Social media learning: for business AND pleasure

Last week, Kevin Jones of Engaged Learning invited me to participate in his Working/Learning Carnival. This is where a bunch of people write blog posts with a theme and the host of the Carnival, that would be Mr. Jones, gathers up the post links and lists them all in a post on the host's blog.

I met Kevin last year at an eLearning convention in San Jose. It was on this trip that I took those awesomesauce* photos of the Leonardo exhibit at the Tech. Remember? Go read My First (Dead Man) Crush for the whole, geeky story. I was at this convention courtesy of what most people would consider my "real" job. I have a full time job with benefits and a 401(k) that pays me to produce multimedia education elements and concern myself with maintaining the company's online reputation. I know I'm lucky to have this job, and I work very hard planning and producing, 40 hours a week.

Kevin's presentation at the convention was about overcoming the objections to using social media in learning environments. It impressed me. More important than impressing me was that Kevin is from Portland, Oregon. That day he pretty much guaranteed himself a spot in my Twitter stream. In case you aren't aware of the inner-workings of the mind of mediaChick (which is an experience in and of itself and not a recommended activity within one hour of eating) being from Portland is always going to get you my Gold Star of Awesomeness (GSA). Especially when mediaChick is far from home in a land of strangers and weirdly shaped trees with pointy bark and gynormous** green fans shooting out of the top of them.

Editorial note: Please don't move here solely for the purpose of getting a GSA unless you already have a job lined up. You'll be inflating our unemployment numbers and that just ain't Gold Star of Awesome.

I spend a fair amount of time keeping up with the constant influx of new technologies, theories and trends that affect my job. This means I get to spend time learning for work and go to conventions in places with strange foliage, and this is a beautiful thing. I love to learn! If information was a tangible thing, I would figure out a way to wear it, eat it and breath it. At the same time. Learning for work is a perk for me, and provides me with another bonus: the opportunity to learn things that also help me as a social media consultant.

Yes, in addition to writing and producing eLearning media, I am a social media consultant in my (I have no) spare time. It has become an eye-roller lately, this moniker "social media consultant." It joins "expert" and "guru" as labels that once meant a lot, if applied legitimately, but with overuse has become diluted. Look at what's happened to the word "innovative." So much is "innovative" now. This is the age of mashups, for a reason. You dig? And while some wonderful things are admittedly Super-Cool (read: mp3 players, GPS, the Googles) they're only Super-Cool, not "innovative." Innovative is the electric switch, the automobile and the silicon wafer. But does that discredit the Super-Coolness of the mp3 player technology? Nope.

I'm fine with being merely Super-Cool as a social media consultant, and not a guru or expert. I don't consult to be known as one. I'm happy enough reveling in the real power behind consulting and teaching the what and the how of using social media: all the learning that it requires. That spells A-W-S-O-M-E-S-A-U-C-E, yo. With a capital A.

Being a consultant is about sharing information, listening and advising. My job is to teach people what social media is and why they might care to know more about it. And if they want me to, I give them a plan on how to use social media tools to their benefit. Yes, I also execute brand strategy and build reputation dashboard monitors and all that other buzzword stuff...but the more I consult and listen and share my social media knowledge, the more I realize that my expertise (and all the real fun) is in the counseling.

I enjoy figuring out where a person or business is in their social media life, where they want to be, and helping them figure out how to get there. And in the process of learning and researching things that might help this person or that business, I am provided the bonus opportunity of learning things that also help me in my "real" job.

Social media isn't innovative. It's not hard to figure out, or implement. There is certainly no lack of information available online and off, written by amazing people with blogs waaaay more popular than mine. (Go read Connie Bensen, Maki and Dawn Foster's words.) These are smart, professional people who teach and listen and advise, for money. Like I do. There are a lot of social media consultants in the world today, but I don't see them as my competition. There's plenty of learning and teaching to go around. And as long as my job (or jobs, I should say) involve the opportunity to learn, I am satisfied.

I know there's nothing more Super-Cool than empowering another person with information that has empowered you.

I will link to Kevin's Working/Learning Carnival post when it is up. In the meantime, I wanna hear it: what are your thoughts on working and learning?

awesomesauce* For the record, I first heard this little ditty in a tweet from either @caseorganic or @corvida. Regardless of the source and the fact that everyone else on this planet has been "awesomesaucing" themselves silly without me all this time, they're both awesomesauce and you should be following them on Twitter.

gynormous** For the record, I came up with this little ditty. I think. And also for the record, the best part about it is the "gyn". Because secretly I am a 12 year old boy.

