SYNERGY-NET on
<P>
RE:
The Synergy Journal: Nature does makes leaps ? Look before
you jump ...THE PROBLEM of ACCESS: on http://pages.prodigy.net/pflaump/~
<P>
Some rough figures.
There are about 150 million school children
( 6 to 18 ) in the places with the infrastructure that can now
support the Internet, about 1/3 in North America, 1/3 in Europe
and 1/3 in Asia. Less than 2 % now have any meaningful Internet
access.
<P>
There are about 30 million post secondary students with computers
and possible access, maybe 11 % now have any meaningful Internet
access this is the same as the other 350 million households and
firms with computers that could now access the Internet, only 11%
now have some sort of access.
The rates of growth will double
these figures each years so that by 2000 30% will be using the
Internet or about 125 millions computers.
<P>
Thinking and doing learning is and will be very different.
The
Internet is a new life form, and those that learn to use it will
be significantly better off than those who don't. You need to
learn Hypertext linking now. All other office and educational
systems are at a disadvantage.
<P>
You can't count on existing systems such as public education,
colleges and universities to provide what is needed. Individuals
need to take charge, wake up, pay attention, be ready for this
non-liner change. Evolution does not happen is slow steady, small
steps but it also happens in sudden extinctions and bursts on new
life forms.<P>
<PRE>
Much of this statistical information is now available on
NCES's new Web site:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.ed.gov/NCES/
For a sampling of what you'll find there, please read on.
How well are U.S. students doing in reading, history, geography,
& other subjects?
<P>
For example:
<P>
EDUCATORS HOME PAGE
Enrich your teaching and reach out to new learners using
technology. Here are resources that can help: strategy
papers, staff development resources, evaluation tools, and
more.
HIGHLIGHTS
RFP for Noncredit Online Courses
CONNECT WITH ENGLISH at TESOL
New Geography Series
SIGNATURE Videoconference
The Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Project Web Site
Participate in the global migration project Journey North or read about the latest
techniques in the teaching of math and science in the Math and Science Guide to
Reform.
Copyright by THE ANNENBERG/CPB PROJECT
Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to info@learner.org
<P></PRE>
Suzanne Toomey Spinks <af060@FreeNet.Buffalo.EDU>
TO:
<P>
I too am using a freenet system through the University. An
interesting concept, developed at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland Ohio. Community access and public/private
partnership in funding.
<P>
b) I am using a Lynx system via university - I actually dial in
from home using an old Amiga 500, 2400 baud modem and a VT100
emulation programmed - the mail system is PINE (not sure what
version) but the point is I get zillions of formatting commands
distributed through the text - any clues on how to make it more
readable for myself??
<P>
REPLY FROM Suzanne: Until a few weeks ago, I too was using a
2400 baud, 8088 chip laptop. I was perfectly happy with what I
had. Technology has a way of advancing too fast. I don't worry,
Use what I have and push it to the limits and beyond. Saved my $$
and bought a multi media system with too many whistles and dials.
Thing is, there probably will not be a final decision for quite
some time about how data and info will be transmitted, so my
advice is, don't rush to get the latest, it isn't the latest for
long and you may even cripple yourself by spending too much
too soon. digital, wireless, fiber optic, satellites,
microwave??? one or all? Who knows what will be the mix? It's a
gold rush atmosphere. Caveat emptor.
<P>
Well that's about it for the time being - except I noticed some
comments about not relying on universities, colleges etc.. in
the current issue....well I would like to point out that there
are many -VERY MANY- people who are not financially able to
access even a moderate level of up to date technology ( I am a
tertiary graduate of 10 years living in Australia and it is a
struggle for me to maintain my meager system) - as you
can see from the description of my system I am at the low end
of technology but it only cost me about $200 Australian to get
the access I have - thanks
<P>
to my university which provides free E-mail, Internet access,
ftp, etc to all students - if it weren't for them you wouldn't
be hearing from me now!!
<P>
REPLY FROM Suzanne: See above. And let's hear it for the
Universities. At least some.
They are changing and looking at
what their roles will be in future.
The Internet changes
everything. Well, not everything. Think about places on the
planet that don't have running water. No electricity, no
knowledge about what's available and not at all
in a position to crave digital. But still in a position to leap
over some of the more cumbersome infrastructures. A satellite
dish and some solar power add a few lap tops, cellular phones add
they could be connected.
<P>
Not a lot of copper wire, generators, hydro, central switching
etc.
Also, the research and technology and computer sci departments of
many universities are developing and maintaining much of what
manages the information flow on the Internet. PINE for example is
designed and managed from the Univ of Wisconsin, ( Washington )
(I think)
<P>
<I>Peter: I think you have just proven my point.
The low level of
access is because all big institutions, business and schools
have their priorities wrong. I was just talking to a local boy
who finished the IB program:
<A HREF="charter.htm">IB program </A>
and is going to MIT. MIT gave him $20,000 of the $30,000 annual
cost. I thought that the cost is too high for humanities or
social science. You have to go to MIT or Cal Tech to get a good
return on investment - financial and all that effort.</I>
<P>
Don't forget the WORKING POOR!!
<P>
REPLY FROM Suzanne: I have just investigated an open market in
a mainly Hispanic Bario in Buffalo NY where I will establish a
secondary market for used and useful high tech "stuff" gadgets
that people own but have replaced with next generation of
"stuff". Trader Tech. If people can buy what they can afford, use
it and keep trading up in the secondary market, at least they
will be able to access the world better.
<P>
Suzanne Toomey Spinks, Buffalo NY, President, Hostelling
Intl.Niagara Frontier Council American Youth Hostels.Promoting
world understanding through travel and cultural exchange. Drop a
pebble on the beach and shake a star.
<P>
C.R.E.A. Institute Creativity Research, Evolution, Application
If you need a Dream and Do Team, E-mail me.
From: michael.gaffney@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (Michael Gaffney)
<P>
Tom tells us of some of the changes occurring in education, and
yes it is big business, people are spending lots of money on
hardware, software and more recently professional development to
integrate this material into the educational process. In addition
learning is occuring as a result of the computers presence but it
is more difficult to show that it would not have happened if the
computer is not there. This would not be a problem if there
were unlimited resources available but when decisions are made to
purchase computers and forego other resources then the rationale
is no longer straight forward and schools must be more critical
in their decision making.
<P>
Yes computers are taking on an almost omnipresent status in
western societies but that presence is a result of the decisions
made by people given the knowledge they have at the time.
Research has a small part to play. A recent example of our own is
the CU-Seeme tool for desktop video conferencing. We put it in
several classrooms and used it within several different learning
contexts to find that it was better suited to certain
types of learning activities. Teachers are much more receptive of
ideas if we can say we have made this tool work successfully when
used in this manner but avoid these problems or scenarios. This
reduces the energy required for teachers to integrate technology
into the classroom and greatly improves the chances that its use
will be successful and thus used more than once.
<P>
The majority of teachers, I find, are unwilling to expend large
amounts of energy on making technology work successfully in the
classroom.
They prefer it if someone has done most of the hard
work as they would rather spend their 'spare' hours doing other
things. At the same time we are very appreciative of the few
teachers who are willing to spend large amounts of time getting
technology to work in the classroom.
Their dedication makes
our research possible.
<P>
Teachers are becoming more critical of technology and thus as an
advocate for technology I have to be more accountable for what I
say. Word of mouth has a bigger impact than research reports when
it actually comes to getting technology into schools.
<P>
regards
Michael Gaffney
<P>
)^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(
) Michael Gaffney Phone: 479 5098 (
) Childrens' Issues Centre, email: (
) Otago University Michael.Gaffney@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (
) New Zealand Educjmg@rivendell.otago.ac.nz (
) (
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----
DEOS-L is a service provided to the Distance Education community
by
The American Center for the Study of Distance Education,
The
Pennsylvania
State University. Opinions expressed are those of DEOS-L
subscribers,
and do not constitute endorsement of any opinion, product, or
service by
ACSDE or Penn State.
