WHY    AM    I    HERE?

The Religion Tree above looks like a computer program flowchart.  The subject of my blog is why am I here? and my friend Matt had this recently on his FB page.  So, I stole it and it represents religion…. a whole bunch of them… AND it represents a flowchart, actually IS a flowchart… and (hang on) connects philosophy / religion with computers / social media.  The basic idea is the internet changes the shape of friendship.  With the internet people can now share common interests that may never, ever meet in person.  How can this not be a good thing?

Like, Frieda Persson (Swedish) ~~  now sailing, as sailboat crew member, she just sent me (and everyone on her FB) a photo of a little, sleeping puppy curled up at some exotic port.  I get to 'hear' from her (FB) often since she left "quaint" little Red Bluff High School in 2006.  I had many exchange students there from 2004-06, and we can all write each other now from anywhere.  And there's Viktor in Macedonia, Quinn in Norway, Magda in Germany, Maria in Brazil, Daniel & Cristina in Sweden and so many more...

…. like Eike and Alex who each posted their 'grown up' pics within days of each other last September (FB) each in different countries, both at weddings:

But what does this have to do with my blog ~ Why Am I Here ~ and the future of Social Media??  Ever since the dawn of time there have been long-distance friendships, by phone or post.  The internet just extends this trajectory in the development of human relationships… and the internet is mediating a change in all human relationships.  Look at how businesses now relate to their customers, the way we conduct scholarship, the way groups of like-minded people dedicated to a cause organize themselves.  These things are all being affected by this social revolution.  And I think it's a big deal.  How have we handled other advances… like guns, nuclear energy, and hard drugs?   So, it's not those things that are 

good or bad…. like marriage and money ~ it's all what we do with those tools, those structures, those contracts, those forums.  We scrubby, horrible yet often brilliant folks get to choose how we use anything online, what to say in social media, what to "Like" and not like.  Face it.  The internet is a new language… the changing of the guard, and it can be like the dystopian novel, Lord of the Flies showing the already controversial subjects of human nature and individual welfare versus the common good.  There are some pretty grizzly stories out there.  Took me seconds just now to google 'how many deaths because of FB?' and I see a report of an angry husband who got slammed by his ex-wife on her FB page, so he savagely killed her and left her to be discovered by their five year old child.  So reports Whitney Milam with over 1/2 million views on Ranker.com… and Whitney adds:  "WHY DIDN'T HE JUST BLOCK HER? Kids, please teach your parents how to use the internet.  It saves lives."

Things are happening way faster at a much younger age, though I don't expect five year olds to have to monitor their parents social media, nor (I'm sure) did Whitney.  But stuff in print is often taken literally.  This is all a new playing field.  How would you react in public if someone said something to you privately that you may not have liked hearing  OR  if they said the same thing to you in an auditorium with thousands of people and they were on stage with a microphone saying it and pointing to you.  Same reaction?  OK.  That's the difference and many do not think through that dynamic.  

So, why I am here, why are you?  To mix it up, learn things, have fun, laughs, learn things, be entertained, learn things, help each other, have fun, learn things.  

Read Richard Bach's Illusions.  "We're hear to have fun and learn things, hopefully both at the same time."   Good luck fellow classmates with your finals!   Hip, hip hooray for Professor Jon Knolles for bringing us all together with his CSU-Chico Social Media class.  It's been a gas, groovy, cool, rad, bad, awesome, the bomb and my classmates 20 and younger…. how do you say it now?   Au devoir~!~  

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Social Media &

The Meaning of Life

(why are we here… and how much 

fun can we have?)

So, how is Social Media different?  I think of FaceBook, Twitter, Ello, MySpace, Friendster… and probably dozens more are being created as I'm typing this.  Some of these sites I like more than others, some I use more than others.  BUT, they are simply a format.  What we type or post in them is up to us.

My blog theme ~  Why are here?  ~  is about being on Earth, so that's pretty all encompassing as far as topics go.   Can I find the meaning of life in Social Media  (or love, or money, or education, or vocation, or sports, or philosophy, or religion)?   

The answer is:    YES      and      NO       and     MAYBE and SOMETIMES.

I find the best way for me to stay on track is to do things I like or love….. to have fun.  I can tell by my emotions:  does this feel good or not?   Not?   Then stop.

