Around the start of 2010, I began hearing about this idea dubbed the3six5 project. A bunch of transmedia and emerging media folks discussed it with great fervor.

So I took a look…
frowned…
then asked…
“What’s the big effing deal?”

Every day, a different person would step in and write a journal entry of what was going on around him or her. There are rules of course, like being assigned a day insignificant to the author (i.e. no birthdays, anniversaries), writing a reflection of life that very day from the author’s location (i.e. the stark reality), limits to the number of words, and finally, zero blatant self promotion.

Yes, it’s crowdsourc-ive, it’s storytelling, it’s experimental, but is it too simplistic and too random?

Prior to the3six5, we’ve seen very well curated examples that have even been put to print, such as user-generated magazines Everywhere and JPG. In other words, this isn’t new… so what’s really going on here?

Thinking back at the3six5, I even tried to suggest connectivity between stories…

So I wrote to the3six5 co-founder, Len Kendall…

“While some of the twitterati I follow seem to like this project a lot, I beg to differ. I value the experimental (back to personal writing) nature of it, like how it provides a “snapshot” of our world from different perspectives, but find the articles all too disconnected from one another. I feel that it lacks connectivity, a kind of holistic purpose behind it. Perhaps I need to be unhinged to the idea of a plot? That said, I admire the difficult simplicity, consistency and diligence behind this project.”

To which Len calmly replied…

“Your reaction makes sense. There is certainly a disconnect between people. But I think that people’s minds often try to get non-fiction to mirror fiction. But that’s not how life operates. It’s very random, and this chronology reflects that. What makes it flow is that once every few days some folks with mention a “checkpoint” in time. Haiti’s earthquake, Obama’s spead, Apple’s ipad, etc. So that 10 years from now, if you read this story, you’ll have some sense of what was taking place at that time and when that time was.”

At this point I’m widening my sights to treat the theme as a giant chronological expression. Len explained that enforcing a theme pressures fiction around our non-fictional world. Thanks to our increasingly politicalized news media, perhaps it’s our learned reaction to pigeon-hole social reality. I have the sensation that what some storytellers are seeing, that isn’t apparent at face value, are qualities which will emerge from both the process and product of this particular sousveillance literature. The fiction will eventually appear because we will implicitly, and punitively, place it there.

As Len blogged, within the first 30 days of this year-long work, we’re already seeing a string of patterns emerge:

The web can be a really messy place. On creating order from chaos, Len writes how “Crowdsourcing ain’t easy”. Maintaining 365 authors for 365 days is pretty intense work, which makes me wonder if this project could ever work as an entirely community-governed iteration.

The number of views, comments and retweets act like an invisible leaderboard. There’s growing competition, or as BBHLab’s Ben Malbon puts it, “God help those writing in November…”. Throw in a few celebrity writers (ZeFrank!), and it looks like I’m pretty much screwed.

And on forcing fiction upon non-fiction: Margo Gremmler said “[...] you brought us all together in an author mosaic”. While I can’t wait to see the big picture, I thought that Gennefer’s tweet was rather poignant for the3six5’s journey…

Almost everyone contributing to this project agreed that “the case study for this project is going to be just as interesting as the project itself.”

To appreciate the3six5 experience, I asked if I could contribute, and was kindly given the day of 24th November 2010. It’s weird… but I suddenly feel like I own that day. It becomes both my honor, and my burden.

For a better idea of the3six5 project, be sure to read Ben Malbon’s “Interview with the3six5 project founders: 365 days, 365 perspectives“

• Understand the tragic {present}, by peering into the sci-fi {past}…
• HALO 2 is COMPLETE!
• PhD or Die Trying: The Personal Mission Statement
• GE’s “augmented reality” campaign
• Today’s Links: For Your Blog + Mac + Social Life

• iPad: Overhyped Flop or a case of Great Design Thinking?
  Media studies graduate student / thinker @VenessaMiemis provides a very thorough examination of the diverse perspectives to what Apple's iPad means for the future of computing.
• Fraser Speirs on Future Shock
  “What you're seeing in the industry's reaction to the iPad is nothing less than future shock. For years we've all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the 'average person'. I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort. Secretly, I suspect, we technologists quite liked the idea that Normals would be dependent on us for our technological shamanism.”
• A Whole New Mind | Daniel Pink
  All the iPad discussions seem to point me back to Daniel Pink’s book. He observes that the future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate.
• Clive Thompson: "Garry Kasparov, cyborg"
  What if, instead of playing against one another, a computer and a human played together — as part of a team?
• Project SIKULI
  Sikuli automates almost anything with screenshot ease, thanks to it's visual recognition technology. Works with any computing platform, including Mac, Windows, Linux! (via Lifehacker)
• Panopticlick
  EFF asks: Is your browser configuration rare or unique? If so, web sites may be able to track you, even if you limit or disable cookies.
• The Pinky Show: Structure, Power, & Agency
  Pinky's been thinking a lot about class treason lately: What does it mean that we do so many things in our lives 'automatically'? What can we really do to make this world better? And what will we have to give up or risk in order to achieve it?
• Pictures + Stories = Pictory! And It's Pretty. // Current
  Pictures have never been more share-worthy than they are within Pictory, a new, community-driven, ongoing series of photos and the stories behind them. Get out your Kleenex… some of this stuff will truly tug at your heartstrings! The Internet can be so great.
• List of Corporate Social Media Strategists, Corporate Community Managers in 2010 « Jeremiah Owyang
  There are very specific requirements for this list, please read before submitting: 1) You must have a public LinkedIn profile page that 2) indicates that social media is part of your full time career and job –not just for personal use, 3) You must work at an enterprise class corporation with more than 1000 employees.
• Securing your iPhone's traffic | Macworld
  There are several firms that specialize in “rent-a-VPN” service for travelers who don’t have a corporate information technology department behind them handling VPN service. I'm thinking it's the easiest way to spoof your iPhone's IP as well.
• Reboot These Sci-Fi Shows Next, Wired.com Readers Plead
  Brings back lots of memories… though sadly I watched them alone with no one to share stories with.

• HelloTxt: For microbloggers who can’t get enough…
• So… would you hire a social media strategist? (Part 1)
• Waiting for the “social media strategist” interview report?
• Minds for Sale: Jonathan Zittrain explores the rise of Cloud Labor
• World’s first anti-theft app for iPhone (video)

I keep having these aspirations to have my own daily video show, but until it actually happens (yeah right!), I’ll just share recent links I’ve enjoyed. I’ve heard from some of you that this is what you like best from my blog… less talkie, more linkies!

• Sarien.net – Instant adventure gaming
  Welcome to Sarien.net, the portal for reliving classic Sierra On-Line adventure games. With its focus on instant fun and a unique multiplayer experience, Sarien.net hopes to win new gamers' hearts and promote the adventure game genre. (via @tiffchow)
• “Socialgraphics” webinar slides « Altimeter Group
  Recorded webinar of Altimeter's “Understanding Your Customers’ Social Behaviors“. You can also download from Slideshare.net (for slides) and drop.io (for the recording).
• Get Glue: The Network That Sticks To You
  Glue is a service that helps you find your next favorite movie, book, music album or other every day thing (here's a list of supported categories). Glue shows you things that you'll like based on your personal tastes, what your friends like, and what's most popular on Glue.
• Government posting wealth of data to Internet – washingtonpost.com
  Under a Dec. 8 White House directive, each department must post online at least three collections of "high-value" government data that never have been previously disclosed. All the new data collections will be added to the government's Web site, data.gov.
• ‘Controlled Serendipity’ Liberates the Web – NYTimes.com
  Observational article on twitter users as content curators & human aggregators.
• IDEO Labs » Keynote Tweet: Participate in the backchannel of your own presentation
  Enter Keynote Tweet, a simple open-source script that provides the capacity to participate in the backchannel by combining Twitter with Apple Keynote. All you have to do is add text wrapped in [twitter] and [/twitter] tags in the presenter notes section of a slide. When that slide comes up in the presentation the script grabs that text and sends it to Twitter on your behalf.
• Conversations About The Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee – The Rumpus.net
  Samzenpus on Slashdot wrote: "A Facebook employee has given a tell-all interview with some very interesting things about Facebook's internals. Especially interesting are all the things relating to Facebook privacy. Basically, you don't have any. Nearly everything you've ever done on the site is recorded into a database. While they fire employees for snooping, more than a few have done it. There's an internal system to let them log into anyone's profile, though they have to be able to defend their reason for doing so. And they used to have a master password that could log into any Facebook profile: 'Chuck Norris.' Bruce Schneier might be jealous of that one."
• The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures « OkTrends
  To write this piece, we cataloged over 7,000 photographs on OkCupid.com, analyzing three primary things: 1) Facial Attitude. Is the person smiling? Staring straight ahead? Doing that flirty lip-pursing thing?,
  2) Photo Context. Is there alcohol? Is there a pet? Is the photo outdoors? Is it in a bedroom?, 3) Skin. How much skin is the person showing? How much face? How much breasts? How much ripped abs?
• TheSixtyOne: Beautiful music listening + discovery + game service
  TheSixtyOne is an amazing way to discover new music online. It's chock-full of musical goodness — including lots of Creative-Commons licensed music that can be freely downloaded. It turns music discovery into a social game and lets you "heart" songs (you only get so many hearts to give out each day, depending on your level). If others then "heart" those same songs, it means you've helped them discover good music, and you get more "reputation" points (which in turn allow you to level up and "heart" even more songs, and so on).
• iSites – Create your iPhone/Android app now
  iSites enables you to create and self-manage apps for multiple smart phones (iPhone, Android) from one place. Just $25!
• Thwapr – Mobile To Mobile Video Sharing
  The easiest way to share videos and pictures from your phone to your friends' phones. All you need is text messaging and a mobile browser. Thwapr is free and requires no downloads.
• An Illustrated History of Location-Based Technology – BlackBook
  As far back as 200 BC, humans have been busy inventing a variety of tools to help steer us in the right direction. This timeline is an informative look at just how far we've come when it comes to location based technology.
• UK Launches Open Data Site; Puts Data.gov to Shame
  Data.gov.uk has nearly 3,000 data sets available for developers to build mashups with. The U.S. site, Data.gov, has less than 1,000 data sets today. When will we see Data.gov.sg?
• L+E Visual Thinking Archive – a set on Flickr
  This group of visuals has been designed and produced by me (David Armano). You are welcome to use the visuals for presentations, slideshows and blogs posts. Please provide proper attribution and a link is always appreciated. davidarmano.com
• Booki: CollaborativeFutures
  As we began the collaborative process of crafting this book on the future of collaboration, we realized we were all working from a set of assumptions, many of them shared, some of them divergent. We were talking about a specific form of collaboration, specific media of collaboration, and specific goals of collaboration. And we were talking about a specific history of collaboration, and a correspondingly specific set of futures.

