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Love this post by Seth Godin on "too long; didn't read" mentalities as we all proceed in the "checklist mode" of grazing here and there but never stopping long enough to read, understand, and make sense of things. He mentions the importance of "trusted curators" and how it is up to us to decide how to invest our time. Implications for WLS: building dashboards, prioritizing, culling, controlling the incoming flow are all important skills to master for online work. We build on old concepts--dashboard for online focus, leading online--and become trusted curators too to provoke curious second and third thoughts leading to conversions on our site. Excerpt: One option is to read incisively, curate, edit, choose your sources carefully. Limit the inbound to what's important, not what's shiny or urgent or silly. The other option is to assume that you already know what you need to know, and refuse to read anything deeply. Hide behind clever acronyms, flit from viral topic to flame war, never actually diving in. It appears that this is far more common than ever before. Here's what I've found: When I read in checklist mode, I learn almost nothing. It's easy to cherry pick the amusing or the merely short, but it's a quick thrill with very little to show for it.

"A comment on Joho's (Dave Weinberger) blog post--a memoir of blogging--bySuw Charman-Anderson, January 9, 2014. Excerpt: " I wonder too if my lack of blog writing is related to a lack of blog reading. My RSS reader became so clogged that I feared it, wouldn't open it, and ultimately, abandoned it. And then Twitter and now Zite arrived to provide me with random rewards for clicking and swiping, showing me stuff that I had no idea I wanted to read. Instead of following the writings of a small cadre of smart, lovely people whom I am proud to call my friends, I read random crap off the internet that some algorithm thinks I might be interested in, or that is recommended by the people I follow on Twitter. That may or may not be a good thing. We were all aware of the problems of homophily, and the random clickage does help combat that. But the problem with not following people's blogs closely is that there's no conversation anymore. My blogs used to host great conversations, and I would happily engage in fascinating discussions on other people's sites. You can't do that so easily with Twitter, and Facebook. Indeed, most of my interactions on Facebook, which are scarce as I loathe it, end up being pointless arguments with friends-of-friends who turn out to be idiots. I'd love to see a resurgence in blogging. I think, personally, I need to delete Zite from my ipad and find a good RSS reader so I can follow the blogs of those people that I really care about. Not the worthy blogs I ought to read, but the works of people who matter to me. And then I need to get back to commenting, like this, because there's nothing more encouraging than finding out that people care about what you write, that people appreciate it. And David, I really do appreciate your writing - you're as inspiring and fascinating now as you were back in 2001! "

Jane Hart's reading list for 2012 of monthly curated links to useful articles, presentations and readings.

Blog, June 19, 2013, Scoop.it, on how Most Popular leads into reading more in a webiste can be quite distorted to direct reads. Advocates for human curation. "The solution: Human curation. We need to provide readers with lists and collections of content that are popular within a certain field because they are genuinely popular to those who know about or are interested in that field. Most Popular lists on websites are generated by algorithms, making them extremely easy to game (by clicking the same content repeatedly, for instance) which in turn leads readers to believe they've found good content when they oftentimes haven't. It's the job of the curator, as a human, to let other humans know what they (the curator) are finding to be the best pieces of content on a topic - as someone who knows about a specific subject or interest."

Very nice list of before, during, and after actions for learning in college seminars at the University of Notre Dame. Believe these tips have value for our Learning Labs, too. Before class--do the reading, don't expect to understand, make notes on the readings, write an outline, bring in ideas During class--add your point of view, be the devil's advocate, ask questions, say wrong things, check the facts and look up the quotes, expect discussion to wax and wane. After class--let things gel, then mix them up again (reflect, write to explain your view and that of someone else), don't make up your mind, write a blog post, talk to other experts, revisit old readings.

