Humboldt House (Victoria, BC)

When my friend Paul Holmes (IdeaZone.ca) invited me to speak at WordCamp Victoria, I knew that the only way I could get *some* rest would be to stay over instead of taking my usual approach.

Normally, I would buzz in and buzz out on the same day, like a hummingbird). Paul managed to work his magic and arranged for me to stay at the famous bed-and-breakfast known as Humboldt House. Considering that I travel a lot for academic conferences and I stay at hotels quite frequently, it’s rare that I say that I would prefer to stay at a B&B rather than a comfy hotel room. In the case of Humboldt House, this is completely true. Next time I’m in Victoria, I hope it will be a romantic getaway (or a writing weekend) and I will make sure to stay at this gorgeous place.

I didn’t know what to expect as I hadn’t even checked the Humboldt House’s website. All I knew was what Paul, Katharine and Greg Aspa had told me. My stay began at 11pm at night (I was freaking out because I was hanging out at Clive’s with Chris, Janis, Janice, Lorraine, Scott – and I hadn’t even checked in!). David was wonderful as he left my key outside in an envelope, and detailed welcoming instructions.

Soon as I walked into the Humboldt House (which is gorgeous from the outside and on the inside too!) I found the library, to my right. The sherry and cookies were to-die-for. And of course, chocolate truffles (the signature of Humboldt House). I walked into my room (The Gazebo Room, the largest and most luxurious one in the whole house) and discovered that not only is it beautiful and comfy, it had a jacuzzi.I was exhausted from having spoken at WordCamp, so I took a bath and landed on the bed.

The next morning, I took some time to tweet from my bed (despite how comfy it was, I couldn’t manage to stay asleep). I got my breakfast exactly at the time I was told it would (you register the night before) and it was glorious. I wish I had ordered the crepes (which looked amazing), but I knew that I was going to have three breakfasts (I was taken for brunch to Mo:lé by my friends Katharine and Paul Holmes) so I went for a relatively light brunch. I almost didn’t want to leave, to be quite honest. The fireplace, the little touches (bathrobe in the closet, the little details that made me feel extra welcome) were just amazing.

Humboldt House is promoted primarily as a destination for romantic getaways, wedding nights, etc. But to be quite honest, I would totally come here for a weekend of writing. David and Mila totally spoiled me, from the complimentary wireless internet, to breakfast in bed (comes through a cute two-way nook), to the jacuzzi, to stereo with iPod docking, to fireplace. I mean, seriously. I definitely will come back, and I would strongly recommend this wonderful bed-and-breakfast to anyone who wants to spoil and pamper him/herself. Thanks David and Mila for making my stay so fantastic!

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Disclosure: My overnight stay was very generously sponsored by Humboldt House for WordCamp Victoria. As it has been indicated before on my site, I’m not paid to write this entry. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times. Should you have any questions/concerns please feel free to contact me via e-mail through my contact form.

What is your favorite Greek restaurant?

My best friends’ girlfriend invited him and I to Stephos (a very popular Greek restaurant on Davie Street, in Vancouver) for dinner (I know, I never posted a review. I will, eventually) for his birthday this year. Admittedly, I loved the food, but more importantly, having dinner there reminded me that I haven’t eaten Greek food in such a long time.

So now, I am asking you, Vancouver – which is your favorite Greek restaurant? And since my readership extends beyond Vancouver, let’s say Lower Mainland (and Abbotsford/Chilliwack, etc.)

Happy birthday, ML!

Today is a complicated day in many ways. It’s the birthday of a good friend of mine from the online world, Tris Hussey, as well as the birthday of Helen Jennings (also from the online world). Coincidentally, it’s the birthday of the one person who broke my heart. So you would think that November 19th would be a not-so-terribly-happy day. The truth is, in fact it’s a very good day. I celebrate several of my friends, and in particular, one of the best ones I have, ML.

We met when I was doing my PhD, since she worked in the same department/unit. We became really good friends when we got to hang out not only at the social functions, but also when we stayed up working really, really late. She would drive me home at 4:00am, and we would get to chat while driving. She read drafts of my dissertation, helped me with lots of emotional and moral support, and overall, I have always known that I can depend on her for anything I need.

