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Inside

Girls on the Run Event in Mt. Pleasant

Mother s Day 2012Building Your Content Stream

Second IterationTying the three parts together

Alternatives to TrelloClusters ofContentEvent Based writing and distributionBuilding Blocks ofa Content Stream

Health & Safety FairThe Wireless Mouse *

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Girls on the Run Event in Mt. PleasantI wanted to send a shout out to everyone who participated in Girls on the Run this year, andalso everyone who ran today during the 5k race at the Mount Pleasant High School. I might not

have known about it, except my daughters friend mentioned it, and Kayla has been therecheering her on.Im also seeing some photos from that event show up on my Facebook feed. It looks like a goodtime, and I almost feel bad not to have seen it for myself.If you participated in the event, or participated in Girls on the Run, please share your thoughtsor experiences in the comments area.View:Web |Google Doc |Activity Feed |

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=196Pi_d2OMfgfOkatkfiwj6gbUnyNwN6D5n_jjBWIwrshttps://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=196Pi_d2OMfgfOkatkfiwj6gbUnyNwN6D5n_jjBWIwrshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/196Pi_d2OMfgfOkatkfiwj6gbUnyNwN6D5n_jjBWIwrs/edithttps://trello.com/c/OQsJGgIChttps://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=196Pi_d2OMfgfOkatkfiwj6gbUnyNwN6D5n_jjBWIwrshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/196Pi_d2OMfgfOkatkfiwj6gbUnyNwN6D5n_jjBWIwrs/edithttps://docs.google.com/document/d/196Pi_d2OMfgfOkatkfiwj6gbUnyNwN6D5n_jjBWIwrs/edithttps://trello.com/c/OQsJGgIChttps://trello.com/c/OQsJGgIC

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Mothers Day 2012

Negotiations for Mothers Day plans began to heat up late this afternoon when my wife sent mea text message saying that Hunger Games will be the CFX movie on Sunday night, and thatshe would like to see that. I said that it was fine, but it would need to take the place of theextravagant Mothers Day gift that I was planning to give her.But, Theresa said that our Josh, who is 9, probably isnt ready to watch the Hunger Games

movie because of the intense child-on-child violence and death scenes. So, what to do what

to do? Following intense debate, it was decided that Josh and I would watch The Avengers

while Theresa and Kayla watch The Hunger Games.

Dinner may also be a possibility.View:Web |Google Doc |Activity Feed |

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1L94otyCeHprdxbGLnN41s1Kw4mlIUNhGxp7MzGMd6fshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1L94otyCeHprdxbGLnN41s1Kw4mlIUNhGxp7MzGMd6fs/edithttps://trello.com/c/OBFiWiJmhttps://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1L94otyCeHprdxbGLnN41s1Kw4mlIUNhGxp7MzGMd6fshttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1L94otyCeHprdxbGLnN41s1Kw4mlIUNhGxp7MzGMd6fs/edithttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1L94otyCeHprdxbGLnN41s1Kw4mlIUNhGxp7MzGMd6fs/edithttps://trello.com/c/OBFiWiJmhttps://trello.com/c/OBFiWiJm

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Building Your Content Stream

Second Iteration

If I had it my way, I would think things through, write about them, and then never think about itagain or make changes to how I would do things.But, Ive always known that the methods Im trying to develop are very evolutionary and changealmost daily. Often the evolution happens because I learn something new which changeseverything that I believed in the day before.This can be frustrating, but I do believe that I am involved in a learning process which willproduce some enormous results. And, I think that sometimes a person needs to take theirthinking as far out as it goes, no matter how much it hurts.The key to managing your content on the web and the social networks is to first look at eachpiece of content separately. My previous article, which talked about using Trello and other tools

