Write Technology

Repost: Personalize Your Invitations from LinkedIn

I'm reposting a post from May 31 of this year. Yeah, I know it's a bit soon, but there's a reason. I don't know if it's because of my increased visibility from bub.blicio.us, from public speaking, or from GCASTD, but in the last two weeks I've been slammed by LinkedIn invites. I don't know all the people who invited me but most of them just used the default invite. This tells me nothing about them - no contact information, no reference to where we met, nothing. So I thought it might be time to re-post this. I figure I'll post it every two months if I have to.

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Because I have started doing a lot more speaking and more public blogging, I get a lot more LinkedIn invites.In many cases, these folks feel they have a personal connection and don't realize that I have a heck of a time remembering names without a memory jog.

Would you send out an invitation to a party without thinking through the invitation and considering the wording? Probably not. I wish more people applied that same logic to LinkedIn invites.

Michelle:

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- John Doe

Now, I probably do want to connect with John Doe. He's probably a great guy and might even have some great contacts. But because I need a memory jog sometimes, I'm not sure who he is. I also question how seriously he takes connecting because he didn't bother to personalize his LinkedIn invite and just sent the default.

Now, I admit to having done this myself once or twice. I get lazy and send the default invite, especially when I'm connecting with good friends. But if you're reaching out to someone you met via Twitter, briefly at a conference, or someone who you know because of their blog, go ahead and personalize your invite. Not only will it jog your connection's memory, it will make you stand out a little more as well.

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Find Michelle Lentz here at Write Technology, on bub.blicio.us, on Twitter, or Pownce.

Playing by the Creative Commons Rules on Flickr

A friend of mine recently had one of her photos used in a blog. The blogger grabbed my friend's photo off of Flickr, assuming that since it was on Flickr, it was available for use. In reality, my friend marked her photos All Rights Reserved, which prohibits unauthorized use - even on a blog. In this case, the blogger was ignorant of Creative Commons rules.

I offer a session on spicing up your training using free Web 2.0 technologies. But a large part of my presentation is the proper use and understanding of Creative Commons licensing.  I thought I'd cover a little of it here, as my friend's situation really brought it all back to my attention. A rule of thumb: Just because someone posts a photo to Flickr doesn't mean the photo is there for all to use.  Think of Flickr as a physical photo album for a moment. You might show your album to all of your friends, but you don't want someone running off with one of those photos.

Using Creative Commons Licensed Images

When you're searching Flickr for photos to use, make sure to use the Advanced Search feature. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can choose to search only Creative Commons photos. Using this feature ensures that you don't end up choosing items marked All Rights Reserved. An alternative to the Flickr Advanced Search is CompFight, a Flickr search engine that also lets you specify Creative Commons photos.

When you find a photo you like, check out the licensing. Go to the Download page for the photo. Under the image, you'll see the Creative Commons license, which is circled in the screenshot shown here.

(flower photo from Flickr user noehg)

The Creative Commons license images are actually hyperlinks. If you don't know what the images stand for, just click. In this case, we're taken to a page where it specifies the user is fine with us using the photo, but we must provide attribution. As far as attribution goes, I always try to provide not just the Flickr user, but a link back to the original photo.

Creative Commons licensing was created to encourage the legal sharing and remixing of content. But everyone deserves credit for their work, which is why attribution is such an important part of Creative Commons.

Creative Commons licenses are controlled by four original conditions

• Attribution (by): You may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only if you give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these.
• Noncommercial or NonCommercial (nc): You may copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only for noncommercial purposes.
• No Derivative Works or NoDerivs (nd): You may copy, distribute, display and perform only verbatim copies of the work, not derivative works based on it.
• ShareAlike (sa): You may distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs the original work.

These conditions can be combined, as shown in the chart below:

Licensing Your Own Images

Of course, all of this works for you as well as for the photographers in question. You can license your own work. People experience unauthorized use of their photos on Flickr for two reasons: the user is unaware of Creative Commons rules (or is aware and thinks they won't get caught), and the photographer is unaware of Creative Commons rules. I've already covered the former - let's talk about how to set the licensing on your own Flickr photos.

Remember that you can only copyright images that you own. This means you can't copyright images that you've taken from somewhere else.

You can set a default license for your images on Flickr. This means that all images you upload will automatically have this setting.

To add a license for a specific picture, click Edit next to your current photo license near the bottom of your photo page. On the next page, select one of the Creative Commons licenses. This will override your default settings for the one photo only.

Using Flickr to spice up your blog or presentations is a great tool, but always verify the license first and make sure that it's not All Rights Reserved. Remember, it's a fantastic thing to be able to share content and use content from others. In most cases, whether on a web page or in your PowerPoint presentation, all that's required is a little attribution, and giving credit where credit is due.

Cheers!
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Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

PodCamp Ohio Recap

cross-posted from bub.blicio.us

If a Podcamp pops up in your area, I recommend you attend it. Among other reasons, Podcamps are free and you can't argue with free networking and knowledge.

Podcamp Ohio was a total success! I'm not sure of the numbers yet, but I believe they may have surpassed 200 attendees. Not bad for an unconference that ran a basically viral marketing campaign, depending on Twitter and word of mouth.

The sessions were great. I enjoyed the first session I attended - Podcasting in Plain English by David Jackson. It covered all the basics you need for podcasting. Sometimes I think these podcasting experts forget that if you're just experimenting with the idea, you shouldn't go out and buy expensive equipment. Jackson made sure to mention that. Make sure it's something you like and enjoy before investing.

