I know I’m not the only one bothered by this: the laziness shown by social networks with the use of the word “them.” Facebook, LinkedIn, pretty much every social networking site I can think of uses “them” instead of saying him or her when referring to a specific user. “You might know Mr. X — would you like to add them?” No, no, I wouldn’t like to add them. I would like to add him.

The reason I’m particularly annoyed about this is that every one of these sites asked for your gender. So they know whether I’m a him or a her. And most of them aren’t so socially progressive that they offer gender options other than male/female, which might provide the excuse of ‘it’s complicated.’ Seriously, please, fix this horrible grammar.

Hey everyone!

We’re finally just about ready to launch the Youth Media Exchange (ymex.org), a new site devoted to sharing and discussing digital media for social change. The site will have a few bugs/kinks to start, but is going to be a pretty cool new forum for deeper conversations on the impacts of digital media on our lives, and how we can leverage it to affect change on global issues. The format of the site is pretty cool, too. It’s a social networking tool linked to TIG where you embed media you (or someone else) has posted elsewhere on the web to launch a discussion. Video, audio, writing, images, games, mashups… anything goes, as long as it’s linked to social issues in some way. Coming soon are group/collaboration tools, a mentoring system, and a more guided user experience, where your interests and past use of the site will help guide you to new skills, new content, and new forms of action. The site is presented in partnership by TIG, Global Kids, and the Asia Society, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation.

So check it out! Once again, that’s ymex.org, and if you like it, become a fan of it on facebook and tell all your friends!

At a bit late: sxsw was awesome. Jane McGonigal gave a great keynote about the future of happiness and her work in alternate reality games (see the graphic representation.) She mentioned four characteristics of happy-making experiences:

1. Having satisfying work to do
2. The experience of being good at something
3. Spending time with people you like
4. Being part of something bigger

She also mentioned that feedback (not report cards or occasional progess reviews, but feedback and encouragement consistently and continuously), instructions, and a mission help make games more engaging than the real world.The whole thing made me think about how amazingly simple it would be to make everything we do more engaging by taking ourselves a little less seriously and thinking more about how we can make people happy. Too often we (thinking specially of TIG and even more specifically about TIGed get drawn into a pretty high degree of seriousness because of the environment in which we operate. When it comes to teachers and technology, there don’t to be a lot of happy-go-lucky conversations. The blogosphere, listservs, conferences… everywhere I look is full of conversations about cyberbullying, cheating, lack of access, lack of use, etc etc etc. And as much as we’d like to create paradigm shift, we’re drawn into these conversations and spend a lot of time focusing on all the reasons to not change at all.

So not only was this keynote really inspiring in and of itself, but the fact that it’s key messages are being replayed over and over again, in slightly different ways in all sorts of different venues is really making me think seriously about all of this. In a lot of ways, Jane’s messages are very similar to the things we talk about at WorldBlu Council Meetings, and most recently, Dave Eggars’ TED Talk (thanks to Alberto via Facebook). He started an amazing tutoring program that relies on principles very similar to Jane’s to give students opportunities to learn with a purpose, produce for an audience, and spend time in an environment they enjoy with one-on-one, consistent, continuous feedback. And guess what? It’s “addictive”… and fun. His pirate-supply-store-cum-tutoring-centre is now just one of many “fake” storefronts helping to open learning environments to the community.

I don’t really have ten steps (though if I had a bit longer, I could come up with at least that. For now, here’s step 1:

Simplify your communication systems. I can get an e-mail/SMS warning me my flight is a bit late, learn that it’s due to a mechanical issue when I check in with the self-serve terminal, have a chat with the guy checking my bag about how’s it’s a flat tire that needs changing. But as soon as I get through customs/security, no one knows anything. The flight time is still listed as on-time, and the gate agents aren’t sure what’s going on, so tell everyone to remain in the area. I know that airlines, even their crews and information systems in any one airport, are massively complicated operations, but really… if anything, the place where a bit of information would calm me down the most is when I’m at or on my way to the gate. Not when I’m in a shuttle on the way to the airport. Just a thought.

Actually, sidenote: on the way out, I saw a billboard for greyhoud that said “there’s a reason you’ve never heard of bus rage”… But don’t be too smug, greyhound/bus operators. I feel at least as much rage every time I board a bus as I do in a car, if not more. Possibly because I’m a control freak and hate leaving whether or not I make it to the airport on time in someone else’s hands, but that’s another issue for another day.

Happy happy sxsw!

So I was at a fairly big event the other day, and it was officially labelled a “Zero-Waste Event.” Awesome! The world needs more of those… Except, it wasn’t REALLY zero waste. They were handing out water in non-recyclable cups, people were bringing in non-recyclable crap, and organizations were handing out various things that, despite best intentions, can and will end up in the waste. What they meant by “zero-waste” was that they didn’t put out any waste cans… Every other type of garbage can under the sun (organics, paper, recyclable plastics, metal, glass…) but no straight-up waste. So attendees were left to set their waste on whatever surface would hold it, or throw it into another garbage can, screwing up the whole system.

Good try, but…