Post workshop reflections: Using Wikis for communication (Round 2)

Completed the second run of the "Using Wikis for Communications" workshop at the Civil Service College last Friday. As before, my segment was a 1.5 hr segment during the 2-day course organised by CSC.

Learning from my earlier round, this time in addition to revising the handouts (with a more detailed step-by-step guides), I prepared more scenarios for participants' to work on. For instance:

1. Share your favourite recipe (e.g. Ingredients, Preparation)
2. Provide directions to your favourite eating places in Singapore
3. Create a website to publicise your seminar/ talk at Civil Service College. The site should allow participants to RSVP their attendance, and also directions to the venue.
4. Construct an Educational website (please decide on a topic/ theme, e.g. Learning to Play the Guitar). Each page should have links to text and multimedia content. Include a Discussion section.
5. Your boss has asked you to plan a trip to a deserted island, where you have to stay for at least TWO weeks. Create a site to help plan your adventure.

Item 1 and 5 was a result of bouncing off some ideas with Kevin and Julian. They happened to be online and obliged me with a quick discussion on possible hands-on activities for the workshop.

Interestingly, no one took up #5. The most popular activity was the one on sharing one's favourite recipe. I wonder if this would be the same in the next run.

Before that, I wanted to manage the participants' expectations. I drew this on the while board:


My explanation was this:

• 50% of the workshop will be on "How to create a Wiki/ edit pages/ How a Wiki works".
• The other 50% has nothing to do with Wikis, or any social media platform; it's really about planning/ creating what you'd like to communicate to your audience.
• 80% of you would probably never edit/ create a wiki after the workshop.
• Finally, the Bicycle Analogy: Some one may show you how to built a bicycle and how to ride it. But ultimately, only you can decide where you want to go.

p.s. shared this at Facebook, if you can see it.

Post workshop reflections: Using Wikis for communication

Yesterday I conducted a 1.5hr workshop for 17 participants, on "Using Wikis for Communications".

After the session, I told the course coordinator I didn't quite 'nail it down' this time round. I felt the participants weren't as engaged as I would like them to be.

My segment was part of a two-day Introduction to New Media Communications workshop organised by the Civil Service College.

By the end of my 1.5hrs, the aim was for participants to understand the general features of wikis, to be able to create a wiki (we used wikispaces.com), edit pages, manage a wiki (including allowing others to edit; minimising the risk of vandalism).

Overall, I believe the main objectives were met. All participants were able to create a wiki, go through the experience of editing pages, learning how to restore versions. We also had a short discussion on what to consider when deciding if a blog or a wiki was more appropriate.

But I realised that while the basic course objectives were met, what most participants didn't quite grasp was what to do with wikis.

To put in another way: if this was a course on how to build a bicycle, the participants manage to build themselves one. But after that they weren't quite sure where to go with the bicycle.

Creating a wiki was simple (simpler than blogs). The beauty of it was that creating a user account was not mandatory for one to edit a wiki.

But next time round, I'll probably impose a tighter structure for group-work activities, so that participants get a better sense (and do so in a fun and engaged way) of how wikis can be used for work and personal. Examples:

• Create a RSVP list
• Write a collaborative story (could also assign roles, e.g. Editor, contributor, vandal!)
• Create an instructional website (e.g. cooking recipes)
  
• Collaborate on a draft proposal
• A simulation of a site to build a corporate taxonomy
  

Set a time limit for each group to create the wiki, then present as a group.

If you've ever conducted similar workshops, what's your experience?

BTW, if you ever use www.wikispaces.com as part of your demo/ wiki workshop, you can ask participants to play around at SandBox.wikispaces.com without them having to create user accounts.

Quoted in ST article, about Twitter (or "How I deal with angry situations if I'm blogging about it")

Last week, ST journalist, Serene Luo, emailed me asking if I could provide some comments for an article she's rushing out. Because some of her questions had to do with NLB's official policy, I cleared the request with NLB Corp Comms. They said OK.



For a concise version of the ST story, check out "Jitters over Twitter", 9 Jul 09.

In essence, she asked my Corp Comms if NLB has a corporate policy on new media. The full story quoted the NLB as saying there was one, which came out first quarter of 2009.

During the phone interview, Serene asked me what I kept at the back of my mind when writing a blog post, especially if I was angry. Here's what appeared in the article:

Blogger Ivan Chew, who is a manager at the National Library Board, said he tries to treat each blog post as an e-mail: 'Once you put it out, there's no taking it back.' Asked what he would keep in mind when writing a post, he said: 'If I'm writing because I'm angry, I'll save it as a draft and revisit it when I'm more calm. There are better ways to resolve issues.'

This reminds me -- when I first started blogging, I was always conscious of these points:

1. Why do I want to blog about it?
2. Is it my business to talk about it?
3. If I do blog about it, am I willing and able to live with the consequences?

Asking "Why" is to make sure I write/ blog for the 'right' reasons. Of course, what's considered 'right' might be personal and subjective. But essentially, the Why question serves as an intellectual Stop sign at a traffic junction. To make me pause and think.

For the "is it my business to talk about it" part, it's to remind myself that my "work-related" posts deal with things that are meant to be publicised.

I'm also mindful not to jump the gun and tell the world things that my employer has not made public yet, even though the information eventually is meant for public consumption. I'd consider if my employer intends to issue a public announcement.

If yes, obviously I'd wait for that and then link to the news. If no, I'll often check with my own colleagues and bosses, just to be sure. I don't consider this being overly cautious. What I want to avoid is for good intents (on my part) to be misunderstood and avoid unnecessary grief to colleagues and myself.

The #3 "am I willing to live with the consequences" question is useful particularly when the answer to #2 is not so clear-cut. So far I've not faced such dilemmas. In many ways, this #3 personal guideline is to ensure that while I'm no rebel, there's a balance to ensure I can speak up if the situation warrants it.

Make sure my statements can be backed up with facts. Or if I'm making claims and subjective statements, then one doesn't have to be confrontational. I've always maintained a big part is about How we write, in addition to What.

I tend to trust my intuition (as I'm sure more reflective bloggers/ writers tend to do). If I still feel doubts, I'd go back to consider #1. That's usually enough for me to consider not posting it. Or simply re-writing it to review the tone.

Above all else, I should probably add a #4: apply common sense and respect.

It doesn't really matter if one blogs or Tweet. Substitute the words "blog" or "tweet" (or any social media action-word of choice) with "Talk".

You know, I wonder if NLB would ever make the policy public?

Imagine a page on the corporate website, with a public link to the corporate new media guidelines/ policy. And a list of employees and their blogs/ Twitter/ Facebook -- personal or official ones (voluntarily added for the former).

Librarians 2.0!

Thoughts from the New Media Seminar 2009 (for the Singapore civil service)

Yesterday I attended the New Media Seminar organised by the Civil Service College. I was there to speak, as a representative of my employer the NLB, to share learning points from NLB's new media initiatives.

[Photo courtesy of @victortan]

(BTW you won't see NLB listed, as we were left out of the programme list for some reason).

Link | Sharedcopy

Before I began my presentation, I said "If I exceed my 30mins, feel free to tell me to Shut Up And Sit Down". I think only half the room got the joke. Ah well...


REACH_Singapore & TWITTER
I got to listen to the other speakers and presentation while I waited for my turn to speak.

During the presentation by REACH, on Why and How they use new media for e-engagement, I thought: What does Engagement mean? And how would REACH define it?

So I tweeted this to their twitter account:

"@REACH_Singapore - nice overview of ur new media efforts @ MICA new media seminar. Question: how do u define Engagement? Thks!"

They responded today. It was a lengthy response, as far as Tweets go. Four separate tweets (the URLs are listed here):


I was quite sure they'd respond to my tweet, for they'd responded to this earlier tweet from me some time ago. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply this time round.

Maybe I needed to be convinced that it wasn't a fluke the first time, LOL.


My session TWEETS
Here are some of my tweets during the session (thanks to the free Wireless@SG). I've left out some of the tweet-responses and re-tweets by twitters who were following me (it was pretty cool to see that sort of "indirect active participation" by the non-participants!).

Oh, at that time I didn't think I'd need a hash-tag but I now realise for easy of reference, I should use one next time:

• listening to REACH presentation. Why and how they use new media. I've a question: "what does Engagement mean?" [link]
• think aloud: if engagement means dialogue, REACH has done well. Wrt citizens' views shaping govt policies, I think REACH has done that too. [link]
• think aloud: the challenge wrt "engagement" is about expectations. Esp. by person giving feedback. Receiving feedback is also an artform [link]
• listening to kew soon from MICA. he points out blogs appeared in 1999 and are still around 10 yrs later, and growing. [link]
• good presentation by MICA new media unit officer, on overview of FB. I feel MICA could do a public talk @ public libraries on FB! [link]
• MICA officer giving talk on "deconstructing wikipedia". could mention RSS updates but good overview. Again, should do public talk! [link]
• Think aloud: govt agencies should keep track of wikipedia entry of public info. ensure public info is factual and consistent. [link]
• Learned something new. Starhub is on Twitter: @starhubcares [link]
• presenter says he didn't need to be @ AWARE EGM to know what's going on. He read Tweets. I'd caution info needs to be triangulated. [link]
• listening 2 talk on new media use @ 2008 US presidential elections. Think aloud: new media helps get word out but ur word gotta make sense [link]
• thinking aloud: to me, new media engagement by public service = 80% Listening +20% Responding. [link]
• think aloud: in a crisis, silence (from the authorities) is definitely not golden. New media will amplify trust or distrust. [link]
• mentioned in sichuan quake case study - http://www.512help.com (www.512help.com) [link]
• think aloud: in a crisis, empowerment of potential citizen reporters is better strategy than trying to manage noise & misinformation [link]
• contrast of PRC gov & Obama's reaction to online criticisms. Former arrested ppl; latter countered w better information [link]
• @motorman says: a key diff for SYOG is the equal emphasis on sports and culture. Not merely win or lose but cultural diplomacy. I like that! [link]
• video @ http://whyohgee.sg has teen saying "the site is confusing... I like it" LOL [link]
• Julian aka @motorman mentions partnership with NLB ask! Service at http://whyohgee.sg site. [link]
• SYOG features educational vids like how doping tests are carried out. Wonder if it's on youtube? [link]
• SYOG vid: "are you prepared for ur doping test?"; "yes. Urine". LOL [link]
• Listening to NDP organisers on their thoughts on how to apply new media to NDP [link]
• NDP ex-co sees new media for content that can't go on to MSM. E.g. What soldiers feel about National Day (no voice to be left out) [link]
• BG Tan asks if getting controversial blogger would legitimize him/ her. I feel reverse also true: Blogger will help legitimize NDP w reader! [link]
• this is new to me http://www.hpb.gov.sg/chipp [link]
• the earlier HPB site earned me dirty looks. The site loaded on my mobile. Started playing music. Ppl think my phone went off. Darn [link]
• HPB doesn't stop at websites. They conduct surveys as well. They'd like their users "to be a source of their information" [link]
• weng keong says SPF approach to new media is "open and pragmatic". Aware they have to mitigate risks of using new media [link]
• fact: 4 in 10 arrests are public-assisted. SPF sees new media as a natural extension of community partnership [link]
• SPF youtube channel partly a response to provide authenticated SPF videos [link]
• SPF provides a sms service for Deaf/ speech impaired persons to contact the police. Wow, I didn't know that [link]
• SPF allows comments for their new media platforms. Says to not do so is to run counter to web 2.0 spirit [link]
• think aloud: SPF going into new media (w/o controversy) says a lot about the level of trust citizens have in SPF [link]
• SPF FB page has fans from outside SG. proves that internet is a global audience, not just local [link]
• best quote frm MICA new media seminar. SPF said "we experiment w NM in peace time so that we learn how to use it effectively in a crisis" [link]

FINAL THOUGHTS
At the end of the one-day seminar, I felt upbeat about the Singapore Civil Service efforts to embrace new media.

In truth, I was skeptical about the seminar when I learned about it. I thought it would be yet another surface-level attempt at show-and-tell and nothing more.

But from the speeches by the Head Civil Service and the Permanent Secretary, and hearing first-hand the thinking behind the other agencies' new media efforts, I walked away convinced that the Singapore Civil Service is serious about using New Media for e-engagement.

It's not a "let's join the bandwagon" mentality, for sure. It's also not lip service either.

Lest the pessimists think this amounts to some nefarious attempt by the civil service to control new media space, I can only say that I didn't sense that.

During the final panel session, there was a discussion about e-engagement policies. I won't report what was said exactly (I'd like to approach this cautiously, heh).

But I'll share my personal view wrt the civil service and e-engagement (see item 22, here): the civil service's willingness to adapt, and harmoniously evolve, is a lot more optimistic that what might be generally perceived.

I'm convinced the Singapore Civil Service in general, is beginning to get New Media.

To quote one senior civil servant, "this (seminar) is not the end but the start of a conversation".

Post-workshop reflections: "Your Library and New Media: Collaboration through Social Networking"

Yesterday I conducted this 2.5-hour workshop for 16 participants. About 12 were MOE teachers while the rest were in education-related jobs.



Not one of my better sessions, I'm afraid.

On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), I'd give the workshop outcome, and myself, a "2".

Several frustrations:

1. The event organiser did not get in touch with me, until I had to contact them just two working days before the session! This left me with only a weekend to work on the content. And I was clueless on number of participants, profile, background
   
2. I'd planned for a workshop format but was informed it would be a talk (so I modified my approach accordingly). To my horror when I reached the venue, it was a computer-lab and obviously the expectation was for a workshop
3. With myself: I was complacent! I still think the organiser was sloppy but I should've chased them earlier. I was aware of the many unknowns yet I went in cold on the day itself. Didn't plan for contingencies. Over-confident, I think.
   

