View from the Beach

We are loosening our grip on home with a trip to Washington and Oregon, preparing for our daughter’s wedding and enjoying some space from packing, packing, packing. It is helpful to have the space from our work and travel preparations. We are so blessed to be able to travel before the Big Trip. Yesterday we drove from Walla Walla, Washington to Seaside, Oregon, driving through the Columbia River Gorge and Portland. I was in a drowsy state of mind for the drive; a little uninspired. Perhaps it was the grey weather, perhaps the recovery from all the travel and the wedding planning. Not that I’m a central figure in the planning. At any rate, I was inspired once I could see and hear the beach. And while the air was cold and the sky was grey, the sight of it all has been awakening. This morning we woke to a calm and clearing sky. The blue is increasing and the grey receding. I am sitting with a birds eye view on the sand and surf, along the promenade of Seaside.
What a great view it is.
While I am enjoying the time away from the planning and prep for our upcoming trip, I continue to reflect on the details as well as the mysteries of our journey. We have done our best to nail down the details of our travel; the basics of flight, lodging and other transportation. But the realities of life in Nepal remain a mystery This is despite the reading and conversations we have had with experienced travelers and our Nepali hosts. No matter how much we think and talk about our trip, it won’t be unveiled until we are there. Then we will “know” what Nepali life entails. Life is like that isn’t it? We spend hours speculating about some endeavor or project, only to truly figure it out when we are in the thick of it. I’ve experienced this at work on project as simple as wiring a camera. I can either spend the morning poking my head in ceilings, looking for the best location or what might be, or simply get to work. Granted there is value to thinking ahead but too often it is overdone; a great tool of avoidance.
Now… back to speculating. We are now 2 months from our scheduled flight from St. Louis to London, the first leg of our trip to Kathmandu. While I have at least 30 days of work to do when I return, my main job will be pulling together the items that will be my living kit for the duration of my trip. A set of clothes; shirts, underwear, socks, shoes, jackets, hats. These items need to be versatile and capable of an easy wash. While I intend to limit the number of items that I bring (I don’t need to impress anyone), these need to be appropriate for work in the monastery, comfortable and useful in a variety of settings. In addition to clothing, I will bring camera equipment that will allow me to tell the story of our journey and experience. I would like to give my family and friends some idea of our daily life; a little window into the world of Nepal. As I have found in my research, even the Internet of pictures and stories doesn’t adequately paint a picture of our destination much less our work. I am hoping to chronicle our life there and give a sense of the people and our relationship to them. Accomplishing this is more easily said that done I expect, since there are the practicalities of employing my camera, video and or microphones at the right time and in a way that doesn’t get in the way of our relationships. This is difficult around family and it will probably be a similar challenge in our Nepali community. I don’t anticipate that I will want to record extensive segments of life in Chobhar but snippets of sound and sights. Choosing the most appropriate equipment (not too much or too little) to accomplish this will be the trick. Storage will of course play a role as will methods for moving, editing and sharing the data. I will want the best lenses for the places we visit. Flexibility, durability, useablity are key.

Road to Nepal – Preparations

Sitting at a bus stop in Glenwood Springs, I am on my way to Denver for a mini reunion with High School friends. My friend, Maureen, is hosting the gathering in honor of my impending journey. It has been quite some time since my last post – as has been the norm for this blog. That said, I am committed to providing myself and others more detail on my process and experiences along the way to Nepal.

The last months have been full of preparations. Everything from buying tickets and booking hotels to cleaning the garage and every drawer of every cabinet. In addition to these activities, there have been some unexpected turns in the road. As all travelers know, the path is seldom without it’s obstacles and unseen opportunities.

Joni and I are deep into cleaning and purging the house in preparation for renting it. The process of sorting, musing, discarding, recycling, and donating can be quite time consuming. I have to come to grips with old memories and determined how precious “things” are to my existence. Usually the object is of little import, save that it is an interesting spark to some old memory; sometimes all the way back to childhood and elementary school experience, high school or college endeavors or sometimes a more recent (but quickly passing) artifact from my girls. I have found grades, awards, letters, photographs, journals. These take me back to mostly fond memories and`sometimes to regrets of roads not taken. Despite their value for reflection and a brief feeling of attachment, most of the artifacts are not worth keeping. Casting out these and other less precious receipts, letters, and such has tripled the flow of paper out of the house through trash and recycling.

