From Dave Weinberger’s blog — he attended the New Media Academic Summit and caught a snippet of the end of a blogging and journalism panel with Jodi Kantor, Dan Gillmor and Steve Rubel.

I asked whether the rhetorical voice of blogging is changing the reportorial voice. Jodi replied that that voice has been getting more informal for years, and not just because of blogging. But, she said, when you can see how your readers are taking what you say, you try to write even more clearly and precisely.

“Another example of how blogging is improving journalism,” said Dan.

The same argument could be made inversely. The fact that the reportorial voice is becoming more casual, more approachable, may be what makes more people return to words in the first place. It’s a different time. I had a conversation with Mark Alexander who brought up an interesting point vis Marc Prensky. The gist of it is this: we have to be so careful to understand why we chose to teach what we teach. Just because the papers I grade today don’t conform to the rules of yesterday, does that make them any less appropriate? Content-rich? Accurate? We thought video games would destroy civilization. Now we’re using them as teaching tools.

I don’t want to agree. There’s something deep in me that pushes, rallies against this. But as educators, we have to own what’s ours, and fight the battles that really need fighting.

Ratcheting up the bar another notch, a new Dutch show aims to sweep all other reality shows through a delightful revisioning of "21 Grams". From NineMSN:

In The Big Donor Show, which is set to air this Friday, a terminally ill cancer patient will select one of three patients to receive her kidneys.

Viewers will watch testimonials from the three Dutch contestants, aged between 18 and 40, and send in text message advice to the donor to help her decide who should receive the lifesaving operation.

In a massive surprise to the broadcaster, officials haven’t thrown universal support around the concept. Some in the industry say it’s because the losers actually die. Luckily, it’s a hoax (thanks Curt!). From Reuters:

A Dutch reality show in which a supposedly dying woman had to pick one of three contestants to receive her kidneys was revealed as a hoax on Friday.

Identified only as "Lisa", the 37-year-old woman turned out to be a healthy actress but the three candidates were genuine kidney patients, details the show’s producers revealed in the last minutes of the "The Big Donorshow".

Of note: The show aired. That it turns out the donor was an actress doesn’t save the fact that this thing made it to TV in the first place.

A year ago, I never would have imagined I’d be writing two posts back to back about the vision at Microsoft. But they’re doing a great job on a number of fronts right now, the big one being that they’re getting just the right messages to the media, timed expertly.

This time, it’s about Photosynth. You can find the TED demo here. The gist is this: through a beautifully architected set of algorithms, they’re discovering networks in visual imagery just as the web makes apparent networks of semantic data in text. In the demo, Microsoft Labs researcher Blaise Aquera y Arcas shows the technology off with all photos tagged "Notre Dame." The result is — in a word — stunning.

I updated a talk I give pretty regularly on the new nature of marketing relationships and delivered it again just last Friday. It’s a fun presentation to give to small- to medium-sized organizations, those predominantly based on sales-not-marketing communication models, because it gives me the opportunity to teach a bit on the changing nature of the business. As I was updating the deck to prepare, inserting messages all aligned around the move from big-business brute force marketing through money to developing the relationships organizations have through more open communication, I realized suddenly that I was talking about Microsoft.

See, this notion of transparency is working for Microsoft. It started with Channel 9 some years back, and continues with Labs: the notion that this gigantic company is working on something more than just Windows, just Office, that there’s something out there to look forward to — this drives massive amounts of discussion. It’s the new version of lock-in: I’m less likely to switch platforms when I see that this organization is driving amazing new technology that I’ll get to play with someday.

Take a look at the results. Technorati alone is tracking nearly 3,000 blog posts this morning around Photosynth. Most of the descriptors end with something like "…simply amazing," with the exception of one including a "badass."

This demonstrates the power of creating your own discussion in spades. It doesn’t have to be flashy. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It simply has to be honest and accurate.

If you’ve never heard of Chautauqua, join the club. It’s one of the best kept intellectual destinations out there. Nestled against Lake Chautauqua in western NY, the annual Chautauqua instituation ranks as my A#1 spot for resting the spirit and engaging the mind.

The Institution is broken into a nine week series, each week focusing on a differnt subject area for exploration. I’ll be here for the first two weeks of the series. The first entitled “The Media & News: Applied Ethics; the second, “The Family: All of a Kind? All Different?” You can read more about the program for 2007 here.

I’ve been doing my usual searches through the blogosphere looking for others who might be blogging Chautauqua, and I’m surprised at the lack of traffic this place generates. I’ll try and pull some of the load here myself.

It’s 4:30 here now, however. There’s a light breeze gusting across our Victorian porch, and that screams “Wine:O’Clock”. Check back later for more!

I remember the first time I saw this technology demonstrated. It was Jeff Han’s talk at TED a few years back. You should be able to find it in iTunes here.

From Ebert’s page at suntimes.com:

I have been very sick, am getting better and this is how it looks. I still have my brain and my typing fingers.

Although months in bed after the bleeding episodes caused a lack of strength and coordination, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago restored my ability to walk on my own, climb stairs, etc.

