"The Future of the Social Web," by Jeremiah Owyang, a Forrester senior analyst, examines the monumental changes that have shaped -- and will continue to impact -- how consumers engage with each other. While you read these excerpts think of the impacts to your business, not just marketing but your value proposition, how you operate and the talent you employ.

With the use of a printed sheet and a web camera, make a hologram - courtesy of GE. Very Cool!!

Wiley is one part Nostradamus and nine parts revolutionary, an educational evangelist who preaches about a world where students listen to lectures on iPods, and those lectures are also available online to everyone anywhere for free. Course materials are shared between universities, science labs are virtual, and digital textbooks are free. Institutions that don't adapt, he says, risk losing students to institutions that do. The warning applies to community colleges and ivy-covered universities, says Wiley, who is a professor of psychology and instructional technology at Brigham Young University. America's colleges and universities, says Wiley, have been acting as if what they offer - access to educational materials, a venue for socializing, the awarding of a credential - can't be obtained anywhere else. By and large, campus-based universities haven't been innovative, he says, because they've been a monopoly.

Introduction: Digital Literacies - Concepts, Policies and Practices

Time and money often prevent educators from attending as many conferences as they want, but Web 2.0 is really changing this. Many conferences today have some aspect of online participation either in real-time or via archived sessions. One really great directory to check out is the 2009 T.H.E. Conference Calendar. Set up your search according to month and geographical location. Clicking on a particular conference will give you details such as when and where, a conference description, who should attend, website location/reference and contact information. While not all of these will have a virtual participation component, it certainly is the trend.

There's a significant disconnect between students and educators when it comes to perceptions of technology in K-12 education, according to Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow. Evans discussed results of the latest Speak Up Survey Thursday afternoon at the FETC Virtual Conference & Expo. Among the findings: There's a trend toward students using technology to take hold of their own educational destinies and act as "free agent learners."