I took the picture on the tape in Colombia a few months ago and hopefully will return there soon.

I have a dream.

We build a learning experience using history and social networks.
Here’s an example of how it might work with a class of juniors in high school studying WWII:

Each student is matched with a senior citizen.
They survey this mentor, get a copy of a picture from when they were young.
They use the information to build a Facebook page as if the year where 1942.
Their profile, interests, music, friends, groups, wishes and concerns all have to be era appropriate responses.

They partner with their mentor on building the page.
The class creates era appropriate Facebook groups.  
For example, one group might be the “send guns not sons,” group.

Then the simulation would begin.
Everyone in the class would be connected to one another.
The newsfeed would break stories that assigned students would update.
Students and their mentors would react to the stories personally together on their blogs.
Soldiers would update their photo slideshows.Friends would leave comments on each other’s page. Students could update their status via Twitter.

The only rule is that the year is 1942 and you have to be true to your character at all times. I could see this as an awesome partnership between senior citizens on the content side and students who were familiar with social networks.

So the idea needs some development.
What do you think?
Add to it.

Goodbye Poet4dylan.

Do we ever say goodbye to our old online identities when we grow into new ones?
It’s funny how we discover the online identities of our friends and co-workers.
It  happened recently when I was sending a document to a client whose servers went down.

“Ok, ok, send it to my personal email, but don’t laugh.”

Her personal email was something like, pinkprincess15@aol.com, and she was in her mid-twenties. I laughed and did not comment. But I wanted to hear the story behind pinkprincess15.

Goodbye Poet4Dylan.

That was my online identity, formed when the movie Dangerous Minds came out, and the poets Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan where compared. It was my first screen name on American Online 1.0, my first chat room and the early and strange experiences of going to school having in person conversations at day and by night having online conversations that were very different with the same folks.

Goodbye Poet4dylan.

Do we have an online memory? Can this be a part of who we are—a vivid as trips to Disneyland and Grandma’s house, as distinct as Little League and first steps. I think so.

Hello Quiver&Quill.

Along these lines, I read a blog post that you might enjoy. It’s almost a literary account of what Chelsea, from Chelsea Talks Smack, misses. Give it a read.

Meet Charles Lewis aka Chuck – the SEO Rapper. Chuck combines SEO skill and Hip-Hop style to deliver fresh rap perforamnces that inspire best web practices. I respect how he has fused two passions together intelligently and how he’s adding a fun energy to a serious field. I recently interviewed Chuck about his craft.  

1. Q&Q: How did you start rapping about the web?
Chuck: Me and a coworker of mine at Pop Labs did a presentation about Link Building and I jokingly said I would write a rap about it. He challenged me to do it so I wrote…Link Building 101. Our director was looking further down the road so he videotaped it and we put it on YouTube. It started from there… 2. Have you acquired any new business through your raps?
Yes. The key is letting people know that I actually know this stuff. I do SEO and SEM daily for Pop Labs. Small businesses reach out for information and after a conversation or two, they sign up.

3. Would you rather rock Madison Sq. Garden with Jay-Z or Ad-tech with Guy Kawasaki?
tough question… I’d have to say Ad-tech with Guy, because at least the crowd would know what I was talking about.

4. Which social networks feels like home for you?
another tough one…like home? I use them all frequently but I use Facebook, Twitter, Virb, YouTube & MySpace the most.

5. Do you have any upcoming raps you want to give your fans a little preview about?
I’m working a couple…I started doing a little dance at the end of Conversion Closing and Design Coding. I call the dance the “Page Rank”…lol. The next video will probably be about Page Rank.

I am impressed with GM’s social media strategy. Their new website, GMnext, is a good example of company and user generated content coming together to tell the story of brand. The site intertwines video, photos, events, chats and podcasts. The wiki is my favorite part. It divides GM’s history into different phases: creation; acceleration; emotion; revolution; globalization and transformation. It invites registered members of the site to contribute. Registration takes about :30 seconds and there’s plenty to explore once you’re a member.

Friend and expert cameraman David Tames provides his perspective:

One of GM’s stories: