Success Formula for Discussion Forums in Financial Services

I received a question this week related to Discussion Forums for Knowledge Sharing at Capital City Bank:

I successfully launched a discussion forum for a small group of lending assistants within my bank. That forum is still up and running. Since that time, I have attempted to introduce the discussion forum tool to two other work groups within the bank but I have not been very successful. I’ve used examples from the lending assistants as well as other benefits of the tool to demonstrate how its use would benefit the bank and these work groups. They see the benefit of the tool in a strict learning environment, but have difficulty seeing its use in an expanded role.

One of the things that this group has identified as one of their “problems” is that they receive too many emails. I presented the discussion forum as a solution to this problem, in that it would reduce the number of emails they receive because the information would not be in their in-box, and more importantly would allow discussion between the all the members (one to many) rather than one to one or one to a few. They pushed back because they felt that this was just one more place to go and one more thing to do. They were also concerned about the accuracy of the information that was published on the forum. I pointed out the benefit of correction of inaccurate information on a discussion forum is that it is visible and correctable - unlike information that is sent through email or other back channels of communication.  I could go on… but I’m sure you get the picture. 

I’m just having trouble getting traction and wondering what I can/should do better/different.

The one thing they were interested in finding out, is whether other financial institutions are using discussion forums and if so how. I was wondering you could help me find out if there are others, who they are and if they’d be willing to talk with me.

Great question.  Of course, there’s no easy answers here, but lots we can discuss and learn around this.

In terms of finding people with experience on this, my first suggestion was using LinkedIn and particularly looking through LinkedIn Guide for Knowledge Workers, LinkedIn for Finding Expertise, and Searching for Expertise - LinkedIn Answers.  This is in process.  I’ll also reach out via twitter.  If you have other ideas or if you are at a financial institution and are willing to have a discussion with this person, please drop me a comment/email.

Of course, there’s a lot of great information out there on this via eLearning Learning under terms like Discussion Forum, Collaboration in Discussion Forums, Discussion Forum Adoption, Benefits of Discussion Forums, Discussion Forum Case Studies.  I also checked out Nancy White’s Communities and Networks site under Discussion Forums, Case Studies of Discussion Forums, and Community Building and Discussion Forums.

I found a lot of great stuff.  Let me start with some of the ones that are probably more relevant to this particular inquiry:

1. Examples of online communities in the financial services industry- FreshNetworks, March 17, 2009
2. 7 Creative Ways to Introduce Social Media to Your Team- Learning Putty, October 22, 2009
3. Using Online Forums in Social Learning- Learning Putty, October 19, 2009
4. Change agents, group forums and the one percent rule.- Business Casual, October 29, 2008
5. Making Intranet Discussion Groups Effective- eLearning Technology, June 15, 2006
6. Requirement to Social Learning Adoption #2 - Compatibility- Engaged Learning, February 24, 2009
7. The Holy Trinity: Leadership Framework, Learning 2.0 & Enterprise 2.0- trainingwreck, May 8, 2010
8. Ten tips for choosing & using social software- Learning Conversations, February 23, 2009
9. Promoting Social Learning- eLearning Blender, May 23, 2009
10. Get involved and make the most of your online community- FreshNetworks, June 3, 2009
11. Examples of online communities in healthcare- FreshNetworks, April 8, 2009
12. Blogger in Middle-earth: Working With Online Learning Communities- Blogger in Middle-earth, April 14, 2009
13. How To Kill A Community, February 12, 2009
14. Online Success - a recipe for learners and facilitators- Designed for Learning, February 14, 2010
15. eLearn: Best Practices - Discussion Management Tips for Online Educators, September 30, 2009
16. Franchisees Benefit from Learning 2.0 at Zaxby's - 1/15/2009 8:54:00 AM - Chain Leader, January 17, 2009
17. Facilitating online communities - WikiEducator, June 11, 2009
18. HOW TO Sell Social Media to Cynics, Skeptics & Luddites - Tips, Resources & Advice - UPDATED, June 2, 2009
19. Intel Communities: IT@Intel Blog: Why Intel is investing in Social Computing, February 15, 2009
20. Community of Practice for Facilitators : pilot, adoption and participation- Library Clips, September 13, 2009
21. Team-based communities : Transparency and Crowdsourcing for a more cohesive workplace- Library Clips, March 9, 2009
22. BT Web 2.0 adoption case study " Inside out, February 20, 2009 
23. How to kick start a Community | Connie Bensen, May 20, 2008
24. Cisco on Collaboration: Know Your Enthusiasts & Laggards | Future Changes, October 2, 2009
25. Essential reading for online community managers- FreshNetworks, January 5, 2010
26. Insight from online communities: 2. Focused discussions- FreshNetworks, January 19, 2009
27. Is this the Future of Forums?- eModeration, May 4, 2009
28. The top-down and bottom-up creation of enterprise communities, and wikis- Library Clips, December 18, 2008
29. More thoughts on community structure and creation- Library Clips, January 11, 2009
30. Forums Are Everywhere and Here to Stay, So Skip the Tools Discussion and Focus on Your Objectives, March 25, 2010
31. Discussions Are Not Warfare; Forums Are Not a Battlefield, December 9, 2009
32. 5 Easy Ways to Find Stories, Topics and Discussions to Post on Your Online Community, February 24, 2009
33. Understanding the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks, February 10, 2008
34. How to Develop Robust Moderation Methodology- Community Guy, March 23, 2010
35. Back to Basics: Want to Know What Your Community Members Need? Just Ask., January 19, 2010
36. Creating Passionate Users: How to Build a User Community, Part 1, June 17, 2007
37. Why so many community initiatives fail to take flight…, January 17, 2009
38. Social Media and the insurance industry- FreshNetworks, February 18, 2010
39. Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at Booz Allen: The Series- Portals and KM, January 20, 2010

More Resources on Discussion Forums, Communities:

1. Forums vs. Social Networks?- eLearning Technology, September 15, 2008
2. 5 Easy Tips for Teaching Online Courses- Learning Putty, January 18, 2010
3. Forums – Day 1 – What is it?- Engaged Learning, November 23, 2009
4. Discussion Forums for Knowledge Sharing at Capital City Bank- eLearning Technology, September 15, 2009
5. The new look Captivate forum- Adobe Captivate Blog, April 8, 2009
6. I want to facilitate online discussions but how do I choose the right platform?- Joitske Hulsebosch eLearning, November 14, 2009
7. Top 10 Ways Social Media Will Impact Employee Development and Training in 2010- Learning Putty, October 29, 2009
8. 22 Social Learning Strategy Questions to Answer Before Your Next Lesson- Learning Putty, July 1, 2010
9. From formal courses to social learning- Learning Conversations, November 26, 2009
10. Tips for facilitators in Ning- Joitske Hulsebosch eLearning, March 13, 2009
11. Making the case for social media- Good Practice, November 2, 2009
12. Social learning: all talk and no action?- Spicy Learning, February 5, 2010
13. Communities of practice- Learnforever, May 31, 2010
14. Make way for virtual learning communities- Electronic Papyrus, March 25, 2009
15. An Introduction to blogs, wikis, and RSS - New Technologies for e-Learning, September 20, 2007
16. ONLINE FORUM: Lights, Camera, Action - Using Media to Engage the Learner, June 2, 2009
17. Online social networks, learning and viral expansion loops- Sticky Learning, December 14, 2009
18. Community of Practice for Facilitators : pilot, adoption and participation, September 13, 2009
19. Distributed Network Learning FAQ - WikiEducator, December 20, 2008
20. Seed, feed, & weed- Learnlets, September 17, 2009
21. Online communication is not second best- Clive on Learning, October 11, 2007
22. The Power of Community | workforce.com, May 28, 2009
23. conversation matters: What Do We Get From Conversation That We Can't Get Any Other Way?, April 14, 2009
24. Case Study: Comics in Community Communication- Community Guy, August 10, 2009
25. Designing an online and face-to-face learning trajectory- Joitske Hulsebosch, July 15, 2009
26. Employee social networking case study : Sabre's cubeless product, September 1, 2008
27. Understanding the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks, February 10, 2008
28. I want to facilitate online discussions but how do I choose the right platform?- Joitske Hulsebosch, November 14, 2009
29. Should anonymous comments be allowed in an online community?- FreshNetworks, March 7, 2010
30. Oldie but goodie: "CompuServe's Intranet Forum"- Endless Knots, February 23, 2009
31. What’s the biggest mistake a community manager can make?- FreshNetworks, December 24, 2009
32. Are your community's lurkers healthy lurkers?- Joitske Hulsebosch, June 15, 2009
33. Preparing for community release- Library Clips, April 11, 2009
34. Community Netiquette: How to Avoid Stepping on Virtual Toes- Community Guy, August 4, 2009
35. Facilitating an online discussion to foster cooperation between two development organisations, December 27, 2006
36. Full Circle Online Interaction Blog: Updating my basic article on online facilitation, April 29, 2007

What other resources or case studies would you point to around this topic?

Any thoughts or advice?

Help would be sincerely appreciated!

Wikis and Learning – 60 Resources

I’m involved in several discussions around how to use Wikis as part of learning solutions.  I wanted to collect a few resources around this topic for use in these discussions.  So, of course, I went to eLearning Learning and I looked at Wiki, Collaborative Learning with Wikis, Wikis and eLearning 2.0, Wikis Corporate eLearning, Social Learning with Wikis, Wiki Security and a few others.  Here’s some of what I found:

1. Why a Wiki?- Experiencing eLearning, July 27, 2009
2. Wikis at Work- eLearning Technology, February 25, 2007
3. Control and Community: A Case Study of Enterprise Wiki Usage, May 4, 2009
4. Blog or Wiki?- Kapp Notes, January 20, 2009
5. Wiki activities 5 stage model, April 7, 2008
6. Control and Community: A Case Study of Enterprise Wiki Usage, May 4, 2009
7. Really Cool "3-Minute e-Learning" on Social Networking - Wiki, Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, RSS, October 10, 2007
8. Wiki working, June 19, 2009
9. Wiki: Intro to Emerging Tech, July 18, 2009
10. Could A Wiki Be Your Next Talent Management System?, October 23, 2008
11. Using Toolkits to Aggregate Learning Resources, February 6, 2009
12. Enterprise Wiki as Intranet - a success story, September 20, 2007
13. Lurking and loafing, March 9, 2010
14. Activities, Workflows and Structured Wikis (Augmented Social Cognition), February 9, 2009
15. Wikis for Improving Productivity- Experiencing eLearning, June 10, 2008
16. Wiki's For Professional Development- Learnadoodledastic, September 26, 2007
17. One more time: what's the difference between a blog and a wiki?- Clive on Learning, April 13, 2007
18. Wikis: Ways to use them for a more Collaboration and Interaction- Dont Waste Your Time, August 28, 2009
19. Do wikis work for any topic? How about math?- eLearning Acupuncture, March 25, 2009
20. eLearning Tools - Wikis, Blogs and More- eLearning Technology, April 2, 2007
21. Wiki – Day 2 – How Wikis are Used- Engaged Learning, December 1, 2009
22. Wikis – Day 3 – Privacy & Adoption- Engaged Learning, December 2, 2009
23. Wikis – Day 4 – Overcoming Bad Stigmas- Engaged Learning, December 3, 2009
24. Top 10 Ways Social Media Will Impact Employee Development and Training in 2010- Learning Putty, October 29, 2009
25. Conference Wiki Examples- eLearning Technology, November 25, 2008
26. Use of Wikis as Compared to Other Tools- eLearning Technology, February 23, 2007
27. 22 Social Learning Strategy Questions to Answer Before Your Next Lesson- Learning Putty, July 1, 2010
28. TCC09: Wikis that Work: Effective Wiki Practices for Virtual Learning Communities- Experiencing eLearning, April 15, 2009
29. Wiki as repository for a virtual community- Joitske Hulsebosch eLearning, January 21, 2009
30. How Wikipedia Works and Wikis in the Enterprise - HBS- eLearning Technology, July 23, 2007
31. Wikis - Public vs. Controlled - Why There's No eLearning Wiki- eLearning Technology, September 14, 2006
32. 10 Social Media Tools For Learning- The eLearning Coach, November 16, 2009
33. Collaborative Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools - A Summary- eLearning Technology, May 16, 2006
34. Benefits of Collaborative Learning- Dont Waste Your Time, July 8, 2010
35. Enterprise 2.0 - Community Spaces can lead to Walled Gardens- Free as in Freedom, March 27, 2010
36. Examples of eLearning 2.0- eLearning Technology, September 22, 2008
37. Collaborative Learning « Social Enterprise Blog, June 3, 2009
38. A Learning Paradigm Shift: Cybergogy, April 9, 2010
39. Learning space mashups, July 13, 2009
40. Case studies of corporate (social) learning, March 12, 2010
41. Using SharePoint- eLearning Technology, December 16, 2008
42. SharePoint 2010: The New Employee Gateway?- trainingwreck, January 23, 2010
43. Social Learning Strategies Checklist- Social Enterprise Blog, January 11, 2010
44. Extending elearning?- Learnlets, November 30, 2008
45. SharePoint Social Learning Experience- eLearning Technology, February 1, 2010
46. Time for “new” training approaches- Daretoshare, February 28, 2009
47. Checklist of Social Learning Strategies- Engaged Learning, January 12, 2010
48. The Future Of Learning Design- The eLearning Coach, November 23, 2009
49. Wiki Owner- eLearning Technology, March 19, 2009
50. Social Learning Tools Should Not be Separate from Enterprise 2.0- eLearning Technology, April 7, 2010
51. SharePoint 2007: Gateway Drug to Enterprise Social Tools :: Personal InfoCloud, March 16, 2009
52. Driving the Informal with the Formal, February 10, 2010
53. groundswell - confirming my e-Learning 2.0 ideas, August 27, 2008
54. TELUS Case Study - Using Sharepoint to embrace social computing and streamline formal learning , May 15, 2010
55. Driving Change: Selling SharePoint and Social Media Inside the Enterprise, January 30, 2009
56. How to Find the Right Wiki for Your Project or Organization, February 15, 2009
57. From formal courses to social learning- Learning Conversations, November 26, 2009
58. Requirement to Social Learning Adoption #1 - Relative Advantage- Engaged Learning, February 23, 2009
59. Characteristics of Emergent Communities- Social Enterprise Blog, April 14, 2009
60. Promoting Social Learning- eLearning Blender, May 23, 2009

Digital Signal Processor and Text-to-Speech

This is the second post in a series on Text-to-Speech for eLearning written by Dr. Joel Harband and edited by me (which turns out to be a great way to learn).  The first post, Text-to-Speech Overview and NLP Quality, introduced the text to speech voice and discussed issues of quality related to its first component – the natural language processor (NLP). In this post we’ll look at the second component of a text to speech voice: the digital signal processor (DSP) and its measures of quality.

Digital Signal Processor (DSP)

The digital signal processor translates the phonetic language specification of the text produced by the NLP into spoken speech. The main challenge of the DSP is to produce a voice that is both intelligible and natural.  Two methods are used:

• Formant Synthesis.  Formant Synthesis seeks to model the human voice by computer-generated sounds, using an acoustic model. Typically, this method produces intelligible, but not very natural, speech. These are the robotic voices, like MS Mike, that people often associate with text to speech. Although not acceptable for eLearning, these voices have the advantages of being small and fast programs and so they find application in embedded systems and in applications where naturalness is not required as in toys and in assistive technology.
  
• Concatenative Synthesis. To achieve the remarkable naturalness of Paul and Heather, concatenative synthesis is used. A recording of a real human voice is broken down into acoustic units: phonemes, syllables, words, phrases and sentences and stored in a database. The processor retrieves acoustic units from the database in real time and connects (concatenates) them together to best match the input text.

Concatenative Synthesis and Quality

When you think about how concatenative synthesis works – joining together a lot of smaller sounds to form the voice, it suggests where there can be glitches.  Glitches will occur either because there’s not a recorded version of exactly what the sound should be or will occur where the segments are joined when it doesn’t come together quite right. The main strategy is to try to choose database segments that are as long as possible– phrases and even sentences – to minimize the number of connection glitches.

Here is an example of a glitch in Paul when joining the two words “bright” and “eyes”. (It wasn’t easy to find a glitch in Paul – finally found one in a Shakespeare sonnet!)

• Mike - bright eyes
• Heather - bright eyes
• Paul - bright eyes

The output from the best concatenative systems is often indistinguishable from real human voices. Maximum naturalness typically requires speech databases to be very large so the larger the database the higher the quality. Typical TTS voice databases that will be acceptable in eLearning, will be on the order of 100-200 Mb. For lower fidelity applications like telephony, the acoustic unit files can be made smaller by using a lower sampling rate without sacrificing intelligibility and naturalness, making a smaller database (smaller footprint).

By the way, the database is only used to generate the sounds which are then stored as .wav, .mp3, etc.  It is not brought along with the eLearning piece itself.  So a large database is generally a good thing.

Here is a list of the TTS voices offered by NeoSpeech, Acapela and Nuance with their file sizes and sampling rates.

Voice	Vendor	Sampling rate (kHz)	File Size (Mb)	Applications
Paul	NeoSpeech	8	270  (Max DB)	Telephone
Paul	NeoSpeech	16	64	Multi-media
Paul	NeoSpeech	16	490  (Max DB)	Multi-media
Kate	NeoSpeech	8	340  (Max DB)	Telephone
Kate	NeoSpeech	16	64	Multi-media
Kate	NeoSpeech	16	610  (Max DB)	Multi-media
Heather	Acapela	22	110	Multi-media
Ryan	Acapela	22	132	Multi-media
Samantha	Nuance	22	48	Multi-media
Jill	Nuance	22	39	Multi-media

The file size is a combination of the sampling rate and the database size, where the database size is related to the number of acoustics units stored. For example, voices 2 and 3 have the same sampling rate, 16, but voice 3 has a much bigger file size because of the larger database size. In general, the higher sampling rates are used for multimedia applications and the lower sampling rates for telecommunications.  Often larger sizes also indicate a higher price point.

The DSP voice quality is then a combination of the two factors: the sampling rate, which determines the voice fidelity and the database size which determines the quality of concatenation and frequency of glitches – the more acoustic units stored in the database, the better the chances of achieving a perfect concatenation without glitches.

And don’t forget to factor in Text-to-Speech NLP Quality.  Together with DSP quality you get the overall quality of different Text-to-Speech solutions.

Learning Flash

My posts around the Beginning of Long Slow Death of Flash and my post from a CTO perspective that I Cannot Bet on Flash for new development stirred up quite a bit of response.  A lot of it said quite correctly that HTML5 is not there yet.  And that Flash provides things that you can’t do in HTML/JavaScript.  However, there are some pretty amazing things you can do without Flash.

The bottom line is that none of the feedback I’ve received has convinced me that choosing Flash as a delivery option for a new product or project would be a good idea today, especially if I want it to play on mobile and live for 5 years.

But then I received a great question via a comment:

I am a Masters student enrolled in an Instructional Design course with Walden University. I am somewhat new to the field and this article intrigues me. Should I hold off on learning Flash... and focus more on learning HTML5? Or would it be best to learn both? I know a very little about Flash and made it a goal to learn more, but now I wonder. You input is greatly appreciated.

What a great question and kudos to this student for being so on top of things to ask it!

And it was somewhat the inspiration for this month’s Big Question - Tools to Learn.  If you’ve not done so already, you should go read each of the posts there.  They have different perspectives and taken together they provide a pretty good roadmap of how to think about what tools you should learn.

Jeff Goldman in Development Tools I Would Learn If I Were You - Jeff's response to June’s Big Question tells us:

Flash: Yes, Flash is still very much alive and well in e-learning and because it is so embedded in our industry and there is nothing at this time that can provide the rich interactive elements that it provides, I do not see it being “dead” in our field anytime soon. The fact is HTML5 is not there yet and if it ever does get there it will probably be more than 5 years before it is at the level of quality and ease of development that Flash currently provides. However, see my comments under HTML/HTML5.

To me the question is more about where you choose to spend your time.  The list of tools that Harold and Holly provide are pretty lengthy.  And Jeff suggests both Flash and HTML 5.  If you have so much time that you can afford to learn all of these tools, then go ahead.

However, if you have to prioritize Flash vs. HTML 5 vs. ??? … then I would put learning Flash (especially scripting in Flash) way down on priority list at this point.  Remember End of an Era – Authorware – another Macromedia/Adobe product.  These things do eventually die out.  How valuable are your Authorware scripting skills at this point?

Learning Flash today is like learning Authorware in 1997.

So, yes, hold off on learning Flash and focus more on learning HTML 5.

Online Exam Preparation and Tutoring – Hot Market

Inc. Magazine published an article The Best Industries for Starting a Business In 2010.  Not sure what to make of most of the article, but they did include Exam Preparation and Tutoring as one of the top ten.

Parents always want their kids to do better on tests. A large number of adults returning to school are also looking for an edge. Given the low barrier to entry, this field is competitive. But if you carve out the right niche, it could be lucrative.

The industry, which includes tutoring in such fields such as special education, language, and music, grew about 7 percent last year.

And it seems like there are lots of eLearning Startups that are taking aim at different aspects of the Business of Learning.  My 12 eLearning Predictions for 2009 included

Increase in Consumer/Education Social Learning Solutions

2008 was an interesting year that saw a myriad of new start-ups offering content through interesting new avenues. Social learning solutions like social homework help provided by Cramster; CampusBug, Grockit, TutorVista, EduFire, English Cafe, and the list goes on and on.

And it seems like Inc. is maybe just a little bit late as there are a bunch of startups going after online exam preparation and online tutoring.  Some eLearning startups rouhgly in this space:

• Knewton focuses on test preparation online using test experts to help students study.
• TutorJam offers online tutoring programs for students in K-12, AP classes, and college.
• Brightstorm focuses on helping students prepare for AP tests, as well as standardized tests.
• Sums Online provides a wide range of math activities to help at home learners.
• DreamBox Learning is an education start-up that provides math games for kids. This was recently acquired by Netflix founder Reed Hastings.
• ProProfs – SAT and certification quizzes.
• PrepMe – personalized prep for SAT, ACT, PSAT.
• Tutor.com – online tutoring.

And there are a bunch more out there.  As Inc. tells us – low barrier to entry.  So we should expect lots more.