Resolution Tools

December 31, 2008 § Leave a comment

Now is the time where many of us look back and take stock of the previous twelve months and set goals for the year to come. My beloved and I have a tradition of sharing our individual objectives and making plans together on New Year’s Eve, so I am now making preparations. With my penchant for research, I have discovered the following resources that can help give shape to making New Year’s resolutions:

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2009 be peaceful.

Twitter Love and Potential

December 21, 2008 § Leave a comment

Some new (or relatively new) people and organizations have recently joined Twitter, and I’m glad to see them here. I look forward to seeing their tweets, and possibly nominating them for a Shorty Award next year:

  • Bitch Magazine — they’ve been on Twitter for a while, but just recently started tweeting in earnest (BTW, great you guys are here and are more active — I am a long-time fan. But I sincerely hope that you will soon start tweeting more content than just about your new Bee Hive giving circle. And this is coming from a fundraising professional.)
  • National Center for Lesbian Rights — the leaders of the Marriage Equality movement.
  • Walker Art Center — one of the best art museums in the world that happens to be in my home town.
  • Plenty Magazine — a green lifestyle magazine.
  • Calpernia Addams — America’s Transexual Sweetheart.
  • Sister Helen Prejean — Anti death-penalty activist and all around inspiration. She’s been on Twitter for a while, too, and has recently become a little more active.

There are some folks already on Twitter who I wish would be a little more active (including some friends of mine, @ecat, @squirrelguurl, @ggumlock, @calimex, and there are a few others I could name):

  • Jenny Holzer — while I understand this isn’t the real Jenny Holzer, Twitter is still a great medium for her truisms. Whoever is behind it, I hope to see more of it.
  • Peter Sagal — host of Wait, Wait — Don’t Tell Me. Would love to follow, but he’s so sporadic. Sagal seems to have a little more activity of late, so he may be worth following again.
  • United Church of Christ — my denomination. They tweet regularly, but I’d like to see a little more activity.

Here are some people I wish I could follow on Twitter:

  • Cornell West — it would just be so awesome if here were tweeting his spiritual genius and love.
  • Anne Lamott — writer and social commentator.
  • Ted Kooser — former US Poet Laureate.
  • Bill Moyers — journalist and public commentator.
  • Anne Matthewson — someone I follow over on Ma.gnolia who I think has a brilliant blog. She likes quotations, and I think Twitter would be a great medium for her.

There are others I’m sure I’ll think of that I’d like to see on Twitter. I’ll keep my eye out!

Shorty Awards

December 20, 2008 § 5 Comments

Now that I know about the Shorty Awards, I am spending a little time this morning thinking who I want to nominate in different categories, and what my criteria is.

I am finding that I like best the Twitterers that are smart (but I won’t follow you if you’re not, so I guess that goes without saying) have useful and/or entertaining content, and who don’t overuse auto-feeds. I like to see a little personality come through. Personal and practical, and any combination thereof. And for my vote, it helps if you have a sense of humor and that you occasionally interact with me (not to be too self-absorbed about it).

I might suggest to the shorty awards that they create a couple of categories:

  • Positivity
  • Writing
  • Community Building
  • Citizen Journalism (which I suppose could be lumped in w/ news, but the main stream news outlets are *very* different.)
  • Activism
  • Social Change
  • Reference and Libraries
  • Emergency Response
  • Creativity
  • Television

If these categories existed, I would nominate the following Twetters:

There are others who I think are great for these categories (and the categories the Shorty Awards have already established), too. If you want to more Twitter feeds that I think are worth following, check it out.

I might also suggest getting rid of the Personal category because it’s a little too mushy. And from what I can tell from the nominees that I checked out in that category, all of them would fit into another category.

I think the Shorty Awards are a great idea to inspire Tweeters to think about their content and how they are using Twitter. I know that it has got me thinking! I find myself nominating people using criteria that I use for my own tweets. I look forward to seeing who wins, and I look forward to finding more interesting people to follow.

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