This is my Italy this summer. This picture. The memory. It pretty much sums it all up, though I am sure there will be few more in my portfolio…It was taken during a walk in a small town of San Giovanni Rotondo – famous in my homeland for its Saint, Farther Pio. We were invited to the wedding of our friend, who later on has also asked me to take photos at her wedding. Some of you know that I was a bit worried about this role…I do not like taking photos of people in such a crucial moment of their lives, it’s a huge responsibility for an artist usually very strongly driven by her moods (see pipes and landscapes do submit themselves to our fussiness, people do it only during long photo sessions). Yes, despite of the worry at the back of my head I really enjoyed the first walk in Anna’s town, the discovery that a Saint close to my Catholic family’s heart comes from it and the new approach to Italy – the openness to “go with the flow”, breathe in the sun and the air, to see and try to understand the country a bit better now, with the little glimpse into one of its celebrations… I like this photo because it contains a few notions I am obsessive about in my photography and nowadays in my life. The need to slow down! I took this photo walking, almost rushing towards the old part of town in preparations to the wedding day and photo shoot in few locations Anna really likes. So I basically turned my camera and shot it while walking – you can see that the harmony of the picture is a bit off…but do not be fooled…I was actually already back then after the small “STOP” sign in the background, just as much as I was after the four men sitting at the main square. It’s amazing how much a human brain can see in one second if we are actually looking! This image is the representation of my current need to slow down, just for one second, sit down, enjoy the company and the sun. The respect towards the older generations! There is something almost ancient in the fact that our grandparents see the world so much wiser than we do. I have always looked up to my grandparents, and somehow always looked for older women and med to follow and learn from…Equally I have very often dreamt of the day I will be sitting with my grandchildren in our garden telling them old Grimm tales or simple anecdotes from our lives, or maybe just stare and meditate the noises of nature. In any case I admire the calmness and ability to distance yourself from the speed of reality that the older generations seem to maintain. The view of the world through movement and small details combined into a bigger picture! The “Stop” sing was one details, but there was so much more…the dept of the image, the street behind their backs, the skies and the architecture…their calm postures and…their hats! I simply love everything about this moment, really THEIR moment if I think of it. I am so glad I took it with me and I can share it now…

A few weeks ago I was heading the social media coverage of IoF National Convention so I travelled up to London equipped with quite a few devices, I had a booked hotel and…a Vodafone dongle. It all went well up to the point when I realised (evening before the event, in my hotel room) that I cannot access this very blog (sylwiakorsak.com) from my Vodafone dongle. So this is the story so far…and I beg you, if you have ever worked on the customer service line (I have!) you might not want to read this, as it will be a bit of a rant. I am simply confused…

Firstly I remembered that a few years ago my friend, @benwerd pointed out on Twitter that he cannot access my blog from Oxford Tube’s public wifi. Then I connected the dots remembering that I could not access it myself but assumed a temporary error. I checked and yes, I cannot access the blog from public wifi on the bus between Oxford and London. I have written to Vodafone asking for support on this (stating clearly that my personal blog is not accessible from my dongle and public Vodafone wifi) and I received a message, which for a woman who teaches kids at primary schools safe Internet practice…well, at least surreal:

Hello Sylwia,

Thank you for contacting Vodafone with regard to removing the Content control Bar from your account.

I understand that you are unable to access facebook.

As you wish to remove the content control bar from your account, you need to get back to us with a high resolution scanned copy of your age proof.

Once we receive your age proof we shall be able to lift the Content Control Bar from the account.

Alternatively you can visit the store, with your age proof and get the bar removed from your account.

Also, for any further query in the future, please get back to us with the below mentioned details for the verification of your account:

– Details of the last 3 dialled numbers

-Details of the last 3 top-ups

-20 digit SIM card number

Once I’ve received this, I’ll be more than happy to help.

I hope the above information is useful.

Regards,

It took me a few rounds of e-mails to finally convince Vodafone that it is my personal blog, not Facebook I struggle with and believe that Vodafone has banned my personal blog to their pre-paid dongle and public wifi users. I reached out to very helpful Twitter service (@VodafoneUK) and still was directed to the shop to have a chat about it. In the meantime, the email customer service got back to me asking me to do the same so I thought, well, they must know better. I went to the shop.  Oxford based shop had their network down, so I was told I need to call them instead. And here – note it as it IS important – I wanted to show the shop assistant the problem using my Vodafone dongle – but oh miracle – I COULD access my blog! Happy that I can now blog remotely, yet puzzled that someone has removed the content control off my account without even seeing my ID (maybe simply seeing my photo on sylwiakorsak.com?;)) I had nothing left but to ask about the reasons behind content control in this particular case mentioning that I am a blogger and will post about it, when the Vodafone representative got a bit worried and said “I cannot disclose the information about content control, you need to call our customer service”. But hey, in the meantime Vodafone got back to me over e-mail once again asking me to go to the shop and show my ID (but why? I can access my blog now?) At this stage once again I had the surreal feeling that no one is really reading my e-mails (I ave several times explained I need info on why many access points ban my blog and why, not just my dongle) and asked the Vodafone e-mail customer service not to write to me again:

In the meantime someone must have fixed the blog…now, thanks to your kind Twitter customer service I wanted not to blog about this quality of your email customer service, but sadly…I will. I cannot believe no one even clicked through the site to check what I mean….It’s not about me – no one could not access my blog through YOUR network.

Please do not write to me again.

Tonight, while browsing iPhone deals I was offered to chat to Vodafone! Ah, I thought, I did not try this one! It started funny, but turned out to be a pretty serious, worrying and even more confusing conversation:

Sujan: Hello, you’re chatting with Sujan, one of Vodafone’s online customer service specialists.  May I take your name please?

You: Hi

You: My name is Sylwia Presley

Sujan: Hi Sylwia

You: Hi, I have a complicated issue and I cannot resolve it since a while now…

Sujan: I will help you?

Sujan: ..

You: Actually I just found the case no. from your e-mail customer service…#6832214 ?

You: But let me explain…

Sujan: Yes please

You: I purchased a Vodafone broadband top up dongle recently to use it at a conference where I was working on a social media coverage

You: but I realised that I cannot access my personal blog sylwiakorsak.com from it

You: so I made a complaint

Sujan: Okay

You: If you check the case #6832214 you will see that I was asked to come in to the shop and prove my age…

You: however…

You: my blog was inaccessible from Stagecoach wifi (your product) as well

You: and my fellow bloggers using your connection could not access it

You: so I asked for a review of my case, but your e-mail cs keeps asking me to prove my age…

Sujan: Sylwia, basically that is according to the UK government policy that you need to show your age proof at the Vodafone store and they will remove the content control

Sujan: We have to abide the policies,

You: I understand, but why is my personal blog banned from the public wifi?

Sujan: May I have the dongle number please

You: let me find it..

You: hm.. I have it packed for travel, give me a sec please…

Sujan: Because, public wifi has a access of very limited websites, so that pepole should not access restricted access

Sujan: Restricted websites

You: why is my personal blog on the list of restricted websites?

You: xxxxxxxxxx is my number

Sujan: As per the offcom regulations, Vodafone is not the organisation who decides this, we just have to abide the policies

Sujan: Let me check your number

You: then who decided about that?

You: or let me rephrase that – does it mean that users of public wifi can access only particular, very generic websites and not personal domains?

You: thank you

Sujan: Yes

You: why can I not access my personal domain from my personal dongle? is that for the same reason?

Sujan: Yes, this is for the same reason

You: do you have on your website somewhere the explanation of content control by any chance?

Sujan: You just have to visit the Vodafone store and they will remove the restricted access in fraction of seconds

You: for some reason my broadband provider, BT, does not ban my personal websites, and I am assuming they are following the same government directives?

You: See, I personally am more interested in understanding why it is not accessible in the first place…

Sujan: Please give me a moment so that I can check this for you

You: thank you

Sujan: However, I cannot comment on any other service provider as every indvidual service provider has their own policies

You: sure, I can understand that.

