Tags: Snap, Snap Preview Anywhere, Metablogging, Widgets, WordPress, WordPress.com, Thumbnails

Yesterday I mentioned how over the course of the next few days I am actually going to introduce a number of different changes here in elsua in order to try to help improve the user experience not only for myself but also for yourselves, the readers of this weblog. So for the last few weeks I have been following up on a number of different offerings, services and widgets that I feel would be worth while exploring further and I have already decided on implementing a couple of them and see how things would go further from there.

One of the offerings that I have found quite interesting and worth while deploying over here as well is one that has created quite a bit of controversy out there in the blogosphere. To me though is perhaps one very interesting option, specially for those particular weblogs that have got a tendency to link multiple times to other various resources in a single weblog entry. Yes, indeed, I am talking about Snap Preview Anywhere.

I first saw it implemented in a number of the different weblogs that I follow and in most of them the reactions from the audience were rather positive and since I quite enjoyed myself I thought about giving it a try and so far I am loving the experience quite a bit. What a fantastic tool, folks!

The way it works is pretty easy. You just basically enter the URL of your weblog, or Web site, then enter a security token and your e-mail address, accept the terms and conditions and off you go. You get a javascript which you can include in your weblog template and ready to go. Well, it gets better, because there is also a WordPress plugin available for it (Notice as well that Wordpress.com is already trying this very same tool in some weblogs) with which you would just need to have a key and activate it like you normally do with other different plugins and ready! You got to love WordPress. Nifty!

Thus from here onwards you would notice how I have added Snap Preview Anywhere over here in elsua and every time that you hover over a link or you head over to one you would see a small pop-up window coming up that would give you a snapshot or thumbnail of the link where you would be heading, so you can just have a quick look and decide if you would want to go there or not.

As I said, quite a nice addition to any particular weblog or Web site and worth while installing for those folks who tend to link quite often to other weblogs. Highly recommended!

Tags: WordPress, Metablogging, Blogging Engines, RSS, Feeds, Syndication, Category Syndication, Blogging Tips, WordPress Support

In the past, and in a couple of occasions, people have been asking me if I would be able to look into the request of placing RSS feeds per category in this particular weblog, so that folks would be able to filter even further the content they could grab themselves from elsua.net. The last one of those instances was actually coming from a fellow IBM colleague, Fabián Gradolph, in this particular weblog post, where he suggested I should look into it and see how easy it would be to implement, in order to help folks filter down those different weblog posts in Spanish. Well, while I am still thinking about that and how I am going to be sharing those Spanish speaking weblog posts over here I thought I would share with you why I really like WordPress.org.

Yes, indeed, I really like, and enjoy, WordPress.org. It totally rocks! And all that for multiple reasons, which I am sure I would have the opportunity to detail as we go along, but here is just another one as to why you would want to consider WordPress .org in order to host your own weblog and get the most out of it.

I was expecting that it would eventually become very difficult to actually syndicate the content per category using this particular weblogging engine, so I was ready to start digging all over the place, asking a few people about it, going through some trial and error scenarios and so forth in order to get it going, but wouldn’t you know it; a quick search through Google just brought me into this particular WordPress Support article: Separate RSS feeds for Different Categories.

In there you would be able to read how by just updating the call to wp_list_cats with this text:
wp_list_cats(’sort_column=name&optioncount=1&feed=RSS’); you would be able to get WordPress to auto-generate an RSS feed for each of the different categories that you may have created. And voilá! Off it goes. elsua.net has now got the option to syndicate all your content per category and straight into your favourite feed reader client. Awesome!

Now? How long did that take me ? About 15 seconds? Including the upload to the FTP? Perhaps. And I am ready to go. Yes, they say that social computing is all about empowering end-users to share their knowledge, collaborate and dive into the conversations but you cannot deny that it also helps lower the technology barriers even further so that anyone can actually do it. Like I have just detailed above. That is, indeed, one of the reasons why I really like weblogging, and in particular WordPress.org. Incredibly powerful, to say the least.

I doubt it would ever get any easier than this, but I am certainly that it is actually that easy. You can now go over to the weblog’s homepage, check out the right column section where you would be able to find the categories and next to each of the category names, the number of weblog posts thus far you will now find the (RSS) option that you can just copy and paste into your default feed client of choice and start grabbing that content from there onwards. Fantastic!

So if you ever thought that weblogging was just for techies, examples like this one show us otherwise. Now, I was also going to tell you about a new category that I have created but then it would make this weblog post rather long, so I am leaving it here for an upcoming weblog post to indicate what it is all about. I am sure you would all like it. And I got a whole bunch of material already piled up for it. Thus stay tuned ! (And subscribe to it, if you wish, whenever it is ready!)

As I have already mentioned yesterday, I am now done with the massive catch up with my RSS feeds from the time I have been on vacation and I must say that there have been some really good conversations going on in multiple subjects regarding KM, Collaboration and Communities, amongst others. So I thought that, as I go along, I will share some of the ones that I have found more interesting and worth while commenting further on. Like, for instance, a recent weblog post that Shawn Callahan shared over at Anecdote around the topic of time management: 4 Ways to Use Your Time More Effectively, and which I felt very identified with when I first read it, by the way.

Yes, indeed, time management in the current business environment is perhaps one of the main items that people need to master in order to get the most out of the whole thing. I can certainly agree that there are plenty, perhaps, too many, interruptions and lots of distractions out there and, whether we like it or not, we keep getting bombarded with information that we need to process as soon as possible in order to move on further. That is how things are. Shawn actually puts it quite nicely detailing the top 7 reasons why there is such a lack of time and instead of just quoting them over here I am just going to mention the four different suggestions he put together as well to help fight those 7 reasons:

"1. Learn a task management method like Getting Things Done. I’d recommend getting David Allen’s book of the same name and put it into practice. Better still, get your organisation to invest in a GTD training program (addresses issues 1 and 3).
2. Understand your priorities and work out how your work fits in to the big picture. If it doesn’t fit in to either the big picture or your priorities then say ‘no’ (issue 2)
3. Get into a community of practice and learn how to work smarter from your peers and with your peers that already do it. Rather than try and keep up with all the changes in your discipline, share the workload. Social book-marking is one possible tool (issues 4 & 7)
4. Periodically close down the communication channels. Turn off the mobile, Skype, email and then find a cafe where you can work anonymously. You’ll be amazed at how much work you’ll get done (issues 5 & 6)."

Apart from using a task management tool that integrates quite nicely with my workflow, using GTD for Lotus Notes developed by one of my fellow IBM colleagues Brett Philp; apart from belonging to a number of different communities of practice covering a wide range of topics related to KM, Collaboration, Community Building and Social Software, etc. so that I can become smarter at what I do, without not necessarily having to work harder; and apart from switching temporarily some of the noise out there (One of the main items that has helped me do a full catch up with my RSS feeds over the last couple of days) I think that the main suggestion I could provide that has worked really well with me to help manage my time better is the ability to say "No!" and feel good about it ! Yes, you read it right: the ability to say "No!" and not feel guilty that I may have let down some of my colleagues and friends in the process.

I must confess that this is something that, to me, requires a whole lot of effort and training, because initially, I found out, through the course of a number of years, that it is not always easy to turn around, say "No!" and walk away. Just like that! It takes a bit of guts to do that and feel all right about it at the same time. But in the end perseverance is what would get you there, I am sure. That, or rather having to suffer from that stressful situation of not finding the time to do all of those different tasks that people have gently dumped on to yourself. Yes, I know, a tough call.

Over time this is something that you get to learn some more about. You get to learn that it is all right not to be involved in every single thing, trying to grasp everything, getting engaged in every single activity that you feel would be nice to be part of. One way or another, I have learned, over time, that if there is something out there that would really interest me and should get my attention I would eventually be bumping into it repeatedly and giving in to it in the end, not because it is coming to me from a single front, but from several of them. So although my initial reaction may be that one of saying "No!" sooner rather later I always get to find out if I would need to reconsider and do it: other people talking to me about it, me finding that task would apply quite nicely to something I am doing at that moment, me being able to establish some new and meaningful relationships and so forth. Yes, understanding those priorities that Shawn mentioned in the original weblog entry.

