Musing While the Embers Dance in the Campfire

On Mentoring

2010-11-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

Recently, the topic of mentoring has been raised on a LinkedIn group I participate in. At first, I was not feeling compelled to add to the discussion, but then felt guilty as I have benefited much from the professional mentoring I've received over the past 25 years from a dedicated and special friend. So, knowing that there are thousands and thousands of young women out there who need mentors in their lives, I added my thoughts to the discussion.

I have several young women that I mentor, encouraging them as they go through college at present, and advising them and listening to them as they try to figure out the paths they wish to pursue after graduation.

I was the fortunate recipient of extraordinary mentoring from a very dear friend I met on jury duty, who at the time was a marketing and communications consultant, and former bank VP. She saw something in me that I didn't know existed, and over the years has listened, helped me work through challenges, advised and guided but always as a sounding board, never telling me what I should do or ought to do, but helping me to explore options. She knew things about the world of business and corporations and power structures and organizational cultures that I didn't have a clue about at the time, and was willing to invest herself in me. Gladly I can report that her investment has paid back over and above. One thing she told me long ago is that if I chose to accept mentoring, then I had to be prepared someday to make a commitment to others and pass that mentoring along. I only hope that I can be as positive an influence in the lives of these young women that I now mentor as my friend Marilyn has been for me.

Look around you, look for that young woman or teenage girl who has the potential to be more than she is aware she can be, get to know her and if she needs and wants someone in her life in a mentorship position, step up to the challenge and be that person. Commit for the long haul, be ready to listen even when it isn't convenient, and enjoy the pleasure of seeing someone else stretch their wings and learn to fly! We don't necessarily need organizations to do this, we need to each commit to helping and making a difference in our sphere of influence.

Creative Energy

2010-03-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

I don't do a whole lot of cruising around in YouTube, but this OK Go video for the song "This Too Shall Pass" was featured on my iGoogle page so I thought it looked kind of fun. Wow. Amazing. Wow again...

What an incredible symphony of movement, color, sound, percussion, precision timing and woven through it all the most amazing instrument of all, the human voice. The creative energy apparent in its design is fantastic, the manifestation of imagination, vision brought to life. According to the video crew Q&A interview there were 89 different mechanisms involved in the "Machine", and the project took a few months to put together, but was shot in just a few days of sleepless frenzy. One of the producers credits their success to the passionate belief of those involved that this will work - a group of people working together to achieve a vision who are so totally on board with the vision that they are literally breathing it. And the result, it is at once chaotic and structured, spontaneous and managed, crazed and restrained.

There is another video for this same song. It too exhibits this same kind of energy, but in a different venue. Choreographed energy, movement and sound and color and shape and form all perfectly orchestrated.

From a project management perspective, the beauty of flawless execution given the consideration of numerous contingent elements is a thing to behold. From a leadership perspective, the sharing of vision and empowering energy that can harness is a testament to the ability of human beings to work together. From an art perspective, the whole process is art, performance and sound and visual art blended in just such a way that emotion evoked perfectly reflects the lyric "when the morning comes...", a statement of hope and optimism.

Personally, I think it would be a grand thing for this song to be adopted by marching bands across the nation, I'd love to see it performed at high school and college football games!

Way to go, OK Go!

Musings on Mexico

2010-02-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, many of you have inquired about how the trip to Mexico went, so I thought I'd post the short version here. It was great!!! OK, so you want a few more details than that, I don't blame you.

Over the Christmas-New Year's holiday, myself and a young lady from our church youth group went to Mexico with Dayspring Outreach Ministries. We left Tulsa following a Christmas Eve blizzard which had dumped nearly a foot of ice and snow on the roads, so it was only by virtue of 4-wheel drive (and my learning to drive in the snowy mountains of Pennsylvania) that we were able to get underway. We met up with the rest of the folks in Edinburg, Texas at the ministry guesthouse, and then crossed into Mexico via Reynosa the next morning. We traveled to Dayspring's Bible Institute in La Haciendita, and it was exciting to see the progress made at this facility since the last time I was there in 1999 with a youth group summer trip.

Our purpose for this Christmas trip was to conduct worship services and distribute gifts to children in villages where Dayspring works with local pastors and churches. Over the course of the next 5 days, we traveled many miles in the Dayspring vans visiting a church in a working class suburb of Monterrey, and then on to remote villages in the state of Veracruz. Our headquarters during the time in Veracruz was the orphanage which is being built near El Higo, and during our time there some of the men were able to run electricity, bathroom plumbing, and build a stairway for the second story.

