As some of you who read this blog know, I got my start in community access television. At 19 years old, I was hired to be what they call a “staff” producer. My job was to work with volunteers who wanted to produce TV shows. These were people from all walks of life, who would come to the station once, twice, three times a week or even more, and give freely of their time to create engaging content for our little station. They would shoot, edit, direct, and write. I would help them with the finer points of putting a TV show on the air, but essentially most of the hard work was done by them. Not to say that my job wasn’t time consuming – I had, at one point, 5 weekly half hour shows to produce, and 2 bi-weekly shows. I worked, on a good week, 75-85 hours. I got paid crap. I was a kid, though, so I handled it without too much complaining – after all, it was a job in TV, and in 1990, I was ahead of most of the people I went to college with. This post was inspired by something that happened to me on Facebook the other day. I was invited to join a group. Not just any group – a group of people from my old job at the cable access station – many of whom I really never thought I’d see, hear or speak to again. Now that I’m in the group, I couldn’t be happier about reconnecting with this part of my past. What has dawned on me over the past few days, as I’ve viewed photos and shared memories with my old gang, is that what we were doing back in the heydays of community cable was really special. We had no budget. We made no money. But, week after week, we put out good content. Here’s the kicker. We didn’t care if one person watched our show, or if 1000 people watched our show. If someone called the viewer comment line, we were ecstatic – even if they were calling to complain that they didn’t like our show. At least they were watching. Somehow, we managed to engage people, for better or for worse. Flash forward 18 years. Here I am, at 9:30 on a Wednesday night (coincidentally the same time and day that I used to produce my weekly local music show, “Soundtrack”), writing this blog post. I am again, producing content, hopefully good content. I am making no money at it. I don’t care if 1 person reads this or if 100 people read it. I am ecstatic if someone leaves a comment, even if it’s to complain that they don’t like what I’m saying. At least someone’s reading it. And, somehow, I’m managing to engage people, for better or for worse. I think I just figured out why I love social media so much.
This Changes Everything
As Americans head to the polls today, I am struck by something that I think is pretty profound. For the first time, the Internet is really changing the way this election day is unfolding. Not just for Americans, but for everyone. Sitting up here in the Great White North, I often wonder why the U.S. elections are such a big deal to non-Americans. Well, people say that the U.S. President is the most powerful man on the planet. I guess that is a compelling reason. As one of the closest neighbours, what happens down there definitely affects what goes on up here. In the past, I remember tuning in to CNN on the night of the election to hear the results. Sometimes, if I got tired of the rhetoric, I’d turn over to the CBC to get the Canadian perspective. That pretty much summed up my consumption of election coverage. Now, the Conversation Age is upon us…and this changes everything. Here’s why: You’re all Reporters Now. Christopher Penn of Marketing over Coffee and the Financial Aid Podcast is live on location this morning at his local polling station taking photos with his “nikon and flash”. Someone asked him if he was a reporter. I’m not sure what he said in reply, but I definitely would have said yes! His photo report is online at his blog here. What Chris is providing is a real live account of people’s experience, with no spin, no rhetoric, and no flashy advertisements. He’s capturing a moment and sharing it with the world. And we’re lapping it up. Beats the hell out of CNN, if you ask me. If you see Chris today, buy him a coffee. Or six. He’s working hard to get the real story to you. The Body of Influence has Changed. People are influenced by many factors when it comes to deciding who to vote for. Number one is probably the media, only because they are the loudest. Unfortunately with current media biases in the major news networks, this becomes an ineffective way to get the whole truth. Secondary is by listening to the candidates themselves, which can be equally confusing once the spin doctors do their work. Third, we listen to the people around us. We have discussions at family dinners, in coffee shops, over the water cooler…and we learn from others what the issues are and are influenced one direction or another. Well, people, the space around the water cooler is a lot bigger now. Even if you have never used Twitter before, go to Twitter Search (you don’t need an account) and type “vote”, or “Obama”, or “McCain” in the search field. There’s your body of influence now. It’s Gone Global. I know some people will be out of sorts with this one. The world does NOT have the right to vote for the U.S. President, obviously. Some would say that it’s inappropriate to even ask this question. After all, do I really want to know or even really care what people on other countries decide? If this was done for Canadian elections, I might say, “It’s my country, my leader, my choice”. But three guys in Iceland decided to ask the question anyway and set up the site “If the world could vote?“. As far as game changers go, this one is by far the most profound in my opinion. Not because it gives people in other countries a voice. But because it allows a snapshot of public opinion in the blink of an eye. This tool allows people from all over the whole world to voice their opinion. Forget the U.S. elections. Imagine the applications of this kind of tool. And the implications. Well, that’s my take on the transformation that’s happening around us. It remains to be seen if the influence of the Internet will really have an impact at the end of the day on who gets into power. But one thing I do know – it’s definitely going to be an interesting ride from here on in.
