Comments on: Important skills in the digital age http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:29:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Nonlinear culture. | From The Head Of Zeus Jones http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1392 Nonlinear culture. | From The Head Of Zeus Jones Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:39:25 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1392 [...] Like everyone else, I am currently reading Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. While I haven’t read enough to have a point-of-view on his main thesis, I am intrigued by the idea that we are losing our ability to read long-form content (like books) and to follow a linear argument. Carr’s view is that we can’t focus. This is something that has been echoed by a number of other researchers. [...] [...] Like everyone else, I am currently reading Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. While I haven’t read enough to have a point-of-view on his main thesis, I am intrigued by the idea that we are losing our ability to read long-form content (like books) and to follow a linear argument. Carr’s view is that we can’t focus. This is something that has been echoed by a number of other researchers. [...]

]]> By: daniel chilla http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1391 daniel chilla Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:22:29 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1391 The internet, as i have studied young adults, becomes more and more of a reposatory for knowledge that is tangible like: facts, formal procedures, formulas and so on. In contrast to this we have tacit knowledge or knowledge situated in the person. Which is knowledge about processes that we might or might not be aware of. (aware of as in being able to put words to our knowledge)<br><br>Therefore knowledge about processes (solving problems, "getting things done", tacit or not) will be the main asset for students, and the workforce in generall, in the competition for employment. <br><br>Today the educational system and the business world measures the tangible knowledge but does often not know how to measure and evaluate tacit or knowledge about processes. <br><br>Therefore two of the biggest challenges in the future will be 1 - to aquire the problem solving skills (ie learn how to learn) and 2 - measuring tacit knowledge or the skill to solve problems. <br><br>You can read more about this in my essay on my webb page, <a href="http://www.chillafilm.se/hemsida/index2.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.chillafilm.se/hemsida/index2.html</a> . Unfortunatly only the abstract is in English. The internet, as i have studied young adults, becomes more and more of a reposatory for knowledge that is tangible like: facts, formal procedures, formulas and so on. In contrast to this we have tacit knowledge or knowledge situated in the person. Which is knowledge about processes that we might or might not be aware of. (aware of as in being able to put words to our knowledge)

Therefore knowledge about processes (solving problems, “getting things done”, tacit or not) will be the main asset for students, and the workforce in generall, in the competition for employment.

Today the educational system and the business world measures the tangible knowledge but does often not know how to measure and evaluate tacit or knowledge about processes.

Therefore two of the biggest challenges in the future will be 1 – to aquire the problem solving skills (ie learn how to learn) and 2 – measuring tacit knowledge or the skill to solve problems.

You can read more about this in my essay on my webb page, http://www.chillafilm.se/hemsida/index2.html . Unfortunatly only the abstract is in English.

]]> By: daniel chilla http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-2862 daniel chilla Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:22:00 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-2862 The internet, as i have studied young adults, becomes more and more of a reposatory for knowledge that is tangible like: facts, formal procedures, formulas and so on. In contrast to this we have tacit knowledge or knowledge situated in the person. Which is knowledge about processes that we might or might not be aware of. (aware of as in being able to put words to our knowledge) Therefore knowledge about processes (solving problems, "getting things done", tacit or not) will be the main asset for students, and the workforce in generall, in the competition for employment. Today the educational system and the business world measures the tangible knowledge but does often not know how to measure and evaluate tacit or knowledge about processes. Therefore two of the biggest challenges in the future will be 1 - to aquire the problem solving skills (ie learn how to learn) and 2 - measuring tacit knowledge or the skill to solve problems. You can read more about this in my essay on my webb page, http://www.chillafilm.se/hemsida/index2.html . Unfortunatly only the abstract is in English. The internet, as i have studied young adults, becomes more and more of a reposatory for knowledge that is tangible like: facts, formal procedures, formulas and so on. In contrast to this we have tacit knowledge or knowledge situated in the person. Which is knowledge about processes that we might or might not be aware of. (aware of as in being able to put words to our knowledge)

Therefore knowledge about processes (solving problems, “getting things done”, tacit or not) will be the main asset for students, and the workforce in generall, in the competition for employment.