Sujan: Is your dongle working now

You: I am using BT connection now

You: (at home, on wifi)

Sujan: Okay Please give me a moment

Sujan: Can I call you

You: in case if you are looking into it, I would just like to point out that without having to show my ID someone on your side has taken off the content control from my dongle…

Sujan: And explain you please

You: sure

Sujan: May I have your number please

At this stage I got a phone call from Sujan, who explained again that if it Ofcom regulations, that he will not kindly remove my content control (I explained I teach safe Internet practice, but he DID NOT see my ID!) and if I need more info about why my blog, in particular, is on the list of restricted websites or whatever the process of applying content control is I need to go to the local store. So, just when I thought I will give up on this, I got even more interested in the policies and procedures which led to the fact that Vodafone public wifi users and pre-paid dongle users cannot access my blog unless they show their ID in the store. So, before my next rambling post let me wrap it up for you: asking Vodafone for e-mail support is a lost cause, going to the shop is risky (the system might be down, and the crucial info is unavailable), chatting and talking on Twitter seems to be the most personal and human approach, yet it worries me – it is inconsistent how my access to my blog was handled (Vodafone still has not seen my ID and I could access my blog once, and I can now), I still do not understand why my personal blog was considered inappropriate by Vodafone (not BT, my home wifi provider for example) and what Ofcom has to do with it. Maybe one of my readers can help me out in the meantime?

The entire experience gave me many lessons. As a social media marketer, I cannot help but wonder why there is such a difference in the treatment of customers over Twitter and other channels. Twitter makes the experience more personal, but maybe there is the element of the public engagement where the person on the other side HAS to treat me seriously? Vodafone and BT are examples of companies that I personally admire for at least good will in following the Ofcom and other safe Internet practice regulations, and I am really happy about that. But I would equally like to be ensured that at least my UK based friends and readers can access my blog freely, and I am not sure they can…  I think the most important insight here is still the fact that we all depend on our Internet providers. It is great to have free or pretty affordable access to the web, but we all depend on our providers and their role in the way we experience the web access is crucial. Just putting aside the restrictive nature of Google and Facebook algorithm, I think it is important to remember that the providers of all Internet services are increasingly significant players in the development of the free information flow globally.

My two-year-old son spent this morning walking around the house saying, “The small one is the iPod. The big one is the iPad.” At 27 months, his grasp of technology is somewhat terrifying.

He is more than capable of turning on both the iPod and the iPad, unlocking the screen, and scrolling to find whatever app he wants to play with. Sometimes it’s Jelly Doodle… sometimes it’s Create A Car…  sometimes he just likes to tap on the clock and see what time it is in Melbourne. He can keep himself happy for hours tapping away on the touchscreen, and has even executed a couple of actions (perhaps by accident, but who knows) that I didn’t previously know about.

It is just as well that someone in the family is tech-literate because it is not a skill that his father or I have. In fact, it is one of the very few areas of discord in our marriage; we suffer from severe electronic incompatibility.

For two people who both pride themselves on being clear communicators, it is extraordinary that we seem unable to have even the simplest conversation about technology without it descending into an argument. With computers, in particular, it’s like we’re talking two different languages. My husband will ask me how to do something, but he asks in such a roundabout way that all I can do is stand and look at him blankly while I figure out what exactly it is he needs. Usually, it’s nothing more than how to add an attachment to an email, or re-name a file, so when I’ve eventually decoded his jargon, I’ll walk over and try to show him… but then he’ll get hacked off that I’m standing too close and breathing in his ear. So then I’ll stand a little further back, and try to talk him through it… but to anyone who’s not an IT expert, it’s pretty difficult to do that without seeing the screen. He shakes his head at me, and scowls, and shouts that he doesn’t see the menu option that I’m talking about. So I’ll offer to sit down and do it myself… but he’ll just keep grumbling for a minute before slamming his laptop shut, and muttering something about doing it ‘another time’.

(I feel the need to state at this point that my husband is a very lovely and not at all aggressive man… This just appears to be our weak spot.)

We have the same problem all over the house. My husband will accidentally sit on the remote control and make the TV screen go blank, and it’ll take half an hour of arguing before I can wrestle it out of his hands to fix the darn thing. He’ll unintentionally do something to his iPod that leaves it stuck playing the same track again and again… and I’ll find him jabbing his finger at it angrily, but achieving nothing. At the moment our printer is out of toner… and in all seriousness, he suggested buying a new one rather than trying to change the cartridge. Given the tension, it’s probably going to cause I am (almost) tempted to agree with him.

