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Crystal and Mary

All the tasks that we have to keep up with when using web applications would exceed the amount of time and attention that any one of us could handle.  It follows,  therefore,  that the more we can automate tasks we need to do,  the better.   Moreover,  the web is,  if not a series of tubes (as the late Alaska Senator Ted Stephens once claimed),  it does rather resemble an almost infinite series of silos.  Each web page or service is independent,  which means if we want to do the same thing to more than one silo we have to repeat the task.   Or at least that was true before mashups (Quote below from this Wikipedia article).

A mashup, in web development, is a web page, or web application, that uses and combines data, presentation or functionality from two or more sources to create new services. The term implies easy, fast integration, frequently using open application programming interfaces (API) and data sources to produce enriched results that were not necessarily the original reason for producing the raw source data.

For example,  HootSuite became available in 2008 and serves as a dashboard for controlling one’s social media accounts.  It is often used by companies or other organizations to coordinate their brand.  Posterous also started in 2008 (though sadly has just shut down)  as a blogging platform that allowed one to disseminate the same blog content across sevices such as Blogger,  Facebook,  Twitter,  Live Journal,  etc.   Rebel Mouse also works with social media to provide a newsletter-like presentation.   Organizations can use it to display their social media content,  and students could use it to create a newsletter for an assignment.  Particular operating systems have,  for some time,  tied together the software in their own ecosystem.   Outlook and Onenote work together as do various Apple products.  New apps that integrate web services are announced frequently and trying to name them all would take up a month’s worth of blog posts.

Selected Readings:

Ekart, D. F. (2012).  Tech Tips for Every Librarian.  Computers in Libraries, 32(4), 36-37.

How-To Geek.  Program Your Online Life with If This Then That.

Jiminez, C.  When Lazy Can be Productive. Includes video tutorial.

Price, E.  (2012)  How IFTTT is Changing the Way We Do Things on the Web. Maxhable post with background on the company and its planned future directions.

Slaughter, R.  (2011) .  Review of If-This-Then-That.   Includes list of pros and cons.

Woodward, M.  How to Use IFTTT to Save Time and Automate Behind the Scenes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just for Fun:

Buck, S. (2013).  14 Hilarious If This Then That Recipes.

For Further Exploration and Insight:

(1)  View one or more of the above tutorials. Reflect on ways in which you might be able to use ifttt to automate repetitive tasks that you regularly perform.

(2)  Sign up for an IFTTT account.

(3)  Browse recipes for services you use the most and activate at least one.

(4)  Create one recipe of your own.

By Mackieklew (http://www.flickr.com/people/macieklew/)

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row.

Education is not the filling of a pail,  but the lighting of a fire.
- – -   William Butler Yeats

The Yeats quote is a good way to start a review of Flow for a couple of reasons.   First,  it is one of those books that changes how one views the world, which engages the mind – lights a fire,  in other words.   Secondly,  the book is specifically about that kind of engagement, which Csikszentmihalyi calls  “optimal experience”,  or flow.

” ‘Flow’ is the way people describe their state of mind when consciousness is harmoniously ordered,  and they want to pursue whatever they are doing for its own sake.”  (p.  6) In flow,  a person’s attention is wholly focused on what they are doing and they are being challenged to stretch their skills,  but not in a way that causes anxiety.   In a life devoted to flow,  a person constantly strives to establish goals, obtain new skills or enhance their existing skills and use those skills to successfully meet new challenges.   Such a life is creative and satisfying in ways no other way of life can match.

In another quote a life that has flow does so by working on a goal or goals and mastering the skills needed to reach the goal:

From the point of view of an individual,  it does not matter what the ultimate goal is -  provided it is compelling enough to order a lifetime’s worth of psychic energy [attention] .   The challenge might involve the desire to have the best beer bottle collection in the neighborhood,  the resolution to find a cure for cancer,  or simply the biological imperative to have children who will survive and prosper.   As long as it provides clear objectives,  clear rules for action,  and a way to concentrate and become involved,  any goal can serve to give meaning to a person’s life.  (p.  215)

Csikszentmihalyi,  the author,  is a psychologist who has spent his life studying positive psychology – what makes people happy.   Perhaps this is not surprising in someone who in his childhood endured the horror of World War II.   He and his team have studied thousands of people over the years,  specifically looking at when people are the happiest.   One technique used was to send people a page at 8 to 10 random times a day.   The participants knew that when they received a page they were to write down the time,  where they were,  what they were doing,  and how they felt.

