So instead of moping around about the nature of a broken system (I do that sometimes, too), I started working on a few things.

Read Something

First, I read a book. I know, that’s what many of us thinker types do, for better or worse. We can’t move unless we’ve read something and simmered upon new ideas. So, I took up Sir Ken Robinson’s book Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative.

I used Robinson’s excellent read to help me better understand what’s lacking, and then I felt annoyed because Robinson didn’t tell me exactly what I was supposed to do about it. Then, I gave myself a good reality check and said, “duh, that’s your job, Little Ms. Educator.” 

Do Something

Robinson defines creativity as, “the process of developing original ideas that have value.” So, I began considering how I could challenge my students to create original ideas of value.

The exercise was described to the students as follows:

Project: Develop something new in the socialsphere that could add value to a specified audience. Examples might include a social network, a mobile phone or tablet app, a cloud computing service, a wiki or a social search tool.

Approach: We will follow the DO IT creative process, as outlined in the steps below.

Steps:

D – Define the Problem

What are two problems you have in your everyday life that you think could be helped by a social media, service or tool?

O – Open mind and apply creative techniques

For the “O” step, we will use a technique called mind mapping. In a mind map, you visually outline ideas instead of just writing them down. You will develop two mind maps, which will help you think through the two problems/ideas that you have identified in the “D” step.

To create your mind maps you can use a tool of your choice, but suggestions include bubbl.us or Cacoo. Both of these are free services. 

Mind maps

The mind maps should include the following information.

a. What problem(s) does it solve?

b. Research (at least five references with links) For example, what are some similar services and/or is there news/information related to this problem or topic?

c. Unique Selling Proposition (USP): How is this service unlike anything else available?

d. Audience: Who is this service/social media tool for?

e. Services/Functionality: What will it do for the user? (Brainstorm at least ten different options/services)

f. Name: What will you call it? (Brainstorm at least five different names)

g. Social: How will you make it social? How will it connect with other social media tools? How will you encourage others to come to the site and/or connect with your social media tool and with one another? Examples: Add an original “like” feature, ways to share content, social media buttons, etc.

I – Identify best solution

Now that you’ve had the opportunity to thoroughly consider and brainstorm your ideas, choose the one that you feel can offer the most value to your audience.

T – Transform the solution into something that is actionable

For this final phase, we will begin planning out your idea using wireframes. Wireframes, like an architect’s blueprints, give a basic visual framework to a mobile, tablet or website page.

Wireframes

After you’ve selected your best idea, begin building your wireframes. One free service that you can use for this is Cacoo.

Requirements include:

a. For website or tablet based: A wireframe for your homepage and a wireframe for one of your primary level pages.

b. For mobile based: Four wireframes showing how user moves through app on mobile.

Presentations:

You will present your creative idea to your colleagues using your wireframes and mind maps. You have five minutes to pitch your idea. After your pitch, your colleagues will identify strengths and weaknesses of your idea.

Results:

Here are just some of the ideas my students developed:

• A social network for golf-enthusiastic
• A social network for people who like to play board games
• A campus-specific wiki for students, which would allow them to share notes/handouts, discuss professors and classes, make friends before a class starts, etc.
• A professional network for Clinical IT departments, managers and app developers
• A professional network for programmers, including students and teachers
• A social network for TEFL certified (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers to share lesson plans and in-class activities.
• A hyper-local news network; content created exclusively by users
• A social search tool devoted exclusively to helping people find things to do in rural areas

Conclusions:

Certainly, one can poke holes in my pedagogy or in the students’ ideas. I’m not attempting to outline perfection here, but I am suggesting that creativity is a skill that can be fostered in the classroom. We say we need more creativity all the time, but are we actually doing something about it? It’s a challenge to myself, as much as it is to anyone else who is an educator, a parent, an employer, a mentor, a family member.

This particular exercise was presented in my Social Media Technologies class within the Computer Information Systems and Technology (CIST) major at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. A small group of all men, they are not high social media users, nor do we typically think of tech folks as creative types, which is entirely unfair. I point this out to emphasize, as Robinson does, that we all have the capacity to create. Every field is in need of creative thinkers.

I’d love to learn from others. What have you done to encourage or support creativity in the classroom, the workplace or your home? Feel free to comment. 

A special thanks to all of my CIST students, but especially to Dan Connor (wireframe example) and Adam Schrot (mind map example), who gave me permission to showcase their work above.

If you wish to learn more about Sir Ken Robinson, the best place to start, aside from his website, is this video, School Kills Creativity, which is the most viewed video on TED Talks to this day.

The app immediately opens to the clean interface that Google is known for, the logo and search box. While studies are still showing that smartphone users slightly prefer the browser over an app, Google Search presents an excellent, and in my opinion, more simplified way to search.

The unexpected bonus I got from using this app was Google Voice. After trying Siri on many occasions and now using it only for the sake of a laugh, my expectations were low. Google Voice is far from perfect, but for me, it has worked more consistently than Siri. It’s reliable enough that it’s making me think twice about typing in a search.

Not only does it more frequently yield the result I’m looking for, but the process is easier. I open the app. I choose the microphone. I speak. I get search results. On top of that, there is just something fun about using it. Play and utility combine here. As the microphone registers the sound of your voice is sends out a ripple effect that is way cooler than the Siri graphic.

The commercial isn’t bad, either. Try the app, it’s worth your time. What’s been your experience with Google Voice or Siri?

Daily News…What For?

Over the years, I’ve had very little interest in newspapers, or the news for that matter. I rarely watch the evening news on television. I don’t subscribe to the local newspaper. Where one might expect a Gen Xer to get news, online, I’m not that active either. Mostly, I only consume news as it pertains to my professional interests. My homepage is set to Mashable, a site which reports on the daily happenings of the digital world. Any of my other online news comes from my Twitter feed, which I use mostly via my mobile app, or on my tablet, through news aggregator apps like Flipboard, again all tailored to my professional pursuits. I had no interest in the news of the world, and perhaps more concerning, it did not bother me.

Then Came The Daily

That all changed the first time I opened The Daily on my iPad. The Daily was the first national daily news publication custom-designed for tablets. When it began in February, 2011, The Daily was only available on the iPad, but eventually expanded to the iPhone, some Android tablets and the Kindle Fire. The mission, according to The Daily, was to create the greatest news app on the planet at the dawn of the tablet computing age.

The Daily single-handedly made me care about news again. It reminded me that not only did I have an obligation to be more cognizant of the world around me, but that I actually enjoyed and appreciated being informed about subjects beyond business, marketing and technology. I began cultivating a greater sense of “worldliness.”

Generalists Need Not Apply

Knowing about things “in general” is a bit passé these days. In 2004, Chris Anderson popularized the Long Tail Theory which examines how our economy and our culture is moving away from mass market and into a million little niches.  Thanks to the Internet, those niche markets have an opportunity to thrive, seeking out the like-minded, whether the goal be a purchase or to find community. This belief in the importance of the niche has also spilled over into our professional and cultural priorities. It was a wonderfully important concept, which helped many connect and thrive, but is there a down side?

I did not question the new niche norm. I went on with everyone else, building out my “expertise” and as a part of that, creating my news walls higher and higher. I could name Google’s latest algorithms, but I could not identify a single, recent occurrence in national politics or international news, for example.

Cultivating Worldliness

It was The Daily that served to me each morning a manageable-sized portion of enlightenment making me feel like an informed citizen of the world again. Granted, you could argue with the depth of that enlightenment. I admit to enjoying the “news” about Rhianna’s latest fashion choices, almost as much as I valued learning about a recent health study or the European debt crisis. Yet, it was The Daily, with its beautifully designed pages, where I began a serious crush on reading, watching and listening to the news.

Under the allure of a swipe, toggle and tap, I came back to The Daily, not every day, but most days for my new-found fix of worldliness. So, you can imagine my heartbreak upon learning that The Daily, not able to amass a subscriber base beyond its goal of 200,000, was ceasing publication. This Saturday was the last edition of The Daily.