Meanwhile, the rest of us traveled daily to small villages where the church met in an outdoor community center shelter, another in a field with a small open-air sheet metal shelter, and another around a campfire next to a very old adobe building. Here we walked the villages inviting the children and parents to come sing, hear the Christmas message, and receive gifts. A very spirited group of children, parents, and grandparents always turned out for each celebration. They were delighted to have their pictures taken and receive printed photographs affixed to a frame they could decorate and hang in their homes. Wherever we went, the villages were most hospitable and served us meals of delicious enchiladas, tacos, chicken stew, fried tilapia, fried chicken, and all the homemade tortillas we could eat!

To culminate our trip, we ventured further south in Veracruz to the ruins at El Tajin, an impressive archeological site with huge ceremonial pyramids and ball courts excavated from the mountainous terrain. Very cool! Here is a neat website that shows photos of many of the ruins and some background on the history of the site. These ruins are not so "touristy" as some of more well-known sites, and it was nice to be able to meander about without the crowds. And the prices at the market just outside the entrance are still reasonable as well.

So, I had a great time, and want to go back next Christmas if possible. Or at least sometime in the foreseeable future! For the past several years, I've done some graphics work for Roger, Dayspring founder/director, and have watched this anointed ministry grow. It is exciting to see their work blossom and bear fruit, and I am looking forward to the orphanage becoming operational and serving a huge need in that region.

Have a fabulous day, and I'll be chatting at you again soon. (p.s. - Camping season is coming quickly, so we'll be starting up the campfire!)

To WorldVision's Children

2009-12-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

In recognition of Larry, my first blog follower (thanks Larry!) and a staff member of WorldVision, I wanted to start off by telling you about Mary, a child in Zambia whom we have sponsored through WorldVision for about 5 years now. We have received annual pictures from her village's program coordinator and been blessed to see how she has grown healthy and happy. Many times children who live in countries where extreme poverty is the rule rather than the exception are not so lucky as to be healthy and happy, or even alive for that matter. WorldVision has made the difference for Mary and her family, and her entire village.

One letter we received a couple of years ago related an ecstatic response to receiving her first school uniform and being enrolled in the primary grades. Subsequent letters have revealed a growing command of written and artistic skills. It was humbling, as we prepared to send our daughter off to college equipped with dorm decor, sports equipment, a computer, and a dependable car to know that a little girl in Africa was just as excited to be heading to school wearing her brand new uniform.

Other communications we receive from the area's program coordinator talk about the improvements in farming techniques, water systems, health care, and other critical services that WorldVision is able to provide. The pictures of the fields and crops improved dramatically as a result of irrigation and crop management improvements, and it made me happy to know the village would have healthy and adequate food.

As my daughter soon will graduate and become a teacher, I encourage Mary when I write to her to study as hard as she can, knowing that education for girls is a rare privilege in some cultures and that it is a powerful force for alleviating the cycle of poverty when women are literate. I don't know that I will ever be able to meet Mary, but we have committed to continue her sponsorship until she ages out of the program. It is my prayer that she will continue to grow and learn and that her family will prosper in health and happiness.

The work WorldVision does is important, and we are so privileged to be a part of their work, even in this small way of sponsoring one child. Here's a high-five to Larry for his work with the organization, and high-five to Mary as she is living proof of the valuable services they provide to the children of the world whose circumstances are most dire.

Info-Musings moving to new site

2009-12-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

I've built a new site for my "professional life", so hop on over here and see my all-in-one Info-Musings (continued) blogsite and professional website with lots of information and resources on topics around knowledge management, organizational dynamics, leadership and design.

This site I've renamed as it will be dedicated to reflections on the other aspects of life - you've heard about work/life balance, well this is that life side of the scale. The importance of family, faith, playtime, children and pets, exploring the world, friends and relationships, reflecting on the delicate balance of order and chaos, you name it, this is where it will be. People who know me well know that I am most comfortable in my tie-dye t-shirts, and hiking in shorts in all but the nastiest weather conditions. The tie-dye metaphor fits - kind of how my brain works, a fast-paced kaleidoscopic view of simultaneous scenarios forming fluid patterns of randomness (we'll discuss the importance of learning styles at a later date!).

So, sit back, hang on, and let's see where this trip takes us!

