On this page you will find resources that 'float our boat' and reflect our approach to elearning and instructional design - not all of them directly elearning related. We hope they will inspire you too!
The Diamond Age, a novel by Neal Stephenson (Kindle edition)
I've always enjoyed sci-fi novels, but not your straight-up spaceships and aliens stuff. I like 'cyberpunk' and more recently, 'steampunk' - genres that take present or past technologies and then surmise what might happen if these were highly developed, or developed more rapidly following invention. Cyberpunk and steampunk look at the effect that this might have on society and the way people interact.I've only just discovered Neal Stephenson, on a recommendation from an old friend. I'm on my third book of his 'The Diamond Age', which I'm devouring using the Kindle app on my iPad and iPhone.
Stephenson is an expert at creating incredibly detailed worlds which you explore through his characters. The Diamond Age is set in a near future where we have mastered nanotechnology. Anything can be inexpensively created using matter compilers that assemble at a molecular level, so food and shelter are essentially free. Society has separated out into 'phyles' - large tribes that exist across the globe. Each phyle has its own culture, personality and laws.
Society is rigidly structured into classes with the New Victorians being the upper class and the 'thetes' being the lowest class. In an effort to educate his granddaughter, one of the wealthiest self-made New Victorians commissions a 'Young Lady's Interactive Primer' from a leading nano-tech engineer - essentially an interactive teaching book. The book pairs with a reader and then observes them within their environment, responding to their needs by teaching them the skills and the knowledge they need to excel.
An illegal copy of the book falls into the hands of a four year old 'thete' girl, Nell, from an abusive, broken home. Her mother cares little for her and has a string of boyfriends who abuse the girl to varying degrees. Over the course of years, the book teaches the girl how to protect herself, outwit those abusing her and finally escape with her brother, Harv. The Diamond Age charts her rise through society, assisted by her teaching book.
Yep, you've got there before me - Nell is undertaking elearning. The Primer is not unlike devices that we are beginning to see, devices that can respond to our touch, voice and gesture and that give us access to vast amounts of information and even tailor it to our needs. The Primer has artificial intelligence, something I dabbled with 10 years ago in a learning context, but apart from that, much of it sounds less like science-fiction and more like fact.
Some of the interactive storybooks that you can get on the iPad are tremendous. My kids return again and again to play on 'The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore' , an interactive book that includes spelling games, colouring interactions and a piano that teaches you to play a nursery rhyme. Bjork has also created a truly beautiful and inspiring app to explore her new album, learn about the structure and theory of music through play, and explore how music relates to nature.
One of the reasons I'm enjoying the Diamond Age to the extent that I am, is that much of the technology it shows is just around the corner. As William Gibson (the father of cyberpunk) says: 'The future is already here, it's just not very evenly distributed'.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diamond-Age-Illustrated-Primer-ebook/dp/B002RI9DQ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8
Archives 2012
