Showing posts with label communications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communications. Show all posts
7/29/13
3/13/13
12/9/12
Lines Crossed The Air
Our wavelength isn't mere hardware...
The lines crossed the air
through atmosphere
connecting as you spoke
electrifying me...
Analog. Digital.
Wired. Wireless.
20th century. 21st cyber.
Talk. Hear. See.
Our wavelength isn't mere hardware
or technical gear
human coupling online unyoked
capturing me...
Technology is merely airfare
on our frontier
to interaction as menfolk
bridging you with me.
The lines crossed the air
through atmosphere
connecting as you spoke
electrifying me...
Analog. Digital.
Wired. Wireless.
20th century. 21st cyber.
Talk. Hear. See.
Our wavelength isn't mere hardware
or technical gear
human coupling online unyoked
capturing me...
Technology is merely airfare
on our frontier
to interaction as menfolk
bridging you with me.
8/18/12
5/28/12
1/18/12
My Stop SOPA Protest Support
Don't know what the SOPA and PIPA legislation is and what the fuss is about?
SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act and you can read "What is SOPA?" on Gizmodo's website and CNET News has ongoing coverage "SOPA bill draws fire." SOPA is a US Congressional House bill that has a counterpart in the US Senate called PIPA and PCWorld's article "SOPA and PIPA: Just the facts" provides an explanation of who and why are for or against the bills. Many well know websites used daily are "going dark" or protesting in some method today and WebProNews article "SOPA Blackout Set For January 18th: Here's All The Info" gives a list and explanation of sites participating.
My support for the protest is based on several objections. First and foremost it is the US Congress interfering with something they know nothing about, the internet and the World Wide Web and its infrastructure. They are attempting to interfere with the tradition of free exchange of information on what is now the primary method of communication on multiple levels and is a complex network with an infrastructure not easily altered for political ideologies. Especially since those political motives are promoted and funded by lobbying special interest groups of major media and entertainment corporations.
The magnificent thing about the internet is that it has allowed millions of people such as myself not only access to unprecedented information and ability to communicate but be able to become our own content providers. Content providers without contracts, controlled by conglomerates and censored by social groups and the political and bureaucratic classes. I am able to have my own small dedicated following of people who appreciate my creative endeavors and publish those works myself under protection of my name and Creative Commons licensing. No lawyers, agents, middlemen, exclusive distribution channel needed.
SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act and you can read "What is SOPA?" on Gizmodo's website and CNET News has ongoing coverage "SOPA bill draws fire." SOPA is a US Congressional House bill that has a counterpart in the US Senate called PIPA and PCWorld's article "SOPA and PIPA: Just the facts" provides an explanation of who and why are for or against the bills. Many well know websites used daily are "going dark" or protesting in some method today and WebProNews article "SOPA Blackout Set For January 18th: Here's All The Info" gives a list and explanation of sites participating.
My support for the protest is based on several objections. First and foremost it is the US Congress interfering with something they know nothing about, the internet and the World Wide Web and its infrastructure. They are attempting to interfere with the tradition of free exchange of information on what is now the primary method of communication on multiple levels and is a complex network with an infrastructure not easily altered for political ideologies. Especially since those political motives are promoted and funded by lobbying special interest groups of major media and entertainment corporations.
The magnificent thing about the internet is that it has allowed millions of people such as myself not only access to unprecedented information and ability to communicate but be able to become our own content providers. Content providers without contracts, controlled by conglomerates and censored by social groups and the political and bureaucratic classes. I am able to have my own small dedicated following of people who appreciate my creative endeavors and publish those works myself under protection of my name and Creative Commons licensing. No lawyers, agents, middlemen, exclusive distribution channel needed.
4/18/11
4/8/11
Writing: Fact and Fiction
It's only words...
They are powerful in the way they are used though.
It's the assembly of how words are laid out that is important. That is true in writing fiction or nonfiction as well as speaking to groups or in conversation.
As units of language words are strung together to make a whole structure; a sentence then also can become a paragraph and paragraphs become essays, blogs, books and so on. Generally words put together come naturally to me, both in writing and speaking. Very often I don't appreciate that and I should since, in my mind anyway, that is the only real talent and skill I have.
It is because of my ability to use words and compile them together to make thoughts, it is also how I construct my world and gather people around me. Whether I realize it or not, consciously or otherwise. The manner in which I write and speak has the effect of either drawing or repelling people to or away from me. I have learned that the hard way over the years.
This concept is not a revelatory groundbreaking idea. The power of words has long been recognized as having significant impact on the way people react to us, which in turn boomerangs and shapes the way we act. The entire effect also is significant to the way we perceive ourselves and how we believe others perceive us. Anyone skilled in communications, psychology and sociology knows this. Generally I am thoughtful towards others, try to remain positive and make others around me comfortable.
On a personal level it is difficult for me to be conscience of that. Although it is inherent in my nature to write and speak well, I am not mindful of that every time I put fingers to keyboard or open my mouth. It is my best asset but can also be my curse. I was reminded of this recently when I reached the end of my rope with a situation and a person. I have a very long patience but beware when I finally do lose it. That is because I also can have a very bad temper, normally kept in check, but when I do lose my patience it leaps forward and I have yet, even this late in life, learned to hold my tongue. Ninety percent of the time I can, it is the ten percent of the time that destroys good I may have done, the person it is directed at and witnesses. It also hurts me not only for reputation reasons, that can usually be repaired but requires a long amount of time and some people never forget it. The damage it causes me is because I feel terrible afterwards.
The way we use words, in writing or speaking, are powerful when linked together to transform any given moment in time our lives. This is not an original idea. When I do harm using words injudiciously, not only do I recognize the damage I have done, it is a compelling time to reaffirm that words are best used to encourage, influence and motivate others. The good news is that words, when used judiciously, can repair damage done and also inspire yourself and others.
They are powerful in the way they are used though.
It's the assembly of how words are laid out that is important. That is true in writing fiction or nonfiction as well as speaking to groups or in conversation.
As units of language words are strung together to make a whole structure; a sentence then also can become a paragraph and paragraphs become essays, blogs, books and so on. Generally words put together come naturally to me, both in writing and speaking. Very often I don't appreciate that and I should since, in my mind anyway, that is the only real talent and skill I have.
It is because of my ability to use words and compile them together to make thoughts, it is also how I construct my world and gather people around me. Whether I realize it or not, consciously or otherwise. The manner in which I write and speak has the effect of either drawing or repelling people to or away from me. I have learned that the hard way over the years.
This concept is not a revelatory groundbreaking idea. The power of words has long been recognized as having significant impact on the way people react to us, which in turn boomerangs and shapes the way we act. The entire effect also is significant to the way we perceive ourselves and how we believe others perceive us. Anyone skilled in communications, psychology and sociology knows this. Generally I am thoughtful towards others, try to remain positive and make others around me comfortable.
On a personal level it is difficult for me to be conscience of that. Although it is inherent in my nature to write and speak well, I am not mindful of that every time I put fingers to keyboard or open my mouth. It is my best asset but can also be my curse. I was reminded of this recently when I reached the end of my rope with a situation and a person. I have a very long patience but beware when I finally do lose it. That is because I also can have a very bad temper, normally kept in check, but when I do lose my patience it leaps forward and I have yet, even this late in life, learned to hold my tongue. Ninety percent of the time I can, it is the ten percent of the time that destroys good I may have done, the person it is directed at and witnesses. It also hurts me not only for reputation reasons, that can usually be repaired but requires a long amount of time and some people never forget it. The damage it causes me is because I feel terrible afterwards.
The way we use words, in writing or speaking, are powerful when linked together to transform any given moment in time our lives. This is not an original idea. When I do harm using words injudiciously, not only do I recognize the damage I have done, it is a compelling time to reaffirm that words are best used to encourage, influence and motivate others. The good news is that words, when used judiciously, can repair damage done and also inspire yourself and others.
3/14/11
Geography of the Mind
Just when you thought...
Nothing else could happen, something does and we all know about it immediately.
For a moment in time, the year 2010 seemed to give us and the world a brief respite. It felt as if, although thinking people realized it wouldn't take hold, we may not be in a fully sustainable economic recovery but at least there was a pause or suspension of things getting worse. We were lulled by overkill of good news of small magnitude. The wishful hope I think most of us had was that the economic crisis would not get too much worse and we could stabilize as a people and begin the laborious task of slowly rebuilding. It seems though the dawn of 2011 has brought home to society the realization that we are not going to get out of this universe changing crackup so easily. On the economic front in the United States, a large segment of Americans now recognize that we are indeed in a genuine depression. We'll likely skip spring and head straight into long, hot summer afternoons followed by cold fall and winter nights.
We've been recently jolted by big, bad news. Another shoe may drop. Anything can happen. Things happen in threes. We will all know about it at the same time.
There are uprisings all across the Middle East, which at a minimum threatens our oil supplies and is bound to cause global economic problems. Even larger than that, the turbulence of the Jasmine Revolution, is far from over and more is to come. There is now the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, taking a terrible toll on the people of that country. Worse, nuclear meltdown is a very real possibility, bringing to the people of Japan the horror of revisiting a different nuclear disaster reminiscent of the Second World War. Japan is the third largest economy in the world and this event will have a financial effect on all of us.
What is next? One of the Four Horsemen? Conquest, War, Famine or Death? We will know within minutes if a White, Red, Black or Pale horse arrives.
Any number of things could bring another cataclysmic event to us soon. The debt of the European nations and the US government is one. The Currency Crisis could suddenly make itself obvious as the insolvency of governments reveals itself. Is a widespread incurable global disease possible in this day and age? A technological meltdown? Food shortages everywhere, including first world nations?
No one knows. Nothing could happen since so much already has. The world is random. Everyone will be aware of it instantly.
In the long course of history, Classical Ancient, Middle Ages and Modern, humans have suffered and thrived simultaneously but in the first two periods, news and knowledge was local and took a long time to spread. In the Modern era globalization began and technological progress, for better or worse, advanced and is omnipresent in our lives. The breadth of communications that span the globe is a critical component of input into our minds with a subliminal effect. The social web is the epitome of oversharing personal thought.
This is the period of Too Much Information. Media Saturation. Information Overload. Whatever you prefer to call it, I maintain one of our highest priorities should be managing the flow of current material that enters into our brains. We may be people of the latest Modern age but I'm not sure that as mortal souls most of us have caught up with the rapidity of the advances science and technology have made. Especially those of the last thirty years.
I believe the effects of instant connections have altered the psychology of the larger population, affecting the economic crisis and the way people perceive and react to it.
Mass marketing of mass communications isn't necessarily good for the masses. It's unlikely that progression of widespread communications is going to slow down. The effect of globalization, technological innovations and communication has been one of the major reasons why the impact of this economic depression is different. Prior to the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression of the thirties, drastic economic downturns were referred to as Panics. Just a Panics came to be called Recessions and Depressions, the nomenclature of economic crisis has changed to Disruption, due to instant messaging. This is not only an economic depression and change of a way of life but also a disruption of great magnitude because we are at a zenith of communications. The progression from local news and knowledge to global information is made complete. All that remains is improving the tools that transmit it.
Know your own mind. Guard and protect it as securely as you would your body. Consider what you feed into your head as much as you consider what you should eat.
Understanding that this economic disruption is not only a life-altering physical endurance contest, it also is a groupthink mental challenge, is pivotal to understanding how to survive relatively intact. Stress is a demanding thing, it eats you up, that is why it is important to learn how to cope with it and prevent it from distracting you as much as possible. Learn it, live it, to do more than survive it, but thrive in it.
2/17/11
You Can Quote Me On That
r u tlkg 2 me? rly?...
"Are you talking to me? Really?"
Why, yes I am and I find your communication skills appalling.
I work for a division of a large international education company and am not surprised that they are putting out curriculum for "tweens and teens" on how to communicate in standard English. It is a sorry statement on the public school system and parents, that Americans kids that are native English speakers, have to be taught how to communicate in full sentences and paragraphs with proper grammar and spelling. Especially using a designed curriculum external to what they should already be learning at home and in school.
What I have to say about the need for this could fill volumes. I'll spare you.
What I will comment on though is the adults I know under a certain age, especially the former public school educators I work with, who engage in this dots and dashes connection with others. To them it is perfectly acceptable, although not to any of their work peers, to only correspond in cryptic text messages and instant messaging. Don't ask them to actually read an email or listen to a voice mail either. They're not at all embarrassed about telling the rest of us, when asked if they got the important email or voice mail, with information too complex to send in the contemporary telegraph of text or instant messaging..."Oh...I never read email or listen to voice mail, I just delete them."
