Anne's Spot

Deciding who to follow in Twitter (and Friendfeed) and who to friend in Facebook

2009-07-03T11:28:00.001-05:00

I received this question this week (and similar ones recently).

If I am twittering and FB as part of work, and someone I don't know wants to follow me or be my friend, what should I do? What I am thinking is that on Twitter, everyone would be welcome to follow me. and on FB, I could set some different categories up, but only if it is either someone I know or someone with clear farm connections/interests. Please advise.

Good Question.

On Twitter and Friendfeed, I let almost anyone follow me. Though, there are some who suggest that you should monitor your followers (from professional positioning standpoint), my philosophy is very open on Twitter and Friendfeed followers. Certainly, I block porn and spam.

If others want to follow me on Twitter and Friendfeed, I think that is great. I don't (any more) automatically follow everyone who follows me.

When someone follows me,

I look at the ratio of followers and following. If is very lopsided (either way), I probably will not follow them back. But, it depends on the situation. If a news site or announcement site, which will have lopsided followers, I may follow because I am interested in their news.
I look at the profile. If the person does not have any information on the profile page, and I can find any reason to follow them, I don't.

NOTE to Twitter newbies: complete your profile, How will I know who you are, if you don't tell me?

I look at what they are saying. If they are talking about subjects I am interested in, I will probably follow them back.
I look at their followers. The list of followers is helpful in determining my connection to this person and whether I think their tweets will be helpful.

I treat Facebook differently. I see Facebook as a professional connection network AND a personal connection network. But, I am not as free with the "friendship" in Facebook as I am in Twitter.

I have to know the person or know of the person or have a connection with the person through someone else.

When I say I know them, I don't necessarily know them by meeting them in a face-to-face setting. I know them because of a work/professional situation (attended the same conference, web conference, exchanged emails, working on the same projects/thrusts).

I have divided my Facebook friends into lists.

Colleagues: anyone working with Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Auburn University
Professionals: professional connections outside of my colleague list.
Friends: family and friends, recent and from college and high school.

By dividing up my friends, I can easily see the professional or colleagues status updates in one click. Many use the division of friends to decide which list sees what.

As far as integrating Facebook and Twitter, I send all Twitter messages to Facebook. However, I think some of my "friends" may get tired of my work related links. So I am considering using the Twitter application that lets me choose which updates go to Facebook.

There are many ways to decide about following and friending people in these networks. You have to choose what you value and what works for you. Also, consider privacy strategies, as well.

Consider your goals are for tools, like Twitter, Facebook, and Friendfeed.

Some of my goals are:

Learn as much from others as possible.
Engage in "communities" as much as possible to enhance my learning and to share my thoughts and knowledge.
Listen from others--not only from others like me, but from others in areas outside of my primary work.
Listen to those who I may disagree with.
Expand my network of professional friends.
Build social capital because I never know 1) when I will be influential and 2) when I may need assistance by others who know more than I.

Thus, I tend to be more open than most in friending and following others in these networks.

wngtkar57m

Technorati Profile

del.icio.us Tags: Facebook,Friendfeed,Twitter

A misconception about web technologies

2009-06-26T11:30:00.001-05:00

Again and again, I keep hearing that web technologies cannot build relationships. The misconception is that web technologies cannot contribute to the building of relationships--that Internet technologies are mechanisms only to provide information delivery systems.

Of course, I know that technology, itself, cannot build relationships. People build relationships.

The Internet today is much different than it was 10 years ago. Then, we mostly thought of Internet technologies as those that efficiently deliver information. We have thought of the Internet tools much like mass media (newspapers, radio, TV) one-to-many communication tools. Early in the Internet years, we learned to utilize searching capabilities, the ability to discover information. And, we learned to build on the capabilities of linking--tying information together.

However today, the Internet tools are more about flattening communications channels and enabling relationships among people who never would have been able to "meet" in the "old" Internet and certainly not pre-Internet.

Studies are showing that connections, such as social networking, enhance working and social relationships and build social capital, particularly in relationships that already have a physical presence. To name just 3 studies (I can find more) are:

Hampton, K. (2002). Place-based and IT mediated “community.” Planning Theory and Practice, 3(2), 228-23
Hampton, K. & Wellman, B. (2003) Neighboring in Netville: How the Internet supports community and social capital in a wired suburb. City and Community, 2(4), 277-311.
Ellison, N. B. Steinfield, C, and Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends”: Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer Mediation Communication, 12(4), Article 1.

To discount online opportunities because we don't think that the technologies can be used to develop relationships is detrimental to our success, as an organization and as knowledge workers.

Most of us (I suppose I am referring to "us" as those who have been in the workforce 15 years or more) have the tendency to think and learn linearly and that technology takes the place of some other method because of its efficiency.

Instead, information technology is an enablers, not only a replacement. Technology enhances whatever we are doing, provides innovation opportunities, and helps us grow or scale development, products, and services.

Many of those who have been studying and using social media for awhile often say

"It's not about the technology;"

"It's about people"
                or
"It's about relationships"
                or
"It's about ideas"
                or
"It's about the change that is created".

Though I am becoming known for "pushing" social media and as someone who is a Twitter nut, I can assure you that I do not think that technology is a sole answer--the answer is how people are using and building relationships and capitalizing on the work of many. But, technology is necessary.

Some ask "how does online engagement give an organization competitive advantage?" There are many answers. A survivalist answer is "where will you be if you don't engage?"

We must adapt not only to new technologies, but adjust and embrace changes in culture and expectations, such as work streaming, transparency, engagement, and participation. These expectations in culture are not dependent on technology, but have been driven by open, tremendous availability of information and access to people through technology.

del.icio.us Tags: social media,collaboration,engagement,building relationships

Where do we go from here?

2009-06-22T10:29:00.002-05:00

It seems that a lot of my conversations lately have centered around the future of Cooperative Extension.

Most people are discussing and worrying about the budget woes and the realization that future funding is changing.

Some Extension professionals are looking beyond the funding issues. They are realizing the effects of:

ubiquitous connections.
pervasive information and communications.
multi-way and instantaneous communications.
rapid increases of non-linear information availability.
expectations of open communications, transparency of organizations, and adding societal value; these expectations are not only expectations of online activities but also include the way we serve, operate, manage, and lead.
changes in knowledge construction.
online and placed life becoming one. The online life does more than mirrors the physical life. The online is meshed into the way we function in work, leisure, and home.

Are we positioning ourselves to adapt and excel in a changed future?

A future where the public, stakeholders, and partners want to know how we are impacting communities.
A future where we continue to meet community and local citizens needs and are influential locally, but use global,far reaching, methods.
A future where we grow education without significantly increasing our organization.
A future that embraces “non-linear, information seeking” learning processes.
A future that embraces the ways that learning, access, engagement, and knowledge construction are changing, by being ahead of the learning curve, not behind it.
A future that opens access to our content and research.
A future where our organization is a contemporary organization that has the "capacity to connect, unite, react, or interact" among many individuals and organizations, both traditional and new.
A future where we capitalize on instantaneous, multi-way communication.
A future where we understand that context matters and that contexts are continually in flux, thus, knowledge within context is more important than knowledge by itself.

The thoughts above are not mine alone, but rather they are a compilation of thoughts and expressions from many people who I have had a privilege of talking with in the last few months and hope to continue with future conversations.