Here's what we managed to cover (outline was worked out on the spot):

• 2pm: An overview of what Web 2.0 was about
• 2.30pm - 3pm: A hands-on exercise on using Posterous.com
  
• 3pm - 3.30pm: Tea-break
  
• 3.30pm - 4pm: Group discussion on ideas and desired outcomes for what they wanted to achieve for their school library, and ideas for using new media (this part was sloppy, and I take the blame). Also made them input their discussion points on to a Wiki
• 4pm - 4.15pm: Review of the wiki activity. Also demo of how to restore pages and deal with vandalism (a bit sloppy, 'cos I temporarily couldn't find the link to restore the pages)
  
• 4.15pm - 4.30pm: Discussion on application, use of new media for collaboration (ended up with me doing most of the talking; I think most of them didn't feel this part was comprehensive enough)
• 4.30pm - 5pm: Explanation of Creative Commons, its relevance to a school library, how to search for CC content, and how to license one's work using CC (this part was me talking, and I can't tell if I convinced them to see themselves as content producers, and how sharing was part of social collaboration)
  

What I did right
I arrived about one hour earlier. Managed to whack out a outline for hands-on activities, worked out the new approach mentally.

Another thing done right: I didn't complain and got to work instead. When I realised the venue was for a workshop and not a talk, I sorely wanted to. But it wouldn't have helped anyone and would certainly have wasted precious time.

When I sensed the participants had a different expectation, I modified my approach rather than bulldoze through the session (but the outcome was partly successful). During the hands-on exercise at 2.30 - 3pm, when I went around checking on the participants. That was when I sensed and got some feedback that the participants didn't really want hands-on. I asked the group what they'd like to focus on, and modified the subsequent approach.


What could've been done better
Before starting the session, I tried to get participants to share what they expected out of this workshop. But I didn't get everyone to share (they did it in groups) and I didn't write down the points so that I could revisit those points. And also use those points to focus the discussions.

I didn't establish that critical rapport with the group. Upon hindsight, I think I could have given more time for each individual to share their thoughts. I realise teachers liked to express themselves and have their thoughts heard. Getting them to share might also clarify their expectations, their skill level, their organisational context.

Next time I'd schedule when each group could edit the wiki pages. The mistake was to allow all groups to edit the wiki. Net-effect: everyone overrode everyone else's work! Next time, I'd assign a scribe for each group, and also give each group a specific time to edit. And warn them not to override.


The participants
When I shared my woes to two other teacher-friends separately (they weren't in the session), they consoled me to say that teachers were a tough bunch to teach!

But to be fair, the teachers were cordial and they patiently went along the discussions and group activities as instructed. I think if they really wanted to be difficult, they could.

Problem was, I didn't manage to engage them in terms of the depth of discussions and the ideas generated. That was the biggest disappointment for them and for me too.

At one point (around the 4pm to 4.30pm segment) I felt as if I'd lost them when the discussions didn't get into the level of sharing and the ideas and sharing from them weren't forthcoming.


Their expectations
I felt most gave very tentative responses when asked to share what they wanted to get out of the workshop.

I had my share of participants who didn't read the workshop blurb!

I felt most of them weren't that sure what they wanted from the session. They had a general sense of wanting to learn something practical, but generally just came to see what they could get out of it. But when they didn't get the sort of specific ideas and discussions, they were disappointed.


Final thoughts
I'm not sure how they collectively rated the session (don't think the organisers would be sending the collated feedback my way).

I won't say this was a disaster.

There were signs that some participants learned something. For instance, they maintained eye contact throughout, showed non-verbal responses, they actively took notes at certain points.

Also, when we ended the session, I told them the workshop won't have to end there. I gave them my email. Said I'd be happy to share more individualised responses, if they have specific questions after the workshop. Quite a few wrote down the email. That should mean something. :)

Still, I didn't feel that sort of satisfaction I've experienced with some other workshops.

In the final analysis, I can only say as a trainer, I've got ways to go.

I feel a trainer of excellence would always manage to make participants feel the session was worth attending. Regardless of the situation.



At one point while reflecting on this workshop, I wondered if I should decline future training invitations from this particular organiser. Or of such a scope (e.g. teachers, new media). Quite likely they wouldn't want to ask me back, heh.

I didn't even feel like blogging this. A part of me didn't want to share the less-than-positive aspect of the workshops I conduct.

But I posted it anyway. To clarify my thoughts, if nothing else. If faced with the same situation again, I'd know what to do without being overconfident.

Well, if any of the workshop participant manage to find your way to this post, as I mentioned in the closing remarks of the workshop, be as honest as you want to be.

Let me know what could've been done better for you.

Post-talk reflections: "Beyond Digital Literacy" - Catholic High School, 10 April 2008

There is an on-going need to educate students on the finer points of discerning information from Internet sources, as I observed from my talk to the entire cohort of Secondary Two level boys at Catholic High School, last Thursday (10 Apr 2008).

I was asked to give a talk to the students, as a follow-up to an eLearning course the school had signed-up for them.

Since I had 30 to 45 minutes with them, I decided against repeating what their eLearning course might already have covered. So I decided to emphasise on two main themes:

• Being a smart user of information (by verifying information; how they can ask questions the smart way)
• Being a smart Producer of information using New Media (another perspective on why they should verify information that they publish)

Right at the start, I asked if they thought this site was the real White House page (got the site idea from a colleague, btw).

There were murmurs of Yes and No.

I picked two students to comment.

First boy said it was a fake site (some of his peers exclaimed disbelief). I asked him why. Because the URL was a "ORG" and not "GOV", he said. OK, he's on the right track. Other than the URL, I asked him to point out other clues that led him to believe this was not the official White House website. He said no.

The second boy also said the same thing (he sounded more unsure, actually).

So I told them they had to look at more than the URL. For instance, the description and the contentious nature of the articles. And, they had to look at more than one source.

Next I showed them this Wikipedia entry about their school (some seemed surprised to see an entry of their school in Wikipedia).

I asked who didn't use Wikipedia. Only three boys in the back raised their hands. I asked if it was because their teacher didn't allow them to and they nodded yes. Heh.

I said there was nothing wrong in using Wikipedia (and that I found it a useful and accurate resource so far). But they should always make a point by verifying with other sources. I said the Smart Information User would crosscheck with their own school website.

That led to me speak for the next 20 minutes on attributes of Smart information users, why it was necessary to verify information, how they should act as smart Information Producers.

I covered some new media tools and emphasised on their responsibility as content producers as well.

When asked how many had their own blogs, about half of the room (150 out of 300?) feebly raised their hands (feebly, I guess because they were halfhearted about letting their teachers know?)

Here's an excerpt of the slides (including selected Web 2.0. tools that I thought would be relevant to the students):

| View | Upload your own

Near the end I showed them this video - Think Before You Post:


The room fell silent. Not a peep.

They were TOTALLY absorbed in the video.

