Greg Kettner is MC-ing the Sales Performance Meetup (featuring Shane Gibson from Knowledge Brokers International, speaking on Needs Analysis)
6:41
Shane is now taking the floor. Today is really about our capacity and engage with our clients and people around us. We spend too much time perfecting our pitch and not focusing on our clients.
6:42
What’s your credibility model? Why people will buy from you is very different from each other person.
6:43
Listening – We get more out of the questions we ask than the stories we tell. We hear about telling stories, brilliant entertaining. But people are concerned that we are interested in THEM than we are interested in who WE are.
6:44
Closing is a process, not an event. There is no brilliant, silver bullet that you can follow to sell. Selling is about creating an environment where an act of faith can take place. What is faith based upon? Trust. Longevity. Capacity to prove that we are going to stick around. Rapport, empathy. Believing that I will indeed do what I promised YOU that I would do.
6:45
Needs Analysis Approach – A number of us, we start as rookies and we forget about this as time goes. 1.- Forces you to listen. 2. – Makes the customer think and explore 3.- Pertinent questions are not missed 4.- Sufficient information is gathered. 5.- You personally receive education from the real world.
6:47
A 20% closing ratio is pretty good. But this was as a group. Shane’s ratio decreased to 1 out of 20. Then Shane learned that great sales professionals listen 60% of the time.
6:48
You really need a solid process for listening. Shane mentions an anecdote that he needed to remind himself to listen again (drawing a little clock in each page of his notebook).
6:50
Shane makes emphasis on this particular point You personally receive education from the real world. Shane learned about the lingo that his clients used through repeated contact with his clients.
6:50
The power of interviewing questions Intelligent questions will – demonstrate that you are a professional – show that you are competent – build trust – prove that you are concerned about the client’s needs
6:52
Selling doesn’t mean that we close EVERYBODY. The Needs Analysis Questionnaire follows three stages (the Larry King method). In the beginning, general standard easy questions. 20% of the questions gather 80% of the vital information. More focused opinions that begin to tell a story. At the end of the questionnaire – you can delve into confidential, personal, financial information.
6:54
The timing of when you ask the questions is key as well. You can’t ask the personal, confidential questions right away.
6:56
The Needs Analysis Questionnaire – Direct – Never sell – Be aware of rapport – Mix it up.
6:57
Never sell during a needs analysis. You are assuming that you know what they need. You may actually break down the momentum. No more information will be shared with you.
6:59
If you go through a Needs Analysis and you falter, or your voice cracks, or you sound non-confident, then the rapport might be broken.
6:59
You have to mix it up (not all closed questions – some open questions).
7:02
In summary – Very few sales people listen their way out of a sale. – Too few sales people actually listen at all. – It’s a free education that competitors can’t buy. – People don’t care much how much you know until they know how much you care about them and their organization. – Always think “What’s in it for me…” from their perspective.
7:03
Make sure that our needs analysis is focused on HIGH RETURN ON INVESTMENT questions – where we can paint a picture to our prospect where we can build the business.
7:04
Some of us are overtrained at pitching and undertrainedat listening
I’m not convinced with Academia.edu. One of the reasons why I joined Facebook was to reconnect with scholars all over the world who are also my friends. I completely understand the rationale behind Academia.edu, but the search engines, the API and the way in which the data are handled and the requests extract data are actually quite cumbersome. I don’t know if the reason behind is the way in which the portal is programmed or the database structure, but really, it’s not enticing at all to join.
For example, on the news link, I don’t want to see who added new photos and articles and stuff (kind of the News Feed on Facebook). I want the developer to tell me what’s going on with the application. Also, I really don’t like the interface itself. I like how the trees are created, but seriously, it shows very little imagination. I am not very thrilled with the application, even if some of the world’s best scholars are there (I have seen Paul Krugman there).
I have been tagged several times with this meme, and I figured I should finally do my part. Trying to be innovative, and also because my meme is going to be posted on Facebook, I’m going to try to keep it professional AND personal at the same time. I’m going to cover 5 things about my personality, 5 things about my upbringing, 5 things about my professional life in Mexico, 5 things about my social life in Canada and 5 things about my family life that can be public.
1. I sometimes sleep on my couch. Usually when I am watching TV. Makes me feel less lonely, as I do live alone.
2. When I am sad, I make grape Jell-O. Reminds me of my late aunt. It makes me feel emotionally better.
3. When I am peckish (i.e. kind of hungry), I boil eggs and add lime juice and salt. Really tasty snack. Trust me, you ought to try it.