While some people are very worried about our future as the third arm of land-grant institutions--Cooperative Extension--particularly from a funding standpoint, I am realizing the opportunities are vast and exciting. In fact, I see that the future, in some ways can bring us back to using the principles of Seaman Knapp and George Washington Carver. The difference is in context, but the ideals of engagement and integrating research and education are not again available because we can go where the people are.

The challenge is to immediately change the way we communicate, build education, and are organized, and capitalize on existing and new relationships through more collaboration and seizing the power of ubiquitous connections and pervasive communications.

del.icio.us Tags: Cooperative Extension,Future Trends,Social Media

Back into the groove

2009-06-21T18:16:00.001-05:00

I feel like I am starting over because:

It has been so long since I last blogged, though I have dozen blog posts either scribbled on paper or sitting in my head.
I have a new domain name. Anne Adrian is now blogging at http://blog.anneadrian.com and the rss feed is http://feeds2.feedburner.com/anneadrian/Ulzk?format=xml

What is that Twitter thing you do?

2009-04-04T20:47:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine from college left me a message in Facebook. She asked me, "When you get a chance could you explain this Twitter thing you do?

Twitter defined in Wikipedia:

"Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets."

Twitter messages--tweets, limited to 140 characters--can be sent and received from the web site, from Twitter desktop applications, and from a cell phone as text SMS messages.

Some basic information on Twitter can be found:

How Twitter works and some history behind Twitter

Why I use and like Twitter

I can easily get a feel for what people (people who I have an interest in) are reading, thinking, and doing in a non-disruptive way. Twitter is pervasive, but unobtrusive. I decide when I pay close attention, scan, or ignore Twitter messages.

Twitter is a great way to listen.

Those I follow don't have to follow me. In other words, the "friendship" does not have to reciprocal, like it is in Facebook and Plaxo.

Twitter messages are short so each individual message does not take much time. Someone who says they don't have time to use Twitter does not understand how easy it is or they may not be using the right Twitter application.

Twitter friends can be information streams (AUTigers, AuburnU , abc3340, ittotd-IT Tip of the Day).

Most friends provide conversations and resources. The value of Twitter is found in interactions, engagements, and resources shared.

How I use Twitter

I send Twitter messages from the Twitter web page, Twhirl, TweetDeck, and Text SMS.

I received messages in the same applications. However, I reserve the Text SMS messages for my closest Twitter friends.

Depending on what I am doing and how long I may not have access to a computer, I sometimes use TinyTwitter application on my phone to receive all Twitter messages.

Twhirl and Tweetdeck as desktop applications.

Twhirl runs continuously on my desktop computer at work and my notebook. I have learned to ignore it most of the time. However, during slow moments of the day, I glance at the incoming Tweets. The reply and the direct message tweets make a different noise so I know when to pay attention to those.

TweetDeck also runs continuously on my 2nd monitor on my computer at the office. (Lately, I have also left Facebook running continuously on the same monitor). I divided Tweetdeck tweets into columns based on my priority of interests. Closest friends and colleagues make up one column. Tweets coming from those in professional areas that have my interests make up another column. My replies and direct messages make up two other columns. And, last all tweets make up the last column. Tweetdeck is probably not necessary if you do not follow a lot of people. Search and filtering in Tweetdeck have also helped me keep up with specific information.

I integrate Twitter with other networks by sending tweets to Friendfeed, Plaxo, and Facebook status updates.

Additionally, I send RSS feeds of Twitter messages, particularly replies to my messages to my feed reader. These feeds are a duplicative effort, but I I don't want to miss any replies.

Sometimes I use TwitPic to send a picture from my phone to Twitter.

Some resources

Twitter in Plain English

How to Get Started on Twitter

Email vs Twitter

15 Minute Showcase on Twitter

Getting more out of Twitter

Advantages of Twitter

del.icio.us Tags: Twitter

Don't be scared of candid remarks

2009-02-24T08:31:00.001-06:00

John Caddell of Caddell Insight Group explains why listening and allowing customers to comment is important in "Customers are talking -- candid customers won't give you 100%."

When the community (fill in the term that is appropriate: clients, customers, students, etc.) expect you to be very good at what you do, they are not going to give you a perfect ranking. Instead, they are going to point out weaknesses. Most weaknesses can be addressed by making improvements--not by making excuses or debating your customers.

Philosophy of a fun, passionate, effective teacher

2009-02-08T19:25:00.001-06:00

Daniel Butler, Auburn University 2008 recipient of the Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Awards for Excellence in Teaching, has incredible and fun stories tell.

He tells this one story best -- be sure and watch the 2.5 minute video.

I've listed a few points that describe his role and philosophy in teaching--and the little that I know him--I believe he lives his life this way, too.

Never forget what it's like to be a kid, they don't know things. You have to figure out what they don't know.
Use humor and make teaching fun.
Make a difference one student at a time.
Treat all students like each one will be the one to save us all.
You can do whatever you want to do as long you get someone to show you how--that's what teachers do.
It's all about people.
It's about people who work hard, care, and encourage each other
How do we make this a better a place? ....one (War Eagle) at a time.

He learned these principles from very important teachers--his parents--a professional clown and kindergarten teacher.

Technorati Tags: Education,Humor,Teaching,Auburn University

Email vs Twitter

2009-02-04T22:14:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I had the privilege to have several conversations with Auburn University President Jay Gogue. During one of these conversations, I mentioned Twitter and President Gogue asked "What's the difference between Twitter and email?"

My answer centered around several characteristics of Twitter including:

Receiving Tweets are more about choice, rather than be forced by the sender. (I choose who I follow and people choose to follow me). Unlike Facebook, the followers and friends do not have to be reciprocal.
Twitter is fast.
Twitter is more free-flowing.

I did not feel I did a very good job in my explanation so I did what I often do. I ask Twitter followers what they thought.

Through Twitter, I sent a message asking "What is the difference between Twitter and email? As I read messages as they evolved (in about 3 hours), I was wondering what would be a better way to get immediate discussion from a broad spectrum of people?

The first tweet came from a University of Alabama student (see 340) was someone I have never met. More than 65 % of the responses are from people outside of Auburn University. Thus, indicating the ability to hear from a broad spectrum of people.

Interesting too, I was able to "listen" in on the conversations, in particular, one between the University of Alabama student (340) and University of Alabama alum (2,057) who lives in North Alabama. Twitter offered a way for me to listen in ways I would not have a mechanism to do.

The investment (asking the question and reading the tweets) was minimal. Thus, indicating Twitter is very efficient.

Below is my summary of the responses.

Twitter is public.
Twitter is less formal.
Twitter is more analogous to people subscribing to e-newsletters.
Twitter updates are brief and succinct.
Twitter is faster, spreads messages more quickly, and are more efficient.
Twitter is more like texting (SMS), chatrooms, and forums.
Twitter is more about choice. Twitter does not push messages like email.
Twitter creates an online community, a social network.
Twitter allows members to receive updates continually and more frequently.
Twitter users can be anyone.
Twitter applications make messages more automatic, like a stock ticker.
Twitter makes sharing and being open easy, thus creating opportunities for more open discussions.

Below, I listed the responses and conversations. Instead of using Twitter usernames with each response, I used the number of people they follow. The @ sign is indication that they are replying to a person, but the reply is public.