<P>
Physical reality, and social realities are not what they seem. We
impose order on a system that is uncertain.
The internet is and
will cause big changes ( downsizing ), new bursts of evolutionary
creativity, more losers than winners. Visit Synergy Site for a
unstable view of an unstable world.
<P>
NOTE:
The experiment: Please download this into your word
processor and E-mail it back to me at
Wiredbrain before
Friday June 21 th.
The Synergy process is for you to provide input to the draft
copy which is on:
Wiredbrain home site/synergy/NEW/syj615.htm
for the hypertext version and syj615.txt for plain text.
and in Synergy Journal June 7.txt
<P>
RE:
The Synergy Journal contributions:
<P>
We are looking for additions and comments for "
The Synergy
Journal" (In Hypertext) that will go out June 15th.
The Journal
is distributed on Fridays to about 30,000 readers. To request
copies send message "Request Synergy Journal" to
<P>
When you open the journal in your browser you can save plain text
to file by using the file button. To save hypertext use view,
source, edit; select all, and copy in order to paste text to
clipboard then transfer to Word Pad or other editor. You can add
what you will, questions and comments, remove what you think
unnecessary and e-mail the new version back to me. Other
contributions, announcements, can be sent directly to me.
<P>
For those that get
The journal e-mail:
When you get it you save to a /temp file. You can then open it in
your editor. For those that want plain text and can use the
browsers edit button, go select all, copy and paste to word
processor without any http codes.
<P>
The topics include knowledge about human behavior, the Internet
and other life forms, education, management, economics, and
policy. Hyper-links references demonstrate the power of the
Internet and hypertext to make connections.
<P>
The key to the Gold Rush on the internet is services
interlocation, a smooth interface between office suites, internet
web pages, conferences and exchanges, shopping, banking, getting
entertainment, general and specific news as Point Cast does now.
<P>
<A HREF="http://microsoft.com/intranet/">OFFICE 97</A>
June 13, 1996 -- Microsoft Intranet Strategy Day.
<A HREF="http://microsoft.com/msoffice/intranet/volcano/">
DEMO of WHAT IS AN INTRANET</A>?
Intranets are the integration of Internet
paradigms and standards with a corporation's
existing network, desktop and server infrastructure to create
dramatically more effective business management systems.
Microsoft's approach to intranet systems is based on:
melding public and private networks into one, integrating Web
page and link paradigms for all products, simplifying
applications deployment and administration, and integrating all
of the above into existing investments <P>
<P>
The Internet will only work with a direct connection, not AoL,
Prodigy or CompuServe. I enter MSN ( MicroSoft Network ) from the
internet connection. On-line services is an example of a new
business which is already out of date. I am writing for those
that get E-mail only or have limited Web access. Otherwise I
could just say go to
<A
HREF="
Wiredbrain home site/synergy/NEW/gates.htm">
Wiredbrain home site/synergy/NEW/gates.htm</A>
Last weeks copy and an effort to get contributions is
<A HREF="
Wiredbrain home site/synergy/NEW/"> open
syj615.htm or Synergy Journal June 15th or anew.txt </A>
<P>Subject:
Experiment
Date:
Tue, 18 Jun 96 09:31:18 cst
From:
"David Ward" <David_Ward@ccgate.ccc.cc.il.us>
To:
<PRE>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 16:55:31 GMT
From: Peter Pflaum <
Wiredbrain Geocities http files>
Subject: Synergy Journal: Edit and return
SYNERGY-NET on
RE:
The Synergy Journal: Nature does makes leaps ? Look before
you jump ...if you get to the end you will hear about how to be
rich.
NOTE:
The experiment: Please download this into your word
processor and E-mail it back to me at
Wiredbrain before
Friday June 14th.
Revans, R.W.