The Daily’s Success

The Daily failed for a number of reasons, some of which I’ll examine in an upcoming post. However, it also succeeded, as pointed out in a letter to subscribers, as an “incredible vehicle for innovation.” If you think that’s just a catch phrase, you should check out the competition. For example, the New York Post’s tablet app is a clunky, messy, ugly alternative. More personally, The Daily succeeded in giving me a new love and appreciation for news, and a greater awareness of the world outside my professional pursuits. For this, I am incredibly grateful, and I somehow feel a little closer to my grandfather. Thank you, The Daily.

This video, by Common Craft, provides an introduction.

Common Craft is wonderfully skilled at presenting marketing concepts in their simplest form, so check out other videos on their channel, if you’re interested.

Regarding local search, this article, Four Quick SEO Tips for Small Business provides a few basic steps to consider.

1. Add new content to your site regularly.
2. Claim your business within Google listings, like Google Places.
3. Register a Google Sitemap.
4. Use social networks.

Finally, this is a comprehensive resource I use in class to introduce SEO.

The Free Beginner’s Guide to SEO from SEOmoz

If you like this new ad series, here are a few more:

Grandma’s Visit

Big Brother

This video is not exactly Social Media summarized in 140 characters or less, but it’s about as good as it gets. Recently revised by social media guru, Eric Qualman, it gives a big picture view of social media today. I regularly use it in class as part of an introduction to my digital marketing and social media classes. I especially appreciate that it doesn’t just focus on social media as it relates to marketing, but rather, provide facts and figures about social media in the broader context of our lives.

If you want to learn more about the basics of social media, Qualman’s book, Socialnomics, is a great place to start. He also posts excellent content on his site, socialnomics.net, including videos, infographics, case studies, and social media news and reflections. He has a new book called Digital Leader, which I’ll be reviewing in an upcoming post.

Many thanks to Qualman and his team for the update. If you’re interested in the data sources from the video, check out Qualman’s post Social Media 2013 Video.

A boy and his Bumbo (5 months)

He has also chosen to ‘celebrate’ his first birthday with a minor ear infection, his first official illness. We’ve been fortunate to barely have a sniffle to this point. His pediatrician and his daddy suggested a steamy bathroom to loosen congestion. So last night, baby, mama and Bumbo (see pic if you’ve not heard of this clever little chair) hung out in the shower for a good half hour.  As the steam finally worked itself into a visible linger, I picked up my son and let the warm water gently hit his back. As we swayed back and forth, my typically-too-busy-for-a-snuggle son began to rest his wet head against my cheek and relax into an awake calm.  I watched the water fall onto his hand, as it slowly went from a clench to an open palm, revealing the day’s dirt tucked into the web of his adjoining fingers. And I smiled. You know that utter contentment smile that you sometimes see in pictures of others and wonder if you ever look that way? It was that kind of smile, or at least I imagine it so.

When people ask me about my son, I often share that I am still completely awestruck by the gift we’ve received in him. So much so, that I check the crib each night before I go to bed, just to remind myself that he is real. Sometimes when I say this, people will say back to me, “Ha, but just wait until he is a teenager.” Honestly, I don’t care for that response, though I know it’s said in jest. I realize that I may be idealistic and still in the baby honeymoon phase. I realize that he is just one boy in the sea of the world’s precious children, but my prayer and hope is that I never lose sight of what a privilege it is to be his life steward, for what will inevitably seem like a very short while.

Happy birthday, my sweet boy.

“Virtue would go far, if vanity did not keep it company.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Appeasing our Fake Life Guilt?

If you are even a semi-responsible adult, you’ve likely questioned the value of your time spent online that is not work related. In fact, I’m doing it right now. The thought process looks like this:

My son is taking a nap. Therefore, I can justify this blog post, which I might otherwise chastise myself for. Afterall, blogging is frivolous, or at least unnecessary. When the post takes longer to write than I expected (as it always does), I will muse that the value derives from my need for personal expression. Yes, that’s it. If it takes even longer, I’ll dig deep and tie it to long-term professional gain. I must make a thought contribution in the digital space, providing an ongoing example to my students. One who teaches, must also do! This I will proclaim standing atop my one-wheel-missing home office chair.

Wow. The lengths we will go to justify our time spent online.

