Blah Blah Bleric

Elearning and PowerPoint

Three things capture my attention these days: Twitter, Screenr and PowerPoint 2007. Tonight the trio came together beautifully, and what resulted on my monitor screen was enough to make me lean-in and pucker.

Yes, I kissed the screen.

Really it started with email. We can't leave email out of the blog highlights so much. It's just not fair. Email provides valuable aggregation and alerts. So, I checked my email and joy: new Twitter followers. To Twitter.

Image by thekenyeung via Flickr

Twitter is the best thing since someone figured out how to write messages on sliced bread. I can't love the tool enough but I've tried to here and by telling everyone about Shel Israel's amazing Twitter-inspired book Twitterville (note: the book is about so much more than Twitter: it is a must read for social media fans and businesses).

My newest follower is Bryan Jones (@elearningart). With elearning in his life, I was following back within seconds. Adrenaline rush. Serotonin. Dopamine. I retweeted his tweet about battling an LMS. And then I saw that he had made a video with Screenr.

My eyes rolled back into my head as I clicked the link to the video. The video is good. It shows a neat trick, very useful to developing elearning videos. But what I learned from it will save me countless grief and swearing. There is a selection pane in PowerPoint so that you can hide assets. Incredible. I have needed it so badly, working with layers of animation, and Twitter, Screenr and PowerPoint gave it to me via @elearningart.

PowerPoint 2007, so much more robust than the 2003 version, is an invaluable authoring tool for creating elearning. I use it everyday and know lots of tricks and shortcuts. But the one in this Screenr video popped into my life just after a work week ended with major maneuvering to master the layers of my animations. Here is the wonderful, brief video:

Yes!

14 Bus Reflections v3

On the first night of class, Composition I, the unsuspecting students of @tweric (AKA @compscholar) discovered that they would have to sign-up on Twitter.

 I made it an assignment worth 100 points.

 The students had to create a Twitter account and follow @compscholar to get an A. Three of the 24 already were tweeters, and they fumbled for their devices and followed me immediately.

 A couple others signed up during class, and one even instinctively began to "live tweet" our comp class. Nothing juicy, but these kids these days...give them smart phones and laptops and show them Twitter...they just go at it like it's in our DNA.

 There were some skeptics. A few grumbles. The smart-assiest signed-up as @forced2join (my personal favorite). Expecting some reluctance, I led off class with the riveting story of James Buck, whose one word tweet "arrested" inspired Shel Israel's new book Twitterville.

 The James Buck story, arrested in Mahalla, Egypt, appears in the introduction to Twitterville, which just hit the shelves, and is the best book about Twitter and global communities to date.

 As I ride the 14 bus into downtown Minneapolis, and as I remote blog easily through Posterous, I'm giddy with curiosity about how my students will interact with Twitter. And I am amazed that connecting worldwide is seconds away, which means I have no idea what I might be doing today.

 Eric Matas
Contributing Editor, Kidundated!

Posted via email from Eric's Preposterous

I am the Mayor!

I wouldn't say that I'm an early adopter, but I am an earlier adopter than most.

I got going on foursquare, which is pretty fun because there is competition involved. The main competition is to visit the same place--restaurant, bar, coffee shop, store--so that you become the mayor of that location.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Eric's posterous

I've been battling with Kevin N to be the mayor of the Barnes & Noble in downtown Minneapolis. We've stolen the prestigious title from each other a few times now, and even exchanged smack-talking tweets about this esteemed mayorship. Even so, Kevin and I both agree that when we, as mayor, walk around our Barnes & Noble, we are surprisingly ignored.

The businesses of the world need to wake-up and pay attention. Mayors should get special chairs, elevated service and hearty discounts. At minimum!

Most techy, early adopter types would probably argue that the real news with foursquare these days is that they raised 1.3 million dollars, enough to navigate from playfoursquare.com to foursquare.com. But that's not the real news. Mayorship is.

I hereby announce that I am the mayor of my family room.

Yes, I earned the mayorship of my family room not by checking-in to foursquare from my incredibly smart phone but by kicking ass and taking names. Here are the names: Alex, Aiden, Brooklyn and Kyan. My kids.

It started simply enough. Identical twins Alex and Aiden started to wrestle with me, jumping on my back and drooling ferociously. When the big kids saw that I was man-handling the twins, they abandoned their precious TV to join the ruckus. But even with four kids, ranging from identical 26 pounds to as much as 51 pounds, draped all over me, I was able to emerge the champion and therefore mayor of the family room.

Foursquare might not acknowledge my title, but I welcome them any time (Dennis Crowley?) to visit me in the family room, after which time they will know, they will feel, that I am mayor. For now, I just need to order a decree to get the room cleaned up. Messy.

Eric Matas Minneapolis, MN	Mobile: 612-385-7510 ericmatas@hotmail.com
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The Hero of Web 2.0

This is a tribute to a stranger. But, things have changed quite a bit, and truly "friend" and "stranger" mean different things these days...the days of Web 2.0!

The Inspiration

I just saw a post at SocialMedian.com about Robert Scoble.

