The future of books

More colleges seem to be encouraging or even requiring students to use electronic books. The U of M's iPad pilot project is the largest in the nation. Considering the cost of textbooks, and assuming that electronic versions are much less expensive, I imagine this would be a welcomed change for students. Will the paper book be missed?



What about your own reading? Are you buying fewer paper books or borrowing less from the library?

 

 

 

 

 

Poll: Do you read e-books?

I'll think about it tomorrow

As interim editor of a publication this fall, I've been raking in content from contributors I don't know and haven't worked with before. I am amazed, amazed I tell you, with how many of them have not submitted their articles to me until I have sent numerous emails, threatening voice mails, and sicced other authority figures on them. In two cases, the scofflaws needed to write 200 words--that's it--just 200 words each--and they didn't do it until I threatened to send the magazine to press without their words of wisdom. And before you ask, no, not one miscreant was a faculty member.

I may be a bit more on edge about this than normal, in part because I am working in unfamiliar surroundings with contributors I don't know, but also because I just read a fascinating article on procrastination by James Surowiecki at the New Yorker. Please read it now--don't put it off!

Who should be our keynote speaker?

Planning is under way for 21st annual Communicators Forum conference! Last year, we thoroughly enjoyed our keynote speaker, Dennis Cass. We found Dennis because of you, our wonderful members! So, who do you want to see at this year's conference? Post a comment with your recommendations.

Does your website wear its underwear on the outside?

In a recent article by Meghan Casey from Brain Traffic, 4 Web projects content management can solve, she outlines common Web disasters and helpful solutions. But one problem in particular...um, stuck out: the issue of underpants on the outside.

What does this mean? Casey defines it as:

1. When a website is organized the way the company is organized, but not the way users might navigate the content.

2. When it's evident that departments/leadership are fighting for prime space on the homepage, without considering users' needs or what will drive results.

Whether your "underwear" takes the form of a lengthy letter from the department head that no one will read or a crowded homepage no one can navigate--most likely, we've all encountered these paralyzing issues at some point.

Casey suggests content strategy as a way to combat this. How have you overcome this problem?

Creative Slump

Sitting at the allergists last week, I picked up an old copy of Newsweek, from July 19, 2010. I read an article called "The Creativity Crisis" by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. This is perfect for a blog posting, I thought, since last month when I was asked to write something, I froze like a deer in the headlights and missed my planned deadline. It seems that occasionally feeling creatively challenged is nothing unique, as this article outlined.

Back in 1958 a psychologist named E. Paul Torrance started testing Minneapolis kids for creativity. The study followed these children over the years and found that those who had more creative responses on his tests later became inventors, authors, doctors, diplomats and needless to say - hardly ever missed a blog deadline. Creative kids tend to be three times more likely to creative adults. But after fifty years of test score results it seems that although IQs have risen, creativity has declined.

Although exactly why this is happening is not yet clear, there are a few ideas explored in the article. Television and video game time may have contributed as well as standardized education, which emphasizes rote memorization.

It seems the solution may be more about the way we teach instead of what we teach. Art programs are not necessarily the answer. We need to approach problems with both side of our brains engaged. The left side of the brain starts out by sorting through familiar solutions and the right side kicks in looking further, sorting through less relevant memories and knowledge that might add meaning. If an idea comes forward from the right side of the brain, the left side takes over again to check it for validity and make it work - or dismiss it. This process happens all the time for all of us. Creative people are just better at it.

How can we jump start this process? The most helpful suggestions included some obvious and not so obvious actions. What follows is the three I liked.

Exercise is helpful because it improves cognition. I break down what they said to just doing what is comfortable for you but that gets your heart pumping. If you are a couch potato - go for a walk, not a run. Getting over tired doesn't help. But if you are a runner - go for it!

Taking a break seems like a stall tactic when I am stuck on a problem but setting things aside for a while can really help. The article suggests you work on something else for a while and come back later.

The suggestion I found really interesting was exploring another culture. Apparently "cross-cultural experiences force people to adapt and be more flexible."  Before we all go try to convince our bosses we need a road trip to  Asia, read the rest. Experiments would indicate that if you can't travel, you can still improve creativity by just studying another culture. In lab experiments people were more creative after viewing a short slide show about China.

I wonder if eating ethnic food will help. I'm willing to find out.

What jump-starts your creativity?

University Branding/Marketing Campaigns Face Criticism Everywhere

Inside HigherEd has an interesting article about recent marketing campaigns by American University, Purdue, Drake and others. 

Brand New Dilemma looks at the pitfalls and motivations behind branding campaigns--how they are perceived by students and alumni, the general public, and marketing pundits. One audience I would have liked to hear from are faculty.

Here at Minnesota we've just launched the new "Because" campaign, which is Driven to Discover v.3 or 4. Like the campaigns discussed in the Inside HigherEd piece, some people love it, some hate it. In light of these responses to marketing campaigns around the country, what do you think of "Because"?

Internal audience segmentation

In case you don't keep up with the ecommunications blog, they've just posted the next meeting for the group with the strange acronym: MEUG. The Mass Email User Group meeting is Wednesday, October 27 from 3-4 p.m. in Morrill 238A.

