Tag Archives: Blogs

Goals for 2009 (because resolutions don’t work) and accomplishments of 2008

Posted on January 1, 2009 | 2 Comments

Today is the day we traditionally look ahead to the coming year and decide what changes we want to make or what new things we want to accomplish. In the spirit of that tradition, here are my goals for the coming year.

A brief digression: I don’t say “resolutions” any more, because resolutions don’t work. Resolutions are usually vague and difficult to achieve, such as “lose weight” or “be a better person.” Goals are usually better defined and thus easier to achieve. You can check off a goal when it is done.

  1. Take a cooking class or two to improve my basic skills, such as my knife skills. This should be an easy one because my husband gave me a gift certificate for my birthday. I want to advance my skills in my favorite hobby.
  2. Expand my garden, and grow and preserve more of my own food. This is a goal I share with my husband. To achieve this goal, I want to spend more time planning the garden this winter and to spend a little time each day working in the garden when planting season comes. I also want to fill our little freezer with produce from our garden so none of it goes to waste.
  3. Record daily the best thing about my day. This is an idea I got from another blog. I am not good at keeping daily journals, but I figure that I can stick to recording one good thing about each day. The goal is to help preserve my memories, especially as my son is growing and changing every day.
  4. Maintain my current weight. I am lucky in that I lost all of my post-pregnancy weight and then some. I don’t want to put the weight back on. I have several specific, achievable strategies for achieving this, including eating more home-cooked meals, eating lighter at home, making better choices in restaurants, reducing sugary foods and being more active. But I love food and cooking, so I also want to leave room for occasional treats and splurges without feeling guilty about it. It’s all about adopting a lifestyle of moderation and balance.
  5. Make a plan for the next 2-4 years of my life. While my son is young, I want to spend a lot of time raising him and enjoying him as he discovers the world. But I also feel like it is time for me to plan for the next phase of my life, specifically my career, as I suspect I may have the time available to institute such a plan. This may mean going back to school or otherwise furthering my education; it may mean taking a risk and trying something entirely new. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ve been on the fence about this for a while, and this is the year I want to decide and start moving forward.

Those are my goals. I also have some projects going on, mostly hobby-related. One project is to reduce the amount of catalog junk mail coming into the house, which I have blogged about here.

Now a brief reflection back on 2008, which was a fantastic year for me. I gave birth to my son, which has completely transformed my life in so many good ways. As a result, I have successfully reduced my job to a part-time, telecommuting position, which has relieved a lot of my stress and enabled me to find a good balance between work and family. I actually think this has been my most productive and successful year at work, despite maternity leave and then going part-time, because I have really been able to focus and achieve what I set out to do.

In my writing life, I have grown my books blog, which although it isn’t as widely read as my cooking blog, is in many ways more satisfying because of the communities I have tapped into as a result. I spun this blog onto its own domain, and I am currently satisfied with its structure and format. I have developed my life management systems to the point where I am really happy with them, and I feel like I am able to take care of the business of my life (cooking, cleaning, home maintenance, me maintenance) without a lot of stress or effort (maybe I’ll blog about some of these someday). As for myself, I feel like I have been able to relax and roll with the unexpected better. I think part of this is a side effect of becoming a mother, but partly it is a result of consicious effort.

All in all, 2008 was a good year for me. It was a good year for our country, despite the economic freefall, in that we pulled together and made a choice to change. I feel a lot of hope and optimism for the coming year.

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How to get started in the Web 2.0 world

Posted on October 2, 2008 | 1 Comment
Web 2.0

Image by Daniel F. Pigatto via Flickr

I have a colleague who’s interested in bringing some of our organization’s knowledge management efforts into the Web 2.0 world, and she wanted to know how to get started. My advice was, before getting an organizational blog or setting up a wiki or something like that, that she — or ideally everyone on her team — get involved on a personal level. Because I don’t think you can get Web 2.0 — and therefore your organization can’t get Web 2.0 — unless you’re doing it. It’s all about participation and collaboration, and that means you have to dive in.

So here are my suggestions for the steps you should take before you even think about setting up an organizational blog or wiki or anything like that.

1. Start bookmarking. You are soon going to be touring all over the web, and you need a way to remember the best blogs, videos and other stuff you find. You can use your browser’s bookmarks feature, but the Web 2.0 way is to share. So I suggest getting an account on a social bookmarking site. I recommend Delicious because it is so clean and easy to use, but StumbleUpon is also a good option. Both provide toolbar buttons so you can bookmark as you surf. Get in the habit of bookmarking the sites that interest you and tagging them in meaningful ways.

2. Read some blogs. Blogs are the heart of the social web. Somewhere out there, someone is writing about something you’re interested in or working on. Use Google’s blog search to find 5-10 blogs on those subjects and start reading them. Take a look at their blogrolls or the blogs they cite often, and start reading them too. Of course, there’s an upper limit to the number of blogs you can read, but you do want to be keeping up with at least 20, probably more if you can handle it.

