the3six5 project… or how I learned to embrace the emergent Around the start of 2010, I began hearing about this idea dubbed the3six5 project. A bunch of transmedia and emerging media folks discussed it with great fervor. So I took a look… frowned… then asked… “What’s the big effing deal?” Every day, a different person would step in and write a journal entry of what was going on around him or her. There are rules of course, like being assigned a day insignificant to the author (i.e. no birthdays, anniversaries), writing a reflection of life that very day from the author’s location (i.e. the stark reality), limits to the number of words, and finally, zero blatant self promotion. Yes, it’s crowdsourc-ive, it’s storytelling, it’s experimental, but is it too simplistic and too random? Prior to the3six5, we’ve seen very well curated examples that have even been put to print, such as user-generated magazines Everywhere and JPG. In other words, this isn’t new… so what’s really going on here? Thinking back at the3six5, I even tried to suggest connectivity between stories… So I wrote to the3six5 co-founder, Len Kendall… “While some of the twitterati I follow seem to like this project a lot, I beg to differ. I value the experimental (back to personal writing) nature of it, like how it provides a “snapshot” of our world from different perspectives, but find the articles all too disconnected from one another. I feel that it lacks connectivity, a kind of holistic purpose behind it. Perhaps I need to be unhinged to the idea of a plot? That said, I admire the difficult simplicity, consistency and diligence behind this project.” To which Len calmly replied… “Your reaction makes sense. There is certainly a disconnect between people. But I think that people’s minds often try to get non-fiction to mirror fiction. But that’s not how life operates. It’s very random, and this chronology reflects that. What makes it flow is that once every few days some folks with mention a “checkpoint” in time. Haiti’s earthquake, Obama’s spead, Apple’s ipad, etc. So that 10 years from now, if you read this story, you’ll have some sense of what was taking place at that time and when that time was.” At this point I’m widening my sights to treat the theme as a giant chronological expression. Len explained that enforcing a theme pressures fiction around our non-fictional world. Thanks to our increasingly politicalized news media, perhaps it’s our learned reaction to pigeon-hole social reality. I have the sensation that what some storytellers are seeing, that isn’t apparent at face value, are qualities which will emerge from both the process and product of this particular sousveillance literature. The fiction will eventually appear because we will implicitly, and punitively, place it there. As Len blogged, within the first 30 days of this year-long work, we’re already seeing a string of patterns emerge: The web can be a really messy place. On creating order from chaos, Len writes how “Crowdsourcing ain’t easy”. Maintaining 365 authors for 365 days is pretty intense work, which makes me wonder if this project could ever work as an entirely community-governed iteration. The number of views, comments and retweets act like an invisible leaderboard. There’s growing competition, or as BBHLab’s Ben Malbon puts it, “God help those writing in November…”. Throw in a few celebrity writers (ZeFrank!), and it looks like I’m pretty much screwed. And on forcing fiction upon non-fiction: Margo Gremmler said “[...] you brought us all together in an author mosaic”. While I can’t wait to see the big picture, I thought that Gennefer’s tweet was rather poignant for the3six5’s journey… Almost everyone contributing to this project agreed that “the case study for this project is going to be just as interesting as the project itself.” To appreciate the3six5 experience, I asked if I could contribute, and was kindly given the day of 24th November 2010. It’s weird… but I suddenly feel like I own that day. It becomes both my honor, and my burden. For a better idea of the3six5 project, be sure to read Ben Malbon’s “Interview with the3six5 project founders: 365 days, 365 perspectives“ Similar Posts:Understand the tragic {present}, by peering into the sci-fi {past}… HALO 2 is COMPLETE! PhD or Die Trying: The Personal Mission Statement GE’s “augmented reality” campaign Today’s Links: For Your Blog + Mac + Social Life Mental Links: Deconstructing news reportage, iPad meta-critiques, the cyborg brain… How To Report The News, by Charlie Brooker… a very frank deconstruction. iPad: Overhyped Flop or a case of Great Design Thinking? Media studies graduate student / thinker @VenessaMiemis provides a very thorough examination of the diverse perspectives to what Apple's iPad means for the future of computing. Fraser Speirs on Future Shock “What you're seeing in the industry's reaction to the iPad is nothing less than future shock. For years we've all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the 'average person'. I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort. Secretly, I suspect, we technologists quite liked the idea that Normals would be dependent on us for our technological shamanism.” A Whole New Mind | Daniel Pink All the iPad discussions seem to point me back to Daniel Pink’s book. He observes that the future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. Clive Thompson: "Garry Kasparov, cyborg" What if, instead of playing against one another, a computer and a human played together — as part of a team? Project SIKULI Sikuli automates almost anything with screenshot ease, thanks to it's visual recognition technology. Works with any computing platform, including Mac, Windows, Linux! (via Lifehacker) Panopticlick EFF asks: Is your browser configuration rare or unique? If so, web sites may be able to track you, even if you limit or disable cookies. The Pinky Show: Structure, Power, & Agency Pinky's been thinking a lot about class treason lately: What does it mean that we do so many things in our lives 'automatically'? What can we really do to make this world better? And what will we have to give up or risk in order to achieve it? Pictures + Stories = Pictory! And It's Pretty. // Current Pictures have never been more share-worthy than they are within Pictory, a new, community-driven, ongoing series of photos and the stories behind them. Get out your Kleenex… some of this stuff will truly tug at your heartstrings! The Internet can be so great. List of Corporate Social Media Strategists, Corporate Community Managers in 2010 « Jeremiah Owyang There are very specific requirements for this list, please read before submitting: 1) You must have a public LinkedIn profile page that 2) indicates that social media is part of your full time career and job –not just for personal use, 3) You must work at an enterprise class corporation with more than 1000 employees. Securing your iPhone's traffic | Macworld There are several firms that specialize in “rent-a-VPN” service for travelers who don’t have a corporate information technology department behind them handling VPN service. I'm thinking it's the easiest way to spoof your iPhone's IP as well. Reboot These Sci-Fi Shows Next, Wired.com Readers Plead Brings back lots of memories… though sadly I watched them alone with no one to share stories with. Similar Posts:HelloTxt: For microbloggers who can’t get enough… So… would you hire a social media strategist? (Part 1) Waiting for the “social media strategist” interview report? Minds for Sale: Jonathan Zittrain explores the rise of Cloud Labor World’s first anti-theft app for iPhone (video) Comment on From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links by links for 2010-01-25 « Ugnius Ramanauskas Entrepreneurship Blog [...] From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links « theory.isthereason (tags: tools web reference tutorials web2.0 blog tips blogs wordpress) [...] Mental Links: TheSixtyOne, Sarien, Data.gov, Controlled Serendipity, Keynote Tweet, Booki, and more I keep having these aspirations to have my own daily video show, but until it actually happens (yeah right!), I’ll just share recent links I’ve enjoyed. I’ve heard from some of you that this is what you like best from my blog… less talkie, more linkies! Sarien.net – Instant adventure gaming Welcome to Sarien.net, the portal for reliving classic Sierra On-Line adventure games. With its focus on instant fun and a unique multiplayer experience, Sarien.net hopes to win new gamers' hearts and promote the adventure game genre. (via @tiffchow) “Socialgraphics” webinar slides « Altimeter Group Recorded webinar of Altimeter's “Understanding Your Customers’ Social Behaviors“. You can also download from Slideshare.net (for slides) and drop.io (for the recording). Get Glue: The Network That Sticks To You Glue is a service that helps you find your next favorite movie, book, music album or other every day thing (here's a list of supported categories). Glue shows you things that you'll like based on your personal tastes, what your friends like, and what's most popular on Glue. Government posting wealth of data to Internet – washingtonpost.com Under a Dec. 8 White House directive, each department must post online at least three collections of "high-value" government data that never have been previously disclosed. All the new data collections will be added to the government's Web site, data.gov. ‘Controlled Serendipity’ Liberates the Web – NYTimes.com Observational article on twitter users as content curators & human aggregators. IDEO Labs » Keynote Tweet: Participate in the backchannel of your own presentation Enter Keynote Tweet, a simple open-source script that provides the capacity to participate in the backchannel by combining Twitter with Apple Keynote. All you have to do is add text wrapped in [twitter] and [/twitter] tags in the presenter notes section of a slide. When that slide comes up in the presentation the script grabs that text and sends it to Twitter on your behalf. Conversations About The Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee – The Rumpus.net Samzenpus on Slashdot wrote: "A Facebook employee has given a tell-all interview with some very interesting things about Facebook's internals. Especially interesting are all the things relating to Facebook privacy. Basically, you don't have any. Nearly everything you've ever done on the site is recorded into a database. While they fire employees for snooping, more than a few have done it. There's an internal system to let them log into anyone's profile, though they have to be able to defend their reason for doing so. And they used to have a master password that could log into any Facebook profile: 'Chuck Norris.' Bruce Schneier might be jealous of that one." The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures « OkTrends To write this piece, we cataloged over 7,000 photographs on OkCupid.com, analyzing three primary things: 1) Facial Attitude. Is the person smiling? Staring straight ahead? Doing that flirty lip-pursing thing?, 2) Photo Context. Is there alcohol? Is there a pet? Is the photo outdoors? Is it in a bedroom?, 3) Skin. How much skin is the person showing? How much face? How much breasts? How much ripped abs? TheSixtyOne: Beautiful music listening + discovery + game service TheSixtyOne is an amazing way to discover new music online. It's chock-full of musical goodness — including lots of Creative-Commons licensed music that can be freely downloaded. It turns music discovery into a social game and lets you "heart" songs (you only get so many hearts to give out each day, depending on your level). If others then "heart" those same songs, it means you've helped them discover good music, and you get more "reputation" points (which in turn allow you to level up and "heart" even more songs, and so on). iSites – Create your iPhone/Android app now iSites enables you to create and self-manage apps for multiple smart phones (iPhone, Android) from one place. Just $25! Thwapr – Mobile To Mobile Video Sharing The easiest way to share videos and pictures from your phone to your friends' phones. All you need is text messaging and a mobile browser. Thwapr is free and requires no downloads. An Illustrated History of Location-Based Technology – BlackBook As far back as 200 BC, humans have been busy inventing a variety of tools to help steer us in the right direction. This timeline is an informative look at just how far we've come when it comes to location based technology. UK Launches Open Data Site; Puts Data.gov to Shame Data.gov.uk has nearly 3,000 data sets available for developers to build mashups with. The U.S. site, Data.gov, has less than 1,000 data sets today. When will we see Data.gov.sg? L+E Visual Thinking Archive – a set on Flickr This group of visuals has been designed and produced by me (David Armano). You are welcome to use the visuals for presentations, slideshows and blogs posts. Please provide proper attribution and a link is always appreciated. davidarmano.com Booki: CollaborativeFutures As we began the collaborative process of crafting this book on the future of collaboration, we realized we were all working from a set of assumptions, many of them shared, some of them divergent. We were talking about a specific form of collaboration, specific media of collaboration, and specific goals of collaboration. And we were talking about a specific history of collaboration, and a correspondingly specific set of futures. Similar Posts:Dirty Hack: JoikuSpot + Nokia cellphone = 3G iPhone HelloTxt: For microbloggers who can’t get enough… Today’s Links: Mazda Sassou = Very nice Today’s Links (Variations) Ethnographic: A Teenage Girl’s Facebook Friend List Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by MAVE I finally found time to “visit” DR Kevin! Yes I am still freezing my rear here in Ohio, it is snowing … again.Wonderful piece on Audrey Lim, 2 thumbs up. Way to go girl, good job on your store! As a Singaporean mother of 2 transplanted into the USA for 2 decades, I FEEL your pain of the differences in lifestyles and the food cravings. Yes, the days do not end here, especially for a working mother, perhaps worse for a working mother. I must add, I LOVE the dishwasher lifestyle.To any other Singaporeans in the US, drop me a “Okay lah” anytime, at the rate the real estate market is crashing, I'll be here for a while. Comment on From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links by links for 2010-01-25 – Faça bom uso da rede [...] From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links « theory.isthereason (tags: blogs howto wordpress) [...] Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by big mister Man. we should do something like that. Comment on Teacher Evaluation Forms for the LOL Generation by big mister i want that form Comment on happy two-thousand ten… by Kevin Lim Can. Sorry the wedding video's taking so long. :) Comment on happy two-thousand ten… by Lynda i love the music! so whimsical…maybe can use something like that for my wedding vid. :) Comment on From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links by 35 WordPress Tips and Tricks You Must Know « Design Works [...] Automatically post Del.icio.us daily link to WordPress Posted in Tips and Tricks WordPress, WordPress | Tagged Tips and Tricks, WordPress | Leave a Comment » [...] Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by Fran Hi Kevin, Thanks very much for your interesting blog. It's always nice to see how people on the other side of the globe live, how they share the same joys and sorrows, what they do in their free time, etc. I actually have a question about your blog. Would you mind helping us with a linguistic research project? We're compiling data from various Singaporean weblogs. All it requires is checking a few boxes. If you want to take part and/or have more questions, drop me a note ( hack2301@uni-trier.de RE: Question ) so that I can then send you the 'official' project eMail. We'd really appreciate your help. Thanks very much in advance!Best regards, – Fran Comment on theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology – an online brand intelligence startup from Singapore by Metrics for new media education « Mediate [...] recent post by Dr Kevin Lim (social-cyborg extraordinaire) mused on the lack of proper social media metrics, [...] Comment on theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology – an online brand intelligence startup from Singapore by GrEg Nice office :) Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by Walter Lim It is always interesting to read about the lives of Singaporeans overseas and how different/similar they are compared to the ones back home. Having lived abroad for about 10 months in Melbourne, I have come to appreciate that there are certain qualities in Singaporeans that will persist regardless of where we are based in – that frankness and self-disarming honesty, as well as the bottom-line orientation. What's good about any stints overseas though is that it gives you a greater balanced view of life and what truly matters. Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by Kevin Lim Carolyn, I'll let Audrey know. To be fair, she shares one point of view. Singaporean friends who have read this argue that not all Singaporeans are stuck to the 5Cs mentality. You can still avoid the peer pressure without leaving Singapore… you just need to be confident and self-reliant in what you're doing. :) Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by Kevin Lim Straydog, all the more we need to help Audrey spread word of mouth about her online store ;) Comment on Teacher Evaluation Forms for the LOL Generation by Kevin Lim Yes, we need a more holistic way to evaluate teaching as you said. Some schools can't afford the time and money, so it's sad to see good teachers get unfairly evaluated. Good design of the form may help to alleviate this problem, but making the survey less tiresome and more engaging. Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by CLim Kevin – A great interview! Thank you Audrey for sharing your experiences. I'm sure a number of Singaporeans abroad share the same sentiments (for e.g. missing parents, the kiasuism etc). I like your “Just Do It” mentality and wish you all the best in your online business. Comment on Teacher Evaluation Forms for the LOL Generation by rodxroll This is an excellent article from New York Times on teachers' evaluation. End term survey on students feedback is one of the tools to evaluate teachers' performance. Good academic administrators often use a combination of other tools like peer observation, teachers observation by qualified program directors and even casual conversation with students can often give a more accurate summary. It's true that this exercise is often a drag for most students and Abi's interesting graphic will certainly create interest. Design does matter. Comment on Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) by straydog I've bought a couple of Prima Laksa packets for a Swiss friend who's crazy over Laksa when I was up there last year end. There is definitely a market out there. Confessions of an Expatriate Singaporean Mom (turned Accidental Entrepreneur) A tasty care package courtesy of Audrey’s online grocery store. Sipping on a nostalgic white milk tea Audrey Lim had kindly sent me, I ask this extraordinary expatriate mother of two what made her move to the States and how she got started with her online Asian grocery store, SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com As a working mother of two school-age children, Audrey Lim was constantly on-the-move. Being in the States, she craved for food from Singapore and Malaysia, yet wanted a easy way to fix up an authentic-tasting local meal without the required hassle. Seeing a need, the SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com was created to help overseas Singaporeans and Malaysians re-connect with their heritage through simple-to-prepare delicious food. 1) As a Singaporean, what made you move to the States? We moved from Singapore to Seattle back in early 2003 due to my husband’s job. His company, an engineering firm based in the US, decided to move the bulk of their APAC operations from Singapore to China and offered my husband to relocate to the States. My husband loved working at this company and so he said ‘yes’. At that time, I had just started to be very successful as a sales person with Starwood Hotels APAC and was being groomed by my manager to help grow the China market, as such, I wasn’t really willing to make the