• Dirty Hack: JoikuSpot + Nokia cellphone = 3G iPhone
• HelloTxt: For microbloggers who can’t get enough…
• Today’s Links: Mazda Sassou = Very nice
• Today’s Links (Variations)
• Ethnographic: A Teenage Girl’s Facebook Friend List

Sipping on a nostalgic white milk tea Audrey Lim had kindly sent me, I ask this extraordinary expatriate mother of two what made her move to the States and how she got started with her online Asian grocery store, SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com

As a working mother of two school-age children, Audrey Lim was constantly on-the-move. Being in the States, she craved for food from Singapore and Malaysia, yet wanted a easy way to fix up an authentic-tasting local meal without the required hassle. Seeing a need, the SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com was created to help overseas Singaporeans and Malaysians re-connect with their heritage through simple-to-prepare delicious food.

1) As a Singaporean, what made you move to the States?

We moved from Singapore to Seattle back in early 2003 due to my husband’s job. His company, an engineering firm based in the US, decided to move the bulk of their APAC operations from Singapore to China and offered my husband to relocate to the States. My husband loved working at this company and so he said ‘yes’. At that time, I had just started to be very successful as a sales person with Starwood Hotels APAC and was being groomed by my manager to help grow the China market, as such, I wasn’t really willing to make the move. I also didn’t wish to leave my mother alone in Singapore, was concerned for my son who was only barely 2 years old, and finally, whether I would be able to adapt to the new country. My husband decided to go ahead with the move while we worked out a plan for us to meet up around twice or thrice a year.

My son and I visited my husband in Seattle after he had already settled into his new home for two months. My husband arranged everything perfectly for us, making sure that we do all the usual touristy stuff and that his apartment was super-comfortable for our visit. He brought us to Asian grocery stores and restaurants to show that it is really not that bad to live in the States after all. I have to admit that the visit was amazing as we had really missed each other while we were apart and Seattle is simply beautiful!! On June 2003, my son and I finally made that international move from Singapore to Seattle. I remember thinking to myself at that time I must have been absolutely crazy for giving up my career, close friends, yummy foods, but most importantly to leave my mom to come halfway across the globe!!

We lived in Seattle (specifically in Kirkland – which is on the east of Seattle) for close to almost three years before my husband’s company moved us to Atlanta, GA where we have been calling home for now. Frankly speaking, I’ve no idea where 2010 will bring us :0)

2) What do you like best about living in the States?

There are so many things about the U.S. that I like and so, it is quite difficult for me to choose the best. One of the things that I like most about this country is the unlimited amount of opportunities out there for everyone in the country regardless of your ethnic, educational, economic, and social background. Coming from a fairly stern, materialistic and somewhat superficial small country, it was a real eye-opening experience for me to see that you do not really need to have the right connections or have First Class Honours in your degree to be successful in the States. Even the definition of the word ‘successful‘ can mean so many things here in this country, unlike in Singapore where I feel that one’s success is measured only by the type of house or car you own, the schools you attend, your job title, your salary & even the brand of the clothes you wear!!

The States has taught me a very valuable lesson in that you have to dare to dream and dare to grab any opportunity that presents itself to you. I’ve also learned that there is nothing wrong to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM) and just spend time with my children (though it may mean that we are not as financially well-off as our peers back in Singapore who enjoy dual-income). I recalled my friends back in Singapore being so shocked when I told them about my decision to be a SAHM. Reactions from them range from “Are you crazy?” to “What will you live on then?” to “How are you going to have your own money – independently from your husband’s?” to “What about your career?” and so on….

3) What do you miss most about Singapore?

Having said all the above, the one thing I miss most about Singapore is my mom. She is a single mom and despite my constant nagging and urging, she refuses to move to the States with me. I miss her terribly and with us being a single-income household, it is tough for us to visit her in Singapore. She does visit us once a year for about 2 weeks (she is still working and so, cannot stay long) but it is just not the same… sometimes, you don’t realize how important someone is to you until they are far apart from you. My mom and I definitely have our ups and downs but when all things are said and done, I miss her terribly and wish I were there in Singapore to look after her, to bring her for vacations around the world. [Kevin: Ya, I feel the same way for my parents too].

4) I understand that you wanted to help bring local food to Singaporeans and Malaysians in the States… what tipped you over to actually do it?

Time and Frustrations!! Hahahaha! Seriously, I was not a very good cook when I first arrived in the States (since I never had to cook in Singapore) [Kevin: I know, as Singaporeans, we're spoilt for choice with amazing food at every turn!]. So, I had to hunt for easy and instant cooking spices/ sauces/ mixes in order to prepare meals for my family. In a nutshell, I had to become a competent cook overnight or my family would have starve; we would have become broke from eating out. Although there are always Asian grocery stores around us (Seattle & Atlanta), it is very time-consuming and frustrating to have to go to different stores to hunt down some ingredients/ sauces. Furthermore, you may not even find the things that you need in the stores after driving all those miles. Based on my experience, Asian grocery stores do not keep a very generous supply of cooking spices/ sauces and mixes from Singapore and Malaysia. They do offer plenty of products from Thailand, Vietnam and China but as you know, Singapore/Malaysia cuisine can be very different from these Asian countries [Kevin: Totally agree, Thai and Vietnamese food are way more accessible in Buffalo too].

Another reason why I finally took the leap to launch this online store is to help not just Singaporeans/ Malaysians, but also as many people as possible out there to identify the best tasting and most authentic foods/ sauces out there in the market place. I have always found it daunting to try something new I see in the stores or online since I am not sure if they are truly good or is it that these food products have good marketing team in place to promote their products/ brands. I want to be able to share an impartial view of the food products out there not only based on my personal experience with the products but also based on feedback from my team of food testers (a great bunch of Singaporeans/Malaysians).

5) How much time and money did you take to do something like this? Did you have to learn how to manage an e-commerce site?

Honestly, I don’t know the exact amount of money that I invested into this online store :) Not very wise of me for sure… but I have to admit that I am still spending countless hours (day and night) trying new food products out there, and simply learning and doing. I am neither an entrepreneur nor an IT/Web wizard, and I don’t have the money to hire someone to do things for me. In the beginning, I did not even know what HTML meant, how the web worked, how to design a website, etc. The only thing that I knew was that I wanted to share my recommendations with everyone out there and hopefully, carve out a new opportunity for me in the entrepreneur world. So, I spent hours scouring the web and constantly reading on how to launch a business, what an e-commerce site was, how to design a website, and even how to take good photographs!! There were lots of trial and error along the way and I’m sure that I will continue make mistakes along the way (be it technically or in business) but the way I look at it is I am learning a new thing every second and learning something new is never a bad thing right?

6) What kinds of food do you tend to carry on your site?

There is no specific limit to the kinds of food that I intend to carry on my site. My vision is to have an online store featuring only the best of the best food products that help bring people together and in my small way, share a little of our Southeast Asia’s culture with everyone. Being a Singaporean mother who had moved to this country with zero cooking experience, I know that there are others out there just like me who are always at our wits end on what to cook for our family and how to cook those dishes that we are familiar with back in Singapore and how to prepare those delicious foods with the limited resources (time, money, skills & ingredients) we have.

7) Ever thought of selling via Facebook or twitter? Perhaps locate Singaporean student clubs across universities to take group orders?

Yes, I am trying to figure out how to sell via Facebook and Twitter (the latter I am NOT familiar at all) without anymore additional costs. As you know, I am doing all these on my own and so, I have very very limited resources. I did manage to locate Singaporean/ Malaysian student clubs across some universities in the hopes of taking group orders and have in fact emailed to a couple of them to let them know about my online store but sadly, no responses from them so far…not quite sure what I did wrong but I am definitely not giving up since I know that not only does mothers need help in the kitchen, Singaporeans/ Malaysians students in the States will also appreciate any good and easy to prepare food products that allow them to enjoy their fav. dishes ….I just need to figure out how to contact these groups of people. Any suggestions? [Kevin: Call to action can be tough at the start, so perhaps you could start by spreading awareness via social networks and online communities. Let friends to spread word of mouth; I'll try to help]

8) Have you met other Singaporean moms in the States? Is it true that bordom is their worse enemy?

I have met other Singaporean moms in the States. From my interactions with them, I have to say that there is absolutely NO TIME to be bored!! Since we do not have any support system in place over here (such as maids, parents, in-laws etc like what we have in Singapore), it is very very tough to be bored here in the States especially if you have children. Here, you really need to do everything yourself from teaching your children (tutors are so expensive and a luxury here just like having maids) to bringing them to their afterschool activities to volunteering in their schools to cleaning the house to cooking to doing laundry and the list goes on and on….

I always laugh with my husband saying that I never know marketing/ grocery shopping can be such a fun family activity that takes an entire day to complete – sometimes, we even spent our entire weekends in different grocery stores!! Our children now think that going to the grocery stores is their weekly field trip!!! Imagine what their classmates must be thinking when my children are always sharing with their classes that they have just spent yet another weekend going from one grocery store to the next : 0))

9) Have you met any inspirational expatriate moms living in the States?

One of the most inspirational expatriate moms whom I know is Veronica. We bump in to each other in a Malaysian restaurant here in Atlanta and we just ‘clicked’ :) Although she is married to an American, I feel that Veronica is very successful in bringing together some of the best parenting and values from both the America’s and Asian’s cultures in her family. Her family loves Asian dishes and although she is strict with them in terms of education, she is never overly-obsessive about her kids getting straight A’s unlike a lot of parents I know in Singapore. She makes sure that her children always know that she loves them very much no matter what and she is not shy about telling them that she loves them and giving them hugs/ kisses. Veronica will also take the time and efforts to talk to her children and also to hear their views of what is going on in their lives, no matter how busy she is. I do not know many parents in Singapore who will listen to their children without passing any sort of judgment or criticisms [Kevin: Aiyoh!].

10) What cultural survival tips would you share with Singaporeans & Malaysians families living in the States?

Survival Tips:-
1. Don’t bring your kiasu-isms to the States!! This includes not comparing your children’s achievements against each other kids’, seeing who drives bigger car or who has a bigger house. None of these matters! What truly matter is that we learn from each other in this country and be willing to help each other out.

2. Be active in your children’s schools so that they know you are interested in their lives in school and help them understand the values of contributing back to the community through actions and not just through monetary donations

3. Don’t be snobbish!! Not every Singaporean/ Malaysian mom here in the States are living on the high-life and they may not be as financially well-off as you or your peers back in Singapore. This tip also expands to making sure that you befriend not only fellow Singaporeans/ Malaysians but also the Americans!! Do not be afraid to approach them and just open yourself up. You will be amazed at how much you learn from each other and the lasting friendships!

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! You will find that Americans and fellow Singaporeans/ Malaysians are generally willing to help you or share localized tips with you (where is the nearest grocery store, where is a safe place to go at night and where are the good schools) once you asks for help.

5. Stay connected to Singapore/ Malaysia through any local Singaporeans/ Malaysians associations and it is now so easy for us to read up on news from back home online : )

6. Be sure to register yourself and your family with the Singapore Embassy nearest to you via their websites. You can even sign up for regular news blasts from the embassy/ consular office.

7. The following websites may also be useful to Singaporeans here in the States:
http://www.babybonus.gov.sg
http://www.mfa.gov.sg/washington/
http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/admissions/returning-singaporeans/
http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/admissions/returning-singaporeans/#going-overseas
Application for Singapore Citizenship, click on http://www.mfa.gov.sg/sanfrancisco/ and on the link that says “Visa and Immigration Matters”

Thanks for sharing your story. I’m sure lots of folks will benefit from this, and I hope they’ll check out your online grocery store, SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com.

• Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice for Singapore National Day
• Our New Year’s Food Expedition in Canada
• Li Ao’s “Singaporean stupidity” redefined?
• Photos: Singapore as seen by a time-traveller (Oct 2006)
• LifeStory: When “home” isn’t a place anymore…

As educators, teaching evaluations can sometimes make or break our careers as seen in this New York Times article. Artist Abi Huynh, from the Royal Academy of Art, the Netherland puts a new spin on the otherwise boring survey form.

Don’t bother. The image is too low-res to print, so we’re encouraged construct our own versions.

Source: New York Times “Judgement Day” // via worldfamousdesignjunkies

• Fiendster: the new way to hate people
• Today’s Links: Overheard Conversations in New York
• How do you beat stress?
• Wall Poster: The Web is Agreement
• More US students seek Asian experience (The Straits Times, 3rd July)

During my Singapore vacation in October ‘09, I caught up with Kelly Choo, co-founder of Brandtology.com, to learn more about their online brand intelligence service.

While there are numerous online sentiment monitoring companies in the States, such as Radian6 and Omniture, this space is relatively new and growing in South-East Asia.

As mentioned before, my friend Ben Koe works at JamiQ, which differentiates from Brandtology’s intelligence suite with a straightforward, hands-on approach to social media monitoring. There’s also ThoughtBuzz, which I recently read about.

To better understand the strengths of each startup, check out SG Entrepreneurs’ interviews with Brandtology’s Kelly Choo, JamiQ’s Ben Koe, and the ThoughtBuzz team.

Businesses have traditionally (and still do) debated about the lack of proper social media metrics. As many in the online space would explain, there’s in fact a deluge of metrics which leads to a dilemma of choice. While concepts of viewership and circulation were somewhat sufficient for traditional media, social media affords a broader range of metrics. The real first step is really determining what we want to measure.

For instance, as seen in MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Social Media Marketing & PR Benchmark Guide (PDF), it’s been found that social media is very effective at building brand awareness and reputation, while it’s yet to prove itself at driving online sales. There’s no silver bullet; every media has varying levels of richness, with leaner media tending to be more distributive. Our choice of media involves a host of factors, which is why media intelligence (social or not) gets more valuable than ever.

Did You Know: The music in the end credits comes from Starfish Stories’ latest album, Crystal Tears and the Dream Nebula. It’s track 5, “Stroke of Midnight v2.3″, which I bought for a dollar.

Download theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology (.mp4 / 35mb), or watch this on Youtube and Blip.tv. Feel free to subscribe to theorycast on iTunes.

• From Singapore to Buffalo, what I’m up to now…
• HyperConnected Beings // From Social Web to Networked Consciousness
• theorycast.13 :: Facebook Privacy 101
• theorycast.04 :: Interview with Megite’s Matthew Chen
• Today’s Links: Losing our ownership of ideas

Sivasothi (@sivasothi) and Ivan Chew (@ramblinglib) tipped me off on the Singapore National Library Board’s new Facebook app, simply called ‘myLibrary‘. What’s interesting about the app is that it integrates much of our typical library transactions right into Facebook.

At first we might wonder, “What’s the big deal about a Facebook app? Can’t we already access the same services by going to the library’s web site?”

True that, but more than just a matter of accessibility, it’s about being “within reach” to users, and extending their library use into the third place. Allowing users to recommend books to friends or posting what they’re reading directly onto their Facebook profiles is very much for the library’s win (i.e. word of mouth).

Since the Facebook app does require an NLB account to play with, I’ve made a quick five minute screencast above for the benefit of our international librarian friends (also on Youtube for the kiasu ones). If you can’t or hate watching videos, you can also read all about ‘myLibrary’ at NLB’s Facebook FAQ page, which includes a user guide (PDF) complete with annotated screenshots.

So far, the tweets about the ‘myLibrary” has been largely positive (many of whom were surprised!), so I do hope NLB keeps up the great work. I love our innovative librarians, and this in turn makes me proud of Singapore.

UPDATE 1: Some folks have asked if NLB has plans for mobile apps, and while there’s no official word, my sources have quietly hinted in due time. Meantime, we can always point our iPhones to http://m.nlb.gov.sg

UPDATE 2: If you’re so inclined, Ivan Chew (@RamblingLib) has shared screenshots of NLB’s myLibrary Facebook app.

• Why Librarians should blog…
• High Browse Online: Singapore’s Book Blog
• Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice for Singapore National Day
• “I Heart My Library” gone wild…
• Guess where I am now…

happy two-thousand-ten.

Changes abound,
… afraid?
Nay.
The spell is broken.

music by detektivbyran.net
also viewable on youtube

• Nonsense of the Day: Chinese Mountain Song Music Video
• Rocketboom breakup: A tale of fame vs. friendship?
• Name the Care Bear in this photo!
• Photos: The Making of COM125 Music & Blog Awards…
• UStream: Siva’s Blogging Presentation @ MDIS

Download theorycast.63 :: What is Transmedia? (.mp4 / 52mb), or watch this on Youtube, Facebook and Blip.tv. Subscribe to theorycast on iTunes.

At the Futures of Entertainment 4 conference in MIT, I asked academics Xiaochang Li, Sheila Seles and William Uricchio of the Convergence Culture Consortium on their definitions of transmedia.

As defined by Henry Jenkins in his book Convergence Culture (2006 // see book and video), transmedia storytelling is published across multiple forms of media with each element making distinctive contributions to a viewer/user/player’s understanding of the story world. By using different media formats, it attempts to create “entrypoints” through which consumers can become immersed in a story world. Jenkins also compares highlights sticky media vs. spreadable media, where we once stuck viewers into specific media, now we’re now encouraging the content to be perpetuated across media and users.

MIT Press Bookstore selection @ #FOE4

Why is transmedia a big deal now?
I expect that the first point is technology, where we see the proliferation of networked media forms, such as video games, the Internet, and mobile platforms. The second point is cultural, such as the Web 2.0 movement, where the participatory design, distributive ease and integrative form of digital media lends itself well to stories flowing across media platforms.