Reviews - Opinion or Endorsement?

2009-11-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

The furor over the FTC's release of standards, disclosure requirements, and penalties for bloggers who review books is at full tilt. I know I sure can't afford to get slapped upside the head with an $11,000 fine if I choose to post a book review on my blogsite! Edward Champion's recent interview with Richard Cleland attempts to clarify some of the confusion, but I think Cleland just succeeds in digging himself a deeper hole.

So it appears that he is concerned mostly with reviewers who actually receive complementary copies of a publication for their professional assessment. He tends to view all reviewers in the context of "endorsers" and equate that to advertising, and views the complementary copy as a form of compensation which should have taxation consequences. So is he going to extrapolate that thought pattern to university professors who are sent books for their assessment as to whether or not to list them as class texts on their syllabi?

For now, I will purchase anything I review, so that I remain free and unencumbered by the FTC's view of endorsement. I prefer to be a consumer who happens to have an opinion, whether positive or negative, regarding the merits of any work I choose to assess and opine herein!

Hopefully the dust will settle on this dilemma one day or another, and a potential blog reviewer could realistically determine what constitutes a legal but also workable relationship with a publisher without the risk of financial disaster.

Book reviews - the futuristic view

2009-11-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

Books, or information in a packaged format, whether it be electronic or hard copy, are the product of an author's ideas, research, effort and some strategic marketing initiative to make it available for others. Since we are knee-deep in the transition phase of the evolution of the ebook and all the extenuating factors including copyright, access, mobile applications, licensing, ad nauseum... I wanted to examine briefly here the role of and future of the book review.

In a printed book world, book reviews take place in the newspaper and magazine format. In an electronic book world, those reviews need to take place within a social media context where the online discourse around an author's work will serve to build interest and therefore generate sales in whatever format is chosen for dispersal. The newspaper and magazine hard copy format is a static platform, and in an age where young people are digital natives, the projections are that these platforms will shrink to smaller niche markets while the online platform experiences the growth and changes expected from this younger user group. Mike Shatzkin explores the challenges ahead for the traditional publishing industry in a speech at the Book Expo America in May 2009 he entitled Stay Ahead of the Shift.

So how is the discourse around a new work to take place such that more people hear about it, become interested in it, and purchase it? Social media, including blogsites, Amazon reviews, tweets, and diligently worked strategies for aggregating and linking content relative to a particular "book". Book is in itself a term in transition. Perhaps no longer printed, perhaps constructed and uploaded a chapter at a time, perhaps open-source formats allowing annotation and reader discussion. What the term "book" will evoke in 5 or 10 years may be entirely different from the image of a bound collection of printed paper that we envision currently.

In light of this transition, I think that I will begin posting the occasional book review in order to become a contributing member of this shifting paradigm. As a reader with eclectic interests, the subjects of these reviews will no doubt be all across the board, but hopefully will help build momentum across the online universe for works I feel merit some response.

Women Athletes - a different kind of game

2009-10-29T13:00:00.001-07:00

I have been encouraged by all the recent media attention given to the WBNA Shock team coming to Tulsa. What an exciting development for girls in this area to be able to see professional women athletes in a first-class venue, and know that there is value in the practice time, self-discipline, workouts, and prioritizing their activities. For too long, girls have pursued their athletic dreams without alot of support - making do with equipment and clothing designed for boys and men, the girls' gym or softball field so inferior to the boys' facilities, listening to expectations of inferior performance ("you play pretty good for a girl!"), and competing for limited scholarship money at the college level compared to men's sports, and yes, Title IX has been in existence for many years! As the parent of a female college athlete, I've seen the incongruities first-hand, and I have alot of compassion for the coaches who choose to pour themselves into women's sports, knowing the battles they will have to fight along the way for their team.

At any rate, I came across this great video from The Responsibility Project that shows the heart and soul of women's sports. Competitive grit, reaching deep inside and never giving up, but always with a touch of compassion and camaraderie. I've seen this mixture of intense character in the teams my daughter has played with, and it is a joy to know that there are more and more girls and young women able to experience this aspect of their personal development as more opportunities are afforded them.

Moving on, keeping current, future state...

2009-10-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well, this has been an interesting foray into the fun, frustrating, fabulous, futuristic world of the web. Some of it I will definitely come back to and work into my daily use/work application portfolio. Some of it I will leave to the librarians to pursue as they work to develop Library 2.0 technologies as the user platform for the future. I think this site GO2WEB20 will be helpful for me, as it seems to be a well-designed place to find new tools for productivity.