Let's go steady!

The Great Portland Interview Experiment: Crystal Beasley

Weeks ago I excitedly signed on to participate in the Great Portland Interview Experiment, a meme from Portland, Oregon Web designer and all around geek Chris O'Rourke. The idea is to "discover untapped nuggets" about another person by asking them some questions. In return, you answer some questions.

And boy-oh-boy was I please to discover I would be crafting my questions for the Skinny White Girl herself: Ms. Crystal Beasley.

I've known Crystal for a few months, and it didn't take her long to get on the short-list of people who get my signature "kindred spirits" hug. (If you've gotten one...you'll know it.) She's good people, period.

I hope you enjoy reading her answers to the questions I so enjoyed asking!

The Great Portland Interview Experiment: Crystal Beasley

As a very tall girl, I know something about the challenges of being different than the "average" size. How has being a very small girl shaped your life?

I think it may be more socially acceptable to be extra short than extra tall as a girl, though no one ever wanted me to walk a runway or be on the basketball team. Aside from being able to stand up under the bulkheads in a plane, I always need pants tailored. I can live with that. I was expressing my desire to date men between 5'10" and 6'3" to my tall girlfriend and she asked, "how tall are you?!?" I can't see what that has to do with anything.

I noticed in the fucking unbelievably cute Dear Santa letter you wrote as a little girl (http://twitpic.com/s74g) you have a post script. Does it say "P.S. I hope you don't mind me keeping rats"? Details, please!

It says, "I hope you don't mind me saying 'rats'." I guess I've always had a potty mouth.

You have a kitty named Ruckus. What is up with his love of eating earwax? Under what circumstances (I confess I can't wait to hear this story) did this fact become discovered?

Firstly, Ruckus is a girl, a.k.a. "The RuckStar." She is a strange one. Not sure what accounts for her love of earwax, but I discovered her licking my earbuds on more than one occasion. I have to keep them hidden from her. ICK!

What are three tech gadgets you can't live without?

iphone, iphone, iphone - I demoed it to my Granny over Christmas and her comment was, "That phone can do everything but spit tobacco."

I know you're fond of southern-inspired meals, the stuff you grew up on. What's your favorite dish? Why?

My favorite meal is my Granny's chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, baked sweet potatoes, and banana cream pie for dessert. I can't remember *not* knowing how to cook. There's a picture of me with the first cake I baked where I colored half of the frosting pink and the other half purple and made a giant swirl on top. I was five.

Like me, you have a thing for shoes. Shoes, shoes, shoes! How many do you have, what's your current favorite, and *gasp!* do you ever get rid of them?

I haven't ever counted how many pairs I have. To give you a sense, though, I have six pairs of brown boots alone (camel knee high, brown mid-calf with strappy buckles, chocolate knee high, suede booties, hiking, and ridiculous pointy toe, snake skin, mid-calf). Asking me for my favorite is like asking which child is your favorite, but... I do have a soft spot in my heart for some absinthe-green satin peep-toe pumps with a bow on the toe. I went salsa dancing in them and thought I would die of pain, but it was worth it.

Tell us a bit about your relationship with your beloved Granny.

My Granny raised me, so I owe so very much to her. As I mentioned about about cooking, she taught me the fundamentals and gave me a love of good food. I believe there's something so basically human about feeding someone. A good meal, cooked with love, can cure both body and soul. She certainly prepared thousands of meals from scratch for me as a child and gave me a wonderful, stable home to grow up in.

You work at StepChange Group as Creative Marketing Manager. What kinds of projects have you been working on?

It's been a whirlwind since I started in October. We've had some brand new, big clients come in December like Toys-R-Us, Intercontinental Hotels, and Frito Lay. I also took on some existing clients like Gold's Gym. I've been wearing a lot of hats, as one does in a small company. I'm doing wireframing and design of widgets, blog posts, community management for SCG, and a bit of web production coding. I actually use Terminal and have Ruby running on my machine. Scary stuff!

I also started my first *first* first personal blog about (of course) cooking. It's called SkinnyCook and is available at skinnywhitegirl.com/skinnycook The world already has 17.7 million cooking blogs, but mine is focused on weeknight, super fast meals with a Portland spin. Most will take between 10 and 20 minutes.

I subscribe to Organics to You's box of lovely veggies, so if you're here in Portland and also subscribe, we'll have the same stuff in our fridges to work with. I give tips about where in town you can get any weird ingredients I might mention. Most recipes will have a minimum number of ingredients minimize fuss.

You're at the Beer and Blog. What's your drink-of-choice?

I'm a gin and tonic girl, Aviation please. Sometimes I'm reckless and venture out to Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray.

Which social media tool do you use that has had the most impact on your professional life?

Far and away, Twitter is it. I'm such an addict. It's how if find out about all the best events, meet new folks, and keep up with tweeps I've already met. I start to wax philosophical whenever I try to explain it to someone who isn't familiar with it or who "doesn't get it." The brilliance of it is something that dawns on you little by little.

Let's go steady!

The Secret to Winning Devoted Fans for Life

Last night I wrote my second post on the great local blog Our PDX, the baby of Ms. Betsy Ritcher (@betsywhim). Betsy is a fabulous writer who has been in the blogging game a long time. I like to believe she INVENTED the blogging, although I'm prone to the dramatics. Suffice to say, this lady has stories and wisdom and likes me. As a PERSON. She's someone I really respect.

Ms. Betsy respects me, too. I know this because she makes the effort to let me know that I, and the other authors on Our PDX, are appreciated for our time. She provides support, both technical and informational. (I know where to find things! Hurrah!) Guilt about post frequency is outlawed. Betsy has a "real" job and a family, like the rest of us, and still has time to toot the "You're Awesome!" horn to celebrate our willingness to contribute and be a part of this project. And I've only written two posts:

I'm Native, I'm Proud
Top 5 Ways to Stay Out of Jail this Fall

I have a very good feeling about this blog, and it has everything to do with Ms. Betsy Ritcher. I'm really excited to be a part of it, and to meet my fellow writers on September 17 at The Chesterfield. We'd love to have readers drop by and say hello! Here's the link with all the details. Hope to see you there. =)

Let's go steady!

Breathe easy! I'm still safe from marital bliss

Thanks to all who came to the Anti-Prom Saturday night! It was so much fun that @lollyrae didn't notice I wasn't auctioned off for gawd knows what. This was a relief because there were no suitable boyz there anyway. I know this because none of them climbed the hippie patchwork stage curtains and screamed over Tiger House's music, "Hey! When are we going to get to bid on the super tall chick wearing the tiara?" Dodged a bullet, I did!

Since it was @lollyrae and her man @chimpchampion's show, my job was to just show up and look pretty. I think I did that fairly well. My tweeties @camikaos, @drnormal, @missburrows and @betsywhim showed up looking gorgeous. Doc Normal managed to get John Borroz, master jazz man, to fork up his five bucks and revisit his prom night. My flesh friends (isn't that phrase deliciously horrible?) were all there dressed to the nines (I'd link to them here but they don't read my blogs anyway...stoopid flesh). I again successfully avoided conversations with those I didn't know. (I have stellar networking skillz.) We were all on our best behavior.

I the drank various substances handed to me in bottles and flasks and ate as much homemade cheesy/oniony/hambergery chip dip as possible. A couple of bands played, one with secret identities. They played a short set and then came back out dressed as furries. I don't know their name, but I was very curious about the band's attraction to stuffed animals and whether I'd get a *special* kinda show if I trailed them back to their van after their last set. In the end, I remembered I can't get too far out of @lollyrae's sight, lest she come looking for her pink leather flask (which coincidently, or maybe not, matched my outfit).

There was dancing, some sort of mosh pit thingy, enough beer and eats for everyone, and really great prom attire. My two wives got to see each other, which is much more rare than it should be. (Yes, I have a thing for redheads. Why do you ask?) But, most importantly, my dear @lollyrae was happy with the way it all came about in the end. For that alone, I am very grateful. Thanks to all who attended!

Now, go check out the rest of the Anti-Prom photos!

Let's go steady!

See? St. Johns is Awesome!

Today was the 13th annual Providence Bridge Pedal. This is when cyclists descend upon my sleepy St. Johns neighborhood and take over the downtown area. We don't mind. At all. Why? It's good to have folks from the "outside" take a look around and see how cool our community is!

I walked (wheezed, is more accurate) my way down to the town square to see all the action. Along the way I took some photos of things that caught my eye. Once there, I took some more. Take a look!

I heart St. Johns!

Let's go steady!