My Tweet that started the conversation (587) aafromaa Yesterday, AU president asked what is the difference in Twitter & email. I am wondering: how would you answer in 140 char or less, of course
(340) @aafromaa Twitter is more like public texting with a community. Email is intimate (usually) 1-1 conversations. T is v effective for campus!
(76) @aafromaa 15 years.
(587) aafromaa @(340) Thanks & good explanation. It's interesting that 1st reply came from Univ of Ala student. 2nd reply: @(76). Anyone else?
(42) @aafromaa The audience is different. Most Twitter posts are publicly accessible (without the need for a FOIA request, of course
(32) @aafromaa A social network allowing members to receive updates from other members about events and self as they are updated all day long.
(32) @aafromaa Had a grammar error in the first one
(220) @aafromaa Twitter is analogous to people subscribing to e-newsletters, except updates are often, succinct, and the provider can be anyone.
(2,057) @(340) That's a good point, I always think of Twitter similar to a chatroom with controls, but for GenY, you grew up texting.
(220) @(340) I disagree about 1-1. See my explanation. Similarities between e-newsletters, newsgroups, and Twitter.
(69) @aafromaa While both are forms of electronic mail, Twitter is briefer and less formal, and it creates an online community.
(340) @(220) I disagree (back :p) because I see it as personal communication. I like to think there's a person behind the emails I receive.
(32) @(220) fancy language, but I like it.
(340) @(2,057) That's interesting - i've never considered it as a chat room. I usually think of texting or of a fast message board/forum
(340) trying to decipher an email someone sent expecting it to magically morph into a press release. not quite as magical as that, though :p
(74) @aafromaa concur w/(220) and (69). but use of app like twirl makes twitter like a stock ticker. don't have 2 open tweets--does it 4 u—
(74) @aafromaa these apps actually make it faster for me than email
(340) @(2,057) age is a state of mind ;)
(220) @(340) You just made my point even better. Your @reply is exactly like somene using "Reply all" in an email. Personal schmersonal ;-)
(340) @(220) nope:) directing message toward you. may be seen (like if you forward or cc/bc in the reply) but not everyone is going to read
(220) @(340) Not everyone is going to read your tweet either. I've had plenty "reply all" discussions via email. There are small differences.
(340) is wondering if there should be a UA-AU tweetup? :p
(340) @(220) that's MY point. its out there for people to read if they so choose. thus, the public vs. targeted 1-on-1 :p
(31) @aafromaa - brevity-triviality-audience. email is "1 to 1" or "1 to many" & "push info". twitter is "many to many" & "share info".
(68) @aafromaa email is direct closed discussion, twitter more broadcast open discussion with greater potential for 2nd hand distribution. .
(111) @aafromaa Brevity sets it apart. SMS fosters its spread. Otherwise differences are perception & ease of use.
(78) @aafromaa On Twitter, I send msgs to people who choose to hear from me. In email, I send msgs to people who I think want to hear from me
(47) Digging tweets to @aafromaa's question. Much better definitions than other sources.
A comment on my Facebook page: "I would explain it to him in a way he can relate: Usually a 30 minute meeting can accomplish just as much as a 60 minute meeting. Similarly, usually a 140 characters can send the same message as a 2-paragraph email."

How would you describe the difference in email and Twitter?

Technorati Tags: Twitter,Auburn University

Creative Commons Web Conference

2009-01-26T13:01:00.001-06:00

Outline from today's web conference on Creative Commons is shown here.

Today Deb Coates, Iowa State Extension IT Manager, and I presented "Understanding and Using Creative Commons". The description of the session was: Sharing and obtaining information on the Internet is extremely easy. However, it is confusing to know what products you can use and which are restricted. You may want to share products, such as pictures and presentations, but don't know how to share with appropriate license or copyright. In the past, sharing products meant that you gave away your products with no control or that you restricted control of the distribution of your products by full copyright (all rights reserved). Creative Commons licenses provide options between the extremes of giving your rights away and all rights reserved. This session will describe Creative Commons license options, describe how to use Creative Commons licenses, and how to use products and content that are licensed using Creative Commons. This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Information Technology SIG.

Deb Coates' Slide Presentation on Creative Commons:

Creative Commons

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: techshow20 extension)

Examples

Bugwood Network http://www.bugwood.org/

Eli Sagor's photos (look for forestry photos) http://flickr.com/photos/esagor/

Search

Creative Commons http://search.creativecommons.org/

Google Advanced Search http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en Look for "Date, usage rights, ...."

Flickr Advanced Search http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/

Resources

Common Misunderstandings of Creative Commons Licenses http://lessig.org/blog/2007/12/commons_misunderstandings_asca.html

White House Copyright Notice http://www.whitehouse.gov/copyright/

Except where otherwise noted, third-party content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Visitors to this website agree to grant a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to the rest of the world for their submissions to Whitehouse.gov under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education http://www.mediaeducationlab.com/pdf/CodeofBestPracticesinFairUse.pdf

National Science Foundation Task Force on Cyberlearning http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8885

Materials funded by NSF should be made readily available on the web with permission for unrestricted reuse and recombination. New grant proposals should make their plans clear for both the availability and the sustainability of materials produced by their funded project.

Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/

del.icio.us Tags: creative commons,copyright,public domain

It's not about the technology; but you can't ignore the technology

2009-01-11T20:06:00.001-06:00

When we talk about social media, we explain that it is about the people, the connections, and the learning. We also argue that it's not about the technology,

But, as Harold Jarche points out, the technology cannot be ignored because doing so puts organizations at a disadvantage.

Stephen Downes, in the comments, notes that "It's not about the technology" is usually an argument to change mindsets about working differently.

Ignoring technologies and failing to understand the potential and possibilities of the connections, collaborations, and sharing also places organizations at a disadvantage.

One way to understand the technologies and their potential is to try them.

del.icio.us Tags: technologies,connections,collaborations,sharing,social media

Reflection of 2008: What did I learn?

2009-01-04T21:03:00.001-06:00

This is a good time as any to reflect on what I learned in the last year. While I didn't answer The Learning Circuit's a "Big question" of the month, "What did you learn about learning in 2008?" directly, I did answered the question, but in a more general sense.

Learning can happen anywhere. This isn't a new thought, but I realized more than ever that I--or anyone else--cannot rely on only one or a few sources for information, education, new relationships, and new opportunities. We have to be ready and available for learning anywhere and anytime. If we are not subjecting ourselves of the opportunities for learning--we simply are not learning enough. Kevin Gamble says that this is being the ball. Some say this is the equivalent to "getting in the game".

Though the traditional ways of learning are still very important, being ready, able, and available to learn in other ways is imperative to surviving in our organization and in our competitive environments. This seems like such an obvious statement, but many people still don't get it well enough to effectively expand their knowledge resources.

Distance communications don't mirror our physical communications--they are all be the same (or they should be all the same). Some of my best learning occurs during one-to-one conversations. Of course, I find face-to-face conversations as great ways to learn and build relationships. During this past year, it has been conversations online that I have found most compelling and that have challenged my thought processes.

Through instant messaging and continuous email streams, I have been challenged, made to think through concerns, possibilities, and problems. Interestingly, I find that those at-a-distance conversations are the ones I seem to learn in more lasting ways.

Why? Many times these conversations forced me to listen (read), think, then respond. In some ways, particularly when an honest reaction is needed, it seems easier for the other person, and for me, to respond more honestly, yet professionally, online.

These provoking conversations were with people I personally know and respect.

The at-a-distance conversations were not only great learning experiences for me (and I believe for the others), the conversations were also a continuation of strengthening our working relationships. In the few instances where I "met" people online first, the later, face-to-face encounters were continuations of building of the relationships.

Our online conversations and in-person conversations become the life and work we do. One doesn't mirror the other. It's all the same. This thought was first introduced to me by Mark Federman when he referred to teenagers' online life and their physical life--he said "It's all the same".