We spent a few weeks in Mexico with my family a couple of years ago, and it was a lot of fun. She is dependable, fun and more importantly, she is someone you can trust with your life. Today is her birthday and I just want to say thanks for everything. Love you lots and have a wonderful day!

The implicit trust in the new RT function on Twitter

Many people have asked me for my opinion on why I don’t like the new retweet (RT) function on Twitter. I am writing this short post from home so I don’t have access to a screen capture that I got the other day to show the function itself, but my thoughts can be summarized as follows.

First, in the new RT function, there is an implicit assumption of the person originating the tweet that is being RT’d is trusted by the person retweeting. This assumption is made by the platform, not by the individual (and very clearly explicitly stated on the new RT function explanatory bubble). I don’t feel comfortable with anyone assuming anything on why I retweet something. Sometimes, I share stuff that I find valuable. Sometimes, it’s something that shocks me or surprises me. But that doesn’t really establish any implicit trust contract between me and the person that is being RT’d

Second, in the new RT function, there is no way to annotate a tweet. The argument can be (a) that characters are lost in the annotation and (b) that it preserves the integrity of the tweet being retweeted. However, what happens if I want to annotate the tweet I’m RT’ing and add my commentary in the opposite direction e.g.

“wow, this was completely false RT @fulanodetal I am the owner of the world”.

It would have been SO much easier if Twitter had just copied the RT function on Power Twitter. Why break something that isn’t broken?

What is your mission in life?

There are some times in life when I feel overwhelmed, and despite having lots of people pitch me stuff to write about, I find myself unable to do so simply because I can feel very negative energy circulating around me. What I do when I am not able to blog is find something mind-numbing to post about and just generate a conversation. Ironically, when I went to BlogThings to find a mindless quiz, the one that popped was this one. So I took it and here are the results.

You Are the Leader

You are inspiring and uplifting. You bring out the best in people, through both nurturing and challenging them. You always can see the big picture in life. You are very philosophical and deeply spiritual. You understand people, and you can look at their lives objectively. You can help others grow and heal. People feel comforted by your presence. You help them gain perspective on their lives.

Success overnight takes 10 years

A few weeks back, I sent out a tweet that summarized how I feel when people criticize me or when they somehow think that I have had everything I have accomplished given to me in a silver platter. Because, let me tell you my dear readers, there *are* people out there who *do* think that I have arrived to the place I have by virtue of some supernatural power.

So this is what I said.

It’s true. Success overnight takes anywhere from 10 to 15 years. I am living proof of that. And no, modesty isn’t my strongest suit 🙂

Feliz cumpleaños Marcela!

My dear friend Marcela (who used to have a very personal blog which I adored and now writes a Canada-focused blog in Spanish) is celebrating her birthday today (I hate you, Facebook, for not telling me!). She lives in Vancouver (we met while we were doing both our graduate degrees, she was doing an MA in Planning and I was doing my PhD in Environmental Studies). While it may have been hard to understand for many folks, I always remain grateful to those who help me, and in particular those who have given me a hand in times of dire and extreme need.

When I needed help at a point in my life when I was doubting myself and whether I would complete my PhD degree, Marcela was there not only to encourage me but also to draw some of the maps I needed for my research. She did not need to do this, but she did it out of the generosity of her heart.

Even though she says I don’t owe her anything, in my heart, I will always owe Marcela a debt of gratitude, a debt I’m more than happy to repay with baby-sitting, a dinner out or whatever she may need in the future.

Marcela, I hope you know how much I appreciate our friendship and how important you and your family are to me. All the blessings today and every day. Feliz cumpleaños y que la pases increíble!

The Give Music project

I had the pleasure of chatting with my very good friend Meriko Kubota (Vancouver Foundation) this morning as she stopped for a brief chat at my office at The Network Hub. Meriko and I have been very good friends since we met when I was in graduate school and we share many passions and interests. Coincidentally, music happens to be one of them, so I was really excited to hear her share with me the news of her project, Give Music.

