Thriving in the Knowledge Economy
•
4 gefällt mir•1,343 views
Want to be indispensible and highly marketable professionally? Be a source of new ideas and knowledge. Since knowledge is a driving force in innovation and business competitiveness, being an avid learner is a must in today's dynamic business environment. This presentation introduces open educational resources and how to use social media to create a personal learning network. Presented at the Business Women's Forum, Harrisburg PA 4/28/11.
Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Was ist angesagt?
Was ist angesagt? (20)
Ähnlich wie Thriving in the Knowledge Economy
Ähnlich wie Thriving in the Knowledge Economy (20)
Kürzlich hochgeladen
Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)
Thriving in the Knowledge Economy
- 1. Thriving in the Knowledge Economy Jennifer Reiner Strategic Markets, Academic Program Development Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Business Women’s Forum, Harrisburg, PA April 28, 2011
- 2. Session Overview The business environment is laden with rapid change —especially recently. Staying up-to-date, and contributing new insights on applying and adjusting to these changes are critical for thriving in today’s marketplace. Information is abundant. Despite being at-capacity in your work and personal life, there are practical tools to incorporate active learning into your daily work.
- 3. a blessing and a curse New technologies. New scientific discoveries. New capabilities to master. Social media. Proliferation of new information sources and networks. Intellectual discourse is ubiquitous. Communities of learners. Knowledge sharing. New capabilities + social media = innovation accelerators. Innovations are adopted and evolve faster because of ubiquitous communication online. Result = overwhelming amounts of information to process and convert into useful intelligence.
- 4. Characteristics of a Knowledge Economy Knowledge is the tool and the product “We define the knowledge economy as production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an accelerated pace of technical and scientific advance, as well as rapid obsolescence. The key component of a knowledge economy is a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities than on physical inputs or natural resources.” Walter W. Powell and KaisaSnellman, 2004
- 5. Characteristics of a Knowledge Economy… cont. “Capitalism is undergoing an epochal transformation from a mass production system where the principal source of value was human labour to a new era of ‘innovation-mediated production’ where the principal component of value creation, productivity and economic growth is knowledge.” Richard Florida and Martin Kennedy, 1993 Knowledge is the tool and the product The opportunity to utilize scientific & technological advances means that those who stay informed and can adapt and innovate will thrive.
- 7. Much of our day-to-day work consists of applying our knowledge and experience to solve problems
- 8. Solving problems is enhanced by the ability to acquire and apply new information
- 10. Potential for Information Overload!
- 11. Avoid Info-Overload by Filtering Information goes in Gain Awareness of New Ideas Learn More to Understand & Apply Integrate into Your Routine Develop Insights and Share with Others Value-creating knowledge is produced
- 12. A New Resource for Learning Open Learning (Open Education )
- 13. Using Open Learning Resources Free and openly available components of formal courses Made available online by colleges & universities Resources include: Instructor’s lectures and presentation slides Reading and/or reference materials Video/Audio recordings of lectures & interview The specific assets made available will vary from course to course
- 14. Open Learning Resources OER Commons – Open Educational Resources Collection of open courses Open Courseware Consortium Collaboration of higher ed institutions around the world Open Learn – The Open University Enroll in online courses or simply use free online materials
- 15. Open Learning Resources MIT OpenCourseWare ”Dynamic Leadership: Using Improvisation in Business” “How to Develop Breakthrough Products and Services” Harvard University Extension School, OLI ‘China, Traditions and Transformations’ The Open University- Open Learn Groups and Teamwork Planning a Project Managing Projects Through People Device to Device Communications course
- 16. Open Learning Resources Open Learning Initiative- Carnegie Mellon Introduction to Statistics MIT OpenCourseWare Managerial Psychology Balanced Scorecard Peer to Peer University Behavioral Economics
- 17. Another ‘open’ source “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world” TED; Technology, Entertainment, & Design Rachel Botsman: “The case for collaborative consumption” Dan Pink: “The surprising science of motivation” Lisa Gansky: “The future of business is the "mesh“ Laurie Santos: “A monkey economy as irrational as ours” Paola Antonelli: "Design and the Elastic Mind“ Adora Svitak: “What adults can learn from kids”
- 19. Social learning through social media by Marcia Conner
- 20. personal learning networks Social Learning Work Teams Communities of Practice Personal Learning Networks Social Media and Social Networks have allowed us to craft ‘Personal Learning Networks’ Harold Jarche www.jarche.com
- 23. Hear about individuals’ experiences
- 24. Gather solutions to solve problems
- 25. Share your insights and experiencesBlogs Reading, commenting, sharing Twitter & Tweet Chats 140 characters
- 26. Filtering & Organizing Create a Google account Customize an iGoogle homepage Use Google Reader and Google Lists
- 27. Organizing the Blogs You Follow
- 28. Getting the most out of Blogs Establish a routine time of day to browse your blog reader. Scan Read Comment Share
- 31. Columns allow scanning many topics at once
- 32. Filter by topics
- 34. Tweet from more than one account
- 37. Occurs at regularly scheduled time
- 38. Has a moderator who starts conversation by asking 1-2 questions
- 39. Invites everyone to provide an introduction as they join the chat
- 41. Using twitter chats Spreadsheet of twitter chat schedule Twitter Chat Tips More tips
- 42. Learn and Share Start following people. Lurking is fine. Sharing is easy. (retweet) Contributing is best. (commenting, guest blogging) How can you get your colleagues & staff involved? Share what you’ve found! Post status updates in Linkedin or Facebook about new resources
- 44. Sharing knowledge earns you recognition and credibility.
- 45. Sharing grows your network.
- 46. Sharing increases others’ reliance on you as a resource.The value of learning through others’ experiences is what makes the social web is so critical to thriving professionally.
- 48. Learning is another of the social aspects of work and can be facilitated through social technologies and open online resources.
- 50. Resources Anya Kamenetzhttp://diyubook.com/ April 7, slideshare“DIYU: The Transformation of Higher Education.” ”How TED Talks Have Become the New Harvard”
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Introduce yourself. I’m really enjoying this forum. Lunch was great. Isn’t it so refreshing to have time to connect with other business women? Feels like you’re indulging, right? At events like this, I feel like I can put so many things I’m learning to use. All those self-help and business audiobooks about the “IT Factor”, “Yes-50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive” “never eat alone” plus my Dale Carnegie and Steven Covey libraries, --- Let’s face it—we’re a work in progress, which is a good thing, and aside from the networking and the free gifts, is why we’re here. So, How many are attending the forum for the first time? How many are attending the forum for 4th or more time? This session is on learning as a means of thriving professionally and being marketable… anyone care to share some golden nuggets that stand out in your mind as things you’ve learned so far at the event? This session will focus on how to take this experience with you into your daily life… so that this indulgent moment of learning new things and being supported by peers, will last past this one annual respite you take. Housekeeping… Do we have any tweeters in the room? Anyone tweeting while they’re here? I’ve been tweeting using #BWF as a hashtag. One thing, let you know up front, don’t worry too much about jotting down URLs or other notes. I’ve posted this presentation on slideshare.net so you can access all the links after the session. [Comment on Mimi Donaldson’s lunch session… being bold = competent and confident. I think Mimi’s remarks set a good foundation for this session. Much of being Bold is in establishing a mindset– or building up your psyche. Instead of focusing on attitude alone, this session aims to give you some informational & educational resources to help you broaden your awareness and understanding of new topics, thus fueling your competence and reinforcing your confidence.] My role at Harrisburg University gives me the opportunity to identify and design new educational programs—especially programs for working professionals. This appeals to me bc I really enjoy helping individuals reach their full potential. I know, it sounds cliché. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of a good stretch, and I stretch vicariously through others as I developing learning programs to support other professionals. The idea for this talk came after reading the book DIY U by Anya Kamenetz. (Awnyakamenentz) (jimenez) I highly recommend it, as well as the slideshare presentation she recently posted about open education and online learning which I post as a resource at the end of this slide deck. At the time, I was also thinking about what has shaping our economy and the job market over the past 2 years. So this is my answer to staying fresh and marketable in the current economy.