Bob Marshall on what an effective group workshop looks like--September 30, 2014, quite demanding yet doable. he above story illustrates a range of features of an effective workshop: Certain shared proficiencies in e.g. Skilled Dialogue, Lean Coffee, etc.. Pre-reading (shared), including "standard" texts - here including Nancy Kline and Chris Argyris. Clarity of purpose "just why are we here?". Shared purpose "we're all here for the same things". Folks tweeting and googling continuously during the workshop. Amanuensis / cybrarian to facilitate shared learning in the workshops. Democratic agenda-setting. Mutual exploration of topics. Active curiosity. "Essentiality" - avoidance of rabbit-holes and extraneous discussion of details. Focus on impacts (as compared to busyness, or outputs, or even outcomes). Post-reading - following up new references. Follow-up conversations, actions. Feedback. - Bob Afterword In writing this story, it seemed to me that a video of a workshop in action would be a great addition to the resources available to BaCo staff to help them appreciate the nature of an effective workshop. Maybe one day I'll have the opportunity to write and/or direct such a video. Further reading What is Dialogue? ~ Susan Taylor (pdf) Share this: inShare10 Email Print More

Very interesting assessment of Twitter users in comparison to general public. They seem to be younger, more Democratic (redundant?) than general population. . . but only 13% of adults said they ever use Twitter or read Twitter messages. So there is a small saturation rate. " In the Pew Research Center's 2012 biennial news consumption survey, just 13% of adults said they ever use Twitter or read Twitter messages; only 3% said they regularly or sometimes tweet or retweet news or news headlines on Twitter. Twitter users are not representative of the public. Most notably, Twitter users are considerably younger than the general public and more likely to be Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party. In the 2012 news consumption survey, half (50%) of adults who said they posted news on Twitter were younger than 30, compared with 23% of all adults. And 57% of those who posted news on Twitter were either Democrats or leaned Democratic, compared with 46% of the general public. (Another recent Pew Research Center survey provides even more detail on who uses Twitter and other social media.)"

"Yet I can also appreciate that, with so much being written out there by so many in so many places, and so little time for reading it all, the opportunity to have one's blog be a place for important conversations has diminished. But I think blogs are still the premier means and place for documenting 'unedited' substantive original thought - new ideas, analysis, synthesis, models, and new perspectives. It's sad that much of this important thinking is now lost in the deluge of glib quotes and trivia and news of the moment, and not read because of our frantic pace of life and our endemic attention deficit disorder. But it will still be there when it's ready to be discovered. And as you say in the meantime it will continue to help us formulate and learn and articulate our knowledge and beliefs and ideas, and so equip us to be of more use to the world."

Blog post by David Truss, Pair-A_Dimes, January 4, 2011, on learning at work by professionals, i.e., teachers. Has much more good stuff to say than this excerpt but I find this useful for Information Overload. Another term I ran across lately--practical obscurity--in relation to why we are now part of NSA's scope--because costs have fallen so low to monitor so much behavior online--voice and text--that what was once unavailable without a lot of costs is now quite feasible for someone to monitor, such as NSA, Google, Facebook, etc. Excerpt: "I read a post recently by Jeff Utecht, whom you have worked with, that said this: "Today at school I answered personal e-mail, updated my Facebook status, Tweeted, looked up flights for winter break, and even read articles that didn't pertain to school. And they say we're becoming less productive at work. What really is happening is the line between our work life and our social life is becoming blurred more and more every day." and he continues: "Sure I use some of my work time to do social things, yet I get home from work after 3pm and answer work e-mails, text faculty members about a computer problem, and work on lessons and things that need to be done. So it's an even swap. I'll use some of your time, you can use some of mine.""

Copyblogger post by Demian Farnworth on how children's books help you define your business message. December 2013 "As you read: Look at the emotions. What core emotion is behind each story? Is it fear? Joy? Sadness? Anger? Look at the characters. Who is the main character? Is he or she likeable? Who are the supporting characters? Who is the enemy of the main character? Look at the conflict. What does the main character want? What obstacle is stopping the main character from getting what he wants? How does the story end? Look at the language. The short words. The short sentences. The short paragraphs. The repetition and alliteration."

