One of my family's favorite restaurants is the Golden Corral; a restaurant chain famous for bringing new meaning to the traditional "All-You Can-Eat" concept. From salads to sushi, there is nothing one would want for. We enter with hunger, excitement, and anticipation to sample all the new tastes and flavors. Unfortunately, we leave the experience miserable, overstuffed, and frustrated that we did not make wiser choices. So...what does my family's eating habits have to do with digital citizenship?
Every time I enter cyberspace, I feel like I am at the Golden Corral. As I log onto my computer, the same hunger and excitement enters my gut. In this digital smorgasbord, there are endless tools, applications, and resources to choose from. It is easy to get overstuffed, but digital natives know this: No matter how great (or FREE) the eats, you gotta know when to say enough is enough!
So, here is my lesson for the day (The teacher in me, never goes away). I present my rules for staying happy and healthy as you enjoy the smorgasbord of the Digital World:
Grab a small plate: It is important to start VERY small. I know it is tempting with so many scrumptious choices of tools and tricks, but less is better.
Select your Entree: What tool or application is your staple for staying connected. Is Blogs, Twitter, Linkedin? This should be your primary nutrient.
Choose one or two side dishes: These tools are important additions to the main entree. They should enhance but not overtake the meal.
Let's not forget dessert!: It's okay to treat yourself. There are so many free tools that may not extend your business or enhance your personal networking capabilities, but man they are sure fun! Indulge, enjoy, and explore, but do so in moderation. Too much of a good thing, is still too much!
Here's what my digital plate consists of:
My main entree: Of course, my blog and blog networks My two favorite sides:Twitter and StumbleUpon For Dessert: This tool is a researcher's dream! I LOVE SearchMe; an incredible visual searching tool. It makes searching and researching as sweet as a piece of chocolate!
Like any good meal, everyone can chose what to put on their plates.
Think carefully about what will most satisfy and sustain you. For me, I
think I have found a perfect balance. Are you ready to dig in? Bon Apetite, my friends!
Our April theme of Digital Learning has illustrated something quite clearly for me:
Whatever Digital Learning we choose will also determine the conversations we have with our globally scattered friends and neighbors, and how we have them.
Conversely, you may choose a virtual community (like this one, our Ho‘ohana Community on JJL) or a social media network first (such as Twitter or LinkedIn). However in making that choice, you will have to learn whatever it takes to communicate with everyone there if you are to fully engage with them (and they with you) in the best possible way.
Pure and simple: We choose how and if we engage
What is that “best possible way?” Well, “best” is pretty relative to each of us individually, and there’s the rub: Best for you may not be perceived as best for the rest of the community.
And there is another truism which frequently emerges: What happens more times than not, is that whatever is easiest for you isn’t necessarily deemed best for everyone else too: Getting to what is optimal for both of you takes some work. Sometimes, it even means building new habits. At some point, people make decisions about what is good enough and they give up on the pursuit of optimal.
That’s life. We all have to arrive at our own reasonable balance.
Marketing guru Seth Godin became an example of this recently when he received some criticism for his decision to write about Twitter. Just one problem: He doesn’t use it. What he wrote was positive, but as someone who is not engaged with the Twitter community he lost some of his credibility with those who are, and feel they are more devoted and fully engaged.
As a Twitter newbie myself, about a week short of a full month’s engagement, I have learned much about the cultural norms there, and feel like I am learning how to speak a completely brand new language, just 140 characters at a time. When do I choose updates that are publicly broadcast, @directed, @included or direct-messaged? Which is the best way to reply to each? Why can’t I get just one stretched picture on my profile page versus the tiled one like others can? When does link-sharing deteriorate to anything less than sincerely appreciated or loved by your followers? When are you perceived as gregarious and generous versus strictly self-promoting and spammy?
And most of all: Why bother learning?
Twitter has taught me an awful lot this month, and I have come to realize that it does take time to learn enough to make a reasonably intelligent stab at answering that “Why bother?” question. It takes time, transparency, and vulnerability: While you are learning you have to engage; there really isn’t any other way.
Further, the community sets the rules of engagement, not you.
When you choose some kind of digital learning you are often choosing a community too, and you are rarely learning alone.
Even when you use something like Del.icio.us, normally entered into strictly for individual book-marking, it turns out to have some kind of social component to it. After I had been using my Del.icio.us toolbar bookmarklet for all my link tagging over quite an extended amount of time, I remember being so surprised the day I went back into my account again to learn how to bundle my tags, and discovered that I actually had a network and fans there –how had that happened? Who were they? Where did they come from? Was I expected to communicate back with them or reciprocate in some way? I went into this mini panic worrying about how unintentionally rude I may have appeared until I learned more about the way that networking happened there.
With Twitter, I am conversing regularly (that is, “tweeting”) with people across the globe who seem to have no interest in anything else I write over and above those 140-character updates. In the beginning, it floored me that those tweets were enough value for my new twitter-friends, jumping into conversations with me just as easily as my older friends established elsewhere did. They click my blog link at my bio to quickly check me out, but even if they choose to follow me (adding me to their chosen Twitter village) they may never read one of my blog posts again (much less my book and about my mission), and have no interest whatsoever in an RSS or email subscription. Twitter is an instant community of sharing humanity in real time, not in experience-driven stories or bloggy thesis presentation. Your Twitter connection can become more as links are followed (and as you choose who you will follow), but not necessarily.