I also attended What Not to Do: Social Media Anti-Tips by Paull Young and Luke Armour. It was probably my favorite session of the day, although I didn't attend too many. In this session they covered all sorts of social media mistakes, particularly pertaining to marketing. They interspersed their presentation with Great Moments in Twitter, which showcased some more embarrassing tweets. Remember folks, Twitter is forever.

My session on Twitter went quite well - or so I've heard. I'm trying to get a full presentation together for some upcoming conferences and this was sort of a practice run for me. I got enough feedback that I've already started "upgrading" my presentation, although many have told me it's fine as is. I had a complicated mix in the room of Twitter skeptics and Twitter diehards. It's hard to gear a presentation to both, but hopefully I carried it off.

For me, the best part of Podcamp was the time I spent networking. Perhaps I'm a bad camper, but I missed about two sessions because I was getting to know people in the cafe and hallway. I particularly enjoyed conversations with Shawn Morton of Profilactic and Doug Petch. In fact, Podcamp drove home a point for me about social networking. In my various speaking engagements, I always try to push the fact that while we're all making friends online, our real goal is face to face networking. For a lot of people, myself included, it's easier to network semi-anonymously online and then meet someone in person. Meeting so many of my Twitter friends "in real life" at Podcamp was fantastic. Meeting Doug Dockery, Julie Niesen, and others, well, it was like meeting old friends.

There were several folks video/audio recording each of the sessions. (I'm camera shy, so I found this unnerving). The sessions should be online sometime soon.

And to the organizers, congratulations on a successful event!

Cheers!
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Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

eLearning 2.0: A Revolution in Workplace Learning

If you work in eLearning at all, or you want to learn more about how to integrate new Web 2.0 technologies into your workplace, I've got a seminar for you. Plus, it's amazingly inexpensive.

Dr. Tony Karrer, CEO of TechEmpower, and author of at least two learning-related blogs, is running a seminar on July 15 here in Cincinnati. The seminar is sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati ASTD chapter, but you don't have to be a member to participate.

Attendees of the  workshop will

• Experience new tools including blogs, Wikis, social networks, social book marking, RSS readers
• Learn specific methods you can use to accelerate your own knowledge work and learning
• Define strategies for eLearning 2.0 for your organization
• Make a plan for getting an eLearning 2.0 toolset for yourself and your organization

Tony is an expert on innovative uses of technology that improves human performance. He is a sought after presenter on eLearning 2.0 and it’s implications on workplace learning. He is the author of the award winning eLearning Technology blog and recently founded Work Literacy.

The workshop will be held at the NKU METS Center in Erlanger Kentucky. Breakfast and networking will be from 8am-9am. The workshop begins at 9am.

The cost for the workshop is $129 for GCASTD Members and $179 for Non-Members. The price includes breakfast, lunch and GCASTD membership for Non-Members.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the GCASTD web site.

Cheers!
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Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

Are We Learning Smarter?

Note: This is cross-posted from bub.blicio.us, where I posted it first, and then decided to share here as well.

image by Darren Hester thru Creative Commons

There's a lot of discussion happening right now about Nick Carr's controversial article in The Atlantic Monthly: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

In addition to Carr, there are other voices chiming in, including Maggie Jackson (Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age) and Rick Shenkman (Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter). I heard these two speak, in particular about how the Information Age is really an "ignorant age" on the Diane Rehm show on Tuesday.

I take issue. I think we're getting smarter.

I work a lot in instructional design and eLearning. The world of adult learning is changing. We learn faster and can take in more types of information - we have access to more types of information. It's a fascinating time to work in the industry.

There's a buzzphrase you hear now at all the eLearning conferences: informal learning. I call it watercooler learning. People have all this information about their jobs tucked away inside their heads. With Web 2.0 tools and content sharing, we can not only get people to share that information, we've got people willing to teach each other in an informal setting. It's a wonderful thing to be able to tap that previously hidden knowledge.

There is a lot of reference in the article, and in other supporting articles, to a lack of picking up a book and reading. I still read. In fact, I try to devour a new work of fiction every other weekend. It's an escape mechanism for me. I will never stop loving the feel of the traditional, paper-bound book. No Kindle for me, thanks. I want to smell musty pages and turn the crunchy paper. I love it. I can't imagine wanting to read less. I would go so far as to say that I now have easier access to things like the NY Times Book Review, as well as Amazon.com, which I wouldn't have without the Internet. Those two sites, in particular, often guide me to new books.

Is my attention span shorter? I don't know if it was ever long. Growing up, Sesame Street (you know, the TV) was my babysitter. I'm of the TV generation - I don't know life without it and it was the dominant technology of my youth. Do I now skim web pages to grab relevant information? Yes! Because I'm smart enough to be able to pull out the relevant information. If an article really grabs me, I'll read the whole thing. Do I twitter constantly? Yes! But it has actually improved my technical writing, helping me better condense relevant information into short concise sentences. Not everything you read needs to be lovely prose, after all. Not only that, Twitter has introduced me to a whole community of people, many of whom I've gone out of my way to meet in person and then carry on in-person, intelligent communication.

I don't disagree that there is now a plethora of information out there. For the last two weeks I've only managed about one post a day on this blog because I'm suffering from a bit of information overload - or maybe information fatigue. I'm almost bored with the idea that there is a new startup every day. You've got to really dazzle me now, I guess. But times like this ebb and flow. Whether my mind is a bit jaded or not does not mean that "Google" has made me stupid. It means I need to work harder at separating the signal from the noise.