We don't have to be teenagers to live it, but we have to be the ball or at least get in the game (take your choice in terms). Online and physical relationships become all the same. One does not mirror the other--it's all the same.

There isn't' one "right" tool. There isn't any single one tool that does it all. Once again, this isn't a new thought, but it is one that has become strikingly more evident.

When I describe the new tools, like Twitter or Google Reader, people often make statements that indicate that they must discontinuing using the tools that currently use. "But, I like reading the newspaper and my trade rags." or "I use Google to find information." "But, my clients don't use these tools".

My response is "Keep reading the paper--particularly your local paper, and keep using Google for searching, but expand your knowledge and your exposure to other ideas". And, "don't think that your clients don't use these tools. Facebook, blogs, online news, and forums are more prevalent than you think. And, if your clients are not using these tools, they soon will be. Why wait?"

For me, learning new tools has been the foundation for learning from more sources and with more diversity. Using several tools in combination is the key to appropriately filtering and managing the information flow. I use Twitter and Delicious. I also use Google Reader to read feeds and Friendfeed as an aggregator.

Learning to collaborate and share in the open is essential. When I see organizations and individuals unwilling to develop content and ideas in the open, they appear to be hiding something. Educators should be willing to be open because learning can happen anywhere, even during the development of content.

Developing content and presentations online is, of course, but is also a great way to learn from others. I use whatever tool is appropriate (in house MS SharePoint, in-house wikis, Wikispaces, pbwiki, Google Docs, etc.). Over and over throughout the year, I witnessed and participated in collaboration efforts that develop ideas, content, and products better than any one person could have done.

Contributing and collaborating mean being the ball. Simply, we have to be present, participate, contribute, and develop ideas. Contributing can happen in lots of places online--blogging, commenting on blogs, using Friendfeed, Twitter, social bookmarking, wikis, Google Docs, instant messaging, chatting.

Collaborating in the open should be the norm, not the exception.

Developing an online reputation is imperative to survival for professionals and organizations. A professional online presence is as important for individuals as it is for the organizations they serve.

Developing an online presence means producing, contributing and connecting in communities. Ning is a good site for learning and staying connected within particular topics. LinkedIn is good place to connect with other professionals. Facebook is a good social site. Plaxo is also a good social site, as well.

Being influential means that you make a difference to those who matter to you. Being influential doesn't mean that you have to have a thousands of Twitter followers and blog readers. When people indicate they are learning and passing on your thoughts to others, you know you are influential. When see that others have taken your thoughts and ideas and developed them into products, services, and better ideas, you know you are influential. The most gratifying moments have been when people have said that they find my blog, instructions, and conversations helpful.

We must go where the people are: Whether learning, teaching, marketing, or managing, being involved and connecting with others is essential to learning better skills and becoming more innovative. I find it is interesting to hear some marketing, public relations, and professional development professionals say "they" should lead the way into social media. It doesn't matter, within the organization, who is the first to use these tools, it matters that organizations jump in--learn, listen, engage, and collaborate. Then, relationships will develop , learning will take place, and marketing opportunities will (albeit different forms of traditional marketing) will develop.

Work should be fun; we should laugh more. In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink talks about how laughter is a social activity and that people who laugh together have regular, satisfying connections, pg 203-204. "Humor can be a cohesive force in organizations." (pg 199) Laughter is more about relationships than about jokes.

The first time I realized that laughter and having fun can be effective way to connect with others was at a ACE/NETC conference. The technology group has traditionally held a "404 Awards banquet" where the word "banquet" is an overstatement. There are no specific awards, a specific agenda, or a designated speaker. Awards are given to people who tell the funniest stories about their work as technologists. The funniest stories are usually those that make fun of the technologists themselves. As we laughed at each other, the stories, and the jokes, we get to know each other and trust each other just a little bit better. We connect. We remember each other. And, we have stories to tell in the future.

In organizations, we often discount the importance of "down-time"...time to enjoy each other and have fun with our colleagues. Research shows that laugher and having fun can be instrumental in developing creativity and innovation.

Having effective, honest conversations are needed at all levels of organizations. During the year, I had the privilege of attending a Crucial Conversations workshop. Also, I had read the books, Crucial Conversations and Fierce Conversations. The concept of these two books is that to get to the root of problems, we must have effective conversations. Some of what I learned from these books is covered in a web conference where I reviewed the two books and in the slide presentation, Conversations. Interestingly, the Slideshare presentation, Conversations, received over 700 views in its first 7 days. The views have leveled off, but interest in this topic is still high.

Personally, I want to get better at having conversations so that I can learn from others and understand others' perspectives. I hope that through effective conversations that necessary changes are designed and implemented, and creativity and innovations are invoked.

Other learning activities

This past year has been filled with trying new tools and learning new concepts. Here is a sampling of some I learned (and still learning):

UCaPP -- Ubiquitously Connected and Pervasively Proximate

The use of narrative and in understanding basic patterns which we make decisions.

2008 was a great year for learning, indeed.

del.icio.us Tags: learning,collaboration,conversations,2008

Tips for helping those who are new to the Internet

2008-12-29T19:47:00.001-06:00

Believe or not, there are still some people who are new to the Internet. For those folks who have been left behind the technology wave, Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration provides some tips and good examples in "The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users".

Though I doubt beginning computer users could read the post and understand why they need to install and use the programs, the guide does provide some good examples to us who are still teaching new computer users .

Among the programs that Amit sees essential for new computer users, my favorites are:

PC Decrapifier - will detect and remove all the unwanted trial programs that came pre-installed with your machine.

Firefox - is a web browser. Some think it’s better than Internet Explorer.

delicious add-on - to save favorite websites.

Two different email accounts on Gmail.com - The primary email address is to be shared with friends and family. The second one is to be used for everything else such as newsletters and shopping deal alerts.

10MinuteMail.com - to enter a temporary email account without having to use your main email account.

KeepPass - to save the different passwords from day one. I use Password Safe, instead, but either program should work.

Laptop Alarm - will emit a loud sound if someone tries to shut down your computer or remove the power cable. Laptop thefts are not so uncommon after all.

Google Docs - Instead of using the preinstalled trial version of word processor use Google Docs for word processing and spreadsheets.

zamzar.com - to convert files into some simple format (like avi for video, jpg for images, doc for documents, mp3 for songs, etc.) that the computer can play/open.

Windows Live Photo Gallery - to download pictures from a digital camera onto the computer and upload photos to common family Flickr account.

VLC player - to play DVDs on the computer.

Live Mesh - to share files and documents with each other privately and backup important files onto the web.

Google Talk - to chat online friends

Meebo - is online program to chat with friends if they are are using some other chat software like, Yahoo! Messenger or AOL.

Evernote - will turn "paper" documents into digital format after you take a digital picture of them making it easy to find and manage.

FaxZero - to upload the document and fax it for free anywhere in the US and Canada.

Feed My Inbox - to get updates via on pages that offer feeds, such as cnn.com and blogs. Type the address of the website with a feed and you’ll be notified automatically via email with a new page is added to the website.

Tumblr - to share interesting pages, photos, and videos with others, such as family members.

del.icio.us Tags: new technology,beginner computer users

PowerPoint Ribbon on Slideshare

2008-12-24T07:37:00.001-06:00

A new Slideshare.net application allows you to publish and manage presentations from MS PowerPoint 2007.

Before installing the ribbon, I had to install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (my machine was using .NET 2.0).

