30
Nov/11

A Hello/Tweet Could Just Lead To A Connection

by under Personal Thoughts, Social Media, Twitter Resources

I wonder how many interesting conversations and start of connections we miss by simply not saying “hi” to a stranger. I make small talks to strangers many times and most of them last just a couple of exchanges. However, some of my most interesting and enjoyable conversations I’ve had online and off started with just a simple comment or a question.

Last night, a simple “hello” and “where are you from?” from me to a stranger at a sushi bar led to  spending about 30 minutes talking with someone who is a family friend of Alex Smith, the 49ers quarterback. He was also teacher at the high school Smith and Reggie Bush attended. As a football fan, specifically Alex Smith and 49ers, it was a really fun conversation. When I went to Rhode Island for a conference last month, I had a lot of fun getting to know the van driver. I learned a lot about him and he provided me some history of that state as we drove by the area. A simple “It’s hot today isn’t it?” question to another person while we’re waiting to cross the busy bike paths at UCSB led me to about 15 minute conversation after realizing that we have a common friend, a friend I’ve known for the last 20 years. I also found out that he was the father-in-law of a nephew I had just recently re-connected with at that time. When I’ve traveled to different cities in the past, some of the most memorable experience I’ve had were those conversations I had with those I met at restaurants, in cabs and in New Orleans, a friendly homeless person in the middle of the night on my way back to my hotel room after dinner.

The connections I have made with few folks online started with me making the first tweet or some folks welcoming me to their online community. One community in particular I’ve found to be very welcoming is #sachat – a group of student affairs and higher education professionals. I’ve even met some of them in real life and they are just as welcoming and friendly as they are online. It’s amazing how my short  twitter experience of just a year which led me to professional connections just started with a tweet or two.

As someone who is still relatively new to twitter, I am always appreciative when someone who is relatively new or those  I only read about and follow like @briansolis, @marismith and @scobleizer, @askaaronlee take their time to respond to a tweet of mine or even follow me back. Mari Smith tweeted me back after I thanked her for acknowledging my tweet with this – “I love to treat all peeps as equals. Everyone is important to me.:)” With this attitude, no wonder she has garnered many followers. Likewise, I also respond to tweets, even just to start a connection. Yes, these tweets may only be a few words and the follows may seem trivial, but they could be start of a connection and interesting conversations.

Do you have similar experience to share? I’d love to hear them.

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29
Nov/11

Maintaining the Core Mission, Keeping Up With Trends

by under Consumerization Of IT, Information Technology, Social Media, Student Affairs, Student Affairs IT, Student Affairs Tech, Technology

The mission statement of the UCSB Division of Student Affairs, the organization I work for, has not changed since 1996, as far as I can tell.  Earlier this evening, I was looking at the original website for the division I created in 1996 via Wayback Machine and noticed the exact mission statement we have on our website now.  While our core mission has remained constant, the ways our various units and the division conduct our business have changed throughout the years. Shaped by technological advances including the internet,  infrastructures (virtualization, storage, networks), development tools,  as well as budgetary constraints, mandates and the demands of our students,  I think it’s safe to say our organization went through (and still going through) a technology (r)evolution.  My organization, in my opinion, is an example of how an organization can evolve and keep up with trends while maintaining its mission. This is not to say that keeping up with the trends has not had its challenges and resistance, but guided by the principle of innovation set by our Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Michael Young, we have been generally successful. When I started as a web developer in 1996, Dr. Young shared with me a principle I have used throughout my career. He told me “I’d rather have us moving forward and make mistakes along the way than to stagnate.” This is the same principle that has allowed our division to commit to technology as a key component of our division.

Throughout this period of transformation, I have seen the adoption of new technologies in virtually all aspects of our organization.  Just recently, I compiled a list of the systems (pdf – 4.55 mb) we have developed and implemented throughout the last 15 years along with some legacy mainframe applications we still support.  The more than 120+ information systems/web sites are products of a commitment towards technology that the leaders of our organizations made 15 years ago.  Some of the notable systems in our portfolio include:

  • Integrated electronic medical system consisting of several vendor solutions for  our student health service and counseling services
  • Enrollment management systems including online application status/statement of intent to register, electronic grades submission, academic progress, online application review, online catalog, course enrollment, document management system
  • Student services systems including disabled student program online system (notetaking, proctoring management), alcohol/drug program enrollment management, online advising notes system
  • Online events ticketing, recreation program integrated system including online course enrollment

A part of that commitment is to create a central computing department within the division which grew from approximately 5 staff to more than 40 today. The organizational chart has changed several times throughout the years to respond to the changing priorities and needs.

As the trend towards greater adoption of consumer technologies (social media, cloud, mobile) in student affairs continues, along with the increasing budgetary constraints, changing student demographics and greater financial burdens to students, our organization is now having to adapt to the expectations of our socially networked and mobile students.  This requires a move towards social business, integrating social networking technologies as part of our business processes.  As it was in 1996 when web became a serious business tool in our organization, it took some time for the entire organization to recognize the value of the web. A conclusion I’ve come to given my experience throughout this technology (r)evolution is that the pace of innovation moves at the speed of the organization. Undoubtedly, our organization will continue to remain dynamic and accommodating to new trends consistent with our mission.

 

 

 


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21
Nov/11

Social Media Is not All About ROI, It’s About Community

by under About Me, Personal Thoughts, Social Media

courtesy of http://www.mediaite.com

The UC Davis incidents which included a campus police casually pepper-spraying a group of student protesters and students using silent protest as a response to the UC Davis Chancellor illustrates the need for campuses to formally adopt social media to communicate. More importantly,  social media is needed to provide a venue for their communities to express and process their emotions and thoughts when events so shocking as this event requires communities to come together, to have dialogues.

