Aldon Hynes's blog
Welcome
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 08/06/2006 - 14:24Welcome to Orient Lodge, a literary outpost on the internet.
This site contains a collection of thoughts and other writings. Recent posts will show up on the front page, and other posts can be found through links on the right.
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#PCCT - PodCamp Connecticut, Planning Stages
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 11:51Last night a dozen or so social media enthusiasts gathered in Rocky Hill to share ideas about organizing an unconference about social media in Connecticut. Many of the participants had been to various Podcamps and some had been to other forms of unconferences. Just about everyone already knew each other from CT Tweet Crawls and other social media gatherings. We discussed several issues; should this be a ‘PodCamp’, which is a well known brand trademarked by the PodCamp Foundation? Should it be a Social Media Camp, or some other form of BarCamp? How strictly should it follow the ‘unconference’ format? What, in the end, are we trying to get out of this?
One of the issues is that many of the people already heavily involved in social media have been to PodCamps, BarCamps or related events. There are PodCamps in Boston, Western Mass., New York City and beyond. What would make PodCamp Connecticut special?
Suzi Craig came up with a great suggestion, focusing on, “Work, Live, Play, Connecticut”. How does social media affect our lives here in Connecticut?
For the news industry, the affect is profound. People are now getting their news online. They are sharing information, both that they have gathered, and pointers to interesting stories they have found via social media. The news industry is still struggling with how best to respond to the affects of social media.
Yet other companies need to think about this as well. Word of mouth has always been the best advertising, and now word of mouth is taking place online. How do businesses effectively join in on the conversation in a way that it helps their business?
This leads us nicely to the ‘Play’ aspect of Suzi’s suggestion. People use social media to decide what bar, restaurant, or events to go to. They organize Tweetcrawls to gather with friends at preselected venues. Wise businesses will try to get on the Tweetcrawler’s radar and become a desired destination. People planning other events are wise to try and use social media in a similar manner to draw people to their events.
Another profession, very closely tied to where we live that has always relied on personal networks is realtors. More and more realtors are recognizing the power of social media as a tool to grow their personal networks.
The goal of PodCamp Connecticut is to draw together around three hundred people from all walks of life to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences of social media and how it affects where we work, play and live.
This then comes to the format. I often comment about being an unconference purist. Every session should be a discussion with a facilitator and note taker, but no presentations. A good unconference starts off with a brief discussion setting the framework for the day and doing very quick introductions. I like the style of each person saying their name, where they’re from and three words about themselves, very quickly and moving on. This can work with very large crowds and be very revealing.
Then, people write ideas for sessions they would like to attend on sheets of paper. The sheets get sorted, duplicates combined and the most popular put on a board to list when and where the topic will be discussed. People go to a session and talk about what they are interested in. If they aren’t interested, they exercise the rule of two feet, walk out, and find a session that fits them better.
This is one of the reasons why presentations generally don’t work well at unconferences. The items to be discussed need to be what everyone in the room is looking for, and not some preconceived idea that a presenter has. Too often, I’ve seen people set on doing presentations be disappointed because people don’t want to listen to their presentations. They either interrupt and pull the session back to a discussion that doesn’t follow the presentation, or they simply walk out.
Yet this approach of unconferences is new to many people, and some people find the idea challenging to start with. However, when they think about so many conferences where they’ve sat and listened to a panel talk for forty-five minutes, with the only real value coming with the statements from the audience, converted Jeopardy-style, to questions for the Q&A during the last ten minutes, they often quickly realize the value of the unconference.
Will this group of social media enthusiasts be able to pull off a successful unconference about social media in Connecticut? If there is any group of people that can pull it off, this group seems well positioned. In addition, experienced campers from other PodCamps and BarCamps in the surrounding area are offering to help out. Given the interest in Tweet Crawls and other social media gatherings here in Connecticut, it seems like a great crowd can be gathered. I sure hope so. I’m looking forward to it.
Running Java on an #N900
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 08:49One of the first questions I came up against when I started working with the Nokia N900 was, “Can it run Java?” According to the Java page on the Maemo Wiki, the answer was, “It’s not supported, but here are a few things you can try.” So, I poked around and made a little progress.
Making Connecticut More Business Friendly
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/18/2010 - 13:40As the economy struggles along, people are asking how to help make Connecticut more ‘Business Friendly’, yet it seems as if few people are really exploring what a more business friendly state is. The standard definition seems to be less regulations and less taxes, but the consequences of this seem at best, not considered.
One example of this ill thought out position came when Republicans immediately attacked Attorney General Richard Blumenthal when he suggested that enforcing the laws of the state makes for a better business environment, or in other words, helps make the state more Business Friendly. Apparently, they believe that being business friendly does not include making sure people obey the law.
Likewise, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association worked hard for deregulation of the electricity market here in Connecticut, arguing that increased competition would lower the price of electricity. However, we have ended up with one of the highest electricity rates in the country, hurting businesses and making Connecticut less business friendly.
Where did this go wrong? Perhaps some of it is this unfounded belief that increased competition is always beneficial. It appears as if what we have gotten are electricity supplier to compete with one another on how to get highest profit from consumers as opposed to driving down prices.
The issue is that competition is too often a zero sum game. It is one business competing with another and as one wins, others lose. Instead of competing to affect the distribution of profits and control which regulations protects which businesses or consumers, competition needs to be promoting innovation.
We see something similar in the opposition to Paid Sick Days. Businesses don’t want to be responsible for maintaining a safe work environment for their employees. That is unnecessary regulation they claim, it is unfunded mandates. Yet these regulations protect not only the employees of companies, but also customers of these companies. As an example, employees often eat at local restaurants during their lunches. To the extent that companies are not required to provide paid sick days to their employees, restaurants are more likely to have sick employees handling food and spreading sickness to the employees of other companies. This is not business friendly.
It also reflects another mindset that seems to be damaging businesses in Connecticut, as well as across our country, the focus on short term profits as opposed to long term health of a company. I know that there are several restaurants that my wife and I will not go to because we have gotten sick after eating food from those restaurants. It is not clear if the restaurants had lax preparation guidelines, or we simply got sick from a stomach bug spread by a worker that could not take a paid sick day off. The short term focus on reducing costs of employee benefits is penny wise and pound foolish as companies drive away customers.
As a final point, the reduction of taxes results in a reduction of governmental services. Retail oriented businesses understand that they need good roads coming their stores. They understand that they need protection in case of theft or fire. The wise business people even realize that they need an Attorney General who will protect honest business people from those that are out to take unfair advantage over others.
So, how do we make Connecticut a little more business friendly? Perhaps the first step is to stop and think a little more seriously about what really makes a state more business friendly instead of reiterating the tired old platitudes about less regulation and less taxes.
What Kind of World Do You Want? - Learning to Fall
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 13:28Last night, I received a Facebook invitiation from Dan Navarro to a Cyber Listening & Viewing Party to Raise ALS Awareness!. Dan Navarro and Eric Lowen are fantastic musicians that Kim and I have often heard at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
Six years ago, today, Eric Lowen was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Over the years, we watched him go from walking with a cane, to riding around in the mud of Falcon Ridge in a wheel chair and finally, no longer performing with Dan or being able to physically attend Falcon Ridge.
Through all of it, he has continued to be an inspiration to all of us and wrote a great song, ‘Learning to Fall’. There is a video of Eric and his friends performing this song a couple of years ago that was set up as a fundraiser. So, today, take a moment off from the celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day and watch Learning to Fall. Then, join the Cyber Listening & Viewing Party to Raise ALS Awareness event on Facebook and spread the word.
Thanks.
