Wednesday 26 June 2019

#SeaTurtlePirates... The Story So Far

Earlier in the year I saw a post that highlighted that both myself and a colleague were not able to keep up with the breakneck speed of creating a global movement that we'd spent a considerable amount of time developing.

So a few weeks before the first @BeMorePirate meet up, I wondered if we could create a new movement while sharing our experiences of playing at pirates... Which I think we've successfully done.

I am a huge fan of knowledge transfer and am massively collaborative too.

To give just one example, anyone that takes the time to read all the resources in my Community Management Resources Declara collection you'll know as much as I do on the topic.

Despite the quality of this content or the importance of this role to organisations I'm aware of how busy people are.

"Even if you try to give good ideas away, people are still so busy with their day jobs, that it just doesn't happen" Nicole Yershon via #RoughDiamond

I am all too aware that:

1) We have an attention span of 8 seconds
(Which is why visual data is so important... Love them Zeemaps & NodeXL maps!)

2) Jason Fried is onto something when he highlights that the future belongs to the best editors.

So I started posting some of my favorite resources on the #SeaTurtlePirates hashtag to see if it would encourage people to check out the amazing resources. Why Sea Turtle Pirates?

  • Turtles because of Yertle the Turtle, as one of the things I hope we achieve is to give quiet people a voice.
  • We changed this to Sea Turtles when we met a real life Pirate as David Scott at @BeYonderLtd is a bona fide Pirate through his work with the Sea Shepherds
  • And Pirates because we're hoping to share everything we've learnt with Sam's @BeMorePirate community.  
The first Tweet includes the Walking Dead's Bad Lip Reading to remind us that social media is still relatively new and that 90% of our communication is non-verbal, so things can get lost in translation when it's text only. 

I wanted each Tweet to be knowledge transfer in it's own right, the content to be compelling enough for people to click on the link and read the article/watch the video

...I also hoped that any gifs/pictures would be relevant to the article and, at the same time, appeal to young people in the hope that kids could learn along side the grown ups (Whether parents or educators)

Have I been successful with these aims? 

The feedback that I've had from people who have checked out the tweets have been that it all reads well... whether reading from the first tweet and scrolling up; or the last tweet and scrolling down.

I think some of the content works better than others and, just like our earlier attempts at story telling as a business skill, this is a first attempt... So we'll improve with practice. If... 
  • Story telling will be the #1 business skill
  • The future belongs to the best editors, and
  • Professional rule breaking will be in demand
Why not try your hand a publishing your favourite disruptor/rebellious article with content that is relevant and might appeal to adults and students in a tweet and include the #SeaTurtlePirates hashtag

We've just wrapped up a story that started in 2015 and knew the end before it started
(AKA That Twitter and Skype are key tools that help people to connect in meaningful ways).

Things that we hope this pirate adventure achieves with any crew(s) we might collaborate with includes
  • If a 7 year old can break a little rule to help people connect and it lead to a new movement, why can’t you?
  • Raise awareness of community management as a career option with educators and students
  • Organize events including #NewPower & @BeMorePirate book clubs and Twitter/Skype events
  • #Cmgr knowledge transfer and empowering educators to become ‘Crowd Leaders’
  • Looking to help a little Turtles like Mack to let quiet people know that they can have a voice... and that they can make a difference.
  • Implementing ideas from the early online community The Well and following the advice of people like Stewart Brand (The Man who Changed the World Twice), Howard Rhiengold (VirtualCommunities) and Marc Smith (Voices from The Well), among others.
  • Assisting with Tim Berners Lee’s call to action with #ForTheWeb

DigCitSummit @SpyQuest Mission - Part II

At ISTE this week my good friend Andrea Tolley (@TolleyA) wrapped up an awesome story that started in 2017 on a Spy Quest Mission (@SpyQuest)... And, hopefully, started a whole new story:

A Skype Master Student one

If anyone would like to see the background and/or the amount of time and effort that went into this particular adventure check out this link:


I have just finished reading Nicole Yershon's book 'Rough Diamond' and LOVED reading about the story telling 'Semester of Learning' where the research became the story... that's kind of what has happened here.

The data I pulled together in 2015 highlighted where the 'bright spots' were with technology integration in the classroom in Scottish education... I proceeded to do what I could to connect people with purpose.