Sometimes I fall down the FaceBook rabbit hole, love posts from family, friends or new and exciting information from anyone….   and sometimes I think people are pretty desperate and have no life when they post every day on FaceBook (or every hour).  

Haven't got the hang of Twitter yet but DO know more about it due to this Social Media class requiring us to put up a Blog, to Tweet, and to put up our LinkedIn profile (and more).

I don't think one can say unequivocally that Social Media is good or bad in itself.  It's all in how we use it just like any communication tool, device or method.

I wanted to find something current tonight so I googled Social Media, November 2014, and found this way, cool program called SmartRiverside from Riverside City College that is getting computers, Social Media, and new technology into the hands of seniors, at-risk youth, low income and more.  It's called the Digital Inclusion Program and even teaches students to refurbish computers (and leaner coding, too).  These computers are then handed out to community members.  This non-profit is also attracting tech companies to Riverside for potential business.       Check it out here:

http://viewpointsonline.org/2014/11/26/smartriverside-bridges-the-digital-divide/

There are tons more programs, tons more information to be found online, or EVEN via your own Social Media sites.  Just go on your FB book and ask someone.  Six Degrees of Separation ~ or less!

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Education and Social Media

is like

Communication and Telephones

      Mimi Ito, above, talks about social media as a learning tool.

http://www.edutopia.org/social-media-education-resources

I just LOVE this week’s class assignment!  To me, it’s almost redundant to even ask about the value of social media as a learning tool.

It’s not rocket science to see that technology is and should be invading education.  There are TONS of sources online about this and one of the best current ones I found is listed above.

 

Mimi Ito gives some very good information on just how important social media is to education with also some great remarks about why parents shouldn’t be ‘friends’ on their kid’s FB page.

[[[[[ About Mimi:    Mimi Ito (in the video) is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is a Professor in Residence at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine.  Her main professional interest is young people's use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. ]]]]]

  

Another great current website for SM and education is:

http://www.educationdive.com/features/

       ….. with sweet little graphics and bite-sized data, and headliners like:

          6 must-see education TED Talks

          These 7 digital resources help integrate arts education. . .

          Textbooks, tech, and social media: What do students prefer?

          At least 66% of faculty unaware of open resources

Here is a NYTImes online article about the topic:

   

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/education/technology-is-changing-how-students-learn-teachers-say.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say

This loosely based study talks about how teachers have to do a ‘song and dance’ to gain their students’ attention due to social media.  They claim their attention spans are greatly decreased by the constant barrage of data and images their students consume on social media.

 

But, hey!  This sounds similar to an argument I posed to a good friend, CSU Media Arts alum, 2008, who’s film teacher told him his video clips HAD to be at least 3 seconds long.  We see how that’s changed.

 

Could it be students are actually absorbing more and faster than their older teachers?  Maybe they’re bored?  I was bored every year in school; weren’t you?

Here is another online article from February 2013 about the distractions for students of social media.

             How Students Benefit From Using Social Media

http://www.edudemic.com/how-students-benefit-from-using-social-media/ 

Joseph Baker, author, says that students are using social media all the time. . .    connecting education and technology.

However, social media offers plenty of opportunities for learning and interactivity, and if you take a moment to think about it, it’s not too hard to see how students benefit from using social media. As younger generations use such technology in the classroom, they remake the educational landscape.

Businesses worldwide are using social media more and more and thus, students NEED to be versed in these tools if they are to succeed in an ever technologically growing marketplace.

 

Not only will social media be used more and more in classrooms across the world, classes such as this one, Social Media CDES219, should be required for all disciplines.  In a nutshell, all I need to say is:

Khan Academy

Salman Khan was helping his young cousin with math in 2004.  When other friends and relatives wanted help he made little tutorials on YouTube.

 

His cousin said she liked him better on YouTube than in person.  The MAIN REASON was (and this was a showstopper for me, but again, not rocket science) she could pause and rewind when she needed to go back over something.  And he wouldn’t get upset!  How many times have you wanted to ‘re-wind’ a teacher?

  

So.   How has Khan Academy done since 2004?

From Wikipedia:    Khan Academy has eclipsed MIT's OpenCourseWare in  terms of videos viewed. Its YouTube channel has more than 458 million total views, compared to MIT's 67 million. It also has more than twice as many subscribers, with 2,089,001.

Khan Academy currently provides various levels of mathematics courses, and Salman Khan has stated that with the help of teachers, tutors and experts.

 

Khan Academy now has topics beyond just math, such as physics, chemistry, finance, computer science, logic, biology, art history and more.  

Case closed.

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Social Media and Politics

Here is what I found online recently about how very much social media is affecting politics worldwide.  From Texas to New Delhi, check it out.

Texas Congressperson Wendy Davis filibusters for 12 hours on  abortion.  There was a bill recently before special session of the Texas legislature which had several restrictions on abortion (and could close down most of Texas’ abortion clinics).    So, Wendy Davis filibusters against it -- for 12 hours.   The congress tried to use the 3-strikes rule to stop her filibuster.

However, due to SOCIAL MEDIA, the watching gallery erupted as it was being broadcast live via CNN on Youtube.  The people in  chamber and the audience online were watching her and that amped it up because it was now about the procedure of democratic politics for both the actual and virtual attendees. 

There are now two audiences in on politics:  the actual physical one (the members of congress physically present during Wendy Davis’ filibuster) and the virtual audience via YouTube. 

These two audiences can ALSO interact and what this can do  is tremendously affect the political outcome.  This was seen in the Occupy Movement.  People were in Zuccotti Park in New York as well as online nationally and then online internationally.  Obama’s election was also greatly improved through social media.

(see more here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/youtube-politics_n_3958533.html)

According to the Economic Times in May 2014, social media has changed the face of India’s general elections in 2014.

Read the article here: (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-05-06/news/49661474_1_indian-elections-twitter-account-facebook)

  

Narendra Modi, current Prime Minister of India, has nearly 14 million FaceBook fans.  Obama is the only other politician to have more FB fans than Modi.

The Bobs

    This is my favorite (serious) political activist online blog, called  ‘The Bobs’. 

http://thebobs.com/english/category/2012/best-blog-2012/

It honors websites and projects in 14 languages that champion the open exchange of ideas and freedom of expression.  Anyone is free to submit.  Awesome content! 

The Bobs represent one of Deutsche Welle's ongoing efforts to contribute to promoting freedom of expression and the upholding of human rights on the Internet and around the world.  (Deutsche Welle has broadcast regularly since 1953, Germany's international broadcaster now on shortwave, Internet, and satellite.)    

In closing, my current fav all time political guy is Russell Brand and his 'brand' of news. 


The Bobs represent one of Deutsche Welle’s ongoing efforts 

“The Trews”, true news online by Russell Brand, celebrity comedian, actor and now one of my favorite pop political commentators.  (See my recent Google+ post on Brand.)

Russell says that the current, stifling media keeps your   consciousness imprisoned in a tiny box of ignorance and lies.  I find his take original, refreshing and hysterical!

(for more on Russell go here:)

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/08/russell-brand.html

      

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Activism, Social Media, and…

Why Are We Here?

Demonstrators protest the disappearance of 43 students from the Isidro Burgos rural teachers college in Acapulco, Guerrero state, Mexico, Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. Investigators determined that 28 sets of human remains recovered from a mass grave discovered last weekend outside Iguala, in Guerrero state, were not those of any of the youths who haven't been seen since being confronted by police in that city Sept. 26. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) ORG XMIT: MXEV105 (Eduardo Verdugo)

I was born in 1948.  At three years old, there was no dialer on our new phone… just tell the operator who you want to call.

Talking, learning, sharing… faster and faster.  Communication devices change us. 

November 22, 1963, I was driving 70 mph in a school zone in our new, red Oldsmobile Cutlass, just outside of Dallas.  Dad said, “Judy, pull over,” after we just heard on the radio about Kennedy being shot.  The last assassination I knew of was Lincoln.

In 1964 my activist brothers refused to support the Vietnam War and marched against it.  No cell phones, FB or Twitter; just newspapers. 

Yes.  Technology changes when, where, what, and how fast we get information.  And our ever-expanding technologies in social media let us get active so much quicker and in so many new ways.

‘Why am I here’ is exponentially increased to ‘why are we here’ because of our social media today.  To know what everyone else is doing can change my point of view, my mood, my decisions, my beliefs, and my actions.   Now, faster than ever before.

This author disagrees with Malcolm Gladwell’s column in the New Yorker  (Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted) when Malcolm says that social media in not redefining activism.  Professor Rutledge gives four good reasons why social media is redefining activism and advocacy:

         ~   Public awareness is changed by social media because it spreads freely and fast changing public policy.

