Crow Calls: Is Anyone Listening?

The Story

It was very cold out this morning. So cold in fact, I thought about not taking a my usual morning walk. But something tugged on me, urging me up and out. And so and I bundled up and headed out into the brisk morning air.  

Are you certain that no one is listening?

About three-quarters of the way through my jaunt I heard a crow calling directly overhead. I stopped and looked up into the early morning sky to see a single crow. The crow was sitting very close to the top of the tree, cawing every so often. As he vocalized his morning message I listened carefully - there appeared to be no other responses in return - that no one was listening to his message.

I found myself listening more intently to the calls. Each caw, sounded to my ears to be virtually the same as the other before it. I then found myself counting the calls, listening for a pattern. This led me to some thinking about the importance of the number of caws, the shape and length of each call, the lack of response from another crow. I then wondered about the possible message this particular crow was sending to various listeners in its vicinity.

The Technology

A few years ago I had a chance to collaborate with a young high school student while she was working on her college applications. As she looked at various universities, she identified a particular program which matched her particular vision for how she would like to work as an adult. The program also offered generous scholarship opportunities for a select few students, which would help my friend to afford the costs of the education she hoped to acquire.

The trail left behind sends a message about you.

As we worked on refining her application letter, to truly convey her unique skills and passions, we also talked about the concept of digital footprints.The equivalent of the trail left behind on the Internet, allowing others to see where you have been, the review of student's digital footprints are increasingly becoming part of the college admission review processes.  

While looking at ways to clean up her image (her Tweets and Facebook posts were much far more benign than many teens nowadays)  we also talked about more mindful posting. We first took time to look at the scholarship applications and then at her selected program's online presence. We talked about her current online image and how it compared to the kind of student that the program illustrated in its promotional materials. We wrapped up the conversation with some brainstorming about how to market her skills and achievements, related to the mission of the scholarship program.

Connections

Twitter, and its proliferation of short (40 words or less) and instantaneous messaging to a broad audience seems to have a logical connection both parts of today's metaphor - beyond the immediate the bird connections. Many of us use Twitter as a mechanism to "call out" to one another without knowing if anyone in particular is listening at all. I would caution that the assumption so many make that: "no one cares or that no one is really listening," is not only lacking mindfulness, it can create unintentional limitations to what is possible. 

Create a mindful reflection of who you are.

My high school friend started her clean-up process by eliminating superfluous and random Tweets - the ones that were of a more personal nature. She then created a mental image of the adult she'd like to become and we identified some strategies for Tweeting from that point forward with that image in mind.  I believe she began to realize, as I have in my own mindful exploration of technology tools, that the total sum of your Tweets (or any other digital musings for that matter) can come to define (or potentially misrepresent) you as a person, to the myriad of others who are watching and listening. 

The crow of my morning walk illustrated to me the importance of consciously monitoring the number, frequency, duration, content, and patterns in our use of tools such as Twitter. Even if we "don't speak crow," I belive we can each become more mindful of the messages we are sending and the image others create of us, by regularly reviewing our digital footprints.  By beginning to clean up messages which either define us two narrowly or inappropriately and creating a mental image of where we would like to go, we may each create a more mindful reflection of who we are through our use of social media tools.

Images courtesy of Pixabay:  www.pixabay.com

Airplane & Crow: Many Ways of Viewing

The Story

Every so often the local airport changes its typical flight patterns, rerouting planes on their final landing pass over my neighborhood. Picture this: one afternoon I heard the rumble before I actually saw the low flying jet. Looking towards the sound, I was greeted by a plane in a landing pattern, combined with the additional image of a crow, that visually appeared only slightly smaller and to be following the plane.

Image courtesy of: http://catbirdcraft.blogspot.com

The two images - plane and crow - were not particularly unusual in and of themselves. What was remarkable however, was the combination of the two forms sharing the same space and moment in time and appearing related because of proximity and relative size. The plane, at its higher altitude appeared to be leading the pair as it turned from the east to the south on its approach to the airport. The crow, appearing to be nearly the same size as the plane because of its lower altitude, was also traveling in an easterly flight pattern.

Frozen in time for a brief moment, the two appeared to me to be flying in formation. Man-made, technological flight was metaphorically leading the very natural elements which previously inspired its creation. The deep connections available in exploring the combination of these two images have stirred my imagination. I have, and will continue to explore their interaction, allowing many personal metaphorical translations to unfold.

