Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘about me’ Category

Should I Change My Twitter Name?

Posted in about me, branding, observations, social networking, tagged , , on 12 February 2010 | 10 Comments »

Ah, “personal branding.” Definitely a topic worthy of a straw poll.

I’ve been thinking about changing my Twitter name. Why would I do that?

The usual response I get when I meet Tweeting folk is one of surprise — “oh that’s you? I had no idea!” So that’s not good. Plus, I find that @spaghetti_p is pretty long. Including the @ symbol, it’s 11 characters, and I’d rather something less than 10. Finally, it’s kind of dumb and I’m pretty tired of it.

So why did I choose it in the first place? It was a halfhearted attempt at carrying something from the name of this blog over into my Twitter presence. (It’s hard to be original at 1 a.m. when you are signing up for the latest social site.) Also my real name is extremely generic, so @petersmith was long gone by the time I got to Twitter. As was @smith, @psmith, @smithp.

But it been a long time since I’ve been tweeting as @spaghetti_p. The majority of my followers know me under that username. More significantly, my Twitter presence has the most “reach” on a daily basis – it’s my main “social habit.” It’s the public place where I interact most with others online. So is there a risk in changing it?

At a technical level, I had first thought that the answer would be no. On Twitter.com, all I have to do is change my account settings and automagically, everyone who’s following @spaghetti_p will be following whatever new name I choose. But almost immediately I realized that it’s not that simple — I’ve set up a lot of profiles elsewhere (main public ones listed on this blog’s about page, and I can’t forget internal-to-GC ones also) that point to the URL http://twitter.com/spaghetti_p. It’d take some work to re-point all these — but it’s doable and obviously worth it.

I also came across multiple listings of my Twitter account throughout the ecosystem of apps and services that has grown up around Twitter — quick examples: Topsy, TwitIQ, FavStar, Sency… the list goes on and on. I’ve never heard of most of these & have no idea what they do. And what happens to them if I change my Twitter name – do they also update? Do they break? I suppose mostly it doesn’t matter, they’re just machines.

What’s more important to me is: will folks find this annoying? Will they unfollow? Will they even care? And do I even care what anyone thinks? Mainstream “personal branding” thinking says I should — online is my calling card, and Twitter is the primary channel for that and yadda yadda yadda. But I’m not a product to be managed, ya know? I’m a mere human. So the answer to all of these, even the last one, about which I feel really ambivalent, is: I don’t really know.

So I’ll give up and turn it over to you: should I change my Twitter name?

Read Full Post »

Creativity in the Bureaucracy

Posted in about me, bureaucracy, government, observations, tagged , , , , on 18 January 2010 | 1 Comment »

From Saturday’s Ottawa Citizen:

Maria Barrados, president of the Public Service Commission, has commissioned a study on the implications of generational turnover as the baby boomers retire. The twentysomethings and thirtysomethings who are starting their public-service careers today have grown up in a different world from that of their parents. There’s bound to be some friction, but friction can be useful, if it leads to positive change.

If it doesn’t, the new recruits will quickly become disillusioned. They might stay in their jobs because of the great benefits, good hours and security, but they’ll stop trying to be creative if creativity isn’t prized. They’ll learn, soon enough, how just to put in their hours and go home, and channel all their creativity into other parts of their lives. That won’t serve the taxpayers.

Full story: Tomorrow’s bureaucrats.

My own experience, from the perspective of more than 10 years “inside”: I still feel that creativity is possible, perhaps more so now than ever. The adjustment for me was learning that every so-called great idea (or brain fart) that I had was not necessarily the best thing organizationally speaking.

In the first few years I spent in the bureaucracy, I spent a lot of time being frustrated about this, but I gradually came to learn that it’s not just about me. How can it be? I am but one individual among more than 200,000 that make of the federal public service. Let alone the 30+ million citizens that we serve.

I wouldn’t call this realization disillusionment. Instead it’s far closer to enlightenment. I still bring creativity to my work. But I now have a much better sense of where to focus my creative energies. What’s that saying? Pick your battles. To me, it’s about leverage — spotting the achievable, realistic points at which you can effect change, and then taking advantage of them.

That’s not saying cherry pick the easy stuff — often the easiest changes to make are change for its own sake, stuff that doesn’t matter. I’m talking about making real, concrete changes that benefit Canadians who are touched by the services I provide. Pinpointing what those changes could be and then following through is a long process, and requires patience and persistence.

In my case, it’s about making GC websites and web communications better. Not prettier or flashier, but more useful. And for the websites I am currently responsible for, I feel like I’m just at the beginning. There is a lot to do. Good.

Read Full Post »

Abstract and superficial

Posted in about me, bureaucracy, observations, tagged , , , on 28 May 2008 |

My job is so abstract a lot of the time… I get asked to review things, provide advice and whatnot, but I rarely see the finished product. Everybody’s busy, so what they expect a lot of the time is a quick yes/no answer, or maybe at most a 2 sentence email that quickly tells them how to fix what’s not quite right. I rarely get a chance to really delve into anything.