The 2015 Scottish Learning Festival
-> Led to exploring what Falkirk schools were doing differently
-> Led to the first international Digital Citizenship Summit
-> Led to me writing the Pokemon Go in Edu report
-> Saw an introduction to SpyQuest and a

DigCit SpyQuest Mission – Help Recruit @ElliePrimary1

HOWEVER!
...As you can see from the Power of Introverts link what's missing from the DigCit Spy Quest Mission is the amount of time and effort that went into connecting different groups... AND another part of this story that people didn't hear too much about at the time was just how instrumental Andrea Tolley was in making this happen. I SAID ELEVEN YOU COW <- Lol!

Now that this particular Spy Quest Mission is declassified, what was really going on when Agent Piggy skipped school so he could travel 25 miles so he could Skype almost 3,000 more?

Shane Snow highlighted that Story Telling would be the #1 Business Skill of the next few years in 2013.

Isaac and I set out on November 2017 with the aim of putting 'social proof' to work and shine a light on a few people working on some interesting things and the ambitious goal of telling five separate stories at once:

1) DigCitSummit
On the first Skype call with the DigCitSummit Founders I asked what they wanted to achieve with their movement and the reply was they wanted kids to 'Act Locally, Connect Globally'

2) Falkirk Schools
Twitter founder Biz Stone advocates that you should 'look for the bright spots,' and when I mapped out Scottish Schools on Twitter the data screamed that there was an interesting story to be told at Falkirk.

3) Spy Quest
To quote one of Nicole Yershon's colleagues from her awesome book #RoughDiamond, Nicole can see a good idea before it becomes a good idea.When I first met David Goutcher in 2017 I asked 

"Spy Quest it's 'Ingress for kids' would that be an accurate description?"
"Yep! Pretty much" was the reply

The two Spy Quest books got my youngest son reading more and we immediately saw the potential in the books and game to help encourage reluctant readers.

4) The Power of Skype
Mary Jalland and the DigCitSummit Founders connected in 2016 when Mary made her first Classroom Skype call during the #Skypeathon's 'Three Nations Challenge'

...Two years later they met IRL at the #DigCitSummitIRL event, and three years later they collaborated on the Edu Match DigCitKidz book.

Evidence that, with time, the 'shallow engagement' of that first Skype call become deep engagement and meeting F2F IRL. 

NB It was also a Skype call with @Stanbridge in April 2015 that set me on this crazy, twisting journey too.

5) The Story I Tell My Kids
A regular mantra from me at home to my kids is that

'They can do anything they set their mind to... IF they prepare and do their best'
(This is said a little less often given recent events... But we plod on regardless!)

I saw an opportunity to tell that story to a wider audience... so, with a great deal of reluctance we 

Felt the fear and did it anyway 

As we both set out to make our first (and only) Classroom Skype call.

My leg was physically shaking as I shared my story on camera (And was delighted when it was over with!)... Agent Isaac had no such issues, he took to the camera like a duck to water... or should that be like a pig in muck? Lol. 

This is evidence enough to me that a 7 year old who is so used to this tech could and should be leading the way as it's second nature to them.

Last May I picked up Sam Conniff's book @BeMorePirate and saw an opportunity to add another story, as we've been exploring the Pirate Code since 2015.

So if story telling will be the #1 Business Skill of the next few years... Then that's our first attempt at it. 

This story certainly took longer to tell than it should have to tell... It also had some twists and turns that it shouldn't have had!  

But as with all things, if we keep at it... we'll improve (Esp if we get the Pirate Code 2.0 right!)

If Sam Conniff is right and rule breaking will be in demand... then, at 7 years old, Isaac is ahead of the curve

(Biz Stone asks a similar question with 'When was the first time you stood up to authority... Kids check out his 'No Homework Policy' in Things a Little Bird Told me... It's hilarious!) 

And as for the future belongs to the best editors... and given Trumps use of Twitter who'd argue with that statement!

...Here's just one of @BeMorePirate @SpyQuest adventures that some #SeaTurtlePirates will be planning next (More on that crew in the next post), which includes seeing if we can breath some life into telling an awesome Skype Master Student (#SkypeMS) story.

Know any young Spy Guys or Pirates that might want to join us on some fun Skype adventures? Give us a shout.