eNetworking 101: The Blog

Labels: Second Life

Privacy

Last week I had the honor of giving a keynote at a public event held in Syracuse by CNY Credit Unions & Cooperative Federal on identity theft. Besides myself, an FBI agent, U.S. postal inspector, and others spoke during the session. In addition to talking about the need to be aware of how we share private information, I also told the story of how my identity was stolen. In fact, my identity was stolen three times in one year! (One woman in the audience has had her identity stolen fives times.) The major incident was very low-tech, but effective.

We tend to think of our identity being stolen online, since that is what makes the news, but it is important to recognize how often we all give out identifying information about ourselves. For example, think about how much information you provide about yourself when you apply for a credit card, buy a house, or purchase a vehicle. And think about the information that arrives in your mail (and may sit in your mailbox) that contains information that would allow people to steal your identity. Depending on your neighborhood, you may want to consider a mailbox with a lock.

We often carry a lot of identifying information on our wallets and I encouraged everyone to check their wallets (and bags) and to remove those items that are not needed on a day-to-day basis. I showed three photos from Flickr that demonstrated how much some people carry. Indeed there is an entire pool of photos in Flickr where people show what's in their wallets and often it is too much.

People left the session with a folder of information and many useful tips. Below are the ones I gave:

•

Know who you are dealing with

Are they reputable?
How will they use your info?
If you feel they cannot be trusted:

Don’t deal with them (or don’t deal with them directly)
Use cash
Be extremely watchful of how they use your information

Carry & share only what is needed

Share in appropriate ways

Decide what information you will not give out

Be consistent, if possible

Be mindful & check your trail
Don’t let your guard down

Even online
Use the “Vegas rule”
If your identity is stolen, act quickly to stop the theft and repair the damage

Talk to the police, your bank and the credit bureaus
Keep track of every person you talk with and the actions taken
Follow-up

You know the Vegas rule -- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas -- or in other words, you don't need to tell everyone everything. Somethings should remain private.

And what about maintaining your identity online? Here are some quick and easy to implement tips from the group:

If your going to do a purchase, make sure that you are using a secure site (https).
Don't use the same password for every site.
Don't click on links in spam emails or on spam web sites.
If you are getting email from a financial institution, and it is not your financial institution, ignore it.
If you are getting email from your financial institution, rather than responding to the email, call them using the phone number you already have for them. Do not trust the phone number in the email. It could be spam.

By the way, most identity theft is done my someone who knows the individual. That means that it could be a family member or friend who steals your identity. So the key is to be mindful and not automatically trust everyone.

It was a wonderful session and everyone -- even me -- learned something. Now let's hope that we put it all into practice.

Updated 4:15 p.m. with links to Flickr and a photo. Flickr seemed to be down earlier when I was working on this post.

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Identity Theft

Labels: Identity Theft, Privacy

Article: 10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life

While all 10 technologies are cool, numbers 10, 8, and 5 will be of particular interest to those who read this blog. They are:

Digital Libraries
Pervasive Wireless Internet
Location-Based Computing

One sentence really caught my eye:

Unjacking to get away and relax, however, may not be so easy.

That statement is already true!

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Technology

Labels: Technology

Article: Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular

Many of the technology advances we take for granted began overseas. And some still have not made their way to the North America, like the cellphone novel. The New York Times article talks about the cellphone novels in Japan and how they have gone mainstream. (Free registration may be required in order to read the article.)

Until recently, cellphone novels — composed on phone keypads by young women wielding dexterous thumbs and read by fans on their tiny screens — had been dismissed in Japan. as a subgenre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, “The Tale of Genji,” a millennium ago. Then last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

I sometimes ask people if they have read a book on their PDA. Most have not. I often carry a book on mine so I have something to read while waiting for a meeting to begin. And -- yes -- I have actually read several books on my PDA. I wonder how many of us have even thought about reading books on our cellphones?

This book post was also posted in the SLA IT Div. Blogging Section blog.

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Books

Labels: Books

Email discussion list for educator in Second Life

I mentioned this today in the workshop, but did not have the URL handy for the group. You can join this group here. I would describe this group -- called SLED -- as a noisy and informative group. Lots of emails!

Notice on that page that there are pointers to other groups that might also be of interest to some people.

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Labels: Second Life

CNN is following what's going on in SL

CNN has I-Reports on its web site from Second Life. Since these are I-Reporters, the news may seem "soft", however, it will give you an indication of what people are doing in SL. In addition, it may be a way for you to find events and locations, that you might not know of otherwise.

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Labels: Second Life

My avatar looks like she goes to the gym

I did a workshop today on Second Life ("Introduction to Second Life") in Ithaca, NY. Someone asked if people made their avatars look like the way the look in real life. The answer is "yes", some people do. However, for many of us, our avatars look about 20 years younger than what we do in real life, and a bit thinner. One gentleman -- whom I've known for a long time -- remarked that my avatar looks like she goes to the gym! mmm...I prefer to think that she looks like me in my 20s.

From the interaction I had with graduate students last fall in SL, I know that some people do take great pains to make their avatars look exactly like themselves. Other people like to experiment with a totally different look. And while some may not have tried to make their avatars look like themselves, they may have taken names in SL that were meaningful to them. So although we see this as a different world, we do take "our selves" there in many ways.

Experimenting with different looks and genders is something sociology professors may have their students do in SL, in order to see/understand how other people react to them. [We do take our biases and prejudices with us when we're in a virtual world.] For example, what if you made yourself large (tall and wide) and gave yourself blue skin? How would people react to you? Would people see you as threatening? Attractive? Would they talk to you or avoid you?

BTW blue skin in evidently a turn-off. So if you want people to leave you alone, change your skin color in SL to blue.

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Labels: Second Life

An unconference in Upstate New York

Last fall, five people -- including myself -- began planning an unconference. This will be the first library unconference to be held in Upstate New York and is modeled after several that have been done in other locations. Since unconferences are still relatively new, I wanted to spend a moment and chronicle unofficially what we've been doing.

So what is an unconference?

An unconference is a conference where the content of the sessions is created and managed by the participants (generally day-by-day during the course of the event) rather than by one or more organizers in advance of the event.

When we first met to discuss the idea, we all instantly liked it, but realized we didn't know enough. So we took time to look at other unconference events and see how they were organized. We learned that there are models for unconferences, but that there are no truly firm rules. They are meant to be "loose" so they can be molded to the needs of the participants. However, we learned that the unconference held in New York City had spent a lot of time both upfront and at the start of the event deciding on topics and getting organized. We decided to try to do almost all of organization prior to the event, and to decide -- at least tentatively -- on the topics before the event begins.

With the task of deciding what topics might be discussed, we decided to do a survey (using SurveyMonkey) in order to solicit information from those who might attended. 136 people completed the survey and provided a wealth of information. The survey also included text to educate people on what an unconference is, since we recognized that most people would not know. We found that many people were indeed interested in the idea and hope to participate.

We also needed to find a location for the unconference. Space is at a premium in this area and so we have ended up holding the unconference at a local hotel. The ramification of that is "cost." Instead of being able to hold a free event (which is generally a hallmark of an unconference), we must charge a registration fee. Thankfully, a grant is being used to cover the cost of the rooms we'll use. The registration fee will be used to cover the cost of food.

In thinking about location, we considered the following things:

Amount of space needed
Access to electricity
Internet / wifi access
Parking
Flexibility of the location staff
Flexibility of the space
Cost
Access to food

Yes, it would have been wonderful to hold the event on a college campus, but parking, space and cost would have still been issues.

Once we had the space, we were able to decide the number of concurrent sessions and schedule. We will run four concurrent sessions on Tuesday (Unconference on the Future of Libraries), with 16 total sessions plus a wrap-up session at the end of the day. On Wednesday, we will have a total of 8 sessions, plus two keynote speakers, and a wrap up session (Collection Development Conference).

