Not Common Craft again…

Not Common Craft.

Saludos a todos:

Presentamos a continuación uno de los vídeos creados por la compañía norteamericana Common Craft. Estos vídeos, muy cortos y sencillos, creados a base de animaciones con recortes de papel, intentan hacer fáciles de entender cuestiones complejas referentes a campos tales como el medio ambiente, la sociedad, la economía o las nuevas tecnologías. Su fin es servir como primera toma de contacto o gran introducción para cualquier tema a tratar en acciones formativas a cualquier nivel.

Este es el vídeo que crearon para el tema de los blogs. En apenas tres minutos sintetiza qué son, cómo funcionan, qué significan y para qué sirven.

Learn how convenient Google Docs is.

You can watch this video below or visit Common Craft’s website.

http://www.commoncraft.com

Looking for some handy tools for teaching?

We scoured the blogs and found a few from last month. Feel free to add more.

Economics and Current Events:
Reuters has created an interactive timeline of the 2008/09 financial crisis that can be a fascinating tool in the classroom. Another handy interactive timeline would be the one from the New York Times, chronicling government policies in response to past recessions.Common Craft has some great videos explaining banking, investing, saving money, and the stock market in plain English that you might want for your classroom as well. Social networking

Always wanted to tweet, but didn’t see how it’s useful in the classroom? Here’s a great blog about twittering in the classroom that will give you some ideas.

Do you have concerns about your privacy on facebook? Here are some tips for you.

Have you seen the fabulous screencast tutorials your librarian made about how to use the LION catalog more effectively for research and searching? Want to make your own? Screenr is a free easy to use online five minute screencasting tool that connects to your twitter account.

Here’s an article about how Boston College is using a wiki as a textbook for one of their information systems classes.

Math
Looking for an online glossary of math vocabulary for students who need a little help? McGraw-Hill has a great website for you.

Science
If you aren’t already watching David Bolinsky’s videos on TED, it’s time to start watching. His concept of the cell as a “huge, bustling city powered by micromachines” is stimulating and just gorgeous. (To go directly to the three-minute excerpt from the film, move forward to 6:55. )

Research and Information Literacy
How about those Common Craft Folks? A couple of my faves include Web Search Strategies in Plain English, The World Wide Web, and Zombies.

Along that same line, kids who need to know more can watch this helpful 1 minute video on Whatbrowser on what a web browser is.

Online Quiz Generators
This blog entry describes five favorite online quiz generators on the web.

ESL
Many Things is a great website for ESL learners and teachers. With crossword puzzles, songs, writing exercises, and more, this website has many helpful resources.

Common Craft é uma empresa show que explica qualquer coisa através de vídeos de 3 minutos. De uma maneira bem didática que incluem inúmeros recortes de papel, é uma ótima ferramenta para aprender. Tem explicação do que é Twitter, do sistema eleitoral dos EUA e também aceita encomendas!

Eles criaram um videozinho bem bacana explicando o que é Social Media através de uma pequena cidade e diversos sabores de sorvete:

It seems like there hasn’t been enough “nerd” around these parts lately, so…

For the past week or so, I’ve been playing with TweetDeck, a Twitter (As an aside, if you aren’t sure what Twitter is, check out this great video that explains Twitter in Plain English) client available both for the desktop and for the iPhone. I’ve been using Twitteriffic for a while now, but I decided to give this a shot. I’ve always heard great things about it, but never got into it.

Overall, I like it. Some of my favorite features:

• Organize those you follow into groups. Then you can swipe from side to side to switch groups. My current groups are “Usual Suspects” (people I read all the time), “Sports” (news and info about my favorite sports), and “The Others” (the people who don’t fit in groups one and two).
• Groups are then synced between your desktop install and your phone. I don’t find it incredibly useful, except for setting up new groups, which is much faster on the desktop.
• It looks clean and feels fast. Important in a Twitter client.
• You can tweet to multiple accounts with a single post. Great for those times when you want to push information out on your own account and a group account (@JasonTheDCE and @FirstTrinity in my case).

Of course, as with anything, there are a few issues I’d like to see resolved:

• Scroll down to the first unread tweet on the iPhone. The desktop client can clear all seen tweets, making it easy to find where you left off.
• Sync the read/unread status for tweets between the desktop and iPhone. It’s a pain to “catch up” when I get to the office or go mobile.
• Make hash tags clickable so they lead to a search for that hash tag.

by Dionne Aiken

From Web sites to print media and even logos, we see how visual communication can simplify complex ideas, processes and information, making them easier to understand.