Inspired from Lucian’s analogy of greek mythology, one of the obvious questions on transmedia lies in its distinctiveness. If stories have been reiterated across media (even tablets and statues) since the early B.C., isn’t that already a form of transmedia? If so, how is it different from cross-media or intertextual forms of productions?

From our video interview, Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, Prof. Urrichio, describes transmedia as a new “lens” for us to make sense of experiences, both present and past (thus history is ever exciting). The concept clearly existed long ago, but only now are we gathering more precise vocabulary and practice for it. Perhaps it’s like seeing new colors for the first time.

An instance of transmedia in the everyday is Wikipedia, where users are co-creating and co-sustaining the continuity of the online encyclopedia, as well as reproducing the content in print and through development of mobile applications. Prof. Urrichio argues that the magic of transmedia practices, like Wikipedia, lies in its algorithm. In any transmedia practice, it is the algorithm (I offered rule-making) which defines the social outcomes of the story. If a transmedia story were an organism, it seems to me that the algorithm is much like its DNA. Open user participation on a transmedia story means that we can’t really predict how users (or fans) would re-shape the storyline, but with its algorithm in place, we can expect how it would eventually look like.

FOE4 session 3: Transmedia for Social Change (video). The Harry Potter Alliance is ingenius!

Transmedia inevitably offer a canvas for free-play, which leads us into the idea of games, specifically alternative reality games (or ARGs). To explain, Cayden Mak shared with me a neat paper by Henrik Örnebring entitled Alternate reality gaming and convergence culture: The case of Alias (2007). In it, Örnebring describes Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) as a form of internet-based mystery game in which participants are immersed in a fictional world and engage in collective problem-solving.

What makes this paper particularly interesting, is that it takes into account the potential exploitative aspect of transmedia (and ARG) practices. While part of fan culture, the paper problematizes the fact that many ARGs are actually marketing tools.

An ARG I’ve personally observed was called ILoveBees.com, in which a seemingly innocuous web site gets hijacked by an A.I., offering clues throughout the site. As documented by ARG researcher, Christy Dena, “I Love Bees (42 Entertainment, 2004) was a radio drama delivered through fragmented sound files that were released one-by-one to the players as they answered over 1,400 payphone, in over 50 states, in eight countries. Once a call was answered and a challenge was successfully completed, an ‘axon’ (sound file) was unlocked for the players online.” Thing is, I Love Bees was essentially a marketing campaign for the Halo 2 game.

While not explicitly a game, we do see online services such as Facebook come under fire when their terms of agreement seizes the copyright of media shared by its users. On the other hand, Wikipedia threads the line carefully as it remains non-profit and posts no ads. This awareness of potential online exploitation brought about the recent conference called The Internet as Playground and Factory (Nov 12-14, 2009).

@mikemonello, best known for producing The Blair Witch Project, has awesome laptop stickers from Vinylville

FOE4 Conference Aftermath
If you’re wondering how the Futures of Entertainment 4 conference went, let’s just say there’s way too much for me to write about. Thankfully @rachelclarke liveblogged all the sessions, so just scoot over to her blog and search under “FOE”. Here’s my favorite session which she documented, FOE: Producing Transmedia Experiences: Participation & Play. Also, videos from the FOE4 sessions are out on MIT TechTV. I video captured some of the sessions and tweeted them from my iPhone OWLE rig, but they’re not as professional.

Update 1: This theorycast video is now featured on ConvergenceCulture.org (thanks Sheila!) and the MIT Comparative Media Studies web site (thanks Andrew!).

Update 2: I have to point you to the Futures of Entertainment 4 conference videos. If you have time, they are a treasure throve of real-life case studies and experiences. A must-watch is the keynote session by Henry Jenkins entitled “Revenge of the Origami Unicorn: Five Key Principles of Transmedia Entertainment”. Session 3 “Transmedia for Social Change” is relevant to folks like me. Very inspirational session, esp the Harry Potter Alliance project (mindblowing!). Session 4 “The ROI of ROFL” is where Grant McCracken, author of Chief Culture Officer, lead the panel on the disconnect between “corporation and culture”. I’ve yet to blog about my interview with him. Watch them all 8 sessions here, or download all 8 videos to iTunes, then sync to your iPod to watch.

• theorycast.17 :: Christy Dena on Cross-media & Alternate Reality Games
• Watch Henry Jenkins discuss Transmedia Storytelling (video)
• Casting A Wider Net: A Coursecasting Conference @ UB
• Photos + Commentary: Day Four in Brisbane for AoIR Conference
• Packing. No time to blog. Just watch me…

This twitter comic was brought to you by @schoebdoo and @k3v2.

• Running with “Comic Life”
• Exclusive: Pre-Release Look at Comic Life Magiq!
• Silly Rabbit, Hacks for Kids!
• The Halo Graphic Novel coming this summer!
• Where do you prefer your conversations: Twitter or FriendFeed?

Alex Halavais, John Hendron, and AcademicDave are just some of the education folks who have been exploring the future of learning, and how schools as institutions are going to have to adapt to stay relevant in an increasingly participatory media age.

On 14th Oct 2009, as part of the edUtorium series at the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Aussie educator John Larkin and I delivered a comprehensive look at the ways social web tools have been implemented within our classes in order to enhance learning interaction among students. I did a pre-talk synopsis here and so did John.

theorycast.61 :: Imagining Classroom 2.0 @ NTU (Part 1 by John Larkin)

theorycast.62 :: Imagining Classroom 2.0 @ NTU (Part 2 by Kevin Lim)
BTW, here are my slides…

Presentation Overview:
The democratic nature of the social web means that the ability to learn and produce meaningful work can now happen at any level – from the independent student, to the individual teacher, to the entire education institution. Now, more than ever, instructors are able to motivate active learning among students, by empowering them with relevant online tools that allow for more creative approaches to go beyond the traditional class-based education.

In this two hour session, we showed instructors how they could…

• cultivate learning beyond the classroom
• encourage participation in the class conversation
• inspire student pride through greater sense of ownership of their work
• include new literacies in research, organization, and synthesis of ideas
• support multiple learning styles
• create exemplars by raising the bar of student achievement
• archive learning by creating a record for both you and the students

Hazman and Carolyn Lim came by too!

Big thanks to cameraman Christopher Tan of Singapore Polytechnic for coming down, capturing the event, and providing us with video footage. Very thoughtful fella!

• Speaking @ NTU: “Education and the Social Web: Taking Learning Beyond the Classroom”
• Video: COM242’s half-time special (or how to “unlecture”)
• Experiencing Politics on the Internet (in the classroom)
• “Leveling Up” Students with Class Blogs: Engineering Active Learning through Game Mechanics
• The Spectrum: Blogging as a means of reaching students

While working on my paper, I chanced upon a video of Jonathan Zittrain’s talk entitled “Minds for Sale”. It’s similar to the one he presented at “Internet as Playground & Factory” which I recently attended (*yet to be blogged). You can download the video via Berkman Center’s page.

Here’s his abstract:

Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, explores the evolving world of cloud computing. Cloud computing is not just for computing anymore: you can now find as much mindshare as you can afford out in the cloud, too. A new range of projects is making the application of human brainpower as purchasable and fungible as additional server rackspace. What are some of the issues arising as armies of thinkers are recruited by the thousands and millions? A fascinating (and non-scare-mongering) view is offered of a future in which nearly any mental act can be bought and sold.

What’s so significant about this talk is that it not only encapsulates the buzz I’ve picked up from the transmedia conferences I’ve just returned from, but he recognizes a pattern which finally takes us beyond the material, and into the conceptual. I’m referring to the emergence of shared cognitive power or rather, cloud labor as he calls it.

In his hour long presentation, he discusses…
2:05 Ubiquitous Human Computing or “Minds for Sale”
2:32 The Tween Bot
4:14 Crowdsourcing “The Future of the Internet”
7:36 A tour of the Ubiquitous Human Computing pyramid
8:37 Example 1: The X-Prize
10:24 Example 2: Innocentive
12:08 Example 3: LiveOps
15:43 Example 4: SamaSource
16:16 Example 5: Amazon’s Mechanical Turk
20:13 Example 6: The ESP Game
22:47 Example 7: Human Computing for Electronic Design Automation
24:01 Example 8: Google
25:24 Why Should We be Pessimistic?
26:38 Child Labor on PBS
28:11 Laboring for a Devious Cause
29:23 US Border Webcams
30:05 Smart Drive
30:45 Internet Eyes
32:09 Identifying Protesters
33:21 A Speculative Example
35:05 Mechanical Turking your way to a Fake Reputation
39:36 Mechanical Turking your way to a Political Movement
41:20 Captchas Sweatshops
43:03 “Crowding Out”
44:41 The Future of Crowdsourcing and How to Stop It
47:14 Clickworkers of the World Unite!
50:45 Monetizing Kindness

Enjoy!

• Q&A: Jeff Howe on Crowdsourcing @ Wired’s Virtual Office
• For Sale: My Mac Geek Stash
• Today’s Links: What is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk?
• theorycast.51 :: The Rise of Us – How Smartmobs Work
• PhD or Die Trying: Social media conferences we should go for

From the searing heat of Singapore to the chilly silence of Buffalo, it’s time for me to get back to work.

There are three things on my plate at this moment:
1. Finding a career (my main priority!)
2. Dissertation cleaning (I’ve graduated, but still bug-fixing)
3. Blog about my adventures in Singapore

While I might share the first two tasks in due time, the third task involves sharing what I’ve experienced in Singapore, which is manageable in chunks.

