Google's Project 10 to 100 is an exciting initiative, but suffers from a serious flaw. Ideas to be submitted must be described in 300 words or less. Okay, so you're supposed to have a big idea and then describe the scope of that idea in fewer than 300 words? But what if a person with a good idea is not capable of writing very tersely? Then we'd all miss out on benefiting from the worth of their idea.
Suppose in 1989 Tim Berners-Lee had been asked to describe his idea for the world wide web -- in 300 words or less. Would he have been up to the task? Would he have been able to choose the right words to describe the scope and usefulness of the web? And would it be fair to ask him to do so?
Suppose you were called before Congress to testify on a matter of deep passion to you. When you step forward to testify you find out that your comments must be limited to 2 minutes or less. How would that feel? It would feel like they're not interested in hearing what you have to say.
Suppose in 1997 Sergey Brin and Larry Page were asked to describe Google to a potential investor and were required to limit their explanation to 300 words. Could they have explained in 300 words how Google is vastly different from other search engines? Big ideas, by their very nature, require more detailed explanation for people to understand how and why they're useful.
Famed folk singer Malvina Reynolds composed a charming song titled Little Boxes, back in 1962. I couldn't help but think of "little boxes" when I came across the submission page for Project 10 to the 100.
The human imagination does not like to be boxed in. Confinement scares away good ideas. We can't afford for good ideas to be scared away.
Google has made a mistake on this. There's time to make a correction, but not much time.
Phil Shapiro
The blogger is a community activist, professor of education and technology commentator in the Washington DC-area. He can be reached at: philshapiroblogger@gmail.com
Prior blog postings -
YouTube Reaches a Billion Video Views per Day
After Lightning Strikes, One iMac Becomes Two
It Feels Like Freedom is Coming
Book Review - Google SketchUp for Dummmies
Using Screencasts to Communicate with Local Government
Visiting Google's Cafe Thoreau
Freerice.com, the very popular web site that sharpens your vocabulary skills while addressing the needs of world hunger, has expanded beyond vocabulary. You can now sharpen your French, German, Spanish or Italian skills -- test your knowledge of world capitals, brush up on your chemistry, improve your English grammar and fine tune your knowledge of famous artists and their paintings. The foreign language practice is particularly useful. I tried out some Spanish vocabulary questions with some middle school students learning Spanish, and they found the questions engaging.
It would be great to see sign language added as the next language skill that people can practice on Freerice.com
It's useful to note, too, that the easiest vocabulary levels of Freerice might still be too difficult for a 4th-grade student. I tried using Level 3 with a 4th-grade student who has grown up here in the United States. Without my help he would have had success on less than 1/3 of the questions. Considering that 4th, 5th and 6th grade are vital years in forming life-long learning habits, Freerice could do better to hook these younger students by making the easier questions more accessible.
All told, Freerice.com is a flash of genius. John Breen, the site's creator, deserves credit for inventing an engaging way to address many needs at the same time. Do your part by telling a few friends about Freerice.com. Introduce this site to youth that you know. They might not have heard about it from other places.
Phil Shapiro
The blogger is a community activist, an adjunct professor of education and a technology commentator in the Washington DC-area. He can be reached at: philshapiroblogger@gmail.com
Prior blog postings -
YouTube Reaches a Billion Video Views per Day
After Lightning Strikes, One iMac Becomes Two
It Feels Like Freedom is Coming
Book Review - Google SketchUp for Dummmies
Using Screencasts to Communicate with Local Government
Kellie Parker has been our PC World and Macworld Community Manager since there has been a community here at PC World. Kellie has been nothing short of amazing. It is sad to see her leave and she will be missed by many.
I remember going to PCWorld.com years ago looking for a community, a place where I could talk with other technologically minded people. In July of 2006 we were given that opportunity with the addition of the PCWorld Community Forum. Kellie has written blogs for PC World and Macworld; along with cultivating PCWorld Community Voices blog, and editing the PCW Forums section of the magazine.
Kellie you have raised this Community from nothing to the friendly and helpful community that we know today. First of all I just wanted to say from myself and all the members of the PCWorld community for the great times, friendships and of course computer help that we wouldn't of had access to if it wasn't for you. From all of us thank you.
Kellie you use to work at LiveWorld where you were involved with a wide range of community related projects across the internet from QVC to the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, A&E and HBO. Was working with PCWorld and MacWorld different from these other communities? Are there any similarities?
LiveWorld is a platform vendor and community consulting agency. My role there was to work with the community staff at those organizations to help them develop and run the best community for their brands. PC World and Macworld are different because I was in the position of someone that I would have worked with in my previous role -- the client role. Here, I was tasked with setting the strategy for the community and managing the entire process of set up, day-to-day management, and implementing new ideas and features for the site and community. The communities are all similar in that community members are all passionate about that particular topic -- technology, shopping, television programs, etc.