4. I hate cheese. This is a rather known fact about me, but people seem to forget quite easily.
5. Despite my hate of cheese, I *will* eat pizza. I actually will be happy to eat pizza if it has lots of meat.
6. I don’t like creamy soups. It might have something to do with my lactose intolerancy.
7. It took over 1.5 years for me to turn on my TV. I bought one and never used it.
8. I can dream in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
9. I tend to misplace my keys quite often, despite my prodigious photographic memory.
10. I tried 8different colognes (one each semester during my undergraduate degree) before I settled on my signature fragrance: Herrera for Men.
11. I am addicted to the TV show “Brothers and Sisters”.
12. I have bumped into lots of actors while I’ve lived in Vancouver. Most recently Michael Weatherly of Dark Angel and NCIS fame. Actually I saw him at brunch at Provence Marinaside in Yaletown.
13. I know how to say “I love you” in Japanese. I actually know how to say “I love you forever” – itsumo aishiteru.
14. Up until April 2008 I had never interviewed anyone in a different language. I had been interviewed in several languages, but I had never done it myself.
15. Up until a few days ago, I was on EVERY SINGLE OTHER social media platform, except for Facebook. Now, I’m also on Facebook. Yes, I know. I caved.
16. I take at least 1 hour a week to meditate. I don’t take any phone calls, nor do I check email or anything. It’s MY time and mine only.
17. I have volunteered doing adult literacy programs. I have also volunteered doing science education programs. I feel much more fulfilled with adult literacy, quite frankly.
18. My favorite food right now is Ethiopian. Not sure why, but I just absolutely adore those flavors. I used to have a fascination with Japanese, Italian and Mexican food. Right now, Ethiopian is the one.
19. I have always loved taking a different approach to things. All my brothers play basketball (quite competitively). I chose volleyball, and became a pretty good competitive volleyball player.
20. I was raised listening to classical music. Yet, I absolutely love 80’s pop music.
21. It is widely accepted that the two most important environmental challenges are water and energy. I do research on water, but have never had any interest whatsoever in energy.
22. I work better late at night. It’s really hard for me to wake up early in the mornings.
23. I have worked several times 24 hours straight. It didn’t do any good to my health.
24. I hate waiting for the bus. Sometimes I walk (and obviously, sometimes I miss the bus because it comes before I can feel it approaching!)
25. Even though I am an environmental specialist, I do eat meat. I do have a 60-70% vegetarian diet, though.
I’m slightly surprised about the results of the quiz, but since all my answers were true, I’ll just let the quiz speak for themselves. Hat tips to Shane Gibson who created the quiz and alerted me to it!
Social Media Thought Leader
You have the potential to create a large following and community on-line. Your grasp of what it takes to engage people and create an impact is well developed. Thought leaders are found in every sector. As a thought leader you can have a lasting impact, create change, or be financially successful using social media. Keep up the good work. As you build community and a loyal following over time you will reap huge rewards.
Great thought leaders also understand that taking it off-line is key. They usually will organize or contribute to local community events like Meetup.com functions or Tweetups.
One day after Valentine’s Day (I know, a commercial day, but awesome nonetheless), I find myself at home, having already gone to church, done a bit of grocery shopping and heading out to do some writing, some work on a proposal and enjoy the sun, and to meet up with a group of friends as well at The Irish Heather. I just want to say that today I feel so incredibly well thanks to the sunny weather we are having. I love Vancouver when it’s sunny (yeah, 60 days out of 365 is not a lot of sun, but oh well). I made breakfast at home and now about to head out. Hoping you’re having a nice weekend!
Deep Cove today. Credit: Roland Tanglao on Flickr.
In my life, my tradition has been to wish my friends Happy Valentine’s Day (because that’s how I saw it growing up, not about romantic love but love in general, friends, family, etc.). Therefore, whether you are single or partnered, I wish you the very best today and every day!
I had the pleasure to meet today with Melanie, one of my best friends from graduate school, and got to meet her little boy (amazing to see that Jakob over 2 years old now!). He IS, most definitely, a beautiful bundle of joy. I have to admit that I praise Facebook for reconnecting me with someone with whom not only I share the same degree (though we focused on different research areas) but also, a variety of interests and a tonne of shared friends.
It’s really amazing how you can reconnect with people who have had a significant impact in your life as though no time has passed! I’ll admit that I’m definitely now very happy that I joined Facebook. That’s how I got to reach out to Melanie again in a much faster fashion than over email or through our blogs (yes, she DOES have a blog. Remember that awesome post “Mom, PhD“? She is the author of that one!)
Ok, Facebook, we’re at peace now. Thanks for bringing me closer to my dear friends and my academic colleagues. Now, please… Facebook, don’t become a time-hog!
You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression.
You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything.
Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.
You’re very clever, but you are not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments.
In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love.
And if things don’t work out, you’re usually not too much worse for the wear!
You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor.