Stories from Singapore I intend to blog about…

1. My Sister’s Wedding @ The White Rabbit (video + photos)
2. John Larkin’s Singapore Story @ Haji Lane (videos + photos)
3. John Larkin & Kevin Lim talk Classroom 2.0 @ NTU (videos)
4. Social Media Agencies in Singapore (24Seven, Avantworks, BBH) (video + photos)
5. Kevin talks Social Media Strategy @ 24Seven Get-Together (photos)
6. Preetam’s Pokem social toy (video)
7. Lunch with intellect Keng Suan of Williams and Phoa (photos)
8. Dragon Kiln tour with Carolyn Lim (video + photos)
9. Interview Aaron Tan on Gaming @ Jurong Regional Library (video)
10. Interview with Yu-mei & Mark Frost of “Singapore: A Biography” (video)
11. Brandtology tour with Kelly Choo (video)
12. MoeMoe on Burmese food @ Inle Myanmar (video)
13. My Singapore Food Safari (Crescent Way, Prissyhan’s Chicken Rice, Modcentric’s Chicken Rice, Michael Cho @ Best Satay, Mini SG Tweetup @ Dempsey130, Tanjong Pagar’s Shark Meat Lor Mee, Mum’s tennis kahkis @ Seven Mile, Penny’s Robertson Walk foodies, Lynda & Cung @ Mezzanine) (photos)

Do tell me in the comments what you’d like to read about first so I can share them in preferential order. Thanks!

• Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice for Singapore National Day
• Vids and Pics: 1st Buffalo Tweetup @ The BrewPub
• theorycast 59 & 60 :: Michelle Thorne’s walkabout with Creative Commons Singapore
• theorycast 61 & 62 :: Imagining Classroom 2.0 – John Larkin & Kevin Lim @ NTU
• Are we Amusing Ourselves to Death?

As a fan and community manager for Creative Commons Singapore, Ivan Chew took a day off to bring CC Project Manager (International) Michelle Thorne (@thornet & blog) on a tour of Singapore’s Chinatown. I tagged along to learn about recent developments and challenges for Creative Commons in the international space.

On an overcast Monday morning (12th Oct), we started the day with a relaxing Chinese tea drinking session at D’Art Tea Station on 63 Temple Street, Singapore 058608 (Tel: 62258308). Not only did store assistant Ms Cheong educate us on the intricacies of Chinese tea drinking, but we managed to use it as a springboard for critical discussion into how tea drinking seems to run counterculture to contemporary consumerism (i.e. slowing down, minimalism, tradition vs. efficiency). Watch the hour long video below to see what I mean…

theorycast.59 :: Tea-drinking with Creative Commons Singapore

Next, we met up with Chung Nian, who serves as the Legal Project Lead for CC Singapore. We discussed the intricacies of CC adoption in Singapore, and shared ideas on how we could make CC more relevant to Singaporeans.

An exciting idea was to offer localized starter kits which catered to different genres of creators. For instance, I could volunteer to produce an Educator’s CC starter kit, which might include online videos, project ideas and Powerpoints which instructors could readily use in their classes to teach students about Creative Commons.

After all the talk (and tea), it wasn’t long before we were starving. We paid a visit to People’s Park food center for lunch, then rounded it off with Bubble Tea at Koi Cafe, which lets us stipulate how much sugar we wanted in our drink. Michelle apparently loves Bubble Tea, which is pretty unusual for a caucasian from my experience.

Our last stop was the new Popular bookstore franchise called [prologue] at Orchard Ion. Over coffee, we took turns to interview one another. I like the idea of passing the video camera around… it’s reciprocal and balances control of the discussion among participants.

theorycast.60 :: Roundtable with Creative Commons Singapore

In this roundtable discussion, we each shared how we first encountered Creative Commons, how we’re involved with CC, and what CC meant to each of us.

The day ended with the appearance of Michelle’s boyfriend, Peter Bihr (@thewavingcat & blog), who was himself a web strategist based in Berlin. I wish we all had more time to learn more about one another, but it was bittersweet while it lasted. I hope to encounter both Michelle and Peter sometime in the near future. Thanks Ivan Chew for making this one of the most spectacular Mondays for me ever ;)

Fun Fact: Thorne claims to be the inventor of Nutellachino, a dessert combining Nutella and cappuccino powder.

Remaindered Photos: See slideshow of extra photos from our Chinatown tour.

• Singapore’s plan for International Museum Day 2007
• Video: Michelle explains how three-dimensional printers work
• theorycast.09 :: Radio Interview on Political Podcasts in Singapore
• theorycast.13 :: Facebook Privacy 101
• The Geek Goddess Show Episode 2: On China’s Youtubes and Facebooks

Please help us spread the word about our talk this Wednesday at the Nanyang Technological University. Do note that the $80 fee is a norm for NTU’s edUtorium series; it’s not stipulated by us speakers. The talk is now FREE! Thanks to Senior Assistant Director, Alan Soong, for organizing this special event.

Date/Time
14 October 2009 (Wednesday) · 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm (2hrs)

Location
NTU Lecture Theatre 6, Level 2, Academic Complex North, Singapore (PDF map)

Abstract
The democratic nature of the social web means that the ability to learn and produce meaningful work can now happen at any level – from the independent student, to the individual teacher, to the entire education institution. Now, more than ever, instructors are able to motivate active learning among students, by empowering them with relevant online tools that allow for more creative approaches to go beyond the traditional class-based education.

In this two hour session, learn how you can…

cultivate learning beyond the classroom
encourage participation in the class conversation
inspire student pride through greater sense of ownership of their work
include new literacies in research, organization, and synthesis of ideas
support multiple learning styles
create exemplars by raising the bar of student achievement
archive learning by creating a record for both you and the students

In this international presentation brought to you by educators John Larkin and Kevin Lim, the first part of the session will provide a general state of education on the social web, while the second part will demonstrate tactical approaches to meeting your students’ learning objectives through the appropriate use of social web tools such as blogs, wikis, and social networks. The ultimate vision of this session would be to situate student learning in a more familiar and communal environment.

Speakers
Mr John Larkin is an educator and instructional designer presently living in Australia. He has vast experience in the development and application of educational technologies in primary, secondary, tertiary and corporate educational fields. John is constantly researching the latest trends in educational technologies and as a result he has established linkages with like-minded educators across the globe. He is constantly seeking new tools and technologies that will allow educators of all backgrounds to converge teaching and technology in a manner that is both practical and productive. He has worked on a significant number of web-based and CD-ROM projects. John has led the design on corporate, tertiary and school based web-learning projects. His skill set is enriched with a keen eye for design and a practical approach towards instructional technologies.

Dr Kevin Lim studies and shares his interest in the wide-ranging cultural affordances of information communication technology, particularly on the self-organizing and pedagogical quality of the social web. With his academic background in communication, his research has ranged from Internet censorship and civil sovereignty in China, to social capital among online non-profit organizations. He also conducts social web-related workshops and produces instructional guides at the Teaching & Learning Center, located in the University at Buffalo (SUNY). Kevin has been fortunate to be featured on the Buffalo News (New York), CBC News (Canada), Zaobao Weekly (Singapore), Channel News Asia (Singapore), commandN.tv (Canada), as well as several prominent blogs.

Course Fee
S$80.00 FREE!

Registration Link
http://edutorium.ntu.edu.sg/courses_detail.php?course_id=138

• theorycast 61 & 62 :: Imagining Classroom 2.0 – John Larkin & Kevin Lim @ NTU
• SOLsummit2009: Mindmelding with fellow edu-digeratis…
• Interview with Milosun: How NOT to teach in Second Life
• Podcasting gets bigger in U.S. colleges
• Introducing our “ETC Workshops” podcast…

It’s been two years since I last returned to Singapore.

This time I’m back for my sister’s wedding, and will be staying for the month of October. Rather than pouring out a lyrical diatribe of my arrival, I’m pouring out buckets of sweat as I write this. In short, let me just show you my journey so far…

Click to enlarge…

And here’s a surprise Uke performance (or rather wedding rehearsal) by Lynda and Greta…

Finally, here’s my live calendar showing what I’ve got lined up for the entire month. If you think we should meet up, drop me a line here.

Direct link to the Google Calendar

• Making sense of Google Calendar…
• Panorama: Flint Loop @ UB [entirely processed on the iPhone]
• New York City here we come!
• Matt & Alethea’s Wedding
• Qik video: Meet Shady, Tour Buffalo, Head for Avenue Q

Last Saturday, I was invited to talk about online campaign strategies at the 7th Annual Planned Parenthood Advocacy Conference in Rochester, NY.

Being an all-women event, I was given a glimpse into a world rarely witnessed by men. Curiosity took the better of me, as I interviewed everyone from student advocates to regional leaders in the planned parenthood community.

Who are these pro-choice advocates? What motivates them to work with such gusto? How do they organize themselves to take social and political action? These are but some of the questions I sought to answer.

Big thanks to Amy White and Tessa Walker for giving me the opportunity to share and learn from women who are fighting for greater rights over their own physical bodies.

• theorycast.57 :: Social Media – Strategy Instead Of Tools @ PRSA Buffalo (Part 2)
• Experiencing Politics on the Internet (in the classroom)
• Men Are From Google, Women Are From Yahoo!
• On Social Media Strategies, Cultural Lag, Productive Gaming, and Online Activism
• How believable are socio-political blogs in Singapore? Give your two-cents!

