Archive for July, 2008
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 29, 2008
A colleague of mine, Manfred Criegee-Rieck, pointed out that Google has launched a new website called Knol. A “knol” is defined there as “a unit of knowledge.” Experts are invited to contribute content by “writing a knol” on any topics they wish.
It’s a Wikipedia-like effort, but with experts-only as authors. I don’t see it as a direct competitor to Wikipedia, because Wikipedia can simply reach into Knol to tap into its knowledge, just as it does every other valuable resource. By definition, an encyclopedia encompasses all knowledge available, so there could well develop a symbiotic relationship between Knol and Wikipedia.
And since Knol is part of Google, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Innovation, Web 2.0 | Tagged: Google Knol wikipedia experts | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 23, 2008
I’ve gotten weary of the presidential race, and too busy with other things to follow it much for a while, or even to care. But I enjoyed Maureen Dowd’s wry, mocking wit in her column this morning: “Is ‘The One’ Cocky or Commander in Chiefy?“
I love that McCain’s aides call Obama “The One,” thinking they are cleverly sarcastic in their reference to Keanu Reeves’ character in The Matrix. Yet it’s telling how true the characterization rings. I immediately thought, “Yes, that’s what this feels like. Just like in the movie when more and more little things fall in place to gradually convince you that, indeed, this guy is ‘the one’ destined to save us.”
Of course, we’re not in a movie and Obama is no messiah, but there is something of that air about him. He just seems so different from every politician who has come before him that you can’t help wondering if there isn’t some greater force at work.
OK, I’ll stop indulging in fantastic thinking now and go back to ignoring the presidential contest.
| The media behemoth slouching after the senator is scouring his every word, expression, bead of sweat, basketball shot and accessory — are those hiking boots too Bremer? Are the sunglasses too rapper? Will he leave enough time for his glittery groupie, Carla Bruni? — for hints of imperfection that would foretell lacunae in presidential judgment. |
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Posted in Movies, Politics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 19, 2008
Perfect clip for me to post and share, since I am now a Wiki Community Manager, which is another name for online community organizer. Not only is this Fast Wonder Blog post useful, but Seth Godin is always worth reading. If you want to learn more about this emerging role/career, both posts are good places to start.
Over time, I hope this blog will become another good resource for learning about the online community organizer role, as I will be posting about my experience, and my learning curve, going forward.
| Seth Godin recently called the Online Community Organizer role a Job of the Future. This brings me to the most common question: “What exactly do you do?” I see the online community manager role as having several key elements: ongoing facilitation, content creation, evangelism, and community evolution. There are certainly many more tasks, but I suspect that 90% of the work falls into one of these four very broad categories. |
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Posted in Blogs, Career, Social Media, Trends | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 19, 2008
I started this blog just to get started blogging. I had wanted to blog for years, but one thing after another held me back, not the least of which was fear that I would not keep up with it. Blogs that aren’t updated regularly aren’t really blogs, IMHO. I didn’t want to set something up that I could not commit to and write in frequently.
So, one decision I made was to let this blog include any and all content I felt like blogging about. I know people who have different blogs for different kinds of content. That makes sense, and if you’re trying to build traffic to your blog it’s probably best to be targeted in what you write about, so readers interested in that content will find your blog valuable.
But I’m not doing this for the website traffic and I couldn’t commit to keeping up with more than one blogs, such as one about work topics and one about things of personal interest to me. So I made this blog a blend that reflects all of me — all of my interests, whether professional or personal, the serious and the silly, the carefully considered and the random tidbits. I’ve decided I like it this way.
Now, my career has changed direction and blogging is suddenly part of my official job, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogs, Call Centers, Career, Social Media | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 18, 2008
I liked this story, Summer Wind. It’s calming, peaceful, and evokes images of the rural lifestyle it describes. It’s a vignette, really, not a story, article or column. Just a quick view of a place in time, nicely-written and conveying the appeal that the rural lifestyle has for the author.
Here’s a glimpse:
For the past few hours, the wind has been rising and falling, the precursor of a storm coming in from the west. When the wind climbs, a kind of elation blows through the house — it’s the hushing sound of the leaves outside and the way the breeze sweeps the floors and lifts the curtains and slams the doors. The dogs snap to and look around when it gusts. And when the wind drops, it seems to drop us — the dogs and me — into the trough of an ordinary summer day.
I’m loving the rural lifestyle, myself, here in my cottage on a horse farm. It’s nice out here 
Posted in Animals, Blogs, Human Interest | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 17, 2008
Sorry I have not been posting much here recently. I’ve plunged into my new job, and that includes blogging for my company internally. I’ve lost track of how many posts I have created there, but the last thing I really want to do at the moment is blog here, too, at the end of a very long day.
So, apology and excuse offered, I’m shutting down and getting out of the house.
Posted in Blogs, Career | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 13, 2008
OK, I’m going to expose my English-major roots here, not to mention my first career as an English teacher. I am tired of hearing and seeing “a perfect storm” used to describe a rare confluence of factors that produces a negative result. It was a pretty cool phrase when the usage began, inspired by the powerful book and movie, The Perfect Storm. It was a concise and visual way to make a point about, essentially, really bad luck causing a really bad result.
But is *everything* negative that results from multiple factors really worthy of the label, “a perfect storm”? I think not. Instead, it’s a lazy way to explain complicated causal relationships. We don’t have to actually provide any explanation of cause and effect, let alone Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Human Interest, Language, Media, Trends | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 10, 2008
I’m trying to explain what the fantastic charts at the Go Big Always blog are about and why you should look at them, but it’s tough. I’ve copied one of them here to give you a peek. They are funny, clever, insightful, irreverent, iconoclastic — in short, they really hit the mark in many ways. It only takes a couple of minutes to view them all, so check them out!
Posted in Human Interest, Humor, Management, Metrics, Statistics, Strategy, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 5, 2008
I’ve been in my cottage on the farm for less than a month, and nature is clearly at work. First, the sad news: my little bird family is gone. “Nature, red in tooth and claw” was in evidence, as the farm cats found the nest and appear to have reached in and dispatched the two cheeping chicks. Whether they got the parents, too, I don’t know, but I suspect the parents abandoned the nest afterward.
My initial reaction was anger at the cats. I’m not a cat person, anyway, and I wish the cats would just hunt vermin and not cute baby birds. However, in fairness, the wrens were not wise to select a nesting hole that’s within reach of cats. So, natural selection was at work, and these not-so-survival-minded wrens failed to pass on their genes this year.
On the positive front, I have another bird family now: woodpeckers. It sounds like someone knocking on the door Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Animals | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 2, 2008
Two new papers illustrate the continuing power of Stanley Milgram’s shock experiments — and the diverse interpretations they still inspire.
I’ll never forget the powerful impact that learning about Milgram’s experiments had on me as a young man. Surely it was part of my strong belief in questioning authority. If you’re not familiar with these ground-breaking experiments in which subjects were encouraged to inflict terrible pain on another person, I urge you to read this article.
read more | digg story
Posted in Ethics, Human Interest, Research, Science | Leave a Comment »
