What channels of Text information do you rely on?

[babtlk: /Infochan/Aware!/Many Sources*
/WorldwideTools/Make decisions/stay tuned/ ]

What channels of Text information do you rely on?

So what? Why would I want to know about that?

Consider what channels of text information do you rely on for your daily information?

Writing appears in so many forms. Most of us read far more that we realize from so many “channels”.

Have you ever considered how much or how little you read in a day? What channels or sources of information that you read that help you make decisions, keep you informed, entertain you or otherwise invoke some emotional response?

It is quite amazing how the written word continues to find new routes to your brain!

Tracing the history of written and oral communications shows how in many ways we continue to find new ways to share the written word. Once a process works; it seems that we really never drop that communication channel. Over time the format may change, but we really do not drop a channel, rather we may redress it or update it if there is a more efficient means of sharing such information.

The ability to read and write is probably one of our greatest group achievements in human history. This amazing process which is so often taken for granted, has given every person who has mastered such skills the ability to share thoughts with people from around the world and from any time! Quite breathtaking if you consider how much you may have learned from people who will never meet!

Writing and reading are extremely versatile tools. Such tools can be used and abused. We can use group awareness to correct such abuse as long as the skills and opportunity to freely publish your own content exist.

Every Person has a different life. How does this apply to me?

Well I have a simple answer. You have the solution in your very own hands and mind.

If you are curious about what channels of information you most rely on for you daily mental feeding, consider creating a personal record of a week or two of your daily reading activities. Do this documentation of your activities on the spot if you have the discipline. If you don’t have such discipline, at least once days write a note to yourself of what you read and from where. You might be surprised over the course of that week how many different places you picked up information.


So now I know where I pick up information. How is that important to me?

Awareness of your reading habits is critical to understanding in many ways how you form opinions of the people, surroundings, and events of your life. Such opinions can direct you down different “roads” of life. So in many ways understanding more about your information sources help you pick the right road for your life!

People write for many reasons. Certainly influencing a person’s thoughts is a good reason. Understanding the source and “channel” of these writings may better prepare you to understand the reasons why you see the specific message.

Now that I know that I read too much information from bubble gum wrappers… What do I do now?

Sorry. I had to say that. I remember as a young child enjoying reading the latest news about the green army men and their wars on the inside of the bubble gum wrappers, along with the latest offers of buying a green army man toy chest if I sent “X” amount in cash with “Y“ many bubble gum wrappers. Education and marketing at the same time! Yippie!

Once you have found what your sources of information you rely on or simply absorb, decide if your time is well spent relying on that channel of information. Do you have friends who always seem better informed about certain topics than you are? Ask them where they get their information. You may be surprised on their answers. Without your active control of your readership, you will find that others are making decisions of what you read.

After you have reviewed what you read on a daily basis. Consider if these sources are the best for your interest. You may find it’s a job looking for other sources of information other than what is handed to you, but will find such research will bring new ideas into your life.

Taking it from there.

Now you noticed that I was very general in terms of what channels of information that you read information.

It would be cheating for me to list any in this article. Certainly as I write this posting a veritable cloud floats over my head of the obvious and not so obvious examples. I certainly plan to write more specifics about these channels in future postings.

May the written word be your friend!

Regards,
Dexter

[babtlk: /Infochan/Aware!/Many Sources*
/WorldwideTools/Make decisions/stay tuned/ ]

Ultimate Adventure of All Time

This 6 minute and 15 second video is a tongue and cheek narration using just a few pictures from my digital camera of a couple visitors who dropped by my home in one day. What do you do with just a few pictures of two visitors sitting on a couch? Well you have to embellish it! So no I am not a member of their church. Just being nice to two church visitors. Well pan around a couple pictures and add a few effects. Well you have something. Anyone who enjoys the concept of "Billions upon Billions" might appreciate the reference. Whoever watches this... I hope they just enjoy the basic humor that hopefully stays on this side of the line of being respectful, though you might hear a bit a tone of whimsy towards those documentary style sliding picture narrations. English Subtitles / Captions added October 18, 2006

Welcome to the Dexter Zone!

Welcome to the Dexter Zone!

[babtlk: /DexterZone!/Whassat?/Whohe?/Hideywriter*

/divin/blogshare/Questionwriting/adios/ ]

Introduction:

There is an exclamation point up ahead! A smiley just around the corner! The RSS feed is about to drop on you….

You have found the Dexter Zone!