The news is that Scoble--well known for his blog "Scobleizer"--is leaving his current job. I never knew he had a job, but I know a little about his blog and him. If you are into social media, video, blogging and such, you probably know who he is.

I am quietly a fan. So, I commented on the SocialMedian post:

"I love that guy. Never met him, but have seen and heard him on videos. He's like the objective correlative of web 2.0 for me. Especially with that tripod and camera. The super hero aspect: "Fearlessly shooting video anywhere he goes -- it's Super Scoble -- able to stream megabytes while tweeting, able to transport digitally to be on the scene at CES, at Google, or anywhere geeks are triumphing!

Ok, that's enough. No offense intended -- I truly admire the guy. And the triumphing geeks. Well some of them."

I follow him on Twitter and FriendFeed, but I don't know Scoble. But then one day I got a twitter email. It said _Scobleizer_ was following me! I felt proud. Yes -- the mighty Scobleizer was following me on Twitter. I win!

Well, not so.

The Impostor

I bounded forth to Twitter so I could send him a note of thanks. But @_scobleizer_ (with the underscores) was a fake.

Impostor!

Curse you impostor, who made my hopes and dreams rise, only to be crushed. Woe is me.

The Interception

Until *horns blaring* the real Robert Scoble did in fact follow me on Twitter!  I wanna think I earned it. Either from good tweets or pity. Well, one good tweet anyway. With pity in it.

After the impostor both thrilled me and slammed me, I tweeted about the fake Scoble and how Twitter SWAT had shut him down (or her). I also included a sad little bit at the end (see Twitter screen shot).

That was lunch time on January 23rd. By the end of the day, the real Robert Scoble was following me.

I'm no news breaker in the tech world, but I like to think that Scoble checks my twitter feed every morning as he gets ready to take on another day.

  
I guess that's my brush with social media fame. What's yours? Oh and by the way, here's the email about the real Scoble following me. Yes, I kept it!

                    

Web 3.0 The Backlash

Web 3.0 could be all about who you follow. Who do you follow on Twitter? Who do you follow on FriendFeed? Are you getting all the latest tweets and posts? Hurry, hurry, because there's a brand new application starting up tomorrow and you'll need to know who to follow there too. I just hope it's not a clique fest (click pun, get it?).

*Sigh*

Erick Schonfeld wrote a piece hoping that web 3.0 would "be about reducing the noise," referring to his overload of tweets and posts to wade through. I too hope the innovators will streamline many people's web 2.0 reality: 40 user names  passwords, 30 video sites, 10 networking must-views...and 5 new ones tomorrow. There needs to be a backlash of some sort.

Today I read about the ridiculous act of spitting in Michael Arrington's face. I certainly can't say for sure what that was about because the *ahem* gentleman who spit hurried off so that his point, if there was one, will not even be known. (Perhaps he'll blog about it from his cowardly lair.) But it's easy enough to to sense a backlash in the act. I don't know too much about Arrington or Tech Crunch, but I read Tech Crunchand have already referenced one article in this blog (Schonfeld's). I do know enough to see influence when I see it--and Arrington has that. Arrington is web 2.0.

Another phenomenon of web 2.0 is a rather unattractive part of people's profiles. Mine included. Take FriendFeed for example. Each profile includes feeds from You Tube, Seesmic, Twitter, blogs, and more. It ends up looking like a Cub Scout shirt full of merit badges. Sure, I got kicked out of Cub Scouts, so that might have something to do with my current rant.

Anyway. Backlash. Revolt. Fix. Improve. Make it easier for Eric. And try to fix it before I even realize it's broken. Thank you.

Do You Believe in Time?

When I started grad school in St. Paul, Minnesota, my college roommate was moving to India. He was going to work with a doctor in Madras, Tamil Nadu (now Chennai) to teach people about keeping the water supply clean. We talked a lot about his trip and then, casually, he said, "You should come and visit me there."

And I laughed out a, "Yeah right."

But then I thought about it. Here's some Eric-logic. If he were spending a summer at a lake cabin in northern Minnesota and invited me to come up for the weekend, I would take him up on the offer for sure. The only differences, really, between getting to northern Minnesota and getting to India are distance and time. Even back then, although not formulated in my mind, I had decided that I did not believe in distance or time. So I went to India.

It was wonderful. We met in New Delhi, traveled across northern India, and ventured up to Kathmandu in Nepal. Then we explored the west of India from the Thar desert to the beaches of Goa. It was a wouldn't-change-a-thing experience that I still think about regularly and that happened only because I didn't let Distance or his nasty cousin Time rule my thinking.

Nonetheless, we do let time rule in the work environments of America. Get in early. Stay late. Impress your boss with long hours at your desk. Adopt an attitude of eating lunch at your desk! That attitude prevails in offices coast to coast.

But, basing work on time logged is, well, behind the times.

I've been reading Why Work Sucks by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson because I've noticed that work does, in fact, suck, especially since I left teaching at the colleges.

                                                    

Teaching college courses--being faculty--is unique because faculty members are not measured by hours on the clock. Faculty have specific performance measures--results to achieve--like classes to teach, office hours, department meetings, and expectations to publish. Other than a set schedule for the few hours for class times and office hours, nobody watches a clock for faculty.