The thing is, nine times out of ten, when he wants help with something tech-related, I know how to do it, I just don’t know how to explain to him how to do it. I am quite sure he would say the same of me. Our electronic gulf is so wide, I am not sure there is much we can do about it, except keep muddling along and trying not to throw anything too big at each other. Remote controls are probably okay, laptops not so much.

Our great hope is that within a few years, our son will have advanced his skills even further, and he will be able to fix things for both of us. He can act as the mediator, the computer expert, keeper of the remote control, and changer of the toner cartridge. For that, the current smudgy fingerprints on my screen, and cookie crumbs on my keyboard are more than worth it.

I have just read @Lucyinnovation’s recent blog post on the ethics of sharing and I think it is a really good kick off for a larger discussion. I am placed in an interesting position between really highly experienced programmers, designers and social media marketers (early adopters); people who use social media tools and mobile devices to share with their smaller networks and my closest friends who use the Internet to the bare minimum. I think we need to learn to find the balance between off-line and online experiences and learn to communicate our personal take on those. Sometimes I really feel like just sitting with a cup of coffee in front of my amazing window with the view on the garden. Sometimes I feel like just switching the audioboo on to share the sublime noise of nature out there knowing that at least two of my good friends will be happy about that note. I do however agree with Lucy that we tend to be exposed to situations in which some of our friends tend to navigate over more to their interest in social spaces and technology itself than the very off-line experience itself. As I am making public the “Blog a Life” page of this blog preparing for sharing the process of my book writing, I think about the chapter on social interactions and ethics.

I usually apply the rule of “let’s talk about it”. It is actually something I have learned from on-line interactions more than anything. If I see a friend checking in on Facebook I ask them “what are you doing?” And move to instructions:”please do not tag me in your FB check-in” or “please mention that I am here too, so I do not have to do it and we can have a proper chat now”. If my friends talk too long about very “heavy”, geeky topics and I am not up for it, I give them time to enjoy it and when appropriate I am open about navigating the topics towards other areas of life. When I used to work as a technician for Nokia, we used to spend entire evenings chatting about the newest devices, software upgrades, testing new video and photo features, playing with at the time new true ringing tones…I felt almost trapped unable to move beyond Nokia world of conversations!  So I know how it feels and I do see it on a daily basis in public conversations.

What to do? Let me give you few starting points:

1. Asses quickly the situation and investigate others attitudes and needs – the best approach is to simply talk about everyone’s approach to social media and mobile sharing. Be respectful. Ask your friends about their take on the matter.

2. If you predict photo, video content or potential for geo-tagging (areas of social sharing that involve your privacy) state clearly your take on it. Educate others on how they can access and use your video, photo content for their own posts after the meeting/event. Let them know your take on Facebook tagging.

3. Express your own take on the balance between off-line and virtual in particular situation. Manage other’s expectations. Tell them how you feel about the fact they are typing on their phone. Ask them if it’s ok to post if you intend to do so.

4. Remain relevant. Do not preach. It takes a second to discuss constant texting or a small Facebook check-in. Move on to the quality off-line experience as soon as possible.

5. Enjoy the quality time and ensure others are able to do so too.

I guess it is a valid question though – to what extend do we need to accept other’s sharing habits fully? What if we really want to have 100% of their attention? Do you find yourself in a situation when it’s difficult to express your take on the fact that others talk to you with their mobiles on the table? (I still find it rude to see the device itself in some situations!). What are the best ways to handle any possible conflict?

I would love to know your thoughts!