Resumes by Bob McIntosh and why recruiters do not want to read them

video (18 minutes) by Clay Johnson, February 2012, hyping his book The Information Diet. Goes to food analogies again and again--pizza tastes better than broccoli--and abundance of entertainment, affirmation, and fear is secret pact between customer and media producers online. What is it that people want? What we tell them through our clicks and searches is that we want to be right acc: to Johnson. AP story--poll economic worries pose new snag for Obama. On Fox news, it says that Obama has big problem with white women. They changed headline and reduced story by 600 words, taking out everything positive about his work. They know that readers will read something negative about president. "Opinion tastes better than news." How AOL should make its editorial decisions--they want to spend no more than $84 on a piece of content. How they decide: traffic potential (using SEO to find out what people are searching for--no one is searching for Pentagon Papers or broccoli); bottom of list is editorial integrity because it is market inefficiency. Believes that we are living in land of info abundance where we want to be affirmed, not told the truth. SEOs complete the inquiry to present tabloid types of info that attract us and distract us and misinform us. Our clicks lead to poor information diets, a disease. Make a whole news movement, a slow news movement, demand that media change. We as readers need to upgrade. information over-consumption, not overload enable infoveganism--eat food, not too much, real food at bottom of food chain. 2. Use source material--show your work. 3. Let me pay you for ad free experience. 4. Content is not a commodity (for news producers)

From the Huffington Post, by Emma Gray. Every woman has her own definition of success. But there are certain traits that most successful women share. "I spend a good part of my work day reading and writing about women who have achieved great things -- and I make it a point to surround myself with women who are well on their way to doing so. " She identifies 12 things successful women do.

From the Huffington Post, by Emma Gray. Every woman has her own definition of success. But there are certain traits that most successful women share. "I spend a good part of my work day reading and writing about women who have achieved great things -- and I make it a point to surround myself with women who are well on their way to doing so. " She identifies 12 things successful women do.

Facebook exec on women and leadership, and having it all. Her philosophy is: "believe in yourself, give it your all, and don't doubt your ability to combine work and family and thus edge yourself out of plum assignments before you even have a baby." I will purchase the book and read it!

new book by one of the execs of Facebook (after leaving Google)

Interesting blog post by Debra Donston-Miller on importance of social media metrics, April 4, 2012 1. Quality of fans/followers (organically targeting connections as followers react, reveal interests) 2. Social demographics (language, countries, age...) 3. Most popular pages, posts, and tweets 4. Page views and click-throughs (what gets read and shared) 5. Conversion (buy something, sign up for something, consume something

Blog post by Beth Kanter on best kinds of learning at conferences/seminars, 5.23.13 Excerpt: It cites Sharon Bowman's book on Using Brain Science to Make Science Stick. "The book offers several simple principles to incorporate: Movement is better than sitting Having participants talk is better than listening Images are better than words for instructional aids Writing is better than reading Shorter is better than longer Different delivery options are better than the same"

Quick and easy to read New Year's resolution for women workers.

video by Clay Johnson on how our reactions to email (email apnea, heart rate, etc.) affect us and how we get trapped into our own bubbles ("minor media outlets" give us more and more of what we show interest in). Consume deliberately, information over affirmation. Be really conscious--Rescue.com--to study internet use to reflect and insert some diversity Go local--what's happening in your house, neighborhood, than national preoccupations Clicks have consequences--for yourself, other people when you read, you vote for it Go for source information, not package info-if you don't have literacy how to get over hurdle. Digital literacy is the future of literacy itself. Getting closer to source material--stay with mostly local news case for conscious consumption

"Thank You For Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations." Think we need to read this book to understand the "eye" metaphor that we can help at WLS.

article by Joshua Rothman on leadership and how our views of leadership have changed through the centuries and how leadership virtues don't always agree with the actions taken by "leaders" whom we admire.