Changing the world is hard work. That’s why most people don’t bother to try. We all have our share of complaints about the state of our world. Just check the Twitter stream for #cdnpoli or #elxn41 over the past few weeks, as Canadians get ready to head to the polls for the 4th time in 7 years. You’ll hear all kinds of people who want their world to be different. They are extremely vocal about how this politician is a thief and a liar and that politician is a jerk. Yet, what will likely happen on May 2nd, is we’ll end up in exactly the same position we were before – same minority government in power, same people calling the shots. Everyone wants to change the world, but very few are actually trying to actually do it. Well, then there’s Jamie Oliver. In case you haven’t heard, everyone’s favourite celebrity chef has been making progress with a problem that many people have been wanting to solve for years – childhood obesity and rampant health issues in school-age kids. He’s doing it by getting to the root of the problem – changing what is being fed to kids at school and in their homes. He got the government in the U.K. to pay attention the issue, and now he is taking on the U.S., where the obesity epidemic is at an all-time high. I won’t get into all the details here, you can follow the show “Food Revolution” and watch the story unfold. What I really want to talk about is what we can all learn from people like Jamie Oliver about creating a revolution that can change the world. You have to get really pissed off. I don’t have kids of my own, but I have lots of kids in my life. So, while I don’t have the responsibility of keeping a small human being alive and healthy, I do have enough sense to know that if you continually put garbage in your kids they are going to get sick. Unfortunately, there are a lot of parents who have not really caught onto that. There are a lot of school administrators who are more concerned about the bottom line than rising rates of diabetes and high blood pressure in 12 year olds. The state of things around food in schools is completely unacceptable to Jamie Oliver. He is pissed. But there’s a big difference between this guy and the average person. While many people would just stand idly by and throw up their hands and say, “what can I do?”, his anger prompted him to actually DO something. If you want to change the world, you have to get angry. You have to be so hot under the collar about whatever issue it is, that you can’t sleep or eat. It has to gnaw away at you. You have to get incensed, and passionate. You have to shed tears about it. And then you have to figure out what you’re going to do about it. You can’t change the world without getting super pissed off. Because when you’re angry, you’re angry because you want a situation to be different than it is. And the only way to stop being angry is to make that situation different. And the only way to do that, is to stand up and actually do something about it. You can’t take no for an answer. OK, so you’re pissed. Great! You start running around banging on doors, telling people that you’re upset with the status quo and how you want to change things. You provide seemingly simple solutions to the problem. It’s a no brainer, right? Until the door slams in your face. Repeatedly. At this point in the game, most people would give up. It’s too hard to change people. It’s too hard to change situations. There’s nothing we can do, when the people running the show have all the power. You think Jamie Oliver would have been able to convince the U.K. government to pledge to change the way things were done in schools if he’d taken no for an answer? If he’d just walked away the first time someone with “power” said no, then he’d be still sitting around being pissed off, and nothing would have been accomplished. If there’s anything I’ve learned from owning my own business the past 7 years, it’s that lots and lots of people are going to say no to you, and the more you want something, the more people are going to say no. But every time someone says no to you, it’s a tremendous opportunity. Every time a door slams in your face, you simply need to go find another door. Eventually, one of them will open for you, and stay that way. And every door that slams shut buys you more time to refine your solution. It gives you something else to look at, and helps you to see things from a perspective you may have not considered before. Nobody has ever changed the world in the first go. The word “no” is your chance to revise, adapt, and come back stronger. You have to build an army. Nobody changes the world by themselves. Sure, often the spark of an idea starts with one person, but it takes armies of people to make real change. You need to grab people’s attention and get them as pissed off as you are. Often, you can’t just tell them about it. You need to show them. Last night, Jamie Oliver, on the Season 2 premiere of his show, Food Revolution, showed people the garbage that the school system is feeding their kids. He mixed the equivalent of dog food (by-products from beef) with ammonia, and explained that this is what is used in many processed burgers – including the ones being fed to kids in schools. He then overflowed an entire school bus with 57 tonnes of sugar to show how much sugar kids are getting
Ontario Teachers Told Not to Tweet? Not Quite.
I was quite incensed this morning when I read this article from CBC News, “Ont. Teachers Being Told Not to Tweet with Students”. At first, I was ready to jump down the throat of the Ontario College of Teachers, whom the article states have produced an advisory to their members telling them to “avoid connecting on social media sites.” I quickly hopped over to the Ontario College of Teachers web site to find the report, and was both surprised and relieved by what I read. The report is not advocating “avoidance” of social media in the classroom. In fact, it clearly states otherwise, and advocates use of social media and technology in the classroom – within boundaries. The report does state some of the risks of misconduct – privacy issues, even criminal and civil legal implications. But it goes on to provide a comprehensive list of great advice and tips on proper use of technology in the classroom. The OTC even goes a step further, producing this 6 minute video, talking to teachers and experts about the benefits and risks of using social media in the classroom. As you can see, the media has gotten this story wrong. Whoever is responsible for the article clearly didn’t read the report, and simply misinterpreted the last paragraph of the article, which states, “Maintaining professional boundaries in all forms of communication, technology-related or not, is vital to maintaining the public trust and appropriate professional relationships with students.” Let’s hope the CBC and other news outlets who have the story wrong post corrections ASAP. The bottom line is, the OCT is stating that technology, including social media, when used appropriately in the classroom environment, can be very beneficial to both students and teachers. And they are absolutely right.
You DO Have Time for Social Media
The number one issue that I hear from people who are just getting started in social media is that it takes too much time. This issue has been even more prevalent lately it seems, as more and more people start to figure out how to incorporate social media into their business. We’re all getting the strategy part down – we’ve set our goals and objectives, and built a solid plan that takes into account resources, timelines, costs, and yes, person-hours. It’s the person-hours where people tend to get stuck. “It’s going to take me how many hours per day/week/month to build an online presence? I’m working too many hours a week as it is!”, is the most common response to the hours debate. I’m not going to lie. Rolling out that social media strategy IS going to take time. If you’ve done a good job on the strategy, you probably have an idea of how MUCH time it’s going to take, too. But you can’t throw in the towel just because you don’t think you can find extra hours in the week. You need to find a way. How Badly Do You Want It? No, seriously. How badly do you want this? You’ve read all the books, subscribed to all the blogs. You’ve seen how the experts do things. You’ve taken the time to come up with a strategy. But how much do you really want to rock the Twitter? How badly do you really want to make your Facebook page or your blog an interactive and fun place for your customers to hang out and learn things, and hopefully buy what you’re selling? My guess is, you want to make your social media strategy successful. But you have to really want this success, before you’ll realize that it’s going to take lots of time and lots of effort to make it happen. Overnight successes are few and far between. Odds are, you won’t be one. But if you want this badly enough, you’ll be willing to put in the hours it really takes to be successful online. If you aren’t sure how badly you want it, go back and revisit the goals you wrote in your social media strategy as much as you need to get it cemented in your brain. You’ve Got to Find It. It sounds cliché, but it’s 100% the truth. If you really want to make a go of this social media thing, you’ve got to find the time. There are no shortcuts to this stuff. I started out playing around with social media in 2007. I am entirely self taught, through watching smart people, reading tons of books and blogs, but mostly, by putting what I’ve learned into practice and gaining experience as I went. I just hit my 50,000th tweet on Twitter last week. I’ve written over a thousand blog posts for various different blogs, including this one. Some people look at those numbers and judge, “Wow, she must have an awful lot of time on her hands”. Yes, I do have time on my hands, despite working many, many hours a week at 3 different jobs, and spending quality time with my family and friends. I’ve got the time, because it’s time I made. As someone who works in the media and communications field, learning and exploring social media is a priority. I’ve put the time in for the past 4 years solid, and I don’t consider any second of it a waste. I’ve met so many new people and created new, significant business opportunities for our company because of the time and energy I’ve put into this space. And I’m committed to continuing to find the time to create, share, and grow here. Some of you may remember a time before voicemail and email. I know I do. When I got my first phone with voicemail at work, I thought to myself, “How am I ever going to find the time to check messages and return calls?”. When I got my first email account at work, I thought, “I definitely don’t have time to read and respond to emails every single day.” Now, we couldn’t live without email and voicemail. It’s become integrated into our lives – a habit. You have to treat social media the same way. Sure, it’s new, and it takes up your time. But like returning calls and responding or writing emails, when managed properly, it can serve to propel your business forward in some very positive ways. So find a way to make the time. Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day. Many people get overwhelmed by social media. There are so many tools, and so much conflicting information about what you should and shouldn’t do, that you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders wondering what to do next. You get stuck because you’re trying to do all of it, and eventually succeeding at nothing. Just pick one thing to start with. Maybe you’re curious about Twitter, so pick that. Sign up for an account, post a picture and profile and a few tweets (not just links to your own stuff, but maybe a bit about your day, a link to an interesting article, etc.). Then go do some searches around things that interest you. Search for people in your city or town. Follow them (following someone on Twitter is like a handshake – don’t be shy to say hi!). Join the conversation. Try it for a week or two (and forget about Facebook and blogging and everything else for now). Spend some time every day on Twitter (schedule it in your calendar if you have to). Before you know it, it will start to become like email – just something you check in with a couple of times a day. It will become routine. Once you’ve got the hang of Twitter (trust me, it won’t take you long), then give Facebook a whirl for a couple of weeks. By then, you’ll be
How to Become an Expert in Anything
Experts get a bad rap these days. The online culture has turned calling someone an “expert” or a “guru” into a bad thing. Somewhere along the way, being seen as an expert at something (or worse yet, calling yourself an expert), became equated to being a jerk. And I’m not sure how that happened. Frankly, I don’t have an issue with experts. As jerky as this may sound (see, I have to defend it – weird, eh?), I don’t mind it when I’m occasionally called an expert at something. I’m sure you don’t mind being called an expert so much either, right? (It’s okay, I won’t think you’re a jerk either). After all, like me, you’ve worked hard to know what you know. There’s a funny contradiction here. For all the people who say, “down with experts!”, there are many, many people who actually would like to develop expertise in certain things. My Dad, Expert My Dad is an expert at lots of things. He was an expert at what he did for a living, and now, in his retirement, he continues to develop his expertise in many things, like carpentry, digital photo editing, and Greek Mythology. Want to know his secret? Here you go…. Read, Then Read Some More Just about every birthday and Christmas present I’ve ever given my Dad has been a book of some sort. My Dad LOVES to read. He reads and reads and reads. He’ll get into the odd novel, but most of what he reads is non-fiction, and he’s really big into history. He knows an awful lot about things like the 2nd World War, the Romans, and Greek Mythology. After he and Mom retired, they started to travel the world. He read and read and read about the history of the places they were visiting. I’d call him an expert on these things, though he may not agree. Suffice it to say he can recount historical facts and stories like nobody’s business. My Dad has always been of the mindset that you can learn about anything you want by reading – and this was before the Internet! Today, we are so fortunate to have access to anything….ANYTHING we want to learn, at our fingertips, 24/7. Libraries full of information are literally in the palm of our hands. You want to learn something? You have so many choices! Start with Google. Go to the library. And do what Dad does – read and read and read. You’ll soon find that you know more than you could ever imagine. And don’t tell me you don’t have time to read – we all have time, every day when we are waiting. And now, we have audio books, so we can read when we’re stuck in traffic too! Open a book every time you are waiting, and you’ll find that you have more time than you thought. Be Curious My Dad has always loved to take pictures. Our family has thousands and thousands of photos. Every time him and Mom go traveling, he comes back with hundreds more. As the digital era dawned, Dad became curious about the potential to be able to use a computer to manipulate his photos. My brother helped him find a good computer and got him set up with some photo editing software. He many spent hours learning how to use the software. He made plenty of mistakes. When he got really stuck, he’d call me or my brother for help (which we were always happy to do). Eventually, he got really good at it. Now, he’s got albums full of great photos, embellished with scrapbook-style graphics, that tell stories of his and Mom’s travels and adventures. He didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars on the tools or the training – he has just never lost his child-like curiosity for how things work, and he put in the hours to figure it out. I think one of the things we lose first as we get older is our curiosity. We think old dogs can’t learn new tricks, and our stubbornness prevents us from taking on new challenges. We use excuses like, we’re too busy, or we aren’t techy enough, or we’re afraid of failing, so we decide to hide our curiosity away and just stick with the status quo. The truth is, to become an expert at anything, you have to be curious first. You have to redevelop your sense of wonder about things. You have to realize that it’s okay to not know something, but that being curious about it is the first step to mastery. Because eventually, your curiosity will get the best of you – and you’ll HAVE to know more. Learn by Doing As long as I can remember, my Dad has always built things. I remember when I was a kid, he built desks for me and my brother, so we could do our school work. He builds stuff for the garden, like bird feeders and pergolas. He’s done most of the renovations on his and Mom’s house himself. He’s built doors for our shed and a cabinet for our bathroom. How did he learn to build things? He might tell you he took a workshop somewhere along the way, I don’t remember. But most of what he knows about carpentry he learned by what he’d call “OJT – On the Job Training”. He just did it. He made lots of mistakes – I’m sure he could tell you some stories. But perseverance and many many hours paid off, and now, he can build just about anything. A few times a week, someone says to me that they don’t know enough about social media and the Internet. They seem to have no idea how to get started. They ask me how I became such an “expert” at this stuff, and are surprised when I tell them that I am completely self-taught. I learned by listening to smart people and watching what they were doing.
TV Is Not Dead
You hear it all the time. YouTube serves up hundreds of millions of videos per day. Video blogs are more popular than ever. And mainstream TV, with it’s so-called reality junk food shows like Jersey Shore, and endless reruns of Jerry Springer, is becoming redundant, is often repulsive, and ultimately will be rendered obsolete within a matter of a few years. Not so fast. TV isn’t going anywhere. Yes, the Web has brought about a revolution in the way people consume video. Filmmakers are taking to the Internet to promote, release, and sell their feature films. Indeed, lots of people nowadays spend far more time getting their news and information from the Internet and far less time watching their 6pm local newscast. Just 8 years ago, I can remember struggling to post videos online – the file sizes were immense, the quality was poor, and the pipe simply wasn’t big enough to handle the amount of data that video created. We’ve come far in a very short amount of time. Online video truly is a revolution, but it’s not a replacement for television. Not at all. And here’s why: Convergence is Here A few years ago, convergence was the big buzzword. All the major media folk were talking about how mainstream TV was going to merge with the Web and what a threat that would be to the industry. They predicted that within 2 or 3 years we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between what we were watching online and what we were watching on our 60″ plasma. Nobody would have to watch ads anymore and television as we know it would be dead on the table. Well that hasn’t exactly happened. While it’s true you can watch YouTube videos on your big screen now, and tools like Netflix and AppleTV are bridging the gap between traditional consumption of media and Web-delivered media, there’s still a big distinction with conventional, ad-driven television, and the cable companies and media moguls like it that way. With that said, though, there’s a different kind of convergence happening with television – and it’s one that I like a lot. You see, one of the things the media empires didn’t bank on was social media. They didn’t guess that within 5 years of their convergence debates, the floodgates of anyone, anywhere, anytime publishing would open wide. Social TV Television merged with social media is a whole different beast. It’s not TV online. It’s TV inline. We are still watching our favourite shows, commercials and all, and why? Because our friends are watching them too. Just look at what FourSquare was able to do with the SuperBowl. Or what the Vancouver Olympics achieved, with real-time commentary and conversation via Twitter. And look at the Oscars – same thing via multiple streams – blogs, Facebook and Twitter played a huge role in that event. The real time stream of conversation means I can watch television now with 100 million of my closest friends. It’s like a virtual bowl of popcorn, that we’re all able to dip our hands into while we gather around our respective boob tubes. But it doesn’t even take a major network event to see the real benefits of the social channel when it comes to TV watching. Check out the cast and crew of the best sitcom on TV, The Big Bang Theory who are on Twitter. Every week, not only do we see photos of the cast rehearsing posted, but we get to sit down with the cast, crew and fans at 8pm ET every week and watch the show with them. We can follow the conversation in real time. We can laugh together, and post our favourite quotes. No longer do we have to wait to relive the episode at the water cooler tomorrow. The water cooler is online now. And in the spirit of merging social with the show, Anthony Bourdain, beloved host of the hit travel/food show “No Reservations”, has hijacked his own Twitter account (it used to be run by his “people”) and the other night, live-tweeted the entire episode of his show in real time as it was airing. His witty and often crass sense of humour, and comical banter with other viewers, was not only wildly entertaining, it made me realize one very important point that will please every broadcaster in the world. 90% of people who PVR shows skip through the commercials. But if the host of the show is conversing with fans WHILE the show is running – people will be far more inclined to watch the show when it airs…and that includes the commercials. Can you say #winning? This, my friends, is the future of television. It’s not going to be some hybrid mashup of laughing babies, William Shatner and Kenny from South Park. It’s going to be real people, in real time, really experiencing all that television still has to offer. So don’t you worry, TV. You were my first love, and you will remain that way. [photo credit: hellabella on Flickr]
With Glowing Hearts: A Social Media Film You Need To See
I’ve known Andrew Lavigne for 21 years. We almost went to college together – I was accepted to Algonquin College for TV Broadcasting and I’d have been in the same class as Andy. I opted to attend the same program at Loyalist College instead – being only 17 at the time, my parents and I felt I was a bit too young to move out to a strange city to attend college. Close to home was best. I was lucky though – mine and Andrew’s paths would cross eventually, when we both wound up working for Skyline Cablevision’s community TV channel. Andy started out as a camera guy – I was a producer. We worked on countless productions together over the years, and even interviewed the Barenaked Ladies together (before they were famous). He and I became fast and great friends. Even back in those early days, Andrew had the directing bug. He was a visionary – always coming up with new and clever ways to tell a visual story. I knew even then that he was destined to move on from community TV and do great things. Flash forward 20 years and Andy now has a successful career in the film industry in Vancouver. He works regularly on feature films and TV commercials. I know he loves his job, but more than anything, I always knew he wanted to make his own film. So two years ago, when I first heard about “With Glowing Hearts“, I was thrilled that his dream was finally coming true. The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver was a transformative time for the city. Years of planning, money, and effort were culminating in a world class event, taking place right on Andrew’s doorstep. But he knew there was more to the story than the flash and pizzaz of the Games themselves. So, armed with a Canon 5D MkII, Andrew and producer Jon Onroy set out to Vancouver’s Downtown East Side – one of the lowest-income regions in Canada – and the one of the places the Olympics would be taking centre stage. The 2010 Olympics has been dubbed by many as the “Social Media Olympics”. It was the first Games where the impact of social networks on the coverage of the event would be truly noticeable. With hundreds of millions of people taking to the online airwaves of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube, the world would no longer see the Games through only the eyes of big media. Now, everyone had a voice. Everyone was a publisher – especially those whose lives were being affected by the Games themselves, and especially the residents of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. With Glowing Hearts is the story of the people of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, as they set out to find their voice inside one of the largest events on the planet. Using social media, the people of this tightly-knit neighbourhood strive to be recognized as a credible, alternative media voice amongst the noise of the mainstream. Just 5 years prior, what they achieved during the Olympics would simply not have been possible, but their use of technology and the social Web gave them unprecedented access to tell their stories; stories of being on the fringes of life during a major world event, stories of community and camaraderie, and stories of hope. If you have even a remote interest in social media and the true power of these tools to create movements and build awareness, you MUST see this film. Andrew and Jon have brought together an incredible group of big voices, who tell an extremely important story about how technology has transformed the way that they bring attention to their own personal struggles and awareness to the larger issue of poverty within marginalized communities. With Glowing Hearts is currently seeking wider distribution, however arrangements can be made directly with Andrew for community screenings and access to see the film. Contact him on Twitter @andrewlavigne or pre-order your copy of the film on their web site here. Please see this film.
Digital Literacy Is In Crisis
It’s easy for those of us that live on the Web. We know all the tricks. We spend hours, days, months, years, discussing and analyzing and thinking and applying. We not only know how to use the tools, we understand the implications. We get that there’s a revolution taking place. In part, we’re all creating it. And what we don’t understand, we are able to figure out, because we are comfortable moving and weaving inside this virtual space. It’s not like that for everyone. In fact, it’s not like that for most people. We’re the anomaly. We’re on the fringes. It’s hard to tell because people talk in vast numbers. Not millions. Hundreds of millions. Billions, even. Everyone is doing it…but not everyone understands it. On Friday I attended the Canadian Internet Forum, put on by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), keepers of .ca, and representatives of Canada on the world stage when it comes to Internet governance. It was a fascinating day, full of insightful speakers and thoughtful, open dialogue. It’s a great thing that CIRA is consulting with Canadians, discussing important topics such as governance, IPv6, and digital literacy. As a teacher, it’s digital literacy that is closest to my heart. There’s a common misconception that people these days, particularly the younger generation, have a high level of digital literacy. Sure, your three-year old knows how to use an iPad, and the average 20 year old sends 5000 text messages a month, but that doesn’t mean that they are digitally “literate”. One of the best talks of the day was given by Dr. Gerri Sinclair, who is an esteemed expert on Digital Media and in particular, literacy as it pertains to the digital world. She said one thing during her talk that really struck home with me. Digital literacy is not just about knowing how to use the tools – and I’m paraphrasing – it’s about understanding the implications of digital technology and the impact it is having, and will have, on every aspect of our lives. There’s a lot of emphasis these days on teaching computer skills at all levels, from K-12 through post-secondary. The terrain has changed significantly in a very short amount of time. It’s a fact that curricula need be adjusted across the board to include more emphasis on digital technologies. In the old days, Reading, Writing and ‘Rithmetic were the staples of a good education. Documentaries like “Waiting for Superman”, which highlight the failing U.S. school system, suggest that perhaps the old methods of teaching don’t work anymore for today’s connected youth. Young peoples’ brains work differently now than they did back in the 50’s. We are connected to our world in a completely different way. In the 50’s, students interacted with the books in the library (which were often outdated), their teacher, and the 20 or 30 classmates in the desks around them. Today, they interact with the entire world, instantaneously, and all the time. Interaction has forever changed, but unfortunately, the education system has remained largely the same. Today, we are students of the world. We are not just consumers of information; we are publishers, creators, broadcasters, and yes, influencers. There’s a great, wide, gigantic disconnect between what we’re teaching our students and what is reality. The truth is, though most people think kids these days get the digital world, we are actually breeding a generation of digital illiterates. How? We are not teaching them how to really understand and use the tools. We are only teaching them how to click buttons. We need to be teaching our students, at all levels, not just how to click and poke, but how to communicate, and interact, and build relationships in a connected world. We need to be teaching how to tell a story that compels people to pay attention, and to act. We need to be showing them how to leverage the connectedness of our planet to seek new opportunities, open career paths, and make real change in the world. Clicking buttons does not equal success. We are doing a great disservice to our students by continuing to teach them only the how’s. We need to be teaching them the why’s. The solution to this crisis begins with teachers, and this is where the gap widens even more. Teachers are in a terrible predicament, because they are in a position where they’re still trying to figure this stuff out themselves. The Web is still so young. None of us has more than 15 years of experience at it. The technology, trends, and philosophies behind the Web change at lightning speed. Teachers are simply not equipped to bridge the gap of digital literacy, because they have fallen into the gap. It’s time to make some changes. If we’re going to solve this, we need to start by demanding that our education systems put more emphasis on training teachers about not just HOW to function in a digital world, but WHY it’s important. We need to take the average educator from button-pushing to truly understanding the fundamental changes that are happening in the way we communicate, connect, market, and build relationships with one another. And it’s those of us who have lived and breathed the Web for the past several years who are in a position to lead this charge. We’re the ones who can set the wheels in motion. We have the resources, experience, strength, and most importantly, the understanding. We can help. Who’s with me? [photo credit: vaXzine on Flickr]
Do You Appreciate Your Intellectual Freedom?
Last night I attended a great event put on by my good friends Bob LeDrew and Cheryl Gain. Censored Out Loud brought local musicians and writers to a small stage at the Raw Sugar Cafe in Ottawa, where they freely expressed themselves, reading and performing works that, over the years, have come under scrutiny and censorship, and in some cases, where the creators of the works have been jailed or even tortured because of their words. The event was a fundraiser for PEN Canada and is part of Freedom To Read Week, which runs from February 20th – 26th. The whole event got me thinking a lot about our intellectual freedom as participants in the social Web. Last night reminded me how many people in the world do not have the freedom to write or say what they want. There are a few who will do it any way, and risk the severe punishment. But many people are so fearful of the consequences, that they simply choose to stay silent. Along with many of you, I live in a country where I am free to set up this blog, and proceed to write my thoughts on anything I like. I don’t need to fear persecution or torture or death for my words. In fact, I don’t even think about these things as being a possibility when I write. I just write. Our intellectual freedom is not something to be taken lightly – and yet, so many of us do just that. We post things on our blogs, or Twitter, or Facebook, and sometimes, people are very critical. They call us out for the things we’ve said or done. We throw hissy fits over what this person said in a comment, or what that person did or didn’t do on their Twitter feed. We question people’s ethics because of one mis-step. We are quick to point out fault in others, especially those who are successful. Often, our first reaction is to get our backs up – we take their criticisms personally, and get super defensive. The whole thing falls apart, and feelings get hurt. But for what? One of the things I love most about social media is that it enables dialogue and discourse. We can have heated debates, passionate conversations, and everyone has the intellectual freedom to make their views known. We are very fortunate indeed that our free society allows for this. So, when I see folks slamming and bashing each other online, gossiping, and engaging in generally un-constructive critical behaviour, I can’t help but feel we’re missing the point. I’m not trying to be all self-righteous about this – I am as guilty of some of these things as others. But when I stop to think about the fact that my fight to free speech and intellectual freedom – the right my Grandfathers fought for – is being used to cut others down, instead of moving conversations and debates forward, and making real change, I am saddened. I’m sad for all of those people who don’t have the same rights we do. I wonder if they had this right, if they would abuse it the way we sometimes do. Out here on the social Web, most of us are extremely fortunate to have the right to speak freely. It’s not a right we should ever take for granted. I for one am going to make more effort to respect my right to intellectual freedom. I’m going to make some changes in the way I do things, and the conversations I choose to be part of. Your thoughts?
The Culture of Recommendation: Has It Gone Too Far?
