On February 12, Microsoft will be pushing an automatic update to PCs far and wide that will transform Internet Explorer version 6 into version 7. The blogosphere is abuzz about how to avoid the update if you want to and is asking how Microsoft can tuck a software update into what should be security updates. That’s neither here nor there to me. Why folks would purposely avoid the update is outside my lane. I leave that to IT units at individual offices and agencies. I’m actually kind of psyched to see it; perhaps less cross-browser testing is on the horizon!

See, browsers are not like televisions. Different brands don’t all work the same. Imagine being a video producer and delivering your product to a broadcaster, then stopping by Circuit City for the big debut. Wouldn’t that be a surprise if one TV shifted the picture out of frame while another resized the image to bizarro dimensions, and a third finally displayed the video correctly. Well, you could just produce three versions of your show, right? One for each kind of TV. That’d be a hoot. We may not have to generate completely separate products, but web developers do wrestle with a similar scenario.

Despite the best efforts of organizations like the WC3, browsers just don’t all work the same way. They don’t display content the same way. Pieces move or resize or disappear completely. Depending on the goals of your organization, those differences can have large impact.

The latest stats show Internet Explorer 7 holding 21 percent of the market. IE6 holds 33 percent, Firefox 36 percent, and then a steep drop down to Safari, Mozilla, and Opera. Notice the name Netscape isn’t even tracked anymore! Depending on your goals and audience, you may need to test your websites/applications on all of those browsers (not to mention platforms like Mac or PC) to make sure everyone is seeing the same thing and enjoying the same experience.

So how do you decide how much time and effort to put into cross-browser and platform testing? That depends on what you’re doing. If you’re facing a closed audience with predictable systems, you may be able to cut down on testing. For example, a DoD agency targeting an internal audience can feel pretty good about things as long as they’re targeting Internet Explorer 6 (until Feb 12?) and Windows XP. Meanwhile, that same agency may have a public-facing website, one offering critical information or training, one that could reflect on their image and mission. In that case, how accommodating should it be? Is it OK to serve up content that may look wacky on a Mac because it holds such a small share of the market? I’m happy to say that’s not my call. But I could help you think through it. And would you believe it comes down to time and money? I know you’ve never heard that before.

I will say this: There are standards out there, and if we stick to those when building, our chances for success are good from square one. Further that, simply having the experience and awareness of cross-browser/platform issues is another big advantage. Finally, it’s about paying attention your audience and making educated decisions. My decision would be to dump IE6. One version of that browser is enough for all of us.

Three great examples of the educational potential of new media:

1. This visual dictionary of 53,463 nouns in the English language on one page

2. This incredible video that gives a visual representation of the Civil War in four minutes (please Google it if you have trouble with this version)

3. This animation of the Bayeux Tapestry

Notice the effect in each case of the use of multimedia to compress time and space, relate the visual and the semantic, and give a big-picture perspective.

In the case of the Civil War, for instance, we’re given an instinctive sense of the relative length of its major stages that would be hard to get from a written narrative, as well as an animated representation of wins and losses as control of territory: the time between Lincoln’s inauguration, Southern secession, and the beginning of hostilities; the seeming border stalemate through the middle of the country that begins early on and lasts for most of the war; the significance of certain battles for the control of territory; the seemingly glacial pace of the North’s acquisition of territory, as it moves like an amoeba across the map, until Lincoln’s second inauguration, after which the rate seems to increase exponentially. Meanwhile we get a running tally over time of the war’s cost in human life.

The dictionary is the most obvious case of the relationship between visual and semantic meanings, since it both matches images to words and orders words by the relatedness of their meanings. So you might learn that “Jell-O” and (oddly) “substance” are semantically close and then go on to explore visual similarities or differences.

Finally, there are some good reasons to animate a representation of the Bayeux tapestry: for those of us who haven’t gone to France to see it, it’s nice to get something of the experience by video. But then we need some compensation for the loss of the power of actually being in the presence of a 260-foot-long 12th century work of art—especially one that is also a historical narrative of a central event in English history. Since in this case the new medium—video—is a barrier between the audience and its subject; it needs to overcome that distance by drawing on its strengths. One of these strengths is movement: but what’s needed is more than a long (and potentially boring) pan of the tapestry. The new medium must tell the story in a compressed space that the old medium unfolded along 260 feet. So it’s helpful to have both a long pan of the tapestry and an animation of its content.

A tip of the virtual cap to Junta42, which has recognized our humble blog in its list of the top 42 marketing blogs.