Social has become a pretty literal word.
There has been some rapid and totally unexpected spill-over for me as I surrender my “Why bother?” learning time. I have noticed that my blog posts are getting shorter and less frequent (finally!) for now that I “get” Tumblr and Twitter I more fully understand how short attention span has become no matter how much people may love or admire you. It ain’t personal: When they choose new learning of their own, some time may be stolen from old-style conversations. Our capacity for life has this wondrous yet annoying way of stretching much larger than the time we manage to stay awake and function well! Twitter (and the books I purchased after A Love Affair With Books) has had a pretty dramatic effect on my own RSS feed-reading: Blogs that were “on probation” now have a much shorter time in which to make the cut with me. Am I being more efficient, or less patient?
And the duplicity of reciprocation and paying it forward is not lost on me: I am completely aware of how I may be in the same boat with someone else judging my citizen publishing – and me as publisher.
Let’s bring this back to Joyful Jubilant Learning
What more can we learn from the aha! moments we experience within our Digital Learning here and elsewhere? Most, if not all of us participate in several virtual communities: What experiences can we bring back to this one here at JJL, evolving in our best possible way? How is our own Ho‘ohana Community to get better within the conversations had here, and more supportive of the learning initiatives of all who wish to engage with us?
Please share your ideas, for I am quite positive that every single author here would love to hear them.
Hearing the words “digital learning” make me feel a little jittery and shuddery. For me, they grate on my psyche, like the screech of fingernails or errant chalk on a blackboard grates on our ears.
There! I’ve given myself away in the first paragraph. Even my analogies are old-fashioned, and definitely non-digital. (Hey all you teachers out there, do you still use blackboards and chalk?)
Avoiding Risky Behaviour My financial planner dubs me “risk averse”. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment! With digital learning, it’s not so much that I’m “risk averse”, as just a bit slower than most of my colleagues here on Joyful Jubilant Learning. To put it kindly, I’d estimate my score on the Digital Learning Scale is in the lower digits range.
When this topic was mooted, I sighed, knowing that I had a couple of choices.
Try something new and pretend I’d enthusiastically “learned” yet another digital skill to keep up with the Jones’ (or in this case the Rosa’s, Tim’s,Steve’s,David's,Joanna’s,Karen’s etc)
Take my usual path into digital learning and be subdued and moderate and DOWNRIGHT BORING.
Excuse me, your honour ... Let me step up to defend myself here. After all, Outrageous Extraverts don’t really like to be seen as boring.
In my circle of friends, (the ones in Australia not the blogosphere) people are constantly admiring of my computer skills, online discoveries, trips into the world of websites blogging and social networking, and forums. To some people, I'm an early-adopter. So clearly this is all a matter of degree.
Of course, there are some exceptions to this admiration. There’s my hubby SweetP, the mathematician who weaves spells with numbers and computers that I couldn't even try to fathom. Oh and of course Lovable Geek. My son the IT manager is pretty scathing about his mother’s digital failings.
To them I’m a bit sluggish, forever paddling in the shallows instead of getting out there where the water runs fast, dangerous, and exciting. Take my hand... So come with me into MY world of digital learning, where gentle paddling is just fine.
Let’s start with something simple. I have three Blogs and write as a regular contributor on several more. Here on JJL, even that’s a bit sub-normal.
I long ago realised that using good old Google Docs is by far the easiest method to prepare, collaborate, edit and share your writing. That's how Karen Wallace and I wrote our book from opposite ends of the country. It’s not fancy, but it does the job.
The urgent need to find out information on my family history before all the oldies “kick the bucket” has had me hunting for good basic genealogy software. I found PAF. By sheer force of will, I figured it out, taught my sister, and crammed it with all the information we have. The fun started when I uploaded it onto a few genealogy sites and started making connections with distant relatives and digging deep into the Irish heritage that surrounds us.
Having tried Facebook and felt like I was being conned every time I was “poked”, I’ve left that to Lovable Geek and all his “friends”. Give me a chat over the phone, or a glass of wine with a friend any day.
Speaking of chatting brings me to something I am getting very intrigued by – Voicethread. Joanna Young has brought it to us here at JJL, and Karen Wallace has followed over at Calm Space. For the moment, I’m dipping my toe in the water with comments, but I know I’m hooked enough, and can see great value in this engaging and much more humanly-digital technology.
Despite what I’ve told you, I’m a notorious Gadget Queen so I’m not necessarily averse to change or digital tools. I adore my toys like my Palm PDA, Nokia mobile, Olympus camera, Canon scanner, IRiver mp3 player etc.
Let's find the root of the problem I think my problems with digital technology stem from overwhelm. The sheer paralysis that accompanies so much choice makes this poor, indecisive Libran completely overwhelmed. So, I like to be a follower in the digital world, and listen to the leader’s sage advice on what paths might prove useful.
Much as I hate to be out of step, (and boring as it might be) I’ll happily stick to my low-digit Digital Learning Score. I’d much rather keep learning at a pace that suits an Outrageous Extravert. After all, by definition I’d rather be out there talking and learning by osmosis, rather than by research. That’s just a bit too methodical and scientific for my liking.