         ~  Information is frequently obtained from our friends on FB, Twitter, etc., giving us word-of-mouth validation.

         ~  Social media technologies cross over networks and give immediate impact showing urgency, and can raise donations quickly.

         ~  Social media technologies let us act fast about large and small issues and feel involved.

Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D., M.B.A., is Director of the Media Psychology Research Center and teaches media psychology at Fielding Graduate University and UCLA Extension.  Read her article here:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201010/four-ways-social-media-is-redefining-activism

I talked a lot about activism in my previous Green Blog…  so I’ll take this to a more personal level here, and talk about my cell phone.  Because all it takes is a cell phone now to be socially active and affect the very meaning of your life.  Everyone I know has a smart phone but me and it often appears their cell IS the meaning of their lives.

So here is my little LG TracFone in front of a sepia toned self portrait of my shadow I shot in 1974….   against a huge Morton Bay fig tree in San Diego.  Then I squeezed it into my cell, don’t even remember how; couldn’t do it again.

What is it going to feel like when I bite the bullet and get a smart phone?  Yes.  I’m scared.  Because this is an even bigger jump for me than Rabi Tzvi Freeman who writes about upgrading to a smarter smart phone:

“And once it’s in the Cloud, it’s so much easier to share with others. On our devices, each of us is in our own world. We communicate, we interact, but the devices—they divide us. But there, in the Cloud, it’s all one. So easy to create that synergy that comes through sharing.

Looking into his eyes, I saw he was confident and earnest. I trusted him. I had to move on in life."

Freeman’s upgrade story tugs at my heart and funny bone ~!~   So relieved to find another human is attached to their old cell like I am mine.  Check it out.

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2098169/jewish/How-My-iPhone-Upgrade-Redefined-the-Meaning-of-Life.htm

I tell myself I’ve got an iPad, a macbook pro 15” screen with disc drive, a huge mac desktop… I don’t need to go online every second.

Yet, I think about Cairo.  I think about photojournalism and the gazillions of photos I take.   Could I make a difference?   You bet. 

How hard can it be?

~   ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

CROWDFUNDING

Crowdfunding means putting your project online so people can see it and give you money to do it.  It's that simple.

I found this crowdfunding project similar to my blog theme (’Why are we here’) called  “The Meaning of Life” that was successfully funded in August 2012 on Indiegogo ~~

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meaning-of-life

I also found a number of online sites with good tips on how to start crowdfunding and below are some of their common elements:

Tell your story    

Be organized    

Do your sums (how much money do you need to raise)    Get people talking

Contact businesses and organization, put up fliers

Contact the press  (write your own press releases)

Be creative and keep your followers posted on your (normally) 30-day campaign  ~  because they want to know!   That means, even after you’re funded (if possible, on the particular funding site) let them know your progress, your ups and downs, your continuing story.  If not on that site then leave them an audit trail or website so they can keep up with you.

Say thank you and do your follow up.  Do they get a T-shirt or autographed poster for donating so much money?     

This has been YOUR project turned into a group effort and your supporters have more than money invested.   Talk to their feelings!  This keeps you alive in their minds and hearts because, who knows, maybe you may do it again.

This is good sense from the online ‘Social Media Examiner’ on how to crowdfund  ~   like:

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/11-tips-for-crowdfunding-how-to-raise-money-from-strangers/

Choosing the right crowdfunding site.  Pitch your project with passion.  Show a plan for spending their money.  And more.

My favorites have been Kickstarter and Indiegogo.   I’ve had friends on both and I’ve also backed different projects on both.  There’s also Appbackr, Profounder, Buzzbnk, Causevox, 33 Needs and Firstgiving. 

My current, favorite project is this one-station radio in a mason jar on Kickstarter  ~~

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/358468212/the-public-radio-the-single-station-fm-radio?ref=nav_search

Crowdfunding isn’t really about money; it’s a community engagement process between an individual anywhere on Earth reaching out for money to create something new.  At the heart of this revolution is how people can easily find like-minded people and collaborate using social media tools. 

Crowdfunding rocks!

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                              ALL TOOLED OUT?   

Woa ..!   Is Web 2.0 dying?   Dead?   

Week 6 of CSU-Chico’s online class, Social Media, explores social media tools like DipityDoodle, YodioPrezi and Screenr (timeline creator, online scheduler and online presentation tools ~ and yes!  I just had to say them that way!) .   Plus, I read some more articles on more tools.