Isn’t it incredible that the Web has afforded us the ability to find any bit of information we desire? It’s all at our fingertips; at any given time, we are mere moments from having the answers we seek about just about anything. Not only that, but the social Web has given us an extra layer, one that has become so ingrained in our online world that it’s easy to miss – the culture of recommendation. No longer do we have to waste precious seconds calling up Google, typing in keywords and browsing through countless search results. No, now we can just crowdsource everything we need! Want to know what movie you should see this weekend? Ask Facebook. What should you eat for dinner tonight? Yelp knows! Should you wear the pink sweater or the blue one? You don’t have to decide – you can just ask Twitter! This doesn’t just happen when we crowdsource our lives. The culture of recommendation has permeated every aspect of our online existence. Ads appear on sites you surf based on your browsing history. Tools like GetGlue and even YouTube incorporate sophisticated recommendation engines that push content to you based on the things you like. Many people see this as a good thing. It’s the personalization of content, serving up the things the system thinks you’ll dig, and pointing out and making recommendations on what you should consume. Recommendations may make the WWW go round, but at what point are we simply shutting down our own opinions in lieu of what everyone else thinks? Sure, I love to hear what my friends have to say about stuff as much as the next person, but is it possible that we’re taking the opinions of our friends too far? Are we losing sight of our own preferences, our own tastes, our own values, because we think everyone else knows better? What happens when our online experience starts to become based solely on content that is fed to us because at some point previously, someone (or some computer program) thought we’d be interested and recommended it to us? At what point do we simply shut down our own desire to seek out new things, and just decide to be passively spoon-fed, much in the same way that mass media spoon fed us back in the old days? It seems to me, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. What say you? [photo credit: scribbletaylor on Flickr]
Find The Pieces
I love to learn about science. I was never very good at it back in school, so I sometimes feel like I have missed out on a lot. But between documentaries, Wikipedia, and a couple of smart scientist friends (I’m looking at you, Boyd and Treena!) I’m able to get a pretty good dose of science when I’m feeling inclined and curious. I love to learn about how the world works, and ultimately, of course, that’s what science is. I was thinking the other day how much we take for granted all the things that science affords us – from the food we put on our plates, to the technology being used to type this post – none of it would be possible without the laws of nature. It’s kind of cool when you consider it that way, eh? Then, I was struck by another realization. Have you ever stopped to consider that, everything we have in our world -everything ever invented, born, created, thought, or built – has been created from things that exist on our planet? Working with only the tools we have on this Earth, we have built the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids, flown to space and back, and cured Polio. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. We have access to everything we need to accomplish anything right here, on this planet. Yet, in spite of having everything we need at our disposal, we still spend so much time wishing we understood things better, knew as much as other people, and that things would be so much better if only we knew how to [insert desired skill here]. Sure, there are limitations – lots of them. Lack of money and lack of time are two of the biggest obstacles people cite as the reasons they can’t do what they want to or need to do. Indeed, these can seem like insurmountable challenges. But of course they are not. Lack of money and lack of time are perceptions. Lots of people who have no money do amazing things all the time. And plenty of people who are incredibly busy often make us wonder if they have more than 24 hours in their day, for all of the things they are able to accomplish. Lack of anything is merely a perception, which means that lack of anything can be overcome with enough time, motivation, and, most importantly, I think – enough information. It’s like a puzzle; the solution is always there. The trick is, we just haven’t yet found all the pieces we need to solve the puzzle. And the problem is, so many of us are operating from a place of lack – “I can’t do this because I don’t know how.”, “Mr. Guru Guy knows so much more than me, I’ll never measure up.”, “I’m not a techie.” I hear these excuses on an almost daily basis. But the truth is, we have been given a place to live that, although sometimes horribly unkind, contains every piece of information, every bit of actual stuff that we need to succeed in whatever we set our minds to. We have the ability to search for, and experiment with, any part of this world. We can use our curiosity, our passion, and our brains to invent, re-invent, create, and mold and shape our experience. We have the ability to choose to make the time and find the money to bring the things we imagine into reality. It’s our planet, and we are lucky enough to get to play with it. So, if the world has already provided you with everything you need – what are you waiting for? Go find the pieces you need.