tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008-06-15://1 2008-10-07T22:26:21Z Do not believe everything you read. Movable Type Open Source 4.1 tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008://1.714 2008-10-07T18:25:14Z 2008-10-07T22:26:21Z

jj significant 24 hours in the global financial crisis of 2008.  When Russia effectively buys Iceland, there's a whole new face to politics and capitalism. 

Brace yourselves folks.  It's going to be a rough ride. 

UPDATE: Thanks to DailyTwitter for his link to the latest from the BBC on the UK's rescue plan for banks.  In some ways I wish the plan would go a lot further, making the banks themselves accountable for this crisis, and calling irresponsible speculators on the sharemarket - cream-skimming from the misfortune of others - to account.  Somehow I doubt it's going to happen though....
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I am so proud of the efforts of my fellow Rotarian, John Burkett, in establishing the Daylight Saving for South East Queensland party and I would like to congratulate all who have put in so much effort into forwarding this...

jj Daylight Saving for South East Queensland party and I would like to congratulate all who have put in so much effort into forwarding this issue.  I know when I was in Brisbane it was a constant struggle to educate people about how a split time zone could and would work in Queensland, and how differently SEQ experiences light when compared with Mt Isa and FNQ.  And I know just how hard it is to go through all the formal channels to establish a fully operating political party.  All other options have been denied South East Queenslanders, and in spite of 69% support in the region for DLS, the Queensland Government are still unmovable on the issue of introducing daylight saving either in the SEQ corner or across Queensland.  A political party is the only means of applying pressure to state government on the issue, and the DS4SEQ party is a great step toward realising the desires of so many people in Queensland.

I may be based in London now, but my interest in the issue in Queensland is still as strong as ever.  I want to do what I can to keep the issue alive too.  Anyone who is interested in being part of the DS4SEQ party, please let me know and I will happily put you in contact with the people who have done all the ground work in setting up the party.  This is a single issue party, so it doesn't matter what side of politics you support; you are welcome simply to express your wish for DLS without there being any compromise to any other policy issue you hold dear. 

For more information, have a look at recent articles in the Courier Mail and Brisbane Times and to join the party, please contact me and I wil put you in touch with John Burkett. 
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jj mo blog site, I agreed to tag him in such a way as to change the way certain keywords are ranking him.  I'll let everyone know the results of the experiement when I know them myself.  In the meantime, watch this space...  ]]> tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008://1.711 2008-09-17T13:05:01Z 2008-09-17T13:09:39Z

jj
When you are sending invitations and doing press releases on the launch of a new website, it's always a good idea to actually list the address of the site.  Any good developer will have a 'place holder' on the site if it is not yet ready to demonstrate, and where a site is ready to go, it often helps for people to see the function of the site.  This enhances a sense of participation in the site and encourages ongoing interest - at least long enough to actually turn up to the launch. 


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jj predicted it some months back and I'm now rather unsurprised that former leader of the Australian Republic Movement, Malcolm Turnbull is now the Leader of the Opposition in Australia.  I have said privately that I regard Turnbull as the most significant threat to Labor from the Liberal camp, and in spite of his arrogance and somewhat larrikin nature, I stand by that statement.  In the next 2 years Turnbul has a lot of time to establish himself not merely as a Leader, but as someone connected to the people.

Watch out Kevin Rudd.  Your honeymoon is definitely over now. 
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jj Hue and Cry launch their Open Soul album at Bush Hall, and it was a completely fantastic event.  The Kane brothers and their band are incredibly energetic and their album, which I purchased last night and listened to this morning, is a fantastic mix of funky and celebration.  21 years since their first album and 16 years since their last pop album, Hue and Cry have achieved an incredible feat with this album in hitting the mark on so many songs.  Along with pretty much everyone else who has heard the album, my favourite track is Stumble Through the Dance, which was extra special for me last night, sung live.  I'm a big fan of Pat Kane - both musically and intellectually - but this song is a triumph of rhythm and heart. 

I had a ball last night and I am sure the other people who attended the sold-out gig and were dancing and singing along with the band had a similarly fabulous night.  Thanks guys.  Great stuff!
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jj
First of all, it was lovely to spend last Friday night with Rhonda, mother of my dear school friend, Melissa.  Rhonda and her travelling pal, Ellen, joined me for dinner at Sarastro before wandering the surprisingly warm London streets around Covent Garden and The Strand before ending up at Trafalgar Square and then heading home.  A lovely night and I really appreciated their company and stories of their travels.  Hope the time in Greece is equally wonderful!  Ya sass!  Kali mera! 