At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision.
How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful
When other people don’t get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial
The Vancouver Twestival (superbly organized by Rebecca Bollwitt) was as expected, a great success. As detailed on the Twestival site, with over 250 attendees, $ 4,211 dollars were raised. Pretty much, Rebecca organized the event single-handedly. Additional help is always appreciated, so thanks to Greg for the TwitterFall, Rachael, Jenn, Cathy and Lorraine for the raffle stuff and Tanya and Lorraine for helping me at the door. I’ll admit that by the time 8pm clocked, I was exhausted.
So, congratulations Vancouver attendees, organizers and sponsors. You helped make THIS possible.
Most people seem to think that, because my nickname is Hummingbird604, I don’t ever sleep. That’s true in most cases as I’m usually a really hard worker. But this year it doesn’t seem as though I’ve been as productive as I always am. That’s probably because I respond more to what my body seems to need. Therefore, I figured I’d test whether I am actually energetic or not. Here are my results, and feel free to drop me a note on the comments to tell me about YOUR results.
Your Energy Level is High
You are a very enthusiastic, productive person. You have no trouble getting anything done.
Beyond having a lot of energy, it’s likely that your energy level tends to be quite steady.
Unlike people with very high energy, you don’t tend to be impulsive.
By keeping your energy in check, you are able to use it as productively as possible.
As you may have read on my blog, I recently caved to the 2 years of pressure and FINALLY joined Facebook. It’s important for my social media credibility, it has helped me reconnect with good friends of mine, and moreover, it has helped w/ the academic connections. So, I’m not going to say that it’s not useful. It is. AND I get invited to events ๐
I just uploaded a few of the tweets that my friends submitted when I joined Facebook. It was absolutely hilarious (at least for me) ๐ Enjoy, and see you at Twestival tonight!
If you’ve been a frequent reader of my blog, you’ll know that I am always on the hunt for a great Ethiopian restaurant. I can proudly say that I’ve tried (and reviewed) the vast majority of Ethiopian restaurants in Vancouver. From Fassil to Gojo Little Africa to The Red Sea Cafe and now, Axum. This cute restaurant has been on my “to visit” for a long while now, but for some reason (well, probably the fact that it’s out of my way – but almost kitty-corner with The Brave Bull.
JT and I went here for dinner the other day, as we both really love Ethiopian food. We ordered a full order of chicken (yedoro wot) ($10.00) and a five items vegetarian combo on injera ($10.00). Comparatively, the portions were bigger than Gojo Little Africa but definitely enough for us. I actually wasn’t hungry. Spice level is not comparable, though. I like more spicy food than JT does and I think that’s the general flavor that I get when I have dinner at The Red Sea Cafe, or Fassil.
Excellent points though – service was impeccable, the food was really great, the injera needed to be a tad more sour but I loved it overall, the place is spotless and clean, and very spacious, as you can glean from my photo (sorry it’s a tad blurry – I took it with JT’s iPhone but I need to bring my own camera when I go out). My general perception is that people DO know that Axum is a great place for Ethiopian food. However, given my proximity to Fassil and Red Sea Cafe, I can see myself going there more frequently than to Axum.
Frankly, it’s astonishing the great level of Ethiopian food that we have in Vancouver. I can’t complain. Wherever I am, there will be some place that I can enjoy.
Despite my aversion to snow (remember, I love warm climates), I have to admit that there are A LOT of fun activities that you can carry out in Cypress Mountain. One of them is snowshoeing, and what better way to conduct a snowshoe experience than to do it with a chocolate fondue tour?
Well, Emme’s recent Valentine’s contest on Sexy in VanCity (to which I submitted an entry) inspired me to do a contest of my own. Thanks to Cypress Mountain (hat tips to Jess Sloss), I’m happy to offer to the winner of the contest “Green Your Valentine’s Day” an awesome snowshoeing tour for two people.
Details of the prize:
Chocolate Fondue Tour (3 hrs)
When: Wednesday February 25th, 6:30-9:30pm
Experience a 1.5 hr snowshoe through the woods and glades of Hollyburn plateau on your way to our rustic upper warming hut. First we’ll warm you up from the inside with a mug of steaming hot chocolate or spiced apple cider. Then enjoy a dessert of chocolate fondue with a variety of fruits and angel fruit cake; surrounded by romantic candle-light and soaking up the heat of a traditional wood-burning stove. [Cypress Mountains]
And now, here is how you can win the contest…
Leave a comment on this post (or write a blog post) describing the ways in which you plan to “green” your Valentine’s Day celebration. A comment gets you one entry into the contest, a blog post does get you two entries to the contest. Whether it is just sending your loved one an e-Valentine’s card to going for a sustainable/organic dessert , or dinner with a lower ecological footprint (maybe vegan/vegetarian), or consuming biodynamic wines… what are YOU doing to Green Your Valentine’s?
