Endless Knots

"Make bureaucracy sexy"

Give yourself the gift of 12 minutes listening to Jennifer Pahlka's TED talk, "Coding a Better Government." She knows. Jen founded and is executive director of Code for America. Simple description: "Helps governments work better for everyone with the people and the power of the web."

 

I met Jen about five years ago when she called asking me to participate in what became Enterprise 2.0, then called Collaborate 2.0 ... I think. Liked her instantly. Plus she gave her daughter one of the all-time very cool names: Clementine.

We'll be posting more on this shortly but in the meantime listen to what she has to say. This great quote is at about 9 minutes.

 

 

Password, shmashword

 

Whoever thought this would become a problem back in the 20th century? How much time do you spend searching for the clever password you used for some random site? Time to upgrade your passwording skills because there are a bunch of REALLY bad ones according to this post by Zoe Fox for Massable that's making the rounds. For example, don't use "password." More from the article:

SplashData created the rankings based on millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Here is the complete list:

• 1. password
• 2. 123456
• 3.12345678
• 4. qwerty
• 5. abc123
• 6. monkey
• 7. 1234567
• 8. letmein
• 9. trustno1
• 10. dragon
• 11. baseball
• 12. 111111
• 13. iloveyou
• 14. master
• 15. sunshine
• 16. ashley
• 17. bailey
• 18. passw0rd
• 19. shadow
• 20. 123123
• 21. 654321
• 22. superman
• 23. qazwsx
• 24. michael
• 25. football

 

 

Endless Knots dove-style

Cool little tag cloud maker (Tagxedo) that allows you to choose the shape in which your tags appear. With thanks to Daughter #1 who found it, made mine, and sent me the link.

Great search tips from Web Worker Daily

Maybe you already know these but there are a couple of really useful ones I've never thought of in Simon Mackie's "10 Simple Google Search Tips." My fave is the first. If you're looking for something that you know is on a particular site:

Use the “site:” operator ... I use this one all the time, and it’s particularly handy because many site’s built-in search tools don’t return the results you’re looking for (and some sites don’t even have a search feature). If I’m looking for WWD posts about GTD, for example, I could try this search: GTD site:webworkerdaily.com.

Read this poem randomly

Maybe there are a thousand of these online but first I've seen. You can read "Alpha and Omega," a poem in Tower Journal's premier issue randomly or "in a linear way." The transition between the two alone is worth the click. (Once you've clicked, choose "Alpha and Omega.")

Stop(ped) the presses at 140 papers and counting

Ian Lamont, editor of The Standard, alerts us to this great/concerning/comprehensive "Best blog on the business of news(papers): Reflections of a Newsosaur. If you're not reading it, start now." I've done a few tear-stained posts here, including referencing Paper Cuts which the Newsosaur mentions as its blogger, Erica Smith, is keeping a map of where newspapers are disappearing. As per the title, 140 in 2009 gone, kaput.

For any of us who got our start getting high on newsprint and printers' ink (legal but so addictive that at 16 I preferred reporting from 3-11 at The Pottstown Mercury to going to the drive-in to meet boys), the transformation from packed newsroom and the ca-thunk of presses churning out papers to sitting alone and googling for sources--while charming in its own right and oh-so-efficient--is nevertheless unnerving and filled with loss.

Clicking on collaboration -- Bloomberg BusinessWeek TV

BusinessWeek TV, which, like its print publication, is now owned by Bloomberg, has posted "Collaboration with Confidence Across Companies" (you have to register to view it), the webcast that Jeff Stamps (online expert) and Bill Hills and I (live talent) participated in on Dec 3 and which I mentioned here. Cisco sponsors these shows; this one includes an intro from Cisco VP of Global Operations, Kevin Harrington.

These things are so much fun to do. Like "Boosting Productivity with Virtual Collaboration," which I participated in last February (and, which, like this one, was set in motion by producer Alex Cohen), took place at the NASDAQ studio in Times Square.

Let me walk you through the experience.

Studio wall that we look at from our "anchor desks"

Looking out of NASDAQ studio onto the street

Where we sit, with Times Square just outside

 

Bill Hills, the other panelist, and moi just before show begins

 

Jim Ellis, the host, with his teleprompter behind him

David Coffin, show's producer, in "green room" after show

Olivia Basu, Linda Kuehn, Marissa Ferrao from BusinessWeek staff

Took a long walk across town after the show; Christmas Tree just up at Rockefeller Center

"Another day in a virtual team"

Let's face it. I'm no product analyst. Thus, I cannot vouch for what you are about to see. Besides, I abhor plugging products, unless, of course, I decide I like them, in which case it's more likely to be a book than a collaboration product. However, today I received an endearing appeal from Pankaj Taneja of HyperOffice that went like this:

Hi Jessica,

Hope you are well. Since you are an expert on virtual teams, I would love for you to see a video I created about a practical virtual team in action.
 
You can find it @ [this link]
 
Do you think it could be of interest to your readers?
 

Thanks,

Pankaj Taneja
Marketing Coordinator

Then I looked at the video, which I'm embedding here. This is my kind of marketing. Basic, direct, from a real person. And those involved do seem to understand the basics of virtual teaming. I'm not endorsing their product but I hope you enjoy this kind of home-grown approach, home being India, in this case, as much as I do. Thanks, Pankaj (whom I've never heard of before this, so far as I know).

Hierarchy of digital distractions

Patti Anklam (grazie, P) found this terrific graphic/insight from David McCandless's Information Is Beautiful site (kudos, David). If it's too small, go directly to its link or double click and it will open in a new window here.

"Care to Write Army Doctrine? With ID, Log On"

Yesterday, it was The New York Times reporting on Fort Leavenworth's commanding general, Frontier 6, blogging again. Today, it's NYT's Noam Cohen reporting on (that same) General Bill Caldwell's group that has organized wikis for writing Army doctrine.

This is without doubt the most progressive thing we've learned about that the Army is doing. Anyone with a login to the Army's online network can now just click to "collaboratively rewrite seven of the field manuals that give instructions on all aspects of Army life."

The three-month pilot is being run out of Battle Command Knowledge System, one of the handful of units that General Caldwell brought together, known collectively as Combined Arms Center-Knowledge. The idea behind CAC-K is that there is synergy when a group of knowledge-related organizations collaborate. Among the groups comprising CAC-K is the prestigious publication, Military Review, the Center for Army Lessons Learned (the home of After Action Reviews), the Combat Studies Institute, the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate, and Battle Command Knowledge System (which has been responsible for supporting the Army's famous "forums," aka communities of practice).

The Doctrine Directorate, known as CADD, and the Knowledge System group, known as BCKS, are collaborating to oversee the creation of the wikis. According to Colonel Chuck Burnett, who took over BCKS last October:

“For a couple hundred years, the Army has been writing doctrine in a particular way, and for a couple months, we have been doing it online in this wiki. The only ones who could write doctrine were the select few. Now, imagine the challenge in accepting that anybody can go on the wiki and make a change — that is a big challenge, culturally.”

Clint Ancker, himself a retired colonel who heads up CADD, "Under the new plan, 50 or so capstone guides will remain field manuals and will not be open to collaborative editing...More than 200 other former field guides are likely to be consolidated or even scrapped."

Think about it. The Army is looking to its employees to develop policy. After all, the employees are the ones who have to carry it out. As I've said a time or two when companies resist some of these new-fangled ideas, if the Army can do it, so can you.

NB: Here's a link to Jeff Stamps's and my presentation at the last Army Operational Knowledge Management Conference in 2008, organized by BCKS.