... a beginner at something

(C) copyright , (cc) creative commons, and now (i) inspired by ...

Like it,

or dislike it,

know it or not,

this is about use, abuse and re-use of author's works and rights of creators. It is one more way to connect leaders and followers.

(C) Copyright by ... - all rights reserved,

(cc) Creative Commons licensed by ... - some rights reserved.

How to say 'thanks' -  easy

So, we have restriction and we have permission, for pay and for free. Yet, easy attribution is missing. We have no symbol to conveniently say "thank you" to others we recognize as our personal thought leaders. After all, we choose them to inspire us, and on their work we build a piece of our own new world. People like to share freely and general thanks are in order, but outside of web tools like blogging we have no convenient back link, no universally understood pointer or TrackBack to our thought leader's prior art.

Symbolically Thank You

Here is a new symbol you can use to do that if you want:

(i) Inspired by [whom] - sharing appreciated

 

A text example.

(i) inspired by commoncraft.com
Copyright (C) 2008 by CoCreatr - (CC-BY-SA)
Sharing appreciated http://tinyurl.com/6hsa6q

The symbol i in the circle combines elements of the common circled symbol © for copyright, the i for inspiration and the dot shape on the i representing a dripping drop, repeated irrigation of goodwill in small doses.  It may also appear like the flame of a candle. See it as you wish to see it.

Is this for you?

This is a first draft. It may not be that interesting for bloggers, they prefer hyperlinks because it gives them authority on search engines like Technorati. The (i) inspired by ... symbol may work better on more traditional media products, or just as a different way to make your way of sharing appreciation stand out in a crowd.

No, this symbol it is not part of a font, and neither is (cc) for Creative Commons as far as I know. You may be able to change this. Just use the symbol. Bigger, smaller, in color, as you like, just do not change it.  Give thanks to others on whose ideas you build to help you on your own way. Do what only you can do.  Spread the joy. Freely use (i) inspired by ... [link your inspirators here].

Thank you, dear inspirators

This blog post inspired (i) by The Commoncraft blog and refined through John W. Furst. The last drip, (i) inspired by Seth Godin's blog. Image processing through http://www.reflectionmaker.com.

If you like this idea, share it, steal it, play with it, spread it, no permission needed. Just: attribution appreciated.

My name is CoCreatr and I create with others.

P.S. Commercial use is OK

It is fine with me if you want use this symbol commercially.  Here is the blanket permission. Just say thank you in some way. I hope I made that easier.

 
(i) inspired by ... by CoCreatr is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at cocreatr.typepad.com.

Rate your Boss (Manager, Leader)

flickr image by Tidewater Muse

Leading is not easy, is it?  Would you dare to rate your boss?  I believe most of us do, without ever talking about the results. But sometimes, in a crisis, we draw personal consequences and withdraw from a gross boss. A loss.

In a closed forum we discussed rating your boss ...

21. Does not make people feel who's the boss around here - a true leader.

22. Is a boss in an emergency - a true leader in tough times.

23. Praises in public, punishes in private.

24. Activates people and does most of the 14 basic managing processes posited in The Will to Manage by Marvin Bower (1966).

25. Drives out fear and does most of the 14 points for management posited in Out of the Crisis by W. Edwards Deming (1982).

26. Does not just manage but leads as described in The Will to Lead by Marvin Bower (1997).

I believe that leaders and leadership teams working together in a proper design will run the business more effectively than by hierarchical, command-and-control managing. But I can't prove that. And there are no models.

Bower, M., (1997). The Will to Lead. Page 7, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, ISBN 0-87584-758-7

Now, 11 years later, there are models!

The models work - all over the place.
Can you see them? Can you follow? Will you learn? Will you lead?

Co-Authored Book Released - and I am in!

The Tribes Casebook just released as promised yesterday.

Seth Godin writes in his blog:

In honor of today's publication of my new book, Tribes, I asked the people who joined the online triiibe group to write an ebook.

Click on the fire scene for the download link. It is free, no registration needed. And - tada! - it contains a second case study of mine. Here it is.

Pecha Kucha Night 

by CoCreatr

WHAT: Live computer-aided presentation, usually with projection screen in a defined timebox. 20 slides for 20 seconds each, 6:40 uninterrupted. About 10-14 presentations per night.