This process of sorting and discarding has many benefits. The most obvious is that it has simplified the clutter in my house and consequently settled my mind. I’ve always appreciated the calm that comes with little acts of organization. I recall nights in my adolescence when I would be agitated, altered and/or full of thoughts. Cleaning my bedroom was always a good antidote for my restlessness. It brought me back to in touch with my body and senses and chased away my insecurities. While I am not as disturbed as in my youth, my housecleaning brings me a similar sense of calm. There is something about the act of sorting, classifying, storing or discarding that is centering. Perhaps it takes us back to earlier human acts of “nesting”. Activities we engaged in early civilization or cave dwelling days. Or perhaps it is the concentration, the sensation in the fingers, the looking and connecting with the object, the intention… one thing at a time. I realize that this could be a frenetic exercise if I took a different approach. I could wildly throw things to the wind. But for me it is a sort of mind training – a tool for bringing my awareness on to a single thing.

In addition to the organizing items of personal history, Joni and I have taken a deep dive into the various knick knacks, tools, cleaners, paints, cosmetics, and clothes. Every drawer and cabinet in the house has an collection of the relics of living; similar and sometimes odd bits from the large to minute, the useful to the outdated. It is a wonder how many paper clips, nails and tacks I’ve gathered up, refugees from various projects. I can spend 2 or 3 hours focusing on a location. Afterward I might feel quite accomplished or I may feel like I have created a bigger mess. Through the process I’ve learned to live with messes and piles of items with no immediate home. In the end even these “hanging chads” finally find a cohort of like items and eventually find a resting place either in the house or in the “out box”.

This household purging is ongoing but I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. That’s a good thing because time is growing short. Our original rental goal was the first week in June so this leaves only 30 days to completion. Due to time constraints and the improved simplicity of the indoor landscape, we are moving into the phase of storage only. We hope to rent the house with our furniture in place and the most valued items stowed into safe corners of the basement, shed or garage. In addition to stowing the final items, other preparations continue; decide exactly what we need to bring within the weight limit of 35kg (77 pounds).

The Journey Begins

This is my attempt to begin to chronicle our trip to Nepal. On September 23rd we interviewed and accepted a volunteer position at Tsoknyi Gechak Ling Monastery, teaching english to young nuns. We had been thinking about this possibility for a couple years when we first met Tsoknyi in Steamboat and got a presentation of their work there in Nepal. We are “scheduled” to begin our work there in September 2017 and will finish at the end of January 2018. While we have about 10 months to prepare, there is much to do, learn and familiarize ourselves with before that time. We are traveling to a new culture, with sometimes difficult living conditions. We want to do our best in providing the girls with effective instruction in English. We want to take time to enjoy the people and the area around Chobar and the rest of Nepal. We need to schedule flights, understand visas, get the required immunizations, understand money, bring appropriate clothes. On top of preparations for being in Nepal, we need to make preparations for our home here in Glenwood Springs. At some point, we would like to rent the house. We would like to use this opportunity to clear out (declutter) our house so that we have less to pack away and less to be concerned about.

This series of blog posts will help me to clarify what is happening and what is left to do. It is both an outlet and and inlet for ideas, emotions and insight into the trip. The journey has already begun. Perhaps my process will be of benefit to other people with similar dreams.

This trip combines many aspirations. First, it provides a way for me to work in the service of these girls and my Teacher. I feel very dedicated to support the projects of Tsoknyi. It is clear from his discussion of the school and his presentations in the promotional videos that he is dedicated to the needs of these children; helping support their basic needs and become educated and empowered. It is rather subtle but he is also aiming to provide a community of learning that is kind and nurturing while being enriching, structured and constructive for the students. Kind and nurturing is foremost in his mind it appears. He repeats this often in his description of the school. It is consistent with the principals he describes in his teachings of Dharma and mediation. He truly believes that we are overly harsh in our push for results – that we need to listen to our resistances – our monsters. Beginning with understanding and kindness in our practice and in our relationships will help us to heal our sensitivities and bring about better results in our practice. If we are to make peace with our monsters, resistances, fears and such, we can begin by having more compassion for ourselves as things come up. While this might vary somewhat on the personality/temperament of the person, most of us can benefit from a gentler approach to our demons. Rimpoche describes the hand shake practice that helps us address issues as they pop up in our lives.