If only they could get Casey Kasem to count ‘em down . . .

Anyone hear that Giant Whoosh?

That’s the sound of the first wave of Baby Boomers leaving the ranks of the Federal Government. As reported by Government Executive magazine, 60 percent of the Federal workforce, and an even more alarming 90 percent of its executives, will be eligible for retirement within the next decade. That’s right, over half the workforce and almost the entire current leadership in Government won’t be here ten years from now.

Is this an impending crisis or a terrific opportunity? Well, both actually.

Certainly, the Federal sector needs to react quickly in order to compete for the future best and brightest—a job that will be made all the more difficult by the fact that there simply aren’t enough Gen-Xrs and Millennials to replace the departing Boomers. This is why I say that in the possible crisis lies a terrific opportunity, especially if viewed as an opportunity to redefine the role of Government and the way it does its work.

If the exodus of Baby Boomers comes to be viewed by Government agencies as both a recruitment challenge and an opportunity for transformation, then the problem takes on a very different and exciting dimension. Taking it a step further, a message of organizational transformation is also a great recruitment message, as long as it’s real and it’s serious. And since Government is already faced with a need to transform itself in order to do more with less, shouldn’t transformation be a big part of the message anyway?

I believe that if Government agencies communicate to an incoming workforce of Gen-Xrs and Millennials that they have an honest opportunity to help transform Government, it will make a big difference in their recruitment efforts. That kind of message will resonate with a new workforce that seems to deeply desire making a difference within and through the organizations they are looking to join.

What do you think?

A recent article in eLearn Magazine by Jane Hart, head of the Centre for Learning & Performance, delivers the results of a survey she conducted on the Top 100 Tools for Learning. I was pretty shocked at the results of this survey, to which 109 learning professionals replied. For some reason I wasn’t asked to be one of them (joke).

What shocked me? Out of the top 10 learning tools, none of them is an e-learning product! How can that be? We use several great tools to create a powerful e-learning experience, many of which earn us lots of client kudos.

The top tool, according to Ms. Hart, is (drum roll, please) the web browser Firefox (now imagine the sound of cymbals crashing to the floor). The rest of the top ten list included del.icio.us, Skype, Google Search, PowerPoint, Wordpress, Gmail, Google Reader, Blogger, and Word. Word? Really? PowerPoint I understand and could defend, but Word? Skype? I’m certainly a little confused here. We were talking about top tools for learning, right?

How does Ms. Hart defend these survey results? She says:

“Most of the tools are not dedicated learning tools, but rather ones that are being commonly used by people in their daily lives, which suggests to me that learning, working, and living are actually becoming one and the same thing. I believe that therein lies the enormous power of these tools for learning.”

Okay, I’ll buy that, but think there may be another answer as well. If you are developing e-learning, users really don’t need to know what tool was used to develop it. They just want something that works, that is effective.

Ms. Hart does mention many products that first came to my mind: Captivate, Articulate, Dreamweaver, and SnagIt. This is still just the tip of the iceberg, of course. Nowhere in the article does Flash come up, which is certainly one of the most important e-learning products to come along in quite a while.

So why was Firefox number one on the list? In trying to rationalize the thinking here, I could only come up with one good reason: Firefox is a more reliable browser to play back e-learning products developed in the programs that show up later in her list.

I can’t argue how important playback is for the user experience. As developers, we want to ensure a flawless user experience, and Firefox is just plain more reliable as a playback system. That I can’t and won’t argue. But I think we have to start recognizing the technology behind the mere means of delivery. There are so many great ways that e-learning is developed that maybe the next survey can be broken into development tools and playback tools.

Actually, l think I might develop that survey myself.

Recently, Ammon’s blog post “Will Younger Workforce Ease Fed New-Media Fears?” mentioned the impending wave of Baby Boomer workforce retirement.

A younger, tech-savvy labor force is arriving ready to prove their digital prowess, but lingering security concerns remain. I was wondering, though, even if the Federal administrators and training decision makers were open to letting the kids play, what of the retirees that will be targeted for full-time, part-time or encore work? Plenty of Boomers are leaving the public sector, but many from the private sector are showing up, sharing their experience and enjoying a late-career shift to public service.

How will they be recruited? How will their skills be matched to Government need? And will they be prepared for next-generation of digital work environments?

Last year the Partnership for Public Service initiated a campaign to recruit passionate, experienced retirees from nonprofits and the private sector into the Federal workforce, banking on the echo of JFK’s initial call to duty.

