what does derive real mean?

Question

Social learning, informal learning and social networking have become some of the hottest buzzwords in the learning industry today. The social concept in its entirety is being touted as the next best thing, a must-have, but is it all that it’s cracked up to be? Can social networking be successfully incorporated into learning strategies? How difficult is implementation and social networking adoption across organizations? Further, will organizations be able to derive real and demonstrable value from social networking technology as competitive differentiation?

is it mean to extract something real?

Answer 1

At its most basic level, to derive is to get something from something else. Derive has two different primary ideas:

1. To extract or obtain something from something else: "I derive pleasure from riding my bike"

2. To create something based on or out of something else: "The 4790 CPU is derived from the 4770 CPU."

Meaning #2 is where we get words like "derivative," meaning "something that was derived from something else." This term is often negative, implying a lack of original thought or creativity.

Also, I think some of your confusion over this sentence comes from your grouping. The sentence is not this: "...able to (derive real) and (demonstrable value) from social networking..." Instead, it is logically grouped like this: "...able to (derive) (real and demonstrable value) from social networking..."

"Real" is modifying "demonstrable value," that is, the value being derived is both real and demonstrable.