How NPR Is Preparing for “The Year of the Podcast”

So 2015 will be the year of the podcast? Ok by me.

“I will say we’re working on a number of different ideas,” he says. “Our hope is to really embrace the opportunity we see in front of us in podcasting. This is a great, golden moment. The popularity of Serial has shown this is not just a niche platform: This is a mainstream platform, and we should be treating it like that.”

via How NPR Is Preparing for “The Year of the Podcast” | Media | Washingtonian.

Accountability Mindset

I really like this thinking …

At the core of Job’s mentality was the “accountability mindset” — meaning that processes were put in place so that everybody knew who was responsible for what. As Lachinsky described, Internal Applespeak even has a name for it, the “DRI,” or directly responsible individual. Often the DRI’s name will appear on an agenda for a meeting, so everybody knows who is responsible. “Any effective meeting at Apple will have an action list,” says a former employee. “Next to each action item will be the DRI.” A common phrase heard around Apple when someone is trying to learn the right contact on a project: “Who’s the DRI on that?”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-meeting-techniques-2014-12#ixzz3MvFcPPf2

[Digital] Expression

By now many of you have seen the new Holiday advertisement from Apple, “The Song.” It follows in the wake of last year’s Apple Holiday ad that brought many people to tears (at least the ones who appreciate Apple). This year’s ad follows a similar, but perhaps less controversial path — a young woman discovers a recording made by her Grandmother for her Grandfather presumably before he is deployed for the war. The discovered recording is on a record — you remember those things, right? I could go on, but here it is …

I liked the ad instantly for a lot of reasons — I am an Apple fan and have been since the very early 80’s, so it is easy for me. But, the thing that I really liked was how much it leaned on the notion of digital expression. The last 10 years of my work has been focused on a couple of core concepts and one of them is the notion of digital expression as a new form of scholarship. This line of thinking actually came to life to me many years ago while working as a part of an Apple advisory board called, the Digital Campus. My assertion was that it wasn’t enough to just sell students technology tools, instead we need to combine the tools with new forms of pedagogy, physical spaces, and support to create an eco-system that can systematically support digital expression as a form of scholarship. Actually, if you’ve ever heard me give a talk, I typically wrap up with the following slide …

Slide

Recently I watched the behind the scenes production of, “The Song” made by Apple. Take a look and notice the use of a specific type of technology enhanced creation space.

Last week I came across a story for the One Button Studio concept that we built at Penn State as a piece to our Media Commons initiative. Many of you have heard me talk about that studio and the ideas behind it. I am trying to get our first one built here at Stony Brook to advance our focus on digital expression as a form of scholarship. We have to see that the physical space is part of systematically supporting that notion — you need to craft a value chain of sorts. Faculty development, pedagogical awareness, instructional design support, and physical spaces that can enhance, inspire, and promote digital expression across multiple curricula.

I say this knowing full well that our students are creating more digital artifacts of their learning every single day. I also know that more and more of our faculty are interested in assigning new types of assignments that are pushing our students to have new skills to tell new kinds of stories. Connected to that are the skills we as technologists need to grow to help develop that eco-system. Just like in, “The Song” we need to pair the technology with inspiration, create forward facing spaces that promote this type of work, and deliver platforms that can easily promote the idea that digital expression is in fact an important part of the teaching and learning landscape in higher education.

#SBUDoIT CIO Briefing 2: Did You Know

It is a little later than I had hoped to get it out, but here it is … the second CIO Briefing podcast. This five minute podcast will share some behind the scenes commentary on the production of the 2014 holiday greeting video as well as short updates on governance, SUNY 2020, a presentation I did for SteerCo called, “Beyond Gmail,” and a shout out for some great work being done at the new Stony Brook Arena. Enjoy and please leave comments, questions, and feedback — it is all very much appreciated!

Competition

I’ve been testing Chromebooks quite a bit lately and after reading this review of an inexpensive Windows 8 machine versus a Chromebook I can agree with at least one overarching thought …

Here’s the bright side of the Chromebook vs. Windows battle. The longer it rages on, the better these modern Windows netbooks will get. This fight isn’t for our $200. It’s about keeping us plugged into Microsoft’s services and software rather than Google’s.

via HP Stream 11 Review: A $200 Windows Laptop That’s Worth the Price – WSJ.