Connection and intimacy

I like this summary of how the internet enables us to stay connected. It’s also a good follow-up from my previous post. No surprises, but a good reminder of how the work landscape has changed in such a short time and how individuals are streets ahead of organisations. No surprises there, either!

Me too!

Nancy White has a great post about how she uses social media. Here’s a summary with some of my favourite choconancy comments in italics.

• online community

“Eminds” was where I learned that online relationships can be real, how they get real, and  how they break and fail.

• online learning together

But regardless of the technology, how we use it always matters.

• communities of practice and learning

…social media has changed what it means to “be together.” It has changed our experience and understanding of being part of a group, a community or a network. It has created a massive multiplier of the options we now have to be with other people.

• global networks and knowledge sharing

When the door to connection is open, watch who walks through and follow them, not those who stand at the doorway and naysay!

Social media offers us incredible intellectual capital opportunities to link up the best and often most diverse minds to address a problem or opportunity.

• weaving across silos

Social media keep networks, their content and activities knitted together.

• (drawing) pictures
• blogging and doing business

The second great value blogging gave me was a place to “think out loud” with my network, to offer half-baked ideas and solicit help to finish baking them. It is the easy-bake oven of learning. Write, hit post, and you are in the learning lab.

• writing a book
• liberating my inner geek

Particularly as a woman of 51 years of age, this enormous software playground has given me a way to bend stereotypes of middle aged white women and technology. I look proudly at my mom who at 79 is rediscovering high school friends on Facebook and enhancing volunteerism through web tools.

Nancy concludes with the patterns she’s noticed:

• learning
• getting work done
• finding and connecting with people
• getting stuff
• exploring and pushing my boundaries

She says: “My practices have been radically changed and shaped – yes, even transformed – by social software.”

And I’m going to conclude by breaking one of the rules of social media. I’m not as far into my social media journey as Nancy, (and someone is sure to remind me that I still haven’t written that book) but nonetheless, ME TOO!

TED Talk: Communicating real news

If you are still in any doubt that we are in the midst of phenomenal change, watch this. It’s Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organising Without Organisations, talking about the impact of new technologies. The events in Iran during this last week is the latest in a series of examples of the ‘tranformation to amateur media’ as Shirky describes it. Even President Obama mentioned in a talk on the weekend the ‘professional and amateur reporters’ from Iran. We are now all capable of bypassing ‘mainstream media’ and/or censors.

If you are in the business of communication (and who isn’t these days?) and if you want your messages to be heard, then an understanding of how these changes fundamentally affect how and what we communicate and, importantly, the channels of communication, will help make the most of your communication.

Disconnected

Last week my skype account was hacked which meant I couldn’t log in. After no response from skype support (and a hilarious email from them wanting feedback on their customer support!) I gave in and created a new account. Now the sidebar with the green ticks is back and I’m gradually reconnecting with my contacts.

It was interesting just how disconnected I felt without skype – how that list of names reminds me of people near and far who I connect with often or just occasionally. More than twitter, more than email.

Resources for Facilitators

Facilitators like me have traditionally drawn on processes, activities, and often the wisdom and experiences of other facilitators for inspiration when designing workshops. Today I had a completely different experience. I promised I’d develop a slide show for a group as a thought starter for a discussion. I identified the key messages, developed a rough story board and started to search for information and pics I could include. Having little luck with google searches I put up a Twitter request…

… and within three minutes I had this response

So off I went to YouTube and did a search with the key word ‘exponential’. This is what I found within a few seconds.

I watched this 5 minute video made by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Bronman, and it’s perfect. I have saved myself hours of work in creating an original slideshow when there was one already made that fit the bill. Brilliant.

BTW, I made these copies of Twitter and YouTube using Skitch (hat tip to Brenda Moon for introducing me to Skitch).

Oh, and here’s the video if you’re interested in watching it.

At home & on-the-road ‘must have’ tools

Here’s my top 10 things (that’s a technical term) that have made my life easier as a self-employed facilitator working from home:

Skype
Enables an easy (and a cheap) way to talk with people anywhere in the world, from anywhere I happen to be. Great for conference calls too.

iStockphoto
Fantastic high-quality and inexpensive photos to download for any purpose – great search facility and huge range to choose from.

Wireless at home
Now I can work anywhere, including outside, and still be connected.

Google Docs
Makes collaborating on documents and slideshows easier

Twinings green tea with peppermint
Refreshing, tasty, low caffeine (so I can drink lots of it).

Slideshare
A place to share and see (some great) slideshows.

TED talks
Entertaining, inspirational, informative – and access to people I may never hear speak in any other forum.

Comet
My dog. Gets me out of the house. Never talks back. Never criticises. Always pleased to see me.

Google images
For a pic of just about any one or any thing.

The off button
…on my phone, computer, iPod, television – so as I can enjoy the place where I live, and the people and creatures I’m fortunate to share it with.

And here’s five tools I would never leave home without

Coloured Post-It notes (various sizes)
Useful for just about every low-tech process I know, and for engaging people in conversation, focusing attention, for open space agenda setting – way too many uses to list here!

Visual Explorer cards (playing card size)
The two decks of playing card-sized VE cards are easy to carry anywhere (including overseas) – and to use on the spur of the moment.

Smiggle fat pens
Bold colours, can be used for thick or thin lines – great for those times when I have to use a flip chart (although it’s just about impossibe to hold more than one at a time)

Tibetan temple bells
Nice sound, gentle or loud, best way I know to gain people’s attention, especially in a large, rowdy crowd.

MacBook Air
My window to the world – light, robust and does everything I need it to do, including blogging.

Getting serious about collaboration

I’ve been talking about collaborating for a while – now it’s actually happening. And it’s VERY exciting. Projects underway include a fantastic (even if I say so myself!) presentation skills workshop; a book about facilitating with confidence; and yet another book on facilitating and improv. These collaborations are happening locally, in NZ and in the USA. Which has meant I’ve had to quickly decide on how best to collaborate on line. Skype chats have been great for setting things up, but now we’re down to business, and the limitation of some tools become apparent. For co-writing and editing I’m using google docs. Wish there was something like this around when I was an editor! If, like me, you have no idea how google docs works, check out this video from the CommonCraft geniuses.

A few ‘end of week’ links

Luke Weaver has written a nice paper (easy to read too) that explains the phenomenon Twitter. Read, then sign on and see for yourself what it’s all about.

I love this return post by Hugh MacLeod on blogging – good to laugh at ourselves.

Nick Smith has a nice post about our gifts to share. Somewhat mirrors my own reflections about ‘what next?’ and with a lot more clarity. Among other things he discusses awareness, courage and trust. Great cartoon as well.

Matt Moore has a good summary of Seth Godin’s new book Tribes. I love Matt’s comment: Maybe it’s “Here Comes Everybody” if you have ADHD.

I don’t suppose we’re all having similar thoughts – it’s just that I’m noticing more of these types of blogs. Gavin Heaton explores spark, connection and creativity, having an idea and doing something with it.

Benefits of blogging

A friend of mine recently signed up to Twitter (hi Kim!). We had this email conversation about what it means to be on Twitter, and about blogging. This got me reflecting on what a difference these web tools have made to my business and to my facilitation practice. 

Contactable in many ways

Less than two years ago the only way to contact me was by phone, email (one account) or mail. Now I have at least four email accounts, twitter, facebook, 3 web sites, skype – well, you get the picture. And they only need to be as intrusive as I want them to be. On a 10-day vacation recently in Africa I had no technology at all, not even a cell phone. The world didn’t end. Emails waited patiently wherever they’re stored until I returned. 

Connecting with people – known

So I’d meet someone at a conference – and let’s face it, I AM prone to attending conferences. I like the interaction and the challenges and the ideas that emerge (which mean I only attend certain types of conferences – if there’s too many presentations, or too much control, I scarper). I’ve met lots of really interesting people at conferences and the only thing I have to show for it, years later, is their card (if I can find it). Since blogging, skyping etc I’ve been able to stay in touch with people I meet and even become friends with some. We don’t talk every day – and may go for months without any interaction. But I might read their blogs (and they might read mine), or I might simply see on my skype contacts that they are on-line. It’s enough to remind me of them. For example, the other day I ran a workshop around status behaviours for facilitators. It went really well and I was enthused to do some more around this topic. So I skyped my improv buddy in Finland, Simo, who just happened to be on-line to ask if his book about status had been translated into English yet (the answer was ‘no’). I really value the connections, and particularly the friendships, developed this way. It’s always great when they come and visit too – and I suppose it helps living in a tourist destination.

Oh, and it works just as well staying connected with people around the corner as across the globe. 

Connecting with people – unknown

Following links from a trusted source to somewhere else on the web can lead to all sorts of possibilities: unexpected collaborations, book reviews, invitations to present at conferences, work opportunities – all of these have happened for me, not from people I personally know, but from people I’ve ‘met’ on the web.

