Blame Drew’s Cancer For My Attitude of Gratitude

August 8, 2009 Who IS this hipster? Meet Drew Olanoff. Media geek. Mobile guru. Inspiration. Yesterday I wrote about kids' propensity to get their yucks at someone else's expense fostering an 'ouch, I can relate to that' empathy to bring humor to each life lesson... Today I want to focus on one of my favorite themes of 'turning a negative into a positive' and using new … [Read more...]

Pity Party? We Have An App For That!

August 6, 2009 Life’s most embarrassing moments, ill-fated bloopers, and misfortunes of OTHER people seem to rank high on kids’ comic-tragedy hit list, so it comes as no surprise that FML would sweep the teen scene in misery loves company user generated content. I could cite Psychology Today and get all analytical about basic human desire for empathy, understanding and … [Read more...]

Social Media ABC’s: An International Opportunity

June 23, 2009 Changeblogger and informal learning pro Jasmin Tragas, (also one of my fellow NextNow Collaboratory global gal pals and co-contributors to the Age of Conversation Gavin Heaton and Drew McClellan's collaborative social media project for Variety, the Children’s charity) has put together a stunningly simple alphabet slide show that's Sesame-Street-easy in imparting … [Read more...]

Neda: Iconic, Insta-Media Shifts Us To Visual Story Threads

June 22, 2009 Youth culture is highly visual and iconic, no doubt about it. According to Graham Brown's article, Youth in Iran, about 60% of the population in Iran is under 25, so it's no surprise that the death in the streets of 26-year old “Neda” has become iconic very, very fast. As students and global citizens rally using social media mobilization to protest the … [Read more...]

Celebrity Star Power To Benefit Urban Battlefields

May 24, 2009 See this “Tweet” at left? That’s the power of Twitter. Now get this…I’m not even ON Twitter. You heard right. No Twitter account. That means your content can be ‘tweeted’ even if you’re not the one chirping. When I see Twitter’s instantaneous ability to get the word out, whether it’s Sting flying in to perform at Narada Michael Walden’s superstar … [Read more...]