Easy as Pie

I've made lots of yummy pies, muffins, breads, cakes, scones and fancy cookies over the years. I enjoy baking immensely, and find it a very relaxing thing to occupy my hands with while I am deep in thought. But once upon a time, for years and years, I only made oatmeal raisin cookies using a basic (but tasty) Betty Crocker recipe. Dependable and safe.

My fear of doing any more than that (and maybe you can relate) was acerbated by my perfectionism: I can't make a pie because it might not be perfect (meaning edible). This is a common theme for me, my struggle to let go. To trust the world won't come to a screeching, embarrassing halt if things go wrong. Coupled with this is an innate desire to be rational and level-headed.

I was like deer mesmerized by the lights of certain vehicular slaughter. Freaking ridiculous, really. All eyes on me, fingers pointed, cruel laughter for making a stinker of a pie? The reality is that, in the case of making a decent pie, one must consider the evidence. Since the dawn of the pie's ancient Greek and Egyptian beginnings, hundreds of thousands of ordinary everyday people have made perfectly divine pies of every possible variation that didn't suck. Of course it was possible. But still...pie crusts are tricky. I've made pies that ruined pie plates. Pies so bad one might advise the pie-maker to stick to safe, dependable Betty Crocker cookies. Pie crust FAIL.

Now, here is the bottom line about making pies that don't suck: It doesn't matter what recipe or filling you use, or whether your crust is shortening, butter or lard based. Making a pie requires just three things: a zen-like state of acceptance of what may come, respect for (and unwavering belief in) science, and ice cold water.

Baking is all science, you know, with its formulas and measuring and various temperatures and critical timing. A "this ain't no big deal" frame of mind and a good recipe followed to the t(easpoon) using very, very cold water will bring crust success every time. And when that first pie comes out of the oven looking just like the picture, something wonderful happens: you get confident. You start to understand why certain ingredients in certain amounts are used in a certain order to make pies that don't suck. You start to improvise here and there to see what happens. Does it suck? Try something else. Does it rock? Experiment some more or move on to that tasty cheese cake recipe you've got your eye on or the awesome scones your twitter friend shared. Pie crust FTW!

My pies started not sucking when a friend of mine, the lovely and most talent Jaisy, sat down with me and told me that it wasn't all that big of deal. The secret, she confided, is in following the recipe exactly. Pies are just flour and fat and ice cold water wrapped in "let it be." "You can do this," she said. She wrote out her mother's pie crust recipe and sent me home, inspired and calm. From then on, my pies didn't suck.

I'm planning to join the Twitter Pie-Off on August 30th in Washington Park. I will be up against some professionals for a good old fashioned baking competition. I don't know what to expect, but rest assured I will not be bringing a pie that sucks. (By the way, later that night I'll be at @lollyrae's Anti-Prom, a fund raiser benefiting the Luke Dorf healing community and Liberty Hall. Maybe I'll even be wearing a Twitter Pie-Off prize ribbon!)

Let's go steady!

Is Spinning Toothpaste the Future?

I was shopping for food (I hate shopping for food) and I saw this 3-D kiosk at the Fred Meyer in my beloved St. Johns neighborhood. First I stared at it as it projected logos and products and produce at me. Then I pushed on the buttons on the panel and accepted a coupon for Fancy Cat and a contest entry form for free gas for a year. (I found it amusing that the entry form had to be mailed in. You know, as in snail mail.)

I'm so curious about this Holo™ 3D kiosk technology sitting in the lobby of my chain grocery. What brings such technology to my sleepy neck of the woods? What does it say about me and my neighbors? I also wonder why this kiosk isn't gathering any data (that I can see) besides clicks. It feels like a missed opportunity.

After I finally escaped to the safety of home (and $104 lighter) I sat down and chatted online with @lollyrae:

me: there's a cool three-d ad kiosk at the st john freddies
h: ads
no
me: Its freaking 3d spinning fruit!
Its awesome!
it spits out coupons
and contest apps that you have to MAIL in
perfect for the st johns blog, no?
h: yes
me: I got a picture of a spinning tube of toothpaste
h: i want to see some hair products flying out of their containers
and some instructional guides for the tampon-novice
me: Hm, perhaps I shall put that renumeration in the copy?
h: maybe so!!
I would be excited to stand there and feel bodily threatened by flying produce as well

She is *not* kidding. She'd turn it into performance art and invite all her Portland Cacophony Society friends. Look for a St. Johns neighborhood post soon. And by soon, I of course mean "eventually".

Let's go steady!