I'm a big fan of Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You. I honestly believe that the strategic thinking employed in video games is a useful type of learning. I believe that honing my research skills both in a library and online is a good use of my time. And I believe that although we are learning differently now, and parsing information differently, that difference isn't a bad thing. It's evolution of information, and thinking. And I enjoy it.

I want to close with a quote from Stephen Downes on Stephen's Web, in reference to the Carr article:

Sigh. My response is very simple. I read constantly. I write constantly. I also work in images and multimedia. If Google is making me stupid, then I am forced to conclude that without Google I would have been some kind of super Einstein or something.

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Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

 

Live Blogging the Apple WWDC Keynote

Later today, right here in this post, I'm going to attempt to live-blog the Apple WWDC keynote that everyone (myself included) is so excited about. One of the reasons I'm doing this is because I want to test out CoveritLive.com, a nifty live-blogging application. Now, I say I'm going to attempt the live blog. It depends on a couple of things. I need to at least HEAR the keynote, and iPhone Alley is delivering that. However, The Digital Lifestyle is videostreaming the event, and SEEING is better than just hearing. I'm not the only one tuned into this information though, which means that I could lose the connection, the streaming could be down, and all sorts of technical things could go wrong, which means the live blog won't happen.

But I'll try. For those of you on a feed, the liveblogging shows up as an embeddable widget. To read the liveblog transcript, at the moment, you'll need to actually visit the blog.

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Find Michelle Lentz here at Write Technology, on bub.blicio.us, on Twitter, or Pownce.

Edmodo for Education

I've submitted to a few conferences to speak on microblogging. The Twitter scalability issues have me worried that we might lose Twitter before the conferences roll around, but at least I know things like Plurk, Jaiku, and Pownce will rise up to take its place. Microblogging is here to stay, even if Twitter might not be.

With that in mind, I'd like to talk a little about alpha-stage startup Edmodo. When I'm done with this post, you'll know as much as I do, but believe me, I intend to find out more.

I've blogged before about potential uses for microblogging (Twitter or otherwise) in education. Well, Edmodo takes some of those ideas and turns them into reality in one easy-to-use software app geared at the classroom.

Some of the more interesting features, beyond the standard community and conversation, are the ability to tag a post for future reference. As you may be familiar, in Twitter, you can favorite something. This is a step above that, adding a del.icio.us-like capability to the app. You can also share media files, such as images or videos. Media sharing is one of the advantages that Pownce has over Twitter, and I'm glad to see that Edmodo incorporated this option for education.

I'm not yet sure when they're going live. The video you see here, from early March, says "a few weeks," so I guess that didn't happen. I hope to get in touch with the developers soon and see how things are going. I think this is a fantastic tool.

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Find Michelle Lentz here at Write Technology, on bub.blicio.us, on Twitter, or Pownce.

Personalize Your LinkedIn Invites

Because I have started doing a lot more speaking and more public blogging, I get a lot more LinkedIn invites.In many cases, these folks feel they have a personal connection and don't realize that I have a heck of a time remembering names without a memory jog.

Would you send out an invitation to an event without thinking through the invitation and considering the wording? Probably not. I wish more people applied that same logic to LinkedIn invites.

Michelle:

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- John Doe

Now, I probably do want to connect with John Doe. He's probably a great guy and might even have some great contacts. But because I need a memory jog sometimes, I'm not sure who he is. I also question how seriously he takes connecting because he didn't bother to personalize his LinkedIn invite and just sent the default.

Now, I admit to having done this myself once or twice. I get lazy and send the default invite, especially when I'm connecting with good friends. But if you're reaching out to someone you met via Twitter, or briefly at a conference, go ahead and personalize your invite. Not only will it jog your connection's memory, it will make you stand out a little more as well.

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Find Michelle Lentz here at Write Technology, on bub.blicio.us, on Twitter, or Pownce.

YouTube Insight

Yesterday, Google announced YouTube Insight. Ever wondered who, or why, people are watching your monkey video on YouTube?

Today we're taking our first step towards answering these questions with YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account -- users, partners, and advertisers -- to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload. For example, uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions, as well as how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time. You can also delve deeper into the lifecycle of your videos, like how long it takes for a video to become popular, and what happens to video views as popularity peaks. For now, you can find currently available metrics by clicking under the "About this Video" button under My account > Videos, Favorites, Playlists > Manage my Videos.

So off I went, to check out the metrics for my ridiculous YouTube videos.

Now, let me preface these screenshots with the fact that I am a poor videographer. I cannot hold a camera steady to save my life. Add to that I get sidetracked and forget I'm filming, so the camera veers off occasionally. My YouTube videos are not high-quality, but they are fun.

Here are the metrics:

click to view the full-size image

Get Connected: Understanding Personal Branding

I'll be speaking for the Greater Cincinnat ASTD chapter on Tuesday night. You don't have to be a member to attend, but it will cost you $20.

I'll be talking not about learning or training, but about building your personal brand using Facebook and more importantly, LinkedIn.

Social networks are everywhere. We'll take a quick tour of LinkedIn and Facebook, setting up profiles and exploring options such as groups and pages. It's time to establish your personal brand online.

click to view full invitation

The session will be held May 20th at DeVry Institute in Mason. Your $25 (or $15 for members) includes dinner, which is nice.  You can register here or pay at the door. If you register after 5/17 or pay at the door, add $10 to the cost.

