2008 | Broadcasting Brain

Archive for 2008

Content creation and the computing platform you use

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

I’m curious about a couple of things about creativity on this wonderful Wednesday.

I like to think that I’m a creative (or at least increasingly creative) person. I have used the Windows/PC platform exclusively for the past 17+ years. I have never owned an Apple product until I bought my iPod Nano a couple of months ago. The Windows environment meets my current needs for content creation.

Apple has been a favorite computing platform for many creative types as long as I can remember, including a few of my friends. Many of us who have used computers primarily in a business environment for, well, business purposes, have grown up PC/Windows. Many of us would never be accused of doing terribly creative work (although perhaps artistic work is a better phrase to describe this). (more…)

Tags: apple, creativity, windows
Posted in creativity | 8 Comments »

Just write

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Just write.

Forget about how awful you think it will be.

Forget about how uncomfortable writing makes you feel.

Forget about who might read it.

Forget about worrying what to write.

Just write. Let whatever comes out come out.

Editing can fix any mistake, omission, or suckage.

You need to write so it gets out. Then, like Play Doh, you can mold it into the correct shape. You can fix the problems. You can even change it completely so that it’s not recognizable from its original form.

But you must write in order to get the idea out. Nothing else can happen until you take that step.

It can be hard, but it’s worth pushing yourself a bit to do it.

Just write.

Tags: content creation, writing
Posted in writing | 10 Comments »

Twitter and how to be followed by other Twitterers

Monday, December 15th, 2008

There are benefits to getting more Twitter followers, so with that thought in mind, I’m going to tell you about the things that will help you build your own Twitter following. I’ll tell you about some things that seem to work and some that don’t work: short term or long term.

Image by frankh

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not writing this article for you to use Twitter to help you feed a fragile ego, expand your mailing list, build a fan club, sell products, become a top Digger, or sway political opinion to the exclusion of everything else. However, if you are trying to do this then you might see some reasons here why you are failing to attract followers.

On the other hand, if you want to expand your contacts, get access to a constantly stream of interesting information, give and receive advice, and to learn how to be a better human being, then I hope this article will help you to show other Twitter users that you’re an interesting, helpful, or at the very least entertaining person who’s worthy of being followed. And, if done tastefully and with respect, yes, Twitter can help you grow your business.

I’m particularly hopeful that this might help some honest-to-goodness lesser known creatives, artists, and talented folks who do want a chance to promote themselves and their works in a creative way (as long as they understand that it’s not a one-way promotion deal; you need to give, too.) The world needs more good content. (more…)

Tags: follower, following, friends, how to get Twitter followers, twitter
Posted in microblogging | 28 Comments »

Creative exercise – which superpower would you pick

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Here’s a creative challenge for you. It’s Friday in North America and you’re probably not going to work anyway, so why not give this a try?

This is a challenge to stretch your brain and to try to expand your thinking a tiny bit.

The theme is superpowers. Define superpower in any way that you wish.

Here are some questions to help guide you through this:

If you could have any one superpower for one day, which one would you choose and what would you do with it?
If you could have any one superpower for one month, which one would you choose and what would you do with it?
If you could have any one superpower for one year, which one would you choose and what would you do with it?
If you could have any one superpower for the rest of your life, which one would you choose and what would you do with it?

If you’re stuck, let’s look at Superman’s better known superpowers:

Super-strength (bench pressing trucks, tanks, buildings, etc.)
Flight and super-speed (regularly breaking the sound barrier, sometimes flying faster than the speed of light)
Invulnerability (immunity to physical harm)
Various vision powers: X-Ray, Heat, Telescopic, Microscopic
Super-hearing (hear very quiet sounds or sounds from very far away)
Super-breath: ability to blow air very hard and have it freeze on someone

If you’d like a more comprehensive list of superpowers, try this Wikipedia article.

# # #

Just for fun, if you answer these questions in the comments section of this post, I’ll chime in and make some observations or ask additional questions to try to spark things along. The goal is for you to exercise your imagination a bit and see what kind of ideas these questions will spark for you.

Let’s go! I want to see lots of great ideas here!

PS: here’s a new blog that you should also check out: Thoughtwrestling. It’s a new one that I started with some friends and it’s destined for greatness.

Tags: creativity, imagination, superpower
Posted in creativity | 12 Comments »

What I learned during Broadcasting Brain Year One

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

One year ago I decided to switch to a self-hosted blog with its own URL. Although it started with the somewhat unwieldy name of The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog, the blog that became Broadcasting Brain received its first post when the Earth was roughly in this position in space 365 days ago.

So here we are over 300 posts later. That’s a lot of words. And interaction. And learning.

Image by Crystl

For your consideration, I’d like to share some thoughts on things that I’ve learned during the past year:

Blogging can be very hard work, especially if you try to avoid the echo chambers. It can take a long, long time to reach your goals, so both self-motivation and pacing are important. It’s OK to slow down and take a break at times; sometimes that’s the most healthy thing to do. EDIT: don’t underestimate the need for stamina (re: How to be Creative by Hugh MacLeod, which I covered here).
It’s better to have goals and a vision of where you want to go instead of flailing aimlessly. Venturing into new territory can be tough, especially without a map.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an important tool that a blogger can use, in conjunction with networking and high quality content, to develop their blog and that’s perfectly fine. The folks at Search Engine People are one group that knows a lot about this.
You’ve got to try different things, and learn from them, while blogging. Learn, learn, learn but also practice, practice, practice. Experiment, reflect, recalibrate, retest.
Use abstraction sparingly – people seem to like concrete value, stories, case studies.
StumbleUpon is like crack for blog traffic; it’s easy to get hooked and it feels like withdrawal when it goes away!
Show me the money, don’t just spout theory and position yourself as an expert. This is one reason why I don’t blog about social media so much these days – I’m not a professional, I don’t have the experience of working with clients in this field.
Set big goals (I’m at 4x my original subscriber goals for my first year, so I’m definitely aiming higher for next year!)
Great things can happen anywhere, even in a small town in Canada.
It’s all about people: their wants and needs.

Thanks to you for being here and I hope this wonderful relationship continues between us, dear reader.

Tags: blog, blogging, first birthday, reflection
Posted in blogging | 18 Comments »

Hear my question on CBC Spark

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

I’ve mentioned CBC Radio’s great show/podcast Spark before (more than once). Merlin Mann of 43Folders.com has been doing a series on blogging and took listener questions on the topic. I left a question for Merlin on the Spark voice mailbox and they not only selected my question, they broadcast me reading it over the air. Cool.

So, if you’ve ever wondered what I sound like, you can hear my question slightly after 15:00. I’m afraid I don’t know how to properly embed this podcast so you can play it from here, but here’s the link to the podcast and to the Spark blog entry where you can play the episode.

EDIT: Oh, cool, I figured out how to embed it, here it is:

Thanks Spark and thanks Merlin!

P.S. Episode 57 of Spark was another great episode!

Tags: 43folders, blogging, cbc radio spark, merlin mann, spark
Posted in blogging | 4 Comments »