"Smart people are quick to call "all things social" hype because sometimes smart people filter everything through what they know rather than what they don't know."

"Welcome to the 21st century-where views on technology, work ethic and cultural diversity are strikingly different from generation to generation.  The complex dynamics of social interaction, standards for performance and long-understood patterns of behavior are under direct assault-if not washed away by the cross-generational tide. Each generation is leaving its own mark on its own terms, and disconnects between intention, action, and understanding can cause negative consequences"

"Virtually everywhere one looks we are in the midst of a transition for how we organize and manage information, indeed even relationships. Social networks and online communities are changing how we live and interact. NoSQL and graph databases - married to their near cousin Big Data - are changing how we organize and store information and data. Semantic technologies, backed by their ontologies and RDF data model, are showing the way for how we can connect and interoperate disparate information in ways only dreamed about a decade ago. And all of this, of course, is being built upon the infrastructure of the Internet and the Web, a global, distributed network of devices and information that is undoubtedly one of the most important technological developments in human history. There is a shared structure across all of these developments - the graph. Graphs are proving to be the new universal paradigm for how we organize and manage information. Graphs have an inherently expandable nature, and one which can also capture any existing structure. So, as we see all of the networks, connections, relationships and links - both physical and informational - grow around us, it is useful to step back a bit and contemplate the universal graph structure at the core of these developments. Understanding that we now live in the Age of the Graph means we can begin studying and using the concept of the graph itself to better analyze and manage our interconnected world. Whether we are trying to understand the physical networks of supply chains and infrastructure or the information relationships within ontologies or knowledge graphs, the various concepts underlying graphs and graph theory, themselves expressed through a rich vocabulary of terms, provide the keys for unlocking still further treasures hidden in the structure of graphs."

Every day, I'm amazed at the amount of information I consume; I listen to the news on my morning run, scan the papers while I'm eating breakfast, check my social media accounts throughout the day, and watch some TV before I go to bed, all while getting constant updates via email and Twitter. That's pretty overwhelming on its own, but things get really interesting when some of that information is biased, inaccurate, or just plain made up. It makes it hard to know what to believe. But even with all the competing sources and opinions out there, getting the truth - or at least close to it - matters. What you believe affects what you buy, what you do, who you vote for, and even how you feel. In other words, it virtually dictates how you live your life.

Just because a product has the largest market share doesn't mean it is the best one for your organizational needs.

"When adding game elements to your site or business, be sure to incorporate a way for current customers to recruit new ones, says gamification expert Gabe Zichermann. Unlike loyalty programs, which can reinforce behaviors of existing customers, the "viral nature" of gamification can help attract new customers to your business. "At the very heart of what you're trying to do with gamification is to get people to come in, keep coming in and bring their friends to create a cycle in which your products, services and egagement drive customer adoption," Zichermann says."

"Lee Rainie will present a keynote discussion on networked learning at the The Free Learning 2.0 Conference on August 22. The conference is "a unique chance to participate in a global conversation on rethinking teaching and learning in the age of the Internet.""

"Story telling such as of brand is analogous to chemical reactions. The presentation covers five lessons from this analogy"

"In the "e-learning era" the focus of training moved to designing and developing sophisticated, self-paced, online course content, and then managing access to it in a LMS. With the emergence of the "networked learning era" training departments have begun to think about how they can add "social" into the mix."

"Co-Creation allows companies to take the innovation process and turn it on its head. This methodology allows brands to take advantage of the growth of participatory culture and consumer influencers to navigate new market landscapes"

An overview of Systems Thinking, and how to apply the ideas of Complexity Theory to management of systems, with the results being called "Complexity Thinking"

Education Secretary Arne Duncan declared August Connected Educator Month. For those educators who are interested in using game-based learning might like to join a community and connect with others already are endeavoring in the journey. Especially in the same subject, the exchange of experience will be very valuable for specific targets. This post is focused on online communities(part of the information is from ConnectedEducators.org)

"Social business. A term that's been steadily gaining traction at the intersection of social media's rise and the current shift in the business world. But what does it mean? "

Engagement is a good thing, of course. The preference to be not bored is pretty universal. But with time constraints and information overload, getting and maintaining people's already short attention spans is harder than ever. So, marketers and content specialists are turning to gamification as the latest Holy Grail. Too bad they don't know what they're doing. Gamification without solid core ideas to communicate, and a clear, concise method of doing so, is doomed to fail. It's about as effective as taking a PowerPoint deck and just changing every fifth slide to read "REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!" Attention getting? Maybe. More effective communication? No. Just lipstick on a pig.

"In this new age of networked intelligence, collaborative communities are enhancing and even bypassing crumbling institutions. We are innovating the way our financial institutions and governments operate; how we educate our children; how the healthcare, newspaper, and energy industries serve their customers; how we care for our neighbourhoods; and even how we solve global problems. "

"What does it mean to socialize the enterprise? Often, the primary focus of this term is the outward-facing social media strategy of the company and/or the social collaboration infrastructure it uses. But in reality, these two aspects are just the tip of the iceberg. A socialized enterprise incorporates the entire stakeholder landscape and platforms for bridging these connections: the consumer-facing social media strategy of the company, collaboration within the organization and the way the company interacts with clients and, no less important, its external partners."

Tacit Knowledge speech by Dave Snowden "Keynote Speech at State of the Net 2012 (Trieste, June 22nd)"

""Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.""

As corporate leaders around the world seek to build sustainable businesses, there is no doubt that innovation lies at the heart of the solution. But there is a nagging question that's been cropping up in the debate: Does experience kill innovation? While there is no questioning the value of experience in many respects, there is a school of thought that looks at experience as an ever-expanding rear-view mirror that constantly draws attention to the path traveled, rather than the unknown and limitless possibilities on the way forward.