Consider my colleague Ashley’s post.  Something as complex and as abstract as Web 2.0 can easily be explained using cut-outs and hand drawn graphics.

Check out this video by Common Craft:

(Visit their YouTube Channel for more neat videos.)

Design must be objective with clearly defined goals.  But most importantly, it must address client and consumer needs.

“Understanding Graphics and Visual Communication” by Ryan Hembree explains the difference between fine art and graphic design.  Fine art is a self-driven form of expression with a self-serving purpose where as graphic design, although it uses the same tools, has a client and/or audience/worldly serving purpose.

It’s important to keep in mind the big picture and communication goals at hand when approaching design projects, don’t take it too personal or you’ll just be making art.

Fuente: Common Craft

Fuente: Common Craft

Fuente: Common Craft

I thought that it would be appropriate to show this video for newcomers. It’s from those amazing people over at Common Craft who create other videos like this who need complex social networking services, technological specs, and tech jargon into plain simple words.

I just discovered this awesome little company called: Common Craft. In their own words, their product is “explanation”. They create these awesome, short little videos that explain a variety of topics in simple terms. These videos can be viewed for free here – but may be purchased for educational and training use. They also offer custom video production, which I assume will be in their signature style.

Here are a few great samples (I’m showcasing their Social Media and Web videos, since those were the ones that led me to them – videos after the jump):

Social Media In Plain English:

Social Networking In Plain English

Blogs In Plain English

Twitter In Plain English

Social Bookmarking In Plain English

World Wide Web In Plain English

Web Search Strategies In Plain English

Online Photo Sharing In Plain English

Wikis In Plain English

Common Craft has taken the internet technology dilemma of “too much information but not enough understanding,” and found a way to teach people about it, while making a profit. Their “in Plain Site” video template is simple, creative and informative. During our previous class, Lee LeFever of Common Craft told us about his small Seattle based company, “we don’t do things because we’re supposed to do; we do it because it makes us happy.” This is extremely important for anybody looking for some enjoyment in their career. Even though their company is taking off, they’re managing it in a way that allows them to do what they want. According to a Read Write Web article, “inquiries from clients were coming fast and furious, the company saw between five and ten inquiries for custom videos every day.”

Taking a different stab at the traditional business model is working well for Common Craft. According to Video Nuze May of this year, “they’re already generating $15K/mo in license fees.” But being a small company and trying to monetize the YouTube model has its issues. While LeFever didn’t talk in-depth about the copyright issues, one of his recent blog posts expressed their concern with popularity. As LeFever commented, their good “Google juice” made them a target for imitation. Once the concept of ‘in Plain English’ caught on, people felt compelled to mimic their brand: “when a video uses paper cut-outs on a whiteboard and ‘in Plain English’ in the title, people may mistake it for part of the Common Craft video series. This confusion compromises the hard work we’ve put into building the Common Craft brand of ‘in Plain English’ videos.”

Rooted deep in social media, they were able to conjure up the support of their fans and serve justice against infringers. Common Craft has also introduced a licensing plan for their videos, which allows people to use them once, for intranet sites, or commercial use. LeFever mentioned that, while most of their videos are available online for free viewing, often businesses go the extra mile to purchase the correct license. They have also gone to create video categories, which makes them even more distinguishable as a brand versus just a creative group.

Their unique business model would an interesting research project. I see some concern in the delicate balance in this company of two, but yet don’t know much about the day-to-day business. Looking at Common Craft’s success, I wouldn’t say you could duplicate the model and apply it to a similar venture; it is the individuals that make the different inside this model.

Common Craft YouTube Channel

The benefits of technology and more specifically the internet, seem to be endless: information and data accessibility, entertainment, commerce, ease of communication, etc. For me, technology is attractive because it  makes our lives easier to navigate. The innovation of cloud computing has made this even more apparent. The idea of syncing all of your files (photos, music, documents, etc.) and having accessibility wherever you are, is absolutely amazing. When I was in college at Michigan State University, each student received 100MB of AFS space. AFS is the acronym for “Andrew File System,” it is the central MSU network file storage system, which was originally developed at Carnegie Mellon University in 1984. The idea was to provide a campus-wide file system for home directories. With this, I built my first website. I also used this space to save files for all of my different courses. I could then visit the main library or friends’ dorm rooms and still have access to all my files. I thought this was great, but I used it mainly as a FTP service, which wasn’t very convenient. However, cloud computing is now available to everyone and sometimes completely free.

Many people don’t understand what cloud computing is, although many people use it everyday. Whether you save emails from friends or family in your Gmail or Hotmail account, post photos to Flickr or videos to YouTube; you are saving your files on a network other than your personal computer – this is the cloud. But the cloud is much more intelligent than what I just described. These examples describe hosting solutions for you to save content, but the cloud also provides real-time access to save, edit and share documents, spreadsheets, presentations, music and movies. Many companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple offer cloud computing solutions.

The cloud provides many opportunities for brands to create innovative marketing solutions such as Apple MobileMe, Nike+ or Google Maps. But what company will win? What brand will win the great race to brand the clouds?

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing, also known as utility computing or hardware as a service (HaaS), is the instant access to dynamic and scalable resources to operate software and applications over the internet. The cloud is defined by six elements:

1. Infrastructure (Infrastructure as a Service – IaaS): Is a service providing the seamless architecture and resources (e.g. servers, CPU, memory, etc.) for instant, dynamic and scalable computing power (e.g. Grid computing, virtualization, etc.)
2. Storage: Is a service simply allowing you to store your content (e.g. Rackspace)
3. Platform (Platform as a Service – PaaS): Is the service that provides  hardware and computing software allowing you to remotely access and operate your cloud server to develop, test, deploy, host and maintain applications (e.g. Microsoft Azure Services Platform, Amazon Web Services, Apple MobileMe, Microsoft Live Mesh,etc.)
4. Applications: Are the tools that provide functionality to perform various computing tasks, such as uploading creating, editing and sharing documents, spreadsheets or presentations (e.g. Google Docs: Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Form)
5. Software/Service (Software as a Service – SaaS): Is the service that delivers and is utilized in real-time over the internet (e.g. Google Maps, OpenID, PayPal, etc.)
6. Client: Is the computer hardware/software dependent on cloud computing in order to operate (e.g. Mozilla Firefox, Palm Pre webOS, Google G1 Android, Apple iPhone OS)

The idea behind the cloud seems so natural, why not have access to everything you want, whenever you want? Moreover, why not use another network other than your own? Especially if it’s cost efficient. In a Wired article titled “Cloud Computing. Available at Amazon.com Today,” Spencer Reiss and the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, discuss the cloud:

“Utility computing is Web 2.0’s version of rocket fuel. ‘You don’t generate your own electricity,’ Bezos says. ‘Why generate your own computing?’ The forces driving online apps — internet bandwidth and reliability — also mean that, in terms of data per dollar, servers in your closet or co-location facility can’t compete with industrial-scale bits piped in from hundreds, even thousands, of miles away.”

The Cloud: Strengths

• Accessibility: Cloud-based services allow you to retrieve data and information wherever you are: home, work or play – as long as you have an internet connection
• Captivating: These services become a part of your daily life because they provide utility and convenience
• Convenience: The ability to access files, music and photos no matter where you are
• Content Generation: Users are able to create content wherever they are and in some cases in places they normally wouldn’t
• Inexpensive: The cost to utilize the cloud varies. The current cost structure is either free, based on a monthly subscription or by frequency of use
• Instant Computing Power: Every computer is limited to certain level of power, however with the cloud you can use someone else’s  computing power instantly without purchasing another hard drive
• Scalability: As you require additional space to conduct more work, the cloud allows you to readily increase resources
  
• Synchronization: My personal favorite benefit of the cloud, the ability to sync online and files on other computers
• Usefulness: This is the true strength that every brand should utilize. The cloud can support many different services that provide utility

The Cloud: Weaknesses

• Profit Margins: In a Wired article titled “Microsoft’s Ray Ozzie Sees Lower Margins From Cloud Computing,” Reuters explains that “Microsoft Corp’s chief software architect says the profit margins on providing online services — broadly known as cloud computing — would likely yield a lower profit margin than the company’s existing software business.” This obviously isn’t a disadvantage for consumers, but for companies, the margin from software is greater than cloud computing
• Reliability: The reliability of cloud computing can be an issue. If your internet connection goes down, you won’t have access to your most important files (e.g. Google doc or map)
• Speed: The efficiency of your infrastructure and internet connection will affect performance; and depending on the platform you are using, this may help or hinder performance
• Ubiquity: While the cloud-based service you use for your personal files are technically available all the time, anywhere; you may not always have access due to internet accessibility or connection speed

The Cloud and Branding

Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud allows brands to utilize the inherent drama of cloud technology to create innovative marketing solutions. In an ADWEEK article titled “Investing in the Cloud” Bob Greenberg, the chairman, CEO of R/GA, explains that “there is absolutely no reason why brands can’t get into this game. At its core, cloud-based marketing is powered by a simple idea: be useful to your customers and they in turn will be loyal to your brand. The cloud is a massive engine of technological utility, with myriad ways to be useful to customers.”  More specifically, the cloud allows brands to create marketing services that:

• Provide utility. Brands have the opportunity to augment current services or create new services that are useful in the daily lives of their customers, which could enhance their brand image and loyalty
• Create an engaging experience. These interactive services captivate customers
• Encourage content generation. As consumers continue to use these services, they are directly fueling the cloud-based service with new content as it is integrated into their daily lives
  
• Utilize a new medium. As Greenberg explains, “…by building cloud-based services, brands create instances of “owned” media. These media channels have reach, frequency and 100 percent relevance with the intended audience.”
• Decrease media budget. As Greenberg explains, “…the old investment model for advertising was based on roughly a 20/80 split: spend 20 percent of the budget conceiving and producing the idea, and 80 percent on media delivering the message. The cloud-based service model inverses this split: spend the lion’s share developing the technology and just a small amount on a bit of paid media to spark awareness. Beyond that, “earned” media takes over and consumers and PR channels spread awareness virally to drive further adoption.”
• Utilize a new financial model. Brands must continue to support advertising campaigns by investing in media otherwise results will be nonexistent. However, production for cloud-based services is inexpensive and continues to reach consumers frequently as they become dependent on these useful services to help navigate their lives. Over time, the cloud will decrease marketing costs

Below are case studies of brands that understand and embrace the cloud as part of their offerings as well as a few brands that just don’t understand the cloud.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

One of the pioneers of cloud computing is Amazon. Cloud computing became a solution for Amazon when they were on a journey to discover something very different. In 1999, Amazon wanted to open its storefronts up to third-party selling, all in response to eBay. At the time, it seemed odd that Amazon would open the doors to third-parties, but in Jeff Bezos’ words, “If you’re trying to have not just every book but every out-of-print book, every indie-band CD, and every vinyl record, there’s no way you’re going to do it on your own. You have to open up.” The result was Amazon auctions, which later became the current Amazon Marketplace. But to make this idea a reality, they had to solve technical problems with speed, reliability and scalability to support these third-party storefronts on their databases and servers. This resulted in a new architecture with unexpected opportunities. As stated by Spencer Reiss in a Wired article titled “Cloud Computing. Available at Amazon.com Today,” Amazon’s next new business was “opening not just the store in the sky, but the very silicon and software that keeps it aloft.” Reiss further explains that:

“AWS capitalizes on Amazon’s combination of computational skills and operational savvy. It piggybacks on a multibillion-dollar IT infrastructure. And it pulls in a whole new category of customers looking for rock-solid scalable computing on demand — blue-chip startups like Zillow and PowerSet, kids in garages building the next Google, even adventurous corporate IT jocks looking to offload some of the drudgery.”

AWS is an example of a cloud computing platform (platform as a service – PaaS) and leverages all of the cloud’s advantages. What’s interesting about AWS is that it wasn’t created as a product, but as a byproduct from another idea. Regardless, Amazon successfully utilized the cloud to develop a cloud service that companies and individuals will utilize. Further, as Amazon continues to refine its service, the overall brand image will be augmented and hopefully brand loyalty will follow in other Amazon services. I think it will.

New York Times

Similar to how Google Books allows users to search full text from millions of books, the New York Times as digitized over 150 years worth of newspapers into searchable PDFs all of which are hosted on Amazon’s cloud servers. This is a great example of a brand facing pressure to remain relevant as emerging media changes the landscape. Again, providing useful information in a convenient manner and planning for future growth. FYI: Twitter and Justin.tv also utilize AWS to host data and information.

Google Docs

If you are not familiar with Google Docs, the video above by Common Craft provides a great explanation, in plain English. Google Docs provides every benefit that the cloud can offer, everything from convenience to scalability to synchronization. And actually, scalability will be even more evident with the future release of the GDrive, which will allow consumers to purchase additional space for their Gmail, Docs or Picasa photos. Search was the main service that Google provided, however they saw the opportunity in the clouds and beat Microsoft to claim the cloud-based word processing and spreadsheet market. While Microsoft’s cloud-based Microsoft Office Live Workspace is available, it was Google that really took advantage of the cloud. Of course hindsight is always 20/20, but the inherent problem with word processing and spreadsheet files was that you didn’t have one central version – the cloud made this possible. Google saw this opportunity and seized the moment.

Nike+

Nike+ is a perfect example of what brands can accomplish by utilizing the cloud to augment or create products/services that become a part of people’s lives and change it in a positive way. For those runners that have a Nike+iPod, upon completing a run, they can sync their iPods and upload their data to the Nike+ website. Here is where the beauty of the cloud works. Once runners visit the site, they can review a dashboard of recent runs, set goals and create challenges or training programs. And even sign-up for online and offline events, such as The Nike+ Human Race. All of this information is saved in the clouds and users have the ability to access it via the Nike+ application (i.e. website). The Nike+ sensor and chip may technically be the product Nike sells, however it is the service and experience they provide that makes this an amazing brand experience. On a personal note,  I have been using Nike+ for almost three years now and absolutely love it. Only a few months ago, shortly after Wired featured Nike+ on the cover for unleashing the power of personal metrics, Nike with the help of R/GA completely redesigned the Nike+ website. It’s beautiful. Usability has been enhanced. And social media tools have been integrated to help extend awareness of the product/service to a larger audience.

Fiat eco:Drive

Together, AKQA and Fiat created a Nike+ for Fiat vehicles called Fiat eco:Drive. Utilizing a USB drive, this technology tracks your driving technique and the online application than analyzes your driving style to help you improve how efficient you drive in order to use less fuel, which will reduce your CO2 emissions and save you money. Similar to Nike+, users can share their information with a community, called Ecoville. Again, it’s this cloud-based application that allows users to reference data and better understand how they can change their driving style to help the environment. Users do not save their information on their personal computers, but in the clouds. Very impressive.

Kodak Gallery

Similar to Flickr, Kodak provided a free online photo gallery service where users could save, print and share their photos. This business model was sustained on the hope that customers would at some point, opt-in for premium services to offset the free users, also known as the “freeium” model. However, Kodak Gallery decided to change their business model. In an AdAge article titled “This Cloud (Computing) Has No Silver Lining,” Matthew Knell explains that Kodak began requiring “users to make minimum purchases in order to subsidize the use of its websites and kill its “freemium” model. The new plans range from $4.99 to $19.99 per month. And if you don’t pay the fee or provide a minimum purchase by a given date? Your photos will be deleted.” This is a problem many online newspapers are experiencing right now. As newspapers continue to lose subscribers, many online versions of the newspapers (e.g. Wall Street Journal) are asking users to subscribe for premium online services. But even the Wall Street Journal still provides some free online services. Kodak essentially implemented a bait and switch tactic to lure customers in and quickly changed their business model. By changing their business model, Kodak ruined their brand image and may have ended the loyalty that many of the users had. While the cloud service that Kodak initially provided fulfilled the users’ expectations of accessibility, convenience and price – by changing their service, Kodak removed what may have been the most important benefit to its customers. Before brands develop cloud services, they must plan for the future. If you foresee that you may have to charge your users in the future, do so at the onset and provide a service that is worth the financial commitment.

Evernote

And now for the number one reason I love the cloud, data synchronization. There are many brands out there right now that are developing apps or services around this benefit: Apple MobileMe, Microsoft Live Mesh and Evernote. This technology allows users to sync files, folders and other data across multiple devises. Evernote’s tag is “Remember Everything” and this is completely true. Users are able to create content, sync it on their computer, mobile phone or online and then access it anywhere. I downloaded the Evernote app for my Palm Pre, but I have to wait until I purchase Leopard for my Mac.

The Great Race to Brand the Clouds

The cloud inherently provides many opportunities for brands to create innovative marketing solutions such as those listed above. To answer the question I posed earlier, what company will win? What brand will win the great race to brand the clouds? The answer is every brand that embraces the cloud and creates new services that are engaging and encourage content generation, and utilize a new medium that is cost effective. Lastly, as Bob Greenberg explains in an ADWEEK article titled “Investing in the Cloud” the cloud “is about the democratization of technology – and democracy is a good thing. Make sure your brand participates.” However, while it is a democracy, I believe a few brands make it a monarchy:

• Amazon branded the clouds as a platform (Platform as a Service – PaaS). Interesting note, Amazon was the first company to sell cloud computing as a service
• Google branded the clouds for utility applications. While Microsoft does have their full Office suite available online, Google made a bigger impact
• Nike+ branded the clouds for entertainment applications. As of yet, we have not seen anything as integrated into the lives of its users

Twitter の仕組みを説明する紙芝居・・・

★ →［Common Craft］
★ →［YouTube］

Technorati Tags: Common Craft, Twitter

A Common Craft produz vídeos curtos para fazer que idéias complexas se tornem fáceis de entender.

O sucesso do Twitter era algo complexo pra mim.

Por que o Twitter faz tanto sucesso?
Por que ele parece ser tão útil pra uns e tão inútil pra mim?
Por que algumas empresas deixam funcionários pesquisando o Twitter o dia todo?

Aí achei esse vídeo e tudo ficou mais claro!

AQUI tem vários outros vídeos curtos e explicativos.

Obs: São todos em inglês!

Below is a Google document that I created and then sent out to all the students going to Paris. We are meeting tomorrow afternoon to decide our plans and schedule for the long weekend. Take a look at all of the things I would like to do! Ill update you on our solid schedule once we have one.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dk4t32h_67fp5wzdcj 

~M

Para vos que no entendés para que sirve la herramienta Twitter. Para vos que pensas: que hace esa cantidad de gente escribiendo todo el día lo que hace en cada instante. Para vos principiante, para vos esta sencilla explicación:

Como ya nos tienen acostumbrados los chicos de Common Craft, ahora nos enseñan de la forma más simple que es twitter.

François Derbaix (fderbaix) nos introduce en Twitter con unos consejos para principiantes:

1. usa tu nombre real como nombre usuario: el mío es JuaniBrex
2. completa tu perfil con tu nombre + apellidos + enlace a tu página personal (si tienes) y una pequeña “bio” (biografía)
3. busca tus amigos en Twitter:
4. público: cuidado: todo lo que publicas es público
5. privado: si no quieres que tus twits sean públicos puedes poner tu perfil en privado.
6. mensajes directos (privados): usa la opción Direct Messages
7. no-reciprocidad: puedes seguir a gente que no te siguen a ti, y vice-versa
8. @usuario es una forma de escribir directamente a alguien.
9. qué dicen de tí: usa la opción “@tu-nombre” a la derecha para ver los mensajes que te mencionan
10. blablabla @usuario: si quieres que lo vean todos tienes que empezar con otra palabra y mencionar @usuario en tu mensaje.
11. RT @usuario significa re-tweet.
12. via @usuario: si comentas lo que comenta otro puedes añadir algo como “(via @usuario)” al final del twit
13. #algo es una forma de añadir una etiqueta a un twit para que sea más “buscable” en twitter.
14. 90 dar y 10 recibir:
15. Sígueme en Twitter: @JuaniBrex

La clave sigue siendo encontrarle un uso adecuado. ¿Para qué otro tipo de cosas se puede usar twitter?

 Scrap that last posting, because this week I’m all over social recruitment and loving it. By all means give me the reins and I will lead thee into unchartered waters. We’re going digital if it kills me. It’s just so darn effective!

As you can tell, I’ve obviously had a few eye-popping experiences with social recruitment of late. It started last week with some innocent sourcing of MBA students/grads for senior roles. I found myself really getting into scouring LinkMe for candidates… it’s just so darn convenient. I’ve also been happily helping coordinate a print ad campaign to attract followers to a careers Twitter site, thinking strategically about what audience consistency we need to make it a viable talent pool. And following a Social Media Seminar at an ad agency this morning I’ve decided YES, do vote for me:  I’m happy to be the resident social recruitment advisor (even if I have to learn it all from scratch). It makes sense, you can make it work, and it’s FUN!

I’m not sure many people have the support I do in terms of making these things happen. So how do you – recruiter, employer, humble employee – help convince the boss that social recruitment & using social media for employment branding is worth the investment, IF THEY THEMSELVES DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS?

Step 1: Get thee to YouTube and look up ‘Common Craft’

These guys will make your life SO much easier. Just fix your manager a nice cup of tea, plonk them in front of their laptop, and press ‘play’ on the videos about Social Media and Social Networking. These crafty guys explain web 2.0 in everyday language, using everyday analogies. I particularly like the one about the ice cream.

Step 2:  Get them social networking

Even if it takes the somewhat painful exercise of sitting there with them and setting up their Facebook/LinkedIN/Twitter account and teaching them step by step how to use it. Showing them your own profiles or various screen shots won’t do the trick. They need to be on there and using it. (Beware this step can have the unforeseen side effect of having your boss ‘friend/link’ you on said sites… so some rudimentary education on “I have a personal life” might be in order).

Step 3: Cover your arse

Develop a social media policy, or at very least some guidelines. Once they see what’s possible, it’s natural they’ll think about what’s disastrously possible. How will you handle the candidate that lets rip on Whirlpool on why they weren’t selected; the graduate that posts their drinking photos on the company Facebook site? Yes, it might seem like a hassle to get IT & Legal involved in the sign off, but put it this way: most of this technology is free. The leg work is in the prep work.

Step 4: Put it all into context

Those bosses that don’t worry about the possible consequences might be the sort to want to go the gung-ho approach, so a little education on where various social media sites have their pitfalls and strengths will help steer them towards adopting a strategic – rather than “get us on everything” – approach. Make sure you justify why you’re heading down some roads and not others; and how it’s simply not possible to be everywhere, doing everything.

To help with this one, I love the Conversation Prism (by Brian Solis & JESS3), which helpfully illustrates just a portion of the social media universe so you can classify for the boss what’s what – and what’s worth it vs leave it.

Step 5: Clear control

Once the boss is engaged, get crunchy on who’s in control. Who’s driving the social recruitment strategy; and who amongst your recruiters/employees have the right skills and desire to engage with it? Yes, there needs to be ownership, but set up the expectation that not everything can be planned and controlled. There will be organic opportunities, new technologies that come up you simply must adopt, and there will be things (possibly problematic) that happen outside of your control.

Step 6: Get educated

The best part of social recruitment is it’s so easily DIY. No agency required. Stay up to date with blogs like Mashable, Chris Brogan, Michael Specht, Social Media, The Buzz Bin & Six Pixels of Separation, all of which offer great insights into new social media tools and approaches. Or perhaps BlogWrite for CEOS for your aspiring CEO-blogger, should you want to head down the road of ANZ.

If you do need professional help with social recruitment attraction strategies, weigh up the benefits of using a traditional media agency vs a specialised digital one. On one hand having a one-stop-shop for all your media handling can be great; on the other – specialised digital agencies live and breathe this stuff every day.

And for the holy grail of social media knowledge, you’ll need a whole other set of instructions on convincing your boss to send you to the Social Recruiting Summit. And as I’m still working on that one myself,  unfortunately no pointers here…

Good luck!

Sharing photos with family and friends has never been easier than it is today.  With the advent of digital cameras and photo sharing sites it has also never been more cost effective to show off your photos to friends and family!  I  recall, not too long ago it was a time intensive and often a costly affair to process a role of film and it was also a gamble (at least for me) to know if there were photos that would be “share” worthy, until I picked them up from the photo shop. Now, I am able to delete bad photos immediately after capturing them and can upload the remaining desirable photos from my digital camera, in just a few short steps, to store them on my computer.  I can then use and share them in a multitude of ways, at my leisurely convenience, and since I have the computer and the camera there is no major cost involved with taking photos.  

According to Richardson (2009, p. 99), as far as creating, publishing and using images onlie, digital photographs are “the easiest place for teachers and students to begin experimenting with creating and publishing content other than text.”  There are so many options for photo sharing and I have considered just a few for this blog.  Further considerations will be shared in upcoming blogs, as I progress through the course and find further uses for photo-sharing. 

For my work we seek photo submissions from our students only once a year for our annual awards celebration where we honour all student and mentor of the year nominees and award winners.  We put the photos in a slide show presentation for the celebration and then that is it they are filed away for good.  Upon consideration, I can imagine many ways that photo sharing could be integrated with our teaching and learning though. How about as a tool for marketing students to create portfolio’s for which the link could be included in a resume or cover letter. Or we could create an account where all students with out of town placements could create an album introducing their new locations to current and future co-op students.  As well, it is not hard to imagine that if we find ways for students to create blogs for their assignments that they could find many creative ways to utilize photos and photo sharing sites in their blogs. 

Photo heaven here we come: I love taking photos and looking at pictures, mine and anyone else’s and so although researching photo sharing has been a lengthy task it has been enjoyable every step of the way.  While researching photo sharing I was sure to check out Joanne de Groot’s Trailfire recommendations on photo-sharing, http://www.trailfire.com/joannedegroot/trailview/61576?q=joannedegroot, and I must admit that she has an eye for good finds on all topics Web 2.0.  I too enjoy the Common Craft series “…In Plain English” and have found it simple and informative on every topic we have covered to date.  Joanne also recommends the Wiki on photo sharing and I agree that it too has a very thorough overview of photo sharing and provides users with many possible directions to begin photo sharing.  When I did the Wiki search specifically for Flickr, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr, I was patriotically pleased to learn that it was developed and originated from a Vancouver based company! Way to go Canadians on diversifying our economic base – I would love to see and hear about more Canadian technology start ups.  Just guess who they sold their wonderful product to (follow the wiki link above to find out). 