The main topic will be internal audience segmentation, and Forum member Matt Sumera, associate director for Internal Communications, will present on
Internal Communications' work in selecting and refining audiences on
the Twin Cities campus and systemwide. They'll also look at the data
available to see how your college or unit can leverage these
ideas to select from your own students, staff, or faculty.

Some remote attendance options are available with an RSVP, and you can find out more on that at the ecomm blog.

Member profile: Heather Smith

Job title: Executive Office Administrative Assist

Which means: I am the admin for LCRU (cardiovascular research clinic) and do admin duties for all the coordinators and manager, schedule, do design duties, maintain the website that I created and so much more. I have many "hats".

What do you like most about your job? When I get to do design work.

I have been at the University since: February of this year (2010)

Areas of expertise: Design and photography. However, I don't own an SLR, but I feel that I can still take a great picture.

Why my job matters to my unit and to the University: I'm the main face to the clinic that does research to help cure hearts and I help out the group with all their needs.

Communicators are important to the University's mission because:
We can speak for the U in a visual way.

Why did you join the Forum and how are you involved? To gain more design experience, network to get into a design related job of some kind and meet more people. I joined three of the committees through the forum.

Family members: I have 12 legs to attend to (2 cats and a dog). The cats weigh more than my dog.

Hobbies: My top hobbies are dancing latin/swing/ballroom, traveling, photography, hiking/walking outside in nature. Dancing is the main hobby as of late. I'm thinking about training for a competition for next year. I love going on day excursions in the fall time with my dog. You'll almost always see me with my camera because I love taking photos of nature and architecture. Traveling is my other passion. I want to see the world!

Current favorites:
Favorite restaurants? Boca Chica and Hell's Kitchen to name a couple.
Food? I've become a fan of the jucy lucy. Cheese, malts/shakes, fruit, state fair deep-fried cheese curds, and popcorn are a few top favorites.
Favorite places for entertainment? I love the Dakota Jazz Club. Otherwise, I love going to the orchestra or seeing a musical. I'll be seeing a ballet (Swan Lake through the Northrop system) and an opera early next year. I can't wait!

What inspires, enthuses or drives you? Traveling and dancing. When I travel or dance I feel so alive. With dancing it's such a great social exercise and it's beautiful, especially watching a room full of people doing the waltz. When I travel I have to pinch myself to believe that I'm somewhere else so beautiful, so filled with history, so unique with just a quick, or not so quick, plane ride.

People are always surprised to learn that I: have a twin brother, and that I dance latin/ballroom/swing.

Thinking about academic freedom

I've been busy at work this month on coordinating our October program on academic freedom, and I'm excited about the discussion. Thanks to Kelly for recently posting our exact policy on academic freedom last month. There's still so much to cover for the program, which got me thinking... we know the what of the policy, but what about the who? So I thought I'd ask you what you thought.

National Day on Writing, Oct. 20!

With all the gridlock in Congress these days, it's hard to believe politicians can agree on anything at all. Apparently, though, they've found common ground in agreeing that writing is a good and necessary activity. In September, Congress unanimously-approved a U S. Senate resolution establishing Oct. 20 as "National Day on Writing."

In case you didn't know it, the U of M has a Center for Writing, which supports the work of all U students, faculty, and staff engaged in the practice, teaching, and study of writing. And on Oct. 20, the Center is hosting a variety of writing events, including some quirky ones, like "Stalled Writing," an event that will take place in the Nicholson Hall bathrooms, where you can be "inspired by the porcelain muse," and perhaps move beyond "for a good time" to "Once upon a time."

If the bathroom isn't your style, they'll have "InTentsive Writing," which will take place in...you guessed it--a tent. Those looking to get outside any physical boundaries might have luck with "Artful Writing: Writing With, Through and About Art with the Weisman Art Museum," which will practice building perception skills and respond to works of art verbally and through a variety of writing activities. For more course offerings and more information, see the Center for Writing, National Day on Writing.

Eternal doodle of the focused mind

They say it's lazy, inattentive, and immature. And despite our best efforts to explain the contrary, some people find the evidence in the seemingly innocent vine motifs on our notebooks. The truth is--we are paying attention. Really. Doodling: it's just what we do.

As a creative in a non-creative industry, I struggle to find a balance between my mode of listening and learning and others' perception of it. Quite simply, drawing helps me think. But in mixed company, I avoid the guilty doodle. Instead I assume the role of the consummate student--arms folded and eyes peeled. But don't be fooled, I'm most likely trying to remember the name of that guy, you know, the one who was in that movie...

Email: No Pony Express

Every year on my birthday, my mom sends me a handwritten card. It usually has a bunch of heart stickers stuck all over the envelope, inside and out. There is also often a crisp $5 bill inside, but that's beside the point. I'm sure the post office guy thinks I'm a big wuss, but I don't care. I love these letters from my mom. Plus, my dad worked at the US Post Office for over 30 years, so if the guy has a beef with me, I'll find out where he lives, too. Two can play the game of "I know where you live."