Oh good grief, that’s another thought that might bring on the shudders!
The digitally archaic Chris Owen of Pink Apple
is an Aussie-based Relationship Specialist and blogger who shares the
Secrets to Successful Relating. Her humourous style brings many
readers to her blogs Take A Bite and Apple Tart.
Together with Karen Wallace she has also co-authored Save Our Xmas Sanity a pre-Christmas Must-Have for all frazzled women!
Okay, I cannot write about talking story in a short post.
It’s Saturday: You’ve got some time, right?
Got a tweet from the ever-traveling Starbucker yesterday:
“@rosasay, I gather you are liking this Twitter thing - that makes two of us!”
Yes, I’ve become all a-Twitter too. I do like it. I’ve begun to think of Twitter as the digital, global way to “talk story.” For me, Twitter-lingo “tweets” are like pidgin; the local vernacular (more slang) of the islands.
First “talking story” (Then I’ll get to the JJL Twitter Soiree)
Talking story is a big part of the local Hawai‘i culture. At its purest form, to talk story is to shoot the breeze with someone because you have some laid-back, easy-going, relaxing time to do nothing but swap stories with each other about everything that is personal but light and joyful with you. You talk with someone like you have known them forever; you are direct and to the point, no posturing or pretense, and asking questions freely, but never crossing that line of intimacy that even the best of friends would never cross without invitation. You don’t need much context in way of introduction; you just jump in and talk to someone just because they are there smiling at you, and you have this positive expectancy that aloha lives and breathes within them. What more do you need to know?
There is so much in life that is happily light-hearted, and that’s what talking story celebrates. The less serious the better; talking story is best when there is tons of smiling, laughter and kidding around about stuff that is pure nonsense. You laugh with each other, and at the silliness and yes, even the stupidity of life. Then, when the talking story is over, it is over. Goodbyes are said with hugs and aloha. No promises made, no commitments to be honored, no follow-up calendared (unless it’s for a party somewhere) —you just go merrily on your way again as carefree as a mynah bird.
Talking story happens in the workplace too; there it’s kind of a warm-up exercise that opens people up for when they need to roll up their sleeves and get into more serious matters. However you don’t get into those serious matters of work that will surely mix personal and professional into a people-pungent stew-and-rice mixed plate (come on now, it’s to be expected after all), unless you have a talking story relationship with all those people first, one that has been built on aloha.
Then there is the talking story of community, which is kind of an ebb and flow of everything, depending on what kind of neighborhood or community it is… sort of like JJL: Lots of ebbing and flowing (and honking), lots of talking story, lots of aloha-built relationships, lots of people passing on virtual “streets” we call comment conversations, and now, voice threads!
So what were we talking about? (You tend to lose your place a lot in talking story and just keep going…) Oh yeah, Twitter!
About a week before April started I began to deliberate in earnest about our JJL theme-to-come of digital learning, wondering what I’d write about when it came to be my turn to pitch in for the month. There are several digital tools I use on a regular basis (truth is, I am geeking out more and more these days), but I wanted to really concentrate on the learning part over and above the digital part, so I wondered what I could jump into that would be new for me: What could I share with you having just a mere beginning of some learning?
I was ripe for the Twitter-picking
I was in the mood for some experimenting.
That might have been part of the reason, but in every talk story I’m likely to have about it, I will probably blame my Twitter leap on my friend Todd Storch (and thinking of Todd always brings such great stories to mind for me). Todd and I had become blog-buddies, and when he stopped blogging I made sure I always reached out to him one sure-fire way: on his birthday. (I like celebratingbirthdays.) Todd would answer my email, and I’d look at his signature in the hope he’d fired up his blog again. This year, there was only one line under his name, and it said:
I sent my first tweet as his birthday present. Now my Twitter anniversary will be the same day as Todd’s birthday; March 28th.
So here I am, about two weeks and 120 tweets later. You’ll find blog posts all over the place by people more articulate about it than I am as to the reasons why. I’ve already told you my biggest reason; it’s like a global version of talking story, and I LOVE talking story.
I think Twitter is one of those things you have to jump in and just try to “get it.” So, to follow Todd’s lead…
If you’re around, let’s have a JJL Twitter Soiree this weekend! Go to http://twitter.com and set up your account – it’s easy, and you JJLers are smart!
Jump in and tweet a message, and get a bunch of us JJLers to follow you: We’ll talk story.
“Following” is a way of connecting up; if you are not yet on Twitter you might be familiar with following from Tumblr or another micro-blogging lifestream app (I LOVE my tumblr… another talk story another day). The whole concept of following people with these newer social media apps is fascinating to me, and I wish there was a way to add following to all of my blogs too (not just Twitter folk, but ALL readers): Any true techie out there know if it can be done? Leah? Adam?
Your friends follow you —“friends” being people you know— but readers you don’t yet know follow you too; the way I look at it, it takes blog-lurking to a higher place. Followers you don’t personally know yet are kind of telling you “I’m lurking, but since it is so one-click easy to tell you I’m lurking, I will… I don’t even mind that you’ll be able to see my avatar and short bio stuff too.”
