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21 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  Making Strides, the breast cancer campaign of the American Cancer Society.Now, while I live in Australia, I personally don't care where the cancer riddle is solved or by whom ... I would just dearly love it solved. And tonight as we are all looking forward to the comfort of friends and family in the lead up to Christmas, please also spare a thought for Susan and the many others in her situation. Spare a thought and some change ... and help make the world a better place for us all.
20 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  conniereece
I read this week (unfortunately I can't remember where), that you KNOW you are part of a community when you disappear from it for a while and the community members come looking for you. And this is what is a revelation about social media -- not only do we participate in the big picture ideas of others, through micro-blogging such as Twitter, we are also exposed to the minutiae and sometimes intimate details of the lives of others. Others who we, at some point, come to recognise as friends. With this in mind, in a matter of hours, Susan Reynolds heads into surgery. And in support of her efforts to overcome cancer, many of us are turning our images, our avatars etc into pea-themed pictures. This great idea was the brainchild of the charming and energetic, Connie Reece. And if you want to participate, you can do so easily -- change your Twitter avatar and post it to this Flickr group. And as you post, send you best wishes and thoughts from your place in the world to Susan.
19 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  kaymoshusband
No matter where you are in your career, you are bound to come into contact with office politics. Like all kinds of politics, however, sometimes it works in your favour, other times it can tear your heart out. Early in my career I got caught in some office politics and suffered badly from it. But, it did not kill me ... in fact, it made me a whole lot wiser. But really, I would have preferred to know a little about what to expect ... so I have put together a few tips that you can share around the office (this is important, see tip #3). 1. Dress for your NEXT job. Remember that management are always looking out for the leaders ... and while the quality of your work matters, you need to register on the radar of those who make decisions. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to dress-to-impress. (Of course, sometimes this means wearing black jeans or fancy custom shoes.) 2. Listen more than you speak. In the world where politics rules (ie the workplace), you will be judged by what you say. You need to be careful to listen to the conversations around you before you jump into them. 3. Spot the players. In every offers there are a number of people who do things behind the scenes. Some "make things happen", others "know the secrets". There are the "gatekeepers" and there are the "toxic talkers". There are also the great "career vortexes". Learn who is who in your office -- each will have a role in your success and your failures.4. Make someone look good. If you can find a way to make someone look good, then their success will rub off on you. Now you do need to be careful that you don't simply become fodder for the career vortexes who will take all your information and goodwill and pass it off as their own. But they can help you at least a little if you can stand it.5. Share the good stuff and take the blame. If you are getting rave reviews, then it is likely that you had some form of help. By including others in your success you will build stronger networks while also demonstrating that you understand the value of teamwork. Also, if something has gone wrong (and it is your fault), put your hand up. You will be found out eventually.6. Visit desks. It is easy to send emails or instant messages. It is even easy to pick up the phone. But if you can find a way to make a visit (even for no reason other than to say hello) to someone's desk they will soon see that you dont just want something for nothing.I am sure there are plenty of other tips, but these are proven to work. Have a good day at work!
17 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  servantofchaos
If you are like me, at this time of year we get together with our extended families. This inevitably means kids, toys and a bit of technology thrown in. And each year I think to myself, "I must install those parental controls on my computer", so that I can happily let my inquisitive nephews search the web/play online. And each year, I forget. But this year I WILL do it. However, this year there is something else. A neat new search engine designed specifically for kids, called Quintura. Once you enter your search terms, Quintura brings back a nice tag cloud of related words that your kids can click on (no need to type additional search terms). This really makes searching a lot more fun and far more intuitive (something that Google and others could learn from). What I particularly like is that this takes the experience of search to a whole new level. This interface turns "search" into something closer to a game ... providing kids with information that rewards (and encourages) their curiosity while also letting parents breathe a sigh of relief. Now THAT is a user experience that extends way beyond the screen -- when someone who actually DOESN'T use your service supports and trusts it, then you are onto a winner. I am sure many brands would love to be in that position!Tip of the hat to Ewan McIntosh.