Entries will be accepted until Friday February the 13th, at 11:58pm, and the tickets for the winner will be drawn, (and announced) at 11:00am on Saturday, February 14th (so that you can tell your Valentine that you have won, should you be the lucky winner!)
You may have noticed on Twitter that I was asking for help editing a video. Well, now I can reveal why I need the help. I want to be one of the lucky winners of the Vancouver Twestival contest that our friends from Strutta are launching. In sixty seconds or less, tell us why you use Twitter, and what you have to say about Twestival? Rebecca’s post about the contest is here, and make sure you enter the video contest! There’s lots of sweet prizes to be won!
This series of posts is an examination of the relationships that exist amongst three of the types of writing that I have been associated in one way or another for the past few years. As an academic, I have been trained to keep “an objective position” (please do note my quotation marks – given that I’ve been also trained in qualitative research, I know how hard and almost futile it is to maintain such objective position).
This series of posts is inspired by the constant flurry of articles I see both on the mainstream media and in new media outlets debating on whether mainstream media is becoming less relevant and less fast at gathering facts, whether it is being replaced by blogging or whether they can have any sort of good relationship. Furthermore, I am someone who conducts academic, peer-reviewed research and publishes in international journals. I am used to talk to mainstream media (MSM) outlets and have my findings disseminated to a general audience. But furthermore, I *am* a blogger. I love writing and I love writing about my research too. So, while I don’t see myself as a media outlet, I have relationships with media and I am also involved in writing.
The debate centered on the instantaneous nature of social media and how it has sometimes beaten mainstream media to the punch is exemplified with the case of the US Airways plane ditching on the Hudson River, where the first photograph of the plane was taken by someone who uploaded it to Twitpic and disseminated it on Twitter.
I would like to bring academia as an additional actor in the dyad bloggers-journalists. I am not sure yet how to frame it, but this series of posts should help me frame my thinking around it. I also would like to point out that the changing and ever-evolving relationship between blogging and journalism is part of what Michael Geist calls “The New Normal”.
There’s one point where I am thinking blogging, academic writing and journalism converge – sources and speed of publication. An academic is required to double, triple-check their facts and conduct thorough research that, naturally, slows down the speed of publication. This standard of research depth is part of the training academics have. I’ve also seen journalists say that they are required to double and triple-check their facts and sources, whereas apparently bloggers don’t (I have to say that I disagree with this point, because a lot of bloggers DO do a lot of research and are extremely accurate in doing their source-checking, fact-checking and cross-linking). But one thing is true – in the spectrum of publishing speed, the fastest you can get is through publishing a blog post, then a newspaper article, and the slowest time from generation to publication is for sure the academic journal article.
Of course, as with all my posts, feel free to chime in your thoughts.
It is true that I haven’t embraced snow, but I *love* causes that enable access to winter/snow-based sports. Recently, my friend Jay Grandin alerted me to the great work that the Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports Society is carrying out to make snow accessible to people with a disability. From their website:
Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports (VASS) runs skiing and snowboarding programs for persons with a disability at Grouse, Seymour and Cypress Mountains. VASSS makes the mountain experience accessible to all. VASS is a registered non-profit society, operated by a dedicated group of volunteers, which includes an active Board of Directors, program coordinators, instructors and administrators.[VASSS]
VASSS is having their annual fundraiser on February 26th, 2009, namely the VASS Challenge. There are three groups to sponsor – a racer, a volunteer or a team. This is a very worthy cause and I’d encourage my readers to consider donating. The cause is very much worthy. I think this video is pretty powerful. Enjoy (and hat tips to Giant Ant Media for contributing and helping raise awareness)
My friend Carol Sillseems to have infinite amounts of energy, so she took it upon herself to launch a new tea-focused site. I know my friend Phaedra will love the site, as we both enjoy tea very much (having spent many awesome afternoons at Shaktea).
In this site, Iโll point to some terrific teas to try, suggest some elegant and beautiful tea sites, offer reviews of tea and tea shops in Vancouver, and play as many versions of Tea for Two as I can stand![Cha cha cha Tea Vancouver]
In case you didn’t remember, I quit caffeine for a long while last year but then I needed to get back. While I was off caffeine, rooibos tea was what saved me. I look forward to hearing from Carol what she thinks of most places that do tea!
You guys might have read a while ago about my very dearest friend, whom I see as a brother. He lives right here in Vancouver, and we have a very, very close friendship, like a brotherhood. He and I share a lot of things in common. We like a lot of the same music. We both speak at least three languages (and three of these are shared – English, French and Spanish), we both have PhDs and we even did our PhD under the same supervisor. We share the same love for family and friends and a great appreciation for good food, travelling and a balanced life in general.
