Crossing the line

Originally uploaded by Aeioux

 (Edit at noon: Make sure you read Jay Fienberg’s post in the comments. He takes this deeper and really hits the important points.)

Yesterday while messing around with my Feedblitz account (part of this whole blog update/move project) I activated something that automatically posts a tweet “from” me each time I post to my blog. Then I promptly forgot about it.

Today I was browsing my tweets and saw this post from me that I did not recall posting. Oh yeah, that automatic thing. It didn’t feel quite right to me, so I asked my Twitterfriends what they thought. This is what they said. My “unease” seems to be validated by my network. So I went and undid that bit of technology. No more autoposts to Twitter. It feels like the cost of promoting awareness, for me, transgresses my relationship with my network. This is a very personal reaction, but I don’t want to cross the line.

@NancyWhite good for notificication purposes but is it really twittering?
catspyjamasnz (catspyjamasnz) via TwitBin at 10:20

@NancyWhite auto post of blog entries are fine for bots but work badly for humans, at least until post software gives you more control
Edward Vielmetti (edwardvielmetti) via web at 10:14

@nancywhite I use alexking plugin for wordpress and it does not always makes the link (tinyurl) correct. What do u think of tweets in posts?
Christian Kreutz (ckreutz) via web at 10:12

@NancyWhite god knows how bad it would be if someone gave me a plugin to Twitt every Last.fm scrobbled song
David Ramalho (dramalho) via Snitter at 10:10

@NancyWhite doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use Twitter to promote the odd post , just that being systematic about it = RSS
David Ramalho (dramalho) via Snitter at 10:09

@NancyWhite Hi Nancy - haven’t used them, tend if relevant post to followers to put up a tweet about it at times! And there’s RSS and others
Laura (LittleLaura) via twitterrific at 10:08

@NancyWhite - personally, I don’t like them - that’s what RSS readers are for, IMHO - why should Twitter try to be all things to all people?
Koan (koan) via twitterrific at 10:08

@NancyWhite Kinda kill the sense of RSS , or extend it to Twitter (but probably abuses it)
David Ramalho (dramalho) via Snitter at 10:07

@NancyWhite - I am not thrilled with the tools that auto post blog entries on twitter. No detail and so it doesn’t seem like conversation.
Jim Benson (ourfounder) via Snitter at 10:07

More and more I find myself working across languages. Most recently between Spanish and English. Yet I am not a fluent Spanish speaker. I can manage day to day transactions. My Portuguese is better. But at my age remembering vocabulary is my biggest struggle, especially when reading. I seem to be able to get more in a listening context and the speaker can see my puzzlement easier when I’m lost.

Because of this, and knowing how important it is to try and bridge across languages, I have been following the emergence of new sites to aid in translation on websites. Tonight two came to my attention via Britt Bravo at NetSquared.

The first is lingro: multilingual dictionary and language learning site. You put in a URL, designate what dictionary you want to use. Then lingro loads the site in a frame. You click on any word and lingro offers a dictionary definition. WOW! Very cool. I’m looking forward to using it.

The second is WordWideLexicon, a site that enables collaborative, community driven, person based voluntary translation of websites.

The Worldwide Lexicon translation system enables people around the world to view, create and edit translations.

All of the translations are created by people, not computers. We have users in over 130 countries representing over 60 languages.

You can read translations here at www.worldwidelexicon.org, subscribe to RSS feeds for your favorite sites, and soon, create and join translation communities about your favorite topics and websites.

The latter is not only a language bridge, but a community indicator. Translation and interpretation is a lot of work. It is an amazing contribution to a community. Next week I’ll be at a global gathering, GK3. It will be interesting to see how the community takes care of its language needs.