Today the educational system and the business world measures the tangible knowledge but does often not know how to measure and evaluate tacit or knowledge about processes.

Therefore two of the biggest challenges in the future will be 1 – to aquire the problem solving skills (ie learn how to learn) and 2 – measuring tacit knowledge or the skill to solve problems.

You can read more about this in my essay on my webb page, http://www.chillafilm.se/hemsida/index2.html . Unfortunatly only the abstract is in English.

]]> By: adrianho http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1390 adrianho Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:32:26 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1390 Yes that's a great point. Also with experience come context and perspective, two things that are required for knowledge to become useful. Without these anything you look up are just facts, divorced from any real understanding. Yes that's a great point. Also with experience come context and perspective, two things that are required for knowledge to become useful. Without these anything you look up are just facts, divorced from any real understanding.

]]> By: adrianho http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-2858 adrianho Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:32:00 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-2858 Yes that's a great point. Also with experience come context and perspective, two things that are required for knowledge to become useful. Without these anything you look up are just facts, divorced from any real understanding. Yes that’s a great point. Also with experience come context and perspective, two things that are required for knowledge to become useful. Without these anything you look up are just facts, divorced from any real understanding.

]]> By: larryirons http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1389 larryirons Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:16:42 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1389 The point of the quote appears to echo the thesis of Peter Morville's Ambient Findability book. I always considered knowledge to result from experience, therefore my own point of view is that your discomfort with the quote is well placed. One must know the right questions to ask in order to pose the most relevant search phrases for machines to process. That knowledge comes from the experience required for learning to occur. Machines don't do that very well since machines don't experience anything. The point of the quote appears to echo the thesis of Peter Morville's Ambient Findability book. I always considered knowledge to result from experience, therefore my own point of view is that your discomfort with the quote is well placed. One must know the right questions to ask in order to pose the most relevant search phrases for machines to process. That knowledge comes from the experience required for learning to occur. Machines don't do that very well since machines don't experience anything.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-2856 Anonymous Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:16:00 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-2856 The point of the quote appears to echo the thesis of Peter Morville's Ambient Findability book. I always considered knowledge to result from experience, therefore my own point of view is that your discomfort with the quote is well placed. One must know the right questions to ask in order to pose the most relevant search phrases for machines to process. That knowledge comes from the experience required for learning to occur. Machines don't do that very well since machines don't experience anything. The point of the quote appears to echo the thesis of Peter Morville’s Ambient Findability book. I always considered knowledge to result from experience, therefore my own point of view is that your discomfort with the quote is well placed. One must know the right questions to ask in order to pose the most relevant search phrases for machines to process. That knowledge comes from the experience required for learning to occur. Machines don’t do that very well since machines don’t experience anything.

]]> By: deniseleeyohn http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1388 deniseleeyohn Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:23:26 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1388 adrian -- it seems to me that the ability to focus is important but not focus for focus' sake -- the ability to focus is only valuable if you know what to focus on and what to do with the information once you're focused on it -- this requires insight and inductive reasoning -- things that can't (easily?) be replicated by machines. adrian — it seems to me that the ability to focus is important but not focus for focus' sake — the ability to focus is only valuable if you know what to focus on and what to do with the information once you're focused on it — this requires insight and inductive reasoning — things that can't (easily?) be replicated by machines.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-2853 Anonymous Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:23:00 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-2853 adrian -- it seems to me that the ability to focus is important but not focus for focus' sake -- the ability to focus is only valuable if you know what to focus on and what to do with the information once you're focused on it -- this requires insight and inductive reasoning -- things that can't (easily?) be replicated by machines. adrian — it seems to me that the ability to focus is important but not focus for focus’ sake — the ability to focus is only valuable if you know what to focus on and what to do with the information once you’re focused on it — this requires insight and inductive reasoning — things that can’t (easily?) be replicated by machines.

]]> By: athenadalrymple http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1387 athenadalrymple Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:01:08 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1387 That's sweet of you, Adrian. All the best to you, too! That's sweet of you, Adrian. All the best to you, too!

