Some background: I belong to the Dupont Forum on Yahoo so I can keep up on the goings on of the Dupont/West End area of DC where I live (mostly I like to read about crime so I can increase my paranoia and perhaps recognize criminals by name!). Lately, two big sticking points have been the rats in the Circle, and speeding on O and 22nd. I can sympathize and get behind both of these causes. Nobody likes rats, and speeding can be painful if you’re hit by a car. Anyway, the forum moderator contacted MPD (that’s Metropolitan Police Department) and they are going to put up one of these speed dealies (you know, they tell you how fast you’re going, but that’s about it). Anyway, here was a post in yesterday’s digest.

 MPD is lined up to put that speed measuring/warning machine on 22nd at O tomorrow. If anyone could supply power to the machine through an extension cord, the battery in the machine would last longer than the 3 to 4 days that it’ll last without. (The solar panels don’t get enough light to them in winter). If Officer XXXXX XXXXX could run the power to your house or business please contact him (CCed).

There is something that really cracks me up about the police asking to plug their device into somebody’s home outlets. I dunno, it just seems a bit humerous, and almost Simpsonesque. I can see Police Chief Wiggum doing something like that in Springfield. Doesn’t the police department or DOT have some kind of battery source they can use when the solar isn’t operating? Oh well. Just figured I’d share this.

Aerial view of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, near Eglin Air Force Base.

Greetings from God’s waiting room! The picture shows where I am right now (not in the jet, but in the parts down below at Ft. Walton Beach and Eglin AFB). I get to go spend the next two days learning about Web content migration and content management. For February, the weather should be warmer, but apparently a cold snap came through. Well, I guess 60 degrees isn’t so bad, but 60s at night would be really sweet.  I haven’t been to Florida in a really long time, so it’s kind of nice to be here I guess, although my time will be spent in conferences all day.

A funny thing happened when I went to dinner. I brought Wikinomics with me so I could do some reading (it’s my technique to not feel like a loser while eating alone). The staff was beginning to clean up and there were only a few people still eating. The hostess was sitting a few stools away from me eating dinner as well. She asked me what I was reading and I told her, “Wikinomics”. She asked me what it was about and I told her that it’s about various Web 2.0 applications and how they are affecting business. She laughed and said, “Ohhhhh. I thought you said ‘wicca’, like those people who practice witchcraft as a religion.” I said, “Nooo, wiki like Wikipedia.” Then we laughed and I had my last crab leg and left. Ahhhhhh, so good I had to write about it.

If you haven’t seen this yet, you must. The infectious groove will be with you all day.

During the course of the SMICC Web 2.0 conference, speakers have been using the current political race as an example of using new technology. The fact that yesterday was Super Tuesday also gave the discussions more relevance. One speaker mentioned how Obama’s campaign was able to raise millions of dollars by receiving a huge number of little donations. Those little donations quickly added up. This success was, of course, Web driven. That same speaker also mentioned how much the use of the Internet for campaigns has blossomed since the Dean campaign. So fear not, the trailblazers from the Dean days are still remembered

 What else about politics? Here’s an interesting take on what I learned the other night. (And before I begin, these are not my opinions or views. I am merely reporting anecdotal facts from conversations with people.) Monday night I ended up bar hopping with some waiters and bartenders that I met while eating dinner. All in all a very nice bunch of people and we had a blast (though my body didn’t think so the next day!).  Just for some context, here is the makeup of the group. 3 women (white) and 4 men (one Frenchman, one Chinese immigrant, one Mexican who was born in the US, one white). Of the men, one couldn’t vote because he isn’t a US citizen, and the other wasn’t going to vote for reasons known only to him. Every one of these folks were registered Democrats and were very adamant about voting in the Tuesday elections. None of the women were fans of Hillary and didn’t want her to represent the female gender. And in general, all 7 were of the opinion that the US is not ready for either a) a woman president, or b) an African-American president.

Three other women I spoke to at my conference also mentioned that they don’t like the fact that Hillary could be the woman who represents women. They don’t like her stance and find her to be a bad representation of women. Again, these opinions all came from Democrats. I found this very interesting. Of these women, one just got her citizenship last year (she’s Filipino) and was very excited to vote. She told me a great story: When she went to her citizenship ceremony last year she was sitting next to a couple of other women who were being sworn in. One excitedly asked the other, “Are you going to vote now that you’re a legal citizen?” The lady responded, “No.” The first lady was incredulous and told her that she HAS to vote now because it’s her duty as an American citizen.

I enjoyed that because it shows that the folks who work to legally get the right to vote (immigrants, etc.) take it as an honor that they should vote. I believe too many Americans get too complacent about the notion of voting and shirk their duties.  As we all hear and everyone should believe: If you don’t vote, you have ZERO right to voice your opinion about what’s wrong with America. Get out there and get your free sticker and then you can bitch about how the man is keeping you down.

