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Musings on the TR Community project

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Why bother to blog on TechRepublic?

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Recently, BearyAnn sent
me an e-mail saying that while she’d started a blog, she’d noticed that it was
difficult to find. She wondered, “why bother” blogging on
TechRepublic if people weren’t going to be able to find it to read it?

This is not how we want our members to feel
about our new blog feature! I’m so glad BearyAnn took the time to voice her
concerns about blogging. I wrote her back with what I think are some great
arguments for blogging on TR and some insider information on upcoming features. Here’s the gist of what I sent:

First, consider that TR blogs offer you a place to post
about technology with a built-in audience of tech pros. While it’s true that
it’s tough to find blogs on our site right now, we’re working on ways to surface
and search blogs more readily. How, you may ask, do we plan to do that? We’re
betting on a few site changes that we think will help tremendously: Tags, Blog
Posts from my Contacts, and changes to the TR signature.

Are you tagging your blog posts? If not, shame on you! If
you tag your blog posts appropriately, they’ll be searchable by tag and draw
more readers. The main
Blogs page will soon be updated to allow you to search by tag. Right now,
you can click tags from other members’ posts to find related content. For
example, if you’re reading Bob21’s post titled “What
I use to protect my computer from mal-ware,” you can click the
“security” tag to find other posts
with the security tag.

As with blogs, we’re still in our infancy with tagging, but
if you and others consistently tag your entries, you should soon find a host of
related material that way.

We’ve also launched the Blog Posts From My Contacts (BPFMC)
feature, a section that shows you new blog posts from those you’ve added to your
TechRepublic Contacts list. You can access the BPFMC from the main Blogs page.

Now on to planned changes for the TR signature that appears
below all discussion posts: We’re going to add an “Add to my
Contacts” link for easy bookmarking of your favorite?or not so favorite?TR
members. When you add a contact, you can then access their blog posts in BPFMC.
We’ll also be adding a “Read my Blog” type link to help advertise our
members’ blogs and allow you to jump right from a discussion post to a blog.

Finally, one of our staffers, Rex, has noticed that
Google indexes the TR version of his blog much better than the version on
Blogger. His evidence is anecdotal at best, but I did a Google search on
“SP1 on Server 2003” and found BearyAnn’s blog on the first page of
search results. That’s not bad!

I hope that I’ve given you reason to continue
blogging with us. The Community team is very excited about the ways we’re
changing the site and (hopefully) the opportunities we’re providing for IT pros
to connect. We’re always interested in your feedback, so don’t hesitate to post
or e-mail!

Improving TR Community: What we’re trying to do here…

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I’m an avid Netflix user. After paying several outrageous
late fees, I joined Netflix for the rent-by-mail-with-no-late-fees feature.
Recently, though, I’ve come to appreciate the way Netflix has enabled me to really make the most of my leisure time
by finding films that I’m likely to enjoy.

This new appreciation came to me after my most recent video
rental experience. I had just sent off a batch of viewed Netflix and wanted a movie
to tide me over until my next set arrived. I walked into the video store and
wandered the aisles aimlessly.

I’d pick up a movie, flip it over to read the description
and critics’ quotes. I knew I couldn’t trust that stuff, though. I needed my
Netflix recommendations! I needed to see how others had rated the film! I
needed my Friends page!

The whole thing reminded me of how we’re trying to reshape
the TechRepublic Community to provide a better experience for our members. Just as
Netflix has enriched my cinematic experiences by providing a way to connect
with and learn from other movie viewers, we’re trying to provide ways for you to
connect with other IT pros and more easily find the information you need.

Just as Netflix allows me to browse by genre, we’re trying
to provide ways for you to find what you need via Tags and other members’ tagged
collections of Links. And, just as Netflix has provided the ability for my
friends and I to exchange information about movies we’ve enjoyed, we’re trying
to provide features like Contacts and Profiles to help you connect with other
members easily.

Now all we need is for our members to embrace and use these
new features. (And feedback is always good, too.) Are you doing your part?

Getting things done (gtd) with tags

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I just read this article at Wired News about folks who are so crazy for personal productivity coach David Allen’s book Getting Things Done that their using the GTD tag to spread the word about his system for organizing your life.

I could certainly use some help getting things done, so I’ll probably check out the book. What I find so fascinating, though, is the way folks are organizing themselves as a group by using the tag. I’m excited to see when members here at TechRepublic really begin to embrace tags as a way to organize themselves around a particular topic.

Of course, we’re already seeing the humble beginnings. Consider groups forming around The Trivia Geek’s creative writing tag, fans of Oz_Media’s Friday Yuk, and the big list of members who are interested in Security. It will be interesting to see how the folksonomy (yeah, I used that word) develops.

I love it when I see members encouraging one another to tag in order to keep up with specific postings. That’s how we grow together as a community!

Getting things done (gtd) with tags

In reply to Getting things done (gtd) with tags

Thanks for the tag shout-out.

Something to blog about: OSCON 2005

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

If
you’re planning to attend the 7th Annual O’Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) in Portland, Oregon from August 1-5, blog about it! Use the tag “OSCON
2005” so your posts can be easily found by other attendees.

This year, the conference leaders plan to explore ” three deep trends
affecting open source: the commoditization of software, network-enabled
collaboration, and software customizability.”

TR adds email notifications for blog comments

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Hello TechRepublic bloggers!

We hope you’re enjoying our beta blogging period. This week we’ve finally added a much requested feature to the TR blog experience: E-mail notifications for comments.

It works just the way you’d expect. Your blog will be checked for comments at regular intervals. Any new comments will be e-mailed to you.

We’re excited to bring this new level of connectivity to TR members and their blogs. If you find that you receive too many e-mails, you can turn this feature off by visiting the Blog Settings page and removing the check from the Receive an e-mail for comments submitted to your blog box. http://techrepublic.com.com/5247-6257-0.html?edit=true

When you receive comments, we urge you to check out the members’ profiles and add them to your list of Contacts if you find that you share the same interests. http://techrepublic.com.com/5211-6257-0.html

Adding members to your Contacts allows you to view all their Discussion posts (via the main Discussion page) and Blog Posts (via the main Blog page) more easily.

If you have any comments or suggestions for improving TechRepublic or the blogs feature, please feel free to comment in our Site Ideas / Feedback forum. http://techrepublic.com.com/5204-6230-0.html?forumID=96&start=0

Flock – This is going to be good

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Smorty just filled me in on Flock, the social browser. The blogging features (like drag, drop, and manipulate Flickr photos) sound incredible.

I can’t wait to see this!

Flock – This is going to be good

In reply to Flock – This is going to be good

Very interesting.  I’m going to check this out!

– Hutch

Something to blog about: PDC05

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

If you haven’t already registered for the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC05), your only hope is to get on the waiting list. The conference will take place in Los Angeles from September 13-16. If you’re going or have some opinions about this year’s agenda, post to your TR blog using the tag “PDC05.”

Help crown TR’s Geek King and Queen

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

So, it’s no newsflash that IT pros are often labeled geeks. Some wear the label proudly while others rebel.

Whether you’re a pocket-protecting, socially challenged nerd or a perfectly “normal” (whatever that is) person who enjoys some activities others may find “geeky,” you can find friends at TechRepublic. Our blogs provide you with the perfect place to talk about your unusual hobbies, whether you’re like JCK and like to make and drink your own beer; or like THE TRIVIA GEEK, who is very into comic books; or even like GADGETGIRL whose passion is boats.

What level of geek are you? If you’re not sure, just check out the Geek Hierarchy Chart.

In any event, there’s no shortage of geeks or geeky behavior at TechRepublic. We celebrate you. We bow to you, oh geek royalty. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to have an impromptu crowning of the King and Queen Geek at TechRepublic. The only prize will be the glory and (limited) fame.

Be sure to nominate and support your candidates for King and Queen Geek in this discussion. The only rules are that the nominee has to be a TechRepublic member, and you have to support your nomination with evidence of supreme “geekhood” from the members’ discussion or blog posts.

I’ll be the judge and crown the winners in next week’s Blog Roundup newsletter. Until then, have fun!

Consultant to remain in Houston to blog through Rita

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

This guy is holing up in downtown Houston to blog through Hurricane
Rita:

http://www.blogsofwar.com/

His focus is on defense, technology, and space. He is an IT Business Process consultant for a hospital.

Consultant to remain in Houston to blog through Rita

In reply to Consultant to remain in Houston to blog through Rita

 

Fantasy Phones

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I am generally not an early adopter by any standards (excepting those of
my retired parents). Mainly, it’s because I’m a cheapskate, but also
because I’m generally only interested in social or time-saving
technology applications.

It’s also very frustrating to try and use a technology that most of the
world is either unprepared for or uninterested in. Take my short stint
with Meetro, for example. It’s a cool little social networking service,
but there are very few people in my area using it. That’s very
frustrating, as it tends to make it hard to meet new people with my
interests.

However, when I was reading this news story today about how the Trusted
Computing Group plans to unveil new, hardware-based security standards
for mobile phone devices, I couldn’t help but picture myself with a
groovy new phone with futuristic features. Realistically, I know I won’t
invest in any of these new-fangled phones until some company can
securely provide all the features I want at a reasonable rate. That
brings me to the fun part of this little phone fantasy: What are those
features?

I’d like music and recorded books at the touch of a button, headphones
that attach in a way that make them easy to carry and keep, and the
ability to really browse the Web without feeling like I’m going blind.
I’d also like to be able to easily sync with my work and home
calendars, debit card capabilities, e-mail and text messaging, and, of
course, the ability to answer and make phone calls. Finally, I want all
this functionality in a light, easy to carry, durable device. Is that
so hard?

What features would your dream phone of the future provide? You can
post your wish list in this discussion.

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

This is a really great article: Confessions of an Engineering Washout. The author relates his tragic tale of failed schooling and attempts to explain “why the United States lacks engineers.”


I could identify so much with the culture shock of the “teaching
methods” employed by some professors and teaching assistants,
especially in the math and science departments.

I wonder how many would-be engineers can relate to this piece?

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

No question that deficiencies in our education system are part of the
problem.  And I certainly relate to some of his tales of woe,
especially having to deal with either a TA or professor who have no
ability to actually teach.  No skills or training as
educators.  Those instructors got there because of their ability
in a particular field, not because of their ability to teach that
particular field.

Still, I wouldn’t lay all the blame on the instruction.  There’s
so many other social and economic factors at work.  To me the
gender problem is the biggest single issue–if engineering had as many
female students as there are male students the so-called shortage would
be gone tomorrow.  But because of the insidious gender bias in the
sciences and engineering (parents who don’t want their daughters in
such a nerdy profession, teachers who don’t encourage science skills as
much in girls as they do boys, etc.) we’ve got a badly skewed
demographic.

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

Not just “would be’s” but people who completed the curriculum
too.  I started out in a college that did no research and required
professors to attend teaching skills development seminars twice a
month.  When I transferred to a major university I was shocked to
find that for the most part I was going to have to seek out the
information I needed to pass the class since the professers, who were
responsible for tens of millions of dollars in research funding, could
only be bothered to regurgitate what I had read in the text the night
before and wouldn’t or couldn’t explain the material to an undergrad
student.  There were 3 notable exceptions and I truely enjoyed
their classes but for everyone else I think I would have been better
off with a Graduate Teaching Assistant; it couldn’t have been much
worse.

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

My wife is getting a PhD in math right now and agreed with every element of the
article you point to.  What’s interesting is that the companies looking to
recruit these students regularly pass over the “math machines” – typically
people educated outside of the US – for people with very high level math skills
and also more of the skills typically associated with a Liberal Arts education. 
That seems to actually be making the problem worse by pushing the math machines
into academic positions where they can carry on with their work and talk at
students left to figure things out for themselves. 

Her degree is in
applied mathematics.  I imagine this doesn’t hold true for people more
theoretical disciplines. 

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

The trouble with Americans is they expect the teachers to do most of the teaching as well as most of the rest of the work. When are Americans going to learn that in college you are expected to teach yourself? Where’s the self-reliance? We don’t have much, if any. So you dropped out like so many others. Too bad. I’ve heard the same complaints as yours for the past 40 years. I made it (1972, BSEE Iowa State University), so why can’t others? I’m no genius (borderline Mensa – on a good day), but I do have perseverence. Perhaps that’s what Americans lack most.

Allen

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

I am tired of the lazy American tirades.  My math and comptuer teachers did not teach, they just wasted my time.  And if I am suppoed to learn it on my own, why does it matter which school I go to?  Or better yet, why even bother go to school?  Many tech people in my company do not have tech degrees and most are top-notch at what they do.

For me it was simple.  I can make more money in a different profession.  I was three years into a computer engineering degree, then switched to Business Administration.  Business professionals hire other business professionals especially ones that can talk tech.  Most technical people cannot relate their work to the needs of the business, therefore their efforts are generally wasted.  I make more than my friends that stayed in CompEng, and I got out of college 2.5 years later.

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

I have to disagree with the theme of this … if you fail, then try again ! … I know this only too well. Here let me relate.

I am very smart – I dont say this to be coy or obnoxious or pompus. It is true, I have a150-160 IQ and I excelled at Math and Sci in HS. I was a ‘natural’ at calc, a natural at ‘chem’ … but yet I nearly failed Physics in College. Yes … it is true, oh I could blame it on the prof or the TA, but the bottom line is I did not study effectively. I did not learn the engineering or science college teaching system … until it was nearly too late.

I earned a BS in chem and math from a prominent undergrad univ in the NEast. I then went to grad school for chem E and basically failed out after 2 years of study … not because I wasnt smart enuf, not because I couldnt handle it … sure the profs sucked, but it was up to me to seek the ‘results’ i needed. Dont get me wrong – passing in grad engineering or undergrad engineering is not the same as ‘learning’ the material. I know this for sure too. After leaving my first stint in grad chem E, i took a job as a staff engineer for a pharma company in a major manuf facility, i learned – really learned the art of chem e from that point forward – not the theoretical stuff – although that has a place too. After working for two different companies for three years, i then went BACK to chem e grad study, and approached the material differently, study to pass, and not to learn, not the same thing ! … but dont forget what you are learning, and apply it on the job, and re-inforce what i learned … to really then ‘know it’. I have a masters in chem E now – after a second attempt. I have since hired many (over the last 15years) COOPs and what is amazing is that 80+% of the students I interview with HIGH GRADEPOINTS !!! … dont understand the basic concepts of chemical engineering. No lie, these goody goody kids, with excellent HS upringing and very good training at Univ Level dont get it,,, they dont have the basic principles down at the Junior or Senior level. They dont undertand ‘enthalpy’ or the first and second laws of thermo … 50$k ++ and wasted … yet good grades … go figure – it is disgusting !

Bottom line here … and I really believe these things.

1) Earning an egnineering Degree in the US is not learning engineering ! … period.
2) You really got to want to learn the stuff above and beyond getting fair grades.
3) You learn bunches on the job … when you focus.
4) Being  really good engineer is a marriage of academic technical expertise, geniune interest, and experience, the school you have studied at is a low contributor to the equation.
5) The reward for the hard work is NOT financially there … trust me … engineering study is as hard as medical or law school.
6) Coupling business study with engineering expertise is a magical mixture.
7) Engineering does not get you any girls.
8) Do it because you love it … and you will be happy. Dont bother otherwise.

