Ease into your morning with me! I'm watching social change on Youtube!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm looking forward to making my own inspirational change videos this semester. But for now, I'll leave you with these. I get a little teary-eyed when I watch them, but still...I really love the messages.

Let's get the ball rolling with MJ!

thebetacup: 60 Seconds To Save The World from the betacup on Vimeo.

All I want for Christmas is...

After a lot of deliberation I chose to cover women's issues in business as my BGI Blog Beat:

Secretariain't

(a big thanks to JP over at Everyday Cyclists! for the title)

I was choosing between this issue as well as the topic of color-blind racism in the Pacific Northwest. It was a very difficult choice to make because both are passionate topics for me and ones that I take very seriously. In the end, I chose my topic because it aligned nicely with another blog that I'm working on right now over at The Smart Girls' Way, which covers many topics related to women in business but specifically to the unique talents that women bring to the business world. Aw, reading that last sentence just makes me feel oh-so special.

In my beat, I'm hoping to discuss the barriers that women face in the business world but also to take a look at the solutions that have worked to alleviate some of these barriers (I'm trying to keep it positive you know?) Last year, I complained constantly about the lack of coverage of domestic women's issues in the BGI curriculum and got feedback that I sounded "too angry" (you'd be angry too, trust me) and that no one wanted to listen to an angry person rant. So, here is my attempt at making the conversation "constructive" and "productive" for my audience.  But I apologize in advance, cause there is a lot of hate out there and it gets me down sometimes to the point of ranting. 

Ideally, I would like my audience to be men. Weird right? Hear me out. Women have access to and personal knowledge of the barriers they face, but in honesty, I see men's raised conciousness and subsequent alliance to be the main solution for alleviating these barriers. My secret wish is for a male reader to write me a message saying at first, they either didn't have women's issues on their radar or outright did not believe in them but that after reading my blog, they have come to see how these barriers perpetuate around them in their every day lives and that they are no longer going to unconsciously participate. That is what I really want for Christmas. I hope you guys can make my wish come true!

And for funzies, I've left you a Mad Men video featuring Christina Hendricks discussing Joan Holloway's surprise about the new girl who seems more interested in finding a career than a husband at the office ( I have absolutely zero nostalgia for the 60s except maybe the occasional pillbox hat):

The New Shut-Ins: People who aren't using social media (Part 1)

One thing that I can't get enough of right now is the emphasis on social media as a tool for REAL SOCIALIZING! (Take that skeptics!) And this is where I describe my personal evolution of Facebook usage that began at a time when I was looking to have real meaningful connections with real friends...because it didn't all start out with smiles and sunshine.

I wasn't always a Facebook junky. Actually, I was very scared of putting myself out there and updating my status back in the days when FB statuses' default was "Nina Carduner is..." (I'm so glad Zuckerberg nixed the 'is' because that was totally annoying and made everyone sound like a narcissistic d-bag.) To me, Facebook was a possible extension for the exclusionary social circles and cliques that existed around me in highschool and college. I imagined the cool people stalking all the "shunned" on FB to find fodder for cruel mockery. My college had a FB prototype for this very purpose: Faces of Beloit (but we affectionately called it Stalkers of Beloit and trust me the cool kids were all a-mocking). But my usage of FB really started to shift during a time when I was farely socially isolated and pretty desperate to connect with anyone, good or bad.


Earliest remaining FB photo c. 2006


I had just moved to Seattle from Berkeley, CA just two years out of college and I didn't know ANYONE!!! We all know how crazy difficult it is to make friends in the post-collegiate world because there are no regular classes, activities, or social clubs to bring you together under a common interest. Meanwhile, if there are, you're too busy pounding the pavement to get a sucky entry-level job. I didn't make many close friendships in the Bay Area (though overtime some have really blossomed but that's thanks to the mighty "evil" FB) and when you move to a city for a boy (like I did, who I coincidently reconnected with on FB prior to dating him), you REALLY don't know anybody. In Seattle, I didn't know how to connect with new people because my various jobs left my work settings and schedule inconsistent (and be honest, Seattlites are known for being introverted and uninterested in meeting you). I was also dating a grad student who was flooded with work and research. I was pretty much on my own. So, after landing in Seattle, I descended unwittingly into the Facebook.

