The Cloud has arrived in the UK, Adobe follows the logic at BETT #winterlude3
Following previous blog post it has been confirmed that Adobe will not be at BETT 2012.
So I am beginning to realise that this Winterlude will be a bit different. There are still real events at Olympia but also links online and memories of previous occasions. I still think the theory of blended learning applies. Once in a while a face to face event contributes something.
No Highwire Press at Online Information. No Turning Pages from the British Library. Not sure how the show floor will look.
The conference continues but as the case for information being online gets stronger there is also more of a sort of conference through Twitter etc. for most of the year.
There will be an Adobe stand at :Learning Technologies but this was originally Macromedia and will probably feature Flash. The BETT stand was a rare occasion when the full range of Adobe products was available.
Adobe is now going to concentrate on Touch applications for tablets. Most seem to be for Android with Apple to follow soon. By the way Apple left BETT a couple of years ago so the Cloud has been building. Retail shops across the UK help as well of course. Some sort of face to face contact has a benefit for most brands. Will apps for tablets work as part of consumer electronics? Bundled with your phone contract?
Meanwhile Michael Gove still considers the idea that a mobile phone should be confiscated and David Cameron worries about those at the back of the class checking Facebook. Maybe apps and tablets will be outside the formal educational system in the UK and the cloud will reach us some other way.
The Adobe Education Exchange has been expanded for the UK and has a lot of resources for universities as well as schools. I found that my usual Adobe ID worked ok. I soon found a guide to a "cheatsheet" a PDF to print out yourself with a guide to avaiilable commands. Once upon a time software came in boxes with pieces of paper that explained what to do. Now there are online communities where help will turn up eventually.
So the cloud approach will probably work out ok and may suit the new range of products.
But I still like the occasional real event. Maybe Learning Technologies and BETT could get together. They already fit as spaces, just a few days to work out the difference between. But Adobe could well move on before this happens. They still have real events in California and New York. But here in the UK the cloud has arrived and we will just have to talk to each other.