Look – I am a really good chem engineer, I have been doing it for 15 years, have solved some really tough problems, and I really dont make
enuf for my troubles. But I stuck with it because I really liked it, and I ‘learned’ how to pass tests to get the degree … which is different than ‘learning’ the material. Go figure, but after the fact – I am having fun because I really like this stuff.

Go for it … dont be expecting huge rewards, and learn the material to excel later not to get the degree. Do it only because you really like it.

Good luck !

Why the US lacks engineers

In reply to Why the US lacks engineers

I strongly agree that a major gender bias has been going on for some time. I have a daughter whom used to come home in tears because her math teachers (plural as this went on her entire k12 experience) would not let her answer any of the questions or do any of the problems in class. it mostly went like this; ” she/he (teachers) let 3 or 4 boys do the work on the blackboard or answer questions and they did it wrong when I (daughter) knew the correct answers and formulas”.  My daughter is quite gifted in math and as an example of why teachers are failing the female gender, one day about a couple of months after i had bought her first scientific calculator she was doing her home work longhand on a pad, i asked “why aren’t you using your calculator?”, she replied ” i only use it to check my answers on some of the harder stuff I can feel the numbers better when I write them out”. My god, at that point I suddenly realized that she had a gift and for her entire k12 experience despite numerous parent teacher talks she was never given the opportunity or guidance to pursue a career in mathematics. She is currently on the deans list at a respected university where she will graduate as a pharmacist. I know it sounds more like I’m blowing my own horn at this point but I felt the background was necessary(and admittly I am a proud father) to make the point that it does not matter if the teacher is male or female, there is a culture of unconcionable bias against a female student who wishes to excel at mathematics in the k-12 schools. That along with an almost criminal lack of effective teaching of math skills in general is 90% of the problem of not enough engineers. Our businesses are forced to import engineers or export the jobs as a result.

 

 

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I used to teach software to the old and young, quick and slow, and the willing and forced (by their supervisors). Nothing was worse than facing a room full of sour faces at 8 a.m. knowing that I’d have to drag them through 8 hours of training, whether they liked it or not. Of course, I usually won people over with my sparkling personality and natural charm. The others required something more: actual learning.

Sometimes I’d have seasoned computer geeks in my more rudimentary classes. They were usually part of a small company whose management had decided that everyone must take x, y, and z courses. They’d come in looking bored, immediately start tinkering with the workstations, and pay me the least amount of attention possible. It was always a personal victory if I was able to pull a rabbit out of my hat and actually teach these guys something they could use.

It didn’t have to be a huge thing. For example, I can remember mentioning to several folks that you could just type any word–Amazon, for example–into IE’s address bar and hit CTRL+Enter to automatically add the http://www. and .com before and after. It’s a tiny thing, but it can save you a lot of time if you use it consistently. There was nothing greater than seeing the surprised smile on those pros faces when they realized I’d actually shown them something useful.

So this week, fair bloggers, I challenge you to post your favorite tip or trick in a blog post. Share the wealth of your knowledge! You never know who you might help.

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

Hard to think of something that people here wouldn’t know about.

Back when I did phoneside desk support; a constant struggle was determining what version of Windows an end user was running.  I learned that by going to the run command and entering winver it will automatically tell you what OS and build a Windows machine is running.  Winver works at least as far back as win 95 and I suspect it goes back further than that.

A quick way to get to the Task manager is holding down Ctrl-Shift-Esc.

Here’s a good one I use because the delay annoys me:  When using the start menu there is a delay between different tiers of the menu. By changing the delay value to zero you can speed up the display. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly.

1. Start Regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
4. Right on it and select Modify.
5. Change the value to 0
6. Reboot your computer.

Oh, and as always backup your registry first. 🙂

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

I have a new post showing why you should change your cache size.

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

I LOVE software tips and tricks, so thanks, Beth, for starting this blog! 

Here are two of my all-time favorites: WindowKey* + M to instantly minimize all open windows on my desktop.  Anyone know of a shortcut to “re-maximize” all my open windows or at least restore the windows to what they were before the global minimize?

And WindowKey* + E to quickly get into Windows Explorer. 

*WindowKey – the key with the Microsoft logo on it between the Ctrl and Alt keys.  For all my years in computers, I don’t know the real name for this key!

C.

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

Right click on My Computer and select Properties to display as much and more info than entering “winver” at a command line prompt.

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

Win+M — Minimize all windows

Win+Shift+M — Maximize all windows

Win+F — Find files

Win+R — Run command box

Win+D — Desktop (does the same as Win+M)

Win+L — Logoff

(These are others I use.)

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

Chobbs – using Windows-D will toggle items minimized or restored so you
can see the desktop or restore the windows, respectively.

One of my favorite tips that most people don’t know is using Shift-F5
in Word to position the cursor to the last editing location when you
open a document. In one of his tech columns Jerry Pournelle, a famous
sci-fi writer, complained about not being able to do that. He’d been
using Word for many years & didn’t know about the tip.  I use
it all the time.

Windows-E to open Explorer is one that escapes people. It maddens me to
see them right-clicking My Computer or the Start button to explore.

Another is to simply Start–>Logoff (or Shutdown) without manually
closing all open windows.  So many people think you have to close
everything first. (Obviously, save any work in progress.)  Also –
I just learned this week why some people are prompted to “Close all
Office Applications” when you log off this way;  it’s because they
use Word as their email editor in Outlook.  If you deselect that
option, you don’t get that annoying prompt any longer.

I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

In reply to I challenge you: Post your favorite tip in a blog!

Thank you  PSchneider & Ryk!  Good info.  I see that this isn’t a particularly active blog, but here are a couple more of my favorites anyway.  (Ryk’s input brought these to mind.)

Ctrl+F6 inside Word or Excel (or most MS Office apps) will toggle you between open files in that app.  This even works in Crystal, which is nice.

Ctrl+W closes the active (“currently on top”) file in most MS Office apps.

Alt+Tab lets you rotate (or toggle) among and between open files regardless of the application.

c.

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I recently finished listening to the unabridged audio version of the book, Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Here’s my “short and (mostly) sweet” review:

The book is extremely interesting because of the unique questions Levitt has attempted to answer during his career as an economist. (If crack dealers make so much money, why DO they live with their mothers?) I loved the wide range of topics covered and the explanations of how the conclusions were reached. Overall, it was an entertaining read. (Or listen, in my case, as audio books help me make the most of my commute time.)

Here’s the bad part: I’m not sure I learned anything. The trick to Levitt’s methods is knowing the right question(s) to ask,  finding the right set of data, and analyzing it correctly. The book did drive the “follow the incentive to find cause and effect” point home, but I’m not sure that I’m any closer to knowing where to begin.

Perhaps the lesson should be, “Always question the conventional wisdom.”

Do you need a reminder of the “Seven habits”?

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

We all need a reminder to stick to the things that make us most effective every now and again. Recently, BNET’s Veronica Combs sent me a reminder of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” and even provided resources to reinforce each one.

I spent a few moments thinking about how I could improve my performance with each “habit.” It was a great exercise and helped me to refocus on the many goals I want to achieve in the coming months. I thought I’d share here to give others a refresher and new resources to become more effective.

• Habit 1 – Be proactive This habit gives you the ability to control your environment, rather than have it control you. Dr. Covey describes this one as having courage to take risks and accept new challenges to achieve goals.
  Transition Leadership: A Guide to Leading Change Initiatives
• Habit 2 – Begin with the end in mind This habit allows you to brings projects to completion and unites teams and organizations under a shared vision, mission, and purpose.
  You Can’t Be Done If You Don’t Know What Done Looks Like!
• Habit 3 – Put first things first This habit promotes getting the most important things done first and encourages direct effectiveness.
  The Vision Thing: Without It You’ll Never Be A World-Class Organization
• Habit 4 – Think win-win Covey calls this the habit of interpersonal leadership, necessary because achievements are largely dependent on co-operative efforts with others. He says that success follows a co-operative approach more naturally than the confrontation of win-or-lose.
  Leading A Virtuous-Spiral Organization
• Habit 5 – Seek first to understand and then to be understood This is the habit of communication, and it urges you to ‘diagnose before you prescribe.’ This habit is essential for developing and maintaining positive relationships in all aspects of life.
  Effective Communication Builds Effective Employees
• Habit 6 – Synergize This habit ensures greater “buy-in” from team members and leverages the diversity of individuals to increase levels of success.
  Collaboration: Managers Who Share Power, Have More Power
• Habit 7 – Sharpen the saw This habit promotes continuous improvements and safeguards against “burn-out” and subsequent non productivity.
  Don’t Let The Tank Run Down To Empty

Do you need a reminder of the

In reply to Do you need a reminder of the “Seven habits”?

yes

Pizza chain caught without fully baked security

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

This headline really scared me: “Pizza chain caught without fully baked security.”
I was relieved to find out it was Papa John’s customer data that had
been exposed, and not Pizza Hut. Papa John’s is based here in
Louisville, but luckily we’re not frequent customers.

I really don’t care for pizza all that much anyway, and having my data
exposed because I ordered it online would just be too much.

Passion leads to forgiveness

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I just read a great post on the Creating Passionate Users blog. “Passion is Blind,”
is a great look at
how love for a product or service (or person, as we all should know)
can lead you to forgive flaws that you’d never tolerate from another.
The author, Kathy Sierra, used the classic Mac vs. Windows theme to
illustrate her points.

Now tell me, dear TR members, just how much will you tolerate from us?
We certainly hope that you’re passionate about your relationship with
the site, its information, and its members — at least, that’s our goal.

Passion leads to forgiveness

In reply to Passion leads to forgiveness

Apparently too much blue crosses the line. 🙂

It’s easy to say what you DON’T like…

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Some people are just apt to see the negatives of a situation, product, or person. It’s their instinct to seek out what’s wrong, bad, or unfortunate.

I am NOT one of those people. I am naturally inclined to see the good in a person, place, or thing. I believe in the power of postive thinking. I am a “glass-half-full” kind of gal. Negativity is my kryptonite.

I know that it’s vital to be critical sometimes. It’s important to take a good hard look at various products, for example, to decide which best suits your needs. (I’m currently looking at a variety of laptops to replace my home desktop. Many TechRepublic members have joined in to help me assess my needs and the variety of laptops available. In the end, I’ll have to make a decision. I know I’ll be happy with it, though, no matter what I choose, because I will focus on the aspects of the product that best suit my needs instead of telling everyone what it WON’T do.)

However, I’ve noticed that you’re far more likely to be the victim of snarky comments about your likes than your dislikes. I think it’s really easy to say what you DON’T like. For example, it’s easy to post on TR about how much you hate Microsoft. There are lots of people out there who’ll back you up. I think it’s far braver to jump into a community talking about your favorite technology, or something you’ve used that works well for you.

Here comes the challenge:

I feature a blog post in the Blog Roundup Newsletter each week called “On the Soapbox.” The idea of the column is to create a good controversy… something to argue about on TechRepublic. (Getting on the Soapbox is easy… simply write a blog post and tag it “soapbox.” I’ll choose the best one each week and feature it in the newsletter.)

Here’s the hard part: I challenge you to write a Soapbox column that gets folks talking about something you LIKE. That won’t be easy, so pick your topic well.

Do you really think you’re controversial enough?

Good luck…

It’s easy to say what you DON’T like…

In reply to It’s easy to say what you DON’T like…

Beth, Did you ever decide on your laptop? And what influenced your decision the most?

I’m thinking, personally, I would change my negativism towards them due to all the machines I’ve seen them donate on Home Makeover Extreme Edition.

Thank you,

binarypc 🙂

Technology that made the biggest impact on my 2005 work life: RSS

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

There are a few folks blogging on TR about tech headlines you won’t see in 2006.
At least one of them, and maybe more mentions that RSS won’t be widely
adopted by Web surfers in the next year. That kind of talk makes me
crazy because my work and personal browsing have been altered forever
by RSS in the past year. I love it and find it so useful that I wish everyone knew how fantastic it can be.

In fact, I asked, “What’s your problem with RSS?” in one of the Blog Roundup newsletters this past year.
I was not quite surprised, but a little disturbed to learn that many TR
members don’t use RSS, or even know what it is. (If you don’t know what
it is, check out this wikipedia entry.)

How RSS has changed my life online

With RSS, I can track more sites than ever without wasting time. The process
is not manual. I no longer have to check every site on my favorites
list and search for updates. Using Sage,
I can click the “Check Feeds” button and instantly see which of the
sites I track has updates for me to peruse. Sage also helps me organize
my lists of sites into folders, like TR Blogs, Discussions, Community
news, etc.

If you visit multiple sites daily, I urge you to give RSS a fair shake.
If you’re a fan of blogs, RSS is a lifesaver because most people post
on an inconsistent basis. You never have to be frustrated by visiting a
blog and finding no update.

It’s kind of like TiVo for
the Web, in a way. It tracks what I’ve missed and keeps it marked for me until I have time to click through.

Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I was passed “Gossip – A Form of Workplace Violence,” by a coworker after we’d been discussing the subject. It’s an interesting read because it focuses on the reasons that people gossip. In short, author Peter Vajda, Ph.D submits that gossiping is a fear-based behavior meant to protect you from revealing your true self.

“Gossip is a form of workplace violence,” he writes. “To be free from inflicting this violence on others we need to explore and heal the split between our outer self and inner self. Only then can we live honest, sincere and responsible lives in the workplace, and out.”

I think that he’s right about gossip being fear-based, and I believe that it can be a form of “workplace violence” when it’s taken to the extreme. In other words, I don’t think it’s “workplace violence” to say “Susie looks like hell today,” to one person. If you tell lots of people that Susie stinks after her lunch workouts, can’t perform key functions of her job, and beats her children, that’s workplace violence. You’re tanking Susie’s rep.

I must say, though, that exploring and healing the split between our outer and inner selves is a lofty goal. And is it really practical? Frankly, if I said 1/2 the stuff I thought I’d be fired straight away. Few people are ever going to try to achieve this inside/outside symmetry, and fewer still will achieve it. Any way you go, you’re still stuck trying to make it in a world full of gossips. What might be more helpful are strategies for dealing with it.

Can anyone point to resources or offer advice for surviving when you’ve become the subject of gossip?

Here are some TR resources about managing gossip.

Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

In reply to Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

I don’t have a resource, but I remember from my old psych classes (in the dark ages) that gossip was also used as a way to ensure conformity in society.  Basically, it was a learning tool.  Groups of people would get together, and, invariably, gossip would start.  Then members of the group would learn what was considered acceptable and unacceptable behavior.  That said…  Gossip is something that can never be stopped.  It can be hurtful or useful.

An organization, if it attempts to stop gossip, will merely be setting itself up for more clandestine forms of it.  In addition, it will erode any trust that may exist between the employees and the employer.  Instead, the employees should be trained on what is and is not hurtful gossip, and what can get the employee fired, and/or sued.

 

Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

In reply to Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

ppp

Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

In reply to Is gossip a form of workplace violence?

I view gossip as murder through character assassination. That helps to keep my tongue under control.

When gossip comes to me about myself I have several ways of dealing with it.

I. If it’s true then there’s no reason to be angry.

2. If it’s not true, then it’s quite possibly true of the person instigating it. I apply the old rule of one finger points out and three point back at me to the other party. I learn sometimes more than I feel the need to know about other people through listening about false statement made about me.

3. If I am greatly annoyed, I go directly to the person in question and state that I have heard what he/she said. Those who have only one commandment (Thou Shalt Not Get Caught) sometimes have difficulty with that, but the problem was theirs to begin with.

4. Most often my response is, “Wow! That could be true of me, and it isn’t! Lucky me!”

5. I keep in mind that no matter how backward it might seem, another person considers my life and business more important than his/her own. On a good day, I take the compliment and run with it.

6. Gossip is rejection and rejection is a freeing thing. It lets me know who not to confide in so that I don’t waste my time and emotional energy in dead end relationships.

The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Pssssssssst. Want to hear a secret?

I’ve been assigned to think about podcasting and how it might become a
part of the TR Community experience. I’m really excited about the
prospect and have a lot of ideas. I could also really use your help in
two ways:

First, help me with the essentials. What advice can you provide for
really nailing the level of sound quality to create a great podcast?

Secondly, how can we avoid being one of the many “nuts” who’re
podcasting right now? And do we want to avoid that altogether? We have
some very straightforward ideas about shows, and then there’s the
little-bit-zany segment that we always like to throw in for
entertainment value.

Please feel free to comment and provide any preferences, hints, tricks,
opinions, etc. I’d really appreciate it. I promise to keep you up to
date on when you can start hearing my southern drawl in full audio.

The

In reply to The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

We’ve been doing some podcasting on an experimental basis.

First thing I would suggest is that you look at Steve Jobs’ MacWorld 2006 Demo (his MacWorld Keynote Speech) posted to Apple Computer’s web site. This will give you an idea of how to do it quickly on a shoestring budget.

Audio and even video quality is not really a big issue for these reasons:

1. Nearly all the tools will capture at an appropriate level of quality. 

2. QuickTime and MPEG4 will scale to different device limitations.  Develop once.  Don’t worry as much about the device limitations.

3. When you are doing Podcasting, you are, by definition, broadcasting to iPods, which support high quality MPEG Audio Layer 3 and MPEG4 through the QuickTime codecs.   MPEG4 was based upon the QuickTime file formats.

Content is everything, if you want top avoid being yet another podcaster.  To be compelling, you have to base it upon compelling themes to targeted audiences.  Decide if this is audio only, or audio with video.  The most popular areas of TR content should be the candidates for PodCasting.

Keep podcasts VERY FOCUSED in subject topic, and with more or less defined in LENGTH, just like episodes of a TV or Radio show.  Better to create six, faster moving 15 minute or 30-minute podcast shows than one 1.5 hour or 3-Hour podcast show.

Don’t try to bite off too large a topic, solve world hunger, end all wars, etc.  If your show includes a moderated panel of experts, make sure that you have a VERY strong moderator who will stick to scripts, subjects, time limitations, etc. and also take the time to identify who is speaking at any given time.

Tech podcasts tend to be more understandable when you tie them to web page content.  There comes a point when you are talking about architecture, design, routers, security, etc. that you have to put up a meaningful diagram or PowerPoint type slide.   Get UI or graphics design type people who are good at doing diagrams that explain technical info in an instantly understandable manner.

Website material has to COMPLEMENT and SUPPLEMENT the podcast content.  There needs to be more on the web page than just the podcast link windows.

Drawls and foreign accents are OK as long as people enunciate well and speak understandably.  We had an expert from Texas who spoke with such a thick drawl that he was almost completely unintelligable.  Not a good podcast.  We had a similar issue with experts from Russia and India. 

People who write well do not necessarily equate to those who speak well.   Technogeeks often tend to ramble in answering a question. Better to have someone who speaks shortly and concisely in a lively voice, who then REFERS the listener to detailed content, diagrams and explanations on the web site.

Moderators and reporters and participants need to avoid thinking that they are Nancy Grace, Geraldo Rivera, Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey, Howard Stern, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, etc.  There is enough reality junk on TV and Radio. 

The technical Podcast is best as a Kiosk, not a place of controversy.  It is not a forum to vent your own political opinions or biases about which platform or OS is best.  People come to sites like TR to get practical info and answers to help get themselves out of messes.  If all they get is controversy and opinionated platform/OS bigots, you will have become just another “nut” doing podcasting.

Get people who are prepared to give well thought out, practical advice and information, and not deliver judgmental and polemic opinions as to what is best or what someone should be standardizing upon.

Looking forward to hearing your drawl as long as it is understandable.

 

 

 

 

The

In reply to The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

Dave,

Thanks so much for the great advice! I promise to e-nun-ci-ate. 🙂

The

In reply to The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

I have to take exception with a previous statement:  “3. When you are doing Podcasting, you are, by
definition, broadcasting to iPods, which support high quality MPEG
Audio Layer 3 and MPEG4 through the QuickTime codecs.   MPEG4 was based
upon the QuickTime file formats.”  This is the Wikipedia definition of podcast:  Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the internet using either RSS or Atomsyndication for listening on mobile devices and personal computers.  As you can see, the ipod is not mentioned anywhere.  Podcasting is simply an RSS feed that is an audio file (usually MP3), rather than text. It’s a common misconception that a podcast is synonymous with ipod.  This is not the case.  One of the earlier implentations of the podcast was a script that downloaded the RSS (audio) feed and passed it to iTunes for later transfer to the iPod.  All this information can be found in the Wikipedia article of Podcast.  So, not that it’s a big deal, but don’t target your production of podcasts to the iPod.  You want to make your content available to the widest possible audience on the widest platform of hardware.  

I basically agree with the other points.  I come from an audio visual background, so I know something about audio.  This statement is true in all life:  You get what you pay for.  You can use the crappy little $10 mic that plugs right into your crappy little soundcard.  But it will sound like, you know.  On the flip side, you don’t have to use studio quality microphones and mixers.  You have to strike a balance between price and quality.  Just remember this, the better the sound quality of the podcast, the more the percieved overall quality.  

The

In reply to The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

I think this is an excellent idea!! Be sure and allow the podcasts to be easily downloaded to computers for those of us who use the laptop as their MP3 player, DVD player, IPod, etc.

I agree that these should be technical, but we also enjoy the zany entertainment. I also agree with the first reply that the podcast should be accompanied by dowload documentation on the topic.

As far as your southern drawl, it would be heaven! I am a Texan stuck in Yankeeland! Luckily I have my copies of King of the Hill up here with me!

Hope to see some podcast on TR! Have fun!

The

In reply to The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

I scan multiple news and info. sites and have found that the ‘casts I go back to all have sub-headings that let me jump to the interesting parts and skip the sections I’m not interested in.

The

In reply to The “nuts” and bolts of podcasting

This is an excellent idea.  I would recommend that you look at content that’s already out there and then figure out how to differentiate yourself from the others.  I’ll use two examples that are at opposite ends of the spectrum. 

CIO magazine has some management podcasts by John Baldoni that are short, focused, and to the point.  They cover one topic with good advice in less than five minutes. 

Leo Laport and his “This Week in Tech” podcasts are at the other end – These podcasts are much longer, ramble, and cover many subjects.  It’s informative and often fun, though I don’t have a chance to listen to them in one sitting very often.  The main attractions for me are  that I like Leo and he often has IT luminaries as guest speakers.

Both podcasts work for me, though I listen to the CIO podcasts much more often because they are short.  They do have a few things in common –

1. They are easy to understand and have clear audio. 
2. They use music or sound cues for transitions. 
3. They have introductions telling me who’s speaking. 
4. They provide me with information I can grasp while walking or driving and they keep that information interesting.
5. They provide updates fairly regularly.  

The TR podcasts that would interest me the most would be subjects that don’t depend on relating code or diagrams – For example, http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-1009_11-6036812-2.html would be an ideal candidate, but one telling me how to configure Zone Alarm probably would not.  Duplicating written content is encouraged!

Topics that interest me:

1. security & sys admin
2. management (team level or above)
3. IT Trends & news
4. Career development & enhancement
5. Web development (usability, technology, and more)

This is a great idea and I look forward to listening!

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In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

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There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

I just finished reading this article about a man whose “letters” to Star Jones (in his personal blog) prevented him from getting a job. The article is funny, but the issue isn’t.

The whole thing has me thinking about the fact that there’s really no line between personal and professional in your online activities. Anything that anyone can Google is fair game. That’s a really scary thought. I’m glad I use a pseudonym. 🙂

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

Comments Posted to the World are not “Personal”

I guess I do not see how someone who explicitly decides to post writings so that they are visible to the entire world at large has any reason to be surprised that someone actually read those writings.  It seems that there is a simple to understand rule, “If you do not want the public to know something, do not talk about it in public.” 

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

When you’re a professional, you act professionally 24×7, or not at all. It’s not a part time role.

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

Act professionally 24/7? I couldn’t disagree more. Ever heard of “down” time? Why is it anyone’s business what I do during my “off” hours, so long as it isn’t done publicly? I realize, in the example above, that the man’s behavior was public, but your statement brings it to a whole other level.

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

Truthfully, would you be comfortable having this person teach your young child for most of their waking hours, five days a week?

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

The article, as I saw it, was publishd in an online magazine, and intended for humor. Since I see “Thou Shalt Not Take Thyself Too Seriously” as the 11th commandment, I salute the man.

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

Anything you do on-line should be treated as open to your present or future employers, employees, customers, significant other, parents, children, NSA, etc.  Even with a pseudonym, it can be traced back to you.  The Internet is public.

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

bschaettle@ wrote: “Truthfully, would you be comfortable having this person teach your young child for most of their waking hours, five days a week?”

My question to you would be: Truthfully, based solely on the fact that the man wrote some humorous PRETEND letters to Star Jones, you WOULDN’T be comfortable having this person teach your young child?

I thought the letters were funny. They didn’t make me think, OH NO! He’s a pedophile or anything…

See? This is why this whole subject is scary to me.

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

>>Why is it anyone’s business what I do during my “off” hours, so long as it isn’t done publicly?

Because everything you do has the potential to affect others.

Societies implicit contract with the professional goes like this.

You are given special knowledge or authority, and in return you will put the public good above your personal preferences or desires.

Just because many who call themselves professional don’t meet the standard doesn’t mean the standard gets changed, it means those people are not professionals. It’s a definition based on your actions and behaviour, not what you choose to call yourself. You don’t get to be a professional simply because you wear a suit to work. It goes a lot deeper.

 

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

I disagree. A lot. Who are you to say what activities might be “appropriate” or “inappropriate” ? And further, is there a list of “professional” positions to which you’re referring? You’re acting as if everyone from the local grocer to the Pope should be judged the same way.

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

>>Societies implicit contract with the professional goes like this.

You are given special knowledge or authority, and in return you will
put the public good above your personal preferences or desires.<<

I think you meant to write “Society’s implicit contract…”. I believe that professionals have an obligation to spell correctly and to proofread their work before hitting the submit button on a post? Does this sound arbitrary? Overbearing? Pedantic? Why should you live by my tough spelling rules?

To make my point in a less facetious way, I am skeptical of implicit contracts. They strike me as the mark of what Ayn Rand would label “collectivist thinking”. I have no problem with employers researching my web activities and making employment decisions as a result. It’s legal. It’s their money. However, I don’t really care to work for a company that does not respect its employees’ individuality. It’s important to let one’s employer know that you expect to be left alone to do as you please in your off-hours (executives and PR reps have less freedom in this regard, but one expects they take on this obligation explicitly and voluntarily).

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

Is someone who uses humor to entertain and educate the public considered a professional?

If a person has more than one occupation and meets all the critieria for any occupation he/she enters, is that person less of a professional?

I enjoyed the man’s writing gift. I like his tongue in cheek humor and his ability to laugh at himself. I would want a person who was able to communicate so easly, and had a good sense of humor to instruct my children if he also had credentials in a teaching background.

Professional does not mean uptight or inhuman. It means qualified to fulfill a position and to maintain a sense of respect in doing so. It does not mean being an overstuffed shirt or skirt who professes to be superior to others of the human race. A true profesional has a degree of humility, knowing that he/she will always be meeting others to learn from, and thus advance his/her knowledge and abilities.

Whew! That’s about as straight-talking as I care to be!

Pass the cookies, will you, please?

There is no line between personal and professional online activities

In reply to There is no line between personal and professional online activities

You aren’t Beth Blakely? Well who the heck are ya? Is that you Jay? Geek? Smorty? Who the heck is that hiding behind that lady’s pic?

Some types of commentary should be ONLY said behind the protection of a pseudonym. All of us have interests which could be viewed as anything from the strange (my love of truly bad B movies) to the truly outragous (I leave to your discretion some of the more outre material on the net).

Not everyone would be comfortable knowing your interest in a subject and might well judge you on your behavior or their supposition of your morality. Personally, I could care less if people know that I am interested in film noir and love nothing better than when the bad guys pull of the big job and leave the coppers hoodwinked. Does that mean I have criminal tendencies? To some it might, and to others it would show my appreciation of a story well told of anti-heroes.

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

My boss recommended that our team read this Wired article on brainstorming. The author, Momus, makes some interesting points about how we use our online identities as masks to help us share perspectives in the online world. He suggests that these masked entities are better able to “develop more original and interesting positions and ideas.”

He writes, “We send our
battle robot avatars out onto the safe battleground of the net and let
others vent their animus on them. Passion and hatred shape our
Frankenstein’s monsters as much as love and ego investment. They become
keen fighting machines, and every time they get bashed or smashed up we
just put them into the garage and rebuild them. If they’ve sustained
too much damage in flame wars, we can erase them as easily as we
erected them, melt them down, mint another mask, rejoin the fray.”

If this is true, then what holds us back from this type of freedom in the real world? Fear of damaging our carefully constructed personas? Let’s say, for example, that you have a reputation for being a “glass half empty” kind of guy, and you enjoy that persona. Have you not, then, trained yourself to see the negative side of things? Isn’t that training keeping you from focusing on what is possible, instead of what isn’t? Doesn’t that make for some really poor brainstorming?

If you have a “class clown” reputation, are you constantly looking for the next one-liner instead of searching the corners of your mind for a solution? If you have a reputation for being “goofy,” are you afraid to open your mouth for fear of ridicule?

I know I have a whole list of fears that run through my head when I’m trying to think creatively. I like to believe that I can overcome them when called upon to be innovative. I’m fortunate enough to work with people who are, for the most part, open to new ideas. However, this article has made me wonder how much more creative I could be if I weren’t shackled by my fears and others’ impressions of me, good or bad.

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

I’ve seen a couple of training courses which reflect on a person’s reactions to events and the kinds of negative and positive reinforcement techniques that can be used to change their reactions.

All of us have issues and it isn’t our issues that define us, but our struggle to overcome them.

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

Gotta go the opposite way on this one.

One of the tenets of brainstorming is to withhold judgment.  I see the opposite in the online world; there is an overabundance of criticism, often done rudely, little shifting in positions.

I find it much easier to let it all hang out with people I know well.  It is online that people have a need to maintain whatever personnas that they choose to take on.

It is far easier to be open and frank when one has established relationships than with strangers.

P.S., I share much of the article writer’s concerns over the value of brainstorming, I just don’t think hiding behind online names improves the situation.