But again, to tweet, is to talk story! When you tweet, you are saying, “Hey there! I have a minute to talk story: Do you?”
If I am not yet following you on Twitter, as one of your tweets (your update-messages), type this in so I can find you there, and will know you’ve decided to JJL Soiree too:
Aloha! A JJL tweet to @rosasay, @________________ fill in the blank using as many other JJLer addresses as you can fit into those first 140 characters.
I was not the earliest adopter! To find more JJL Twitterers, just move your curser over the avatars you will see on my page – you will recognize the names and faces.
If you are already there and I have missed you, tweet me! Let’s talk story.
Just one thing: This will post when I'm asleep as so many of you start your day in earlier time zones than I do, but not to worry, I'll catch up with you in the morning.
And I am sure the other JJLers will be welcoming you too... there are some things I am pretty sure of :)
“JJL is a glorious place for making connections! One of the best tools anyone can get for free!”
Twitter (In Plain English) from The Common Craft Show. Love how Lee LeFever does these: Less than 3 minutes to watch it.
If you have more Twitter tips for all of us, add them to the comments (told you I am just a two-week tweeter too), or give us your own Follow me at Twitter message!
What do molasses, Italian immigrants, influenza, Prohibition, J Edgar Hoover, and good old New England weather have in common?
These are the main threads woven together to tell the tale of one of the major industrial disasters to have occurred in these United States. Stephen Puleo tells the story in Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. In meticulous detail, the threads build upon each other from building the tank in 1915 to set the stage for the event itself on January 15, 1919, and through to the trial that rendered its verdict in April of 1925.
Dark Tide is the selection of the Franklin Public Library for this year’s On the Same Page program. Supported by a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act, a federal source of library funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, On the Same Page is a community-wide reading project designed to bring members of the community together around the ideas shared through reading the same book.
The story is centered on an enormous steel tank (50 foot tall by 90 foot wide) that held 2.3 million gallons of molasses weighing about 26 million pounds. The tank was located on the water front of Boston’s North End surrounded on three sides by a heavily residential area. The water front made an easy connection from ship to rail for the US Industrial Alcohol (USIA) company that built and operated the tank to supply their refinery in nearby Cambridge.
Here are some passages that I think will give you a flavor of the story that Stephen Puleo has crafted.
Molasses:
Frank Van Gelder transported molasses along the East Coast following the same route that captains before him had traveled since the early 1600’s. For three centuries, the molasses trade has been a vital part of the American and New England economy, as important as fishing or textiles, and a critical component in the country’s political and social development. The dark brown viscous liquid, a by-product in the processing of sugar cane, played a major part in some of the biggest events in American history: in the colonial discontent that lead directly to the Revolution; in the introduction of slavery to the New World and, thus, the Civil War; in the growth of rum and liquor distilleries throughout the United States, and the resulting Prohibition movement; and in ensuring the superiority of Allied firepower that would eventually lead to victory in the First World War/ It all started in Boston and New England.
Italian immigrants:
As Irish and Jews assimilated and earned more money, both ethnic groups moved out of the North End to better areas of the city, although small enclaves remained in the neighborhood until well into the 1930’s. … the Italian population in the North End continued to soar --- by 1910, after a decade of unprecedented immigration, the neighborhood’s population approached thirty thousand people, of whom more than twenty-eight thousand were Italian.
Armistice and Influenza:
The armistice had occurred at the right time for Bostonians, who needed a reason to celebrate after they, and much of the world, had endured a dreadful 1918 autumn battling an influenza epidemic that first showed up in early September. In a little more than two months, it had wrecked havoc of biblical proportions. When it was over more than five hundred thousand Americans would lie dead, and estimates ranged from 20 million to 100 million worldwide. More than 25 percent of the U.S. population became ill, and an estimated eighteen thousand servicemen died of the virus; the government estimated that it would pay the beneficiaries of soldiers and sailors a total of $170 million in insurance premiums.
Prohibition:
Now that the war had ended, USIA had to find additional sources of revenue to tide it over until the country could fully make the transition to a peacetime economy, and the demand for non-military industrial alcohol grew again. … Company executives decided they could retool the Cambridge plant’s manufacturing processes to produce grain alcohol for the rum and liquor industries. … But even this strategy represented a timing challenge, one to be managed carefully for the company to benefit. After years of momentum, it now appeared certain that a Prohibition amendment would be ratified shortly by three-quarters of the states and that an 18th amendment would be added to the U.S. Constitution, banning the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
J. Edgar Hoover:
Four days before Christmas (1919), at 5 A.M., the Buford set sail from New York harbor for Russia, carrying 249 passengers, including renowned anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. J. Edgar Hoover, who was special assistant to Attorney General Palmer, watched the ship pull away. Hoover had strongly advocated the Goldman and Berkman deportations, branding them as “beyond doubt, two of the most dangerous anarchists in this country.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer echoed the feelings of the vast majority of the general public: “It is to be hoped and expected that other vessels, larger, more commodious, carrying similar cargoes, will follow in her wake.
Franklin played a part in this story:
… Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, himself awaiting deportation, delivered an incendiary speech in Taunton, Massachusetts. The next evening, in the nearby town of Franklin, four Italian anarchists, all ardent Galleanists, blew themselves up in what police believe was a botched plot to destroy the mill of the American Woolen Company where they worked and where a strike was in progress.
The weather:
On December 13 and 14, a vicious storm with gale-force winds pounded Boston. The newspapers called it a “superstorm”, the worst in a dozen years. Two massive fronts collided in upstate New York and dumped more than twenty inches of snow west of Boston as well as torrential rain and a driving sleet within the city. Trains were delayed and streets were rendered impassable due to flooding. Heavy wind knocked down electric power lines, chimneys, trees, and signs outside of store fronts.
Gee, just this past December 14th, a similar storm hit Boston and New England paralyzing it with almost as much snow. Are we really seeing the effects of global warming?
Has much else changed since 1919?
Is the war on terror any different than combating the anarchists
Molasses may have seceded its place of prominence; only to be replaced by another dark thick liquid (oil) which is wrecking economic and political havoc around the world
War has moved from Europe to the Middle East and Africa
The threat of a pandemic is real
Immigration is still a major issue for America.
There is so much more to the story. As the Library holds additional
events for On the Same Page, I want to participate. As the year progresses, I will share what I learn.
In the meantime, I would recommend that amongst the wonderful opportunities to read that we have, pick up a book of your local history.
What can you learn about your area?
What role did it play in history?
Do you find any parallels to current events?
Recall that George Santayana wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
---------------------------------------------- Steve Sherlock writes his
2 cents exploring the "good experience",
"life long learning" and life in general, after handling the "before you blog"
list his wonderful wife Dolores provides him. Together, they are enjoying the
empty nest while their daughters are away at college. His sherku and other poetry
can be found at quiet poet. More information about his current home town of Franklin, MA can be found at Franklin Matters
I''m really excited that this year I've chosen to review a book that works for Joyful Jubilant Learning on multiple levels.
First, I'm always looking for true stories of how an individual or team can take declare a new possibility, especially an imaginable but seemingly impossible "possibility", and out of their passion and commitment making that seeming impossibility a reality. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time By Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin is that kind of story.
In 1993, not quite 15 years ago, Greg Mortenson was working as a nurse in San Fransisco to finance his passion for mountain climbing. On a failed expedition to the world's second highest mountain, K2, Mortenson deliriously takes a wrong turn on the path down and finds himself taken in and cared for by the villagers of Korphe. During his recuperation, he asks to visit the village school, only to find the students out in the open, practicing lessons on their own while awaiting the return of the teacher they shared with another village. Mortenson's heart opens, and he promises he will return to Korphe and build a school.
As of the date this story was published, along with what the book characterizes as "one of the most underqualified and overachieving staffs of any charitable organization on earth," Mortenson had built fifty-three schools in some of the most remote and politically unstable parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The schools Mortenson's Central Asia Institute builds educate girls along with boys, and offer a secular education to compete with the madrassa, the schools sponsored by religious extremists in the region. Talk about a way that education can change the world!
And the book works on another level, as we see Greg Mortenson himself challenged to learn and grow thanks to what the people of these villages have to teach him. The book takes its title from an incident in which Mortenson is supervising the construction of that first school in Korphe and apparently behaving like a bull in a china shop. The village headman asks Mortenson to accompany him on a walk. He then strips the American of his tools, locks them in a cabinet, and sits him down to a cup of butter tea. Haji Ali explains that Mortenson is driving everyone crazy. He warns him that to succeed in Baltistan, Mortenson must learn to respect their ways. "Doctor Greg, you must make time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated. But we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time."
I found this a wonderful lesson. As newcomers to a place on the planet, or as a manager new to a team or company, the key to our success will be to respect and learn from others. What we think we know may not be the knowledge that our goal requires.
Last but not least, I recommend this book to you because thanks to the writer David Oliver Relin, Three Cups of Tea is non-fiction that reads with the pacing and drama of a great novel. I can pretty much promise that by the end of this book, you will find yourself understanding why Relin confesses to having lost his journalistic objectivity. Like him, I found myself wanting to see Greg Mortenson succeed, and wondering what I can be doing to make my world a better place.
We are just days away from celebrating a month long excursion through a wide variety of books. The list is varied and extensive. It will be an amazing journey with suggestions and recommendations that you probably never considered.
How will you keep track of it all?
With the encouragement of Rosa, I've designed a one-page worksheet for you to keep track of the relevant and eye-catching information that you'll encounter over the next month. This worksheet is a free downloadable pdf.
When you download this form, you'll have the ability to write down information that sparks your interest from the book reviews. For many of us, our reading list is comprised of books that were recommended to us from friends and others whom we respect. This worksheet will assist you in keeping track of those nuggets of wisdom you find in the reviews. Plus, it will serve as a reminder to add that book to your Amazon Wish List!
________________________________________________________ Tim Milburn loves a good one-page worksheet. He's designed a few productivity worksheets that have assisted thousands of people with meeting and event planning, leadership training guidelines, and personal productivity. You can access these forms at www.studentlinc.net.
