Im trying something new, so bare with me. I’ve never used Facebook Notes, either on my personal account or on my 46alpha page, but am giving it a whirl. What I’m testing right now is importing my blogposts here into my 46alpha Facebook page notes section. It looks as if it imports a number of previous posts right off the bat, so I’ll try and delete most of the previous ones so if you’re reading this via your Facebook account (so your home screen isn’t flooded with ’46alpha’ links). Testing now…

I have been working in an exercise here at CGSC and was told that I  need to try and speak more in doctrinal terms when I brief. The point being that when you brief a 2,3,4-star commander, some of them are sticklers on the use of doctrinal terms when briefing them. Every boss is different, but it is true that many want this when someone is giving a formal brief.

Got it, but why is it hard for me?

Then it occurred to me that my whole job revolves around not sounding like a Field Manual. I am supposed to take Army/doctrinal speak and translate it into something that the rest of the world can understand, whether it is in text, on camera, etc.

When I take someone and prep them for an interview, and tell them to not use acronyms or sound like they are a walking-talking field manual, most people cannot make the switch. So should it be any surprise that it is hard for me to make the switch back into using doctrinal terms when I talk?

The fact is that I understand the point that was made to me, it is basically “know your audience”. When giving a brief to Commanders as a field grade officer, the language I need to use should be more the language of “doctrine” and less Public Affairs-mom-and-pop speak.

For this exercise, I’m acting as a Deputy J5 which means I’m not trying to speak in doctrinal terms about Public Affairs but in terms of future plans for a fictional ‘war’.

I’m well out of my comfort zone in a J5 cell – planning and talking about all aspects of land operations at the CFLCC/Corps level-  but am trying my best to re-learn this language that I haven’t really spoken much in the past 8 years.

Under what circumstances and with whom would you go “off-the-record” or “on background” with?

On the record, on background, not for attribution and off the record: These are prearranged agreements between a reporter and a source, which govern how specific information can be used. These deals must be agreed to beforehand, never after. A source can’t say something then claim it was “off the record.” That’s too late. When dealing with individuals who are not experienced in talking with reporters, journalists should make sure ground rules and potential consequences are clear, and then perhaps offer leeway. Of course, if the information isn’t integral to the story, a reporter can agree not to use it. If you talk to five journalists, you’ll likely get five different definitions for these terms. That’s why it’s important that a reporter clarify the use of these terms with a source before making any agreements.   – NYU School of Journalism Handbook

Here is my thoughts on the matter. The decision to go off the record, on background, or not for attribution all depends on your relationship with that reporter. It amazes me to see or hear of PAO’s who ask to go off-the-record with someone they hardly know, not knowing that persons professional ethics, morals, history, etc. A relationship with a journalist is just like any other personal or professional relationship  - it takes time and some work to establish.

I had the opportunity to work in Norfolk under several U.S. Navy Captain PAO’s, and I noticed some distinct differences between the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy Public Affairs experiences. One of the things I took away was that the Navy has (relatively) few large naval bases where one could spend an entire career. What this does for their PAO’s is give them the opportunity to develop relationships with the local Norfolk-based, San Diego-based, Hawaii-based, etc, media representatives over the course of many years. Many of the military corespondents in these towns stay in their jobs and while the PAO may move to different positions within the same location, he or she still maintains those connections.

When my boss went off-the-record, it is because he already had a long-standing, professional relationship with that reporter.

The Army is at a disadvantage because we have so many more bases all over the world that, other than the Fort Bragg’s and the Fort Hood’s, we only spend short amounts of time working with the local media reps before we move on to some other location 12-24 months later. I think the Army is at a disadvantage in this respect because we seldom have the chance to build the types of media relationships that our Navy PAOs do. This may be one of the reasons why some in our ranks seem to use “off-the-record” a bit more loosely than maybe they should – because the experience just isn’t there.

So who would you go off-the-record with? I don’t do it unless I have some professional history with the person and there is mutual trust. It can be advantageous for both parties to be able to go off-the-record or on background, but it’s not something that should be done with any media rep that happens to pass through my location on assignment.

Do you have a different opinion?

Image taken from this link.

