peterbjordan - lifestream

Alexander Baxevanis started his talk at January’s London IA with a confession - “I’m addicted to side projects.”

Now, I’ve got some sympathy with Alex’s problem here. What with the job, this blog, London IA, EuroIA, my writing role at FUMSI, editing ebooks for the Guardian, keeping my programming going, writing guest spots for places like TheMediaBriefing, making music, frequent conference appearances and running training days, I’ve got quite a lot of things that could be considered side projects myself. His involved lots of Arduinos and bikes and Arduinos in bikes, and Alex boasted that of all his projects, he’d even actually finished two of them ;-)

Alex set out five rules for running a side project:

Find something you want to learn

Find a partner

Shout about it

Keep track of where you are

Don’t get disappointed easily

Alex valued the idea of collaboration in a side project. Find someone with the opposing skills to you, he suggested, and you’ll end up with a better outcome, and both learn from each other. Sometimes people worry about sharing the credit for a project they are passionate about, but Alex suggested that sharing credit was better than getting no credit at all because nothing ever got finished. Having a partner spurs you on to meet deadlines and finish tasks you’ve promised. He also thought a physical space was useful for a project - whether that is the proverbial shed, or a collaborative environment like Hackspace.

Keeping a record and telling people about your projects were also important. By talking about them, you get the dread nagging reminder of people asking how you are getting along with such-and-such, but you also get the serendipity of people recalling you are interested in a topic and suggesting ideas, resources and events to you. I keep track of my projects with a whiteboard in the kitchen - which also means it is a very visible record of whether I am working on the things that pay me or make money, or whether my focus is elsewhere and I am getting behind with things I need to do.

I laughed a lot at one part of Alex’s talk. He said one of the best things about side projects is that they are a great way to learn. If you want to learn HTML & CSS, he said, don’t get yourself something like a Sams Learn HTML in 21 days book, get started by trying to build something you want to build. That way you’ll focus your learning on what you need to know.

I laughed, because when I first started to learn how to make the interwebs work in the 1860s, I didn’t have a computer at home, and a Sams Learn HTML4 in 21 days was exactly what I used to get myself started - writing out example code on paper and then typing it into the work PC in my lunch hour to see if I’d got it right.

But I didn’t really get started until I had a project - to rebuild the Reckless website. Certainly today my efforts to scratch along with Python are based on learning what I need to get my prototypes working, not some great plan to become a Python expert.

One of the questions Alex was asked at the end was whether his side projects actually helped with his work. He explained that as much as he loved his job, it was never going to be “100% of what I want to do” - an advantage that side projects have. And during the talk he’d given some examples of “side projects done good” - the World Wide Web you are reading this on evolved out of a Tim Berners-Lee side project called ENQUIRE which was exploring hypertext, and the 6502 chip which transformed home computing was the result of engineers tinkering around the edges when they thought they could do better than the specifications and ambitions of the company they were working for.

Alex has published his slides and text on Speaker Deck, and Richard Wand has also blogged about the talk.

Next...

The final talk at January’s London IA was my amazing colleague Mary Hamilton, with her tale of “Verbs. Zombies. UX.” I’ll be publishing my notes from that next.

“London IA: Notes from the talks” Martin Belam, foreword by Ann McMeekin Carrier London IA is a network of designers, information architects and thinkers. Since 2009 the group has been holding regular meetings featuring talks about UX, or of interest to UXers. This ebook is a compilation of my notes from those evenings, featuring talks by Andy Budd, Giles Colborne, Cennydd Bowles, Claire Rowland, Jason Mesut, Ben Bashford, Chris Heathcote, Dan Lockton, Relly Annett-Baker, Michael Blastland, Margaret Hanley and Richard Rutter amongst others. Topics covered range from ubicomp to psychology, from learning how to sketchnote to how to write a UX book, and how to improve digital design through diverse routes like copy-writing, designing for doubt, learning from music technology or taking care of typography. “London IA: Notes from the talks” is available for Kindle for £2.47.

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” ~Karen Kaiser Clark

Change happens.

It’s often unnoticed, or it may simply be a slight nuisance. It’s sometimes uncomfortable, or excruciatingly painful. Once in a while, it’s life changing.

