The Urban Dictionary is a great open-source dictionary of slang.  Today’s word of the day is “Social Notworking.”  This is defined as “The practice of spending time unproductively on social-networking websites, especially when one should be working,” or “When you spend all days at your job on social networking sites such as facebook,myspace and twitter.”

This is pretty funny, and doubtless “Social Notworking” occurs in a number of workplaces. However, if this is happening in your workplace, all I ask is that you don’t blame the technology and conclude that the best solution is blocking access to social networking sites. Social Notworking is a managerial problem, not a technology problem.

If a salesman spends his day making personal phone calls rather than phoning potential customers, the solution is not to take away the phone. The solution is to make clear what is and is not acceptable behavior and…

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A crisis is emerging in our schools and universities.

Traditional, one-way broadcast models of education are out-dated. Schools have not evolved as quickly as other institutions, and students are becoming disengaged as a result. Why are connected students at home suddenly disconnected at school?

How can we reinvent education for relevance and effectiveness for the 21st century?

Inspired by the work of Don Tapscott and Grown Up Digital, the Net Gen Education Challenge offers everyone an outlet through which to express their ideas and opinions about their ideal model of education. The challenge community will connect engaged participants all around the world, bringing educators, students, parents and professionals together in a global dialogue on learning. In partnership with the CBC, Flat Classroom Project, the Discovery Channel’s Educator Network and

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Figure out how to harness them.  New tools like wikis, blogs, social networks, jams, telepresence, tags, collaborative filtering, and RSS feeds can be the heart of the new high-performance workplace. Rethink management processes and design jobs and work for collaboration.  Give the Net Geners a chance to put collaborative tools to good use.

Be a good leader but understand that in some areas, you will be the student and the Net Gen employee will be the teacher.  Listen to young people. Put them in the driver’s seat alongside you when designing work spaces, processes, management systems, and collaborative working models.