16 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  When I was last in China, I spent quite a lot of time with kids like the ones in this photo. I was attending an exhibition in the holiday resort of Hangzhou (which also happens to be one of the regional centres of technology and animation) with hundreds of other vendors. My focus during the event was to engage and entertain kids with some interactive and stimulating digital games. What struck me was not only the outgoing and friendly personalities of all the kids (except when they were frightened by my Gweilo appearance), but also the fact that these kids were talking to me in English. And I don't mean the stilted, embarrassing mishmash that I normally trot out as an excuse for "foreign languages". I am talking real conversation, real questions, personal interest. These kids took every opportunity to speak with a native English speaker that they could. A few feet away you could see smiling grandparents and excited parents watching as their pride and joy edged ever closer to ask a question. And like kids everywhere, once the ice was broken, the flood gates opened. "What is your name ?" gave way to questions about home, family, school, favourite things. They were bright, fun and engaging kids, open and enthusiastic. And they could all use computers, picked up the games and activities with a few clicks, and were keen to see their names on the leaderboard. Technology was definitely seen as an advantage ... and every kid I spoke to saw the potential. I was reminded of all this today as I read Shel Israel's third post summarising his findings from the SAP Global Survey. This third posting builds on the Overview and the Seven Key Findings (regular readers will find little to surprise, as Shel, himself, notes), and provides an EXCELLENT snapshot of the state of social media play all around the world. There are some amazing statistics, including:
china rising
15 Dec This post is from from my other blog here With thanks to Katie Chatfield for opening my eyes, ears and heart to Suheir Hammad.
15 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  thomaskiesl
The folks at Precinct have done a great job of editing together the videos from InterestingSouth and they are now available for your viewing pleasure, courtesy of pureprofile. I am particularly excited to be able to see Katie Chatfield's presentation which was unable to be shown on the night. I am also keen to see the following presentations which I missed while collecting tickets at the front door:
You can also see my presentation on what happens when the world view of a four-year-old meets the Cluetrain Manifesto. Don't forget to catch the fascinating Dr Adrienne Whithall's presentation on happiness. In fact, ALL the presentations were fantastic ... take an hour or so and fill your mind to the brim. You'll be all the better for it.
14 Dec This post is from from my other blog here If my overseas readers have not been to Australia, this piece of research (that beautifully rolls up into a great viral piece) by the makers of Drambuie, is a great introduction. You can see me starring in my Movember beard. Hope you like it. Special thanks to Meg Tsiamis for pointing this out.
14 Dec This post is from from my other blog here I love a good "Chinglish" story, but this one surprised even me. 
12 Dec 12 Dec This post is from from my other blog here 
Memes are great, messy, chaotic fun. They lead you to places, websites and even videos that you would NEVER discover in a million hours of web surfing. But they do take a little time. Well, they do when I participate in a meme ... I start by reading through the list of participants and discovering something about their blog. If there is a post that catches my attention, I will leave a comment or two. Occasionally, I find a blog that fascinates me, and I will spend ages clicking through, burning my elbow to new levels of RSI, caught in the excitement of new discovery. Then, after a discovery phase, I will come back to my own blog, find a picture on Flickr and write a post that introduces the meme. I normally thank the tagger who prompted me to participate, and then hit publish. Over the next few days or even weeks, I notice some links trickling in. A few comments saying "thanks for linking" will filter through ... and then quiet. Back to normal. Earlier today, I was commenting on this post by David Armano. He was talking about the way that Twitter seems to be exploding, and I was wondering whether this was the case -- or whether Twitter was just facilitating a whole range of cross-connections among and across specialist communities that had not yet been realized by blogging. Then, almost in answer, Jeremiah Owyang single-handedly kick-started an avalanche of Twitter connections. In a matter of hours, Jeremiah had amassed over 300 comments and simultaneously shared his network of Twitter followers. Where the Z-list took weeks (and even months) to spread across the Internet, the J-list took only a matter of hours. In the time since then, I have followed and been followed by many new folks -- some that I have heard of, some that are new, and some others that remain mysterious. But speed is not everything. In fact, just as it can hasten adoption of a new product, it can also rapidly cause its decline. Will a multiplicity of new ties strengthen the Twitter network or will it accelerate its decline? My first thought was yes, this could be a problem ... but, now, remembering the strength that comes from WEAK ties, it could be the opposite. Hmmm. Would love your thoughts. Update: Jeremiah reflects on a day's work completed in a moment; Stephen Collins talk tsunamis Flock
11 Dec
10 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  LemonSunrise We approach a momentous time in the history of the Australian nation. The recent election swept the Labor party into office, and with it came a new Prime Minister in the shape of Kevin Rudd and a new Deputy Prime Minister in the form of Julia Gillard (wonder twin powers?).Now, despite the similarities of policy, the differences between the parties will largely be in the form of action and deed. This is where the Australian people will feel the difference between the two sides of politics -- where policy meets people. And today is a great example.From around midday, for the first time in since federation, Australia will have a woman leading the country. Julia Gillard will take over from Kevin Rudd as Acting Prime Minister while Kev07 starts working on the global Kev08 agenda (in Bali to talk Kyoto Protocol).Now that is what I call a climate change. Let's hope it is the first of many!