to distribute your content, allows you to do that. I think, though, that it is important to talk aboutthe theory behind this.Each piece of content should have three parts: Post Update, the piece of content, and its activityfeed. In some ways, you might think of each bit of content in the same way we think of people. Iam a person, and I have a profile on Facebook and Twitter where people can view my activityfeed and learn more about me. The trouble with content, however, is that it would normally betoo complicated to track a profile for every single thing that you publish or release to theInternet.Trello is nice because it offers a very simple layout which can be publicly viewable, plus eachitem gets its own activity feed. This seems to be a very strong solution.Each piece of content needs its own little block of text for an update because some networks donot do a good enough job of pulling graphics and text from Google documents. Facebook, for

example, has a hard time getting any valuable text from a Google Document. This is why Isuggested using Weebly, much like flipboard, to post short snippets which could then be sharedvia Facebook, Twitter, etc. I described the Weebly as the reverse flipboard, because in a wayyou are building your own version of Flipboard via the Weebly blog tool.But, this week I discovered that this might not be necessary. If you publish the Google doc tothe web, and then share the web version of the document on Facebook, you will be able to pulla decent amount of graphics and text.

And, finally, there is the article or content itself. I recommend using Google Docs to composeand distribute your content because it is very flexible. Anything you cant do in Google Docs youcan do elsewhere and then reference it in the Activity Feed, so nothing is lost.

Tying the three parts together

A problem I ran into while I was implementing my content streaming solution had to do withfitting all of the three parts together. I still think that Google Sites is a strong approach, howeverI had been embedding the Google docs in my Google site, and I discovered that this didnt workon my iPad.So, as I was composing a document last night I decided to try tying them together by addinglinks along the top which would reference the three main versions of the same document. Thisis similar to the way that a person can post a comment, edit, or view an article when they areusing a wiki (like Wikipedia). The advantage was that someone would be able to view any

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version of the same document no matter which link they followed. This gives everyone a nearlyidentical user experience.

Alternatives to Trello

I wanted to try using Google Docs to maintain an activity feed, but this proved to be problematic.

I also thought that I could keep a record of activity using FogBugz, export as an Excel, and thenpublish as a Google Doc spreadsheet, but this also proved to be a lot of hassle and not veryfast. Trello remains the best approach for generating an activity feed. Also, I had planned onpublishing the record of activity with the article itself, but after I thought about it I realized thatthis wouldnt be very practical because the activity feed would always be updating, so anydocument I produced wouldnt stay relevant for very long. The most important value of theactivity feed is that it is current, maybe more current than the piece of content a user is viewing,so it needs to remain on the web.On the subject of Trello, I received a message from a reader who pointed out that visitors willneed to join the Trello board before they can post comments. This is a downside, and I actuallythought that visitors would be able to post comments without joining, but after I thought about it Irealized that I dont really want visitors to post comments in Trello. The card which represents a

piece of content should be a jumping off point towards a related page where visitors can postcomments. The only time when I would want more than one person posting comments is if I amcollaborating with others, so they would need to post on the feed also.

Clusters of Content

Its important to point out, also, that each card on the Trello board should represent a cluster ofcontent. In other words, content that is associated together. If I post a photo, that is a piece ofcontent, but if I write about the story behind it later, that activity would go on the card whichoriginally represented the photo. This allows me to continually update or evolve a piece ofcontent without starting a new card.

A good example of this happened last night while I was writing about my wireless mouse. Iwrote the original article, and then posted it on Trello as a card with text. Someone asked me

about the model of my mouse, and when I couldnt tell them I took a photo of it and then postedit on Facebook. When I was done, I inserted the same photo into the article about my wirelessmouse, and then posted a link to the photo on the card inside the Trello board. I also updatedthe labels on the card so that it showed that the article contained a photo.So, in this instance, the photo was reference on the same card as the article because the photoand the article were referenced together. If I had taken a picture of my hat instead, that wouldhave been a new card.I think that this approach is also a response to the speed with which content needs to be postedonto the web. It is easy to get bogged down with the thinking that we dont want to postsomething until it is absolutely ready. This is fine for proofreading or fact checking, butsometimes if youve taken photos you just want to get them out there. But in the past when Iveposted photos I felt like I was ruining the surprise for people, and would lose the motivation to

write a supporting story.But, as Ive recognized that all content is evolving, I can use the trello board to continually buildupon the photos or pieces of content that Ive posted on the web. In some ways, I can move atmy own pace, posting photos today and then writing the article tomorrow. But, at the same timeit causes me to move a little faster because I know that the card is out there on Trello and thatpeople will be able to check for updates.

Event Based writing and distribution

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The next thing Ive been experimenting with is how the content is grouped together beyond thethree versions (Web, Google Doc, activity feed). Ive always felt that content should be groupedtogether based on time, but I havent been sure how to do it until now. On Google Sites, Icreated pages which are all associated with the month of May, with the intentions of building atype of web-based magazine. This is great for a monthly magazine, but still doesnt a capturethe sense of relevancy that comes from articles that are posted on a daily basis.

When you think of a live show, such as a radio talk show, you typically will have one or twopeople who are in front of a microphone reading the news or talking about current events. I thinkthat there are a lot of similarities between the publishing of content on the web and a radio talkshow. In each case, a personality is involved, the performance is a blend of structure andimprovisation, and the content is being immediately broadcasted out to anybody who will listen.One main difference is that a radio show will last for a couple of hours, where we tend to think ofour streams of content as endless.In some ways, content producers are already working live because the things they post arebeing viewed right away. Anything which takes time to write or research will eventually go up,and then as viewers post comments the author will be responding to the comments live. Wecant escape it.But, to be fair even TV and radio broadcasters need to plan and do research before they go on

the air. So, in this way we are similar.The question I want to solve is what would a Talk Show on the web look like? In some ways,this is done by bloggers all of the time but their content tends to be endless. A Web Talk showwould have recurring segments and structure, much like a magazine, but share its content withits audience faster, much like live broadcasting on TV or radio.Keeping with the theme of my project, Ive started a Tello board called Hovercast, where Ivestarted to post the articles and other contents Ive been posting this week. My plan is to trackactivity until Saturday, then compile everything together in one document, probably also called aHovercast. That collection of content becomes my show.It helps for my Hovercast to remain egocentric because I can then write about the topics thatinterest me. Family, TV, computers, community, and so on. But, at the same time I can alsopost these articles in different properties on the Internet. A story about my community, for

example, can be posted on the fan page for my town.Then, as I build up the content I can organize it into collections which appeal to differentaudiences. The Morgazine, which I highlighted in my last article, can still be produced monthlyand contain the articles I wrote during my Hovercast which would be of the most interest to myfriends and family.Consider how content is shared after an episode of a talk show is aired. Each episode of theConan OBrien results in a multitude of video, blog posts, photos, clips, etc which can beaccessed on the web or via an app. What I am working on is a way to reverse that process bydeveloping the web content first, and then assembling into something that structure and a timelimit like a talk show. Being web based, the Web Show would be accessible through severaldifferent channels, networks, etc.I think Trello and Google Docs will allow me to produce a reverse talk show on the web, but it

is just a matter of seeing how things work out.

Building Blocks of a Content Stream

In summary, a content stream might actually begin with the person, and not the technology. If Iam willing to produce content, I need to put myself in the hot seat, and give a performancethrough the content that I produce and share on the Internet. Different content moves atdifferent speeds, so an article I write today might be published an hour from now, or I mightsave it until the next day. But, there are other types of content such as wall or Twitter updates

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which cant be planned out and must be written and shared within the same hour. A WebShow, or Hovercast, would be made up of different pieces of content which has been writtenand shared at difference speeds.The content which is shared during a Hovercast can also be distributed to other audiences byposting it on different web properties. So, in a way the Hovercast reaches a very broadaudience, but each segment of the audience gets a different experience based on their

interests.The key component for all of this is content which is granular enough to be moved acrossaudiences, networks, etc. Google Docs allows me to produce content which is very flexible, andI can update the cards in Trello with any new activity, giving audiences access to a constantlyevolving list of resources and content.

