Nothing further from the truth.

But here I am, baring my own thoughts for the world to read. Even my thoughts that criticize TED and TEDx as elitist brands. And in a nothing-short-of-spectacular-life-coming-back-full-circle way, I found through two completely different routes the TEDxHouston 2010 talk of Dr. Brené Brown on the power of vulnerability (Dr. Brown studies vulnerability in a very different way to the way *I* study vulnerability – I study vulnerability and resilience of urban ecosystems, whereas she studies human behavior, compassion and courage – but I digress). And for the second time ever (the first, Jane McGonigal’s talk on games and saving the world) I felt inspired and I felt a real connection to the topic.

And the crazy thing is: I felt inspired by a TEDx talk.

You’ll see – a couple of years ago, I had a fantastic phone conversation with my friend Robert Ballantyne, who indicated to me that perhaps one of the reasons why my blog and my online persona (as Hummingbird604) are so successful is that I show myself vulnerable (not as the ivory-tower academic self that I also have). Not weak, not incapable of doing anything, just vulnerable. And what Brené said in her talk, being able to be comfortable with being vulnerable is actually really empowering, resonated with me and with the conversation I had with Robert. So much so that I had to blog about it.

Being able to say “I love you”first, is perhaps one of the key phrases that Brené’s talk really resonated in my brain. I love fully, completely, deeply, even though I have been heartbroken. I do everything I do with passion, with love and with my whole self. As Brené’s research would indicate, I live wholeheartedly. And I love it.

It really inspired me to see the theme of vulnerability permeate through my own academic, teaching and online lives. Like Brené, I am BOTH an academic AND a storyteller. And like Brené, I love qualitative research (we just focus on very different things). And I also remembered last fall, when I attended Susanne Conrad’s workshop at Imagine 1 Day, I remembered what my friend André Malan said to me: “you are a lot more human and less bullet-proof than Hummingbird604 is”. And it’s true. I’m vulnerable. And I’m quite happy with it.

In letting my students see both of my lives (my quite-neatly-separated personal and professional selves), I recognize there’s an inherent vulnerability. But that’s also what makes me different and puts me in a very different position to other educators who may or may not want to show a vulnerable side of them: I am a human being too, and in being human, I also may have pitfalls and shortcomings. I’m not only the flawless, hard-working professor Pacheco, but I am also Raul, who can at times feel exhausted, frustrated, and why not? sad too.

For the second time ever, a TED talk has inspired me, and I want to thank Brené Brown, PhD for a most inspiring message: vulnerability DOES have inner power. And quite frankly, unashamedly and unabashedly, I honestly believe I am enough (if you watch Brené’s talk, you will understand what I meant by that).

For your viewing pleasure, here is her TEDx talk.

Related posts:

1. On being chipil and vulnerability
2. My panel talk at Independent Power Producers ’09 #ippbc09
3. Adaptation and vulnerability to floods and climatic events in Mexico

1. Expand Media Literacy
2. Share Lessons Learned Among Practitioners
3. Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards
4. Promote Ethical Practices through Discussion and Actions

There are several reasons why I accepted Mitch Baldwin and Eric Weaver‘s invite to be part of the organizing committee of Social Media Club Vancouver. The first one, quite obviously, is because I really like both Eric and Mitch. The second one, quite obvious as well, is that I knew I’d be joined by a bunch of very talented social media folks who work in a variety of areas.

My involvement with Social Media Clubs isn’t new. I spoke at Social Media Club Victoria in April of 2009 (almost a year ago now!) thanks to an invite by Catherine Novak and Paul Holmes (both of whom have grown to be good friends of mine). My intent was to galvanize the Victoria social media community to move and effect change, and I shared my experience of co-organizing Mental Health Camp with my dear friend Isabella Mori (my highest achievement of 2009, hands down).

For the past couple of years, I given numerous talks about social media for public policy, sustainability, marketing and non-profits. I’ve explored the use of social media in politics and public policy and in non-profit & health. But more importantly, I pride myself in having challenged my readers, the attendees of my talks and my fellow social media practitioners to think beyond the use of social media tools. To explore the high-level discussions on social media, the Internet and its impact on the composition of the social fabric we are embedded within.

I know I have asked the tough questions and I want to continue to do so. I am, after all, an academic. I’m slowly moving from educating ON social media to educating WITH/USING social media. That is precisely the reason why I am involved in the Social Media Club Vancouver. I want to continue to challenge my peers to think beyond “how do I use Twitter” or “how do we create a Facebook fan page” to questions of privacy vs publicness, of the challenges to achieving diversity in social media, to the realities of crowdsourced rules within social networking sites to the evolution of norms and etiquette in social media.

I am delighted to be joined by the talented group of people who are participating, and more importantly, I’m delighted that the group is inclusive. So if you want to change the way social media is done in Vancouver, be part of the change. Join us. Feel free to contact Eric, Mitch or even me should you want to get involved.

Related posts:

1. My recent Social Media Club Victoria talk: “Towards an Action-Focused Agenda for Social Change Using Social Media” (#smcvictoria) @smcvictoria
2. Vancouver Bloggers Meetup and Social Media Club Vancouver Event March 18th
3. Upcoming speaking engagement – Social Media Club (Victoria, B.C.) May 2009

Credit: D.C.Atty

Credit: Publik16

Mangano expressed a few good points that are very much worthy of highlighting here.