I am grateful that you have read more than just an initial glance on my blog. The three second rule applies in written communication just as it does in interviews. Do my shoes look polished and tied? Have I combed my hair? Are all my limbs attached? Have I established enough credibility so you will read further? Am I writing in way that appeals to not only different age groups, but different social value groups? Yes. Be yourself, but do we strive enough to gain an open ear to possibilities?

The question to myself:

Why be here?

I have been reluctant for so long to jump into the blogger community, partially because of infoglut. Will I add value to the blogger world? Will I waste your time scanning this text? One of my favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein http://www.heinleincentennial.com/ always impressed me in the fact that he would be very thorough in his research, yet still frequently commented on his writing competing with the consumer’s beer money. I appreciate that healthy attitude of keeping your personal writing in perspective of the larger reality.

So I hope that I am worth your “beer” money, but in this case it is the precious commodity of your time.

The route traveled:

My personal experiences in writing center on several areas. I hope to discuss more about these past experiences and integrate them with what I come across along with my current projects.

I have written quite a bit over the years to different people on a number of subjects. Some of which has fascinated those lucky recipients, yet it really didn’t dawn on me until recently that anyone else would really be interested in additional ramblings out on the web. Certainly I have written on a number of technical issues, procedures, approaches on tasks etc, but much was within the scope of the corporate world. So many of these writings became buried in instructional manuals, technical notes or other knowledge based products that you purchase. I have taken great pleasure in adding to the pool of knowledge in that format,

Life experience:

The written word has been with us for thousands of years. You would think that the subject of writing styles and communication has been completely covered. I agree with you that there is just a huge library of experiences by people who have discussed writing. Parts of speech, sentence construction, concepts and design are part of most standardized public education institutions around the world. Authors continue to churn out additional books on the subject. So we should all be perfect letter writers, documentation experts and memo wizards… Right?

Well you have seen enough bad examples to cry about! How about a tiny little advertisement in the paper that caught you off guard?


Onto the Text Stream highway I roll! :

So will I create some of the same types of mistakes that I whine about? No doubt! I suppose enough random dissection of this prose by you readers will make me blush as well! Certainly we all make mistakes in writing style and form. But what was the overall experience? Worth your time?

So until we come to the point that you can’t remember a badly written article, document, or advertisement…. I think we have plenty to share! Certainly the market on books on how to write has not dried up!

The question is always how much theory versus practice? How much is it worth seeking writing perfection versus “getting the copy out of the door”?


So what will you get from this Blog?

The awful Question or statement So What? So What! With the exclamation!
I ask this question of myself as I compose this first blog.

So it dawned on me that I do have some personal experience to share in the blogger world. The responsibilities of writing to the large audience have always been on my mind.

Those of you who have composed messages, announcements or instructions know how much potential work it can be to compose such documentation.

Those who have not had that writing experience can certainly share and better yet comment on the positive experiences generated by large scale announcements that were written concisely and clearly. We take such writing for granted. It is a shame since so often clearly written communication gives you a fantastic gift to all of us that is very valuable… Time. ( Yes it’s a sentence fragment!)

We tend to remember those documents which we are forced to read, digest and take action, but were extremely confusing/conflicting. Ah the feeling of frustration in time of a hastily written document! So much of that writing does exist. So easy to dismiss if taking no action is rewarded, but what if you are ordered to HOP and the instructions don’t make sense? You know so many of these documents exist. So often there is very little evaluation/feedback on documentation on how they are efficient in resolving an issue or on the flipside how much time they waste by generating unnecessary work. Let alone having the author or originator of such documents face the music. So much pressure to go on and “get on with it” pushes so much of this material supposedly in rearview mirror of your text reader, but what if you round the corner and find that you bump up again to the same document?

I am grateful to see that over time, certain processes are being added that encourage feedback on documentation. Still so often such mechanisms are in place to document when the damage has been done, not to correct the issue.

A document targeted to one reader has impact. Documents that are shared with many people have the potential to create great cumulative change.

Electronic communication systems have had an amazing impact on our lives. So many of its positive aspects also create a potential of mediocrity.

So much communication expands from the original written word, let alone the composed thought that is shared from a web cam. Still am I worth your time?

The End Result:

I hope that in some small way that you will either a perspective, technique or idea, let alone a bit of amusement in relation to your writing. I succeed if at least you have asked any question of yourself in terms of what you are about to send to those lucky “personal” and “impersonal” readers…. Is it worth their “beer” time and money as well?

Do you dare enter into the Dexter Zone?

All the best!

Until the next post!

Dexter

[babtlk: /DexterZone!/Whassat?/Whohe?/Hideywriter*
/divin/blogshare/Questionwriting/adios/ ]