RSS feed readers make it a lot easier to keep up with all those blogs, because they deliver new content to you, instead of you having to go out on the web to get it. I like Google Reader myself, but there are many  other choices. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have RSS feed readers built in, as well. To find the feed, look for the orange RSS feed icon and click on it: RSS feed icon

The most important thing, though, when reading blogs is to comment on what you read and like. Web 2.0 is all about participation, and commenting is one of the main ways to join in. Once you start commenting on blogs in your niche, you’ll meet the bloggers and other commenters and begin getting to know the community that you’re joining.

3. Jump into Twitter. It’s time to up the interaction a notch, and Twitter is a good way to do it. You can start out small and build up as your confidence increases. Find a few people to follow; first check the blogs you’re reading, as bloggers are typically on Twitter too. See who they are following and follow any of those people who seem interesting, as well. There are plenty of Twitter applications that make following tweets easier.

Why are you on Twitter? You will get in the habit of sharing: what you’re working on, what you’re reading, links, whatever. And you will have a ready-made community to ask questions and get feedback from. What’s more, it’s fun.

4. Get a blog. It’s now time to join the conversation. And I don’t mean starting an organizational blog. That should come later. First, you should start your own personal blog where you can write in your own voice. You may choose to write about your work or about some other passion. What matters is that you’re adding your voice to the conversation.

Starting a blog is easy and takes less than five minutes. I recommend WordPress.com as the best free blogging platform, because even if you don’t know the software, it’s easy to learn and get started on right away. If you’re intimidated by having a full-fledged blog or don’t have the time, you can start a “micro-blog” on Tumblr and share interesting links, video, quotes and other short snippets. Remember to keep commenting on other blogs and leave a link to your blog when you do. You’ll soon find that folks who read your comments are stopping by your blog and commenting on what you’re writing.

And before you know it, you’re part of Web 2.0.

If you follow these steps, more or less, and get involved in the online community on a personal level, you’ll probably find it much easier to think of creative and worthwhile ways your organization can get involved.

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How to use tagging to make connections in the nonprofit web

Posted on October 1, 2008 | 4 Comments
A tag cloud with terms related to Web 2.

Image via Wikipedia

Probably one of the best innovations of the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon is tagging. A tag is “a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information” (source). Tags can be used to identify blog posts, bookmarks, photos, videos, presentations, events, etc., and are supported by pretty much every Web 2.0 tool. Tags are generally assigned informally and without regard to a structure of categories; they are more like annotations and are often assigned in addition to categories, such as on blog posts.

The genius of tagging is that it organically builds connections over time between seemingly unconnected content. If my blog post and your video and his bookmark and her photograph all have the same tag, then we can start to see how they are related in some way. This leads to a bottoms-up classification system for web content that is often called a folksonomy.

The problem is that tags are arbitrarily decided on by the content creator, and with language being what it is, one tag can mean many different things to many different people. Take the word development, for instance. In my own little industry, it can refer to the process of creating software or giving aid to low-resource countries. In other contexts, it might refer to child development or personal development or a large and ugly subdivision.

The nonprofit field has bypassed this limitation by coming up with some unique tags to identify our content. If we use these tags consistently, we can easily locate a wealth of content in our particular niches. Here are some of the most useful tags I’ve come across:

nptech: Short for “nonprofit technology,” this tag refers to nonprofits’ use of technology, mostly internally rather than as part of the program offerings.

Examples:

ict4d: Stands for “Information and Communication Technologies for Development.” Refers to groups that are using technology in their development programs, usually international development.

Examples:

web4dev: Using Web technologies, mostly Web 2.0, for supporting international aid and development.

Examples:

km4dev: Stands for “Knowledge Management for Development.” Using knowledge management tools and techniques to support international development.

Examples:

m4dev or m4d: Using mobile technology to support internatonal development.

Examples:

I’m sure I haven’t discovered all of the tags being used by nonprofits using technology, especially in international development. If you know of any other good ones, please leave a comment.

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Using Google Reader’s trends to find blogs of value

Posted on September 26, 2008 | 4 Comments
Image representing Google Reader as depicted i...

Image via CrunchBase

Someone on Twitter yesterday asked about how people use Google Reader‘s Trends feature. I had a quick reply then, but I thought I’d blog about it as well.

I subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds in Reader. If I see an interesting website, and it has a feed, I tend to subscribe, because only by reading over a few days can I really determine if the content is of value to me. (All websites should offer feeds for people like me, by the way.)

While I’m reading my feeds, I use Google Reader’s features to share articles I find particularly interesting or star them for later reference. I may see something I want to blog about, for instance, so I’ll star it. I also email articles quite frequently if I know they will be of interest to someone in particular. Google Reader’s Trends captures all of this activity.

When the number of feeds becomes overwhelming, and I need to winnow them down — usually about once a month — I’ll check the trends. The feeds I keep are the ones that Trends shows I’ve been sharing, starring and emailing. I’ll also check the posting activity. Feeds that are marked inactive, or haven’t had new posts in over a month, I’ll definitely drop.

If you use Google Reader, do you check the trends?

Check out my shared items on Google Reader.