* Homelessness is not dependent on the economy. In economic booms, homelessness increases because of rising housing prices. In economic downturns, homelessness increases because of job loss and other factors associated with lower income.
* Economic principles per se aren’t going to solve homelessness.
* It is important to focus on ONE specific area of homelessness policy – ending STREET homelessness – focus on the most vulnerable and the disabled.

According to Mangano, the following points are key elements to success

- Definite support from mayors and council and the political will to work on the issues of homelessness
- Reframing policy from the social service frame to the business case (how can we serve this people)
- Accepting that solving homelessness will take time
- Strategic timeline
- Identification of successful case studies and strategies and investment in evidence-based options (based on research)
- The business community to invest in this process too.

What didn’t work in the US (according to Mangano)
- Ad-hoc crisis interventions (shuffling leads to morale deflating – stats he provided 75 homeless/day use St. Paul’s Hospital – $ 700 from the moment they step into the hospital onward)
- Good intentions don’t end homelessness
- Increased resources without innovative ideas, strategic planning and long-term strategy don’t work.

I scanned the room as I arrived and I noticed that not only was the room full (for a beautiful summer day, having to shell out cash to participate in an indoor event and have to wear suits, you really must be passionate), there were a lot of well-known advocates for the issue of homelessness, including people from the Vancouver Foundation and the Street To Home Foundation. I recognized many people that I knew from before, like Mike Harcourt, Andrea Reimer (a Vancouver councillor who, the more I talk to, the more impressed I am with). The Vancouver Board of Trade should feel really happy with the attendance, because there were a lot of participants as well as high-level, policy decision-makers in Vancouver were sitting in that room, along with all the other board members and guests.

My overall assessment of Mangano’s talk

Mangano’s talk sounded very much like an ode to Mayor Gregor Robertson. Every opportunity he had he lauded Robertson’s efforts. If I wanted to pay (and in this case, I didn’t pay for my own ticket but Dave did) to hear someone praising the mayor of the city I live in, I would do it. But I really don’t like paying to hear someone do that. Don’t get me wrong. I have met Gregor myself, I have had a chance to talk with him about issues and hear his own viewpoints. Mayor Robertson is (in my view, from my limited interactions with him) someone who has expressed a genuine interest in thorny issues such as homelessness, environmental protection, accessibility to housing, etc. I have very high hopes set on Gregor Robertson, and with smart people like Andrea Reimer in council and a few other councillors and COV staff I’ve met, I am sure Vancouver will look for ways to end street homelessness.

Mangano’s talk was funny and entertaining but he wasted too much time in side stuff and didn’t get into the real “meat” of the talk until the end. And yeah, that part about NOT having questions/answers period? Pretty bad.

One point that really struck a chord with me was Mangano’s phrase “I have been to the Downtown East Side already, I don’t need to go there again”. This phrase sounded to me really dismissive. It sounded very much like “I don’t need to see more, I already know what the issues are there“.

I have to repeat through my assessment (which I’m sure sounds like a scathing indictment) that I am very sure that Mangano knows his stuff and that he has worked really hard to solve homelessness in the US. Sadly, his talk at the Vancouver Board of Trade did not give him enough credit. What he said and the way he delivered it wasn’t really what I am sure he can offer, nor what I needed/wanted to hear.

My expectation coming into this talk was an overview of specific, evidence-based, research-grounded policy options to tackle homelessness in Vancouver. In no way, shape or form did I get this. So what *did* I get, you ask? Well, I got a chance to hear someone who is highly praised in the US as an authority in homelessness provide a few points that I think are worth revising. I expected a talk of much higher caliber, but then again, maybe Mangano’s timeline didn’t provide for enough time to cover everything (although I would have EXPECTED him to be able to manage his time). The fact that he didn’t get into the data until the very end and that he didn’t provide policy options was a real disappointment.

But amongst the great things I got? I got to hang out with Dave and Toby, I got to meet some really nice people, I got to see a Vancouver Board of Trade from the perspective of an attendee rather than as a representative of the media (and remember, I have given numerous keynote talks, so I’m not looking at this from the perspective of a participant but from the perspective of someone who talks to large audiences about complex, thorny policy issues). And I got to talk to Andrea Reimer, Suzanne Anton, Mike Harcourt. So, in terms of being able to access important people and talk about issues, it was a success for me. And in the end, I did hear some interesting stuff from Mangano. Just not enough.

Dave’s assessment of the luncheon/talk can be read here.