- Currently, you may be feeling inundated with changes and commentary on change. We hear that ‘change is the new normal’ , that ‘change is constant’ and that adaptability to change is a vital skill. ---- I’ll talk a little bit about change, but I mostly want to talk about how to react to and cope with change, as it relates to learning and developing the skills and insights to contribute valuable knowledge to your organization. You are attending this event for the purpose of learning things that will help you perform better in your job. I’d like you to think about learning as something you have the opportunity to do everyday through informal means. Also want to point out some educational sources that can be useful when you have specific learning goals or workplace challenges where you need outside resources. The business environment is laden with rapid change —especially recently. the need to stay up-to-date on developments affecting your profession is a critical component of thriving in today’s marketplace. Information is abundant. Despite being at-capacity in your work and personal life, there are practical tools to make learning something that you incorporate into your work on a regular basis. Open education and social media are helpful tools to access, filter and apply the most relevant information.
- New Technologies. New scientific discoveries. New capabilities to master and apply. New problems to solve…. Result is: Introduction of a change.Social media. Proliferation of new information sources and networks. Intellectual discourse is ubiquitous. Communities of learners. Knowledge sharing. Social media enables an always active global conversation about very specific interests. Knowledge, insights and experiences are shared. Pace of change. New capabilities + social media = innovation accelerators. New technologies are adopted and adapted faster bc of ubiquitous communication online. Result = overwhelming amounts of information to process and convert into useful intelligence.
- The expression “knowledge economy” is surely not an unfamiliar term. It’s what we now use to describe the basis of business today.Essentially, the key point is that much of what is sold in the marketplace and what influences our economy are products and services that are knowledge-based or that they were brought to the marketplace through a knowledge-rich process. In other words knowledge is both the tool of production (a vital asset and input in the process) or it the product itself– in the case of knowledge-based services. From the definition shown here, what I want to point out is the rapid obsolescence that is the result of continual technical and scientific advance.
- And in this definition by Richard Florida, note that the principal component of value creation is ‘innovation-mediated production.’Applying knowledge and your past experiences (broadly defined) to develop novel solutions leads to innovationThe ability to apply knowledge in new & novel ways to address constantly changing challenges.
- There’s more and more emphasis today on individuals being avid learners and on companies being learning organizations. Learning is less and less seen as a pre-requisite to performing work, and is seen, more recently, as a form of work itself. Here’s how we can come to that conclusion… By understanding what drives our economy we recognize that business value is derived from the use of knowledge or the production of it. And, much of that knowledge-work consists of solving problems –whether they are serious challenges without answers, or routine tasks.Solving problems (whether they are new problems or old problems, big or small problems) requires processing and applying information and understanding, therefore the more new information we learn, and skills we develop, the more successful we are at solving problems. Learning becomes a tool (and an input) in carrying out our work. Thus learning is a component of fulfilling our requirements at work and is a vital skill in an innovation-driven, rapidly changing knowledge-based economy.
- What’s ‘VUCA’ about Your Work? volatility, uncertainty complexity and ambiguity Even if overall work goals and responsibilitiesstay the same, how you go about accomplishing the day to day activities and problem-solving may change. [Look at List of Macro level changes—][Micro Level… [ask the questions.] Some professions are seeing a shift from ‘Specialization’ to “generalization plus specialization”Some jobs are becoming more Interdisciplinary Your scope of impact may be broadening as you need to: Act & think innovatively Use global awarenessServe new types of clients, Produce and Market new types of products, There are no shortages of types of changes you may be experiencing and types of new problems you need to solve. So, there is a lot of new information you may want to seek to help stay sharp and knowledgeable to response to these changes.
- There is a strong potential for information overload.Most people will avoid that by shutting off some sources of information… But there are truly useful ways to process all the information available to help you react to change and be an avid learner.
- Gaining Awareness (Internet makes this very easy) Understanding & Applying to solve problems (social media supports this)Integrating into routine practiceDeveloping insights and new information (creating new knowledge)Sharing with othersListening to others discuss an issue helps deepen your understanding of it. Beyond the basics, discussion of real life scenarios helps with application and integration. The filter is in continual motion. Continuous cycle of learningAs individuals, what’s new to us, may be familiar to someone else & what is new to others, may be familiar to us.
- One source of information is open education, also referred to as open learning. Like ‘open source software’, now there is open source courseware. Open implies that it is free and accessible to be used by anyone, which is true of open learning.Has anyone yet experienced open course ware? Or visited these resources?