Then on Sunday night at long last I finally met up with the Other Joanne Jacobs (The US Edition).  Jo is a semi-retired journalist with the San Jose Mercury who has published a book on education initiatives for disenfranchised students.  She now does some consulting and guest editing and speaks at various functions.  She's a great lady and it was fantastic to meet her.  We spent a lovely evening with her husband, John, and their travelling companions, Jo and Darwin (John).  Thanks Joanne, and I hope you have a fantastic holiday too!
]]> tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008://1.707 2008-09-10T19:18:18Z 2008-09-10T19:46:11Z

jj Large Hadron Collider was switched on.  And of course I was highly amused by the fear-mongering about the particle accelerator designed to investigate the Big Bang being the cause of the End of the World.  (I loved this site.)  But the weirdest thing was the PR associated with the switching on of the particle accelerator itself.  Over on the LHCLatest twitter stream, you get a constant set of posts on the decidedly poor set of reports coming from CERN when the particle accelerator was actually switched on.  You also get a bunch of weird comments on the fact that once it had been switched on, no-one actualy knew what was going to happen next.  And you get hawker oriented posts requesting donations for the news service.  It was like amateur hour in PR. 

The work being done on the LHC is fantastic, and I'll be following the publication of results with interest.  But the reporting needs a bit of help.  I'm calling on all half-decent journos and PR agents to give these guys a helping hand.  

Oh and it's nice that the world didn't end. 
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jj announced that the UK along with Germany and Spain are headed for recession.  Technically of course, a recession is merely 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth to the GDP.  But in mor psychological terms, a recession in the UK means that policy makers are seeking ways to cut back on national costs.  One of those perceived costs is th employment of immigrants in the UK, supposedly at the expense of employing locals to those roles.  The latest data on migration to the UK is now 2 years old, but even in that data it's clear that the vast majority of migration to the UK is from EU countries which don't need any visa to work here, and 'new Commonwealth' nations of the west Asian belt.  Eastern Europeans outranked 'old Commonwealth' nations (like Australia, Canada and New Zealand) by over 100,000.  Nevertheless, Australians will now find it harder than ever to move to the UK and even those who are based here (like myself) will find it hard to extend our current visas.

To some extent, I'm immune to all this, as I have been working here and have earned enough to be classed as a valuable asset in the UK.  But it worries me that in a time of recession, my status as an immigrant puts me in an uncertain position.  It is an odd feeling, being an alien in a land which otherwise feels so comfortable it might as well be home.  In truth, my place here is fairly safe.  But it's strange to think that a place that has otherwise been so welcoming could potentially turn against me if the economy requires it. 
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It's been far too long since I've done a blog post and my only excuse is that I have been away and have been frantically trying to contribute to other blogs, and I have been twittering everything anyway.But essentially.... I...

jj
But essentially.... I have been to Corfu where I spent a fabulous four days with the lovely Deb Polson.  I have some great pics, but not enough of Corfu Old Town.  I also had a great time learning some basic phrases in Greek, and feel confident about getting around Greece with my rudimentary skills!  Deb has been doing wonderful things with her latest projects in mobile learning, and will be presenting in London at the forthcoming Handheld Learning Conference. 

I've also been trying to get on top of a client project at work.  I'm not allowed to release many details as yet, but I will as soon as I can.  The good news is that it's nearly done, and I can get on to some other pet projects. 

I'm also preparing for two new conferences at which I am to present; the Social Media for Business Conference in Buckinghamshire in October and a Media Literacy conference in Scotland in November.  I'm also trying to get a group of social media advocates in London to form a loose collective of experts advising on the London 2012 Olympics.  While London probably won't be able to compete with Beijing on organisation, it certainly does have an opportunity to provide a rich narrative event and it's the social media mafia who could get that happening in this town.  But it requires some innovation incubation on behalf of the social media businesses out there.  And I'm more than willing to get that happening.

I'm also trying to assist some businesses in their social media planning, and to give my time to some public interest groups to get their social media strategy in place.  I hope that by supporting those enterprises, I can raise the participation and literacy of users so that more good deeds can be recognised.  It's a personal struggle in a digitally amoebic landscape.

Finally, I've been excited by opportunities at the School of Everything and delighted to hear that the Young Networks Foundation (for which I am still Creative Director) in Australia is back up and running as part of a Brisbane City Council project.  And last but not least I have been invited by QUT to become an Adjunct Associate Professor, working with the Creative Industries Faculty.  I'm delighted to be part of the team!
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jj
Happy day!
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jj a very useful article today on the value of Twitter as a tool.  In many ways Twitter is a technology built like Microsoft products. That is, quick and dirty and falls over a lot.  It is the antithesis of Apple products, which are based on stunning design, effortless usability and interface, and good up-time.  But using highly developed design for something like Twitter - maybe Friendfeed or any of the other emergent feed-based products - is pointless.  People just want to connect and talk.  What they say is probably 60%+ irrelevant or trite.  Maybe more.  Thus using a beautiful interface to access majority rubbish is stupid.  

What the Tech Crunch article focuses on, however, is the targeted nature of Twitter as a pre-chosen audience.  Unlike Facebook and other social media networks which require 'friending' (approval of a friendship link) for viewing of activitiy in the network, Twitter works on the basis of allowing anyone to 'follow' an author (self-selection of content consumers), but gives the Twitterer a chance to block followers (authorial control over readership).  This slight variation on the standard group membership practice is significant; it enables discovery of Twitterers on the basis of keywords and topics of interest - see the thing that used to be Summize, and is now Twitter Search. (And an example of how quickly Twitter value among social media advocates is being understood is how applications have been built for the platform, and already acquired by Twitter.)

Twitter search enables 'lurking' - Twitter users can follow a Twitterer without necessarily engaing with them in a truly reciprocal communicative relationship.  And that is *fine* because anyone who thinks that social media is about balanced communication is kidding themseves.  Some users are power Twitterers who are always interesting and have fascinating commentary.  Others are banal and should be relegated to the secondary users list.

What Twitter is not good at, is being terribly selective in terms of lists.  This is something that users of IM tools are used to doing - grouping friends in accordance with their category or level of importance.  As more users get on to Twitter, there is a growing need to categorise posts by specific users, even among the people you do follow.  Then the power of highly selective audiences comes in to its own.  Not only does it register the cumulative value of your network, but it also tracks that audience over time.

It will be interesting to see how this might impact on friending/defriending etiquette over time.   ]]> tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008://1.702 2008-08-11T13:36:00Z 2008-08-11T13:40:54Z

jj
But the physiotherapist was VERY pleased with my progress, saying I hold some kind of record for recovery of activity and movement after a serious back injury.  I reckon a lot of exercise and appropriate levels of therapy were key to that quick recovery.  But it's also been a very tiring and painful fortnight, so it's good to feel almost pain free after such a beating.

Anyway - thank you all. Your kind words and support were invaluable.   ]]> tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008://1.701 2008-07-29T21:06:13Z 2008-07-29T21:24:27Z

Just to update everyone on the past couple of days... On Sunday night around 8:30pm I'd done all my chores and had enjoyed a lovely warm weekend in London and satisfied with everything I breathed a sigh of relief -...

jj
As I exhaled my entire back went in to spasm.  I have had this kind of thing happen before and often it just needs bed rest to subside.  I went to bed early and tried to visualise calming the muscles through the breath.  Unfortunately this seemed to aggravate it, so I took a Syndol (Mersyndol in Oz) and hoped that would work its wonders.  I slept alright (Mer/Syndol tends to knock me out) but I dreamt of pain and woke at 2:30am with my whole back quivering with spasms.

Somehow I made it to dawn whereupon I attempted a trip to the bathroom.  After almost blacking out with pain I made it back to bed, knowing I needed therapy - fast.  I began my research of possible physiotherapists and at 7am started sending emails. After what passed for a shower (standing very still under warm water and then collapsing on the bed afterwards), I checked my messages. The first physio I had contacted by email let me know she was on holiday for a week and the clinic was closed. So back to the drawing board.  By now it was 8am and I was in serious pain.  Fortunately the next physio was available and had a cancellation for a 9am appointment.  So at 8:25, after a quick call to the local minicab service, I made a very painful journey down my 3 flights of stairs to wait for the cab.  The cab rolled up quickly but then took me the longest possible route to the physio, over every single speed hump in the vicinity.  He was aware I was becoming more and more distressed and I started to feel sorry for him, because he was clearly trying to take me via the 'short cut', due to roadworks at Shepherd's Bush, but had instead been thwarted by oversized lorries, unthinking pedestrians and cyclists and yet more roadworks.  When we finally got to the physio, I was in tears and could only shuffle to the reception.  

However the staff at Kensington Physiotherapy were wonderfully sympthetic and so caring.  They took me straight in and when I finally got to lie down on the bed, they stared in amazement as the rippling mess that was my back continued to bubble and pop before them.  My physio got straight to work, releasing the spasms in the erector spinea muscles, psoas, and finally - the source of all my problems - the quadratus lumborum.  Unfortunately by the time I had that treatment, a lot of damage had been done.  The iliolumbar ligament had weakened and torn, as had the top of the quadratus lumborum on the right bottom rib. As a result, the spinal nerve tissue had gone in to overdrive and shut everything down.  

An hour in to treatment the spasms had finally stopped.  But the damage was going to take longer to fix.  After walking around a bit, the physio decided to strap my back to keep it from reverting in to spasm.  I couldn't bend forward at all, or move well and sitting was uncomfortable, but at least I could move a little bit.  Perched on the edge of the treatment bed, the physio strapped my back and just as she was finishing tugging at the flesh, I announced to her that I was blacking out.  The physio caught me and lay me back, but I think I lost consciousness for a few seconds.  Apparently I had changed colour to a pale grey.  A sip of water and a few minutes later I was okay again, but decided NOT to walk home.  I doubt I'd have got far anyway.  After making another appointment for the next day, I hailed a cab, got home and managed the three flights of stairs to collapse on my bed and within an hour, fell asleep.  The pain and the treatment had exhausted me.

As the day progressed I seemed to improve and was confident of going to work on Tuesday (today).  Even this morning when I left for the next appointment, I considered walking all the way there but got half way and decided to take the bus as the walk had stirred up a bit of pain.  But when I arrived at the physiotherapists I proudly showed off my increased movement, only to discover that I was completely out of alignment.  My physio, CJ, showed me that I was healing incorrectly and she would have to work hard on the surrounding tissue for the misalignment to be corrected.  The therapy itself was painful but not unexpectedly so.  But once it was over, she asked me to get up.  The act of pulling myself to my knees nearly made me physically ill.  I didn't faint this time but the pain was unbelievable. My physio made it clear I was going nowhere but to bed today.  The fact that I couldn't move without severe pain made me quickly agree with her. I was once again strapped up and allowed to depart.

Shuffling gently out the door I messaged my staff that there was no way I could make it in to the office, and began the slowest and most painful hour-long journey home, on two buses.  

About 20 people stopped me and asked if I was okay.  Well clearly, not.  But what the heck did they think asking me was going to do?  I couldn't mask the agony etched into every line in my face and I still needed to get to the bus stops and to pick up some food along the way so I could take an anti-inflammatory pill.  By the time I finally got up the stairs to my flat, I admit I was whimpering fairly pitifully, and only stopped to get my ice pak before heading to my bed where I lay in positive agony.  I was terrified the physio had done more damage, I was in such pain.  

So the day today has been spent recovering from that brutal physio session... but I have to say, while I'm still much more sore than I was last night, I feel more confident about my ability to move tomorrow.  I know I felt the same way last night but I feel the alignment is improving... and that in turn is reducing the pain levels.  I'm hoping another night and a light day tomorrow may actually fix matters.

Of course, it will only ever be partly fixed.  I have a scoliosis and one leg is slightly longer than the other, plus I'm hyper flexible and have a high pain threshold.  The combination is not good.  The hyperflexibility and the high pain threshold mean that I throw my body around without realising I am doing it damage.  The scoliosis and the hip tilt (caused by one longer leg) mean that the natural response of my body to minor injuries is to continue to emphasise the S-bend.  The constant strain on the surrounding tissue means that unless I get regular adjustments and deep tissue massage to mobilise the vertebral joints, then this kind of neural attack will happen again.

It wipes me out for 2 days. At least.  I don't want it to wipe me out again.  So what this means is that for the rest of my life, if I want to avoid this kind of pain I MUST have a fairly painful, but preventative adjustments.  So much for massage being about luxury.  For me, it's a brutal attack on deep-set muscles, designed to correct the flaws of nature.  

Anyway - I want to thank everyone who has been kind enough to send good wishes these last couple of days.  It's been a miserable and painful journey, but hopefully I am nearing its end.  Maybe then I can get back to the things that matter.   ]]> tag:www.joannejacobs.net,2008://1.700 2008-07-25T21:12:32Z 2008-07-25T21:23:46Z

jj this commencement speech by Harry Potter author, J K Rowling seems to me to have very little to do with Buddhism, and a lot to do with honesty and fostering creativity.  It's probably one of the best speeches for an academic assembly I've ever read.  I rather believe it is closer to being an advocacy of open source-style creative problem solving and the breaking down of barriers between people than any mystical journey to enlightenment.  Indeed, I rather feel that Jo focuses on the possible in the context of her environs, rather than on seeking any ascetic revelation.  In essence, this is a speech that should be enjoyed for its simplicity, its humour and its more profound message about what she calls the 'burdens' of opportunity - although perhaps it would be more accurate to describe them as the obligations of those opportunities. 

Read.  Enjoy.  It's a truly fabulous speech. 
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