move. I also didn’t wish to leave my mother alone in Singapore, was concerned for my son who was only barely 2 years old, and finally, whether I would be able to adapt to the new country. My husband decided to go ahead with the move while we worked out a plan for us to meet up around twice or thrice a year. My son and I visited my husband in Seattle after he had already settled into his new home for two months. My husband arranged everything perfectly for us, making sure that we do all the usual touristy stuff and that his apartment was super-comfortable for our visit. He brought us to Asian grocery stores and restaurants to show that it is really not that bad to live in the States after all. I have to admit that the visit was amazing as we had really missed each other while we were apart and Seattle is simply beautiful!! On June 2003, my son and I finally made that international move from Singapore to Seattle. I remember thinking to myself at that time I must have been absolutely crazy for giving up my career, close friends, yummy foods, but most importantly to leave my mom to come halfway across the globe!! We lived in Seattle (specifically in Kirkland – which is on the east of Seattle) for close to almost three years before my husband’s company moved us to Atlanta, GA where we have been calling home for now. Frankly speaking, I’ve no idea where 2010 will bring us :0) 2) What do you like best about living in the States? There are so many things about the U.S. that I like and so, it is quite difficult for me to choose the best. One of the things that I like most about this country is the unlimited amount of opportunities out there for everyone in the country regardless of your ethnic, educational, economic, and social background. Coming from a fairly stern, materialistic and somewhat superficial small country, it was a real eye-opening experience for me to see that you do not really need to have the right connections or have First Class Honours in your degree to be successful in the States. Even the definition of the word ‘successful‘ can mean so many things here in this country, unlike in Singapore where I feel that one’s success is measured only by the type of house or car you own, the schools you attend, your job title, your salary & even the brand of the clothes you wear!! The States has taught me a very valuable lesson in that you have to dare to dream and dare to grab any opportunity that presents itself to you. I’ve also learned that there is nothing wrong to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom (SAHM) and just spend time with my children (though it may mean that we are not as financially well-off as our peers back in Singapore who enjoy dual-income). I recalled my friends back in Singapore being so shocked when I told them about my decision to be a SAHM. Reactions from them range from “Are you crazy?” to “What will you live on then?” to “How are you going to have your own money – independently from your husband’s?” to “What about your career?” and so on…. 3) What do you miss most about Singapore? Having said all the above, the one thing I miss most about Singapore is my mom. She is a single mom and despite my constant nagging and urging, she refuses to move to the States with me. I miss her terribly and with us being a single-income household, it is tough for us to visit her in Singapore. She does visit us once a year for about 2 weeks (she is still working and so, cannot stay long) but it is just not the same… sometimes, you don’t realize how important someone is to you until they are far apart from you. My mom and I definitely have our ups and downs but when all things are said and done, I miss her terribly and wish I were there in Singapore to look after her, to bring her for vacations around the world. [Kevin: Ya, I feel the same way for my parents too]. 4) I understand that you wanted to help bring local food to Singaporeans and Malaysians in the States… what tipped you over to actually do it? Time and Frustrations!! Hahahaha! Seriously, I was not a very good cook when I first arrived in the States (since I never had to cook in Singapore) [Kevin: I know, as Singaporeans, we're spoilt for choice with amazing food at every turn!]. So, I had to hunt for easy and instant cooking spices/ sauces/ mixes in order to prepare meals for my family. In a nutshell, I had to become a competent cook overnight or my family would have starve; we would have become broke from eating out. Although there are always Asian grocery stores around us (Seattle & Atlanta), it is very time-consuming and frustrating to have to go to different stores to hunt down some ingredients/ sauces. Furthermore, you may not even find the things that you need in the stores after driving all those miles. Based on my experience, Asian grocery stores do not keep a very generous supply of cooking spices/ sauces and mixes from Singapore and Malaysia. They do offer plenty of products from Thailand, Vietnam and China but as you know, Singapore/Malaysia cuisine can be very different from these Asian countries [Kevin: Totally agree, Thai and Vietnamese food are way more accessible in Buffalo too]. Another reason why I finally took the leap to launch this online store is to help not just Singaporeans/ Malaysians, but also as many people as possible out there to identify the best tasting and most authentic foods/ sauces out there in the market place. I have always found it daunting to try something new I see in the stores or online since I am not sure if they are truly good or is it that these food products have good marketing team in place to promote their products/ brands. I want to be able to share an impartial view of the food products out there not only based on my personal experience with the products but also based on feedback from my team of food testers (a great bunch of Singaporeans/Malaysians). 