The PowerPoint plug-in is explained in the presentation below.

Meet the SlideShare ribbon for PowerPoint

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: powerpoint Microsoft)

The plug-in can be downloaded here http://www.slideshare.net/developers/apps/pptribbon .

del.icio.us Tags: Slideshare,Presentations

Don't be just a passerby this next year

2008-12-22T21:31:00.001-06:00

The purposeful slow Sunday morning jogs allow me to think. Yesterday morning, I started out like normal, but did not feel very motivated so I stopped after two miles and started walking. While I walked, I thought of more solutions, ideas, and future conversations.

On this very familiar path, I also noticed things that I not seen before. In particular, there was a bird's nest in a tree next to the sidewalk on Samford Avenue at the top of the hill. I haven't seen it before. Usually at this point of my jog, I start mentally congratulating myself because I did not let the hill defeat me. I am usually so "full" of my accomplishment of topping the hill that I do not notice this bird's nest sitting on a branch, just a few inches from the sidewalk where I jog.

The nest reminds me that I don't want to be so busy running to the next thing that I miss opportunities right in front of me. It also reminds me that focusing on my own accomplishments--large or small--keeps me from seeing and hearing others.

Scott Fillmer in his post, Lack of Dead Poets Society Copy, asked the question "Why don't we challenge each other more?"

Why don't we, more often, challenge ourselves and others to see life and opportunities from different perspectives?

One of my favorite questions is: What is it that we need to know that we don't already know?

Learning new things means being open to learning, seeing different perspectives, trying things we've never tried before, talking with people we disagree with, possibly slowing down, and focusing on others' goals, needs, and wants--instead of our own.

As Brian Johnson says "the last thing I want to be is just a passerby.”

Like Brian, I don't want to miss my opportunity to see, hear, listen, learn, be more creative with my talents, and possibly, influence others in positive ways.

Why don't we challenge each other more?

Conversations

2008-12-14T20:59:00.001-06:00

Having conversations is something we enjoy and is an integral part of who we are. We have conversations almost anytime and anywhere.

To progress on projects, organizational and technology changes, and family decisions, having effective conversations is absolutely necessary. Practically anything that we want to achieve is dependent on having one or several conversations.

However, if the topics are important, there are differences of opinions, we have past experiences crafting our thoughts, and we are emotional, having conversations with people we work with, live with, and care for can be very tough, taxing, emotional, and stressful. When we are passionate, emotional, and pressured about some topics, we often don't listen well, nor do we communicate our own objectives well. By improving our individual and group conversations we hope to achieve personal, professional, and organizational goals.

Last week I discussed some of the approaches given in the two books, Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler and Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott via a web conference. My presentation as part the web conference review the two books are:

Slide 1: How this session came about: In the Leadership SIG meeting, we were discussing opportunities and needs for professional development when someone mentioned a persistent, consistent problem that she was having with an employee. I don’t remember what the problem was, but my thoughts, at the time, were that the problem was not going to be solved by one professional development session. Rather the problem has deepened through time and that the problem now affected the productivity of the department. The problem was not one that will be solved with with an easy supervisor to subordinate discussion.

As Susan Scott says in Fierce Conversations, “You got here—wherever ‘here’ is—one conversation at a time. Allow the changes needed at home or at work to reveal themselves one conversation at a time.”

Slide 2: Crucial Conversations is a 10 step process for engaging in conversations that are high stakes, high emotion, and opposing views. The idea behind having crucial conversations is that we should be able meet goals. Having needed conversations does not mean that we roll over. In fact, one premise of crucial conversation is that we look for higher goals –higher than your personal goals and higher than others’ personal goals because compromise is not really acceptable. Neither party wins with a compromise.

Slide 3: Susan Scott in Fierce Conversations encourages us to have fierce conversations that are intense, powerful, passionate, and authentic. Fierce does not mean cruel or threatening. Solving consistent, persistent problems will take having one conversation at a time.

Slide 4: Having effective conversations is synonymous of pulling weeds up from the roots rather than cutting weeds at the stem.

Slide 5: Hang on because not having effective conversations can mean:

Future conversations are more difficult
Costs increase
Problems manifest
Risks increase

Slide 6: Goals for conversations

More funding alternatives
Better ideas
Better teamwork
Fewer mistakes
More solutions
Better relationships

Slide 7: Fierce Purposes of a confrontation

Interrogate reality
Provoke learning
Tackle tough issues
Enrich relationships

Reality changes—market, economies, strategies, our spouses , children, and ourselves.

As we drill down by interrogating changes, we learn. Susan Scott describes us as having Mineral Rights: Dig deep in one place rather than digging shallow in lots of places. If you are successful at asking, learning, and tackling tough issues, then the relationships will be better. An example of labeling which is a form of violence.

Slide 8: Fierce: The conversation is the relationship.

Crucial: Conversations can violent or silent.

Slide 9: Fierce: Good silence—let there be space.

Space between thoughts where less is more. The good silence—the space between thoughts and in the conversation gives the conversation time to breathe.

Slide 10 & 11: Crucial Conversations

Get unstuck: Identify where you are stuck.
Start with the heart: Work on me; what is it that I really want.
Learn to look: Learn to recognize when the conversation has become crucial: violent or silent. The behavior of you and who you are in dialogue with.
Make it safe for others to talk about anything. Create a dialogue that shows and develops mutual respect and mutual purpose.
Master my stories by understanding you are the one in control of your emotions…not anyone else. Separate facts from “stories”. Watch when you or others justify behavior by telling stories of being a victim, villain, or helpless. My favorite quote in this section is “Why would a reasonable, rational, and decent person do this?”
State my path: Share your facts, tell your story, ask for others paths, talk tentatively and encourage testing.
Explore others’ path: Ask to get things rolling, mirror confirmed feelings, paraphrase, and prime the person when the conversation has stopped.
Move to action: Decide who, when, and how.

Slide 12 & 13: Fierce Conversations

Master the courage to interrogate reality: Question reality.
Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real: Become authentic.
Be here, prepared to be nowhere else: be here—attentive, listen, learn.
Tackle your toughest challenge today .
Obey your instincts: A careful conversation is a failed conversation.
Take responsibility for your emotional wake: An emotional wake is what you remember after I’m gone. What you feel, the aftermath, the aftertaste, or the afterglow. Learn to deliver the message without the load.
Let silence do the heavy lifting: Silence makes us nervous. So do innovation, change, and genius. Silence can provoke learning, thoughts.

Slide 14: Crucial: What am I acting like I want right now? What do I really want?

Slide 15: Fierce: If you knew -- what is it that you don’t know? What are you pretending not to know?

Slide 16: Fierce: You have to get at ground truth before you can turn anything around.

Slide 17: Fierce: “I take the high road” is often an excuse for not tackling the issue.

Crucial: Avoidance is type of silence.

Slide 18: Crucial: Few, if any, forces in human affairs are as powerful as shared vision. Find mutual purpose.

Slide 19: Crucial: If you don’t first change your heart, any efforts to change your actions are likely to be insincere, shallow, & doomed to failure. We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.

Slide 20: Fierce: While no single conversation is guaranteed to change...a career, company, or relationship. Any single conversation can.

More information on Fierce Conversations can be found on the Fierce Inc web site.

More information on Crucial Conversations can be found on the Vital Smarts web site.

Please fee free to listen to the web conference.