How important is a thriving and interactive Community to a company?
In today's market, it's very important for most companies. It's an excellent way to leverage your brand's biggest advocates and give them a voice with each other and with the company that makes the brand. For a media company like PC World and Macworld, it's vital.
What is the best part about being a Community Manager?
At the end of the day, no matter what the subject of the community is, communities are about people. I really enjoy getting to know the people that make up the communities. I feel that when I can do that, I'm a more effective communicator between the community and the company.
Whats the worst part?
A lot of people have jobs that they can stop doing at 5pm and don't have to think about until the next morning. My job is not like that. The internet is on 24/7, and bad things can happen at any time. In order to effectively manage the community, I need to be available nearly all the time to step in and fix an escalating issue or just make sure that things are running smoothly.
Do you have any advice for those in the Community Management field?
Community Management is such a growing field right now. On a practical level, the first thing that any moderator or community manager should do is develop a thick skin. Community members will get angry at you for doing your job, and they will call you every offensive name in the book. Community managers should be able to let this roll off, and just see it as part of the job. On a more professional level, I would recommend getting involved with the many clubs, roundtables, meetups and conferences happening among social media professionals. There are so many innovative and inspirational people in this field. I've learned a lot from my peers.
The technology field has often been described as an "mans field", how true have you found this? Have you run much of this ideology thriving in the industry today?
One of my duties as Community Manager was to answer the letters@pcworld.com email. I cannot tell you how many times I've read an email to that address that starts with "Dear Sir". I have not run into any overt sexism, but there is an undercurrent of assumption that anyone who is in a technology-related field or is in a position of authority is a man. I have also found that women community managers are subjected to an entirely different class of insults than male CMs such as calling them fat or ugly. At PC World & Macworld, I have always been pleased at the balance of genders in the editorial staffs.
Are there any other women in the tech field that you admire?
There are many well-respected women in technology. I admire the hard work and dedication of our editors here, as well as other women like Gina Trapani at Lifehacker.
Finally are their any fun times or good memories that you would like to share?
One unavoidable part of my job is getting a lot of strange emails and posts. Some are just amusing spam, but others are just totally out there on the edge of reality. I started a habit of posting the strangest and funniest letters and posts on my office door. This lead to occasional dramatic readings for the people whose offices are around me. They sound funny anyway, but when read in a serious and dramatic fashion, they are even funnier.
Thank you for the interview Kellie.
PC World Forum Admin and Mod Year Book 2006 - 2008.
(click for a larger image)
From left to right:
bcappel, Kellie, rgreen, smax013, mphenterprises, Aurora Dizon, Nameless, Cosmo and Coastie!
"How do I stop spyware?" is quite possibly the most common question we at Nexxtep get asked. Below I have tried to list some guidelines that will help you protect your computer.
1. Keep all software updated. People who develop malware are always looking for security flaws in software and software vendors are continuously fixing these flaws. Software updates are important.
This can be automated with software.
2. Develop a policy that prohibits the visiting of websites that contain spyware, gambling, and pornography.
This can be enforced with a network device.
3. Develop a policy that prohibits peer-to-peer file sharing software, freeware and shareware.
This can be enforced with a network device.
4. Do not open any e-mail from unknown people or from known people with an unexpected attachment. If you are unsure, call the sender to confirm the email before you open it.
5. Implement a spam filter to prevent unwanted email from reaching your inbox.
6. Install a firewall; it can prevent spyware from sending information out to the internet.
7. Lock down your computers so only network administrators can install software. This prevents against accidental spyware installation.
8. Install an anti-spyware solution.
Happy teching,
Ryan Williams
Ask Me A Tech Question
http://www.techbetter.com/question.aspx
View & Subscribe To My Tech Tips
http://blog.techbetter.com
About Me & TechBetter
http://www.techbetter.com/aboutme.aspx
Have you ever had to call someone but you did not want to start a long conversation? So, you dialed the person's number and the entire time the phone was ringing you were hoping the person did not pick up. Well rely on hope no longer. SlyDial is a service in which you dial the SlyDial number then enter the cell number you want to call. SlyDial will call the cell and automatically put you through to the person's voice mail. I have tried it and it works great.
The down side to this tip is that now every time I leave someone a voice mail, they will assume I used this service because I did not want to talk with them.
Happy teching,
Ryan Williams
Ask Me A Tech Question
http://www.techbetter.com/question.aspx
View & Subscribe To My Tech Tips
http://blog.techbetter.com
About Me & TechBetter
http://www.techbetter.com/aboutme.aspx
I was pleased to see that the U.S. Department of Justice has completed its upgrade to Internet Explorer 6. With IE8 around the corner, it would be embarrassing to be still using IE5 when IE8 rolls out.
