Welcome to Nodestone – What does it mean?

Dear friends, colleagues and extended community

Here it is. Our new entity, website, direction. Nodestone. What does that mean? It’s a made-up word that just felt right. We did branding workshops and brainstormed and came up with all sorts of kooky ideas.

But Nodestone was what came to pass. My dear Mum (a great wordsmith) Jenny Davy had a good go at explaining it:

“The name Nodestone for me resonates with Lodestone which is something that has a magnetic attraction and a node is of course a part of a computer network – so Nodestone is a part of a computer network which will have a mega attraction to people!! .”

Here are some other reasons we chose it, or accidental associations:

• Lodestones:
  • were used in China in the 12th century as a compass for navigation.
  • long associated with the “lore of attraction” and considered by many as a “magical” stone.
  • magnetite, a mineral related to the coating on magnetic disks and tapes used by computers.
• Nodes:
  • connecting points on networks where information comes together, is refined and retransmitted.
  • the point on a stem from which the new leaf grows.
• Stones:
  • solid, reliable, of the earth. Good for building things with. Good for making strong foundations.
  • found as pebbles all along Brighton beach and make beautiful (if a little heavy) business cards.
  • They rock, and roll, and gather no moss. But actually, we like a little lichen ourselves.

You know when something just fits? We couldn’t believe the .com was still available, and pounced.

You can read about what we do, who we work for and what’s coming up all around the site. Hopefully the venture will live up to the name as we travel along.

Looking forward to sharing the journey with you.

Libby

Let’s make our minds up for the future

I love Howard Gardner, as only a pedagogy geek can. I love the way his mind works, about how he helps me see others for who they are. His theory of multiple intelligences has been helping personalised learning develop for decades.

Howard’s work first came to me attention when studying early learning in Italy – in the Reggio context. The fact that he has maintained a deep, ongoing dialogue with the Reggio teachers makes my faith in his wisdom as solid as gold.

Today, I was delighted to hear of a lecture series he gave at our new “guild” – the RSA in London last April. Thanks to Teachers TV, Howard’s examination of “the mental capacities needed for the future in a globalised world” is available to all.

The kinds of minds he suggests should be cultivated are three cognitive ones: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind and the creating mind, and two that deal with the human sphere: the respectful mind and the ethical mind.

Gardener discusses how these can be best nurtured, and points out some of the inevitable tensions created between them.

After the lecture a group of teachers discuss how these ideas are used in practice in the classroom today.

http://www.teachers.tv/video/5452

Social media is dying. Long live social media!

So social media has truly hit the mainstream. It even has it’s own comic strip. Are we all onboard and up-to-steam? Thing is, this new way is meant to be real. It’s meant to come from a genuine desire to connect with others (customers, stakeholders… fill in the blank).

I’m starting to cringe about the whole thing. The hype. The hyperbole. Sure, Google’s algorythms (currently) love blogs. Sure we can optimise search and get “seen”. But who’s actually going to be listening?

Some emerging thoughts here about how the cream is going to rise to the top.

Many early adopters are already screaming for the off switch.

We are reaching a new point in the adoption of social media. Something’s gotta give (she says joining Dopplr). There is another tipping point approaching.

Time for some great editing and aggregation. Time for some trusted sources to filter it all for us, and I don’t mean the USA Today Bloggers & Podcasters Guide (even if we do keep ranking 1). Or even cool geek individuals like Scobelizer. I’m looking for something all about my interests, the blogs I want to follow, but more visual. Definitely NOT Google’s Blog Reader.

What do we think Gra… time for a chinwag. Oh look, there’s my husband blogging in the room above me. Time to STOP all this and go find him.

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