In about one month I have to give a talk for our Professional Development Conference here at Iowa state University. I haven't been blogging in quite a while, but I thought it might help me to begin to organize my thoughts for this presentation.
I'm still working up a framework for my talk - but it will focus on information technology which is changing the way we work and interact both in our personal and professional lives (and how the differences are blurring).
I want to start thinking about key concepts... specifically, I would like to incorporate the importance and relationship of "participation" and "relevance". What does it mean to be relevant? We hear every day the need for Extension to be relevant in the future. When I think of relevance, I consider context, connection and value. So to be relevant, I need to bring value into a context where others are connected. In the world of social media, I believe this requires participation.
Basically, in the future you can't be relevant and not participate. While this seems obvious, when we discuss new social media technologies and enviroments, it may not be obvious that you will need to particpate. When you can no longer control the message, you can only participate in its creation and interpretation.
I also believe that Personal Branding is related in that you again brand yourself through participation. I agree with Brian Shaler blog entry Who Are You? in that you will need to plan how best to use social media to brand themselves. How do you want to connect with people and in what context?
OK, this is a start... pretty boring. I need to consider some interesting examples.
If anyone is reading this blog anymore, feel free to comment.