General points:

It is really difficult to put together this one, as I have been involved in the Convention on so many levels, yet I think it is important to make a note of few points. On the way back from London I recorded few quick points to remember them when it comes to writing (apologies for the quality of the recording, iPadio is really bad but I had no stable wifi on the train). So just to repeat: I am really happy that quite a few people contributed to the social media coverage of the event. Our bloggers did a great job at the event: @PhilCampbell, @PCMCreative, @MartynSibley, @SteveBridger, @HowardLake, Jo Johnson. It is not easy to find time during such an intense series of sessions.I am really impressed with the work of IoF team – Ruth, Sarah, David, Paul, Adam, Clair, Ed, Emma, Katie, Ollie, Shayan, Shane. Each of them committed a little piece of their time but most of all pushed their own boundaries, took an active part in social media training and found their favourite tools. Some of them used it actively during the event, others used newly gained an understanding of social media to incorporate it in organisation and promotion of the event, others understood the importance of free Internet access and bloggers area. Without their openness and supportiveness, we would be still struggling to post single tweets! @NickinOxford and Goeff (@thephoneroom) were great in teaching people to tweet and solving other social media related issues. I have met so many interesting people, I have even joined the IoF! @LucyInnovation, @ALO365 and @keanearrow were the people I really wanted to meet personally for quite a while now. It’s always a good, warm feeling to chat to someone and realise that 1. they are genuine in their online presences, 2. meeting off-line is so much better!:) It’s a real privilege to know them. In my above podcast I made a personal note about @MelissaLeon and @AJLeon, so you can hear it there. A really inspiring couple of geeks!

My own blogging:

As for my own blogging, I like to use @colinemercer’s approach – “the good, the bad and the ugly” analysis:

The good: I managed to balance three identities – @natconvention, @nfpvoice and @presleysylwia. It means that now I have plenty to blog about in all venues, but it is achievable. As for Twitter – I think it’s a question of smart balance. On the first day we all needed to ensure that bloggers have all they need to post and access info so I was primarily focussing on Convention work. On Tuesday attendees increasingly needed support on Twitter and social media strategy, so I had to put on my Voice hat more often. On Wednesday, when both Convention and Voice presences were established, I could spend more time with people as Sylwia, the blogger. You might think it is crazy, but in every event, we work on, we do need a smart approach as all our identities need to benefit from each other but most of all – benefit the organisers and attendees.

The bad: I have small technical issues and I find it hard to forgive myself that I did not bring a tripod and did not check the battery life of my secondary video camera! Foolish, but lesson learned.

I did not network enough on the first day, which I regret. OK, I managed to meet all the bloggers and people I knew from Twitter, but as I look back now, I could have done more of it.

I did not think of engaging attendees who were there for their first time – something to consider in a strategy for every event!

The ugly: After 3 hrs of work on Storify the service crashed so I lost all the aggregated tweets and a great deal of precious at events time! I was using Curated.by as a backup but since Posterous does not like Flash, I could do nothing with the curated tweets! Which means I had to do it all over again and rearrange my work on the night. Well, lesson learned, save often and save it all! I am still glad that my rule of two backup tools proved useful, as I had all tweets curated, ready to be posted on Storify if needs are.

Vodafone. Well, this one deserves a separate post (and so there is one on the way) but shortly – I did not realise that Vodafone is ACTUALLY blocking my personal domain (sylwiakorsak.com) so I could not post in the evenings from my remote Vodafone wifi and really could not purchase a new dongle or MiFi. I do it now, but I do not like to leave live blogging on my personal site out. Voice blog came to the rescue, still, I could have had a better, more personal take on all days.

Feedback on IoF National Convention

Social Media. For the last few days, I have been asking many people for their opinions about the event. When it comes to the social media coverage I posted it on Voice blog, but I will repeat it here – we need more of it. We need more people involved, ready to tweet before they even register. We need everyone to embrace the potential to be able to make the most of the new channels – but only where we find them useful, not to overdo it. I do dream of twitter wall in each session room, free wifi and virtual interaction (just as we did in @AJLeon’s session, where we were able to ask questions coming from Twitter), but I know that it is all a slow process and can only hope that this year managed to speed it up a bit.

Organisation. The issue with overcrowded sessions is something that needs a solution and I am sure it will be addressed. I worry more about the newcomers. I think this year I really made the most of what IoF had to offer. Last year (my first Convention) I felt lost (if I put @SteveBridger’s and @HowardLake’s mentoring aside of course). There were few tweets on the topic and I think there are simple ways to make the newcomers prepared for the nature of the event.