Random Suzemusings
Just some stuff I’ve been thinking about tonight: Will any of this political stuff still matter to people in a month, two months, six months, once the media circus dies down? Or will we just go on about our lives? Will I ever be able to play barre chords without a big pause in between to reset my fingers? If people start to bail on Twitter because of ad schemes like #magpie, will people just find another Twitter? Why are more Canadians talking about the U.S. election than talked about our own election? Are we spending too much time analyzing everything and not enough time doing actual stuff? If I was going to live somewhere other than Ottawa, I’d live (in no particular order) in Calgary, Halifax, St. John’s, Cincinnati, Boston or Melbourne. I have exactly 23 days left to be 37, and exactly 23 days to figure out how I am going to make 38 the best year yet. I’m open to suggestions. I wonder if flannel pajamas will ever be socially acceptable as business attire. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Do people use things like Twitter because they are interested in other people’s lives or interested in telling the world how interesting their life is. Or both? Why do we spend so much time wondering what’s coming next? Maybe we should focus more on what’s happening now. That’s it. My stream of consciousness substituting for a blog post tonight. Feel free to contribute your own musings in the comments. I’ll be back soon with a real post.
Why Angle is Important
I love the way Oliver Stone shoots his movies. Every shot has about 4 or 5 different meanings. The more times you watch the film, the more you pick up on those meanings. Last night, hubby and I went to see “W.“. Aside from being a brilliant and, in my opinion, Oscar worthy film, it was, for me, the TV and film geek, a study in camera angles. One thing that was blatantly clear to me was that whenever Stone did a scene with George Bush Sr. (James Cromwell), he shot Cromwell from a low camera angle, looking up. This was particularly noticeable in scenes where Cromwell and W (Josh Brolin) appeared together. Shooting someone from a low angle makes them look larger than life. It also makes them appear powerful. Stone’s angle choice was intentional and ironic – it served to make the junior Bush, the most powerful man in the world, appear weak only in the eyes of one man – his father. The angle at which we view our lives, be it personal or professional, is no different. If we constantly view things from below, looking up at other people who appear more popular, more successful, more wealthy, or more happy than us, then we impose upon ourselves feelings of incompetence, self doubt, depression. Conversely, if we come at things from above, looking down on others who we perceive to be less intelligent, less successful, less competent, we then impose upon ourselves an irrational sense of superiority. However, if we come at life straight on, on an even level with everyone else, then a few interesting things happen. We stop comparing ourselves to everyone else. Nobody is better, nobody is worse. We stop making assumptions about other people and instead just get to know them for who they are. We no longer feel as if people are judging us. We feel good about what we have to offer and excited about what other people have to offer too. Next time you meet someone, consider the angle at which you are looking at them. Are you up high looking down, so you can feel better about yourself? Are you down low, so you lack confidence and feel judged? If your angle is off, you need to change it. You need to set your angle at eye level with that other person. Only then can you truly be yourself, and allow them to do the same. Only then, can you be open to whatever comes your way.