Tid Bits (Tid Bytes?)

Just a couple quick, but important items to mention today:

First off, I'm dipping my toe into the professional blogging pool. Really. I'll be writing tech posts on Brian Solis's bub.blicio.us. If you follow PR at all, you might know Brian from his PR 2.0 blog. If not, perhaps you know him through his book, Now is Gone, with Geoff Livingston.

As a side note, in a previous post I mentioned how Twitter flattens the org chart. This is particularly true in this case. Here is an author of a book I happen to really enjoy, and a leader in Public Relations and Social Media. I followed him on Twitter. He expressed a need for a writer on Twitter, I replied, and here we are. He may be in California and I may be in Cincinnati, but Twitter flattened it all out and made everyone approachable. I love the new Web.

Next, on Tuesday we had the first Social Media Breakfast in Cincinnati. SMB was founded by Bryan Person in Boston and is infiltrating other cities. The first Cincinnati SMB included Cincinnati, Dayton, and Louisville. I took some notes, but none of them are half as great as the writeup by Jason Falls, so check that out here.

Blogging to Death

Sometimes I get so caught up in my Real World Work that I have no time to catch up on RSS feeds. That means I miss stories like this in the New York Times. Two prolific and well-read bloggers have recently passed away, at young ages, and a third had a heart attack.

While it took the NY Times to come out and say it, many are putting this towards Type A personality stress. They blogged themselves to death. Particularly in technology, the stakes are high. You want to scoop other technology blogs out there, you pull all nighters, and you survive at your computer.

There is a direct correlation between the weight I gained this year and the increased time I've spent at the computer. Now, I'm not trying to scoop someone else (heck, I can't even keep up with all my feeds), but I am trying to at least stay on top of social media. Every day there's a new app out there and I try to get a beta invite and at least familiarize myself with it. That's on top of my Real Job, which is, at this very moment, a technical documentation project.

I've taken control and made the decision to get healthy and spend less time at the computer and more time visiting the gym and eating regularly and correctly. But not all bloggers can do that - there is an amazing amount of blog fatigue and stress if you let it get to you. If I actually worry about it, the wine blog can get to me - I haven't had an original post in days. As great as it is, blogging can have a downside, but you just have to take control and maintain a work-life balance. And you have to remember that it's just a blog. The world won't end if you miss a day or two.

Microblogging in the Classroom (Part 2)

Twitter is already being used in academia. I think we could easily adapt some of those uses for the corporate training room.

ChitChat: Students may continue the conversations outside of class using Twitter. This is especially important when the class is spread out via elearning. The students have a shared experience - your classroom. This conversation and experience now continue outside, the same as with a wiki, yet with less effort.

Connection with VIPs: You can follow the big names. For instance, when it comes to Web 2.0, I follow Geoff Livingston, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, and Jason Falls, amongst others. What is often surprising to me is when they follow me back. Twitter flattens the org chart. Your CEO can twitter and in the process, chat with employees that also Twitter. Suddenly, everyone is just a Twitterer. It's a great way to learn from the experts or access the executive tier.

Question and Answer: Twitter can provide instant feedback. It's great for question and answer. Recently, Geoff Livingston was guest lecturing at University of Maryland. He asked Twitter - what advice would you give students for graduation? He received tons of responses, live, which were shared with his students instantly. Another Twitterer once demonstrated the power of instant feedback by asking Twitterers to call him on his cell phone while he was giving a presentation. The constant flow of calls was  so much he had to beg folks to stop calling him. His point was well proven. This can also be used with GroupTweet to pick a specific distribution list for your question tweets.

Twitter Tracking: I actually have a few issues with this one. I don't use Twitter on my phone very much. I set up phone notifications for a few folks for one month, and it was too much. Not being 22 or younger, I don't like getting constant text messages. Maybe I just need an unlimited texting plan. So now I just get Direct Messages only via text. Twitter Tracking is a cool feature that needs to be expanded to the Web. Currently, you can send Track Instructional Design (for example) to Twitter via SMS and you will recieve an update whenever someone tweets using the phrase "instructional design." You get the update via your phone. The concept of tracking, however, is fantastic. Want to know what's up with the latest iPhone update? Track iPhone. To turn it off, simply send "Untrack iPhone" via SMS. A nifty web-optimized replacement tool for Twitter Tracking is TweetScan.
For education, Twitter Tracking (even through TweetScan) could be used to track instances of language use, specific conferences, and so forth.

Note Taking/Sharing: You can ping specific tweets/thoughts as Notes using TwitterNotes. You can then share the notes with the world - or with your class.

Microblogging in the Classroom (Part 1)

I'm using Twitter so much that I thought it was high time I explored how it might be used professionally within a learning environment.

Microblogging (whether Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, or something that isn't here yet) has endless possibilities for the classroom. How much can you do in 140 characters? A lot, it would seem. The #1 advantage to microblogging is that it breaks boundaries - you are no longer confined to a computer and can explore the world. Twitter (et al) allows you to use any number of third party programs or simple text messaging on your mobile phone, no matter where you are.

Here's a video from the Chronicle of Higher Education that I found via Brightcove. Tomorrow I'll post on other uses I've found for applying Twitter for learning.

Unlearning

In our current [to use a buzz phrase] new media landscape, industries are overlapping. I increasingly see overlaps between marketing and learning. I find myself doing more than just dipping a toe in the marketing pool anymore, as use of social media tends to encourage a full dunk.