- What are “Open Learning Resources”?Open learning is the expression used to describe free and openly available resources from established educational institutions, from other types of associations or in some cases posted directly by teachers and instructors. Sometimes open learning resources are simply repurposed assets from existing courses. Most of the sources I’ll introduce today are components of college-level courses. Because open learning often includes formal learning that is made openly available, it is structured similarly to what you may have experienced in college courses. In some cases the resources are developed in an eLearning format (which means they aren’t just PowerPoints or PDFs ) and presented as online learning modules. Examples of the types of course materials you can access include:Instructors’ lecture notes and presentation slides, assigned readings, exercises and assignments, even in some cases quizzes or exams. Videos – easiest way for a university to make it’s content available is to record lectures and post them online. Podcasts– audio only from a classroom lecture, seminar lecture (speaking engagement) or an interview.Open learning is like the Russell Stover’s chocolate sampler… you don’t know what you’ll find until you try one. Open learning has emerged in some part due to the prevalence and demand for online courses, in part due to rising concerns about maintaining access to higher education, and as a way for universities and colleges to create relationships with new potential customers. Most colleges consider open learning another form of service and outreach to their community. Because most open learning resources are provided by colleges and universities, the quality and reliability of the content is high. Open learning resources can be beneficial when you have a goal to learn a specific thing. MIT, Princeton, Harvard, University of California, Virgina Tech, Carnegie Mellon, and many more of the ivies and well known colleges.
- Open Learning is still somewhat new, and not ‘bursting’ with tons of resources. The business model is still somewhat untested. (free—remember…) Though the content that is available is usually quite good. Here are three collections of open learning resources– essentially these collections are aggregators of content from multiple sources. OER Commons – Open Educational Resources Collection of open courses– this includes k12 contentOpen Courseware Consortium Collaboration of higher ed institutions around the world. Mostly upper echelon institutions. MIT Sloan School of Business is one of the pioneers and recently celebrated 10 years of open sharing. Most of their undergrad and graduate curriculum is shared online in some form or fashion.The Open University is a UK based operation which actually does grant degrees. It supports part-time education, using distance learning as its model. It provides open learning resources which support undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications.Let’s explore these sites and see what is available. Links are hot.
- The best way to get acquainted with what’s available here is to start exploring. Here are some examples of what you’ll find in each of these resources. MIT Sloan School of Business is one of the pioneers and recently celebrated 10 years of open sharing. Most of their undergrad and graduate curriculum is shared online in some form or fashion.
- Again, in this case, it’s most useful when you have a specific learning goal… These resources, though they can be time consuming to make full use of, are a good way to get introduced to a new topic, learn the terms and big ideas associated with the topic OR invest the time to Maybe you just don’t feel you have the time or ability to commit to pursuing an advanced degree or formal coursework. This can give you an alternative to cherry pick the topics that are most relevant to you right now. ‘Keep in mind that in most cases, you’re NOT getting the whole course, so while it provides a helpful overview or summary, typically the courseware alone isn’t enough to develop an in-depth and applied knowledge of the subject.”Drawback… it’s a snapshot in time, not live, so you can’t join in. Usually focused on the learners in the room… not you. You’re just observing.Some of the resources are more carefully designed for the open user… like Open University and Peer to Peer… they are not really repurposed assets, in most cases, their original purpose is open learning. Managerial Physc course… lecture notes, “attitudes and behaviors”Balanced Scorecard… different style… more like a manual, white paper or text book. Carnegie mellon… these more closely resemble elearning modules designed to be used online.
- How many - familiar with TED ? Have any of you attended a TED conference? Ted Talks are a great source of new ideas and innovative ways of understanding the world around us. By their very nature, they are inspiring and always on the leading edge. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, listen to TED Talks. (on Friday nights, cheese, crackers and wine)TED talks are where thought leaders give 18-minute talks to share new ideas in a conference setting. The conference has been going on since the mid 80’s and originally started in Monterey Bay CA. Now the conference format is ‘syndicated’ in various cities around the world, with varying themes. The talks are recorded and now available online. TED has hosted most of the high-profile experts, researcher, authors and leading thinkers of today. From Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Madeline Albright and Arrianna Huffington, to David Blain- who’s talk is about how he held his breath underwater for 17 minutes; to Jamie Oliver’s talk on healthy school lunches, to 12-year old AdoraSvitak’s talk on what adults can learn from kids -- there is a wide array of remarkable people giving TED talks—which for most TED talkers-- seems to be a turning point in their career, if previously they were undiscovered. -------These are not part of formal course, or associated with educational institutions. TED talks usually explore a ‘big idea’ that has been uncovered by new research or new technology. Today the topics are much more broad than simply Tech, Entertainment or Design. They span social and anthropological issues, business, scientific, arts and culture. ------Dan Pink 11:19– 13:00 Rachel Botsman :17 – 1xx
- ‘and now for something completely different” I want to now focus on social media for learning and tools that can be helpful for gaining awareness and understanding of new ideas, as well as help you apply the information to your work. Social media provides an informal learning environment.
- Social learning is not new. It includes learning through observation, imitation and modeling. Much of what you’ve learned in life is a result of socialization. Learning for work is no different. Think about how you learned to network or handle yourself in meetings, for example. Humans have learned from one and other for a very long time. But we now have new ways of being social through technology, which means we have access to a much wider social network. We are no longer limited to connecting with just the people we know and have physical access to, but can develop a network that spans geography and professional disciplines, to include an array of peers and experts we wouldn’t before have been able to get close to in our daily lives. Social media technologies like blogs, shared audio and video files, networks like Linked in, Ning, Facebook, and Plaxo connect us to this much broader network of people we can potentially learn from. Because it is technology mediated, it seems to make it easier for some people to connect and share experiences. The quality of social media content does vary greatly, as does individuals’ motivations for creating content. Some of the best content I have found is from individuals who share their personal reflections & experience, or offer personal accounts or explanations based on their professional expertise. The more you zero in on individuals with goals and interests similar to yours, the more helpful their content will be to you. Social media connects people. And social learning is a phenomenon that gives social media a very powerful purpose.
- I already mentioned that your work teams and colleagues can be a source of information and experiences for learning (as a source of socialization at work). But, you rarely have control over who is in the group; which can tend to be fairly homogeneous (relative to diversity across all industries), and is typically limited in scope to the work activities you have in common. Work teams are cross-functional and you may be the only person in your type of role. Communities of practices emerged as an informal association of professionals with similar experiences and job responsibilities who could learn from one and other because they share similar responsibilities and experiences. You can consider some professional association activities you do in this category. They are not as limited at your work team, but still somewhat limited, somewhat homogeneous.A Personal learning network is a hand-picked group of individuals you connect with, primarily through forms of social media, to be your source of information, answers and feedback. The benefit of a personal learning network will be based on the level of interaction you have with them. Most people often start by lurking, grow more comfortable in the environment and start contributing more and more. Linked In can be part of your personal learning network— professional associations, but mostly it’s going to be the people you sign up to follow and connect to. Here you can But you can also put experts and thought leaders in your personal learning network. People you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
- From the water cooler, to around the world. The power of social media for learning is that the boundaries are unlimited
- How many of you write blogs? Audience What are your blogs called? Regularly read blogs?How many are on twitter?Are using twitter for marketing?Using twitter for learning?Is anyone here tweeting from the forum? Before we get too far down the path of using blogs and twitter for learning, getting set up and organized will help make this managable.
- Tip: create a google account if you don’t already have one. If you don’t already use iGoogle as a personalized homepage, consider this as a starting place in filtering information and putting it at your fingertips
- Using Google tools for organizing the blogs you follow. A blog reader gives you a constant stream of information you’re likely to find relevant and helpful. --after you’ve set it up and found blogs you like. Having igoogle as your homepage… puts this stream of information in front of you every morning.Instead of Comcast or MSN as your homepage, create your own and put relevant stories in front of you each morning.
