Critical Reflections by Saul Carliner

The Death of the Lecture?

2012-01-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

A New Year's Day story by American Public Media focuses on the disappearance of the lecture as a teaching tool in physics. Reporter Emily Hanford specifically quotes physics education innovators Eric Mazur and Joe Redish (whose wife is one of my mentors).

They talk about the end of the lecture and the rise of the interactive classroom, which promotes discussion, discovery, and clarification as key elements of teaching. In some cases, they advocate for recorded lectures to clearly and effectively communicate concepts.

Some people see this as the death of the lecture.

I'm not sure I'd be so quick to rush to that conclusion.

Such classrooms are as driven by instructors as the all-talk classroom. What differentiates these classrooms, however, is that the instructors share the podium with their students and engage them in conversations and inquiry with one another during the class lesson.

More fundamentally, these instructors seem to go to the inconvenience of planning their lessons and investing considerable thought about not only what they want to cover (which seems to be the traditional approach) but how, and seem similarly concerned about which techniques ultimately result in the highest level of retention among their students.

See the article at http://www.npr.org/2012/01/01/144550920/physicists-seek-to-lose-the-lecture-as-teaching-tool

2012-01-16T03:50:00.000-08:00

User-Generated Documentation

One trend that garners the attention of many instructional designers and technical communicators is that of content generated by people other than us. We typically face two major competitors to our work:

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), whose have an in-depth knowledge of the content and save time on translating it for communicators by writing the material themselves

Users and learners, who have hands-on experience with the content and can offer real-world perspectives on ways that people actually use the content in the context of their jobs and lives

For the purpose of this article, I'll refer to contributions by both groups as user-generated documentation, even though the technical term for the first category is SME-generated documentation.

Like many technical writers, Malobika Khanra and Debarshi Gupta Biswas

authors of User-Generated Content: Embracing Social Networking to Deliver More Engaging Technical Documentation, (UX Matters,

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/04/user-generated-content-embracing-social-networking-to-deliver-more-engaging-technical-documentation.php).

primarily focus on the advantages of user-generated documentation, noting that it is an inevitable byproduct of a Web 2.0 world, democratizes content and offers broader perspectives on the content than possible by technical communicators alone. They note that technical communicators still play a role in publishing user-generated content, calling that role a content curator.

One of the tools for producing user-generated content is the template, which guides users through the process of preparing content on their own. In Are You Tempted to Use a Template to Expedite Policy & Procedure Development (http://www.urgoconsulting.com/enewsletter/2011_Nov-Dec/template-policy-and-procedure-development.php), policies and procedures expert Raymond Urgo distinguishes among the different types of templates available:

Content, which presents a fill-in-the-blank form that not only addresses formatting issues, but also prompts authors to provide particular types of content in a particular order--and use particular headings to signal that content to readers.

Mechanical, which primarily assists with formatting.

Pre-written, which contains most of the text needed on a particular topic, prompting users to replace certain types of things.

Urgo notes that none of these templates guide their users through the foundational process of analyzing users and their needs and, as a result, using these templates might speed up the production of content, but the content might fail to actually meet the needs of its intended users.

This problem of analysis is also raised by Khanra and Biswas, who note that instructional designers and technical communicators often do not conduct a full audience analysis.

The same pressures driving people to use templates are the ones presumed to prevent instructional designers and technical communicators from conducting audience analyses: pressures to reduce costs and time to publication.

But in many cases, the problem is more fundamental. In some organizations, instructional designers and technical communicators are actively prevented from gaining access to users; only marketing representatives and a few select members of the product development team have such access.

Worse, when confronted with such situations, instructional designers and technical communicators merely complain that they don't have It's that someone actively prevents access to users. They don't push to gain access or, at the least, to talk directly to those people who do have access.

For example, I once had a student--a professional technical communicator--who was supposed to do an audience analysis in her work environment for her class project. She said she could not do so because her company prevented it. I said that she should then speak to the people who do have access to users to get this information; previously she relied solely on product specifications and internal marketing plans for information.

She did so--and the experience was enlightening. The documentation on which she relied was misleading; they described the intended markets and users for her products. After speaking with the people who had direct access to users, she learned that the primary audience assumed for the product was actually a secondary one, the group assumed to be a secondary audience was merely a tiny population, and that the primary market was one that was not even on her radar.

User-generated content has its value, but it is not vetted content.

That vetting is the value added by instructional designers and technical communicators. But we don't bring much value unless we truly do the vetting--and push to gain the broad, practical perspective that SMEs lack because of technical focus, and users lack because of their one-environment-only focus.

Perhaps the best advantage of user-generated documentation is that it keeps us on our toes.

How Different Are Millenials--Really?

2012-01-14T03:54:00.000-08:00

As I wrote in an earlier post, perhaps some of the discussions about the differences between Millenials and other generations might be basic generational differences that have existed throughout time, rather than completely unique characteristics of this generation.

Here's another piece of evidence to support this alternative view. In his analysis of three years' of the Allstate/National Journal Heartland poll, Ronald Brownstein found that Millenials, "fabled for preferring variety to stability, also echoed that sentiment" were nearly as likely to seek job stability (that is, a long-term job with a single employer) as those in other age brackets.

Read his analysis at http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/what-the-great-recession-wrought-the-state-of-the-us-in-3-years-of-polls/251010/.

What's Ahead in Technology for Higher Education in 2012?

2012-01-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

While we wait for the annual Horizon report of the 6 most significant technologies to affect higher education in the next 5 years, Audrey Watters of Inside Higher Education has shared her predictions

One significant difference in approach distinguish Watters' predictions from most others: her list includes policies and practices related to technology as well as fallout from tit.

Among her predictions:

The impact of accreditation and recognition for participation in open courses.
The impact of machine grading on work opportunities for graders, teaching assistants and even instructors.
The impact of open source materials on publishing--and the openness of faculty to the new economics of publishing.

Check out the predictions at http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/5-predictions-higher-ed-technology-2012.

Good News for Education Graduates

2012-01-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

In a posting on the Economix blog of the New York Times, of 15 majors, education had the lowest unemployment rates: of recently graduated BAs/BEds, of BAs/BEds with work experience, and MAs/MEds.

Admittedly, few get rich on an education degree. But they do stay employed.

View the details at:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/want-a-job-go-to-college-and-dont-major-in-architecture/?ref=business

Of Complexity, Ignorance, and Educators

2011-12-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

Now here’s a scary thought:

“The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. “

So reads a press release about a recently published study that explores the links between awareness of social issues and dependence on and trust in government. Researchers at the University of Western Ontario and other universities reached these conclusions following a series of studies in the US and Canada.

Researchers presented participants with simple and complex descriptions of the same problem and found that people reading the more complex description felt higher levels of helplessness. One of the conclusions that co-researcher Aaron C. Kay, reported was that:

“people tend to respond by psychologically ‘outsourcing’ the issue to the government”

So what does this mean for educators, especially those who teach complex issues and like to emphasize critical thinking? The authors suggest:

“Beyond just downplaying the catastrophic, doomsday aspects to their messages, educators may want to consider explaining issues in ways that make them easily digestible and understandable, with a clear emphasis on local, individual-level causes.”

To learn more, check out Ignorance Is Bliss When it Comes to Challenging Social Issues at http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/11/ignorance.aspx.

Who Cares about Their Customers? Who Doesn’t? Website Responses Are Telling

2011-12-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

The experience of contacting companies through their websites about problems provides some interesting insights into their real attitudes towards customers.

Who cares?

La Quinta Inns.
Cheesecake Factory.
Starbucks

I reported issues to each of these companies over the summer and heard back from each within 4 business days—each offering an apology. Starbuck’s sort of freaked me out (in a good way) because I sent the note at 6:30 pm and heard back at midnight. I realized, at some point, that they must have an off-shore customer service team. (Just a guess.)

Both the managers of the La Quinta Inn and Cheesecake Factory I wrote about personally contacted me, one by phone.

But other companies are another story:

Delta.
Air France.
Loblaws

Delta responded within 48 hours, but offered an empty apology and made no effort to correct the situation (which was not a weather-related delay, which is beyond their control).

Air France outsourced the response to a concern about a letter with a refund check that contained no refund check to Delta. Writing on behalf of Air France 6 weeks after I sent my note, Delta told me that they couldn’t do anything (why the person didn’t refer the issue to the appropriate person at Air France is beyond me.)

At least these airlines had the decency to acknowledge the concern.

Loblaws? Happy to take my money; could care less about responding to my concern.

Happy Holidays Thursday

2011-12-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

The holiday season has Black Friday to kick-start in-store sales and Cyber Monday to pump online sales.

Today must be Happy Holidays Thursday--a new event, 10 days before Christmas--when every organization to whom I have given money, conducted business, or just merely written for more information sends me a Happy Holiday card.

But I'm not sure if they really care about my holiday or just want to make sure that the season doesn't end without my buying or donating.

Technology and the Schools in the Popular News

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Technology and the schools has made the popular news on both sides of border in the past week or so.

On the one hand, the Globe and Mail has run a special section on education, with a discussion of the need to re-design primary, secondary, and tertiary education to take advantage of the technologies now available for teaching.

On the other hand, the New York Times has published a couple of articles raising the red flags about all-online schools. The first appeared in Gail Collins' column, in which she raises a red flag about too much technology in primary and secondary education, specifically raising concerns about the tendency for many states to outsource online school programs to the for-profit company, K12 Inc.--and the lack of research evidence on the effectiveness for children of learning full-time in an online environment.

She’s right to raise that flag. Although the research is clear that online learning is at least as effective as classroom learning, none of the studies were conducted in full-time, long-term environments. Studies of long-term, full-time effects would, by necessity, need to look at side effects of learning, such as the effects on social development of spending most class time on the computer rather than with other children.

She also raised a red flag about the sales pitch used to generate enrollments in these online programs, positioning “online learning as an alternative to a violent in-school experience.” See her column at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/opinion/virtually-educated.html?src=recg.)

The Times followed with an in-depth of the for-profit charter school industry this Monday. Profits and Questions at Charter Schools by Stephanie Saul provides an-depth exploration of online charter schools, suggesting that they perform better on Wall Street than Main Street. Among the measures on which the schools are underperforming include student-teacher ratios, churn rate (numbers of students enrolling then transferring out), and all-important standardized tests.

The article concludes that K12, one of the leading for-profit companies running these schools "a portrait emerges of a company that tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards."

View the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html?src=recg&pagewanted=all.

The common themes underlying all of these articles are that technology in the schools is still viewed as something separate and something to be viewed with suspicion, and that some of the implementations of technology--intended to promote its virtues--only deepen those initial concerns.

Alternative to Blackboard and Moodle?

2011-12-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

Fast Company reporter and Do-It-Yourself college education advocate Anya Kamenetz reports on Coursekit, a free online application that is positioning itself as a more student- and teacher-friendly alternative to market leader Blackboard.

Kamenetz focuses her December 5 article in Fast Company on the business model used by Coursekit. Coursekit is available free and ad-free for the next year (its first year in operation). After that, it will continue to be free (that’s its value proposition) but could feature ads as a means of generating revenue.

To provide background, Kamenetz notes that Coursekit was developed by some dropouts from the undergraduate program at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania to provide an easier-to-use experience than Blackboard. (I had actually read this before; whomever is launching this company has hired a great PR firm.)

That intrigued me, because when Blackboard first hit the scene a bit over a decade ago, its ease of use was the key to its success. Instructors could easily create course websites without knowing anything about HTML or Dreamweaver. All they had to do was upload Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents, and fill in a few templates.

But after a semester or two of work, Blackboard looked clunky and I returned to writing my own course websites in HTML.

After it established itself in the market, other educational technologists, too, tired of Blackboard. Blackboard and its then competitor WebCT dramatically raised their prices, added a host of features that only a few teachers needed, and drove many schools to the open-source competitor, Moodle. Moodle operates similarly to Blackboard and offers similar functions, but the software is open source so organizations avoid licensing fees. I use Moodle but mostly for its privacy capabilities or when I'm told to; my feelings about the application and its usability are neutral.

So Kamenetz's article--the second I had seen in a week about Coursekit--piqued my curiosity. I wanted to see whether Coursekit was easier to use.

So I checked it out myself and created a simple course website. Its interface is cleaner, using a social media feed rather than the announcement boards typical of its predecessors. The gradebook and submissions processes look much simpler than Blackboard and Moodle.

What I liked the best was the calendar function, which lets instructors present all of the materials needed for a single session together. I also appreciated the privacy settings, that let instructors keep some parts public and others private. In terms of usability, the product seems to live up to its promise (won’t know until I use it under the real pressures of a term).

But, as Kamenetz notes, how Coursekit handles advertising could make or break the product. Read her article at http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=961161750&ids=0TdzoOcPoOdzAIc3kTcjoNcjoVb3gUcPoRdPAReiMVcjkMdPwNdjAIcjsQc38Qc3oV&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-3&ut=3KxPl_oj62yR01.

More about Writing

2011-12-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, good, clear writing is a skill that's needed on the job.

But many people (including a PR firm I once sub-contracted for) mistakenly feel that buzzwords are a tool of clear writing . The PR firm felt that those buzzwords helped build credibility among prospective customers.

But if the Evil HR Lady and the salacious anti-meeting tweeter MeetingBoy are to be believed, all buzzwords do is make people run out for the PeptoBismol.

Find out which buzzwords are generating groans:

Evil HR lady: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57337895/add-value-by-killing-corporate-jargon/
Meeting Boy: http://meetingboy.com/post/5017367342/the-most-hated-buzzword

Montreal--One of the Top Ten Hippest Cities in the World

2011-12-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

The New York Times and its sister paper, the International Herald Tribune, recently identified the 10 hippest cities in the world.

The staffs specifically

“examine[d] some cities that aim to be both smart and well managed, yet have an undeniably hip vibe. Our pick of cities that are, in a phrase, both great and good.”

Presented in alphabetical order (so no one knows exactly how each city actually ranked), the cities include:

Auckland, New Zealand
Berlin, Germany
Barcelona, Spain
Cape Town, South Africa
Copenhagen, Denmark
Curitiba, Brazil
Montreal, Canada
Santiago, Chile
Shanghai, China
Vilnius, Lithuania

Not only is my city the hippest in North American but apparently, my neighborhood is also among the hippest on the continent. Both the Utne Reader and the Project for Public Spaces ranked the Plateau Mont-Royal as one of the hippest neighborhoods in North America.

But the Utne Reader gave that rating in 1997 and there’s no date in the Project for Public Spaces discussion, so I have no idea if the neighborhood is still hip. Or worse, whether I’m personally dragging down the hip factor.

(To see the original article and find out why the editors ranked these cities so highly, visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/business/global/hip-cities-that-think-about-how-they-work.html?pagewanted=all.)

Life Lessons Not Learned in College

2011-12-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

One of the ongoing challenges of academic education is preparing students for the real world.

In “What Students Don’t Learn About Work in Work in College” (http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/11/21/what-students-dont-learn-about-work-in-college.), US News & World Report blogger Alison Green identifies 10 lessons that are often lost on students.

Several of these relate to one of the skills that I think is so important--especially for students hoping to become instructional designers and technical communicators (the two fields for which I prepare students). But most are skills that students actually should develop in school.

Green advises students:

"You need to address both sides of an issue,"

noting that students typically learn to argue 1 side of an issue when preparing assignments for school.

But this is a skill that can be learned in school. The best way to argue for one side is to explore the other side of the argument, then explain why that is the less effective approach to the situation. This balance is also called critical thinking and the extent of that critical thinking is what distinguishes A papers from the rest. One need not wait for the workplace to develop this skill; it's something to start while in school.

But admittedly, some faculty members assume that students know that arguing both sides of the issue makes for a stronger paper and, as a result, do not explicitly explain this strategy to students.

Green advises students that:

You need to be concise when writing in the workplace. Good writing isn’t stiff and formal.

Like the last skill, this one can be developed in school. The truth is, most faculty find stiff, verbose writing painful to read. Most grimace when reading such assignments.

Unfortunately, some faculty members do not factor in the quality of the writing when grading papers, they reward such papers with passing or excellent grades. Worse, because some faculty often assume that students know how to do things without verifying it, they do not comment on these issues when grading papers nor do they address the problems of verboseness and stiff writing with their classes.

The last tip for writing that Green offers is

Procrastinating is a really bad idea.

That, too, is a skill that students can learn in school if their professors emphasize it. So often, students can easily get extensions. (I know well--when I was an undergraduate, I developed expertise in requesting them and, by the time I was a doctoral student, I was the designated "Can you give us an extension" requester in many of my classes.)

But having had learned the same lesson in the workplace--sometimes painfully--(to be honest, I still struggle with deadlines), I have developed a zero-tolerance policy on late assignments. In fact, it's a

totally zero approach--late assignments receive a 0.

Recognizing that students sometimes really do need an extension because they're juggling too many due dates for their classes, I do offer a "get out of jail free" card each term. For one assignment, each term, students can ask to submit it a week late. This does not work with some time-dependent assignments, such as in-class presentations and exams--but is well received by students. Students merely need to tell me that they want to take advantage of this before the assignment is due; they do not need to provide me with an excuse and I advise them to take the full week of the extension.

Such an approach also teaches students how to negotiate schedules and actively confronting their schedules in advance--rather than at the last minute. Those are important project management skills, and they're ones that can be developed in school.

We Don't Pay--Technically

2011-11-28T19:06:00.000-08:00

In his New York Times article, Paying for News? It’s Nothing New, Jeremy W. Peters shattered my belief that major news outlets don’t pay for interviews.

In the most technical sense, major news outlets don’t. But they provide various types of expense reimbursements in exchange for an interview. As Peters notes:

The payment is always for something else, tangible or intangible, like one’s time or the rights to memorabilia.

So what’s the difference between paying for a picture or paying for the interview? The money ends up in the interviewees hands.

Peters also notes that this practice has existed in one form or another for over a century—citing an example of his own paper paying a survivor of the Titanic.

Maybe the real issue is not paying for interviews but the guideline of not paying for interviews isn’t realistic. Major news outlets can’t seem to follow the intent of their own guidelines, even if they have met the guideline in its most technical sense.

Read Peters’ analysis at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/sunday-review/paying-for-news-its-nothing-new.html?pagewanted=all

Collectively, We Can Make a Difference

2011-11-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

I recently saw a headline in the Montreal Gazette asking, “What can YOU do about the road mess?”

For those not familiar with the road situation in Montreal, it’s pretty frightening. We live on an island, so our bridges and tunnels are essential to travel here.

But we can’t always trust them. A bridge in one of the suburbs fell 5 years ago, killing people who were driving under and over it. At the beginning of the summer, another bridge was abruptly closed after the public had been assured it was safe, and a report was leaked that the most traveled bridge is like a “patient” with “terminal cancer” and wouldn’t withstand an earthquake. Those are rare here, but more frequent than those in Washington, DC.

And if that weren’t enough, the overhang on a tunnel fell. Fortunately, it did so on a lazy Sunday morning and no one was hurt.

Although concerned about the politics of the situation, the provincial government responsible for the roadways has been short of forthcoming on information.

While these emergency repairs go on, most of the major roadways are in various stages of reconstruction, with little or no seeming regard for the disruption the combined construction efforts are taking on Montreal.

So when Annabel Soutar asked, “What can YOU do about the road mess,” my instinctive response was, Nothing. Soutar got interested in the situation when the bridge fell 5 years ago. She noticed that a culture existed in which no one had to take responsibility for the problem. Each actor could absolve him or herself of blame—and no one realized that the collective innocence led to real deaths of real people that really could have been avoided.

So she wrote a play to call attention and raise anger.

And she advises people to, at the least, be informed and, at the most, actively hold elected officials and civil servants for our safety.

This is truly one of those situations in which only collective efforts will bring openness and accountability to this system. Although that has hardly been accomplished, recent actions by transportation officials suggest that the concerns are on their radar, even if they’re far from solved.

Read Soutar’s eloquent call to action at http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/What+about+road+mess/5208440/story.html.

Dealing with Disappearing Friends

2011-11-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

Having had been on both sides of this equation, I know how hard it is when friends drift. In his advice column in the New York Times, Philip Galanes suggests that, just because a friend drifts, doesn’t mean that friend stops caring. It’s just that their lives and yours are moving in different directions.

Check out the complete story at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/fashion/when-friends-drift-social-qs.html?ref=fashion.

Dining at Dollarama

2011-11-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

About a year into the current economic slump, I read an article saying that dollar stores like Dollarama and Yankee Dollar were carrying more food items as cash-strapped consumers sought to stretch their grocery budgets.

In one of the funniest news pieces I’ve read in years, Toronto Star, business columnist Tony Wong discovers that “Dining at the dollar store might be cheap, but you can feel the effects on more than just your pocketbook.”

Hillarious, but with a touch of melancholy underneath it all.

Read it for yourself at
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1043319--dining-at-the-dollar-store-might-be-cheap-but-you-can-feel-the-effects-on-more-than-just-your-pocketbook.

Bilboa Is So Yesterday

2011-11-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

Following the lead of Bilboa in transforming a European city considered to be a remote outpost of civilization, the New York Times recently showcased two other cities following the same formula.

The city of Santiago de Compostela in the northern Galicia region is home of a new City of Culture, which includes a library, archives, museum (which sounds like it is primarily going to exhibit temporary exhibitions), and performance spaces, in an uber-modern building located in a centuries-old historic district. Details at
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/travel/santiago-de-compostela-spain-aims-to-attract-new-cultural-pilgrims.html

Reporter Finn-Olaf Jones reports that the city of Perm, on the western edge of Siberia (and, apparently, considered the last stop in civilization as one enters Siberia on the TransSiberian Railway), is transforming itself from a closed city of the Soviet era into an avante-garde visual and performing arts centre, and is attracting notice worldwide. The city is doing this by dedicating some of its economic development resources for the arts. The transformation involves strengthening and expanding cultural institutions like remodeling the museums. But more importantly, the transformation involves developing and promoting local talent. In the process, Perm is also attracting emerging international talent to its burgeoning arts scene.

Check out the whole story—as well as travel suggestions—at
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/travel/perm-russias-emerging-cultural-hotspot.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all.

Management Training for Nonprofit Executives

2011-11-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Philanthropists are giving Human Resources a good name.

According to reporter Stephanie Strom, some major philanthropists are requiring that the leaders of organizations they fund participate in management training as a condition of the funding.

Although many nonprofit executives rightfully resist such intrusion of donors on everyday operations, many of those interviewed by Strom appreciated this type of advice. The donors recognized that, although the organizations they fund are passionate about their goals, some minimize the role of management practices and principles in achieving those goals. As Strom writes:

“People in this sector, just like scientists and doctors, get promoted because of their issue expertise and then no one really ever teaches them how to manage,” said Jerry Hauser, the center’s chief executive and a former consultant at McKinsey & Company. “Then it becomes a vicious cycle, where the next generation coming up in an organization comes up under someone who doesn’t know how to manage.”

Following training, the nonprofit executives gained new insights into their operations and devised new ways to more effectively achieve goals and prepare for the future.

To read the entire article--and learn about some specialized sources of management training for nonprofit executives--visit

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/business/philanthropists-start-requiring-management-courses-to-keep-nonprofits-productive.html?ref=business&pagewanted=all.