So I was happy to see it works both ways. I was reading Digital Next, an Ad Age blog, when I came across a post on "Unlearning" that I think is something we should consider in the Learning field.

The writer was watching his 4 year seamlessly adapt to using a Wii controller. When his mother tried it, however, she was unable to adapt.

And then it dawned on me. The technology itself isn't difficult to understand. In fact, Nintendo makes it painfully obvious that they intend to casualize the console. There is very little to retain when using a Wii. What is difficult, is the "unlearning" process. In fact I'd argue that "unlearning" is far more cumbersome than "learning." Through the eyes of my mom, I've handed her a remote control -- one that looks very similar to the same remote she may have at her house that she uses to change the channels on her television. Her use of a TV remote is a learned, patterned behavior, unbreakable and obviously indistinguishable from a product of similar form factor.

The Learning industry is facing something similar. What happens when the digital natives outnumber others in our companies? Many people will need to unlearn a lot of how we do things - how we approach things.

Right now, it's all still new enough that we sort of let it go when our attempt at integrating new media fails. For instance, I am part of a small charity committee. After our first benefit was over, I lost patience with the amazing amount of email and attachments flying back and forth. No one ever knew if they had the latest version of a document and keeping up with the changes in emails was next to impossible. So I created a wiki.

For over a month, I've been pushing the wiki. Posting on the wiki. Adding attachments to the wiki. Then at a meeting last night, one girl says, "I don't like the wiki." Why? "I'm just not happy with it. It's easier to use email."
Translation: I know how to use email and see no reason to add a new behaviour or admit there might be a better, newer solution.

Sigh. She's only 30. But it proved to me that age is not a defining factor in adapting technology. This particular girl is highly intelligent and highly organized. But she relies on paper, binders, and email. This works for her the way a chalkboard works for an older college professor. Why put the notes on Blackboard LMS when the chalkboard works just fine?  Why change what works?

We all have habits we hang onto. I just really believe that in the next few years we will all need to adapt or be left behind. We'll need to unlearn if we want to participate. We can't be afraid to unlearn. So the question becomes, how do we cope with those who don't want to participate? The girl who refuses to use the wiki?

Are you going to camp?

Are you going to camp? Podcamp? If you're unfamiliar, I suppose it sounds a little odd. Perhaps a camp with podpeople from a horror movie.

Well, it's not that, and it's not really a camp. It is, however, a day full of information on podcasting, blogging, Twitter, and all sorts of social media. There are a lot of reasons to come to Podcamp Ohio:

• It's free!
• If you read blogs, listen to podcasts, are involved in Facebook groups, or are just curious about social media, this is your chance to learn more!
• If you're already involved in social networking, this is a chance to meet people you probably talk to all the time - except now you get to meet them in person.
• There are all sorts of neat sessions. Personally, I'm looking forward to the WordPress 101 session (and I'm also presenting on Twitter).
• It's an unconference, so you can present if you want to. By the people and for the people ...
• It's a relaxed way to learn more about new media, whether you're a novice or an expert. Everyone there has similar interests and want to help others learn more.
• It's free!

Podcamp Ohio is taking place on June 28, from 9 am - 5 pm, in Columbus, Ohio. The cost is free, and the payoff is more knowledge and more contacts.

Want to know more? Check out the PodCamp Ohio web site!

Now is Gone. Did you miss it?

Well, you can try to catch it this Thursday.

Social media and collaboration is the future, and the here and now. The collaborative Web isn’t just for teenagers – it can be used for networking, and for business.       

Social media use the “wisdom of crowds” to connect information in a collaborative manner. Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. Technologies such as blogs, picture-sharing, vlogs, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing, crowdsourcing, and voice over IP, to name a few.      

Web 2.0-savvy panellists include:

• FRCH & PR Blog’s Kevin Dugan
• Web 2.0 consultant Michelle Lentz
• Pause Magazine Editor in Chief Chris Bergman      

This is your opportunity to get the answers you want about Social Media and how to use it effectively. Join The Women’s Circuit as we talk about the best ways to integrate social media into your business or organization.   

Thursday, April 10, 2008
11:30 am – 1 pm
@ Airport FastPark Offices
250 West Court Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Members are encouraged to bring your friends and colleagues.**Non-members are welcome.**
Lunch will be available, please RSVP at RSVP@TheWomensCircuit.com by 4/8/08.

The Secret Underground Guide to Social Media ...

Ah, the power of social networking.

Kevin Dugan, over at the Strategic Public Relations blog, twittered about Colin McKay's new missive:
The Secret Underground Guide to Social Media for Organizations.

You can skip my banter and just go download it, for free, here.

If you don't mind my conversing a little, here are my thoughts.

I think anyone trying to integrate social media into any size organziation needs to read this. I said it at TechKnowledge in my wiki session and repeated it many times since:

Social media fails without commitment and buy-in from its users.

I've always advocated the stealth approach to slipping in social media. I've discovered, though, that many times the stealth approach doesn't cut it. You have to Herd people to the media. "I have a new file you need. Go download it from the wiki."  Herd, herd, herd.

That said, Colin McKay (whom many of you may know as the CanuckFlack public relations blogger) really hits the nail on the head with this booklet. His stealth approach covers everything from making sure you have a clean online reputation to feeling out other guerrillas in your midst. And then you launch geurilla warfare.

Right, I can't explain it. Just go download and read it. It's only about 23 pages and has a big font.

I will say that I'll be using this, with full attribution to Colin, in the Intro to Web 2.0 class I've been asked to create.

