Vizthink 08

By Linda King, G2G3

Greetings from rainy California! A team from G2G3 are out here at the Vizthink 08 conference in San Francisco, learning all about visual thinking and its importance in business. This is the first ever Vizthink conference, and it's brought together nearly 400 like-minded individuals who see the power of bringing visual thinking to create clarity into the business world. We're attending sessions and workshops on visual thinking and strategy, photography, mind-mapping, graphic facilitation, infographics, etc etc etc. It's great to be in such a vibrant city, being inspired by some of the best in the business. Stay tuned - we'll be posting more photos and reports from the event shortly!!

Get IT with Contextual Learning

By Linda King, G2G3

When implementing technology related cultural change or tools/technology roll-outs, 9 out of 10 organizations will simply take the ʻrecommended training programʼ from their technology vendor, normally delivered via formal education or classroom instruction. 

Whilst this may seem the logical (and cheapiest and easiest!) choice in terms of accelerating acceptance, is it the right thing to do? Does it address the cultural aspects of the implementation? Does it help people at the sharp end of the roll-out understand the ʻbigger pictureʼ?  

A new generation of learning is here in the form of Contextual Learning.  Unlike the more traditional, ʻtechnology-focusedʼ tools education, Contextual Learning is about making learning relevant in order to improve performance. As a business-focused educational approach, it relates what needs to be learnt to the specific needs of the learner by bringing the technology to life. 

Expect to hear lots more about this topic... as we at G2G3 think it will fundamentally change the way many organizations think about learning.

A rabbit too far??

By Linda King, G2G3

At G2G3 one of our guiding principles is to make the complex simple - to use innovative, contextual and fun techniques to create understanding and filter out the irrelevant information from the relevant. So, I was extremely interested today when I noticed Gartner suggesting that CIOs in 2008 should look to use Ambient Information Devices as technology aids to help to provide executives with key information in an ambient (and fun) manner.

From Ambient Lighting Orbs to interactive electronic rabbits (yes, really!), these devices can be used to do everything from read your emails and texts, monitor stock prices, report on the weather - and even find your keys or other important items should they go missing! These devices are causing a lot of buzz - Time Magazine, the New York Times, CNN and many others are singing their praises. You can even ask the more advanced devices questions in order to get 'logical advice'. Are these cool or has the world gone mad? Shall we be seeing CIOs and other senior executives conversing with their interactive rabbits? Only time will tell....