Stop With the Scrambling Already!
I don’t rant much on this blog. But I’m about to…so if you’re not in the mood, then you might as well mark this one read. If you don’t mind, though, I’m going to speak my mind on this one, because it’s bugging me. I’ve been noticing some disturbing trends on my travels around the Internetz lately. There seems to be a lot of scrambling going on. People seem rather preoccupied with trying to be the next, big, popular thing. Some are trying to elbow their way to the top of the blogosphere. Others are hacking together web applications faster than you can say “cloud computing”. Still others are using the number of Twitter followers they have as some kind of currency, declaring some sort of social media bankruptcy if they discover that a so-called A-lister has stopped following them. I sign up for one web app after another, hoping to find what it is that’s going to be new and different and great about this one. I watch as the same “Top Ten Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Social Media” fly around on people’s blogs. I sit back and watch inane, petty conversations taking place about what so and so said or whose follow list is bloated. Now, of course, I’m not talking about ALL blogs, ALL applications and ALL online conversations. Of course, there are still many, many excellent, amazing, thought provoking things going on – otherwise I’d have checked out long ago. Those who know me know I’m not one to b$%tch and complain about stuff without providing something positive. So, to those who insist on beating a dead horse, talking in the same circles, and thinking that simply building it means people will come, I offer some positive advice. Be a Problem Solver. Building something just because you can is no reason to build it. Building something that 100 other people have already done is no reason to build it (Unless you know can build it far better). I see plenty of web applications around that are designed to solve problems that nobody has. Want to build the next great web application? Look around you. Find something that bugs you. Find out if it’s bugging other people too. Then build something that fixes it. Be Original. There are times when it’s good to be a bandwagon jumper. For instance, if someone is promoting a worthwhile charity then by all means, get on that bandwagon – shout it from the rooftops, blog about it, Retweet to your heart’s content. No worthy cause ever suffers from too much promotion and attention. HOWEVER…is there really any need to re-hash the same content over and over again? It’s fine to talk about the impact social media is having in the business world. But I want to hear your own take on it. If I want to hear what Seth has to say about it, he’s got an abundance of books and blog posts to which I can refer. Guys like Seth Godin have made their success on giving original thought to things – my bet is, you can give it a go too. Be Real. The blogs I like to read and the people I like to talk to are the ones who I know are the same off the Web as they are on the Web. They aren’t trying to put some sort of faux image of themselves out there. They aren’t trying to be an A-lister (even though they might very well be). What they are doing is contributing something of value to the community. They are being accessible, helpful and open with people. They are being human. You’re pretty interesting, I bet. Put that persona on the shelf and just be you instead. Stop Trying to Be Popular. As much as I’d like to say that it’s not a popularity contest, I fear that many people feel it is. Someone mentioned today she tries to keep her Twitter follow list small, because she wants to work on building relationships with people she feels have a contribution to make. I think she has a very valid point. It’s not about how many people subscribe to your blog. It’s not about how many followers you have. It’s about making connections, communication, collaboration. There’s no need to try to “fit in” with the cool folks here. Everyone is pretty cool. So stop trying so hard to get everyone’s attention all the time. Just get in and start having some conversations. It’s a much more fulfilling approach and you’ll be surprised how many new opportunites come your way. So that’s my rant…I feel better now. If you’re still here, thanks for sticking around till the end. Tell the ones that didn’t make it to here that it wasn’t so bad… 🙂
Why I Blog
Recently, I’ve had a few people ask me why I write this blog. Of course, there’s no one definitive answer I can give. But just the asking of the question has made me sit back and ponder, what’s this all about? Why do I sit down at my computer a few times a week and type some words for the world to see? What was my outlet before this forum existed (or did I even have one?). Here’s what I’ve come up with. I am a writer. It’s what I do. Just about everything I do involves writing on one level or another. I write proposals to land new business for our company. I write strategies for our clients. I write content for web sites, videos, and TV shows. I write press releases, communications plans and marketing materials when I’m called on to do so. I write because that’s how I make my living. And considering I almost flunked out of English in the 11th grade, I guess maybe I write because I was told for so long that I wasn’t any good at it. Not a day goes by where I’m not writing. If I wasn’t able to write, I don’t really know what else I would do. My point is, this blog is a way that I can explore writing on my terms. No editors, except me. No clients to please. It’s what I want to write, when I want to write it. I am amazed that this even exists. In 1996, my older brother showed me the Internet for the first time. He brought me into the computer room, sat me down, and showed me a page of black text on a grey background. I wasn’t overly impressed. Then he told me that what I was looking at was actually sitting on a computer somewhere in Germany. It’s the first time in my life that I can remember being truly in awe about technology. 