Category Archives: cool links

My “top 10″ 2007 blogging moments: #5

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I commit in the autumn to write posts 4 out of every 5 business days and succeed more weeks than not.

So why make this a top 10 blogging moment?

Well, I made the commitment in part because I was (re)inspired by this great story told by Brad Isaac about his brief encounter with Jerry Seinfeld. While I encourage everyone to check out the link the most relevant part is this:

I (Brad) had to ask Seinfeld if he had any tips for a young comic. What he told me was something that would benefit me a lifetime…

He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don’t feel like it.

Anyone reading this blog will know that the most humourous things found in my posts tend to be my gaffs and typos. However, the Seinfeld story resonates with me and, from time to time, it is important I remember why I started this forum: to improve my writing and encourage a community of peers to push me on my thinking. It’s why, long before I’d read the Seinfeld, I subtitled this blog – “If writing is a muscle, this is my gym.”

The simple fact is, I find writing hard. But this blog – and its readers – give me motivation to write something almost every day. Often this may mean it’s 2am before I’m finally logging into wordpress to bang out a post – but the internal drive and the external expectations (real or imagined) I suspect some loyal readers have is, I believe, making me a better writer.

So, with that said, I’m a) saying thank you to anyone who’s ever emailed me or commented on my blog; and b) I’m getting back to my roots. I’m resurrecting my blog’s old tag line.

Writing is a muscle. And this is my gym.

My “top 10″ 2007 blogging moments: #6

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This could simply be about why I love the internet. And again (shocker) it is about the community.

More specifically, it is about the encouragement.

Sometime is it positive: like when David H. encouraged me to finish this top ten list in time.

Sometimes is it, more on the constructive side: like when David H. justly outed me as the only speaker to have not given him a title and abstract for my FSOSS talk. :)

But generally, when you start writing and putting yourself out there others chip in. Sometimes it’s to provide encouragement, and sometimes to provide a more critical assessment of your thinking or writing. Either way, my ideas, my thinking and my work has all been strengthened by both the brilliant and inane thoughts that have come to me via comments and emails on this blog.

My “top 10″ 2007 blogging moments: #7

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What a lot of anti-bloggers and technophobes don’t understand is that blogging becomes fun because of the sense of community it cultivates. People end up reading, linking and sharing blogs for all sorts of reasons: they find common cause, interests or values or maybe they think someone is smart, or fun or insightful. In short, a blog can lead people to connect, enabling them to exchange ideas and/or just get to know one another. Whatever David Suzuki may say, this is a real community.

Better still. while sometimes this community is online (more on that later), sometimes it transcends into real life. I’ve made this easier by posting my physical location in the right hand column of my blog (a hack I’m pretty proud of) (For those interested, I also use dopplr). Often friends refer to this to find out if and when I’ll be in town. A highlight reel moment though was when fellow blogger, ex-pat Canadian and open source fan Harley Young – who’s emailed me about some of my work and whose blog I visit – noticed we we’re both in Chicago and suggested we grab dinner. How 21st century…

While I started to blog in order to practice writing, probably the biggest unforseen benefit has been all the people its enabled me to meet – virtually and in reality.

My “top 10″ 2007 blogging moments: #8

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Since it’s the holidays and everybody’s too busy shopping and seeing friends to read blogs – my meta posts will continue! Always nice to take stock.

Blogging moment number 8…

After reading a Globe and Mail report in which Harper mocks the Liberals for caring “too much” about the welfare of imprisoned Taliban insurgents I threw the paper down in disgust and banged out this blog post in literally 15 minutes. Four days later, the Star agreed to publish it as an opinion piece.

Here is the cool part:

For the first time in my life, something I wrote as a blog post gets published as opposed to something I published getting cross posted to my blog.

“If writing is a muscle, this is my gym.”

My top 10 2007 blogging moments: #10

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The slidecast of my FSOSS presentation on Community Management as the core competency of Open Source gets 750 views in 2 weeks (and counting)

That’s like 50 people a day.

Is this a self-indulgent post? Absolutely. But then any top ten list that starts with the word “my” is probably going to be. That said, it is nice to take stock after just over a year of doing this.

Don’t worry, they’ll get better.

the CIC Fellowships

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The CIC has announced the conditions for its fellowships. The great news is that they
have a category for emerging talent and established individuals. Better still, in both categories the fellowship isn’t limited to academics. Indeed, a truly fantastic candidate doesn’t need to meet any of the criteria. I’d hoped it would be this way. Now it is.

Junior Fellowships:

  • Academic applicants for a Junior CIC Fellowship must have completed their doctorate prior to taking up the fellowship.
  • For other applicants, an equivalent level of professional achievement is expected. A minimum of 5 years of work experience is required.
  • Applicants are not permitted to hold two fellowship positions concurrently.

Senior Fellowships:

  • Academic applicants must hold a completed PhD degree.
  • For other applicants, an equivalent level of professional achievement is expected. A minimum of 10 years of work experience is required.
  • Applicants are not permitted to hold two fellowship positions concurrently.

The CIC reserves the right to appoint exceptional individuals to become a CIC Fellow outside of the application process.

Next up, I’ve got to start persuading the people I mentioned in my previous post on the subject to apply (at least eventually) and make a contribution.

This is a great first step for the CIC… let’s hope it continues.

Name that country

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So I’m presently in country which, in the last several years, has seen its currency almost double against the US$ and many of its brightest workers disappear to its nearest English speaking neighbour.

Where am I?

Canada?

No.

Try Poland.

That’s right. Many of Poland’s best and brightest, not to mention everyone else, is moving to England for work.

Moreover look at how Polish Zloty (its currency) has done against the US$.

Hollyhock hangover…

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So many good things to share. But at the moment, I’m hung over and tired from 5 days of conferencing at Web of Change.

In the meantime, I’d like to share my first musical recommendation on this blog. As my sister’s fiancé know, I’m no music buff – and the idea of sitting (or standing) and watching a band never climbs high on my “to do” list. However, this weekend, I couldn’t have felt more differently. The conference organizers brought in Delhi2Dublin – an electro-acoustic blending of traditional North Indian and Ireland sounds with cutting edge dance rhythms and DJ aesthetics.

A Celtic-Indian-Electronic fusion rock band?

It sounds like multiculturalism gone mad. Heck, it is multiculturalism gone mad… in a distinctly west coast way.

If you are in Vancouver and you are looking for a great band to power your party… consider hiring these guys. Their energy was out of control.

I have no idea how they will sound on CD, but live, they blew my mind (along with pretty much everybody else in our small concert hall).