Yes, I am sure that has happened to you as well in the past. Those tasks will eventually come back to you, if there would be a need for it. Believe me, they will come back. So my best suggestion regarding the time management that Shawn just got started is to basically learn (And learn quick!) to say "No!" and feel good about it, because there is a great chance that if it was really worth while for you to engage further in that task you would eventually be coming around to it. It happens all the time, as I have already mentioned here in the past a couple of times, because after all, "We create our own distractions and just need to learn to manage them". Effectively.

Tags: Anecdote, Time Management, Getting Things Done, GTD, Interruptions, Knowledge Management, Information Management, KM, IM, Collaboration, Communities

A couple of days ago, Dennis McDonald actually sent me an invitation to try out a new offering that has just gone live a little while ago that is supposed to be what YouTube is to videos but this one would be to presentation slides. Check out Slideshare and prepare to have some serious fun ! I must admit that I have never been too keen on working with PowerPoint slides, nor OpenOffice’s, while giving presentations out to people. I have always preferred to have a much better pitch than a bunch of slides since I have always found them a bit distracting from the overall message. Never mind the issues of getting the slides to look like you would want for all audiences regardless of what type of computer people would use.

Well, that may well be about to change because when Dennis sent out to me that invite to try it out, and also he created a weblog post on Slide Presentation: "Expertise Management Systems", where he is actually demoing how it works, I think I am sold on it. Yes, Slideshare is to presentation sharing what YouTube is to video sharing. Fun, fun, fun ! Way too much fun ! I may actually start liking some of this, too !

Take a look into his presentation slides around the subject of Expertise Management Systems. A very complex topic that he manages to make it a breeze by putting together some really good slides and then make them available through Slideshare. Nifty ! Dennis just gets to discuss enough on those slides to make people want some more on this very same topic and perhaps he has got that intention. So I am not going to comment on the content of the slides just yet. I shall be doing so as he gets to explore more of their content in his weblog. However, watch the nice look and feel of the slides, and how easy it is to navigate back and forth. Doesn’t it make you feel like you would want to have some more?

Notice as well how you can get an instant count of presentation hits so that you know how many folks have actually seen them. How you can actually use Tagging to be able to annotate the presentation so that you can find it much easier at a later time and how you can also see the speaker notes you may have been adding all along. Sharing the slides is also something very easy to do, but if there is anything that I really like about Slideshare is the fact that you can embed those same slides into any kind of web site, like I am about to do myself below. How cool is that? So instead of telling people to come and visit the site and check the slides you can do so already from wherever you are !

Yes, indeed, Slideshare may well change the way I get to handle presentations and I am sure I would be using it in the near future much more (Stay tuned for that one! I just got the perfect presentation to show it in full action!), but for the time being check out the slides Dennis put together on the subject of Expertise Management Systems and keep having fun ! (Goodness, I never thought I would be saying something like that for any kind of presentation ! heh)

Tags: Slideshare, PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Presentations, Online Shows, Productivity Tools, Expertise Management, Expertise Location, Expertise Locators, Knowledge Management, KM, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Social Software

Yesterday I created a weblog post where I was announcing elsua’s new look (Oh, by the way, do not forget to check the About document as you would be able to see an updated page with some further details about me along with some fancy new design. Love it!) and today I thought that I would share with you one really good hat tip on how you can get the most out of your syndication needs by making extensive use of Feedburner as part of your own weblogs. For quite some time now I have always wanted to find a way to get some statistics on the number of readers who are actually getting my content syndicated through different methods, RSS, Atom, Yahoo, BlogLines, etc. etc. For some time now I have been using Feedburner as well to shed some light along those lines and give me some partial numbers of the total readership through syndication.

