In this first year of the second decade of the new millennium, collaboration is a key word. How do we develop synergy and do more with less? Collaborate. What is an essential ingredient for collaboration? Trust (slide 12).
Social Networking is another buzzword for this new millennium. Wikispaces is one of the tools which enables Web 2 interactive collaboration and communication. Wikispaces has been recognized for its efforts on the part of collaboration for education.
In the past, many businesses were organized to reward individual effort and to downplay the benefit of true group collaboration. Meetings were sometimes the only group activity and often produced less than stellar outcomes considering the time invested in meetings. For this reason, many companies have explored the use of Webinars--meetings held to share information with people working from their desks.
Wiki-style interactive collaboration is a different approach that has many potential benefits for business, education, and government.
To offer an example of how to work with Wikis on a collaborative project, I've created a Collaboration-Project page on the DrM-Resources.wikispaces.com website. I have started one sample project for a business and will be happy to create more for other businesses or for education. These are examples of how collaboration can be helped by Wikis and there is no fee for participating in these example projects.
As people recognize the value of this type of collaboration, I am hopeful that more organizations will become clients of DrM-Resources. We'll see how it goes.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve with Friends and Family
It's Christmas Eve--a day for connecting with friends and family. I needed to contact four friends to ask them for help over the holidays. I actually connected "live and in person" with three of the four and left a voicemail message for the fourth friend. I haven't spoken to these friends in several months and it was great to connect with them on the day before Christmas.
My cousins who live in Wheaton, IL, had a family dinner for Christmas Eve at their home. Another cousin who lives near Milwaukee decided not to brave the weather, so there were just five of us around the family room and, later, the dinner table.
We have a tradition established many times over the past 17 years. We get together on Christmas Eve, have a potluck dinner, and enjoy each other's company. There is also a gift exchange based on each person's comfort level in giving gifts. We often have games and this year my cousin left a challenging question at everyone's place. Each question was different. One was "what traditions did you have surrounding Christmas as a child?"
My mother turned 95 on Friday, 12/18/2009. She came to the family dinner and enjoyed it--though now she is home in bed, sleeping. We have modified our games somewhat and are learning lessons about aging from our parents and from each other (the same generation of cousins).
While we are not in the days of Norman Rockwell, we do have established traditions for Christmas which really add value to our lives.
Merry Christmas, everyone!! :-)
My cousins who live in Wheaton, IL, had a family dinner for Christmas Eve at their home. Another cousin who lives near Milwaukee decided not to brave the weather, so there were just five of us around the family room and, later, the dinner table.
We have a tradition established many times over the past 17 years. We get together on Christmas Eve, have a potluck dinner, and enjoy each other's company. There is also a gift exchange based on each person's comfort level in giving gifts. We often have games and this year my cousin left a challenging question at everyone's place. Each question was different. One was "what traditions did you have surrounding Christmas as a child?"
My mother turned 95 on Friday, 12/18/2009. She came to the family dinner and enjoyed it--though now she is home in bed, sleeping. We have modified our games somewhat and are learning lessons about aging from our parents and from each other (the same generation of cousins).
While we are not in the days of Norman Rockwell, we do have established traditions for Christmas which really add value to our lives.
Merry Christmas, everyone!! :-)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Connections--Staying Connected--Friendships--Colleagues--Names and e-mail
Earlier this summer I started upgrading my Yahoo Contact List (started in 2002), using it to invite people to my LinkedIn Network. (See an earlier post about this.)
I found out during this "exercise" that many of my e-mails on my old Yahoo Contact List were out of date. I was able to reconnect with some friends and have lost touch with others. Telephones and addresses often change more frequently than e-mails.
LinkedIn offered a new feature, putting some names on the upper right of the "home page" that may be someone I might know. One of the names was of a friend I worked with closely in the years 1999 and 2000 and whom I haven't seen since. I was delighted to find a new e-mail and quickly invited him to my "network."