As you can see, our idea blossomed into two events. The Unconference on the Future of Libraries will be on Tuesday and will be run similar to other unconferences. Although there will be people to help keep the discussions going (and to take notes), there will be no formal speakers. It is expected that the participants will contribute to the topics, share information, and learn from each other. [Unconferences were born out of the idea that the people who often sit in conference presentations have a lot of wisdom that should be shared.]

The second day, the Collection Development Conference will have two keynote speakers, whose presentations will be followed by unconference sessions. I guess we can think of this as a hybrid event. BTW collection development is a hot topic these days!

Okay...so we got the location and tentative schedule...next we needed to build a wiki to house the information about this event (before, during and after). The wiki will be a constant work-in-progress as information is updated and added. It is the place where we will communicate what we're doing with the participants and we're they can also communicate with us (and each other). A wiki is a wonderful compliment to an unconference. An unconference allows "the crowd" to share its wisdom, which is the same as a wiki.

We learned from NYC that unconferences do not run themselves, so the organizing group has been meeting monthly face-to-face and communicating in-between in order to keep things moving. In addition, we're enlisting the help of 10 library science (MLS/LIS) students to help us build content in the wiki (background info on the topics) and to take notes during the event. We also hope they can help keep the conversations moving during the sessions, if there is a lull.

Some promotion of the event has already occurred using messages on Facebook and Twitter. There have also been some blog posts that have mentioned it too. So without doing much, information about the event is "out there." However, we know that promoting the event well is necessary, so beginning next week, we'll be circulating email announcements and telling people about registration.

Working on a team for this has been interesting because none of us have experience with unconferences. We each come from different backgrounds and organizations (CLRC, SCRLC, SU and Hurst Associates), and so come with lots of information. However, this is a new area for us, so we are learning as we go.

One of the areas that we struggled with was what to call this "thing." You'll see that we refer to the event as a "library camp", since several of these events have used that verbiage. We're also using the term "unconference", since that is how the event will be run primarily. Using both terms will also help us to be found through Internet search engines.

Should we name the event after our location? We ended up using a URL for the wiki that includes "CNY" (Central New York), while the text uses the term "Upstate." New Yorkers can be finicky about how the describe where they live and so our text uses "Upstate" so that many people will see this as a conference that is meant for them. (The URL can't be changed at this point.) The formal name of the two-day event has become "Library Camp @ Syracuse", which tells you both what and where. Although naming seems minor (i.e., URL & name), we learned that it was something we all felt passionately about and that likely we should have addressed sooner.

Finally, I should mention two other social networking tools that have been employed -- Flickr and tagging.

We needed a graphic for the wiki and decided to use this one from David Lee King that he took at the Kansas City Public Library and available through Flickr with a Creative Commons license.

As for tagging, one of the things we decided to do was to announce what the tag would be for the event, and the tag is "unyunc". We hope that people will use that tag if they write blog posts, post photos/video, etc., so that a quick search for unyunc will retrieve everything related to the event.

The event is less than two months away! We know there are still things to do. Already, though, we thinking about next year. Will we do this again? Will another group in the area follow our lead? We hope so!

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Labels: Unconference, unyunc

Wkipedia vs. Encyclopedia Britannica

Wikipedia is not well respected publicly by academics because anyone can edit it. They always point to its errors; ignoring any errors we might find in World Book or Encyclopedia Britannica. Yet, Wikipedia is popular. Why?

Joshua Neff has devised the perfect answer using the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as his example. I'll not repeat it here, but will let you go to his blog for the explanation. As I commented there, its "brilliant!"

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Crowdsourcing,

Wikipedia

Labels: Crowdsourcing, Wikipedia

Use EOM and NTR

"Old time" computer programmers know the acronyms EOL and EOF -- or -- end of line and end of file. Those who saw the movie Tron may remember a reference to EOF near the end of the movie. Both acronyms were used in computer programming and then crossed over to be used by programmers in other communications.

Now a new acronym is emerging -- EOM or end of message. This is being used in email when the only text being sent is in the subject line. For example:

SUBJECT: Yes, mtg. @ 12n, will bring docs EOM

The EOM would tell the recipient that there is no text in the message, so the person can read the subject and feel comfortable deleted (or filing) the message without opening it.

