innovation3

…. Once upon a time there was a learner, a squire named Dennis who lived and learned in the kingdom of Twitter & Plurk. This learner thought he was very attentive. Many years of schooling had prepared him for facing the challenges of life. He was about to learn an important lesson…

Much of his learning occurred online with people he rarely got to see in person. When an invitation went out from Lord November to the citizens in the kingdom of Twitter & Plurk for the conference of BLC08 he got excited. Now he would be able to see and talk to his friends in person.

The day came for the conference and he had an opportunity to talk to some of his friends. He was happy, but really looking forward to the cruise in Ye Olde Boston Harbour that Lord November had planned for a thousand people. Now he could spend time with his friends and tell them about his hopes and dreams for the children and adult learners of the kingdom.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the cruise. In the Kingdom of Apple a plot of distraction was brewing. King Jobs know he could grab the attention of our squire learner by making a new talk tool that he had dubbed the iPhone 3G. Squire Dennis got the talk tool during the conference. He was excited to use it. He arrived early in Ye Olde Boston, 6 o’clock by most estimates. Be at the boat dock by 7 o’clock was his misguided conception.

Thinking he had time to spare he fired up his new talk tool. What magic! He was able to travel to the village of blog with this iPhone 3G. Sir Wesley Fryer from Moving at the Speed of Creativity had written a wonderful tale, a Quick-Start Guide to Audacity. That was a treat for Squire Dennis, our learner, to read. He wants to learn more about Audacity, he thought pensively and bookmarked the tale.

Sir Norman at Relexions had ironically written a tale of Teaching Attention to the young and old. Squire Dennis would have benefited from this teaching on this fateful night. In the tale it was written…

The ability to pay careful attention isn’t important just for students and air traffic controllers. Researchers are finding that attention is crucial to a host of other, sometimes surprising, life skills: the ability to sort through conflicting evidence, to connect more deeply with other people, and even to develop a conscience. Boston.com

So be it… Our learning Squire Dennis knew this was true. He distraction into these tales could be a problem if not managed well. At that point he cooled down his talk tool and tucked it into its leather case on his trusty belt. It was time to depart for the dock to board his boat for the cruise with his friends. Be there by 7 he mumbled to himself.

He had trouble finding the dock. Other citizens gave him incorrect directions that took him along a wayward path and he lost fifteen mintues, but he was not deterred. He persevered and found himself near the place he need to be and saw a lovely lass in a blue shirt with Ye Olde Boston Cruises emblazoned on its frontispiece.

When he asked this lass where the Provincetown II could be boarded, her face grimaced. Squire Dennis instinctively knew this was not a good sign. She paused turned to Ye Olde Boston Harbour and with a stalwart lunge of her body and thrust of her shoulder, arm, hand and pointer finger, an imposing figure that reminded him of Sir John Davitt’s illustrative pose from the morning lecture on diversity amongst the population of the kingdom’s learners, she directed our squires obviously untaught attention to the boat chugging away from the dock bound for the inner depths of the sea with a boatload of his friends. Alas, Squire Dennis will have to wait until next year to attend a f2f meeting with his friends on the cruise.

Later, as Squire Dennis bemoaned his tragic fate, he pulled out the sheet of paper in his pocket. Across the top above the directions was words he miss read. Boat will depart at 6:30 from the dock. Let this tale be a lesson to all of those in the kingdom of Twitter & Plurk with similar multitasking distractions as our still learning Squire Dennis…

Story Version 2.0