new media

you know what?

I had an interesting experience in my evening composition classes. I teach two sections of what most people know as Freshman Composition I. It’s a challenging class during the day. Add to the mix the likelihood that the majority of my students are older adults returning to school after years of raising kids and working full time, and the difficulty grows exponentially. I have to compete with the kids who are constantly textmessaging and the older folks freaking out because I expect them to submit their papers to an on-line plagiarism detection site and they can’t handle the technology. And to think I used to believe the challenge was getting them to back up their work.

Last night’s lesson revolved around the creation of effective thesis statements. Ladies and gentlemen, I have been doing this for almost 25 years. I can create an academic thesis statement on any mundane insipid topic you throw at me. I can write about healthcare, war, and ice cream.

I discovered last night that I can do this in 140 characters or less.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Are you kidding me? Has Twitter affected the way I write? I’m a little depressed. And a lot amused. Sadly, only a couple of people got it when I did my little dance of incredulity. Oh well.

As a result, I present to you this neat little video that might get you thinking about your own social media use.

it’s all … you know

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squatting on a new podcast!

cath
I hope you check it out. Capt. Jeff from Catholic Pilot and Mac Barron from Catholic in a Small Town are going to be co-hosting a new podcast about…um…everything…and nothing…and stuff. Just some friends chatting and enjoying some conversation. Give it a listen. I think you’ll like it. And Steve Nelson from On the U and Secrets of FlashForward, plus the incomparable Paul Camarata of The SaintCast join the mix this week. Oh, and I squat in the Skype Studio, too.

Listen here.

commiserating with the Facebook newbies

The strange and happy crew that makes up my sister’s world in Miami recently migrated, en masse, to Facebook.

For a brief period of like three days, every time I logged into Facebook, I would find 2 or 3 friends requests.  And then, just as suddenly as the frenzy began, it ended. What a relief.

Anyway, shortly after that episode, it seems like every update included a public confession that Facebook is crack, and addictive, bla bla bla. You either stay overwhelmingly addicted to the monster, or you master it and check in once every day or two. I’m sorry for those of you who hate me right now for mastering it. I won’t speak of my Plurk addiction just in case your tiny little brains can’t handle the real drug. Oh yes, I am a pusher.

So in my random and often daily blog reading, I came across this blog post about the Facebook is crack addiction. Boys and girls, Bonnie speaks big truths here. It is not for the faint of heart. Read it and weep. You will see yourself in her pain. Remember that admitting the addiction is the first step towards recovery.

I owe my own recovery to the sincere and disdainful mockery and intervention of my children, who pointed out in disgust that Facebook was for college kids, and that I was gross and weird for participating. It irks them that real adults use it for business and pleasure.

To add insult to injury, they won’t even be my friends.

Micro-blogging, social networks, and slackers

Here’s a question for you folks who micro-blog on the likes of Twitter and Plurk, etc., and also have your own blogs. I’m not asking the chicken and egg question–I don’t care if the micro-blogging came first. I am curious to know if the manner in which you approach blogging has changed since you started using the other utilities. Bonnie Gillespie posted a pretty comprehensive observation about her experience that got me thinking. I’ll be delivering a workshop on blogging, micro-blogging, and social utilities in a couple of weeks, and so I am actually posing this as a serious work-related question.

It has not escaped me that work and play are overlapping. I’m curious about how that affects you as well.

I’ve noticed that my own blog, from the original one to this revamped one, has undergone several style changes. At first, it was totally reflective and observational, but I’ve noticed a shift in self-awareness as I have gained (and lost) readers and the content that I now post. There’s no question that I’ve seen some changes.

How have you been affected in your writing?

The movievoice guy died yesterday

Nobody knows his name or what he looks like, but we all know his voice, especially from movie trailers but also from a lot of other voiceover work.

I hate to think that he would just kind of dissolve, like a dismbodied voice, so go check out what he looked like and what his body of work included.

His name is Don LaFontaine, and you can check out his website here.

In the meantime, those Hollywood types should check out Paul Camarata, the voice of the Saintcast and SQPN. Now that’s a voice!

What are you saying?

I’ve enjoyed several conversations over the last 24 hours that contained more than 140 characters.

It was quite refreshing.

And disconcerting. You know, the whole thing about having conversations in real time. Confusing, I know!

@Twitter, I’ve forgotten how to write in paragraphs.

@facebook, my status has been status quo

@last.fm, there was really nothing wrong with my mp3 player, even though it sits in a corner, all lonely and everything.

@friendfeed, don’t you like my friends? Did that silly failwhale eat them?

@plurk, I can’t even begin to use this without having nightmares about decapitated cartoons.

@my friends, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call. Better yet, we should meet for coffee. In a real coffee shop. And leave the computer at home.

I blame it on the CNMC

I twittered earlier today that I was suffering from multiple personalities disorder. The fact that I said twittering has probably already confused some people who are not connected to the idea of microblogging is irrelevant! HA!

OK, mom and pop, I’m talking about a bunch of different ways people connect–from blogging, which is what I’m doing here, to microblogging, think of Big Brother in reverse– a webite where I post a sentence that tells people what I am doing, or thinking, or planning to do.

As a resource, it’s pretty interesting and useful. Socially, it’s like passing a note in class–but for work, and some of the creative stuff I like to do, it’s pretty useful. For example, once I post this, I’ll let my friends in other networks know that I did, and hopefully, they’ll come to this blog and read my stuff, maybe leave  comment or two, which will then take me to their sites so I can see what they are doing. Cool, huh?

             

and there’s more psychosis to come.