What I take away as a KM student and eventually as I rejoin the professional community is that work processes and tools may radically evolve over the next decade, reinforcing my belief that the virtual worker will assume a greater place in the organization.

A knowledge economy need not be based on proximity or how much commuting time employees must subject themselves to in order to maintain quality of life. For the health of smaller cities and towns, encouraging infrastructure providers to build high quality broadband networks means allowing their residents the opportunity perhaps for higher paying jobs only available outside their local communities. For the health of our larger urban areas, providing web-based infrastructures that allow employees to work from home at least part of the week will reduce stress levels, restore balance to families, and reduce emissions and highway congestion from rush-hour vehicles.

I think it is way past time that corporations take a serious strategic look at the the benefits to be gained from these types of initiatives, and proceed to implement them before gas prices go back to $4.00 a gallon, and while they can reduce employee overhead costs in an age where profit margins are as tight as they've ever been. Perhaps it is a strategy that would help as we struggle to recover from the economic quagmire...

Streaming videopods in space

2009-10-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

You guessed it, another rendition of multi-tasking foraging...

YouTube is a computing sensation. I recall the first time I saw one of these videos, it was some strange little kid in India dancing with a range of fellows in the background all smoking cigarettes. Bizarre, but hey, someone's idea of entertainment! Since then I like to check the hot videos to see what people are paying attention to, and of course, there was Susan Boyle, probably one of the fastest video to viral episodes I've ever heard of (besides she has a glorious voice!). The online video phenomenon includes everything from strange cats to weird kids to full length videos. One especially helpful and entertaining form for this medium is the instructional video, championed by Common Craft in their series of how-to lessons on all things web.

But there are others like Hulu where you can also see some interesting stuff. Undoubtedly, most of it is eventually cross-linked and findable from different angles. But one I found today is particularly funny, from the corporate angle. Suffer through the ad trailer in the beginning, it is worth it...

Texting your way through work - the way it is done! Now if people would just not do this while they are driving!

Podcasts are another good web-based method for allowing remote/virtual team members to view a meeting. Organizations I have worked with previously have used this method to allow the CEO to make announcements/discuss company strategies with the entire company via podcast, although employees are located all over the country and globe. Capturing the podcast allowed workers in other timezones to watch it when they are able. Another application for podcasting is one used for many years now by my cousin Al who operates a podcast/blog site for indie music in the Buffalo, NY area. As an old ham radio operator, he has always been in the "early adopter" crowd, so has been providing us relatives with this opportunity to enjoy new music for quite some time now.

Socializing, the way it is done, is no longer dependent on talking on the phone or "doing lunch" or even the cool touch of email. Staying connected with my kids is mainly through texting. With the larger set of friends (relatives and acquaintances) it is easier to stay in touch with Facebook, the hottest thing going for the "over 50" crowd (myself included). The site began as a university student reaction to the adolescent nature of MySpace, but has evolved as those students have graduated, begun careers and families, and reach out to extended families and friends who have moved elsewhere. I have found that Facebook is a good platform for our large extended family to keep in touch with each other, although we live all across the country and are seldom able to see each other in person. Pictures from weddings and funerals, graduations and new babies, pets, house projects, and vacations all are posted so that everyone gets some visual context for what is going on in each others' lives. Not quite being there, but a whole lot better than never knowing.

From the business/professional side, I use LinkedIn as the network for that type of interaction. It has groups for professional associations/interests and as far as I can see, most users respect the need to conduct oneself with dignity in this online environment. As a part of my job search, it is a tool where I can project my professional brand and where colleagues can recommend me based on previous project interactions. Additionally, Ning offers forums for groups which will also benefit my networking strategies as I continue my job search.

