I have a secret. It’s one of those things I don’t tell people very often. But since we’re all friends here, here goes.

I love databases.

Yup. Databases. I find them wildly interesting. Why? Perhaps it’s because I’m a bit of an information junkie. OK, a LOT of an information junkie. I read voraciously. I love to learn and absorb. I love to take in all sorts of information, process it, think really hard about it, then spit it back out in a way that makes sense to me. Information excites me in a way that not many other things can.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been helping a company fix up their database (yup, I do that too). I’ve been given the challenge of finding ways to increase the integrity of their existing data, and to make the overall snapshot of the data easier to understand and align with the goals of the company. It’s a clean up exercise, a business process exercise and a functionality exercise all in one.

All of this digging around in the bowels of my client’s information and categories and bits and pieces has got me thinking a lot about how people deal with information.

The fundamental problem with a database is that it’s only as useful as the information that is contained within it. In other words, you can have the most sophisticated database in the world, but if the information is outdated, or simply not useful to your organization, then your database will fail.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for a database to become useless. At times, depending on the data, it can be a matter of days or weeks (or even hours) before the information in it is rendered out of date and therefore useless. What this means is that there needs to be meaningful input to your database at all times. It means that processes have to be put in place to make sure that meaningful input happens.

Now, let’s take this outside of the structure of a database. If I look around at all of the information I have coming at me in a given day – hundreds of emails, thousands of blog posts, what can seem like tens of thousands of tweets – I can easily get lost in that. Data in the world of the Web gets old in a matter of minutes sometimes. How can anyone hope to keep up with this kind of turnover?

What it comes down to is context. It’s the same thing I’m using to solve my client’s database issues. The best way to define context is to ask relevant questions. Once you have answers to these questions you can start to put things in a logical order that makes sense and allows for processes that can be maintained.

In the case of my client’s database, I had to forget about fields and categories for a minute, step back and look at what they are really trying to accomplish with this information. If I can see the big picture, define the actual goals, I can then figure out how to structure the data. I give it context. I get it to tell a story. Once that story is there, people can begin to use the information in a meaningful way. And suddenly, maintaining the integrity of the data is easy, because everyone knows the story that we are trying to tell, and only contributes that information that is relevant to the story.

So…what does this have to do with your information? All of these inputs we have coming at us – blogs, news, tweets, videos, emails – they are just a mish-mash of data until we are able to give it context. Giving it context means we have to figure out the stories that we are trying to tell. Think about the things in your life that are important to you. For me, in a nutshell, and in no particular order, it’s family, business, music, and friends. All of the information I take in corresponds to one of those areas, most of the time. If I just bring in unfiltered information all the time, I have no context, and at the end of the day, I can’t make sense of any of it. Therefore, the information is essentially useless to me. And I’m missing out on the story.

However, if I start to figure out what kind of story I want that information to tell, then the picture starts to become more clear. Suddenly, I can understand and process and actually absorb some of what is coming at me. I can put it into categories, and continuously update my knowledge base. My data suddenly takes on a new level of integrity, and as I filter in the new information, it seamlessly adds to what’s already there. My data is suddenly incredibly valuable and useful.

Data is exciting because inside of this vast online maze of disparate information lies a story waiting to be told.

How do you define the story your information is trying to tell?

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Back in the late 1990′s, I was working for a gigantic telecommunications company in Canada. “Convergence” was the buzzword of the moment, and the company was on the bleeding edge of converging cable, Internet and telephony into one big pipe. At the time, the average person didn’t really understand what this meant. Now, 12 years later, convergence is here. There are still many regulatory issues to work out, but the technical challenges have pretty much been addressed. The pipe is now big enough to carry all the information we could ever need, in whatever format we need it. 

However, it’s one thing to jam everything in the pipe. It’s entirely another to get people to figure out how to work with all of it. 

There’s been a lot of talk in the blogosphere lately about the line where citizen journalism ends and traditional media begins. Christopher Penn is talking about it.  Mizz Information is talking about it. I’m not really talking about citizen journalism here, though. (Or am I?)

