An Bui, Spelled An With 1 N

Columbia University, Rodin's Thinker, via flickr user wallyg

Yesterday, Mark C. Taylor, chair of Columbia’s religion department, wrote in a NYT Op-Ed piece, End the University as We Know It:

GRADUATE education is the Detroit of higher learning. Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans).

From this controversial opening, Professor Taylor argues for a hgher education system that follows an interdisciplinary, collaborative model that mobilizes scholars around problems and produces scholarship in a more consumable fashion. 

Social media applications/tools have enabled its users to do what Professor Taylor is advocating. Twitter enables the rapid mobilization to address problems. Wikis result in information in a consumable fashion via real time collaboration. All of this consumer generated media (CGM) creates a body of knowledge whose value comes from the integration of various perspectives. Holding the appropriate context and understanding how the various pieces fit should be a driving force in these collaborative processes.

Do graduate students and scholars miss the point if they think that their training prepares them only for the profession of their graduate degree, be it academia, journalism, law, planning, business, etc.?

Yes. Absolutely yes if they cannot connect what they know and what they are learning to value creation and problem solving. Thinking about the process of learning, what is being learned and what that means are some of the values of a liberal arts education. Does this create students who can apply their skills in different contexts?  Will these students have more options than those who cannot?

Professor Taylor leaves us with valuable advice: 

“Do not do what I do; rather, take whatever I have to offer and do with it what I could never imagine doing and then come back and tell me about it.” 

Applying this entrepreneurial perspective higher ed will enable it to evolve with society.

Shannon Paul brought up some great points about how Twitter helps her be effective. In a nutshell, Twitter helps Shannon (and many of us) by helping us connect the dots to solve problems/address issues by allowing access to socially vetted information. 

In other words, collaborate in a distributed fashion.

Why is this important? Because geography is a less of a barrier to information acquisition. 

You should read Shannon’s original post - she’s spot on in the ways Twitter aids professional productivity and effectiveness and her commentors are pretty smart as well. 

um, except me. From my comment on Shannon’s blog:

Blocking access to Twitter and other social networks /definitely/ inhibits an employee’s ability to be effective.

Blocking Twitter and other social networks is about limiting risk and liability… all employees are a liability… the question is to what degree?

There are arguments for and against open communication into and out of an organization…

I had marked <corporate hat> around my comment about limiting risk and liability, but it got stripped out. Understanding why leadership may take a certain policy view can help us communicate with them why tools like Twitter can enable not inhibit professional productivity. 

However, I have yet to crack the nut on how to minimize data/information leakage, especially concerning sensitive, confidential information. This problem likely limits collaboration with external parties.  

Does anyone have any ideas?

  

Robert Matsui United States Federal Courthouse by flickr user Rojer

IMO, blog policies R 2 make legal dept feel better, the style guide is more important 2 me when comes 2 work blog #blogchat 

The above comment came out of last night’s #blogchat, hosted by Mack Collier. Later that night, I read an article in the WSJ, entitled “Corporate Blogs and ‘Tweets’ Must Keep SEC in Mind: Social Media Offer Immediacy and Spontaneity to Communications but Risk Running Afoul of Regulations.” From the article:

Blogs and tweets can run afoul of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations on corporate communications. But sanitizing such posts risks hurting credibility with online audiences.

Hrm. blog policies and post sanitation aren’t just to make legal departments feel better (although they probably do) - they protect the organization and its employees. Because organizations are held to different standards than consumers and those standards depend on the type of organization, I understand why companies take their time regarding social media adoption. 

That said, organizations like Dell, EBay and Comcast have done an amazing job adopting a social media strategy.

What About Startups?

Startups have a unique advantage when it comes to blogging - they aren’t publicly traded so they aren’t subject to the same SEC regulations on corporate communications. 

Startups can be scrappy, making much out of very little, figuring out how to get more for their money. The runway is only so long and business considerations like user acquisition, monetization, scalability and revenue generation tend to be high priority. 

Blogging, while time intensive, consistently generates fresh content for search engines while sharing the organization’s story, thoughts, opinion and values. That said, startup bloggers should also watch what they say… litigation ties up resources, such as time & capital, and can distract from progress on user acquisition, revenue generation, etc.

Keep the style guide in one hand and your legal-approved blog policy in the other. Be bold, yet thoughtful.