Digital Content, Disappearing Archives

2011-11-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

Transferring content to digital formats has its advantages. For example, think of thousands of songs you can store on an palm-sized iPod or the hundreds of books you can store on a single Kindle, which is thinner than a book.

But archival purposes isn’t one of those advantages. As University of Maryland Information Studies and English professor Kari Kraus reports in When Data Disappears (published in the New York Times, August 6, 2011), digital media like hard disks, thumb drives, DVDs and CDs, are “inherently unstable.” Most of these media start to degrade with time. Even if the media survives, the formats do not. (Don’t believe me? Try to open a Word 95 file with MS Word 2010.)

We may be producing more content in a week than all of civilization produced for centuries, but if we don’t find a way to preserve it so it’s accessible to future generations, all of that great content could disappear from our historical consciousness.

Learn more about the issue at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/opinion/sunday/when-data-disappears.html?ref=opinion.

Ranking and Choosing Online Degrees

2011-11-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

U.S. News & World Report, the pioneer in college rankings, is in the midst of conducting a new first-of-its-kind study: rankings of online universities. But according to “The Online-College Crapshoot” (by Laura Pappano, New York Times, November 4, 2011at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-online-college-crapshoot.html?ref=edlife&pagewanted=all) some of the biggest online universities, including Capella and Kaplan, aren’t participating.

Among their concerns is the concern that the criteria one might use to rank a traditional university do not apply to online universities. For example, because many of the students in online universities are non-traditional students, some of the information about class ranking in high school is less relevant.

Some of the issues are that the strengths of traditional and online universities differ. According to the article, traditional universities focus on research and promote the expertise of their faculties; online universities focus on teaching and learning support. (I think that sells both groups short; nearly all traditional universities have units that promote teaching and learning; some online universities focus on research).

In a related article, Pappano suggests some tips for choosing an online university now—before the ratings are available (Before Signing On: A Checklist, New York Times, November 4, 2011, at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/before-signing-on-a-checklist.html?ref=edlife).

To get information, speak to someone who “isn’t hawking courses, like a program director” rather than a recruiter.

Check:

Course quality (what you’ll learn, assignments, and whether the instructor is qualified to teach the course)
Educational support—that is, someone who will provide advice on courses and preparing for work after graduation—and do so on a timely basis
Technical Support—that is, if the technology fails, how quickly will the problem be addressed (some programs only have support during normal business hours; most online students sign onto their courses on weekends and evenings
Credit transfer, that is, if you decide to switch to another university later in your studies, will they accept your credits
Accreditation—that is, will anyone recognize your degree? Most employers and universities only recognize degrees from accredited institutions.
Costs, jobs, and other indicators—that is, the likelihood that your degree will translate into a job afterwards, based on the experience of previous graduates

Oprah's Favorite Thing

2011-11-09T08:30:00.000-08:00

Even though Oprah isn't on TV anymore, she's still compiling a list of her favorite things and publishing them in her magazine.

Among her favorite things for 2011 are some dreamy carmels from my sister-in-law's company. Check them out in the Oprah magazine--the carmels from the Velvet Chocolatier (http://www.thevelvetchocolatier.com/).

(Don't usually plug things, but it's not every day that someone in my family is on Oprah's list.)

Looks like it's really going to happen!

2011-09-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Just finished reviewing the edits for my next book, Informal Learning Basics.

Comes out this spring.

Updates and teasers as publication gets closer.

Sadie Katz's Is Closing

2011-08-28T12:13:00.001-07:00

Burlington, Vermont loses its Jewish deli

From the best I can tell, Sadie Katz’s Deli in Burlington, Vermont is the closest thing to a traditional New York Deli between Boston and New York, and the North Pole. (Montreal has lots of Jews—but their interpretation of Jewish food is significantly different than their brethren in the U.S.)

But Sadie is closing her doors next Sunday (the day before Labor Day). Someone bought out her lease and, from the best I could tell while eavesdropping, the owner is focusing on a brewpub with pizza by the slice.

Although we discovered a New York-style bagel shop in Burlington the same day we heard this news, it’s a bagel shop, not a deli, and it doesn’t serve matzo ball soup.

If anyone knows of a deli in Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Albany, Saratoga Springs, or even Syracuse, please comment.

Otherwise, try to patronize Sadie before she closes her doors for good.

Pleased to Announce a "Promotion"

2011-06-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

I recently received a note from TripAdvisor, saying that I had been designated as a Senior Reviewer. It made me feel like one of those correspondents on the Daily Show, which only employs senior correspondents.

Seriously, I thought the TripAdvisor approach was a rather clever way of acknowledging volunteer contributors to the website.

And the criteria for promotion are clear:

1-5 Reviews: Reviewer
6-10 Reviews: Senior Reviewer
11-20 Reviews: Contributor
21-49 Reviews: Senior Contributor
50+ Reviews: Top Reviewer

Of course, the quality of reviews is inconsequential to this scheme.

But it's a great way of recognizing voluntary contributors to the site and encouraging them to contribute more. I'm already working on my promotion to "Contributor."

2011-06-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

Technologies to Watch in Higher Education: 8 Years’ of Predictions

The New Media Consortium and Educause recently published their annual Horizon Report, which "describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact in higher education within three adoption horizons over the next one to five years" (Johnson, Levine, Smith & Stone, 2010).

In response, I compiled the lists of technologies to watch from the eight Horizon reports that have been published to date:

Year	Time to Adoption: 1 Year or Less	Time to Adoption: 2 to 3 Years	Time to Adoption: 4 to 5 Years
2004	Learning objects Scalable vector graphics (SVG)	Rapid prototyping Multimodal interfaces	Context-aware computing Knowledge webs
2005	Extended Learning Ubiquitous wireless	Intelligent searching Educational gaming	Social Networks & Knowledge Webs Context-Aware Computing/Augmented Reality
2006	Social computing Personal broadcasting	The phones in their pockets Educational gaming	Social networks and knowledge webs Context-aware computing/augmented reality
2007	User-created content Social networking	Mobile phones Virtual worlds	The new scholarship and emerging forms of publication Massively multiplayer educational gaming
2008	Grassroots video Collaboration web	Mobile broadband Data mashups	Collective intelligence Social operating systems
2009	Mobiles Cloud computing	Geo-everything (geo-tagging of data) Personal web	Semantic-aware objects Smart objects
2010	Mobile computing Open content	Electronic books Simple augmented reality	Gesture-based computing Visual data analysis
2011	Electronic books Mobiles (mobile devices)	Augmented reality Game-based learning	Gesture-based computing Learning analytics

Food for thought: Which technologies did they call correctly? Which ones not?

References
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report.

Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

An Infant with Great Potential

2011-06-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's post explored that, despite the hype, e-books are still in their infancy.

But everyone has high hopes for them. Some of those hopes are admittedly hype. But some are based on actual data and experience. Here are three cases:

A partner approach to online and print
Signs of life in the nonfiction market for e-books
New online course packs

Case 1. A Partner Approach to Online and Print

Some publishers are discovering that the path to e-books takes a journey through hybrid approaches, much like the route to e-learning involved a journey through blended learning.

The conversion of much workplace and university learning programs to electronic formats ended up involving blended formats, in which parts of programs were presented online and other parts remained in the classroom. This allowed all stakeholders to become comfortable with learning online. It reduced (but did not eliminate) instructor and learner resistance, and provided skeptical executives with an opportunity to try e-learning before making a full-fledged commitment to it.

Some evidence is arising that print media might be re-thinking their options along the same lines. The New York Times recently published a profile of the re-worked Hollywood Reporter. Until recently, the Reporter published a daily newspaper. Much of its news became redundant with the increasing myriad of Hollywood news sites. And it lost its focus on its core readers--Hollywood insiders--rather than Hollywood obsessed fans (OK, me).

To shift the focus back--while acknowledging the current realities of the entertainment news industry--new editor Janice Min reconceived the Hollywood Reporter as a combination of online and print contents:

Online news outlet, where breaking news was published on an ongoing basis
Glossy, weekly print publication, which publishes feature articles of interst to the traditional core audience of the Hollywood Reporter

The initial results after a year or so of publication suggest the transition has succeeded. Ad revenues--a key metric of performance in publishing--and which had fallen prior to the makeover, have--is up by 50 percent over the old daily version.

Min believes that only an outsider could have remade this publication (she came from US Weekly). Perhaps insiders could not have conceived of it; perhaps entrenched interests would have prevented an insider from implementing this vision.

So many visions of online publications approach them as clones of their print versions. Perhaps more publications will explore this partner approach.

Case 2. Signs of Life in the Nonfiction Market for e-Books

Industry figures suggest that early adopters of e-books primarily use them to read fiction.

But I always though that the real benefit would be in non-fiction.

Update-ability. Non-fiction titles feature time-sensitive information and electronic formats allow for easier updating of content.

Quantity. To keep up, many professionals and academics need to read many books and, ideally, have access to many of them simultaneously. e-Book devices provide readers with relatively easy access to several books on a single device.
Price. Because non-fiction titles are often highly specialized and intended for small slices of business and academic markets, the market potential for these books is limited, print runs are limited and--most significantly for consumers--prices are high. (An early article about e-books mentioned that one medical book that costs $US 3,600).

Now comes the first evidence that, perhaps, my hunch has some steam. e-Books seem to be waking the sleepy academic publishing market. Academic publishers specialize in research-based books that receive reviews similar to those of peer-review journals. Most of these books have small market potential, although a few become hits--at least, wihtin the disciplines they represent.

For the most part, print runs of these books are small and, once they're sold out, the books become rare books, difficult to find through book sellers and, sometimes, libraries.

Well, in a report on recent sales figures in the academic publishing industry (mostly represented by university presses) for the website Inside Higher Ed, Steve Kolowich reported that, although sales of print books are down, sales of electronic books have substantially risen since the first of the year.

For some presses, the rise has been as high as 1000 percent (from about 1.6 to nearly 11 percent of sales). Others have seen more modest gains.

The growth in e-book sales has two unqiue characteristics:

Most of the sales are for back-titles. Backtitles are books that are no longer available in print.
Most of the sales have occurred despite next to no marketing. In other words, readers are finding these books on their own.

Kolowich speculates that these results have implications for the marketing of e-books, which probably involve substantially different marketing schemes that used for printed books. As Kolowich notes, big displays of cardboard cut-out characters probably have no place in the marketing of e-books.

Case 3: New Online Course Packs

Two University of Chicago students realized that they were paying for something they had already bought--the readings in their course packs.

Students essentially pay three times for those readings. They pay twice for the readings in the course pack:

A per-page royalty for each reading, which goes to the publisher (at my university, they cited $C .21 per page)
A copying fee of about $C .05 pe page
(plus Markup)

In addition, the student fees that students pay with their tuition also entitles them to an online copy of the same content through their university libraries.

Put in practical terms, students might spend as much as $C 6.00 for a 20-page article in print through a coursepack, when they could download it themselves from their university library (no additional cost) and print it on their own printers (let's say it's $.03/page) for a total cost of $C .60 for the same 20-page article (a savings of 90 percent).

That's one of the reasons I no longer provide course packs and just indicate to students that the article is available in the library and point them in the right direction. The other reason I do that is to help students become familiar and comfortable with the online library resources. Most of the students in one of my courses are first-time graduate students and, by directing them to the library weekly, I hope that the online journals become their first source of content and that the students become equally comfortable with peer-reviewed journals as a key, trusted source of information.

But I digress. The two University of Chicago students came to the same realization. But they also recognized that many students like the conveninece of a course pack.

So they devised an alternative--an online course pack, which Ben Weider describes in a recent posting on the Wired Campus blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education online.
The two students compile the readings for a course into a single online source.

And, in an innovation that could have positive impacts on education, the students who run the service also let professors who teach similar courses see one anothers' course packs so they can compare readings and, ideally, share the ideas.

The two students wondered whether their idea was legal and consulted a number of attorneys. The attorneys seem to believe that the students have not broken any laws.

Right now, the idea has received some funding and its business potential is being explored. Assuming that it succeeds, the coursepack could be reinvented for the electronic age.

Some Thoughts on What this Means

As both of these cases suggest, e-books show promise in non-fiction categories, both for periodicals and books.

But both cases also suggest that publishers need to do more work in re-conceiving of the ways in which people kinteract with print and electronic publications, and the means of marketing to potential readers.

These human processes take time--perhaps more time than was needed to develop the e-book readers.

And these are just two cases. I believe they signal something, but time might suggest otherwise.

e-Books: The Hottest Infant on the Market?

2011-06-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

e-Books grows in interest among professional communicators and instructional designers.

Several sessions at the most recent Society for Technical Communication Summit addressed the topic.
Furthermore, the most recent Horizon Report from EduCause and the New Media Consortium names e-Books as a trend that is likely to affect education in the next 12 months.

But several pieces of evidence suggest that e-books is still in its infancy.

One has to do with hardware and software formats. They still proliferate. Two broad categories exist and, even within them, standards compete for supremacy.

Purpose-built e-book readers, such as the Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Sony e-Reader. Each has its own market. For example, according to the New York Times (published May 22, 2011 at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/business/media/23nook.html?src=recg&pagewanted=all), the Barnes & Noble Nook has a strong appeal to women.

Although many believe that EPUB is the file format used on all e-reader devices, it is not. In fact, the Kindle does not support it.

Tablets, such as the iPad and Playbook. The iPad has its own proprietary bookstore with iBooks, but the makers of other devices make compatible software for it. For example, Kindle has an app that works on the iPad, so people can read Kindle books on an iPad. Similar apps are available for tablets running under Android and Windows.

Another has to do with the definition of an e-book. Some people see the future of electronic books as interactive, multimedia experiences like the demonstration version of Sports Illustrated prepared by Wonderfactory. Yet despite those images and claims like those by a recent tweeter at the STC Summit that “PDF is not an e-book,” many of the magazines for the Nook are PDF files. And readers do not appear to be complaining about them.

Perhaps that gap between the potential and what readers are willing to accept can be explained by acceptance issues. Several research studies suggest that, despite the acknowledged benefits of e-book readers—portability and lower cost of books—readers are still having difficult y giving up printed books. That includes young readers.

A recent study noted that students believe that tablets will transform college—but most down own one. And when they have used them, the study found that students had some practical problems, like writing notes in books. (Chronicle of Higher Education online, http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/students-say-tablets-will-transform-college-though-most-dont-own-them/31465 ).

Furthermore, business models for e-books are still being defined—and publishers of books have different allegiances than those of magazines. Publishers of books embraced the iPad and iBooks because Apple was going to charge more for e-books than Amazon, which had insisted on $9.99 for popular titles.

In contrast, magazine publishers are as frustrated with Apple as book publishers were with Amazon. Until earlier this year, Apple would not let publishers offer subscriptions. Even when they do, Apple won’t provide magazines with information on subscribers, which is essential for advertiser-sponsored publications as advertisers demand demographics of the audience to verify that the magazine is helping advertisers reach their intended customers. In contrast, Barnes & Noble has partnered with magazines in offering subscriptions and provides magazines with data on their subscribers.

The last piece of evidence that, despite the increasing interest in them, e-books remain in their infancy is the lack of empirical research on them. Few studies exist and, of those that do, most explore attitudes towards e-books.

Caught My Eye: Yet Another Discussion of the Flawed Millenials

2011-06-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

In the past week, I’ve read a few pieces that address the strengths and flaws of millenials.

One was a paper from a master’s student. Like much work by early researchers, despite the endless flurry of statistics, this one relied more on emotion than fact in drawing its arguments. The earnest student cited statistic after statistic to make the case that young people are heavy users of social media.

The student tried to put this into a broader social perspective. Among the many points raised were that social media lets adolescents interact with strangers online without the knowledge of their parents.

I pointed out that it’s only in the last 20 or 30 years that young people have been housebound and monitored like prisoners. 100 years ago, many 15 and 16 year olds were already married. Of those who weren’t, many were 1 of 7 or 8 or 10 or 15 children (like my grandparents). With that many children, parents did simply could not follow the doings of each child the way they can when they have just 1 or 2 children.

This historical perspective is what seems to get lost in all of these discussions about Millenials.

One important part of the historical perspective is that we tend to forget that nearly every emerging generation in the past 100 years has been decried for one reason or another.

In her essay, A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/weekinreview/29graduates.html?ref=weekinreview, New York Times, May 28, 2011), Catherine Rampell notes that

It’s worth remembering that to some extent, these accusations of laziness and narcissism in “kids these days” are nothing new — they’ve been levied against Generation X, Baby Boomers and many generations before them. Even Aristotle and Plato were said to have expressed similar feelings about the slacker youth of their times.

In other words, one of the issues that is often lost in our quickness to judge the rising generation is the historical perspective. This perspective could balance conclusions in several ways:

Placing the family situation of young people into the larger perspective of time. Some of the issues that people raise are unique to this generation. Consider parents’ involvement with their adolescents. Parents always loved their adolescents but, as a result of several generations of slow change as well as longer education cycles, longer life spans, and smaller families, they are playing a guardian role longer than in the past and often with more attentiveness to this role. So role-based expectations have also shifted. What parents expect to know about their Millenial children might differ from what parents expected to know about their Boomer and Generation X children, much less what parents expected to know about their Depression-era children.
Placing social phenomena attributed to the current generation into the larger perspective of time. For example, an applicant for a degree program once said that we had a responsibility to study educational technology because of all the social phenomena affecting children. I asked which phenomena. She first mentioned crime—“there’s so much crime these days.” But crime rates in the past decade have been far lower than those 20 to 40 years ago. Perhaps the perception of crime is high but that’s not the same as actual physical threats.

Somehow, the discussions about Millenials seems to lack this type of perspective. The truth is:

Growing up always has its struggles. What differs across time and people is what each person struggled with.
Part of those struggles arise from the times in which the young people were born and raised. Some were born and raised in hard times; others during years of relative peace and prosperity. This has a general effect on people because it establishes some of the social norms and values that guide people the rest of their lives.
Some of those struggles have nothing to do with the times; they have everything to do with the individual circumstances. Some people grew up in relatively comfortable home situations (define comfort however you choose); others had difficult circumstances (define difficult however you choose, too). This happened in every generation until now and is likely to continue in every generation to come.
Young people tend to have a higher level of comfort adopting new technologies (though this is not universal). In this generation, it’s social media. In previous generations, it was AOL Instant Messenger, personal computers in general and even telephones. Yet no matter how strong the presumed attachment of the young people to these technologies, the technologies are only a part of their lives. They do not define them.

So many people who write and research generational issues seem to lose this perspective.

Certainly journalists should write about young people and researchers should study them. How young people adopt technology could affect the way that people use it tomorrow.

But more than technology (which is what I study) or attitudinal issues of millenials, the primary reason that journalists should write about Millenials and resesarchers should study them is that we apparently have forgotten the experience ourselves as we have aged.

And perhaps it’s that lack of empathy that prevents us from embracing Millenials. Rampell suggested this at the beginning of her essay:

YOU’D think there would be a little sympathy. This month, college graduates are jumping into the job market, only to land on their parents’ couches: the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is a whopping 17.6 percent.
The reaction from many older Americans? This generation had it coming.

Toronto this Week, New York Next

2011-06-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you can make one of these presentations.

Toronto--this Wednesday, June 8

Presenting Informal Learning and You: 10 Issues and Technologies to Consider, to:

Toronto chapter of the Canadian Society for Training and Development

6-8:30 pm

CMC - Canadian Management Centre

150 York Street

5th Floor

To register and see a complete session description, visit the event page.

New York--next Thursday, June 16

Presenting an afternoon workshop and a dinner speech to the Metro New York chapter of the Society for Techncial Communication.

The afternoon workshop, Tips for Internally Marketing your Communication Services , is scheduled 1:30 - 5 pm.
The evening presentation (and start-of-summer social), Lessons for Technical Communicators and Trainers from Cancellations of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live," is scheduled 5-8:30 pm (no--I'm not speaking the entire time :))

RSVP a must.

The event venue is:

Thomson Reuters

195 Broadway/Fulton

New York, NY 10007

To register and see some speculation about what I'll be saying in the evening, visit the event page.

Caught My Eye: A Plateful of Healthy Eating

2011-06-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in communication about diet and health (especially of the visual kind): The U.S. government has unveiled the replacement to its food pyramid: a dinner plate.

Both the pyramid and its replacement, the plate, are supposed to provide a visual representation to guide healthy eating.

Given the high levels of obesity in the U.S., the pyramid wasn’t doing its job. According to the New York Times article, Goodbye Food Pyramid, Hello Dinner Plate, (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/health/nutrition/28plate.html?hp), the pyramid “basically conveys no useful information.”

Originally intended to communicate the building blocks of healthy eating by showing food groups in horizontal bands in roughly some relation to the proportions in which people should eat them, the pyramid was reworked before its first introduction to address concerns by the dairy and meat industries that it under-represented those types of foods (as was the intention).

Later, the proportional horizontal bars were replaced by vertical ones that present all food groups on an equal footing (which diet experts say, they’re not).

The replacement image, a plate, is like a pie chart (the pie reference is not intended as a dietary suggestion) that roughly shows foods in the proportions that people should eat them.

Check it out for yourself.

As a professional communicator, I empathize with the challenge facing the people who designed the plate: how to clearly convey useful technical information while acknowledging some difficult political choices.

A Dose of Reality

2011-05-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Class of 2011:

I am here to congratulate you for your success. It is real, it demonstrates initiative, and it automatically puts you ahead of the 30 per cent who do not graduate high school.
I am also here to disabuse you of, and apologize for, some notions that adults have seeded in your minds.

Despite the constant repetition to the contrary, you cannot be anything you want; you cannot necessarily follow your dreams. Unfortunately, some paths are blocked.

Although it might not sound like it at first, retired high school principal offers high school graduates some realistic, yet hopeful, advice for the future.

In doing so, he separates fact from widely held—but not necessarily substantiated—beliefs.

Check out “For 2011 high school grads, some sobering advice” at:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/2011+high+school+grads+some+sobering+advice/4841255/story.html

First Target Canada Sites Announced

2011-05-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Target announced the locations of its first stores in Canada today.

19 are in Quebec including one at Place Alexis Nihon. I expect to get a lot of exercise walking the kilometre between my office and that mall. Fortunately, the Metro station is just a few steps from the store, so I'll have help carrying my packages home.

For a complete list of stores:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/05/26/target-canadian-stores.html

Textbooks to Train Your Staff

2011-03-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

On my blog for technical communication and training managers, I've posted some thoughts about books to train new technical communicators.

Check out the list at http://tcmanager.blogspot.com/2011/03/textbooks-to-train-your-staff.html

And please feel free to contribute additions to the list.

Announcing Associate Editors for IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

2011-01-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that the following people will serve as Associate Editors of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

Joining as Associate Editor-in-Chief, a new position, is Constance Kampf, an associate professor with the Aarhus School of Business at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark. Kampf will oversee the ongoing sections of the journal as well as special issues.

Returning as Associate Editor for Teaching Cases and Tutorials is Nicole Amare, an associate professor at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, USA.

Returning as Associate Editor for Book Reviews is consultant, Tiffany Craft Portewig, from Texas, USA.

And serving as Associate Editor for Special Projects is Jo Mackiewicz, an associate professor at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, USA, and the outgoing editor-in-chief of the Transactions.

I expect to name two more Associate Editors by mid-year, so stay tuned for announcements.

Check out my other blog

2011-01-26T07:17:00.001-08:00

I have a blog that specifically explores Managing Training and Technical Communication Groups.