Everyone’s been asking me, “So what have you been up to?”

It used to be the terrifying “Wow, you’re still here?”, so this has been a much needed improvement now that I’ve graduated. And no, just because I’ve received my doctorate doesn’t mean I’m being sought after just yet. I’m still pretty much a “naked doctor”, which means that I’ve still got to build up a bevy of research publications.

Besides the obligatory job hunt (which I hope to talk about later), I’ve been busy time-sharing my brain with the local Buffalo community. For the past few weeks, I’ve guest lectured at communication classes, spoken at advertising and public relations agencies, and then there’s a conference I’ve been invited to speak at this weekend. The speaking opportunities Buffalo PRSA presented me really paid off.

Despite my focus on online interactions, face-to-face time is still crucial, as I’ve learnt first hand during my interview with several NGOs for my paper on “Social Capital and Online Youths“. The benefit I get from giving these talks is the ability for me to gain an ethnographic perspective on social media use. I particularly enjoy hearing personal stories relating to experiences on services like Facebook and Twitter, something which we won’t find as easily in self-reported surveys.

Here are the folks I’ve met recently…

Social Media Strategies @ Flynn & Friends Inc.

I first met Barbara Keough at Buffalo PRSA when I gave my talk on social media: strategy instead of tools. She invited me to speak at their LOTs meeting (that’s Learning On Thursdays) at Flynn & Friends Inc. Besides helping a local company, I loved peeking into corporate habitats (i.e. workplaces), so I agreed.

I dropped by their office on Thursday at noon (17th Sept), and after getting to know everyone, I started on how we often become enamored by the explosion of social web tools out there, when we should really be spending our time studying our users and what they were doing online.

That said, our approach to social media shouldn’t be too different from how we conduct traditional media planning, except that we now have to account for participants as potential producers (produsers to be exact), rather than passive viewers. I’d like to think that in our networked renaissance known as Web 2.0, almost everyone’s an Andy Warhol; Pop culture exists when it is exponentially reiterated.

Pulling together various studies, I shared measures of user participation as well as the varying types of online friendships, together with the caveat that passionate fans could just as easily turn against your brand; a reminder that respect remains a two-way street. You can see the slides here if interested.

Founder and Creative Director, Mitch Flynn, is known for his involvement in “Ride for Roswell“. He sent me a note recently saying that this talk was one of the best out of twenty-five he’s attended, so I’m glad I’m hitting the right notes. Incidentally Marc Adler, VP of Client Services, teaches advertising at UB, so that’s where most of my younger friends seem to recognize him from.

Social Media & Cultural Lag @ Marian’s PR Class, Buffalo State

Poor Mary’s right at the back. Yes, that’s a student’s puppy.

After meeting the kind folks at Flynn & Friends Inc, I made my way down to Buffalo State College in the evening to speak with the graduate students at Dr. Marian Deutschman’s public relations class. Like Barbara, Mary had enjoyed my talk at the Buffalo PRSA sunrise seminar and thought I’d be ideal for her students.

Almost all of the students were somewhat practitioners themselves; there’s Peter from the Apple Store (Buffalo), Judie from Channel 4 News, and Marissa from Perry’s Ice Cream, which if you don’t know, is located around Buffalo. One of the other students works at the mayor’s office, while another was getting paid to ghost-tweet for a celebrity rapper.

In jest, the ghost-twitterer admitted feeling sad for the rapper’s unbeknownst twitter fanbase, so I shared the tip I learnt from Travers Collins & Company’s Courtney Quattrini (correct me if I’m wrong) on how 50 Cent had his ghost-twitterers sign off with initials, so fans wouldn’t feel short-changed thinking that it’s actually him tweeting. It’s about mutual respect.

While I generally approach agencies with a tactical perspective, I speak to students from a more historical point of view. After my presentation on social media strategies, we sat around and discussed how each of their organizations used social media, as well as the challenges they faced as communicators transitioning into the online social networking realm.

Quite often, plenty of ideas surrounding social media use inappropriately lends itself from traditional media use (i.e. broadcasting, one-way messaging, spamming). I shared the technologically deterministic concept of cultural lag to explain why new media tends to take a while to catch on, because we tend to replicate old behaviors into new environments. Dr. Marian jumped in to share how we could see this throughout history. While the horse carriage was popular during the 19th century, the automobiles which took over in the 1890s were known as horseless carriages for a period of time. When students talked about the pointlessness of conferencing through Second Life, I remarked that the best applications of Second Life I’ve seen has been for simulations and role-play. Every media excels in through particular ways.

To account for this cultural lag, I emphasized to students the importance of exploration and experimentation in media use. We won’t know the socio-technological affordances until we chance upon it. Blogs (arguably) didn’t gain popularity until Americans saw a need to act on their emotions after the events of 9/11. Meanwhile, the developers of twitter recently credited their users with the grassroots creation of retweets (see Project Retweet).

To get a sense of what students thought about our session, here are excerpts from their class reports:

“With social networking, there are endless ways to complement public relations efforts. Social networking gives more power to public relations practitioners than ever before. We now have ways of putting messages out to thousands of key consumers without having to rely on a journalist to communicate for us. It does carry some risks and potential conflicts with PR. Anyone can post anything they want at anytime.”

“Before we go down any one path, we should ask ourselves some questions. Are our customers likely to be online? How will you incorporate this into people’s daily jobs? Social media is time consuming. How will you measure results? Is the organization ready to handle negativity?”

“Use of these sites for purpose of public relations can be both beneficial and harmful to the company. The “fan haters” can create a poor reputation by spreading nasty comments about a company or person. On the other hand, if there is positive feedback, news will spread very quickly, increasing popularity in a very short period of time. Kevin said, from a business standpoint, it is important to keep good relationships with your fans on these sites.”

“The only downfall of social networks such as Facebook is the amount of time and level of work required to maintain public interest. Without frequent updates, users are not encouraged to view the site, and thus will not be affected by its existence.”

“We need to heed Kevin’s warning about the danger of spreading yourself too thin because you will be unable to dedicate the time that is needed to each networking site.”

“The potential impact of audience as distributor is being played out daily, but for those of us who did not grow up in the Information Age it is important to willfully keep this idea top of mind; we just aren’t used to thinking about comments about our organization being Twittered, Facebooked, blogged about, shared, forwarded, etc.”

Productive Gaming @ Kyounghee’s COM125 Intro to Internet

PhD candidate & colleague Kyounghee invited me to guest lecture at her Intro to Internet class on Sept 25th, so I picked a presentation topic I’ve been experimenting with entitled productive games. I had conducted this talk to an appreciative crowd at the first Buffalo Barcamp, so this gave me a chance to make updates and refinements.

I’m not ready to publish the slides as I wish to make it more grounded, right now it feels like a scrapbook of interesting case studies. I will share that it involves Amy Jo Kim’s game mechanics as a means of steering user motivations. Video games have typically been given a bad rep in the media for generating social undesirable or unproductive behavior. By harnessing the addictive quality of video games and embedding these game mechanics into traditional labor, can we make work fun? What about steering users towards socially beneficial ends?

In reality, we are subconsciously performing micro-tasks as part of larger systems such as social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. On either of these services, you’ll see the number of friends implicitly considered as a scoreboard, while the profile completion progress meter would look like feedback in the leveling process, all of which are gaming elements that reply on our psychological urges. This prompts the reflexive point of whether we are playing the game, or is the game playing us. This potential exploitation forms the crux of Trebor’s upcoming conference: The Internet as Playground and Factory (Nov 12-14, 2009).

Online Activism @ 7th Planned Parenthood Advocacy Conference

This weekend, I’ll be making my way to Rochester to attend “Great SEXpectations“, a Planned Parenthood conference where I’ll be speaking on the topic of grassroots activism through social networks.

Since meeting Tessa Walker and Amy White at the Buffalo PRSA seminar, I’ve discovered how the Planned Parenthood organization has been involved with the Obama campaign, while educating and empowering youth and young adult activists to take action for sexual justice. It’ll be the first time I’m interacting with the lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender (LGBT) community, so I’m looking forward to understanding their perspectives when it comes to social networking. I’ll be updating the presentation I gave to the local fundraising community earlier this year. Here’s the byline for my talk…

The Obama Way: Using Online Social Networks to Promote Your Cause
Ever wondered how President Obama used online social networks to win his 2008 election campaign? Obama’s campaign reminds us how citizen participation has always been key, be it on the ground or on the web. Learn how to take advantage of social networks to gain participation and empower supporters.

All in all, I’ve tried to make the best of my time in Buffalo until I head back to Singapore next week for the month of October. I’ll be back in November to continue my job hunt from Buffalo.

• Speaking @ PRSA Buffalo: Getting started with social media for PR practitioners (Pt.2)
• Speaking @ PRSA Buffalo: Social Media – Strategy Over Tools (Part 1)
• theorycast.57 :: Social Media – Strategy Instead Of Tools @ PRSA Buffalo (Part 2)
• DataPortability: The Good and The Bad (on Identities)
• Video: Hill & Knowlton’s Ben Koe on “PR in Online Communities”

Media activist, educator and human-connector, Trebor Scholz, has opened registration for his present-future conference, The Internet as Playground and Factory.

If you haven’t guess it, this conference is based on the idea of digital networked labor as it questions whether we are being exploited through our everyday online activities. I often get asked how web services like Youtube and Facebook are “free for use”, so this conference is set to explore what we actually trade in return, be it our individual privacy or labor within privatized commons.