WHEN: Usually once a month, depending on the city, started in 2003.

WHERE: More than one hundred cities world wide, plus an unknown number of corporate settings.

MISSION: Offer more people the chance to show their creative work to an interested audience. Keep presentations concise and interest level up. Share while respecting courteous limits.

LEADER: Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture), Tokyo

TRIBAL TIES: Face-to-face socializing through attending an edutainment event. Watchers find place and time from a tagcloud. Moderate entrance fee (~ 10$). Presenters register per internet. Common challenge in simple prescribed presentation format, straightforward time control and no commercial pitch allowed. Pecha Kucha Night ® is a registered trademark.

INSIGHTS: PKN offers a forum to sharers and seekers of wisdom to find each other in a defined setting and timeframe. It could be called an art exhibition on fast forward, or an unconference. The rigid presentation and timeboxing requirements ‘yield the floor’ to each presenter and support the audience’s attention span while offering relaxing breaks by the restauranty ambience and side activity for participants by being connected e.g. by twittering. More audience autonomy in a teaching setting.

The 6:40 time requirement suits on-line video very well.  Metacafe offers 420 videos tagged "pecha kucha", some are labeled affiliate with YouTube which lists about 429 so tagged. [Retrieved 2008-09-06]

REFERENCES:

• http://www.pecha-kucha.org
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecha_Kucha
• http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2007/09/pecha-kucha-...

EXAMPLES:

• Pecha Kucha Training Bite by spiraltraining (one of her 20 slides shows the purple cow!)
• Pecha Kucha: High Impact Conferencing by Jack Powers
• Innovation by InnovationFish (corporate setting)
• Pecha Kucha Night Vol.39 "bintabon" in Japanese with English on the slides, appears on Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen blog.
• How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan

Compiled from publicly available sources as indicated, by

CoCreatr (yours truly)

No blog, no hyperlink, just fun.

[Correct at the time I posted the story, now I have a blog, as you are reading it.]

Full disclosure: I am not affiliated with anyone in the tribe studied here and have not participated in any Pecha Kucha Night or event. Here is the first "PK lite" presentation I ever watched, on-line: Lee Lefever on Travel Technology at Ignite Seattle. (See also: blog post.)

 

Due for release tomorrow: The Tribes Casebook

In time for the release of his new book "Tribes", author Seth Godin managed led people to finish a book written together, on-line, by his tribe of followers. The work is called The Tribes Casebook.

Watch Seth Godin's blog for the announcement.

What makes this so special to me and my few special readers is this: The book contains numerous tribal stories. Two of which I submitted. Yaay!

This makes me not an author but at least a co-author - only months after I realized authoring is part of my calling. If you read this, chances are authoring and blogging is your calling, too. If you dreamed of starting a blog, what holds you back? Now is as good a time as any.

Here is one sneak preview case study.

The Tribes Casebook page 22   [flickr photo only in this on-line version]

 

The Ride of Silence

by CoCreatr (yours truly)

Every year, on the 3rd Wednesday in May, cyclists worldwide join in a silent slow-paced ride in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.

This has been happening since 2003. Led by Chris Phelan, it’s a mass demonstration with a purpose - beyond state, national, or cultural boundaries - to raise awareness of cyclists’ legal right to the road and motorists’ legal obligation to share the road.

The tribe is tied together by common elements of tragic history. They share the will to improve conditions, and join in by demonstrating their mission at the same place, same time and with same means of transportation every year.

This is beyond bumper sticker marketing. Armbands are strongly encouraged. Black for everyone (solidarity in mourning lost cyclists). Red for those who have been injured by motorists. It’s a somber and moving example of a tribe going slow, setting an example, sharing its story and growing in numbers – going, virally, slowly and peacefully.

In the words of Chris Phelan, from his blog post Let the Silence Roar:

‘And there is the meat of it, the power of what we do when we take part in the R of S; getting as many people on bikes as possible, at the same time that have the same voice, communicating through peaceful assembly. With over 200 locations in the US alone, it is becoming harder and harder for the motoring public to ignore us.