Since I went corporate, I've been lucky. I have always had managers who get it, caring less about hours and more about my results. I could not survive under a strict, clock-focused 40-hour work week. If I had such a rigid manager, someone would blow a gasket.

Even though I've had it good, my larger work environment has included hourly employees and trainers who must often adhere to a regular 9-5 class schedule for training new hires (who must be conditioned to the clock immediately). So, the flexibility I had was reigned in significantly by potentially jealous coworkers. If they complained about my fancy pants designer schedule, my manager would inevitably have to bow to the prevailing time-based work ethic and lay the smack down on me.

To keep a modicum of flexibility I have always been "good" by not pushing it regarding my schedule. What does that mean? It means, because I am efficient and proactive, that I get my work done quickly and have many hours "to kill" at the office feigning work and appearing busy. Is that what people want?

Seriously? Really??

If my work is done--and well--why can't I go home to my family? My wife would be thrilled if I came home at 2:00 some Tuesday. I could pick up our daughter from pre-school so she wouldn't have to load our three boys into car seats to go get her! But, in practice, if I left at 2:00, many time-bound co-workers would be mad. Understandably so.

What they should be mad at, though, is the time-bound work environment.

In truth, nowadays, even hourly employees can be on a flexible schedule! Imagine that. And if you, like me, do not believe in time, then you might prefer ROWE: Results-Only Work Environment. That is the philosophy of CultureRx--check out their website to learn more. I found out about ROWE through my sister.

My sister's friend, Marissa, works for CultureRx, which started in house at Best Buy. When the company emerged on its own, Marissa moved to San Francisco.

Curious, I asked my sister if the company locates its offices in San Francisco. But they do not. Marissa just wanted to move there, for personal reasons, and since CultureRx doesn't watch a clock and doesn't expect her to log hours at a desk, she can work from anywhere. As long as she gets her work done: results only. Beautiful.

I am a fan of the ROWE philosophy. I hope to spread it (quickly) all across America. Maybe one day, with my work done, I can leave at 2:00 without using the escape hatch. Until then, keep quiet about the escape.

The Who—How Routine

Social media and networking require a lot of work. Mike Fruchter writes lucidly about what social media is (and isn’t) in a splendid article that includes a fun video. Fruchter also has a blog posting that details 40—yes 40—elements to getting started in social media. Both are must reads.

But, for the busy, I thought I would add a few shorter tips.

The first I’m calling the Who—How Routine. It’s a simple way to get going in the morning thinking about what you will accomplish today regarding your presence online, your social media connections, your brand development on the web. As you put on your shoes (assuming two here), think who? for one and how? for the other.

Who—are you going to contact today? Think of a person. Yes one. Even though you might amass 4 billion friends on Facebook and 20 million followers on Twitter, think about just one person to make contact with today. Keep in mind that social media works best when you are a real person, and that means you will have to get a little more intimate, from time to time, than posting a few words that get scattered to your legions of fans.

How—are you going to reach out to that person? If you are like me, you are chock full of user names and passwords for your various accounts for your internet connections: LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Seesmic, You Tube, SocialMedian, and more. That one person you are going to connect with today might use many too. Be a little creative and choose wisely—something to entertain? To amuse? To enlighten? To inform? As a former writing teacher, I used to call this your purpose. Basically, the level of formality might help you choose a media: You Tube for amusement, perhaps?

As an example, when I thought who today, I thought of Louis Gray. When I thought how, I went with good old email—found on his website. I had a formal question for him, so I didn’t want to use Twitter or any other tool that might detract from my serious question.

Anywho, I did the Who—How Routine and accomplished my mission. It’s simple, quick and easy. When you have more time, read Fruchter’s two articles. And don’t confuse Who—How with hoo-haa…that’s something else.

All Things Revolve Around Twitter

In fits and starts, I've started blogging. As any blogger knows, a blog can be a work in progress, and a blogging presence on the net even more so. But I like that. I like blogging and the evolution of the blog. I like the writing and the designing. And now I like the social networking and various social media that can, ideally, work in sync to establish a little web of my own spun in a cozy corner of the big family barn we call the internet.

After my first blog, which I co-author with my wife Betsey, I looked into this microblogging thing called Twitter and started a second blog that is just me (you are reading it right now). Then I added Facebook to the LinkedIn networking I was already doing. Then FriendFeed, which makes my GoogleReader more fun. Suddenly, the site and blog intergration seems to have taken on a life of its own. For example, when I tweet, it updates my status on Facebook and drops an entry in FriendFeed--this could happen on Social Median too, but since Facebook drops updates there, I thought tweets would be redundant. I wonder if anyone would notice...

Anyhow, I'm visual. So, I mapped it out a bit. And if you are visual too you've got to check out DebateGraph soon. Well my little corner web looks like this:

        

Interesting that Twitter is right in the middle.

I'd love some feedback from anyone who has savvy ideas for how to improve my network--add to? remove? streamline? Oh, and I'm looking for some good blogs to read...know any?