After the video I quickly added that it wasn't to scare them away from posting content online. The point was the THINK before they do anything.

My closing remarks to them was that they, as the generation who will grow up with these tools, will probably use these tools as a matter of fact. And they will take these tools and their ability to create and publish content (text, video, pictures, whatever) for granted.

But it's not whether they know about the tools. Or even if they are using it per se.

It's their ability to create meaningful content.

Their content may not always be entertaining.

But they must always strive to be credible.

Speaking at USF (Part 9): Perspectives

[From Part 8]

I've found a few blog posts about the talk. The links will be added here as I find them. And I'll blog about some of them.

Here's one by Davis Scholar Steven (cool-looking dude, 'cos his hairstyle reminded me of Lenny Kravitz and Slash!)

Steven wrote that I seemed nervous to him when I attempted to make conversation before the talk.

He's right -- I was nervous at first, now that I think about it (in turn, I've shared my perspective at this comment).

In truth I'd much preferred if he'd not mention it (who likes having their flaws pointed out, heh).

But I'm glad he mentioned it. Now I know something about myself that I'm wasn't acutely aware of.

I'd asked Steven and Lulu this question: "What are the three main things you learn in your Digital Literacy course?"

Apparently, Steven felt his reply wasn't satisfactory to him. Steven sees himself "in a revolution" but wasn't sure where his place should be in it.

Well Steven, you already are.

By sharing your perspectives via your blog.

Blogging, to me, has a lot to do with perspectives. The same issue or topic -- food, politicians, life -- would have different viewpoints, treatment and emphasis by different people.

Something might be seen as trivial might generate a significant perspective for someone else.

Like what you did.

Because from what you've shared, it's told me that nervous or not, I did the right thing by attempting conversation before the talk.

Asking that question has apparently led you to more questions you're asking yourself. I didn't deliberately set to do that but it's what I ultimately aimed to achieve. And I am likely to ask the same questions in a similar setting.

I've learned something useful which wouldn't have been apparent from my own perspective.

And by using a social medium like a blog, we allow others to clarify and add another perspective on things.

Steven's post has also made me think:

I've always maintained that it's not so much WHAT you write but HOW you write it. How do you share your honest perspective without ruffling feathers? (NOT that Steven had ruffled mine, in case you're wondering, heh).

That may be the more important aspect of New Media education than teaching people how to use tools.

[Next, Part 10]

Speaking at USF (Part 8): Slides

[From Part 7]

I felt the talk went well. Let's see what the audience say.


David asked his students to blog their thoughts about the session. Folks, do email me your links!

Was impressed by David's students. They were attentive. Showed interested in the talk (OK so there was one yawn at one point, heh). They asked thoughtful questions during Q&A.

They missed Valentines Day. Hope the talk was useful for them.

Tired now.

My body is fine but my brain is crashing. It's telling me it needs more than the three hours of sleep I had before the talk.

So instead of doing my usual post-talk reflections, I've posted an abbreviated version of my presentation, in three parts.

• Part 1: "My personal reasons for Blogging"
• Part 2: "Singapore Public Library's digital experiments"
• Part 3: "Senior Citizens & Blogging"

(BTW, I misspelled "Davies" in the slides. Sorry about that).

Nicholas the video-guy asked about the Dolphin Galaxia video. Here's the link, Nicholas.


UPDATE (blog posts by attendees):

• lissle - The Internet Connection
• Shel Israel - Rambling with a Librarian
• Steven - Ivan Chew, the "Chewster" or the Liblogarian
• Lulu - Chew on this!
• Kelly - Miracle
• Sara - Davies Forum: Ivan Chew comes to USF
• Blake - Ivan Chew
• Amber - Ivan Chew, the liblogarian, comes to USF
• MarketingAndNewSocialMedia - Ivan Chew (this wasn't from an attendee of the talk, but a reflection about Shel's post)
  

[Next, Part 9]

Speaking at USF (Part 7): Social Media & Singapore Public Libraries

[From Part 6]

It's almost 5 am here, 14 Feb 2008 in San Francisco, as I post this.

Landed in SF this yesterday morning.


Cleared through immigration and customs quickly (was impressed by its efficiency and didn't expect the immigration officer to be so cordial and friendly!)

David was there with a big friendly smile. I recognised him immediately. For some reason, whatever apprehensions I had, in meeting him for the first time, were all gone. :)



During the drive to USF, David shared that their university library just started a blog called Gleeson Gleenings. Reading their blog posts, it's obvious to me that they get it.

Picked up the keys to the campus accommodations. It's more like an apartment for special guests (David emphasised "Special" and I had to suppress a look of disbelief -- come on, I'm nobody)



Very, very nice place! I may not be special but I feel special now, heh.

Unpacked my stuff. Checked my work and personal emails for a short while. Hey, new comments to the blog, from Amber and jini!

Went out for dinner.



Came back and then 5 pm and my lack of sleep caught up with me. Zonked out for the next few hours.

Woke at 9.30pm. Washed up. Wasn't hungry. Cleared more work emails.

Accessing work emails was slow (since the servers were hosting in Singapore). Plus my access to the USF network was limited to 20 minutes each time (I didn't have a campus account) so I was my connection to my work mail constantly dropped.

But apart from that, access to blogger & flickr etc. was FAST, now that I'm in U.S.

Continued working on the slides (included more screenshots, streamlined the presentation).

Then suddenly I'd inadvertently downloaded a spyware.

Crap.

Spent the next 30 minutes halting work and rooting out the problem. At least my anti-virus software was up-to-date. Decided not to copy anything to my backup drive, in case the virus gets transferred.

(So I typed the most of this post while letting the program do a full scan).

OK, problem solved. Phew.

The street lights outside the apartment bathes the street and apartments across the road in an amber glow. It's deserted at this time of the morning. The place looks clean and safe.

I'm really looking forward to the session with the students.

It's very humbling to be given a chance to share what I know. And I take pride in being able to share a little bit about Singapore, its public library services, and the good work that my colleagues have done.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is meeting up with Shel. The guy who got me started with blogging.

Three and a half years ago, I'd dismissed blogs in front of one particular American guest in Singapore.

And now I'm a guest in North America, to talk about blogs in front of an American audience.

I'm wearing a big happy silly grin inside my heart.

:)

[Go to Part 8]

Speaking at USF (Part 6): Social Media & Singapore Public Libraries

[From Part 5]

Part of my talk will cover how the Public Libraries in Singapore are using new media* to target Children, Teens, Adults and Senior Adults.

I'll share why we started these blogs, some concerns at the initial stage (and whether they were realised), how we managed and maintained them, how these blogs complement what the physical libraries do, and the learning points we've gathered so far:

• High Browse Online (Started: Oct 2005)
• ASK! (Started Jun 2006)
• library@orchard (Started: Jul 2007)
• library@esplanade (Dec 2007)
• Y.O! (Started: Jan 2008)

Alot of what I'll be sharing has to do with blogs. I'll see if anyone in the audience picks that up. Maybe during Q&A someone will ask if public libraries have gone into Facebook, Second Life, Twitter, Flickr etc.