]]> By: adrianho http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1386 adrianho Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:06 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1386 By the looks of things David is clearly very accomplished and obviously a practitioner of creative thinking too: <a href="http://verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com/winners/Bio-Detail.aspx?Winner=282d9ffa-a859-4a08-8452-8f60c1c5666a" rel="nofollow">http://verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com/winners/Bi...</a><br><br>I am not surprised you are so proud of him and he's lucky to have a mother like you!<br><br>All the best Athena<br>Adrian By the looks of things David is clearly very accomplished and obviously a practitioner of creative thinking too: http://verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com/winners/Bi…

I am not surprised you are so proud of him and he's lucky to have a mother like you!

All the best Athena
Adrian

]]> By: athenadalrymple http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1385 athenadalrymple Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:03:42 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1385 Okay, so not such a small world after all! I just looked up the Adrian I remembered and he has a twitter account different from yours (<a href="http://twitter.com/Adrianhon" rel="nofollow">http://twitter.com/Adrianhon</a>) and so it's not like you are the guy I met in CA at TED in 2001...you just have a really similar name! And I think a somewhat similar writing style and thinking style, to make it all the stranger (and perhaps stranger still, the other Adrian is someone else I wrote about something he had posted online back in 2001, about homeschooling, but I wrote him directly back then and not "out in the open"). Okay, so not such a small world after all! I just looked up the Adrian I remembered and he has a twitter account different from yours (http://twitter.com/Adrianhon) and so it's not like you are the guy I met in CA at TED in 2001…you just have a really similar name! And I think a somewhat similar writing style and thinking style, to make it all the stranger (and perhaps stranger still, the other Adrian is someone else I wrote about something he had posted online back in 2001, about homeschooling, but I wrote him directly back then and not “out in the open”).

]]> By: athenadalrymple http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-1384 athenadalrymple Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:54:30 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-1384 Adrian, wow, I didn't even realize when I responded before that you might be the Adrian we shared a taxi with back in 2001...your last name was slightly different/longer then if this is the same Adrian, and what a crazy small world it is if this is the same Adrian! I thought the original post was by someone with the last name Jones (how did this site get its name?)! Dozens if not hundreds of people have picked up David's essay and used it on their blogs and I only tried to clarify on three of them, and what are the odds that one would have been someone I've actually met in the flesh?! :O<br><br>Anyway, I think David was meaning to say (and I'll ask him about it when I next speak with him, which should be in a few days) that the ability to filter and focus is now more important for those who use the Internet than how much knowledge you can store in your brain rather than that critical thinking skills (we he also noted in his essay, but too much in passing to be much noticed) and creativity and such aren't even more important still. I think he goofed in how he worded his opening, though it might have been a lucky goof as it seems to have made for a far more provocative essay. But as I wrote to one of the other two bloggers on this topic, I am sure David knows focus *alone* won't get anyone anywhere just as when he uses (or buys) a camera, it's not just the ability of the camera's focus that matters to him, but how it stores data and uses in later to be shared.<br><br>Google is already filtering and focusing for us somewhat, so yes, there is already software doing those things. But if the end users can't focus enough to get off Facebook and/or AOL chatting, for example, to even use Google, that software won't be as useful in helping work to be done.<br><br>And if you are the Adrian who met us way back when, do you really think David (or either of his parents, or any of his grandparents for that matter, even though you never met any of them) would value focus over creativity? David's family has a number of patented inventors, published authors (with everything from something as bizarre at Greek poetry to something as dry as cancer research in "Science"), etc. in it and I think our whole family values creativity pretty heavily, never fear. :)<br><br>Finally, I saw your twitter post when I clicked on your name and you shouldn't be at all embarrassed by anything in this thread. There was nothing offensive in it to me....merely things I felt were not seeing things from the angle David sees them, but understandably so given his essay having the (cough) focus that it did! And David probably hasn't even seen your post yet as he's in the middle of a nine-day business and pleasure trip in Spain with his girlfriend, so it's not like he has said anything to me about your post. He likely won't ever see many posts mentioning his essay, but I'll point yours out to him given that I'm thinking you might have met and it's coincidental that I picked your post to comment on given all the others out there I could have picked and how few I bothered to respond to. David's a rather easy going person and I seriously doubt he'll be offended by anything you've posted, so seriously, don't be embarrassed!<br><br>Was nice touching base with you, especially if you are the same Adrian I am guessing you are! Had I any clue of that earlier, I would have started with "You might remember our having shared a taxi back in 2001...." rather than pointing out that I am David's mother so could have a biased view. Adrian, wow, I didn't even realize when I responded before that you might be the Adrian we shared a taxi with back in 2001…your last name was slightly different/longer then if this is the same Adrian, and what a crazy small world it is if this is the same Adrian! I thought the original post was by someone with the last name Jones (how did this site get its name?)! Dozens if not hundreds of people have picked up David's essay and used it on their blogs and I only tried to clarify on three of them, and what are the odds that one would have been someone I've actually met in the flesh?! :O

Anyway, I think David was meaning to say (and I'll ask him about it when I next speak with him, which should be in a few days) that the ability to filter and focus is now more important for those who use the Internet than how much knowledge you can store in your brain rather than that critical thinking skills (we he also noted in his essay, but too much in passing to be much noticed) and creativity and such aren't even more important still. I think he goofed in how he worded his opening, though it might have been a lucky goof as it seems to have made for a far more provocative essay. But as I wrote to one of the other two bloggers on this topic, I am sure David knows focus *alone* won't get anyone anywhere just as when he uses (or buys) a camera, it's not just the ability of the camera's focus that matters to him, but how it stores data and uses in later to be shared.

Google is already filtering and focusing for us somewhat, so yes, there is already software doing those things. But if the end users can't focus enough to get off Facebook and/or AOL chatting, for example, to even use Google, that software won't be as useful in helping work to be done.

And if you are the Adrian who met us way back when, do you really think David (or either of his parents, or any of his grandparents for that matter, even though you never met any of them) would value focus over creativity? David's family has a number of patented inventors, published authors (with everything from something as bizarre at Greek poetry to something as dry as cancer research in “Science”), etc. in it and I think our whole family values creativity pretty heavily, never fear. :)

Finally, I saw your twitter post when I clicked on your name and you shouldn't be at all embarrassed by anything in this thread. There was nothing offensive in it to me….merely things I felt were not seeing things from the angle David sees them, but understandably so given his essay having the (cough) focus that it did! And David probably hasn't even seen your post yet as he's in the middle of a nine-day business and pleasure trip in Spain with his girlfriend, so it's not like he has said anything to me about your post. He likely won't ever see many posts mentioning his essay, but I'll point yours out to him given that I'm thinking you might have met and it's coincidental that I picked your post to comment on given all the others out there I could have picked and how few I bothered to respond to. David's a rather easy going person and I seriously doubt he'll be offended by anything you've posted, so seriously, don't be embarrassed!

Was nice touching base with you, especially if you are the same Adrian I am guessing you are! Had I any clue of that earlier, I would have started with “You might remember our having shared a taxi back in 2001….” rather than pointing out that I am David's mother so could have a biased view.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-2852 Anonymous Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:01:00 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-2852 That's sweet of you, Adrian. All the best to you, too! That’s sweet of you, Adrian. All the best to you, too!

]]> By: adrianho http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2010/important-skills-in-the-digital-age/#comment-2851 adrianho Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/?p=1911#comment-2851 By the looks of things David is clearly very accomplished and obviously a practitioner of creative thinking too: http://verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com/winners/Bio-Detail.aspx?Winner=282d9ffa-a859-4a08-8452-8f60c1c5666a I am not surprised you are so proud of him and he's lucky to have a mother like you! All the best Athena Adrian By the looks of things David is clearly very accomplished and obviously a practitioner of creative thinking too: http://verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com/winners/Bio-Detail.aspx?Winner=282d9ffa-a859-4a08-8452-8f60c1c5666a

I am not surprised you are so proud of him and he’s lucky to have a mother like you!

All the best Athena
Adrian

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