If your online audience is turned off by you protecting yourself, use your blog and your tweets to explain to them why you need to include the un-fun* language. Alternatively, you can take a page from Virgin America’s book and figure out how to add the fun back.

*as used here, fun refers to unsantitized content. Your brand personality may or may not be fun. Write in your own brand voice, as it makes sense for you.

This morning I woke up to a lovely reminder from Mack Collier about #blogchat, the Sunday evening Twitter chat that happens on a weekly basis. Mack specifically called me out (Thanks Mack :)) and of course, six people repeated (retweeted) Mack’s message that included the targeted reminder to me. Two others also passed the message along about #blogchat but stripped out the An-targeted reminder. 

Of the six who repeated Mack’s message with the reminder, five were those I wasn’t following nor were they following me:

• @aaiello
• @DavidSpinks
• @Eric_Urbane
• @AYoungOne
• @timjahn

The only one I was following was @arikhanson. Beyond the conversation from #blogchat are the five I discovered because they retweeted Mack’s reminder to me.

# Blogchat. Sundays at 8:00 pm CST. Be There.

Annually, US News publishes its rankings of higher ed institutions and programs. In its online content about graduate programs, I discovered an article by Frank H. Wu, entitled Why Law School Is for Everyone.

Within the article, Wu disabuses readers of the idea that the legal profession reflects the picture painted by Boston Legal or LA Law. A more accurate picture includes document review, research, deal making, ethical questions and billing clients - a more accurate and much less glamourous picture. 

Dean Wu writes: 

[I]n reality, legal reasoning demonstrates the power of rational thought…Professors are realizing that they ought to cultivate multiple intelligences, not limited to the technical logic of analogizing and distinguishing precedent and hypothetical fact patterns. They see that the Juris Doctor program at its best continues the well-rounded liberal arts curriculum, presenting an array of intellectual challenges…Whether [law-schooled individuals] ever appear in court or draft a will, they will have been well served by learning how to stand up and speak out. They have been inspired by a sense of civil rights as well as civic responsibilities. They are ready to become leaders.

The lovely weather in Seattle inspired me to pull out my madras skirt. Madras is synonymous with “summer” to me. Seersucker is another one of those fabrics that whisper promises of sunshine, warmth and bbq. 

As lucky as I am to have both madras and seersucker in my closet, I wanted to know who else was searching for madras and seersucker:

Madras & Seersucker Search Volume 2006 - Present

I chose a longer time period because I wanted to see the seasonal effects, given that madras and seersucker are spring to summer fabrics. I was also curious to see if the current economic situation affected search volume. At this time, the data suggests a possible correlation. 

Let’s drill in to 2008:

Madras and Seersucker Search Volume 2008

Just as I suspected - searches for both peak from May to June. That’s prime bbq, picnic, garden party and crawfish boil time. Late enough in spring that you have confidence in nice weather, early enough in summer that the heat hasn’t peaked. 

And just where are these people searching for seersucker and madras?

Regional Interest in Seersucker 2008

Apparently, seersucker and madras are popular search terms in the South, South Atlantic and Massachusetts. The prime madras-seeking crowd centers are Massachusetts, Washington DC and Georgia. Those seeking seersucker are in South Carolina and Louisiana. 

Perhaps my time in both Massachusetts and Louisiana explains why seersucker and madras mean sunshine. For those curious, today’s a madras skirt day. My seersucker jacket’s staying in my closet. For now.

*update* for those curious as to what seersucker is…

From Flickr User dnkbdotcom

Want to know more about madras?

Then yes.

Earlier this week, Danielle Morrill and I gave a talk about Twitter to a group of entrepreneurs in Seattle. I wanted them to take away that the social value and the business value of Twitter went hand in hand. I also approach Twitter as a channel to find brand-evangelists, discover opportunities to help others, and share useful information. As a data nerd, I like to attach metrics to pretty much everything.

Some quick metrics to take away from Twitter include # of following to # of followers. The closer those numbers are to 1:1, the more likely it suggests reciprocal relationships, assuming that those you’re following are following you back and vice versa. DocuSign has nearly a 1:1 ratio of those it follows to those who follow it:

DocuSign's Twitter Metrics 368:374

Tweetstats, from Damon Cortesi, generates a lovely graph that tells you how many @replies you tweet (indicating conversation) and to whom you interact with the most.

