E-Learning-Inclusivo (Mashup)

Kelly's Community
@Kelly Hungerford is my friend even though we've never met. Kelly is also one of the best online community developers in the world something she proved working with one of my favorite "get more, do less" tools – Paper.li.  So we couldn't help but lay down a riff embedded within her great Why Your Business Needs Community post. 

Via Martin (Marty) Smith

"Stories bring us together, encourage us to understand and empathize, and help us to communicate. Long before paper and books were common and affordable, information passed from generation to generation through this oral tradition of storytelling. Consider Digital Storytelling as the 21st Century version of the age-old art of storytelling with a twist: digital tools now make it possible for anyone to create a story and share it with the world."

Via Beth Dichter, María Florenzano

How to evaluate yourself, including your skills and time, before jumping into an open source project. Then, how to evaluate an open source project before stepping into the community. From seasoned open source developer, Matt Micene.

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

How government can change the default from closed source to open

Three things that need to change for government to open source all software it creates.

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

As the density of visual information increases, consider introducing your students to infographics as a means of more thoughtfully engaging with and creating written content.

Via Elizabeth E Charles, Les Howard, Lynnette Van Dyke

Open source commonly refers to software that uses an open development process and is licsened [*sic.] to include the source code. Find out what open source software is and how it works.

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

This resource focuses on how schools can use open source to continue to offer great lessons to students without the high price tag of similar proprietary products..

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

I'm all about Infographics these days, so I decided to break down my new book into some fun stats. Take a look!

 

Marty Note
Gary Vaynerchuk's latest book is excellent. Gary describes the Thank You Economy as a great "jab" book. He wanted to right a great "right hook" book too, a book about conversion and how to finish the social marketing fight we are all in. 

He is aware, via his consulting work, that many view social media as a fad. He wishes them well as they fade off into obscurity (lol). I love his 3 characteristics of a great "right hook":

* Easy to understand (and present) Call-to-Action (CTA). 
* Crafted agnostic and beautiful on any receiving device.

* Respects the nuances of the social network for which you make the content. 

That last bullet should be the eye opening moment for many Internet marketers. Marketers who have one-sided conversations that don't respect the subtle and not so subtle nuance of platforms they use to communicate their stories will be treated like the spammers they are. 

It is not enough, Vaynerchuk explains, to have awesome content. Content must be massaged to the medium. Where once the medium was the message now the medium influences the shape, form, tone and syntax of our stories. To be heard your marketing must speak the right language at the right time. 

Will be writing a more extensive review, but BRAVO and KUDOS to Gary for creating writing another groundbreaking book a true "right hook".  

 

Via Martin (Marty) Smith, malek

Attracting a potential customer is hard enough. Grabbing their interest and retaining them is even more difficult. It's important to design your site

Via Martin (Marty) Smith, luigi vico

Marty Note
I like Biznology's 3 Tips to increase engagement so much I added a few:

Biznlogy

1. Ask Questions, Respond to Answers

2. Personalize

3. Test ‘Em

Scenttrail
4. Curate Simple (i.e. not mean) controversy.
5. Curate Social Content.
6. Tap Branded Content (manufacturers or gurus).

7. Polls and Surveys.
8. Guest Posts.
9. Ambassadors.
10. Test for Engagement with new KPIs

Controversy
When Moon-Audio.com ask their customers Fostex or Audese? They got headphone lovers to weigh in on what they like about their favorite brands and why. This kind of simple controversy is great for creating online community since it doesn't destroy the "we are in this together" feeling.

Curate
When site sponsors and owners use THEIR content (User Generated Content) that action says, "We listen" more clearly than words. Follow those who follow you on social media and curate their content into your streams, websites and blogs with permission and attribution to increase engagement. Nothing like using what they've shared in a material way to prove the value you place in sharing.

Tap Branded Content
When you use a Seth Godin riff or TED talk you increase authority and authority helps promote engagement.

Polls & Surveys
When in doubt ASK and publish results. We are bench mark seeking machines we humans so always share results and incorporate results into blog posts and website content to reinforce value you place in those who vote (see #5).

Guest Posts
When you ask someone to help out you prove how much you value others. Your community grows when its open to outside influence. Salesforce increased blog traffic by 1,000% when they asked for guest posts. Guest posts have high built in engagement too since the writer is sure to share with his/her social net.

Ambassadors
We are big believers in ASKING FOR HELP. Inside your traffic 1% wants to share high value UGC, 9% will vote and share that content too so find your 10% Ambassadors and ask for their help.

Testing for Engagement
We need new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that value UGC, shares, likes and links. If your content is creating engagement double down. If not review these 10 tips and test something new. Make sure your "winner" metrics include KPIs that speak to core content marketing and engagement values such as time on site, shares, comments, likes and links.

Via Thomas Faltin, Martin (Marty) Smith

30 community managers list techniques they use to foster community engagement, 5 key ways are highlighted.

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Why open source projects and companies matter to your background and future

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Creating online community is HARD. This Haiku Deck shares "behind the curtain" secrets to help you build an engaged and engaging online community.

Via Martin (Marty) Smith, Jose Cabanas

Here in this article, we will be discussing some of these unwanted applications and services which you might not need but they are installed by default.

Via Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Working hard on a SaaS set of publishing tools and was analyzing what it takes to "cross the chasm" from unknown SaaS to successful, well loved tool. Here is what I found:

* Critical that a new tool create community. 
* Haiku Deck demonstrates this idea with their feature gallery:
http://www.haikudeck.com/gallery/featured and Scoop.it with their posting wall. 
* Community must scale in size and diversity. 
* Diversity creates community "intelligence".
* Community intelligence helps monetize. 
* Money helps create new tools. 
* New tools help build community faster. 
and so on creating a positive virtual cycle. 

Tools can solve a problem like Haiku Deck (easy access to creative commons), plant a flag on an emerging trend (Scoop.it and Paper.li) and mashup scaled systems such as ZipCar.com.  

Via Martin (Marty) Smith, Gladys Pintado

Gamification Expert Yu-kai Chou explains his elegent Gamification Framework that breaks Human-Focused Design into 8 Core Drives within an Octagon.

Via Martin (Marty) Smith