It was created to continue the discussions of basic principles and practices in people, project, and business management for training and technical communication groups from my academic course, Administration of Educational Technology Units, and professional courses, Training Manager Certificate Program, Technical Communication Manager Certificate Program, and the upcoming workshop on writing business cases.

Some recent posts:

Employment Issues and Keith Olberman's Firing (Do I get political? The only way to find out is to check it out)
Can Bosses Be Friends?

Visit the blog at Managing Training and Technical Communication Groups

A Guide to Transferable Credentials--and a Certification Decoder--for Trainers

2011-01-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

From Training magazine online:

Thinking about certifying as a training and development professional? You certainly have many choices. U.S.-based professionals can choose among the CPLP, CPT, and CTT and those living in Canada have national certifications.

In addition to spelling out those acronyms, this article identifies the certifications available to training and development professionals. But first, it places certification within the broader scope of external credentials, and describes the role of transferable credentials in attesting to the qualifications of training and development professionals.

Check out the entire article at http://tinyurl.com/4z9tdw7

Recent News about Higher Education that Caught My Eye

2011-01-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

Three themes unite news that I've recently read about higher education.

The first is for-profit colleges and universities. They've been in the news because the U.S. The U.S. Department of Education placed restrictions on the programs for which it will underwrite student loans. The qualifying criteria are the percentage of graduates who are able to pay down the principal on their student loans and the ability of those students to get jobs that will allow them to pay off the student loans. The majority of graduates who have difficulty repaying their student loans come from programs that do not meet these criteriap--and the majority of the schools offering those programs are for-profit colleges and universities.

Some successful American attorneys who recently asked me about my opinions on the situation, felt that the regulations limit student choice, ultimately amounting to government control of educational choice.
I didn't respond that the government controls choice by which programs it funds and whicih ones it doesn't (an issue for all Canadian universities, and many public universities in the U.S.).

More significantly, why should the government underwrite loans students won't be able to afford? The attorneys with whom I was speaking said that the conditions leading to the mortgage crisis of 2008 had already established a precedent and implied that was OK.

But is it OK? Most students only make the choice about attending college once, maybe twice. Most are not as fully informed in making this decision as might be preferred. So it's not surprising that stories frequently appear in the news that report on recruiting practices by for-profit colleges that target particularly vulnerable populations or steer applicants to programs that are not likely to lead to success (such as telling convicted felons that they have futures in criminology and education, where the majority of jobs require a clean record).

If the promise is that higher education in a professional discipline is going to lead to gainful employment and taking out a student loan is great investment in one's own future, shouldn't some checks exist in the system to make sure that colleges can actually meet these claims?

To learn more about the new regulations on student loans that affect for-profit colleges and universities, check out the New York Times article, Rifts Show at Hearing on For-Profit Colleges by Tamar Lewin, at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/education/01education.html?hpw

To learn about the types of practices that led to these types of regulations, check out Profits and Scrutiny for Colleges Courting Veterans by Eric Lipton at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/education/09colleges.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all.

And to find out what's at stake, consider John Philpott's argument that the number of graduates might exceed actual needs, at http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/sections/your-say/blogs/specialists/. Philpott is not alone in arguing that higher education should not be the automatic choice for students; it's a question that Anya Kamenetz frequently raises in her book DIY U.

The second theme is the assessment of the performance of university professors. Simon Head's The Grim Threat to British Universities, from the January 13, 2011 New York Review of Books, (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jan/13/grim-threat-british-universities/?page=3), is ostensibly a review of the 2006-2011 strategic plan of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the books, The American Faculty: The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers by Jack Schuster and Martin Finkelstein and Academic Capitalism and the New Economy by Sheila Slaughter and Gary Rhoades.

Head explores the impact of the introduction of performance metrics into the higher education system of the UK and their origin in American consulting firms. Head warns that such a system could eventually find its way to other higher education systems, including the U.S.

Head objects to such systems, commenting that

The British universities, Oxford and Cambridge included, are under siege from a system of state control that is undermining the one thing upon which their worldwide reputation depends: the caliber of their scholarship. The theories and practices that are driving this assault are mostly American in origin, conceived in American business schools and management consulting firms. They are frequently embedded in intensive management systems that make use of information technology (IT) marketed by corporations such as IBM, Oracle, and SAP. They are then sold to clients such as the UK government and its bureaucracies, including the universities. This alliance between the public and private sector has become a threat to academic freedom in the UK, and a warning to the American academy about how its own freedoms can be threatened.

The theme is a timely one as my own employer considers instituing its own system of performance metrics. On the one hand, no system of metrics is flawless. On the other hand, systems that track activity and results often provides useful insights into effectiveness and impact.

Consider this example.

Suppose I weigh myself with all of my clothes on, with keys and a lot of change in my pockets and my heaviest boots on. My weight will admittedly be higher than it might be if I stepped on the scales without clothes. But if I had gained more than 5 pounds, I'd still have a hard time arguing that I had gained weight.

By the same token, suppose I had published just one peer reviewed article in the past 2 years, had not generated any research funding, had not participated in any committees, and had lousy teaching evaluations. I could probably quibble with the numbers but the reality remains the same: my performance would be something short of what's expected for a university professor.

Over the years, I've observed as many organizations have introduced evaluation systems. Some organizations introduce evaluation systems with great fanfare then ignore them. Other organizations introduce evaluation systems with promises that poor performance won't be used against the people and organizations evaluated, then go and use poor performance against them anyway. And in a few situations, organizations use evaluation as a tool for continuous improvement.

Fearing that the evaluation systems will be used against them, some advocate actively resisting the evaluation process. It's an understandable fear; indeed, many people have lived it.

But if the same people aspire to greater things, then they must embrace the evaluation process all the same, because it's the only means of finding out if the individual or organization is actually making progress against these greater goals. Flawed or not, the evaluation can help people figure out what's working and what isn't working, so they can effectively focus their efforts at improvement.

The last theme in articles that have recently caught my eyes is learning (a surprising topic for higher education, I know).

As the behaviorist - constructivist battles continue to rage, comes a piece of evidence that will probably boost the behaviorist camp. In a controlled experiment, published in the journal Science, students who studied for a recall test (the behaviorist model) were able to retain more information from the same message that students who used concept maps (a constructivist learning tool), studied repeatedly, or were assigned to a control group. Check out the abstract of the original article at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/01/19/science.1199327.abstract and reaction in a New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/science/21memory.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all l.
As evidence continues to mount about grade inflation, some universities are trying to address the problem. In A Quest to Explain What Grades Really Mean, New York Times reporter Tamar Lewin describes some of the many attempts by universities in the U.S. Some have instituted targets for the percentages of As and Bs that professors can assign, Others won't do that, but will try to put grades in context for those who review transcripts, providing information such as the average; a high grade could lose some of its lustre if the reviewer learns that an A was the average grade in the class. (Of course, that assumes that people reading the transcripts are really reading them closely.) See the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/education/26grades.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all.

Upcoming Presentations During the First Half of 2011

2011-01-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

Following are the presentations that I am scheduled to give in the first half of 2011.
They tend to focus in three areas:

Specific issues and techniques in instructional and information design
Issues in the business and management skills of groups that design and develop learning and communication materials for the workplace
Reports of my recent research

Slides for these presentations are typically available through the Concordia University repository about 10 working days after a presentation. Slides and papers for older presentations are currently available.

Presentation	Event	Location	Date
Spending on Training Stuck in Neutral	Training 2011	San Diego, California	February 5-6, 2011
An Integrative Review of Literature on Perceptions of Training Held by Clients (with Colleen Bernard)	Academy of Human Resource Development Research Conference in the Americas	Schaumberg, Illinois	February 23-26, 2011
Bridging Research and Practice: An Interim Report on 5 Pilot Projects	Academy of Human Resource Development Research Conference in the Americas	Schaumberg, Illinois	February 23-26, 2011
Certification and the Branding of HRD	Academy of Human Resource Development Research Conference in the Americas	Schaumberg, Illinois	February 23-26, 2011
Research-Validated Practices for Designing Effective e-Learning	The User Assistance Conference by WritersUA	Long Beach, California	March 13, 2011
Eight Design Lessons We Can Learn from Museums	Learning Solutions Conference of the e-Learning Guild	Orlando, Florida	March 23, 2011
Out of Range or Out of Touch: Verifying that the Development Staff Has Up-to-Date Skills	Learning Solutions Conference of the e-Learning Guild	Orlando, Florida	March 24, 2011
Is Informal Learning Right for You? Ten Issues and Technologies to Consider	Learning Solutions Conference of the e-Learning Guild	Orlando, Florida	March 23, 2011
The Incredible Shrinking e-Learning Program	Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychologists Annual Conference	Chicago, Illinois	April 12, 2011
Profession Building: What the Peer-Reviewed Literature Tells Us (with Nancy Coppola)	Society for Technical Communication Annual Summit	Sacramento, California	May 15-18, 2011
Narratives Over Numbers: Why Qualitative Research Is Essential (with Jamie Conklin, George Hayhoe, Hillary Hart, and Menno de Jong)	Society for Technical Communication Annual Summit	Sacramento, California	May 15-18, 2011
Informal Learning and You: 10 Issues and Technologies to Consider	American Society for Training and Development International Conference and Exposition	Orlando, Florida	May 21, 2011
Visions of TechComm 2.0	Metro New York chapter of the Society for Technical Communication	New York, New York	June 16, 2011

Upcoming Workshops

2011-01-21T10:18:00.000-08:00

Following are the workshops that I am scheduled to teach in the first half of 2011.
Several develop skills in instructional and information design; the others develop business and management skills for instructional and information designers.

Workshops

Workshop	Event	Location	Date
Advanced Design for e-Learning Certificate Program	Training 2011	San Diego, California	February 5-6, 2011
Writing Engaging eLearning Exercises and Test Questions	The User Assistance Conference by WritersUA	Long Beach, California	March 13, 2011
The Incredible Shrinking e-Learning Program	Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychologists Annual Conference	Chicago, Illinois	April 12, 2011
Technical Communication Manager Certificate Program	Society for Technical Communication Annual Summit	Sacramento, California	May 14-15, 2011
Developing the Business Case for a Major Project	American Society for Training and Development International Conference and Exposition	Orlando, Florida	May 21, 2011
Following Form: 13 Real-World Insights for Template-Based Writing	Metro New York chapter of the Society for Technical Communication	New York, New York	June 16, 2011
Additional Half-Day Workshop	Metro New York chapter of the Society for Technical Communication	New York, New York	June 16, 2011
Technical Communication Manager Certificate Program	Online Education by the Society for Technical Communication	Online	TBD

Starting Term as Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

2011-01-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

Effective January 1, I have started my term as Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

I'm excited about working with this journal, which in its half century of publication, has earned its place as one of the leading journals in the field of professional and technical communication.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Transactions, it publishes original, empirical research (that is, research that collects data first-hand, and reports that research in a way that others can replicate the studies).

The Transactions is still focused on research typically addresses one of these contexts:

· The communication practices of technical professionals, such as engineers and scientists

· The practices of professional communicators who work in technical or business environments

· Research-based methods for teaching and practicing professional communication

The Transactions is specifically looking for articles presenting research on these topics:

· Communications technologies and their impact on the workplace, such as the impacts of content management systems, social media, electronic books, intelligent agents and similar technologies

· Design, techniques and readability of communication materials in various media, such as the design of web-based materials, online help, printed and electronic books, user interfaces, and live presentations

· Design, techniques, and impact of communications materials in various genres, such as technical reports, user assistance, proposals, public relations materials, slide decks for presentations, and engineering specifications

· Management of groups that produce professional and technical communication materials

· Social impact of communications and related technology to engineering efforts

· Reports on the effectiveness and limitations of research methodologies used to study these issues

The Transactions will continue to publish teaching cases, tutorials, and book reviews.

The research submitted for consideration might have been conducted using:

· Quantitative methodologies, including experimental and survey-based studies

· Qualitative methodologies, including action research, design research, ethnographies, case studies, interview-based studies, and usability test results

· Critical methodologies, including discourse analysis and integrative literature reviews.

Primary readers include:

· Professional and technical communicators, including corporate communicators, editors, linguists, technical writers, translation specialists, and visual communicators (graphic designers and illustrators)

· Engineers, scientists and other technical professionals who communicate as part of their job, such as consulting engineers, technical authors, and technology-transfer specialists

· University instructors who include professional communication as part or all of their courses

If you're interested in learning more or want to discuss an idea for an article, please contact me.

Target Comes to Canada--this Time, It's Not a Rumour

2011-01-13T07:28:00.001-08:00

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After teasing me for nearly all of my 8 years here, Target is finally coming to save Canada.

http://yhoo.it/dEIO5E by taking over Zeller's leases.

It's about time. As I noted earlier (http://saulcarliner.blogspot.com/2010/09/enhancing-ambiance-of-montreal.html), Zellers was in desperate need of a facelift.

This also explains why, after I've noticed a dramatic improvement in appearance in Bay Stores (as dramatic as a makeover on Oprah), Zellers haven't looked any different. HBC must have been getting ready to sell them.

Will e-Books Change Higher Education?

2011-01-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

Many people--like DIY U author Anya Kamenetz and the 2010 Horizon report--believe that e-books will have a significant effect on higher education.

Certainly that's the hope in the province of Alberta. "E-books may cut fees for Alberta students" explains how the Advanced Education Minister in Alberta is actually trying to bring e-books to university students. Check out the details at http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=da46bdc1-c803-49f3-8152-c9f8c7e6ec07.

Copyright expert and University of Ottawa professor puts Alberta's project into a broader perspective in his article, "Canadian education faces technology tipping point." He suggests why excessive cost and duplication in print of resources that are already available to the university community online will drive demand for electronic course materials. Check out his article at http://www.thestar.com/business/article/908924--geist-canadian-education-faces-technology-tipping-point.

But maybe it's holiday gifts that will really drive demand. "Christmas Gifts May Help E-Books Take Root," published in the New York Times, explains how e-book readers being given for the holidays could drive e-book sales as early as this month. Check out the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/books/24publishing.html.

Check Out My Interview on Digital Life

2011-01-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

I discuss technology for education on the Digital Life Show, 2:30 today, with co-host (and former student) Reisa Levine.

Broadcast at 102.3FM Montreal or http://thedigitallifeshow.com.

The podcast remains at the website indefinitely.

2011-01-08T08:19:00.001-08:00

Tweckling

2010-12-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, a colleague sent an e-mail to several people discussing the problem of people tweeting during presentations.

First, the Incident
The issue is a timely one in light of a live interview with Steve Martin at New York’s 92nd Street Y. The interview by New York Times writer Deborah Solomon focused on Martin’s new novel, and she picked up on a number of points in the book when asking him questions.

But the audience wanted a “star” interview, asking him about his career as a comedian, not his recent work as a novelist focusing on the art world. The increasingly frustrated audience (located not only onsite, but also through simulcast in locations around the country) tweeted up a storm and one of the events’ producers eventually informed the interviewer that the audience was losing patience with her line of questions.

The Y eventually sent an apology and a $50 gift certificate to all who attended, claiming that the interview didn’t live up to its “standard of excellence.” (For those who aren’t familiar with it, this series of lectures is one of the best known in New York City and, simulcasts started in response to people in other cities wishing to join the experience.)

The Arts Beat blog of the New York Times reports on the incident (http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/readers-weigh-in-on-ys-decision-to-give-refunds-for-steve-martin-interview/?ref=design). Some people agree with the gesture.

But others question it, pointing out that people who attend other disappointing lectures, movies, and similar performances rarely receive apologies, much less refunds.

More significantly, some people question whether the role of the audience in this situation, noting that the success of the Y lectures is that they do not pander to audience wishes.

The Bigger Picture
Edu-blogger Steve Wheeler puts this individual incident into a broader perspective in his blog entry, Weapon of Mass Detraction (http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2009/12/weapon-of-mass-distraction.html) from December 2009.

Wheeler describes a few incidents in which impatient audiences tweet their frustration with a speaker. In some instances, the speaker is admittedly off-the-mark in targeting the presentation.

But in other instances, the problems plaguing the speaker are beyond his or her control, such as non-functioning audio and restrictions placed on the speaker by the conference producer.

Wheeler labels this phenomenon as tweckling.

Wheeler focuses on the rudeness of the behavior. And it is.

But, more fundamentally, this seems to be a question of publicly vocalizing their conclusions before the speaker has reached his or hers.

That does not excuse speakers from the responsibility for engaging their audiences or conference producers from providing the pre-presentation guidance and on-site audiovisual support that speakers need to successfully do so.

But it would be nice if audiences were to meet speakers half way, and give them a bit of a benefit of the doubt before tweeting their dissatisfaction.

Realistically, though, as long as conference producers increasingly promote tweeting during their events, tweckling is an additional reality that all speakers need to face.

A Reality Check on Giving

2010-12-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

On the one hand, nonprofits succeed because kind volunteers donate time and kind patrons donate money. But two recent news reports show how some organizations take advantage of the good intentions of kind people.

In “Frazzled Moms Push Back Against Volunteering” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/garden/02parents.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all), New York Times reporter Hilary Stout reports the stories of several mothers who burned themselves out as volunteers for their childrens’ schools. One even continued volunteering at the school after her children transferred to another school. Two common threads in these stories: mothers felt a heightened sense of responsibility for their volunteer jobs and schools often took advantage of their willingness to volunteer.

In “When Donations Go Astray” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/opinion/21kristof.html?ref=opinion), New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof warns that not all charities use kind donations for the purposes that donors intended, including some well-known charities like Feed the Children, which is embroiled in a number of lawsuits and investigations over inappropriate use of funds.

As both Stout and Kristof advise, most organizations treat their volunteers well and use donations for the purposes for which they’re intended. But even the best organizations can go off-course so volunteers and donors should always make sure their gifts are being used appropriately.

Career Challenges Faced by Highly Skilled Professionals

2010-12-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent news about challenges that some highly skilled professionals face in maintaining their employability.

In Sondage AQIII 2010 : La formation continue negligee (Survey 2010—Training continues to be neglected) (http://www.directioninformatique.com/DI/client/fr/DirectionInformatique/Nouvelles.asp?id=59624), Direction Informatique editor Denis Lalonde reports that a recent survey by a professional association serving independent Information Technology (IT) professionals shows that, in this fast-changing field, 51 percent have had no training in the past year and another 5 percent have spent less than $500 on training (well below the Canadian average for all workers, much less the average of all those working in IT).

The article attributes the drop in training to the Internet; people are learning on their own. That may be true, but I’m a bit more skeptical given that IT professionals who are employed in full-time jobs continue to receive significant amounts of training, perhaps more than other categories of workers. So I can hypothesize several explanations for the findings. One is that independent professionals don’t value training. Another is that many are un- or under-employed and cannot afford training. A third is that, without a regular employer to cover training costs, professionals are not investing in their long-term skill development.

The Montreal Gazette editorial, Foreign-trained doctors get a taste of justice (http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Foreign+trained+doctors+taste+justice/3855116/story.html) supports the finding of a recent report by the Quebec Human Rights Commission that medical schools in the province have unfairly prevented doctors trained outside of Canada from entering the residencies they must serve to earn their local medical licenses. The editorial notes that although many of these foreign-trained doctors passed the qualifying exam, the medical schools found reasons to deny them placement in residency programs. What’s worse, the editorial reported that these medical schools are rejecting these findings.

Battle of the e-Book Readers

2010-12-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

In the past few weeks, the Toronto Star ran a pair of articles on e-readers.

Consumer columnist Ellen Roseman sings the virtues of her iPad in “An eReader is good, but an iPad is better” (http://www.moneyville.ca/article/897311--roseman-an-ereader-is-good-but-an-ipad-is-better).

In response, Star editor Sarah Millar’s wrote “iPad vs. Kindle, which would you prefer?” (http://www.moneyville.ca/article/899858--ipad-vs-kindle-which-would-you-prefer). Despite its non-commital title, Millar decidedly chooses the single-purpose e-book reader in general, and the Kindle in particular.

For what it’s worth, in my opinion, Millar makes the stronger case. She points out that the Kindle costs about one-third the price of an iPad, and is lighter and its battery lasts longer. I’m not sure that the additional features that Roseman highlights are really worth all the extra money.

That said, I own an iPad and love it.

Before Making that Donation

2010-11-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

Before you make your holiday and year-end donations, make sure that the money you are sharing to strengthen the world is really going to do that--and not line someone's pockets.

In his November 21 column in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof warns about "When Donations Go Astray," identifies some poster children for charities that purport to help people but, in the end, might not be, and suggests sites donors can visit to check on charities of interst.

BTW--I was pleased that one of my favorite charities, the American Jewish World Service (www.ajws.org) was lauded by Kristof for doing what it says it will do--and doing good work.

View Kristof's comments at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/opinion/21kristof.html?ref=opinion.

Copyright Dos and Don'ts

2010-11-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Instructors: are you wondering whether you will be able to freely copy materials for your students under Canada's proposed new copyright law?

iPod, iPhone, and iPad users: are you wondering whether you'll be able to legally make backups of your media?

And copier-sharers: are you wondering what types of fines you might face if you get caught?

Then check out Separating copyright facts from fiction (http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/technology/lawbytes/article/893032--geist-separating-copyright-facts-from-fiction), in the Toronto Star, in which Ottawa University professor Michael Geist, Canada's resident expert on copyright, explores answers to these and 3 other questions.

CSTD Thought Leader Presentation

2010-11-22T08:56:00.000-08:00

Last winter, the planners of the 2010 CSTD Conference asked me to give a "Thought Leader" presentation. Although my ego was boosted by the invitation, my mind was a bit flummoxed, as the conference planners let me choose the topic. So someone considers me a thought leader, but about what no one has any idea.

Of course, the planners wanted a topic soon after inviting me so I made up something broad and general--staying relevant--hoping that clarity would hit me as I actually prepared the presentation.

That was last spring, when I was finishing up my sabbatical and immersed in data from others' and my studies that paint a startlingly different view of the current state of training than is generally acknowledged. That data points to a training system in which employers are increasingly less invested in developing their employees and in which workers assume the balance of the investment--that is, if they want to remain employed.

Although the situation scares me a bit, I also see a lot of opportunity for training professionals, although much of that opportunity will be outside of the employer-provided network of trainers. I also think that this situation can empower workers to take more control of their own careers. That, in turn, can lead to more satisfying careers. But I think that we also need a system that provides that support and, as far as I can tell, no such system really exists.

At least, not yet.

The result was a presentation about whose technical content I feel quite secure. But I had no idea how others would react to the presentation.

The e-Learning Guy posted the first reaction online and it's generally positive.

http://elearningguy.blogspot.com/2010/11/cstd-reflections-saul-carliner-and.html

I'm anxiously awaiting the official survey responses to get a sense of how the rest of the audience felt.

A copy of the visuals is provided here, though I'm not sure that, on their own, they fully deliver the message.

http://education.concordia.ca/~scarliner/recentmaterials.html

CSTD Research-to-Practice Day

2010-11-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

I hosted the second CSTD Research-to-Practice Day this year.

Responses generally seem positive.

Check out this thorough review by the e-Learning Guy at:

http://elearningguy.blogspot.com/2010/11/cstd-conference-my-day-1-summary.html

Professional Memberships--Fees Worth Paying

2010-11-21T08:52:00.001-08:00

As part of its series, "Beat the Fees," Toronto Star reporter Chris Carter identifies 10 that are actually worth paying.