Have you taken part in a meme? I have. I don’t jump on every one that comes along but once in awhile, I do find time to participate when it catches my interest. A meme can take many forms. It can be a set of questions to answer (Five things you don’t know about me, is a popular one). Or a set of instructions to follow (like one book meme I recall, that had you go to the first book in your pile, turn to x page, etc.). Or you input the URL of a blog and it does some analysis to produce a widget to post on your blog and attract additional folks to the meme. Like how much is your blog worth? For grins, I checked on this Joyful Jubilant Learning blog to find:
Of course, we are all richer for the learning we share!
I think this example helps to show that memes like this are generally good fun. They tend to further the sharing of information about one another. They do take time and depending upon the viral nature of them, an individual could get tagged about the same time from a couple of different folks.
Some folks decide not to partake in them and I respect their decision. If the person is one I want to know more about, then it is not a big deal. It actually provides a opportunity to further the conversation outside the meme and achieve the same goal; a deeper relationship.
The most recent widget meme I participated in occurred early in January this year. I picked it up from one blog in my PodCamp group. The meme in this case was a widget that advertised the readability of the blog. I had seen a similar one a year or so ago and was curious to see if there were any changes in readability since then. I posted the results and went on my way.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Michael Pollitt, a free-lance writer for the Guardian (UK). He wrote:
I need to share with you what being part of the JJL Ho‘ohana Community can mean to me, and in doing so, hopefully explain what it can mean to you in your learning collaboration with others... you can conspire in Aloha in the best way without even knowing you do.
Part one. January 31.
HCer Dan Oestreich has started a special set of pages to collect leadership poems for his customers, and he writes, inviting me to participate. I arrive at his site, Unfolding Leadership, and find that HCer David Zingerhas a page there too (how is that man managing to do so much these days?)
Part two. February 2, 3 and 4.
I had to honestly admit to Dan that of all the writing arts, poetry is something I have never been able to find my groove with. Have tried, but it hasn't clicked with me. Dan, in the wonderful way that he does just about everything he does, offered to help me find my way into some connection with poetry. I can't believe I am actually doing so, and I start a draft of my own poetry ... a very, very, very rough draft. But it is there.
Part three. February 5.
Dan had told me about poet Pulitzer Prize winner, National Book Award winner, and remarkable human being Mary Oliver.
Happy Chinese New Year! According to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, this is the first day of the new year containing a new moon, and thus the year begins today, February 07, 2008.
Today also kicks off the Year of the Rat, and you have to admire the Chinese for being among the very few to honor this rodent which makes most of us squirm so uncomfortably... not only do they honor the Rat, they have given him the distinction of being the very first of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. The others are the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Photo credit: Twin Lions on Flickr, Yufo Temple, Shanghai, China by think cink.
No offense guys, but I keep thinking of the Rat Master Splinter for the Teenage Mutant Turtles for some reason, and rat just naturally comes out as a "him" for me. However in the spirit of full disclosure, my daughter was born in the Year of the Rat; she's a Wood Rat. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc... 2008 is the Chinese Year of the Yang Earth Rat. (Wikipedia is a goldmine of information about all of this by the way; take any of these links and you'll find a bunch more. If you want to find out your year, element, and yin or yang, this is a good page.)
And hey guys, after you read what the Chinese think about the attributes of the noble rat, you may be okay with my gender liberties...
Being the first sign of the Chinese zodiacs, rats are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious and strong-willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power. They are energetic and versatile and can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various environments easily. A rat's natural charm and sharp demeanor make it an appealing friend for almost anyone, but rats are usually highly exclusive and selective when choosing friends and so often have only a few very close friends whom they trust.
Yes, there is another side to the Rat's character, but why go there, right?
Now me, I'm a Wood Horse, and they say that traditionally, Rats should avoid Horses, but other than a period of time when she was in the 6th grade that we both prefer not to remember, my daughter and I have gotten along just fine, so who knows... maybe we got the yin and yang part right!
So how is it that someone best known for teaching Hawaiian values has the authority with which to write our Joyful Jubilant Learning entry welcoming in the Chinese New Year?
Are you an Impressionable Elite, or a Pampering Parent? A 30-Winker? One of the Working Retired? Have you met any Young Knitters or High School Moguls? Do you know any Wordy Women, or Ardent Amazons?
I'll bet you know a Non-Profiteer...
I've been away for my work for about a week now, a longer stretch than usual, and I've found myself in a bookstore near my hotel nearly every day as a convenient place to be between appointments. On the first day here, I picked up Mark J. Penn's book Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes, and found it to be a pretty fascinating read. It's kept me company several times now I have sat at the bookstore's cafe and needed something to page through.
Mark J. Penn is a pollster, and he's the man who identified "Soccer Moms" as a crucial constituency in President Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign. Now he's cultivated his knack for detecting relatively small patterns of behavior in our culture into a very entertaining book which is a mixture of humor and interesting data.
I love trend-spotting. For me trends are behavioral clues to what people value, and how their values may be changing, and in particular I get fascinated with how they affect shifts in workplace preferences. Penn however, makes my fascination with values-driven trends seem like a mere flirtation. In his book he offers up 75 different profiles of the kinds of people we are becoming, essentially saying move over megatrends; the microtrends are more important these days, affecting old "norms" in religion, leisure, politics, technology, work and family life.
How so? Penn claims the numbers prove that only 1% of the [American] public is enough to launch a business or social movement. Makes sense to me; only 1% is roughly 3 million people - I'd go nuts with that many customers in my business, and deliriously happy with far less.
Penn is a numbers and statistics lover, and he points out that most of us aren't, explaining that, "in today's world of the quick post, we increasingly make judgments based on our own world view rather than the underlying facts, which we view as hard to determine." Hmm bloggers, by quick post I think he means us! Penn insists that
"The simple truth is that most of the time we can't see the true patterns of people's lives except through statistics... For most subjects, people rely on a combination of news shows, web sites, magazines, radio, chatter of friends, and their own gut. And given how unscientific almost all of those sources are, most people end up being wrong much of the time about what is actually going on. They are influenced by what looks right, and by what they want to see. They rarely take the time to look at the cold hard facts of what is happening."
So what does he see happening? Here's just a sampling from the book, and I'm sure some of these will sound familiar to you, but maybe not all of them.
people are retiring, but still working
geeks are becoming the most social people around
women are driving technology
parents think they are strict and tough, but they are more permissive than ever
our credit is so overextended, going bankrupt is becoming more of a personal finance management tool
there has been a quiet rise in the Non-Profit Class, making public versus private sector differences seem more and more irrelevant
for all the greening we preach, we remain gluttons for material possessions
dads are older, and more involved in their kids lives
single women are having an increasingly hard time connecting with single heterosexual men
married couples don't necessarily live together anymore
people live where they work, and they use virtual tools to keep connected to their families
we may love numbers, but we hate arithmetic
Again, these are not big generalizations: Penn's intent is to tell us about small but growing groups of people who share intense choices or preferences, often counterintuitive ones. He shines a spotlight on opportunities missed or underestimated by companies, marketers, policymakers, and others. For instance, I thought his book was a goldmine of information for salesmen, retailers and those who would be entrepreneurs.
However I must say Microtrends also disturbed me a little bit, for while the numbers may be telling, Penn does take quite a few liberties with the explanations he offers for them, and there were several instances where I'd be left thinking, this picture is not at all complete. In the end, I just decided I'd enjoy my recognitions and the humor in so much of it.
For more on the author's motivations, visit www.microtrending.com for A Conversation with Mark Penn. When you visit the Amazon.com reviews, many point out that books on trends are doomed to a short shelf life, but I think if you consider the book a catalyst for opportunity knocking you can get much more worth from it than the price you've paid.
As my wife, Dolores, and I go for our weekly walk, I am carrying a bag that starts empty. I pack it with bottles and cans that I find along the road. Yes, Dolores gave me that look, too. You know the kind only a loved one can give when they think you are acting crazy. Heaven forbid someone think I am destitute and picking up the cans for the money.
I persisted. I stopped here and there to pick up a bottle along the walk until my bag was full. I will not get it all at once. I know that. I am also patient. I plan on walking regularly. With a little time, a little effort here and there, the bottles and cans will gradually go away.
In 2007 Blog Action Dayaffected many of us far more than we had anticipated it would.
I have a hunch that will happen in 2008 with Pangea Day, coming on May 10th.
I learned about Pangea Day via the TEDBlog's call for submissions, and my greatest wish of this moment is that I were a film-maker capable of producing a video that would do justice to the importance of the Managing with Aloha movement.
We're
looking for films that will make us laugh, cry, and gasp. They can be
fiction, nonfiction, real life, animation, or your own unique mixture.
But they should hold our attention for every second. And above all,
they should tell a story that someone else on the other side of the
world will be able to relate to.
As you plan your film, try to
imagine millions of people in different countries gathered around in
the flickering light, waiting in hushed silence for your tale to start.
What story will you tell? What images will you show them?
Pangea Day will present a program broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones --- I suspect it will be a fantastic example of the audio/visual web that Kevin Eikenberry brought our attentions to in this posting: Seven Online Tools for Web-Based Learning - What are yours?
Pangea Day came to be when visionary documentary filmmaker, TED Prize winner, and Pangea Day founder Jehane Noujaim spoke to an audience of “the world’s leading thinkers and doers” at the 2006 annual TED Conference, and unveiled her inspiring wish to change the world through the power of film.
My understanding is that 'pangea' is a Greek word for "all lands" and
this effort is one intended to engender world peace via global
community, and the straight-forward yet challenging assumption that
we'd live together more harmoniously if we knew each other better.
Click in to www.pangeaday.org to watch the trailer and listen to Noujaim's TED presentation. I'm sure you'll then add Pangea Day to your calendar too, for it promises to be extraordinary. ~ Rosa Say,JJL Contributor, and author of Managing with Aloha Coaching.
Steve Sherlock writes his 2 cent views on life from Franklin, MA. He explores the "good experience", "life long learning" and life in general, after handling the "before you blog" list his wonderful wife Dolores provides him. Together they are enjoying the empty nest while their daughters are away at college. He has also resumed running and he podcasts tips and coaching advice at Passionate Runner.
