This evening I ventured out of the house with three children in tow to frequent the pool the family is a member of. After a couple of hours enjoying playing in the pool, we returned home. Listening to the conversation of three children was quite interesting on the return home. My children were recounting tales of pets and their adventures, but what caught me off guard was that these were not pets they had known. They were pets my mother had at my birth or growing up. The stories were ones I heard growing up, and now my children are hearing them as they grow up.
In an age where antiquated yearbooks (bound pages with photos) that are declining because of instant access to real-time status updates thanks to things like Facebook, it's refreshing to see that oral histories are still alive and well. I am thankful that children love riding in the car with my mother and request to hear her stories. I recall sitting at my own paternal grandmother's feet as a young boy, and regaling in the stories of the exploits of my own father as a young boy and of my grandmother's plight as a young woman in the Army. To hear my own children speak of these stories as if they were there is simply mind blowing. It warms my heart to know that this oral tradition is being past to the next generation and I look forward to the opportunity to share in this tradition with my own grandchildren some day.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Value to the Conversation
Several weeks ago I was attending a conference, when I approached a colleague who was very excited about how our conference was generating chatter on twitter. To be specific, it was described to me as "tweeting it up". Curious, I inquired for more information, and received a three minute tutorial about twitter, hash tags, etc.
A week later I joined the social network of twitter, and began exploring the nuances of tweeting. I searched various events I'd attended in the previous months, and was interested in the comments offered on twitter users. I then began the process of following folks I was familiar with to observe how they were utilizing this tool. In my research, I quickly learned that some folks use twitter as a bull horn to broadcast what they are doing, thinking, etc regardless of who is listening. Others on the other hand, leverage the tweets as a tool to share web resources they've come across.
Over the course of these weeks, I've come to the conclusion that like many aspects of conversations and social interactions, regardless of the communication vehicle, the real question is whether you are bringing value to the conversation. So how do you bring value to the a conversation in a limited amount of characters and limited context? One way is to establish context, which is where hash tags come in. At a recent industry trade show, I participated with several other twitter users in commenting on presentations and the exhibit hall, and tagged the tweets with trade show name. I arrived at the trade show a day and half late, and actually utilized twitter to follow (by searching twitter for the hash tag of the event) the proceedings before I arrived as a means to establish context for what was going on. On days that I'm not attending a conference, trade show, etc, I attempt to find articles, blog posts, etc that I find interesting and offer links this information.
Is it valuable? If you compare it to some of the posts I've seen I consider valuable. A link to an videos from the ABC late night show Nightline on a debate of Hell I believe is more valuable than a post about someone leaving Dallas to drive back home. Of course there is an argument that value like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A week later I joined the social network of twitter, and began exploring the nuances of tweeting. I searched various events I'd attended in the previous months, and was interested in the comments offered on twitter users. I then began the process of following folks I was familiar with to observe how they were utilizing this tool. In my research, I quickly learned that some folks use twitter as a bull horn to broadcast what they are doing, thinking, etc regardless of who is listening. Others on the other hand, leverage the tweets as a tool to share web resources they've come across.
Over the course of these weeks, I've come to the conclusion that like many aspects of conversations and social interactions, regardless of the communication vehicle, the real question is whether you are bringing value to the conversation. So how do you bring value to the a conversation in a limited amount of characters and limited context? One way is to establish context, which is where hash tags come in. At a recent industry trade show, I participated with several other twitter users in commenting on presentations and the exhibit hall, and tagged the tweets with trade show name. I arrived at the trade show a day and half late, and actually utilized twitter to follow (by searching twitter for the hash tag of the event) the proceedings before I arrived as a means to establish context for what was going on. On days that I'm not attending a conference, trade show, etc, I attempt to find articles, blog posts, etc that I find interesting and offer links this information.
Is it valuable? If you compare it to some of the posts I've seen I consider valuable. A link to an videos from the ABC late night show Nightline on a debate of Hell I believe is more valuable than a post about someone leaving Dallas to drive back home. Of course there is an argument that value like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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