I keep hoping to reignite my blogging routine. I will. Apparently it will take more time.
I’m juggling other priorities right now.
Let me pause, though, to propose a toast.
To great role models and the valuable time we have with them.
Cheers.
2012.01.15
Boy, this ‘Digital’ is all anybody’s ever talking about
This post was part of my coverage of the Liberal Party’s Biennial convention for iPolitics.ca. And, with thanks to Arrested Development for the post title.
There’s a great deal of focus on “digital” at the Liberal Convention.
There are constitutional amendments which enshrine specific digital channels into party voting, entire sessions devoted to networked intelligence based on social technologies, and a section of the convention floor (apparently) showcases purpose-built digital tools for party communication and collaboration.
However, digital remains a mystery.
I walked the floor with a microphone to ask delegates about the role of digital in the party. My hope was to tie the answers back to Don Tapscott’s morning keynote, a rallying cry for the party to get creative with online engagement and reinvent political participation. However, none of the 20 people I spoke with attended Mr. Tapscott’s session.
Of the 20 people I cornered…
- eight declined my request saying they didn’t feel informed enough to comment (six of those were Young Liberals)
- seven said the party needs to “do digital”, specifically Twitter and Facebook
- two suggested online voting is imperative for a modern and sustainable political system (both were Young Liberals)
- one highlighted the need for strong Canadian policies to support innovation
- two identified the need to select and use tools strategically, with specific goals in mind, and integrate their role with traditional means of public engagement
Candidates for party positions are light on innovation when it comes to integrating digital in their printed collateral. Only three candidates have embraced QR codes. Essentially, you’re facing lots of text and familiar campaign platitudes: “change”, “empower”, “inspire.”
I was disappointed to learn the Liberalist Lounge, a cool curtained area with lounge chairs and desks adorned with technology, is a “no media zone.” Perhaps reporting for iPolitics and holding a microphone makes me suspicious.
For a party that leads others in creative use of technology by doing things like running live video streams with interactive chats during party events (across in the country), and holding Twitter and Facebook town halls, there’s little here to suggest meaningful and strategic decisions have been made (or communicated and understood). Of course, as a journalist pointed out to me earlier today, there’s also little to suggest these initiatives have been effective.
Maybe that’s because only two out of 20 people I spoke with seem to have a handle on digital.
2012.01.15
Was Don Tapscott’s motivational keynote enough to drive Liberal action?
This post was part of my coverage of the Liberal Party’s Biennial convention for iPolitics.ca.
Don Tapscott is an Internet celebrity. Digital folk know him and admire him. They’ve read his books (Wikinomics, Growing Up Digital, Grown Up Digital and others) and follow his tweets.
Full disclosure: I’m a fan.
When it comes to understanding how technology has impacted social structures, advocacy, activism and change, Mr. Tapscott is an authority. That, and being a Canadian academic, made him a great choice as the wake up keynote for day two of the Liberal Convention (#lpc12 as it’s known online). Indeed, Alfred Apps’ lengthy introduction was enough to remind the audience how fortunate it was to have Mr. Tapscott on stage.
His talk was fascinating, though perhaps more motivational than anything else. Rebuilding Government, Democracy and Politics for the Age of Networked Intelligence occasionally drew scattered applause as he led delegates through a timeline of modern techno-social history. He highlighted how digital tools are channels over which people communicate, organize and make change. Leadership and government, Mr. Tapscott suggested, has to adopt new models based on fault-tolerant network structures rather than org charts.
The greater challenge will be to motivate the younger generation to participate in politics and democracy at a time when they (the younger generation) are the authorities on new modes of communication and action, and the old-guard leaders are not.
“Give young people responsibility and a sense of ownership and you’ll succeed,” Mr. Tapscott said in answer to a question toward the end of the hour. It was the first decisive call-to-action he delivered to a room of people many of whom seemed unfamiliar with the stories he’d shared.
Mr. Tapscott wrapped up with a flourish of thoughts backed by a video of starlings swarming a predator [a murmuration], set to Pachelbel’s Canon. It’s hard to say if it was his celebrity, Canadian citizenship, enthusiasm or conclusion that drew a standing ovation.
The true measure of his keynote will be the specific actions the Liberal party takes to creatively and effectively change itself, politics and government in Canada.
2012.01.15
Liberal convention’s first-day tweets rival election call
This post was part of my coverage of the Liberal Party’s Biennial convention for iPolitics.ca.
The Liberal convention achieved something yesterday that I wasn’t expecting to see. It generated just shy of 9,000 tweets for the day. If you have followed my analysis of digital in Canadian elections, you may recall that was the same amount of Twitter activity generated by Canadians about the election on March 25, 2011 — the very cold day journalists gathered at the Governor General’s residence to cover the announcement that parliament was dissolved.
The first swell of convention tweets occurred late morning. The true spike happened during the evening speeches and debates. There were plenty of quotes and commentary on the theatrics. Delegates and journalists debated whether too much time was spent wheeling out the past rather than limbering up for the future.
Not surprisingly, online activity fell to a dull hush after the official ceremonies. Twitter had an early bedtime. The suites and bars remained active until 3am. So I’ve heard.
Like most events Twitter attends, the tool serves as a broadcast channel allowing users to document experiences and thoughts. In some cases, delegates negotiate where to meet.
Alas, no matter what I write about Twitter, those in the know will “get it” and nay-sayers (many of whom can only speculate what the URL for the service may be) will simply dismiss it and the people who use it. For analysts, well, we get to uncover what resonates with the people who publish content, and those who rebroadcast and respond to it.
2012.01.01
Blevis’ hierarchy of development (a work in progress)
I’ve never been a fan of new year’s resolutions — or as Andrea humourously referred to them last night, “reservations.” A few years ago I focused on goals I was hoping to achieve in the coming year. Last year I joined the my three words movement and selected three words intended to put focus on my personal and professional activities for 2011: create, connect and learn.
I had planned to benchmark myself against those words periodically during the year. I didn’t. As it turns out, though, I did pretty well subconsciously. It was easy. In many ways I’ve spent most of the last decade living by those words. I suppose you could say I cheated by selecting them.
Yet, you have to remain true to who you are.
So much so, that I’ve decided rather than reinvent myself with a new set of three words, I should use the original three as the foundation of my… well… development (for lack of a better phrase). If who I am personally and professionally is a bit of work in progress, so should be the model I build of myself.
The thought occurred to me yesterday as I considered the impact of my three words in the last year: I need to create a hierarchy of development. This means building on my progress rather than tearing it out and starting anew.
I wasn’t sure how to best pull it together. So I quickly drew something on my whiteboard. In the process I added a single new word, rather than three, above what I believe to be my foundation layer. (click the image for a larger view)
So, 2012 is the year I add EXPERIENCE both as a verb and noun: effectively applying experience and actively seeking to earn and gain from new experience to my hierarchy. This applies both personally and professional. It builds on my existing and ongoing creative work, connections and learning. By the way, the cluster of words on the right (understand, be understood, transform) is the structure I apply to my work in public affairs. Oddly, I sketched that as a top-down.
Thanks to Dan Roam for helping think about things visually.
Here’s to layering on experience to my hierarchy.
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