Our First Responders, You the Community

Our First Responders, You the Community

I came across a blog post a few days ago by Elliott Masiecalled Street Vendor Spots Car Bomb – Interview about Learning.

In it, Elliott Masie, calls out and recognizes the valuable contribution of one Duane Jackson who together with a number of local Times Square vendors and police on the beat, helped foil the recent NYC bomb plot.

Last year, I noticed that Masie drew conclusions similar to my own about the connection between training, evaluation and life saving experiences through the metaphor of the pilot who safely landed on the Hudson River, Capt. Sully, although perhaps I was a “first responder” to make that connection when I wrote about it here on SCN in a post called:  Would You Take Training From This Man?

This last week Masie posts about the connection between the near tragedy in Times Square and a learning community.

His post can be summarized with these 3 points:

• Engage      the widest “community” in collaboration and first level response
• First      level workers are the key in the line of observation and response
• Appreciation/recognition      is key

Why our Community Members are Like the Heros of Times Square

I’d like to build on Masie’s hypotheses and extend them to some of my own about the enormous value of having a rich combination of technologists and information workers, acting “in concert” here on this website as “first-responders” and models of “rapid intelligence” .

Masie’s content leads me to expand with these following suppositions:

• An      online community, like a city, is deemed healthy when it is teeming (packed) with life and teaming (collaborating) with its      members.
• Health      preservers (first-line responders) are not only moderators, SCN staff and      crew but every observant, participant, vested member of the community
• Having      a “low ego” feel for the cooperation improves agility and productivity
• Informed      “amateurs” can provide information that complements and enhances the      information world of so-called “experts”
• Acknowledging      the experience and wisdom (not of the crowds per se) but of the frequent      visitors, active residents and more permanent neighborhood dwellers here      on the community is of paramount importance to us in making intelligent      decisions about the evolution of the site

Opportunity to Engage With Masie and Teach Him More About This Community

Interestingly Masie will be partnering on May 27^th2010 with SAP Education to address some of these very points:

• The Empowered Learner: Changing Expectations and Habits
• Collaboration: Harnessing the Wisdom of the Qualified Crowd

You can learn more about this free virtual event and the speakers – and register here by reviewing the recent blog posts of  my colleagues Join the Learning Revolutionand SAP Education:  From Evolution to Revolution where, as Cory states, you can  see that “Where we’re headed now is more of a learning “revolution” which has the potential to dramatically change the face of education.  If you’re interested in exploring this with a learning thought leader, SAP will host Elliott Masie in a free Webcast on May 27^th 2010 (noon Eastern) to discuss Navigating The Ever-Changing Learning Landscape. “

I, for my part, would like to acknowledge the incredible “first responders” we have on SCN.  In fact, I think the learning revolution is to be found here.