The content of sessions. I was happy to see social media as almost a natural element of discussions – as opposed to last year when I managed to fall into the trap of “digital” and create the assumption that I work in e-mail marketing. So from what I see the general awareness of social media is better, we still associate it with particular silos (marketing, comm’s) and particular types of activities (paid FB ads for promotion). I think we need to grow wiser and start to embrace the real potential of social media by talking about content, relationships, trust, transparency, supporter loyalty, KPI’s and strategy (I know, the current dialogue in the UK seems to oppose that, I disagree, but lets at least discuss it based on good case studies), even social media for recruitment! All those topics are connected and we will need to see more specific case studies. I was happy to see commercial entities (Microsoft, Google) presenting, but I would like to see more practice than theory – at the end of the day we can really find all manuals to tools online, what we want to know is whether they work and how to optimise them for our own organisational purposes wisely. I want to see Microsoft and Intel present the strategy, process and results of their blogger engagement conducted when launching new products. I would also like to see more examples from local non-profits! I cannot believe we are not talking about ActionAidUK engaging bloggers and travelling with them to Brazil! We did not even mention Greenpeace and their supporter recruitment process (AirPlot campaign, Nestle, Barbie or recent Start Wars) – may be strictly not relevant to our fundraising arena but containing so many valuable insights, which would prevent us from reinventing the wheel. We need to also start talking about community management and social media for fundraising events – huge areas with quite a few good case studies already.

So yes, I am really looking forward to the next one and I hope to see more of everything: geeks, space in sessions, case studies and…geeks;)

I just had a great discussion with attendees of Media Camp Nottingham 4 on kids and technology. As I need to run to join my family, I will just include the slides and recording of the session, for now, hoping that I can add my points a bit later too! In the meantime, enjoy the bits below;) Thank you to the organisers for having me!

I know, I posted about it ages ago;) And yes, we did have our first event, however, we treated it as a pre-launch, basically initial meeting. But before I tell you more about the launch event, let me remind you the basics (taken from  the central website):

The Girl Geek Dinners were founded on the 16th August 2005 as a result of one girl geek who got annoyed and frustrated about being one of the only females attending technical events. She was tired of being assumed to be marketing, tired of constantly having to prove herself and decided that she just wanted a change and to be treated just the same as any other geek out there, gender and age aside.  After all to be geeky is to be intelligent, have passion for a subject and to know that subject in depth. It’s not at all about being better than others, or about gender, race, religion or anything else. Those things just detract from the real fun stuff, the technology, the innovation and the spread of new ideas.

So what did this geeky girl do to change the world of geeks and girl geeks everywhere… well she got in touch with a few well known bloggers, posted online about her idea of getting geeks to educate one another over dinner and then arranged the first girl geek dinner event with a little help from her friends. The first event had 35 people at it all from London and the surrounding area, shortly after people started to hear about the events and companies started sponsoring them to cover the food and drinks cost.

Then they started popping up in other UK cities as she trained others up in how to run the events, spreading the formula for them… so they then started popping up in Europe… and shortly after that over in Canada… Now they are starting to pop up in New Zealand and Australia. Who knows where will be next.

Our Mission Statement:

• To break down old fashioned social stereotypes.

• To identify routes around barriers to entry for anyone to get into technology.

• To encourage and nurture those interested in technology.

• To work with local schools, colleges and universities to encourage more women into the technology industry.

• To support those currently in the industry and work together to figure out the issues and the solutions.

• To include men, women and children in this journey…. and not exclude men from Girl Geek Dinner Events

Now, Girl Geek Dinners is a series of events currently active in many parts of UK, Europe and the globe, so I am really happy to see it kicking off in Oxford as well. On Tuesday, at 6PM we are meeting in Cowley Rd, at White October offices (thank you for sponsoring us, once again!) to discuss personal branding on-line, various tools for social media marketing and to network. Later on int he evening we will move to Cafe Tarifa for sponsored (by Oxford Innovation) drinks and further chat with live music in the background. I really hope this small but crucial for women in technology event will take off and turn into a regular occasion to share experiences, tips and business cards;) Join us on Twitter! To attend our Tuesday event go to the event page here. Really hope to see you there (boys are more then welcome, you just need to find a girl who will join you;)).