5) How much time and money did you take to do something like this? Did you have to learn how to manage an e-commerce site? Honestly, I don’t know the exact amount of money that I invested into this online store :) Not very wise of me for sure… but I have to admit that I am still spending countless hours (day and night) trying new food products out there, and simply learning and doing. I am neither an entrepreneur nor an IT/Web wizard, and I don’t have the money to hire someone to do things for me. In the beginning, I did not even know what HTML meant, how the web worked, how to design a website, etc. The only thing that I knew was that I wanted to share my recommendations with everyone out there and hopefully, carve out a new opportunity for me in the entrepreneur world. So, I spent hours scouring the web and constantly reading on how to launch a business, what an e-commerce site was, how to design a website, and even how to take good photographs!! There were lots of trial and error along the way and I’m sure that I will continue make mistakes along the way (be it technically or in business) but the way I look at it is I am learning a new thing every second and learning something new is never a bad thing right? 6) What kinds of food do you tend to carry on your site? There is no specific limit to the kinds of food that I intend to carry on my site. My vision is to have an online store featuring only the best of the best food products that help bring people together and in my small way, share a little of our Southeast Asia’s culture with everyone. Being a Singaporean mother who had moved to this country with zero cooking experience, I know that there are others out there just like me who are always at our wits end on what to cook for our family and how to cook those dishes that we are familiar with back in Singapore and how to prepare those delicious foods with the limited resources (time, money, skills & ingredients) we have. 7) Ever thought of selling via Facebook or twitter? Perhaps locate Singaporean student clubs across universities to take group orders? Yes, I am trying to figure out how to sell via Facebook and Twitter (the latter I am NOT familiar at all) without anymore additional costs. As you know, I am doing all these on my own and so, I have very very limited resources. I did manage to locate Singaporean/ Malaysian student clubs across some universities in the hopes of taking group orders and have in fact emailed to a couple of them to let them know about my online store but sadly, no responses from them so far…not quite sure what I did wrong but I am definitely not giving up since I know that not only does mothers need help in the kitchen, Singaporeans/ Malaysians students in the States will also appreciate any good and easy to prepare food products that allow them to enjoy their fav. dishes ….I just need to figure out how to contact these groups of people. Any suggestions? [Kevin: Call to action can be tough at the start, so perhaps you could start by spreading awareness via social networks and online communities. Let friends to spread word of mouth; I'll try to help] 8) Have you met other Singaporean moms in the States? Is it true that bordom is their worse enemy? I have met other Singaporean moms in the States. From my interactions with them, I have to say that there is absolutely NO TIME to be bored!! Since we do not have any support system in place over here (such as maids, parents, in-laws etc like what we have in Singapore), it is very very tough to be bored here in the States especially if you have children. Here, you really need to do everything yourself from teaching your children (tutors are so expensive and a luxury here just like having maids) to bringing them to their afterschool activities to volunteering in their schools to cleaning the house to cooking to doing laundry and the list goes on and on…. I always laugh with my husband saying that I never know marketing/ grocery shopping can be such a fun family activity that takes an entire day to complete – sometimes, we even spent our entire weekends in different grocery stores!! Our children now think that going to the grocery stores is their weekly field trip!!! Imagine what their classmates must be thinking when my children are always sharing with their classes that they have just spent yet another weekend going from one grocery store to the next : 0)) 9) Have you met any inspirational expatriate moms living in the States? One of the most inspirational expatriate moms whom I know is Veronica. We bump in to each other in a Malaysian restaurant here in Atlanta and we just ‘clicked’ :) Although she is married to an American, I feel that Veronica is very successful in bringing together some of the best parenting and values from both the America’s and Asian’s cultures in her family. Her family loves Asian dishes and although she is strict with them in terms of education, she is never overly-obsessive about her kids getting straight A’s unlike a lot of parents I know in Singapore. She makes sure that her children always know that she loves them very much no matter what and she is not shy about telling them that she loves them and giving them hugs/ kisses. Veronica will also take the time and efforts to talk to her children and also to hear their views of what is going on in their lives, no matter how busy she is. I do not know many parents in Singapore who will listen to their children without passing any sort of judgment or criticisms [Kevin: Aiyoh!]. 10) What cultural survival tips would you share with Singaporeans & Malaysians families living in the States? Survival Tips:- 1. Don’t bring your kiasu-isms to the States!! This includes not comparing your children’s achievements against each other kids’, seeing who drives bigger car or who has a bigger house. None of these matters! What truly matter is that we learn from each other in this country and be willing to help each other out. 2. Be active in your children’s schools so that they know you are interested in their lives in school and help them understand the values of contributing back to the community through actions and not just through monetary donations 3. Don’t be snobbish!! Not every Singaporean/ Malaysian mom here in the States are living on the high-life and they may not be as financially well-off as you or your peers back in Singapore. This tip also expands to making sure that you befriend not only fellow Singaporeans/ Malaysians but also the Americans!! Do not be afraid to approach them and just open yourself up. You will be amazed at how much you learn from each other and the lasting friendships! 4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! You will find that Americans and fellow Singaporeans/ Malaysians are generally willing to help you or share localized tips with you (where is the nearest grocery store, where is a safe place to go at night and where are the good schools) once you asks for help. 5. Stay connected to Singapore/ Malaysia through any local Singaporeans/ Malaysians associations and it is now so easy for us to read up on news from back home online : ) 6. Be sure to register yourself and your family with the Singapore Embassy nearest to you via their websites. You can even sign up for regular news blasts from the embassy/ consular office. 7. The following websites may also be useful to Singaporeans here in the States: http://www.babybonus.gov.sg http://www.mfa.gov.sg/washington/ http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/admissions/returning-singaporeans/ http://www.moe.edu.sg/education/admissions/returning-singaporeans/#going-overseas Application for Singapore Citizenship, click on http://www.mfa.gov.sg/sanfrancisco/ and on the link that says “Visa and Immigration Matters” Thanks for sharing your story. I’m sure lots of folks will benefit from this, and I hope they’ll check out your online grocery store, SingaporeMalaysiaStore.com. Similar Posts:Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice for Singapore National Day Our New Year’s Food Expedition in Canada Li Ao’s “Singaporean stupidity” redefined? Photos: Singapore as seen by a time-traveller (Oct 2006) LifeStory: When “home” isn’t a place anymore… Comment on theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology – an online brand intelligence startup from Singapore by Kevin Lim Thanks for having me Kelly. I did wish the video turned out better, but at least folks interested in Brandtology will get a sense of the life there. Comment on NLB’s ‘myLibrary’ Facebook App is damn shiok! by Kevin Lim Naturally Ivan. I'm still a warm-blooded Singapore (in freezing Buffalo), so any good reason to promote innovations from my hometown is always a pleasure. Comment on theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology – an online brand intelligence startup from Singapore by Kelly Choo Thanks Kevin for stopping by our Singaore office. It was a pleasure hosting you. -Kelly Choohttp://www.brandtology.com Teacher Evaluation Forms for the LOL Generation As educators, teaching evaluations can sometimes make or break our careers as seen in this New York Times article. Artist Abi Huynh, from the Royal Academy of Art, the Netherland puts a new spin on the otherwise boring survey form. Don’t bother. The image is too low-res to print, so we’re encouraged construct our own versions. Source: New York Times “Judgement Day” // via worldfamousdesignjunkies Similar Posts:Fiendster: the new way to hate people Today’s Links: Overheard Conversations in New York How do you beat stress? Wall Poster: The Web is Agreement More US students seek Asian