12 years later, I am still in awe. I’ve been able to carve out a little space here, where I can yammer on and share what’s inside my head with anyone who will take the time to listen. I’ve met and become friends with people from around the world. I can talk with anyone, anywhere, at anytime with the click of a button. The Internet continues to amaze me, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to be part of it. I like communities. My first real industry job was as a producer at a local community access TV station. The content on the station was created mostly volunteers. My job was to facilitate the productions, and to coach and guide the volunteers in the technical and content aspects of their shows. The real stars of the show were the people from the community who created them. Social media shares so many similarities with community access TV. What we were creating back then was user generated content. The station was accessible to anyone who wanted to participate. There were the content creators, who developed and produced the shows, and there were the participants, who would leave their comments on the viewer response line or phone in during a live show. In the social media world, there are the content creators – the bloggers, video bloggers, Twitterers, YouTubers, Facebookers…and there are the participants – who comment and share their thoughts. Sure, the line is a bit more blurred in the social media world, but that’s a good thing. If you ask me, it’s an even stronger community because everyone here is creating and sharing and participating and learning. I blog because I have always been amazed at what communities are capable of. I embrace community, and this blog is one way I can do that. What about you? Those are just some of the reasons I reach out every week through this blog. To the people who take the time to stop by here, I hope that what I write is of value to you. I think everyone has different motivations for blogging. What are yours?
Building a Community with Music
Last night I was fortunate to be able to attend my first house concert, put on by Bobcat House Concerts. Bob LeDrew and his wife Cathy open their home about once a month and host an intimate gathering for an evening of live musical performance. For those of you who have never been to a house concert, it’s a truly wonderful thing. Bob and his wife, who both hail from Cape Breton, describe the mood of their house concerts as “part coffee house/part kitchen party” – and I have to agree. Bobcat brings in artists from all over – past performances have included the likes of the legendary Penny Lang, incredible blues guitarist David Gogo and the always amazing Suzie Vinnick. Last night marked the furthest anyone has ever travelled to play a Bobcat show, with David Ross MacDonald, who hails from Southern Australia, making this house concert a stop on his Canadian tour. After a drink and a chance to mingle and meet some of the other 25 or so guests, we settled in to our seats. The opening act was Bob LeDrew himself, with a friend who had just flown in from Iqaluit a few hours earlier. They did a couple of wonderful songs with fiddle and guitar and really set the mood for the rest of the evening. David took the stage with his 73 year old Gibson acoustic guitar, and proceeded to completely dazzle us. It was almost like he put us under a spell. The room completely was silent, except for his intricate finger picking. Dave’s songs are reflective, talking of his family and growing up in a small town in Australia. And, he really knows how to play to this kind of small, intimate gathering. By the second song, it was as if we were old friends. Part way through the second set, Dave said he was going to play a cover song that he’d learned just three days previous as a birthday gift for a friend. He invited us to sing along. He said, “It’s a Canadian song, so you’ll probably all know it.” He proceeded to play Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah“. And then the most amazing thing happened. As he sang the first verse, a few people started to hum softly. By the first chorus, we had all found our place in the song, and the whole room filled with the sound of 25 voices singing in harmony. At the end of the song, David said something remarkable. “There’s nothing else that builds a community like singing together.” He’s absolutely right. After the song was over, something had shifted in the room. No longer were we a room full of strangers. That 5 minutes of sharing our voices had done something to us. Community takes on many forms. But be it music, or hobbies, or even social media, a community is created because of one simple thing; people gathering together and sharing. Last night, I walked into a room where I knew only the host (Bob) and the friend I was with. I walked out feeling like I was part of a whole new community; one brought together by a mutual love of music and an appreciation for its power to bring people together in a positive way. In the online world, we tend to spend a lot of time analyzing what community really is and how to create them. The fact is, building a community is simple. Bob and Cathy are doing it every month when they open their home to music lovers. How do they do it? First, they create something that people can identify with. Second, they make it open and accessible and welcoming. Third, they encourage people to participate. And finally, they sit back and allow the community to unfold as it should. Thanks, Bobcat, for making this community possible. I look forward to many more enjoyable evenings!
