Jacques Derrida influenced a great many people, fields, and frameworks throughout his life, and it only seems fitting that his death in 2004 would itself cause controversy. A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Archive Fever, recounts how the effects of the actions of one faculty member at the University of California at Irvine jeopardized and ultimately cost the university
the Derrida Archives. While I am not particularly interested as to the veracity of the article’s claims (since only one side of the issue was provided as other parties in the dispute declined to provide their own voice to the story), I was captivated by a comment by Avital Ronell, who quoted some of the many letters that Derrida received while he was growing sicker from the pancreatic cancer that finally killed him.

“People sent letters saying how important he had been to them,” Ms. Ronell says. “Or he would get a letter saying ‘I’ve hated you my whole life, but now that you’re gone, I want you to know how much you’ve meant to me.’”

For the Father of Deconstruction, I find that final quote fascinating. Derrida made lots of people uncomfortable with his challenge of unspoken assumptions and frameworks in nearly everything within Western culture, yet there was something about him that was magnetic. In a way, he recalled the Socratic gadfly that people just wanted to go away away. Leave me to my beliefs, Derrida, as I was happy before you came along! I don’t want to think about new ways
of thinking! I like my life as it is! Just leave me alone!

Ahh, the status quo of my beliefs is so comfortable, why would I want anybody to challenge them? If deconstruction is such an annoying and unphilosophical phenomenon, why did it threaten so many? Could that in itself be the reason that it (he) can be hated, yet missed at the same time? Wow, would Freud have a field-day with this!

Technorati Tags: Avital Ronell, Chronicle of Higher Education, Deconstruction, Jacques Derrida, Socratic gadfly

These were the fortunes from the fortune cookies we received at the end of dinner last night. Are they truly fortunes or something profound or just random? Perhaps the answer will lie in how you consider such things.

For me, they do seem somewhat profound, especially given some of the recent and upcoming changes (that I am aware of) that I am experiencing. Makes things somewhat interesting as a constructivist.

Technorati Tags: constructivism, fortune, fortune cookie

As I am moving files to my new computer, I realized I did not upload the photos I took while in Oxford last month for the AHRD conference. Looking back at the photos I took, I think they really capture the look and feel of what I always wanted to see. I especially liked the crests and coats of arms I saw. Something so classical yet somehow so current. All of the Oxford photos I took are on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: ahrdoxford2007, England, Oxford

I have completely revised and added to my initial list of LiveBlogging Best Practices that I initially published on 6/26/07. This comes from feedback I received and having reflected on my learning from the 3 separate conferences I liveblogged. [this post was revised later in the same day with another item (#15) added based on a comment from Robin Yap.]

