Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I read the most fascinating book this summer, by Nicholas Carr, called The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. It’s up for a Pulitzer prize this year.

Here’s the deal. Most of us (especially “information workers”) have the attention spans of gnats, as adults. And our attention is being pulled in all sorts of directions by virtue of the tools we use. Mr. Carr exposes why, and how that has happened.

An exerpt (published on NPR):

“Some thinkers welcome the eclipse of the book and the literary mind it fostered. In a recent address to a group of teachers, Mark Federman, an education researcher at the University of Toronto, argued that literacy, as we’ve traditionally understood it, “is now nothing but a quaint notion, an aesthetic form that is as irrelevant to the real questions and issues of pedagogy today as is recited poetry — clearly not devoid of value, but equally no longer the structuring force of society.” The time has come, he said, for teachers and students alike to abandon the “linear, hierarchical” world of the book and enter the Web’s “world of ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive proximity” — a world in which “the greatest skill” involves “discovering emergent meaning among contexts that are continually in flux.”

Upon finishing the book (which I DID finish!) I have made a deal with myself: I read every day, for about an hour, while I’m on the elliptical machine. And I read books. Sometimes involved books, sometimes easy books. But I make myself have deep thought for at least that time - exercising my lungs, heart, legs and brain!

What do you think? Is it time to abandon the “linear, hierarchcal world” of the book? Or are we (virtually) doomed because of the tools we use?

I have a Twitter watch list set up for one of my clients, Aventa Learning. They provide online classes (from Advanced Placement to Credit Recovery and everything in between) to to schools and districts around the country, and help thousands of students graduate every year.

I have to say, some of my best moments come from watching the Aventa Tweets roll by - written by students who are faced with deadlines. Often, they’re hilarious - few of which I would print in a public forum.

Once in awhile, I just have to respond.

Maybe they’ll think I’m just an old fuddy duddy who can’t mind her own business. (Accurate. I plead guilty to that.)

But maybe…  just maybe, they’ll think twice about publicly announcing they are willing to cheat on their school work.

What do you think? Did I do this student a HUGE favor? Or am I hopelessly optimistic and publicly delusional myself?

Update: I couldn’t let this one pass…

Janus, according to wikipedia, is the Roman god of beginnings and “transitions.”

“thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. Most often he is depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions: one head looks eastward and the other westward. Symbolically they look simultaneously into the future and the past, back at the last year and forward at the new.”

I thought of Janus when I reviewed this infographic from onlineeducation.net about the effects of social media on students.

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The “inconclusive” nature of this beast is frustrating to me. However gloriously depicted. And I have always enjoyed seeing both sides of an argument… Hence, my affinity to Janus in this case.

The door is certainly open. The journey is up to the person.

One of my clients, K12, is wonderfully fortunate to have a student contestant in American Idol 10. Thia M. is the youngest student to have made the Top 12 cut - at age 16. And to me, it’s a beautiful thing when a student can continue her high school education and participate in one of the biggest entertainment events that this country celebrates. March Madness notwithstanding.

It’s a bit harder to show Thia support and school spirit - since the online version of a pep rally hasn’t really been perfected yet (save Idol itself). So we are all doing what we can - rallying support from schoolmates, family and friends - online, via social media. And it’s been fun to watch the fire catch on, especially on Thia’s Facebook page.

With more than 80,000 students and families in more than 60 countries around the globe, one might imagine that K12’s voting audience might actually sway Wednesday’s results!

I know this is all tempered by the tragedy of the tsunami in Japan and the continuing angst of Middle East conflicts…

It may seem - to some - almost trite to celebrate one talented young woman’s accomplishment, when so many families are truly suffering around the world. But if not now, when?

So if you see some unusual tweets and such coming from me lately, it’s in celebration of, and solidarity for, a 16 year-old’s dream. And the power of our communities - virtual, online, educational, social - to show our support…

…for Thia, for families in Japan, and for peace in the Middle East.

(And thank you, all friends and family, for your personal wishes for my birthday today. I feel celebrated as well! The timing of well-wishes is always good.)

I’m sitting at my desk on a monday morning for the first time in 18 months. I’ve just moved from being a full-time employee back to consulting again. Today is my first day in my consultancy again.

During those 18 months, I have been extremely fortunate, as I’ve:

• Rebuilt a marketing organization around a re-tooled business
• Developed a lead-generation mindset in marketing for those there - delivering more than 65,000 leads, mostly online
• Helped turn our online education business into something that was thriving enough to attract a buyer that shares the space and will propel our efforts forward

At the same time, I’m excited to be out in the world again.

• I have a passionate and successful company - K12 - as my first client, for whom I’m going to do some extremely interesting work.
• I’m going to have the freedom and flexibility to write more for myself. (I’ll do it here, in case there are folks out there still interested in reading…)
• I’m very much looking forward to applying the lessons learned from my last time around as a consultant in order to improve that experience as well.

So today, I celebrate the delicious in-between - the morning of a new beginning and the successful wrap of a lovely new experience and adventure. The in-between of anticipation and satisfaction. Of excitement and edginess. Of delight and deliberation. I’ll live here for a day.

Let’s go!