Connecting with ideas & staying current

I have to make a conscious effort to stay in touch with people, AND ideas – especially as I work alone. I’ve always been a media junkie – I put that down to doing media studies in the 80s – so reading newspapers is a start, a few mags are good, and then I find things out via the web and especially links that I would never have known about any other way. As a facilitator, I think I need to have a good sense of what’s happening in the world – globally, nationally and locally. This enables me to put the topic of the workshop into a context, so I may not understand the detail, but I do have a sense of why the topic is important for this client and how I can contribute as a facilitator.

Practical

Today I had a two-hour skype video chat with my friend Andrea who lives in San Antonio, Texas (and I’m in Australia) – so despite the time difference, we were able to plan two workshops that we’re co-delivering at this year’s Applied Improv Conference in Chicago. And then my friend Geoff demonstrated dimdim as another meeting tool – especially when you both want to co-create something on the whiteboard.

It’s fun – mostly

I enjoy it – if I didn’t I’d stop. Which is exactly what happened recently on a listserv that I’d been on since its inception 12 years ago. The discussions turned a bit nasty, with too much one-upmanship for my liking. I stuck it out for a while, and finally decided I was not enjoying it at all, so unsubscribed. 

Ego

And what blogger doesn’t like seeing their words in print? There is an ego element to all of this – the trick is keeping it in check, realising that it’s not the number of friends you have, or the number of people following you on Twitter, or the number of hits on your blog, but the quality of the relationships and the value that you can receive, and give. Karma.

Web 2.0 only for some?

Language alert

This is a conversation I had today (via email) with a friend who works in the Kimberley. The Kimberley is in north-western Australia. Properties can be the size of small countries and neighbours may be 100s of kilometres away. It’s like a different country. There’s lots of space and very few people. It has two main seasons – the wet (during Nov – March) when it’s wet, hot and humid, and the dry (pretty much the rest of the year) when it’s hot and dry. BTW, it’s also the home to one of my favourite birds – the Gouldian Finch.

My friend Dave works with landholders on water issues. He’s an excellent communicator and facilitator. He gets frustrated though when it’s just about impossible to bring people together for face-to-face meetings and workshops. He understands the importance of connecting, of dialogue, and of authentic consultation.

Dave wrote: “…unfortunately like most things that are run in either the west or east Kimberley no community people can afford to travel to attend…”

I wrote: “…have you considered some of the Web 2.0 solutions such as wikis, social network sites, like ning, and on-line meeting solutions such as dimdim, moodle, etc…”

Dave wrote: “Holy crap! I am so backward on this stuff. Will check it out.”

Apparently, because I have a blog, use Twitter, Facebook, and social networking to connect my clients, flickr, and try out things like SlideShare and VisualCV, I’m an ‘early adopter’ and a bit of a geek. To paraphrase Dave: ‘Holy crap!’ I use these tools because I can – and not very well. My learning style is an ‘active experimenter’ and that’s what I do. I experiment. I have a go. Try things out. I’m a bit wary of Second Life, Spore and and WoW because I suspect I may have an addictive personality and don’t want to open that door!

People like my friend Dave, though often don’t have the option to explore and experiment like I do. Their organisations block access to much of the internet. It reminds me of the 70s (OMG – I’m old enough to remember the 70s!) where you couldn’t possibly provide everyone with a telephone at work. Surely they would abuse it and make personal calls.

I am increasingly frustrated at the control exerted by IT people in organisations, especially Government agencies here in Australia. Access to YouTube, social network sites, podcasts etc is verboten. There may well be good reasons for this – something to do with technical stuff about how much data can be downloaded before a system collapses or something. I once had dinner with the IT manager of a major government department and he tried to explain why it wasn’t possible to allow unfettered access. Sigh. And there’s something else about ‘hygiene’. What the fuck has hygiene got to do with it?

People are missing out on a whole range of tools to make their lives easier – to enable greater access by the community – to save fuel and energy by only having face-to-face meetings when they really matter rather than the default position.

I’m glad I have none of these restrictions. Sure I have no IT support either. When something goes wrong, or I can’t work out what to do, I have to call on a helpful friend who does know what they are doing (thanks guys!) or I just keep plugging away until I work it out. Sure, I waste a lot of time, but I’ve also gained a lot of knowledge. Enough for people to see me as an ‘early adopter’. If only they knew!

PS: And I’ve learnt heaps by watching The CommonCraft Show videos. Those guys rock!