And, I hope to explore different ways in which to conduct a Hovercast. One idea Ive had was tolaunch a Google Hangout while I am writing articles so that my audience has instant acess tome. The advantage would be that they could post questions or suggestions while Im working,but the downside is that Im not sure how interesting it would be to watch me on video while Itype.View:Web |Google Doc |Activity Feed |

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1r3-8Xh-jc3j4eUel3G-es8JA8w0eizsEnVB69UgI4KAhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1r3-8Xh-jc3j4eUel3G-es8JA8w0eizsEnVB69UgI4KA/edithttps://trello.com/c/6O4wvMaDhttps://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1r3-8Xh-jc3j4eUel3G-es8JA8w0eizsEnVB69UgI4KAhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1r3-8Xh-jc3j4eUel3G-es8JA8w0eizsEnVB69UgI4KA/edithttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1r3-8Xh-jc3j4eUel3G-es8JA8w0eizsEnVB69UgI4KA/edithttps://trello.com/c/6O4wvMaDhttps://trello.com/c/6O4wvMaD

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Health & Safety FairThere is going to be a Health and Safety Fair on Saturday, May 19th from 10 a.m - 2 p.m. at theShepherd Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, in Shepherd, MI. The event is free, and will feature

clowns and free face painting for the kids.Events like this usually feature some useful tips and information.Here is a full list of some of the organizations which will be represented, and some of theactivities which will be available during the fair:

Isabella County Sheriffs Department Shepherd Police Department Shepherd Tri-County Fire Department & Fire Truck Tours MMR Emergency Services & Ambulance Tours (when available) Central Michigan District Health Department & Disaster Preparedness Isabella Bank & Financial Preparedness Sarah Ostahowski, Attorney at Law Shepherd Community Library

Heart of Michigan Clowns & Balloons Face Painting

View FlyerView Activity Feed

If you represent one of the businesses or organizations which will be present during this event,please share any additional information you have as a comment or email me at32 bpwr 3@ gmail.com.View:Google Doc |Webpage |Activity Feed |

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzEgD9KiYchEQXdHcDd6SF85ajAhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHMmailto:32bpwr3@gmail.commailto:32bpwr3@gmail.comhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1J2LcxIjXWKXbbVtP899UgIh3ZDrqMdtiF-5csfqGdFk/edithttps://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1J2LcxIjXWKXbbVtP899UgIh3ZDrqMdtiF-5csfqGdFkhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHMhttps://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzEgD9KiYchEQXdHcDd6SF85ajAhttps://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzEgD9KiYchEQXdHcDd6SF85ajAhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHMhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHMhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHMmailto:32bpwr3@gmail.commailto:32bpwr3@gmail.commailto:32bpwr3@gmail.commailto:32bpwr3@gmail.commailto:32bpwr3@gmail.commailto:32bpwr3@gmail.comhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1J2LcxIjXWKXbbVtP899UgIh3ZDrqMdtiF-5csfqGdFk/edithttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1J2LcxIjXWKXbbVtP899UgIh3ZDrqMdtiF-5csfqGdFk/edithttps://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1J2LcxIjXWKXbbVtP899UgIh3ZDrqMdtiF-5csfqGdFkhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHMhttps://trello.com/c/n4fdyGHM

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The Wireless Mouse

I bought a wireless mouse two weeks ago at a garage sale for $3 during the Shepherd MapleSyrup Festival. I had mostly written off wireless mice because while they are pretty nice at first,after a while as the battery runs down they get really finicky. But, this was a type of mouse that I

hadnt seen before. It starts out flat, and then you bend it in the middle to give it the typicalmouse shape. Bending it also turns it on. So, it is really easy to transport.I loved it almost as soon as I started to use it. I plugged the little transreceiver into my computerand I was instantly using the mouse.But, alas, on Wednesday when I turned out my computer I discovered that the little wirelessmouse was blinking red and the laser on the bottom wasnt coming on. But, I opened it up anddiscovered that it has rechargeable batteries! I have to find a charger that fits it, and thenhopefully after Ive been able to recharge them it will work again.View Activity Feed:https ://trello .com /c /RwwngsMt

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