Related posts:

1. Upcoming event – Stop Homelessness Public Forum (Vancouver)
2. Public policy lessons on homelessness for Vancouver’s next mayor
3. Homelessness in Vancouver and sustainability: Researching the issue

Every so often, I come across yet another attempt to measure of influence in social media and (geeky and academic as I am) I go and test it out. The most recent one I’ve tried is the Klout score. I recently received an email indicating that my score had suffered a reduction (the graphs you are seeing are from the previous time I checked my score) and that they willing to help me try and become more influential. I have been named as an influential social media before (thanks Nate Elliott from Forrester Research!) but frankly, I don’t really pay attention to whether people in the community perceive me as influential UNLESS my influencing activity has a specific goal, like when I wanted to co-organize Mental Health Camp with Isabella

For example, if I want to ensure that my objectives for social change are well-heard and well-known, and widely spread, then I use ALL of the tools I have at my disposal. I use my (yes, very, very strong) social network to disseminate my ideas. I am well connected to many people who are considered social media and tech stars not only in Vancouver, Toronto, or Canada and the US, but even worldwide. These social media powerhouses do trust me in what I say, but that’s a bi-directional, long-time-established trust that has emerged from actual interaction, both online and in many cases, offline.

Does it upset me that my Klout score goes down or that my Twitter Grader score doesn’t rank me in the top 10 (as I’ve consistently been ranked for the past year or so)? Um, no. Not really. Real influence comes from behavioral change that is effected through the creation of long-lasting, trust-based bonds. One example – does my opinion influence other people and do they listen to what I have to say in regards to water governance? Probably. And why is that? Well, because I have built a credibility around my research (both pre- and post- my PhD). Same with social media.

If somebody comes to me and tells me “I’m in the top 10 for Twitter Grader” and I don’t know them I actually probably will giggle (since, well, I’m the organizer of the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup so chances are, I *should* know them). Why? Simply because I would argue that this is just one of many measures of influence. But I’d be curious to see what other people think about influence.

Have your say, as usual, in the comments section.

Related posts:

1. Is measuring real influence in social media possible?
2. Measuring influence Part I: Social media
3. The Walk Score

What follows is an unedited crib of my talk. I am also including my slides on SlideShare. As usual, the Creative Commons License is Non-Commercial, Attribution, Share-Alike. Please include a link to this blog post AND to the SlideShare site if you use my concepts/work/ideas. Thanks!

The crib starts here.

Good evening everyone. I am very honored to be sitting in a panel with excellent colleagues, who have accumulated substantial business savvy. It’s hard for me to speak after Shane Gibson, who is a phenomenal speaker. He is a hard act to follow. I was hoping I would be the last, but since I am in the middle, I just need to hope that you enjoy my talk, as I am 100% sure you WILL enjoy JP’s.

I will admit that my research has focused primarily on environmental issues and environmental public policy. I took up blogging as a hobby, and since I started (2006) I have experimented with social networking sites and social media tools enough that I now give consulting and advice on social media. I give this advice from the perspective of an academic who is very interested in human behaviour, not only in environment and sustainability, but also in regards to the impact of the Internet in society.

Slide 2 – As I was thinking through and finding the elements that connect my scholarly research with my social media consulting, I found a key insight. I am primarily interested in networks and the actors that comprise these networks, the flow of information amongst the nodes (or actors) and the ultimate outcomes of networked behaviour. I have in my research studied networks of environmentalists, as well as transnational coalitions of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). Therefore, since I recently found out that the basic framework of my interest is the networked society, I have begun to study business networks and public policy networks. As a side note, I am very familiar with the literature on polycentric governance and policy networks, and with social network analysis (both the quantitative and qualitative elements).

Moreover, realizing that I was interested in the networked society has been on the back of my mind for over 10 years. I just hadn’t realized until recently how it connects both of my interests (environmental policy and social media). As Slide 2 shows, we live in a networked society, where we are no longer isolated, and we don’t live 9am-5pm lives. Nothing is purely private, and the boundary between private and public lives blurs. Given that business is all about networking, why not use the networking tools the right way?

Slide 3 – As this slide shows, and aptly within the fact that I am giving this talk on Easter Monday, I can show you how well connected Jesus was in this social network of the New Testament. Everything in society is networked and everything now is connected by electronic means. We are ALL connected to The Matrix.

Slide 4 – Coming back to what I mentioned before, the flow of information in social networking sites has 4 important properties:

1. Reciprocity
2. Durability
3. Traceability
4. Scalability

If you think hard about the implications of each one of these properties, you can very well apply them to your business setting. You need to be reciprocal. If somebody talks to you, answer back. Remember that the information that you put out there, stays on the internet for a really long, long time. So think before you hit “Publish”! Remember that the information you put out there can easily be traced back to you, and that once information flows publicly, it may escalate and you will never be able to put a lid on it, ever.

Slide 5 – These are some quick-and-dirty lessons for you on how to make the most of the properties of information flow in social networking sites for business. Apply some of these lessons to your own business and let me know how it went.

Slide 6 – The following six rules are the basics of what I call Social Media For Business 102. That is, once you’ve mastered the basics of blogging, Twittering, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc., you can move on to these lessons. In short, here are my top 6 rules of applying social media to business:

Rule # 1 – Not everything that is on the internet is true, so don’t follow every single online social media fad. Anybody remember Plurk? No? Neither do I.

Rule # 2 – Not everything that is on the internet is false, so beware of social media mistakes that may affect you negatively. Monitor your brand, and make sure that whatever statements people are making about you are actually true, otherwise, be quick to debunk them. And if they are true, and you made a mistake, apologize and fix it!

