I’ve been fortunate to spend a good chunk of time in Newfoundland and Labrador. Even though I’m not from the Eastern part of Canada, I feel very in tune with the people there. Perhaps it’s in my blood, because my Dad is from New Brunswick. Perhaps I can relate to the culture because I grew up on an isolated island on the West coast. Perhaps it’s my family’s Scottish roots. Whatever the reason, I have a really special place in my heart for that part of the country. One of my favourite things to do in Newfoundland is go to kitchen parties. The best parties always end up in the kitchen. The East coast kitchen party is a legendary event. It’s all about friends, music and stories. Kitchen parties can happen at any time of the day or night, and it’s a come as you are kind of affair. People drop in and out as they please, have a drink, say hi, meet new people, see old friends, and share a laugh or a story. Everyone is welcomed with open arms to participate, whether it’s telling a story or playing a tune. It just makes you feel good to be there. Not unlike the social network. In a social network, I can show up when I want and leave when I want. I can talk to my friends or make new friends and bring them into the conversation. I can do it any time of the day or night. I can tell stories. I can listen to stories. It definitely makes me laugh often and hard. I feel welcome in this space. I am encoruaged to share my stories as much as the next person. And I feel good being there. When I think about what really motivates me to be involved in social networks, I guess it’s because I get a lot of the same things out of it that I get from going to parties. I’ve never been to an East coast party where I didn’t meet someone new, learn something new, hear wonderful stories and laugh my butt off in the process. And it seems like with my online life these days, I meet new people, learn new things and hear really great stories every single day. And I absolutely bust a gut much of the time too. So, I believe the essence of both the kitchen party and the social network is to connect people. Lately, I’ve been working on some ways to teach people who are new to the concept about social networks and social media. Technology has a tendency to be very impersonal. To the outside world, there is a lack of understanding about how much of a connection one can really make through a keyboard and mouse. Comparing the social network to something everyone can relate to, like a party, starts to foster some kind of understanding of what the real benefits are. It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, a Twitterer, or an Instant Messenger…just like it doesn’t matter if you’re a late night kitchen partier or an afternoon barbequer. It’s about the incredible things that can happen when people connect with each other. And that’s something anyone can understand.
Forget the Message – What's Your Medium?
“A light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence.” — Marshall McLuhan I’ve been thinking a lot about WHY people choose certain mediums to communicate. In McLuhan’s day, the options were much more limited. Not by their ability to tell stories, but by their accesibility to the general public. At that time, we relied on “professionals” – journalists and authors were the only ones that had access to the medium, therefore they were the ones that told the stories. Today, that’s no longer the case. There are abundant options now for people to tell their stories. Blogging, micro-blogging, and podcasting are prolific and available to anyone with an Internet connection and an inclination. Yesterday, social media monitoring company Radian6 launched a new concept called a Twebinar. The concept was to present an online seminar that encouraged participation and interaction using Twitter. A lot of the discussion revolved around what the point was of integrating Twitter to the mix, instead of just using a regular chat window. But what I was compelled by was the use of video. I was fully expecting to see presenter Chris Brogan giving an hour long talk on his subject, and I would use Twitter as a sort of side conversation. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris playing the part of roving reporter, running around with a camera crew, talking to a wide variety of media experts about some really cool and interesting stuff. Then he’d pop in on live video in between segments and talk a bit. The Twitter conversations were the backdrop but the use of video stole the show. The Twebinar was a great example of choosing the right medium to convey the message. When McLuhan talked about the lightbulb, he meant that the lightbulb itself doesn’t contain any content. It’s simply a vehicle that enables content (i.e. provides light that people use to create spaces in what would otherwise be darkness). Choosing the right vehicle to enable your content is key. The Twebinar could have been approached differently. Chris could have just talked for an hour. He could have just compiled all of the information from his interviews into a blog post or eBook. But it would not have had the same impact. Instead, seeing a live breathing human engaging with other live breathing humans allows us as viewers to feel the energy and passion of the speakers. It connects us to them. And the result? People want to talk about it. They want to explore it. They want to share their own experiences. And that’s where Twitter comes in. See how it all works? It wouldn’t have made sense to tell this story any other way. Everyone has a story to tell, and social media has burst the art of storytelling wide open. However, the medium you choose to tell that story is critical. The medium serves to set the tone, attract a certain kind of audience, and generate a certain kind of response. So the next time you come up with your next great story, spend some time figuring out the result you want. Do you want to encourage feedback? Conversation? Do you want immediate results? Determine the best medium to use to tell your story to get your desired results. Only then can you ensure that your message gets across. Hmmm… I wonder what Marshall McLuhan would have thought about all this social media business, anyway? Person Chris Brogan Right click for SmartMenu shortcuts