But it’s also transforming. Sometimes I awake in the morning or I simply look out the window into the woods and I realize I’m not the person I was the day before, or even a moment ago.

That realization brings me such pleasure, to know that I am becoming a better version of me than I was. The newness, the now-ness, the opportunities to continuously morph into who I want to be is, at moments, mind-blowing. I appreciate this sort of change.

Everything changes. But we forget this, constantly. That’s because it’s sometimes downright scary to think about change.

Sure, we like the good changes—we appreciate the little ones and celebrate the big ones. But the bad ones, none of us likes those, however small they may be or even how much we may wish them away.

We become irritated when a construction zone causes us to take another route to work. We get angry when people don’t do what they said they would do. We are deeply pained when people decide they no longer want us in their lives. We grieve uncontrollably and inconsolably, and understandably so.

When I think about it, I realize I am very attached to specific expectations, certain ways of being, and the people I love most dearly.

This attachment, while often pleasurable and a source of such happiness, also causes me to feel discomfort and pain, to act simply out of habit or from fear, and to worry and grieve.

Some changes are big.

One big change in my life has been my first-born leaving home. Do you notice how I phrase this change in the present tense? I am still in the process of changing my reaction to this big change in my life, changing me.

Sure, the physical change happened quickly. She was all packed up and then she pulled out of the driveway. That change happened in an instant. Many changes do. But my change, my reaction to this change, has been gradual, and sometimes painful.

For a while now, though, I’ve seen both the positive and negative aspects of this change. It gives me so much pleasure to see this brilliant, beautiful woman live her life.

Still, it pains me not to be part of her everyday life, to be with her more often, to love her in real-time, and to parent her, really, to just be her mum.

I have spent most of her lifetime and much of my lifetime being Mum. This change of becoming two adults, who are now a long-ago and far-away daughter and mother, is taking me some time.

Sometimes change happens instantly, and sometimes it takes time, a good time, and all in good time.

That’s okay. I simply try to be mindful of this truth, that everything changes. I practice accepting this. It brings me a little peace of mind and heart, at moments.

But attachment happens.

I’ve formed attachments in my life and they’ve caused me pleasure and pain. I’m learning to practice non-attachment. In the instances when I see the faintest glimmer of this non-attachment, I know that nothing is permanent.

Knowing this, even for an instant, reminds us to appreciate and to be grateful for the good times—and it helps us during the difficult times too. With non-attachment comes acceptance, even contentment.

But for the many moments, the most of our time that we are attached to things, ways of being, and the other beings we love, we will experience the full gamut of the pleasures and pains of this human existence—the good, the bad, and the unnoticed.

When changes are noticed, or become uncomfortable, or may even be life changing, try to ask yourself three little questions.

1. Can I see this change as an opportunity?

Is there something of value somewhere in this change? Can I find something within it, a take away from which I can learn? Will I take the opportunity I’ve found and adjust or adapt to this change, to change my life, to even change me?

2. Can I react to this change by changing myself?

What thoughts and feelings do I have? Can I let go of some of them? Which ones will I allow to go? Which will I choose to express? What thoughts, words, and actions will empower me to accept this change? How will I change?

3. Can I just be with this change until I am ready to change?

Sometimes that’s all we can do. Sometimes changes are so unexpected, so painful, and so uncontrollable, we simply have to muster up enough courage just to be. And that’s okay. Because, you know what? This will change too.

Because everything changes.

When it does, try to ask yourself these three little questions. It may take some time to answer them. And that’s okay.

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Posted 29 November 2012 13:18pm by Heather Taylor with 30 comments

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With all the recent changes to our favorite (or not so favorite) social networks with Facebook covers, Twitter header images and YouTube branded channels, businesses have had to redesign their images and rethink of how they represent themselves visually online.

This gave way to a lot of new creative campaigns on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest but is has led to a lot of social media managers scrambling to get the images just right.

Earlier this month LunaMetrics released an updated version of their widely popular Social Media Sizing cheat sheet with image and video sizes for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Though I bookmarked it, I thought it was actually too valuable a resource to keep to myself.

So before you post your next picture or change up your profile image, take a look at this handy cheat sheet and bookmark it for yourself.

Heather Taylor is the Editorial Director for Econsultancy US. You can follow her on Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest.