Robert Paterson's Weblog

Off to Toronto Again - Expect light Posting

Well I am off to Toronto for another 2 weeks and will be back into the commuting and living out of a suitcase fun that I find so de - energizing.

Last time I did this I posted twice - so maybe a holiday for you
Cheers
Rob

Making Blogging more Real - Developing Presence?

Dina picks up on Dave's excellent post and brings in a wide range of thought about how we can make blogging more human.

Behind their thinking is the emerging idea of "presence". In the real world, turning up is important energetically. We feel a new person's energy when they enter a room. In a meeting when someone reads from a script, or worse his power point slides, his presence drops as does the power of his message. When a person speaks while making full eye contact and while connecting to themselves, we experience presence and hence power. The question is - how do we create this type of presence in blogging?

As a start for me it would be nice if I knew that you were also at this very moment online. The IM idea. Secondly I would like to see you and experience the full visual bandwidth. I want to see the animation of your face when you talk. Talking free over long distance would be great. I would like to build on ideas with a others so maybe a wiki would be a good idea as well.

In short I would like to have a technology that would shrink the world. Where I can experience all but full contact presence with my friends who I can find in a global context and not be limited to my immediate 20 mile radius of my local world.

This doesn't sound like a hugely difficult technical hurdle to jump. All the parts are available. I think that the blog is the best starting point as it is easier to deal with than a wiki based front end. I now have an Apple which makes Skyping impossible but iChat is a powerful tool that has nearly all of the features of presence that I think that we are talking about

OD Consulting Today - Bunyan says it all?

The original text from Pilgrim’s Progress:

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He’ll fear not what men say,
He’ll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim.

I know I am an islander?

I have been laughing along in the morning radio show on PEI. as we made a series of comments about what is to be an Islander. Many have been related to Island driving habits such as having conversations in your car in the middle of the road with another person in a car going the other way!

You can tell I am somewhat frustrated with our inability to change here - lots of precedent - we banned cars. We were the first to ban alcohol and the last lift the ban.

So this joke rings a bell for me

How many islanders does it take to change a light bulb?

None! We don't change anything on PEI

Chris Lawer continues to Rock

Chris Lawer continues to chisel into the marble of marketing and to reveal the new model of buyer centric hidden from our view

Fluffy Bunnies Rule! Blogging is about humanity not technology

Matt Mower nails the Techno-Fetishist - Fluffy Bunny Debate

More on the Story versus the "News - The Power of Voice

Nearly every day I am moved to tears by the power of voice on Critt Jarvis's blog for his son Philip who is in Iraq. What if 20% of families with sons and daughters in the military did this? Would we be less bombastic as citizens - cheering on the military as if we were watching a sport? Maybe we could see that we have to be very careful to commit our soldiers. I am not saying that there is no cause for war. I am saying let's not act without true consideration. I have heard that not a member of Congress has a child in the military today - what an indictment for a country that has a tradition of citizen soldiers.

Here is a post from today

Last night, as I was working on the checklist for Camp Lancer Weblog, I received this brief note from Tom Barnett:
My Dad is going to leave in the next few hours, and I am going to miss him very much. He raised and supported seven children into adulthood, losing two in their very early years. He was an enormously patient man, full of humility.He always went out of his way to help others, and never sought credit for himself. He was terribly shy in his personality, but somehow endeavored all his years to befriend others and to engage in the sort of small talk that left those around him always feeling better about themselves. He taught me many things along the way: how to catch a football, how to think ahead, and how to get through difficult moments with faith. I feel very fortunate to have known this man for 41 years. I would have taken more, but this was more than most receive, and for that I thank both him and God. He will always remain to me the man I hope someday to be.

To Tom and John Aleksander,

I never met your fathers,
But their blood runs through our instrument
And their song is in our soul.

And they leave us a legacy
We continue to imagine.

This world can be whole.

~ Critt

Why is it so hard to introduce voice into organizations?

Thumbnail so click to see more

I found this interesting image on Beyond Branding

It doesn't surprise me that those with the vested interest in controlling should fear and oppose the rising up of the voice of the organization

WiFi at the ATC - NOT!

In between meetings today, I dropped by the ATC to test the public WiFi. It doesn't work! Not for me and not for another visitor with a PC.

What is going on?

Sex Education and a 6 year old - How do we tell non-bloggers about blogging?

How do you describe blogging to someone who has never blogged? I was trying to find a metaphor and this one bumped into my mind.

When my son James was about six, he was shown a copy of The Joy of Sex by my niece - thanks Astrid - James was so disgusted by the pictures that he claimed that he would never get married. After all if you describe the sex act to a six year old, it doesn't sound like something that any sane person would want to do - let alone become fixated by!

So when I describe the act of blogging to a corporate person, all they see is that I have asked them to spend even more time every day doing a form of email. They only see the act of typing and reading without the context of having a voice and finding a community. Just as a 6 year old only sees the physical act of penetration and sharing spit and misses the joy of passion and of intimacy.

How do we explain blogging so that non bloggers can get it?

Judith Meskill has an idea. Check her site soon for more