While tapping into this pool makes sense, the Partnership describes several obstacles that make the task difficult, one the most obvious being recruitment. The Partnership describes the Federal Government as “isolated” and gun-shy of hiring “outsiders.” Largely a cultural issue, but HR issues of preferred promotion from within, security clearance, and general flexibility remain issues they are actively seeking to improve.

In order to recruit these individuals, it seems a combination of new and traditional media will come into play. Why do I say this? The older generation (in an ageless cycle) will get their information from younger new-media junkies. A Gen X or Gen Y parent will call Boomer grandparents to remind them that the grandkid wants a Webkinz for his or her birthday. The call (or IM exchange) will go something like this:

>”WEBKIDs? what’s a Webkid?

>”Webkinz, Dad…with a z.”

>”{expletive}”

(Note: Actual conversation heard at recent party.)

After twenty minutes of attempted explanation, Grandpa was fascinated but still unclear about the whole process. Someone whipped out a laptop, got onto the Internet via wi-fi, and gave him the virtual tour, which has Flash animation and audio commentary. In less than five minutes, Grandpa understood Webkinz. As luck would have it, he then opened a present—a Magellan GPS navigation device. In half an hour a former technophobe was ready to navigate both virtual and real landscapes.

How do you connect GPS devices, cuddly web denizens and next-generation Government employees? Simple: Retirees have experience and leadership that could surely help alleviate the impending Federal workforce crisis, provided they can be quickly trained and are able to easily access and implement emerging training architecture.

If the Government can quickly train Grandpa for his new Federal job while simultaneously getting him comfortable with new technology, it will be able to more quickly tap his expertise and avert its organizational mission-performance concerns.

Bottom line? Be nice to Boomers. They just might be our ticket to a well-trained, technologically proficient, high-performing Federal workforce.

We all know about “the war.”  The DVD replacement has yet to be decided—will it be Sony’s Blu-Ray technology or Toshiba’s HD-DVD technology?

This week, the war came to the forefront again. With what Toshiba must surely view as “impeccable” timing (read: sarcasm), Warner Brothers announced their intent to drop HD-DVD from their future plans just days before the Consumer Electronics Show. It caused enough rumbles in the HD-DVD camp that they canceled their press conference for CES. As of later this spring, Warner will go exclusively with Blu-Ray. This isn’t small news. Warner was the only major studio that hadn’t picked a format—they were going with both. Their decision to go Blu-Ray leaves Paramount as the lone major content holder still going with HD-DVD.

MacWorld starts next week. One of the rumors (and it is just that—a rumor) is that Apple is going to announce support for Blu-Ray. Apple has been a member of the Blu-Ray coalition for quite some time, but they have, for all intents and purposes, sat on the sidelines while the battle raged.

Is the writing on the wall for HD-DVD? While it may still be premature to make the call (Microsoft is still in the HD-DVD camp…and we can all agree they are not a mom-and-pop operation), I will make the call.

Blu-Ray wins!

Actually, Blu-Ray should have won a long time ago. The storage capacity alone makes it a no-brainer. Currently, HD-DVD has 15GB/30GB discs. Blu-Ray has 25GB/50GB. HD-DVD has approved a standard for 51GB discs (I guess that single gig makes it the format to go with). Blu-Ray has the capability of putting 200GB on a disc.

What is HD-DVD’s advantage? Online content. Your HD-DVD player can connect to the Internet. Now, I may be long out of my teen years, but I hardly find that a compelling reason to go with HD-DVD. Regular DVDs often have bonus material—including the ability to get you to online content. Of all the DVDs I own that have “bonus” online content, have I ever accessed it?  Not even once.

Who is the real loser in all this? The conventional wisdom says it is the consumer. I disagree. Except for the early adopters, the consumer has sat and waited. To me, that is actually pretty impressive. The early adoption phase has simply lasted longer. The real losers are both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Neither has gained a foothold, and there is the real possibility that they’ll both get passed over for online content. That’s a lot of development money to be throwing down the drain.

Have we learned our lessons yet, Toshiba? Of course not. They are still fighting the battle. They will for some time.

Now let’s remember this a year from now and see if I was right or if I will be eating crow.

Sometimes it’s when you experience something that affects how you experience it. Timing is everything, right?

Today my friend, a fellow new parent, sent me to Gever Tulley’s TED presentation titled 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do. Obviously that was meant to be taken for what it was, an enlightening commentary on countering the ever-tightening safety regulations that, to paraphrase Tulley, are essentially stunting our children’s educational experiences. I couldn’t help taking more from it, due largely to when I watched it.