The e-mail "bounced" (the same experience I had been having with my Yahoo Contact list e-mail for this friend). I then did a "search" on LinkedIn for my friend and found that there are at least two or three people (six entries) with the same name. Which of these is my friend? I don't really know--the names are identical and there is a logical reason why either of two addresses could be the right ones.
When I joined Facebook this summer I found many of my more "Internet savy" family members on Facebook. LinkedIn seems to be more for friends and professional colleagues. They are still close and also have at least one foot in the "business" world.
I know that, while I regard my own name as unique, at one time there were 12 people with my name with accounts at a bank I was using in the Chicago area. A Google search on my name reveals lots of people I don't know and may rarely show anything connected with me. While I don't have my home address widely around on the Internet, the contact page on my website offers several good ways to contact me.
Friendships and connections are important--to all of us. If someone I have lost touch with happens upon this post, please use the contact information and send me an e-mail. We often work closely with business colleagues and build friendships--then move to different activities and different people as we change what we do and where we do it. For example, many of the people I knew in Action Learning or consulting I lost touch with in my six years of K-12 teaching. Some of the colleagues I met in one school district I may lose touch with when I change buildings or districts.
Long ago (and, for some, still today) Christmas card lists were important ways to stay in touch. For more and more of us--including myself--e-mail is my first channel for communication, including for cards. Telephones are next, followed by "snail mail."
Staying connected really does require some work--on everyone's part. There was something about a person I came to regard as a colleague or a friend that is an essential part of that person and I wouldn't want to lose touch with that person or that essential part. I have some friendships that seem as close as yesterday, even if there have been years between our face-to-face meetings.
I'd also like to be able to bring talents and resources of some friends and colleagues to new projects I may encounter. Hopefully more current contact lists and e-mails will allow me to do that.
I found out during this "exercise" that many of my e-mails on my old Yahoo Contact List were out of date. I was able to reconnect with some friends and have lost touch with others. Telephones and addresses often change more frequently than e-mails.
LinkedIn offered a new feature, putting some names on the upper right of the "home page" that may be someone I might know. One of the names was of a friend I worked with closely in the years 1999 and 2000 and whom I haven't seen since. I was delighted to find a new e-mail and quickly invited him to my "network."
The e-mail "bounced" (the same experience I had been having with my Yahoo Contact list e-mail for this friend). I then did a "search" on LinkedIn for my friend and found that there are at least two or three people (six entries) with the same name. Which of these is my friend? I don't really know--the names are identical and there is a logical reason why either of two addresses could be the right ones.
When I joined Facebook this summer I found many of my more "Internet savy" family members on Facebook. LinkedIn seems to be more for friends and professional colleagues. They are still close and also have at least one foot in the "business" world.
I know that, while I regard my own name as unique, at one time there were 12 people with my name with accounts at a bank I was using in the Chicago area. A Google search on my name reveals lots of people I don't know and may rarely show anything connected with me. While I don't have my home address widely around on the Internet, the contact page on my website offers several good ways to contact me.
Friendships and connections are important--to all of us. If someone I have lost touch with happens upon this post, please use the contact information and send me an e-mail. We often work closely with business colleagues and build friendships--then move to different activities and different people as we change what we do and where we do it. For example, many of the people I knew in Action Learning or consulting I lost touch with in my six years of K-12 teaching. Some of the colleagues I met in one school district I may lose touch with when I change buildings or districts.
Long ago (and, for some, still today) Christmas card lists were important ways to stay in touch. For more and more of us--including myself--e-mail is my first channel for communication, including for cards. Telephones are next, followed by "snail mail."
Staying connected really does require some work--on everyone's part. There was something about a person I came to regard as a colleague or a friend that is an essential part of that person and I wouldn't want to lose touch with that person or that essential part. I have some friendships that seem as close as yesterday, even if there have been years between our face-to-face meetings.
I'd also like to be able to bring talents and resources of some friends and colleagues to new projects I may encounter. Hopefully more current contact lists and e-mails will allow me to do that.
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