My brother (I call him my brother in soul, because he is not my brother by blood but he might as well be) is an amazing guy. We have been there for each other and I am really happy that his girlfriend is now also one of my close friends – she DOES understand our very close friendship). My blood brothers (the four of them) love my brother in soul to bits too (two of them have met him in person and really, really like him). And my Mom, needless to say, adores him. I have to say that his parents and brother also love ME to death, so it all works out really nicely. AND both his parents and mine live in Mexico, so that’s yet another shared element to our lives.
We hadn’t had a chance to hang out in a while (our group of friends) and we decided on brunch at Enigma as it was the most convenient location. HZ and I were having this playful disagreement (we *love* to disagree and poke holes on each other’s arguments, because we are both really bright and we like to challenge each other’s assumptions and rationalizations) and when asked what we were talking about, he said “hey, that’s just between my brother and I”, which was very nice to hear. It’s true. There are things that we share just amongst ourselves and the fact that his girlfriend respects that is one of the great things that I love about her.
So, as we were having breakfast, someone made the comment about someone else being a “de-dramatizer”, and I agreed with CS that yeah, that sounds about right in regards to my brother (her partner). My brother HZ has the amazing ability to calm people down and help them analyze issues through a variety of lenses, and that helps people understand the issues at hand more clearly. I have to say that I’ve called upon his de-dramatizing skills more than once, and I am very grateful that he lives here in Vancouver, because he (along with all my other friends) helps me stay sane. Furthermore, the fact that we are both academics allows us to share a deeper understanding of the issues when we deal with both of our professional lives. I do hope that I have been been a de-dramatizer for him as much as he has been for me.
For all of what you’ve done for me, thank you brother.
Given that we are getting close to Valentine’s Day, I figured it would be fitting to launch a contest. I haven’t held contests on my blog even though I’ve had prizes to give away. So, this time, for the very, very first time, I’m launching a contest. Stay tuned on Monday around noon for the contest.
In the mean time, how about you let me know how your weekend is going?
Just a quick post to let people know that yeah, maybe my dislike for the Crackbook wasn’t all that justified, but I’ve learned a lot in the past week.
Facebook allowed me to re-connect with friends that I met when I did my PhD, friends and colleagues who are actually scholars in various different countries and universities. Particularly it helped me learn about potential tenure-stream positions and conferences I wasn’t aware of.
All in all, I haven’t spent as much time on Facebook as I expected to, and it’s going well. I don’t plan to “friend” everyone simply because well, I DO want to keep the Facebook thing a bit low key.
Rarely do I have the opportunity to hang out with my social media friends on a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. It’s usually very structured – we see each other at Third Tuesday, Vancouver Bloggers Meetup, all sorts of events. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I was really excited when, one evening a couple of weeks back, I tweeted to Gus and asked him if he’d like to join me for dinner at Fatburger.
This iconic institution of burger-manufacturing is actually decorated as a really cute diner. Located almost right besides Delaney’s, on Denman and almost Comox, Fatburger has a long history. From their own website:
In 1952, Lovie Yancey created something unique. A culture. A phenomenon, if you will. She created the biggest, juiciest hamburgers anyone had ever seen. So obviously, there was only one name for them โ Fatburger.
Half a century later, while other places are just discovering taste, we’re still making hamburgers the way she did. Fresh lean beef, not frozen patties. Cooked-to-order, just the way you want it, every time.
The only thing Lovie loved as much as hamburgers was music. So you’ll hear some of the best music ever blasting from kickin’ new jukeboxes: Rock’n’Roll, R&B, Hip-Hop, and Classic Soul that’ll keep you groovin’ in your chair long enough to finish that big juicy burger
Both Gus and I ordered a Fat Deal (Fat Burger, fries and a soda), and to be quite honest, the burger was kind of huge. The meat was juicy and well cooked (just like I like it) and the fries were solid, albeit I’m not a real fan of their fries. I would much have preferred to have eaten onion rings. Overall, it was a great experience. I got to play with the jukebox and enjoy Gus’ company, which I always enjoy very much.
Overall rating – I’d probably go first to Splitz than Fatburger, but if asked about Fatburger and Vera’s, it would be a tough call. Really good burgers, though, and on the rather inexpensive side (less than $ 9.00 for burger, fries and soda – minus the taxes and tips, per person). I would recommend it, even if just for the experience.
Solely on superficial characteristics – is it convenient, reliable, efficient? How much does it cost? Society allows us to ignore – if I use this program, what does it do to my freedom? What does it do to the social side of my community? Those are the questions that the free software movement is concerned with these issues.
