It s a shame I've been sitting on this book for about two years now. A friend of mine gave me Never Eat Alone , by Keith Ferrazzi a couple years ago (thanks Rey), and it s been on my bookcase ever since. It was resting there not because I didn't want to read it, but because I already had so many others in the pipeline. I finally got around to reading it last month and I definitely recommend it. In very simple terms, Ferrazzi explains why networking is important and how to do it. From how to make call lists to planning dinners to personal branding to goal setting, it s all here. He also maintains a valuable blog .
Inevitably there will be times when you have setbacks or things don t go your way. Maybe you didn't get a job you thought you were sure to get. Maybe you lost a job unexpectedly, didn't win a contract, or lost a major client. Your car always seems to break down right after you've had some other unexpected expense. These kinds of situations immediately place us in crisis. They don t feel good, but sometimes they re what we need in order to grow. The beautiful thing about crises is that they force us to take a step back and reevaluate what s going on in our lives and rediscover what we truly want and need. When we get over that initial shock and feeling of disappointment, we might realize that maybe that job wasn't really the best for us anyway. Maybe, just maybe, that wasn't what you really wanted to spend your life doing. Maybe that friend was holding you back instead of pushing you forward. The way I deal with crises of these sorts is simple: If something doesn't go my way professionally, I try to create a situation that would be more rewarding than the situation originally planned. A while ago, I was offered a job that looked very promising. After I accepted the offer, they pushed the start date back three times, later informing me (via e-mail) that they wanted to bring me on in the near future but I should feel free to explore other options. I was extremely disappointed. I felt disrespected and angry, but decided to make the best of the situation and follow my dream of working internationally. I then flew to Santiago, Chile and had great professional and personal experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise. Later, reflecting back on the original opportunity, I realized that working for a company that avoids a start date three times and then can t pick up the phone to explain the situation is probably not where I need to spend my time. Use setbacks as an opportunity to put your goals in order and act on them. In the moment, it s difficult to look at a setback as temporary, but they are. They happen to everybody. It s how you respond to them that will determine how they affect you.
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After doing some research on the digital divide, I’ve found that, although there are numerous blog posts and scholarly articles discussing the issue, there are relatively few blogs and websites dedicated to it. The few that exist, such as Digital Divide Institute, focus primarily on alleviating the gap between those who have access to broadband services and those who do not. The ones who have blogs largely haven’t updated them with any consistency. However, rather than focus on the dearth of online attention being paid to the digital divide, I see opportunities to increase the effects of past and ongoing efforts.
Use a combined research method and showcase results
As mentioned before, there are several blog posts, papers, discussions, videos, games, and scholarly and peer-reviewed articles that specifically address the causes, effects, and possible remedies for the digital divide. Some take an economic perspective while some see it as a social justice issue, while still others take the perspective that it’s all about infrastructure. I have not yet found anything that takes a systems approach to analyzing the problem. By compiling these articles and links and putting them in one place, one can build a Primer to the Digital Divide with varied perspectives and forms of media (Expect to see a post like this coming soon from me). Other primary research such as interviews, and secondary research such as codifying magazine references, along with other research methods can provide invaluable information upon which people can act.
Collaborate with the people already working on the issue
As activists, we often love to reinvent the wheel. It makes sense that we do so—it’s how we often approach issues. We see a problem. We ask why. We move into action. However, rather than build an all-new website, performing all the research, and writing enough content to fill a new blog, I could instead write guest blog posts for each of the organizations already working on the digital divide, or help develop a collaborative program with other organizations such as Center for Media Justice and MAG-Net (Media Action Grassroots Network).
I won’t dedicate much time providing website data for each website I found, but rather give you a few general observations.
- The audience is primarily female
- The audience is primarily between the ages of 24-34
- These blogs and websites are not very well traveled
- The use of mixed media is surprisingly lacking from many of the sites (Center for Media Justice is an exception).