Activity 1 - Culturability

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Activity 1 – Culture and the internet

The Yahoo! Sites

The main difference lies in the language and content. No big surprise really.

A comparison of the Chinese vs the Taiwanese and the Spanish vs the Catalonian sites shows that the desire to establish political identities supersedes culturability.

The icons depicted on the Chinese site are markedly different from the rest. Also the positioning of the links – while most sites have the links in a column on the left, the Chinese site has them in a bar lower on the page. Other wise, the reading direction is the same, from left to right.

From examining just the Yahoo and IBM sites, I find little evidence, beyond the Chinese yahoo site, of distinct cultural preferences and biases as stated by Barber and Badre (1998). Has there been a true merging of culture and usability due to exposure to various cultural presences on the Web? After all, it has been 10 years since B and B's paper was published.

My iceberg attempt – pls feel free to edit it!

Surface visible elements	Language – many of the Asian sites were in local languages except for those of the countries where English is widely used e.g. Malaysia, Philippines content of local interest colour – red is the predominant background colour in the Chinese Yahoo whereas all the others had blue
Unspoken rules, traditions, norms	Taboo topics e.g. criticism of royalty in Thailand and Malaysia Criticism of religion in Malaysian yahoo Criticism of government in Chinese yahoo
Unconscious rules, values, beliefs	Explicit nudity

Digital divide

Digital divide has been “somewhat” bridged

Seven years on from when Castells wrote “The Internet galaxy”, the digital divide between heavily populated urban areas and sparsely populated rural areas has been bridged, at least in the UK. According to Allen (2008), demand for internet connectivity was driven by the need for online shopping, banking and communication. Unfortunately, the global digital divide is still very real, although the gap has narrowed (BBC News, 2005).

Foulger (2002) states that there are 7 obstacles to bridging the global gap. These are:

Social and legal constraints – censorship and denial of access by governments (think China)

Economic priorities – Amongst the very poor, basic neccessities such as nutrition and health will come before internet access. However, there is an intermediate group that will find digital access just about affordable. This is where free and open source software can make an impact.

Literacy and language – In 2000, 68% of the Web was in English (ClickZ, 2000). I'm sure the statistics have changed by now (anyone has the latest stats?). However, there's no hiding the fact that if only a small percentage of your population is literate and in Amharic, for that matter, then the divide is bigger.

Basic infrastructure – Buildings with leaking roofs and sporadic power supply do not, as a rule, house computers.

Network infrastructure and connectivity – There has to be a complex layering of networks, such as networked schools, businesses, governments and local ISPs, for the Internet to build upon and connect.

Computer resources – Very much an economic concern.

Choice – There are those who prefer to distance themselves from technology. Not a problem? Well, as overall media turns digital, such people might isolate themselves from world of news and information. This obstacle is restricted to richer nations where the choice exists.

Web 2.0 digital divide

The term “digital divide” appeared as early as 1995 and referred then to “gaps in ownership of computers between groups” (Wikipedia). Later, Digital Divide.org points out that the real issue is not so much “about access to digital technology but about the benefits derived from access”. In the age of Web 2.0, characterised by social networking and democratic publications, unequal global access to the benefits of being connected means, amongst others, that citizens of unjust regimes do not have the technological means to unite their voices to overthrow their undeserving governments (Would Mugabe still be grinding his impoverished nation to dust if Zimbabwe was on the better side of the divide and could blog?).

Activity H806 - Online teaching approaches

This is a piece of Just-in-time learning and learning- by-doing. The learner should know how to clean, cook and eat the artichoke after following the lesson. The second objective is to guide the learner to some interesting facts on the artichoke.



Learn how to prepare and enjoy the artichoke

A seldom seen flower – the artichoke in full bloom Image from wikimediacommons


You are well aware that the Asian collaborators you have invited to dinner are gourmets always ready to try something exotic. What can you serve to impress her? How about an entree of artichokes?

Follow these steps to prepare an exciting entree for four and dazzle your guests with some interesting information on the artichoke at the same time.

The low-fat dip
First prepare the dip. You need 800ml plain yoghurt, strained through a muslin cloth till about half the weight remains. Press 1 garlic pip into the strained yoghurt, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and salt to taste.

Cynara scolymus Image from wikimediacommons

The artichoke
You need 4 fresh globe artichokes. To clean the artichokes, refer to this blog. Then steam the artichokes in a big pot of water with two lemon halves for about 45 mins. They are done when you can pull the leaves off easily. Serve the artichokes hot with a bowl of dip for each guest.


And now ... tuck in!
To eat the artichoke, refer to the blog again.


Here are two short articles about the artichoke to provide you with material to break the ice as you tuck into this unusual vegetable.
Appreciating the artichoke
The artichoke on wikipedia

Knowledge, skills and methods and approaches to learning that are necessary for working, learning and living in a connected economy

The connected economy has no lack of information. On the contrary, there is an overwhelming amount on the Web. Castells (2001, p.90) believes labour plays an important role in this economy, retrieving, processing and applying information. To this, I would add that workers should be discerning users of this information with the ability to separate online propaganda and misinformation from correct and exact intelligence that adds not detracts knowledge.