And just recently I found out that instead of having to mess up with different files like .htaccess and the like there is this awesome WordPress plugin that actually does everything for you really easy and without you having to worry about anything else than just installing and activating the plugin itself.

Check out Feedburner Plugin 2.1, created by Steve Smith, over at orderedlist. What a fantastic WordPress plugin! You just basically install it in your own server like you would do with any other plugin (Check out the instructions directly available in this link), then activate it and you are ready to go. Of course, you would need to configure it under the sub-tab Feedburner from the Options menu, but I am sure that by now you would have already got one profile at Feedburner, like I do. And from there onwards you can just watch the total feed count grow larger and larger.

I remember how before doing this Feedburner was actually capturing 62 syndication hits and after installing the plugin the current hit count at the time of writing this weblog post is 216. Yes, indeed, 216! More than triple the amount of original feeds tracked !

Fantastic ! I am really excited about this because I never thought that I had so many other readers subscribed via RSS, Atom and whatever other feeds and the fact that I can now get Feedburner Plugin 2.1 to do that job for me is just wonderful! A huge time saver! A special thanks to Steve for putting together such a fine piece of work, and, most importantly, for sharing it with all of us! Well done !

(Oh, and don’t forget to check some of the other goodies that Steve has been putting together. You may find something else worth while checking further and playing around with. I already did!)

Tags: Feedburner, Feedburner Plugin, Steve Smith, Orderedlist, WordPress, Plugins, WordPress Plugins, Syndication, RSS, Atom, Newsfeeds, Productivity Tips, Blogging Tips

A few days ago Melanie Turek shared a very interesting, and worth while trying out, tip over at CollaborationLoop around the subject of How to Save Thousands on Audio Conference Calling where she wrote a quick overview of a service she has been using for three years already and with some very good experiences and that could save you thousands of $$$ in audio conferencing fees. We all know that we spend a good part of our day in different conference calls having to attend different meetings or collaborating with our colleagues through some audio conferencing where we would need to dial in a number with a pin code in order to access it. Of course, for each of those calls there are some expenses involved and although I am sure that most people reading this weblog would say how much they have made out of VoIP applications like Skype, there are still plenty of knowledge workers out there who still prefer to use the regular phone in order to make those phone calls, which in a way is a very understandable thing thinking how pervasive the telephone has become over the years.

But what happens when you face yourself with a huge bill having to cover for all those different audio conference fees you have been paying for a while? I mean, I can imagine that this would become a nightmare for companies who encourage their workers to connect through those audio conferences. So what can we do then? Well, we can do what Melanie says. Try out FreeConference, a free (As in free) audio conferencing system that allows you to save a good chunk of money of expenses for all those conference calls. Here is a quick quote from Melanie’s article that describes how it works:

"The site offers free reservationless conference calls, as well as a robust service that lets you schedule and control calls from the Web (also free). It also offers low-cost 800-number conferencing, but believe me, the real deal is the free stuff. Sign up is simple, and the Web-based scheduling option is especially good."

Yes, I know, there is a catch, like in almost everything that is free: "callers usually must make a long-distance call to dial in" but like Melanie mentions with those same VoIP capabilities it would become almost free and widely available to everyone. Later on in the article she gets to describe a couple of glitches of what it takes to use FreeConference but like she describes herself they are not major showstoppers that would prevent you from making use of it, which is a good thing. It is probably not a service you would want to use to host confidential business conference calls but certainly for those "day-to-day meetings" it would be quite handy to make good use of such service.

So I think that after reading Melanie’s article I am going to give it a try and see how it works. If I get such a good experience as she is having at the moment I am surely going to start switching some of those daily audio conferences into FreeConference and I am sure that phone bill would sound a lot better … and cheaper!

Thus from here a big thanks to Melanie for sharing such a great tip and let’s see how it goes. I shall let you know what my experience would be like over the next few weeks.

Tags: FreeConference, CollaborationTip, Audio Conferencing, Conference Call, Productivity Tips