Liveblogging Best Practices

1. Have an extension cord. You never know how far away the outlet is.
2. Plan on there NOT being any wireless Internet access. Regardless of what may be expected or promised you never know what may happen with it, who may be downloading every DVD ever made and clogging the network in the process, and how even the most stable technology fails when we may need it most (not to mention when the access is "free" after a daily credit card payment).
3. Use an offline blogging program. I am using Ecto for this here. I also tried ScribeFire for Firefox, but I could not get the image uploading FTP to work to save me, and their help pages were not too helpful. I do not mind paying developers for their work, and think those who created Ecto certainly deserve what I paid them for what they delivered. As I am about to migrate from XP to Vista, it is important to check compatibility (such as with Macs) and have a freely-available trial period.
4. Have a fully-charged battery. This goes without saying, but often the unstated is forgotten or assumed!
5. Create entry shells prior to the sessions. This way, you are assured to have the correct names of the sessions and the spelling of the participants for each entry.
6. Disclose what editing is done later. I consider myself a researcher-practitioner, and as such want full-disclosure of what I liveblog in real-time, as I conduct research with my entries as they are. These are real data, and as such it would be counter to the research process to go back and edit, spell-check, and otherwise clarify what happened at a previous time as the point of liveblogging is to capture the experiences in real-time. Of course, if I am able to spell-check and otherwise edit as I go, then that is another situation.
7. Distinguish between internal and external experiences. I am a constructivist qualitative researcher, and as such do not believe the researcher can separate himself or herself from the research experience. When I am liveblogging a conference, I find myself writing about what I see, hear, and experience, as well as the meaning-making that occurs in real-time. I cannot separate an objective happening from my perception of it, in that I do not believe there can be any objective meaning or experience apart from one who experiences it. In practical terms, I can record what I hear and what strikes me, but then I often begin to process the experience and add to the meaning-making event. This means that liveblogging makes me more than an active participant–the public-blogging and my ability to discuss my own thoughts and feelings of the event makes me in effect a co-presenter. [I think I will have to revisit this to try to develop it more]
8. Have a camera and its sync-cord. While picture taking while liveblogging may be icing on the cake, it does add a nice touch.
9. Have an international adapter/plug. Liveblogging in Canada, for example, uses the same plugs as in the US. The AHRD conference I am liveblogging in England means I have another device I have to carry with me if I want to plug in.
10. Adjust the computer time to the local time. I have blogged around the world, and prefer to capture the sessions in the real time where I am.
11. Consider a hyper-link policy. If I am liveblogging and there is wifi, then it is easy to add links to the presentations or papers or the people who present themselves, However, with the editing policy I listed above (see #7), determine how to find the links and add them, with full-disclosure, at some point in time. This allows the readers to try to see as much of what you experienced while it happens. If there is no wifi available, I consider it appropriate to add hyperlinks after the session when the Internet access is again available.
12. Plan for breaks. I blogged with a laptop, and had to decide what I was going to do with it when I went to the restroom and getting coffee. Without a personal contact whom I could trust it with when using the restroom or otherwise, it came with me. I had to close it and carry it as a notebook (I wonder if that is how the name originated?)
13. Get a comfortable seat. Liveblogging is tiring, so get comfortable because it will be a long session.
14. Consider keywords carefully. I have started to include Technorati keywords in all my posts, and use common keywords if they exist for the event, as well as names of participants and the primary topic. While I blog for many reasons, I want my experiences to be found by those in attendance or otherwise interested in the events I attend (if they so choose). 
15. Tag the posts with an agreed-upon tag. Technology-related conferences often announce a unique tag that they encourage people to use when uploading posts or photos so they can be found by searchers and other attendees later. However, not all conferences or events do this. If not, create a unique tag for the event that will be easy to locate and share it with anybody else liveblogging the event (for consistency). Finally, name it in a post so readers and potential searchers will see it.  

This list is a work in process, and I hope to add to it as new issues arise or as feedback and research dictates.

Technorati Tags: live blogging, liveblogging, live-blogging, liveblogging best practices, Technorati

I recently spoke about how I bought a copy of The Philosopher's Magazine, and while looking through it there was another book I found that interested me: The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten. Written by Julian Baggini, one of the founding editors of the magazine itself, the book includes 100 short (1-page) stories (dilemmas) that are realistic and approachable, followed by 1-2 pages of reflection that Julian includes to help get the thinking-juices flowing. I started reading it for fun, and then yesterday it entered a new level.

It was sitting on my desk at work (as part of my commuting-reading), and a colleague saw it and asked me to bring it to dinner with me (three of us had planned to have dinner and catch up on sharing our summer stories). We decided to read one of the stories at dinner as a conversation-starter, and randomly selected "Till death do us part." This story addressed the issue of a couple who were getting married and how they were afraid of fully committing to one another and allowing the other to be "first." In our conversation, issues of marriage, commitment, permanence, personal vs. hypothetical experience, relationship, honesty, self-disclosure, divorce, and using the terms you vs. I in discussions when we speak of our experience in our own voice or when we at times project our experience as something common to all people (thus, you vs. I). We discussed this story and in the process learned more about one another and even about ourselves. We smiled later in the evening while, at a comedy club, several comedians made references to issues around marriage, commitment, and all the rest. If only they knew about our conversation earlier.