The one basic, underlying idea I got from them all was just HOW important it is to expertly create, monitor, and manage daily, often hourly, your social media.

Because…. “don’t you want to know how many people you reach?” ….  As they become dedicated, hopefully interactive friends.   After all, you have a product or service or you ARE a product or service, right?  

And you need to stay up with Internet trends, tools, tasks (and tedium) to be competitive, right?    Because, isn’t it really not only about being popular but being popular for a reason, right?   To make MONEY, right?

Maybe you don’t have a business now, but after reading about all these tools, they kind of make you want to ‘get-on-board’ and at least position yourself and get unabashedly popular.  Then you could be nicely poised with zillions of ‘managed’ friends that you could then sell something to, right?   Or, get so many hits that you get paid for just displaying others’ ads .  Like rocker, Bibi Farber ~~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHxB_3KA9Qw#t=32

….who ‘stumbled upon’ and created www.nextworld.com

Bibi’s a self-proclaimed concerned citizen who posts  little videos that she finds and re-posts from YouTube about sustainability on her site NextwordTV.  Last time we talked a few years ago, it netted her a tidy $2500ish a month for very little work.  Nice.  I had no idea she is a musician but found Nextworld due to my interest in eco stuff.

On the local scene in Red Bluff a few weeks ago I saw this truck and snapped it.

“Like Us On Facebook”     Hmmm…. So I went to ‘Orland Saw and Mower’ website to see who they were.

Their site looks like it’s actually STIHL’s national site that dealers can use… and yet under “Who We Are” they talk about ‘family’ ~~

"We are family, first and foremost. This also extends out to our customers, because without them, we wouldn't be here. It's because of this that we treat everyone as just that, family. We've been locally owned and operated in Red Bluff, CA since 2002, reaching out to help people across the board: landscapers, homeowners, contractors and professionals, and CDF camps throughout the northern valley. If you haven't been in before, feel free to stop by, if only to say hi, and let us help you through all seasons of the year. We also have weekly sales and promotions on our Facebook page, so give us a "Like" and join in!"

In Red Bluff?   I’d never seen them in town… and their truck & online address say Orland…   and their website is actually a national chainsaw company’s dealer website (STIHL).   Hmmm.

Also, on that site there is a really nice, personal-like video about Dave Stine, a custom woodworker who uses STIHL’s chainsaws, etc., so I got excited about his custom woodworking. 

Dave told such a heartwarming story about his five-generation family land, saying, “we try to take trees that are dead…”   Sounded a bit too homey, but still I’d love to see his work even if I have to drive to Orland…. But, WHAT??!   He’s actually in Dow, Illinois?        http://stinewoodworking.com  

My point is this is just one of many companies I’ve seen in the past few years that say “Like us on Facebook",  haven’t updated the data on their website for awhile, (that sometimes really isn’t their website but a national manufacturer’s website dealers can use) and then they post information (like woodworker Dave’s video commercial) of other people they, perhaps, have never even met.

Seems to me it’s easier and easier to get unraveled with your social media so the need for SM tools is keen.  But not necessarily easy or cheap.

After deep-boot wading through all this stuff I was primed last night to reach, grasping for air, at this refreshing article in WIRED:

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/adaptive-path-end-of-the-web-2-0-era/

Adaptive Path’s CCO, (middle C = Creative) Jesse James Garrett.  (Yup, Jesse James)

Garrett looks precision squinted, adequately rugged, yet expertly coifed & tailored.  (Silicon Valley is the new-old Black).  So who is Jesse and Adaptive Path?  Yup, of course!   A San Francisco company, along with Odeo, Six Apart, 37 Signals and some others who brought out some tools that made web pages come alive and flow with action – their overall focus was USER EXPERIENCE.

I’ve never heard of any of these guys but I’m all for making user experience awesome.   So I was a bit stunned to learn in this same WIRED article that it sold itself to Capitol One – a bank!   The WIRED author said this about such companies:

 "The people who ran these companies all talked together openly online, many worked together in person, and hell a lot of them even slept together." 

And he said they were mainly hype, “a hothouse of self-promotion”.   Tsk, tsk.  Sounded so cool yet another online dream deflated.

I won’t give up though.   I’ll find some (free) tools some where, somehow on this great world wide web that could manage my social media ~ once it becomes large enough to manage.  Oh… to be that big!  Bibi Farber scoot over.  ~~!~~