So what is this Give Music business you ask? Well, here’s the lowdown, from Meriko’s website:

Give Music is about connecting music teachers and harnessing our resources to spread the wealth of music to more young people. Through Give Music, music teachers can connect to one another and young people will be able to reach these teachers living in their neighbourhoods. Give Music simply organizes everyone in a hub/network to bring all of us to the same space. That space is sustainable and will be online to maintain a minimally administrative infrastructure eliminating the cost of a physical space as well as the challenge of commuting for teachers and students. Give Music

I mentioned to Meriko that my friends Rob Cottingham and Alex Samuel are open-sourcing their practice (#OpenSoSi) and that I thought it was a great idea that she was open-sourcing the Give Music project. Meriko is looking for feedback so I’d appreciate any help, ideas and/or insight you could provide. Thanks! And Meriko – the idea is great and I look forward to seeing how it will shape up in the future!

Happy birthday Monique Trottier @SoMisguided

Speaking of dependable friends, I would like to take this opportunity not only to wish her happy birthday, but also to add Monique Trottier to the list of friends with whom I share a really deep understanding of the word dependability. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with Monique and our common friend Todd Sieling to have lunch at Argo Cafe. Good times all around.

But amongst the things that I realized after that lunch is that I can always count on Monique to support my causes and efforts (Monique guest-posted on Harry Potter on my site for Blogathon 2009), even if we I don’t usually have much time to hang out. I also try to support hers, as you can tell from my capturing the live-tweets of BookCamp Vancouver (which Monique helped organize) and the live-tweetage of her talk at The Shebeen Club.

Even if we don’t have enough time to hang out so much, we have come to enjoy our sporadic escapades for lunch around the Mount Pleasant area or gelato at Mario’s. Monique is incredibly bright, sweet and a force to be reckoned within the world of book publishing traditional and online marketing.

There are a few commonalities between Monique and I:
– We both love colognes and perfumes. Monique makes scents (a whole other blog post should be dedicated to this) and has even spoken at Interesting Vancouver on the science of scents.
– We are both book addicts. Well, people *probably* know this.
– We both value friendship. We indeed share a number of very good common friends.
– We are both geeks 🙂 I just wish I knew a bit of Expression Engine!

Monique, on this day, I would like to celebrate your life – you are someone I have grown to admire and appreciate. Enjoy your day.

On dependability and friendship

Despite my hectic schedule and super busy life, those who know me well know that I try really hard to always be there for my friends and loved ones. I place a lot of value in the idea of dependability. This year, I faced some really, really tough times and I got through those thanks in part to a few selected individuals whom I consider dear friends who have had my back. These have been people who have been there in moments when I have doubted myself, who have given me tips, recommendations, a helping hand in a time of need.

People who have been key in helping me turn what otherwise would have been a disastrous year. Admittedly, I firmly believe that one gets back from the universe what one puts out, and I would like to believe that I put out good energy for the universe. As I sent out a tweet this morning, I think it definitely captured the way I feel and my philosophy of life:

I like my coffee black, my martinis strong and my friends dependable
– Raul aka @Hummingbird604

The Minimum Travel Work Unit (MTWU)

The Minimum Travel Work Unit (MTWU) strategy has really helped me increase my productivity, ever since I started travelling to international and national conferences. I used to hate to spend time on a plane or a ferry simply because it meant that I had to interrupt my productive activities for a certain period of time. I’ve never been able to travel leisurely. For me, travel time *is* productive time too.

The best way for me to make a trip efficient in terms of getting work done is to break down my tasks into what I call the Minimum Travel Work Unit (MTWU). A MTWU is the smallest piece of work that, as a minimum I can complete and cross the task as being finished within the duration of a trip. So for example, this evening, my MTWU was – deciding what types of policies I was going to use as case studies for next term when I teach my Comparative Politics of Public Policy.

It took me less than the duration of a ferry trip to complete the list of case studies. Since I had completed my first MTWU, I felt that I had to complete another MTWU and so I did. I inserted the citations for the first six weeks of theoretical analyses. By the time I had finished that task, I had completed 2 MTWUs and I was at the Tsawassen ferry terminal.

So, next time you go on a trip, look at your list of tasks to complete, and make sure that you only attempt to finish an MTWU. Otherwise you might feel frustrated that you have arrived to your destination and you still did not complete your task.

Clive’s at the Chateau Victoria

After a very successful WordCamp Victoria (where I spoke about Integrated Social Media WordPress Site Building) we went for drinks to The Office, which disappointed me for its semi-watery drinks (though the bartender got it right after my second drink)

A few kind folks offered to continue the celebrations. Frankly, I was doubting that I would be able to continue simply because I had been working since 6:00am and the day had been hectic. But my body and mind were still energized from all the positive vibes we were surrounded by, so Scott Leslie, Janis LaCouveé, Chris Parsons, Lorraine Murphy, Janice Mansfield and myself went to get a night cap at Clive’s at the Chateau Victoria.

As soon as we walked in, we were warmly greeted by the waitress. While she had to take care of the full clientele at the bar, along with excellent bartender Shawn Soole (who tweets as LiquidRev), neither me nor my companions felt neglected. The service was excellent, the drinks were strong and very well made, and not really expensive (normal 2 oz drinks were around $ 8). I hadn’t had dinner so I ordered a burger ($ 11) which was really tasty.

In my opinion, Clive’s is an elegant, classy, cozy and sophisticated lounge. Two similar places that came to my mind when I was at Clive’s were The Refinery and Voya.

I would have stayed longer had I not been feeling guilty about arriving into Humboldt House so late. I think I speak for everyone in saying that we were delighted and impressed with the service AND the drinks.

I’ll definitely come back to Clive’s on my next visit to Victoria.

My yyjWordCamp talk on integrated socmed WP site building

Practising what I preach about integrating everything with your WordPress site and linking everything back to your site, so that the reader stays within, I am embedding my SlideShare talk instead of sending you to my SlideSpace.

College professor amongst least stressful jobs

As an academic who works anywhere between 10 and 16 hours a day, I seriously object to the suggestion that being a college professor is amongst the least stressful professions. Apparently, that’s the result of a survey conducted by CNN Money. Ranked # 3 in their list of the least stressful jobs, you will find College Professor. I teach, I do research, I do consulting, I still have a few students who are about to graduate (so I need to read their theses) and on top of that, I do all my blogging and social media work. I clearly don’t see how being a college professor would be amongst the least stressful jobs.

My Mom is a professor, and my Dad has been a professor too. Two of my brothers have taught at American universities (both of them do, one of them though has chosen a similar pathway to mine and does mostly industry work but teaches one or two classes). So, in addition to my own work, I’ve witnessed first hand what being an academic from observing my parents and brothers. Seriously, what was CNN Money thinking?

PS – Ironically, you can see that # 4 in the list is software developer. Considering the kind of life that my very dear friends who are in the tech industry lead (e.g. how hard they work), I am still laughing at what CNN wrote.

Friday the 13th

I think the series of slasher movies “Friday the 13th” have contributed to the collective fear of Friday the 13th. As indicated by the Wikipedia entry, the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. Frankly, I have to confess that I *used* to be very afraid of this day. When any of my social events (or volleyball games) fell on Friday the 13th, I was really scared.

Mostly, I was scared of the fact that my fear and superstition would overtake me and I wouldn’t be able to function socially and be charming, or in the case of my volleyball games, that I wouldn’t be at the top of my game. I ended up having to play a few games on dates that superstition marks as non-auspicious (like Friday the 13th) and I decided (I must have been like 15 or 16 at the time) that I wouldn’t be afraid of this day any more.

Today is kind of a hellish day as I have much more on my plate than usual, and much less time than I foresaw I would have. But I’m really looking forward to completing a few projects (on deadline today), to teaching, and more than anything, to celebrating Allie’s birthday (and tomorrow, we’ll have to celebrate Catherine’s). Three people I really like and consider friends (Allie, Catherine and Guacira) celebrate their birthday today, so it’s not a bad and unlucky day but a good one.

I am very lucky to have the family and friends I do and to be able to work in things I love, to teach the stuff I really enjoy, to do research in the field that I am most passionate about, and to have the colleagues, collaborators and clients that I do. On this Friday the 13th, the supposedly unlucky day, I feel definitely lucky.

Leaf A Legacy Cancer Fundraiser

If you’ve been a reader of my blog for a while now, you probably know that cancer-focused charities have a very special place in my heart. I have Blogathoned two years in a row for the BC Cancer Foundation, and this year, I am strongly supporting Movember. I lost two of my aunts and my grandmother to cancer, one of my very close friends is currently fighting stage 4 cancer and thus I have a personal stake in anything cancer-centric.

I recently had an opportunity to swing by the offices of Signals, the design agency behind the fundraiser “Leaf A Legacy“.

I talked to Robyn Sussel and Chelsea McKenzie about Leaf A Legacy and the meaning of the fundraiser (your donation to the BC Cancer Foundation is counted on the tree as a leaf). Their blog post explains it in better detail. I find this fundraiser very worthy, and thought my readers might be interested in learning more about it.

Fire on Broadway and Main (Vancouver)

I just found out this morning via Twitter that there was a fire at the Main and Broadway area, and I came by to check it out. I live very close to the area, and I have had dinner or brunch at several of the affected places before. So, it was important to me to see what happened.

From my view (I couldn’t get much closer) I can see that Kishu Mountain and Slickity Jim’s appear to be completely burnt, Lugz seems very damaged, but from the outside, I can’t see any damage to Militant Penguin (but there might be on the back, or on the side). I see that the accountant office is charred, and I can’t see any remains from Zocalo so I assume it is also gone. Feeling very, very sorry for the business owners of the damaged businesses.

I can see the firefighters trying to assess (now that they contained the fire) the origin of the fire. Very proud of our firefighters too. Apparently the fire broke around 4 am. I am sitting at Waves on Main and 10th but since I have to head to the office, I might not be able to see much more. I am at the office now.

Win tickets to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (theatre)

As we begin the Christmas season (barely, since we are just commemorating Remembrance Day) I have been invited by various local theatre companies to their Christmas/holiday season productions. Pacific Theatre is putting together a production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. And as usual when they have the opportunity, they have kindly sponsored a pair of tickets for my loyal readers. To win, all you have to do is drop a comment on this post. Since tickets are for opening night (November 13th, Friday)

I will draw the winner tomorrow (Thursday Nov 12th) at 5:00pm. For a quick summary of the play, from the press release:

This splendidly theatrical invention preserves all the magic of the twentieth century’s best-loved fantasy classic. Four young adventurers passed through a doorway to a land in the grip of an icy queen, where it’s always winter and never Christmas –but Aslan is on the move! Captivates the adult imagination as powerfully as a child’s with its rich themes and unforgettable images. Starring Donna Lea Ford (Cariboo Magi) and Kyle Rideout (Farndale… A Christmas Carol). Directed by Kerry van der Griend (Chickens). Playing November 13-January 2nd at 8pm with 2pm matinees on Saturday.

You can buy your tickets online. There are a few options that include the first two Tuesdays tickets for $10.

Speaking at WordCamp Victoria

One of my dear friends from Victoria, Paul Holmes (Idea Zone) asked me a few weeks back if I could speak at the WordCamp Victoria he is organizing. And without checking my schedule, I originally said “sure, why not”. Paul has always supported me in my efforts, and during Blogathon, Idea Zone sponsored a post. So, really, it’s hard to say no to a friend who supports your own efforts.

Then I looked in my Google calendar “sorry, no, I can’t do it as I teach on Saturday“. And then I thought again. Paul is a dear friend of mine. I am a WordPress geek. I have many friends in Victoria, and lots of people from Vancouver Island follow me on Twitter. I’ve spoken at WordCamps before (Fraser Valley ’08 and ’09) and in general, I think I have a pretty good grasp of WordPress. I moved to a self-hosted install almost a year now and I write my own HTML tags (without the visual editor).

So it’s a fact now, I’ll be coming to speak at WordCamp Victoria ’09 on Saturday Nov 14th. I will be speaking about using social media to build your WordPress blog. It’s a different talk to that of my friend Catherine Novak, who will be speaking about promoting your site with social media. My talk will speak about multiple-platform integration of social media with blogging. I will outline a strategy to use these multiple platforms to provide you with content for your blog and how to maximize your site performance with social media tools and WordPress.

And my favorite drink is the gin and tonic 🙂

Remembrance Day

When I first landed in Canada, I remember that I kept seeking ‘typical signs of Canadian-ness’ – you know, those things that make a country unique.