Around this time, Facebook was making a LOT of changes that made it easier and easier to connect and express oneself. It got rid of the stupid 'is' after everyone's name and enabled you to 'share' websites as well as 'like' whatever people had to say or share. First, I shared stupid harmless memes like baby animal videos (still do, thank you very much) and obvious popular humor pieces that were circulating the interwebs (you know, stuff you saw on ebaumsworld before YouTube was cool). Don't get me wrong, every time I shared a super mainstream non-confrontational link...I was sweating bullets, wondering:

Oh my god, what are people thinking of me?
Do people hate the stuff I'm putting up?
Do I look like a narcissitic jerk-off?
If I supposedly don't care what people think, why am I thinking these thoughts?

Complicated, I know. But don't worry, you get over that.

Then one day, I opened an anonymous message in my FB account and discovered that my worst fears had come true...

Stay tuned for the next part in the series!!

WOW! I am a BRAND!

I had the amazing opportunity to learn about my personal brand over the weekend at the first BGI intensive  for the year. This will be a heavy photo post because I really want to record the awesomeness that was given to me. If you ever want to compare the way you perceive yourself to the way others perceive you--I highly recommend this exercise:

1) Write down a few words or key-phrases you would use to describe yourself and some of the things you are passionate about.

These are mine (please ignore spelling mistakes) :

(Personal Description) 

Old Soul, Deep Caring, Engaged, Courageous, Committed

(What matters most)

Justice, Authenticity/Truth, Service

2) Now, other people in a group (without knowing or seeing what you've written about yourself) write post-it notes with words and key-phrases they would use to describe you. 

What other people said: 

 


I'm pretty amazed at how many post-its I received from this exercise. To me, that signals that I'm living pretty out-loud these days. I was also excited to see the similarities between "my words" and "their words." Some words were the exact same words! I'm really happy about this exercise and I'm getting inspired about my own keywords. 


So...I just combined them all and MADE A TAG CLOUD with THIS!

And looks like the winners are:

 VOICE~COURAGEOUS~CARING

Now...all I have to do is put these words through a few "thesaurical" iterations and I'll have my brand!

Crafting my personal brand...

Transparency/Authenticity is good marketing. So why is "privacy" sacred?

We're always talking about the value of transparency in our organizations, corporations, and governments. Today, the marketing class emphasized the importance of authenticity, not lying, telling the truth, being open and transparency in company branding. We were told that a commitment to these qualities will build trust and cultivate relationships with our customers. And trusting relationships are what will build our brand's visibility. So, why don't people see the connection of openness to their personal brand? 


My question logically stems from the observation that such organizations, companies, and governments are composed of individuals who may or may not have strong feelings about the so-called violation of privacy that presents itself online. I once read in PsychologyToday (I know super trashy and I can't find a link!) about a study that showed, maybe somewhat ironically, that people who did not gossip were less trusted by their peers. What do these results signify about the perception of privacy? The study concluded that sharing information via gossiping was a form of trust building and intimating close connection between individuals. Gossiping or sharing? It's a fine line, right?


At the end of the day, I do believe that "sharing means caring" and I keep that in mind in my Facebook activity. My status updates aren't just sharing about the intimate details of my daily life but also articles, links, and jokes that I've come across during the day. If you're not creating this type of "entertainment and information" value for your network, then maybe you're not serving your friends (I'm looking at YOU people who post their daily schedules and what you ate for dinner). At least, that's what I think. 

Source

We expect large behemoth's (that are now considered individuals) to be ethical and transparent...so why do we cling so deeply to the opposite in our personal lives to the point that we've dubbed it positively as "privacy?" Meanwhile, I also feel bothered by the way we sometimes treat *other* people's privacy. For example, I think of the endless photo-streams of people's children on FB, Flickr, and YouTube. These are great platforms for sharing family photos with close friends and families...but at the end of the day, those kids had no say in whether or not their images could be shared with the world or to strangers they didn't know. Ultimately, we all have to choose what we're comfortable sharing with our networks and the world. 

