Steven Johnson "Where good ideas come from"

This voice-over speed graphic illustration gets the author's point across in seconds - with the final image a composite of the entire talk - Excellent Return on Attention (ROA)

The devouring dragon of Facebook and Twitter

This image from illustrator Jess3 captures my feelings about Facebook and Twitter -- not only for Facebook's evolving invasion of our privacy as shown in my last post, but for the loss of time and money and persona that these two social media demons devour.

You can fimd more of Jess3 images on Slideshare JESS3 Presentations

Nice imagination, Jess!

Noise Creep?

I have been watching the rising tide of concern for the increase in the garbage quotient in the blogosphere and the declining quality of the content of online conversations. Just the other day it was Scoble who admittd to being inundated with Twits from his followers(it's his own fault IMO) and today Seth Godin, another A-list blogger, sounds off on the same theme:

Seth's Blog: Signal to noise:

"Lately, I’m feeling noise creep.

Lately, the noise seems to be increasing and the signal is fading in comparison. Too much spam, too many posts, too little insight leaking through. I don’t use Twitter, but I know a lot of Twitter users are feeling this. So are folks who go to too many conferences. And don’t get me started on victims of Blackberry cc: disease.

I wish I could tell you the easy answer. I can’t. I just know that the faltering signal is a problem."

It sure is, Seth. We're caught in a death spiral of Twittering, Facebooking, Texting, and IM-ing, which Professor BJ Fogg, at the Stanford Center for Persuasive Technologies admiringly calls Massive Interpersonal Persuasion (MIP). As it becomes increasingly difficult to filter out the signal from the rising tide of noise, we are squandering our most precious asset ....Attention!

MuralCasting - Improving ROA (Return on attention)

I have worked with many talented visioneers whose graphic interpretations of the collective wisdom of people in collaborative sessions or in recording the gist of conversations with interesting thought leaders has been almost a magical experience for me.

For several years I have been discussing with Eileen Clegg (one of my favorite visioneers) a way to bring this magic to the web and incorporate it in the blogging process, and I figured it was about time to share some this magic with you. Here's an example created last year by Eileen Clegg and Jim Schuyler from their Mapping the Edges prototype.



The image shown here was produced by Eileen during her telephone interview with:

• John Abele, cofounder of Boston Scientific, founder of Kingbridge Conference Centre
• Jay Cross, founder of Internettime, author of Informal Learning
• Moderator: Andrew Webster, Customized Experience Coordiinator, Kingbridge Conference Centre
• Visual Map: Eileen Clegg, visual journalist

---

Jim Schuyler then post-produced the mural by adding "hotspots" to the image surface which "light up" when moused over,and when clicked on, hyperlink to related audio, video or web resources. The purpose is to give the reader/viewer the big picture of a complex subject by providing an overall map of the context of the subject and an easy way to "dive down" into the map to get access to a richer layer of related multimedia materials.

I would like to add the ability to "embed" murals like these directly onto the blog page as we can now do with YouTube and Slideshare content like this Thoughts Illustrated: Watch This! The creation of a master muralist! , but for the moment to get the experience of Mapping the Edges, you will need to click here:Mapping the Edges - Conferences



Your comments are always welcome.

Le Grand Content -

Meet Jessica Hagy

Jessica Hagy was my top vote from the 100 authors who crowd-sourced the Age of Conversation. So I naturally added her feed to my reading list and today found this enchanting visualization(3:57 minutes) which derives its design from her profoundly simple way of visualizing in what she calls "a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math."

Take the journey of Le Grand Content below- and subscribe to Jessica's blog - a few seconds a day and you will be entertained and enlightened.

A Brief Message - twitter vs blogger?

Although this image is from a new blog on design, it could certainly apply to the dilemma of continuous partial attention (CPA) and from the punch line "short is in", it would appear that microblogging as in Twitter meets the criteria outlined above.

My take is that Return on Attention (ROA) thrives on "short is in" and that pithy text and powerful images deliver content in the most effective way, but my experience to date with Twitter is very mixed.


I need is a way to filter the incoming flood so that it raises the signal above the noise. Maybe my conversation with Adam Green of Grazr this afternoon will shed some light on how to manage microblogs along with all the other social networking stuff.

PS this post would have exceeded the Twitter 140 character limit by the second sentence. If short is in, maybe I'm out!

A Brief Message

Twitter ROA? a continuing inquiry into the value of Social Networking tools

Introductory comment: I find that posting links within my writing interrupts the flow of the post. If readers are interested in the link references they will be footnoted at the end of the post.


I have recently been nagged by my colleagues to sign up for Twitter - a microblogging sensation that is sweeping the social network world. You will see a boring segment of my recent twitters on the sidebar of this blog.

In a conversation with Adam Green of Grazr, I asked the question : "what is the Return on Attention(ROA) on the use of twitter?". He hasn't yet given me a sufficient answer.

This led me to inquire of Jerry Michalski whether Twitter could be filtered and connected to his now famous online Brain. (1). where I found this blog post on Breakthrough by Terry Frazer (2) describing the work of Lisa Haneberg. This 2x2 is Lisa's, and provides a good way to think about ROA.

Here is Lisa's comment on Breakthrough:

"My point it that breakthroughs generally happen in conversation.

To generate breakthroughs, introverts - or extroverts - or anyone needs to be in conversation about their goals and ideas.

Even if we look at science, the individual work we do is important, but it is the sharing and collaboration that usually catalyzes bigger advancements.

I am a proud introvert myself. I have learned that to generate more breakthroughs, I need to engage others in my work, listen more, and share more."

Here is how I position Twitter on Lisa's chart:


I currently position Twitter in the "unfocused" side of the chart. A peak performer ( upper right hand corner of the chart) generates a high ROA from his or her activities in social networking and I have not yet found the ROA in Twitter. It may be a useful "engagement" tool, but for me, I need some way to manage the Twitter flow in order to move it toward the upper right hand corner of the chart where peak performers can integrate into their daily practice. Until that occurs - I won't be happy with Twitter.

(1) Welcome to Sociate - Jerry Michalski's home on the Web .

(2) Breakthroughs Happen in a Social Context: