I wasn't going to write about politics again. But it's all that's in my brain today. It was all the tweeting during last night's episode of Q & A and being home today with the radio on and reading Kerry-Anne Walsh's book, The Stalking of Julia Gillard...so here we are.
This week's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has announced a proposal to reform the Australian Labor Party's rules governing the election of leader, putting more power in the hands of members. Ordinarily I'd be thinking this is a good thing, but its announcement was tainted when Rudd stated it would prevent a leader being told, "OK sunshine, it's over."
This little post-script made it clear that the rush of reformist's zeal gripping the nation's PM had less to do with democracy and was more about himself; after all, he's had the last three years to raise such ideas. If they'd been adopted though, Julia Gillard may still be Prime Minister which wouldn't have been very convenient for Rudd.
Thought I'd share my tweets from last night when there was a lot of discussion about the proposed changes.
9:42pm: Rank & file members need honest reporting to make decisions on leadership. Um, anyone seeing the flaw?
9:45pm: Unions are made up of ordinary working people. Don't get much more grassroots than that v #qanda
That was in response to Malcolm Turnbull's assertions that the Liberal Party is a grassroots party.
9:48pm: Is now the time to talk about a Republic where we can truly choose our head of state?
Again, in response to cries about the Australian people's "right" to choose our Prime Minister. We don't have that right. We elect a local member to the House of Representatives. The party which has the most local members wins government! Whoever is the leader of the party with the most members is the Prime Minister. The leader of the both major parties is chosen by a collegiate vote of the parliamentary party. Last time I checked.
9:50pm: Stop the quotes.
In response to sloganeering ("Stop the Boats") rather than policy making on the vexed issue of asylum seekers.
9:57pm: This discussion wouldn't be needed if position of PM should never have been cheapened in the first place.
Well that one was obviously composed in a hurry! But you get my drift.
9:58pm: The PM is NOT chosen by the people whichever party is elected Malcolm!
See above. "Malcolm" refers to Malcolm Turnbull.
10:04pm: Haven't we been in an election campaign since we elected a hung parliament?
Again, Mr Turnbull moved me to this tweet as he said that the ALP should either be governing or be campaigning.
10:10pm: I don't watch parliamentary debates. Too much shouting.
Turnbull again as he defended his leader, Tony Abbott's refusal to debate the Prime Minister anywhere but in the parliamentary chamber. Seriously.
10:11pm: Remote/regional health education and service requires symmetrical broadband.
Six months ago I had never heard the term "symmetrical broadband", now the lack of it keeps me awake at night. Malcolm Turnbull's belief that there isn't a need for fast speeds for both upload and download to the internet is just plain wrong. A mental health education program I am currently managing provides education to nursing, medical and allied health students in a regional area. We currently limp along on domestic broadband and often the service fails. This needs to be fixed.
10:23pm: What colour was the army in Egypt?
Ok, this one was lost in translation. As they talked about opposition plans to tackle climate change by killing emissions trading and introducing a green army, I visualised the green army turning on the government demanding action. See the link?
10:30pm: The questions are making more sense than the answers tonight.
I tuned out, frustrated at the lack of clarity in thought, speech and action.
So that was my night. No tweets up on the screen this week (I had one the previous week). It's an interesting way to interact and see others' reactions.
Are you on Twitter? What do you tweet about?
You can follow me @divacultura
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Today.
Today I was working in a room without windows.
Today I was working in a room with no air.
How can anyone perform at their best in this environment?
The sandwiches were nice.
*****
One day I would like this to happen:
I would arrive at Flinders Street Station.
I would check the monitors to see which platform my train is leaving from.
I would go to that platform.
The train would leave from that platform.
If for any reason, something happened, or I had a question, there would be helpful and informed staff who would tell me about what was happening. Happily. Helpfully.
It didn't happen today.
This happened today:
I arrived at Flinders Street Station.
I checked the monitors to see which platform my train was leaving from.
I had just missed the Williamstown train, but the Laverton train was leaving in about six minutes from platform 10.
I went to platform 10.
Upon arrival at platform 10, there was no information on the platform monitor saying that the next train leaving on that platform was the Laverton train. A disembodied voice announced that the Laverton train would be leaving from platform 8 or 9.
I sighed and proceeded to complete my daily exploration of platforms 8 - 12.
The sign said platform 8.
The train that arrived on platform 8 was a Frankston train.
The Williamstown train left from platform 9.
All of this happened within the space of about six minutes.
I saw staff on other platforms.
One day I would like it to be different.
*****
Today, Yarra Trams responded to yesterday's blog post about dangerously overcrowded tram platforms in Melbourne city.
They responded on Twitter after I tweeted the post to them. (@yarratrams).
They told me they've tried things to "regulate passenger flow", but it's a difficult spot.
I asked them what they're currently doing.
They asked me if they could refer the post to the "safety people" as they may find some of the suggestions".
I don't know what they're currently doing because they didn't answer my question and you can't tell by looking.
*****
Today I received this email from Yarra Trams in response to the feedback I lodged on their website about the issue of overcrowding:
Today I was working in a room with no air.
How can anyone perform at their best in this environment?
The sandwiches were nice.
*****
One day I would like this to happen:
I would arrive at Flinders Street Station.
I would check the monitors to see which platform my train is leaving from.
I would go to that platform.
The train would leave from that platform.
If for any reason, something happened, or I had a question, there would be helpful and informed staff who would tell me about what was happening. Happily. Helpfully.
It didn't happen today.
This happened today:
I arrived at Flinders Street Station.
I checked the monitors to see which platform my train was leaving from.
I had just missed the Williamstown train, but the Laverton train was leaving in about six minutes from platform 10.
I went to platform 10.
Upon arrival at platform 10, there was no information on the platform monitor saying that the next train leaving on that platform was the Laverton train. A disembodied voice announced that the Laverton train would be leaving from platform 8 or 9.
I sighed and proceeded to complete my daily exploration of platforms 8 - 12.
The sign said platform 8.
The train that arrived on platform 8 was a Frankston train.
The Williamstown train left from platform 9.
All of this happened within the space of about six minutes.
I saw staff on other platforms.
One day I would like it to be different.
*****
Today, Yarra Trams responded to yesterday's blog post about dangerously overcrowded tram platforms in Melbourne city.
They responded on Twitter after I tweeted the post to them. (@yarratrams).
They told me they've tried things to "regulate passenger flow", but it's a difficult spot.
I asked them what they're currently doing.
They asked me if they could refer the post to the "safety people" as they may find some of the suggestions".
I don't know what they're currently doing because they didn't answer my question and you can't tell by looking.
*****
Today I received this email from Yarra Trams in response to the feedback I lodged on their website about the issue of overcrowding:
"Thank you for contacting Yarra Trams customer feedback team.
Following a determination of the issue you have raised, the matter has been referred to the appropriate area for review.
A detailed response will be provided to you upon completion of our investigations.
Once again thank you for contacting Yarra Trams and allowing us the opportunity to respond to your feedback."
Today I pondered the second sentence of that email.
*****
Today I received no response or acknowledgement of these issues from Robert Doyle, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
*****
Today I thought about the teachers who were on strike in Victoria today.
Today I wondered why it's so hard for teachers to be respected and remunerated for their valuable work.
Today I thought about wonderful teachers I was fortunate to have during my schooling; teachers who changed my life in some way.
*****
Today I shared a lovely, simple meal cooked by a dear friend.
*****
Today was a great day, with all its imperfection.
How was your day, today?
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
The earth moved - rocking the suburbs.
It's not often that I'm sitting in my lounge and the earth moves, but that's exactly what happened last night. It's probably old news that Victoria was hit with a 5.3 earthquake and the epicentre over in Moe is still feeling aftershocks.
I heard a rumbling and then a slight shudder which felt very odd. Then there were several bangs and shakes - it felt like a truck was repeatedly ramming the building. It was very violent and, well, unsettling. Nothing fell off my walls. I hoped that it might shake my resident mouse out of hiding, but that didn't happen.
Once it was clear it had stopped and nothing was broken I went outside and ran into my neighbours. We were all looking for confirmation that other people had felt it too and we weren't having some strange hallucination. We checked to see if anything had fallen off the building and checked to see that everyone was okay.
My downstairs neighbour bid us goodnight with the comment, "It's been nice bonding with the neighbours over a natural disaster!"
I went inside and opened up Twitter and turned on the ABC radio. My twitter feed confirmed there had been an earthquake. I was able to gain information and quickly knew the strength of the quake, how widespread it had been. I received enquiries to check on my welfare from far and wide.
Once it was clear that there had been nothing serious, the twitter conversation turned to humour and a discussion about the challenge twitter poses to mainstream media. We were all gathering information from each other and knew the story long before stories started to appear on media websites. That's hard to compete with.
Callers to ABC radio sounded confounded and reached for the words to describe their experience. One man was quite animated in his description, saying that it was "incredible!" and "The big TV in my room? Well, it moved a little bit!"
Apparently the quake is one of the strongest experienced in this area. I've felt a few tremors before, but nothing like last night. Compared to somewhere like Christchurch, this was a little tickle. It was enough for me! I can't imagine how frightening it must be to be in a prolonged, strong earthquake.
Have you ever experienced an earthquake?
I heard a rumbling and then a slight shudder which felt very odd. Then there were several bangs and shakes - it felt like a truck was repeatedly ramming the building. It was very violent and, well, unsettling. Nothing fell off my walls. I hoped that it might shake my resident mouse out of hiding, but that didn't happen.
Once it was clear it had stopped and nothing was broken I went outside and ran into my neighbours. We were all looking for confirmation that other people had felt it too and we weren't having some strange hallucination. We checked to see if anything had fallen off the building and checked to see that everyone was okay.
My downstairs neighbour bid us goodnight with the comment, "It's been nice bonding with the neighbours over a natural disaster!"
I went inside and opened up Twitter and turned on the ABC radio. My twitter feed confirmed there had been an earthquake. I was able to gain information and quickly knew the strength of the quake, how widespread it had been. I received enquiries to check on my welfare from far and wide.
Once it was clear that there had been nothing serious, the twitter conversation turned to humour and a discussion about the challenge twitter poses to mainstream media. We were all gathering information from each other and knew the story long before stories started to appear on media websites. That's hard to compete with.
Callers to ABC radio sounded confounded and reached for the words to describe their experience. One man was quite animated in his description, saying that it was "incredible!" and "The big TV in my room? Well, it moved a little bit!"
Apparently the quake is one of the strongest experienced in this area. I've felt a few tremors before, but nothing like last night. Compared to somewhere like Christchurch, this was a little tickle. It was enough for me! I can't imagine how frightening it must be to be in a prolonged, strong earthquake.
Have you ever experienced an earthquake?
Monday, 12 March 2012
In the flow
I've spent most of my waking hours today sharing lunch with a friend of mine. My friend asked if she could buy me lunch and pick my brains. Naturally, I said yes.
Over some great food and coffee in one of my favourite Yarraville cafes (the Corner Shop) we spent a few hours talking about our skills and our experiences finding our way in the world as freelance multi-taskers. It's a compliment to be thought of as someone who has something worth sharing and is of value to another person on a similar path. The sharing flows both ways in a conversation like this.
I always find myself thinking about what I've done from a different angle as a result of one of these conversations. Best of all, it helps me refine my thinking. I usually know exactly why I've made particular decisions but being asked to articulate this can help sharpen the thinking and gain a different perspective on something. All of this happened today - and more!
It's great to be in the flow. You know, when things arise as you need them. Introductions happen easily. Clients pay on time and refer you to other people. New opportunities land right in your lap. It feels like the ideas come to you. After some turbulence a couple of weeks ago it feels great to be in the flow again. Being out of the flow means getting bumped into, wearing a frown and feeling nervous about things. This is not happy territory and therefore it isn't sustainable.
During the course of our conversation we turned to the subject of our blogs and social media presence. We each had recommendations for the other to look up. We both have been conscious about our online presence for a while, so we share a common language. At one point we both realised we'd been talking about social media contacts as though they are real people...oh, hang on, they ARE real people. So are we! Even if we've never met each other, there's still an awareness of who they are and what they know.
Yesterday I met a woman who had joined facebook last week. We pondered this, imagining how different our freelance lives would be without platforms like our blogs, twitter accounts, linked in profiles and facebook pages. And that's before we even start thinking about our websites and domain names.
There's a lot of discussion about the value of social media and whether it's helpful, healthy or a time waster. The very strong theme of the discussion I had with my friend today was the notion of "reciprocity". Here are my top reciprocity tips for creating "flow":
1. My personal practice with every referral I receive from a contact, is to take time to personally thank the person who made the referral - even if nothing concrete comes of it. And if someone is taking time to forward your material on, say thank you! Appreciation costs nothing and builds goodwill. Goodwill is another way to think of "the flow".