Information technology has been progressing at an increasing higher speed since the first IBM PC came out in the 1981. To keep up with the ever changing information brought about by increasing sophisticated information technology, one has to re-train and re-learn continually throughout one's working life (Castells, 2001, p.91). Learning how to learn is therefore an important skill as lifelong learning becomes an inevitability for the knowledge worker. It is no longer sufficient to acquire knowledge through specific information as the information becomes obsolete in a fraction of our professional lives.

Another feature of the connected economy is the ease which which we can set up self-employment and work from an “office” at home due to the enhanced connectivity. Combined with the noticeable fading lifelong employment with a single employer, this calls for a flexible and self-programmable workforce (Castells, 2001, p.95) with more generic skills.

Lifelong learning includes the need to learn formally and/or informally at the workplace. Beitler and Mitlacher (2007) found that employees who are highly self-directed learners¹ are more willing to help their colleagues by sharing their acquired knowledge and information, thus fostering learning at work. In our information-based society, the sharing of information is essential “because organisations that effectively share information show higher levels of productivity” (Beitler and Mitlacher, 2007). The success of formal and informal learning at the workplace is supported by the sharing of information amongst workers. Can this finding be extended to other cultures? Korean corporate culture puts the company before the individual which one expects extends to sharing information with peers, although Korean learners are generally less self-directed learners than their Western counterparts.

Gongla and Rizzuto (2001) also recognise that to do well in the connected economy, knowledge workers have to participate in the sharing of knowledge on a daily basis. This involves not only the dissemination of data but also the exchange of ideas and knowledge with other individuals experienced in the same or related field of work. Such interaction can lead to communities of practice which pool their knowledge together to work towards innovative and creative solutions. One characteristic of a community of practice is collaboration. In order to collaborate well, individuals should have key competencies such as interpersonal communication, networking, curiousity and the ability to associate ideas.

Conclusion

The literature calls for “new” skills and approaches to learning in a connected economy. Among them the ability to process online information, willingness to share information and knowledge, flexibility to engage in lifelong learning and in acquiring new skills, and interpersonal skills to collaborate in teams. It would be interesting if more work could be done in ascertaining if learners of non-Western cultures will have to undergo similar changes in learning mindset to perform well in a connected economy.

References:

Beitler, M. and Mitlacher, L. (2007) 'Information sharing, self-directed learning and its implications for workplace learning', Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 19, No. 8, pp. 526 – 535.

Castells, M. (2001) The internet galaxy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gongla, P. and Rizzuto, C.R. (2001) 'Evolving communities of practice: IBM Global Services experience', IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 40 No. 4

Endnotes:

¹ Self-directed learning is defined as a process in which “individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies and evaluating learning outcomes”.

Reliability of Online Information

RELIABILITY OF ONLINE INFORMATION

With Web 2.0, anyone with broadband connection can self-publish their work. Unlike in the days of old when publishing on your own was derogatorily called “vanity publishing”, the mantra today is collective knowledge contributed by specialists and lay alike. This has resulted in a plethora of information that is accessible online. However, can we trust what we read? CNET News.com CNET News.com warns that people should not believe all they read especially on the Internet.

According to a survey by the BMJ on Reliability of health information for the public on the world wide web: systematic survey of advice on managing fever in children at home, suggests that there is an urgent need to check public oriented healthcare information on the internet for accuracy, completeness, and consistency. Health Insite, an Australian government initiative, has a checklist of questions that users can ask to assess the trustworthiness of health information websites, such as the credentials of the author and whether her contact details are visible on the site, the reputability of the publisher, how often the site is up-dated, and whether the producers of the site have a commercial interest.

Cornell University Library provides five criteria for evaluating web pages in general - by taking into account the accuracy, authority , objectivity, currency and coverage of the sites, while the UCLA College Library urges readers to think critically about World Wide Web resources by considering the content and evaluation, source and date and the structure. The Sheridan Libraries of the John Hopkins University warns the reader of online propaganda, misinformation and disinformation, and provides practical steps in evaluating internet resources, three of which - authorship, publishing body and currency - can be investigated online. And finally, METRAC, the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence against Women and Children, provides help at a more basic level with valuable information on how to judge the authenticity of URLs.

Democratic Web 2.0?

According to Graham (2005), Web 2.0 is democratic. Is it? A 2002 study revealed that over 55% of all web content was in English. Considering this, how democratic is the web for English illiterates? And this is just taking into account those who have broadband. Despite MIT's laudable OLPC project, many in the developing world have never heard of Web 2.0 much less participated in it.

Graham, P. (2005) Web 2.0, http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html

Is online learning necessarily constructivist in approach - the Korean context?

The fact that many Asians learn with the instructionist approach and still are successful makes me wonder. E.g. the Korean teachers of English I interviewed last year. They were aware of the two approaches but practised mainly if not only the instructivist approach. Their reason: cultural values. Korean culture is influenced by Confucian philosophy which emphasises deference to one's elders and figures of authority, unquestioning obedience and conformance to rules.

However, in international league tables, (South) Koreans do well in Maths and the sciences, but poorly in langauages. Korea leads in broadband penetration (place 7 in the world), computer to student ratio is one of highest in OECD, and online learning is already a feature of education there. This need not infer that Korean students engage successfully in online learning with a high degree of instructivist approach. Instead, Koreans were probably strong in these subjects before the advent of online learning. Would a study of the Korean wikipedia give clues to their learning approach (the more articles, the more they lean towards a constructivist approach)?