Among them:

10. Professional fees

Paying an annual fee to belong to a professional organization in your career field can provide valuable networking, educational or information-sharing opportunities. It also looks good as a résumé item.

See the entire list of fees worth paying at http://www.moneyville.ca/article/888723--10-fees-worth-paying

Upcoming Presentations through the End of the Year

2010-10-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hosting
The Canadian Society for Training and Development's Second Research-to-Practice

Keynote
Staying relevant. 2010 Canadian Society for Training and Development Conference. Toronto, ON. November 19, 2010.

Workshops
Upcoming: Advanced Design for e-Learning Certificate Program. TRAINING 2011, San Diego, CA, February 5-6, 2011.

Currently ongoing: Technical Communication Manager Certificate Program. Society for Technical Communication. Presented online, October 14 through November 28, 2010.

Presentations to Professional Organizations

Certification for Training and Development Professionals. Quebec chapter of the Canadian Society for Training and Development. December 7, 2010.
Informal learning: 10 issues to consider. Ottawa chapter of the Canadian Society for Training and Development. Date November 8, 2010.
Following form: Eleven real world insights into template-based writing. Monteal chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Montreal, QC, November 4, 2010.
Lessons for information architecture from museum exhibits. San Fernando Valley chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. October 28, 2010.

Presentations at Conferences

With Ann-Louise Davidson. A proposed theoretical framework for researching and interpreting ubiquitous learning technologies. Ubiquitous Learning: An International Conference 10. Common Ground Publishing. Vancouver, BC, December 10-11, 2010.
With Ann-Louise Davidson. A proposed research methodology for researching ubiquitous learning technologies. Ubiquitous Learning: An International Conference 10. Common Ground Publishing. Vancouver, BC, December 10-11, 2010.
Lessons for structuring asynchronous tutorials from the design of museum exhibits. 2010 Association for Educational Communications and Technology Annual Conference. Anaheim, CA. October 27-30, 2010.
(with Ann-Louise Davidson.) Theory versus reality: Redesigning the introductory course on Instructional Design - Human Performance Technology to address student shortcomings. Association for Educational Communications and Technology Annual Conference. Anaheim, CA. October 27-30, 2010
So what do they think? Results of a qualitative study of the perceptions of training. Association for Educational Communications and Technology Annual Conference. Anaheim, CA. October 27-30, 2010.

Even Hotter off the Presses

2010-10-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

The peer-reviewed version of the analysis of trends on spending in training was just published in Performance Improvement Quarterly.

As noted in the article, after adjusting for inflation, total spending has only grown 1.5 %, even though the US workforce grew by more than 30%.

Here's the full citation, in case you want to track down the article:

Carliner, S. & Bakir, I. Trends in spending on training: An analysis of the 1982 through 2008 Training Annual Industry Reports. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 2 3 ( 3 ), 77–105.

Hot Off the Presses

2010-10-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

The blog has been quiet the past month because I'm back from my sabbatical and spending most of my time preparing for classes (that I insisted on major revisions to one course and finishing the majority of my class preparations before the end of September only added to the workload), working on my research, and actually writing.

Here's a couple of new publications:

Qualitative Research in Technical Communication, edited by my friends and colleagues, Jamie Conklin and George Hayhoe, was just published. The book contains a mix of methodology and actual studies. One of the studies featured is my study of the design of museum exhibits. To order a copy, visit http://www.amazon.com/Qualitative-Research-Technical-Communication-Conklin/dp/0415876362
Developing the Business Case for a Major e-Learning Courseware or Infrastructure Project, was just published in the e-learning Guild's Learning Solutions magazine. It includes a template for creating a business case. To read the article, visit http://lnkd.in/Z9GdsH

Enhancing the Ambiance of Montreal: Improving Retail in Montreal (Especially Retail Owned by HBC)

2010-09-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier posts considered ways to improve highways and street- and metroscapes.

Another way to improve the ambience of Montreal is to improve the retail environment. Montreal is the retailing mecca of Canada; many of the largest retailers in the country have their home offices here.

But what about nurturing the next generation of retailers and distinguishing the Montreal retail scene from those of other Canadian and international cities? One way to do this is to provide incentives that encourage local designers of clothing, home accessories, and furniture to open shops and workshops on the key shopping streets of Ste-Catherine, St-Denis, St-Laurent, and de Maisonneuve, so that a uniquely Montreal character is extended to the stores, further distinguishing these streets as retail destinations from regional malls in both character and retail mix. To be honest, there’s a certain sameness from mall to mall and providing incentives to people to open stores that visitors cannot find elsewhere could make these areas more “exclusive.”

But if we’re really going to improve the retail scene in Montreal, we need to start with one of the largest and most depressing retailers on the earth: the HBC Company. They may sell Olympic merchandise and Armani jeans, but more than an opportunity to buy them, a visit t most Bay stores inspires in me—and many other shoppers—a strong need for anti-depressants.

(In the Bay’s and Zeller’s defense, Sears Canada stores are, on the whole, even more depressing to visit, but they seem so far beyond repair that it’s not worth mentioning them.)

Although both the Bay and Zellers have made efforts to better distinguish themselves from one another in the past few years, and to refresh themselves with new brands and merchandise, the stores themselves have not been seriously refreshed and create a depressing, difficult shopping experience.

Reasonably busy Bay stores just plain look old. For example, the upper levels of the downtown Bay stores in Montreal and Toronto have water-spotted ceiling tiles, difficult to read and non-distinctive signage, and aging escalators, among their other physical features.

(The store might have finally noticed these problems in Montreal. The downtown store seems to be getting a small facelift. For example, the fourth floor—housewares—seems to have discovered that it has some interesting lines and real windows and rearranged the floor to emphasize and highlight these assets. Now, if the store could replace the unsightly covering surrounding the first floor exterior of the building….)

But suburban and downtown stores out West make these stores look like thriving centers of activity in comparison. The most depressing is the store in downtown Winnipeg, which looks as spacious as the Prairies and as deserted as many western farming towns. Suburban stores, of which the ones at Rockland Centre and Carrefour Laval are typical, are massive caverns with similarly difficult and non-distinctive signage and do little to visually divide the stores in to distinct departments.

Even if these stores could fix the problems of their non-descript, confusing, and cavernous structures, they’d still have to deal with their drab merchandise. Regardless of season, the dominant colors on display seem to be various shades of navy blue, gray, tan, and similarly neutral colors.

No matter how drab the Bay, HBC shoppers can always count on Zellers to make the Bay look cheerful. Its narrow aisles are crowded aisles with merchandise that looks like it was picked over by customers and never put back in place by staff. The linoleum floors with waxy yellow buildup only enhance that feeling.

The deep red and white color palette of the stores, which enlivens the attitude in American rival Target, is sufficiently different in shade from Target that it merely enhances the drabness of merchandise whose pallet sticks to funeral blacks and nondescript tans.

If the HBC is truly Canada’s store, Canadians either deserve an anti-depressant or brighter, more lively stores. They need new concepts.

Visits to stores overseas provide inspiration. The Bay, for example, might take merchandising lessons from de Bijenkorf in Amsterdam, Printemps and BHV in Paris, and KaDeWe in Berlin. Given that Montreal prides itself on its European character, the Bay might remodel itself on European models. Apparel would boast more color (more than just design) and home accessories and furniture would more strongly emphasize design. The stores might feature epicurean and magazine departments. In-store cafes should be moved to highly visible, highly trafficked areas in the store, rather than relegated to low traffic areas tucked in the back of the store. (Getting rid of the Coffee Depot on the bottom floor of the downtown Bay in Montreal went against this principle). In fact, these eateries might have separate entries from the street—as well as entries to the store—to draw in traffic. And the stores might feature specially commissioned artwork for sale, as did Galeria Kauthof in Berlin which, if nothing else, added visual variety to the space.

The physical space should not only be upgraded, but its appearance lightened up and made to appear spacious within departments, and with stronger physical distinctions between departments. Signage should be improved a la Macy’s in the US so shoppers could more easily navigate the store on their own.

But these are general suggestions for improving the Bay. Here are some specific ones for fixing the downtown Bay in downtown Montreal, which can be accessed through the McGill Metro Station, which—as was mentioned earlier--badly needs a renovation of its own.

Move the food, cards, and other fun stuff to the Metro level and, in the process, make it more upscale so it is both more pleasant to visit and visually distinct from the repetitious food courts elsewhere in the underground city. The Bay on Queen Street in downtown Toronto does this toa a point, though the visual display could be significantly enhanced.
Move electronics and sporting goods to share a floor with the Men’s department, as department stores in Peru seem to do. What a smart move, too. The street level floor has plenty of floor space for all of this—even if it must be stuffed with cosmetics.
More prominently display the museum collection that’s hidden at the back of the fifth floor behind the children’s clothes. Make it a destination worth visiting on its own and that (a) proudly promotes the heritage of the store and (b) pushes the HBC “Signature” shop.
Speaking of the Signature Shop: designers could take the merchandise further, but sales won’t improve unless the pricing does. The HBC point blanket design may be distinctly Canadian, but Canadians and tourists would appreciate it more if it more of a Bay price point, rather than a Holt-Renfrew one.
The Bay is launching a few stores-within-a-store, like the Emporio Armani. Carry out the concept to the entire store, instead of one mass of open merchandise. This would help further the distinction from Zellers.
Before remodeling the housewares floor, the section needs a core concept, both for an overall look and merchandising, as well as the products within. Think Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn. Right now, the housewares department looks more like a Bed, Bath, and Beyond clone already used in Deco Decouverte, sans the “As sold on TV” section. The Nespresso shops within shops are a start, but only work for one part. And the idea needs to be extended to the nonbranded sections of the department.
In addition, as a store-within-the-housewares-tore, the Bay might also consider adding an urban department to its downtown Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver stores that’s like the CB2 brand in the U.S.
Make the furniture store more dreamy—have mini-apartments in it instead of endless living rooms with bland selections of furniture.
The outlet store on the top floor needs to stop taking its visual cues from Village des Valuers and Renaissance Fripe Prix. Make it a fun place to shop—even if the merchandise is going to be put on a rack, “rack it” with style. Each year, the staff transforms this area into a dreamy holiday store; they can do it the rest of the year, too, even if the merchandise is intended for fast removal.
Replace the unsightly awning that covers the outside of the first floor of the Bay building. It brings to the outside all of the visual merchandising limitations of the inside.

The same concepts could be applied to suburban stores. Consider the ones at Centre Rockland and Carrefour Laval. They feel like a cross between a warehouse and a store that hasn’t been updated since 1986. Worse, both are in upscale malls that have been remodeled in the past 5 years. The could be improved by:

Adding a second and third set of escalators (or a glass elevator) to facilitate more movement among floors
Distinguish departments with completely different visual identities—including different ceiling and floor treatments, instead of a monotonous treatment throughout the store
Making designer departments even more distinctively stores-within-stores
Adapting the same suggestions for kitchen and linens made for the downtown store, by providing them separate and complete visual identities
Create a separate identity for the gift shop areas
Convert the cafeteria in the Laval store to a café and move it to the most prominent location in the store
Put electronics and sporting goods next to men’s clothing
Turn the service areas into a hubs of activity that can also generate interest in purchasing among waiting people

I’ve got a few more suggestions for the HBC Corporation.

As they should dramatically improve the Bay, Zellers is in desperate need of a similar upgrade. Let’s start with the merchandise itself. Like Target, Zellers could distinguish itself as cheap chic, but could use Canadian designers. The Alfred Sung collection is a step in the right direction, but it’s just one—and a baby step at that. Zellers needs to do more. And Zellers may need to distinguish the merchandise in its urban, suburban, and exurban stores if it feels that cheap chic is too much for some of its customers.

Zellers could also take a lead from Target by getting top name manufacturers to develop low end lines just for the store.

But none of this merchandise upgrade would help sales if Zellers doesn’t make the shopping experience more pleasant. That Walmart offers a more pleasant shopping experience speaks volumes about the depressing nature of the Zellers stores.

The space needs a major makeover. The chain needs to completely re-think its color palette. While the red is reminiscent of the Canadian flag, in the excessive doses in which it’s used in Zellers stores, that becomes more of a liability than a patriotic asset; less red would be more. And floors in all of Zeller’s stores need to be replaced. Whatever the replacement surface, it can’t develop waxy yellow buildup. Pergo simulated hardwood, as is used in Walmart, might make a good surface.

A remodel of the space could also result in a remodel of the attitude. That most Zellers stores—even the newest—look like workrooms in a funeral parlour, it’s not surprising that the staff exhibits a maudlin attitude.

I’ve primarily picked on the HBC stores for two reasons. One is personal orientation; given a choice, I always prefer a department store. One is historic; the Bay is Canada’s oldest corporation. Unfortunately, its stores look historic, too, but not in a good way. Perhaps an HBC staffer will read these suggestions and try some of them out.

Next post: Getting down to work.

Enhancing the Ambiance of Montreal: Street- and Metro-scapes

2010-09-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Gaudi-designed benches and lamp posts decorating the Passeij Gracia in Barcelona not only contributed to the character and beauty of a major and elegant street, but made we wish we had similar streetscapes in Montreal. For all of my complaining, Montreal is actually one of the most unique and vibrant cities in North America, has a remarkably vibrant street life, and deserves to honor and enhance it with art-quality streetscapes like in Barcelona.

In this case, Montreal has a good record already. The entryway to the city and the Quartier Interionationale make strong visual statements at street level. The recently remodeled Squares Dorchester and Victoria offer similar statements. Even streets that are further off from the heart of the city have been revitalized, like rue Fleury in Ahunsic and rue Chabenel (currently under re-construction).

But can be done, partly because a city needs to constantly rework itself to maintain the interest of its citizens and visitors and partly because some areas need strong attention .

The area needing the strongest attention is the McGill Metro Station: the most widely used station in the city and a congregating spot for tourists. The most polite description of the station is that if it were me, my mother would be commenting on my poor appearance.

Let’s not even mention the water stains and panhandlers. The station looks like it was half re-modeled and someone never finished the job. That’s partly the result of the fact that most of the retail in the station was remodeled to reflect the current “look” of the Metro, with lots of light and chrome, but the rest of the station was not.

It’s bad enough that the color schemes clash (and that they recently repainted some of the columns in the station to heighten the clash), but with some of the older walls in the station hallways are torn up.

Montreal fancies itself a design city (we were even designated as such) but this station looks like a candidate for the public works version of “What Not to Wear.” At the least, it looks shabby and bad but, at the most, it makes a lousy impression on visitors and citizens alike.

Beyond fixing the problems at the McGill station, the Metro has broader issues to address:

The Metro has several visual identities, especially for the STM itself. It needs to pick one and upgrade all of the signage to match.
If the Metro wants to raise funds, it might start by installing vending machines for food, drinks, newspapers, and even everyday supplies. On the one hand, they might compete with the convenience stores, but most of them keep such limited hours that vending machines offer added convenience. The Istanbul and Tokyo systems, among others, offer these vending machines.
Although we have no idea when the new Metro cars will come into service, perhaps they will be able to report time and temperature, as well as information about the next stop. The Istanbul and Hong Kong systems, among others, provide this enhanced level of information on the trains.

Beyond fixing this problem station, the city might consider taking a Quartier International approach to the streetscapes of the three four most prominent streets: rue St.-Denis between de Maisonneuve and St. Joseph, de Maisonneuve between Berri and Atwater, Ste-Catherine between de Lormier and Atwater, and Rene Levesque, between de Lormier and Atwater.

Each of these streets carries much pedestrian and, in the cases of St.-Denis and Rene Levesque, auto traffic. Enhancing the streetscapes could add to the characters of these streets and, in the cases of the first three, contribute to improved retail business, especially along de Maisonneuve, whose role as a major retail street does not immediately come to mind.

Under ideal circumstances, the streets might be widened but that’s not realistic. At the least, the sidewalks might be widened.

On those widened streets, the city might install unique benches and street lights, as well as clearly visible—though distinctively designed—street signs. Hold competitions for emerging artists and designers; use the designs of the winners and display the designs of all the finalists.

Next set of suggestions: Improving Retail in Montreal (Especially Retail Owned by HBC)

Enhancing the Ambiance of Montreal: Highways

2010-09-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

The next several posts explore specific ways of enhancing the ambience of Montreal, based on ideas generated by visiting other places.

Suggestions for highways
Suggestions for street- and metro-scapes
Suggestions for retail, especially HBC retail outlets

Montreal Suggestions 1: Improving Highways
Although most of the attention these days if focused on replacing the Turcot interchange (and a quick look at the bridges that look like they’ve got the highway equivalent of osteoporosis, that’s a good thing), the next set of intersections that demand attention are the intersections of Autoroutes 40 and 15, and 40 and 25.

The same core problem faces both—whoever designed these did not seem to think about the people who would actually have to drive through them. In the designers’ defense, they might have been constrained by space. But their solutions only managed to create a traffic nightmare.

The simpler to fix is the intersections of 40 and 25, which mixes highway access roads (where drivers go fast) with city streets (where speeds are constrained to 40 km/hour). The two don’t mingle well. The worst of this is the entrance to Autoroute 40 west from Galleries Anjou, where drivers must go through a couple of residential streets to get onto the highway. That’s neither safe nor quiet for the residents, but it’s neither obvious nor well-marked for the driver.

A similar issue arises for drivers trying to merge from Autoroute 40 onto Autoroute 25; rather than exiting on a dedicated ramp, drivers merge on an active service road, with all sorts of incoming and outgoing traffic. Yes, I know that speeds are reduced there, but the potential for an accident is still higher than it should be.

But the more serious safety hazard and, more basically, guaranteed traffic jam, is the merge between Autoroutes 40 and 15. Part of the problem is that 15 is split into two roads, separated by about 2 km. So there’s a stretch of highway that has to serve a combined roadway.

Making it worse in both directions, drivers on Autoroute 15 always merge onto Autoroute 40 on the right, then have a short distance to get over to a left exit onto the other segment of Autoroute 15. A drive on Autoroute 40 is thus blocked streams of vehicles merging left who are merely trying to continue their journey on Autoroute 15. Not only is this a built-in slow-down, it’s an accident waiting to happen.

But most of all, this situation is completely avoidable. (1) Even though the stretch of highway needs to accommodate 6 lanes of traffic (3 from Autoroute 40, 3 more from Autoroute 15), the road only widens for a brief half-kilometer stretch—and the, only by 1 lane. Simply widening the road would address the capacity issue. Moving all exits to the right side of the roadway in both directions would solve the merging problem.

Then there’s one last problem: the recently re-worked L’Acadie Circle, which was redesigned to accommodate some of this traffic. When it works, it’s OK. But it tends to flood easily. It sounds like the problem results from the practical issue of inadequate drainage, made worse by a failure of city and provincial roadway officials coordinating their work. Each blames the other. From a driver’s perspective, the bottom line performance is that both parties look incompetent in their inability to design a roadway that stays reasonably dry and they look petty when they would rather expend energy blaming the other party than solving the problem for the taxpayers who pay both sets of salaries. (But this isn’t new; the failure to communicate among units about work on Boulevard St. Laurent highlights the organizational communication problems in governmental units.)

One last suggestion: it would be great if the powers-that-be could get their act together and begin construction of the rail link from the airport to the heart of the city. For a city that wants to present itself as forward thinking in terms of urban transit, this is a glaring hole in our traffic landscape.

Furthermore, given that the airport is relatively close to the city, that the tunnels for the train link are already available, and that a track already exists, the only problem is the same problem that plagues the Turcot, St. Laurent, L’Acadie, and nearly every other major transportation project facing this city. As I understand these projects, they’re all technically feasible technically and economically; but parochial, self-centered communications steers each of these projects down a bum path.

If we want better communications, instead of hiring another engineering firm, perhaps we ought to hire an organizational communicator to plan a project communication strategy, and professional facilitator to ensure that the communications move in a positive direction.

Next set of suggestions: Enhancing the Montreal Street- and Metro-scapes

Wish Lists for My Home Towns—Museums for Montreal (Hometown 4)

2010-09-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Museums are integral to Montreal in a way that they’re not integral to most other cities. OK—most cities have museums and the museums may be related to the culture of the city. But going to these museums does not necessarily seem to be a part of the city culture, and that’s what’s different from Montreal. Going to the museum is a part of the local culture in Montreal, and that’s what makes it unique.

And Montreal makes its museums worth visiting. On the whole, they tend to be smaller, more specialized, and more intimate—“boutique museums” as I heard one travel magazine describe them. The smaller size makes visiting the museums and experiencing the exhibitions seem like a more realistic goal. Even our major art museum, the Musee des Beaux Arts, feels smaller than counterparts in other cities, though its storied history and strong collection makes it no less significant. In contrast, just the thought of visiting the Louvre inspires museum fatigue.

Similarly, Montreal’s museums act as a community. They don’t just collaborate to offer a museum pass to see all of the museums. They collaborate on events—events that no other city in the US or Canada offers (at least, to the best of my knowledge). One is Nuit Blanche, a Saturday night at the end of the winter High Lights Festival during which many of the museums in the city core are open all night long. The other is a free day to visit museums, in observance of the International Committee on Museum’s Annual Museum Day. Not only are all museums open, but most hold special events to attract visitors. The city supports both events by offering free or expanded public transportation.

The boutique-ness of the museums, along with the spirit of the community, are unique among communities in North America. Rather than trying to duplicate the mega- and over-architected museums of other communities, this one should strengthen its uniqueness by adding to the collection of boutique museums, enhancing the boutique character of existing museums, and providing some unity and structure to the entire collection.