Thing 16 - an exercise in frustration

2009-10-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

So, since we are not in Minnesota anymore, Toto, we find that we must walk the bumpy gravel road rather than the nicely paved yellow brick road (or maybe in Minnesota its a canoe slicing through the blue boundary waters). In Oklahoma, it seems there is no equivalent for the ELM system, which from all I can tell is a glorious portal where any MN state resident may peruse the greater catalog of aggregated resources statewide, with one single library card pin! Talk about leaping tall buildings in a single bound, would it not be a fine thing if all assets of the Oklahoma public and academic libraries were available to all state citizens, regardless of whether they are a state employee or not, a student in a specific university or not, a rural or urban resident, inside a library building or outside it via the web? I know librarians deftly corral their holdings and catalog those very same and make sure none of the chicks ever leave the nest without notice, but I think the larger goal is to provide resources for people as efficiently as possible. Enabling this kind of digitally-accessible avenue for statewide library use would be a wonderful public service. I think there would be ways to automatically set up inter-library loan calls if a user in Enid needs a book only available from a library in Tulsa, or perhaps even UPS deliveries, of hard copy elements to users who may live off the beaten grid. Otherwise, the scenario where all the databases in the system would be available to all the tax-paying residents of the state would be so wonderful (even though I know this would mess with the tax-support structures of libraries from county to county). It seems too that there might be some overall savings in database subscription fees if contracts were leveraged at the state level and costs paid proportionally.

At any rate, the other part of Thing 16 is the Assignment calculator. Fine if you are doing a research paper, but it could use some fine-tuning to allow for defining some specific project milestones in order to deliver a more appropriate timeline plan for different types of assignments. I like the links it generates to helpful resources, though, as I could see students learning how to write a thesis statement and how to build a research paper outline, for example. I think this type of thing needs to be scalable for a middle school/high school/undergrad/graduate level project planning exercise, perhaps with level-appropriate resource links. Learning how to write a thesis statement is something that should be developed beginning with middle school, fleshed out in high school, and refined as and undergrad. Tools like this could perhaps be used to battle the serious deficiency in writing skills evident in many high school students' work.

Learning 2.0

2009-10-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

The tools we see in the Web 2.0 environment can facilitate more than the quiet but strengthening Library 2.0 (r)evolution. I can see that the impact of these tools could radically change the delivery of education in the future. Already some university's are using Second Life's virtual world environment as a platform for online learning delivery. Compared to the bland dimensions of current online class formats, I see exciting possibilities for both online, blended, and class delivery. I recall sitting in huge auditoriums filled with half-asleep freshman who may or may not remember anything of what the professor was saying. In a virtual environment, I can show up for class at an appointed time, or the professor can pre-record a lecture and I can watch it at my convenience, or multiple times in order to really analyze the content.

Gaming can offer opportunities for entertainment, to interact with others, and in such a rich environment as Second Life which is created and maintained by users, learn alot about people's ideas, visions, hopes and fears. Granted that building a character and an environment and managing many interactions with other users could well be a time-intensive process, there are some areas where I think this investment of time could be very productive. As a former graphic designer, it is hard sometimes to know how people will react to a design idea, and how effective it might be in the marketplace. Before spending major bucks on actual production, this platform might offer a nice way to put out a framework for idea and test the virtual waters to see what kind of response it generates. Product developers could do the same kind of thing, to gauge consumer response to ideas for innovative products and services.

So, just as gaming offers players an opportunity to wear a different persona to play pirates, or defeat monsters or armies of aliens, or to cruise for chicks at the hippest bar in cyberspace, it might also have good uses in organizations where encouraging creativity and innovation are critical to the bottom line. Indeed, for education purposes, given the high dropout rates for high school students due to boredom, irrelevancy, family crises, etc., this kind of innovative platform might be just what is needed - open a mall-front campus where kids can enroll in a virtual high school program that is designed for their specific needs, with real teachers on the premises as well for assistance, tutoring and group discussions. I know that rather that fighting with my son to stay in school when he felt like it was a waste of his time, as a parent I'd sure be willing to try this sort of thing before giving up and allowing a kid to drop out.

Things, and more Things...

2009-10-12T08:11:00.001-07:00

I have been exploring more of these 23 Things, and the more I go through some of these the more I find myself browsing through more and more tangential links. Yes, I am a forager, an information behavior pattern derived from the Old French "braugh" meaning to browse for random bits food, which in my case means clicking as I follow the "information scent" that James Kalbach discusses recently in his article in the first issue of the Journal of Information Architecture . This fits my personality as a "flowchart" person rather than a "list" person, and for those readers who tend toward the list framework, I apologize for what may seem to be a random approach to these Things. For me however, the synthesis mode at the end of the flowchart brings more understanding, and thus I will proceed in my analysis of "digested" things from a multi-faceted point of view. One note here before I proceed, however, is that we must always be cognizant, as information professionals of one sort or another, of how diverse our readers/users may be and as Kalbach alludes, we must create and manage our information in such a way that seeking behaviors and learning styles are effectively facilitated.

Wikis are an interesting dynamic in information exchange. I have used different forms of wikis in the business place for documentation development/repository, requirements analysis, upgrade tracking, bug/issue reporting and tracking, to name a few purposes. It can be an extremely powerful tool and if managed correctly a critical path success factor for software development and implementation teams, as well I imagine it would be for a Library 2.0 team or any other. But the key is management of the environment and the information. I have had to use wikis so outdated and junked up that they become minefields of bad information, which inadvertently is dragged up and used (Principle of Least Effort/satisficing). Not a good thing. Organizations implementing and using a Wiki or Sharepoint or some other repository tool must have someone in charge to manage the thing, and as well must carefully consider and put in place information retention policies. Old history is great, and perhaps needs to be maintained (or not), but sometimes it is better to isolate it in the archive rather than up front and center. And wiki owners should sometimes upgrade their wiki platforms when and if functionality opportunities are present in other platforms that offer a quantum leap in process efficiencies for their members. It is work to move lots of data, but sometimes it is worth it rather than trying to work around a serious lack of functionality on an old dead platform. To those just beginning wiki-work, these are just some observations to keep in mind for the long term.

So, in the context of a wiki environment as an effective organizational information platform, collaborative tools can be viewed as the operative appendages of this environment. So many options! We looked at a few for this Things project, including Zoho and Google's stable of offerings (Docs, Calendar, etc). Great tools with great integration and sharing options that open the boundaries of document creation up to include a social aspect. Google calendar for example, is great for business colleagues who share calendars and want to be able to schedule meetings or travel commitments. I have used this in the past with success as part of a virtual team.

One of the Things I found particularly interesting is a group of applications offered by 37signals including Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise and Campfire. First of all the names just exude "information scent", especially considering my love of backpacking, but an examination of each turns up some pretty powerful project management tools. As a project manager, I've found that sometimes some of the more conventional PM tools take more time to use than the project itself, so it is great to see there are options, and that if I want to do some freelance PM work, I don't have to spend alot of money for these tools. These are definitely in my bookmark list for use on my next project. And, as a Knowledge Management student, I can relate so much more to this realm than to libraries.

So I think what I am getting at here, is if I envision the browser and search engine as the "head", the wiki as the "body", and the collaborative tools as the "appendages", then the "guts" are going to be composed of all the pieces and places I put my documents, photos, videos, graphics, etc. Then how do I transmit these bits and bytes of information... sometimes through the appendages, sometimes through the mouthpiece. So this blogsite is part of that mouthpiece. In a less obvious way so are the opportunities I take to share my comments/likes/dislikes at sites such as Digg and Stumbleupon. I'd come across these in the past, and they are great opportunities to see what the social universe is recommending as "interesting". I think it would be an interesting thing for psychology/social science researchers to delve into the reasons some things are highly "dugg" and others less so. It would probably say alot about our priorities as a culture of entertainment seekers, at least that is my quickly-considered hypothesis!

Finally, to bring this to a close and get on with another round of multi-faceted discovery, I will rave on the wonders of LibraryThing. I don't have to type in every little detail about every book I have! I can build an online catalog of my personal books, which given the size of my own collection, my kids have frequently commented they don't need to go to a library to do research as we live in one! So I've begun building my online catalog, but needless to say this will take awhile. I tend to read in genres, so I will look for groups which align with my major areas of interest.

Countdown!

2009-10-11T13:11:00.001-07:00

Created by OnePlusYou

Web Tools and Virtual Interaction

2009-10-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Have been looking at Flickr today. I've come across it previously and find it intriguing to see the comments others tag photos with. But I decided to go ahead and create a Flickr account and post some of my own. The Oklahoma Ice Storm in Dec. 2007 was an experience, and the photos document the damage to our house, cars, and yard. One of my cats is still terrified whenever it starts to thunderstorm and looks fearfully out the back window where the big tree once stood before it was leveled by the ice. Constant sounds like explosions when the limbs and ice broke off and crashed down have forever scarred his little psyche!

What else... I experimented with some of the mashups and photo creator tools as well. I think I will work on getting a good photo of my husband's 1970 Olds Delta 88, recently restored, and have it made into a puzzle for him. I think he'd be delighted!