I'm willing to accept that as their choice long as they understand that it is also my choice not to engage in discourse with them if they are unwilling to respond in an adult manner. Any complaints to me about their being "left out of the loop" on important matters falls on deaf ears. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect people who work for an educational outfit, who have at a minimum underdergraduate degrees, to be articulate and use standard English sentence structures and make sense when they communicate.
"Are you talking to me? Really?"
Why, yes I am and I find your communication skills appalling.
I work for a division of a large international education company and am not surprised that they are putting out curriculum for "tweens and teens" on how to communicate in standard English. It is a sorry statement on the public school system and parents, that Americans kids that are native English speakers, have to be taught how to communicate in full sentences and paragraphs with proper grammar and spelling. Especially using a designed curriculum external to what they should already be learning at home and in school.
What I have to say about the need for this could fill volumes. I'll spare you.
What I will comment on though is the adults I know under a certain age, especially the former public school educators I work with, who engage in this dots and dashes connection with others. To them it is perfectly acceptable, although not to any of their work peers, to only correspond in cryptic text messages and instant messaging. Don't ask them to actually read an email or listen to a voice mail either. They're not at all embarrassed about telling the rest of us, when asked if they got the important email or voice mail, with information too complex to send in the contemporary telegraph of text or instant messaging..."Oh...I never read email or listen to voice mail, I just delete them."
I'm willing to accept that as their choice long as they understand that it is also my choice not to engage in discourse with them if they are unwilling to respond in an adult manner. Any complaints to me about their being "left out of the loop" on important matters falls on deaf ears. I do not think it is unreasonable to expect people who work for an educational outfit, who have at a minimum underdergraduate degrees, to be articulate and use standard English sentence structures and make sense when they communicate.
12/1/10
Only In America
Ten reasons to believe in Americans...
We're culturally and racially diverse but more alike than different.
1. America is a large continent spanning from one ocean to another, rich with natural resources. Although sometimes exploited and under-utilized, they're still available to us and we're capable of using them wisely.
2. We're innovators, especially in the areas of the arts, science and technology. We figure out new ways to do old things and create new things the rest of the world admires and uses.
3. We are easily mobile and can move around the country because we are an educated work force and technologically savvy. Opportunity is available to most people who seek it.
4. English is the dominant language and literacy is high allowing us to communicate among each other well. We have a sophisticated communications system.
5. Millions of Americans are still hard-working (or want to be), motivated and the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. We will rise above economic crisis no matter how hard or long it takes.
6. Legal immigration. Immigrants have always brought to this country a desire to succeed and do better for themselves, revitalizing everyone. They bring their dreams, enriching us all.
7. The Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and our form of government. Although currently racked with failure by a Political Class of two seemingly entrenched parties, they still do not own the system.
8. The Second Amendment. Millions of Americans legally own guns and we can defend ourselves against our government if we are forced to. Most likely we won't have to because of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
9. Freedom of speech and the press being overtaken by the internet, which is making self-publishing, creative endeavors and the spreading of ideas wide open to everyone.
10. Reinvention of self. There are dozens of ways to break from our personal past and begin a new life for ourselves if we have the will, utilize our resources and are willing to start over.
We're culturally and racially diverse but more alike than different.
1. America is a large continent spanning from one ocean to another, rich with natural resources. Although sometimes exploited and under-utilized, they're still available to us and we're capable of using them wisely.
2. We're innovators, especially in the areas of the arts, science and technology. We figure out new ways to do old things and create new things the rest of the world admires and uses.
3. We are easily mobile and can move around the country because we are an educated work force and technologically savvy. Opportunity is available to most people who seek it.
4. English is the dominant language and literacy is high allowing us to communicate among each other well. We have a sophisticated communications system.
5. Millions of Americans are still hard-working (or want to be), motivated and the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. We will rise above economic crisis no matter how hard or long it takes.
6. Legal immigration. Immigrants have always brought to this country a desire to succeed and do better for themselves, revitalizing everyone. They bring their dreams, enriching us all.
7. The Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and our form of government. Although currently racked with failure by a Political Class of two seemingly entrenched parties, they still do not own the system.
8. The Second Amendment. Millions of Americans legally own guns and we can defend ourselves against our government if we are forced to. Most likely we won't have to because of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
9. Freedom of speech and the press being overtaken by the internet, which is making self-publishing, creative endeavors and the spreading of ideas wide open to everyone.