Having lived in different countries and traveled worldwide, I always find that there is always something that emphasizes the unique nature of the culture in a country.

Remembrance Day, for me, is one of those very Canadian things. Recognized in other allied countries as Armistice Day, in Canada it’s a day to remember and pay our respects.

I clearly remember that when I first saw the many Vancouverites who proudly displayed their poppies on their lapel, I wanted to know what exactly that poppy meant. Now, I do know. November 11th marks the anniversary of the armistice to end World War I.

None of my grandparents were involved in the World War, but I now live in Canada, a country that saw many soldiers sacrifice their lives to preserve the freedoms that I now am able to enjoy here. Therefore, I did take two minutes of silence this morning at 11 am to remember the fallen.

We never will forget those who fell.

The importance of routines

I pride myself in being organized and having a really-well scheduled life. One element that really helps me stay organized is having developed routines for everything. For example, when I get to my office at The Network Hub I follow the same routine every day (some steps may be skipped depending on whether someone already prepared the coffee).

1. Hang my coat, sweater, scarf, stow my umbrella.
2. Approach Monique (our coffee maker) and check whether there’s coffee made. If not, wash coffee pot and start a new fresh pot of coffee.
3. Arrive to my desk, unload laptop, cables, adapter, earphones, wireless mouse, cooling mat.
4. Plug everything to whatever needs to be plugged (laptop cord to power outlet, wireless mouse USB end to laptop, cooling mat to USB end, etc.) – start laptop.
5. Secure my laptop with the key chain.
6. As the coffee brews, go fill my stainless steel water bottle. If coffee is ready, bring a cup of freshly brewed caffeine to my desk (along with water bottle already full).
7. Log in to my account – say hi all around to my fellow entrepreneurs.
8. Start TweetDeck, various emails, etc. Check my @ replies, urgent emails, To-Do task list.
9. Check my Inbox (the physical one, on my desk) – add items as needed.
10. Quickly read one academic article – starts my juices.
11. Review my daily plan and prioritize items.
12. Get to work.

Do you have a routine when you get to work?

Movember’s Invoke contest

You may have read here on my site that I wrote about Movember earlier this month. I recently found out via Kate LeGresley and Nadia Nascimento (Invoke Media) that Invoke is partnering with Movember CanadaThe Movember Foundation and are inviting participants in the official Movember contest.

Some notes from my communications with Kate about the contest:

What we want to see here are all of your Mo inspired videos. Need some help? Here are some ideas to get those cameras rolling:

* Lets see a time lapse of that Mo Growth. With some slick stop start animation set to music, and your video is sure to be a cult classic.
* Tell us why you are participating or about your past involvement and how amazing it was.
* We want to hear from you, Mo Sistas! What makes that upper lip coat so attractive? Mustache with Panache? Fan of the Tom or the Hogan? Handle bars or Fu Manchu? Tell us your secret loves and mustache escapades!
* Want to challenge someone that you know to a grow off? A company within your industry or perhaps a mustache rival within your own furry family tree? A challenge video may be more your suit! Challange!!

Register, upload your video between Oct.30th and December 1st and get all of your peeps to vote and support your efforts. Good luck, Bro’s and Sistas!

Every moustache makes a difference! :{)

Small things make me happy

– Waking up in the morning to a sink that is empty and a dish-washing rack that has clean and dry dishes that just need to be stored.

– Seeing my apartment relatively clean (I mean, it can’t be spotless all the time, can it?)

– Having a date night with myself, watching TV in the dark, with my apartment lit only with candles.

– Taking a bath (yes, if you *must* know, I recycle the water afterwards).

– Coffee and a scone.

– Cinnamon buns

– Talking to my nieces and nephews. On Facebook. Over the phone. On Skype.

– Having a relaxed approach to a Monday morning (particularly considering that I worked all weekend).

– Toast, jam and coffee.

– Knowing that regardless of the longevity of my life in the social media world, I have always been and always will be loved by the people who care about me, those who pay no attention to my online popularity (or lack thereof).

20 years after the Berlin Wall fall

In December of 2001, I flew to Germany for the first time. My destination was Berlin. I was presenting a paper at the inaugural Berlin conference on global environmental governance, the first time I presented the results of my research on environmental non-governmental organizations. I arrived at night into the Tegel airport, feverish and unwell.

