up on more personal, time-related issues (e.g. if Gmail is down for everyone or just you). We will get more into detail on this later in the manual.

• Being able to promote your blog posts: If you use a website called Twitterfeed6, you can have all your blog posts automatically posted to a Twitter feed as they are published. This has proven to be a highly effective way of promoting a blog or website. Readers who live on Twitter instead of an RSS feed can be notified of your new material in their timeline.

• Job networking: in this current economic climate, an unemployed person needs all the edge they can get and Twitter hasn’t been left out of their job seeking armoury. The site is now being used to ask for work and to look for suitably qualified candidates. Both job seekers and job providers are leaving messages on Twitter with what they need. Private messaging takes care of the rest. ). These tweets can then be retweeted to others and discussed by those who may decide to subscribe to your site later.

• Being able to get the resources you need: Twitter has also been used if a user needs something or has something to offer. Need someone to car-share on a trip from San Francisco to New York? Do you have a spare conference room which you can loan out to someone? Are you selling something or looking to buy something? Then Twitter can be used as your interactive classified ads column. No more placing ads in the newspaper.

For excellent tips,tricks, and powerful resources for using Twitter, download the The Complete Guide to Using Twitter. 

The Web Equivalent of Nudists and Should You Commit Web 2.0 Suicide?; Is There a Biblical Framework on Privacy?

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

Facebook recently irked me.  I am a Facebook user but I am not a heavy user.  I keep up with a few colleagues and friends but mostly I post articles on Facebook that I believe others may find interesting.  I mostly use Facebook so that I can work through the biblical, educational, and social implications of social technologies as a Christian.  We are called to bring all of life under the Lordship of Christ—that includes Facebook and similar technologies. 

I also use Twitter (you can follow me @Bmosbacker).  I usually post an occasional link to an interesting article.  The exception is that I post my status as I travel.  My wife, children and secretary are able to keep up with me in real time and are immediately alerted if I have flight delays, etc. I also follow “Breaking News” the “CDC”, “TechCrunch”, AlertNet, and a few other organizations that provide timely and useful information. 

How did Facebook irk me?  The company changed its privacy settings to a default of “public”.  That meant that any information I posted on Facebook would be available to everyone on the Internet.  Facebook made this change because it is in the company’s interest to have as much information shared publically as possible. 

I have nothing to hide.  But I am very selective and careful about anything I put online.  I assume that anything I post could be made public.  Accordingly, I set virtually all of the privacy settings to the strictest level possible, exactly what Facebook prefer that I not do.

As an aside, if you want to commit Web 2.0 suicide, now you can.  This article explains what it is and how it is done.

Having just experienced Facebook’s effort to make our lives increasingly public, I found this particular article to be very timely: We All Live in Public Now. Get Used to It. Erick Schonfeld writes:

image

As the Web becomes more social, privacy becomes harder and harder to come by. People are over-sharing on Facebook and Twitter, broadcasting their whereabouts every ten steps on Foursquare and Gowalla, and uploading photos and videos of their most private moments to the Web for all to see. It’s easy to say that privacy is dead, we all live in public now, and just deal with it.

But things are a bit more complicated. It used to be that we lived in private and chose to make parts of our lives public. Now that is being turned on its head. We live in public and choose what parts of our lives to keep private. Public is the new default.

Mr. Schonfeld goes on to quote Stowe Boyd:

Some people are the web equivalent of nudists: they live very open lives on the web, revealing the intimate details of their relationships, what they think of friends and co-workers, their interactions with family and authorities. But . . . even these apparently wide open web denizens may keep some things private, or secret.

As if to emphasize the point, one reader posted this comment to the article:

My entire life is public! I use services like Foursquare and Twitter posting my location and pictures on my family and I.  I think people of my generation won’t care as much. It’s kind of second nature to me to just post everything I’m doing. I never really stopped to think about what I’m doing as being dangerous.  The future will be filled with people like me! :)

Thus the Question: Is There a Biblical Framework on Privacy?

I recognize that our country’s forefathers embedded certain notions of privacy in the Constitution and Bill of Rights but these do not directly address the development of a biblical framework for privacy on the Internet.  More specifically:

• How does privacy apply to 21st century technology?

• What should we be teaching students beyond being careful about what they post?  For example, is there a positive component to living a more public life online?  After all, if one grew-up in a very small village or town there is very little privacy as we typically conceive of it. 

• Is individual privacy a human construct or a divine one? 

• What are the limits? 

• Is it sinful to post personal information on the internet that is not intrinsically evil?

• What are the caveats and limits to privacy in the digital age?

• How can we and our students use social networking in a redemptive manner, i.e., how can they use social networking in the normal course of living to glorify Christ (and I’m not referring to presenting the Gospel or apologetics—although that is certainly a good thing)? 

I have not formulated adequate answers to these questions yet (I’m working on it) but it seems to me that we have an obligation to grapple with these issues and to help our students do likewise.  We need to help them develop a biblical (not a traditional, conservative, or liberal) worldview on privacy and social media in the digital age.

What are your thoughts?  Please share you initial ideas by living a comment on this article or by posting your thoughts on the CSJ Facebook Discussion Board.

Let’s Get Creative! How Could You Use This?

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

Take a moment to read the article below (Reposted from Duct Tape Marketing.) Now, give this some thought and then ask yourself, “How Could We Use Twitter to Promote Our School and/or Serve our Stakeholders?”

After giving this some thought, post your ideas as a comment to this blog article to share with others!

17 Ways to Use Twitter for Business and Some Not

More and more small business folks are giving in to what seems like an insurmountable mountain of hype and jumping on the twitter bandwagon.

But, some people still look at twitter on the surface and conclude that it’s one big waste of time. I can’t say I disagree completely, however, like all social media and marketing tactics, before you can determine if something makes sense you need to analyze your objectives. So, instead of asking why you would use it, ask how it might help you achieve some other already stated objectives.

1) Would you like a way to connect and network with others in your industry or others who share you views? It’s a good a tool for that.

2) Would you like a way to get instant access to what’s being said, this minute, about your organization, people, products, competitors or brand? It’s a good tool for that.

3) Would you like a steady stream of ideas, content, links, resources, and tips focused on your area of expertise or interest? It’s a good tool for that.

4) Would you like to monitor what’s being said about your customers to help them protect their brands? It’s a good tool for that.

5) Would you like to extend the reach of your thought leadership – blog posts and other content? It can be a good tool for that.

6) Would like a way to quickly find vendors, partners, tech help, even employees for your organization? I can be a good tool for that.

7) Would you like to promote your products and services directly to a target audience? Not such a good tool for that, but it can light a path back to your web site!

Now, if that weren’t enough, the open nature of the twitter platform is spawning uses far beyond what was ever imagined or what many people can grasp - and this use of the technology will only get bigger.

Here are few things you may have never considered

8) Publish your Flickr photos on twitter - Visit twittergram and set-up an account and then just upload to Flickr but tag your photo twitter and it goes into your twitter stream.

9) If you use online todo list Remember the Milk - you can set it up to flow into twitter - this might be a way to assign todos to remote teams

10) Using strawpoll you can create mini polls into your twitter stream - great for flash feedback

11) Use twitter to keep up on traffic jams with commuterfeed

12) Have twitter alert you when you have a meeting with timer

13) Get and fill current job openings with tweetajob

14) Track FedEx, UPS and DHL shipments with TrackThis

15) Get help quitting smoking

16) Keep a diet journal

17) Get a tweet when your plants need water - - okay this one would be way cooler if it simply tweeted you when the plant watered itself.

Share ideas on how our schools could use Twitter by submitting a comment with your ideas.