10. Reinvention of self. There are dozens of ways to break from our personal past and begin a new life for ourselves if we have the will, utilize our resources and are willing to start over.
11/17/10
Geography of the Mind
People can be depended on to act consistently...
Consistency is a good quality to have in your personal behavior, particularly if it is acting consistently decent with your interactions with other people. Communication and interacting well with other people is an art and requires a certain effort and being true to your own self. Consistency though doesn't mean always acting the same and that everyone acts well consistently.
We all have moments when we act in ways that we wish we didn't. I can think of a recent incident where I was scathingly rude to someone who consistently never follows up or does what he is asked to do. My actions were uncalled for however but even more so, a waste of time and negative energy. Why? Because I know that he is consistently lazy and will never do the job he is paid to do in any reasonable sense of timeliness or completeness.
When I was thinking about this later, reasoning why I flared up at him when I know he's never going to do anything he's supposed to do on time or completely, I recognized that both of us were acting consistently in our own behavior. Also I realized that acting consistently doesn't always mean acting consistently good but can also mean acting consistently bad.
In my case anyone who knows and works with me knows that generally I am usually calm and even-handed, if anything some people consider me too calm since I rarely get frantic over problems, because in my mind that does no good. What they also know is likewise I can be counted on when someone repeatedly does the same thing over and over again that irritates me, no matter how much I've tried to correct the situation, if they continue to do it, I'll finally lose it. It's never pretty or done lightly either when I do.
"God deliver you from a man with a very long patience, when he finally loses it."
In this instance I think most people would say that I consistently act as a decent guy who does what he says he's going to do. The person I was dealing with consistently acts as if every day at work is an inconvenience and his actions at work reflect his entire character, at or away from work, and he can be counted on to not care about doing anything fully or well. It's irrelevant to me his personal life is a wreck due to it, I just expect him to be inconsistent with his character at work and do everything correctly, which I've finally concluded is unrealistic.
The key is that people can be depended on to act consistently the same, whether it's reliably or unreliably. People are pretty persistent in their character and actions. There are always exceptions to their behavior, for example my habit of losing my patience after a long period, although I'm generally considered very patient. Occasionally that lazy person just actually may do some things energetically and on time.
Consistency is a good quality to have in your personal behavior, particularly if it is acting consistently decent with your interactions with other people. Communication and interacting well with other people is an art and requires a certain effort and being true to your own self. Consistency though doesn't mean always acting the same and that everyone acts well consistently.
We all have moments when we act in ways that we wish we didn't. I can think of a recent incident where I was scathingly rude to someone who consistently never follows up or does what he is asked to do. My actions were uncalled for however but even more so, a waste of time and negative energy. Why? Because I know that he is consistently lazy and will never do the job he is paid to do in any reasonable sense of timeliness or completeness.
When I was thinking about this later, reasoning why I flared up at him when I know he's never going to do anything he's supposed to do on time or completely, I recognized that both of us were acting consistently in our own behavior. Also I realized that acting consistently doesn't always mean acting consistently good but can also mean acting consistently bad.
In my case anyone who knows and works with me knows that generally I am usually calm and even-handed, if anything some people consider me too calm since I rarely get frantic over problems, because in my mind that does no good. What they also know is likewise I can be counted on when someone repeatedly does the same thing over and over again that irritates me, no matter how much I've tried to correct the situation, if they continue to do it, I'll finally lose it. It's never pretty or done lightly either when I do.
"God deliver you from a man with a very long patience, when he finally loses it."
In this instance I think most people would say that I consistently act as a decent guy who does what he says he's going to do. The person I was dealing with consistently acts as if every day at work is an inconvenience and his actions at work reflect his entire character, at or away from work, and he can be counted on to not care about doing anything fully or well. It's irrelevant to me his personal life is a wreck due to it, I just expect him to be inconsistent with his character at work and do everything correctly, which I've finally concluded is unrealistic.
The key is that people can be depended on to act consistently the same, whether it's reliably or unreliably. People are pretty persistent in their character and actions. There are always exceptions to their behavior, for example my habit of losing my patience after a long period, although I'm generally considered very patient. Occasionally that lazy person just actually may do some things energetically and on time.
11/10/10
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