Rule # 3 – Be a human out there, even if you are behind a corporate brand. Don’t just push your own agenda, give people something to work with. Make sure that people know that people know that you are a Brandividual (as I mentioned in a previous post, referring to Kate Trgovac‘s excellent talk where she described the concept of Brandividual and spoke about a few excellent ones). I indicated a local example of brandividual with the folks of Build Direct (Rob Jones, Jeff Booth, and mostly, everyone at Build Direct ). I mentioned a Canada-wide example with Bryan Cox, Fergie Devins, Tonia Hammer and Adam Moffat from Molson (whose work in Brew 2.0 was very well enhanced with the amazing expertise of David Jones and Meghan Warby from Hill & Knowlton). Shane mentioned Zappos as an example of a global group of brandividuals.

Rule # 4 – Give back, give a little, get back a lot. Sponsor events, give out gift certificates, demonstrate loyalty to your customers and a genuine care for them. This will pay off handsomely, trust me.

Rule # 5 – Don’t be a one-night-social-media-stand. Just… don’t. If you are going to delve in social media, commit to it. Don’t romance bloggers and then ditch them. This is a really bad idea. Hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned. Trust me. I KNOW. As I mentioned already, Molson did a fantastic job with Hill & Knowlton on Brew 2.0 and it was a winning case study in blogger relations!

Rule # 6 – Be a good business through-and-through. No matter how good your social media marketing is, if you are not providing a good product and/or service, you are definitely going to fail. Good customer service and great products and services are the key to success. Engagement is key.

Slide 7 – You can read my recount of Brew 2.0 (and those of my fellow bloggers, all of them are linked on my post) for a quick-and-dirty of why it was so successful and why they remain successful.

Slide 8 – A local example of good brand monitoring and reputation management is Doolins (who by the way is a client of Shane’s). They followed up on my complaint and made me feel valued as a customer. Brownie points to them!

Note – during my talk I spoke about #amazonfail – I have a blog post about it so I won’t repeat what I said (Slide 9). Just know that it’s a good example of the importance of brand monitoring and crisis management. People should have learned the lesson with the case of Motrin Moms (although, of course, and as I have mentioned before, not every issue galvanizes public opinion thus launching mobilizations and activism – see the case of net neutrality!)

Slide 10 – These are some quick and dirty suggestions on how to use Twitter for business. Simply put, offer your audience information about your business in a way that is engaging and valuable. Don’t make Twitter etiquette faux pas. On that topic, next month’s Vancouver Blogger Meetup will be about etiquette. Join our meetup. It’s fun. Also, if you want to learn a lot about social media, join the social media meetup, Third Tuesday. You can contact my good friend Tanya Davis if you need more information on Third Tuesday.

Slide 11 – So, a few quick, last minute thoughts. I know I’ve already over-stayed my welcome, but I want you to know that if you do social media, you should go multi-platform. Only blogging won’t do you much good unless you use some of the other platforms. Ensure that you monitor your brand, there is Google Alerts and Summize/Twitter Search. Be bi-directional and reciprocal. I have preached this very, very frequently on my blog. I even touched on the importance of bi-directionality for Canadian politicians!

Most importantly, don’t be afraid of testing and experimenting with social media. Skittles failed miserably in their experiment, and see… they are still in business! So don’t worry about it. Just try it! And, as I mentioned in my talk, even if you live your life online, take it offline. Engage. Be real. And if you have questions – ASK!

EDIT – I had come across this report before, and JP just tweeted recently about it, so I am linking to it – a report on social media marketing.

Related posts:

1. On the need for higher-level, philosophical, theoretical social media discussions
2. My recent Social Media Club Victoria talk: “Towards an Action-Focused Agenda for Social Change Using Social Media” (#smcvictoria) @smcvictoria
3. Measuring influence in social media (the Klout score)

In her talk, she shared some data profiling the Canadian consumer of internet data (see her excellent slides here). For the longest time, whenever I see data on social computing and social media analysis, it’s always coming from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In conversations with Dave Jones, Kirk Lapointe, Lorraine Murphy and Kate Trgovac (on Twitter) I lamented that we didn’t have the same Pew-like data for Canada.

Well, Dave Jones was kind enough to share the idea of the Canadian Internet Project and I was blown away. In many ways, yes, the data is very similar to Pew. For my next academic talk on social media and social computing I am definitely going to ask permission to use CIP data.

I *love* Twitter because it allows me to learn SO much! Thanks everyone!

Related posts:

1. Quantitative data in social media analytical work
2. At the intersection of social media and sustainability
3. My recent Social Media Club Victoria talk: “Towards an Action-Focused Agenda for Social Change Using Social Media” (#smcvictoria) @smcvictoria

The feedback on my presentation was great and people seemed quite happy with the content of my speech. I think people were also taken by the fact that I presented the social network of the New Testament in a very cool visualization.

Thanks to AHA Media for providing documentation through videography/photography/live-tweeting and to Darren and Joe, respectively, for MC-ing and organizing/inviting me.

The liveblog/live-tweet is inserted below (or you can click in this link) and my presentation slides are hosted in my research blog and on SlideShare.