David Pogue "In Concert": The Sounds of Silence

Using my adorable little FlipUltra video camera, I took "YouTube Quality" video of David Pogue as he performed at our opening session. Here's David Pogue performing The Sounds of Silence - about tech support and dying computers.

David Pogue "In Concert": Download Medley

Using my adorable little FlipUltra video camera, I took "YouTube Quality" video of David Pogue as he performed at our opening session. Here's David Pogue performing my favorite number, a medley composed of three parodies on downloading music and video.

David Pogue "In Concert": I Want an iPhone

Using my adorable little FlipUltra video camera, I took "YouTube Quality" video of David Pogue as he performed at our opening session. It's worth noting he also had a fun keynote address, which mentioned a lot of cool techie items (including Google 411 and Grand Central, which I already used, and EyeFi, which I need to learn more about).

Here's David Pogue performing "I Want an iPhone" to the tune of "My Way." (You can view David's original music video for this, which is hilarious, here.)

A New Way to Embarrass the Kids

When I was little, parents (mine included) would tote around a gigantic video camera and make home movies of us kids playing. My younger sisters, the twins, were the cutest and therefore most often the victims of this practice. Every so often at holidays, the parents will still pull out these beat-up, poorly filmed old videos, embarrassing all of us (especially the twins).

Times have changed. My friends are all having children now and instead of keeping videotapes nearby, they're storing video on their terabyte drives and posting video clips on their blogs. In this video, my friend Jason - a tech-savvy and influential author and librarian, gives a videocast update on his baby daughter and posts it to his widely read blog.

What are our kids going to say in 20 years when we attempt to hook up our antiquated USB drives to their newfangled computers, just to show baby videos from the early part of the century?

I know, this has nothing to do with learning, technical writing, or instructional design. But it does drive home the point that the world is changing drastically, and fast. Looking at change 20 years in either direction is now exhausting  - there is so much happening and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

Blogging is Mainstream

It feels like I go to a lot of conferences, although its truly only 3 or 4 per year. When the conference is learning related, I usually find myself talking about blogging, whether it's in an informal meeting or an official session. What surprises me at these conferences is that so many folks still treat blogging as a "new" technology. (Wikis, by the way, get the same reaction.)

Blogging isn't new. I've been blogging for at least 5 years now and I was, in my opinion, a late adopter. Companies have blogs. There are personal blogs. There is a blog for any topic you can think of. Bloggers are no longer the techies that walk around your business casual conference in t-shirts, jeans, and long hair. Bloggers are anyone and everyone.

Blogging is mainstream.

To prove this point, the International Olympic Committee has approved blogging by athletes for the Beijing games. Apparently, so many athletes were already blogging from both the Turin Winter Games and the Athens Summer Games that it was easier just to cede control. But not all control - athletes can now officially blog, but there are rules:

"It is required that, when accredited persons at the games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience," said an IOC statement.

Posting confidential information about other people is also outlawed.

"The IOC considers blogging... as a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism," the Olympic authority said.

"Blogs should be dignified and in good taste."

The IOC guidelines follow concern that the games could become highly politicised, with China's human rights record, its treatment of dissidents and links with Sudan becoming major issues.

They're taking a chance, trusting that people won't blog little political statements, but I do appreciate that they're opening up the floor. I disagree that blogging isn't a form of journalism (and I'm sure my wine blogger friends would concur), but it's a start.

Now, if I can just figure out how to use my blogging credentials to get into the Democratic National Convention ...

Who Am I? A 30-Second Advert

My friend Rob Bunting has been after me to develop a "30-second commercial" for myself. In other words, how can I concisely and effectively describe what I do?

How do I identify myself? Blogger, instructional designer, Web 2.0 consultant

What do I have to offer? Experience, love/understanding of technology

What can I do? See where in your organization Web 2.0 technologies might make a difference. In particular, in learning/training and internal communications.

Okay, so that gives me a starting point. Here goes:

Hi! I'm Michelle. I'm a blogger, an instructional designer, and a Web 2.0 consultant. I've been in the learning field for over 10 years. My experience, combined with my technical knowledge, put me in a unique place to help companies strategically implement Web 2.0 technologies for learning, marketing, and improved internal communications.

I'm attending an AMA Word of Mouth marketing group today on using LinkedIn. Maybe I'll try out the new advert.

Open ID: Who Am I On That Site?

Let's face it. We've all got dozens of user names and passwords. I know I've tried to keep my user names and passwords fairly similar between sites. However, you can't have them all the same. Different sites may have different password requirements. Someone may already have my favorite user name. In the end, it's hard to keep track.

Enter Open ID. Open ID is a protocol gradually  being adopted by the larger sites (as well as the smaller ones). To put it simply, you just need to remember one thing. Your information is stored wherever your OpenID is hosted. You just need to remember your ID.

Myvidoop is one such OpenID storage place. I am particularly taken by their YouTube video that describes OpenID and how it works in a friendly and funny way. Enjoy!

Twitter Humour

I love this cartoon from the prolific Hugh at the Gaping Void:

Click the image to view in full size.

Hugh posted this back in April. I think that's around when I first found Twitter, although it took a lot longer than that to allow my micro-blogging to often substitute for my real blogging on one of my personal blogs. I do blame Twitter for my lack of blog posts. All my thoughts now get written, stream of consciousness style, to Twitter. The cartoon, however, is incredibly dead-on. Makes you wonder about 2008.

