sacha chua

A colleague asked me about Web 2.0 and social networking conferences in Canada, so I figured I’d post it here too. Here are the big ones I know about:

• Mesh Conference (http://meshconference.com) is an annual Web 2.0 conference held in May here in Toronto. They get a good line-up of speakers, and they’re always sold out.
• DemoCamp (http://democamp.info/) is my favorite Web 2.0 / small business community event series. You’ll reach Web 2.0 thought leaders in Toronto, small businesses and entrepreneurs, people looking for jobs involving Web 2.0 and social networking, and students with great skills. Sponsorship (http://democamp.eventbrite.com/) is capped at $200 / sponsor / event. Events run every month or so, and there’s one next week.
• Northern Voice (http://northernvoice.ca) is a Vancouver conference about personal blogging and social media. I’ve never been there, but I know people who like it.

Any really cool ones I missed?

Tags: canada, web2.0 by Sacha Chua
3 Comments »

Do you have a professional website, or do you just leave your professional profile up to random Internet search results or sparse corporate directory listings?

Although we have a terrific centralized corporate directory at IBM, I’ve found it very useful to also have a simple professional profile with a short biography, my contact information, and links to the other services I use on the intranet and on the Internet. Having one site that brings all of these things together makes it easier for me to help people get to know who I am, what I’m passionate about, and where they can find out more about me. I include this URL in my e-mail signature and in my presentations so that people can find me easily.

I use Wordpress as a content management system so that I can quickly add links and pages without editing HTML. On my internal site, I use the Blueprint theme for Wordpress. It’s clean and easy to read, and it fits with Big Blue’s color scheme. The front page explains who I am, what I do, and what my team does. It also links to places where people can check out my bookmarks, download my latest presentations, and so on.

To set up something like it:

1. Download and install Wordpress.
2. Download and unpack the Blueprint theme to your wp-content/themes/ directory.
3. Choose the Blueprint theme from the Wordpress administration interface.
4. Create a page called “About”. Fill it in with details about yourself.
5. Set the About page as your site’s front page in the Settings - Reading menu.
6. Create links to your profiles on other services and other related websites.

Technorati Tags wordpress

Tags: Uncategorized, networking, web2.0 by Sacha Chua
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I’m happy to share that one of my favorite Enterprise 2.0 tools within IBM is now available on the Internet. IBM Pass It Along is now available on Alphaworks, a public IBM site for people interested in trying out emerging technologies–all you need is a free ibm.com account. IBM Pass It Along is about sharing what you know and learning from other people. If you have a how-to you’d like to share, create a topic for it. If you’re curious about something, request it. If you’re just curious about the crazy tools we use within the enterprise, check it out! =)

Here’s what I love about Pass It Along, and I think you’ll love it too:

• You can find out who’s learning a topic and see what else they’re interested in. Sharing what I know becomes a lot more fun when I can see who’s learning, because it gives me feedback that what I’m sharing is useful. Lists of people are much better than anonymous hit counts because I can view their profiles to see what else they’re interested in.
• You can learn from other people’s contributions. People can add links, related presentations, discussion topics, and other updates. For example, the "How to Make the Most of Your Commute" topic I started within IBM drew lots of interesting suggestions.
• You can create a place for discussions. I give a lot of presentations, and Pass It Along topics are a terrific place to hold follow-up discussions and reach out to more people. I post my presentation material using the Presentation Wizard and include the URL of the Pass It Along topic on my slides. It’s a great way for learners to connect with each other, too.

I also really like how a newbie like me can create value for other people by sharing what I’m learning. =) Whee! I’m copying some of my public content over, and you can find my topics on Pass It Along.

IBM Pass It Along on Alphaworks is a public site open to everyone. Access controls will follow soon, so you can limit topic access to just your organization if needed. IBM Pass It Along is even better inside your organization, where you can link it up with your employee directory or do all sorts of other cool stuff.

Check it out - it might be a great fit for your organization!

IBM Pass It Along

Technorati Tags enterprise2.0, ibm, km, learning, passitalong, social, web2.0

Tags: Uncategorized, enterprise2.0, ibm, web2.0 by Sacha Chua
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Do you want to get more people you know to read your blog, connect to you on social networks, and interact with you online? Do you want to build stronger, deeper relationships with your online contacts, maybe even interacting offline? Here are some quick tips on how you can use your online network to strengthen your offline one and the other way around.

To go from offline contacts to online contacts, build value:

1. If you want people you know to connect with you online, make sure people can find you. Create a personal website that has your bio, some contact information, and links to more information on the Net. Put your website address on your business card and in your e-mail signature, and mention it when appropriate.

2. To get people to visit your website or read your blog, give them something they’ll find immediately useful. For example, if the coworker encounters a problem that you’ve solved before and blogged about, give your coworker the URL of that blog post and he or she will almost certainly check it out. If you’ve given your elevator pitch to people and they’re convinced that you’re the person who can solve their problem, they’ll check out your website too. Make it easy for people to find the information they’ll find immediately useful.

3. To get people to keep coming back, provide continuing value. If you follow the advice in step 2, you’ll end up accumulating a lot of useful information that can show people that you’re worth subscribing to. Make it easy for people to browse through your website and figure out if they want to subscribe to you or connect with you. If you want to connect with people on social networks, don’t think of it as a one-time connection, but treat it as an opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship.

To go from online contacts to offline contacts, build trust:

1. Teach people about your competencies. This is probably the easiest one to start with. Sharing tips and experiences shows people what you’re good at, and they can start to trust you in those areas.

2. Show people your character. If you go beyond just giving facts and start telling stories, you can form more of a personal bond with people. This helps them trust you as a person, because they get to know your character.

3. Be yourself. It’s a lot easier to go from online contacts to offline contacts if people know your real name. A picture and a biography helps, too. =)

Hmm, will think about this more. There’s something in here that might be useful… =)

Tags: networking, web2.0 by Sacha Chua
4 Comments »

Read extensively. The university library’s an amazing resource. Yours might come with access to online research libraries, too. Combine that with Internet resources such as Wikipedia, blogs, and so on. Speed-reading can help you browse through information quickly so that you can focus on the good stuff.

Write. Writing is a great way to remember what you’re learning and reflect on how you’re doing things. This will help you get better and better at what you do, and you’ll be able to recognize the things you’re good at and that you enjoy. If you write on a blog, you can use it to reach out to people. Write about what you’re learning, and you’ll help other people who are learning about it too. Write about what you’re doing well, and you’ll start building a network and a reputation that will come in really handy when you’re looking for work.

Connect. Find out if there’s a Facebook group for your incoming university class. If not, start one and invite other people to join. It’s a great way to connect with people even before the first day of class. Feeling shy? That’s okay, everyone is too. If you focus on helping other people connect and make friends, you’ll become more and more comfortable, and you’ll make friends along the way too. Don’t hesitate to look for role models online, too. Many people have blogs that you can read to get a sense of what life is like in their industry. Read, then comment, then contact them, and you’ll get a head start on growing your network.

Behave online and offline. The Internet remembers, and even sites that promise you privacy occasionally mess up and expose things you’ve shared to the world. Think twice about posting pictures of wild parties, underwear-on-your-head shenanigans, and other things things that future employers and coworkers might take against you. In fact, since just about anyone can take a picture of you and post it up on the Net where you don’t have control of it, you might want to keep clean entirely. You don’t need to posture to be cool, and you can have fun without doing things you’ll regret.

Don’t let yourself be limited by anything or anywhere. I took my bachelor’s degree in a university in the Philippines. Great school, but it didn’t have all the courses I wanted. =) I was on the Internet learning from course materials from everywhere: MIT, Georgia Tech, wherever I could find information. Now there are even more choices. Check out places like MIT OpenCourseware and Stanford iTunes for free courses. This is great not only for learning things, but also for getting a better sense of what you like. In fact, it might be a good idea to check the courses out now before you declare a major. You don’t need to understand everything. You just have to get a sense of whether you’ll like the course or not. That way, you’ll spend less time switching around to find something you enjoy and will use.

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I think I’ll make a few sketches about this over the long weekend. =) Any other tips for incoming college and university students?

Tags: education, tips, web2.0 by Sacha Chua
3 Comments »