Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum

Link Love for Socialmeter

Tip: Try the socialmeter tool to determine what kind of love you're getting from social media hot spots.

They didn't tell me I'm a Social Media rock star - or much I didn't suspect already. But it did give me some indication about where I'm doing well - and not so well.

Not a bad investment of sixty seconds or so.

Cisco and the Search for Employees in Virtual Worlds

Before I go on to yet another post talking about twitter <insert readers' groans> Just a quick one about Virtual worlds, If you wondered how people get hired to work in the Virtual World field, here's a tidbit.

I attended an event in Second Life this morning at which Mitch Wagner of Information Week - Ziggy Figaro in Second Life and @ziggyfigaro on twitter - talked about the Virtual Career Fair Cisco is holding today with their partner companies.

Cisco has done amazing work using Second Life and other VWs for business, and this was a chance to get a feel for what the recruiting effort was about,

The guests were Christian Renaud the chief architect for networked virtual environments and Randy Sisk who is the Cisco's new markets and technologies scout.

(as an aside, we decided we all want to have "scout" in our titles)

Christian explained that

"Back in the spring when we had the Channel 2.0 event with VAR BUsiness magazine we were really overwhelmed at the quantity of our channel partners already in SL so this was a logical fit, they are here, we are here, smart folks are here that are looking for new jobs. Win.

Like the great interviewer that he is, Ziggy wanted to know if this meant there were companies present who were the right fit or were there individuals looking for jobs. Turns out the answer was both and in fact the event that Cisco had done in the Spring "drove some in as companies that had been lurking."

Ah - we knew there were lurking companies, sending avatars in to get a lay of the land and evaluate how they might use Second Life and other WVs for business purposes. I've long contended that attending meetings of all kind are the perfect excuse to make the leap.

If I had to bet, I'd suggest that this is just the beginning.

Attend other Grid Talk sessions by

   - learning how to walk and talk in Second Life,

    - put some clothes on and show up at Dr Dobbs Island  (that link will transport you so you won't be forced to fly)

    - be there any Tuesday morning at 8AM Second Life time (pacific).

Say Hi to Tynan Clary while you're there, It's really me.

Although I am unable to help you with the details of your appearance the day of any event, I'm glad to do so if you contact me at least 48 hours advance. Next Tuesday is just around the corner.

.

Note: Learn more about what Cisco's doing in virtual worlds and in today's Cisco fair here. Today's fair was designed to provide a virtual forum for European engineers and the companies who are partnered with Cisco and who need to connect with candidates for IT jobs are: Dimension Data UK, Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg, NetDesign, Alliant Technologies, Affinity, Voice Tech, Touchbase, Telindus, and BBNED.

Twitter is My Virtual Office

Instead of feeling disconnected I tweet.

It could be about the virtual island @conniereece and I bought or a link to photos of the new crocs inspired by @preppydude @fireton and egged on by @pistachio,

Next might come thanks for the so sweet care package from @wickedstepmom, or grousing about my scrabble score against brainiac @geosteph and twitter-star @AnnOhio just like I'd chat in the elevator . . . if I had an office.

Although twitter began as a way to answer the question "what are you doing" it's now become something else for many of us who do not have traditional coworkers.

We may be involved in projects with a veritable carousel of people from all over the world, but since we don't see them in the hallways or at meetings we miss being able to toss a casual "what's happening" their way.

What would normally be natural, short office chit chat and observation can take endless hours to cultivate by email. We wind up choosing whether to be overwhelmed with email or put up with feeling disconnected.

When I no longer had time or inclination to send updates on what was indeed going on with me to dozens of contacts I gave up. After multiple threats I finally just sent out an email saying that I was going to abandon email, going as cold turkey as I could manage, relying on facebook updates and messages.

Fate smiled on me because shortly thereafter I found twitter.