A program is free if it is proprietary (if it respects the freedom of society). Proprietary software keeps users helpless and alienated. Users canโt change it nor identify independently what it can do. However, just saying that we are on favour of freedom is too general to be useful. Freedom 0 โ to run the program as you wish 1 โ Freedom to spell the source code and change it so that it makes exactly what you want it to do. 2 โ To help your neighbour โ make and distribute exact copies of the program when you wish 3 โ Freedom to contribute to your community โ make and distribute copies when you wish (free) The social system of its use respects the users freedom. Software that is more or less contribution to society. The existence of a society program that is restricted in its use Attractive features are the bait so that people can give up their freedom. All software should be free so that all users can be free . Why define free software this way? Freedom 2 โ is essential on fundamental moral grounds so that you can live ethical lives as an equal member of your community. Hampering this freedom can hamper your freedom to share the program. If you are in a dilemma you are to choose the lesser of two evils. If you canโt afford to avoid doing wrong to someone then you should do it to someone who deserves it (this is obviously tongue in cheek, I am sure). If your friend has an un-authorized of a proprietary program, then this is wrong. 1. Not have friends 2. Reject proprietary software My conscience does not permit me to accept proprietary software. So when people ask Richard Stallman what he thinks of the issue of software piracy โ pirates donโt attack ships by reducing computers, they use arms ๏ You can study the source of the code that is NOT proprietary. If you donโt have Freedom 1 โ you canโt even tell what the program is really doing to you. Many programs without freedom 1 have malicious features (restrict, attack or affect the user like that). One program that uses all three is the MS. Certain functionalities tell MS what the user did. Gaping back-door = changes in the software without the user actually knowing it.
12:45
hummingbird604: Use #stallman to track or tweet about Richard Stallman’s
12:45
Raul: Everyone has heard that Windows has “best security” – these systems don’t actually have security. These systems require blind faith from the user.
Raul: All software without Freedom 1 have malicious features. Programs in 2 categories – programs where we KNOW about malicious features and some where we DON’T know. We can’t tell which is which?
12:47
honeymae: RT @hummingbird604: Liveblogging the #stallman lecture on the free software movement – http://is.gd/iFnZ
12:47
Raul: Without identifying them we can make a statement – developers make mistakes. The user of a program without freedom 1 is just as helpless. You are a prisoner of the sofware you use. The next version of a software who is not malicious right now may have this malicious feature later.
12:49
Raul: If you find something in our code that you don’t like, you are FREE to change it (with free software movement). Freedom 1 is essential but is not enough. There are millions of users who can’t exercise Freedom 1. But even for programmers, Freedom 1 is not enough. There is so much free software in the world that no one person is capable of personally knowing and mastering all the software. That’s more than one human being can do. The only way we can do it is by working together and to do that we need Freedom 3 – the freedom to contribute to the community and distribute copies of your software.
12:49
hummingbird604: Are people following the #stallman liveblog?
12:50
Raul: Unless all users exercise all freedoms – freedom 0 and 2 (to run and to distribute) do not require programming – freedoms 1 and 3 (study and change the software and distribute changed software) – freedoms 1 and 3 are for programmers, 0 and 2 are for users. People who don’t program can’t exercise all the freedoms, but they DO benefit for all these freedoms.
12:51
Raul: Users can indirectly take advantage of all 4 freedoms even without exercising them. Changing a certain program may make your business run better.
12:52
hummingbird604: Richard #stallman is an amazing speaker. So damn clear. His lecture on Free Software movement is very empowering and clear.
12:52
Raul: You can take advantage of ALL freedoms even if you don’t have all the skills to benefit from Freedom 1 and 3. If a business is thinking of using a proprietary program, they have to take the program “as is”. Only the developer can make any changes.
12:53
Raul: With free software, implementing changes, anybody who has the skills to do it can do it. Thus, the users of free software will get better support for their money for their free software.
12:54
Raul: Freedom 3 is therefore all essential. What the 4 freedoms give us is democracy. A free program develops democratically under the control of its users.
12:54
Raul: With proprietary programs – it develops under the dictatorship of its programmer. It grows under the autocratic structure of the developer. You should escape to the free world. The free world is the new continent that we have built in cyberspace so that we can all live in freedom.
12:55
hummingbird604: @coveritlive is free – which is only fitting that I am liveblogging #stallman ‘s lecture
12:55
Raul: The aim of the free software movement is to liberate cyberspace and all its inhabitants.
12:56
Raul: In 1983, Stallman wanted to be able to use computers and live in freedom. But how, it was impossible! All operating systems back then were proprietary. The only way was to sign a non-disclosure agreement for a proprietary operating system, so there goes your freedom.