As seen from Trebor’s conference introduction:

[...] The revenues of today’s social aggregators are promising but their speculative value exceeds billions of dollars. Capital manages to expropriate value from the commons; labor goes beyond the factory, all of society is put to work. Every aspect of life drives the digital economy: sexual desire, boredom, friendship — and all becomes fodder for speculative profit. We are living in a total labor society and the way in which we are commoditized, racialized, and engendered is profoundly and disturbingly normalized. The complex and troubling set of circumstances we now confront includes the collapse of the conventional opposition between waged and unwaged labor, and is characterized by multiple “tradeoffs” and “social costs”—such as government and corporate surveillance. While individual instances are certainly exploitative in the most overt sense, the shift in the overall paradigm moves us beyond the explanatory power of the Marxian interpretation of exploitation (which is of limited use here). [...]

This reminds me of what iconic Obama street artist Shepard Fairey once said in a CBS news feature: “It’s not appropriate for only advertisers to own the public graphic communication space”. Extending Fairey’s idea across all realms, we are living in an era where all public space is being commodified. Is the situation worse online?

Trebor’s been working on the digital labor idea since I was a student of his, and he’s gathered a formidable force of around 84 artists and academic thinkers (including esteemed friends Alex Halavais, Chris Barr and Stephanie Rothenberg) to discover how legitimately concerned about exploitation we as digital natives should be.

It’s FREE (monetarily at least) to participate, goes from Nov 12th to 14th, and will be held at The New School, Eugene Lang College in NYC (Google map). You’re invited to register and for your convenience, I’ve created an upcoming.org event for it so you can easily add it to your iCal and Google calendars.

Pending available accommodations, I am planning be there to help cover the event. If you’re thinking of going and would like a buddy to introduce you around, drop me a comment. BTW, I found the perfect t-shirt to wear for such an event.

• Trebor Scholz’s Cautionary Note on Social Media (via Howard Rheingold)
• Making sense of Google Calendar…
• Conferences are expensive. Introducing AOIRcamp.
• Casting A Wider Net: A Coursecasting Conference @ UB
• Livecasting: “Web 2.0: What Went Wrong?” by Trebor Scholz

Before summer fizzed away, this month’s Buffalo Tweetup was held at Cabana Sam’s in Sunset Bay (see Google map). It’s my first time at a beach in Buffalo, even though it’s technically a lake beach. At last… sun, sand, and “sea”.

Many of us local twitterers were there, including Jim Milles (@JimMilles), Kristina Lively (@KLively), Joseph Hsu (@jhsu), Janelly (@jpineda04), Diana Truong (@ursexyfat). A few new twitter friends included Seon McDonald (@laserfox) from Trinidad, Anne (@Awalterich) who lives by the beach and Michael Rebmann (@mrebmann) who discusses politics on twitter.

If you want in on future Buffalo Tweetups, do join buffalotweetup.ning.com and follow @BuffaloTweetup.

• UB tweetup #1: University at Buffalo folks on Twitter
• Vids and Pics: 1st Buffalo Tweetup @ The BrewPub
• Singapore’s plan for International Museum Day 2007
• Want the juice on Macworld? Try Twitter.
• Buffalo Tweetup #3: Making a living thru video podcasting

GoPro Hero Cam: Driving from Triads apartment to the airport. This exciting wearable camera is actually meant for extreme sports, so I’ll try to be creative in pushing it later. They’ve got tons of mounts for it, including ones for the helmets, surfboards, suction cups for race cars and so on.

I need to fashion a mount that clips onto the front strap of my sousveillance backpack. While it does great video thanks to its bright lens, I like the automated shooting mode which lets me automatically capture five megapixel fisheye photos every 2 or 5 seconds. Though I lose sound in that mode, it’s allows me to quickly browse through a visual record of where I’ve been and who I’ve met.

Don’t forget the latest firmware update which increases recording from 2gb to 4gb per file, as well as improving exposure in bright environments (e.g. snow). If you’re wondering how this camera’s been used in extreme sports, take a look at these nut-jobs! I got the basic GoPro Wide Hero 5MP camera from Amazon for $139

Sanyo Xacti HD1010: 300fps video test with Jerry & Shasha. This is a High Definition 1080p pistol grip video camera with several unique features, including interchangeable lenses, manual controls, and of course, high-speed video capture. I’ve got a few lenses coming my way so I can try more creative shots. I got this camera from Amazon for $349.

• Today’s Links: Creative My Ass…
• Krrish: Bollywood’s upcoming sci-fi movie set in Singapore
• Got MacBook Pro? Check out SanDisk’s MultiCard ExpressCard Adapter
• Amazon shipping Macbook Pro today?
• Reminder trick for cancelling your Amazon Prime Trial

My colleagues at the Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) threw me an awesome graduation party. Big thanks to @RobinSullivan and Becky for making it happen, and for my friends at the University at Buffalo for coming by, including @ssperson @sunrisesomeday @bschu1022 @jhsu @ChrisVanPatten and @denidzo.

• Watch on Youtube or download the iPhone version (.mp4 / 25mb).
• Watch previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes.

• theorycast.44 :: How to iPhone-ize Your WordPress Blog
• theorycast.45 :: Mouse in the Air – The GyroTransport Pro
• Watch ::theorycast:: on blip.tv (re-runs never looked so good!)
• theorycast.51 :: The Rise of Us – How Smartmobs Work
• theorycast.55 :: Touring the Retro-Media exhibit @ UB

What seemed like an eternity ended up being nine years in the University at Buffalo, with last six years being in the doctoral program. These last few years felt the longest, with each passing day no different from the last…

Writing, eating, sleeping,
Alone, ashamed, angry.

While my mind saw an imperfect masterpiece, my heart sought to find the path to closure.

Refusing to stay any longer, I was granted the miracle of a defense. Beyond the powers of me, the pieces of the puzzle which should have been in disarray, fell magically into place in due time.

Paperwork, people, persistence.

With a last burst of fire, I delivered the presentation from which my future hinged upon. Questions were asked, after which I was told to step out for a while. A private deliberation later, the committee invited me back into the room. With hands outstretched, they each shook my hand, congratulating me as Dr. Lim.

Dr. Lim… the ring of which sounds too unfamiliar to me.

My friends seem happier for me than I have been for myself. Perhaps I’ve just been numbed by these years of waiting, wondering, withering. It will take time for me to be happy with myself. For now I jest.

• Video: The Rise of Us – The Distributed Power of Social Media
• SOI Dissolution: Dean Penniman’s Story
• Steamboat dinner with a few blogging friends
• Lecture: Seduction of the Swarm – Patterns of Online Participation
• Visual Recipes: Like Flickr for Food

To celebrate Singapore National Day alone in Buffalo, I decided to make Hainanese Chicken Rice so I wouldn’t forget what home tasted like. On the other hand, it’s also because Prissyhan’s specially packed PrimaTaste mixes were going bad. :P

Twitter friends @jhsu, @BuffaloPundit, @nimbupani all approved of my semi-homemade creation. Even @ramblinglib made me play the Singapore National Anthem (.mp3) while feasting on my passable Chicken Rice.

UPDATE: If you’re craving Laksa, Char Kway Teow, or any traditional Asian delights in the States, a Singaporean mother in Georgia has started an online store offering various Singapore food products, including Prima Taste and Chng’s Kee, at SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com. She lets me know that her independent panel of Singaporeans and Malaysians helped her select items that are truly authentic and easy-to-make. Prices seem reasonable, and I’m glad that there’s hope for those of us in the smaller cities ;)

• What I Consume: Instant Roti Prata = Chinese Puff lookalike
• Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur)
• From Singapore to Buffalo, what I’m up to now…
• Our New Year’s Food Expedition in Canada
• Happy New Year from Canada!

• Watch on Blip.tv or download the iPhone version (1hr / 600mb).
• Watch previous episodes on Blip.tv or subscribe to theorycast via iTunes.

As promised, here’s a video of the talk I gave yesterday at PRSA Buffalo/Niagara to kick off their Sunrise Seminar series.

Since it’s hard to see the slides in the video, view or download them from Slideshare.net while watching me take fifty communication professionals on a thinking journey through the strategic uses of social media.

You can read the full background story and grab links to references from the talk in Part 1 of this blog series. Also see what others had to say via #PRSAtalk on twitter.

Meanwhile, here are some of the fine folks I got to meet yesterday…

PRSA’s Jennifer on the left, while the girl closest to me is Jess Manocchio. Jess has been awesome for connecting me with the local PRSA chapter.

Finally got to meet the amazing Rebecca Bernstein (@virtualr), mastermind behind the award-winning UB Web Team. I also got to meet Joe Brennan, Associate Vice President for University Communications at University at Buffalo. They plan to get UB more involved in the social media realm.

@LarryRoth is president at BrandLogic Interactive, located in Rochester. He’s a swell guy on twitter too. :)

Barbara Keough is Vice President of Operations at advertising agency Flynn & Friends, Inc. flynnandfriends.com. She’s invited me to join in one of their agency’s LOTs meetings (Learn On Thursdays).

Kevin Manne (@k3v2) works for Catholic Charities as a Communications and Public Relations Specialist. He’s worked on all kinds of media, from print, to billboards, to television, and now he’s venturing into the realm of social media.

Tessa Walker and Amy White chatted with me in length about how they were involved with the Obama campaign on the social web. They do great work at the Planned Parenthood of Western New York, which they explained had helped out on the campaign. I hope to learn more about their first-hand experience in what I’d believe is the most elaborate social media empowered national campaigns ever.