To Vote or Not To Vote
Over the past several weeks of this Canadian election campaign, I’ve spoken to plenty of people about voting. What I’m continuously surprised by is the number of people who are not planning to vote. Perhaps I shouldn’t be that surprised. The voter turnout for the last election in 2006 was just 64.7 % (source: Elections Canada Online). Now, some may say “that’s not bad”, but compare this to France, whose voter turnout in their last election in 2007 was almost 84%, or, the United States, who, in the 2004 presidential election had an 88% voter turnout (source: IFES Election Guide). 64% doesn’t seem so great anymore, does it? Why is there such voter apathy in our country? Why is nearly 40% of the population so disinterested in our democratic process? Well, the people I’ve talked to give various excuses. So I’ve decided to compile a list of the reasons I’ve heard for NOT voting, and my reasons FOR voting. Excuse #1: I Don’t Have Time. Ah, yes. We are all so busy! How could we possibly find time to go vote on Tuesday, when we’ve got kids to get to school, deadlines at work, and myriad other things keeping us away from the polling stations? Well, I’ve got news for you. Firstly, the polling stations are open for 12 hours straight – from 7am to 7pm. Secondly, the Elections Canada Act states clearly that employers MUST give their employees 3 consecutive hours off to vote on election day. Of course, there are exceptions. But I’ve worked lots of jobs in lots of industries, and I’ve never once had an employer forbid me from leaving the office so I could go and vote. Thirdly, if you have your voter card and a piece of I.D., it literally takes 3 minutes to vote. Even if there’s a lineup. I worked for Elections Canada at a polling station one year, and I can tell you, it is a well-oiled machine. So, there’s one excuse, and three reasons why it’s no excuse. Next…. Excuse #2: I Don’t Like Any of the Parties. Probably the most common excuse I hear for not voting is that there’s nobody worth voting for. “All the politicians are full of crap”, “I don’t agree with anyone’s policies”, “I don’t like this guy/that girl”. Look, nobody is asking you to agree with EVERY SINGLE part of a particular party’s platform. No party is perfect. There are always going to be things that can and should change. Here’s my suggestion – take some time and read up on all the parties’ platforms. Find the party that you can relate to the MOST. The one who you have the tendency to agree with mostly. Vote for them. And the things you don’t agree with? Well, if that party gets into power, you’ll have a chance to write a letter to the guy or girl you voted for, and tell him or her why you think Policy A or Policy B stinks. And what you’d like him or her to do to change it. That, my friends, is democracy at work! Excuse #3: My Vote Won’t Count. Imagine that! I’ve actually heard this on a number of occasions. Consider if everyone thought the same way-nobody would vote! Yes, yours is just one vote. But your vote is just as important as anyone else’s vote. And if you really are considering not voting because you don’t think it matters, then think about this. Millions and millions of people around the world do not have the right to choose who leads their country. Every day, people die fighting for the basic right that we in democratic nations take for granted. Every day, innocent people are imprisoned, tortured or killed for disagreeing with the government in power. Consider yourself insanely fortunate that you live in a country where you can freely choose the people that represent you in government. And if you can’t cast a vote for your own reasons on election day, cast a vote in honour of those people who may never get the chance to exercise this basic human right. Still disagree with me? Let me have it in the comments – but hope to see you at the polls on Tuesday anyway.