You Just Need to Know How to Type

One blog post can affect everything from marketing to spamming to other bloggers. Wired has taken the time to detail the blogging ecosystem in an interactive (read: Flash-based) flowchart. Check it out - it's very accurate with one exception. No matter how many keywords and tags I use, it tends to take anywhere from a few hours to 1 day in order to pop up on Technorati and Google and the like. Now sploggers (spam bloggers) and scrapers seem to move much faster.

Check out the blog ecosystem here.

How to Use LinkedIn

I happen to like LinkedIn a lot. But you can't just post your resume out there and cross your fingers. You've got to actually work LinkedIn. You need to find colleagues from previous jobs, classmates from college and even high school, and more. Those little connections often open up a dialog. Sometimes its just a quick email through the LinkedIn system. But suddenly, you're listed on John Doe's profile and you're just a little closer to the front of his mind than you were yesterday.

When Jane X goes looking, in my case, for an instructional designer, she'll see that her connection, John Doe, happens to know me. She can then reach out to me directly or via John Doe. Either way, my very connection to John Doe gives me some credibility. Go to my profile and see that I have a couple recommendations. That lends credibility as well - someone was willing to announce how great I am via the Web for the world to see. Wait, you can also see that I've recommended people. I'm not the kind of person to just take recommendations - I also give them.

You can learn a lot from LinkedIn. If you're interviewing for a job, you can actually research that job, that company, and the person with whom you're interviewing through LinkedIn. You can find out a lot about the people you work with in a new firm. You can find out how often people have left your new position.

Guy Kawasaki lists these tips, and several more, in his post "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn." So many of my friends and business associates bemoan LinkedIn and that it never seems to do anything. That, folks, is because you don't use it correctly. Go read Guy's list. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

My last two clients (and a potential third) have all found me via LinkedIn. Not only that, but googling "Michelle Lentz Cincinnati" brings up my LinkedIn profile first. I couldn't ask for better than that.

Technology Bubbles

Funny, but true ...

Ning: Build Your Own Social Network

Last week I heard about a couple of sites where you could build your own social network. Pretty fascinating stuff. I checked out Zude and Ning.

Zude is cool, but I didn't find it user friendly. It's one to watch, though, as I think those ease of use features are coming. It's still too obviously a content management system for my taste and truthfully, some experiences I had with some open-source CMSs have instilled a slight fear in me of the CMS.

Ning, however, is incredibly user friendly. I re-designed our family web site, KevinandShel.com, using Ning. For me, it was useful to bring in several of my blog feeds and my photos - all in one place for our family to see. That is really one of the minor benefits to Ning. I failed miserably at explaining it to my husband because I used it, used it well, and yet used none of the really cool features.

With Ning, you can build your own community. In a way, you're building your own Facebook.

If I ran a book club, or owned a small store, or had a knitting group or any sort of group, I'd want to build my site on Ning. First off, it's free. Second, they have amazing technical support. I got incredibly fast and personalized responses. (I found a bug, now fixed.)

What does it offer? Basically Ning is a content management system. You can build pages and sections for your actual web site. You can also have a forum. You can bring in RSS feeds. Your readers can join, becoming part of a community. They can comment on pages, on photos. Once someone is a member, they can then contribute their own information. You can create groups within your network. Each member gets their own blog. If you as an admin want to feature their blog or their photos, you can. Your own member profile can be used for whatever Ning community of which you are a part. You can customize your profile for each Ning community, pulling from your basic information, but changing the look and feel per network.

It's quick. It's easy. And I'm really impressed. It's an easy way to bring a Web 1.0 web site into Web 2.0. Ning specializes in customization/personalization for each user. And that is a huge part of Web 2.0.

The beauty of any social network is the ability to have your members/users interact not just with you, but with each other. Ning allows that through forums, comments, photos, and more. It's worth checking out.

Some great sites using Ning include the Wine Spies, Broadway Space, and Ask a Ninja.

Wikis and Conferences

Now this is something I wish ASTD would do for TechKnowledge. It's a brilliant use of a wiki, but it takes some marketing.

Each year for Learning 200x, the Masie Center launches a wiki. The wiki has a page for each session, which the session leaders and, ideally, the participants, then update. Updating occurs before, during, and after the conference session. It's like pre-work, but better.

Using the wiki, session facilitators can get a better handle on what their participants are interested in hearing and better prepare for their sessions. The participants get a better idea on what will be covered and can make informed decisions about which session they want to attend.

Because the wiki sticks around for about a year or so afterwards, the discussion can continue.

Here's the catch: People are still afraid of wikis. I encounter it all the time. Elliot and the Masie Center team are tasked with "marketing" the wiki, trying to get folks to use it. It's slow going this year it seems, at least so far. Past experience tells me that the wiki will pick up some steam the week before, and during the conference.

The Masie Center has been sending out countless emails about the conference and about the wiki, encouraging people to go use it. But they're missing something (and it would be easily rectified). For their nifty social networking app, the Masie Center has provided a nice tutorial. However, there's no tutorial for the wiki. I think popping a tutorial onto the front page of the wiki would be great. In fact, PBWiki even has a nice little Flash tutorial that I've put into several of my other wikis. It's a simple step, but I think it would lessen the "wiki fear" that people seem to have.

Anyone can poke through the Learning 2007 wiki at http://www.learningwiki.com. Only registered attendees can edit and comment.

Introducing our Mobile Sites

Write Tech mobile is now available at http://writetech.mobi, with a link to this blog in "mobilized" format.