The story gave us a shared framework for the rest of the evening's discussions. Interesting how such a short and simple story can lead to something that is larger and more expansive than a 1-pager. While our conversation was very philosophical in nature, we managed to consider this without referring to Plato, Kant, Hegel, or even Derrida. Ahh, how interesting applied philosophy can be, not so much to get clear answers, but rather to see how many questions there really are.

Technorati Tags: The Philosopher's Magazine, Julian Baggini, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten

Usha Raghavachari, Car and Crossover Communications Manager, Ford Motor

She makes no apology that this is a marketing presentation. She gave her background, where she was born in India and grew up in England. Her presentation will be in a few pieces. This includes an overview of the environment. From the EPA work, there is an increasing sense of environmental awareness, from the 2007 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey / EPA / AdAge. Al Gore has also made
an impact, with the book and movie.

What does green mean for the automotive industry. Bloomberg stated that the taxis in NY will increasingly be more energy efficient. Most presidential candicates now are driving around in a hybrid. People also think of green as being hybrid. But, for the auto industry, being green often means having smaller SUVs or smaller cars. Diesel in Europe is more efficient than current US hybrids. Efficiency and green also means making vehicles lighter. She stated that people are happy to pay more money for this investment.
However, when I shopped for a new car, I saw that the hyrbid was $10 K more in cost and 1/5 less in power (hp towing).

Quick education–component parts, hybrids have smaller and efficient and technologically advanced engine. There is an electric motor/generator acts as a motor and as a generator. Benefits of a hybrid is more efficiency with electric assist and better fuel economy and less emissions. When an Escape Hybrid runs on the electricity and has turned off the engine component, the tailpipe gives our clean air. All hybrids are not equal–some are partial and some are complete. Some need to use gas at all times, and some
can run completely (at times) on electricity.

The Ford Escape is the first hyrbid SUV and the first hybrid in the US. The emphasis is that people want hybrid and green, but they do not want to give anything up.

Looking up at the slides after typing all this without looking up, I see an enormous amount of text on the slides. Wow, too much for a communications perspective. Makes me long for Seth Godin’s PowerPoint recommendations.

Hybrid customers are the most affluent and well-educated consumer they have. This population takes action in their lives toward being green (organic food, compost, recycle). They want an outdoor life and do not want to compromise. This sounds wonderful and as part of a group I want to be a member of; what a good marketer she is.

She is clear she is a marketing person, and was focused on communications. Ironic that as she stated that, she opened a Background slide with 3 paragraphs with a total of 14 lines. I wish the slides would have been as engaging as her marketing and PR campaign. I am now so distracted by all of it, that her credibility is called into question in my mind since there is a disconnect between what she is saying and what she is showing. She talked about how brilliant Kermit is and how much fun and engaging
their ads (including the American Idol ad that she played) are. Is she showing us what they did as a professional engaged in this work, or trying to sell us this car? As a visual learner, I can’t watch since the slide text is so overwhelmingly full.

She then showed the Ford advertisement with Kermit the Frog, “Easy Being Green.” Kermit has cross-generational appeal and it was launched during the SuperBowl. Now the Ford Escape Hybrid faces luxury and non-luxury competition. Thus, saying “green” today is no longer enough. Thus, they are now focusing an environmentally friendly, off road and on. It is a true hybrid and a true SUV. She then stated that they buy carbon credits to offset the manufacture processes of the vehicle.

I still do not understand the concept of buying carbon credits.

The moderator has been unsuccessful in giving her the sign that her time is over (already 35 minutes, and still not entry for questions). Ahh, is this true to marketing form?

Technorati Tags: EPA, Ford Escape, hybrid, Cone Consumer Environmental Survey,, Usha Raghavachari

Linda Recupero, EVP Public affairs , HSBC USA - “It’s Not Easy Being Green”

HSBC has been involved in corporate stewardship for a long time, and has a lot of green initiatives for some time now. She joked about being green and banks having a lot of green (money), but there is a belief that they should be environmentally green and believe it from every aspect of them as an organization.

Their core beliefs and strategic initiatives include corporate responsibility. They want to be one of the world’s leading brands for corporate responsibility and thus reduce their environmental footprint.