- AM coffeeMobile, part of mass transit, waiting for kids to get ready in the AM
- What can you say in 140 characters? Surprisingly, you can convey a lot and you can learn a lot. Engage the audience: So, where are my tweeters? Anyone tweeting throughout the forum? Can you share with us some of your tweets? Do you want to offer your thoughts on the meaningfulness of 140 characters? How many of you feel like you learn things through twitter. Part of why twitter is attractive for learning is that we’re talking about bite-sized bits of information. Often tweets will be frank and poignant comments that are useful observations, ‘rules to live by’ or simply experiences someone had. They are also often links to articles or other web resources. Another reason twitter can be used for learning is that it’s a great venue to ask questions. Twitter is also simply a great source of news. I feel like I know what’s happening in the world when I tune into twitter. One thing I’ve observed about twitter, that is most definitely a drawback, is that it is certainly not free from junk. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of clutter, so heed this warning, I’m definitely not endorsing all that is twitter. But, you also always stop following people whose tweets don’t add value for you. There are also twitter apps that can help you filter the important stuff
- When you see this image, and especially when I open the application, the stream of content may feel overwhelming. Don’t feel like you need to read every tweet. I scan for people I know well, and topics of particular interest. Also, I might be in a particular mood, or have something specific I’m interested in, based on what’s going on in my world at that moment. Tweetdeck is one of many other twitter applications that allow you to better manage the communications flow. It’s what I use, so it’s the only one I can profile for you. Others here may want to suggest other apps. Before we navigate away from this screen, take a quick look at some of the benefits. Organize on search expressions Columns allow scanning many topics at onceFilter by topicsAuto shorten URLsTweet from more than one account#HashtagsSo your tweets are found by othersBackchannels OPEN TWEETDECK… All the way to the left is the stream of all the accounts I follow. This is where I start if I’m browsing. I slide from left to right, as I monitor my searches. Keep in mind that while I’m emphasizing twitter for learning, the related application of marketing is another big reason people are on twitter, and it explains why some of the search columns are here. Notice that you can search on the hashtag, or just on the expression. Stop to enter a search term. Anyone want to suggest some search terms. Think about an issue that keeps you up at night and maybe someone else on twitter has a suggestion. As I scroll through, you’ll see some w the suffix ‘chat’ which suggests that it’s not just a tag for filtering topics, it’s a means to retrieving tweets that belong to a particular ‘tweet chat.’Tweet chats are scheduled, live twitter forums organized around a specific theme. Some of the chats I’ve pulled in are here… So… let’s go back to the slidedeck.
- Do any of you here participate in twitter chats? Are there any locally-focused twitter chats?How tweet chats work:Threaded discussion organized by hashtagOccurs a regularly scheduled timeHas a moderator who starts conversation by asking 1-2 questionsInvites everyone to provide an introduction as they join the chatUsually not salesy—truly people interested in learning from one and other.
- We can’t yet say that for ‘every interest’ there is a twitter chat, but there are over 375 in just one resource I’ll show you in a moment. Twitter chats enable people with common interests to schedule time for discussion of pertinent topics. They typically last for about an hour. This is the opportunity to listen to pros discuss their experiences and observations and ‘share’ their insights. What I’m showing here is a webpage containing the transcripts from each chat. Tweet chats really weren’t intended to be something that has usefulness outside the moment, but some people do find value in reading through the exchange after the fact. Ultimately a twitter chat takes what might be limited to a f2f networking event or roundtable discussion and open it up globally for newbies, veterans and thought leaders to comment on. Twitter chats are fast paced and conversation is informal. Nothing is really prepared in advance (like with blogs).
- There are a number of twitter chat tips and instructions online you can go to once you’re ready to get started. One place that I will take a second to show you is this spreadsheet of twitter chats. We’ll take a minute to quickly browse some of the titles. Examples: b2b chat; brandchat; career chat; customer svcs; leadership;
- How do you share now? How could you use SocMd to share?
- Since knowledge is both the tool and product that drive our economy, professionals who leverage and contribute to new knowledge will be indispensible. = thriving!Learning that reveals a new insights (not just new to you, but new to others) is a valuable contribution because you’re providing the inputs necessary to drive innovation and productivity.You also learn more by teaching it to others. Contributing is a way of processing the information to reinforce its relevance in your own situation. Sharing knowledge earns you recognition and credibility.Sharing grows your network. – Consider MalcomGladwell’s concept of Mavens and Connectors from the Tipping Point. (mavens “information specialists” and connectors “people who link us to the world” Both are of great value. There’s no shortage of access to information. But bc we learn socially through others experiences and insights, you’re adding value for others by processing information and sharing your insights and observations.