The Technology

On the heels of last week's post, I've continued thinking more about mindfully unplugging, the notion of taking digital sabbaths, and more deeply about bringing awareness to our relationship to technology. I discovered a new book by author Alex Soojung-Kim Pang entitled "The Distraction Addiction." While the title appears to disdain the use of technology, the book's message does not match its cover. Alex's academic efforts to promote the notion of "Contemplative Computing" are remarkably broad, and very compatible with my own interests in encouraging "Mindful Technology" use.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I've noticed over the years, a propensity for writers and scholars to create models to explain the complex relationships formed between technology and its users.  One model used to describe the adoption of technology employs the broad categories of: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. An adapted model uses the same terms and adds in the additional notion of a chasm between the early adopters and early majority.  Commonly used by groups who strategize ways to launch new products or initiatives, these models are potentially a challenge because of the value judgements inherent to their chosen labels.

And then there the plethora of terms such as: luddite, geek, digital native, and digital immigrant, which seek to describe or categorize the identifying characteristics of technology users.  Blogger Liz Walter has penned an interesting post about "New Words in Technology" describing the way in which technology is constantly inspiring the creation of new language to attempt to describe it. In choosing singular words to describe concepts, we risk potentially judging or alienating whole groups of people. I wonder if we've somehow missed the point.

Connections

In the example of the plane and the crow I have found many ways to personally describe connections. I can imagine one as the leader the other a follower. I can also can compare the two by acknowledging their attributes - one being man-made, the other being alive. In the metaphorical image, because of its unusual juxtaposition, there are no singular labels to describe the two and relationships between. The connections are complex and had to be constructed from my prior knowledge. My interpretations of the metaphor are not the only possibilities. I wonder how you as the reader engage with the image - what connections are created in viewing the crow and plane as a metaphor for your relationship to and with technology?

Image courtesy of Pixabay: http://pixabay.com

The roots of the innovation adoption lifecycle model may have arisen from a similar need to my own. Perhaps from the author's desire to describe and share his perceptions of technological experiences - or perhaps to encapsulate those discovered by collecting data - with others. In thinking about the plane/crow metaphor, juxtaposed with the cycle of innovation model, I see an important caution for us all. All too often we get overly excited with our created models - promoting them as a singular truth versus encouraging dialogue. In looking at the plane/crow metaphor I found myself unable to settle on a single message as turned the image around in different ways. Each time I looked, I gained insight into additional truth to be uncovered. As I examined the relationships between the pair, in relative size, flight position, direction, composition, relationship, etc, I gained new insights on our relationship to and with technology.  I was unable to see the image as a singular descriptor of how things are.

Technology is here to stay and I believe that our relationships will continue to evolve in connection to our tools.  I also believe that images as metaphors can provide us with a more robust method for viewing ourselves and the worlds of others. They provide us with a chance to see the connections with new eyes, and to engage with others in a dialogue about the relationships. Models, on the other hand, seem to encourage us to agree in a singular way upon how things are. I advocate for the mindful use of image as metaphor - allowing us to individually and collective turn images over in our minds. Examining and sharing the co-created connections from various viewpoints, we'll grow far more than we ever could by just adopting a singular way of thinking.

"The Call to Adventure"

"We must let go of the life we have planned,

so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

- Joseph Campbell

Today is the first day of a new adventure for me. As a career educator and life-long computer user, I have been engaged in the use of technology for teaching and learning for quite some time. I've waited until now, however, to create a blog. Why have I held off for so long? Until now, I didn't feel that I had a reason to write, a story to share, or a useful purpose to support all of the effort that would be involved in offering my thoughts with the world in this type of ongoing, linear, and personal format.

Now at turning point in my career, taking a giant leap into the world of adult learning as an independent consultant, writer, and artist, I feel I have uncovered a personal purpose worthy of blogging - sharing a chronicle of some of the lessons I have learned along the way. I believe I have also found my authentic voice - offering my personal wisdom about technology use, in a creative way. My purpose for writing here will be to explore the intersection between technology and mindfulness through employing the mediums of image, story, and metaphor.  I hope that these offerings will engage us all in thinking deeply about, more intentionally utilizing, and revising our sometimes solid conceptions, as we begin view technology in a different light.  It is my hope that we each, as Joseph Campbell has written, may then return to our lives changed, sharing "the lessons we have learned of life renewed."

As we start out on this journey together, you may also be interested in the new line of professional work I am launching. Please visit the online home of Mindful Technology Consultants by clicking on the linked name.   Thank you for joining me on the adventure!