My personal experience with this approach has been most helpful. I have been able to apply my mediation practice; resting with what comes up, sitting WITH it rather than pushing my fears, attractions, resistances, images, etc. away. The ideas of bringing this kind approach to students and adults in a school also makes sense. A community of people who take this approach to their personal demons, may bring compassion and kindness to each other. When a community speaks the language of kindness, they can help one another promote inner and outer kindness.

My aspiration to work at TGL has developed slowly and surely as I have become familiar with Tsoknyi Rimpoche’s teachings and his person. While I realize that going to Nepal will not miraculously take away my fears, cravings, biases, and other baggage that I carry, I know that I am entering a community where growth is encouraged. I intend to make the best of this opportunity for polishing my rough edges and developing a more open heart.

Personality and Technology Adoption

In recent posts, I’ve described some factors that guide tech adoption. My perspective of adoption behavior is informed by research, my personal habits, and my observations of others’ habits. The research implicates personal (personality) factors guiding adoption behavior – and success.  This isn’t a radical view and really sounds like common sense. Who we are; what we do for a living, our interests and passions, friends, goals and upbringing shape our values and reflect what we adopt. Added together, these factors appear to form an adoption profile. I’m going to call my approach a “technology personality inventory”.

“individuals construct unique yet malleable perceptions of technology that influence their adoption decisions.” (Understanding Technology Adoption: Theory and Future Directions for Informal Learning – Straub – 2011)

Considered together, multiple models of behavior change provide helpful clues to adoption habits. My goal is to create a model that is practical, in that it helps me understand a person’s adoption habits in action. In casual conversations, classes, and 1:1 consultation, I have opportunities to hear how people view their technology. I primarily talk with family (of all ages), students from 40-84, and colleagues who work in technology. The conversation usually includes these questions:

  • what they are using?
  • what they use it for?
  • how well they understand it?
  • what is their skill level?
  • how much they enjoy or dislike the tool?
  • what do they feel/think they need to know to improve?
  • other tools they have considered for this and other tasks?

While my interviews are not formally structured, I have developed a habit of asking and listening to answers to these questions. My approach comes fairly natural. As a behavior consultant, I assessed the behavior of children based on their emotional / cognitive understanding of people and the environment. An important part of my behavior analysis was understanding the motivation of my students. Operating on the assumption that all behavior is goal oriented, I listened closely to students explanation of what they like and what they avoid. I listened to teachers describe behavior incidents; what occurred before, during and after the event. As I develop a model for understanding adoption behavior, I believe that I can refine my inquiries and the insights revealed. As I apply my behavior analysis skills to my work in technology, the following theories (presented in chronology to their development) seem helpful:

Theory of reasoned action – (TRA) Developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen (1975, 1980). Model for the prediction of behavioral intention, spanning predictions of attitude and predictions of behavior. The theory was “born largely out of frustration with traditional attitude–behavior research, much of which found weak correlations between attitude measures and performance of volitional behaviors” (Hale, Householder & Greene, 2002, p. 259).

TPB is an extension of the TRA and includes an additional construct, perceived control over performance of the behavior. TRA and TPB both assume the best predictor of a behavior is behavioral intention, which in turn is determined by attitude towards the behavior and social normative perceptions regarding it.

I agree that intention is a key to understanding the direction of choice. Understanding a person’s intention, their hopes and fears (social, technical, economic, access) says much about where they are headed. Intention is a broad concept and represents many forces. Clearly, humans exchange intentions and model evidence of our choices to one another. This creates a sort of feedback loop of adoption that shapes the diffusion of innovation. This phenomena has been revealed in recent descriptions of mirror neurons. This is a very hot topic within the field of neuroscience. Mirror neurons are ignited in our bodies/brain when we observe someone performing a behavior or using a tool. This was first uncovered in the 1990s in monkeys.

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is an information systems theory that models how users come to accept and use a technology. The model suggests that when users are presented with a new technology, a number of factors influence their decision about how and when they will use it, notably:

Perceived usefulness (PU) – This was defined by Fred Davis as “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance”.

Perceived ease-of-use (PEOU) – Davis defined this as “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort” (Davis 1989).
TAM replaces many of TRA’s attitude measures with the two technology acceptance measures— ease of use, and usefulness. TAM has been revised (TAM2 and TAM3). Ease of use and usefulness stand out as helpful concepts to consider in

The Matching Person & Technology Model (MPT) was developed by Marcia J. Scherer, Ph.D. beginning in 1986. It organizes influences on the successful use of a variety of technologies: assistive technology, educational technology, and those used in the workplace, school, home; for healthcare, for mobility and performing daily activities. Specialized devices for hearing loss, speech, eyesight and cognition as well as general or everyday technologies are also included. Research shows that although a technology may appear perfect for a given need, it may be used inappropriately or even go unused when critical personality preferences, psychosocial characteristics or needed environmental support are not considered. The Matching Person and Technology Model is operationalized by a series of reliable and valid measures that provide a person-centered and individualized approach to matching individuals with the most appropriate technologies for their use.

While it has been primarily applied to special populations in need of assistive technology, it describes factors that apply to any person. Let’s face it, we all have our quirks, abilities and “disabilities”. Our abilities differ by degree and are more pronounced in different situations and different technology. Steven Hawking may have physical limits but he is adept with the technology he has adopted.

When matching person and technology, you become an investigator, a detective. You find out what the different alternatives are within the constraints. —From Living in the State of Stuck: How Technology Impacts the Lives of People with Disabilities

This describes my role as behavior consultant. I applied my detective skills (playing Sherlock Holmes) with my students, trying to uncover their triggers and motivations. My focus was in helping the student to adapt to the demands around her. Needless to say, the ideas within the MPT model are very familiar to me. Instinctively, I pay attention to learning styles, abilities, receptive and expressive communication modes.

As important as it is to understand the personal stories of people adopting technology, it is equally important to consider adoption from a more general theory. Specifically, it’s helpful to consider the macroscopic, social arc of adoption. The Diffusion of Innovations theory is just such a perspective. Often referenced in conversation about technology adoption and marketing. Central to diffusion is communication and the rate at which an innovation moves into the general population. The saturation of an innovation has influence over it’s adoption. As saturation increases, it creates feedback to people at all stages of adoption; Innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards.

Diffusion of Innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies, popularized the theory in his book Diffusion of Innovations; the book was first published in 1962, and is now in its fifth edition (2003).[1] The concept of diffusion was first studied by the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde in late 19th century[2] and by German and Austrian anthropologists such as Friedrich Ratzel and Leo Frobenius.[3]

Rogers - Diffusion Model

Roger’s work asserts that 4 main elements influence the spread of a new idea: the innovation, communication channels, time, and a social system. With the advent of social networks, the vectors for innovation have increased dramatically. Social media adoption has become a enabler to technology adoption in general; wheels creating wheels.

I’m excited to apply these perspectives in my conversations with my students, family and random people I meet. It will be interesting to see the patterns in these technology personality inventories. I intend to share my findings along the way. Stay tuned!

Our Inner Toolbox

My most recent blog posts have been devoted to technology adoption and use from the 10,000 foot level. My investigation is making me aware of the research on adoption from the perspective of business, education, and the individual; considered by age, confidence, background, socio-economic status, interests, affiliations and need. Suffice it to say, I have a lot to learn about this research; the conclusions people have made as well as unanswered questions related to adoption.

In this post I present some practical, tangible, and personal practices that support technology adoption and competence. I offer some insights for managing your personal approach to technology.

My Tools

Managing technology has been a professional and personal evolution for me. My personal evolution began in 1987 with an introduction to computers in graduate school. My initial fascination with them grew from writing, spreadsheets and general organization to networking, email and file sharing. I quickly learned that my fascination was not shared by others and that my curiosity marked me as the go to guy when someone needed support. Clearly this was not due to my superior knowledge – I had very little. It was more a question of my willingness and persistence. I valued the resource and had a sense that it would pay off over time.

Institutional Adoption

Fast forward ten years – I found myself working in an advisory capacity to the technology director for the Roaring Fork School District. 5 years later I was hired as the director. My years with the department and as technology director put me in the position of leading software implementations (not to mention software development). I had the opportunity and sometimes dubious task of convincing people that new applications would be useful and worth the time required to learn them. My first assignment was to implement a new phone system across our 11 school sites. Within this project and others, there were a variety of considerations, complications and forces at work. I will delve into these at some other time. Suffice it to say that mistakes were made, and with each project, I learned a lot. One key lesson was that compulsory adoption can put people in a defensive position and create resistance even when skill is not an issue.

