Monthly Archives: June 2010

Reflection on Manifesto: I Am Not a Brand

Thanks to @ cmykdorothy for her share of the following article: Manifesto: I Am Not a Brand.  There are several quotes that resonated with me. 

Article Exerpt: “My neighbor [fellow speaker at a conference] had a lot to say. She had a MESSAGE. She talked longer than anyone, and over everyone and through everyone. Her message, as far as I could determine, was that the internet is all about getting out there and SELLING yourself.

‘I’m a brand,’ she said, every minute or so. ‘I’m always thinking of ways to promote my brand.’ It was all brand, brand, brand, brand, brand.

The other thing she said that made my head swivel around uncomfortably was, ‘Get your message and repeat it OVER AND OVER. Just keep saying your message OVER AND OVER in the same way. Just tweet it and put it out on Facebook OVER AND OVER.'”

My Reflection: This is a strategy, but I would argue an unwise one.  The first thing that comes to mind is The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  When do you dull the follower.  I’d rather surprise a reader than drone on and on with the same message.

Article Exerpt: “Just to be clear on this thing I am not, maybe I should define my understanding of personal branding. A personal brand is a little package you make of yourself so you can put yourself on the shelf in the marketplace and people will know what to expect or look for when they come to buy you. For example, Coke is a brand. When you see Coke, you expect a dark brown effervescent sweet drink that is always going to taste like . . . Coke. McDonalds is going to sell you inexpensive, fast food. The Ritz or the Four Seasons is going to sell you a luxury experience. BP will now be known as the brand that destroys the costal ecosystem of the southeastern United States.”

My Reflection: To me as a reader, I enjoy when the writer makes me think.  I don’t like following one train of thought.  I’d rather be challenged with disparate lines of reasoning so I can find my place.

Article Excerpt: “So there we were, grappling for the microphone, polar opposites in every way. And then I noticed that when people on the other side of the table were talking, the woman pulled out her phone and started reading messages. She didn’t listen to what the others were saying.”

My Reflection: This is my biggest obstacle regarding social media.  There are so many voices, and so many are just shouting at the top of their lungs to listen to me.  Who’s listening?  It’s nearly impossible to listen to all of the voices.  It’s not because you don’t want to listen, it’s because you get overwhelmed.  If I do read and try to engage, I become consumed, paralyzed, and have trouble doing anything else.

Article Excerpt: “Some people don’t get it. They don’t get that the Internet is a conversation. They think the message only goes one way — out. Things must be shouted. Things must be thrust in your face. Things must be sold.”

My Reflection: Conversations require 2 or more individuals who are talking and listening.  Sometimes, I get the feeling that if I don’t respond quickly enough the conversation will go on without you.

Article Excerpt: “The other side, the side I am on, is the one that sees an organic Internet full of people.”

My Reflection: The more voices, the greater the engagement, the richer the experience, the greater the opportunity for collaboration and creativity.

Article Excerpt: “I write because I actually like doing it…”

My Reflection: I write because I need to.  If I don’t I’ll lose my way.  But I can tell when someone really likes writing and enjoys it.  It’s refreshing to read from those people and inspires me.

Article Excerpt: “

MY POINT IS . . . it’s early days yet on the Internet, and lines are being drawn. We can, if we group together, fight off the weenuses and hosebags who want to turn the Internet into a giant commercial. Hence, the manifesto. It goes something like this:

The Internet is made of people. People matter. This includes you. Stop trying to sell everything about yourself to everyone. Don’t just hammer away and repeat and talk at people — talk TO people. It’s organic. Make stuff for the Internet that matters to you, even if it seems stupid. Do it because it’s good and feels important. Put up more cat pictures. Make more songs. Show your doodles. Give things away and take things that are free. Look at what other people are doing, not to compete, imitate, or compare . . . but because you enjoy looking at the things other people make. Don’t shove yourself into that tiny, airless box called a brand — tiny, airless boxes are for trinkets and dead people.”

My Reflection: This stands for itself.  Love it!

Reflection 6/14/10-6/18/10

Thanks to Patty and the crew for a reminder to think about blogging and reflecting on the week that was!  It was a fast week. 