DocuSign Replies ~ 61% of its tweets

In the Twitter Talk, one of the attendees said:

This is a way for me to broadcast what my company is doing

Um, share. Absolutely Twitter is a way to share what your company is doing. Why? Because people (potential customers, users, employees) care. However, they don’t care if your only interest is one way data flow. They want to know that the feedback they’re giving you is going somewhere, being considered, and possibly having an impact.

Twitter is a one-to-many content sharing application. It’s like having a back-and-forth conversation in a public space. You are having a directed conversation that is indexed by Google and then searchable.

Starting social media with listening, understanding what the audience wants/needs and then generating content gets you to…

PARTICIPATION

If you aren’t comfortable with putting out, you should start by listening. Integrate feedback into product development, messaging, customer service…

Listening alone creates value for business. Actually participating enables you to create and realize even more value.

An Bui at Clemente's

Lately, I’ve had multiple conversations about how much to put out, how often, and how to tell if you’re any good or not.

Why? I’ve realized that I’m fairly reserved on the Web. A conversation with a friend from law school made it click for me:

 I can’t really blog about any sort of policy / politics … I think it’s risky  - anonymous friend

As an advocate of open, transparent information sharing, I realized not only how much I held back, but why. 

I think it’s risky. 

Law school socializes its students to consider all of the possibilities and assess the legal risks associated with various actions or decisions. Law students as a population tend to be highly risk averse. 

I know I was risk averse then. What about now?

What am I scared of or worried about? I value feedback, both quantitative and qualitative because I know more. I know more about what you want and can dream of more ways to give it to you. 

Ultimately, there is value is in information sharing. I’ve got to pony up the information and share it. No more hiding for me - and if you think I am, let me know. I appreciate it.

Session Whiteboard from flickr user ikkoskinen

RE BarCamp Phoenix starts in 36 hours or so and I noticed a new hashtag on Twitter #vendorrush

Dustin Luther, Jim Marks & Jay Thompson started a conversation last night about facilitation and organization.

Organized Session List vs Open White Board

With an organized session list, attendees have advance knowledge of topics covered and speakers know if they’ll be speaking about their topic. 

The open white board means that anyone can vy for a speaking slot to discuss whatever topic they want to learn more about or will be useful.

The potential problem? When the white board opens, attending vendors will rush for the white board to pitch or self-promote.   

As a BarCamper and someone with a professional relationship to one of the sponsors, DocuSign, I found the discussion interesting. 

BarCamps, as ad-hoc unconferences, embody a spirit of sharing and learning from others in an open environment. This sharing and learning likely includes discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

 Who goes to BarCamp? 

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. This includes vendors. Vendors can expect to share what they have with attendees so long as they recognize that attendees can also vote with their feet. Large events mean lots of people to learn from and share with.

Provide interesting, useful content in your session and you don’t have to worry about being that vendor.

 

 

save $199 w/ code "AnWith1N" before 4/30

Part of the value of social media is its connection to real life decision making and interactions. To that end, I’ll be speaking at Learn About Web (LAW) in Denver, CO September 14-15.

Craig Sutton of BrightWeb Marketing is the man behind LAW. I spoke at the first LAW in November ‘08 in Eastern Washington. This year, Craig is bringing LAW to Denver.

I first met Craig online, through Twitter, before meeting him in real life at LAW ‘08. Craig’s passion for helping people grow their business motivated him to start LAW, to help small/medium businesses learn how to be more effective online. 

LAW is a great conference for small/medium businesses that want to be more effective online. Tracks in social media, web design and search marketing will be taught by some of the best, including:

• Jennifer Laycock
• Jennifer Leggio
• Andrew Hyde
• Mack Collier
• Deb Robison
• Amber Naslund
• Thu An Bui
• Anita Campbell
• Beth Harte
• Shashi Bellamkonda
• Douglas Waltman II
• Gennefer Snowfield
• Matt McGee
• Tim Jackson
• Eric Elkins
• Liz Strauss
• Lucretia Pruitt

 
Come find us on Twitter and read what Mack Collier wrote about his experience at last year’s LAW. Join us in real life with the code on the badge (@AnWith1N) and you’ll save $199. I look forward to seeing you there!