Japi's Blog

What Made Obama's Speech Great - George Lakoff

I understand that the mainstream media spends very little time on any given story and moves to the next one.   Soundbytes, tidbits, short attention spans, bite-sized pieces are all products of the short amount of time we allow to consume news or any other information in which we are interested.

So it's great to come across an article provides excellent analysis of a particular topic.  In this case it's Senator Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech he gave March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia's Constitution Hall.

Professor George Lakoff has written a wonderful paper on the speech and how it's not JUST about race.  The media had to abbreviate the speech to one topic, race.... but if you have 30 minutes to listen to the whole speech - you will realize it's about a lot more than just race. 

Professor Lakoff's paper provides insight into the speech's setting (Constitution Hall, surrounded by Flags), entonation, subtext and just the overall greatness of it.

The paper is 7 pages long, but worth the 10 to 15 minutes it takes to read it.  I would recommend you watch the speech first... so it may take 45 minutes of your day - but it's such an important speech that I recommend you set aside the time.  You may also want to read the comments to the paper which, as of this post, it has 56.

George Lakoff is Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley; senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute; and author of the forthcoming The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st Century Politics with an 18th Century Brain (Viking/Penguin), available June 2, 2008.

Obama Girl's Newest Video

Obama Girl (Amber Lee Ettinger) is at it again... this video is called "Hillary Stop The Attacks".

It's a little risqué so if you don't want to see some nice, soft skin (there's no nudity), then don't click play below.

You may also want to watch the first video by Obama Girl.

Pale Blue Dot - by Carl Sagan

This is an amazing video which leaves you thinking of our importance and lack thereof.

It's in English and has Spanish sub-titles.

Don't Push The River, It Flows By Itself

Ruby Sinreich was the facilitator for a session called "Don't Push the River, It Flows by Itself".  With an interesting name... the idea behind it is to allow social networks to flow and naturally evolve.

Use and organize networks by the power of the individual which can grow to a large wave of support for a particular cause or goal.

What makes a network effective:

1. Strong social ties -personal relationships, trust, awareness.
2. Common story - shared values, collective narrative, language and words that resonate (tagcouds).
3. Dense communication grid - online and offline: blogs, e-mail, IM, phone & SMS, face-to-face, twitter.
4. Sharing culture - Opensourcy: data, information, skills & expertise, money, space (meeting rooms).
5. Network awareness - feeling like a member, knowing what the network is for.

Some of the takeaways include:

1. A better understanding of the different social networking sites and how to use them
2. How social networking can impact the nonprofit world
3. Strategies on how to use this medium for outreach and advocacy

Ruby is a wonderful and confident speaker - she is very active in the social media universe which is obvious in the delivery of this content.

Barack Obama's Landmark Speech

I've been away from the primary political scene for about a week as I attended the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans. 

I was able to watch little tidbits here and there about the Presidential race... but I was unable to watch Barack Obama's landmark speech last week which discussed race issues head-on, candidly and in a very mature manner.

The speech helped New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to put his support behind Obama.  Richardson has a huge Hispanic following which should help Obama.  I believe that Richardson will be Obama's running mate... this will be a powerful ticket!

Barack's speech lasts over 30 minutes, but it's worth watching every minute!   As of this posting the video has been viewed over 3 million times, received nearly 6,000 comments and been made a favorite nearly 12,000 times.

Changing Your CEO from Barrier to Partner

Marnie Webb, David Geilhufe, Michelle Murrain and Steve Heye were part of a great breakout session.  It was fantastic in that Marnie had the CEO's point of view and David had some excellent examples of situations where he presented to his CEO.

The audience was not huge which allowed for great interaction with real-situation questions and comments.

I filmed Marnie for a few minutes where she explained situations where she has eithe shot something down or chose to move forward with a particular project.  She also explained that there are some piece of information that she DOES NOT want to know... for example:

If you need to purchase a new firewall and you present Marnie with all the details of the research you've done and given your recommendation.  If you give her details such as the brand of firewall, she may delve deeper into why you chose that one and not the one that he buddy CEO purchased or the one she saw on the magazine in the plane, etc... there are some things that she prefers not to know... but if she's put in the situation that she has to decide on something, she will use her best judgement based on the information she has gathered.

Some of the other take-aways from this session include many concepts I've heard our CEO, Ed Schipul, mention many times:

1. Bad news must travel fast - if an approved project is going badly, inform the CEO immediately!  This helps them make a decision on where to go from here.
2. Research and SoundBytes - be sure to do the appropriate research and be able to present it in a quick manner so it makes sense to your CEO (ROI, bottom line, etc)
3. Think risks/security first - Be sure to verify the risk factors of this project and how it can affect the current and future situation of your organization.  Even if it's a very risky project, present an objective view of it... your CEO may be willing to move forward in spite of those risks.
4. Succinct Communication - CEO's typically have many different things going on so it's important to make sure you present/talk to your CEO in THEIR language and in the least amount of words necessary.

This panel was very informative - the team of individuals were well-informed and had wonderfully natural presentation skills.

David Pogue at 2008 NTC

David Pogue, New York Times columnist and CBS news correspondent, delivered the keynote speech this morning to officially begin the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference - He was both entertaining and educational.  He even played the piano and sang a couple of humorous songs at the end of his presentation.

David presented some interesting concepts about voice over ip (voip) and how the cellular carriers are trying not to offer this service.  Their primary reason for not offering this service is that the cellular firms will lose a lot of revenue from the "free voip minutes".  I was able to capture most of the speech on video and tonight I will upload it to my YouTube Channel.  I was able upload the short video of David playing the piano and singing, watch it below.

NTC 2008 1st Day

Wednesday at the 2008 Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans was primarily about networking, meeting new folks, running into old friends, learning about the new technology offered by the organizations marketing themselves at the NTC Science Fair. 

However, one of the events I most enjoyed happened to me by accident.

During the member appreciation luncheon, I ran into several people I've met the last couple of NTC's... including: Corey Pudhorodsky, James Jones, Beth Kanter, Katrin Verclas and Britt Bravo.  When I was talking to Britt, she mentioned that they were having a Netsquared Meetup at a local bar that night.

Just the day before, I had discussed Netsquare with Jessica Rohloff of the Louisiana Technology Council and she expressed interest in setting up a chapter here in New Orleans. 

So I asked Jessica to come out and here's the magic moment captured for eternity <grin>  Britt Bravo and Jessica Rohloff talking about what Netsquared is and the details she needs to set it up in New Orleans - pretty exciting stuff!

Let's hope it DOES lead to the formation of a New Orleans Netsquared group!

Lionly Love - just amazing

My daughter, Melissa, sent me this and I thought it was just too beautiful not to include it in my blog... as I make another detour from my political posts. 

This lady in Colombia rescued a malnourished lion and when she comes back to visit, the lion shows it's gratitude.  It's truly amazing!

And Now For Something Completely Different - a laughing baby

To temporarily interrupt my political blogposts... I decided to go with Laughing Baby!!

It's awesome because I have the exact same reaction to ripping paper... LOL!