ASIDE: My friend Siva the Otterman (with a swanky new blog) says I've been fretting over the talk. Yes, I tend to do that. But apparently so does Siva!

* In Singapore, we tend to use the terms "New Media" and "Social Software/ Media" interchangeably.

Next, Part 7 (I'll probably be in SF by then).

Speaking at USF (Part 5): Structuring the talk

[From Part 4]

Not sure if you're familiar with the superhero character called Midnighter (if not, check out Warren Ellis' The Authority and Stormwatch series -- great stuff, imho).

I'm referring to this guy.

[Source: Wikipedia.com]

He fights on the side of goodness. He has the ability to calculate and guess his opponents' moves before his opponents even realises what they'd be doing next. He's fond of saying that he's plotted all the possible moves and fought the fight a million times in his mind, and he's won it before the fight has begun. And he wins. Always.

So I'm thinking about the Midnighter character because in structuring my talk (one more day left!!!), I can think of so many ways to approach it.

Right now, I wish have Midnighter's cockiness.

Wish I could say I've already figured out, a million times in my head, how the audience will respond to my talk before they've even heard it.

Heh.

At least I still have a little sense of humour. Not yet at the panic stage (or maybe it's because I'm panicking).

Nah. Don't think so. Not after reading this comment from one of David's student's.

Wow.

Super-engaged is what I'll call Kelly. :)

I simply had to share her comment with the folks at the Media Socialist group (a non-political group; don't let the word "socialist" mislead you). Kevin said that would be what Singaporeans might call a "Super Siao-On" attitude.

It's a compliment, Kelly! If there's time, I'll explain what that means to you, in context. :)

So now I know what at least one student might be thinking. Of course I'm not going to structure my talk just to answer her questions. But now I have a clearer idea what to emphasise and what examples to show. Kelly asked very good questions.

I understand from David that his students -- seven of them -- are mostly in their early 20s. Six of them seniors, and one freshmen. The Davis Forum is an honours class.

Woah, I can hear some of you go, "Whaaat!? Off to USF to speak to seven students?"

Better seven highly engaged students than 70 uninterested ones.

But no, it's not just seven students. The talk is also open to the public.


I also asked David if his students are new to blogging. Apparently, some have been blogging for years, some recently, and some not at all.

But on tuesday, they will officially begin blogging as a class.

Nice.

I'd expect them to post their thoughts and reflections of the speakers, including mine I hope, in their class blog.

It's an extremely scary and humbling experience, as a speaker or trainer, to read about what other people thought about my talks or workshops. When I come across them, I always take a deep breathe breath before reading on. :)

Overall it works for me.

In the context of blogs, it's equally true that what doesn't kill you (comments wise) will only make you stronger -- as a speaker, trainer, service provider, or simply as a human being.

Speaking at USF (Part 2): Planning for my talk for the Davis Forum

[From Part 1]

When David first contacted me, his course syllabus wasn't posted yet. What I knew was his students were expected to "learn about digital literacy by exercising digital literacy".

About 20 emails later, David and I settled on these points for my talk:

• My personal reasons for blogging
  
• My thoughts on the event to introduce senior citizens to blogging
• The digital/ Web 2.0. experiments my librarian colleagues and I have experimented with in trying to reach and engage the younger generation

The third point's quite straight-forward. I share about the NLB blogs, online chat sessions for teens like this and this one, or via videoconferencing, or getting teens to express themselves via digital mediums.

For the first point, David elaborated that I could share how I used my blogs (in his words) "as a portal to [my] professional life" -- how I've used it to advertise events about the library, get feedback, and network professionally.

Here's a possible discussion topic -- I was thinking that all this "Web 2.0." stuff seems to lead us towards an inevitable meshing of our personal and professional lives. From my perspective, if we intend to use social networking platforms for professional work, it's not 100% possible (or desirable) to keep our personal lives completely removed from the professional domain. But it doesn't mean we lose total privacy either.

My main premise is that effective social networking requires us to reveal some parts of the Person, and not just the Employee. But I need to think about this further. Need to think of some concrete examples to share.

For the second point on senior citizens and blogs, David remembered a blog post on how Chun See and I introduced blogging to senior citizens in 2006. He also had an impression that that the idea of using blogs to capture the stories of senior citizens came from the prime minister of Singapore.

After some digging around, I realised David was referring to PM Lee Hsien Loong's 2006 National Day Rally speech. Specifically, on page 21, para 4:

"The young, even children, have blogs and some of the blogs are quite good. ... ... Old people also put up blogs. This one is called Bullockcartwater, ngau che soi (牛车水). So writing about the neighbourhood, festivals, food, the people, the activities, the place, the ties that bind us to Singapore."

David's main idea was to use this point to introduce the idea of "cultural differences" online.

He explained that it was difficult for a 20 year-old USF student (or anyone else) to imagine what it was like "to use Facebook as a Brazilian, or blog as a disabled person, or email as an Australian". But there were observable differences between the online
activities and comfort levels between a 20 year-old and a 70 year-old for instance.

In addition, he has hopes that his younger students might one day plan for a similar talk or workshop, using blogs or digital media to bridge the generation gap. For this part, I hope to get inputs from people like Chun See and Wee Kiat, and the folks at Yesterday.SG.

I appreciate David taking time to exchange ideas on the content of my session. There are clear goals in terms of the talk should achieve.

David has advised me to plan for a 45 minute talk and leave time for Q&A. I've chunked my content into these main segments:

1. My perspective on using new media for personal & professional work (15% of my talk)
2. How the Public Libraries in Singapore are using new media to target the children, teens, adults and senior adults (30%)
3. Context of Senior Citizens in Singapore; Using digital media to reach this group; Issues, challenges, opportunities (30%)
4. "Putting it all together" - Senior Citizens in Singapore, Digital Media, Role of Public Libraries (25%)
   

Maybe David's students would find their way to this post and leave comments -- on what they'd like to know, what they already know, questions or comments from what they have already heard from other speakers etc. It might help me refine the talk so that they'll get more out of it.

Anyway, my sense is that a good talk is not in the amount of information conveyed. It's how the speaker makes meaning for the audience, from all the information gathered and presented.

That is the hard part (but also the most fun, for me).

[Continued: Part 3]

Talk & workshop: "Introduction To New Media Communications" Course

Just finished adding the finishing touches to my slides for a seminar organised by the Civil Service College.

It's a two-day event from 11th to 12th October 2007 (course details here; also posted here):

"Introduction To New Media Communications" Course
The Civil Service College is pleased to launch a 2-day course that adopts an interactive and hands-on approach to explore key issues related to using new media as a communications tool.

Day 1 provides an overview of Singapore’s new media scene, and features industry practitioners and public service agencies that have implemented new media communications initiatives.

Day 2 takes a hands-on approach in helping participants understand the culture of new media through the process of creating content for new media platforms such as blogs, YouTube podcasts, and Wikipedia.

