It's been years since I've been "tagged" in a meme, and that's a bummer because I do love a meme. It's like Mad Libs for Bloggers. Prefab content you customize. Loves it.

So, thank you Brian Branca, for tagging me! This meme requires you to post seven things about yourself that others might not know. Here I go:

1. I was a Research Assistant in the British House of Commons. I worked for Tory MP Piers Merchant. During one of the IRA bomb scares there at that time, I was sheltered in 1 Parliment St., provided a phone to call my parents overseas to let them know about the situation and shown what to do in the event of an explosion. I was 20 ys old.
   
2. I was on MTV's "Choose or Lose" in the 90's. Al Gore was the candidate/guest. During a commercial break, I was able to get Gore's attention. He came over to me and asked me if I wanted to be a politician. I said no and he told me I should consider it because I had a knack getting myself noticed. He also autographed my copy of his book.
3. I was afraid of men with beards and booming voices when I was a child.
   
4. I was removed from a car by the jaws of life after a bad accident in high School.
   
5. For most of my childhood, I wanted to be an archeologist when I grew up. My favorite book as a child was a book my parents bought for me in the museum shop at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology after we saw the mummy exhibit. I was 6 or 7, too young to be able to read or understand all of the adult text, but I pored over the book for years.
   
6. Michael Jackson invited me to meet him/take my photo with him when I was 11 (it was "Victory Tour"). In a private event prior to his show at the VET, my family was baffled when I refused the offer to meet him with no explanation why, because I couldn't find words to explain that he freaked me out. I've since learned to trust my instincts.
   
7. When I was a child, I swallowed a purple litebright peg. I'd hoped that once inside of me, it would light up my tummy like it lit up the screen. I'm still disappointed that it didn't work.

And now I have to tag 5 other bloggers that I'd like to respond to this meme. I choose:

Valeria Maltoni
Scott McNulty
Dave Parmet
Beth Harte
Leah Jones

(Sorry if any of you have done this meme before.)

No time for blogging. This should explain everything:

Charlie Brown Ad Agency

Of the importance of monitoring online conversations

I was just looking up ComCast Cares, the Twitter account of Frank Eliason, ComCast's Director of Digital Care, when I came across this wonderful Flash animation on his personal blog. It's an interactive presentation on the need for companies to monitor online chatter and respond to it in a timely fashion. The presentation was done by VizEdu.com. While you're there also check out their animations on social bookmarking, companies that use Twitter, and Lifestreaming - all concepts that pertain to class. Kind of like an interactive Flash version of the Common Craft Show.

This post details two important causes that you can help support just by using social media:

The first, is a project that my friend Geoff Livingston's agency is working on. Here's what Geoff says about it on his blog:

The Save Darfur Coalition’s "Be A Voice For Darfur" postcard campaign seeks to ensure that Darfur is a top priority for the Obama Administration. Obama has already promised “unstinting resolve” to end the Darfur Genocide. The effort, which aims for no less than 1 million postcards to be emailed, blogged and snail-mailed to President-elect Obama within his first 100 days in office.

The hottest part is the unveiling of a petition application developed in conjunction with Facebook Causes. Other social media components include an influencer relations campaign, and a Darfur Blogger Toolkit with videos, photos, and other resources at http://www.addyourvoice.org/pages/blogger_toolkit.

So please, send a postcard and help encourage the new President to keep his promise to Darfur.

This next cause is a charity that is close to my heart, The Salvation Army. Growing up, my mom always had us donate our outgrown clothing to The Salvation Army. Years later, in college, I enjoyed the spoils of The Salvation Army, when I started vintage shopping there.

But what brought The Salvation Army deep into my heart, was when they helped me and other NYCer's through the terrorist attacks on September 11th. Like many, many other people, I was the immediate on-site family friend filing missing reports for several friends who were killed in the WTC. Those first 24-hrs after the attacks in Manhattan, were darker and more heartbreaking than words can describe, but The Salvation Army was there for us. The news was bleak even in the first 24 hrs, but The Salvation Army was there with blankets, hot chocolate and food - the only warmth we had going through a grueling and cold time. I will never forget their smiles and their unconditional kindness.

So, do a little more for The Salvation Army this year, by starting your own online Red Kettle. I know times are tough, but if we all give a little, it will mean a lot.

Call for Papers on Social Media in the Communication Classroom

I know that there are some academics who read this blog, so this post is for you - please feel free to share this call for papers with your peers. 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Electronic Journal of Communication (EJC)

Special Issue:

Communication Pedagogy in the Age of Social Media

Over the course of the last few years, social media technologies such as blogs, microblogs, digital videos, podcasts, wikis, and social networks, have seen a dramatic increase in adoption rates. To date, Internet users have uploaded roughly 80 million videos to YouTube and launched approximately 133 million blogs worldwide. Because of their ability to connect people and to facilitate the exchange of information and web content, social media technologies not only provide a powerful new way to interact with one another, but they also present exciting new pedagogical opportunities.

Earlier this year, the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative released the 2008 Horizon Report, which seeks to identify new technologies capable of affecting the way we teach and learn. Among the critical challenges outlined by this year’s report is the need for universities to equip students with new media literacy skills and to develop curricula that “address not only traditional capabilities like developing an argument over the course of a long paper”, but also “how to create meaningful content with today’s tools.” (The New Media Consortium, 2008, p. 6).

Considering that these tools center around the ideas of collaboration, participation, and conversation, they should hold special interest to communication researchers and educators alike. As a result, this special issue seeks to examine the pedagogical applications of social media technologies, especially with regard to the communication classroom. Examples of best practices in social media adoption in all areas of communication education are welcome, as are case studies or empirical research analyzing the effectiveness and/or effects of incorporating social media technologies into the communication classroom. Research examining the role these technologies play in the social construction of a collective knowledge pool would also fit within the scope of this special issue.

The special issue is scheduled for publication in the first half of 2010. Deadline for completed manuscripts is April 1, 2009. Submissions should be electronic (.doc or .rtf format) and must conform to the specifications of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. Place author’s contact information in an email to the editor only, not on the title page of the submission.

Issue Editors:
Corinne Weisgerber, Ph.D. and Shannan H. Butler, Ph.D.
St. Edward’s University

Send inquiries and submissions to: corinnew AT stedwards DOT edu

More on Social Media & the Mumbai Attacks

I had planned to discuss the Cluetrain Manifesto in class tomorrow, but the events of last week in India have lead to a slight change in plans. As Twitter user naomieve observed a few days ago, Mumbai is a social media experiment in action and because it is such a great case study, I figured that we should take a closer look at the role social media played during the live-reporting of the Mumbai attacks. I've put together a slideshow that covers the types of social media used by citizen journalists during this tragic event:

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: citizen mumbai)