As the winter holidays draw near, I invariably find I begin to think about tradition, both old and time-honored, and new ones not yet thought of which may lie in wait for us to celebrate them. Traditions are like family-spun yarns that get knitted together into the most fabulous multi-colored bulky cables; be they for scarves, shawls or sweaters, it’s the cable knit that matters most for the warmth.
Cable sweaters also hide a lot of mischievousness...
I saw these two tradition lists in a magazine called Family Fun as I sat in an office waiting room before an appointment; they were culled from the mag’s readership:
Your top Thanksgiving traditions:
Cook a beloved family recipe for the feast
Make a gratitude list to display and save
Call faraway relatives
Add leaf rubbings, handprints or notes to a keepsake tablecloth
Play a family touch football game
Start decorating for Christmas the day after
Your top Christmas traditions:
Set aside a day just for cookie baking, and for decorating a gingerbread house
Plan a get-in-the-spirit activity or outing for each day of Advent
Buy and hang an ornament for each child that commemorates a special interest or event in the year
Drive around and look at the holiday lights
Leave snacks for Santa (and often for the reindeer too)
Get new pajamas (or lingerie!) on Christmas eve
Now those things are nice, they really are, but am I the only one who thought these lists were pretty blah and way too normal?
Come on JJLers – weigh in and tell us about the weird and wacky traditions you have in your family! If given the choice, and a magic wand that could zap me into your house, why would I choose you and your family if I were looking for the most Joyful-Wacky! and Jubilant-Wild! holiday traditions for my 2007 photo album?
If you have a long story and want to post instead of comment, email me and I’ll publish it for you!
Did you ever read one of your kid's homework assignments and think of all the interesting adult things you could do with it? "Gee, I could do this and turn it into a story or my own personal project."
I found this piece titled, Developing a Sense of Place, written for 5th to 8th graders. Two thoughts came to mind. The first was what a great project to have your kid do! Save this stuff for them to read when they get older. It will help to give them roots, connection and identity. Secondly, what a great project for one's self to do. Even if we are fifty years old, it will give us roots, connection and identity when we look back upon it at age seventy-five.
How has your learning already made a difference, or how do you know it will? What is the difference you are learning to make, and what are you doing to make it happen?
I received a blog tag from Terry Starbucker this past Monday. I’m going out on a limb here, and taking the liberty of responding to him on behalf of the entire hui (group) of contributing authors we have here at Joyful Jubilant Learning.
My feeling is that this is not a conventional blog tag meme, but one that speaks into a commitment you decide to make to uphold the honor of what blogging can, and should be. Like any medium, dignity and honor is created for the whole by the actions of the individuals within it. This does Make A Difference; a big difference.
Thus, I wanted to squeeze my response into our current forum, for it seemed to fit so perfectly. Therefore, I ran short of time to run my draft by my fellow authors here, but knowing them and their intentions as I do, I didn’t feeling forging forward with this was that big a risk: I know that each and every one of them wants to write for a blog that strives higher; one that is committed to making a difference. They are Alaka‘i ka ‘ike, Guides in Learning who lead by their great example [alaka‘i.]
All of you who read Joyful Jubilant Learning are very important to us. You inspire us in the penning of every word here. We always write in the hope you will decide to join our conversation one day, for then you become teacher and we your willing, eager student. However an online presence can be scary for some, and joining an online community can seem to be too consuming a commitment. We understand, and even if you never choose to add your voice to these conversations, we want you to be proud of us, and proud to learn from us, and with us, silently in your own way.
So I, and I am sure my fellow authors here, do not hesitate to make this commitment to you. In sharing this blogging promise, and joining the ranks of many people we admire, we start with our values:
Because we are committed to Aloha and Ho‘ohana,
[i.e. We write with the Intention of unconditional Aloha] Because we are committed to Collaborative, Lifelong Learning,
Because we are committed to the Inclusiveness of Community, Because we are committed to the Possibilities We Create within our Humanity,
We, the Authors of Joyful Jubilant Learning do Ho‘ohiki [We make this Promise]
We will add value and conduct ourselves with distinction in the blogging community.
We will be sure to comment on other Blogs if we can add to the conversation in our spirit of collaborative learning.
We will respond to comments on our own Blog.
We will acknowledge any links to our Blog with a comment on or trackback to the linker’s Blog.
We will continue to link to other Blogs that are pertinent to our posts’ content.
We will commit to being a Vital part of the Blogging Community, in full acceptance of our responsibility in Learning Leadership.
And you know what? We do collaborate here: No post is ever set in stone forever … Consider this a first run, and jump in with your feelings my fellow authors, for I am happy to keep editing this until we have a manifesto we proudly shout from the blog-tops in one clear voice, Lōkahi.
~ Rosa Say
One of my family's favorite restaurants is the Golden Corral; a restaurant chain famous for bringing new meaning to the traditional "All-You Can-Eat" concept. From salads to sushi, there is nothing one would want for. We enter with hunger, excitement, and anticipation to sample all the new tastes and flavors. Unfortunately, we leave the experience miserable, overstuffed, and frustrated that we did not make wiser choices. So...what does my family's eating habits have to do with digital citizenship?
Tim Milburn loves a good one-page worksheet. He's designed a few productivity worksheets that have assisted thousands of people with meeting and event planning, leadership training guidelines, and personal productivity. You can access these forms at 
