As mentioned in my Foreword, I am new to some of these emerging and existing technologies. Certainly, for me, creating this blog was a great leap of my faith in immersing in the Generation Y culture (14-30 year-olds). No, I’m not averse to use of such technology, just a little slow. I still enjoy a letter or package in the mail (which is why I still make purchases online since 1996), a postcard (I will make my snail-mail address available, upon request) or a telephone call. I still lick stamps, and love going to the post-office and getting the ‘par avion’ stickers.
A few months ago, my colleague cautioned me that Generation Y students might choose to have their notebooks (and work on them) when in class. I immediately wondered about the consequence of being disrespectful to any teacher, facilitator or leader in class or a meeting. He was convinced that this would be the reality in the near future, and there was no avoiding it. This got me into thinking, how many people would be comfortable with the integration of communication technology into social situations. You may have noticed that staff cleverly use text-messages (SMS) during a meeting. Multi-tasking?
Talk-show host and comedian, Ellen DeGeneres strongly promotes Twitter and YouTube.com. I can relate to her initial concerns and apprehensions about engaging in ‘new’ technology. Interestingly, once you begin and get into the swing of things you actually become more confident, and competent. There is a strong correlation between competency and personal confidence. The more you deliberately write, the better you will get. My friend, Clifford Lee has become masterful at editing and posting videos on YouTube.com for our entertainment pleasure.
‘Perfect practice makes perfect. Wrong practice becomes permanent.’
I like to thank these technophiles for encouraging me towards the following tools:
· Matthew Wong (Singapore) for his down-to-earth blogs and recommending Blogspot
· Keith De Larue (Melbourne, Australia) for inspiring me with his blogs (check out his excellent blog on Knowledge Management on www.acknowledgeconsulting.com)
· Craig Holland (Newcastle, Australia) for getting me on Skype
· Lewis Jones (London, UK) for convincing me to get a Macintosh computer [also to Apple e-vangelist, Guy Kawasaki for his subtle suggestions in his book]
· Many friends for their postings on YouTube.com
· Business Associates for Linked-In
· Eastern Night Riders (ENR) for initiating me into Facebook.com
There are benefits for each tool aforementioned. They could open doors to concerns. When you subscribe to many forums and memberships, being inactive can mean under-utilising these capabilities. A capability is only useful when it is fully applied, provides benefits, and the user become attached to it. I once self-published, a weekly newsletter via electronic-mail for 30 consecutive weeks in 2002-2003. I stopped, as it consumed too much of my time and some readers felt that it was overwhelming. I also felt that it was imposing on my readers (who opted to subscribed). I suspect, blogging, achieves my intention and purpose, and is more real-time in its delivery. I hope to deliver, and the technology/process delivers as it purports to do.
Technology is not be feared. Ignorance is.
No comments:
Post a Comment