Yuumoushin.com (勇猛心)

I don’t mind texting from my cell phone, and an occasional email isn’t such a big deal either (especially when it’s something short and sweet). But 142 page novel from my cell?

“Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular.”

After cellphone readers voted her novel No. 1 in one ranking, her story of the tragic love between two childhood friends was turned into a 142-page hardcover book last year. It sold 400,000 copies and became the No. 5 best-selling novel of 2007, according to a closely watched list by Tohan, a major book distributor.

Over at the Economist, the current debate series is about education, in particular, using social networking technologies as educational tools. One of the propositions they propose is: “This house believes that social networking technologies will bring large positive changes to educational methods, in and out of the classroom.”

Now let me chime in on both the pro and con discussions:

From the “pro” side, the writer brings up the following point:

“In Scotland, I’ve been fortunate to work with thousands of school children and hundreds of teachers, creating mini social networks based around a rather traditional ‘social object’: the classroom. Students have been empowered to publish not just their best work, but the many drafts it takes to get there. They’ve received feedback from ‘real’ people outside school and, surprisingly often, the occasional expert has paid a visit (my personal favourite: the professional diver that corrected one student ended up being invited to visit the school to demonstrate the various bits of kit that go into a marine biology dive).

Importantly, they’ve received more communication, feedback and interest from the one group they value most: their parents. Parents, too, have reported feeling more in touch with what their children are actually learning, rather than simply what they’ve ‘done’ at school that day. Teachers feel more connection to parents, too, as communication is daily, online, rather than once a year at parents’ evenings.”

I think this is isolated. In a perfect world, having someone check a post and email it back with adjustments, is great. However, how many people actually utilize “social networking” this way? I’d argue that it works from a business level more so than from an academic level, and even then I’d say it’s weak. Take a site like LinkedIn, for example. Some people on LinkedIn have thousands of “contacts.” Throw in the fact that they have to work, sleep, eat, etc., do they really have time to maintain a thousand person deep friendship/network?

Now, if we use the technology to isolate specific groups, create a social scene within a school or on a college campus for example, then maybe it will work. I’ve mentioned this before in previous posts, but I see social networking as just another reason why today’s youth can’t properly express themselves in face-to-face situations. Everything has to be done over email, via text messaging, or some other medium that exludes real-life human interaction. Even dating is now an online endeavor. When one finds that they’re too busy for basic social interactions, they need to step back and start re-prioritizing what matters.

To the credit of the writer, he does a good job at calling out problems with the current system – it does seem to lack soemthing truly engaging for today’s youth. I guess one could argue that there are gaps between the technology that kids are exposed to outside of school and the technology they’re exposed to inside school. Embracing what’s popular is a good thing, and what keeps our economy chugging along (i.e. “relevant). What we’re seeing is, as the author puts it, “Increasingly, as one baby boom generation of education leaders retires, the ‘Bebo-boomer’ generation takes up the helm of educational leadership.” In order to maintain relevance, you have to move with the times, but is social networking the best option?

Now, while I’m in disagreement, I didn’t really like the “con’s” argument. Too much “old trusted system” versus “new un-tested system,” and while I agree that technology makes us compliant, I don’t know that I would argue it as the crux. Furthermore, I don’t believe that economics in itself can be so easily defined. Example: “Like political authority, an economic system that challenges the technological imperative is doomed”

Huh? That being said, I will highlight a few of his tenets which I think are relevant (most I don’t find relevant; i.e. IT budgets? Book costs for learning the new system? Privacy? Those could be an issue with or without social networking as the medium).

5. What type of learning curve is required to use social networks as educational platforms and what are educators willing to sacrifice during class or office hours to make up that loss of time?

9. Has the new curricula been assessed in terms of effectiveness and student demand in an existing module such as a seminar, workshop or independent study in the course catalog, or are we simply investing in social networks without empirical data on effectiveness?

10. When, where and for what purpose is use of social networks appropriate or inappropriate in context of educational climate, especially on residential campuses?

We must analyze use of social networks in education with a high degree of skepticism to ensure time-honored standards. Otherwise we may realize belatedly that those standards had value—social rather than financial—and that we inadvertently shortchanged our students who above all need to think critically and interact interpersonally to succeed in a diverse, multicultural world.

I don’t agree with the first sentence in the blurb just after 10 above, about analyzing social network use, but I do agree that we have to consider generally how students might be shortchanged. The current youth are far more knowledgeable (exposed to information is probably a better way of putting that) than previous generations so in what context can we use that to our advantage when educating?

And like anything, my opinion is just that. Take it as is.

A friend of mine sent me an article taken from the Economist, titled: “Sayonara Salaryman.”

Japan has, for the most part, prided itself on its underlying corporate culture – modern in the sense of what they do and produce, but very traditional and familial in terms of how they’re run. The best way to put it, I guess, is to say that companies in Japan have historically been extensions, if not focal points, of a family. In the US, I’d argue that people approach companies with a “family” mentality, but loosely. In other words, we get along with our colleagues, may even do things with them outside of work, but individual downtime and outside of office hours are important. Also, I don’t think I know anyone who allows vacation to go unused (at least not within my company), unless it’s being applied to the succeeding year. And then it’s usually a situation where that person has some big adventure in mind (i.e., they’re planning a bike tour through Europe and want to go for at least 4 weeks). In Japan vacation often goes unused.

…Most salarymen take only a small fraction of their annual paid holiday, since to use it all seems to raise a question over the employee’s devotion to the firm. For example, Sho says that he has 20 days’ holiday a year. But when pressed, he admits that he takes only five. He says he does not feel badly, since it is only right to work a lot—but his robotic response and body language signal his reservations.

The consequences of breaking the unwritten code can be severe. Even a star performer who uses the full holiday may be denied pay rises and promotions…

As the “old guard” retire, Japan is starting to see more western-style practices; however, but that isn’t an easily implemented process. The country is culturally very rich, and one of the most “ritualistic” places I’ve been. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just that relatively speaking, there are patterns and accepted norms to a lot of what goes on there. It’s not that the law specifies a certain action, it’s what’s understood and practiced. When you live in a country like the US, the ever-so-cliche melting pot, “norms” are hard to define.

The change in the labour market gathered pace in the 1990s, as Japan’s economic woes forced companies to scale back employees’ benefits dramatically. Increasingly, many firms hired new staff on short-term or part-time contracts rather than treating them as members of the corporate family. Japanese businesses, harried by foreign competitors, have gained from having a more flexible workforce. Moreover, mergers and acquisitions are starting to become more common, so firms cannot offer the traditional long-term assurances to employees even if they want to. Lastly, a big generational shift is taking place. Today’s young professionals refuse to make work the centre of their lives or to accept the hardships and corporate paternalism of earlier decades.

Just after the new year, my fiance and I spent a little time in Colorado Springs.

We had an absolute blast, and thanks to the folks we stayed with, we both got to see a lot of the area. Palmer Park, Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, Pikes Peak, Broadmoor, the famous cog train, old town… The list goes on.

Anyway, thought I’d share a shot from Garden of the Gods. There was some overcast on the day we went, which makes the coloring in the shot a bit gray, but it was still pretty neat.