iphone post.

I’m in Houston right now. On the way to the public library, I noticed some bangin’ street art. In case you didn’t know, I’m a graf enthusiast.

Everybody's Welcome!

We had a great time in Suwannee County, Fl. The youth there were great. They had not only a will to act within their communities, but more importantly they had a thirst for knowledge.Once we know, the act of doing becomes much more effective.

Also, I met a giant squirrel. We did all sorts of cool things. Did you know that squirrels drive Bentleys? I do.

We’ll be doing a multi-regional training in Florida next weekend and you can catch us in Palm Beach on April 3rd. Holla!

-Rob

Brian and I are in Suwannee County, FL working with some great youth. We’re doing awesome things with video editing, and thinking critically about how groups get their messages out. More so, we’re practicing and learning by doing in addition to exploring theories of visual communication.  We’re feeling great about this group of youth. Expect big things to happen in Suwannee County. 

You can see the amazing work that’s being done by this group of youth at:

http://www.youthadvocacy.net/

Two thoughts. The first is that time has flown by. Xmas season 2008 is long behind us, and we’re almost halfway through the first month of the new year. Delta has been up to a ton and we hope to keep you posted throughout this new year. It’s our goal to keep updating you guys with valuable information that can be used to change the world around you.

Second thought. I used to be really into FLASH (geek alert). Now, as I’ve become older and wiser, I don’t like it nearly as much as I used to. I suppose you could say that I was caught up in its flashiness (no pun intended). We use it on the delta site a bit, tastefully, I think. Although, I do find in the world that lots of sites that use a lot of Flash technology are a bit of heavy on style and little on substance. For instance, on our clients page, we started using jquery to start handling the picture shuffle feature on the page. It’s a fun little Javascript framework that lots of people are using for front end web design. It’s quite a bit easier to implement than Flash (at least Brian and I think so) and all you need is a text editor—and unlike Adobe’s Flash program, THIS IS FREE! You gotta support open-source products and projects!  And you can do a ton of cool front-end web design with it.

Again, this is a geeky post, but here are some cool resources:

• The jquery home page

• Learning Jquery

Cell phones might cause cancer. We’ve all thought it after a battery-draining-midnight conversation with a loved one, now we have to face our fear. And make changes to our behavior. A new study (preliminary) found that people who use cellphones regularly are 50 percent more likely than non-users to develop brain tumors (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-12/last-call).

While Bluetooth headsets transmit lower levels of radiation, there IS radiation and it’s closer to your brain since it’s inside your ear. Wired headsets SEEM safer but some research indicates that unshielded wires may still be directing radiation into your head. I, personally, use the set of headphones that came with the Apple iPhone, but I’m looking for a change now. 

One easy thing to do, whenever you can, is use your speakerphone. Simple, right? But what about in loud situations? Hm . . .

After doing some research, I’ve decided the smartest thing to do until government makes regulations to fix this risk is to get an air tube headset.  ”An airtube headset is a headset that attaches to your cell phone or cordless phone. It has a wire like many headsets. At the end of the wire is a small speaker and then a 6 inch long tube. This tube works a lot like a stethoscope.” (from http://cell-phone-dangers.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-airtube-headsets-can-protect-you.html). 

Aircom air tube headset

Though pricy at $69.99 (from http://emfreview.com/_product_25827/AIRCOM_Headset_-_iPhone_Plug), I think I’m going to have to splurge soon. Brain cancer is not appealing in the least, so seventy bucks seems worth it. I have a hunch that better options are coming soon, so keep your ears open!

Can we get you a drink?

Yeah, so we’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks…Why you ask? Well, since you were wondering, we’ve been doing a ton! We filmed a commercial out in the beautiful city of Los Angeles and are happy to announce the completion of our Apple Juice Day media campaign! See the site for more details, it includes the commercial, explanation, and all the materials you need to pull off your own activist activity. I don’t want to give everything away in this post, so go www.applejuiceday.com now!

It’s a Monday for us and here we are hard at work preparing for an e-activist training in the Florida Keys. I’m here too (Rob, that is) but I can’t take pictures of myself can I? We’re really excited about this training, it’s going to be awesome! Check out our one-pager on it here.

This is a danger of poor communication skills.

Around our offices, Brian and I constantly argue about whether or not one of our ideas is presented clearly. We don’t argue in the negative sense, but we push ourselves to communicate our thoughts in the most comprehensible fashion. As presenters of information, being intelligible is of great importance for both the presenter and the hearer. When exactitude is lost in the communication of ideas, the person on the receiving end is not only half-comprehending information, it makes her more susceptible to:

1. Passing on flawed information.
2. Internalizing and then repeating poor strategies for disseminating information.

iPhone Post.

Flying to LA. Noticed that the exit row instructions are very simple and don’t involve text.

Sometime text supplements graphics in a cumbersome way. This point is something that we cover in our Powerpoint session. I think that concept works here also. If the graphic can say it all, don’t be afraid to let it.

Three new training workshops are available from The Delta Project, a result of intensive research and design.

“It Takes a Village” trains participants on how to build, maintain, and enhance community partnerships. Sponsorship opportunities, membership on local boards, spearheading community activities, and increasing active networks all make it possible to enhance the impact of community action through working together.

 

“E-Activist” demonstrates how to use the internet and digital devices to increase effective advocacy. Online protests, text message alerts, email newsletters, organizational wikis, and social networking sites all provide a new world for accomplishing your organization’s goals, and this session helps you conquer that new world.
 

“Evaluation” is designed to help organizations know, and show, that they’re making a difference. Part of the trick to low-effort, effective evaluation is to match the right tool to the desired outcome, and to find ways to get accurate data without wasting people’s time or breaking the bank. This workshop looks at how to easily collect and measure success across a wide range of outcomes: dollars, members, attendance, attitudes, media hits, behavior, quality, and effectiveness.

Go to www.thedeltaproject.com and click on “services” for more information. Or just click here.