The results are fascinating.   While flow occurs fairly commonly in the arts or athletic competition as expected,  there are people who find flow in repetitive factory work or hard labor such as farming or raising herds of animals.   Moreover,  wealth,  position,  and ease of life do not necessarily create flow:

Such events do not occur only when the external conditions are favorable,  however: people who have survived concentration camps or who have lived through near-fatal physical dangers often recall that in the midst of their ordeal they experienced extraordinarily rich epiphanies in response to such simple events as hearing the song of a bird in the forest,  completing a hard task,  or sharing a crust of bread with a friend. (p.  6)

So why do some people achieve flow while so many others do not?   Most people have experienced it at some point,  but didn’t realize it at the time.   For others it is a common experience.   There are some personality traits that make optimal experiences more common.   The people who cultivate flow most successfully are neither self-conscious (anxious about how others perceive them)  nor self-centered.  “Children who grow up in family situations that facilitate clarity of goals,  feedback,  feeling of control,  concentration on the task at hand,  intrinsic motivation [doing a task for the joy of the task itself],  and challenge will generally have a better chance to order their lives so as to make flow possible.”  (p.  89)  Csikszentmihalyi also mentions (p.  236) that lives full of flow are more likely to happen to those who were read to as children.  In addition,  the person who is successful is able to negotiate both differentiation,  or self-awareness and growth as an individual,  and integration,  an ability to be a part of something larger than ourselves,  to be part of the community’s growth.  (p.  223).

Where do flow experiences most often happen?   Despite the fact that society tends to denigrate work and exalt leisure,  most people are considerably more likely to experience flow at work than in pursuing leisure activities,  particularly if the leisure activity is a passive one such as watching television.  Work can become more conducive to optimal experiences by being redesigned with that goal in mind,  and helping workers to have the kind of personality that is most open to flow, “by training them to recognize opportunities for action,  to hone their skills,  to set reachable goals”.  (p.  157)

Can one increase the ability to be in the flow?  Yes.   “It does not matter where one starts -  whether one chooses goals first,  develops skills,  cultivates the ability to concentrate,  or gets rid of self-consciousness.   One can start anywhere,  because once the flow experience is in motion the other elements will be much easier to attain.”  (p.  212)

While many speak of the virtues of simplicity,  Csikszentmihalyi writes continuously in this book about the beauty of increasing complexity.   For example:

The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness.  This  happens when psychic energy  -  or attention  -  is invested in realistic goals,  and when skills match the opportunities for action… A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in consciously chosen goals cannot help but grow into a more complex being.   By stretching skills,  by reaching toward higher challenges,  such a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary individual.”  (p.  6)

It is in striving for something better that individuals and humanity as a whole become something better.   If the earth were to disappear tomorrow,  the memory of Shakespeare,  Ghandi,  Rosa Parks,  and multitudes more,  sung and unsung,  would continue to resonate.   Humanity has achieved that which will last.   The author says something similar:

It is true that life has no meaning,  if by that we mean a supreme goal built into the fabric of nature and human experience,  a goal that is valid for every individual.   But it does not follow that life cannot be GIVEN meaning.   Much of what we call culture and civilization consists in efforts people have made,  generally against overwhelming odds,  to create a sense of purpose for themselves and their descendants.   It is one thing to recognize that life is,  by itself,  meaningless.   It is another thing entirely to accept this with resignation.   The first fact does not entail the  second any more than the fact that we lack wings prevents us from  flying. (p. 215)

While mulling over how to write this review,  I came across a video with a snippet of a graduation speech by Neil Gaiman (whom I suspect has the kind of personality Csikszentmihalyi celebrates) given to the University of the Art in 2012 .   Gaiman gave this advice to the graduates for how to deal with adversity:  “Make Good Art”.   It is advice Csikszentmihalyi would endorse,  and Flow is the manual to achieve it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It is easy to become complacent about our online security.  Many of us have whole departments of IT professionals who are busily keeping our emails relatively clear of spam, and alerting us to possible infestations of computer viruses and worms.  With our Knights in Shining IT Armor guarding our systems, it is easy to overlook other kinds of vulnerabilities that might be targeting our data instead.

Information Security with regards to cloud computing was highlighted for me recently by our Security Policy and Compliance Manager in our systems area.  Our conversation was eye opening for me and resulted in a new page that I post in my research guides and discuss in my workshops and classes.   And he is far from alone; in fact, Forbes has an entire section of their website devoted to latest news in Cloud Computing.

For example, I had never thought about the vulnerability of Dropbox.  That wonderful tool that just automatically syncs my computer with the Dropbox files when I log in, could be vulnerable to being hijacked. All anyone needs is brief access to my account name and they could add their own computer as a new location for syncing.  This would result in anything I added to my Dropbox being automatically sent to this hijacker as well.  I am told it is somewhat tricky to determine all of the locations that sync to my account, so this could easily go unnoticed for some time.  Now I do not put sensitive information in my Dropbox, so this is less of a concern to me.  Consider however, your researchers who DO deal with sensitive information as well as data on new discoveries and possible patentable research.  This could be devastating to them as well as the university should they have their data prematurely revealed. The University of Michigan has a great page that their IT folks put together on their view of data safety in cloud based storage and Google Docs. The page is very user friendly and brings up great issues for faculty and researchers alike to consider.