Not withstanding the missteps we made in promoting / supporting some computer applications in the school district, I sincerely believe that there is great value in computer applications for institutions and individuals. This belief drives my curiosity to help people through their own adoption process; beyond personal resistance and/or technical confusion. Helping people adopt a new technology or make better use of something they are vaguely familiar with allows me to extend my personal quest with tech tools. Thank goodness I’m no longer expected to make large numbers of people adopt applications without their expressed consent. Now I can work with the willing. Even when knowledge and skill are lacking, consent is a powerful force.

Helping People Choose

I enjoy helping people use technology – they choose; technology that can help them communicate, be creative and informed or that allows them to automate or streamline a task. By virtue of asking for my help, my clients are a step ahead of my former captive audience. They have already made a commitment on some level. They have chosen a particular computer, application and/or goal. They may not be happy with tools they are working with. But they are motivated on some level.

Once a commitment is made, it is important that support and methods are available to overcome inevitable barriers. It’s technology after all! While we can picture the solution working, it doesn’t often work the first time. First there are barriers of time, skill, confusing menus, unfamiliar concepts, and a host of other technical issues. Though the technical barriers can be substantial, the proper frame of mind can help us persist through the learning process. The way we think about our tools, our confidence and learning strategies are essential to our success. A positive attitude, the right environment, adequate focus and self talk strategies come in handy. When I talk about “tools4mind”, I am referring to the software of our brain as much as the hard digital tools. The mind is a much overlooked tool.

Attitude Counts

While we may not consider our frame of mind as important to our success, there is mounting research that lends credence to it. A series of studies were conducted in the 60s and 70s by Walter Mischel at Stanford University. His longitudinal  study found that children who were able to delay gratification showed greater competence / success later in life. Evidence in a 1988 followup study of these children showed:

“Delay of gratification, assessed in a series of experiments when the subjects were in preschool, was related to parental personality ratings obtained a decade later for 95 of these children in adolescence.… Specifically, children who were able to wait longer at age 4 or 5 became adolescents whose parents rated them as more academically and socially competent, verbally fluent, rational, attentive, planful, and able to deal well with frustration and stress.”

In 1990, other follow up studies of these children showed that the the children who waited scored higher on SAT tests.

The original “cookie” study has been replicated and refined. Results have suggested while these traits are pervasive over time, there are environmental factors that mediate the delay of gratification. In other words, if we fail the marshmallow test at 5 years old, we aren’t destined to be an under-achiever. One such study found that previous experience matters:

Children who experienced reliable interactions immediately before the marshmallow task waited on average four times longer—12 versus three minutes—than youngsters in similar but unreliable situations.

Changing the environment by making it more unreliable or reliable had dramatic effects:

“…Children who experienced unreliable interactions with an experimenter waited for a mean time of three minutes and two seconds on the subsequent marshmallow task, while youngsters who experienced reliable interactions held out for 12 minutes and two seconds
…provides strong evidence that children’s wait times reflect rational decision making about the probability of reward.
…If you are used to getting things taken away from you, not waiting is the rational choice.”

 

Nature or Nurture

What are the implications of this study for computer users like you and me? My observations (of myself and others) lead me to believe that persistence is one of the keys to learning technology. In my role as technology director, I supervised 6 technicians of varying technical ability and background. The most common characteristic of the 6 was their desire and focus. While their persistence wasn’t uniform or consistent across all domains, it was evident most of the time. Constantly faced with novel problems, they would hunker down and, through repeated iterations of testing, uncover the secrets of problems and applications. While I didn’t always grasp the content of the problem they were solving, I clearly followed their process. They were pit bulls on the pant leg of technology.

Were my staff born with the ability to focus and persist through digital problems? Or did they develop strategies over time that facilitated their success? Perhaps it was a little of both. Perhaps they were born into secure environments where they trusted that waiting would yield greater satisfaction. Perhaps they were born with brains that favored planning over impulse. My guess is that it was both.

As an adult I have one choice; to find ways to adapt and improve my innate abilities. There is no going back. Brain surgeons and the pharmaceutical companies cannot help me change my brain. Learning to learn, sharpening our brains can make a difference. It is a process of discovery, of practice, and progress. Stay tuned for more.

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