Will be speaking on Day 1 (about NLB's new media initiatives) and conducting a workshop on Day 2 (on podcasting and podcasting).

I'm just one of the six speakers/ trainers. I'll be in the company of knowledgeable and experienced individuals.

• Ms. Jennifer Chan - Director of Corporate Communications at the Ministry of Education and the Press Secretary to the Minister for Education.
• Mr. Michael Drury - Director of the Healthcare Practice in Edelman Singapore and Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Healthcare Practice.
• Mr. Walter Lim - Director of Corporate Communications and Industry Promotion at the National Heritage Board (he's the guy who, with his team, initiated Yesterday.SG; whom I'm honoured to know professionally and personally)
• Mr. David Lee - Manager at MICA's New Media unit.
• Ms. Amanda Goh - head of the Corporate Practice in Singapore (for some reason, I couldn't find their website url...)

Not to mention that I'll be sharing and learning from the 20-plus participants (who come from varied backgrounds and experiences, from various government agencies).

The programme is an intensive one. So I'm glad we have a reasonable number of participants to work with.

The session will be held at the Singapore Management University. Will be my first time there.

Confessions of a Singapore Liblogarian: A personal perspectives of social networks (22 Sept 2007, NTU)

Arrived at the Lecture Theatre in the afternoon. Wasn't quite sure if I was at the right venue.


Dr. Wu was busy and didn't answer his phone.

I walked in. Saw this young gentleman. Asked him if this was the place for the talk on "Confessions by a Liblogarian". He said, "I think so."

"Some blogger."

"Thanks. I'm that blogger," I smiled.

Since there was time, I asked him what he expected from such talks. He said he didn't really have any expectations. What didn't he like so far (mine was the fourth session in the series)? He said "nothing to dislike". It was to expand their horizons.

Good for him.

Zhengyu was his name.

(Photo posted with permission)

I proposed to Dr. Wu that participants could post their questions to this blog post, to be taken at the Q&A later.

So ask away, folks.

UPDATE (10:50pm):
No one asked questions via the blog. Fielded questions from about four to five people during Q&A time. I guess those who would have posted questions didn't have their laptops with them (as this participant explained).

Received more questions from individuals after the session. Most frequently asked question: "How do you manage your time" and "Where do you find time to blog?"

Ah, I should explain that bit for future presentations.

I explained that I made it a point to spend time with my wife after work (all my blogging's done after work). My wife and I would have a proper meal together. Then watch a little bit of TV (30 mins tops for me).

After that, she'd do her stuff and I'll go into the room to catch up with my own things. Read a book, reply to emails, blog if I have to, or just do the GarageBand stuff. Not all the same things together. And I don't blog all the time. Neither do I feel compelled to have all my blogs updated at the same frequency.

After my explanation, some would go, "Oh, you have time because you don't have kids to look after!".

That's true to some extent. Parenting is a full-time job. But I know bloggers who manage to blog and still be good parents it seems. I guess it's up to how we manage priorities.

The students went to their respective breakout sessions, moderated by fellow students, to discuss the issues raised from the talks presented. Dr. Wu brought me to see the groups. There were different styles of discussions and presentations.




I thought the most enthusiastic group The livelier groups seemed to be groups from the 'Information Studies' and also the 'Knowledge Management' courses. The discussion at the 'Information Technology' group seemed more formal and subdued.

Along the way, in between walking to the different breakout sessions, Dr. Wu and I chatted about stuff -- clarifications about points I mentioned in my presentation, which led to other side conversations. He mentioned Phenomenology (I'm checking it out right now).

Ah.

In another life, I would have gone into academia. I felt totally at ease in such a learning environment. I missed having intellectual discussions for the sake of learning and exploring. A most welcome break from the very pragmatic meetings and decision-making at work.

Hope my talk was useful to the students. Every time I share what I know, I feel I learn that much more as well.

There were around 200 to 220 students. I was told 30% were from Southeast Asian countries.

Nice to see my colleagues at the talk as well. They are pursuing the Masters of Information Studies programme.

Oh yeah, I won't share the specifics what I "confessed". Because it would be like repeating the entire talk. Basically I shared my personal blogging journey, from the Whys and Hows that got me started, to the blogs I read, my activities and participation in the online environment, the online collaborative activities, about blogging guidelines, and how I think librarianship would change because of web 2.0.

Maybe some students might blog about the talk (about a quarter admitted that they blogged). Anyway, for those who've follow my blog, you won't find any surprises. My life's not that interesting. : )

Post-talk reflections: "Overview on the "W & H" of Blogging and New Media" - 21 Sept 2007 (part 1)

Finished delivering my talk at CSC an hour ago. Now killing time at Spinelli's at City Hall and accessing the free WIFI (well, prepaid by IDA). Meeting the Songcrafters later.

I felt today's talk was a good session. Better than the last session at CSC. This time, I learned better and didn't attempt a "live" demo. That kept the flow of delivery smooth and I think the audience followed better by not having to switch from a demo to talk.

Stayed up to almost 4am to do update my slides. So many interesting and relevant events last week, that I had to include. For some reason, I had an immense satisfaction preparing and refining my slides. I discovered interesting blog posts, and rediscovered previous oldies-but-goodies too.

Ah, but here's the kicker! While delivering the talk, I discovered to my horror that I've overridden my finalised slides with an early draft!

Realised it only when I flashed the slides on screen. Luckily, the early draft wasn't that incomplete. It was more of the sequencing of the slides (minus a few nice screenshots that would have communicated the point better).

I managed to recover and talk my way through it. My regret isn't the wasted effort but that the audience might have gained even more. Like the part on suggestions for blogging guidelines.

One participant asked "You kept mentioning how blogging was about Conversations. So how do we have conversations?"

Unfortunately, I think I rambled too much. Don't think I managed to explain it that well. Tried to explain that many times, it's not so much what you write but how you write it. Good question though. Next time, I'll prepare examples of how different ways of writing can make the difference between coming across as "inviting conversations" as opposed to just "writing".

Quick scan of the feedback forms showed that most found the session useful. Some wrote that the session could've been longer. Some forms rated "Did the Trainer show relevant examples" as average. Hmm... got to think about that.

Glad I played the Creative Commons video. Explained why it would be relevant if they intended to share their student's works on the Internet.

About 60 - 70 attendees, I was told. About 80% teachers. And seems only 10 or less were blogging. This group seem to be made up of those who wish to start blogs, or they wanted to learn more to make a case to their management (at least one participant shared that with me). I wonder how many came for this free talk after the Otto episode.

As always, I was much encouraged when participants come up to me to say they enjoyed it. One told me, "I'm real proud of you!". Heh. I didn't ask for elaboration. The talk wasn't about me (I hope it didn't turn out that way).

Speaking of giving a talk about me, I've been invited by Prof Wu from NTU to speak to about 220 post-grad students from their Information Studies, Information Systems, and Knowledge Management programmes.