I’m not able to speak German, but luckily, the woman driver who picked me up spoke enough English to communicate with me and take me to my hotel. We had to drive back to the airport as I had forgotten one of the pieces of my luggage. As we drove back, we struck a conversation and I couldn’t help but ask about the Berlin wall. For me, growing up, having a wall that separated a city in two (well, technically two cities), within what I thought ought to be basically the same country (although Germany did not complete the re-unification until 1990) was a bit crazy. But for her, having lived through the process, she mentioned that the whole Iron Curtain era had been a very painful one, not only for her but for many, many Germans. I can’t even fathom the impact that this separation would have had on German society.

It’s amazing how much we take for granted our liberties and freedoms when we have them.

During my stay in Berlin I went for frequent walks around the city. I walked through the embassies row. I put one of my feet on the Western side and one on where it should have been the Eastern side. I touched the remains of the Wall (a vast majority of it has been removed by souvenir collectors). I tried to absorb the history of the place. Berlin still mesmerizes, and I have a soft spot for Germans in general.

Yes, I admit that I did get my own little piece of the wall as a memento. Though I can’t really help but think that keeping a piece of the wall seems also a bit like keeping with me a small part of the pain that this wall caused on German people. And I don’t feel too happy about it.

Several of my closest friends (including CS, my best friend HZ’s partner) are German, or descendants of Germans, and Berlin still remains one of the most amazing cities I’ve visited. I have several research partners in Berlin (and heck, I even had Mexican food there!)

Hopefully the inscription above will sometime become true. No more wars, no more walls.

Speed vs accuracy – What should be the journalistic norm?

I was going to write a post in response to Paul Carr’s post on the Fort Hood’s shootings, and just as I was sitting to write it I found Mathew Ingram’s very thoughtful and smart post. I admire Mathew’s journalistic work and integrity and thus I found myself puzzled in disagreeing with him. I normally don’t disagree at all with what Mathew says or thinks.

So, I am posting my response to his post here hoping to re-open the debate on whether journalists (and citizen journalists, at that) should be seeking to report accurate facts/data or whether they should be the first to report. Why the focus on speed vs. accuracy? Remember, I’m not a journalist nor a scholar of new media. I’m an academic whose personal blog happens to be popular and I’m immersed in social media stuff, so that’s why I am thinking about this issue. Maybe if I had formal training in journalism I’d think differently.

Anyhow, here’s my response (which I was going to drop as a comment and now decided should be a post)

Mathew, I’m 100% shocked that I don’t agree with what you say on your post, and the reason being, that normally I agree almost with everything you say. I loved Paul Carr’s post. I did because he accomplished what many other people haven’t yet. His post prompted me to ask the question “should journalists aim for accuracy or for speed?”

There is one statement you make on your post that makes me cringe. I quote

As far as I’m concerned, I’m glad that someone was there to videotape it and let the outside world know about it — just as I’m glad someone was there to record Nguyen Van Lem being shot in the head, or Phai Thi Kim Phuc (who now lives in Toronto) running down the road in Vietnam after having her clothes burned off by a napalm attack.

Maybe for journalists the above facts constitute “truth” or “news” or “the things that people should know”. But for me, I really didn’t need to see Neda bleeding to death. Nor do I need to see anyone getting shot in the head. I see enough pain in my life to need anyone else to document it.

Did the video of Neda dying galvanize opinion worldwide? Yes, it did. Did it help us (those of us in the Western hemisphere) believe that we were making a difference? Yes, it did. Did it help the people of Iran in any way, shape or form? I can’t find the facts to support that last statement. No, I don’t know if it helped the people of Iran. I haven’t interviewed anyone in Iran to actually know. There’s this widespread belief and hope that it did, but I’m not sure it does.

I would prefer if citizen journalists had a more fundamentally journalistic approach to seeking accuracy than seeking speed. I prefer to know the actual facts than being the first to know them. I’m an academic – to me, searching to explain phenomena is what drives my work. Not being the first to publish something (although, sadly, that’s also another element of academia that is really valued – being the first to publish something).

Of course, this is only my opinion, and I value all the feedback that comes from a conversation around this issue.