 

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

That’s a good point, Wayne. There are lots of online communities where I’d dare not speak my mind. People can be ruthless and ridiculously cruel sometimes. I like to think that it’s not that way in “professional” forums like TechRepublic, and that different opinions are welcomed. I’d say that’s generally the case here when you’re talking about anything except Linux vs. Windows, or any of the off topics. Some rivalries just run too deep.

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

For years I reminded myself “Respond. Don’t react!’ and people who knew me became used to me remaining calm when turmoil was around me.

Then one day I spoke up very strongly to someone, and a friend said, “Beth? What happened to ‘respond don’t react'”
I laughed, and replied, “Honey, that WAS my response!”

The reputation I wanted in life was: She’s a nice woman. Don’t mess with her. (That’s my definition of a lady.)
Now? I don’t really care what my reputation is because I AM a nice woman, and if someone messes with me, I can speak to that person in any way I choose if I want to get my point across. Reputations are based on other people’s opinions, and the opinion that counts the most with me is mine.

Like you, I know a certain amount of fear, but mine usually comes from not wanting to overstep boundaries. I tend to hang around for a bit and observe, enter in slowly and wait to see if there is room for my personality in any group of people.

When striving to relate within a team, if the other members tend to react more than they respond, I just get quiet and listen. Eventually people calm down or disband. I simply strive not to add to reactions.

One of the things that has helped me to face fears is to ask myself, “If I knew this was my last day to live, what would I choose to do in this situation?” You’d be surprised by some of the creative things you can come up with when you answer that question.

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

Good advice, Beth. I think I’ll use that question next time someone irks me or when I feel like “reacting.”

Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

In reply to Is your reputation inhibiting your brainstorming?

“If I knew this was my last day to live, what would I choose to do in this situation?”

I don’t know if this is good advice for me, because my answer would probably be something like “tell them off and then go on vacation”.

Information Anxiety: Aggregators are the cure

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

sMoRTy71 is my guide to what’s new and cool in the social networking and
personal gadgetry arenas. I read his blog daily to try and keep up with what’s going on in the rest of the
community-building world. While I’m now satisfied to trail along behind him, I didn’t always feel that way.

I used to stalk his del.icio.us links, adding RSS feeds to all his favorite tech sites. I tried to check those daily while still reading every article he posted about. I thought that was what I should do, since he’s my boss and I needed to keep up with what he’s thinking about.

I now know that’s just too much, especially since I have my own passions that I read about in the evenings.

I was suffering from Information Anxiety, as is described in “The myth of ‘keeping up'” on Creating Passionate Users. I couldn’t even console myself, as they described, by thinking “Yeah, but I bet he thinks Weezer is still a cool new band…” He’s up on the new music, too. (Dammit)

The article nicely sums up what I learned the hard way: “Aggregators become increasingly more important. Finding the right
person, business, web site, etc. who does the best job of filtering
(attenuating) in a specific area adds time to your life.”

By allowing him to be my guide in the community/gadgetry arenas, I’ve found that I feel less stressed about the “required reading” and have more time to pursue those topics that I become really passionate about. Further, I’ve found gurus that guide me in other arenas of interest in the same way. (Yes, I’m deliberately not telling you what those are. I don’t need the pressure. ;-))

As the article states, “Once we let go of trying to be more-current-than-thou, we can spend more time on things that really matter.”

Information Anxiety: Aggregators are the cure

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I left an envelope of cash in your mailbox.

Firefox extension allows you to open plain text URLs

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

It’s a little thing, but I’ve always found it annoying when I have to copy out a plain text URL and paste it in a new window. Today, it occured to me that there was probably a Firefox extension that addresses the problem.

Of course, there is! I found out about the Text Link extension from this list of “25 Firefox extensions you didn’t know you needed,” but I had to download it from this site.

Firefox extension allows you to open plain text URLs

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My blog comment

Firefox extension allows you to open plain text URLs

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Comment here

Delete this post!

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delete me

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

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I’m finally on the latest book!!!

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Considering the people who frequent TR, I’m probably (hopefully) preaching to the choir, but here’s a little something I’ve got to get off my chest:

Please don’t send me your ridiculous forwards!

Forwards are those e-mail messages that some people feel they MUST send to everyone in their address book. The messages generally contain poems, cartoons, pictures, political rants, jokes, and prayers. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but these things are DRIVING ME MAD!

I don’t want them and I don’t need them… Here’s why:

• I’ve probably seen what you’re sending to me. (After all, it says it’s been around the world eight times, right?)
• It’s probably not true, anyway. (Why, why, why can’t you check TruthorFiction.com, Snopes.com, or another reputable hoax debunking site before junking up my Inbox with this crap?)
• NO company uses an email forwarding campaign to give away money or products! (How can you POSSIBLY believe that?)
• I probably don’t agree with your political or religious viewpoints (If we don’t talk about these things in person, why would you assume I feel the same as you do? Some of this brand of FWD is downright offensive!)
• PLEASE, don’t expose my email address to everyone in your circle of friends, enemies, and acquaintances! (Have you ever heard of the BCC field?)
• It’s just a waste of my time. (I can find plenty of ways to waste my time on my own, thank you very much.)

I have been known to forward a joke or funny picture to a specific person or group of people if I have reason, I won’t lie. However, it’s always in context. I include a personal message, usually explaining why I think it’s funny. I never blanket my address book with one goofy email.

*sigh*

I feel a little better now. Thanks for listening.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Insert comment text here                    Amen! Preach it Sister!!

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Damn! I wish I’d said that! Right ON!!!!!

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Now, now Beth, these people probably think they are cleaver ?
haven?t you ever patiently listened to a joke told by an 8-year-old? (I haven?t, but I
hate kids and don?t suffer fools gladly – however, most normal people are nice to kids.)

Of course these aren’t kids. I recently had to block an old friend who, after years of
warnings, just couldn?t seem to understand that spam forwarded is spam
multiplied. He no longer has access to any of my email accounts or that of most
of his relatives. If he wants to send me crap he will have to put it in an envelope and pry open his wallet for stamp money – haven’t heard from him since! Of course he taught high school math for 35 years and is
widely known around here as the most boring person alive, but he THINKS he is educated, funny, and interesting, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Last year I even set up a blog for him, thinking that if he just HAD
to write and repeat this endless crap, the least he could do was put it in a
blog like the rest of us so no one would be forced to delete it from their
Inbox.

He told me he didn?t think much of blogs and didn?t want to
learn how to use one. I guess all those years of having high school kids forced to listen to
his blather made him think that everyone should be forced to listen.

I’ve written five books and he has never bothered to read a single one – he forwards junk mail and gets insulted when I demand he stop once and for all! That, in my opinion, is a good psychological insight into the kind of person who forwards all this crap to us.

I, along with other journalists of course have an even
bigger problem with forwarded mail than average people ? if it isn?t junk, if
it is actually newsworthy, or well-reasoned, I don?t dare read it because I
might accidentally repeat it someplace, forgetting where it came from.

I blame a LOT of this on the new vogue sending so many kids
to journalism school ? it is the fastest growing major in many universities and
these people probably think they are doing what journalists do ? confusing journalists
with the talking heads on Fox and other networks who do little but repeat press
releases.

As for CC, I blame that mostly on Microsoft and the various
email services.

Any email service which actually allows CC should be fined
out of business. ALL emails should be BCC by default, but that would make too
much sense.

Good topic Beth.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

http://www.thanksno.com/

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Do you have my mother-in-law also? She forwards EVERYTHING she’s ever seen on the Internet. We’ve told her repeatedly that we don’t want any fwd, only actual emails written by her. She just doesn’t get it. A few years ago, I got so many forwarded emails with attachments from her that I made copies upon copies of the email and attachments and sent it back to her (dial up). It took her a couple of hours to download it all. She said “It’s so strange, I received a really big email from you that took forever to download, but all it was, was things that I had forwarded to you. You didn’t write anything.” I had to run and hide, so I could laugh my ass off in private.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

I agree,

  Those emails can be really annoying at times (Saint Teresa has probably been called on to answer my prayers a hundred times in the last few years) but rather than hurt the feelings of those family members and dear friends why not just make use of the Delete key? My keyboard has one (often used) and I’ll bet its standard on all of them!