10 Dec This post is from from my other blog here For those of us who are involved in blogging, it can seem strange to be asked "what is a blog". But it happens almost everyday. You see, despite the massive adoption of blogs as a tool for personal, professional or community content publishing (Technorati tracks >70 million blogs), blogging is still a rather marginal activity. A good way to gauge whether some technology has been "mainstreamed" is to do the "Five Step Grannie Test". I have used this to great effect in the past, and it requires the following steps:
So, if you are like me, and you are asked "what is a blog", now, rather than spending a couple of hours talking through the technology, options etc, you can send all your grannies to this video thoughtfully put together by Lee Lefever from Common Craft. How do you get to it? You just jump on the Internet (hint: you can even get it on computers now).
06 Dec This post is from from my other blog here
My view, for what it is worth, is that we can (and probably should) design our marketing to be virally-enabled. That is, we should make it easy for others to pick up our idea and make it their own -- via links, embedding options, voting/ranking and send-to-friend options etc. BUT it is important to remember that "viral" is not about the brand ... it is actually about the users -- about me and you. If I forward a "viral" piece I will do so, because it says something to you about ME. It provides me with SOCIAL CURRENCY. So, in this instance, when I ask you all to Vote for Mr Splashy Pants, this is what is happening:
Most importantly in this process, the "value" of social currency cannot be dictated (by a brand or organisation). This is more organic. And sure you can plan for it, design for it and even hope for it, but I think "viral" is like comedy -- all in the timing. And speaking of timing ... you can only vote until DECEMBER 7, 2007 (at 17:00 Amsterdam time). Oh, see that -- three calls to action in the one post. Lovely. UPDATE: Mr T pities the fool who doesn't vote for Mr Splashy Pants. Got to love T.
06 Dec This post is from from my other blog here Is this what we call media placement? Who is responsible? This week's Friday Folly comes courtesy of Meg Tsiamis. Got one to share? Is it yours? I would love to see it! 
06 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  christheobscure
I remember first reading the Cluetrain Manifesto. I remember drinking in the 95 Theses and feeling like my senses were tingling. They were tingling, yes, but it did not seem to be a surprise. What the collaborators were talking about -- participation and activism -- was something I had been studying for years. It was just that I was studying Theatre, not Marketing, not Technology. You see, I had just written a thesis on the brilliant English playwright, Howard Barker, and one of his most powerful pieces of critical writing was called "49 Asides for a Tragic Theatre". In this statement, written when Thatcherite Britain was at its zenith, Barker called for challenging and provocative theatre -- a theatre of participation. Ideology is the outcome of pain.Some people want to know pain. There is no truth on the cheap.There are more people in pursuit of knowledge than the accountants will admit.There is always the possibility of an avalanche of truth-seekers. Many years on from the publishing of the Cluetrain, we are still living in an age where the promise of a revolutionary form of conversation still has power. It has power because, despite its popularity, the ideas contained within the Cluetrain are hard to manifest. Consequently, the Cluetrain remains a marginalised tract. I was reminded of this recently when I presented at InterestingSouth. I had interspliced text from the Cluetrain with images taken by my four year old daughters. And, to me, the words seemed to float out across the audience who were hearing this, perhaps, for the first time. It made me tremble. It made me focus more precisely on the words. This three minutes seemed much more important. Urgent. What I like about the Cluetrain is its immediacy. It restores you to yourself -- an individual experiencing the tragedy and beauty of everyday living. As Barker would say: It dares to be beautiful. Who talks of beauty any more? They think it is to do with the costumes. And it is because of this immediacy. Because of its daring. And because it continues to question the structures of power and influence, the Cluetrain will continue to maintain its relevance. At least for some. Again, from Barker: People will endure anything for a grain of truth.
05 Dec This post is from from my other blog here  Okaypro
Laurel Papworth has a great post expressing frustration at how easy it is for larger corporations to take advantage of the IP and thinking of social media consultants. Sure enough, over a coffee, a meeting or (if you are lucky) a nice dinner, a passionate social media evangelist will give away the steps/secrets of community building and online brand activation ... but then, when it comes time to hand out the contracts, sign the papers and spend not-immoderate amounts of money, where is the consultant? Where? If this sounds like you, here are some "qualifying" questions that you should ask BEFORE making an appointment with the tyre kickers:
Once you have answers to all these questions, you should have a clear idea whether there really is anything in it for you. Anyone have other tips?
05 Dec This post is from from my other blog here I love the smell of the end of the year. There is a mixture of tension, as we all begin to focus on the final weeks of the year in an attempt to reach our targets, deliver our projects or finalize the last elements of our budgets. But there is also the beginning of relief and play ... last year, about this time, Mack Collier kicked off the Z-list. This year it is Troy Worman's turn, with the Outstanding Blogger meme. This one is already exciting, with well over 200 blogs, many completely new to me, promising an avalanche of holiday reading. My additions to the massive list (already included) are Innovation Feeder, The Kaiser Edition, Get Shouty, Tim Longhurst and Dipping into the Blogpond. Enjoy! UPDATE: Troy has an updated list here.
Flock Memes
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