eLearning Roadtrip

Why Electrowetting may be good for Flash

Electrowetting is a type of screen display technology. Engaget has called electrowetting the Holy Grail of display: flexible, foldable display surfaces offering full color, high refresh rates, visibility in all lighting conditions, and low power consumption. 

The reason I know this is because I just saw a press release announcing that Samsung bought Liquavista, a company that specializes in electrowetting technology.  Yes, that would be Samsung of the television display, computer display, mobile-telephone-with-display company.

It made me think about how cool it would be to be able to unfold a screen stashed in a purse and put it out on the table when you want to show your friends, say, a sports game in progress. NOT on an iPad. On a full-on, foldable screen.

Well here's how and where two unconnected puzzle pieces may connect. I often touch base with Diana Helander (@flashair) from Adobe's Flash Platform team to stay on top of all things Flash: Flash and iPhone and iPad,  Flash vs HTML5, Flash on mobile devices, AIR, standards such as H.264. Flash is very important in elearning. Diana shares my belief that developers need to know what's going on.

Diana recently reminded me that, as fellow members of the Open Screen Project, Adobe and Samsung and lots of others are looking at this notion of excellent screen experiences from an industry wide perspective. Flash continues to be an important part of that conversation. Not the only thing. But still very much a part of today's interactive Web.

The Liquivista acquisition underscore that Samsung is continuing to focus on display experiences. And  THAT world continues to accommodate the need for interoperating with Flash content. At least as we all figure out the migration path to HTML5.

I'm still not ready to give up my iPhone. But now I WILL actively consider Samsung tablet alternatives to iPads while anticipating big things in electrowetted screens.

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Do YOU care about 4G?

I was amused by the reaction of several friends who saw yesterday's blogpost about QR codes fly down their Facebook feed. "What happened to you?" teased one of them I've known since high school."You used to be fun."

I agree that my interests in QR codes are a little tech-ish. It's just that I've been seeing them around a lot lately, and seeing them in the strangest places. They remind me of stories from the 1930s Depression when traveling hobos would paint symbols on the fence near a house to tell others about the person who lived inside, and whether it was safe or worthwhile to knock at the door and ask for work or a meal or whatever.

But the real reason I care about tech stuff is that so many people in my various personal and professional circles really don't care very much about tech stuff. They depend on me and people like me to care.

Here is a case in point from today's Silicon Alley Insider's Chart of the Day. Apparently a lot of people don't care about 4G. Which, considering how much people want broadband services on their phones, you would think they WOULD care. But no.

To that I say "au contraire, mes freres et soeurs!" You need to care! Because this is the kind of thing that makes a difference when you are trying to make up your mind about what kind of phone to buy, and are getting barraged by ads for HTC Evo Sprint 4G phones or Samsung Android phones with Flash, or Verizon iPhones or AT&T iPhones.

Crash course: 4G is very high speed broadband services for your phone. It will make phone web surfing and video viewing much more like the experience you have on your laptop. There isn't a lot of 4G available in the US yet. That will change, but it's still fairly new. Just be aware that if you live in the 3% of the country that AT&T ads say are not yet served by 3G it's gonna be a while before you see blazing fast speeds. Also be aware that while 4G and LTE are talking about the same basic thing -  high speed wireless broadband -  they are different specifications. And that will make a difference in the phone you buy and the carrier you select. Consider Verizon. They will continue to use a specification that only works in the US, the CSMA standard. This is different from the 4G extension of 3G, which is used in the majority of countries around the world. Might not matter if you don't travel. If you do you need to pay attention.

The iPhone situation....well, before you get a Verizon iPhone, just read the Consumer Reports news on the topic. 

Don't even get me started on data plans. We can save that for another day.

Seven Steps for Using More Rich Media in Learning

Many of the best tips for creating rich, engaging digital assets for learning come from sources that are probably not first-of-mind for most learning designers or IDs, much less trainers, professors, or instructors.

Case in point: My so-called seven steps for ramping up the engagement level in digital learning assets, below, are a thinly disguised version of a comparable list that appeared in today's eMarketer FYI newsletter. In an ad for Adobe's Scene7 platform, no less. Do you even know about Adobe Scene7? You probably do if you are a sales and marketing professional, but I would be surprised if many elearning or education professionals did.

In any event, by changing the word "customer" to "learner", and making a few other obvious modifications, these tips for making commercial online sales sites more engaging for customers this holiday season seemed particularly relevant for those of us looking for ways to engage our stakeholders in more compelling ways:

1. Mobilize your website. When it comes to the small screen, think big. Engage with full-screen video and interactive zoom. Remember how you like to use your mobile devices. There will be many devices with different operating systems, so be sure to choose an approach that makes sense for you and your learners.

2. Socialize your rich media. Blogs and Facebook are perfect homes for rich media. Post your online “catalog” of courses, assets, links and resources  in Facebook and go after word of mouth promotion of your resources by making your multimedia viewers embeddable by bloggers.

3. Cover your rich media bases. Learners are hungry for visual information. Cover all the bases, from visual search to to pan and zoom on all images and angles. Put up online examples, games and apps. (Chatroulette, anyone?)

4. Enrich your online image. Don't be static this term. Engage learner with rich-media activities and messages. Give your learners reasons to keep checking back to see what ELSE is new.

5. Persuade, delight & inform with videos. Speak to your learners with moving images; lectures, demos, interviews, field trips. Self-produced or links from YouTube.    

6. Invite user-generated content. Ask your learners to share their product experiences with photos and videos. Getting members of your learning community to contribute content makes the experience more authentic.

7. Let learners have fun designing one-of-a-kind assets and apps. Give learners the tools to personalize or design an online experience of their own. Use configurators to keep assembly simple and to help deliver a great online experience regardless of their technical abilities.

Perhaps those of us who design and produce intentionally targeted communications that are intended to bring about a call to action, a change in memory, performance or emotion have more in common than we might realize.