It'll definitely be less formal. I've titled it " of a Singapore Liblogarian"! I'll be sharing a bit on how I think blogging and new media is changing the way librarianship and library services are developing.

PS21 Challenge magazine article: Journey into the Blogosphere

Some time back, my corporate communications colleagues were invited by the editor of PS21 Challenge Magazine (the magazine for Civil Service employees) to share about NLB blogs and blogging efforts. I was roped in to contribute some views (since I had a bit part to play in starting the NLB blogs mentioned).

This afternoon, a GahmenBlogger member, from another agency, alerted the group of the feature article (btw, PS21 magazine would be pleased to know that their target audience do read what they publish):

In an increasingly noisy and contentious blogosphere, it is important that agencies continue to reach out and be engaged in the local community.

Read the full article here.

Nice coverage of the thinking and operational philosophy behind Youth.SG and Yesterday.SG. I know that the good folks over at MCYS and NHB have put in lots of effort and thinking into nurturing their readers and contributors.

Nice to read that NLB was quoted as "another agency which has made promising inroads into the blogosphere". The writer felt that out of the four blogs (that was before we had a fifth), "perhaps most interesting are Ask! and High Browse".

Over emails, I was also asked to share some thoughts on my personal blogging efforts. Specifically I was given this question -- "How would a civil servant be able to tell if what he/she blogs about is sensitive information?"

Mr Ivan Chew, a.k.a. the Rambling Librarian, suggests that you ask yourself the following questions before blogging about anything regarding your work:

• Is it my job or business to share this information publicly?
• Should it be made public by my corporate communications department before I talk about it?
• If the corporate communications department isn't going to make this public, can I still do it? (See question 1)
• How much do I understand my corporate culture?
• How much do my co-workers and reporting officers trust me?

"It really depends on the job," says Mr Chew. "I work for NLB, Public Library Services. We provide a service to (the) public. Most of what I blog about has to do with what's already public knowledge, just that it's not widely disseminated, for example, the services and loan promotions.

"When Public Service officers blog, it is also important to project a professional image that fits into the Public Service's values of 'Excellence, Service and Integrity'," he adds. "Always remember that your online conduct will influence how others view the Public Service. Seek to be a positive influence, and to be constructive and helpful rather than destructive."

Wow. I almost sound intelligent. And did I really write the bit about "seek to be a positive influence, and to be constructive and helpful rather than destructive"?

Anna, the writer of that piece, said she took it from one of my earlier post. She said it was from a very early piece. I can't seem to find it though. Not that I doubt Anna. I just doubt my ability to write. Heh.
[UPDATE 16 Aug 07: She clarified that it was a sub-editing error, where the sub-editor thought the last para was attributed to me. Darn. I really liked the "constructive rather than destructive" quote.]

What's more interesting (pointed out by Vanessa), the same issue featured this opinion piece by Jimmy Yap - Blog Away:

I feel that the Public Service is being much too tentative about blogging. This is a mistake. I think the Public Service should embrace blogging, but - and here's the caveat - they should do it right.

Blogging can be an effective way to get your message across and to get feedback from customers. In addition, blogs could humanise the Public Service, making it more warm and approachable.

I would like to stress what blogging shouldn't be: it shouldn't be boring, and it shouldn't be propaganda. It is too easy to start a corporate blog, make it somebody's job to write it regularly, and hope that this improves your communication with citizens. This is a mistake.

I like his line from him, from the second last para: "While blogging has its upsides, I would like to warn potential bloggers that blogging is a lot of work. Given how busy senior public servants are, I would suggest instead that they comment on other people's blogs."

Very true. You don't have to start a blog to engage bloggers. You can leave comments. Start a conversation.

Too bad there's no Comment Feature for Jimmy's article. I'd wanted to leave a comment. Which, um, I'll do so right here:

Refreshing thoughts, Jimmy. I'd like to paraphrase your opening line, to say "Singapore's Public Service has another proud tradition of embracing change and innovation". I sincerely believe this to be so. This article and yours proves it.

There's another pitfall though. The fact that we are "government" means some people will view our efforts at engaging the public with suspicion. Anything we do might seem to them as having ulterior motives.

For instance, this blogger who felt that that said "the gahmen is trying ways to understand and think about how the internet could be control or dealt with" and that "certain public space are better off without gahmen participation". But in the end, I think he might have loosen his stand a bit.

He's entitled to his opinions, and he was civil in expressing his opinions. We can agree to disagree. I guess that's more important. Government agencies don't always have to respond to differing views, or try to "win people over".

"Public Engagement", to me, means there's equal opportunity for the public and private sector to share and exchange views. Whether that result in consensus is another matter.

I've shared with people that maybe government agency employees should attend formal courses on "How to Engage the Blogosphere Effectively". And it doesn't necessarily mean "getting people to agree with your views all the time".

Here's the earlier article (Apr 2006) that featured NLB blogs - "Riding on the blogging wave".

Post-workshop Reflections: NEtwork Conference 2007

I conducted a New Media/ Blogging-related workshop this afternoon. Was invited by the folks from Nexus (National Education) about a month back. Basically, the workshop covered the usual hows, and whys of (mainly) blogging. Because it's a workshop attended by National Education (NE) practitioners, I tried to show more NE-related examples and also have group activities centered on ideas on applying New Media to National Education.

I had mixed feelings after the 2-hour session (1.30pm to 3.30pm). Total about 30 participants, mostly teachers.

I couldn't quite get that level of rapport I wanted with most of the participants. After-lunch syndrome?

The wireless connection was quite good. The problem was the layout of the classroom. The tables were arranged in rows (lecture-style) which wasn't that conducive for the group work.


The big problem I thought was the disparity in the participants' awareness, knowledge and experience of using new media.

I found out during (and confirmed with actual participants) after the session that there was a even mix of people who are already into using blogs (particularly the schools) and those who were not quite sure how to get started. Two ends of the spectrum.

A quick poll during the class showed that almost half of them were already blogging of some sort, especially those from schools. Some teachers were quite advanced too (they were already actively using blogs and wanted to know newer technologies).

For the discussion part, I suspected that mentally the participants weren't prepared for a group discussion, especially on ideas of uising new media for NE. At the initial part they were quite animated in discussing in their small groups, when I asked them to identify issues and challenges in using New Media for NE. Then I got them to walk to other groups to look at what was written.

But when it came to a discussion of ideas on how to use new media for NE, the discussion got very quiet. I suspect they haven't really thought about it. And there were those who still weren't sure what were the uses of blogs etc.

Don't blame them, 'cos I think one needs more time for that sort of things. Also, the conference blurb was rather vague on the outline of the workshop.

In the end, the talk benefited more of those who were at the beginner's level. Those "expert users" wanted more than the overview, I'm sure. Would have wanted to separate the two groups but never is quite possible to know before hand.

Overall, I wasn't quite satisfied with the outcomes, in that upon hindsight, there were much more I could share and targeted at different levels. But it's upon hindsight and I can't do anything for those 30 or so participants.