As I’ve mentioned over twitter (which got decent retweets): “Being rewarded for doing what you love is the best feeling in the world”. I love giving these talks because it’s a visceral, self-actualizing process. My lingering thoughts aren’t just shared, but fashioned by those willing to listen and talk to me about what they see as well. We’re essentially making sense of our crazy world together. :)

• Speaking @ PRSA Buffalo: Social Media – Strategy Over Tools (Part 1)
• Apple’s new ad campaign: Get a Mac
• Vids and Pics: 1st Buffalo Tweetup @ The BrewPub
• Dynamics of Twitter chatter + Emerging media faculty position
• Today’s Links: Some recent statistics on social media…

Thanks to Jess Manocchio, I’ve been re-invited to speak at PRSA Buffalo, kicking off their Sunrise Seminar series on social media.

While my previous talk in February focused on listening in social media (Part 1 & Part 2), this time I’ll be bringing folks on a journey through how social media strategies are created. Along the way, I’ll recommend the use of conversation filtering and analysis tools such as cotweet and JamiQ. You should be able to follow along 8am EST today (Aug 5th) via twitter #PRSAtalk.

For your convenience, the must-have books I’ve mentioned in my talk today include:
• Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (2008) by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
• Community Building on the Web : Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities (2000) by Amy Jo Kim
• Designing for the Social Web (2008) by Joshua Porter

UPDATE 1: Jess told me that we had around 50 happy participants today! I’ve added the my presentation slideshow at the top of this post, and you can download the slides (.pdf) from Box.net (easier) or Slideshare.net. Please share these slides if you see fit, and do let me know what your colleagues think about it.

UPDATE 2: Part 2 is now available and it features the video from this talk. Enjoy! :)

• theorycast.57 :: Social Media – Strategy Instead Of Tools @ PRSA Buffalo (Part 2)
• AoIR Presentation: Building Social Capital for Online Youths
• Video: Hill & Knowlton’s Ben Koe on “PR in Online Communities”
• Facebook Strategies Workshop 2.0 [Freshly Presented]
• Speaking @ PRSA Buffalo: Getting started with social media for PR practitioners (Pt.1)

As seen in the Encyclopedia of New Media by Steve Jones (2002)

MIT wearable-computer researchers (1998). They were easy to spot. Today, with the proliferation of smartphones augmenting our lives in real-time/real-space, the cyborg has disappeared into the everyday.

UPDATE: Mobile phones get cyborg vision (11 Aug 2009) by Michael Fitzpatrick, BBC. It’s about Augmented Reality.

• GE’s “augmented reality” campaign
• theorycast 52 :: Real Space Electronic Art Show
• Social Cyborg: Coming soon to Buffalo News
• Just spoke with Steve Mann – world’s first cyborg
• Kami the Blinker vs. Kevin the Social Cyborg

On 12th June 2009, producer @NishaPatel invited me onto CBC Business News to talk about the eBook phenomena. I think I talk a little slow for television, but oh well, that’s that.

I initially passed this opportunity to Dr. Alex @Halavais, whom I knew was in the process of digitizing his entire personal book library. He had given me great advice on the evolution of media industries from analogue to digital, specifically on how the book publishing industry is likely to mirror the course of music and movies industries into the digital domain.

Here are some questions from CBC News, as well as my responses:

1. Why are eBooks taking so long to turn mainstream?
Short answer: Aesthetic experience. Music and movies tend to be experienced same way be it analogue or digital (i.e. screens, headphones), while the experience of browsing a physical book hasn’t been replicated in the electronic form. I think we’re compensating by recognizing the new-found features of ebooks, including the ability to search within books and to carry along more books with us than physically possible.

2. Who are going to be the real losers here? Bookstores, publishers?
If we were to look at the demise of Tower Records, or the state of Blockbuster today, it’s quite certain that if ebooks were to take off, then the brick and mortar bookstores would be next to go. As much as we romanticize the loss of physical browsing, bookstores might have to adapt themselves around alternative aspects of business. I’m seeing many bookstores take the Starbucks route by turning themselves into The Third Place, which focuses the business on communal aspects of books, such as operating cafes, hosting author readings, and catering to book clubs.

3. Which device do you think will lead the ebook revolution?
I personally enjoy reading on my Amazon Kindle, as well as my iPhone. They compliment each other very well, and the convenience and comfort these devices bring to reading ebooks make them strong contenders as mainstream devices for the publishing industry.

If you’re interested to see why the Kindle and the iPhone rock for reading, check out this recent discussion I had with my fellow Kindle fans.

UPDATE: The RamblingLibrarian now offers his thoughts on ebooks as well.

• Chart: Amazon’s Kindle vs. Sony Digital Reader vs. iRex iLiad
• Howard Rheingold: Craig Newmark on Digital Journalism
• High Browse Online: Singapore’s Book Blog
• Today’s Links: Overheard Conversations in New York
• Good Books on Blogging and Podcasting

If you’re on a Mac and find yourself bookmarking the entire Internet on Delicious, you’ll want to check out Code Sorcery Workshop’s upcoming Pukka 1.8.

While it’s easy enough to use the Delicious bookmarklet to tag sites you love, having a desktop app integrates Delicious with your entire Mac OSX experience.

The Basics
Upon launch, Pukka may look diminutive, but the real power lies in how it speeds up your social bookmarking workflow in two key ways: Bookmarking and Searching

After entering your Delicious (or Ma.gnolia) account into Pukka (supports multiple accounts), it starts to cache your bookmarked links, tags and descriptions in the background. This action helps with your tagging and searching efficiency.

Bookmarking
To bookmark, tag and describe a link, you would first install the Pukka bookmarklet from the app into your favorite web browser. At your favorite site, hitting the bookmarklet launches the app and auto-fills the URL and Title of the page. If you highlighted text on the web page before hitting the bookmarklet, that specific text would also appear in the Pukka’s Description area (a real time-saver!).

Searching
While the earlier versions let you browse your recent delicious bookmarks in a pull-down menu, the new version features live search your bookmarks from the menu icon. Mind you, with Command-F to find, it’s lightning fast!

As you can see, almost everything in Pukka can be executed with simple keyboard commands, making the entire bookmarking and searching experience ridiculously quick once you get the hang of it.

New features of Pukka 1.8
While Pukka has always had a ton of features, here are the new ones you can look forward to in version 1.8:
* New search feature
– available from Window > Search (Command-F)
– also available from menu bar
– global keyboard shortcut assignable
– allows filtering by title, URL, tags, description, or all four
* Ability to drag-and-drop reorder accounts in preferences
– allows you to set a preferred account at startup (first account)
* Auto-expanding description field
* AppleScript access to all bookmarks and their properties

On the whole, the live search feature is where I feel the app is given a second life, while Applescript access would let hardcore users get the most out of Pukka. The description field has a unique touch of auto-expanding, though I’d simply prefer to be able to resize the entire window so I can also see my lengthy tags with less clicks.

Code Sorcery Workshop notes that pricing remains the same as the last version, $16.95. Current owners of Pukka 1.x get this as a free upgrade. Look for Pukka 1.8 this week or so, which will run on both Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5.

• Is Google Notebook a del.icio.us competitor?
• From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links
• Technorati Tag bookmarklet for Singapore News
• The Wists vs. Del.icio.us Showdown
• “Delicious Library” is well, delicious!

I’ve never been huge on weddings, let alone imagine myself being anyone’s best man. That’s life taking us into unexpected places. Yet, instead of being consumed by change, we’ve to learn to ride it. This is perhaps the best quality I’ve seen from my friend, Kelvin (aka MrBig).

Serendipity
by Kevin Lim

As the “Best Man”,
I’d like to propose a toast
to the bride and groom

My name is Kevin,
which misses one letter
from me becoming
the groom’s doppleganger.

Even though I came to know Kelvin from undergrad,
we’ve actually come to realize
that we’ve crossed paths while serving in the military.

While history may have tricked us into being strangers
bunking just a corridor apart
Our missed connection certainly didn’t happen twice.
Look at us today, We stand as grand friends.

Such “near misses” were the start of many more,
From which I’ve come to know what defines
this humble man with deep compassion for others.

From Singapore to the oddest of places: Buffalo, NY.
Kelvin had recently found his place in Greenville, SC
through academic necessity, sheer talent and dumb luck.

With just one year of internship as a school psychologist,
Kelvin could have come and gone as most have,
But once again, he was denied the well-beaten path
for he was made not miss the greatest gift yet to come.

Enter Alaina.

Having known Alaina for a short while,
I’ve discovered that she shares Kelvin’s
“for better or for worse” traits.

They both embody a Singaporean quality,
known as being “Chin Cai”
Which roughly translates to
“Don’t sweat the small stuff”.

While you’d say it in five words,
We say it in two,
That’s the Asian efficiency (or laziness) for you
Something Alaina would certainly have fun learning in Singapore.

Finally, it would be loudly unforgiving
if I didn’t sound off how Alaina and Kelvin
demonstrated comparable talent of the musical tongue,
for it speaks volumes of their immensely shared frequencies together.

If I had to lose Kelvin to anyone,
I can’t imagine
a more perfect woman than Alaina.

Cheers to both of you.

Aside: Greenville, SC, is quite an interesting city. You can check out my photos or a quick video where I check out popular eateries including Sonic (drive-in) and Chik-Fil-A.

• If you were Obama…
• Small World Letter
• ChitChat: Things you see in the First Class cabin…
• Hacking for Dummies
• Imagine Life as a series of Index Cards…