An Alaskan Dossier

Four-ohno-Four

1. Don’t leech a neighbor’s wifi.
• I was uploading the new version of WordPress (2.8) to my server via the lawyers next door. They have this available for client use, and to prevent misuse, block certain websites (namely Facebook). Unless it’s your own connection (or your that of your office), don’t trust its reliability.
2. If you’re already having problems with uploading, don’t continue.
• I had already had some issues in getting some WordPress plug-in updates to transfer. The “server” kept disconnecting, and I kept trying. I should have taken this as a warning sign not to try and upload all 500 files of a new WP install.
3. Have a back-up plan for getting back up to speed if your blog breaks.
• As I’m writing this, I’m having the damndest time trying to get things to display right. Chances are, I could just delete the directory and start from scratch, I guess? So as of now, I’m going to write each post as its own file, and keep that on my hard-drive so I can start over again.

If you blog what works for you? I’m curious to see if other “bloggers” have scorched-earth/back-up plans.

While I am a summer intern at Commonwealth North and may be reflecting on my work there, the views and opinions expressed are mine alone and do not represent the official views of Commonwealth North.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this blog. Every other year or so, I get recommitted to doing it, but I haven’t found a way to structure it into my existing daily tasks. Fortunately, I’ve become the self-proclaimed, in-house social media dude for Commonwealth North. Being volunteer labor has its advantages.

One of my recent deliverable commitments is leaving behind a how-to on how to maintain the social media accounts I’ve established for the organization. I want to use this blog to assemble the chapters live, and gain guidance from the existing group of social media mentors online.

As I work on each section, I’ll post bits of it, with questions, in the hopes to solicit advice and drive conversation on the relevance of social media beyond the “everyone’s on it” argument.

This isn’t so much daunting as it is provocative. Now, I have to not only explain how to use social media technology, but also provide guidelines and principles by which one uses the technology. There is a lot of excitement over the possibilities of reaching our members, and enriching the work we do together with things like Ustream.tv, blip.tv, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. But what else are we missing? How can we make these work together?

I recently picked up Seth Godin’s Small Is the New Big from the public library. I’ll be honest, had I not been stalling in the stacks that day, I probably would not have given this book a chance. Too often, deep, thoughtful, rich conversations about leadership, management, and strategy are lost in the wilderness of buzzwords. Don’t get me wrong, words are useful shorthand for complex systems of thought. The branding junkie in me, loves the power of words.

Turns out Seth Godin is more than just a purple cow. He actually gives nuanced issues the reflection they deserve. From accountability to change (that’s as far as I’ve gotten), and a few of his eBooks, Seth covers the gamut of issues affecting organizations in today’s changing digital landscape.

But what reeled me in? Two things:

• “Multiple channels of information mean that
  it’s almost impossible to live a lie.
  Authentic stories spread and last.” (pg ix)

• “Blogs work when they are based on:
  Candor
  Urgency
  Timeliness
  Pithiness
  Controversy
  (Utility, maybe, if you want six)
  [...]
  Save the fluff for the annual report.” (pg 23)

Gave me some hope and direction for my own blog. (And what to shoot for). As well as some legitimacy to my mentors’ and peers’ urges to “live your truth” or “don’t worry about what other people think, just do what’s true to you, and what you feel is right“.

This Sunday, Bishop Michael Keys, addressed stewardship to the church my family attends, and observed that people in my generation are quite possibly the best people to have on board. With one caveat: “if they’re engaged, they’re committed; but as soon as they become disengaged, they’re out the door.” This is nothing but a concrete statement in Eagle River, where at least a third of the families are stationed at a military base as part of their three-year rotation. If these families aren’t engaged from day one, they’ll move on to a different faith community; military families need to be able to establish roots in their home community, ASAP.

Religious implications aside, these realities and observations have merits for any community-based organization expecting to reach Gen Y/Me/Now/Whatever.

Given this, here are five questions that I think are useful in framing the discussion of emerging leadership in a webbed world. Especially if you plan on leading a community.

1. When do traits or events that have been traditionally viewed as problems or challenges, become assets and opportunities?
2. Who are you losing because you fail to engage?
3. How do you make nuanced relationships count in a polarized idea marketplace?
4. What can you do to enrich those relationships through participation in your organization?
5. Most importantly, given our geographical disparity, how can we make social media work to Alaska’s advantage?

