Communication – Jim Tigwell

Dragons! And Being Nice

Well, Dragon. My D&D game fought one today, and that and the fact that it’s about a million degrees hyperbole in my space have got me pretty much exhausted. I love running dragon fights, there’s something really special about them. Everybody gets a kick out of it, they don’t happen too often, and most of the group nearly dies. This dragon was a medium blue named Gerald. Because reasons. But I don’t want to talk about dragons all night (Though I could. This one time a party fought a Chaos dragon. They have this killer confusion breath that left everyone shooting arrows into the wizard except for the warrior, who soloed it like a bos–I’m done). I keep thinking about my job, a big part of which is being nice to people on the internet. (more…)

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September 15, 2013

Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/somewhereto_/7772403768/">flicker.com/somewhere_to</a>

Social Media

Picking a Platform

There are literally hundreds of social media platforms in existence, and you can’t use all of them. It will drive you mad, or you’ll spend so much time clicking and liking and sharing that you’ll never get anything done. It’s best to pick one or two and use them well then to use two dozen and only post or listen once every few weeks. This isn’t a step by step guide to picking the perfect platform, there’s too many variables for that, but I want to present some basic and relevant principles to doing so. Social networks do their best to show that everyone in the world is using them and that they’re intensely relevant to your needs, when that sometimes, even often, isn’t so. So here’s a few tips.

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April 25, 2013

Communication / Social Media

The Alchemy of Connection

It’s time for some more obviousness, I hope. We all know that social media can help connect you with people all over the world. We’ve been railing about it for years, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Youtube. But we also all know that describing the people we’re connected to on Facebook as “Friends” is possibly the grossest abuse of the word. the connections made over this systems aren’t the strong kind that are forged in the fire of battle, the bloody brother-and sisterhoods brought about by shared struggles and a love for Star Trek, but rather the bonds of those people that you met that one time who seemed cool but probably wouldn’t help you move. I have good news. It is within your power to transform the second into the first, like some kind of relationship alchemist. Instead of purging the lead from your connections every six months, transform a portion of it into gold. (more…)

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April 11, 2013

Headspace

The Magnificence of Honesty

Headspace

I’m live writing ths today, on account of not being able to write anything I’m really happy withh yet. I want to explore all these platforms and best practices, but some days you’re just not up to it, and it’s time to go back to first principles. It’s the philosopher in me. But I’m not sorry. (more…)

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March 28, 2013

Social Media

Social Media for Students

Last week it was the value of social media for teachers, but this week, students. There’s lots of reasons to be on social media as a student. For one thing, pretty much all your friends are on it. There’s a social cost to not being on Facebook, because it makes you harder to invite to stuff. But that’s just Facebook. What about Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, blogging, and all the other intriguing social networks floating around this series of tubes? that’s where things get fun. So today, here’s why social media is valuable to students.

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March 21, 2013