Suggested enhancements include:

The Montreal Story. A rework and expansion of the Montreal History Centre, whose implicit purpose seems to be introducing the city of Montreal. It also seems to implicitly link the stories of Pointe-a-Calliere (which, informally, seems to focus on francophone Montreal history and events until the mid-1800s) and the McCord Museum (which, informally, seems to focus on anglophone Montreal history and events from the 1800s through the 1900s). A rework would make the implicit explicit. The reworked Centre could have an audiovisual presentation that formally and emotionally introduces Montreal, a three-part permanent exhibit—one that introduces the neighborhoods of Montreal, one that introduces the history of Montreal, and a third that invites visitors to continue learning about Montreal at our other museums. A temporary exhibition space could highlight the contributions of Montrealers and unique aspects of Montreal culture.
Museum of Montreal Cultures, which would provide a single home to showcase the different cultures that comprise the population of Montreal. This would provide a new take on the traditional identity museum because, rather than one group telling its story, this single museum would tell the stories of several groups. In the process of doing so, it could explore not only what’s unique in each of these stories—but also the universality of those experiences. The museum could have three groups of galleries. One would be a series of several small galleries that would provide several groups with an opportunity to tell their stories, with permanent galleries provided to the two founding communities of this province—the First Peoples and the French-Canadians. Two benefits of rotating the groups presented in that set of galleries: to generate recurring visits and to ensure the continued freshness of those galleries. The next group of galleries would explore what’s common in all experiences: the common social, economic, political, and religious marginalization that drive people to seek new lives; the challenges of immigration and integrating into the community, contributing to the new community, and the challenge of retaining identity when surrounded by pressures to assimilate. A third set of galleries would explore specific issues associated with cultures, from the controversial—like the challenge of peoples who are at war elsewhere in the world living in peace in this part of the world—to the safe—like expressions and customs from particular cultures that have been co-opted as “Montrealaise.”
Natural Science Collection, a complement to the Biodome, Jardin Botanique, Insectarium, and upcoming Planetarium in the Parc Maisonneuve area. Already, this group of institutions is one of the most unique and complete natural science exhibitions in the world. But the collection lacks is, a museum that not only explains the natural science underlying these living collections—but also the history of science underlying this. As its title suggests, the Natural Science Collection would focus on those goals. Telling this history through the objects of current and historical scientific instruments, gems, and preserved specimens already in the collections in this province, this museum would explain larger issues in biology, chemistry, and physics, such as the origins of life, the chemistry of life, and geological processes. The collection would also focus on the “art” of science—both in terms of the artistic forms and images found in natural science, as well as the art in scientific instruments. Last, this collection would serve as an introduction to the other museums in this group.
Montreal Science Centre. With all of the life science institutions based in Parc Maisonneuve (or soon to be) this one looks increasingly isolated where it is. Furthermore, with its emphasis on hands-on science exhibits—all of which are purchased off-the-rack—this institution, frankly, offers little unique to the cultural scene, but has an amazing location. Furthermore, given Montreal’s excellent natural science museums, we don’t really need another one that tries to cover the same territory. To make the museum more relevant, it should scrap the current abstract approach and rework itself with a more concrete one--as a museum that focuses on technology—especially technology that’s core to the Montreal experience. In fact, like the museum I proposed for Atlanta, a re-worked mission for this one would be explaining the science underlying current and past industry in the city. The Centre might even rename itself the Centre de Sciences et d’Industrie de Montreal. It can use the technology as a springboard for explaining the underlying science. Some key technologies that would be of high interest to visitors would be medical, gaming, maritime, and fashion technology. The museum might also have an area for technologies that have come and gone, like printing technology and heavy manufacturing. The museum might also have an area for changing exhibits about the technology of everyday life—from the dinner table to the school.
Musee de Design du Quebec. Building on the recent temporary exhibit at the Musee National des Beaux Arts in Quebec City, this museum would showcase Quebec design. And it’s about time that Montreal had an institution that focuses on design other than architectural design (which is addressed by the Canadian Centre for Architecture). After all, the city has been declared a design city and has an annual design open house. But we have nothing that preserves design artifacts, showcases it, and studies it. The permanent exhibition could explore the major types of design: industrial, furniture, clothing, and even web and information design. But the centerpiece of such a museum could be an exhibition on design thinking—the common thread that links the different types of design. In addition, a few galleries would be set aside for changing exhibitions.
Montreal Musee des Beaux Arts, which would be presented as a series of museums, rather than a single one. Although it’s admittedly easier to control through a single entryway, on a practical level, it’s not working. Visitors will enter on one side of the Sherbrooke merely to cross under the street to get to the other side, which often has a separate exterior entrance anyway. Rather than approach this museum as a single department store—like the Bay—why not approach it as a series of stores-within-a-store—like the more engaging Ogilvy?

Next on the wishlist: Enhancing the ambience of Montreal.

Wish Lists for My Home Towns—Museums for Atlanta (Hometown 3)

2010-08-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Although I literally moved there on two days notice in 1986 and did not intend to spend much time there, I developed a strong attachment to—and fondness for—it and spent ten years in the city, and followed the transformation of the city wrought by the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Part of that transformation was the development of nearly every major museum in the city. Except for its art museum (which opened in its Richard Meier-designed building a few years a few years before the city began campaigning for the Olympics), several major institutions opened between the time Atlanta won the right to host the Olympics and the start of the Olympics, including the Atlanta History Center (which had the land, but lacked an appropriate museum building), Fernbank Museum of Natural History (a school-based science center existed, but not a full museum), ZooAtlanta—a complete reworking of the local zoo, SciTrek, a science and technology museum (which has since closed), and the World of Coke (dedicated to the world famous cola, whose manufacturer has its world headquarters in Atlanta).

The growth has continued since, with the conversion of the former SciTrek space into an open exhibition space, the expansion of the High Museum, the renovation of APEX (African American Panoramic Experience), a new World of Coke, and the Georgia Aquarium.

To further cement Atlanta’s place as the New York of the south, and a world-class destination, city leaders might consider the following:

Fill the void left by SciTrek with another science museum. At its opening, SciTrek claimed to be one of the top 10 science centers in the US. But that’s only because SciTrek bought its exhibits from the other 9. Furthermore, when the museum was failing, it brought in another off-the-rack exhibit, Mathematica, a duplicate of the original in Massachusetts. What SciTrek lacked was original exhibits—and it’s that originality that makes a museum worth visiting.
A “terrarium.” On the one hand, I understand that, when someone gives $200 million for an aquarium, you build it. But why Atlanta would want an aquarium is beyond me. There’s a terrific one two hours away in Chattanooga, so there’s no immediate need. But more significantly, Atlanta’s defining characteristic is its land, not its water. (The Chattanooga isn’t even a major river in Atlanta.) So how is an aquarium representative of Atlanta.

I always thought a terrarium—or an exhibition that’s based on showing indigenous land animals in replicas of their local habitats—would be more relevant to the Atlanta context. It would not need to compete with the Zoo, which focuses on exotic animals from other parts of the world, rather than local animals and plants. Models exist, including Wildlife World –a companion to Sydney, Australia’s aquarium, and Montreal’s Biodome.

Next hometown: Montreal, Quebec.

Wish Lists for My Home Towns—Museums for Rochester, Minnesota (Hometown 2)

2010-08-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Rochester, Minnesota is a small town located 40 miles (about 65 kilometers) west of the Mississippi River, and about 90 minutes south of the Twin Cities.

It’s also the place where I began my adult life. I figured if Minnesota was good for the fictional Rhoda Morgenstern on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, it would be good for real me. And it was. As someone said, Rochester is a perfect place for a young adult who has no idea where they’re going in life. It provides a space to figure it out.

During my time in Rochester, my primary cultural focus was local theater, which is surprisingly active. The museum scene is a bit lighter; most people drive to Minneapolis and St. Paul to take advantage of their excellent museums.

But why? People in southern Minnesota have a culture and heritage that’s worthy of collecting and studying. So I propose two museums that could strengthen the cultural life in this small community.

Museum of Wildlife Art. Although the Rochester Art Center focuses on symbolic, modern art, a more typical indigenous form of art is the more representational wildlife art. Indeed, many of the winners of Federal and state duck stamp print competitions—highly competitive annual events among the best artists in the discipline—come from the Southern Minnesota region of which Rochester is the largest city. Many galleries in the region specialize in wildlife art, and a museum that collects, studies, and provides education related to it would be representative of the local art. One set of galleries could present winners of various wildlife stamp competitions, another could present original paintings, a third could present applied arts (furniture, jewelry, and related arts) inspired by wildlife arts, and a fourth gallery could present changing exhibits on special topics in wildlife art.
CMA—a museum of the regional economy in southern Minnesota. Although some might think it refers to the Country Music Association, it would really be a museum about the work of computers, medicine, and agriculture—three major industries of Southern Minnesota.

A philosophy guiding this museum might be a systems approach—showing both systems at work in individual industries as well as how a core organization provides the basis for an economic “hub.”

Consider the medical part of the museum, which could be boosted with contributions from the collection of the Mayo Museum (which tells the story of the work of the Mayo Clinic). In this museum, the exhibition would explore (a) how the Mayo Clinic forms a hub of activity that contributes to health, and (b) the contributions of Southern Minnesotans to the human health.

A second segment of the museum would focus on the hub of computer-related activity centered on IBM. More than merely detailing the history of IBM in Rochester, such an exhibition might take a current computer and show how IBM and other companies in Southern Minnesota have contributed to technology that has become commonplace.

A third segment of the museum would explore the agricultural industry in the region, perhaps starting with a dinner table and then showing how farmers and businesses in southern Minnesota contribute to the food that people eat.

A fourth segment would feature changing exhibitions, exploring themes that cut across the different industries, such as the changing nature of work, the changing nature of worker expertise, the impact of global competition, and similar types of topics.

Next hometown: Atlanta, Georgia.

Wish List for Hometown 1: Baltimore

2010-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Wish List of Resources for My Home Towns—Museums

Visiting museums in so many different places and seeing how they preserve and strengthen the local cultures and enhance the spirits of their communities has encouraged me to think about museums that could be established in my various home towns—and that could preserve and strengthen their cultures, and enhance the spirits of these communities.

And yes, I use home towns in the plural. For those of you who know anything about my life story, you know that I’ve moved around a bit. The home towns I’ll address here include:

Baltimore, Maryland
Rochester, Minnesota
Atlanta, Georgia
Montreal, Quebec

(Although I’ve also lived in Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Hong Kong, I don’t have suggestions for them.)

Hometown 1: Baltimore
Although less than an hour from the US capital, Washington, DC, Baltimore—the town where I was born and raised—is not only a physically separate city, it’s culturally separate, too. Where Washington has primarily served as a government town and now has industry (nearly all service and defense-related) that emerges from government, Baltimore was a port town with heavy industry, though both have diminished in importance in recent decades and, as the civil service outgrows Washington, has attracted some agencies, such as Social Security.

That industrial wealth initially funded Baltimore’s cultural institutions, which include two world-class art museums, a public library system, and a history museum, as well as the more recent National Aquarium, Museum of Science, Museum of Visionary Art, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History.

Baltimore also has had a series of smaller museums that preserve pieces of Baltimore’s working class and everyday heritage, including its Museum of Industry, and closed City Life Museums and Museum of Public Works (closed in the past year due to a city budget crisis).

What’s special about these museums is that, although they’re world class, they emerge from the community that hosts them. For example, Baltimore has a large African American population, so a museum of African American history is organic to the community. Baltimore has a working class history, and a museum of industry honors that history. And Baltimore is not just a port town; the harbor, river, and the Chesapeake Bay into which it flows are all integral parts of the area. The Aquarium honors the role of the maritime in the life of the region.

For Baltimore, the ideal is bringing the museums lost to bankruptcy and budget cuts back to life, while remaining true to their spirit and the stories they tried to tell. In addition, such a museum must be located in a place where it is likely to attract many visitors—and contributors.

That museum might be a Museum of the Baltimore Spirit, which—like its name suggests—celebrate the spirit of the city. Taking a lead from the approach taken by the Minnesota Historical Society, but focusing on a city rather than a state—this museum would have two permanent exhibits. And as the Minnesota Historical Society has two permanent exhibits, so would this museum. One would introduce local culture, but rather than taking the A to Z approach that the Minnesota center takes, this one might take a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach and, in the process, celebrate the histories of the many ethnic groups that comprise the local culture. The second permanent exhibition would present a chronological history of the city. But rather than a large board of dates and events, perhaps this one would provide a walk through the history of the city. A third gallery would present temporary exhibitions that would explore themes in the life of the city. Some could be upbeat, such as the role of sports teams in civic pride. Some would be critical, exploring social changes and their effect on the landscape of the city.

Location would be an essential part of this story. One possibility is housing this museum in the Inner harbor, which hosts many of the other museums and attractions in the citywould take a chronological approach. Indeed, it could be used to revive the sagging Gallery and Harborplace malls.

But another possibility is to locate this elsewhere, near another cultural institution like the Museum of Art or the Baltimore Zoo, to create a new cultural hub and bring visitors and the related economic impact to other parts of town. Should such an approach be taken, quick access to the city’s Metro system would be essential to the success of the institution.

Next hometown: Rochester, Minnesota.

The Travel Experience on Subways

2010-08-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

Rail basically lives up to its reputation as a “more civilized” way of travel—and so does its “cousin,” subways (also known as metros and mass transit). Perfect? No. Travel by mass transit posed some interesting challenges, like these.

My first experience on the Madrid Metro was an experience in getting lost. Totally lost. Admittedly, it was partly my fault; I didn’t call the hotel in advance to find out which Metro stop to take, much less write down its address and telephone number. But the hotel shares some of the blame; it did not list the actual name of the Metro stop on its website, much less the name of the specific exit to take.

My first indication of a problem was at the train station. I went to the information desk to get information about the Metro system. The guy at the desk said he worked for the rail system, not the metro.

We made it to the presumed subway station and discovered it had 5 exits. We didn’t know which one to take, and couldn’t find an area guide on the walls that might suggest which of the five was most appropriate for us. I chose one; I quickly learned that wasn’t the right one. I learned two valuable lessons from that experience; useful, tourist-oriented signage is an essential component of a great Metro. In the meantime, make sure you have thorough directions.

Déjà vu all over again in Berlin. I had traveled on the Berlin subway system before, so I felt comfortable using it this time. It’s extensive, it goes nearly everywhere we wanted to go (except directly to Museum Island) and runs on an honor system (there are no turnstiles to go through).

So I wasn’t prepared for a bizarre situation that happened my first time using the subway on this trip. After the fifth station, the sixth stop on the line was the same as the fourth stop. And the seventh station was the same as the third stop. According to the map on the train, that wasn’t the plan.

Apparently, part of the line on which I was traveling was closed for renovations. There was an announcement on the train but, because it was in German, I couldn’t understand it. I learned a valuable lesson from this experience: when lines are interrupted or stations closed for renovations, place a temporary marker on the subway map over the area to provide a visual cue to passengers. Also update the website with similar information.

That said, I found the subway maps for the Berlin metro to be unusually complicated and difficult to follow in contrast to systems of similar size and complexity. This system has many routes, but the small type on the route maps made identifying route and station names all the more challenging. Directional signage within stations was similarly confusing. For example, no direct link exists between the S-bahn and U-bahn trains though directional signage in the station suggests otherwise. .

The City Tour in Istanbul: Istanbul has both traditional subway and light rail systems. We found both systems to be incredibly easy to use.

Travelers buy tokens (called jetons) from a vendor near the station, then enter the station. The system was reasonably bi-lingual; visitors who do not speak or read Turkish could easily navigate the system.

Although cities primarily build mass transit systems to ferry locals through the city, we figured out quickly that an above-ground system, like the Light Rail system in Istanbul, could also provide tourists a great tour of the city, too. So we rode the line end-to-end, traveling from the downtown of the city to a suburb near the airport, and back to the historic section where we were staying. We took the ride at sunset and traveled over the river--certainly adding to the charm of the experience.

In general, we found travel by mass transit in all of the cities we visited to be exceptionally convenient and cost-effective when walking was either not practical or not reflective of our moods. Admittedly, signage and directions posed challenges in some cities. But in each case, we quickly overcame the challenges, adjusted to the systems, and became regular users. We purchased unlimited travel passes on the Paris and Berlin systems. We did not need the passes in other cities but used the systems when walking or city tour buses could not take us where we wanted to go.

Next post: Wish lists of cultural resources for my home towns.

The Traveler Experience of Trains and Train Stations

2010-08-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

As a result of the frustrations that travelers experience or anticipate with air travel, when feasible, many are turning to trains. For the most part, train travel offers an easier travel experience but some issues could make it an even smoother, more seamless user experience.

In this post, I explore some of the strengths of the rail travel experience and opportunities for improvement, both from the perspective of the station and the train itself.

The Traveler Experience with Central Train Stations
Train stations address many of the issues that arose in my critique of airports.

Reasonably priced food and trinkets. In Canada and Europe, prices for food at airports seems far more reasonable than it did at airports. At Montreal’s train station, for example, many people working in nearby offices eat lunch at the train station’s food court. (That a significant investment in the ambience of the food court was made probably persuades lunchers; it’s the nicest food court in the area (in my humble opinion)).
Reasonable distances from arrival to taxis and car rental stations.
Clear directional signage.
Excellent shopping in several train stations, offering practical items like groceries, office supplies, magazines and newspapers, and personal care and pharmacy items.
In Europe, transfers among trains are a snap. Some only provide 2 to 3 minutes between trains, and the connections are so easy that passengers can make the transfers with time to spare. (Not that I trusted these short changes, but they are surprisingly smooth.)

Where train stations fall short is in the link to certain ground transportation options. Links to buses seem to be inconvenient; it seems that, in many train stations, they’re located in the most distant corner of the station. (That said, bus links with the central train station in Enschede, The Netherlands is seamless.)

More significantly, links to metro systems seem to be clunky. In Toronto, Paris, and Montreal, the link between corresponding subway stations and train stations do not seem to be designed for travelers with luggage. All involve winding pathways, and walks up stairs (with no options for escalators or elevators). Most of the turnstiles in subway stations are not designed for people traveling with even small suitcases, much less large ones. The problem is especially serious in Paris, where the make shift solution doesn’t always work.

The Traveler Experience on Trains
With stress free boarding procedures (even those trains requiring security checks seem to handle them more quickly than airports), wide seats—even in coach class, leg room, electrical outlets at most seats (once again, even in coach), and spacious on-board wash rooms, trains are, as Canada’s VIA Rail advertises, a “civilized alternative.”

In first class, passengers even receive a meal—with complimentary wine.

And, as train stations offer a less stressful, more pleasant experience, so trains themselves offer a less stressful, more pleasant experience, for the most part.

But, as train stations have room for improvement, so do trains themselves, little things that affect the user experience. Consider these.

Clarify the value proposition of a a Eurail pass. When I first traveled on a Eurail pass, in the 1980s, it provided unlimited travel within a period of time, few requirements to make reservations, and rarely a reservation fee. In 2010, a Eurail pass basically seems like a discount voucher. Reservations were required for all rides, all reservations involved additional fees (sometimes as high as 100 euros) and we were limited in the amount we could travel. In the end, even with ground transportation fees, traveling on Air Berlin would have been a more cost- and time-effective solution. (Admittedly, this is a Europe-only issue.)

Eurail passes used to have a reputation as a good deal, but the reality seems at odds with the reputation. That could catch up to the European national railways.

Provide room for luggage on European inter-city trains. Although checking luggage isn’t an option on most European trains, they also do not provide room to store luggage. The overhead bins aren’t good for much more than a handbag or computer case.

Canada’s VIA Rail might have older trains (and, in many cases, used ones from other countries), but they have plenty of room for luggage.

Watch the timetable: On the one hand, Northern European trains run so closely to the time table that travelers can set their watch to them, and VIA Rail usually follows its schedule closely, even in bad weather, Amtrak in the U.S. is a different story. Except on well-traveled routes (like the Boston-Washington corridor), schedules are merely a suggestion and actual arrival and departure times can occur hours after published schedules.

Additional thoughts: The review of train stations focused on central stations. Suburban and rural stations offer a significantly different experience. Because I rarely use them, I could not comment on them.

Compared with the number and scope of issues with the user experience that airlines and airports need to address, those the challenges facing airlines and airports, the traveler experience of trains and train stations is significantly smoother and more pleasant. That may result, in part, from the differences in the number of passengers airlines and airports must process, as well as the significant difference in travel conditions and challenges.

In the scheme of things, these are minor issues. But the value and luggage issues in Europe, and schedule issues in the US, still have the ability to annoy passengers.

Next post: The Travel Experience on Subways.

2010-08-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Germany seems poised to limit use of primarily social networking sites, like Facebook, for employment purposes. Although news reports suggest that Facebook believes its privacy settings are sufficient, it seems that the legislators feel otherwise.

This is not the same thing as a school district in Florida, in which the superintendent unilaterally banned teachers from using Facebook.

That pronouncement only exacerbates confusion over social networking, rather than clarifying confusing points and moving the conversation forward. In the case of Florida, the issue that seems to have prompted the pronouncement is inappropriate communication between teachers and students. Banning use of Facebook won't stop inappropriate communication--rather, it avoids the discussion about what is appropriate communication.

The German situation seems different. It's motivated by a broader concern about what rights employers have when monitoring employees and potential employees, and is part of a bill that has much broader implications than just Facebook. In addition to social networking, the proposed legislation apparently addresses issues like video monitoring and how employers handle suspected criminal activity.

The proposed legislation distinguishes between social networking sites primarily intended for work-related purposes, like LinkedIn, and those intended primarily for purely social purposes, like Facebook. Although the news reports I've read do not comment on this, my guess is that the ultimate goal is to avoid situations like those in which bright, 22-year-old university graduates lose good job offers because an employer checked out the candidate's Facebook site, saw a party photo (which is what Facebook was intended for) that ruffled his or her feathers, and rescinded the offer.

Most discussions about the use of Facebook in workplace learning and communication have focused on ways to exploit Facebook for our purposes, without acknowledging the fundamental issue that Facebook was primarily intended for social purposes.

Certainly Facebook hasn't encouraged that acknowledgment, with privacy settings that are only easy to use in theory and, as a result, many users are sharing all of their data whether or not that's their intention.

But it behooves us workplace learning and communication professionals, who are supposed to be sensitive to issues of work-life balance, to recognize that a distinction exists between business and personal social networking sites, and we have a responsibility to launch that discussion.

Although I have a feeling that some social media enthusiasts will not respond enthusiastically to the proposed German legislation, as the lines between work and home life continue to blur, I have a feeling that the discussions of this issue will continue.

For more information about the German legislation, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/global/26fbook.html?

And
The real issue with

Experience and Usability--and--Airlines and Airports

2010-08-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

The Usability of the Travel Experience

At the end of my last post of travel pet peeves, I made the observation that many of the snafus happen because different aspects of travel are coordinated by different organizations, and no one has responsibility for the “big picture,” that is, the end-to-end travel experience.

As a result, the interfaces among these experiences are often clunky—between air travel and ground transport, subway and train station. Rummler and Brache noticed that, when organizations fall down, the cracks are the interfaces between different groups within the organization—the kitchen and the wait staff in a restaurant, manufacturing and distribution in a plant, sales and set-up in a marketing organization.

This type of problem seems especially true in the travel experience—air, train, and metro. It’s as if the people who work in them are especially oblivious to the experiences of the travelling public. Furthermore, no one seems to have responsibility for the end-to-end experiences in each of these modes of travel. Traveling as much as I did during the sabbatical last year provided plenty of opportunity to reflect on these interface issues—and in the next several posts, I share some of the issues that arose:

Experience, usability, airlines, and airports
Usability of train stations and trains
Usability of metro (subway) systems

Experience and Usability--and--Airlines and Airports
My dad used to say that half of the fun of travel was the experience of getting there.

He died in 1965, and never lived to see the state of travel to day. Its primary role seems to be selling prescriptions for Xanex and other tranquilizers.

In theory, airports serve as centers of welcome and fond farewell for their communities and airplanes are the means of building up to these experiences. But I wonder what words travellers would use if asked to describe the nature of the welcome and farewell they received.

More specifically, designers of the air travel experience seem to overlook the welcoming role played by planes and airports because they tend to overlook or, worse, callously ignore, key specific aspects of the travel experience. In this post, I’ll look at some of the issues that seem most visible to me. In the Comments section, you might add to the list.

The Airline Experience
The concerns with the end-to-end design of the air experience of airline travel begins with the process of making reservations.

More specifically, the issues start with ticket prices. Although a la carte pricing seems to have rankled most air travelers, since I compared an a la carte price on Air Canada that was loaded with extras (seat selection coming and going, pre-paid meal, and the admittedly rip-off “On Your Way” service) and still cheaper than the prices on Expedia and Travelocity, I have no issue with it.

My concerns, instead, focus on issues that clearly suggest that airlines are, at best, indifferent to the experiences of their customers. Here are some specific issues, from the beginning to the end of the experience:

Grossly misleading advertised prices. This is primarily a problem in Canada, where airport taxes are admittedly exceptionally high. But it’s also a problem elsewhere.

But airlines don’t make the problem any better by advertising one-way ticket prices sans taxes. They know that most travellers make round-trips, and that want to make these decisions based on total price, not the pre-tax price on a one-way fare. (And the fine print always says that the fare is only applicable to a round trip anyway.)

Airlines in Canada claim that consumers want to know how much they’re paying in taxes.

Perhaps—but only after they know what the entire ticket price is. And when a trip whose teaser price is $79 actually balloons to something like $369 (I’m not exaggerating), these practices seem all the more deceitful.

Furthermore, there’s evidence that consumers don’t really read this type of information so carefully so they’re not likely to process the details anyway.

If airlines really want to raise consumer awareness of taxes, more effective—and less deceitful—practices exist. They could print them on receipts (as they already do) as well as boarding passes and other check-in documentation.

Furthermore, the documentation of taxes could be visual—a pie chart (taking a lead from gas stations, which already do this).

Consumer groups have raised awareness of the problem, but the Canadian government seems listless in addressing the problem. They said they’re working on it, but that’s a euphemism for hoping the issue is going to go away.

But on a more practical level, if the initial conversation with consumers is based on misleading information, how can the trust that builds true consumer loyalty ever develop?

Charges for making reservations by telephone. On the one hand, I recognize that, when customers make their reservations online, they save staff and airlines want to pass the savings along to customers. On the other hand, there are times when this seems to be a self-defeating proposition. Some people have exceptional difficulty making reservations online—like those who don’t have, or are uncomfortable using, computers. Two of the groups can ill afford unnecessary additional charges. Elderly people—many of whom are good airline customers—are one group. Low-income flyers, some of whom do not have home internet service or computers, are another.

A third group is people who have tried to make reservations online but, for reasons that usually have to do with glitches in the airline’s own computer system, can’t. In such instances, airlines should pay customers for their diligence rather than penalizing them.

Dis-loyalty programs: While airlines have ratcheted up opportunities to earn frequent flyer points through credit cards, dining partners, shopping on their website, they’ve decreased opportunities to earn them the traditional way—by flying. For example, Air Canada only awards full credit for flying when paying full fare. Otherwise, customers receive about half the points. To be honest, the points aren’t worth the differential in price. But at least, Air Canada is up-front about its reduced mileage.

In contrast, Delta hides some of its new practices. A tradition among “partner” airlines like Delta’s SkyTeam is that miles flown on one airline earn mileage in a partner’s frequent flyer program, even if the original airline issued the ticket. Apparently, no more. I bought a ticket on Air France through Expedia and tried to receive credit on Delta. They wouldn’t offer it, identifying the flight as “free.” (At $1,000 a ticket, it most definitely was not free.) When I inquired, they the fare wasn’t eligible for the transfer.

Naturally, Expedia did not inform me of this either.

Grumpy service. Years ago, I heard an executive from Southwest Airlines explain their personnel philosophy: “Treat your employees like you want them to treat your customers.”

A lightbulb went off; I understood why Northwest was so horrible to its customers. During that particular year, the pilots had gone on strike, the machinists were taking work actions, and the flight attendants were threatening to strike.

Unhappiness is more contagious than the Avian flu.

Admittedly, remaining enthusiastic in the flying environment isn’t easy. But that’s the service that airlines are paid to provide all the same; their management has a responsibility to inspire their workers, not only to ensure safety but to ensure a pleasant flying experience.

Mis-communication about flight status: Although airlines resisted it, frequent flyers applauded U.S. government intervention when airlines showed continued indifference to excessive wait times on tarmacs when flights were delayed. Even in the face of exceptionally poor publicity that bordered on communicating incompetence, airlines refused to improve their practices.

But those are merely extreme situations. Mis-communication and unrealistic expectations about flight operations seem endemic to airline operations. When airlines delay flights, they are almost never forthcoming with information. At the least, if they know nothing, airlines could communicate that to waiting passengers and tell them they’ll give an update in 30 minutes. If they still know nothing, they can communicate that. Instead, gate staff rarely communicate anything, and the not knowing only enrages passengers—and unnecessarily so.

This flies in the face of crisis communications strategy.

But airlines must be willing to endure this for a reason: if the flight delay is caused by the airline, they’re responsible for assisting passengers, including giving them a hotel room if needed. If passengers don’t know what’s going on, they can’t ask for the services that consumer laws provide.

Or perhaps airlines are simply so deaf that they can’t hear how foolish they sound. Something I overheard in Baltimore’s airport sheds light on this. Two Northwest flights at adjacent gates were both delayed: one for weather, one for mechanical reasons. A Northwest gate agent made an announcement, telling passengers on the flight delayed by mechanical failure that they would be given some sort of meal voucher and those on the weather-delayed flight that they would receive nothing.

Mis-handling their own ground operations. Although this level of mis-communication would be embarrassing to any other type of organization, mis-communication seems to be de rigeaur for most airlines. Consider the situation when a flight from Hong Kong to Chicago arrives early, and the plane waits at the gate for 15 minutes because there’s no one to open the gangplank.

Seriously, how can the arrival of a 747 that’s been flying for 15 hours and in constant communication with air traffic control be such a surprise that no one is ready for its arrival?

And given that these planes fly the highest profit routes, wouldn’t they be of such a high priority that the company would redirect resources their way? Although it’s against the rules, one can easily understand how passengers who have been cooped up on the plane are anxious to depart and might even work on it.

These are just four examples of mis-communication in the airline experience that creates mis-trust, anxiety, and frustration. This persistent, institutionalized, and systemic mis-communication elevates these activities from a simple communication problem to a user experience issue, and affects the ways that passengers feel about—and respond to—the wait for flights.

But have no fear; most airlines are matched by their closest partners, the airports, for creating an unnecessarily frustrating customer experience.

The Airport Experience
As I mentioned, the airport is supposed to be the welcome and departure point for visitors. But many offer something short of a warm welcome or a heartfelt farewell. Here are some specific areas where the experience can be improved.

In Winter, Provide Heat at Charles de Gaulle Airport: We had a 3-hour layover at the airport in February. Even with hot coffees in our systems, we had to wear our coats in the terminal to try to stay warm, and that really didn’t do the best job. I’ve been told that the temperatures in August are sweltering.

Stop the Price Gouging at European Airports: $5.00 for a can of coke? That’s the price at Charles de Gaulle. Coke wasn’t much cheaper at Schipol airport. Although some of the more durable merchandise was sold at prices competitive with those in local stores, food at European airports (and train stations) seemed a bit on the high side—as if the operators know that they have a captive audience and want to take advantage of it.

These airports could learn from Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, which have had “best price guarantees” to prevent airport businesses from over-charging.

Better link airports with subways. In some instances, link between an airport and a subway or intra-city train is nearly seamless, like the links the airport and subways in Atlanta, Schipol and Reagan National airports. Atlanta’s subway and the entire railroad system of the Netherlands literally come into their respective airports, and Reagan’s comes up right along side the airport, with central access to it.

But linking to subways and trains at other airports is a separate journey of its own, with the link itself often eating up an extra 15 to 30 minutes of travel time between the baggage claim and the train. Boston’s airport stop actually is about a mile away from the airport, requiring a special shuttle bus. The Amtrak station at Newark’s airport is even further away. Technically, there’s an O’Hare stop on the Chicago subway system, but it’s quite a hike from any of the terminals—and directions to the and from the terminals aren’t particularly well marked along the way. It suffers, like the similar odyssey from the baggage claim to the Light Rail station at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport—from the creation of a transportation hub (which will be discussed later). And the Amtrak link from downtown Ft. Worth and Dallas to the DFW airport runs so rarely and is far enough from the terminal that, as a ground transportation option, it has little practical value. (It’s not even on the intra-airport train system; reaching it requires a special shuttle that does not leave from every terminal.)

A number of reasons exist for the poor links between subways and airports, but they often come down to a core issue: different groups need to work together in the best interests of the passengers and, in the end, the passengers’ experience rates lower than other considerations—sometimes within the control of all parties, sometimes not.

Although the stated goals of linking airports and high-speed rail is to encourage travelers to take public transit, the “link” must be easy to traverse for people to actually use it.

As long as I’m complaining: If you need to transfer lines when taking the subway to the airport, many travelers quickly find that the transfer is a challenge in its own right. Subway systems built before the 1970s typically do not have escalators at exchange lines, and almost always require going up a staircase—which not only builds weight lifting muscles, but also slows the passenger down and, at times, infuriates other travelers behind them who are also slowed down in their climb up the stairs, as no escalators or elevators are available.
This issue is admittedly not an airport issue, but it’s just one other minor frustration in travel. Except where court-mandated to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities, the costly renovations to these stations to simplify the interchange is unlikely to occur.

The next time they remodel, many airports should seriously explore ways to shorten distances. Admittedly, larger airports need to accommodate an ever-larger number of gates and have limited space to grow or, even just remodel. Moreover, some of these airports are working with designs that little flexibility to grow. For example, Montreal’s airport is space constrained as are Chicago, Newark, Minneapolis-St-Paul’s, and Los Angeles’ (just to name a few).

When they do expand, many of these airports simply extend their jetties further out—and further away from terminal services, like immigration, baggage claim, and ground transportation. That’s great for those interested in a workout, but most arriving passengers aren’t really interested in that. Lugging suitcases, laptops, handbags—often with diminished energy from an overnight or overseas flight—an extra-long walk isn’t what they’re interested in. The walks in some airports is especially lengthy, such as those in Minneapolis St-Paul’s Terminals A and B, and Newark’s Terminal C.

Some airports have installed walkways, but these walkways are often outside of arrivals areas.

Others have installed trains to ferry passengers from the gates to baggage claim, but unless those trains were part of the original design, the distance between the gate and the train is so far, that the train nearly loses its value. Some particularly questionable intra-airport trains are the ones at the Newark, Dallas-Fort-Worth, and San Francisco airports.

The intra-airport train in San Francisco is especially bothersome for arriving passengers. It is not well-connected to the terminals (and its stops are particularly inconvenient for some airlines that do not have hubs at the airport). And, in some instances, requires that travelers walk up stairs—sometimes with hefty loads of luggage—to get to the train.

In contrast, to these retrofits, the Atlanta airport was designed to handle large volumes of passengers, and to grow easily as volumes increased. Denver adopted the same design as is Dulles airport (though it’s the longest renovation I’ve ever seen).

Provide a Ground Transportation Solution to Reaching Ground Transportation Hubs: Designed and implemented to free up some airport space for other purposes and accommodate growth in demand for ground transportation, ground transportation hubs have created new inconveniences for arriving passengers.

On paper, the hubs at the Chicago O’Hare and Minneapolis-St-Paul airports both probably looked good. Ground transportation hubs would be located in a central facility that’s accessible to all of the terminals in the airport. In reality, both resulted in hikes guaranteed to help arriving passengers lose 5 pounds (OK, I might exaggerate but…) In the case of O’Hare, the pathway to the hub to the terminals isn’t particularly well marked. The hub is well marked in Minneapolis-St.Paul, it’s just plain far and adds unnecessary steps. For example, to get a rental car, arriving passengers must hike to the transportation hub, then pick up an intra-airport shuttle, then take an elevator up to the rental car area.

Atlanta and Baltimore-Washington have tried to eliminate those unnecessary steps—but do so by literally shipping passengers miles way to not just off-site, but way-off-site car rental facilities. Atlanta’s is connected by a high-speed train, Baltimore-Washington’s by a shuttle bus. Although the spacious facilities are touted as a benefit to customers, getting to and from these car rental facilities adds 15 to 30 minutes to a trip that weren’t there before.

One Last Problem that Needs Addressing: When arriving in Los Angeles on certain airlines, passengers need to literally leave the airport terminal to catch a stair or escalator downstairs to the baggage claim. That seems like poorly thought-out traffic design.

Some Additional Thoughts: Individually, expanding airport capacity, linking airports and cities by subway or intra-city train, providing transportation hubs, and similar measures were meant to accommodate increasing numbers of passengers and demands for services. But rather than adding convenience, these measures have made some airports more complicated and time consuming to traverse, and added to an already frustrating experience.

Experience designers—airports offer plenty of opportunity.

But more opportunity exists.

Next post: The Traveler Experience of Trains and Train Stations.

Big Donations and Big Weddings

2010-08-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

This fourth posting of recent news to catch my eye.

On the subject of nonprofits, Toronto Star columnist Carol Goar explores the problems underlying the mega-donations that are increasingly popular these days, wondering if their rise is causing smaller donors--who are the backbones of most organizations--to cut back, feeling that their donations matter less. Check out her thoughts at http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/846321--goar-mega-donations-pose-deep-questions

And for a different perspective...
Andrew Brown of the Guardian weighs in on the wedding controversy--no, not the gay-straight one, but the big religious versus small civil one.

The great point about completely impersonal ceremonies, whose form is the same for everyone, whether these are religious or entirely civil, is that they remind us that the problems and difficulties of marriage are universal. They come from being human. They can’t be dodged just by being our wonderful selves, even all dusted with unicorn sparkle. His comments were an Idea of the Day ( http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/the-trouble-with-weddings/).

Corporate Responsibility, Possible Money Grabs, and the ROI of Tutoring: News Stirring Thought about Workplace Learning

2010-08-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Business owner Paul Downs wonders "Do I owe my employees a career path? Although he wants to retain employees and found that specialist workers are the most productive, he wonders what happens when workers "top out" on the career paths within his company. He voices a concern that many employers feel--but concludes the value of supporting his workers outweighs the costs. Read his thoughts at http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/do-i-owe-my-employees-a-career-path/?ref=business.
Jeanne Meister and Karie Willyerd make 10 predictions about the future of training in a recent posting on ASTD's Learning Circuits. Most of the post focuses on the of technology in the future of workplace learning. But they present more of an enthusiastic rather than critical look at the technology. For example, they see 3-D applications as a low-cost alternative to labs, without addressing the sometimes considerable cost of developing the software-based simulations. Similarly, they talk about the increasing role of mobile apps but fail to link it to the larger--and ongoing--conversation about supporting performance and transferring training, which is the real process by which these applications for mobile devices offer value to learning.

They also note the role that public policy plays in encouraging workplace learning, and talk about individual learning accounts that some jurisdictions are offering their taxpayers. But once again, they fail to demonstrate critical thinking about these accounts. Meister and Willyerd present the accounts as additional revenue sources for tuition for workplace learning. Why should workers pay their own cash for training on proprietary skills and products that only benefit the employer, when they could invest those funds in a neutral third-party provider who would provide the worker with durable, transferable skills that would make the worker attractive to all employers?

In terms of the future of trainers, Meister and Willyerd advocate for mostly clerical role: accrediting workers' skills, saying that workers won't necessarily demonstrate competency through courses but, rather, through on-the-job activities. Meister and Willyerd present that certification responsibility as an exciting role--and the primary viable option for trainers. But they only partially describe exactly what that role is for trainers. Reading between the lines, if this role is similar to the role that Meister saw for in-the-trenches trainers at corporate universities, one real possibility of this view is that primary role of in-the-trenches trainers under this vision is to serve as contract administrators and trainers of on-the-job coaches—kind of like a specialized purchasing team for training. This is hardly the "strategic partner" who has a "seat at the corporate table" view advocated by the trade press and actively explored by strategic HRD research and theory.

Read the full article at http://www.astd.org/LC/2010/0710_meister.htm.

Although, ostensibly about parents purchasing tutoring services for their children (a booming industry, which grew 5 percent last year, despite the recession and cuts to schools), Paul Sullivan’s exploration of the “returns” on such tutoring offers some glimpses into the challenges of tallying the ROI of training. For example, some parents come to tutoring with unrealistic expectations—that the only successful outcome is acceptan999ce to an Ivy League school. I was also surprised by the fees that some of the Manhattan-based tutors charge—as high as 8 times the rate of many contract instructional designers and technical writers. Check out Sullivan’s analysis at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/your-money/21wealth.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all. Visited August 21, 2010.

Scandals, Unnecessary Expenses, and $320K Kindergarten Teachers: News Roundup about Research, Schools and Higher Education

2010-08-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

This second posting of news focuses about

Research
Schools
Higher education

New from the research front: The recent announcement about a test for Alzheimer's disease is one of the first fruits of an unprecedented willingness among researchers in government, universities and industry (including pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers) to share data immediately. This limited the amount of unnecessary duplication in research, thus allowing researchers to act on findings more quickly. Apparently, the next area on which researchers have agreed to share data is the fight against Parkinson's disease. Another plug for the "open" movement. Check out the entire story at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/health/research/13alzheimer.html?hp=&pagewanted=all.

News about schools

My former home town of Atlanta is giving high-stakes testing a whole new meaning. Seems that the improvement in some of the public schools is too good to be believed, resulting in widely believed accusations of cheating on the standardized tests, with the superintendent of schools receiving the most of the blame.

An independent investigation has made significant inroads into clearing the superintendent of schools but that's not good enough for some. A recent New York Times article provides an outsider's take on the situation: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/education/08atlanta.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all .

On a brighter note, David Leonhardt reports on an economic analysis showing that the most effective kindergarten teachers have a strong--and quantifiable--long-term effect on their students. In one long-term study of former kindergarteners from Tennessee, the research suggests that the impact is $320,000. Read "The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers" at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html?src=me&ref=business for details.

(Note to teachers: Don't expect the pay raise any time soon.)

Meanwhile, higher education is taking quite a rap in the press.

In his OpEd piece, Academic Bankruptcy, religion professor Mark C. Taylor explores the real cost of the high-cost, high-stakes game of competition in higher education. I'm not sure that he gets at all of the issues driving up academic costs, but he certainly identifies some key ones. Read the piece at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/opinion/15taylor.html?hp.

Also check out readers’ responses to Taylor. Most challenge his arguments based on their personal issues, rather than meaningfully extend it.

But a couple of authors are asking a more fundamental question: is a college education even worth the cost.

Time author Ramesh Ponnuru wonders whether Society "should help more kids go to college — or that we should make it easier for people who didn't go to college to make a living?" (Visit http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1967580,00.html for the complete argument.)
New York Times reporter Kristi Oloffson suggests that an oversupply of college graduates exists on the job market--an oversupply that goes beyond the current recession--and many graduates face the real possibility of not being able to replay their student loans. Certainly some Canadian research by the WALL team at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for the Study of Education suggests that many degreed people are over-educated for the jobs they have. Read Oloffson's article at http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1946088,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar.

Life and Death of e-Mail and e-Books: Roundup of Recent News on Media and e-Books

2010-08-23T04:10:00.000-07:00

The next few posts take a brief pause from the account of my sabbatical over the past year to report on some of the news that caught my eye over the past few weeks about:

Media (general)
e-Books

Then

Research
Schools
Higher education

Next, workplace learning
And

Nonprofits
And a different perspective

News about media (general)
The blogosphere is chockablock with predictions of various technologies.

For example, a couple of months ago, Tim Young declared the death of e-mail on the Knowledge is Social blog (http://blog.socialcast.com/social-networks-spur-the-demise-of-email-in-the-workplace/). On the one hand, he was accurately reading surveys saying that use of e-mail was declining, especially among younger people, who prefer instant messaging, texting, and social networks for communicating.

Over time, however, we in the media tend to love hyperbole about media. The typical story goes like this: a new medium is going to “kill” an existing one. Television was going to replace radio and movies. Cable would kill broadcast television. Computers will replace the classroom.

But as sociologist Neil Selwyn observed at the recent ED-MEDIA conference in Toronto, such hyperbole can, at times, sound “ridiculous” (he was specifically referring to a comment that social media will replace schools).

Steve Lohr puts the situation into a broader perspective in a recent analysis in the New York Times, observing that—in the long-run—media adapt. Radio lost its primacy as an entertainment medium, but found new lives—first as background music, news and talk (which has taken a primary role in shaping political debate (my addition))—and later, through satellite radio with a wide range of music and conversation. Lohr even identifies podcast as a reinvention of the radio show.

Similarly, rather than lose to television, movies reinvented themselves, first with gimmicks like 3D (geez—and now television is trying the same thing) and, later, with a richer viewing experience not feasible through television.

E-mail? That’s not dead either. It’s just morphing in use as are telephone calls. People may be calling less, but some evidence suggests that some of all of all that increased texting is used to schedule phone conversations. Merely calling people to say hi unannounced is increasingly seen as an intrusion.

Check out Lohr’s analysis, Now Playing: Night of the Living Tech, at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/weekinreview/22lohr.html?ref=weekinreview.

News about e-books

Michael Wolf declares that "e-Books Won the War." I didn't realize we were at war (at least, not over books). From my perspective, the conversion from print to e-books is part of a larger, systemic conversion from print to online information, and the conversion is very much in process and likely to continue for the foreseeable future. But, like most industry pundits, hyperbole is intended to drum up attention and, perhaps, business. Read his comments at http://gigaom.com/2010/08/06/how-e-books-won-the-war/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%29&utm_content=Twitter.
For a more fact-based account of the situation with e-books, check out the current issue of Spectrum, IEEE's magazine. After providing a current assessment of the brutal market conditions for manufacturers of e-book readers, Spectrum's editors report the results of their testing and ranking of all the e-readers out there, including obscure ones that no one ever hears about, like the Bookeen Cybook Opus and the Hanvon WISEreader. Among the useful information in the reviews are the strengths and drawbacks to each reader, and a list of formats that the readers can display. No format is universal (a problem), but the ePub and PDF formats seem extremely popular. Read the article at http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/tools-toys/the-ipad-the-kindle-and-the-immutable-laws-of-the-marketplace/0

Travel Pet Peeves

2010-08-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

Although I learned a lot from my travels, a lot of things bothered me while I was on the road.

In this posting, I describe some of the little everyday things that irritated me. In the next several posts, I explore some of the systemic issues—specifically, the usability of airports, train stations, and metro systems.

Musicians on the Metro (as opposed to those in the Metro station, who usually have to go through an audition process). Just as I would get into a meaningful conversation with my partner, or go into a deep thought, a not so quiet-nor-comforting concert (I’d hardly call it a serenade) would start. Something upbeat, with an accordion or something similarly loud.
Panhandlers on the Metro. They walk from car to car, cup in hand, yelling at people or parading disabled relatives, in a bid for passengers’ money. Perhaps my irritation is cultural; in Atlanta—where I lived for a decade—the city has posted signs throughout the city advising people not to support panhandlers. In contrast, the Parisians seem quite supportive of their panhandlers. I felt bad for those on the train from the airport to the center of the city; most were stingy tourists like me.
Panhandlers in McDonald’s and Starbucks. Same as on the Metro, but in a more stationary location. One tried to hit us up just as we were sitting down to eat at McDonald’s.
Street signage—or lack thereof. The older the city, the more invisible the signage, and the more challenging the task of finding a destination.
Mis-directions from locals. Although well-intentioned, they’re often inaccurate. For example, someone told me, “The metro station is just 5 minutes from here.” I’m sure it was 5 minutes from here, but a different “here” than where we were. In another place, someone said, “It’s just one block to the Metro.” Then how do they explain the other two blocks?
Internet access fees in European hotels. They’re over twice as expensive as in the few North American hotels that still charge for Internet access. But at least the better hotels explain their fees. One hotel failed to mention it, then tried to stick me with a 65 euro bill when we checked out.
Texting everywhere. What’s annoying is that it slows people down when they walk, and they block the walkway.
People who have to yammer on their cell phones in a plane up until the minute the flight attendant announces that they must be turned off. One time, I had to listen to some guy talking to his kid in graphic detail about her stomach ache.
People who have to yammer on their cell phones on a plane the second the flight attendant says that they can be used again. It’s especially bizarre on cross-country, red eye flights that arrive on the east coast at 5:30 or 6 am. Who’s awake to take the call?
People who yammer on their hand-held cell phones when they drive. Even if they weren’t putting the safety of others at risk, on highways, they usually drive about 15 to 25 km slower than all of the other traffic, and selfishly cause traffic to back up.
People who text and drive. One can look at the road or look at the screen of their phone, but it’s hard to do both at once.
The lack of public information campaigns about talking on hand-helds, texting, and driving in states and provinces that have supposedly outlawed them. As drivers need to be reminded about the speed limit, they also benefit from occasional reminders about the local mobile phone laws.

My biggest pet peeve? The way that traveling makes all of us irritable people who become so focused on our pet peeves, we forget the amazing opportunities that we’ve been given to see new places, meet new people, experience other cultures and, most significantly, stay in touch with people who would have otherwise left our lives.

It's a situation in which the user experience is overlooked by everyone except the user, because the problems occur--as Rummler and Brache observe--in the "white space" between organizations. Or more specifically, the black hole that's "not my fault" but isn't anyone else's either. The next several posts explore three specific travel experiences that are ridden with black holes: airports, trains, and subways.

Next post: The Usability of Airports and Planes.

Hotel Recommendations in Europe

2010-08-18T04:39:00.000-07:00

In addition to opinions about the museums and attractions we visited (and have consumed this blog these past months), I also had opinions about the hotels where we stayed.

This post shares those opinions (which I’ve also posted on TripAdvisor.com), so people who are thinking about visiting these cities—

Berlin
Barcelona
Istanbul
Madrid
Paris
Valencia

can figure out if they, too, would like to stay in the same hotels.

But first, I describe the challenge of finding hotel rooms on the Internet.

Finding Hotel Rooms on the Internet: As I’ve aged, I’ve become pickier about the places where I sleep. And because I was visiting new places on this trip—and visiting others where I still did not feel I knew the city well—I invested a fair amount of time in researching hotels.

At times, it felt like too much time. I could spend hours checking out hotels in a single city looking for possible bargains, then comparing prices with other websites to see who offered the best deal. (In most cases, it’s the hotel’s own website that offers the best prices. Or, if the price is the same as another site, then the hotel’s site offers more flexibility (such as refundable hotel reservations.) (And if the search was conducted over several days, I had to verify rates, which could change daily or even more frequently.)

Once I found a hotel that had the right combination of features and prices, I wanted to check out its look—and checked out the photographs on the official and tourist websites. But not trusting these, I also turned to reviews. TripAdvisor.com became the most valued source. It rates hotels numerically and provides written reviews. For 3-star hotels and up, I looked for hotels with an 8.5 rating or above; for 2-star hotels, 7.5 or above.

But I also paid attention to the number of reviews (for a hotel with just 5 reviews, one bad review can significantly lower the ratings) as well as the written comments (to determine whether the people who offered low ratings had a valid complaint or seemed like complainers with unrealistic expectations).

In the end, I was pleased with the advice TripAdvisor gave as I was generally pleased with all of the hotels I visited, except one. In that particular case, the concern had to do with the staff, not the hotel itself.

Barcelona—Hotel Europark: The only difficult part of this hotel was checking out. The process itself was easy; we didn’t want to leave. This hotel pleased on every level. The reservation process was easily handled online and we were able to easily change reservations online, too. The website is easy to navigate and provides an accurate depiction of the hotel. The hotel made a great first impression; it’s clean, attractive, handsomely furnished—with a black, white, and gray stripe motif that shows up everywhere, from the lobby to the sheets on the beds.

Because we arrived early in the day after an all-night train ride from Paris (around 9 am), we did not expect to be able to check in. But we had no problem. After a scary all-night train ride in coach (that included a brush with a scary looking stowaway and some possibly illegal immigrants), we would have been pleased with any room. But this room was particularly appreciated—with those striped sheets, hardwood floors, clean lines, and comfortable bed. Ours was the smaller double room but it was sufficiently large. The bathroom was terrific—a large counter beside the sink with sufficient space for the toiletries of two people and a huge tiled shower. The flat screen TV had a great choice of channels, including an Andalusian channel with an addictive soap opera late at night. Free, wireless Internet is available in all rooms.

The only limited aspect of the room was the view—an interior courtyard with views of other windows and a brick wall. Breakfast (extra, but a good deal if you purchase it with the reservation) is served in a pleasant room on the first floor. The selection of food was large, without being gluttonous. The orange juice was freshly squeezed and the coffee freshly brewed. And it gave me a glimpse at the other guests. In terms of looks, they seemed interesting. In terms of other things, I have no idea.

The location is excellent. It’s about a 10- to 15-minute walk to Passeij de Gracia, the main shopping street, another 10- 15-minute walk to the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, and a 5- to 10-minute walk to the Metro, which is 4 stops from the main strain station (which is not the one where trains from Paris arrive, but that’s an unrelated issue).

Berlin—Holiday Inn Express Berlin City Centre: In terms of basic facilities, this comfort-priced hotel is adequate. The room, while on the smaller side, has an OK bed, small desk, and a fine bathroom. The TV was older and had a broken remote control, but did offer only 2 English channels (both news—but this is Germany, so any English language programming is appreciated). Breakfast is standard (I still remember the days when it was standard at all European hotels, which is no longer the case) and, for a cold buffet, is more than adequate. The highlight is the sophisticated coffee machines, which can make nearly every imaginable espresso drink. Location is fine—about a 5-minute walk from an S-bahn station and 10-minute walk from Potsdamer Platz and its U-bahn station or Checkpoint Charlie (and its tourist spots).

My hesitation is with the staff, whose failings were numerous. Because of a change in travel plans, I needed to change the arrival and departure dates (arriving a day earlier, leaving a day later). I called the hotel and they changed the reservation. But when I checked the online record, the reservation had not been changed. When I called the hotel to correct their error, the guy at the front desk gave me a hard time, until I pointed out that his colleague was the one who made the error, not me.

During the stay, the front desk staff provided inaccurate information about public transport. After convincing me to take a bus (I wanted to use the subways), they didn’t change my 20 euro note, saying that the bus driver would make change. That was not correct—it seemed that correct change was needed, as is the case in North America.,

But the most serious problem occurred at checkout. They tried to charge me for Internet use. I was kind of taken aback; the website specifically mentions complimentary access. Furthermore, when I connected to the net in my room, no splash page appeared warning of the charge, as is typical of all hotels. The guy at the front desk said I was supposed to be told at check in. I wasn’t. When he said that he had to charge me for the service, I told him he could, and the first thing I would do is put the charge into dispute. He relented.

I went back and checked the web page—in bold face type, it says, “Complimentary Internet access” and in non-bold type (almost guaranteed to be missed), it then says, “in the lobby.” Furthermore, the site never specifically mentions there’s a charge for access in rooms. This—coupled with the failure of the staff to mention this at check-in and the lack of a splash screen warning that every other hotel (including all of the other ones in the Intercontinental chain)—makes me believe that this is a scam to scrounge up a few extra euros from clueless travelers.

Istanbul—Crowne Plaza Istanbul Old City: I strongly recommend this hotel. In terms of service, it was great. The staff was responsive, even with the oddest request (we wanted a knife delivered to our room to eat some cheese and crackers we had bought).

The room was large, had great TV service, and great bathroom, and made for a comfortable trip. The bed was excellent—I think it had memory foam mattress (but I didn’t check).

The location was excellent, too—an easy walk to the tramway, and a slightly longer walk to the Metro station. (It’s about 5 blocks.) On a decent day, it’s easy to walk to most of the major sites like the Grand Bazaar (about 5 to 10 minutes), Topkapi Palace and the Archeology Museum (about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your pace), Great service. Responsive staff. Great location. Use the trams—convenient. The Metro is fine, too—but a little further away. The hotel also offers free Internet—not just wireless access in the room, but also use of a free station in the business centre.

The only hassle is traffic—the poor taxi driver seemed to have to solve the Rubik’s cube puzzle to get through to the hotel, because the streets nearby are so narrow and crowded. But if it’s your first trip to Istanbul, I’d still recommend getting a taxi from the airport to the hotel. That said, once you become familiar with the public transit system, it’s faster and easier—less than half the time. But as I said, this is a minor issue and not a reflection of the hotel.

Madrid—Ibis Madrid Centro: I didn’t like this hotel at first. It was impossible to find when getting out of the Metro. Admittedly, that’s partly my fault, because I didn’t print the map. But it’s just as much the Ibis Hotels’ fault. The map on one of their official websites did not name the Metro stop, much less mention which of the six exits to choose. When traveling with a now frustrated partner, and you both have heavy luggage that must be carried up a flight and a half of stairs to get out of the station, that’s key information. Worse, one of those six exits is half of a block from the hotel.

Few people we asked knew about the hotel, it’s not marked on any of the maps in the Metro station, and when we finally did get near the hotel, its entrance is nearly impossible to find. Unlike most hotels, this hotel has a simple, single door underneath the vertical sign—defiinitely not a typical hotel entrance. Furthermore, the street entrance is one level below the registration desk, and there’s only a stair and a tiny freight elevator to reach it.

So I wasn’t exactly a happy traveler when I checked in. But the perky front desk agent got past my admittedly sour attitude, and the room—while basic (especially in contrast to our rooms in Barcelona and Valencia)—was comfortable, had a great bathroom, and had free Internet.

After we recovered our happy moods, we went exploring and realized that the hotel was in a good location, about a 20-minute walk from the Gran Via, and another 10- to 15-minute walk from the historic Plaza Mayor, a half of a block from the Metro station, and had a number of restaurants nearby, including a terrific Peruvian restaurant and a local chain restaurant we liked—Vips (whom we learned owns the Starbucks operation in Spain and Portugal).

One drawback to the location is that a theater is on the lower levels of the building and there are lots of clubs and restaurants nearby. That results, in turn, in a lot of street noise late at night. We had no difficulty sleeping, but we did hear the noise.

Although we didn’t purchase it with our room, we took the ample and reasonably priced breakfast buffet each day. Though less extensive than in Barcelona and Valencia, our expectations were also changed because the Ibis is a tourist class hotel, not a boutique or luxury class one as the other two hotels were. The buffet actually compared favorably to the one at the Holiday Inn Express in Berlin.

The guests, too, seemed like nice people from all over Europe and the UK.

Although the lobby and breakfast area on the entry level seemed a bit compact, the staff had room to store our luggage on the last day of our visit, when we had to check out by noon but were not leaving for the train station until 5 pm.

In fact, the staff was always kind and helpful, and provided knowledgeable tourist information about the sites and the Metro system whenever we asked for it.

I’ve not been an Ibis fan in the past. But I am now. All in all, this hotel offered a pleasant tourist class experience.

Paris—Crowne Plaza Paris—Republique: Excellent hotel—strongly recommend. In terms of the staff and service, they’re superb. Greeted warmly and promptly each time I visited the front desk. They even humored me by speaking with me in my broken French, even though we were all capable of conducting the transactions in my native English.

Rooms were a bit on the small side, but still excellent and comfortable. I thought the bed was comfortable but my partner felt otherwise. When I requested a wake-up call, it was signaled both by phone and through the TV.

One thing to note about the room: it has a digital mini-bar. We didn’t buy anything, but did use the refrigerator for food and drinks that we stored. There’s a miniscule personal area in it (about enough for a candy bar and a small can of Coke). And if you move anything in the mini-bar, it automatically charges the purchase to the room. The staff is excellent about taking the charge off of the bill.

The hotel does not provide free Internet. By North American standards, it’s ridiculously pricey. But there’s free Internet access nearby in the McDonald’s and Quick fast food restaurants.

In terms of location, it’s less than a block from the Republique Metro stop, which is served by 5 lines (which, according to an informational sign in the station, represents one line for each of the five republics).

The Republique area is well-located—lots of restaurants on the beautiful square, as well as some cool shops. And if you’re looking to control food costs, there’s a small urban grocery (Monop) a half of a block from the hotel (as well as two other similar markets within one-half-block of the Republique square). And within a 5- to 20-minute walk are many of the boutique museums in the city (like the Musee des Arts et Metiers and the new Chocolate Museum), and as well as the stores of the Grand Boulevard (a bit more of a hike).

Valencia—SH Valencia Palace: Because the conference I attended in Valencia was housed at the SH Valencia Palace, I stayed there. Frankly, the process of making the reservations online only raised concerns about the hotel. Rather than make reservations through a secure website (as is typical of most hotels these days), I had to complete a form offline (with my credit card number), scan it in, and send it un-encrypted to the hotel. They responded quickly and confirmed my reservation, but with my guard always up, I had concerns all the same.

But the speed and friendliness the staff showed in responding to my request for a reservation was backed up by a hearty greeting when I arrived at the hotel. In fact, trying to practice my Spanish, I spoke with them in Spanish and they humored me (initially responding in English, but I asked to practice). Check-in went quickly, and we soon entered our phenomenally spacious room (had to be at least 20 feet long, plus a 12-foot bathroom, with a separate room for the toilet and bidet).

But I understood the reservation process after seeing the hotel; it is an elegant hotel, but it is somewhat dated, perhaps 20 years old. And, despite having flat screen TVs in all of the rooms, it is probably ready for a major renovation giving it a contemporary look—and a website giving it contemporary reservation capabilities.

But that’s no complaint about the hotel. The staff was always ready to help, offered accurate tourist information, and always offered a friendly hello. More importantly, they were one of the few staffs who remembered us from day to day.

Breakfast was included in our room fee, and the buffet was easily the most bountiful of all of the hotels we visited. It was the only hotel with a large hot display—made-to-order omelettes, as well as an extensive selection of meats and salads, a wide array of fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, and tempting sweets (doughnuts, pastries, and pies). The display even included crackers and cereal bars. The selection of breads, however, seemed limited and getting coffee seemed to be an effort. (Most days, they served, but were not always around; but one day, it was self-serve.)

The location of the hotel was good: a 5 euro cab ride from the train station and an easy walk to the Metro, the historic center of the city, and the architecturally eye-grabbing City of Arts and Science. Directly across the street from the hotel is an ancient river that has since run dry—and the city has turned into a lush park, whose orange trees were full of oranges when we visited.

Although the hotel offers Internet access, it’s not free nor cheap.

But the huge bed, excellent views from the window, and kind hotel staff are included in the room rate. All in all, a great hotel.

Next Post: Travel Pet Peeves.

How Travel Has Changed Since1973 (When I First Started Traveling)

2010-08-17T04:31:00.000-07:00

This post begins a series of posts that explore the general experience of traveling. The first few posts provide some general insights, then I offer hotel recommendations, and then present several posts that explore the usability of air, rail, and Metro (subway) travel experiences.

But this first post waxes nostalgic: how travel has changed since I first started traveling.

I’ll start by dating myself: I took my first major trip in 1973; a bus tour across the USA on a bus with 46 fourteen- to seventeen-year-olds, and 4 chaperones. We traveled the Interstate system and stayed in hotels for most of the 50 nights of the trip. That trip launched an odyssey that continues to this day and has taken me to all but one state in the US, 7 Canadian provinces, all continents except Antarctica, and 25 countries.

The travel experience has significantly changed in the ensuing decades. Off the top of my head, here are some of the major ones:

McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Dunkin Donuts have replaced Stuckeys as the roadside stop. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Stuckey’s is a chain of roadside convenience stores with gas stations and limited counter service. Their advertised specialty was pralines, but I liked their sesame chips. When I took that first road trip in 1973, it seemed like we could find a Stuckey’s at every exit. I hardly every see them; I ran across one on the Florida panhandle a couple of years ago.

Starbucks, Nathans, and Roy Rogers have replaced Howard Johnsons as the rest stop restaurant. On the east coast, Howard Johnson’s was the leading family restaurant, and the restaurant at nearly every rest stop on every state turnpike. They had clean wash rooms, acceptable food, and great salt water taffy. By the mid-1980s, Roy Rogers replaced many of the Howard Johnson’s at rest stops. More recently, Starbucks and a resurgent Nathan’s have taken up shop at these rest stops.

Fewer toll booths exist and the ones that do have gone electronic. For example, the Connecticut Turnpike seemed to have toll booths nearly every 20 or 30 miles—complete with the wreckage of a car to warn drivers to be careful, and most bridges and tunnels required both coming and going drivers to pay tolls. Connecticut dismantled its toll booths (I don’t know why; I’ve heard that they were road hazards but also heard that they found other sources of revenue) and most bridges and tunnels have converted to requiring tolls in just one direction. And in the past ten years, most states have offered drivers the opportunity to buy an electronic transponder, which electronically charges the toll to the car. More than that, many adjacent states with toll roads have collaborated so that they share a transponder system.

Heck, there's even one toll road near Toronto that has no humans working at the toll booths. Instead, they they take a photo of the license plate and send a bill later--along with a processing fee.

People don’t dress as formally when they fly. As late as the early 1990s, people looked like they carefully planned what they would wear on the plane. But since planes became flying buses, the dress code has relaxed.

Loyalty programs have arisen and taken on lives of their own. Frequent flyer programs seem as much a part of travel today as the ride, but they came into prominence in the early 1980s. Hotels and car rental companies followed suit. At first, travelers had to earn miles the old fashioned way—by actually flying them. With time, though, members of loyalty programs could earn miles through credit cards, flying with partner airlines, eating at partner restaurants, making online purchases through the airline’s website, and even through inconvenience (a slight delay is sometimes worth 500 miles). As the myriad ways of earning points rose, the number of points awarded for flying diminished. For example, Air Canada now only awards full mileage credit for passengers paying full fare. So much for loyalty.

Airports have been converted to shopping malls. Need a shirt? Try Brooks Bros. Did your computer case break? Check out Wilson’s Leather. Need a museum momento as a gift (even if you didn’t visit the museum)? Check out the Museum Store. The Hong Kong, Pittsburgh, and Amsterdam airports have trend setting shopping opportunities, but don’t write off other airports. Heck, I once purposely booked a flight through Detroit because I wanted to buy a watch at its Pangborn design store.

Low-end hotels often have more desirable amenities than high end ones, like free Internet and breakfast. Marriott and Renaissance both charge about $10 a night for Internet, but their sister hotels—Courtyard and Fairfield—both offer it for free. Fairfield also serves breakfast—at first it was defrosted Sara Lee-like items but now it features hot foods. Even the Motel 6 is offering 400-count cotton sheets. But watch out. As these hotels upscale the services, they also upscale the prices. Hampton Inns and Courtyard by Marriott used to be moderately priced hotels, but their prices often compete with those of their higher end siblings, Hilton and Marriott.

While European hotels have dropped their free breakfasts, American hotels have added them. One of the things that I remember the most about my first trip to Europe in 1980 was the free breakfasts at all of the hotels. More than free, they were good: freshly made cappuccinos and straight-from-the-oven croissant. What made these free breakfasts seem all the more special was that few American hotels offered anything like it. So flash forward 30 years, when my Hampton Inn and Fairfield stays culminated in free breakfasts, while my European hotels wanted to charge as much as $26 for the meal.

Airlines have eliminated leg room. I’m a short person. So when I complain about a lack of legroom, that means a problem exists.

Most rental cars now come with unlimited mileage. When I first rented a car in 1981, I paid extra for the privilege of having unlimited mileage. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time that was a concern. All rental cars seem to come with unlimited mileage these days.

Rental car companies now let you gamble with gas prices. One of the most frightening parts of any car rental experience was returning the car without going to the gas station first, and watching what they would charge to refill the tank. Now, car rental companies let you avoid that by pre-paying for a refill. But you have to figure out, first, whether you will drive the car enough to warrant pre-paying for that refill. And that, in turn, has become the modern gamble.

Hotels provided, then stopped, free newspaper delivery. As a courtesy to guests, most hotels provided free delivery of newspapers to all guest rooms. In the past few years, I’ve noticed that’s declined. At first, they only delivered the newspapers to the rooms of people who achieved status with a frequent guest plan. Then many hotels stopped delivering the papers altogether, instead leaving a pile of them at the front desk. On the one hand, I rarely read that paper and they usually just piled until I left, when I threw them away. On the other hand, I liked the service they represented.

Check out has become an increasingly unnecessary stop on the way out of the hotel, thanks to the bill mysteriously appearing under the door the night before you check out. All you need to do is call the front desk and say thank you. In some cases, the call goes to voice mail. When it goes to a human, I often get the feeling it doesn’t matter whether I call or not, as long as I leave the room.

Humans rarely give wake up calls any more. With the invention of voice response units, machines do it. That’s not so bad, but many hotels don’t record even a rudimentary message. I often wake up wondering whether I received a wake up or suspicious phone call.

People who work in gas stations can’t give directions. When gas station attendants pumped gas instead of making coffee and sandwiches, a lost traveler could ask the attendant for directions and receive reasonably good ones. Increasingly, however, gas station attendants answer the question, “Where is…” with “I dunno.”

Pay phones are an endangered species. As cell phone usage rises, finding a pay phone becomes an increasing challenge. Many airports, hotels, and malls seem to have dropped them altogether. They’re even hard to find at highway rest stops. I prefer pay phones; at $2 per minute in the US, my Canadian cell phone is almost too expensive for emergencies.

Drivers increasingly focus on everything but the highway. Although the occasional slow driver is elderly, these days, most slow drivers are texting or on their cell phones, even in states and provinces where they’re required to use hands-free equipment for voice calls and ignore text ones. But in some cases, drivers have more important tasks that speaking on the phone, like the woman driving through Delaware on Interstate 95, with a Biggie Coffee in one hand and her Dunkin Donuts bagel and cream cheese in the other. And yes, she was in the driver’s seat and better yet, driving at 75 miles an hour.

No one checks luggage anymore. On trains, the service doesn’t seem to exist. (In fact, one of the surprising characteristics of intercity trains in Europe is that they don’t have room for luggage in the rail cars.) But no one wants to use the service on planes. If slow unloading and delivery of luggage to the baggage claim area and the high likelihood of lost luggage weren’t enough of a deterrent, the checked baggage fees have sealed the deal. One problem: Most planes are flying full and don’t have enough room for all of the carry on luggage. Oh—and another problem. At least 10 percent of those with carry-on luggage have luggage that’s too overstuffed to fit in the overhead bins.

One more thing: the number of travel writers advising us of these changes and how to deal with them has significantly increased in the past 4 decades.

Next post: Hotel Recommendations in Europe.

Shopping Trip 3: The Meaning of Shopping

2010-08-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

In an article that started as a joke many years ago, I explored the links between the designs of shopping malls and websites. I was going to speak about the links between the designs of museum exhibits and web sites as part of a visiting professorship in Hong Kong. My host said that Hong Kongers weren’t really into museums; they preferred shopping. So I took up the challenge.

As I was preparing the presentation—and realized the craziness of what I had agreed to—I decided to write out the speech word-for-word (the only time I’ve ever done that) to make sure I really had something to say. Not only was the speech well-received, but I had an article for publication afterwards.