NTR means no thanks required. For example, if you send a message where a person may consider sending a "thank you," consider telling the person that no thanks is required. You can do that as text or use the acronym.

Of course, there are other terms or phrases you might use such as no response required or no reply required. Both of these would free the person from sending an unnecessary response and from you having to read the reply.

Of course, the person could reply with the thanks in the subject line and with EOM!

If you try these ideas, be sure to tell your colleagues what you are doing so they will understand your messages. If you decide that your staff should try this, talk about it at a staff meeting and get people to at least try the idea.

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Email

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Blog post: 40+ Social News Websites

I enjoy these type of lists because they allow me to find something new and they demonstrate how many tools there are that I will never use. Dosh Dosh, which is a blog about making money online, frequently focuses on social networking because these sites are helping us to connect, promote ourselves and make money. However, even the author of Dosh Dosh realizes that some social networking tools are not worth checking out. So how do you decide which ones to invest your time in? Ask these questions:

Does it sound interesting?
Would it provide new access, contacts or information?
Would it be important enough to make a space in your schedule for it?

If you answer "yes" to all three questions, then give the site a try. Even then, you may find that it really isn't worth it, but at least you gave it a try.

If you answer "no" to all three questions, then skip the site and spend your time elsewhere.

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Social Networking Tools

Labels: Social Networking Tools

Tips for 2008 -- #5 -- Connect and reconnect

We are social people. We need other to talk with, bounce ideas off of, and get things done. Nothing we do is truly a solo activity. It is likely that you have a defined circle of friends and colleagues, yet you actually know many more people than that. Take some time in 2008 to connect and reconnect with those other people.

If you have connected to them through LinkedIn, take time to look at their profiles and drop them a note. Consider sending notes to a couple people per week, so the task is not overwhelming.
Do the same for the others social networking sites that you are involved with.
Use the search function of the social networking sites to find old friends and colleagues, or people with similar interests as you. But remember that you need not connect with everyone -- it is okay to be selective.
Don't forget about those contacts you have stored in your contact management software (like MS Outlook) and in your Rolodex. If it is unreasonable to think about contacting them all, at least go through these "cards" and eliminate those that are not needed. (Hint -- if you can't remember who the person is or why you have his card, you're never going to contact them.) Along the way, you may find a few people that you will want to contact.
If you have a newsletter, blog, or other content that you want your contacts to know about, this would be a great time to remind them about it.
If you are going to attend any conferences this year, use those to meet face-to-face with colleagues and friends. Consider arranging an informal "happy hour" where everyone can gather at the same time. Not only will you see everyone, but your colleagues will get to meet each other and possibly form new relationships (thanks to you).
Schedule informal meetings (think breakfast, coffee break or lunch) with those colleagues locally that you want to build a better relationship with. In order to be kind to your calendar, consider doing only one a week. Also consider setting a defined length for the meeting so that it doesn't last longer than you're comfortable with. (You do have work to do!)
Finally, try not to see this as a chore. Find ways to have fun with it.

So this is the last tip to get your started with 2008. Could there be more? Yes! However, we don't want to overwhelm the start of the New Year.

By the way, if you use these tips and want to provide feedback, leave a comment on these posts or send an email message.

Related posts:

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Tips for 2008 -- #4 -- Find ways to work smarter

We often hear the advice to work smarter, not harder, but what does that really mean? Consider these ideas:

Stop playing telephone tag. Instead leave well thought out voice messages when you get the person's voice mail. Include your name, phone number, time, and -- quickly -- the information you wanted to tell her. For example, you might be calling to give information on a project or leave a status report. If you were calling to ask a question, then ask it in voice mail along with information about how you want to receive the response. And if the person doesn't need to call you back, say that. (BTW remember to smile when you're on the phone, which will come through in your voice.)
Use collaboration tools (e.g., Zoho) when working with a colleague on a project. That will eliminate knowing which file version is the correct one. It also means that you could be on a conference call with your colleague to review the project, and both be looking at or editing the files at the same time.
Customize your Internet browser's start page, so that it contains tools and information that you want to have at your finger tips. For example, using iGoogle, I've customized my start page to display news, weather (including cities I'll be traveling to in the near future), time time, a calendar, a calculator, a notepad (which I'm using to keep a list of high priority projects), a timer, and a few RSS feeds.
Have information sent to you via RSS feeds whenever possible. Don't keep going to a specific site to see what's new; instead subscribe to its RSS feed (if one exists). And consider doing this for a news site, so that important news comes to you automatically. (I even get some newsfeeds sent to my Twitter account.)
Customize the toolbar in your Internet browser with links to those sites you visit frequently.
Organize your bookmarks (or favorites) in your Internet browser so that links are easy to find. And while you're at it, delete those that are no longer useful.
If you need to have access to your bookmarks from several locations (or computers), consider using Del.icio.us (or another bookmark sharing service). You can upload your bookmarks to Del.icio.us and you can make specific bookmarks private (See this help page).
Organize the emails you keep into folders, so that important emails can be found quickly. For example, create folders for specific projects or clients.
Organize the files on your computer into folders for specific projects or clients. And give your files meaningful -- but short -- names, so that the names themselves will help you know what they are. Why short? Because some computers and software still only recognize the first eight characters of a filename. (And if you ever run into a disk crash, you may find that the longer names are deleted in favor of the first eight characters, which you will then hope are very meaningful.)
Hand off those projects or tasks that do not require your specific skills. This is a hard one, but it can be done. Hire someone to do your payroll, file your taxes, mail your marketing materials, schedule appointments, proof documents, etc. Don't assume that the person you hire has to be in your geographic region. You might find a person with the correct skills halfway around the world.

mmm...I think those are enough ideas to get you started! Of course, you may find your own tips for working smarter. Just remember to not only read the tips you find, but also to try them. Even if you can shave a few minutes off your workday, that could have a huge impact.

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Tips for 2008 -- #3 -- Use the tools that add value

Tip #3 is obvious...so obvious, that we all forget it.

There are many tools you can use. Some are incredibly useful, while others are time-wasters. Some generate the connections you need to other people, while others generate noise and distractions. Therefore, only use those tools that provide a discernable positive impact to you and the work that you do.

Of course, you may not know right away that a tool won't provide them impact that you desire. You may have to use the tools for a few days or weeks in order to decide if it's worthwhile. For example, I joined Ryze in January 2004 because it was recommended to me. I joined several networks on Ryze, contributed to discussions, and made connections. Here's my page on Ryze. It took me a few months to realize that Ryze wasn't going to be where I found my next clients or projects. Yes, it was working for others, but not for me. So I've kept my Ryze account, while investing my energy elsewhere.

If you look at the tools you are using, you may quickly find one that is a distraction. Consider eliminating that tool or using it less often. In other words, acknowledge that it hasn't paid off for you and move on.

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Tips for 2008 -- #2 -- Don't answer every communication (and if you must answer, be efficient)

We all receive a lot of email, IMs and text messages. Likely we are all tempted to respond to every message, even if it is to say that we got it. Here are three strategies for spending less time answering the email messages we receive.

First, recognize that you do not need to respond to every message you receive. Yes, there are important messages that do require a response or an acknowledgment. However, there are messages that don't require a response -- jokes, "hi" notes from friends & colleagues, FYI messages, and [fill-in-the-blank for yourself]. Although you may think that a response will be quick, it is likely that you might agonize over some of the wording, which means that it will take more time than it is worth. So...consider not sending responses to non-critical messages and saving some time. (You'll also help the other people save time too, since they will have less email to read.)

Second, if you must respond to email messages, consider sending very brief messages. There is a movement to simplify email -- whenever possible -- to two, three, four or five sentences. Yes, brief emails can carry a lot of information, without the fluff. Not only are they quick to write, but they are also quick to read.
Finally, don't delay responding to a message, if there is no need to delay. Instead, respond immediately. That means that you will not need to re-read the message later before replying. Instead you will have read the message once and answered it (and saved a bit of time).

If you use these three strategies, you'll save time and likely feel better about your communications.

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