12:57
Raul: At the time, Stallman wasn’t all that famous. He couldn’t solve this problem by starting an ordinary political movement. So instead he thought of another way. He was an operating system developer. All he had to do was to run another operating system, make it free, everybody would be able to use computers in freedom by using this system. A social problem with a technical work.
12:57
Raul: An important social problem that affected a narrow part of society. Most people didn’t recognize it as a problem.
12:58
hummingbird604: #stallman felt that it was his duty to start this free software movement.
12:59
Raul: Stallman decided to try creating a free operating system.
12:59
Raul: Stallman followed the design of UNIX so that it could be portable.
12:59
hummingbird604: The room is packed with young minds. This is very inspiring. The new generations are interested in free sofware and freedom #stallman
1:00
Raul: Also wanted to make it compatible with UNIX. The name was GNU (Gnu is Not Unix)
1:00
Raul: The hacker community in the 1970s (back at MIT) – he was hired as a system hacker. His job was to make the operating system better (they called themselves a system hacker). Playful cleverness.
1:01
hummingbird604: @awsamuel Richard #stallman is speaking at UBC about his experience as a hacker – thought this would be of interest ๐
1:02
Raul: It was the fascination of programming what made it more fun. They gave themselves mysterious names. Now, in the 1970s system-level programming was generally not portable. So it was quite common that you would see a very useful program but you couldn’t use it because it was a different operating software. You named your program your program isn’t the other one. E-MACS text editor.
1:02
Raul: 30 imitations of IMAX for some sort of computer. Straight Forward And Not Fun. FINE (Fine is not E-Macs) and SINE (Sine is Not E-Macs). Very recursory names.
1:02
Raul: So you could have lots of fun with recursive acronyms (this is a kind of hacking).
1:05
Raul: In 1991 a Finland student released LINUX (Linux is Not UniX) hehehe.
1:06
Raul: In 1992 LINUX was released under the general free software license.
1:07
Raul: Why would we need to have a license for a free software?
1:07
Raul: Anything written (software) is automatically copyrighted. Therefore you NEED to make the program free to attach an explicit declaration giving users the four freedoms (which actually becomes a free software license).
1:09
Raul: Copy-Left License – some of those free licenses are so permissive that they may allow people to re-release the software as proprietary. So we had to strip the movement of stripping the freedoms. You have the freedom to redistribute exact copies and when you do that, you MUST make the source code available under the EXACT same license. It has to stay with the same license (VERY MUCH LIKE CREATIVE COMMONS)
1:10
hummingbird604: #stallman Copy Left license = very similar to Share-Alike Creative Commons – redistribute under the exact same license
1:11
hummingbird604: If you’re following my liveblog of Richard #stallman ‘s lecture on free software, please feel free to comment – http://is.gd/iFnZ
1:11
Raul: GNU was a predecessor of LINUX – so give us a share of the credit.
1:11
Raul: Please call it GNU/LINUX – just give us a mention.
1:12
Raul: There is a more important stake – YOUR freedom is at stake.
1:12
[Comment From GregEh] haha, GNU/Linux, can’t believe he’s still on that
1:13
Raul: Different names convey different ideas – and what they communicate with others is important. GNU has been associated with these ideas of freedom. The name of LINUX is associated with not caring for users freedoms. (as per Stallman) – Thorvald condemns their ideas of freedom.
1:13
[Comment From GregEh] Not following too closely because I’m going to see his other lecture tonight ๐
1:14
Raul: It’s not fair that the tremendous work WE did for the sake of your freedom be distributed to Thorvald.
1:15
Raul: [For purposes of the liveblog – please note that I’m writing almost verbatim notes of the lecture by Richard Stallman, so it’s not ME saying that about Mr. Thorvald!]
1:15
[Comment From GregEh] GNU gets plenty of credit in the Linux and FOSS communities, Stallman should stop whining. He’s been on this for years and clearly the language isn’t changing.
1:17
Raul: Proprietary software creators basically say “we are entitled to give you NO rights at all, as a user”. We (the free software community) are calling for the 4 essential freedoms.
1:18
Raul: “Open Source” – completely different philosophy.
1:19
Raul: Stallman has written letters to say that he is NOT the father that “Open Source” — he does not believe with the values of open source at all. [RAUL’s comment – I find this fascinating – I thought they were one and the same term]
1:21
Raul: In the 1990s as the GNU system started to spread there were 2 diff philosophies. People who liked the freedom and people who liked the system because it was free and cheap. In 1998 that second group decided to use a different term “open source” they could decide which ideas to include and which ideas to leave out. They left out the ethical points (which is the most important for free software believers)
1:22
hummingbird604: I’m puzzled as to why #stallman makes the distinction between open source and free software –
1:22
Raul: There is an ethical issue to consider here (with open source).