Although popularly tagged as the food choice of media snackers, twitter can also function as pregnancy reporting, flirtation, business pitches, sports smack, restaurant reviews, trip updates, inside geek tech news, medical reports, social climbing, encouragement, job finding and connection making.

Twitter allowed me to follow Mike and Britt's move across the country, eagerly await news about Ashley delivering, show my concern about Sage's cat, applaud Laura's walk for breast cancer, regularly give Aaron a hard time, laugh at Mitch, cheer FOR Ohio State and against the teams of those LSU and Florida fans, and work on a project to send goodies to troops in Kandahar.

In other words - I'm just being like you - or myself. But in 140 characters at a time.

Other twitter users are enthusiastic, as Twitter user, Leisa Riechelt,told New York Times she thinks the microblog experience is valuable for those listening in on personal details, sharing in what she calls “ambient intimacy.”

She writes that while others may ask: “Who cares? Who wants this level of detail? Isn’t this all just annoying noise?” she counts herself among those “who find great value in this ongoing noise.”

She added, “It helps us get to know people who would otherwise be just acquaintances.”

Will you become one of my virtual office mates by following me at twitter?

 

The Machine is Us - Are We the Machine?

This video title sounds kind of grim and mechanical; there is after all humanity involved and the video makes that part abundantly clear.

But after watching it I wondered; how do we take what we understand about information and interaction and use it to our advantage?

Did You Know? Shift Happens

If you haven't already seen this . .  prepare for your brain cells to move a little bit.

Blog Action Day and My Junk Mail Beef

I said I'd contribute to Blog Action Day but I'm not taking on the big issues. Maybe getting older or experiencing more makes me less likely to deal with saving the whole planet. I figure the Action Blog has it all covered

Or, I'm just a pragmatist. Or today I just want less mail that goes directly into the recycling bin.  Or I'm stunned that according to 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth: 

• Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail.
• 250,000 homes could be heated with one day's supply of junk mail.
• Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year.
• The yearly production and disposal of junk mail consumes more energy than 2.8 million cars.

But to whittle the issue down even further, I'm only going to talk about getting your address removed from those "occupant" lists, not dumping the myriad of catalogs that you get because you ordered one item from LL Bean in 1980.

A caveat before I go on though. You may have to ask a distribution company more than once to make sure that your address has been removed from the mailing lists. And once it comes off how do you know? I've yet to find that out.

Then, when it has been removed you still will wind up having to remind the letter carrier not to just stuff your box like everyone else's.

Sigh - but it you'd still like to try to get your name removed, here's what to try:

How to Find the Good Stuff - and Make it Come to You

A quick video about finding Blogs, Podcasts, all kinds of great stuff without the hassle of  . .  well without ANY hassle?

Building Community in First and Second Life

The title's more than a rhetorical question. Some well known people* take what they have learned in Second Life and turn it into real life careers, designing spaces and experiences, organizing events, creating clothing and other objects to be used in the virtual world.

But now something new is evolving, Others are taking what they've done  in their first lives and moving to segue that into a Second life presence.

Writers,  designers, publicists, artists, musicians, podcasters, educators, marketers, therapists and the vast array of people who are interested in Social Media don't want to be left behind as the virtual universe spins on ahead without them.

For every IBM, or Sun that joins Second Life hundreds of people just like me are making the same decision.

But we face challenges

• We don't all know if this experiment called the 3-d web is really for us

• Many of us don't have the time to learn enough to put together a house much less an office that looks and is functional and reflecting well on them

• As small businesses and one wo/man bands we don't need the same kinds of things the big guy need - at least not regularly.

• We not only don't know what we don't know - but think of all that stuff we wouldn't need to know if we had a network of people to fall back on.

• Research where to build, what to build, who to trust? It can take months and we don't have a "department" that does that for us

• We don't need skyscrapers, asphalt parking lots, security systems, billboards, flashing lights, paid staff or glitz but we do need good neighbors and adjacent no drama zone islands

• We don't all have thousands of dollars to develop a space at which to get together with a friend, hold a more formal meeting, show something we've created, give a class, meet a potential client, stream some videos or just feel like we belong.

• We might need a casual room to work in and more formal areas too. We need room for six at a table every so often but other times deck chairs for three of us could be just the thing.

Which is where my shared office space idea comes in.

By a stream, under a tree, beside the sea, up in the clouds, in a low glass and stone building, or away from it all in a modern steel skybox. We can use all the options we can get.

First set up in September, Reynolds Clary and Associates offices have been on a shakedown cruise even since.

But Wait . . . Who's Reynolds Clary and since when are there Associates?

I'm doing double duty as Reynolds and my Second Life avatar who has been learning the ropes during the past year along with me is Tynan Clary.

Then there are the associates; namely the community of people who twitter along with me every day and with whom I'm glad to share not only a name but spaces, ideas, resources, challenges and all that entails.

Although I put up the initial money for the land, outfitted the offices and keep tweaking things, if we need some staff, some backup, or some cross marketing we'll be counting on  who? Each other.

My job is to keep thinking about the concept, the big picture, and especially the associates.

The associates use the office as just another part of their own small businesses. Their job is to help me know what they need.

Their other roles include sharing their knowledge for the good of the others. To let it happen gladly when good fortune and thus the job overflow come knocking. To contribute towards monthly fees I pay to Linden Labs. To be good stewards of community.

And to evolve and help us do so, or move on with our support and good wishes.

And then there are the little things -

It seemed important to me to add the touches that make the spaces un-corporate. So I started accumulating - and casually placing - fireplaces, footbridges, the odd lamp or throw rug, pumpkins, a newspaper and glasses on a table.

Oh - and the essential red Swingline stapler. Because we're not a big corporation. We're just people.

But more about that next time.

As always: It's all about community. And I personally welcome your visit.

Psst: I swear anyone in Second Life longer than a couple weeks will tell you this. We all need a private place too - not a public park or some woods where the wild things are - to adjust our hair, try on the new jacket we got, and see if new shoes make us look like a hoochie-mamma or a head honcho.

* Aimee Webber

 

Not Just for Freelancers

Leaking links today about - what else - connecting.  And the information in Answers for Freelancers isn't just for freelancers.

Good solid networking information is included in every tasty morsel, and though all content is appropriate for freelancers, some of it works for a much wider audience.

"Networking isn’t about selling, its about connecting."

You'll find a whole cast of characters in this funny helpful podcast and blog. Sadly absent this year are the Guerrilla Marketing marketer Bobo the Guerrilla.  But the merriment lives on.

 

Web Worker Daily Suggests Twitter Over Mahalo for People-Power

 

Which phone has the best browser? What's the best place to buy bread in Herndon? Those of us who use twitter see these questions pop up all the time.

As Anne Zelenka wrote in Web Worker Daily 

"For example, one of my friends needed some advice yesterday. He wanted to know how to set freelance consulting rates. Did he Google? Or Ask Metafilter? No, he used Twitter to do a people-powered search. He searched through his social network for the answer to his question.

My friend received advice that was both trustworthy and targeted. The advice was trustworthy because it came from people he knew. It was targeted because those people know him too — so they could take his particular situation into account when they provided tips and resources.

If you search on Google for information about setting freelance rates, you’d get some blog articles and some calculators, but how do you know what to trust? And even with Google’s personalized search, you’re not going to get information that knows as much about your situation as your friends and colleagues."

Now it's taken for granted that we'll use our network on twitter when we have a question. It makes sense to go to people we have a history with.

Like in the past when moms asked for recommendations for pediatricians over the backyard fence, we've just taken it a step forward into an age of always-on connections. We don't have to wait until the neighbor is hanging her wash on the line. We see the question if we're tuned in. And if we've got the time to answer and  have something to add to the conversation we take part.

Presto. Instant networking. Like Google but with personal insights.