The Origins and Growth of Action Learning ( 1982)
THEME: Continuous and discontinuous CHANGE:
BIOLOGY: Time Frames: Niles Eldredge and Gould's "Punctuated
Equilibria" I am sure someone knows a lot more about this than I
do.
PHYSICS:
The most important idea and theory of our time is Werner
Heisenberg Principle of Indeterminacy. Surely someone can help us
with this ?
Social Science: Charles Handy:
The Age of Unreason involves
management, learning organizations, education, economics and
policy ) Mancur Olson's Rise and Fall of Nations.
Technology : Zuboff's
The Age of the Smart Machine
Natura non facit saltum;
Nature does not take leaps, but it does it ?
The idea of natural
stability is based on the strong and natural human instinct,
hope, and desire for an orderly universe which is understandable,
predictable and under control. We want, need, desire, and
therefore create the illusion of control of our destinies,
freewill is not important or reasonable. We fear the uncertainty
of freedom, and seek strong certain leaders to hold our
collective hands in the storm.
The slow, continuous,
evolutionary, progressive, process of change is reasonable and
politically correct. Predictable Change depends on the future
being determined by the knowledge of the past. Change can be
understood by the rules of the past and controlled by the
leaders, scholars, politicians of the present.
Evolution, competition, survival of the fittest is a fact but
Darwin's theory of evolution does not explain the " Origins of
the Species" or the "Decent of man".
The physical fossil record
does not support, and never has, the idea of slow steady
"progress" from simple to complex, in small steps from ammonites
to people. "Time Frames" by Niles Eldredge explains how science
adjusted to the reasonable social expectations of the machine age
by imposing on the data preconceived notions of progress and
order. Darwin's type of slow evolution does happen but so does
rather sudden extinctions and discontinuous bursts of creative
activity.
Physics:
The Uncertainty principle:
Quanta theory is a real paradigm shift from a machine model,
clock work world, with hard parts and material hard pieces, to a
world of strange and mysterious forces. Up until now we thought
we could figure it all out. It was just a matter of time before
we "solved" the puzzles of the universe. Quanta theory is a lot
more than the problem of energy and location.
The concept of
Complementarily is the ability to look at one and the same event
with two or more frames of reference, with different prospective,
with different time frames and view points at one and the same
time. Chaos theory, finding patterns in random events, often
seems to explain nature in ways that deterministic models could
not.
Social Science:
The Age of Unreason: ( Charles Handry, Harvard
Business School Press 1990)
The idea of the unreasonable person comes from George Bernard
Shaw. Shaw observed that real change and progress depended on the
unreasonable person. Reasonable people adapt to the social
realities of their time. Unreasonable people try to make reality
adapt to new ideas. St. Joan, H.G. Wells, Shaw, Jesus, Galileo, (
add your candidates for people of new vision, who moved beyond
the conventions of their time ) ..we call this "blue sky
paradigms", bold imagines, going where no man has gone before,
leadership, courage, heroic, in public and private lives doing
and thinking the unreasonable - Don Quixote, the dreamer, being
trailed by Sancho Pansa, the reasonable fool.
Change is different now, massive downsizing, technological
shifts, means a period of uncertainty where new rules are played
in a new game by different people.
The ecological niches are how
all creatures great and small earn a living.
The way "work" is
organized in communities make the biggest difference in our
lives. From serfdom, enclosure, factories depended on a central
power source, to more diversified production using electrical
energy and "high" tech chemistry and communications,
transportation shifts all effect in very basic ways the shape of
our lives, personal, family, community, economic, business,
political and spiritual.
The introduction of running water in a
small Spanish village changed the way people met and talked at
the common well and washing house.
How do the creature of the sea, those who crawl upon the earth,
"earn a living" is the central enigma of the shifting dynamics of
not too stable ecological systems, business, families, and
nations. New absurd, strange, weird, freaky, ideas sometimes are
new ways of taking advantages of the opportunities and avoiding
the dangers of change. Learning becomes a constant experiment,
where the wisdom of leaders, scholars, investors, and bosses
maybe very wrong. Learning maybe disrespectful or down right
rebellious. Peer reviewed journals seldom have a new idea. Peer
reviewed grants seldom take chances. Faced with fear of decline,
takeover, collapse, DOWNSIZING, new faces, new rules, new
questions, organizations frieze like rabbits in car headlights
not knowing where to turn until they are road kill.