experience (The Straits Times, 3rd July) Comment on From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links by Delicious et WordPress | Emmanuel GEORJON [...] billet contenant la liste des derniers liens ajoutés dans Delicious. La méthode est décrite dans From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links, ou directement sur les pages d’aide de [...] theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology – an online brand intelligence startup from Singapore During my Singapore vacation in October ‘09, I caught up with Kelly Choo, co-founder of Brandtology.com, to learn more about their online brand intelligence service. While there are numerous online sentiment monitoring companies in the States, such as Radian6 and Omniture, this space is relatively new and growing in South-East Asia. As mentioned before, my friend Ben Koe works at JamiQ, which differentiates from Brandtology’s intelligence suite with a straightforward, hands-on approach to social media monitoring. There’s also ThoughtBuzz, which I recently read about. To better understand the strengths of each startup, check out SG Entrepreneurs’ interviews with Brandtology’s Kelly Choo, JamiQ’s Ben Koe, and the ThoughtBuzz team. Businesses have traditionally (and still do) debated about the lack of proper social media metrics. As many in the online space would explain, there’s in fact a deluge of metrics which leads to a dilemma of choice. While concepts of viewership and circulation were somewhat sufficient for traditional media, social media affords a broader range of metrics. The real first step is really determining what we want to measure. For instance, as seen in MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Social Media Marketing & PR Benchmark Guide (PDF), it’s been found that social media is very effective at building brand awareness and reputation, while it’s yet to prove itself at driving online sales. There’s no silver bullet; every media has varying levels of richness, with leaner media tending to be more distributive. Our choice of media involves a host of factors, which is why media intelligence (social or not) gets more valuable than ever. Did You Know: The music in the end credits comes from Starfish Stories’ latest album, Crystal Tears and the Dream Nebula. It’s track 5, “Stroke of Midnight v2.3″, which I bought for a dollar. Download theorycast.64 :: Visiting Brandtology (.mp4 / 35mb), or watch this on Youtube and Blip.tv. Feel free to subscribe to theorycast on iTunes. Similar Posts:From Singapore to Buffalo, what I’m up to now… HyperConnected Beings // From Social Web to Networked Consciousness theorycast.13 :: Facebook Privacy 101 theorycast.04 :: Interview with Megite’s Matthew Chen Today’s Links: Losing our ownership of ideas Comment on NLB’s ‘myLibrary’ Facebook App is damn shiok! by Ivan Chew Excellent video, Kevin! Heh, I guess you are right that we want to be perfect “in typical Singaporean fashion”. It's in the Singaporean DNA, perhaps. Nothing to be ashamed of :) In truth, the project team (in which I only have a bit part) realised the apps can seem rather “crowded” since the public library offers so many services. The FAQ and user guide is to help users help themselves. Thanks for this plug! NLB’s ‘myLibrary’ Facebook App is damn shiok! Sivasothi (@sivasothi) and Ivan Chew (@ramblinglib) tipped me off on the Singapore National Library Board’s new Facebook app, simply called ‘myLibrary‘. What’s interesting about the app is that it integrates much of our typical library transactions right into Facebook. At first we might wonder, “What’s the big deal about a Facebook app? Can’t we already access the same services by going to the library’s web site?” True that, but more than just a matter of accessibility, it’s about being “within reach” to users, and extending their library use into the third place. Allowing users to recommend books to friends or posting what they’re reading directly onto their Facebook profiles is very much for the library’s win (i.e. word of mouth). Since the Facebook app does require an NLB account to play with, I’ve made a quick five minute screencast above for the benefit of our international librarian friends (also on Youtube for the kiasu ones). If you can’t or hate watching videos, you can also read all about ‘myLibrary’ at NLB’s Facebook FAQ page, which includes a user guide (PDF) complete with annotated screenshots. So far, the tweets about the ‘myLibrary” has been largely positive (many of whom were surprised!), so I do hope NLB keeps up the great work. I love our innovative librarians, and this in turn makes me proud of Singapore. UPDATE 1: Some folks have asked if NLB has plans for mobile apps, and while there’s no official word, my sources have quietly hinted in due time. Meantime, we can always point our iPhones to http://m.nlb.gov.sg UPDATE 2: If you’re so inclined, Ivan Chew (@RamblingLib) has shared screenshots of NLB’s myLibrary Facebook app. Similar Posts:Why Librarians should blog… High Browse Online: Singapore’s Book Blog Homemade Hainanese Chicken Rice for Singapore National Day “I Heart My Library” gone wild… Guess where I am now…