I  was shocked, upset and disappointed at what had happened and as an employee of the University of California system, I was embarrassed and thoughts of “those could have been one of the students I know” and questions like “How can we avoid that from happening at UCSB?” and “What are our campus administrators doing to prevent this from happening?” came to my mind.  I also wanted to know what students are thinking and how they are reacting to the events. I couldn’t wait for campus assemblies few days later to process what I was feeling and to hear what others are thinking. I needed to find and share information and I needed to connect with people that could relate to my perspectives, those who work in higher education, in the UC system, in student affairs, those who work with students.

Throughout the weekend, I had short exchanges with folks I have met online via twitter and facebook.  I found information from blogs, videos from youtube by those who were at the event and who witnessed them firsthand. I found out about UC President Yudof’s response and his plan to meet with every UC Chancellors to discuss how to implement system-wide policies on how to properly respond to these types of incidents. I also found via twitter from a former UC employee that this was not the first time pepper-spray had been used at student protests and that at UC Davis, one student wrote about “administrators, students and police have been coordinating an under-the-radar response team to infiltrate student protest groups, relay information to administrators and police leadership and control peaceful gatherings in response to tuition spikes and budget cuts.”

What I had wished during the weekend was more connections with my  fellow UCSB colleagues, students and those that can relate to me. Believe me, those like me who have the need to connect online will use social media, with or without university approval.  In these times of crisis, universities really need to understand the need for two-way communication and to have avenues for their communities to be able to process their thoughts and provide outlets for dialogues. For those still seeking some kind of  quantifiable metrics to justify the use of social media, how about the fact that sometimes, it’s not all about ROI.

 

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18
Nov/11

It’s All A Matter of Perspective – Difference Between Appreciating/Complaining

by under About Me, Personal Thoughts

Whether we appreciate or complain about things/events in our lives could just be a matter of perspective. I was at the dentist this morning getting my teeth cleaned and   it was a somewhat painful even with the topical gel they placed to numb my mouth and it took awhile. I would rather have been somewhere else but the dentist’s office. On the other hand, I can appreciate the fact that I have insurance to pay for it, which I am grateful for. It got me thinking what I and what I hear other complain about including the items below:

  • It’s a chore having to vacuum and clean our homes, but on the other hand, there are those who are homeless  who would gladly take any shelter over their heads.
  • We complain about our kids waking us up early in the morning to play, but on the other hand, there are those who are not able to have kids who would do anything to have even just one.
  • We complain about the amount of work we do, but on the other hand, there are millions of people who are unemployed looking for jobs who would take any wage to feed their families.
  • We complain about paying too much for gas, but on the other hand, there are those who have to walk miles to get to work.
  • We complain about too much school work, but on the other hand, there are those who can’t even afford to go to school and would work many jobs to be able to have the opportunity.
  • We complain about how old-fashioned and over-bearing our parents are, but on the other hand, there are those who would give the world to have their parents alive.
  • We complain about how hard our marriage is but on the other hand, there are those who are not allowed to get married.
  • We complain about our physical shortcomings. Just watch this:

Nick Vujicic – I Love Living Life. I Am Happy. (youtube video).

By no means am I being Pollyana-ish but I do find myself taking things for granted sometimes and I have to remind myself of how blessed I am.  As I read somewhere “When we’re complaining, we’re not appreciating.”

 

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18
Nov/11

Crab Mentality – Hate it!

by under About Me, Leadership, Personal Thoughts

Photo courtesy of the Kingskidd Report

I read a blog  ago that talked about how women should be supporting each other, not tearing each other down in the workplace. The blog post talked about “crab mentality”, the metaphor of crabs pulling those that are about to escape a pot.  It reminded me of my past experiences when instead of others expressing support for my career/personal accomplishments, there were those who felt resentment and expressed jealousy. I was having a conversation about this topic with a friend of mine and the fact that I never see myself as a competition to anyone. He tells me that while I don’t see myself involved in any competition, the fact that I spend a lot of hours working, getting things done than could be seen as a competition in itself. I can understand that perspective, but I just don’t consciously think about it in that way. I work because I like what I do, I need to take care of my family and I do not have the need to prove myself against anyone. I have seen my father work three or more jobs at the same time consistently throughout my life and he did it with no complaints. I have admired him for his work ethic and I guess I just never saw anyway to progress through life than working long and hard.

I think we live in such a competitive world and of scarce resources that we forget to appreciate the accomplishments of others instead of appreciating.  I know I’m guilty of it sometimes but I try to be conscious about not taking on the “crab mentality”. Just like compliments, I don’t think we lose anything by appreciating the accomplishments of others, given that these accomplishments were done in ethical manner.

My work involves building technical systems including web, desktop applications and implementing vendor solutions.  I love being able to deliver these systems to our customers. As much as I enjoy this aspect of my job, what I actually enjoy more is being able to help promote the growth and successes of others.  As a leader, I measure my success in terms of how I am able to help others I lead grow and promote. There is nothing more satisfying for me than seeing friends and co-workers, especially those I have seen from the beginning of their career, mature and be successful. Last week, one of my colleagues presented a very critical campus system he just completed to a group of directors.  I could see how proud he was of the system as streams of  compliments came from those in the room. I could not have been prouder watching him throughout his presentation. It was awesome! Three years ago, he joined our organization as a student and seeing him successfully develop a very critical system is amazing.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a world where we don’t view others’ successes as a threat to our own?

 

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