I no longer use a walker much and the wheelchair is more for occasional speed and comfort than need. Just today we went for a long stroll in Lincoln Park.

We spend too much time hiding illness. There is an assumption that I must always look the same. I hope to look better than I look now. But I’m not going to miss my festival.

Well done, Roger. Welcome back.

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Some people are natural athletes. Some are gifted in the arts. Those gifted with a mind for numbers and systems contribute in engineering and sciences and more. It’s these natural gifts that allow each of us the opportunity to shine in our own way, to make the world that much better for those still to come.Tammie Reed can talk.”Everyone has a gift,” says Tammie. “Mine is running my mouth.”

Late nights, long hours.It’s 10:00PM and I’m just wrapping up a class on technology marketing for a group of engineers made up of folks from Intel, Synopsis, and Tektronix. They look tired, but they’re tracking the material, studying hard, and putting in what it takes in these late nights, long hours.They know education, these folks. There are eight of them in class and not only do they have their bachelor’s degrees in computer science and master’s degrees in engineering, they’re here studying marketing with me as part of their MBA regimen. And still, in spite of the years they’ve put into their academic careers, this is hard work.

Here is an interesting interview with Robert Scoble on the “sensational” transition he made from Microsoft Blogger to instant new media pundit:

http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2022650,00.asp

I’ve been fascinated by Robert’s rise to fame and have been eagerly watching his new ScobleShow over at PodTech.

He’s worth a view — mostly because of the unbelievable access he gets with his camera and jolliness. He’s technology’s Gomer Pyle, and somehow that congeniality has made him the go-to guy for new media.

Go figure. But congratulations anyway, Robert. Keep the interviews coming.

Looks like one of our own is making good in gamespace — here is a nice article from Jesse Upchurch on video game addiction that just hit gamecareerguide.com. I’ve been playing a ton of Second Life lately — not to mention my latest re-discovery of XBox Live.

In these games, the player takes on the role of an avatar that ventures through an elaborate fantasy world and interacts with other real players and NPCs (non-playing characters). The attraction of this genre of games can sometimes lead to players feeling the need to play even to the detriment of other aspects of their life. This leads to a question that many have debated and are still debating today: is it possible to be addicted to an online video game?

I didn’t think it was possible to be addicted to the games. Sure, I play hours upon hours of “Gears of War” online, but no — not until I introduced my father in law to Zuma did I realize the true danger of online gaming to humanity.

I like Bill Belew’s blogging because he gets that education, whether for-profit or non-profit, is a business.

15 Reasons Why University of Phoenix Thinks Wall Street Has it Wrong”

That’s an important distinction because at the end of the day, no matter your philosophical stance on the matter, you need to make sure you can keep the lights on and faculty in the classroom. Thirty years ago, we chose to go the for-profit route and have been able to ensure adherence to one of the core tenets of our mission: everyone who wants a chance to get educated should get a seat at that table.

This is one of the most fun distractions I’ve seen today. Draw something, start the Scribbler, and email the pics to us!

http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/

The first public article went live at midnight here:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0926biz-namingrights0926.html

It’s way too late for me to write too much that’s articulate, but I’ve been told that there’s a press conference at 10:00 AM PST to announce details and that we’d all know more then. I’ve got a chat scheduled with the folks who put the deal together tomorrow (today!) afternoon and will hopefully post more about how this came about then.

Capella University commissioned a study recently on the value of returning to school. The results lend support for just about everything we’re doing in the industry to figure out the rapidly evolving learning models. You can find the results site at http://www.degreesofopportunity.org. There’s also an interview with the head researcher on the page, Dr. Lyungai Mbilinyi from University of Washington.

Amidst all the brouhaha about quality of education, it appears that the number of people wanting to head back to school in a non-traditional fashion just keeps growing, fueling the fly-by-night programs and extending this sharks v. jets street fight between the traditionals. We need to move past this. From the findings:

• Only one-third of those who would like more education said that they would “probably pursue this.â€�
• The top two barriers to pursuing higher education were:

• • Finding the time for school amidst work, family, and other commitments.
  • Finding the money for school, including the need to provide for themselves and their family while attending school.

We need to launch a campaign that educates on the realities of education — not just the beyond-the-degree benefits. I was talking with Mark Alexander today about other student services organizations that exist specifically to support the extra-curricular needs of students. This one struck me: Student Resource Services.

What genius, right? With now a full 60% of attendance in higher education coming from a non-traditional age range (from the survey and interview), it should make perfect sense that this group begin to demand the same services they receive at work from their Employee Support Organizations. What are the biggest obstacles for colleges and universities to get into this sort of support business for their students?

On the heels of my last post, Joe Cockrell sends me this article from the AOL Research & Learn site. It mentions one of our students, but the sentiment is broader. Take a read — it makes me want to go to class…

And seriously… baby boomers are hitting 60 at a rate of one ever 7 seconds? I guess the more important question is for how long?

Career Comebackers – by Vicki Salemi