My Home and Native Land
One of the things I love about social media is how I’ve been able to meet people from all over the world. Over the past couple of years, I have met a ton of people from the U.S., England, Australia, and even Israel and Japan. Through my conversations with these people, I’ve learned about their lives, their culture, and what makes them proud about their country. Next Tuesday is Canada Day, and in honour of my country’s 141st birthday, I want to share with you what I love most about my country and about being Canadian. I have been tremendously fortunate to have been from coast to coast to coast in Canada. I’ve been to the most Western point on the Queen Charlottes and I’ve been to the most Eastern point in Newfoundland. I’ve lived 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle. I’ve driven through the Rocky Mountains, seen the night sky in the Prairies, and watched whales in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. What amazes me most about my country is the diversity of terrain and how untouched much of it still is. What makes me proud is that we care deeply for our land in this country, and we take pride in our natural surroundings. As diverse as the land is, the people are even more diverse. Everywhere I go in this country, I am surrounded by music and art and passion and culture. We know how to celebrate life in this country. Newfoundland kitchen parties, full of music and stories and love. Aboriginal art and legends, full of history and passion and wisdom. French Canadian music, full of joy and honesty. I’m proud of the the amazing blend of cultures, languages, and history of Canada. I think it makes us pretty unique. Many people will talk about other things that make Canada great too. Hockey is like a religion here. So is beer. If I get sick and go to the hospital, nobody sends me a bill. I can swear on television after 9:00 at night. But for me, Canada has always been about wide open spaces and warm people. Our country is about acceptance of those things that make us distinct: our languages, our culture, our music. And that makes me so proud I want to burst. I’d love to hear from you too. Please leave a comment, and share what it is that makes you proud of your country.
Knowledge is Power, Understanding is Success
This week I’ve been reflecting on how far I’ve come in the past several years, as I’ve made the transition from worker-bee to creator. I used to be the typical high-tech worker. I knew how to do a lot of stuff, like build a web site, write a communiqué, build a document library, write a technical manual. But I didn’t really UNDERSTAND any of it. I didn’t really get how what I was doing in my little cubicle was affecting the rest of the company. I just worked away at my little job, and took home my paycheque. Understanding Comes From Experience Anyone can pick up a book, take a course, or be shown how to do something. But understanding why you must take action “A” to achieve result “B” is key to success. I know how to tie my shoes. I know the techincal process I need to go through to put one lace over the next, loop it around and pull through. But it’s something entirely different to understand why I must tie my shoes. Until I do, I’ll be a sloppy, tripping mess. So how do you make that transition from just knowing something to really understanding it? Experience. There’s no other way. I must take knowledge I’ve acquired and put it into practice. I must get up and do it every day, as long as I need to until I understand it. Only then can I see the true value in the knowledge I’ve acquired. The Bottom Line is the Big Picture I think a lot of people in the social media world are getting caught up in the little details. They are getting stuck in a rut of acquiring knowledge, and not taking the time to really understand what they are learning. Instead of working to acquire understanding, they keep busy rifling around looking for some social media expert to give them all the answers. They are relying on other people to give them top 10 lists, strategies and quick fix solutions instead of spending their time working on understanding. They are reading endlessly, but putting nothing into practice. Be Accountable for Your Understanding If there’s one thing I’ve grown to understand over the years, it’s that I am responsible for my own understanding. The experts are not there to solve all my problems. The role of the expert is to pass on knowledge to me. Then it’s up to me to take that knowledge and build an understanding for myself and how that knowledge applies to my situation and my goals. And that can only be done by coming up with my own solutions, applying them and gaining the experience I need to move forward. There is a world of knowledge out there for the taking. There are dozens of great teachers in the social media space who are willing to send that knowledge out to you. But none of them are going to spoon feed you the answers – it’s impossible for them to do that and it’s too much to ask. You are the only one that can take the knowledge you’ve been given and turn it into your own understanding. Understood?
