Inspired by Eva Vertes & video knowledge management

Posted on April 21, 2009 by Catherine

I love watching TED.com .. its not much of a secret as I talk about it with a lot of different people. I love to learn new things, new perspectives and TED is a perfect medium for me in expanding my mind, opening my mind to new interpretations.

I’m not talking in this post about Cancer, its a serious condition and I’ve had quite a few close friends and family either die or survive. It was very unique to hear Eva talk about Cancer as a failed repair condition and I will be watching her in the future and I fervently hope that her ideas become a reality.

Instead I’m talking about the medium of sharing information. I’m a passionate learner, and I’m interested in different ways of learning and consuming information. Video’s are become more prevalent on the internet with Vimeo, YouTube, Veoh, Google Video and so many more. Screencapture software is now a lot more affordable too or even better … free! Its been great to see that I’ve been watching the business industry for many years, that companies are developing and including video presentation into their online representation more and more. For marketing, sharing information and teaching customers about their products which goes beyond the marketing of a product and actually discussing it with its end clients.

Video is especially great for teaching. I’m a good teacher, I enjoy it and would love to teach a classroom but I’m hearing impaired and this new medium of recording tutorials for on demand classes for students / employees to learn from is great. Include subtitles and everyone will benefit. Everyone can then watch the video, read the subtitles to ensure that they’ve heard the entire message (which is so incredibly important to me as a hearing impaired woman), to watch the reality of how something is done. Its invaluable. Its almost approaching a vocational way of learning as the person watching the training video will actually see how what is being taught is done, they can then duplicate this in their own time.

I’ll be speaking on this blog about this area (among other areas of interest / knowledge) and showing exactly what I mean about the importance that video will have on corporate knowledge management. Just imagine how useful it would be if you, starting a new role that is replacing a previous member of staff, could watch them presenting their work informally in a simple recorded video.

Pretty great isn’t it, that TED and now businesses and individuals can share their knowledge and the information that made up their knowledge with the world! Here’s another video that shows just how far it could be taken:

Definitely food for thought.

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Emails – just say it and say it quick

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Catherine

It amazes me just how easy it is to obfuscate facts and the message you want to give in emails. I’m one who recognises that I can sometimes be too long, I struggle with giving too much facts which will stop someone needing another to come back to me with more questions!! Its a hard line to judge.

I’ve always been brought up with the fundamentals: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How .. I nicked named them the six Ws (saying as ‘how’ ends in W, it became the last and sixth in the line). If you can define these you know what its needing to be said.

Who are you writing to, what are you needing to say, where is it to go or be done, why is it important, when does it need to be done and how is it going to be achieved. Once you’ve got that sorted it all down to revision and rework. Here is a great article in how to do this succinctly.

How to Revise an Email So That People Will Read It by David Silverman

I particularly liked the following points:

1. Delete redundancies. Say it once. That’s enough. If you’re repetitive, the reader will stop reading and start skimming. (Like you probably just did.)

8. Delete anything written in the heat of emotion. Will this sentence show them who’s been right about the hamburger buns since the beginning? Yes? Cut it.

9. Shorten. Remember the reader struggling to digest your message on the run — a BlackBerry or an iPhone gets about 40 words per screen. What looks short on your desktop monitor is an epic epistle on their mobile device.

Here’s to saying what needs to be done in as few concise words as possible. Get the job done and stop making us read long winded emails!

yes I’m paying attention to this lesson too!

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Living my beliefs

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Catherine

Its always interesting when being challenged about your beliefs and opinions. Unfortunately it got me thinking and I strangely woke up out of a dream recently,  reading an article about someone commenting about my beliefs and in my dream world disagreeing with what they had written! My dreams are weirdly surreal at times ;)

So what do I believe in? I believe that blogging is not a waste of time, that it is a new way of sharing information and the power it can have when doing so. Information used to be shared with large groups of people via telephone conferences and big meetings in the business world. Instead social media of yammering, twittering, blogging and video presentations is altering the way that information is presented, shared and consumed between us all.

This new blog is going to be my way to share what I think about the world of business and IT, things that interest me about information and communication, stuff I agree or disagree with and why. This is my way of talking to everyone who wishes to know my thoughts and for you to chat back to me about them. I’ll be taking part in your conversations on twitter, on yammer at work, your blogs, within your business.

I’m a multi skilled and curious person whose various abilities means that I’m kind of like a round peg in a square hole at times when it comes to labelling, but that’s okay. We shouldn’t all be the same and sometimes its just that round peg in a square hole environment that is needed to challenge the status quo and innovate change.

So here’s to blogging, a new way of communication and living my own set of ideals and beliefs.

Follow me on my new journeys and adventures.

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Welcome to the inaugural post!

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Catherine

I’m blogging, and yup I’m starting fresh yet again! I’ve found my purpose for this site and I’m ready to rock n roll my messages to the world. This time its sticking to purpose as I know exactly what I want to share and say on this site.

Shout outs go to WordPress for creating a platform I can write, create, alter and spring board from in my words to the world.

Thanks go to my readers as they start to subscribe to my feed.

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