Which is fine — I don’t have to face the pressures and drudgery that comes with managing large projects. I did enough of that for five years as a production manager for publications anyhow. But sometimes I miss being able to really get my hands dirty, to dig deeply into something.

Even better, the advisory role is what gets valued more around here than the project manager role – after all my current job as publishing advisor is at a higher level than my previous job quarterbacking publishing projects. But still, sometimes what I do no seems more superficial than what I did then. Funny (weird).

Yup that’s it. Just a little whine about work. Nothing to see here folks.

Read Full Post »

Computers for Cubans, Nostalgia Time for Me

Posted in about me, tagged , , , , on 5 May 2008 |

So here I am obsessing over the iPhone coming to Canada. Wondering whether I should wait for the official release from Rogers or to ask an American friend to ship me one that I can jailbreak. As if I need another tech gadget, another way to get online.

Reality check time – Computers are finally (legally) available in Cuba. They went on sale there last Friday. But Internet access will still be unavailable to the home user. Here’s the Washington Post’s take on the story.

And here’s a vid from the BBC:

Now I should tackle some serious questions, like “why tower PCs and not more energy efficient cheapo laptops instead?” or “will these new economic freedoms to buy computers or cellphones in Cuba ultimately lead to unforseen political consequences?”

But no. Cuz this story made me nostalgic — it made me recall the very first PC I ever owned. It was an Apple II clone that I built with the help of my dad when I was about 10 years old. My science teacher in grade school was selling kits with all the parts and we assembled it in the science labs at school on a Saturday morning. Looked a lot like these shots.

Cloned version of an Apple II PC

Cloned Apple II PC Showing Motherboard

(source: Apple II History)

I spent hours and hours playing with this thing. At first I had no internet BBS access, so I remember trading those 5.25″ floppies with my geek friends at school to get the latest games and such (A cracked version of Castle Wolfenstein took something like 10 floppies – man, installing that was a pain). I learned to make simple little proggys in Basic. I learned about hexadecimal codes and how to make simple graphics and animations. I can still picture that classic green-on-black display.

I didn’t do much homework with it. Actually, because of this thing, I did a lot less homework generally. Watched a lot less TV too. So you get some good with the bad.

This little machine had a hugely formative impact on me. While I didn’t end up being a real ‘geek’ — I took anthropology and literature at University, not computer science — I have always found ways to indulge my inclinations and tendencies in this direction. And ever since my introduction to the Apple II, I’ve always spent waaay too much time interacting with the computer, rather than, uh, people and life and stuff like that.

This little toy set off a chain of events that culminated in the post you are reading now. I’m sure the Cubans are ready for this, but is their government?

Read Full Post »

Blackberries: not just about work anymore

Posted in about me, bureaucracy, tagged , , , , , on 6 February 2008 |

Last week, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration went out on a limb and asked its employees to turn off their BlackBerries after hours. (Here’s the memo announcing the policy.)

My first response to this was, er, instinctual – they’ll never take my crackberry away from me! Never!

Since reading this story, this has nagged at the back of the ol’ brain. Why? I think it’s got to do with the work/play or work/life divide. On the work side:

Linda Duxbury, a professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, said the use of personal digital devices such as the BlackBerry increases employees’ workload dramatically.

“It increases our ability to work anytime, anywhere, immediate answers expected, be available 24-7, on the road, at home, on weekends, on vacation,” she added Friday. (Source: CBC News)

True enough. But here’s the thing: with SMS and internet access built in, the crackberry ain’t just about work. I’m constantly using my ‘berry after hours, but usually it’s doing stuff like this: to read the news, catch up with the latest sports scores, check the weather, drop in on the Twitterverse, chat with family and friends.

I suppose that using a mobile that’s been provided by my workplace in this way is strictly speaking a bad thing that could get me in trouble — There’s probably a policy somewhere that says what I am doing is wrong. Mea culpa. But in a world that’s online 24/7, where exactly do you draw the line?

Aside: I have checked out my wireless use a little, and I’ve been told that I’ve never incurred more than the monthly minimum change for our data plan at work. So not to worry, taxpayers, I’m not costing you any more money with my frivolities.

I guess what I’m saying is — it’s not about the tools, but rather the attitude that one brings to them. The impulse to respond to emails as soon as they hit the inbox on the ‘berry is the exact same thing as the compulsive need to answer the phone just because it’s ringing. If you want to address work related stress, that’s where the emphasis needs to be, no matter what the device in question is.

Read Full Post »

What’s a spaghetti test?

Posted in about me on 24 January 2008 | 3 Comments »

When you are cooking spaghetti, one way to tell if it’s done is yank one of the noodles out of the boiling water and fling it against the wall. If it sticks, then it’s done. Ready to eat.

So why is this blog called “spaghetti testing”? Well, I work in communications and publishing for the Canadian federal government in Ottawa, and like a growing number of my colleagues, I realize that we need to get our heads around social media, online networking and web 2.0. We need to find out what sticks.

And so, here I am. I decided to start this blog in an attempt to find out what works, what doesn’t and where to go from here.

Read Full Post »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.