It used to be that mainstream media (radio and television) largely ignored what was going on in cyberspace. Though they might have been searching through other mass media web sites to find information, they were not really spending much time, or putting much effort into what was happening in the blog or social media space. However, I’ve noticed a shift in this lately. The most popular example of this is CNN’s use of Twitter. Rick Sanchez and a whole host of other journalists are using it as a source of information now. Susan Ormiston of the CBC has “Ormiston Online” where she is “trolling the blogs, Twitter and YouTube” for information about the Canadian elections.

Additionally, if a radio or TV show producer wants to have an expert on to talk about Square Dancing in Orleans, Ontario, they are more likely to find that expert by doing a Google Blog Search than anything else. 

What is happening here is really another form of convergence. It’s convergence of content. The lines are quickly becoming blurred as to who is creating content. If my Dad (see Square Dancing above) can create a blog with quality content that appeals to a certain audience, then isn’t he ulitmately doing what mainstream television and radio has been doing for years? More and more often these days, mainstream media is going to the Web to get their information. They are still creating their own content, but the foundation seems to more and more be coming from the online creators. 

Much like the regulatory mess that technological convergence created, this convergence of content is creating some other interesting debates. Where does citizen journalism end and mainstream journalism begin? What are the risks of “everyman” now being the “man on the street”? And, if the media is using my content ( e.g. when Rick Sanchez or Susan Ormiston uses my Tweets on air), should I be compensated? 

Your turn…

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I’ve been fortunate to spend a good chunk of time in Newfoundland and Labrador. Even though I’m not from the Eastern part of Canada, I feel very in tune with the people there. Perhaps it’s in my blood, because my Dad is from New Brunswick. Perhaps I can relate to the culture because I grew up on an isolated island on the West coast. Perhaps it’s my family’s Scottish roots. Whatever the reason, I have a really special place in my heart for that part of the country.

One of my favourite things to do in Newfoundland is go to kitchen parties. The best parties always end up in the kitchen. The East coast kitchen party is a legendary event. It’s all about friends, music and stories. Kitchen parties can happen at any time of the day or night, and it’s a come as you are kind of affair. People drop in and out as they please, have a drink, say hi, meet new people, see old friends, and share a laugh or a story. Everyone is welcomed with open arms to participate, whether it’s telling a story or playing a tune. It just makes you feel good to be there.

Not unlike the social network.

In a social network, I can show up when I want and leave when I want. I can talk to my friends or make new friends and bring them into the conversation. I can do it any time of the day or night. I can tell stories. I can listen to stories. It definitely makes me laugh often and hard. I feel welcome in this space. I am encoruaged to share my stories as much as the next person. And I feel good being there.

When I think about what really motivates me to be involved in social networks, I guess it’s because I get a lot of the same things out of it that I get from going to parties. I’ve never been to an East coast party where I didn’t meet someone new, learn something new, hear wonderful stories and laugh my butt off in the process. And it seems like with my online life these days, I meet new people, learn new things and hear really great stories every single day. And I absolutely bust a gut much of the time too.

So, I believe the essence of both the kitchen party and the social network is to connect people.

Lately, I’ve been working on some ways to teach people who are new to the concept about social networks and social media. Technology has a tendency to be very impersonal. To the outside world, there is a lack of understanding about how much of a connection one can really make through a keyboard and mouse.

Comparing the social network to something everyone can relate to, like a party, starts to foster some kind of understanding of what the real benefits are. It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, a Twitterer, or an Instant Messenger…just like it doesn’t matter if you’re a late night kitchen partier or an afternoon barbequer. It’s about the incredible things that can happen when people connect with each other. And that’s something anyone can understand.

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“A light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence.” — Marshall McLuhan

I’ve been thinking a lot about WHY people choose certain mediums to communicate. In McLuhan’s day, the options were much more limited. Not by their ability to tell stories, but by their accesibility to the general public. At that time, we relied on “professionals” – journalists and authors were the only ones that had access to the medium, therefore they were the ones that told the stories.

Today, that’s no longer the case. There are abundant options now for people to tell their stories. Blogging, micro-blogging, and podcasting are prolific and available to anyone with an Internet connection and an inclination.