Perhaps the biggest problem -- and this is just my gut feel -- was that the topic of "National Education" was (1) not well understood and defined by some of the participants, and (2) it has a bad reputation (unwarranted, if you ask me). So add these together, and it's quite natural the discussion generally didn't flow when it came to ideas on using new media for NE.

If I had more time with smaller groups, I'm confident we could work something out. Well, maybe a next time, say discussions with teachers in a particular school.

For future talks aimed at teachers, I'd certainly look beyond "creating and why use blogs" and go into things like "ways to get the message out" and perhaps a review of what's considered good writing using actual examples with schools.

The good vibes I got was also that most participants actively did their part during the discussions. I could see that almost every group was chatting and sharing away. Maybe on that note, one part of the workshop was accomplished, i.e. to share tacit knowledge among the participants.

Well, if any of the participants manage to find their way to this blog post, do leave a comment on what you thought was good, useful, could-be-improved, not-helpful etc. from this afternoon's workshop.

Darn -- wished I'd time to collect the stuff they wrote, and post it here.

Post-talk reflections: MOE ExCEL FEST 2007, 13 July 2007

"Describe how Chicken tastes like," I asked a teacher in the audience. Guess what she said? Read the rest of the post.

If you're a teacher from my talk at the ExCEL FEST this afternoon, welcome! Here's the post with the links I covered in the talk.

Please feel free to post your questions, honest critique, suggestions in this post.

There was perhaps 50 to 80 teachers in the room. I wasn't sure. I didn't have time to count or take a picture. I arrived at the venue five minutes before the talk was to start. Way too close for comfort. Didn't have time to check my slides, so good thing I'd rehearsed it in my head on the way there.

There was a traffic jam along the road outside the school. The taxi driver was wondering what could be causing the jam, as usually around that time that stretch of road would be pretty clear. It turned out it was the hundreds of teachers who were making their way to the ExCEL FEST in coaches and other vehicles!

What was new to them
Almost everyone in the audience have not heard of Tomorrow.sg or Yesterday.sg. I suggested they visit those sites, as a way to spot blog posts by Singaporeans. They didn't know about SlideShare. I'm sure some of them would be trying it out soon.

Using YouTube videos
A handful of teachers were already using YouTube videos to incorporate into their lessons. But they were hampered by the lack of bandwidth in the MOE network. Maybe they could try what I did, in the next para.

The wireless connectivity failed. I couldn't give the teachers a 'live' demo of things like Flickr, Technorati, and SlideShare. Luckily I was still able to show them the YouTube videos. Prior to talk, I let the YouTube videos load completely in the browser. Then I left the browser open and shutdown my laptop in hibernation mode. When I reached the venue, I fired up the laptop and was able to run the YouTube videos without being connected to the Internet.

Thanks to people like Hazman, Kevin, Kenneth and Jude, who left comments in the earlier post, I was able to introduce the teachers to more useful sites.

New Media Tastes like Chicken
And I especially appreciated this comment from Jude, which gave me a great opening line to the talk. He wrote that he "would be careful about the term New Media"; that it's like saying "it tastes like chicken".

So in opening the talk, I asked a teacher to explain to the audience "what Chicken tastes like". She made a valiant attempt but had to acknowledge that she's describing texture but not the taste.

I used that to hammer home the point that trying to understand new media without actually trying it out, was like trying to experience what Chicken tastes like without eating one. BTW, for her effort, the teacher received a commemorative book published by the NLB, titled "Celebrating Libraries". Enjoy!

Challenges in New Media (for teachers)
I outlined these challenges that I thought teachers would face:

1. Understanding what is New Media [To me, it's about the engagement and social networking aspect]
2. Lack of time [I suggested they outsource it to their students. E.g. If they wish to start a blog for the class, appoint a Class Blogger, Class Videographer, Class Photographer. Rotate these appointments. Set some Dos and Don'ts. Get the class to write their own Class Blogging Policy]
3. Not knowing where to begin [So I narrowed down the services to those that would be immediately applicable and most practical for a school teacher in Singapore. See this list here. I also told them to ASK a librarian, heh.]
4. Online theft and infringement [My advice was to adopt what they say about investing in the stock market: Post things which you can afford to lose!]
5. Unwittingly infringing copyright [This was more insidious because students are often the culprits without realising it. The teachers recognised that students often liked to incorporate music into their videos, not realising that they have infringed on copyright. I didn't have time to elaborate on copyright, but I pointed them to Creative Commons as a source of where they could get content legitimately, for free.]
6. What goes up, Stays up [This was about the challenge of educating students of the dangers of exposing themselves online, without due consideration for the future. I suggested they show these two excellent 'Think Before You Post' videos - Everybody knows your name and Online Photos.]
7. Teacher as Target [This issue was about students blogging or taking videos of teachers, for the purpose of embarrassing or ridiculing the teacher. I said I don't have answers to offer, but I showed them this video about Associate Professor Lalit Goel of NTU. It's a hoot! I suggested that the only way to cope with this issue was to learn how to roll with the punches.]
8. How to sustain [I quoted the advice from Naked Conversations - Passion and Authority: choose something you love, and what you know.]
9. How to engage effectively [My take was to start by reading and viewing what's out there. It's OK to start as a passive user. But one should then proceed to leave comments and engage in conversations. After that, progress to being a producer. Social Media is about social networks, which I think it's ultimately about practicing the art of conversations]

My concluding remarks was that the issue of "No Time" was very real. But there are ways to get around lack of time. The real question was whether it's worth spending time on whatever New Media initiative proposed.

So I left them with this: You decide if you want to taste the actual chicken, or let others describe it for you.

MOE ExCEL FEST 2007, 13 July 2007

I've been invited to give a one-hour talk to teachers attending the MOE ExCEL FEST 2007, 13th July 2007, held at the Singapore Chinese Girls' School.

Title: Meeting Challenges of the NEW MEDIA FRONT
This talk explores the onset of the New Media Front that teachers have to grapple with. Some of the tools and online services introduced include YouTube; TeacherTube; SlideShare; Flickr; Blogger; and Wikipedia. Presenter Ivan Chew will also share examples of how these various medium are being used by educators, both in Singapore and abroad.

Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of challenges faced when adopting these new media tools, as well as when students adopt new mediums for school-related work.

I'd just looked over at the notes I prepared earlier, for the talk. And I threw out 80% of the outline.

Do other presenters or educators face this problem? When you look at your initial outline, you think you've got a winner; that the audience would love it. But only to review it later and find that even you're bored just going through it. I'm not worried about embarrassing myself by doing a bad job per se; I'm concerned that the audience won't get the most out of it.

On the positive side, I'm quite confident of delivering a talk off the cuff, if it comes down to it. But I'd have to prepare a few screenshots, just in case the Internet connectivity goes wonky on me.

You folks have any comments/ suggestions/ pointers for this group of teachers? I'd be happy to incorporate them into the talk (with due credit, always).

Thanks!