The State of Learning in 2008

One of the things that I have to say I enjoy the most about being alive is the pleasure that I find in learning. It has been my goal since I graduated from college in May 2007 to teach myself the principals of electrical engineering. I have to say that I have always been astonished with the sheer amount of information available on the Internet concerning computer science and electrical engineering. Keeping in mind the history of the Internet, I attribute this fact to the notion that the disciplines of computer science and electrical engineering are actually the two fields that contributed the most to the creation of the modern Internet.

I have observed that for other areas of interest, there isn't as much quality content available on the Internet yet. However, I have noticed over the last few years an increase in quality substance mainly from web 2.0 outlets. The movement of publishing streaming videos online, and advent of podcasting has also contributed to the increase in content for other subject areas.

Web 2.0 Content

The best example that I can provide for quality information covering a wide variety of areas is Instructables. There are many other sites popping up all the time, but I think that example is by far the most robust and developed. This site has tutorials on subjects that range from complex microcontroller programming to the eloquent art of preparing salmon for dinner.

Streaming Video Content

An example is that the BBC is now publishing most of their full programs online. Despite the fact that you have to be a British citizen to view the content, I have still found and viewed many BBC documentaries on Google video and Youtube that cover everything from Turrets Syndrome to Particle Physics. The online video movement is also filled with academic lectures that are available for free. A resource that I like to use for finding great documentaries is the Best Free Documentary Blog.

Podcasting

This is an area that has proliferated so immensely that you can pretty much find subject areas on everything. An aspect that is helping to saturate the subject coverage is that major media outlets such as NPR are publishing their shows in the digital form. Many businesses have also learned that this is a simple and relatively inexpensive opportunity for advertising. This isn't advertising in the traditional sense; it is much more subtle and also helpful to the user. For example, lets say that I am a battery manufacturer for automobiles. I may publish a series of podcasts that inform users on best practices for maintaining optimal battery life and subsequently explain how my product fits into that strategy. This is a win-win situation for the consumer and supplier because it provides helpful information for the consumer weather or not they buy the product and is a much more contextual form of advertising for the supplier. A few of my favorite podcasts are: Econ Talk, Futures in Biotech, Talking Robots, Security Now, This Week in Tech, and Science's general Podcasts.

Access to Quality Content

A major concern of mine is that much of the streaming video content is only available to a segmented percentage of the population. Namely, those with access to high speed Internet connections. If you take into account my argument that quality content for new web subject areas are mainly being dispersed via streaming media, this leaves people without access to high speed Internet subsequently not having access to these exciting new subject areas either.

In conclusion I think that it has never been better if you are in the computer science or electrical engineering fields. The rest of the subject areas are slowly catching up due to the nice abstraction that social media and web 2.0 are providing the common user which is leading to easier methodology for them to publish content on the web. Happy learning.