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Updated blog post by Linda Stone on screen and email apnea, Huffington Post, May 7, 2012. Eighty percent of us seem to have it. I broke the story about it in early 2008 on the Huffington Post, and called the phenomenon, "email apnea." Later in 2008, in talks and interviews, I referred to it interchangeably as "email apnea" and also, as "screen apnea." Definition: Shallow breathing or breath holding while doing email, or while working or playing in front of a screen. Excerpt: Recently, researchers, Gloria Mark, Stephen Voida, and Anthony Cardello, have made headway into formally validating the impact of email, using HRV. Why are we doing this? Our posture is often compromised, especially when we use laptops and smartphones. Arms forward, shoulders forward, we sit in a position where it's impossible to get a healthy and full inhale and exhale. Further, anticipation is generally accompanied by an inhale -- and email, texting, and viewing television shows generally includes a significant dose of anticipation. Meanwhile, the full exhale rarely follows. The stress-related physiology of email apnea or screen apnea is described in some detail in my 2008 post, linked to above. What's the remedy? A new way of interacting with technologies that I call: Conscious Computing. Technologies like the Heartmath emWave2, Huffington Post's GPS for the Soul, and a variety of optimal breathing techniques, can support us in using technologies in healthier ways. Instead of sending an email, call or walk over to your colleague's office. And there's always that other possibility: every now and then, just turn everything off. When you text or use email on your smartphone, when you check and respond to your email, are you breathing or do you hold your breath? Is it worse when you're using a laptop vs. an iPad? How might you incorporate some of the remedies?

Blog post by Kelsey Meyer on why the best leaders are full-time learners, 6.10.2013 on ForbesWoman blog. She recommends that we read, listen (to podcasts on how to learn everything), engage, act, and relearn to learn as much as possible.

Full report by Mary Meeker from KPCB May 2014. Chock full of data, graphs, charts of internet use, trends, devices. According to the data, internet growth is slow, smartphones had strong growth but it is slowing, tablets had a 52% early stage rapid growth, and mobile data traffic is a +81% accelerating growth with video the strongest driver. The near future is in tablet and mobile technology, not internet and pc use.

article by Dan Schawbel, Forbes, October 21, 2013. 6. Freelance nation booms. We keep hearing about the surplus of freelancers out there and it's just the beginning. Next year, there will be millions more freelancers, replacing full-time workers. Companies will hire experts to solve problems instead of full-time employees and save on benefit packages. This is due to the economy and how corporations operate now. One third of American workers are freelancers, reports NBC News.

article in Economix by Catherine Rampell, March 8, 2013 on the rise of part-time work. Excerpt: We are nowhere near recovering the jobs lost in the recession, and the track record looks even worse when you consider that so many of the jobs lost were full time, whereas so many of those gained have been part time. Compared with December 2007, when the recession officially began, there are 5.8 million fewer Americans working full time. In that same period, there has been an increase of 2.8 million working part time. Part-time workers - defined as people who usually work fewer than 35 hours a week - are still a minority of the work force, but their share is growing.

Blog post by Lisa Lane early this month (November 2012 explaining to another online instructor how she built a system for aggregating students' blog posts that may be relevant to WLStudio series and "sharing" activities? She uses FeedWordPress. Excerpt: "Participants set up their own blog wherever. Then I need to get the feeds from those blogs into the Pedagogy First! aggregated blog, using FeedWordPress. I use the Add Link widget (yes, I know it's old) so participants can add their own, and have provided more extensive instructions for them about blogs and feeds. In particular, we want people who post on many subjects to not only use the "potcert" tags for their posts, but use the feed for that tag only. This is so only their class-related posts show up on the class blog. The back end of this process is a little more complicated. When participants enter their information in Add Link, it goes directly into the Blogroll. The Blogroll is what feeds into FeedWordPress as a default. I customize the titles of feeds and the names of participants to use their real names for everything. I change the titles of feeds by going into FWP's Syndication area and using Feeds & Updates. Using the drop down menu to bring up a particular blog, I change the title and click manual control so it doesn't revert back the next time the feed updates. When I do this, it seems to update automatically in the Links area. Then I go to Users and make sure their names are their full names by editing them individually."

Incredible website that I discovered in the PLP Lite community today about PLNs. Need to explore in full. 2.20.13

blog by nonprofitwithballs on funding people to do the work in nonprofits not projects, consultants, workshops, and redirecting capacity builders back to basics

how kids need to be equipped socially to work effectively with others by Greg Satel, @Digitaltonto

Blog by Harold Jarche on Leadership is an emergent property of balanced networks, May 29, 2012 Like this assessment of leadership skills in networks: "As networked, distributed workplaces become the norm, trust will emerge from environments that are open, transparent and diverse. As a result of improved trust, leadership will be seen for what it is; an emergent property of a balanced network ["in-balance" may be a better term for this changing state] and not some special property available to only the select few. And this one: Networked contributors (full-time, part-time, contractors) need to work together in a networked environment that facilitates cooperation and collaboration. This is why the narration of work and PKM will become critical skills, as work teams ebb and flow according to need, but the network must remain connected and resilient

