Samejreltub_deliciousWordle

Samejreltub_deliciousWordle
Originally uploaded by Lyn & James' NZ Photos

the subconscious mind works in a strange way when you're doing research.

This Wordle over my delicious feed sets my overall focus and is quite alarming.

RSS and the death of generalised conversation

In my ever increasing utilisation of RSS subscriptions, it's been dawning on me over the past couple of months that Gen X, Y & Millennial’s who’ve taken strongly to using RSS aggregators for their daily news fix has a very detrimental effect on today’s society!

The rationale for my reasoning follows this line of thought: An individual who uses an aggregation service (such as Google Reader) subscribes to RSS feeds he‘s interested in. Those feeds are amalgamations of other individuals’ thoughts that are of interest to that subscriber. This therefore leads to an individual gaining knowledge in an ever increasing very narrow perception of society, based mostly around his ideals.

In the past a person bought a newspaper, which comprised of a varied cross section of current news. The subscriber would therefore glean information from a wide knowledge base, irrespective of his current interests. Skimming a paper raised awareness of the social structures irrespective of his immediate interests. An individual could then converse with a wider variety of people, due to his greater current news knowledge

Are we therefore creating groups of people who live in their own online communities, building an ever higher wall around their communities with a future fear that they won’t be able to converse with others of differing belief structures…..

Food for thought, am I being too alarmist here! Interested in your comments…..

My favourite Social Media tools?

I've taken the mashup approach....



I'm using Twitter / Plaxo / Facebook / Flikr / YouTube / digg / Google reader / spock / Shozu and linking them together with hellotxt.com (via my mobile and/or Web) to centralise latest activity posting to... plaxo / twitter / linkedin / facebook.

• I'm also using friendfeed to create a "lifestream" to amalgamate my delicious / digg / blog / flikr / google reader favourites / twitter & utube postings.


• I'm using shozu.com on the mobile to post images to flikr and video to UTube & my blog whilst out and about I'm also utilising Spock & Linqia to get my profile out there....

If you want to know more, please do not hesitate to drop me a line ... it's all mashing together quite nicely :)

A personal example of how one should use LinkedIn?

Since joining LinkedIn mid 07, prior to leaving a role I'd been in for 7.5 years, I felt it was a tool whereby I could connect with a number of my work colleagues to stay in touch. Since then, I've adopted Christian's philosophy and became a Linked In Open Networker (LION) and since Dec 07 have met a load of great "like minded" individuals.

In summary the advantages are see are as follows:

* A pool of highly skilled individuals only to willing to assist each other
* In a sticky quandary in a work situation... a connection WILL have the answer
* By being an open networker your pool of resource to call on exponentially increases As Ivan Misner has quoted

"Successful people do not achieve their success on their own; instead, they surround themselves with a well-developed, sophisticated support network."

The secrets of the utilisation of LinkedIn are out there for all to see. You just need to know where to look. The essence is "givers gain". We're all here to assist each other and I'm seeing the power of the collective really reap dividends. All this matters in my industry because being part of a charitable organisation we have to make limited capital have a far reach into the psyche of the population. I tap into my network for ideas and vendor contacts to utilise the latest web2.0 technologies to put us ahead of the game when we're competing for the conscience of a nation. Hope this is a thought provoking answer and hopefully the links below, including my blog rant will take you off into new directions.

Good luck in your quest for LinkedIn fulfillment.

Links:

• http://connections.thepodcastnetwork.com/
• http://www.linkedintelligence.com/
  
  I also suggest these experts on this topic:
• John Veitch
• Stan Relihan
• Christian Mayaud

"Net-work" involves activity - otherwise it would be called "Net-DoNothing"

Since becoming an active user of LinkedIn I've realised that there is a great strength in joining forces with like minded individuals. It's called Network because there is a degree of activity required to maintain connections in the world around you.

As Ivan Misner has quoted "Successful people do not achieve their success on their own; instead, they surround themselves with a well-developed, sophisticated support network." -

In my daily role, connecting with IT specialists and others that can aid me fulfil my duties in the organisation to achieve beneficial outcomes by showing genuine interest in others is not only courteous but by building a connection it can be mutually beneficial in both the short and long term.

Arnold Sanow wrote a really cathartic essay entitled "20 Ways To Make Yourself More Memorable". In it he re-enforces some base philosophies that emphasise the act of common courtesy.

Several techniques can Aid you in this objective:

• The S.O.F.T.E.N. technique - S=smile, O=open posture, F=forward lean, T=stay out of their territory, E=eye contact, N=nod to show understanding.
• G.A.I.N.S exchange - Goals / Accomplishments / Interests / Network / Skill (by doing this you strengthen your relationships)

As long as you follow the basic rules and show genuine interest in all your connections then it can be a mutually beneficial experience... Go on, do it today.... Having 1 connection in LinkedIn is not an option.... Don't "Net-DoNothing" - "NetWork" !!!

Web 2.0 - why does it differ from Web 1.0?

10 differentiating factors between Web 1.0 & 2.0.

#1
Web1.0 - Reading
Web2.0 - Writing

#2
Web1.0 - Companies
Web2.0 - Communities

#3
Web1.0 - Client Server
Web2.0 - ClientLess

#4
Web1.0 - HTML
Web2.0 - XML

#5
Web1.0 - Homepage (static)
Web2.0 - Blogs (DYNAMIC)

#6
Web1.0 - Portals
Web2.0 - RSS

#7
Web1.0 - Wires
Web2.0 - Wireless

#8
Web1.0 - Owning
Web2.0 - Sharing

#9
Web1.0 - Top Down
Web2.0 - Bottom Up

#10
Web1.0 - Them
Web2.0 - Us

Technical Tips - Windows Shortcut Keys

Do you ever get frustrated when you're switching between the mouse and the keyboard. Forget the Mouse.... Use the keyboard.

Here are some shortcuts that work in most MS applications.. Give them a go, you'll fingd that your typing speed increases by using them.

Alphabetical list by Shortcut Key

• Alt+tab Switch from one window to another
• press Alt+tab to show a list of open windows
• hold Alt+press tab repeatedly to select a window
• release Alt to switch to the window you selected

• Ctrl+a Selects or highlights all of the document
• Ctrl+b Bold - applies bold to highlighted characters
• Ctrl+c Copy - copies highlighted text to the Clipboard
• Ctrl+d Font change - opens font dialog box
• Ctrl+e Edit mode (Lotus Notes)Ctrl+end Jump to end of open document
• Ctrl+f Find - displays Find dialog box
• Ctrl+h Replace - open Replace dialog box
• Ctrl+home Jump to beginning of document
• Ctrl+i Italics - applies italics to highlighted characters
• Ctrl+k Clear all character styles (bold, italics, etc.)
• Ctrl+l Link - displays Link properties dialog box
• Ctrl+m Mail - opens Mail window
• Ctrl+p Print
• Ctrl+r Reload current document into Edit window
• Ctrl+right or left arrow key jump one word to the right or left
• Ctrl+s Save current document
• Ctrl+t Apply fixed width character format to selected text
• Ctrl+u Underline - applies underline to highlighted text
• Ctrl+up or down arrow key jump one paragraph up or down
• Ctrl+v Paste text from Clipboard at the insertion point
• Ctrl+w Close current document
• Ctrl+x Cut out highlighted text & place a copy on the clipboard
• Ctrl+z Undo last action

• Esc Close a dialog box without performing any action
• Shift+arrow key Highlight textShift+space Non-breaking space, to insert a soft return