What are your thoughts?

These are some posts I found interesting today.

( Feb 14 – 00:11 to 11:58 )

• Who Will Own The Skies? –
• Palin –
• Citro –
• Palin gets support on predator-control –
• Is Troopergate a good reason to amend the Constitution? –
• MacDonald back at Channel 2 as news director –
• Urgent Call to Action: Conyers Bill Opposing NIH Open Access Policy May Soon Come to House Vote –
• Mindfuck Movies –
• Top 20 Most-Viewed Items for January –
• 25 Non-Random Things About Writing Short –

These are some posts I found interesting over the last few days.

( Feb 12 through Feb 13 )

• High-Octane Beer Bill Advances –
• On a Pedestal –
• Media Shields Up! –
• University of Alaska-Anchorage –
• Authors Guild Claims Text-to-Speech Software Is Illegal –
• Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters – CNN.com –
• WhatTheFont for the iPhone –
• Stimulus bill close to passage in DC; millions for Alaska projects –
• Obama calls Alaska gas pipeline promising –
• Warming climate, entreprenurial spirit may bear fruit for Alaska –

These are some posts I found interesting over the last few days.

( Feb 9 through Feb 10 )

• Tribune innovation chief complains about TV anchors’ “plastic-looking” wall photos – The Daily Pulp
  Lee Abrams is unhappy with the appearance of the company's TV anchors. "Since we're all about brutal honesty: We looked at the photos of your anchors on the wall. They're SO plastic looking," he writes in his latest THINK PIECE. "I'm all for attractive and intelligent, but the photos undermine that. They look like cardboard cutouts. Soul less. More akin to an 8×10 glossy of The Captain and Tennile [sic] in 1977 than modern TV journalists."
• Bobby Martin, Gel-in –
• Legislators consider raising minimum wage –
• Legislators move to get Mount McKinley renamed Denali –
• In Brief: The Wrong Kind of Breathtaking –
• The Sopranos, Uncensored –

These are some posts I found interesting today.

( Feb 9 – 13:44 to 22:05 )

• McSweeney –
• & –
• London Lava –
• Kind of Awesome –
• Newsweek –
• Why Steve Jobs’ magic won’t work with newspapers – The Big Money
  "Put simply, journalism is not music," writes Gabriel Sherman. "Yes, Steve Jobs convinced consumers to pay for music in digital form. But unlike an individual newspaper link, an iTunes purchase becomes digital property a music lover can enjoy for life. Compare that to a dispatch from Baghdad or an analysis of the stimulus bailout. No matter how illuminating and engaging, journalism is fleeting by comparison."
• What Can Blogging Do? –
• I Want My GPM –
• & –
• Thanks for that. –

These are some posts I found interesting over the last few days.

( Feb 7 through Feb 9 )

• Humans Are Bad With Money –
• 3-year-old loses 3 fingers in downtown escalator: Anchorage | adn.com –
• 140 Characters Or Less –
• Manna –
• Best Public Speaking Articles: Weekly Review [2009-02-07] –
• Alaska Ear: Alaska Ear | adn.com –
• Et Tu, Peter Sagal? –
• This Week on Drugs –
• State Senate holds Todd Palin and 8 others in contempt –
• YouTube – gazorra –

These are some posts I found interesting over the last few days.

( Feb 5 through Feb 6 )

• Reboot –
• Ex-USA Today editor: Imagine the newspaper being invented *after* the modem –
• Phelps –
• A New Obama Anthem –
• The View From Your Window –
• untitled (broken glass) –
• Fucking Teenagers –
• Axl vs. Frank: More time doesn –
• Bill Gates at TED –
• With Obama in the White House, Community Organizers Think Their Time Has Come –

These are some posts I found interesting over the last few days.

( Jan 22 through Jan 25 )

• It Might Be Cool –
• Why We Don –
• “Could you read this out loud for me?” | Pro Humorist –
• A Steamy, Wonky Love Letter to Sean Hannity –
• Holding Obama to His Transparency Promises –
• Super big photo of Obama and crowd at the inauguration –
• Coldplay Puppets in Technicolor –
• Genetic Algorithms –
• (UPDATED) Inaugural disappointment –
• Tips for Spotting Psychological Pseudoscience: A Student-Friendly Guide – Psi Chi –