        Just a polite suggestion from here.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

I couldn’t agree more with everything you said, and sadly, it definitely needed saying.
OTOH, the folks who do that kind of thing (as opposed to writing real emails, I mean) are never going to change said behavior. Maybe they’re all incapable of actually writing anything of their own, who knows. It’s simply one more e-scourge we all have to “put up with”. It’s good to know however, that there are other intelligent beings out there who feel the same way I do about it. Unfortunately, in the long run, blocking such senders will probably always be the remedy of last resort, and the only one which actually works.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Agreed, Watersprite & Jfowler. It’s not worth damaging relationships or feelings at this point. These emails are coming from people who don’t spend nearly as much time in the cyberworld, as I do. They’re occasional users who really believe that what they’re seeing is unique and that I’ll enjoy it. I just use the delete key.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

The real problem though is not so much the annoyance and waste of time these Forwards create, as it is the many personal and business email addresses (sometimes numbering in the hundreds) that can be exposed by the constant circulation of these messages in the “Forward” mode.
If we can’t teach ’em the easy art of Copy & Paste to save the security and privacy of other follks, what chance do we have of getting them to cease and desist in the first place?
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” ?
You Betcha!!

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Insert comment text here

Even when I forward to specific friends jokes that I think they would like, I use bcc.  Maybe we should do a tutorial on how not to show everyone’s email address when sending the same email to more then one person.

Just a thought.  And by the way, I tell people if they are going to keep sending me crap in forwards.  I’ll add them to my spam filter, and I’ll never see it anyway.

 

droolin

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Beth – How about this? Everyone stops sending those cute little jokes, your wordly knowledge essays, yada yada yada. WOW! This is great. For about a week or two and then you begin to wonder how all your friends are doing. No reply? So you jot off another quick ee and ask everyone to stop at MOJO’S for a cup of “Joe”. All no-shows! What the …? You hop on your harley and shoot right over to Miss Ouuwee’s place to find out what in the world? Well you get down on her case and she calmly replies, “We all got together and agreed with some of your points of view on emailing and came to an understanding. So now we just have our own group, we knew you couldn’t be bothered, and whom ever needs a little smile, enligtenment, whatever – can read it or…   This is for all the lonely people.

Randy

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Randy,

If you read the post again, you might notice the line in there about not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings. If you read the comment I posted above, you’ll find that I’ve said I really believe people have good intentions and since I don’t want to make them feel unloved or unwelcome in my life, I just use the delete key. When I wrote this blog post, I was frustrated and needed to sound off. I’m sorry if I struck a nerve.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

I agree 100% Beth. I don’t mind email from my friends checking in. But with the exception of 2 people (CuteElf being one of the two who has my same twisted sense of humor), most of the forwarded jokes simply aren’t every funny.

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Insert comment text here

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Do You know what You just did? Ironically You created a perfect fwd-mail for me. I hope You don’t mind if I send Your list to some of my friends. The points You wrote were absolutely right on the spot. I made an email template of it. Thanks!

B.t.w. write some emailrules based on Your actual messages, into Your emailprogram and the fwd:s will quickly decrease. 

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

Of course you mean that you’ll be sending them a link to TR, right Duk? And if I get this in an email FWD in 6 months, I’m coming after you! 😉

Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

In reply to Please don’t FWD to me! I don’t want your email crap

I just wonder if these people who do FWD actually ever read the crap they FWD?!

delete me test post

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

delete me

another delete me post

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blog post for test    

delete this post again

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test post for delete    

Inspiration from cinema: It’s not about the ‘big ideas’

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I can’t believe I’m actually referring to a Gwyneth Paltrow movie as “cinema,” but here goes. This weekend, I watched Proof. I was bored, it was available “On Demand,” and one thing led to another.

The movie is about the daughter of a brilliant but mentally ill mathematician. She writes an important proof but struggles with revealing it to the world because she fears she may be as disturbed as her father.

At one point, she is describing her father’s approach to problems — and the one she has used to arrive at her discovery. She said, “…it’s not about big ideas.
It’s… It’s work.” She explained that he’d “chip away at a problem. …attack a problem from the
side, you know, from some weird angle.

Sneak up on it, grind away at it.”

It struck me that the same can be said for most problems we face. Even here at TechRepublic, it’s true. We’ve tested a lot of new theories and “big ideas” in our time, but most of our success can be attributed to chipping away at issues, keeping our noses to the grindstone, and considering alternate explanations for the phenomena we see.

Whether it’s page views, better content, or more passionate users, we must chip away at the issue. And hopefully, day-by-day, week-by-week, we provide an improved experience for our members.

Inspiration from cinema: It’s not about the ‘big ideas’

In reply to Inspiration from cinema: It’s not about the ‘big ideas’

Couldn’t agree more.  In a former life I spent most of my time composing orchestral music.  When it was performed (ever so rarely,) everyone would comment on the inspirations I must have had to create such a work.  Truth be told, inspriation alone would have left me with a lot of blank pages.  

I do think that inspriation and big ideas are important however. They are what keep you working.  If you don’t have a vision for what you want to create, you aren’t likely to do the needed work to find success.  Ultimately, that success won’t look much like the initial big idea but it launches the work.  Why else would a mathematician slave away at a problem for years?

People hooked on the big ideas and not the process miss out on almost all of the fun.  

Inspiration from cinema: It’s not about the ‘big ideas’

In reply to Inspiration from cinema: It’s not about the ‘big ideas’

“Good to Great”, by Jim Collins, talks about this idea.  His notion is that great companies don’t get to be great by making one big leap.  They get there by staying focused and making continual small leaps.  By staying focused on a very small set of metrics, they can make sure all those small leaps are in the same general direction.  Thus achieving more with the multiple small easy leaps than they could have by attempting one big difficult leap.

That to me is where many companies (ahem, including perhaps a former employer of mine 🙂 fail–they aren’t focused on making the continual small improvements.  They’re spending too much energy searching for the next big thing rather than figuring out how to make improvements to the thing they already have.

BlogHER, BlogHIM, BlogYOU

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

Kathy Sierra has some interesting comments on being a blogger (who happens to be a woman), not a blogHER. This is my favorite part:

“I love being a woman. I love wearing a lace bra. And I love writing
code. Personally, I’m delighted at how well these can work together.
And my big wish is that more women–especially younger women–will
discover the same thing.”

Free tickets to DigitalLife 2006 available

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

DigitalLife 2006, a consumer technology, gaming & entertainment event, will be
taking place October 12 ? 15, 2006
at the Javits Center, New York. Free tickets to this year?s event (regular
price is $15) are available. Just go to this page and use the source code ?INSIDER.” You can print out your own tickets.

If you go, come back to TechRepublic and let us know what you saw, liked, didn’t like, etc. You can also send us your personal pictures of the event, preferrably via a WebShots link.

Sink the Censorship! (Banned Books Awareness Week, Sept. 23-30)

In reply to Musings on the TR Community project

DeleteCensorship.org launched September 15, in preparation for Banned Books Awareness Week, which runs September 23 through September 30. It was created by Half Price Books to celebrate literature of all kinds and to continue to ensure that ideas remain accessible to all who want them. The site features information about why certain books were banned, rulings on First Amendment cases, links to freedom of speech sites and organizations, and more information related to the issue of free speech.

Interesting stuff… I’d hate to think that people wouldn’t be able to read my imaginings if I actually got them published.

[Author]

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