roots.lab - Latest Comments

Re: Why might a social-media pioneer kill his online identity?

iwilker — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:35:41 -0000

Thanks for weighin' in. What worries me is that a few years back — when in fact there was a lot more variety/fluidity in the social-web-app ecology than there is today — there was also a lot of momentum behind efforts to:

» open-source a lot of the frameworks underneath the developing social web,

» standardize data formats (e.g. the microformats scene) and thus enhance portability/interoperability of one's data,

» enforce, via professional ethics within the web-development community, a general policy of engaging in as transparent and fair a relationship with one's customers/users/constituents as possible. (You know, "Don't be evil.")

The urgency isn't really there any more, at least that's my impression. Web-industry folks seem less prickly, less ready to take a stand against things like sleazy Terms of Service agreements, net neutrality, etc. Without a lot of energy behind doing things the right way, corps/gov't will not experience enough pressure to build tech infrastructure in such a way that it encourages innovation and, as my dad says, enhances "individual and collective well-being."

Re: Why might a social-media pioneer kill his online identity?

scadmin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 20:57:32 -0000

Interesting post Ian. I can sympathize with Sam Harrelson and why he left out of frustration, but I have faith in the entrepreneurial spirit. I believe innovation and our competitive spirits will add to the variety that's already out there, and eventually the oligopoly (the networks with over 50 million members) will become more spread out.

Re: How Your Virtual Team Can “Crush It”

iwilker — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:48:38 -0000

I surely can relate — I've never had any formal management training. (What a novel idea!) I've gradually become more interested in project-management frameworks and the like after floundering around in the dark for years and making every mistake in the book, both as team member and as team manager. The school of hard knocks gets tiresome after a while.

Thanks for weighing in Kyra, and for your generosity in sharing your deck!

Re: How Your Virtual Team Can “Crush It”

lifemeetswork — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:23:23 -0000

Hi Ian,
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective on my deck and your experience managing virtual teams. I agree that so often managers think it takes some newly acquired skills to do this, when really it's just about honing and translating the ones we (should) have.

The sticking point is that many of us were not given a lot of management training--we became managers because of our technical abilities. So, managing virtual teams can feel intimidating because it might reveal our ineffectiveness at setting deadlines, clearly communicating milestones, etc.

I encourage managers to just jump in and ask the team to participate in setting up the "group norms" so everyone has accountability and can build their skills together.

Best,
Kyra Cavanaugh

Re: Your flickr and twitter accounts can finally shake hands

iwilker — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:39:06 -0000

Gopal,

Glad you enjoyed!

cheers,
Ian

Re: Your flickr and twitter accounts can finally shake hands

Gopal Aggarwal — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:39:56 -0000

very well written article and touches upon many things at one go

.importance of Flickr to many powerful organisations, this helping secure its future
.suggestions for live tweeting from a worthwhile event etc

enjoyed reading

warm regards,
Gopal Aggarwal

Re: David Weinberger on Obama’s Singular Focus

iwilker — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:40:21 -0000

Thanks Mark!

Now that the post-election excitement has been replaced by the grind of governing, it's good to read your comment. I think Obama will be able to continue to inspire people, despite Washington's legendary ability to reduce everyone to petty partisan bickering. But I've no doubt that he desperately needs every individual like yourself who's willing to declare a desire to keep the faith.

Re: David Weinberger on Obama’s Singular Focus

Mark — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:04:28 -0000

About four years ago, I was at a party here in Asheville with our usual mix of people. While talking to a couple, I stated that I was probably the only Vegan Republican in the country. They both asked "WHY?". I responded it was for chloresterol reasons. They said "No, why are you Republican". Since then, I'm happy to say that I voted for Obama. I was delighted to hear "David Weinberger on Obama’s Singular Focus". This statement has nailed why I am so excited to have voted for him to lead our country out of the Bush War and Recession. Thanks for explaining it to me. I'm going to work on that as well.

Re: Twestival: Amazing!

iwilker — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:44:22 -0000

David,

I haven't had time in the last couple weeks to give to the twestival effort -- I've just been watching from the peanut gallery. And I agree -- the way it's come together here in Asheville has been astounding. Look at all those sponsors! And the talent people have donated -- video editing, coding, graphic design, writing, speaking, mandolin-strumming...

Anyway, it's been exciting to see, and I too am looking forward to meeting you and about 50 other people I've been floored by in the last couple weeks. See you there.

-- @iwilker

Re: Twestival: Amazing!

David Bourne — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:29:57 -0000

What's even more amazing Ian, is that the Asheville Twestival started organizing just two weeks ago!?! Wow. I have to credit 1) awesome folks who are 2) connecting well with each other via 3) amazing social networking tools.

Blogs, FaceBook, email, YouTube, Vimeo and of course, Twitter are rocking our world - both digitally and in the “real” material world. The best effect of this short month of digital frenzy is... a lot more clean water for folks who really need it. And finally, the good feeling of working hard for a great cause while making friends.

I hope to meet you tonight.

David Bourne

Re: Wonder of Wonders: A Mainstream Media Co. Offers Multimedia Embed Codes

iwilker — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:12:05 -0000

Good one. And of course Colbert in particular has famously benefited from viral distribution of his clips.

Re: Wonder of Wonders: A Mainstream Media Co. Offers Multimedia Embed Codes

Michael Hoffman — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:51:26 -0000

How about Comedy Central?

Re: Newspapers on the Live Web (e.g., Twitter)

Robquig — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:01:07 -0000

The institution doesn't have to put out a Twitterfeed, either. Even those can be (and should be) personal. Check out http://twitter.com/statesman http://twitter.com/dallas_news and http://twitter.com/coloneltrib... for examples. In fact, I'd argue it's even more important that the institution use social media such as Twitter the right way.

Re: Newspapers on the Live Web (e.g., Twitter)

Peter Panepento — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:36:02 -0000

Good to put a name to a twitter id. :)

Re: Newspapers on the Live Web (e.g., Twitter)

iwilker — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:39:39 -0000

I look forward to it -- I'll be following along.

Re: Newspapers on the Live Web (e.g., Twitter)

Erica Smith — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:32:18 -0000

Thanks, Ian! In August, I started marking which accounts are USING Twitter, and which are pushing RSS feeds. I hope to do a little more with that in coming months.

Re: Newspapers on the Live Web (e.g., Twitter)

iwilker — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:23:53 -0000

Great to hear, Peter. The sense of tribal presence one can experience through Twitter has been revelatory, for me.

The one Achilles heel of twitter for me used to be the scarcity of people other than the early-adopter crowd in the tech industry. That really is no longer the case, at least for fields that relate to media and communications. There are tons of NPO marketers, communications folks, and fundraisers, for example.

p.s. I'm @iwilker :-)

Re: Newspapers on the Live Web (e.g., Twitter)

Peter Panepento — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:58:07 -0000

You are dead on with your four takeaways on this issue.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy (@philanthropy) has had tremendous success with Twitter.

We're posting headlines, for sure, but we're also using it to pose questions, find sources, and monitor what's on the mind of folks in the world of philanthropy.

I find that we're connecting with a new audience (554 followers and growing fast) and we're also much better able to find out what is on the minds of folks in our niche.

The key is to make it a two-way conversation tool. We're not just talking to folks. We're listening.

Re: Twitter’s “now following you” system emails are inexcusably bad.

Guest — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:24:57 -0000

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