1:23
[Comment From GregEh] RT myself: Basically, source can be open without you having the rights to copy, modify, and distribute.
1:24
hummingbird604: would people please share their thoughts on open source/free software on my liveblog? Thanks! http://is.gd/iFnZ — #stallman
1:24
Raul: We have to teach people to value the four freedoms.
1:26
Raul: What does it say to the users – what this takes for granted – no free programs are a good thing.
1:26
hummingbird604: Everyone who shared their thoughts – can you hashtag them #stallman so that CoverItLive can insert them into my blog? Thanks!
1:27
Raul: UTUTO (free software) – BLAG (Black Linux and Gnu)
1:28
[Comment From freelock] generally open source and free software refer to different aspects of the same thing.
1:28
Raul: Other problems happened – in the early days of GNU – somebody wrote a free driver for that device.
1:28
[Comment From freelock] Open Source – focuses on pragmatic benefits of open development, shared process, transparency, leading to better quality
1:29
[Comment From freelock] free software focuses on software as an expression of an idea, and the rights of people to benefit from sharing those ideas
1:29
[Comment From freelock] Open Source is largely Eric Raymond and others rebranding Free software, making it more palatable for business
1:30
freelock: Stallman’s hostile to this, because he doesn’t care about business use–he cares about ideas getting locked up and not shared.
1:33
Raul: We have to maintain a modified version of LINUX called LINUX Libre. In this version of LINUX the kernel is used in the GNU framework (a de-blocked version of LINUX).
1:35
Raul: Stallman – we lose our freedom for failure to protect it. This is something much more important than that. The people who promote open source make a claim that outside of techies nobody cares of the software. Techies and some business men care about powerful, reliable software, but EVERYONE cares about freedoms. Questions of WHO controls your computer, they can understand. Everyone can understand that. Every citizen of our society MUST be concerned with.
1:35
Raul: Stallman would like to cover a few secondary elements – another dangerous propaganda term “intellectual property” – this term carries confusion.
1:37
GregEh: (yep)
1:39
Raul: Any time anyone uses the term “intellectual property” is harmful. Either he/she is confused or is trying to confuse others. It is very hard. Even law professors fall into error overlooking facts that they know. Because the term is built to encourage people to generalize in yearning to generalize, they fall into faults. You have to be careful to avoid it – reject the term, regard it as poison.
1:41
Raul: It’s very hard. The Canadian Labor Council is debating a motion to adopt a position about “intellectual property” (Stallman read about this)
1:42
Raul: Free software employment – the IT sector will NOT disappear.
1:45
Raul: Schools *must* teach exclusively free software (1) to save money — this should be obvious!
1:46
hummingbird604: @LizHargreaves Sorry Liz i missed what you were going to check out – the #stallman lecture? or Cover It Live?
1:47
Raul: They (schools) should not be used as vessels to distribute proprietary software.
1:50
hummingbird604: gd stuff – Wikipedia’s entry on #stallman is VERY comprehensive. & by virtue of bein in this room, ive seen many facets of his personality
1:52
Raul: To close now, Stallman will present now Saint IGNUcius. He blesses my computer
1:53
hummingbird604: #stallman just blessed my computer (he is dressed as St. IGNUtius) ๐ In the Church of IMAX ๐
1:53
LizHargreaves: @hummingbird604 both ๐ First I’ve seen of this content tool, looks useful. In class now so can’t follow #stallman right now though
1:54
Raul: “You must exorcize whatever proprietary software and install Holy Free Software and ONLY install free software.”
1:56
Raul: This liveblog is completed. I’m not liveblogging the questions.
1:56
hummingbird604: #stallman is incredibly funny – he really rocked it, particularly the end of the talk
The reason why I don’t like #followfriday is the same reason that I find it exclusionary. How can I choose only a few of the people whom I follow and recommend those? Furthermore, I *know* that there are a number of people who follow ME whom I don’t follow back. How sincere will my recommendation of any of them look if I am actually NOT following them? (and I’ve explained the follow/no-follow at length in other posts and over email).
I understand the positive nature of the idea – to recommend a few folks that people find interesting to the general readership of Twitter. But frankly, it gives me this rather uncomfortable feeling that, were I to use it, I would probably fill a full screens of tweets with Twitter IDs of interesting people, which (not surprisingly) would lead people to want to unfollow me!
Perhaps the one way I’d feel a bit more at ease would be if these would be “targeted #followfriday” (i.e. if for example, Twitter announced – today is followfriday for food twitterers, that kind of thing. At any rate, I am very flattered and grateful to those people who recommend me on #followfriday, but don’t feel offended because I don’t plan to participate in #followfriday myself.