2. Find out about people in your networks. Ask them what they offer. You might not need their services, but someone who approaches you might be looking. You'll be in a position to give them a referral.
3. Ask for testimonials after you've completed a piece of work. Linked In makes this really easy to do. Ask for permission to also publish the testimonial on your website. People want to know that you can deliver.
4. Don't stand on the sidelines. I have lots of conversations with people who tell me they don't understand Twitter. I tell them the best way to learn about Twitter (or any social media) is to participate. I usually hear that they've joined Twitter, but then they don't say anything - they want to "watch" for a while. Soon they close the account proclaiming that they don't get it and wonder what all the fuss is about. Social media is not for voyeurs.
If you're at the start of this journey, talk to people who are already doing it. It's worth thinking strategically before you set everything up. (I LOVE talking to people.) And I'd love to hear your ideas!
How do you build goodwill and keep it flowing?
*My friend is a whizz at helping people (especially artists) maximise their web presence. You can pay her a visit over at http://rosewintergreen.com/ Her "Top Tool Tuesday" posts are very handy. Don't forget to tell her I sent you!
Over some great food and coffee in one of my favourite Yarraville cafes (the Corner Shop) we spent a few hours talking about our skills and our experiences finding our way in the world as freelance multi-taskers. It's a compliment to be thought of as someone who has something worth sharing and is of value to another person on a similar path. The sharing flows both ways in a conversation like this.
I always find myself thinking about what I've done from a different angle as a result of one of these conversations. Best of all, it helps me refine my thinking. I usually know exactly why I've made particular decisions but being asked to articulate this can help sharpen the thinking and gain a different perspective on something. All of this happened today - and more!
It's great to be in the flow. You know, when things arise as you need them. Introductions happen easily. Clients pay on time and refer you to other people. New opportunities land right in your lap. It feels like the ideas come to you. After some turbulence a couple of weeks ago it feels great to be in the flow again. Being out of the flow means getting bumped into, wearing a frown and feeling nervous about things. This is not happy territory and therefore it isn't sustainable.
During the course of our conversation we turned to the subject of our blogs and social media presence. We each had recommendations for the other to look up. We both have been conscious about our online presence for a while, so we share a common language. At one point we both realised we'd been talking about social media contacts as though they are real people...oh, hang on, they ARE real people. So are we! Even if we've never met each other, there's still an awareness of who they are and what they know.
Yesterday I met a woman who had joined facebook last week. We pondered this, imagining how different our freelance lives would be without platforms like our blogs, twitter accounts, linked in profiles and facebook pages. And that's before we even start thinking about our websites and domain names.
There's a lot of discussion about the value of social media and whether it's helpful, healthy or a time waster. The very strong theme of the discussion I had with my friend today was the notion of "reciprocity". Here are my top reciprocity tips for creating "flow":
1. My personal practice with every referral I receive from a contact, is to take time to personally thank the person who made the referral - even if nothing concrete comes of it. And if someone is taking time to forward your material on, say thank you! Appreciation costs nothing and builds goodwill. Goodwill is another way to think of "the flow".
2. Find out about people in your networks. Ask them what they offer. You might not need their services, but someone who approaches you might be looking. You'll be in a position to give them a referral.
3. Ask for testimonials after you've completed a piece of work. Linked In makes this really easy to do. Ask for permission to also publish the testimonial on your website. People want to know that you can deliver.
4. Don't stand on the sidelines. I have lots of conversations with people who tell me they don't understand Twitter. I tell them the best way to learn about Twitter (or any social media) is to participate. I usually hear that they've joined Twitter, but then they don't say anything - they want to "watch" for a while. Soon they close the account proclaiming that they don't get it and wonder what all the fuss is about. Social media is not for voyeurs.
If you're at the start of this journey, talk to people who are already doing it. It's worth thinking strategically before you set everything up. (I LOVE talking to people.) And I'd love to hear your ideas!
How do you build goodwill and keep it flowing?
*My friend is a whizz at helping people (especially artists) maximise their web presence. You can pay her a visit over at http://rosewintergreen.com/ Her "Top Tool Tuesday" posts are very handy. Don't forget to tell her I sent you!
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