Here are my Flickr considerations, to date.  I signed up this week and loaded a few pictures to see what it is all about, since when it comes to photo sharing research Flickr almost always tops the search list.  I added their blog to my sidebar links and you can also see the Flickr WordPress Widget (reminder: widgets are the add-ons included with all Wordrpress blog accounts) in the sidebar.  If I wanted to, I could also load my flickr address into to the sidebar widget and you would then see my photos but I am going to leave it as it is because I like that it updates with 3 random Flickr photos every time you come back to my blog.  Flickr comes very highly recommended, from Richardson (2009), with all of chapter 7 dedicated to “Fun with Flickr” and of course, wiki on photo-sharing includes flickr on its list of photo sharing websites, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_sharing.  Because I have a yahoo account it was easy to sign up.  I have only loaded six pictures to test it out and can share my flickr pix with you now so that you can check this application out for your consideration, http://www.flickr.com/photos/curlyspix/.

Picasa is another photo sharing website and is the way to go if you have a Google account and if you are using Google’s Blogger you’ll be on easy street for sharing your photos on your blog.  If you have loads of stored photos on your computer(s) hard drive(s), like I do, it is amazingly fast at searching your drives and organizing all of your photos on your computer with just the click of a button and as a result they are organized and ready to upload to your online account. WOW, this was an almost instantaneous process once the initial program install finished!  It is also exceptionally easy to upload your photos to your Picasa account so that they are there to share and use for all of your online purposes. Additionally, the computer application has many fun and easy to use features, including the ability to create photo collages, movie presentations and creating gift cd’s.  I chose to create a collage from a folder of pictures from my Italy trip to show you an example and I uploaded the collage to Picasa where you can now view it from this link, http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/J4SZB7aRMYtZjm8nK0VDpQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCOyJ-L6q8_TuVg&feat=directlink.  So easy, so fun, and so cool! ~:)

Ossaia Collage Created with Picasa

Florence, Italy: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157236&id=120407175&l=bcf7334235

Cortona, Italy: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157230&id=120407175&l=df705a6954

Photo Creation Fun: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34990425&l=16a95e91ea&id=120407175

University of Alberta Campus, Summer 2008: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118637&id=120407175&l=d70037ca97

Sydney, Australia: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041154&id=120407175&l=1aa6aa37ed

Facebook photo albums allow some control over who can see your photos, for example, you can choose to have only friends be able to see the photos or you can choose to allow friends of friends, networks you belong to on facebook or everyone on facebook to be able to view your albums. You can set your privacy settings for each album so if there are albums that you are fine with everyone viewing you can leave them open for all to view or you can set them so only your “friends” can view certain albums.  

There are many other online photo sharing websites including: Photobucket, Smilebox, Smugmug, Atpic…….. you get the picture (lol)! ~:)

Looking back: I recall the first scanner we bought about ten years ago with all intensions of opening up the printed photos and scanning them to share with all of our family members.  The majority of my old, printed photos never even made it into an album, never mind to the scanner bed and in fact most currently rest in small boxes waiting to be seen again someday. Sometimes, I do choose to print a small selection of my digital photos from home, on my Canon colour printer for a mere cost of just cents per copy, so that I can include pictures with special occasion cards that I mail to family back in BC.  When needed, I upload my photos to London Drugs, and can even enlarge to poster size photos for very minimal and reasonable fees, https://www.londondrugs.com/LDPS/psLogin.htm.  When I first used 1-hour photo service back in the days of film and dark rooms, I felt as though I had come upon an amazing cutting edge technology. 

Do you remember the onset of 1-hour photo labs – so cutting edge!! For a blast from the past read about the 1 hour photo revolution from the London Drugs perspective and pause for a moment to recall your personal history with photography:  http://www.londondrugs.com/Cultures/en-US/Content/CorporateInfo/The+Story+of+London+Drugs/One+Hour+Revolution.htm. ~:)

 Over the past five or six years though, it is extremely rare that I print my photos but I can say with confidence that my photos are now viewed and shared more than ever.  It pleases me immensely to share my photos with the people in my life that matter to me, especially those who do not live close to us.  I do not really have a desire to put them out there for everyone to see but I do want those who are dear to us to share in the fun and creative things that are happening in our life and through photos, I feel I capture the special events and am able to share them with my uploaded albums.  ~:)

Reference:
Richardson, W. (2008). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (Second Edition.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Related articles:

• Download Images From Picasa Web Albums To Your Desktop (techie-buzz.com)
• Fotopedia: An Online Encyclopedia for Photos (mashable.com)