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Futzing, a new job description

Posted on February 4, 2008 | Leave a comment

If I could come up with my ideal job title, it would be “Master Futzer,” as defined in “Futzing as the Future of Work” on HorsePigCow (via Web Worker Daily):

…the process by which one wanders around without aim, having conversations (with new and old friends), gathering random information, learning ostensibly useless knowledge and avoiding all tasks/duties clear and present.

I actually think the hour or two I spend “futzing” each day enriches my work and my organization. It enables me to figure out ways to do my job more productively, to connect with others who are doing similar jobs and to bring ideas back to my organization for improving the way we do things. For example, through “futzing” I have introduced my organization to blogging and using social networking tools to advance our message.

I have identified some of my strengths as rapid learning, processing, critical thinking, presenting information (especially technical information) in an understandable way, looking for solutions, strategizing and creating or adapting systems or structures. These all seem to be ideal qualities to look for in a good “futzer.”

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What are blogs? And how can we use them? Resources list

Posted on December 17, 2007 | 6 Comments

This is a list of resources I have collected to supplement a presentation I’m giving at work on the subjects: what are blogs, how can our nonprofit blog effectively, and what is Web 2.0 anyway? These resources include many of the examples in the actual presentation as well as supplementary reading materials.

View the presentation

About Web 2.0

Blogging Tools

Nonprofit Blogs

Blogs About Nonprofits Using Web 2.0 Technologies

The Blogosphere (finding blogs of interest)

Into Web 2.0

  • Tumblr – microblogging site
  • Twitter – microblogging site that integrates with text messaging and instant messaging (IM)
  • del.icio.us – Tag, organize and share bookmarks
  • Stumble Upon – review and rate web content
  • Digg – read and vote on web content
  • NGO Post – read and vote on web content discussing social welfare initiatives
  • Flickr – share, view and comment on photos
  • YouTube – share, view and comment on videos
  • SlideShare – share, view and comment on presentations
  • Wikipedia – world-famous collaboratively written encyclopedia built with a wiki
  • Wikibooks – collection of collaboratively written textbooks written using wikis
  • Facebook – well-known social networking site originally focusing on college students
  • LinkedIn – professional networking site
  • Dogster – social networking site for dogs
  • Causes on Facebook – nonprofits using Facebook to promote causes and raise money
  • IntraHealth Informatics’ Flickr site – nonprofits can share interesting photos to generate interest
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Why I blog: Some method to this madness

Posted on February 20, 2007 | Leave a comment

I saw a couple of posts recently on “why I blog,” and since I had been thinking about this myself, I thought it would be worthwhile to write about it. Like any other post on this blog, the primary intention of this post is to work something out for myself. In this case, I am working out my motivations for keeping this blog and what I hope to accomplish with it. For any readers who may stumble across it, it serves as a kind of mission statement for the blog.

In order, here are the top five reasons why I blog:

  1. Work out my ideas: The primary reason I keep this blog is to give me a place where I can capture all the flotsam and jetsam floating around in my brain, and work out my ideas on paper, so to speak. By actually writing down what I am thinking and creating a post — or a “story” — around the kernel of a thought, I am transforming ideas into potentially actionable items. For example, I recently posted on results-oriented work environment; this was a first stab at capturing and working out an idea that I hope to turn into a policy for my team, which I might even bring to my organization once it has solidified enough.
  2. Get motivated: For me, there is a real difference between writing ideas down on a pad or scrap paper and writing them in this blog. I believe it’s the potential of having someone read my posts that motivates me. Rather than just jotting down some incoherent or incomplete notes that are bound to get lost or forgotten, I must write something that has a beginning, middle and end, that is readable and (I hope) interesting, and that is aimed at an audience. This forces me to more thoroughly flesh out my ideas than I probably would otherwise. That, in turn, makes it more likely that I will actually turn my ideas into something more concrete.
  3. Practice writing: I used to be a professional writer. When I took my current job, I stopped writing as much. I knew I didn’t have the time or energy to work on a big project like a book while working a full-time job, but I missed writing every day. I have never been so good at keeping a personal journal. Blogging is just more satisfying than journaling for me, and thus easier to do regularly, again because there is the potential for readers, as well as the sense of completion and even publication when hitting the Publish button.
  4. Spark conversations or feedback: Almost everything I post here is something I’m working on, whether it’s managing software at work or figuring out my supervisory style or just getting better at organizing my email. I hope that by putting my ideas out there, I’ll spark conversations from anyone stopping by that will then lead to more learning and more ideas, that will make what I’m working on better. All too often I am flying solo at work, so I can always benefit from different viewpoints, perspectives and experiences.
  5. Keep a record: This blog is a catch-all place not just for my ideas, but for useful links, interesting things I read and whatever else is going on in my work-life. I record those things here so they don’t get lost. I sometimes return to past posts to revisit a compelling video on Web 2.0 or an inspiring article. But more importantly, I can look back through past posts and see how ideas evolved, the thought processes I went through and the evolution of my learning.

The next question I’m going to be considering is: Why should my organization blog? Because I really think it should.

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