The tectonic plates deep beneath the way we earn a living are
under great stress and will break loose and time now as an earth
quake. We are expecting the "big one";
FOR EXAMPLE: How to make mega-bucks: Mancur Olson's
The Rise and
Fall of Nations.
Lord Keynes shorted the DM in 1920's to make himself, Cambridge
University, and the Insurance Companies he worked for a lot of
money. I have hear Mr. Soros talk about the difference between
Illusion and reality. ( He made a billion or so shorting the
pound ) People come to believe false ideas and replace their
ideas with reality. ( Government and Bank of England statements
about defending the pound ) When the difference becomes great
there is the chance to make a killing.
GO SHORT THE YEN: You borrow yen, as bonds, a futures contracts (
much more risk because of the fixed time periods on futures ).
This is going SHORT. You borrow something today and hope to pay
for it later at a lower price, thereby keeping the difference
between today's price and a future lower price. This is how
people can make money in up or down markets.
The yen is
overvalued and will drop by 50% to 200 % sometime soon.
When the Spanish mugged Peru and ran off with billions in gold (
the money at that time ) it raised prices in Spain. More money
meant the relative value of gold was lower - it would buy less
stuff.
The ancient regime with it's medieval mind set drove out
the productive forces of Arabs and Jews and replaced them with
the glorious bandits called conquistadors.
Japan has horded money and the price of stuff is way out of line.
If they stop it the price of their money will drop from a slow
evolutionary change, if they don't stop it ( having a large trade
surplus ) the price of their money will drop from a discontinuous
change.
Their idea that they can "control" the future is vain
glorious as those of the Soviet Union, Philip II and the Roman
Catholic Church, IBM and GM, the federal reserve, and Pat
Robinson.
The Synergy Journal will be distributed on Fridays and go to
those that request copies at
The journal
will replace all other mailing.
</PRE>
SYNERGY-NET on
Wiredbrain Geocities http files/
** Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D. , Headmaster GLOBAL_VILLAGE_SCHOOLHOUSE
225 Robinson Road, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-2176 (904) 428-9609
*****************************************************************
Wiredbrain and
Wiredbrain Geocities http files
The Global Village School house and synergy network
<P>
How do the creature of the sea, those who crawl upon the earth,
"earn a living" is the central enigma of the shifting dynamics of
not too stable ecological systems, business, families, and
nations. New absurd, strange, weird, freaky, ideas sometimes are
new ways of taking advantages of the opportunities and avoiding
the dangers of change. Learning becomes a constant experiment,
where the wisdom of leaders, scholars, investors, and bosses
maybe very wrong. Learning maybe disrespectful or down right
rebellious. Peer reviewed journals seldom have a new idea. Peer
reviewed grants seldom take chances. Faced with fear of decline,
takeover, collapse, DOWNSIZING, new faces, new rules, new
questions, organizations frieze like rabbits in car headlights
not knowing where to turn until they are road kill.
<P>
The tectonic plates deep beneath the way we earn a living are
under great stress and will break loose and time now as an earth
quake. We are expecting the "big one";
<P>
<LI><I>Why you need Windows 95 and a direct internet connection.
<BR>
<LI>Why you need to get used to Http code and learn to use and
editor. <BR>
<LI>Why you need to do a home page, free to members of
synergy</OL>,
and you need to learn to use the FTP to upload and down load
for starters.<BR>
<P><H4> <B>
<P>
<A HREF="
Wiredbrain home sitebill-g.htm">
Bill Gates says: the orginal unedited site </A>
<P><H4>
A few key points. Computer Software and hardware should be a very
up beat industry.
The Internet is an amazing opportunity for great software. It
will be intensely competitive but room for lots and lots of
winners.
