I had a conversation with Dr. Anna Wilson about embedding virtual information in objects or places and what this means to education.

Oh and then there is also business and government to consider, how can they uses these tools.

This is not magic this is a how-to use tool that can effect amazing social change.

BUT are we ready to start teaching this?

Well here it is!

Here is the short and sweet of what it is all about.

Creative mom Wendy Tsao sets out to strengthen that relationship with Child’s Own Studio, which she founded to make custom stuffed plushie toys based on kids’ drawings. “When my son started kindergarten, his school asked for a comfort toy to put in his emergency preparation kit. Instead of sending in one of his favorite stuffed toys or running to the store to buy something, I decided to sew one myself” she explains. “I was thinking of making his favorite animal, but then I saw his self-portrait. He drew it all the time, and it always—more or less—looked the same, with huge eye circles, stick arms and ten long wispy digits. So, I thought, ‘why not?’ And when I was finished, my son immediately recognized it and was very appreciative.”

So there we have it another great, maybe crazy idea, brought to life!

I co-curated the 1st TEDxDubai with Giorgio Ungania in 2009, an amazingly HUGE event right out of the blocks.

Then I found my home in events that are youth and education centered.

Education centered in that they are organized by schools.

TEDxAbuDhabiU was my favorite until TEDxZU 6!

The 6th TEDxZU event was exactly what is said on the box, short, to the point, student centered and idea heavy.

The hosting was over the top!

There is no right or wrong TEDx event but from where I am sitting a 60 minute event in the middle of the day, where I work, AMAZING.

Here are the podcast links to the 6th TEDxZU event.

I think this event was flawless you be the judge.

We took the TEDxZU experience out of the random public space of the atrium into the auditorium of the University.

For all that was lost in the random spontaneous aspect of the show what we gained was a huge amount of credibility.

At this event we had HE Sheikh Nahyan the Minister of Higher Education and Research speaking as well as the CEO of du Mr. Osman Sultan.

The show opened with Ayshah talking old tech and was followed by Suad talking experience and Jack Hillwig re-directing education.

The point of TEDxZU is it is a ZU community event for the ZU community.

Did I mention the co-hosts, Alyaah and Nour, were also ZU students?

In my experience the optimum TEDx event is 60 minutes long and smack dab in the middle of the day between the normal drudge.

Here is a sample of what happened.

Oh and by the way these were recorded off of my iPhone, not bad!

HE Sheikh Nahayan

Mr. Osman Sultan

Dr. Jack Hillwig

One of the parts of the show I really enjoy is talking a look at some of the new technology out there and doing some hands on testing.

We looked at 2 items last night on the program.

But I always thought of IBM as this big faceless company that made mainframe computers.

Yes I know they had been a big player in personal computing but that never stuck with me, and not them either.

Then I happened upon this whole new face of IBM, the idea of social business.

Cool.

And the 60 second videos say it all!

And what was the revelation for IBM over the last 10 years? Really the same one we are all facing and for the most part in a corporate context doing very poorly, speaking to people as people and not objects.

It’s no longer a BtoB or BtoC relationship. It’s PtoP.
People to people isn’t about file sharing. It means that every department, from HR to marketing to product development to customer service, uses social media the way it uses any other tool and channel to do its job. A company that uses social networking tools fluently to communicate with people inside and outside the company acts as a Social Business.

I love the way IBM has framed the idea of a social business because as I think about radio or education the rules also apply.

IBM has identified three distinct characteristics of a Social Business:

• A Social Business is engaged—deeply connecting people, including customers, employees, and partners, to be involved in productive, efficient ways.
• A Social Business is transparent—removing boundaries to information, experts and assets, helping people align every action to drive business results.
• A Social Business is nimble—speeding up business with information and insight to anticipate and address evolving opportunities.

This is a little piece worth reading and keeping on your desk the next time you are asked where are we going in this industry.

This course has changed a lot since we first started it, but it has always stayed very true to the core idea of combining what has been learned in the curriculum of the communication college to real world activities.

My latest projects are all based around sound.

Part of the motivation to work with sound is my love for radio and the ability it has to be the ultimate education tool.

And then there is the fact that my students have a huge amount of technology on their person daily.

Laptop, phone, camera, MP3 players and more.

So what if we could use a students personal technology, their skills and my passion for radio to create a learning tool for UAE Nationals and expats alike?

The project involves students finding a sound that reminds them of something in their life.

Students record the sound on their phones and import them to their laptops.

Once the sound is on the laptop they record and intro and description of the sound and edit the whole thing together.

The result is magic!

And the reality is that while my students are not recording experts they have all the tools and talent to work in sound NOW.

We live in a technology enabled world but how much thought are we actually giving to that technology and its implications?

The reality is not enough.

Rick opens up some interesting doors for continued exploration of the ideas of technology and society.

When I say talent, in this case anyway, I am talking about cultural talent.

My Canadian sensibility leads me to listen to music that is being produced here in the UAE as a piece of UAE culture.

Well, last night on Nightline I had Paul Kelly of TripleW.me joining me in studio with 2 UAE based music producer, WOW.

Dylan Ellis, www.dylan-ellis.com, and Joshua Williams, www.joshuafwilliams.com, showed me a whole side of the UAE I did not even know existed.

Dylan and Josh not only talked about themselves but also the industry that they are helping shape int he UAE.

They are a perfect example of “anything is possible”.

Not only did we have a great chat that is well worth the listen, but they also brought in a track each that they have produced.

What a heard immediately was music of a global standard that could have been produced in LA or London, but it was produced here.

I enjoyed this interview, give it a listen.

And here is the music of Absolace and Beat Antenna at a little higher sample quality.

Cultural industries in the UAE are alive and well!