Who owns your data?  Have you ever read the details of those impossibly long license agreements that we all click through when loading new software?  Section 11.1 of Google’s terms of service says that “you give Google a worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through the Service for the sole purpose of enabling Google to provide you with the Service in accordance with its Privacy Policy [source: Google].”  This is not unique in the field.  Similar terms are in Skydrive, Dropbox and iCloud.  While Google assures us the service term is just so that they can manipulate our data files to provide the service we are desiring, it still causes one to take notice, especially if dealing with funded research projects.

Then there are mobile devices.  Mobile devices are often more vulnerable to security breaches and offer hackers more opportunities of access to cloud services.  The most secure company computer can be derailed by just one unknowing employee syncing their infected mobile device with the secure environment.  Free WiFi hot spots are also a vulnerable area; Bob Rankin did a very nice writeup on this topic on his site: “The Big Problem With Free Wifi Hotspots”.  If sites you visit or email providers you use don’t encrypt their connection, then anything you send or even read could be vulnerable to being vulnerable to other eyes as well.

So should we go back to just using our mobile devices offline?  No, of course not, but being aware of vulnerabilities and taking precautions such as authentication procedures using strong passwords, and cryptography for sensitive data can go a long way to making our mobile use safer. Ellyssa Kroski wrote a lovely post in January for the Open Education Database on online privacy tips for librarians.

For Further Exploration and Insight: 

1.  Do you know the IT policy of your university?  Search it out or talk to an IT professional about possible vulnerabilities for you or your users.

2.  So are Cloud Computing fears overblown?  Read Emma Byrne’s three-part series in Forbes .  Where do you stand on the issue?

Selected Readings:

Byrne, Emma. Forbes December 2012. Are Cloud Data Security Fears Overblown?  (3 part series)

Forbes, Cloud Computing Section

Kroski, Ellyssa. iLibrarian. January 29, 2013. 10 Online Privacy Tips for Librarians

Rankin, Bob. The Big Problem With Free Wifi Hotspots

University of Michigan. Cloud Computing and Information Security.

Calendar Image courtesy of ammer/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Creating Your Personal Life Plan is a book which hit me at just the right moment.  I recently had a friend ask me what my new set of major life goals were, and frankly, I was somewhat stymied.  My focus for the past two years has been so consumed with first getting our blog up and running, and now with keeping our Year of Productivity program going that I had not really looked past this year for most areas of my life. Hyatt’s book provided a helpful outline and structure toward exploring and taking stock of both where I am and where I want to be.

Creating Your Personal Life Plan is based on the Life Plan concept used by Daniel Harkavy, author of Becoming a Coaching Leader: The Proven Strategy for Building Your Own Team of Champions  and the CEO and Executive Coach of Building Champions.  This is also a great website offering bonus free podcasts each month as well as a newsletter and blogs from several of their motivational coaches.  Harkavy offers a great podcast here talking about this Personal Life Plan and why it is critical for balancing our life.  Like Hyatt, this is a site led by Christian coaches, but in both cases, I highly recommend both sites for the excellent coaching tips and leadership tips each offer regardless of your own faith persuasion.

The basic building blocks of your Personal Life Plan are called “accounts” Each account will take part of your time, your effort and your attention, and just like financial accounts, you can’t spend more than you have in the bank of your life.  These accounts will make up the major facets of your life.  A career is usually a major account for many of us, but there are also accounts for your spouse, family and friends.  Don’t forget to have yourself for an account too!  Each of us will have our own unique group of accounts because we are each made up of unique facets.  One major account might be an activity that you are passionate about: for me, Dance will be an account. It is not only something I do for entertainment, it is something I study as a student, and there are a unique series of goals that I see for myself in this arena.  Each of you will have your own mix of accounts.

Hyatt’s book then goes on to explain subsequent steps to identify and flesh out your life plan.  This is something that is reviewed and updated regularly, and specific action steps are identified for your progress toward your life goals. You will both define what each account will look like ideally, as well as what the reality of that account is today and some action steps to begin moving you closer to your ideal. Both Hyatt and Harkavy recommend carving out at least eight uninterrupted hours to think, focus and create your life plan.  Some may need even more time.

I recommend reading Michael Hyatt’s book and listening to David Harkavy’s podcast on Life Plans.  I found both to be motivational and feel better prepared to tackle the creation of my own life plan.