Life Out Loud--Fond Letter to future BGI students in Creating Social Change through the Social Web

This has been my favorite of the four quarters I have spent in BGI, and Creating Social Change through the Social Web has been my favorite class. I suspect it is because the learning curve was both so steep, and so rewarding. I think too that the direct and fluid application to seemingly everything else I was doing in other classes helped reinforce the learning and the sense of mastery as I was able to put theory into practice so instantly. Nothing like a little gratification to feed a sense of enthusiasm.

I agree with Karen: the simple, low-tech post-it tagging exercise was incredibly powerful. I have written about this before, but it bears repeating. I wish everyone in the school-- hey, the world-- had a chance to do this. How am I seen by my peers? Is my vision of myself in alignment with theirs? Wow. I found the exercise moving, and illuminating. And a brilliant illustration of the link between reputation and personal branding in action.

I liked the balance between theory, practice, readings, video links, and assignments. I learn many different ways, and the exposure to so many brilliant thinkers and practitioners of this cutting-edge domain was thrilling. I now follow some of these people via blogs and Twitter.

Over and over I was forced outside my comfort zone. So many firsts: first blog (and second blog... and third, to tell the truth, which is reserved for a link with a future website, for which I bought the domain this quarter-- yes--)... first Twitter account, and Tweets. First time really ever even READING blogs, much less commenting on them. First time making a video on my little digital camera, first time posting anything to YouTube. First time subscribing to accounts of people I cared to follow... whether on blogs, Twitter, YouTube, or Delicious. The idea of subscribing to other people's BOOKMARKS is amazing to me. I am still wrapping my brain around the implications and possibilities of this. Google Reader is now a daily and favorite tool.

Over the course of the quarter I had some major breakdowns. The first issue: I was clearly behind many to most of my peers in terms of comfort and experience with the technology and platforms. This slowed me down. The fact that I used a Microsoft-based computer was not lethal, but was clearly debilitating. So many of the more sophisticated applications and assignments were easier with a Mac. I think this is an interesting problem for BGI in general... I would bet the farm that we have more Mac users than any other MBA program in the US, but still, last spring it was only the PC users who could load and use the crazy, astonishing Crystal Ball for Quantitative Methods & Analysis. This season the tides changed.

The PC handicap showed up in bold when it was time to make our video for social change. The difference between Movie Maker and iMovie is, as my partner Carol put it, like the difference between a chisel and slate and... well... a really hot, easy computer program. Not even close. Our misadventures were many, exacerbated by distance and travel and spectacular, last-minute total hard-drive meltdown. No kidding. I bought my first Mac two days before the last Intensive. For the record: it saved EVERYTHING, and I do not recommend the drama. This is why we have theatre. A postscipt to this is that my bookmarks on Delicious saved me from utter destruction in a way that Qwest's subscription backup did not. I will be investing next in my own excellent portable backup system.

I am still learning pretty vertically, which is my habit, and my pleasure. I cannot believe my good fortune to have been able to be in the first of what I know will be a landmark class. My learning was contributed to by everyone in my space... by which I mean my classmates especially, our professor, Christopher Allen, to whom I think we all owe deep appreciation, and to my resident Digital Native, my 13-year-old daughter Chloe. She taught me how to convert files, among many other things this quarter. Her facility stuns me.

Collective Creative Intelligence is real to me now in a way that it probably could not have been before this class. Community in action is too. These are two things that I hold dearly. The generosity and collective brilliance of my classmates, community, and the world in general humbles and inspires me.

Finally, I wish to appreciate the opportunity to live out loud-- something I have understood as an ideal for a long time-- but have never been able to practice in such a true sense. Yes, I  live transparently, yes I am a known-- seen, and heard-- entity of my community. This is privilege enough. But now I am connecting to our larger community and it is exhilarating. I live, I speak, and others listen and respond. I discovered a very cool idea earlier today-- the Attention Economy--and already Justin has responded in a way that furthers my thinking. I read the thoughts of others and am moved to think and act in different ways. We touch each other. Somehow the connection is no less real than as if we were face to face. I am still pondering the implications of this. But I have no doubt that it holds the key to what we are yearning for-- transformation in its truest sense.