Grateful
It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. It’s the height of Autumn, the trees are a fiery glow on the brightest of blue skies. The breeze is crisp, but the last of summer’s warmth can still be felt in the sun. Fall is my favourite time of year, not just for the beautiful days, but because it signifies change. Sleepy summer afternoons make way for the bountiful harvest of Fall. Thoughts of pumpkin pie, comfort food, and even the still distant Christmas season fill my head. I’ve been working really hard these past few weeks. Well it’s good to be busy, especially since I’m my own boss, it’s nice to have this peaceful Saturday to sit back and reflect. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’ve compiled a list of all the things I am grateful for: I am grateful for: My family. For their love, and their unwavering support and faith in me. My little nephews. They are growing up to be healthy, happy, terrific kids. The fact that my friends have healthy, happy, terrific kids too. My husband. He makes our home my soft spot to land in the midst of all the craziness. My pets. Four little heartbeats that fill my house with fur and chaos, but mostly love. My best friend and business partner. It’s so rare to have both in the same person – we know we are very fortunate. The Internet. Yes, the Internet. Because if not for the Internet I would have never met my husband, I would not have my dream career, and I would not have gotten to know all of you. Thank you for reading this blog. I’m grateful to have this little corner of the Internet, where I can share with you what’s going on inside my head. I’m thrilled that you take the time out of your busy lives to come here and read, and share your own thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving! What are you grateful for?
The New Convergence
Back in the late 1990’s, I was working for a gigantic telecommunications company in Canada. “Convergence” was the buzzword of the moment, and the company was on the bleeding edge of converging cable, Internet and telephony into one big pipe. At the time, the average person didn’t really understand what this meant. Now, 12 years later, convergence is here. There are still many regulatory issues to work out, but the technical challenges have pretty much been addressed. The pipe is now big enough to carry all the information we could ever need, in whatever format we need it. However, it’s one thing to jam everything in the pipe. It’s entirely another to get people to figure out how to work with all of it. There’s been a lot of talk in the blogosphere lately about the line where citizen journalism ends and traditional media begins. Christopher Penn is talking about it. Mizz Information is talking about it. I’m not really talking about citizen journalism here, though. (Or am I?) It used to be that mainstream media (radio and television) largely ignored what was going on in cyberspace. Though they might have been searching through other mass media web sites to find information, they were not really spending much time, or putting much effort into what was happening in the blog or social media space. However, I’ve noticed a shift in this lately. The most popular example of this is CNN’s use of Twitter. Rick Sanchez and a whole host of other journalists are using it as a source of information now. Susan Ormiston of the CBC has “Ormiston Online” where she is “trolling the blogs, Twitter and YouTube” for information about the Canadian elections. Additionally, if a radio or TV show producer wants to have an expert on to talk about Square Dancing in Orleans, Ontario, they are more likely to find that expert by doing a Google Blog Search than anything else. What is happening here is really another form of convergence. It’s convergence of content. The lines are quickly becoming blurred as to who is creating content. If my Dad (see Square Dancing above) can create a blog with quality content that appeals to a certain audience, then isn’t he ulitmately doing what mainstream television and radio has been doing for years? More and more often these days, mainstream media is going to the Web to get their information. They are still creating their own content, but the foundation seems to more and more be coming from the online creators. Much like the regulatory mess that technological convergence created, this convergence of content is creating some other interesting debates. Where does citizen journalism end and mainstream journalism begin? What are the risks of “everyman” now being the “man on the street”? And, if the media is using my content ( e.g. when Rick Sanchez or Susan Ormiston uses my Tweets on air), should I be compensated? Your turn…