CarlaBorsoi.com

I’m getting super excited about South by Southwest, which starts next week. There’s a ton of great panels, interesting speakers, and excellent opportunities to socialize and be entertained.

The panel I’m on, Developing Super Senses:  Tools to Know Your Users, will be on Monday, March 16th, at 5pm in Hilton Room C. It’s been delightful to work with Julie Melton, Mark Trammell, Nate Bolt & Andy Budd.  It’s been boiled down to a structured conversation so that those who attend can listen to us argue, debate and discuss the merits of different types of user testing. We’ll also talk about how you use those results and get people excited about it. Andy rightfully pointed out that too many times you attend a panel and the groups says “We had this awesome conversation over breakfast” and proceeds to bore you by agreeing on everything. We’ve decided to let it all hang out for you and play civilly but to let our disagreements manifest themselves in passionate discussion.

There’s so much great stuff to see and participate in — and I’ll be in Austin for all of the festival – interactive, music and film. If you’re attending check out the schedule I’m putting together over at Sched.org. They’ve also created a sweet widget to allow you to listen to the music I’m interested in seeing.

Check it out and let me if you’ll be there too.

I’ll be heading to visit my alma mater, Rollins College, at the end of January for the annual President’s Council Meeting. While there, the Crummer Graduate School of Business, part of the school, has asked me to come speak to both the school’s marketing team, as well as to students.

This all began when the Donald Hale, Director of Alumni Relations & Development, called to talk to me about working in technology. See, when you have a small school in Florida, it’s inevitable that you’re going to end up producing MBA students to feed into the local economy, which in Florida is predominantly focused on tourism, real estate and finance.  One of the first questions Donald asked me was one the students keep asking him: Should I be on social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook when I’m looking for a job?

My emphatic reply was “Absolutely. In fact, if you’re not findable online, in this world, who wants to hire you?” Which is true. In the webby world, not having an online presence can be a real detriment to your career. If you don’t use the tools you’re marketing, developing, or analyzing, or those that complement or complete yours, why are you in this industry? One of the reasons that I moved to San Francisco 13 years ago was to be around people creating a future world view and the tools with which to live that life. Being passionate about the industry in which you work makes you not only a better employee, but also makes you a happier person.

This visit, and planning remarks to share with students and faculty, comes in a week in which a much-beloved, but little used web & mobile service called Dodgeball announced its shutdown. (Well, to be clear, its corporate overlords did.) This topic has been well covered by those closer to the product. However, that clear feeling of caring about a product and mourning its loss shows that a group of folks created a product borne of being engaged in what people want. One of the things I want to share with the Rollins folks is the idea that knowing what’s happening in an industry involves more than just reading the latest WSJ or Fortune magazine, but living and breathing alongside what’s transpiring. It just so happens that the products being created in the realm of technology are things that touch our daily lives.  

I look forward to sharing some of the online tools that I use on a regular basis with these students and how it can enhance their online presence, while being cognizant of the fact that many do want to go into more traditional fields, which may frown upon excessive displays of personal information.  However, given that more and more people do just this, it may be that our social mores must adjust. Something to discuss in a few weeks!

I jokingly twittered earlier today that Joe Bob Briggs is penning my life script. This is mainly because of a series of deaths for various friends parents, grandparents & friends – Joe Bob would simply tally the body count, give it 3 1/2 stars and move on. However, in real life as experienced online, some have chosen to twitter or update their Facebook status as a way of letting large groups of people know about the passing of this family member or loved one. However, what’s odd for me is how people respond to these public announcements in such a public way.

Is it really appropriate to merely @ someone on Twitter, or to post on someone’s wall on Facebook? I’m not certain. I had breakfast today with Dr. Keely Kolmes, who will be covering relationships and social media in a core conversation at SXSW2009. This may be yet another area for her to cover at that time. For me, the most important thing is a direct communication to the person without expecting a response. A hand-written letter expressing condolences is always appreciated. A call offering assistance with specifics is good if you live nearby. Simply typing “I’m sorry” and doing so publicly, is probably okay, but it seems to lack the element of meditation that should come with offering condolences to someone.

Are we escaping the discomfort of confronting the mortality of those close to our own lives by using a few simple words to comfort others?

Inspired by Tantek’s Communication Protocols wiki, I’ve started my own.

This details my preferred methods of communication, motivations and how to interact with me. My sense of etiquette is also detailed and will be updated over time.

Please note these are my preferences and everyone likely has their own, so create your own!

Thanks to Micki’s timely tweet, tonight I heard about Contxts. I agree with Micki – somehow we have to find a way to easily incorporate this info – but I do like the ease of use and the SMS short code will be easy to remember. Please, as an early user – you can’t beat just telling people to text Carla to 50500. Having one of those surnames that always gets butchered – there’s just not that many of us – this is a real treat.