Uses for Twitter

Thanks to Brenda for the heads up on this article about academic uses for Twitter – raises all sorts of possibilities inside organisations as well. If only we could get some of the more pedestrian ones to recognise the possibilities around social media instead of fearing that staff will ‘waste company time’.

Tuesday morning inspiration

On a surfing trip through the blogosphere I found these inspiring:

From Stephen Shapiro: When individuals are incented to “do the right thing” rather than hitting targets, you will find increased creativity, improved performance, and a happier workforce.

From ChangeThis: a manifesto about ‘Ideacide’ – why ideas die and what you can do to pitch them using lessons from the movies. I particularly liked this quote: “If you’re working on a truly original idea, there is no way on earth to prove ahead of time that it’s going to work.”

From Seth Godin about a shortage of digital coaches. Isn’t that the truth!

Michelle Martin and Christine Martell explore the Social Media Spiral.

Don’t judge

This was sent to me by by niece Laura. It’s good for a laugh and also is a reminder of the importance of not taking what you see at face value. Always good for facilitators to remember this and notice our assumptions, and test them before acting.

Presentation Zen is here!

My copy of Garr Reynold’s book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery arrived this week.

I reckon if I found myself sitting next to Garr on a plane, we’d have a lot in common. This book brings together some of the thinking of Daniel Pink ‘A Whole New Mind’; Chip and Dan Heath ‘Made to Stick’; traditional Japanese wisdom and great examples of presentations done well. And the underlying message throughout the whole book is that ‘it’s not rocket science!’. By following a few principles – instead of powerpoint templates – we can all produce pretty good presentations. Presentations that support our communication instead of creating more information and ‘noise’; presentations that tell a story and are memorable.

While the book is a ‘how to’ for better, more effective presentations – it could just as easily be a book about inspiration, about how to live. Taking a simpler approach, allowing time, believing that you are creative, letting go, good design, being present and connecting with the audience. All these are integral to the Presentation Zen philosophy.

So with apologies to Patti Digh, here’s my Haiku book review of Presentation Zen:

Bullet points – out!
Be simple, be bold, be seen
Communicate well.

Twitter

OK – I’ve finally succumbed and joined Twitter. My friend Johnnie Moore says ‘it’s like water cooler conversations for those of us who work alone’. And he also describes it as ‘nano blogging’ (cos you can only use up to 140 characters per post). He’s written some interesting blogs about Twitter too – so if you’re not sure what it is and why bother check out some of these posts:

Making big meaning of trivia, and why it matters explores how twitter exchanges can help create a ‘story’ that can lead…well, anywhere really. 

And this one – Missing the point of twitter – makes some interesting observations about ways we connect.

It would also be cool to play around with Twitter with some people who read my blog – so if you’re interested in giving it a go, I’ll see in Twitterland.

Written into spoken

Leif Hansen writes about a gizmo, thingy (that’s as technical as I get!) that turns anyone’s written blog into audio that you can even listen to on your iPod. Eeeeeekkkkk!!!!!! I can’t keep up.

Facilitation: We did it ourselves

Here’s the next in a series of random pics I’ve selected from Visual Explorer.

When I first looked at this I didn’t see a whole lot relating to facilitation, so I left it where I would glance at it and over a couple of days, and gradually it became clear. This pic depicts the end of a hard day’s work. The sun is setting, the harvest has been collected and the people appear happy with each other and their achievement. This is what I strive for when facilitating with groups. It may be difficult at times – what Sam Kaner describes as the ‘groan zone’ can indeed be tiresome for participants and facilitator. Yet struggling through the morass into a space where the possibilities emerge can be very rewarding. And best of all is when the group feels they have achieved this themselves – which of course they have as I bring no content, only process, to bear.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion – I usually have very strong opinions. What I do know though is that it’s not my place, when facilitating, to share those opinions unless I think they can add to the process. I once trained as a journalist. This meant learning the difference between being objective and subjective, which is also different from writing subjectively or objectively. I believe the ‘objective human’ is an oxymoron. The very fact of being human means that our emotions, our backgrounds, our experiences, our values, even our likes and dislikes affect they way we view the world and how we act. And how we write. And how we facilitate.

So a key principle for me to keep in mind when I’m facilitating is ‘it’s all about them’ – the group and their achievements are what’s important.

A new addition to Chemistry’s Periodic Table

This little gem came to me via email this week.

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neuron, 25 assistant neurons, 88 deputy neurons, and 198 assistant deputy neurons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neurons and deputy neurons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neurons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

A few (language) gems

Here’s a few links that are worth a look – all around the theme of language:

Johnnie Moore has blogged about language – static versus fluid – with some links to interesting language articles.

More on language – this time from the writer’s perspective – Victoria Ward writes

I’ve been entirely inspired by Doris Lessing’s Nobel Prize speech, her views on the fragmentation of the world today, the loss of books, the role of storytellers and the need for tellers to find themselves the empty space in which to find their stories:

Nancy White is also on a language theme – exploring the use of a translation widget for on-line facilitation.

And last night I watched the movie Babel – worth a look if you enjoy visual literacy, allegorical communication and complexity theory.

“Just muse”

I’m clearing out my office – have even re-arranged the furniture which was a bit like one of those games where you have to move each piece only one step to eventually make the picture. I’ve found some old notes from when I did my Masters which have made interesting reading.

Professor Richard Bawden was a great influence on me and my thinking. His advice to me once was “just muse” – and this is what I’ve been doing over the last few weeks.Musing is reflecting on the whole with no action focus. That’s hard in this ‘doing’ world where just ‘being’ or ‘becoming’ is viewed with some suspicion. Musing is a great thing to do. It includes being still (physically and mentally), disengaging, meditating, imagining and accessing your subconscious. It takes practice to stop doing and to just ‘be’.

So if you are interested in joining me in some musing, here’s a few tips:
* allocate time to muse
* be deliberate cf haphazard
* observe yourself on how you muse naturally
* explore different ways of knowing
* trust your subconscious/intuition/creative knowing