Online vs Offline

We often consider and hear others talk about the distinction between what we do online and what we do in “real life.” In class, I will ask my students if they consider their social media use part of their real lives. You might be surprised to learn that even Millennials, who are known to check their social networks before they even get out of bed each morning, aren’t sure how to answer that question. They usually respond with some variation of the inconclusive “well, yes and no.”

In fairness to my students, the problem is not within the answer, but rather in the question. Why do we make a distinction between what we do online and what we do offline? I understand it can be a time suck. (Fellow Pinterest users, you hear me, right?) I understand we are chronically and frighteningly sedentary as a culture. However, if you are trying to think of a high scoring word to beat your opponents on Words With Friends or talking with an old pal on Facebook chat, are you not really living? Surely, our time spent on blogs and social networks give us a way to add meaning to the world, to chronicle our lives, to stay in touch with our high school buddies and loved ones that live afar. Do those connections lack authenticity because they are facilitated by an internet connection instead of a kitchen table?

Disconnect, but Don’t Disregard

Unfortunately, it is human nature to struggle with knowing when it’s time to close our laptops or look up from our mobile phones. Yes, we have to disconnect. We are too often, too connected. I’m not trying to justify poor habits, but I am suggesting that we not disregard the  real connections and value that social networks can bring to our lives.

Shhh, the baby is still sleeping. I cranked this post out guilt free. Now, on to my real life…

Note: This post was inspired by one of my current, favorite TV commercials. It goes directly against what I just wrote and brilliantly demonstrates the other side of the issue.

My Little Guy

I will be celebrating my first Mother’s Day this weekend, but I’m actually thinking about every woman who is not a mother. In fact, I’m much more qualified to write about not being a mother, when you line up my 35 years of childlessness against my seven months of motherhood. So I can tell you that for some women, Mother’s Day kind of stinks.

The opposite of Mother

While thinking about this post, I was curious to learn the antonym of mother. Turns out, it wasn’t that easy to find, which is why the title of this post reads with the not-so-clever term, non-mother. Catchy, right? The oppostive of mother, according to thesaurus.com, is father. I thought that was strange. I tried to think of a word on my own for a woman with no children. Maybe I just need some vocabulary practice, but the first word that came to mind was infertile. Now, I know that’s not a great option, but try this excercise yourself. It’s not easy. Anyway, I looked up the synonyms for infertile in hopes of finding a fitting term for a woman without children, the results were just plain depressing; barren, lonely, uninhabited, waste, unproductive. If that’s not crappy enough, the antonyms are productive, fertile and cultivated.

Now do you see why Mother’s Day can stink for the childless?

Second Place Status

It’s not just about the women who wish to have children but cannot. It’s about the deeply-rooted ideas and insufficiencies ingrained in our language, and the larger, unspoken expectations we have of women. It’s as if being an aunt is only a role for young women or women “in waiting” for a child. It’s as if being a teacher without children is only a way to curb your maternal instincts, while you wait in hopes of your own. It’s as if being a sitter or daycare worker is only a temporary or second place.

The Auntie Brigade

Elizabeth Gilbert, wrote a book after her wildly successful hit, Eat, Pray, Love. It’s called Committed: A Love Story. In this book, Elizabeth speaks frankly about her struggles in deciding whether or not to marry a second time, as well as her very purposeful decision to not have children. Her term for all the women out there that touch a child’s life without being a mother is “the Auntie Brigade.”

She writes, “Childless women have always been particularly essential in human society because they often take upon themselves the task of nurturing those who are not their official biological responsibility – and no other group does this to such a degree. Childless women have always run orphanages and schools and hospitals. They are midwives and nuns and providers of charity. They heal the sick and teach the arts and often they become indispensable on the battlefield of life.”

The Childless on Mother’s Day

These words encouraged me as I reflected upon all those adult years when I was not a mother and didn’t really know what to do or think when this day arrived (besides celebrating my own mother, of course). For many of those years, I simply did not want a child and didn’t know if I would ever be interested.  Even as a girl, I preferred playing “office,” instead of “house.”For some of those adult years, it was a day of contemplating. Perhaps, maybe someday I’d like a child. For a few years, it was a day for quiet sadness, because I indeed wanted a child.

So today I celebrate every woman, with child or without, who has taught, cared for, hugged and encouraged a child. Happy Mother’s Day.

Book image credit.