They look at their stakeholders with an environmental stewardship lens. There are a lot of people to consider. Their business and communications perspective. They want to engage customers in an emotional relationship and then having a positive sustainable impact on the communities where they work. There tag line, “The World’s Local Bank” and the fact tha HSBC is the 3rd largest banking organization in the world, this message rings true for them as well. For HSBC, environmental stewardship is central to who they
are.

Great focus on engaging their clients and customers, but the slides were not terribly engaging. Rather dull, which is something she even stated when she considered her slides compared to the National Geographic ones that preceded here work.

Rather than write a big check, they are trying to have policies and initiatives that support their work and mission. They encourage their employees to be active and engaged in nature conservation programs.

They focus on partnering with other organizations, and partnered in the WWF and EarthWatch. They then wanted to fund organizations that were focused on climate changed. The HSBC Climate Partneship was with four credible organizations–The Climate Group, Earthwatch, WWF, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. They funded this 5-year program with $100
M and want to encourage long-term work and involvement with people to be on expeditions and research projects.

They have the first Gold LEED certified bank branch in Greece, NY. Moving forward, they want every branch to have a component of being green and reducing their footprint.

Another of their tag lines for one of their campaigns is “there’s no small change” www.theresnosmallchange.com, which has incentives for making small changes in people’s banking and personal lives support these efforts.

It seems HSBC is very active in this area, and I am glad to hear it. I had no idea they were doing to much, so from a corporate communication perspective, they are quite active. As an organization with their people and customers and consumers and facilities, they are really making strides toward following their mission. Their chairman, Stephen K. Green, promotes this and believes and espouses promoting the green movement within HSBC.

The questions once again came from a global audience. The first question was about that most people are probably not aware of all the work HSBC is doing within this space. The question is about how HSBC can promote itself as a green-focused firm, and how they can use that within their marketing efforts. They are planning to actively begin marketing their work, especially as they are somewhat new at marketing and promoting their CR and Philanthropy and PR groups. They now realize how important this message and
the PR can be (compared to their marketing efforts). They have been humble and quiet in the past, and now are becoming more proactive in their approach. There was another question about how to filer this CR and green message to filer down, especially when the CEO is already in favor or and an evangelist of this message. A big piece of this is within employee education and e-learning and individual employee goals. They encourage people to be involved in conferences, and have a sustainability officer who then promotes
this and working with outside groups. Another question is if they have done a sustainability report, which they did. She believed this is critical, and they just released their report a month ago and offered to get it to the questioner (yet, oddly, did not share any of the results with those of us here).

Technorati Tags: Earthwatch, HSBC, Linda Recupero, Smithsonian Tropical Research Insitute, The Climate Group, WWF

Stephen P. Giannetti, VP and Group Publisher, National Geographic Magazine

He broke his presentation into 3 sections. At National Geographic, they are focused on where the consumers are going. Then, he wants to share about what the organization does with their employees. Finally, how they will communicate the message as a sustainable lifestyle.

1. Consumers want to feel better about what they have. They want to enjoy themselves and live their lives, while also knowing they are being good. 250 M people read the magazine and watch the cable channel. Really? Much greater reach than I expected or supposed. They are now referring to people today as a population that lives and has a “Valuable Life.”  This means living life to its fullest while also taking on personal responsibility. Thus, aware of impact on the environment and living with the consequences.
   There are also more opportunities for making a difference now. The slides he was using are very full with a tremendous amount of text. I have been typing by listening to him, but as I looked up at the slides, I am overwhelmed by the amount of text and columns and data and information. I think I will listen again, as I am distracted by looking at the slides. He stated they are focusing on the full-committed consumer or supportive consumer, which are now 41% of the population ( but not clear which population, the
   US or the world?).
2. National Geographic with their employees. Their new mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. I like this new mission, though it has been current for two years now. They want their employees to be brand ambassadors of trying to live this way around the world. This will help them to be more credible, as the employees will see this in their lives and not just in their message. Thus, they want attainable and sustainable goals. Their building is the first certified green building in the US, and they
   have a lot of internal initiatives (such as aggressive recycling in the cafeteria, Earth Day initiatives, and other ways to professionally and personal live greener lives, great use of wind power). National Geographic Magazine reaches 6.5 M readers each month, and they are looking to make a difference in how they create and print the magazine, as well as how their work and stories support their mission. They will then work with the World Wildlife Fund to do an
   internal audit of their green initiatives, as well as a new green section on their Intranet.
3. Communicating green and how they leverage their brand. Their global Mission “Inspiring People to Care about the Plant.” They are a non-profit and all their income supports their magazines and worldwide cable channels (communications vehicles) and they then also support people and projects who support their missions. They will bring these people together and then brainstorm how they can better support and spread what they have learned about the melting of the glaciers and the recession of the Redwoods (from projects
   of people who have walked across these areas to record this information). Climate Connections is a segment on NPR every morning, where they discuss articles and components from their work to further spread the word. They also licensed a cruise ship for a National Geographic expedition where passengers learn from their experts based on where they are traveling and what they hope to learn. He really encouraged
   and praised the work they do, and recommended people look at the practical and free resources on their website. They also purchased the Green Guide, a print and online publication for health and practical suggestions for living a greener life. Their article in the July 2007 issue, The Big Thaw. It was greatly read and the feedback is that people decided to take action after reading it,
   so from a financial perspective, it was somewhat lucrative for them. He also spoke about another magazine; National Geographic Traveler.

His content was very interesting, but toward the end it seemed almost too sales and marketing focused. There is a lot of great work they are doing. Being Green Is No Longer and Option was a focus. We then saw a preview of a new movie that National Geographic is about to release–Arctic Voice.

There were then questions. One asked about how to educate without just trying to make money. Everything they do goes through a group consensus filter. For them, ratings (on tv) and mission are not always synonymous, so that is why they partner with NPR and PBS and the like. Another question asked about how to address the green issues of perception vs. reality, and what is acceptable for them and for the consumer. At worst, things are left in the same condition, and at best they are left in better condition. The
people who asked questions came from all over the world (the Caribbean, London, etc.). Another question was about the brand — are more people coming to the brand and then looking at what their clients and advertising are doing. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising is doubling. Climate change as a problem and the solutions, and there is a lot of misinformation there. He thinks Europe is ahead of us, though this is not my experience in England, where I did not see any recycling whatsoever three
weeks ago. Another question asked about education for children, and he stated that they are actively involved in curriculum development and a kids’ magazine, which is now the most read children’s magazine in the world. The question about fully recycled paper, and how expensive this is, is a great challenge they are striving to do (they are committed to 100% recycled paper in the future). Hilton  in New York, has installed a fuel cell and encourages people to not wash their linens every day).

Technorati Tags: Green Guide, National Geographic Magazine, NPR, PBS, Stephen P. Giannetti, corporate social responsibility, WWF

Steve Etzler, Founder and CEO of Business Development Institute

He stated that there are 250 people here and 1000 attending live online.

He took a pole and asked people to raise their hands (corporate communications people, pr people, green people, etc.). The venture people did not really raise their hands, somewhat understandably. BDI presents conferences and sessions in the area of communications, and as an organization it sounds interesting.

They did not do any paper-based marketing–only. no plastic bottles, no plastic, and only using large water bottles with paper cups. Even the flatware is made from corn (how, he was not sure). The brochures were all from recycled paper, also.

He then thanked people on the staff and those sponsors who gave space and other forms of leadership for this event. What a wide range of sponsors: corporate and non-profit and government. Engaging and energetic kick-off and welcome.

Adrienne Garland, VP of Marketing, PR Newswire

She explained how BDI and PR Newswire bring groups and people together in marketing and communications, especially with corporate social responsibility and the green movement.

Her speech was very good, excellent, actually. However, she read it word-for-word and it did not come across as authentic or heartfelt. If only she would have looked up and engaged the audience more, it would have continued the momentum Steve began.

Her description of some of the products that PR Newswire offers made it seem like a goldmine of resources. I will have to check it out later.

Technorati Tags: Adrienne Garland, Business Development Institute, Green Communications, PR Newswire, Steve Etzler