Yesterday, social media monitoring company Radian6 launched a new concept called a Twebinar. The concept was to present an online seminar that encouraged participation and interaction using Twitter. A lot of the discussion revolved around what the point was of integrating Twitter to the mix, instead of just using a regular chat window. But what I was compelled by was the use of video. I was fully expecting to see presenter Chris Brogan giving an hour long talk on his subject, and I would use Twitter as a sort of side conversation. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris playing the part of roving reporter, running around with a camera crew, talking to a wide variety of media experts about some really cool and interesting stuff. Then he’d pop in on live video in between segments and talk a bit. The Twitter conversations were the backdrop but the use of video stole the show.

The Twebinar was a great example of choosing the right medium to convey the message. When McLuhan talked about the lightbulb, he meant that the lightbulb itself doesn’t contain any content. It’s simply a vehicle that enables content (i.e. provides light that people use to create spaces in what would otherwise be darkness).

Choosing the right vehicle to enable your content is key. The Twebinar could have been approached differently. Chris could have just talked for an hour. He could have just compiled all of the information from his interviews into a blog post or eBook. But it would not have had the same impact. Instead, seeing a live breathing human engaging with other live breathing humans allows us as viewers to feel the energy and passion of the speakers. It connects us to them. And the result? People want to talk about it. They want to explore it. They want to share their own experiences. And that’s where Twitter comes in. See how it all works? It wouldn’t have made sense to tell this story any other way.

Everyone has a story to tell, and social media has burst the art of storytelling wide open. However, the medium you choose to tell that story is critical. The medium serves to set the tone, attract a certain kind of audience, and generate a certain kind of response.

So the next time you come up with your next great story, spend some time figuring out the result you want. Do you want to encourage feedback? Conversation? Do you want immediate results? Determine the best medium to use to tell your story to get your desired results. Only then can you ensure that your message gets across.

Hmmm… I wonder what Marshall McLuhan would have thought about all this social media business, anyway?

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I was twittering with @GinnyK today, and she is in a similar predicament to myself. We both have many Facebook friends who have no idea what Twitter is. At least 3 times a week, one of my FB friends asks me “What the heck is Twitter?” This is because I am a complete geek, so that means that my Twitter posts automatically update my Facebook status as “Sue is twittering….”.

@martin_english just posted on his blog about a boilerplate explanation of Twitter that has been posted at Smart Mobs. So I’ve decided, for the benefit of all of my FB friends who read my blog (which is also automatically linked on my FB page every time I update) to copy the boilerplate message here, so now I can just point people to this post whenever they want to know what the heck Twittering is.

Hopefully some of them will join the fun, too!

What Twitter Can Do For You

Hey Facebook Friend,

I was thinking it would be great if you had a presence in Twitter [ http://twitter.com ]. In a nutshell, Twitter is sort of like the Facebook status update and IRC chat rolled into a single social application where people write, read and respond in real time. The result is a kind of live collective unconscious of all those you follow.

Twitter posts, AKA “tweets,” are 140 characters in length including links. Think of online news headlines and you get the picture. I think of Twitter as a [your metaphor here] “sensibility subscription” because it allows me to subscribe to other people’s ongoing thoughts and activities and share my own.

Here’s a great animated video by Common Craft that explains it all much better than I can. It’s called “Twitter in plain English:” http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

One of the most popular uses of Twitter is as a micro content delivery system. Tools like Twitterfeed allow you to configure an RSS of your latest blog posts, magazine articles, website content, news, social bookmarks, flickr photos, etc. to your Twitter profile: http://twitterfeed.com

BBC, WIRED, Boing Boing, NYT and many other publications use Twitter as a means of extending their reach and expanding their audience. Here’s the BBC feed: http://twitter.com/bbc

Many educators have done interesting things with Twitter as well. University of Texas media professor David Parry is a Twitter-teaching pioneer: http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2008/twitter-for-academia/

And Howard Rheingold has the most extensive collection of Twitter links I’ve seen:
http://del.icio.us/hrheingold/twitter

Last but not least, here’s my Twitter …
twitter.com/suzemuse

If you were in Twitter, this is where you’d be:
Twitter.com/[your handle here]

Let me know if you’d like to Twitter. I’d be happy to help get you started.

Sincerely,

Suzemuse

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