So for the last few weeks, I’ve gone completely Google. I rid myself of almost every social media site (except for Facebook and LinkedIn), stopped using Twitter (I used Buzz instead), Gmail instead of MobileMe (which has been my primary email account), Google Reader instead of Netvibes, Google Chrome instead of Safari, Google Profile instead of FriendFeed, Blogger instead of WordPress, and Picasa instead of Flickr. I also used Google documents for awhile instead of Word and Pages.

I always look for stuff that would make life easier…simple. So what’s the verdict? Even though I had everything Google, it still was not optimum. Google’s products feel very disjointed to me. A product over here, one over there, there is no one place to go to see them all. I defaulted to starting at my Google Profile page where I linked in all my sites and went from there.

As for my preferences, let me first say that I am big on User Interface (UI). You may have a good product, but if your UI sucks then Im most likely not going to use it. I always thought Google’s UI’s were somewhat less than desirable prior to this experiment. After using them for a bit, I still feel that way although it doesn’t bug me as much as it did before.

Email – Even though MobileMe gets a bad rap, I still prefer it to Gmail. The push email, calendar sync, bookmark sync, iDisk, all just work for me. You can do all those things via Google, but it just didn’t seem as polished as MobileMe does.

Blogging – WordPress is by far still superior to Blogger. I tried Blogger several years ago and while I found some new updates, it is not nearly as customizable as WordPress is. So www.46alpha.com is now back on WordPress.

Google Buzz – I did like not being limited to 140 characters, and the interaction was a bit more personalized. More photos, more information, but you cant message people. In order to ‘@’ someone like in Twitter, you need to have the persons Gmail account in your address book. Additionally, most people just feed in their Twitter feed into Buzz anyway.

Picasa – Im split on this one versus Flickr and MobileMe’s photo app. I liked that it has a built in editor and it was easy enough to upload photos. No video’s though, while Flickr does short videos and MobileMe can do both.

What I did like:

Google Profile – I’ll keep that, and am redirecting me www.mikenicholson.me to it. It is easier to remember than http://www.google.com/profiles/nicholson.c.mike.

Google Reader – I deleted my Netvibes page and have gone completely to Google Reader. This was a product that initially I thought I didnt like, but after using it for a bit, it really grew on me. It was also easy to use on the iPhone.

So experiment done. I dont think there will ever be one-stop shopping for me in regards to web/social media sites, nor do I think there should be. One company will never, and should never, serve all your online needs but you still should look for ways to make the mass amount of information somewhat simplified.

Now that it’s done, I just need to go back and  re-link some of the photos and links on this site that got jacked up during the migration. Back to work.

I’m trying something new and have gone completely Google for awhile. Dont know how long this experiment will last, but you can check it out over at my Google profile.

The following was a piece written for Army.mil and can be seen here.

‘Geo’ is this year’s Twitter

If 2009 was the year of Twitter, then 2010 is ramping up to be the year of location-based social media services. Geo-location services like Foursquare, Brightkite and Gowalla have rapidly been adopted by users, and many of the sites you’ve likely already heard about like Facebook, Flickr and Twitter have either already integrated this capability or plan to do so in the near future. These services typically let users ‘check-in’ at their current location, identify where they are on a map, share that information with their social network, and provide additional comments on what they are doing.

Location-based social media services access your current location either through GPS or a cellular signal. Most of the major cellular networks have the ability to pinpoint your location, and the social media applications that utilize this capability are available for most cell phones on the market. These geo-location websites can either be used alone or can be linked into your other social media feeds like Facebook.

The video here is from the most recent South By Southwest Conference hosted in Austin, Texas and is a great visual that shows a large number of people checking-into eight different social media sites over the course of one week.

Why do it?

Sharing your current location within your social network is just an additional way to connect with friends and family. Most people already provide written updates about where they are and what they are doing, and having a virtual ‘push-pin’ on a map is just a natural progression. In addition, photos that contain geo-data can be integrated into services like the one Flickr provides, in order to plot your photos on a map for yourself, your own network or the general public.

As for its organizational use, these services have large potential for the private sector. For example, businesses can provide incentives for ‘checking-in’ at their various location. As for its application towards the Army, we might want to utilize it for community relation events, FMWR or Family Readiness Group events just to name a few. As the usage increases, the collective ‘we’ will undoubtedly identify more ways to effectively use this type of service.

Proceed with Caution

As a member of the military, you may have some concerns about you, your family or your Soldiers broadcasting their current location in real time. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. PleaseRobMe.com was created earlier this year and it aggregated publicly shared check-ins in order to help expose the dangers of location-sharing. Every new technology brings about its own concerns, so here are three things you may want to consider before posting your current location on a social network:

1. Who are you informing? Remember the extent of your network and whether it’s closed or open to the public. You may not mind revealing real-time locations with close friends and family, but you may want to be somewhat guarded with your check-in’s if your network is large and/or publically viewable.

2. Where are you checking in? A good rule of thumb is to never check-in at your place of residence or at work. Revealing these locations, even with a limited network of people, can enable those with bad intentions.

3. What are you revealing? In addition to privacy concerns, those of us wearing the uniform need to remember Operational Security (OPSEC). There are times when we don’t want anyone to know in real-time where we are or what we’re doing. Just be aware of what your sending, when your sending it, and keep in mind your fellow Soldiers who also have the capability to broadcast sensitive information.

As with any new technology, people are experimenting with these services and finding new ways to integrate them and increase their potential. ‘Proceed with Caution’ should not be taken as ‘do not do it’. On the contrary, when it comes to social media my opinion is ignorance is not bliss.

If you are already utilizing these services or just want to give it a try to see what it’s about, feel free to connect with me on my Foursquare account.

So this is going to be a bit of a gripe post, but I have had enough of the DoD surveys!  I get survey’s every day for just about everything. I recently had a short 5 minute visit to the base medical clinic, and received a survey asking me how I thought my visit went. I dont want to sign the paper log-in sheets at the front desks anymore out of fear that I will receive another email survey.

This past PCS I received 3 different surveys, with multiple email and phone follow-up requests for each survey. I attempted to do the first one, but after deciphering the lengthy email instructions just on how to start the survey, and attempting to go through creating a NEW account specifically for that survey, with yet again another new login and password (with minimum 10 characters including 2 special, 2 uppercase, 2 lowercase, etc etc), I have turned them off, and I know I’m not the only one.

Surveys are good for research and establishing baselines of information, but not for feedback on regular customer service. So here is my recommendation – make sure there is an easy way to provide feedback at the user’s prerogative and move away from the death-by-survey tactic. My AKO inbox is full, I can’t remember anymore login/passwords, and I just don’t want to take the time to fill out a questionnaire for something that was and should be business as usual.

I found out about Apture via a Twittter post from Neville Hobson (@jangles). Neville also has a blog post about it here. Apture has made a popup toolbar that runs across the top of your screen when people scroll down your site. It makes sure that the top of the screen has your sites name as well as Facebook, Twitter and email links. Better than trying to explain via text, just take a look.

So if you’re accessing this post via Facebook or some other cross-posted forum, go to www.46alpha.com and scroll down the page to see what it does. It’s just a simple snipet of code inserted into the blog. It’s still in beta but obviously works great, and its free.

Since I got my iPhone, I’ve been experimenting with some new things. Im trying to be a bit more mobile-friendly and see just what I can do via the phone. Im also thinking more about ‘streams’. Because of that, I’ve been tweaking some things.

So first thing is I’ve tweaked my blog theme a bit. The previous theme was aesthetically really nice, but the flash-based top 3 stories located at the top gave me trouble – especially from a phone. With the current theme, I can continue to post at home, or I have the option to post while on the go. WordPress has a nice iPhone app that lets me do updates as well as delete all the SPAM that I’ve been getting recently. This theme is also a bit easier to read on a small screen.

Second thing is communication streams. Steve Rubel is someone who is big on lifestreaming and communicating in streams. I thought I might change my blog to be more like a Tumblr site, or a lifestreaming site, with every Twitter post/Delicious link/status update aggregated onto it, but I think its a bit too much for my home page. I’ve had some test-post blogs and tweets today and will continue to tweak until I find that communication sweet spot..

The other thing I’m still wrestling with is the 46alpha Facebook Fanpage. Im having to separate some posts into professional, some into personal, and I have some that just overlap into both. It would be easier to have just one, but Im not sure if I want to flood all my personal friend/family contacts with a large number of communication and professional-type posts. I don’t mind merging my personal and professional life at all, I’ve just been trying to be courteous to those who are digitally connected to me.

So if you see some test-posts, commo checks, etc over the next few days, just bare with me. Im just trying to find the best solution.

Image downloaded here.