So I just booked our flights for Thanksgiving to visit my grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins in Amesbury, MA. Anticipating this year’s long holiday weekend got me thinking about last year’s family get-together. I remember my 95-year-old grandmother sitting in a chair last Thanksgiving and indignantly saying, “they won’t come to me!” referring to my […]
Inability to comment on comments stifles the conversation
I just finished reading Keith Burtis’ great guest post on Chris Brogan’s blog, “Twitter- To Converse or to Broadcast-THAT is the Question.” As I scrolled and skimmed through the comments to get down to the bottom and add my own comment, it dawned on me how strange it is that the participatory medium of blogs that […]
Emerging Technologies for Defense Applications conference: notes and commentary
On Monday, October 27, 2008, I attended the Emerging Technologies for Defense Applications conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City, Arlington, VA. I was sad to see that I was the only one at the conference expanding the conversation beyond the walls of the Ritz via Twitter. You can see my Twitter feed by […]
The key to finding time for social media: replacement
So my husband, Paul, has lost 5-10 pounds over the past year or so. It’s happened gradually and he attributes it not to a diet, but rather, to a shift in his food selection that he refers to as “replacement.” He’s not eating less food, just replacing many of the refined carbohydrates he was eating […]
Have you seen Apps for Democracy?
Apps for Democracy is a mashup contest being sponsored by DC’s Office of the CTO. Developers and designers will compete by creating web applications, widgets, Google Maps mash-ups, iPhone apps, Facebook apps, and other digital utilities that visualize OCTO’s Data Catalog, which provides real-time data from multiple agencies to citizens — a catalyst ensuring agencies operate […]
Online communities versus social networks
This past Monday blogger, FastCompany journalist and social media expert Marcia Connor tweeted, “So what’s *your* theory on why online communities get little press while social networks get all the buzz?” Her query was for an article or blog post that she’s working on. Here’s my take on it. In more than 140 characters. Online communities […]
Where can you get a 21st century education?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the future of education. My 5 1/2-year-old daughter recently started public kindergarten. Her classroom, teacher, schedule and school set-up reminds me a lot of my own kindergarten experience. At first blush this was comforting; then quickly downright scary. Maybe it’s just the feel and smell of the 1930s school […]
Twitter challenges for government agencies
Today I read and commented on Silicon Valley Insider’s post “The US Government Catches The Twitter Bug, And Amazingly, Does It Well” by Eric Krangel. In the post Eric asserts that “some of the best and most innovative new media experiments going on right now on the Internet are coming from the U.S. federal government.” […]
Rethinking “2.0”…
So this morning I received an e-mail from my DoD New Media colleague, Jack Holt, asking for my thoughts on the idea of changing the name of the New Media Directorate to “Online and Emerging Media.” At first I pointed him to my post Official Announcement: It’s Just “2.0”. He pushed back with a good point that echoed […]
A world without boredom
I can still feel the boredom of riding in “the middle” of the back seat of my parents’ 1974 orange Datsun–without a car seat or even seat belt because they weren’t yet the law, let alone, safety features–and whining, “are we there yet?” and 30-seconds later, “when are we going to be there!” “In a little while,” my parents […]
