A sample by Neil Cox, 10/2007
For use in "New Media for Urban Change" course.
My primary information function here in the Indianapolis area is to "Accelerate Driven Christians in the Racing Capital of the World". Connect them to each other, and connect them to best-in-class information for reaching our city for Christ. Everything below tends to expedite that objective.
Here's how I (hope to) "Pay Attention" amid the Information Deluge...
[A profile page is where & how OTHERS see/learn-about YOU personally and your activities. Mine currently is on Facebook. [I have other personal pages out on the net, but little by little, they're increasingly pointing to my Facebook Profile page. My 'permissions' there are OPEN... All you need is a Facebook ID to hit that page.]
which help do everything below. And since I can only crowd so many buttons onto my browser's 'Links-bar', it becomes one way to focus on the most important things I do each day. My buttons, for instance, are... Facebook, Reader, Gmail, IndyStar, IndyChristian, Bible, Tool-kit, C4UI, Class, CityReaching, Blogger, and a few misc buttons.
[A dashboard is just the reverse of your profile page.... It's about how YOU see the world from your perspective. It's a long way from optimized right now, but imagine your car's panel of instruments, gauges, and special messages that you need, to know how best to drive your car (life). My dashboard is geared to see the world through my set of Christ-honoring relationships, and important related items... news they've tagged or blogged about... events they're heralding... new friends in our network, etc. Currently my 'dashboard' is at what Facebook calls my 'home-page'. I hate that ambiguous term given to it -- I hope Facebook will change that descriptor before long. On a moment to moment basis, my dashboard at Facebook shows the latest news feeds coming from my 'friends'. Thus if we choose our friends wisely, we can effectively learn things from them each day.
Face-Notifications... Note: From my Facebook dashboard, I can easily see any 'notifications' re messages left (publically) on my 'wall' -- from my friends, and collaboratively (since publically)... so they're the highest priority to me.
FACE-MAIL... Note: From my Facebook dashboard, I can easily see any of my Facemail messages. They're similar to email -- mentioned below -- but remember these are from my friends who effectively are 'on the team together'... so they're (nearly the) highest priority to me.
Is Facebook Optimal? No. It's a great start, and I've got confidence that Facebook will continue improving. In the meantime, I'm developing my own thoughts about what a 'model dashboard' would look like and how it would function. I'm using a private wiki-page for now. Stay tuned.
And here's the funny part... To date, I've found no more efficient & effective mechanism than Franklin Planner. Right. Paper. Book-sized. People have shown throughout recent history that they're willing to readily carry something book-sized. It's no bother. And compared to my laptop that I frequently carry, it's extremely handy. In one second I can look at February and tell you when I'm able to meet with you. I have my important task-list available in one more second. And I have free-space to think/draw/write... all while looking at my wife's photo... and carrying various biz-cards. I can jot my business mileage, keep receipts handy, and readily thumb-through a month's worth of activity in a minute or two. And here's a bonus... People currently still try to give me a lot of 'paper'. So generally I'm going to be carrying something anyway, even if not my idea. So now I can throw their stuff in the back of my FP... until I get to the nearest trashcan, or take it home to digitize. Btw, taking FP's seminar on how to maximize your efficiency & effectiveness was one of the most valuable seminars I've ever taken.
Within this one singular page, I can read all the RSS-feeds (news/events/blogs/videos/podcasts) from places I personally have 'subscribed-to'. Currently my RSS Reader is GoogleReader... which is included with Gmail. [And in one click, I can 'share' items with the general public as practical.] Within my Reader, I have a "Vital Daily" folder... and then everything else. I try to make sure to get through the Vital Daily folder... daily. Everything else is subject to my available time.
Anything worth reading extensively is worth 'keeping'. In appx 30 seconds, I can tag significant articles, websites, research, photos, people, audio files, or videos I want to keep track of. Not really just 'favorites'... but you can think of it that way. Currently my tagging account is at del.icio.us/indychristian. Everything I tag, others can see/search if they desire to. And I can easily 'share' tagged-items with other innovative types there.
And the number is easily found on my Facebook Profile-page. And I maintain a ton of other contact#'s in my cell phone. I am not yet particularly into 'mobile' computing -- I don't tend to have the need at the moment. But I believe that will be one area of significant growth in the future... so I'm open to it in the future.... when Bryan gives me his hand-me-down iPhone. LOL.
I have a million email accounts I think, but I only mention one of them to people -- coach@goal-partners.com. All my various email addresses all forward a copy of all emails to one (real) email-box... at Gmail. Anyone can push email at me... and I'll answer it if I can. But email these days is not as high-priority as messages from among 'the team'... who nowadays are on Facebook with me. Email is passe. I hope to de-prioritize it over time... much like I've done with snail-mail.
We're now 8 years old (started prior to Y2K... remember that?). No log-in is needed. It's a blog format... and a number of Bible-believing leaders are equipped to also post there. Anyone can read it... whether they agree or disagree. It serves to help connect & communicate to people necessary news, events, ideas, links.... and sometimes just fun things... in order to prosper our linkage and ability to work together as The Church at Indianapolis. We are intentionally diverse as we attempt to bridge great divides... especially between urban and suburban.
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And importantly, my 'social graph'... ie, my info strategy includes choosing my (info) FRIENDS wisely...
The end.