Conversations

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: significant fierce)

Responding to opposing and inappropriate comments

2008-11-28T20:33:00.001-06:00

Most of the educators in my blogging training sessions are horrified about the potential of the use profanity, porn spam, or just plain ugliness in comments to their blog posts. They are also very timid about having to respond to comments that completely oppose their viewpoints. They simply do not want to get into an online debate.

Usually I tell the participants who are learning to blog:

"Don't be scare of others' responses and don't be scared responding".

When others oppose our views, wonderful opportunities are created to provoke learning. When writing posts or comments that oppose others' views, be sure to stay: 1) professional, 2) credible, and 3) appropriate. Often, we should ask, what does the research indicate?

I also tell educators if they monitor comments, they simply do not have to post those that get ugly or use profanity. But, I warn them about being overzealous in monitoring comments that may portray them as being close-minded and not open to other viewpoints.

When someone posted a comment on 15 minute Showcase on Twitter (the post is about 6 months old--which seems really old in terms of blogging), I found myself in a dilemma. The comment was an opposite view, but used profanity.

Exactly it is:

Anonymous said...: Plain and simple - Twitter is the useless bastard son on Web 2.0,

Some say it is a troll:

someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

Most of the time, the appropriate response to a troll is to ignore it. I considered ignoring the comment. Who would notice the comment on a post that is 6 months old? I could delete the comment. After all, the use of bad language would warrant the deletion.

I had other choices, too. Could I post a comment including the content but bleak out the words? Could I find a way to show usefulness of Twitter without going into combat? I saw the comment as a teachable moment.

Though it had really bad language, I sent a Twitter message--bad language and all:

anyone want to respond to comment "Plain & simple-Twitter is the useless bastard son on Web 2.0,"? See post Twitter": http://snurl.com/6q3up

This was risky approach; it was a troll.

Within a couple of hours of the tweet, I had:

more comments to the post (1 one of those from someone who has never commented on a blog before)
comment to my Facebook status
Twitter replies
An increased number of visits to my blog

Lessons learned:

Don't get sucked into a troll techniques. "Don't feed the trolls."
Look for teachable and learning opportunities when engaging in online conversations.
Remove the emotion when writing opposing viewpoints -- list facts and use reasonable explanations.
Search for alternative ways to address opposing and inappropriate comments.
Use methods of addressing comments that work for you.
Learn to comment on blogs.
Avoid leaving anonymous comments. Most of the time anonymous comments are thought to be cowardly. Also, there is no way continue the conversation when you don't identify yourself.
Use Twitter to ask questions.
Make Twitter what you want it to be: fun or useful. For me, it's both.
Use a variety of tools to share and engage: For instance, my blog and Twitter were both used to make a point. And one person commented in Facebook.
Let others do your talking. When I asked the question on Twitter, I knew some would answer the question in ways differently than I would have. People were expressive. In fact, most of this list was developed by what I learned from those who commented.

del.icio.us Tags: blogging,trolls

25 tools every learning professional should have

2008-11-17T11:13:00.000-06:00

During the Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations online conference, Jane Hart presented 25 Tools Every Learning Professional Should Have.

She developed this list of 25 FREE tools by asking others what their favorites are in the Directory of Tools Index.

The top 25 free tools are:

Firefox --browser plus much more
delicious --social bookmarks
Google Reader --RSS Reader
Gmail --email
Skype --instant messenger and voice call tool
Google calendar --keep calendar and share events online
Google Docs --online office suite
iGoogle --aggregate all resources in one place
Slideshare --share presentations
Flickr --share images and photos
Voicethread --using in presentations and flickr images a collaborative slide show
WordPress --blogging software
Audacity --record and edit audio convert audio files into MP3 podcasts
YouTube --sharing videos
Jing --screen capture and screencasting tools
PBwiki --wiki tool
PollDaddy --polling tool
Nvu --web authoring tool
Yugma --web meeting tool
Ustream --live broadcasting tool
Ning --private social networking tool (create and customized network)
FreeMind --mindmapping tool
eXe --course authoring tool
Moodle --course management system
Twitter --keep in touch with people

These tools are being discussed on the Ning network for the Corporate Learning Trends and Innovations 2008.

del.icio.us Tags: Trends,Tools

The passing of a leader in the Auburn community

2008-11-09T20:33:00.002-06:00

Last night, Virgil Starks died unexpectedly.

Virgil's university title was Senior Associate Athletic Director, Student Services. He also was Auburn Junior High PTA President, a Sunday School teacher, and a former board member to the Lee County Red Cross. He is survived by his wife, Donna, and 3 daughters.

I have known Virgil through church, kids' ball teams, dance classes, gymnastics, PTA, and work.

Whenever I saw Virgil, he always had a friendly, firm handshake. At ball games, he encouraged the kids; he was never critical to his girls or anyone else on field.

At work, Virgil challenged conventional and traditional thinking, sometimes becoming an irritant to those who had to deal with his outspoken and zealous stance.

There were only two instances where I stood on the opposite side from Virgil --it was not fun. Though the issues ended in "my favor", Virgil's resolve helped me improve the way I communicated, the policies I advocated, and the decisions I made.

By standing up for the "little guy", the unpopular, and the disadvantaged, Virgil challenged us to be more emphatic, understanding, and giving.

We will miss Virgil Starks.

del.icio.us Tags: Leadership

Extension Guidepoints

2008-10-28T20:53:00.000-05:00

In September, at Galaxy III Conference--an Extension professional development conference--W. Gaines Smith, Director of Alabama Cooperative Extension System presented broad challenges that are critical to Extension in the Distinguished Ruby Lecture, Extension Guidepoints. This post is an abbreviated version of his lecture.

These guidepoints are those that we in Alabama and in other states have developed, updated, and evolved during the past several years. They are not hard-and-fast rules, but directions of movement and trends.

None of the 6 guideposts are revolutionary. All will be familiar in some context. What I hope to do is offer some insight on each point that will take you beyond your current level of comfort and security.

1. Relevant Programs With Impacts and Outcomes That Make a Difference

Programs must meet local needs to the individual, family, or community, but we must also be able to aggregate the results to show impact at the state level and beyond. with statewide impact, multi-state impact, and national impact.

Customers (and they are customers) don’t care which organizational unit the program comes from; they just expect results.

Use of technology in the design and implementation of our programs cannot be an afterthought. While we acknowledge the needs of those without Internet access, we now know that 70 + percent of our customers have internet access. Our traditional methods of individual contacts, group activities, print media, and electronic media remain viable, but they must be balanced with individual contacts through the Internet. Texting, blogs, wikis, Moodle, Twitter, eXtension, and various social networking techniques increase in importance in the future.

These mass-individual methodologies allow us to do a much better job of customer segmentation, tailoring audiences' specific needs--when they want them.

The challenge is to provide significant programs that people can’t do without.

2. Motivated Employees

“The future success of our Extension system is dependent on people who care.” Dr. David Petritz from 2007 Distinguished Ruby Lecture.

Are we seeking individuals with the right characteristics in potential employees we recruit and hire? We are beginning to acknowledge the generational differences in work style and approach, but we must go further.

Are we willing to hire nontraditional educators who don’t look, think, or act the way we do? Many of us absolutely believe that working 8 to 5 plus whatever it takes is imperative. Recent entrants are more focused on results and outcomes than on the hours they put in.

We have to rethink our concept of employment: tenure track and continuing appointments for a 30-year career versus a 3- to 5-year term of employment. Young professionals are quite comfortable with the latter. And, this fits some of our funding stream.

An effective performance management system begins with self-motivated employees who clearly understand what’s expected of them, and includes opportunities to grow and develop professionally. Recognition and rewards should include appropriate pay for the type of work expected plus other non-monetary benefits. What are these benefits for the employees of tomorrow?

Our programs and our people are inextricably linked.

The challenge is to successfully connect our employees to our customers with significant programs that people cannot do without.

3. A Viable, Dynamic Funding Stream

Extension programs and people must be supported by a sustained, yet ever-changing revenue stream from multiple sources.

Level or decreased funding is expected from the federal, state, and local level. Capacity (the Smith-Lever formula) funds have been level to slightly decreased, with a modest increase projected. The 2008 Food, Conservation, and Energy Act (the farm bill) significantly enhances our opportunity for growth, but with a very different mechanism than we have become accustomed. Success in the new approach will depend on our Extension educators at all levels becoming engaged in the process.

Local funds from county and municipal governments are under the same pressure. At best, the traditional state, federal, and local funds are and have been critical in maintaining our basic programming structure and in keeping program continuity in place. It is imperative that we maintain this capacity throughout the national Extension system. This existing structure and its continuity are critical factors in attracting nontraditional funding.

Grants and contracts have brought varying success to our programs. It is important that we stay on-mission and not over commit our existing structure without appropriate capacity-maximizing funding.

Gifts and endowments are other somewhat new revenue sources for us in Extension. University capital campaigns have been quite successful. Extension has to be a part of these in the future.

Revenue from our programs and educational products has generally been regarded as inappropriate and even distasteful. As a public, tax-supported organization, we are not comfortable going to fees, charges, and sales. Experience has shown that our customers willingly pay for quality programs that meet their needs. Our biggest hurdle seems to be our own mindset.

Private/public funding partnerships are great unexplored opportunities. We’re not yet sure how these can or should be structured to meet our public responsibilities without compromising our credibility as unbiased sources of research-based educational opportunities.

Our future depends on making a culture change that involves new perspectives on how we do business seeking non-traditional revenue streams.

4. Beyond Diversity to Inclusiveness

Over time we have focused on civil rights, then diversity, and now inclusiveness. Regardless of how it is characterized, the concept is important in our programs, to our audiences, and to our own employees.

The long-term discussion has now expanded beyond women, African Americans, and Hispanics to include heritage, country of origin, religion, culture, family structure, lifestyle, blended families, and many other cultural and social identities.

Perhaps it is time for a new descriptive term—maybe the term “inclusiveness,” or some other term yet to emerge. In fact, a legitimate question could be, "Do we really have minorities as traditionally defined?" As the blending of our society continues, maybe we should be thinking in terms of people and their various needs without labeling them.

We have important issues to address:

How do we meet the needs of one minority group of individuals without ignoring or offending the needs of others?
How do we program to multiple non-English-speaking audiences?
How do we effectively document our EEO/AA requirements in a blended society?

On this last point, traditional categories of black, white, Hispanic, and other are no longer functional. Recently, a national survey that gave respondents 22 different choices to consider; “other” was still included. What does this really tell us?

It seems likely that 2008 will become known as a time when society moved ahead on this topic and leave our bureaucracies behind. It is imperative that we address inclusiveness.

5. Security and Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery

Security issues and emergencies vary in size and scale from local to national. Tornadoes affect relatively small geographic areas, bringing devastation to those affected. Hurricanes, such as Katrina, create widespread regional damage with national implications. The 9/11 attack left local devastation with international repercussions. Regardless, there is always an effect where we work and do our business: locally.

Another factor is the varying time we have to anticipate, plan, and prepare. For 9/11, we had minutes; Katrina, days; drought, weeks and months; climate change, decades. This factor is significant as we address security and emergency preparedness needs.

There are two components to this issue:

Internally, how do we operate when our employees have damage and devastation to their homes and communities? How does Extension operate without communication, offices, and supplies? An organized emergency contingency plans are necessary.

Externally, we need to plan in advance for how Extension can address preparedness, response, and recovery. In preparedness and recovery, we have, over the past few years, developed educational resources that are effective and relevant.

As a general rule, Cooperative Extension is not viewed as a first responder at the height of an incident. It seems that our greatest opportunity to be significant is in the advance identification, recruitment, training, and coordination of volunteers. In a recent presentation, a state emergency management director stated that volunteers readily came forward, but many lacked an understanding of the needs and how to be effective in coordinating with others.

6. Excellence in Extension

Chester Fehlis addressed Excellence in Extension in his 2004 Distinguished Ruby Lecture.

Most of us are quite passionate about in our work. The real challenge in this area and, in fact, in all of these guidepoints, is to move our programs beyond success to significance. People, especially decision makers, must believe—know—that our programs are necessary for their daily lives and for a prosperous future.

The excellence in Extension work that Paul Warner, Kentucky Extension, is provides methods for measuring Excellence in Extension.

Summary

My comments are closing on two overarching points.

First, leadership—effective leadership, visionary leadership, committed leadership—is needed to keep Cooperative Extension on track to continue our tremendous heritage of success. Without this type of leadership, these guideposts and others that develop in the future are worthless. Leadership is key.

Second, Where will this leadership come from? A one-word answer is YOU! This “you” includes those in the audience today, others attending this conference, and your coworkers back home.

Leadership occurs at every point in the Extension organization. We often look to the top, but frequently the most effective leadership may be at some point well removed from the top. Central leadership is important but cannot be totally successful when leadership throughout the system is lacking.

Consider these guidepoints and that they will generate others of equal importance. After reflection, go to the text of the presentation and ponder each point, especially as it applies to your situation.

Successful leaders will use this occasion and conference to grow.

Successful leaders must continue to learn and develop over time.

Please access the entire script of the 2008 Distinguished Ruby Lecture, Extension Guidepoints as presented by Dr. W. Gaines Smith.

del.icio.us Tags: Cooperative Extension

Social media and marketing

2008-10-25T19:39:00.001-05:00

Paul Chaney shared his keynote "Conversations Create Clients: Using conversation marketing to turn strangers into friends and friends into customers" from the Real Estate Barcamp Houston conference.

Though the presentation is 82 slides long, it is worth the time to glance through it.

Here are notables from the presentation:

Five consumer trends:

1. There is consumer skepticism and resistance to advertising.

67% of consumer good sales are based on word of mouth

2. Media fragmentation is out of control.

Daily advertising messages: 274 to 3000.

3. Increasingly, the consumer is in control.

4. The pressure is on to improve targeting--to achieve relevance and minimize waste.

5. Companies are held to new levels of accountability.

Other points:

Conversational media is about people, not technology.

"Markets are conversations" and "participation is marketing" The Cluetrain Manifesto.

No longer target audiences; we participate in communities.

"Advertising will get more and more targeted until it disappears, because perfectly targeted advertising is just information. And that's good." Dave Winer

Conversation marketing strategy is to: listen, respond, engage. (See slide 48).

My conclusion: Use the online tools to

Listen to customers, potential customers, and trends.
Respond to the customers (listening and not responding is like you are not listening).
Engage in the conversations.