Anyway, what I want to talk about is email, both about how it crushes your soul and clutters your work life. Of course, it also has the potential to do much good, but only if you use it right.

Prof Arthur Hill at the Carlson School of Management has more than 30 years of research, teaching, and consulting in operations management and (quite efficiently) can talk about managing time and work effectively. He says he once spoke with a dean who admitted to having more than 6,000 unopened emails.

For most of us, the barrage of emails is not quite that extreme, but the problem of too much to do contributes to stress, worry, and guilt, says Hill.

Hill says it's important to remember a few simple rules, and some of them, I admit, seem downright foreign. For example, "Never check email in the morning," is one of his most important rules. He says instead that we should start the day with goals and bigger projects--email should not be on a "to-do" list.

Other email advice from Hill:

• Abide by the two-minute rule--if it takes less than two minutes, do it now.

• Write short emails with very concise and meaningful subject lines and do not cc unless absolutely necessary--very often, the cc is not necessary and is a waste of many people's time.

• Reduce the number of emails you write to reduce the number you receive. Do not write a "thank you" email every time you receive a correspondence.

•  Never have more than one screen of emails open at a time.

•   Open an email once, and process it right away.
  

Finally, says Hill, remember that interruptions occur about every 2.5 minutes, and it usually takes about 10 minutes to recover from each interruption. The main source of the interruption? You.

There's also a somewhat academic analysis of email online... Email's Dark Side

A few things it notes:

You check more often than you think: Participants in a study by Renaud et al. (2006) claimed to check their email, on average, once an hour. However when the researchers spied on them, it turned out they checked their email every five minutes.

Email eats a quarter (23%) of the working day

It takes 64 seconds to recover from an email

Email kills sarcasm (and emotional communication)

People feel less co-operative

Email negotiations often feel difficult, especially with people we don't know well.

There's little argument that personal, handwritten letters mean more than an email...some visceral component a computer just hasn't captured yet still tugs at our "aww, mom" heartstrings. But if you use it sparingly and supplement it with face-to-face and the occasional phone call (texting doesn't count), you'll have a more meaningful--and productive--work life. And your mom doesn't want an email anyway.

Saying No: A Case Against Social Media

Sometimes the newest and greatest isn't always the best. It seems the world is looking to social media as the solution to marketing on a budget and as the vehicle to connect with Gen Y. As is often the case, one size does not fit all.

Are you in a situation where your client wants to jump on the social media band wagon, but you know it isn't a good fit for them? How do you say no to the enthusiasm your clients might have to social media marketing? You might have a great case against social media marketing (not audience appropriate, might open up privacy issues, etc.), but here are some interesting articles in case you need additional material for your arsenal!

The Many Challenges of the Social Media Industry

Listen & Learn (Simplified Social Media Process)

The Biggest Problem with Social Media Marketing

There's More to Marketing than Social Media

The Problem with Social Media Marketing

The Problem in Social Media Marketing (is word of mouth actually good for your org?)

Is Social Media the Same as Marketing?


Is Social Media an Impediment to Problem Solving?

Member profile: Peggy Rinard

Job title: Communications Director, College of Biological
Sciences

Which
means: I'm responsible for communications planning, messages from the dean, media
relations, print and electronic communications, and communications support for
development and student services. And I couldn't do it without Stephanie Xenos, my
multi-talented and very patient assistant director.

I have been
at the University since: 1991

Areas of
expertise: planning, science writing and editing

Why my job
matters to my unit and to the University: to help the public understand the
value of biological research for addressing global problems like climate
change, loss of biodiversity, replacing petroleum with clean, renewable
energy, and finding cures for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Can you tell us about a recent project or activity in which you (and colleagues)
have creatively solved a communication challenge on a tight budget?: We
converted our print magazine, BIO, to a web-based newsletter and created an
annual publication for donors to supplement it. The conversion was based on
research showing that our readers are most interested in research news, so that's
the focus on the e-newsletter. The print pub provides more in depth features
about students and alumni for our donor audience.

Professional
communicators are important to the University's mission because: We explain the
value of the University as a research institution to legislators, voters, and
other constituents and persuade them to invest in the U.

Family members: husband, Gary, daughters Emily (22) and
Elisabeth (20). Emily just graduated from Drake University with a graphic
design degree (and is looking for freelance work.) Elisabeth is a junior at UW
Eau Claire, where she is majoring in environmental geography. She plans to get
a master's degree in urban planning. One dog (Elsa) and three cats (Julius,
Simka and Milo)

Hobbies: Reading and collecting
designer pottery from the '40s-'60s.

Current favorites: I recently
rediscovered Joan Didion and am reading everything she wrote. Other recent
favorites include Tortilla Curtain and The Women by TC Boyle. I'm also
reading an anthology of LA literature. All-time favorite authors are Wallace
Stegner and Raymond Chandler. I guess you can tell I'm from California.

I am passionate about: movies and
music from the 1940s and early '50s, cats, and chocolate. A good evening for me would be watching
"Adam's Rib" with a cat or two or three while eating organic dark chocolate
with cherries.

People are always surprised to
learn that: I was a singing waitress in college and aspired to be an actress.