"Write now is good."

Be part of a global writing community, this Friday, October 19th

Image: "Miss A Writes a Song" by mrsdkrebs

The National Day on Writing takes place on Friday, October 19, 2012. This year, its creator the National Writing Project (NWP) is being joined by the National Council of Teachers of English, the New York Times Learning Network, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Edutopia, Mozilla Hive Learning Network NYC, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to expand the day’s reach.

For 2012, the NWP’s focus is on what people write. (Last year’s campaign highlighted why people write.) To participate this year, post your writing online and then share it via social media. From the NWP site:

We're encouraging everyone to share their actual writing in all its forms via Facebook , Twitter , Google+ , Instagram , or NWP Connect.

When tweeting out links to your compositions, include the hashtag #whatiwrite. If you have space, consider including the hashtags #nwp and #dayonwriting. Also include the #whatiwrite hashtag on Google+ and Instagram posts, and as a tag for your own blog or NWP Connect posts.

By using hashtags, anyone can find and then read or join the conversation. As the use of these hashtags increase, the topic trends on Twitter and more people read about it and can join. A community of self-identified writers grows from the communication.

Why join this community? The National Writing Project believes that "...writing, in its many forms, is the signature means of communication in the 21st century." To write well in the many online forms available today means to be heard and acknowledged. Posting writing online and getting feedback from the community helps writers hone their craft, spark new ideas, and create connections with other writers. All of this leads to more writing, and the more anyone writes, the better at it he or she will become.

Having the power to express oneself well through writing, in any community, has become a vital life skill in this digital and social-media-driven age.

This is my post for the 2012 Blog Action Day conversation on "the Power of We". #powerofwe #bad12

Searching for tweet-blogging

Image via Hjem

As I microblog (tweeting here) when I have a lot of non-blog writing to do, I've been looking for a way to feature choice tweets (of mine) on my blog. I tend to tweet interesting links I find, and I've been thinking about having a function to incorporate more lengthy discussion around a tweet.

At this point, there is no fluid integration which allows tweeters/bloggers to pick a tweet and have it automatically published on their blog. The tweet/blog conversation space I would like to see — and I think many others would, too — doesn't exist yet. If anyone knows of this functionality, please drop a comment. Based on comments I read at Get Satisfaction, I think TypePad may be working on this.

A tweet of 140 characters or less is a completely different way of communicating from a thousand-word blog post. A tweet, however, can be a conversation starter, but only if a space exists for users to carry on digitally, instantly, and easily. Also, I'd like to archive some tweets and present them later for further discussion, which is a blog's function, not that of a Twitter account.

Yesterday on Twitter, I followed a link from @anildash's tweet on his blog post "If you didn't blog it, it didn't happen." If you tweet or are simply interested in microblogging, I recommend reading it, as it brings up many issues for writers and technologists to consider about digital publishing in any format.

I also learned from Anil's post that Twitter will let users retrieve only their last 3200 tweets. While my tweet amount falls far below that threshold now, it will continue to move towards that limit. What do I do once I reach it? While I don't need to save all my tweeted minutiae, there are some that I'd like kept. Perhaps Twitter should incorporate an archive function within it, much like the "favorite" function, and a warning to users once they are within their limit, much like an email account (i.e., "You are using 80% of your allotted space. Please consider deleting files."). Anil also mentions ThinkUp, a social issue media app that "captures your posts, replies, retweets, friends, followers, and links on social networks like Twitter and Facebook." For archiving our social media lives, this is definitely on the right track.

When tweeting fluff becomes microblogging short-but-important missives, users will want a way to keep them. My homemade solution is to choose tweets I want to feature on my blog and then manually (not automatically and integrated between sites) make a post around them. This will help me extend the conversation my tweets have started while I'm doing lots of non-blog writing but still want to blog.

If anyone has any other ideas, please drop a comment. Meanwhile, my first tweet-post is in the works.

Tweets on paper

Hilarious. A few questions:
° How do you get your paper tweet to your followers? Some tweeters have hundreds of thousands, even millions. Mailing them would certainly help the U.S. Postal Service cover its budget shortfalls, though regular paper-tweeting would bankrupt the average tweeter.
° How would paper tweets go viral? Would followers then have to get out their tweet pads and then mail tweets to all of their followers to pass on the info in the first tweet? And so on...
° How would tweeters — both private citizens and news outlets — share breaking news? Paper tweets would certainly slow down that process, moving it back to the age of paper newspaper domination, which was not so long ago. (This makes me view tweets as more akin to radio and TV announcements than paper papers.)
° How do you retweet a paper tweet? I'm assuming a photocopier would be involved.

Thinking about the humor of this actually brings up many differences between print and digital communication methods and how moving from print to digital has affected society.

Paper email "nifty notes" are also available. (This elicits both LOLs and YIKES!)

Found at KnockKnock

Keeping up with Twitter

While I haven't blogged in awhile, I have been busy writing and reading (some online, most brick-and-mortar). One example: I'm closely following news about Twitter and mobile phones because I think they have incredibly potential for communication and creativity.

To keep track of this information for myself and to share with anyone else who is interested, I have started a Twitter articles page. It features links to noteworthy Twitter articles. From the page's intro:

Twitter, the free microblogging service started in 2006, has been used to influence elections in the United States and Iran, break news about natural disasters and political happenings, and gather donations to assist Haitians after the devastating January 2010 earthquake.

While critics deride Twitter, I continually find merit in it. It is powerful in a ground-level way, giving private citizens, companies, organizations and thought leaders (potentially influential) voice on any subject (significant and trivial) they desire. I look forward to seeing how it evolves.

So, will Twitter disappear, as other social networks have? In my opinion, no. It has substantial market share, and while anyone can create their own 140-character microblogging network, terms like "tweet", "tweeting", "followers", "Twitterville", etc. will most likely be synonymous for describing microblogging — referencing the only substantial, well-populated microblogging community existing today.

I read anything I can find about Twitter. Below is my list of noteworthy Twitter articles, including news on new developments, trends and uses of Twitter. It has been sifted to remove much of the fluff: while it's a noteworthy trend that many celebrities have found a comfortable, digital way to constantly communicate with tweet-reading fans, I won't report on it — they are easy enough to find on their own, and are often only "ego-casting" or "life-casting" (brief missives on what they ate for breakfast, what they're wearing, who they're hanging out with, etc.). 

I'll add to this as I find more articles. Questions and comments are always welcome.

(If you want to follow me on Twitter, click here. I don't life-cast, instead focusing on providing useful tech- and creativity-inspired tweets.

I'll announce new articles added in quick posts on this blog.

Regarding life-casting, I found a gem: the Museum of Modern Celebrity Tweets, which shows celebrity life-casting in a humorous light. Above is an illustration of a recent tweet by musician Nick Jonas. Odessa Begay is its illustrator and, I suppose, head curator. Found via Holy Kaw! at Alltop

FYI: My mobile phone articles page is in the works.

Tweets throughout the ages

Today, I learned something surprising. Twitter, the purportedly new microblogging service, has been around for thousands of years. The digital archeologists behind Historical Tweets are slowly unearthing relevant 140-character messages from the past and revealing them via their blog for posterity. (See above tweet from Abraham Lincoln.)

So, this form of social media is actually a bit ancient. Since humans have been tweeting for generations, it makes sense that many 21st-century technologists have adopted the practice so readily.

I wonder what the first-ever tweet was. (If you have some inkling about the tweet which started it all, please leave a comment. I'll post the ideas and link to your blog if you do.)

Mined from a tweet by CrossTheBreeze.

UPDATE: Two bloggers so far have submitted possibilities for the "first-ever tweet." They are:

1. "Hello, world" — Leah
2. "Got fire?" — Tumblewords

Twitter Vote Report: Insuring voting works, one tweet at a time

My new post "Insuring Voting Works, One Tweet at a Time: Interview with Allison Fine, Co-Creator" is now live on The Huffington Post's OffTheBus.

The all-volunteer group Twitter Vote Report will be monitoring tweets from now through November 4th and beyond to look for those which report voting problems. When TVR finds them, they figure out which of their vast coalition of election protection groups can help fix them.

With record turnout predicted during this historic presidential election in the United States, many believe there will be problems and system overwhelm as droves turn out on election day. Indeed, Twitter Vote Report has already found problems in early voting states and have worked to get them corrected.

TVR is an example of how social media, technology and an energized constituency can contribute to making a democracy function at its best.

If you're a U.S. citizen who can vote, read to learn about how Twitter Vote Report can help make sure your vote counts. If you are a U.S.-presidential-election spectator from outside America, check to see one way citizens here are participating to make the democratic process work.

Related posts:

° Tech-connected youth use new media to access presidential debates
° It's time to get on "OffTheBus"
° Will the next U.S. President be a blogger?
° Politweets — Political expression, in 140 characters or less
° Artists and Obama: Images + Technology = Votes

UPDATE: This piece was featured in The Huffington Post's "Voting Problems" section. Its tagline: "Some news is so big, it needs its own page." If you are interested in election protection and voter disenfranchisement, this page is your link to current happenings in this area, so do check it out.

Tech-connected youth use new media to access presidential debates

This U.S. presidential election season continues to draw massive interest from both the American voting public and others around the world. One of the most fascinating aspects to me, as a writer focusing on media and tech, is how Web innovations and platforms are increasing political expression and participation.

Social media platform Twitter has blended with user-driven cable network Current TV to offer a venue for tech-connected youth (primarily 18-34) to be involved during the three presidential and one vice presidential debates; it's called "Hack the Debate". My post about this, "New Media Forms Boost Youth Participation in Debates", is now live on The Huffington Post's ground-level election coverage, OffTheBus.

If you'd like to read about this innovative media experiment, get a preview of how technology will change media for future elections, and perhaps even participate, click here.

Related posts:

° It's time to get on "OffTheBus"
° Will the next U.S. President be a blogger?
° Politweets — Political expression, in 140 characters or less
° Artists and Obama: Images + Technology = Votes

Creative fire, typewriting monkeys, and Twitter (again)

The weekend approaches. Wondering what to do? Spend some quality Internet time with these writing-related links:

1. "Creative Instinct Is Like Fire." The complete text reads:

Controlled fire gives heat, light, and power which runs the factory machinery or the railway train/
Uncontrolled, it is the cause of untold loss and human suffering/
Are you using or wasting your creative powers?/
Humanity needs your energy wisely directed

This image (dated 1922) is from the University of Minnesota's American Social Hygiene Posters collection (seriously!).

2. We bloggers must keep a sense of humor about ourselves. I laughed when I saw the t-shirt which stated quite bluntly, "No one cares about your blog!" I laughed even harder when I saw this t-shirt: "A new theory of the Internet". Obnoxious t-shirts (featuring monkeys using typewriters) won't hold me back — I will continue to blog, undaunted.

3. Twitter is a veritable writing revolution: "Twitter inspires extra-short short stories" — 140 characters, to be exact. From the Los Angeles Times.

4. Always a sound reminder: the 4 simple steps to the writing process, from MIT''s Online Writing and Communications Center

Got any choice writing/creativity/inspiration/media links to share? Leave a comment, and I'll include them in a future post.

Using Twitter to develop editing skills

Many tech tools available online can help writers and editors hone their skills. Twitter is an accidental one. Originally designed as a social network, this microblogging platform helps writers practice precise expression because it restricts wordy output to 140 characters or less per "tweet" (a Twitter message, and this includes spaces and punctuation).

Craig Stoltz at Web 2.0h. . .really? A skeptic's guide to emerging web technologies has written a resourceful post titled "How Twitter Finally Taught Me to be an Editor". Even though he states:

Fact is, it’s tough to convey any substance in 140 characters. You have to carefully weigh every word, letter and space. Even punctuation.

Stoltz does precisely that. Each insightful paragraph is written in 140 characters (or a bit less).

Want to see how it's done by a Tweeting Master? Follow Craig on Twitter here.