I’d be very curious to hear people’s reactions to my talk on the comments section. One thing I noticed is that people had a lot of questions that I really couldn’t address right there and then as we had very limited time, so if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a comment on my research blog or here.

Related posts:

1. My talk at @BCIT on Social Media, Politics and Public Policy
2. My interview with David Berner on The Power of Social Media in Public Policy
3. At the intersection of social media and sustainability

The event took place last night, with a showing of a video that WaterDrop created, a screening of the movie/documentary “Flow” and two talks, one by the folks of Run for Water (I’ll write more about them in the next few days) and my own. I’ll have my slides up on my research site in the next couple of days. On the way back, we were talking about the event and I mentioned that they should be proud, because bringing 70 people to Langley (at Trinity Western University) on a Saturday night to talk water, is not an easy task, and the participants stayed for much longer to talk to the folks who had exhibits at the event (the Township of Langley, Oxfam, the Council of Canadians). They did an amazing job and they also had several people who helped make the event successful, and I personally had a great time.

Water and energy are considered two of the most important and pressing environmental issues in the next 50 years. Unfortunately, so much emphasis is placed on the need for energy resources that not enough attention is paid to the myriad of issues surrounding water. Who has the right to access water? How can we make this access equitable? Is privatization the right way pathway for water conservation? What can we do to re-purpose wastewater and how safe is the technology? There are many, many questions regarding water that are still not answered. My research on water governance aims to tackle just a few of this questions.

Only 3% of the world’s water supply is freshwater (the rest is salt water). This fact comes as a good reminder that today, March 22nd, 2009 is not only the second day of spring, but also the celebration of World Water Day. The theme for 2008 was Sanitation (where my main focus of water research is) and for 2009 is Transboundary Water.

Over the last 60 years there have been more than 200 international water agreements and only 37 cases of reported violence between states over water. We need to continue to nurture the opportunities for cooperation that transboundary water management can provide. [World Water Day UN Site]

In my research, I have examined the way in which wastewater policy is created within a river basin that encompasses territory of five Mexican states (the equivalent of provinces in Canada). The 2009 theme of Transboundary Waters is very timely, because (as I found while conducting fieldwork for this project) water can be used not only as a natural resource but also as a political resource. When water bodies (aquifers or lakes or rivers) are shared amongst two political entities, conflicts about jurisdiction over the water bodies may potentially ensue. Right now, we don’t have water wars, but given the irresponsible consumption patterns that many individuals have, we may see real water fights in the near future.

How many transboundary river basins are there?

There are 263 transboundary river basins. Over 45 percent of the land surface of the world is covered by river basins that are shared by more than one country. Over 75 percent of all countries, 145 in total, have within their boundaries shared river basins. And 33 nations have over 95 percent of their territory within international river basins.

While most transboundary river basins are shared between just two countries, there are many river basins where this number is much higher. There are 13 basins worldwide that are shared between 5 to 8 countries. Five river basins, the Congo, Niger, Nile, Rhine and Zambezi, are shared between 9 to 11 countries. The river that flows through the most countries is the Danube, which passes through the territory of 18 countries.[UN World Water Day]

On this World Water Day, I encourage all my readers to re-think their consumption patterns, to think of ways to conserve and recycle water, to ponder how can each one of us contribute to the work of non-governmental organizations that are fighting tirelessly to provide safe drinking water to the many people in developing nations that don’t have access to clean water. Happy World Water Day.

Related posts:

1. Water Drop: The Global Water Crisis on March 21st, 2009 – I’m speaking
2. World Water Day 2010 – Clean Water for a Healthy World
3. World Water Day is March 22nd

I see the intersection of social media and sustainability as a part of my emerging new research, teaching and consulting agendas (by the way, have you checked my new research blog? No? Go ahead and check it out then come back). And one of the great things I’ve learned is how you can apply these social media tools to enable environmental non-governmental organizations and Crown corporations to reach out to a broader audience. Examples that a variety of awesome social media gurus have done for environmental causes and the such follow (this is a short link-love list – if you find yourself not included, feel free to drop me a comment). And the most exciting thing of them all? I heard about them on Twitter

- Dave Jones from Hill and Knowlton alerted me to the work he had been doing to help World Wildlife Fund Canada to spread the message about Earth Hour Canada. He spoke to a room of 18 people from the WWF Canada as sort of a “socmed bootcamp” and got them started on Twitter, Facebook and all that jazz. Dave is a great Canadian social media/PR person, and I offered to contribute to the Vancouver Earth Hour volunteer team.

- Darren Barefoot, Julie Szabo (Capulet Communications) and Monica Hamburg (in collaboration with Capulet) helped Forest Ethics, Greenpeace Canada and Sierra Club BC launch a social media campaign (that included Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and blogger outreach) to protect the Great Bear rainforest. I wrote about their campaign on my blog a couple of times. Excellent work here too.

- Before they merged with Third Whale, Dave Olson (mentor and good friend) helped spread the amazing work of HappyFrog.ca all over the Twitterverse. I even did some podcasting and liveblogging of EPIC ’08 as part of Dave’s FrogSquad!

- Third Whale is also on Twitter. The account is managed by relentless and ultra-enthusiastic Emily Jubenvill (who by the way is considered Canada’s greenest life-style person). I had a chance to chat with Dr. Boyd Cohen (who works in the corporate sustainability field) and is an entrepreneur. I foresee great things in the future of Third Whale.

- Social Signal (headed by Rob Cottingham and Alexandra Samuel) helped BC Hydro spread their message on energy saving tips through a variety of social media tools. Although I could very well recommend some improvements to BC Hydro’s Human Resources policy, I think the work that Rob and Alex did with them was most excellent! Obviously, that speaks to the fact that Social Signal’s work is superb.

- The recently launched site that my friend Anthony Nicalo is co-leading (FarmFed) is yet another excellent example of the convergence/intersection of social media and sustainability (in this case, sustainable farming, sustainable food policy). I have a guest post for their blog that I will email ASAP.

- Finally, and not to toot our own horn, but the Vancouver Twestival is another space where sustainability (in this case, water sustainability) and social media converge. Rebecca Bollwitt is the main focal point for Twestival and Lorraine, Keira and I are helping Rebecca in whatever we can. I predict that Twestival will be a great event, and I’m very grateful to 6S Marketing, The Opus Hotel and everyone who has donated prizes for the raffle. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

In summary – social media and sustainability can and SHOULD intersect. I am actually quite excited that my work in social media (e.g. my blogging and micro-blogging, participation in social media events, etc.) is offering some leads in regards to contract work. At this juncture in my life, even though I love research and teaching, I will for sure accept some social media contract work, but only to the extent of what my abilities can do. Remember, in regards to social media, I’m still a newbie

Related posts:

1. Social Media for Sustainability and Public Policy
2. Digital media and sustainability: Friends or foes? – NDMD ’08
3. Digital media and sustainability: Friends or foes? – NDMD ’08

While I blogged WAY MORE about water this year than I have in the past, I didn’t do much in terms of research. I used the field research notes that I had accumulated during my almost three years of fieldwork on wastewater governance in Mexico (2004-2006) to produce one journal article (that actually was already accepted for publication in early 2007, so it shouldn’t really count).

But other than that, I haven’t done much with it. I gave a talk this summer on wastewater governance and watershed councils, and I received really good feedback. This feedback was so solid that I have decided to pursue independent projects on each one of the research streams that emanated from this talk.

One of the reasons why I think my involvement with the social media community has become part of a very successful cross-pollination process is that I’ve learned to use many Web 2.0 tools to strengthen my own findings, to advance my research agenda, and to make it easy for me to publish research thoughts in draft form that I may be able to polish in the future (much along the lines of what danah boyd does). Furthermore, I am also in talks with Rachel Black, who also does research on water, and I wouldn’t have met Rachel if it hadn’t been for Twitter (and Anthony Nicalo, as well).

Speaking of tools that make my life easier that I wouldn’t have come across if it hadn’t been for my involvement in the tech community, Blurb is an online (free) software that Arieanna and Colleen used (in the case of Arieanna to publish the photos from their trip to Europe, and Colleen to create a Christmas gift for their families).

I’ve been mulling over publishing one version of my book (in Spanish) on wastewater governance in Mexico (a book that I had finished writing in 2006, but with the further development of the International Year of Sanitation – which was 2008) using Blurb. Another method I’ve been considering is an on-demand press, as Beth Snow did with her first book).

I REALLY, REALLY want to have at least one volume of my book printed out by the end of 2008 so that I don’t feel so terribly lousy about not having done much with such a large body of work. I mean, it’s kind of stupid. I did compare the wastewater policies of five states (the Mexican equivalent to provinces) and I really should be able to produce more stuff (particularly in the English language journals).

If I manage to publish the book with Blurb, I’ll be VERY happy. I’ll let you guys know what I managed to do with that. Overall, my 2008 wasn’t all that bad for my water research. Learned about new topics, thought more about where my water research agenda will go, and used social media tools to strengthen my research. Good stuff.

Related posts:

1. The echo chamber in water research (social sciences)
2. The governance of wastewater and the culture of flushing
3. Dr. Pacheco’s 2010 Year in Review: Academia, Teaching and Research

Credit: Hypergurl on Flickr

JT and I had a chance to see the movie “Blue Gold: World Water Wars” thanks to an invite by the VIFF office. The film actually premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Blue Gold is a documentary based on the work of Maude Barlow (National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians) and Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Institute. From the film’s website:

In every corner of the globe, we are polluting, diverting, pumping, and wasting our limited supply of fresh water at an expediential level as population and technology grows. The rampant overdevelopment of agriculture, housing and industry increase the demands for fresh water well beyond the finite supply, resulting in the desertification of the earth.

Corporate giants force developing countries to privatize their water supply for profit. Wall Street investors target desalination and mass bulk water export schemes. Corrupt governments use water for economic and political gain. Military control of water emerges and a new geo-political map and power structure forms, setting the stage for world water wars.

We follow numerous worldwide examples of people fighting for their basic right to water, from court cases to violent revolutions to U.N. conventions to revised constitutions to local protests at grade schools. As Maude Barlow proclaims, “This is our revolution, this is our war”. A line is crossed as water becomes a commodity. Will we survive?
[Blue Gold: World Water Wars]

The documentary, directed by Jim Bozzo, is very good, and I would recommend it for the general public, as it won an Environmental Film of the Year 2008 Award. Of course, for academics like me (who do research on water), nothing that was said in the film was new. I am well aware of the various debates around privatization, treating water both as a political resource and as a commodity and the discussion on tap water vs. bottled water consumption. I was actually kind of surprised that very little discussion was offered on water as a common pool resource and the problems created by having many users sharing access to dwindling supplies. But the truth is, the social issues surrounding water consumption and pollution are such vast topics, that no documentary can touch on everything.

While the topic of water quality was discussed, neither the documentary narrators nor the interviewees really got into deep discussions of issues of water quality and wastewater management. This was kind of disappointing, as any discussions of the hydrological cycle SHOULD include a mass balance of water AND wastewater. It’s clear that the focus of the film was pretty much the privatization debate and the grassroots battles against corporate acquisition of water.

At the end of the movie, there is some (albeit not extensive) coverage of very important issues: the right to water and the concept of virtual water. While very little support has been given worlwide to a universal right to water, I would think that the recent appointment of Ms. Barlow as Senior Water Advisor to the President of the 63rd U.N. General Assembly may actually increase the visibility of the issue of a right to water.

For a layperson audience, this is a very good film to watch, although I also would recommend additional reading. I would be remiss if I didn’t recommend my own writing on wastewater policy, water governance and the proposed banning of bottled water in Vancouver.

Here is the trailer. Blue Gold: World Water Wars is showing at the Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour) December 12-18 in the following schedules: Fri 7:00 pm, Sat 9:00 pm, Sun 7:00 pm, Mon 9:00 pm, Tues 7:00 pm, Weds 9:00 pm, Thurs 7:00 pm

Check it out before Thursday Dec 18th, I’d recommend to watch the double feature (e.g. Blue Gold and Flow).

Related posts:

1. Blue Gold (2009) – Salt Spring Island Documentary Film Festival 2011
2. Happy Belated World Water Day 2008
3. World Water Day and “The Global Water Crisis” event by WaterDrop

I was telling Robert that, in the process of understanding these new public spaces (the Internet) I had actually fallen prey to the phenomenon I was interested in studying. That is, instead of being an analyst of bloggers, blogs and Web 2.0/social media folks, I became one with them.

The fact is, I don’t have any interest in studying these networks in a formal way. Of course, I am puzzled by the online behavior of people. I always will be, but I don’t want to spend time attached to this research topic. There are better people out there (danah boyd, Michael Geist and Fred Stutzman and even friends of mine study this stuff – Karen Quinn Fung, Kate Milberry).

If I had it my way and somebody paid me (and someone else put me up to speed on the literature) I would probably go to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. But truth be told, (a) I don’t have the time to get up to speed on the literature, (b) I would probably prefer to be invited to the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies – At Harvard too, and (c) even more related to my field, the Center for International Development or the Belfer Center for International Affairs, also at Harvard University.

Just dreaming out loud, that’s all…

Related posts:

1. Ning-based social networks
2. Social networks, LinkedIn and our professional lives
3. Why do we need to monitor human behavior?

I had a lovely day today (well, yesterday since it’s Wednesday by now) where I finished editing two journal articles (one approved for publication with minor revisions and one for peer-review), doing a peer-review of a journal article (which I rejected as the article was horrendous) and managed to do a couple other errands and have a lovely meeting with Robert Ballantyne.

During our meeting (where I gained a lot of insights), he emphasized one thing. He said “well, you ARE an academic“. And it’s true. I’ve been trained as an academic. I look at things, phenomena, stuff through research-trained eyes. My heart jumps when I publish another journal article, when I share my research in conferences and present papers, when my students graduate, when I write letters of reference for them for graduate school, etc. And I absolutely love, love, love teaching.

I live, breathe and eat research and teaching. Well, I have. The past few months, I have sort-of-abandoned the research field. Well, maybe abandoning is not the right verb. I still do research and I still have presented at conferences (like this summer) but I’m not as active as I used to be and I haven’t been able to keep up with the literature on some of the areas where I’ve done research.

By the time September came, I already had lined up 3 or 4 conferences for the following year, and I already knew my travel calendar for the fall. This time, I think I’m only doing 2 conferences in total in 2008. That’s really, really very few conferences and talks for my standards (although I seem to recall that I may have not presented anything around 2002).

However, the past few weeks (particularly since I’ve been back in Vancouver) I’ve started to come to terms with the fact that maybe I’ll have to keep blogging and social media as a side, instead of fully incorporating it into my portfolio. I need to get back to my research portfolio and find ways to expand my output in such a way that I can apply my recently acquired social media skills to my academic pursuits.

Today, as I was talking with Robert (and later in the evening with my brother A, who is a tenure-track professor right now) and in previous weeks with my good friends HZ and Beth Snow, I *do* love academia. It’s the family business (Mom, 2 of my brothers, myself).

Now this doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop blogging or that I’ll shift much the focus of my blog. I may blog more infrequently but not stop fully. I may incorporate more of my research into my blog writing. This is just a quick reflection on what I think will be the future for me.

Related posts:

1. On writing, storytelling and my academic work
2. Immersing myself back in the academic sphere
3. The painful process of writing academic book chapters/articles

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Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) is a national five-year research study that is recruiting about 2,000 women from Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Ottawa, Kingston, Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

The Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) study has three main purposes:
(1) to measure the extent to which pregnant women and their infants are exposed to chemicals;
(2) to measure some of the beneficial elements of breast milk;
(3) to assess what health risks, if any, are associated with chemical levels measured, with a focus on heavy metals.

To learn more about the MIREC study visit: www.mirec-canada.ca

The BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver is now looking for women to participate in the study.

To participate you must be:
- 19 years or older,
- planning to deliver at BC Women’s Hospital in Vancouver, and
- less than 13 weeks pregnant.

For more information about the MIREC study in Vancouver, please contact the Research Coordinator, Sarah, at (604)875-2253 or squelch@cw.bc.ca

Funding Agencies:
* Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/contaminants/mirec
* Ontario Ministry of the Environment: http://www.ene.gov.on.ca
* Canadian Institutes of Health Research: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca

The MIREC study is a collaborative effort among Health Canada scientists, the Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, and clinical researchers from the other participating cities. Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal is the coordinating centre for the study.

Related posts:

1. My year in review – Environmental mobilizations research
2. Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2011 Call for Speakers
3. PURPLE Crying Folks Call for Knitters

However, and I’m pretty sure anyone who knows me well, I get tired really easily when I’m overwhelmed with people. This conference is huge and LOTS of people are coming to say hi and talking to me. When this happens, I shut down and need some space and ME time. I’m excited but also exhausted.

This afternoon, I came back home late to check my email, Twitter and my blog comments and noticed that a lot had been going on. I haven’t had a chance to even look at many of those twets and/or comments. I’m exhausted.

But I’m glad to be again immersed in a field and a world where I feel very successful and on top of things. Whereas I’m always learning something new and still feel not-geeky-enough when it comes to social media, PR and the tech world, I’m a natural-born academic and this world I know very well and I swim with the sharks without any hitch.

However, I hope this is NEVER interpreted as though I don’t enjoy the social media world. I really do! But I don’t feel as “authoritative” when I give an opinion or talk about a topic. I was thinking about topics for BarCamp, and felt a bit helpless because, even though I’ve been asked to collaborate in one particular panel, I feel that I don’t have enough to contribute to a BarCamp just yet.

I’m not self-hosted, I’m not a WordPress pro, thus I feel as though I’m not ready to share anything at BarCamp on my own. That’s quite alright though, I’m more than happy to join collective efforts and presentations, but still, it’s kind of nice to be at this conference because I feel again as though I’m knowledgeable and my opinion has some weight.

Related posts:

1. Different models of feedback: Academia and the blogosphere
2. Academia can be dangerous for your health :)
3. Reputation, academia and blogging

I’ve always been puzzled as to why would numerous individuals of different backgrounds decide to come together and volunteer their time to engage in environmental activism. Putting pressure on government is an activity that has taken place for a long time, and with the recent increase in media exposure to problems such as climate change and pollution, we have witnessed a spiraling growth of ENGO mobilizations.

Global warming protest outside Washington Park (Photo: Pembleton/Flickr)

You may or may not know that one of the most famous environmental groups (Greenpeace International) was initially founded in 1971 here in Vancouver.

In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the founders of Greenpeace, believed a few individuals could make a difference.

Their mission was to “bear witness” to US underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West Coast of Alaska, which is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions.[Greenpeace website]

My research on ENGOs has focused less on understanding the motivations behind environmental groups’ (a topic that, while interesting, provides in my opinion less insight on potential public policy options) and more on the strategies that ENGOs use to put pressure both on industrial polluters and on governments at different scales (local, regional, transnational).

Moreover, I have been interested in gathering empirical evidence of the formation of transnational coalitions of ENGOs and how these coalitions use their collective knowledge to engage in strategic behavior and put pressure on national governments. Interestingly enough, there are many cases where ENGOs have been successful in pressuring polluters and shaming governments.

However, one of the most interesting insights that I have found in my research is that, for an issue to really galvanize public opinion, it has to be notorious and affect the population in a deep way (that is, it must be scary enough to make people put words into action). As I mentioned in my previous post on the governance of wastewater, it irks me to know that other pressing problems, such as dwindling supplies of water and increasing wasteful behavior on the part of urban populations are being overlooked in favor of climate change.

While it appears as though environment (and climate change) are two of the issues that Canadians indicate as public policy priorities, I am still surprised that there are not more environmental group protests on issues of pollution, and still place so much emphasis on climatic change issues.

My hope is that, in the coming years, people will continue to mobilize and try to change how environmental policy is shaped and implemented, but hopefully by then, we’ll have a much more holistic view and not only one shaped by excessive press coverage of environmental issues that, while pressing, are not the only ones we need to look at.

Related posts:

1. My year in review – Environmental mobilizations research
2. The Environmental Movement Needs You – Homer Simpson Has Already Joined – Guest post by Lotus Effect
3. The relevance of the BP oil spill for global environmental politics