So, besides fun stuff like this, the main point of this post is to discuss the ramifications of Web 2.0 tools relative to virtual work environments. I have some experience with this, as my previous job as a software implementation consultant/business analyst afforded me the opportunity to work from my home office when I was not on the road consulting at client sites. With the benefit of high-speed broadband and a secured home network, using tools like web conferencing, instant messaging, email, digital phone service, and a fully equipped Blackberry, I was connected! I could sit here in my home office with my furry office mates (cats make really good office mates!) and work with clients all over the world on multiple projects. Most of the time, this was a really good thing, and a very productive way to work. But there were some days when I was getting fast and furious emails, working multiple IM conversations simultaneously, trying to conduct a web conference with some dignity and professionalism, and the cell phone ringing, and then you know it - the UPS driver would show up ringing the doorbell with a delivery! Sometimes it felt like being too connected!

Mentally, and emotionally, the pace and the constant state of vigilance to multiple modes of connectedness can be exhausting. As the virtual workforce expands, I think managers need to be cognizant of the need for some employee "disconnect" time during the day in order that they have time to think through a problem scenario, for example, or perhaps just take time to get their tasks or paperwork in order for the day. Managers need to develop a trust relationship with their virtual team so that expectations are clear, but so are the terms of trust and engagement as an integral part of a collaborative unit that supports the organization through mission-critical work. The demand to be constantly "on" is draining, and virtual workers need to find ways to manage their connectedness to mitigate this kind of impact on their productivity.

By the way, just for fun, OPAL is a cool site - features include some web based presentations/discussions on some great classic books. Check their schedule and find an opportunity to feed your head!

Library2.0/Web 2.0 perspectives

2009-10-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

Libraries have been repositories where information users engaged in search behaviors to locate information of interest, whether it be for research or entertainment or out of sheer curiosity. Some of that information is in a physical format like books and DVDs, but other information is in digital format such as databases of journal articles and image collections.

But the library of the future (hopefully the near future) must be one that facilitates and assists information users to enter a multi-dimensional information environment that is increasingly organic and fluid. As John Blyberg postulates, relevancy is the critical issue. People in society today need to be able to manage the information firehose that is coming at them 24/7. When change is as rampant and random and rapid as it is, having information professionals available as resources in community libraries who can help them manage this flow is critical. Just as important is showing them ways they can deflect the tide of information they don't choose to engage. How can libraries be part of the solution when the information world is basically in explosive mode? It is by reinventing themselves to be in a position to help people make sense out of what David Weinberger in Everything is Miscellaneous calls the "new digital disorder".

Proactive stances to offer classes or group interaction sessions in social networking, either onsite or via web conferencing, for example, might help older citizens who are feeling more and more alienated as their children live in other states, and their neighbors are only seen opening and closing the garage doors on the way to and from work. Offering community gaming conventions, workshops on blogging and enhancing website findability, hosting webinars on how to access authoritative information, or hosting social services resources fairs to educate users on how to use the power of the web to address needs in their lives. Just a few thoughts on some out of the box things that libraries might begin to do to increase their relevancy rankings in the communities they support.

Life Happens!

2009-10-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well, as it happens, I am behind the curve here as there has been way too much life going on these days, so must quickly get caught up on all these interesting things on the Web with which I am not yet familiar. First off, we explored the dimension of "self as cartoon character". Avatars are quite the rage with the younger folks, I know my nephew Ben does a good job with them, but my first excursion in this realm created what I consider a passable product. I recall the Sim games, where one could customize the characters.
So, in my quest to save some time and energy, I began looking for something on Facebook so I'd have that image populated as well. Muggable appears to be a pretty new application for that environment, and though it may not be game-warrior worthy, I now have an image I can live with. When I used to use ICQ messaging, it had a fairly decent avatar creator there, but I didn't think then to save the image for use in other applications. Duh, like I'm the former graphic artist and should know to always save every image created because undoubtedly there comes a time when you can use/abuse/recycle it!
Now, when it comes to the psychological implications of "self as cartoon" that's where things could get scary. Just because I prefer to think of myself as still being a brunette, and still able to hike tall mountains in a single day, well, I suppose a good self image is half the battle. So is a little bit of self-deception a good thing, or a sign of serious underlying problems?

2009-09-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

This blog will be dedicated to capturing informative musings related to the field of information studies. I am pursuing a graduate degree in Knowledge Management, and find that it overlaps into many other disciplines. For my first venture in the blogosphere, a class assignment to review the 23 Things project looks to be a grand adventure in catching up with some interesting web apps, some I am familiar with and others new.