But I’m not going to write about that link again, because that’s a one-trick pony I’ve already ridden.

No, what makes shopping important is its role as a reflection on the local culture. My aunt and uncle, who often traveled internationally before it became fashionable, commented that they liked to visit supermarkets in the cities they visited because they often learned more about the local culture there than they did in museums and other tourist attractions.

To be honest, one only need visit a few branches of the same supermarket chain to learn that lesson. When I lived in Atlanta, I frequented three Kroger stores, affectionately named the Kombat Kroger, Kruisy Kroger, and Kosher Kroger. The Kosher Kroger served a large Jewish population and had a complete Kosher meat section and an expansive kosher food selection. Because it also served families, the Kosher Kroger had huge selections of packaged breads, milk, and diapers.

The Kruisy Kroger was in the heart of Atlanta’s mid-town area, with a large gay population. It earned its nickname because patrons would cruise one another. Serving a population of people who were primarily single or living in childless households, this Kroger had an expansive wine selection and prepared foods section, but a measly shelf of Manischewitz kosher products.

The Kombat Kroger was in the heart of a transitional neighborhood—half urban poor, half urban gentrification in process. Someone had been murdered at that Kroger, so they posted a full time security guard at the door to raise feelings of security. Because its target customer was less affluent than those of the other two Krogers, the merchandise selection was reduced, but instructions for using food stamps were more visible.

I re-learned the lesson of grocery stores when I was teaching at Bentley College. I sent students to different Shaw’s markets, when it was in the process of rebranding itself from the Star Market name. One store was in relatively well-off Arlington, recently remodeled, and featured a sumptuous display of fresh and freshly prepared foods. The entire store had been rebranded as a Shaws.

After visiting that store, some of my students next went to the Star Market in Waltham. The only part of the rebranding that had been completed was in the plastic bags, which all bore the Shaw’s name (and no sign of the Star name). That store was small with narrow aisles. The floors suffered not only from waxy yellow buildup that had been accumulating since the store was probably last remodeled in the late 1970s, but from an accumulation of dust that didn’t seem to have been swept in the past 24 hours (always a reassuring sign in a supermarket). Merchandise selection was limited and the produce was downright unappetizing.

My students came back to class appalled. One refused to ever shop in Shaw’s/Star again, concerned that the store had discriminated against its lower income clientele.

Given that, what cultural insights did we glean from the shopping experiences in Europe and South American? First, what’s on offer at the stores reflects local tastes and preferences. If the insights gleaned from grocery stores didn’t fully make the point, the absence of Chinese food stalls in the Turkish food court and the presence of Peruvian chains in the food courts of Peruvian malls did.

Second, shopping hours say a lot about what’s important in a culture. In Europe—and here in Quebec—stores are only open two evenings a week (Thursday and Friday). In most European countries, stores are also closed Sundays. In contrast, stores in Lima are open until 10 or 11 at night, seven days a week, including Christmas (though they were closed on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day). As a developing nation where a large percentage of the populace lives below the poverty line, I can certainly understand why retailers want to make effort to earn a living. But the hours are the same in most of Canada and the US, a trend explained by an interest in serving consumers when they want to be consumed. (The only difference is that stores close early on Sunday evenings, but even those hours have slowly and quietly expanded over the years, from a sharp closing at 5 pm to 7 pm for malls and 10 or 11 pm for some big box stores.)

Third, there’s an aspirational quality to merchandising. Merchandising was probably strongest in the developing economy of Peru and the rising economy of Turkey. In both places, the provision of merchandise seems to communicate the message, “Announce to everyone that you’ve arrived.” In contrast, the less meticulous merchandising observed in France suggests that they’re past that aspirational phase.

Admittedly, this theory does not explain the superb merchandising in Germany—according to many, the wealthiest country in Europe—or the lax merchandising in Spain—which, until the worldwide recession, was a country on the rise.

Fourth, shopping helps us understand our boundaries. What are our spending limits? Do the limits we really observe match the ones we thought we would observe? For example, if we thought we would not spend over a certain amount for an item, and find ourselves buying that item for much more, why is that? Or is there something we did not think we needed, but when we see it at an attractive price, buy it anyway? Conversely, is there an item we thought we really wanted but when we saw it, we chose not to buy it? Was it the price? Did we reassess the need? Did emotions kick in?

Fifth, globalization is bridging some differences in shopping cultures. Certain stores are available all over, like Tommy Hilfiger, McDonald’s, the Apple Store, Zara, and Hugo Boss. Certain brands are available all over, like Polo by Ralph Lauren, Samsonite, and Samsung.

Brands I had first noticed this winter in Europe seem to have arrived in North America, like Camper shoes and Desiqual fashions.

But last, differences continue to exist. More similarities exist within regions rather than across them. Stores like Ripley, Saga, and Casa y Ideas just operate in South America. Stores like el Corte Ingles and Monoprix only operate within one or two European countries. National and regional borders do preserve some elements of the economy.

Some brands have different reputations in different parts of the world. Some brands thatseem to have lost their lustre in the US still have some shine in Peru, like Jean Nate and Helena Rubinstein.

And each country seemed to have something unique about its shopping culture that other countries could not easily duplicate: el Mercado in Lima, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and the Christmas market in Germany.

Next post: How Travel Has Changed.

Shopping Trip 2: Malls, Malls, Malls

2010-08-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

We didn’t limit our shopping to department stores, but that was the only class of shopping we did in nearly every city we visited. Otherwise, our shopping experiences varied among cities.

In some, we visited malls.
In others, we visited shopping districts.
In all, we noticed the brands (marcas in Spanish) that appeared—and didn’t appear—in the stores.
And because we noticed the same brands, of course we compared merchandise.

Malls
A highlight of our visits to Lima, Istanbul and Paris were visits to the malls. Yes, I know that’s tres Americain, but hey, that’s what I am. We like malls because, in addition to shopping, they offer free air conditioning or heat (depending on the season) and, occasionally, other unique benefits.

Larcomar, Lima: In Lima, we visited three malls. Of the three, tourists are probably most familiar with Larcomar, a mall located at the edge of the tony Miraflores district and dramatically built into a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In fact, it’s barely visible at street level because it is built below a city park. Larcomar is situated across the street from a J.W. Marriott hotel and within an easy walk of several others, and caters to teens and tourists with loose change in their pockets. The highlights of the mall are its food court (a little larger than most, with breath taking views of the beach and beyond) and adjacent restaurants, a few high-end tourist shops selling local wares of gold, silver, and alpaca wool, and several fashion shops aimed at teens and young adults. To keep an eye on those teens from the moment they come near the mall, security guards are visibly stationed at the entry and throughout the mall. Rather than traditional anchor stores, the mall has four “cultural” anchors: a movie theatre, a restaurant that features a Peruvian dance show, a theater, and a branch of the Museum of Gold (it’s one of those rare instances in which the branch is significantly more impressive than the main location). During my first, brief visit to Lima in 2008, we visited Larcomar a few times. During this extended visit, we only visited once.

Plaza San Miguel, Lima: A second mall we visited was Plaza San Miguel–a compact, open air, recently remodeled mall in a densely populated lower middle class section of Lima, not too far from the airport. All of the major local chains had stores there: stylish Chilean department stores Saga Fallabella (which was once Sears in the 1960s, but was sold off years ago) and Ripley, a number of local clothing chains, a small food court, and an outbuilding with a 2-story Bembos, the popular Peruvian hamburger chain whose Choco-Bembo (a soft ice cream cone dipped in chocolate) is among my favorite taste treats on earth.

Jockey Plaza, Lima: But the mall we visited most regularly—partly because it is closest to where we stayed and partly because it is, without question, the nicest mall in Lima—was Jockey Plaza (so named because it’s next to a race track). Jockey Plaza had nearly all of the same stores as Plaza San Miguel, but the store sizes were slightly larger, the merchandise selection slightly enhanced and, being enclosed, slightly more comfortable. For example, both malls had Chilean home retailer Casa y Ideas (kind of like the Crate & Barrel of South America), but the Casa y Ideas at Jockey Plaza was larger and seemed to have a slightly larger selection of merchandise. Plus Jockey Plaza had additional stores, like an Ace Home Center, the Plaza Vea hypermarket, and a flagship Tommy Hilfiger Store.

I later learned that, because Peru has fewer malls per capita than almost any other country in South America, real estate developers have aggressive plans to build them.

Forum Istanbul: But we didn’t limit our mall shopping to Lima. One of the highlights of our trip to Istanbul was a visit to the relatively new Forum Mall, a mall so large that it’s earned not only also its own subway station but also the title of the largest of mall in Europe. And it’s big enough that I believe it—certainly felt as cavernous as the Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall, but a lot warmer in fell in than the Mall of America and not in desperate need of remodeling like the West Edmonton Mall.

Security at the mall was the tightest I saw anywhere in Istanbul; we had to go through a metal detector when we entered the mall. The corridors were more expansive than those in Jockey Plaza (or any other mall we visited), both in terms of width and height, only adding to the feeling that the mall is huge (as do the presence of an IKEA store and a full-fledged hypermarket).

The mall was relatively empty, not surprising for a Monday night in February, and to entice what little traffic was there, nearly every store had a sale. And the merchandise was worth exploring; stylish shoes and clothes, housewares, and electronics. We visited a large furniture store selling Mediterranean chic chests, sofas, and tables.

Among the surprises (besides extensive use of wood, curving lines, and varied ceiling and roof lines to give the place a chic, warm, engaging look) was the lack of a Chinese food stall in the food court (I had always thought that was prerequisite) and the lack of a traditional department store (what anchors the mall?).

Grand Bazaar, Istanbul: Forum Istanbul contrasted sharply with the other mall we visited in Istanbul: the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest indoor malls in the world (though it does not bill itself that way). A fixture in central Istanbul for over 400 years, the bazaar features hundreds of small shops (maybe 3 by 4 meters) grouped around themes: jewelry, leather, clothing, and so on. The Bazaar is so huge that many vendors have more than one shop. I realized this when I saw two that sold antique Judaica and, upon closer inspection, realized both have the same name.

Unlike Forum Istanbul, the Grand Bazaar was teeming with activity all the time. And, in sharp contrast to the decorum of sticker-based pricing in the Forum, all prices in the Grand Bazaar were negotiable. In fact, negotiating them is half the fun of being there.

One of the most interesting traditions we observed there was the delivery of afternoon tea. A young guy would walk around with a tray that contained several glass cups filled with tea, and deliver them to the shopkeepers. Instead of going out for a coffee break, shopkeepers had their tea break come to them.

Underground Mall at the Louvre, Paris: The only other city where we visited malls was Paris. We saw two there. One is the mall underneaeth the glass pyramid underneath the Louve. The only thing notable about this mall was how un-notable it is. Take away the choice location—underground next to one of the most visited art museums in the world—and its overpriced washrooms (to be honest, I have a strong belief that people have the right to pee for free)—with a McDonald’s, Virgin Megastore, and similar chain shops, most shoppers would be hard pressed to distinguish this mall from any other mall in the universe.

Quatre Saisons, Paris: The last mall we visited was the Quatre Saisons (Four Seasons) Mall at La Defense, a new section just off of the island of Paris. The mall had recently been remodeled. It lacked the spaciousness of the Forum Istanbul or, for that matter, Jockey Plaza, but we enjoyed it all the same. Like the Forum Istanbul, this mall had no department store as its anchor. Instead, it had a two-story hypermarket and a French version of Home Depot as the anchors. The mall was huge and its target demographic seemed to be middle-middle class and some latter day YUPPIES. It featured the classy Paul’s bakery (which I would later learn is a chain and kind of over-priced), a Zara Home store (which we don’t have in North America and, to be honest, was a major let down; I thought the merchandise was a bit fru-fru in look and hi-hi in price), and Muji, the Japanese design chain hawking well-designed, deceptively simple housewares and clothing. Among my favorite items at Muji are its tiny kits—clear plastic boxes that contain miniature sewing kits, office supply kits, and so on. The mall also had two Monops (if I remember correctly) and the best looking McDonald’s I’ve ever seen in my life.

One other thing about this mall: it was the only place Parisians can shop on Sundays. Not all of the stores participate, but it is the first to open on Sundays.

Shopping Districts
Although we didn’t visit shopping malls in other cities, we did visit well-traveled shopping districts, including the area near KaDeWe in Berlin, Gran Via in Madrid, and Bareclona’s Passeig Gracia Of the districts, the Passeig Gracia was easily our favorite; an exceptionally wide street with Gaudi-designed street lights and benches, and a first-class selection of stores combine to create the type of shopping experience one would expect from a design capital of the world.

Merchandise
On our shopping adventures, we noticed some of the same merchandise but not necessarily at the same prices. For example, we saw a clock with knives, spoons, and forks in Lima and Paris. In Lima, the clock cost between 35 and 50 soles ($12 to $17.50) depending on size. The same clock cost between 26 and 39 euros in France ($39 to $59).

We also encountered brands that we had not noticed in North America, including Camper shoes, Desiqual jeans, and Quick burgers.

Next post: Shopping Trip 3: The Meaning of Shopping

Shopping Trip 1: The Department Stores of Europe

2010-08-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

Paris
Berlin
Spain
Lima

The department stores of Paris: We visited 4 of the big 5. One of the best known (at least, in my limited experience) is Galeries Lafayette. The store has its flagship near the Opera in Paris, as well as branches throughout Europe, including a relatively new one in Berlin that was designed by star architect Jean Nouvel.

Going into this shopping experience, I thought that Galeries Lafayette was the superior store. After all, its flagship store has three buildings—Femme (women), Homme (men) and Maison (home). (I actually thought the Homme store was the HoMe store, failing to see the second m.) And its gourmet food gallery is to die for—even if the food didn’t look sumptuous (it does) its prices are enough to knock a person over (we had seen cheese in the food halls that was 30 percent higher than at a grocery store).

But truth be told, I wasn’t “wowed” by the merchandise. Nothing said, “Look at me, you’ve gotta have me.” But the store did look cleaner than its Berlin branch, which I visited last year. It was in the midst of a sale and looked sloppier than a Macy’s C-quality store—merchandise strewn all over the place, tried on, discarded, and left for someone to put back, though apparently no one felt like doing it.

At first, competitor Printemps (translates to spring) seemed like a copy cat to Galleries Lafayette. Like the Galeries, Printemps has three buildings, too—women’s, mens, and home. Unlike the Galleries, Printemps had the wow factor. Its merchandise was a notch better than the Galleries. For example, the Galeries features Ralph Lauren merchandise, Printemps offers Ralph Lauren merchandise tonier black label merchandise. The home store had unique items from Alessi (the Italian design line that markets museum-quality design ware for the home) that weren’t available in Galeries Lafayette, as well as a cooking school. Throughout Printemps, the displays were a tad sharper than those in Galeries Lafayette.

If Galeries Lafayette failed to wow me, its sister stores did. In addition to a chain of department stores under the family name, the Galeries Lafayette operates the department store, Bazar de l’Hotel de Ville (BHV) and a discount department store chain, Monoprix. Hotel de Ville is the French term for city hall, and the former store is aptly named because it’s across the street from the Paris City Hall. That store really did wow me. Its size wowed me. Its unusual mix of merchandise wowed me, including a complete art supplies department (something I haven’t seen in any other department store). And its men’s store really wowed me. Some of the wow was in the merchandising—beautiful clothing and accessories that was equally beautifully displayed. But part of the wow was the building itself; a remodeled building that had exposed some of the original brick and wood, intriguingly used stairs, windows, and courtyards to dramatic effect, and has that urban feel one would expect of a Parisian store—and that I expected (but didn’t find) in Galeries Lafayette.

Galeries Lafayette’s other store, Monoprix, is kind of like the Target of France. But that would be the more middle of the road Australian Target, not the cheap chic American Target. Monoprix has a full service supermarket, as well as a large housewares section. Apparently, it’s the place where Parisians buy their toiletries and similar supplies.

The department stores of Berlin: We didn’t see any bargains in the department stores of Berlin. But we did see some of the best looking department stores we saw on the trip. The extra money the department stores of Berlin charge for merchandise appears to be re-invested in the stores. The granddaddy of Berlin Department Stores is KaDeWe. It’s Europe’s largest department like the Macy’s store in New York’s Herald Square is America’s (and the world’s) largest department store.

But unlike Macy’s Herald Square, KaDeWe doesn’t feel like an endless cavern of merchandise whose order often makes little sense (like an electronic store in the middle of the basement of Macy’s), each floor in KaDaWe has a distinct purpose, and its visual design supports the purpose and enhances the shopping experience. For example, although the men’s store takes up an entire floor, it feels like a series of small, interlinked shops. My favorite floors are the ones with housewares (part of which is comprised of a series of mini-shops, each featuring the china, crystal, and accessories of a particular designer or manufacturer)—which also has the stationery shop, the food hall, which features a bonbonerie, boulangerie, wine bar, fruiterie, and several other gourmet specialty mini-shops, and the top floor cafeteria, which features not only delectable food, but serves it in sun-soaked atrium atmosphere (most of the ceiling is a skylight).

Furthermore, unlike Macy’s Herald Square, which looks like it could benefit from a complete renovation, KaDeWe was completely renovated in the past decade; the entire store looks fresh.

I loved KaDeWe so much after my first visit in 2008 that seeing it a second time was one of the primary motivations for returning to Berlin. Like the first visit, I didn’t buy anything this time, either. Despite an improved exchange rate since my visit in 2008, the merchandise was still a bit pricey for my wallet.

And I learned on this trip that KaDeWe is just one of several well-designed, coherent, superbly merchandised Berlin department stores. The more modest (both in terms of price and size) Galeria Kauthof in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz wowed just as much as KaDeWe. Although Galeria Kauthof lacked some of the tony merchandise of KaDeWe, it had its own distinctive merchandise, including a line of hand-painted items—furniture, housewares, and the like—produced in limited editions and prominently displayed at the entrance to each floor.

Besides merchandise, department stores in Paris and Berlin had one other source of revenue: their rest rooms. They charged between half and a whole euro (between $CDN .75 and $CDN 1.45). Spirit Airline’s $45 charge to stow baggage in the overhead bin is a more reasonable expense than the rest room fees.

The department store of Spain: In contrast to the department stores of Paris and Berlin, Spain’s leading department store--El Corte Ingles—was somewhat of a disappointment. I had been told that the store fancied itself a Spanish version of Harrods. The Harrod’s influence is certainly evident in the store’s logo.

But that’s where the resemblance ends. J.C. Penney’s is a more apt comparison. The store specialized in mid-range merchandise. This strategy was especially evident in the housewares department, which was considerably downscale from the already modest Galeria Kauthof. The clothing department displayed more variety of merchandise and familiar brands, but mostly at the upper middle range.

Merchandise displays were similarly middle-of-the-road, nothing screamed “wow” to the visitor. The 3 Corte Ingles complexes we visited in Spain all featured low ceilings, which contributed to feelings of limitation. What el Corte Ingles lacked in merchandising and in feelings of spaciousness was compensated for in the available in square footage. As a result, the store carried a broad range of merchandise, including a full supermarket.

The Barcelona store we visited had 9 floors in a building whose exterior was as eye catching as its interior wasn’t; we didn’t even visit a companion stores nearby. The store on the Gran Via in central Madrid was housed in three buildings. Ostensibly, each had its own purpose—one is a men’s store, one a women’s store and the third a home store. In reality, several of the buildings featured duplicate departments. For example, two of the three buildings had tourist sections, pharmacies, and groceries. The home store (I use the term loosely—the only home stuff was on the top floor) was a bit more modern and up to date in appearance but suffered from the same bland merchandizing as the other stores in the chain. The only exception was the Corte Ingles in Valencia. Its look was cleaner and crisper; sections within departments were better differentiated. Overall, it seemed the same age as the other Corte Ingles branches that we visit, but a better maintained store.

The department stores of Lima: My Peruvian partner was excited about visiting El Corte Ingles; it has a great reputation in South America. Having had the opportunity to visit two of the largest South American department stores just before the visit to Spain, I’d say that the colonies have a lot to teach the empire. In contrast to the middle-of-the-roadness of el Corte Ingles, Ripley and Saga Fallabella do for traditional department stores what Target in the U.S. does for discount department stores. Both are Chilean-based chains. Saga was once Sears, a chain that been bought, sold, merged, and rebranded several times since the 1960s. The result is decidedly not Sears.

By North American standards, the two chains probably appeal to a mid-range market, though it’s probably upper-middle to upper-price range by South American standards. The two chains offer nearly identical categories of merchandise—clothing, shoes and accessories, housewares, electronics, sporting equipment, and travel agencies. Both have associated banks.

Both display their merchandise their wares in light, spacious, airy stores. The merchandise is decidedly fashion-forward, displaying influences of modern, Northern European design coupled with colorful South American palette. By North American standards, the prices were amazing. Many of the clothing and houseware brands were popular American ones but, to be honest, the store brands were just as stylish and a heck of a lot more reasonably priced. For example, I bought some knockoffs of Crocs for less than $10/pair.

The stores also feature their own soundtracks. Ripley seemed to have a thing for Beyonce songs (I seemed to hear Halo every time I was in the store), but that’s probably because Ripley was sponsoring an upcoming concert by the diva.

Next post: Shopping Trip 2: Malls, Malls, Malls.

The News in Spain

2010-08-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Although, with the Internet, it’s easy to ignore local media when travelling, we tried to follow the local news on television when possible during our travels. To be honest, I was primarily locked into English language outlets because of my language limitations (and, to a lesser extent, Spanish ones). So I can’t say I watched the same news that the locals watched.

But the English language news isn’t the same that we get in North America. And, unlike Hong Kong, we didn’t receive re-transmissions of the American ABC, CBS, and NBC network newscasts. CNN international was available in nearly every hotel we visited, BBC World Service in most, and a English language European network. In addition, the French pubcaster has a 24-hour English language newscast.

In watching these different outlets, I observed the following:

· The number of announcers and reporters with North American accents was surprisingly high, even on European-based channels. I expected more British accents.

· The networks emphasize a different mix of international stories and give them different weights. For example, the story of falsified passports used by the alleged accomplices in a Dubai murder was a top story on most of the European stations while it seemed to be a buried story in the American press (based on coverage in the New York Times and the Globe and Mail at the same time).

· Similarly, a story about the arrest of several Turkish generals was a top story in Europe and did not seem to receive as much coverage in the North American press. (That these arrests happened within a week or so of our visit to Turkey admittedly heightened our sensitivity to this issue.)

· European weather disasters were covered widely, as were American weather disasters. What I find striking is that, while Europeans cover American weather disasters, American news outlets are not as quick to cover European weather disasters.

· European news outlets also cover news of Africa, a topic that’s all but forgotten by most North American press.

· CNN International is not the same CNN as the one we see in the US and Canada. Rather than obsessing with small talk and one or two sensational stories that were first covered by Fox, CNN International generally reports a wide variety of real news from places other than the US. Although some of the annoying personality-based journalism that’s creeped into CNN in the past few years is on display on CNNi (as it’s called) (“Backstory” is an exceptionally annoying example), the network seems to cover a greater breadth of stories and countries.

In a way, the situation reminds me of the two solitudes view of Canada, a country where language divides end up altering world views, because we listen to different radio and music, watch different television series, read different books and, most significantly, hear different news.

Next post: The Excitement Still Lives in the Department Stores of Europe and Peru