The GeekGrls: Helping Women Get their Geek On
I know lot of women who are truly geeky, very technology savvy and aware. I have met some online, and some at various meetups around town. But my experience in general with the online communities I’m involved with (mostly web technology, social media and business) is that it is still a very male-dominated area. Most of my Twitter friends are male. Most of the people at the technology meetups and PodCamps I’ve attended are male. For a long time I’ve wanted to create something that appeals directly to women who are interested in this space. A place where women are encouraged to make a contribution to the community and embrace the power of the Web, technology and social media. Several weeks ago my good friend Sheri and I were sitting on a sunny patio and we came up with idea to do The GeekGrls Podcast. We are both super-geeky in our own right, and though it would be fun to share some of that geekiness with the world. The show is by women, for women, about the things that women care about when it comes to technology. We’ve posted our first show at www.geekgrls.com. On this show we talk about our vision for the show and a bit about ourselves. I encourage you to go and subscribe for free, Episode 1 will be available next week. We really want to encourage participation in the show, so if you have suggestions for topics or guests, ideas or just want to drop us a line, we’d really appreciate it. And even though the show is presented from a female perspective… you boys are allowed too! 🙂
Feedly Gets It
I discovered Feedly this morning and in just a couple of minutes it changed the way I interact online. One of the things that drives me bananas about many social media apps these days is the lengthy process I need to go through just to get it to understand who I am and what I care about. Feedly eliminates this pain entirely. I simply went to the site, installed the Add-on to my Firefox 3 browser, and when the browser restarted, I saw a view of all of my blog feeds (grabbed from my Google Reader), neatly organized into tabs corresponding to the categories I set. It asked me to log in to Twitter and boom! My feeds were there, as were links to all of the people I follow on Twitter who also have a Feedly account. The best thing about Feedly is that I immediately saw the value in the tool. Many tools claim to be the most useful thing in the universe, but after weeks of exploring I still don’t see their real usefulness. BrightKite and Sprigley are two examples that come to mind. Not that they are bad ideas – they are both actually pretty good ideas. But their their real value is not apparent up front. Nobody has time to dig around for the usefulness of a tool. Show me value right away. With Feedly, I immediately saw all of my information on the screen. I saw how I can read through my posts and annotate, favourite, save for later, or even say “no thanks” to a post I don’t want to read. My favourite feature is being able to Tweet someone’s blog post FROM THE ACTUAL POST. I click the “Tweet” link and a box appears with the title of the post and the link (already conveniently in TinyURL format). I click send and it’s posted to my Twitter feed instantly. WOW. This is the social media app I’ve been waiting for. Give me everything I need in one place, make it fast, make it pretty and let ME control what I see and how I interact with it. Congratulations, Feedly. You totally get it.
Uninvited to the Social Media Party
There’s an interesting debate going on this morning over at FriendFeed. It appears that Robert Scoble has blocked one of his followers (I’m not going to name names, if you want to find out who it is, I invite you to seek it out yourself. Go ahead. Google to your heart’s content. I’ll wait). You back? OK. Well it appears that some feelings have been hurt as a result of this “cyber-shunning”. Scoble is being called elitist. Oh, come on, people. If the biggest part of your day is hoping that some “A-list blogger” (a term, incidentally, coined by the media and fans, not the bloggers themselves) is going to give you the time of day by @replying you on Twitter or responding to your FriendFeed comment, then I’m afraid you’ve got this social media thing all wrong. The popular bloggers (Vaynerchuk, Scoble, Brogan, Belmont, Laporte, and so on) give of themselves daily to inform, entertain and enlighten their audience. You may like them, you may not, you may be indifferent, but the fact is, they are people too and as much as their fans love to get their continuous undying attention, there are only so many hours in a day. I have personally engaged some of these folks in conversation on more than one occasion and I find them to be extremely approachable, friendly, and helpful – as long as I am respectful don’t over stay my welcome, and make a valuable contribution to the conversation, then I, in turn get to stay at the party. Social media is about sharing, I agree. But ultimately, everyone has control over who they share their information with. I block people on Twitter and FriendFeed all the time, for various reasons. Maybe our interests aren’t compatible. Maybe they are spammers. Maybe they are offensive to me. Or perhaps I just don’t like their approach. At the end of the day, its up to me who I choose to engage with. And if I don’t engage with you – don’t take it personally. We all have the right to shape our own social media experience. Nobody, including those with many fans and followers, is under ANY obligation to be “friends” with everyone. So Robert Scoble doesn’t want to be your friend? So be it. You can still read his blog, and comment, and participate on that level. You don’t have to be invited to the A-list parties to have a good time in this space. In fact, you may have a better time forming your own communities, having your own conversations. Becoming your own “A-list” blogger. You may even get some fans. At the end of the day – respect others, and you will gain their respect. Be an active participant, but contribute value. The community will thank you for it. Photo credit: Lightfoot from MorgueFile.
Are you a Great Teacher?
I was never the greatest student back in high school. I was miserable at math (still am), and miserable at English. I had to take makeup classes after school when I was in Grade 11, because my grammar was “atrocious”. Ironic that I’m now a writer (take that, Mrs. Dicresce!). I muddled through high school, managed to maintain about a B+ average, and escaped as fast as humanly possible once I was done. Despite my former lack of enthusiasm for school, I love to learn. And the best way I have found to learn, to REALLY learn something, is to teach it to someone else. That’s how I learned, really learned television production. By teaching my volunteers at the cable station the finer points of lighting, camera, audio, directing, and producing. It’s how I learned web design. By being forced to learn HTML, Dreamweaver and Flash in 2 weeks back in 1999, and then showing 20 college students how to do it. I read a lot of blogs and interact with a lot of people online. And I’m always learning. There are plenty of great teachers out there. A secret to success? Teach people something. Share your knowledge and experience. Here are some things I’ve learned about what makes the difference between a good teacher and a great teacher. Doing Is Better Than Showing I fondly remember my Grade 11 History class as “nap time”. If I was actually awake while the teacher droned on endlessly about the war of this and the revolution of that, I most certainly wasn’t paying attention. However, when I was in my earlier high school years, I lived on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and our history classes took place in the wilderness, up close and personal with majestic totem poles, carved canoes, and longhouses. Our field trips took place in the same places where Emily Carr created her famous paintings. Haida elders would come to our class and teach us their language, legends and art. It was captivating, breathtaking and you’re damn right we learned a lot. It’s one thing to blabber on to people about a topic, to subject your learners to death by PowerPoint. It’s entirely another take them, show them, make them do, see and experience. People learn so much more when they are an ACTIVE participant in their learning. Great teachers make their students take action and participate. The result is, the students retain what they’ve learned and are excited and enthused to pass it on to others. Beyond The Comfort Zone My friend Dave is a piano player and singer. He can play ANYTHING on the piano, in pretty much any key. He’s an extremely talented musician with years of experience. And he can’t read a note of music. The best part about being a musician who can’t read music is you don’t have any rules to abide by. Dave is free to experiment and explore and create. (Incidentally, Paul MacCartney can’t read music either.) Every class I have ever taught has an underdog. The one person that walks in and you can just tell they feel perplexed being there. Since I do a lot of technical training, my underdogs are usually those people who don’t feel comfortable working with technology, who have been forced to attend the course by their employer and really don’t think they are going to be able to learn anything. Underdogs are most rewarding people to teach, because they are the like the musicians who can’t read music. They are completely open to learning, because don’t have any preconceived notions. They are a blank canvas. It takes tremendous patience to teach the underdog. But being a great teacher requires that you not only share your knowledge, but that you encourage people to break out of their comfort zones, to explore, experiment and create. Like my friend Dave, and Sir Paul, breaking down the barriers of rules and preconception leaves one free to experience true understanding. Passion, Passion and More Passion Have you ever been completely captivated by a speaker? Check out Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk and you will see an excellent example of this. In her talk, she goes from laughing hysterically to shouting to talking softly to crying. You walk away and I guarantee you will be thinking about it for the rest of the day. I had a Math teacher in Grade 11, Mr. Hanley. Now, as mentioned, I HATED Math. Was lousy at it. But I LOVED Mr. Hanley’s class. Why? Because he was absolutely passionate about his subject. In his world, there was nothing more beautiful, more incredible than algebra, calculus and functions (shudder). Every day he found a new and interesting way to get us worked up about it. And even though I still completely sucked at Math, I was having fun. I learned something, too, because I ended up with a B. Being passionate is the single most important thing you can do to be a great teacher. If you truly are passionate about what you are teaching, your students will be excited about what they are learning. It’s that simple. Passionate teachers create passionate students. Learn to Share, Share to Learn There is something about sharing knowledge with other people that allows it to really sink in to your brain. If you can explain it well, it means you truly understand it. But teaching is more than that to me. The best part of teaching is seeing what people can create once the have the knowledge. You already know a lot. Now is the time to share it with others. photo credit: talldude07, MorgueFile
The Opposite of Creative
cre·a·tive [kree-ey-tiv]: Having the quality or power of creating. de·struc·tive [di-struhk-tiv]: Tending to destroy; causing destruction or much damage. Alfred Hitchcock defined happiness as “A clear horizon…being creative rather than destructive.” I’ve always thought that the opposite of creative was, well…”uncreative”. Or “non-creative”. You’re either creative, or you’re not, right? But it seems the great Mr. Hitchcock was onto something when he suggested being creative instead of destructive. Create….destruct. Creative…destructive. Creativity….destructivity. If I apply these terms to describe a state of mind, it begins to become more clear. A destructive state of mind is one that is mired in worry, self doubt, and negative thoughts and emotions. This self doubt causes the mind to slow down and become muddy and unclear. It’s hard to think, to get off the couch, do anything. Trying to create anything of use in this state is an exercise in futility. At this point, it’s really about self-destruction. In extreme cases, the destructive behaviour can extend beyond the individual to others around him or her, causing suffering not only to the person causing the destruction, but to many other people. On the other hand, a creative state of mind is one that is free from negative thought and open to accepting things just as they are. The mind is sharp, fresh and crystal clear. Thoughts enter and leave of their own accord. It’s that leap-out-of-bed, take on the world feeling. That is where creativity can really begin. Extreme cases of creativity can inspire great works and solve great problems, not only for the individual but for the greater good of mankind. I consider myself a creative person. But at times that creativity doesn’t come easily. It isn’t there when I haven’t had enough sleep or eaten the right foods. It isn’t there if I’m too worried and preoccupied with other things that I falsely consider important. It definitely isn’t there when I’m surrounded by negative people or situations. I have come to realize that creative really is the opposite of destructive. But it doesn’t mean you need to eliminate all the problems in your life so you can be creative – that would be impossible. Instead, it’s about taking control of the destructive forces at play in your life. By working through them, instead of against them, creativity will rise to the surface. It might seem easier said then done, but ironically, it’s at times when there is turmoil in your life that your true creativity can shine. I asked a songwriter friend once why he hadn’t written a song for so long, and he said “I’m too happy!”. When my friend would experience struggles in his life, he wouldn’t complain about it and get wrapped up in negative energy. He’d use that energy to create something wonderful. Next time you are feeling like you’re being sucked down into destructive thinking, try turning that destructive tendency into a creative one. Write something, play music, draw, paint, or figure out a way to solve world hunger. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as it’s in the spirit of creation. How do you stay creative?
A Case of the Mondays
Have you ever had one of those days? Of course you have. You know the kind. When you get up on the wrong side of the bed, and everything just seems out of sync, not quite right, and all the little bits and pieces of the day just add up to one big mess. Oh, nothing catastrophic happens on days like this. In fact, it might even be that it’s just like every other day. but for what ever reason, you can’t seem to handle any of it. This was my day today. I can’t really pinpoint what my problem was. I just seemed to be out of sync with the universe. Every phone call, email, conversation I had seemed just a bit off-kilter. I was distressed by small things. My mind wouldn’t stop being concerned about all of it, but I couldn’t focus on any of it. And it didn’t help that my office is surrounded by road construction right now -so my out of whack day was set to the background music of jackhammers, backhoes and that truly excruciating “beep…beep…beep…beep” of trucks reversing. I left early, having done just about as much damage as I could do, and went home in a grump. I was exhausted, but I felt as if I really hadn’t accomplished anything all day! That only made me more frustrated. Of course my grumpy mood didn’t go over too well with my spouse, so I retreated to the basement and watched some stupid Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy and had a proper fit. I emerged sometime later and satiated myself with comfort food (microwaved hot dogs – I know – it’s gross, but it worked), and lied down on the bed next to hubby while he watched the hockey game. I dozed off for about 20 minutes and when I awoke, remarkably, I was clear again. What is it that makes us go into these blue funks once in a while? I know we all do it, for varying lengths of time, with varying symptoms. True, I’ve had a lot on my mind lately, a lot of small stresses that I guess culminated in one big ball of stress that just had to come out. But now it’s over and I feel as if I can move forward with a clear head again. What I need to figure out is what I can do to avoid this happening again? It doesn’t happen that often but when it does, man, it wears me out. I think I’m going to start by avoiding my construction-ridden office and working from the homestead for the next little while. The good thing is I’m feeling much better and I’m back to my positive frame of mind. This is the first time I’ve asked my blog readers for advice on emotional stuff. But I know that you are wise, and I appreciate any insight you care to share!