Location-based services and L&D

When “checking in” via FourSquare at an iconic roadside BBQ and at an after-school soccer game (and even at Dunkin’ Donuts) I can’t help but scratch my head and wonder about location-based services and their use for L&D. Perhaps I can’t imagine their use because I post mundane information. (Basically, location-based social networking means you can share your physical location with others through GPS, mobile email, or text message.)

I’ve gotten beyond the ‘this shit’s creepy’ phase of location-based social networking (mainly because I’m always 20 tweets, 1 video camera, and 10 FB status updates shy of being a lifecaster anyway). I like to thing I’m helping populate the social web and not just dropping location crumbs for the people losers who stalk middle aged women at Dunkin’ Donuts.

What am I sharing beyond location? Well, I guess I’m saying “I’m here” or I’m looking for “who else is here” or “who else has been here.” That might help me find the right peopleĀ  in the right place at the right time. Or, it might help me make a decision (pumpkin muffin?). But what else?

I read this interview with Julia Grace and thought of the need for good communication in getting projects done. And good communication, to me, is about having some sort of connection beyond checklists and schedules. She mentions a particular exchange: “I read your Twitter stream. I feel like I know you” and I smiled because there are several people I feel the same way about. But, she’s also talking about how we’re losing…

…the “beautiful humanizing features of social networks are going away. It’s becoming more about finding information fast, and getting it to your network fast.”

Data. Not just people. Word clouds show us that (eXtended Web).

She talks about IBM’s Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler (STEM) which IBM researchers are using to explore data in new ways. She says:

“When I go to use something like Twitter, Facebook, and FourSquare, like all of us do, everything is always time ordered. But now that we’re generating truly global data, and we’re able to look at information on this global scale, location is more important than time. You need to know where information is coming from in order to really understand what’s going on.”


I find it funny that she goes back to the 80’s and PowerPoint before Microsoft bought it (PowerPoint: the number one choice for rapid e-learning since 1985). She demonstrates how we’re using data visualizations from the 1980s…”Whenever I see charts like these something inside me dies.” She sees us – in 2010 – being in a period of data purgatory. Trapped in Tron.

See this 10 minute video from Julie Grace. IBM researchers took geo-encoded data sets (Twitter, etc.) and put it on a 3D globe. (2D rendered on a 3D surface gives you distortion and inaccuracy, she says) to see a pandemic. So now I’m seeing it beyond Dunkin’ Donuts. Beyond mundane.

I see now that I’ve been thinking in 2D. Time ordered. So now I’m thinking about getting data out of 2D training data out of PowerPoint (or similar) and presenting it as a 3D visualization. Still not there yet…but getting there thanks to insanely bright people like Julie Grace.

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