Today on Twitter there was a lovely conversation about improvisation. Alas, my twitter timeline doesn’t go back far enough to capture it, but it was something that I think Jeremiah Owyang wrote about the importance of improvisation and achitwood and I chimed in about improvisation being a key skill these days. We noted that often it is seen as something risky and all about disruption, but it is in fact an amazing practice to bolster collaboration and innovation.

achitwood Improv - you gotta know your instrument (whether music, theatre, collab) to make music with others!

jowyang Nate wrote a great blog post on Jazz Improve because of this thread: http://tinyurl.com/23wtxj

As the conversation progressed, Jeremiah brought in the thread of jazz as one branch of improvisation and people started chiming in that they played an instrument or were in a band. That triggered some collective wondering if people who are interested in improvisation might be better suited to or interested in social media. That’s when Jeremiah came up with the idea of a wikis. So I set up a wiki! social media musicians. Come join in the play! In the meantime, here are a few snippets from the Twitter conversation.

jowyang Since there are SO many musicians here, I propose over the next 30 days we record ourselves playing and put it on a public wiki….. jowyang The wiki wouldn’t HOUSE the videos, but just point to them wherever they live (blip, youtube, metacafe, facebook, whatever)

veroniquec wishing I had a musical bone in my body to contribute to @jowyang ’s music wiki — sounds like fun!

Karoli @jowyang: that was a great post. My kid is a jazz studies major in college…improv is as much a gift as a learned skill. I’m in awe

ourfounder @jowyang - A public Music Wiki sounds fun actually. I wouldn’t mind contributing.

jowyang @all jazz social media folks, see this video of Bobby McFerrin involving crowd http://tinyurl.com/yq8369

I have been talking to the folks at Hosteling International USA about how to reach out to and connect with 18-25 year olds about hosteling and traveling. I told Russ Hedges, the CEO, that I did not know a lot about Facebook (one option) but I sure had a great network of people who did know a lot, and many who have focused on the use of Facebook by non profits and NGOs.

I proposed we convene a telephone conversation and toss around some ideas. Besides having this conversation, I suggested that whatever we learned, we would share out - Open Source Research. Russ was game, so I put the invite out on Twitter and within an hour had 8 RSVPs. Social networks in action, right from the start.

Today we shared conversation for an hour. Towards the end, Jim Benson suggested we walk the talk and continue our research on Facebook IN Facebook. We’d start a little group, scan FB for interesting non profit applications, leave links in the group, then reconvene to talk again in a couple of weeks. I agreed to start the group and post the minutes from today’s meeting, to begin that “sharing out” bit. So here it is… Facebook | Open Source Research on FB for Non Profits with Nancy’s Friends

Care to join our exploration? It complements some work Beth Kanter has been doing as well. Imagine, if we all share our research, we’ll either be collectively smarter, or even more confused!

just wave

Originally uploaded by alaskawhitefox

I’ve written about 37 Days before. Patricia’s blog is about beauty and the culture of love. Yesterday she shared the fruits of her community - people who are creating images (cards) for her upcoming book of essays. The Flickr group offers you a peek at the generosity of Patty’s readers.

This is another visible community indicator, evidence that we have significant and generous connections with each other online.

I had to link to this image, “Just Wave” because one of my signatures is “Waving… Nancy.”

Speaking of waving, I’m waving from Seattle, where the most enormous snowflakes are floating down outside my office window. Beautiful.

We are redirecting the site to it’s new home. The blog is moving to the front page! Things may be weird for a couple of days, but we are almost there. Many of my old website pages will still look old and links may be messed up for a while. But inch by inch I’ll get it all straightened out.

BUT… A HUGE thanks to Jon Lebkowsky at Polycot Associates!

Anyone in Kuala Lumpur going to GK3 interested in graphic recording and facilitation - join us! This is a free introductory workshop on December 10th!

Graphic Recording 101: A learning opportunity you might not want to miss!

Are you the kind of person who loves working with groups, who is interested in finding new ways to apply your listening and recording skills, and who learns best from doing and reflecting? Are you intrigued about the role of visuals in our group interactions and learning?

If so, you are invited to join a small group of like-minded people to develop your own practice in graphic recording (you can see some examples here.) Graphic recording (also called graphic facilitation) at its most basic is capturing what is happening in a group or presentation. (To learn more, see http://www.visualpractitioner.org/education/whatis1.htm)

To coincide with GK3, on Monday December 10th, from 2pm - 5pm at the Crowne Plaza in Kuala Lumpur, a graphic recording workshop will be hosted by Nancy White of Full Circle Associates. Nancy is an online and offline facilitator who has been expanding her facilitation practice to include graphics. (You can see some of Nancy's work here)

The workshop will give participants a glimpse into the world of graphic
recording, provide them with time to experiment and play with a range of tools and techniques, and prepare them to apply what's been learned in a 'live' recording exercise of a pre-identified session at GK3.

In order for participants to further develop their practice, coaching will be offered throughout the GK3 conference. Participants will be invited to connect informally with Nancy and fellow graphic recorders to share, reflect and learn from their work. We'll also share photos of our work online afterwards for any final feedback and reflection.

If you are new to the practice of graphic recording, you may want to check out the examples linked above. PLEASE NOTE: you do NOT need to be an artist to join in the fun. You will, however, be strongly encouraged to leave your inner critic at the door.

Please note that this training is only being offered in English. We'll provide the supplies - you bring your energy and enthusiasm. Fun WILL be had!

To sign up to Graphic Recording 101, or if you have any questions, please contact Nancy White at nancyw at fullcirc dot com .

Susanne Nyrop points to a community indicator, a blog that allows a distributed community of practice to share their condolences with a member whose father died.

A community blogging for memorial:

"Dafne is one of the most renowned webheads leaders and course innovators, and always ready to share and help others with her insight and knowledge. From the mail list which I'm not regularly following these days, I just found out that Dafne's old and fragile father passed away some weeks ago.

Spontaneously, one of the community members, Dennis, had started a blog for her to send our personal comments for condolency. My comment was no. 47 - so this blog has reached out to many people's hearts. And hopefully comforting Daf and her family. Such gestures seem to happen naturally in the online CoP. http://thoughts-for-dafne.blogspot.com/"

In December I'm going to GK3, the Global Knowledge conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I'll be involved in three things and I'd like to ask your help with at least one of them.

On Tuesday I'll be on a panel The Future of Knowledge Management and Web 2.0 - Visions and Challenges. Here is the session description:

The importance of knowledge in transitioning to a knowledge society and knowledge economy continues to increase. With Web 2.0 getting great current attention and emerging discussions on enterprise 2.0, KM 2.0 (Knowledge Management 2.0) etc., promises are aplenty for knowledge to be spread instantly, interactively and across hierarchies. The proliferation of tools, instruments and channels for knowledge sharing present the possibility of tapping into collective intelligence, the 'wisdom of the crowd'. Do technological progress and economic importance of knowledge sharing also positively impact on the human and cultural obstacles to knowledge sharing? Wise use of Web 2.0 can produce great economic and social benefits, but it could also hamper development because of high transaction costs involved and a lack of constructive focus in its application. This session will explore trends and visions about the knowledge management of the future in the context of emerging technologies as well as the related the social and economic dynamics.

This session will address the following key questions:

• What major trends and changes in knowledge management do we expect in the next ten years? What are the major visions about Knowledge Management (KM) of the future?
• There is increasing consensus on success factors and obstacles to effective KM. At the same time, newer technologies and innovations are increasing our ability to connect and interact across boundaries. What do you see remaining the same and what changing in KM ?state-of-the-art? in this context?
• How does the interplay between technology and markets impact the environment for KM-related practices?
• What are the future key opportunities and obstacles for knowledge management in fighting poverty and empowering people?

Panelists:

• Venâncio Massingue (tbc), Minister of Science and Technology, Mozambique
• Nancy White, Online interaction person, Full Circle Associates, Seattle and KM4Dev Technology Steward
• Allen Gunn, Executive Director, Aspiration
• John Dada (tbc), Program Director, Fantsuam Foundation

How would you answer any of those questions? I don't see myself as a "KM" person, so I expect to diverge a bit from a direct KM answer. But I'd love to know what you see in the future?

The other two things I'll be doing in KL (pending confirmation) will be running a short workshop on graphic facilitation, graphically recording some sessions and meeting with my KM4Dev community. Hopefully I'll also be nipping out for some good local food. Any recommendations?