The My Wine Education blog is now available at http://winegirl.mobi.

A Little More Mobile: Repurposing RSS Feeds with Winksite

Yesterday I talked about creating a mobile web site using MobiSiteGalore. Once I created a mobile version of the Write Technology main web site, I got curious. Was there a way to take my Typepad blogs, such as this one, and create mobile versions using the same content? It seemed to me like an easy and great way to repurpose RSS feeds.

My research led me to Winksite. Winksite is a product of Wireless Ink, run by David Harper. Winksite is a free service allowing you to build a mobile web site. Like MobiSiteGalore, it's customizable. There isn't much yet in the way of Help or published Support (hey guys, I'm free at the moment!), but I assume it's coming. Although Web 2.0 apps in general aren't very good at providing documentation.

Winksite differs from MobiSiteGalore in several ways. Winksite depends a lot on RSS feeds, which is a pretty fantastic idea. First, content is controlled via channels, in addition to being able to create pages. I haven't yet found a way to combine multiple channels on pages or more importantly to me, reorder predefined channels. However, with a little help from David Harper, I was able to easily reorder custom channels. Although it does allow you to set a background and color, you can't customize the site with logos, headers, and footers as you can with MobiSiteGalore. Both sites are quite easy to use. When I needed support at MobiSiteGalore, I found my answer in their user forums. When I needed support at Winksite, I sent an email through their site and received rapid support.

The two sites seem to be aimed at different audiences. Whereas MobiSiteGalore sticks to strict site building for the mobile set, Winksite has broader aims. WinkSite allows you to build a mobile community.You can implement mobile messaging and collect "friends." You can also, as I did, easily "mobilize" your blog. That feature alone makes Winksite worth using. It simply takes your RSS feed and turns it into a mobile page. You lose all the fun stuff, such as the information in the right column on this blog, but it's mobile. You don't want all that stuff in the way.

I'm intrigued by the idea of creating a Winksite for mobile learning. You could create a community of similar learners or a class of students, all able to communicate on-the-go through this one, easy to use mobile web site.

For the Write Tech site, I'm using MobiSiteGalore to create the content web pages for the business site. Within that mobile site, I link out to a mobile version of this blog, created and hosted by Winksite. It' s a perfect combination for me.

I also "mobilized" our wine site. For that particular site, I'm strictly using Winksite to pull in RSS feeds from both the wine blog and the wine Twitter feed.

Creating a Mobile Web Site

I created a mobile web site for Write Technology. In fact, I created it in less than an hour. It's taking longer to redirect a subdomain to the site than it did to create it.

More and more folks are accessing the internet on the go, from mobile phones. When I had my Blackberry, I surfed the web a lot. Big companies, like Delta or Typepad, would positively annoy me if they didn't have a mobile site. The Blackberry just wasn't conducive to graphic intensive web sites. In fact, neither is the iPhone if I'm not near a wireless connection. EDGE is just pretty darned slow, but still useful. 

Creating a mobile site just got easy. Today I got an email from the Masie Center that pointed out a new, free tool that allows you to create your own mobile website. The company, mobiSiteGalore, offers an online tool for mobile site creation. After you create your site, you plug in your FTP information and the mobile site is automatically uploaded.

The online tools are pretty easy to use, and they have a rather useful Help Video that explains everything. Remember that mobile phones are often on limited bandwidth, like EDGE, and that loading a lot of graphics is terribly slow. It also helps when mobile sites are number enabled. If you press a 2 from my mobile Home Page, it should take you to the About Us page.

All pages created at MobiSiteGalore are run through the dotMobi  standards checker, ensuring each page meets appropriate standards. According to MobiSiteGalore, "The newly introduced WAP 2.0 standards are more flexible, and universal in nature and will overwrite the earlier standards for mobile websites. mobiSiteGalore allows you to quickly and easily create a complete mobile website fully compliant with the latest WAP 2.0 standards and the Mobile Web Best Practices as laid out by W3C."

All that's left for you to do is design the page, using their easy to modify templates, and upload it to your site. If you want to take it a step further, you might want to register a .mobi domain name. I just registered writetech.mobi, but it will take a few days to be active. (A .mobi domain is not necessary for mobile visitors though.)

Cincinnati Top 10 Blogs

As far as personal issues go, 2007 has been a rotten year. But professionally, especially on the Web 2.0 front, 2007 has rather rocked.

From being voted VP Technology of our local ASTD chapter, co-facilitating a Learning Lab at ASTD TechKnowledge, both this blog and the wine blog being recognized as Typepad Featured Blogs, to big things in store at Learning 2007 - well, I can't really complain.

And things just got a bit better. My wine blog, My Wine Education, has officially been recognized as one of Cincinnati's Top 10 Blogs. I found it in the Enquirer online edition, but apparently it was even in the hard-copy paper as well. (Do people still read that? ) I don't get anything for this recognition except a warm feeling in my chest, which is fine. It's really cool just to be recognized.

There is still a slight chance that tomorrow I'll win an iPhone. But the competition is stiff. The Cincinnati Blog is darned good (I've read it for a long time) and there's a girl blogging about fighting cancer. How do you beat that? But it really is an honor just to be nominated.

CincyTechUSA, Chamber Pick Region's Top 10 Blogs

The Internet: So Profound

My favorite comic is Pearls Before Swine. I love it, and sometimes creator Stephan Pastis just gets it so right.
Enjoy today's comic, which is an honest look at the Internet today (click to view larger):