For more info on different kinds of privacy, I really enjoyed reading Christopher's break down of the 4 kinds of privacies!

Considering my passions for a BGI Guide "Beat"

Over the last year, social justice has been one of my biggest passions...and social justice specific to racism and women's issues within the realm of business. However, I'm also more recently becoming extremely passionate about documenting the ways in which social media has created or aided activists in achieving social change. 

Based on my passions mentioned above here are some ideas:

Barriers & Solutions to Women in Entrepreneurship

Pros:

-Great opportunity to be an expert for the work I'm currently doing with SmartGirls

-Relevant to BGI and a discussion I feel has not been present in the BGI community

Cons:

-Too much murky research

-Not sure there are many solutions with proven track record (if there was, it would not be a problem)

-Huge scope

-Somewhat disillusioned with topic because I find it depressing

"Color-Blind" Racism in Seattle and the PNW

Pros: 

-Specific scope

-Already have existing resources and contacts with anti-racism blogs

-Extremely passionate

Cons: 

-Could be all-consuming since I'm super interested in the topic

-Tons of information

-Emotionally exhausting

I have a few more ideas out there...but not as well-formed as these. Help!!

Traditional Authority v. Web Authority

I've been having an ongoing heated discussion with friends about the democratization of information across the web. The main concern I run into over and over is that the internet is mostly anonymous and may not contain correct information from sources that can be trusted. They complain there is no way to be sure that information is being shared by experts or valid authorities and if it is, it's getting lost in a sea of viral garbage composed by plebeians, hacks, and fakes. As a result, they argue that no "real" social change can come about with the aid of the social-web because *everyone* gets a voice and that drowns out the nuances of discussion. Hateful comments under any Justin Beiber youtube video come to mind (count the number of comments before you get to someone calling the popstar and all his fans "gay"-usually less than 1). But luckily, I will point out, Justin Beiber isn't out to create social change...at least not any that I can identify.

Source

This concern puzzles me, for it implies that information that is not online is more correct, less biased, and more easily fact-checked. These arguments also appeal to a much more traditional (and I would argue, backwards) form of authority and I have a real problem with traditional authority (scholarly journals, encyclopedias, newspapers, traditional media, etc) as the be-all end-all source of information.


From a social justice perspective, traditional authority has been the source of so much injustice in the world. Traditional authority has been composed of the privileged few, namely western wealthy white men. There was once a time when you could walk into any western library (arguably, a holding ground for authority) and know for certain that every book had been written from a wealthy white man's point of  view, with few notable exceptions. I think of all the erroneous textbooks that are circulating freely in the American public school system with enormous information gaps and blindspots. The internet poses a huge challenge to this type of authority because it gives authority to anyone who participates in the creation of the "story" and gives others a chance to back them up. And don't worry, there are plenty of experts on Wikipedia. In fact, it's now considered more accurate by experts than non-experts. So, if you begin to defend traditional authority, reflect upon how your mind has been shaped by the agenda of a traditional power hierarchy that is hell-bent on keeping the rest of us quiet.

To me, the internet is no different from a library but there are a few differences (from a social justice perspective) that make the web a far superior source for trusted and accurate information:

1. Greater access to more information 
2. Faster access to more information
3. Wider variety and diversity of sources
4. Opportunity to compare diverse dialogues and discussions on any given topic
5. (and more importantly) Opportunity to participate in the storytelling of said topic 

So, if you are a nay-sayer and skeptic of the quality of information and dialogue that is on the internet, will you throw your hands up in the air and unplug? To do so would be forfeiting your chance at participating in the story. So, why not take up your pen...er keyboard and join the conversation. How else will errors be corrected if we don't crowd source the correct information while we wait for more sophisticated algorithms to do so?

Don't hate! Participate, infiltrate, appreciate, repatriate, emulate!