Slightly hidden, due to a minuscule font size, within the recent ACPA eCommunity email update was an interesting question: “Are You Ready To Mingle?” Intrigued, I read the rest of the “mingle” text:

Are You Ready To Mingle?
Engage in real life social networking at the Boston 2010 Annual Convention. This new and innovative technology enables attendees to simply ‘click to connect’ at the event and then share their online profiles after the event.

With over 4,500 ACPA members expected to attend the Annual Convention in Boston, the MingleStick may provide an interesting means for folks to exchange contact information. Instead of business cards, attendees can use the MingleStick to exchange electronic profiles. This is slightly similar to the iPhone Bump app. I predict that there will be a lot of digital mingling at ACPA.

The MingleStick plugs in via USB to your computer, uploads its data to the MingleStick website and allows you to browse your recent connections. An individual’s profile information is dependent on what they have included in their public MingleStick profile.

I’m co-presenting a session titled “Wise and Connected - Demystifying Social Media for SSAOs and Directors.” I have a feeling that we will end up polling the room to see who is using a MingleStick and whether or not they are including their Facebook and Twitter accounts on their public MingleStick profiles.

What do you think? Will you engage in digital mingling at ACPA via a MingleStick?

Google has a new app called “Wave.” It’s billed as communication and collaboration tool. I would say that it’s probably going to be the tool of choice in the next 5 years for anyone who uses Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, WordPress, any IM Client, etc. If Google Wave catches on, Zuckerberg will wish that he’d sold Facebook when he had the chance.

Microsoft is the “new” IBM. They just don’t know it yet. Sorry Redmond.

Oregon State University has a new social media directory page. Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and WordPress are the primary communication mediums for OSU’s social media presence. I’m sure this list will continue to grow as more and more departments engage in social media implementations.

Facebook pages and groups

• Oregon State University
• Oregon State Athletics
• Terra Magazine
• College Colors Fridays
• Corvallis Science Pub
• New 2 OSU: Class of 2013

Flickr photo feeds

• Oregon State University
• College Colors Fridays
• Benny On The Move

Twitter Feeds

• Oregon State University
  

YouTube

• Oregon State University
• College Colors Fridays

Other Social Media, Video and Audio Sites

• OSU Media Manager
• OSU iTunes University
• Zinch

OSU Bloggers

• Admissions Blog
• blogs.oregonstate.edu
• Ecologue: Sustainability at OSU
• Marketing
• Transmissions from the Ice Sheet
• Web Communications
• Sea Grant Climate Change Blog

Wikis

• OSU on Wikipedia
• OSU Wiki

via the OSU Dialog blog

Student Affairs Technology: To Boldly Go

“They should have explained the basic concepts at the beginning (e.g.: podcasts, blogs, wikis, etc.).”

“Helping me to boldly go where I’ve never been before.”

One of these statements is not like the other two. I’m sure you can guess which one gives me hope as a student affairs techie that we as a profession have not lost our willingness to learn, to explore and to stay positive about new technologies. This article represents a call to action for student affairs practitioners. The microblogging site, Twitter, has a feature that lets you “nudge” someone that you are following. This is me providing a gentle nudge to my fellow higher education administrators. I hope that you nudge me back. Let’s push the envelope. Let’s shift our professional paradigms. Let’s make technology (and learning about new technologies) a part of our daily practices.

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Recently, the head space that I am devoting to various Web 2.0 sites and applications has begun to feel quite cumbersome. I decided to create a post on my “Web 2.0 footprint.” My usage of each of these sites ebbs and flows. This list represents Web 2.0 services that I use at least once per month. Without further ado, here is a list in no particular order (with links to my personal profiles) of the Web 2.0 sites and services that I currently engage with on the interwebs:

WordPress.org: It runs my blog. I’ve tried Blogger and heard a lot about Movable Type, but WordPress has my blogging heart in its php basket.

Twitter: I’m still not sure what it’s good for . My virtual journal consists of my blog, my live journal account and my twitter account. Sometimes I just need a few words in the Twitterspace to get something out of my head.

LiveJournal: Everything that does not get posted on my blog or on Twitter is posted on my LiveJournal account. Private groups get treated to spectacular rants and it serves as a space for me and my local friends to share all sorts of thoughts and feelings.

Flickr: Only a few of the gigabytes of photographs that I have taken are on my Flickr account. I really need to upload more when I get some spare time.

Facebook: I use Facebook on a daily basis. It’s a great place to connect with friends. It enables me to stay connected with a lot more people than I probably would be able to in the “real” world. Facebook isn’t perfect, but in my opinion, it is the only show in town for my social networking needs.

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The blogosphere is pulsating with ferocity this morning. I have about 50 potential posts floating around in the soup that makes up my consciousness…

Random Item number 1: This isn’t a link but I really want to post that I am super excited, happy, giddy, etc. that this Sunday, the 25th of March will be the 2 year anniversary for me and Wendy!

Random Item number 2: I just signed up to be the host for the Erase Racism Carnival in November of 2007. I am very excited, nervous, and exuberant about this opportunity.

Random Item number 3: I have cable creep that resembles the vine-laden jungles of Costa Rica. Fortunately, Macinstruct has a great tutorial on managing cable creep.

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PaperClip Communications is sponsoring a technology summit on Cyber Communities at the University of Tampa in January. I’ll be presenting two sessions on student development theory and the positive aspects of online communities/social networking sites. I’m charged with bringing a positive spin to the summit. I have two hours to educate participants that sites like Facebook and MySpace can add value to a student’s collegiate experience.

The irony of my PaperClip presentation is that they contacted me after they read this post. In the post I expressed my concerns regarding the vilification of technology within student affairs.

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