What not to build

I met with an individual today who is creating a virtual world for young teens. The project is conceived as serving a niche market. Of course, we all feel our ideas are unique or our particular circumstance is different from others. I left the meeting with a sense of “why are people still building these things? why not take advantage of infrastructure that is already in place?”. Operating systems and platforms that are used as the base of innovation are increasingly free. The value is in the creativity and innovation unleashed by many contributors. Google gets this. That’s why they announced OpenSocial. And Android. Competition based on openness.
Stephen Downes continues his reflection/future thinking with What Not to Build (this follows his important Future of Online Learning: 10 Years On). In this (shorter) paper, he offers advice to the elearning industry on what not to build…what is being built…what is a fad…and what might be worth building. I don’t agree with all of his statements. iPhones are hyped, but I don’t think they are a fad…though Android and RIM may impact their market share. Cloud computing will not be noticed because, well, that’s the point. The technology becomes transparent. People are already “using the cloud” without being fully aware of it. This may depend on how one defines cloud computing - i.e. if it includes Google Docs, Gmail, MobileMe, and other hardware/software applications that don’t confine computing to a particular device - then I don’t think it’s a fad. Those two small points aside, Stephen has written a good article that will make edtech professionals rethink future/emerging projects.