Comments on: The World is Not Flat – It is a Plateau

By: Matt Crosslin

Matt Crosslin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:51:35 +0000

Thanks for the resources ‘concerned citizen.’ I knew there was some backlash out there for this issue, but I wasn’t aware that there was this much.

By: Concerned Citizen

Concerned Citizen — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:23:32 +0000

I would much rather the discourse on Globalization came from economists like Joesph Stiglitz (Nobel winner for economics and was Chief Economist at World Bank), Paul Krugman (Princeton), Pankaj Ghemawat (Harvard)etc. Ted Koppel interviews Friedman and Joseph Stiglitz, who ofcourse doesnt find a mention in Friedman’s book.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/opinion/25friedman-transcript.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Two books to read, which offer a counterperspective to Friedman’s “The World is Flat.”

The Harvard Professor, Pankaj Ghemawat’s latest book, “Redefining Global Strategy,” is more academically inclined. I read an article of his published in the journal, “Foreign Policy”, where he argues that the world is, at best, only semi-globalized. His argument being that Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic aspects of a nation come in the way of total globalization from taking place and cites examples of the same.

The other small, but interesting book, is by Aronica and Ramdoo, “The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller.” It is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike. As popular as the book may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman’s book is dangerous. The authors point to the fact that there isn’t a single table or data footnote in Friedman’s entire book. “Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica. Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization.

You may want to see http://www.mkpress.com/flat
and watch http://www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman’s
“The World is Flat”.

Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! http://www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html

There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
http://www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html

By: Matt Crosslin

Matt Crosslin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:24:17 +0000

That is a good idea. I think I read somewhere that there is a way to install Moodle on a jump drive. Of course, doing that puts the database on the drive, and that's not very secure. But I like the idea of creating stuff through Adobe AIR.

For those reading this that need to know more about AIR, here is a good intro video:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/

By: Tom A

Tom A — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:32:22 +0000

Excellent article (also enjoyed the previous ones on ‘Death of the Learning Management System’). I deliver eLearning courses via Moodle in Ireland. Whilst broadband penetration in urban areas is fine, much of rural Ireland looks set to be stuck in ‘dial-up land’ for the foreseeable future. I’m looking at ways to be more inclusive for potential customers in rural areas… now I just need to find the time to write my own version of Moodle in Adobe AIR and distribute it on a DVD (the app could of course pull down new content and messaging from the web but the bulk of the rich course material would be running locally).