And that’s the point. When news reports show more than the customary 3-4 cyclists the local community is used to seeing on the road and report that there [are] over 300 locations WORLD WIDE going on the same day, it is the hope and faith the our  society will sit up and take notice, not only of those riding, but also those either no longer able, or those no longer with us to ride because a motorist-on-cyclist accident.

Nationally, this is akin to our Memorial Day, but without the bar-b-que sales. It’s important to us that all the locations ride at the same time to make the above points. Fractured with events at several times during the month, or worse, year, is not in any of our best interests. The event loses its focus, and intent.

Our event is held on the 3rd Wednesday of May. Every calendar has that date. (For 2009, it will be May 20. Mark your calendar now.)

I can appreciate people wanting to simplify their calendar. But,...it’s not about convenience. We have this one hour the entire year to show the public our strength in numbers, what we look like when we actually get together, those older, slower, faster, or leaner, with mountain bikes, racing bikes, kid bikes, etc. We have had 3,000 here in Dallas at the Ride Of Silence. That gets news coverage.

And, just in case the powers that be are concerned this is about profits or money, this event is also the largest free volunteer run event without cash flow, no budget. And that’s world wide.’

That’s a tribe.

Not nice of me: Typepad WYSIWYG editor broken

On my compose page, there is a new message today:

Update: We've improved the way we display access to plain text (convert line breaks) and markdown. Read about this and more in our overview of the new compose editor.

What I see in the edit window is ONLY PLAIN TEXT and HTML.

So I opened a support ticket and sent this provider the following.

Subject: WYSIWYG editor broken after update
For easy reference, give your help ticket a subject.

Detailed description of your problem or question:
Be sure to paste in any error messages you have received and to describe the activity leading to your problem. The more detailed your description, the easier it will be for us to help you.

Please reinstate the old editor or at least give a choice to use either old or update.
I pay for a working tool. If it stops working for reasons I am not responsible, it is a warranty case. After two failed repair attempts I have the right to demand my money back. Take your choice.

Sincerely,

Bernd Nurnberger

P.S. As I save this page, I notice my preferences are also reset to some default, I had the categories cleaned up. WASTING YOUR CUSTOMER'S TIME IS NOT GOOD FOR BUSINESS.

Ah, that is how bloggers do it....

...could not have written it so well. Next best is to quote:

Why No One Links to Your Best Posts
(And What to Do About It)

by Jonathan Morrow

Does this sound familiar?

...

Now great is no longer good enough. The Web is full of so much remarkable content that bloggers don’t have enough time to read it all, much less link to it.

If you want links now, you need to be more than great. You need to be connected.

How does this go with

What is a Good Idea?

administered by johnmoore

I just read one of the more compelling definitions of what a “Good Idea” is. This definition is remarkable in its brevity and clarity. You might also agree …

---

“A really good idea is simple, unexpected and relevant. And it unites extremes: it should risk a lot but nevertheless be easy to implement. Everyone should talk about it, but existing customers should not be irritated by it.” Nadja Schnetzler
co-founder, BrainStore

I think both are remarkable in their own right, and putting them together provides a unique perspective and focus. Co-Creating made easy, right?

Blog for at least one reader

for a few days, I had nothing to share here. Life is great, things happened or I made them... , new friends, old friends and lots of sharing on the corporate wiki. Then, though a forum we both frequent, found Fabi's blog called CV journal. She started just a few months earlier. Found this to log on the web for at least one reader - me.  And used grandfathered content for the first time. Does this make it great-grandfathering?

“…blog as if no one else was reading you.”

by Fabi on July 11, 2008

I first thought of starting my own
blog a month and a half ago. I’ve sat down a couple of times to
write some posts but I would always get stuck. It’s not that I
can’t think of something to write — it’s that
I’m terribly self-conscious of my writing.


While some people can get a point across in 1 sentence, I’ll ramble on for a whole paragraph.

I was just reading a post from Dosh Dosh that finally got me started:

The most important thing to do is to blog as if no one else was reading you.
Know that the most crucial thing you need to protect is your
authenticity. Know that your voice will change as you accumulate more
unnecessary knowledge. As you realize that people have expectations. As
your blog becomes a profitable asset.