If there's one thing you walk away from this conference with is
that we're very hard core about the Internet. With all the
positive connotations that implies. Finally, <U><H3>this is a
communications revolution, we're swept up in it, during the the
day to day activity here, it's easy to forget what this can mean
broadly.</H3></U>
Extended HTML will be everywhere. Forms packages, dialogs our
help system won't be a separate exe now.
The editor that we have
built into Windows will help you compose the HTML form that's the
successor. By doing that, the browser is always in the working
set. We want to have the unification of interface take
place not only for directories and pages which you've already
seen, but also for messages, documents, the way you navigate
around, find favorites, traverse links, there's no reason as you
move to what have been different storage systems, different
containers that you should see any difference there at all. That
synthesis is very important for providing ease of use.
<P>
<I>This is the important idea.
The central role of html because
of the links.
The index page of
Wiredbrain home site is an
example.
Ask a question, give a reference, go to AltaVista and get
information.
The power of the net is in Connections - Me to you, data to data,
referenne to reference. <P>
The implications for office products, education, economics,
communications are very extensive. It may take awhile for you to
understand this "new" idea.</I>
<P><H4>
In 7/94 James Fallows wrote for the Atalantic Monthly, an article
about TECHNOLOGY: NETWORKING.
( <A HREF="/~pflaumpfallows.txt">Link to Fallows
Article</A> )
<P>
In the past year ( 1994 ) millions of people have heard about the
Internet, but few people outside academia or the computer
industry have had a clear idea of what it is or how it works.
The
Internet is, in effect, a way of combining computers all over the
world into one big computer, which you seemingly control from
your desk. When connected to the Internet, you can boldly prowl
through computers in Singapore, Buenos Aires, and Seattle as if
their contents resided on your own machine.
<P>
The gee whiz of the conference involved advances in
"interactivity," a dull-sounding concept that became vivid and
real as products were demonstrated. "Interactivity" includes all
means of exchanging information or issuing requests by
computer--E-mail, electronic bulletin boards, office networks,
computer shopping or banking systems, and so on.
The computer
industry will have to battle the video-game industry, led by Sega
and Nintendo, for control of the interactivity business: the game
companies are about to release fast and powerful machines that
can be connected to phone lines to transfer data and that produce
sharper, more dramatic visual images than normal computers do.
But for the moment the highest hopes (and biggest doubts) about
interactivity concern the Internet.
<P>
This year Bill Gates <A
HREF="/~pflaumpbill-g.htm">
reference to HTML</A>
<P>
<B>Building Internet Applications<BR>
Professional Developers Conference <BR>
San Francisco -- March 13, 1996</B></FONT>
</CENTER>
<FONT FACE=ARIAL SIZE=3>
<HR>
<P>(EDITED)
Today's topic I think is even more exciting than any of those (
technical changes ) because today what we're talking about is
something that's not just about the software industry,<STRONG>
it's about the whole way the world communicates. Communication
for business, communication for learning to socialize and
entertain each other.</STRONG>
<P>
The Internet is its own distribution system. News about the
Internet, new Internet software, it's all there in the blink of
an eye. So, we now know what the seedcorn for electronic
publishing and electronic communications is. It's all these
wonderful protocols many of which have been around for over 20
years of what we're going to use as the foundation for this new
world. Now, <U>I've talked about the Internet as almost a gold
rush.</U>
<P>
There's really no other way to describe the kind of frenzy that's
taking place. That's partly reflected in the rising and falling
stock prices. I think Internet stocks have greater volatility
than any category out there. Fundamentally, when you have a gold
rush atmosphere, people suspend disbelief. If somebody says hey,
I can do something on the Internet, no matter what it is people
are fairly open minded they want to invest, start a new company,
do an IPO.
<P>
<B>MR. GATES:</B> I think the bottom line is that any company
who's got PCs and has connected them together really would
benefit immensely they would get a lot more leverage out of that
huge investment by buying a little bit of extra software and
coming up with the internal standards for how they want to