There’s been a lot of talk around Mind & Media lately, and in the press in general, about the impending retirement of baby boomers. The federal government in particular is facing huge a wave of boomer-based workforce retirement, with a younger generation that just doesn’t have the numbers to fill in. In response, we’ve had agencies turn to us, as far back as 2003, to help recruit job candidates and train existing workers. After a few years of navigating those waters, I couldn’t help draw some comparisons to Tulley’s talk.

As Tulley tells it, we are ever-increasing the safety measures around our children to the point of immobility. Society as a whole is so concerned with a bruise-free existence that experimentation and experiential learning are stifled, and real breakthroughs in understanding and education are missed. Secure, sure, but stunted.

Back to the fed. They need to recruit and train to tackle an impending disaster. Online media should be the cornerstone of those efforts, but all too often agencies are cocooned in safety and security and watch-dogging to the detriment of the effort.

No hard data to back up this claim, but I’m certain that folks who access federal agency websites or intranets actually use the public Internet as well. They’ve heard of YouTube, they’ve seen a Flash animation, and they’ve listened to streaming audio. To pound it home, do you think 20-something college graduates may be familiar with such things? Graduates who may consider employment in the federal workforce? They live it. They expect it. They want to be engaged. And yet use of, and access to, the so-called new media is often outside scope for federal agencies.

Some examples: I’ve come across folks within federal agencies who want us to stream media for their audience but can’t access the media while at work due to policies that forbid it. I’ve had folks request we use Flash animations to aid in training, only to find that they are unable to install Flash player on their agency computers. And I’ve seen just-in-time online training get mired in months of legal review. Not so just-in-time anymore, eh? What’s frustrating is that they are workers in those agencies who get it and who want to evolve the media that is coming out of those agencies. It’s just an uphill climb.

Perhaps federal agencies are scared of new media or dynamic websites, what with viruses, bandwidth constraints, employees watching streaming music videos, and what have you. Maybe they don’t know how to leverage the technology. I understand the gargantuan federal government isn’t nimble, but a systemic shift in thinking is necessary if they are to compete for recruits or are going to effectively train the workforce that remains after The Great Retirement. Static doesn’t do it anymore. Static content doesn’t attract, engage, or help retain. It sure as hell doesn’t compete. Agencies may consider it playing with fire, but, hell, if we can let our kids do it, how bad can it hurt?

It’s time to let folks get dirty, get a little banged up. This is no time to be timid.

Actually, it’s 500 pounds (UK) but I don’t know how to type one of those little curly L symbols. Regardless, Brit TV personality Jeremy Clarkson, trying to be technologically cavalier, dismissed concerns that a recent database theft would compromise the personal information of more than 25 million people.

To demonstrate his ambivalence, he published his personal financial information in the Sun newspaper. His belief? With that info, at worst, a nefarious type could only deposit money into his account. An illegal withdrawl would be impossible.

Turns out Clarkson learned the hard way that hackers love a challenge.

“I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my account,” he said.

“The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again.

“I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake.”

Considering the funds were drawn as a charitable donation to Diabetes UK, looks like Clarkson got off easy. The lesson? We should all absolutely be paying attention to that man behind the curtain.

One of President Bush’s last signatures of 2007 was on a bill that will give the media and general public greater access to governmental goings-on.

According to the Associated Press:

The legislation creates a system for the media and public to track the status of their [Freedom of Information Act] requests. It establishes a hot line service for all federal agencies to deal with problems and an ombudsman to provide an alternative to litigation in disclosure disputes.

The law also restores a presumption of a standard that orders government agencies to release information on request unless there is a finding that disclosure could do harm.

This raises further questions as to how this status-tracking system might evolve. There have been attempts in the recent past to implement web-based means to improved government transparency. These were met with skepticism by senatorial old guard (think Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens of Alaska, who wanted no part of a requirement to create an online database of government spending). It looks like this effort will fly for the new year, however. The media is understandably pleased, and government agencies must be gearing up for what amounts to a very real opening of the books.

Transparency might be the as-yet-untested campaign buzzword for the forthcoming elections. A change of administration is inevitable, and as we move in to the second decade of the 21st century, federal agencies should get comfortable with the unprecedented informative and communicative power of emerging media.

The next administration has the opportunity to embrace and help define the means of transparency for its agencies and its electorate. If that helps them keep staff, media, and the general public informed while keeping operations on the up and up, so much the better.