There is one idea that continued to come up.  Constructivism.  If you look at the  About Me section of this blog under Instructional Philosophy, you will notice that I talked at length about my struggles to become the constructivist I’m meant to be because of the time spent within the behavioral framework as a student/teacher.  I read an article as a part of the Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual World Research group called Constructivism, virtual reality and tools to support design by Cara Winterbottom and Edwin Blake.  Here are a few notes that I look from the paper that resonated with me:

  • “…constructivism opens up many possibilities for how design could be effectively accomplished and learned.”
  • “Constructivism states that knowledge is constructed by individuals through their interactions with others and their physical environments.”
  • “[Constructivism] focuses on learning through doing.”
  • “…help in the form of scaffolding that can fall away rather than marking out an exact path, and user control of the process.”
  • Practical Values of Constructivism
    • Atomic Simplicity- This is the concept that complexity arises from the ways in which simple atomic parts are connected together.
    • Multiplicity- The idea of a single, correct truth does not exist within constructivism.  From this comes the concept that there are many ways to an end and not one single process.
    • Practical Exploration- In constructivism, learning and constructing knowledge are active tasks.
    • Control- Allied to the concept of active construction of knowledge is the idea of personal control.  The educator becomes a coach rather than a teacher.
    • Reflective Process– while activity is important in constructivism, the process of constructing knowledge requires acting with reflection so as to build effective connections between bits of knowledge with an understanding of their consequeses.  Support for iterative process is another way to foster reflection, by creating a space for the designer to reflect on the output of one iteration, and then apply the new knowledge to the next iteration.

    Reading this article was a reminder to always remember to create flexible environments for students to learn and grow. 

Wave

Coming into the Web 2010 conference, I was hoping to learn more about Google Wave.  Thanks to Robin Smail, Audrey Romano, Daniel Frommelt, Steven Lewis, and Chad Killingsworth for all of their work and insights!  I had been in Wave only a few times previous to the conference, so just having the time to play was worth it.  It reminds me of my Calculus class from high school.  It seems like you aren’t learning until the light goes on all of a sudden.  Although there are holes in the current product, it has unlimited potential to consolidate communication.  So many of us are in so many places and its hard to stay on top of all of them.  Google Wave would all for real-time interaction on projects.  There is a chat feature.  There are tons of gadgets which integrate into the Wave like MIndMeister for brainstorming, Video Chat Experience for face-to-face conferencing, Tasky for establishing and assigning group tasks, Yes/No/Maybe Gadget for polling…  The list goes on and on.  If you have programming skills, you can even create more gadgets or robots.  Robots can be programmed to automate certain tasks within the Wave.  From what I can see this tool, although not user-friendly today, will allow for the next level communication that we are all looking for.  Please add your thoughts and perspectives!

Web 2010: A Web Odyssey

Here are some comments and notes from my time at the Web 2010 conference.

Jeffery Zeldman : Designing for the Web in 2010
Interesting and fun look at Web Standards, starting with Gutenberg to the present.
Web design is moving to mobile.  Design with mobile in mind first then move to add only essentials for a traditional browser size.

Google Wave Lessons Learned

  • Wave is an unfinished tool, so some are using it while many won’t
  • If you want a more finished tool be patient.  In a year or so, things will be much more solid
  • Establish googlewave presence long before using it
  • Solid connectivity is essential for the tool to effective
  • It’s not about the tool.  Find a need before using it
  • Here are some other thoughts on Wave

Brad Ward: Everything I Know about Higher Ed., I learned from ‘The Office’
I recently attended a session on working with those from different generations. So the comment that Brad made about intergenerational relations in the workplace.  Brad talks about the differences between himself (26) and his brother (29). There is such a disconnect between generations because of focus on tools.  How do we bridge this gap? 

3 Quotes from Brad to address this:

  • “You can’t be focused on the tools.” 
  • “Chase the goals, not the tools.” 
  • “People come first; tools come last.” 

Integrate old and new
“Old media is the best way to promote new media.”  This really resonates with me.  It’s not enough to move into new spaces without making a transition.  But what happens when you are interacting with those who are not interested in moving?

Intelligent Interruption
Are you measuring what matters or are you just measuring? –http://www.trendingupward.net/
“We are constantly competing for people’s attention.”
My thought- I understand this but wonder if this is a good commentary on our society.

“Second attempt are never remembered.”  So be original!

Great session!  Made me think.