Connected Learning, a new research-driven initiative was introduced at the Digital Media and Learning Conference 2012. This blog post by Jackie Gerstein discusses its essence and includes TED video of Henry Jenkins and separate video of Mimi Ito. See excerpt on core values and principals of connected learning: At the core of connected learning are three values: Equity - when educational opportunity is available and accessible to all young people, it elevates the world we all live in. Full Participation - learning environments, communities, and civic life thrive when all members actively engage and contribute. Social connection - learning is meaningful when it is part of valued social relationships and shared practice, culture, and identity (http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles). This initiative is being driven by the following design principles: Shared purpose - Connected learning environments are populated with adults and peers who share interests and are contributing to a common purpose. Today's social media and web-based communities provide exceptional opportunities for learners, parents, caring adults, teachers, and peers in diverse and specialized areas of interest to engage in shared projects and inquiry. Cross-generational learning and connection thrives when centered on common interests and goals. Production-centered - Connected learning environments are designed around production, providing tools and opportunities for learners to produce, circulate, curate, and comment on media. Learning that comes from actively creating, making, producing, experimenting, remixing, decoding, and designing, fosters skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and productive contributions to today's rapidly changing work and political conditions. Openly networked - Connected learning environments are designed around networks that link together institutions and groups across various sectors, including popula

Blog by Matthew forti on Measuring Leadership Development, November 28, 2011 Neighborhood Builders by Bank of America builds high performing community-based nonprofits and gives them multiple three-day sessions of leadership training for the ED and emerging leader. Excerpts: "1. Develop a detailed theory of change. It isn't worth spending a dime on measurement until you've carefully defined which leaders you intend to target, what specific training and other programming they need, what they will gain, how those gains will be applied, and what should ultimately result." 2. Measure with mixed methods. 3. Continuously measure to improve impact. 4.Build rigor over time. Leadership programs don't need to build a full-scale measurement system right from the start. The best programs are intentional about whether and how to improve the rigor of their measurement over time, based partly on what they want to do with the results.

Beth Kanter's Pinterest page on social media tips and best practices--full of infographics and incredible links as usual

nice scoop.it blog post by Ally Greer, January 30, 2014, on which is better: creating your own content for dissemination or curating the content of others--looks like curating what others do may win more votes but some creation needs to happen also to have a full-fledged marketing approach.

Linda Stone's key blog in Huffington Post on "Just Breathe: Building the Case for Email Apnea", 2/8/2008 Excerpt: Now I want to know: Is it only the Big Mac that makes us fat? Or, are we more obese and diabetic because of a combination of holding our breath off and on all day and then failing to move when our bodies have prepared us to do so? Can fifteen minutes of diaphragmatic breathing before a meal tune us in to when we're full? If, when we're doing sedentary work, and O2, CO2, and NO are optimally balanced, through healthy breathing, will we escape the ravages of an always-on sympathetic nervous system? Can daily breathing exercises contribute to helping reduce asthma, ADD, depression, obesity, and a host of other stress-related conditions? I predict, within the next 5 to 7 years, breathing exercises will be a significant part of every fitness regime. In the meantime, why not breathe while doing email? Awareness is the first step toward wiping out email apnea! *Email apnea - a temporary absence or suspension of breathing, or shallow breathing, while doing email (Linda Stone, February 2008)

blog by Chuck Thompson, June 2009, in Men's Journal. To improve your athletic performance and to feel clearer all the time, start with the most fundamental act of life. Excerpt: "We all come into the world with the ability to take full, unencumbered breaths, but as we get older we forget how to breathe properly," says Don Campbell, a journalist turned wellness expert who champions a new movement among doctors and athletes known as "conscious breathing." A host of challenges conspire against our breathing well, Campbell says: "Poor posture, restrictive clothing, bad habits such as smoking, diets that lead to high blood pressure and racing hearts, increasingly rapid and emotionally stressful lives, lack of exercise, multitasking, polluted environments, and slouching in front of computers are just a few of the things that literally take our breath away, creating a lifestyle that's incongruent with proper breathing." Modern life causes the average person to use about a third of his natural lung capacity, while drawing about 15 breaths a minute." Breathing exercises: Relearn How To Breathe Do this exercise five times a day and you'll start thinking and performing better in no time: 1. Inhale deeply 2. Exhale with a short burst (as if blowing out a candle). This helps activate your diaphragm, which most people don't use. 3. Exhale with a long, slow finish to empty the lungs. Breathlessness comes from not expelling enough CO2. 4. Inhale, filling your lungs from the bottom to the top, instead of taking short sips. Most use a third of their lung capacity. 5. Hold for a moment to allow oxygen to saturate the cells. 6. Exhale slowly and completely. 7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for five minutes. Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/you-re-breathing-all-wrong-20130227#ixzz2t8BfTHcj Follow us: @mensjournal on Twitter | MensJournal on Facebook

Interesting page showing that class is full.

Interesting org that strives to foster a deeper understanding of gender and its intersections with race, culture, class, sexuality and other aspects of social identity. This program provides opportunities for women to explore career and life choices in multiple disciplines that enable them to excel and realize their full potential. Connects students with each other and to a strong supportive network of critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, problem-solving and leadership skills.

Although mostly for high school and college students, WILL has an international program and offers some wonderful learning opportunities.

Interesting article in the NYTimes magazine, August 7, 2013, on choices made by high-powered, elite credentialed working mothers to leave the workforce to become full-time mothers for extended periods (10+ years) and the consequences for their marriage relationships, financial standing, and re-entry options for returning to work. Bottom line: every decision yields both good and unanticipated impacts, new opportunities, and closed doors especially when the decision to depart is made prior to a recession, and the decision to re-enter workforce occurs after recession.

issue of employees using cloud apps such as Twitter and Dropbox and IT just saying no won't work. Post by Ernie Smith, September 23, 2014