One of the problems I’ve had in my career as a technologist is the problem of novelty. We think we are doing something new, exciting and wonderful. Well, I guess we are, but less than we think. Formal education has always been a technological enterprise and it always will be. Sure, we aren’t sharpening quills any more and we don’t need the lecture format to essentially take dictation of our textbooks but are we really all that much different from our Renaissance predecessors? I’m always finding myself looking at the broader scholarship of Walter Ong. While he did make some provocative and interesting claims for what he called a media charged secondary orality He also did some great work on Petrus Ramus of the old University of Paris who, while seen as a mediocre scholar by many, made some serious print driven technological innovations to the teaching profession that would warm the heart of any instructional designer or, alas, PowerPoint devotee. In fact, were Ramus to rise from the dead he probably, sadly and unfortunately like PowerPoint. He probably would be writing a Title III grant now and feeling very, very important but like Ramus…

As for Ong, he and McLuhan were quite well aquainted, so for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpIYz8tfGjY

Too bad they tore that movie theater down a long time ago…

Had a meeting at the old Port Authority building in Chelsea with the Livestream people. Looking to build streaming video into our operations, especially for public events like commencement. Looks good. We’ve already done some events and it is fairly easy. More, more, more…

Well, despite lots of obstacles we now have a beautiful 2K projector installed in our moderately sized theater. Played Wings of Desire and we had a gorgeous black and white image on the screen. Wings was shot by the master cinematographer Henri Alekan on 35mm Kodak negative stock and it is as beautiful as can be, especially the wonderful tracking shots in Berlin’s Prussian State Library, that masterpiece of modern architecture built by Hans Scharoun to anchor the cultural complex that used to be up against the Berlin Wall. This is one of my favorite films because it captures the old West Berlin so well, has two of my favorite actors (Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz) and I saw it at a time when my life in New York was one film after another in the lost movie theaters of my youth. Nostalgia.

But here is the rub. The 2K projector is BETTER than HD and the Sony circuitry actually makes the picture look better than it probably did back in the beat up old theater that was torn down a generation ago. And the film is being played back from my iPad. No more tape, DVD or 16mm film.

Next step is to finally get the 4K installed in the big theater…

http://www.wim-wenders.com/movies/movies_spec/wingsofdesire/wingsofdesire.htm

Over the weekend I was a leadership development instructor for all the new civilian volunteers in the 1SR District at the Coast Guard Academy. Some things that became clear is a) you really need to push the bad Government Issue coffee to get through the dawn to dusk coursework b) location matters; doing the professional development at the Academy is qualitatively better than a hotel ballroom c) history and culture matter too.

We tend to get caught up with content goals and bullet points on PowerPoints. People don’t work for free because they are trained. They work for free because they are embedded in a supportive culture and because that culture means something. Don’t skimp on the big picture and don’t skimp on the history and legacy you’ll be placing your trainees in. They’ll get the bullet points eventually.