REBarcamp Houston Keynote Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: rebarcamp houston)

del.icio.us Tags: marketing,social media,The Cluetrain Manifesto,conversations

Google Docs Guide

2008-10-23T17:32:00.001-05:00

Amit Agarwal created "Google Docs Guide: How to do Stuff with Google Docs". Some topics covered in this tutorial are:

How to upload all your Microsoft Office documents from the desktop on to Google Docs
How to associate the common Office file extensions like doc/xls/ppt with Google Docs so that desktop documents open directly in the web browser
How to download all documents from Google Docs locally and burn them on to a CD
How to add watermarks (like PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL, etc.) to your Google Documents
How to translate documents in Google Docs to another language
How to track who read the document and when
How to know when people open your Google Documents
What more creative uses of Google Docs
What are some desktop applications that work with Google Docs

Not information overload--filter failure

2008-10-13T20:49:00.001-05:00

Clay Shirky presented "It's not information overload. It's filter failure" at Web 2.0 Expo NY. Here are my notes.

The assumption is that the information is going to keep increasing .
Before the Internet, the source was the filter.
- My rewording: Newspapers and book publishers decided what was filtered because it was costly to publish (i.e., What if we publish, but no one bought the book?)
- Now the cost of publishing is negligible so where is the filter? When the source doesn't filter, how is it information filtered? Individuals have to learn to filter.
We have to get better at filtering and keep re-tuning those filters.
Filters for information must be automated, manually constructed, and continuously re-tuned. All solutions for filters are temporary.
It's not an information overload problem, it's a filter failure, and we, as individuals, have to create, rethink, and re-tuned the filters.
Managing privacy information flow is unnatural for most of us because before the Internet, providing private information was difficult, inconvenient, and inefficient.
- My thoughts: it's a new paradigm and we rethink the social social structure, expectations, the underlying way for which we decide what to share and not share.
Today, we design the filters so the privacy works the way we want it?
Large groups are tolerant of free riders where small groups are not tolerant of free riders.
- My rewording: In large groups you can easily have lurkers. In small groups, you must be able to contribute in some way--just lurking is not permitted.
It's a mental shift--rethinking the model--we are the same as fish in the ocean--we are just in the flow.
- My rewording: The ocean isn't the problem. The question is: how do we navigate the flow?
Rethinking the model because before the Internet the filter of the information was at the source. Now the filters are with the people.
Updating the old filters is not the fix.
We should re-think the social norms.
When you think you have information overload, think about what filters broke.
- How is email broken? What are the solutions? Other methods of sharing, wikis, blogs, Twitter,FriendFeed, instant messaging.
- How are feeds from newsreaders broken? How do I streamline and choose what feeds I read? Constantly changing feeds in my reader.
- What about other solutions? Friendfeed and Twitter for manual filtering?
- Still not working? More solutions coming.

Wiki--not email--for collaboration

2008-10-12T15:12:00.003-05:00

Recently, I have conducted several social media workshops. Often participants express that social media seems overwhelming. The participants say that they already feel like they have information overload, and they don't know how to handle more information.

My responses are usually:

Social media helps one keep up better with new information and ideas than current tools, like email.
Social media, particularly reading feeds, is much more efficient than not using them and allows one to increase access to more (much more) information.
Social media allows one to read and find information outside of one's normal colleague and knowledge circles.
Social media allows matching tasks and tools. Email simply is not the right tool for many of tasks we use it for. For example, wikis are better for collaboration than email. I usually have participants tell me how they work on projects together. The left side of the Wikinomics graphic is indicative of their description.

Email, although useful for some uses, is not a good collaboration tool.

This Wikinomics graphic, originally created by Chris Rasmussen at US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, obviously shows which is the better collaboration tool.

del.icio.us Tags: Email,Collaboration,Wikis

Future forces affecting education

2008-09-28T15:47:00.002-05:00

In a future trends of education discussion last Thursday, Dr. Joseph Pascarelli provided a Map of Future Forces Affecting Education, developed by KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Institute for the Future (IFTF). The map is a forecast of forces that could affect learning in the next decade. The predictions are worth pondering for our future and how we should be changing the way we educate, manage, lead, and produce and market services and products.

I am using the map like this: If I believe the predictions within the map are true, how should education, management, leadership, and marketing change to adapt to these forces? For example, one prediction is that there is Community Value Networks. How do we make visible tangible and intangible assets (like knowledge, trust, reputation, loyalty) to create richer relationships of exchange? Addressing public education:

Lower network-coordination costs make it cost-effective to meet the needs and desires of “long-tail” niche markets in industries as diverse as music, health, and education. Numerous and diverse niche markets of learners become targets for all sorts of providers of learning experiences in the expanding learning economy (public, private, parochial, charter, home and other informal schools, and commercially based providers). Value network mapping becomes an important tool for tracking the exchange of tangible and intangible learning assets that flow between public schools and the rest of the learning economy. These exchanges create richer relationships between public schools and the community

Specifically, how does this change the way we provide higher education and Cooperative Extension education? Including and engaging community members, in both physical and online communities, to contribute in our educational efforts help learning spread more quickly and more effectively.

Other trends predicted are also provided. Pick one trend and reflect how that trend affects what you do.

del.icio.us Tags: education,trends,learning,community

A Dialogue about the Future Trends in Education

2008-09-25T20:22:00.002-05:00

Today, I attended a loosely formed group meeting that was called "Future Trends in Education Workshop and Think Tank." When Tony Cook suggested that I attend, I was glad to be part of discussion, but it was unclear what the meeting would be like and what would be discussed.

I supposed I was worried the meeting would be a waste of time. I was thinking it would be another meeting where people talk about how learning styles, environments and technologies are changing, but don't really propose any different methods or philosophies for the future. Often after a declaration of how trends are shaping our future, the discussion turns how to address the trends which includes methods that are only slightly improved over what we are currently doing. For instance, one might suggest providing education online in the same way we lecture in classrooms or placing supporting materials for classes in closed course management systems. These discussions clearly do not show an understanding of open, free flowing opportunities that we should be considering.

This meeting wasn't really a meeting at all. It was more like a series of conversations.

In today's dialogue which was led by Dr. Joseph Pascarelli, one of the questions (I rephrased it) was "If we believe that the Map of the Future Forces is the way life is changing, then how can we should education change?"

During the discussions, I wrote words that people said that described education for the future. They are not in any particular order or importance: diversity, access, inclusive, open, flexible, connected, across, collective, creative, responsive, change, ideas, shift, sustainable. (Note: Although the discussion centered around education, I believe these same changes affect management, leadership, marketing, and communications).

We also discussed (among other topics):

1. what we are about. We are part of a land-grant institution, thus we should be embracing methods, engagement, and open systems that provide education to our communities. We have the resources, thus why aren't we utilizing those resources, technologies, and opportunities that enrich the lives of others? (We do this some, but not broadly across the university.)

2. generating an environment where creative thinking can occur.

3. that we need to be responsive.

4, that we need to build creative systems.

Some interesting quotes during the meeting that I might ponder and possibly investigate later are:

"Most change happens because of a surprise, not because of a strategic plan."
"Make work more like fun."
"We're looking for opportunities to learn in a safe environment."
Most meetings have agendas that allow discussions, but the decisions are already somewhat formed. Instead dialogues should take place first. (Paraphrased)

Some sources shared during the meeting are:

Etiene Wenger Community of practice and social learning

Margaret Wheatley Listening as part of leadership

Fostering Learning in Networked World (NASA) pdf

Knowledge Works

Capra, F. Center of Ecoliteracy pdf

PeaceJam: A Billion Simple Acts of Peace

This meeting was not really a meeting, but was more like a conglomeration of discussions that happen during conferences in the hallways at break-time. We are planning to meet again and are careful not to have too much structure, but will continue the dialogue. I am looking forward to more reflection and discussions that hopefully will result in changes in approaches to education.

del.icio.us Tags: education,learning,open