Thanks to Shashi Bellamkonda, who highlighted this post via one of his Twitter messages.

Related posts:

— "One full plate: My media diet"
— "Politweets: Political expression, in 140 characters or less"
— "Is 140 the new 5-7-5? Writing, haiku and Twitter"

One full plate: My media diet

Photo: ghost in the machine / deus ex Macintosh by ehoyer

My media diet is packed. I thank Cam Beck at Chaos Scenario for tagging me with this interesting meme and self-analysis. I've discovered a few things about my media consumption habits that have surprised me:

1. Blogs, Web sites and RSS feeds: I skim and/or read around 50-100 feeds, blogs and Web sites a day. (I do take some days off from this, depending on workload, weekends, etc.) I realize that I've become a very proficient skimmer since Web 2.0 took off; skimming is the only way I can survey and digest this flood of information. The blogs and Web sites I read and skim most regularly are:

- mainstream news
- alternative news
- tech news
- business/marketing
- design/trends
- arts/culture/music
- writing/writers blogs

2. Books: Because I read many books for work-related things (mainly non-fiction: trends, business, culture, and writing tips and perspectives), I haven't read a book just for fun in a long time.

3. Music: I listen to a lot of music, usually as an antidote to all the other media I'm immersed in. In addition to my favorites, I get recommendations from friends, listen to the radio, and check out iTunes in the quest for more. Every few months, I feature a musical writing mix on my blog's right-hand side, and these are some of my current favorites. (Got any good music you think I should hear? Drop me a comment and I'll be sure to check it out.)

4. Music videos: YouTube is my personalized MTV. I realized that music fits into my media diet so prominently because I use it to inspire work sessions or to relax between them. Listening to music enhances my creativity and makes me think "bigger," and while I've read studies that credit classical music with increasing mental functioning, I think rock, alternative, disco, and jazz all do that equally well.

5. Radio: I listen to NPR, BBC, WNYC, and any public radio station I can get on the Internet. I've been a fan of public radio since I was a kid. It is great to listen to while driving and excellent for getting world news first thing in the morning. There is something about radio that is timeless and very significant to me, and I hope it never disappears as media competition increases. In many parts of the world, it is often one of the only easily accessible and cheap/free media outlets available.

6. Twitter: Yes, Twitter is media to me. It's a highly-personalized microblogging channel. In Twitter, we users select who we want to hear blips and pings from all day long. It's not just a social network, as those of us who have seen news stories break on Twitter can attest to, though it's still a very social place. I get so many current links from those I follow on Twitter, and this has enhanced my blogging and online community experience immensely. It's work and play and current events, all located at one online venue.

7. TV: None. Nada. Zip. Zilch—unless I'm on vacation or visiting friends or family. I have no time for it, and all of the other media I consume fills in the news and entertainment gaps I have. TV would be redundant. TV can be great, but after surfing the Interwebs and often finding interesting, relevant information all day long, I find it hard to channel surf and find nothing to rival it.

8. Podcasts: I don't listen to any on a regular basis as some are quite long and I can't skim them to get the basic facts. If you know of a good podcast I should tune listen to, however, leave a link in the comments. (If only I had more time.........)

9. Social news sites: I just joined NewsTrust.net which "helps people find good journalism online." I'll write more about this as I participate more.

10. Magazines: I'm saving my most-consumed for last. As a primary source of my work, I'm completely surrounded by them. I read many, work for some, even dream about them on occasion. New ones on the newsstands always catch my eye, no matter how many I have on my desk. (One day I'll write a "I <3 magazines" post all about a primary focus in my life. Stay tuned.)

Would you like to take a close look at your media consumption? If so, tag yourself and link back here so we can read about it. Because I would like to read about the media diets of these very media-immersed people, I'm tagging: DK (Mediasnackers), Linda Sherman (It's Different For Girls), Sharon Sarmiento (eSoup), Steve Woodruff (StickyFigure) and Tara Bradford (Paris Parfait).

Many thanks to blogger extraordinaire Arun Rajagopal for starting this media meme!