I have been asked to speak to high-school students about the Internet.
The idea is to begin planting seeds in these young minds... on technology and how it relates to the business world. The desire from the teacher is to start with a 'general understanding' approach, show them how it relates to the business world, and then give them a block of time to come up with some form of business idea that will be Internet based.
I, again, cannot stress the sad state of affairs our education system must be in, if educators are looking to me as anything but a bad influence. Maybe I'm being overly self-deprecating. Maybe they are desperate. Either way I'm honored.
Oh, and by the way, I'm using a hamster to explain the internet. I'll be calling him 'Surfy".
Now when I say 'Internet" I'm not talking about the applications that run over the Internet, the web-sites that are accessible over the Internet, Social Media empowered by the Internet, or any of the multitude of things that often people use as synonymous with the Internet...but aren't the Internet......but the actual. physical Internet.
I, in the course of my sales process, often am required to explain the Internet... to IT people, consultants, and C-level executives. Grand technologists who speak in boxes, or gear, or applications or software....but have an almost child-like understanding of what the Internet actually is. Many of these individuals would probably benefit from the "Surfy" presentation.
Maybe this is what makes me, at least in approach and experience, an acceptable choice to speak to children of the Internet.
I see the use of analogy as a powerful tool to understand overly complex things, in an entry level way....hence Surfy, a big picture of hamster tubes, and the idea that a whisper in Surfy's little hamster ear can make some amazing things happen.
Maybe I'm not so bad a choice after all, to inspire young minds. And I'm damn sure Surfy is up to the task.
The idea is to begin planting seeds in these young minds... on technology and how it relates to the business world. The desire from the teacher is to start with a 'general understanding' approach, show them how it relates to the business world, and then give them a block of time to come up with some form of business idea that will be Internet based.
I, again, cannot stress the sad state of affairs our education system must be in, if educators are looking to me as anything but a bad influence. Maybe I'm being overly self-deprecating. Maybe they are desperate. Either way I'm honored.
Oh, and by the way, I'm using a hamster to explain the internet. I'll be calling him 'Surfy".
Now when I say 'Internet" I'm not talking about the applications that run over the Internet, the web-sites that are accessible over the Internet, Social Media empowered by the Internet, or any of the multitude of things that often people use as synonymous with the Internet...but aren't the Internet......but the actual. physical Internet.
I, in the course of my sales process, often am required to explain the Internet... to IT people, consultants, and C-level executives. Grand technologists who speak in boxes, or gear, or applications or software....but have an almost child-like understanding of what the Internet actually is. Many of these individuals would probably benefit from the "Surfy" presentation.
Maybe this is what makes me, at least in approach and experience, an acceptable choice to speak to children of the Internet.
I see the use of analogy as a powerful tool to understand overly complex things, in an entry level way....hence Surfy, a big picture of hamster tubes, and the idea that a whisper in Surfy's little hamster ear can make some amazing things happen.
Maybe I'm not so bad a choice after all, to inspire young minds. And I'm damn sure Surfy is up to the task.
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