1. Web 2.0 is very relevant to the campaign
2. Dean and his aides are still seen as trailblazers
3. People should vote
4. Anchor Steam is a great beer.

Thank you. This has been your public service announcement for the day.

I arrived in San Fran Sunday for the Social Media for Internal Communications Conference–How to Engage Employees, Drive Change and Improve Your Bottom Line Using Blogging, Podcasting, and the Latest Web 2.0 Technologies. Yeahhhh, that’s a mouthful. For now we’ll just call it SoMeInComCon HoEnEmDrChImpBottLinUsBloPodLatWeb2.0. Still too long? Alright. I’m going either with SoMeInComCon or SMICC. That’ll work.  

Until I have a little more time to get into the specifics of what’s been discussed so far, I’ll just give a few generalizations that I’ve noticed

1. The Web 2.0 community is tight-knit insofar as the “gurus” on the subject. A number of the books from our class have been mentioned over and over. There’s been mention of “Search”, ”The Long Tail”, ”Wikinomics”, and “The Wisdom of Crowds” to name a few
2. A lot of people (or their companies) are using Web 2.0, or they want to start using it, but not a lot of people know how!   Why? It’s new, it’s constantly changing, and a lot of people are afraid. These have been the constant refrains I’ve heard in the sessions.
3. Ahh, that reliable standby from The Cluetrain Manifesto: Markets are conversations! If no other point has been driven home so far, #1 from the Manifesto certainly has been. Everything related to Web 2.0 is a conversation. Whether between your company and your customers/clients, or between employees, or between management and employees, conversations are key. You have to talk and listen, otherwise Web 2.0 and Social Media/Networking will not work.

 Those are just a couple of the notables. One speaker really hit home a point that I enjoyed. He was describing how the Mayo Clinic is maintaining brand awareness through use of Web 2.0. He said, “To NOT use Facebook and the other new media out there would be a form of media malpractice.” I enjoyed that. My interpretation is that if you’re not trying some of the hundreds of Web 2.0 applications that are out there, you really are missing the boat and performing an injustice to your company, your clients, and yourself.

The hard part though is using the applications correctly and in a way that is beneficial. Trial and error is another constant that I’m hearing. Sometimes you’ll flop, other times your new tool will be a success, but it’s better to just try something and see what works than to do nothing.

So, that’s just a little taste of what this conference is about and I’m hoping that I’ll get a good amount of information that I can use at work and in class.

As an aside, it’s great to be in San Francisco. The weather is beautiful and I really enjoy this city. Plus it’s kind of interesting to know that this is the hotbed of much of the Web 2.0 technology that is being created.

And one more aside: I would think that WordPress would update their dictionary to include terms like blogging, podcasting, and other social media terms. Just my opinion.

Stay tuned. . .

OK, so I’m now moving back and forth between this blog and my other one on Blogger. As I keep using WordPress, I’m getting more accustomed to the interface, but there’s still some things that are annoying. But before I get to that, heed my warning! Unless you love working in HTML code, be sure to allow for “visual editor” when you write posts (Click “Use the visual rich editor when working” under Personal Options). I was many hours into working on my blog when I realized that there even is rich editor function. But that’s my fault for not paying attention.

HTML issues aside, I’m not loving the photo function. Blogger’s seems to be more intuitive and requires less work. On WordPress you have to upload your image, which is then saved in a folder. OK, no problem there. But you will be in for a world of annoyance if you don’t optimize your photos for Web prior to uploading them. The FAQ says there are some free tools out there, but if you have Photoshop, I’d just use that. The process is pretty simple once you get into it. 

1. Open a photo file in Photoshop, then go File > Save for Web.
2. Your photo will open in it’s current size (100%) and you need to change that percentage (under New Size) to make the picture suitable for Web publishing. I’ve noticed that somewhere in the family of 17 to 25% seems to work OK.
3. Click the Preview button on the bottom to see what your image will look like on a Webpage.
4. Then Save the image with whatever name you like (I’d save it as a .jpg, but you can use other formats if you want).

While this process works, you might have to resize images if you don’t like how they’re looking on your blog. Err on the side of smaller size rather than larger. If you’re simply showing a thumbnail within your text, then a larger size is OK. But if you’re going to show the image full size, the larger images will bleed into your margins. So keep your peepers open on how it looks and change accordingly. I’ve attached some basic information about optimization from Photoshop Help. Document–Optimizing images for the Web. From Photoshop Help. (Note that the links within the document will not work unless you have Photoshop. You can also copy and search the specific highlighted item.)

There’s a few other tricky pickles within WordPress, but I’ll just keep plugging through those for now and maybe discuss them later.

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