This seven minute PowerPoint presentation provides the outline of the Blogging for business course that I am running on the Gold Coast (Lightbulb Adult Education) and at Mt Gravatt (AceClasses). You can find more details on their websites. Course participants have access to additional course materials that are being posted to the Working with Words website (www.workingwithwords.com.au)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Working with Words | September 2010
Strategies for social networking |
The development of Web 2.0 which allows users to build their own web content, combined with the convergence of web and mobile phone technologies has produced an explosion in the number of people who are involved in the social networking phenomenon. No longer do we think of e-mail as being the fastest way to communicate; these days we tweet, or use microblogs to communicate with the world in real time. Facebook alone has more than 400 million users around the world and there are many other SNS from which you can choose. Do you need to become involved in social networking? Well, only you can decide that but like many things, until you get involved you will not know what you are missing. Can you have too much social networking? Yes, it has become obsessive with some people – especially young people. Social networking can become addictive – but often with people who may be insecure in other aspects of their life and who feel more comfortable in virtual relationships than in getting "up-close-and-personal". The psychology of social networking is still in its infancy and no doubt we will hear more of this in the future but clearly no web-based communication protocol, no matter how convenient and instantaneous, can take the place of the most ancient communication tool still available to us – the face-to-face meeting. | For more than twenty years, since leaving the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mike lived and worked in Asia running his own research consultancy, first in Taiwan and then in the Philippines. He has now returned to enjoy Australia with his family while continuing with his writing and editing. Mike now works as a full-time freelance writer and editor as well as mentor, encouraging young people especially to develop their writing and communication skills. Mike is an experienced economic and political analyst and specialises in the development editing of complex reports. He is also now into training and has developed his own course in effective writing - combining creativity with productivity. It is offered both in face to face classes as well as by remote learning. The manual is freely available to readers of this newsletter. Check it out at ww.workingwithwords.com.au Subscribe to this monthly newsletter direct from the website or by emailing Mike at: thecreativegenie@gmail.com However if you do not wish to receive it, just send us an email reply with the word "remove" in the title and we will do the rest. | |
With those caveats in mind, consider carefully your own portfolio of social networking sites based on your interest set. How you choose will depend on what your objective is. If you are just looking to stay in touch with friends and family then A Facebook account may be all you need. On the other hand if you are in business and are looking to market yourself online then you may want to think about a broader social networking strategy. The elements of such a strategy are quite simple:
Whether you are using SNS for purely social or for business purposes, the same push-pull factors will operate. We will talk more about web strategies next month. Mike Clancy Gold Coast 31 August 2010 | ||
Converting PowerPoint to Video | ||
With social networking and especially blogging, becoming so popular these days, many people want to add PowerPoint presentations to their websites. If you are using a collaborative space to work on a presentation with colleagues, then uploading a PowerPoint presentation is a simple matter; however, if you want to add a presentation to Facebook or to your blog, then first you need to convert your presentation to a video format. There is no means of converting a presentation to video format within Office although Windows does give you a manual workaround of sorts. One way is to use the Windows snipping tool to capture each screen of your presentation and save it as a separate image file. Then you can use Windows Movie Maker to reassemble your slides, add transitions and, if you wish, a voice narration as well. This is one way of doing it but it is not ideal. Alternatively you can purchase program suites that will automate the task for you. Converting a presentation to video can be achieved automatically in one of two ways: either you purchase a program that is solely concerned with PowerPoint to video conversion, you specify the file, the transition rate and other variables and allow the software to compile the video into a format of your choice. AVI, MPEG and WMF are commonly used formats by these programs. Alternatively, if you want a little more sophistication, you can use screen capture software to accomplish the same task but with far more options at your disposal. Some of these programs will give you the option of publishing directly to YouTube or a blog of your choice – but make sure the blogging site you are using supports video format (not all do). One word of caution, try before you buy. Some suites work better than others depending not only on the version of Windows or Office you are using but also on the speed and memory of your computer. Working with video files is highly CPU and memory intensive so approach with caution. We cover this topic in more detail in our course on blogging for business and you will find additional resources online at www.workingwithwords.com.au See an example at http://mike-clancy.blogspot.com/2010/08/test-post.html | ||
The importance of punctuation | ||
The appendixes to Effective Writing provides a succinct list of common writing errors. It is not a complete list but rather a compilation of some of those I come across most frequently as an editor. Last month we looked at capitals, colons and semicolons. This month we continue our journey. Dashes and hyphensThere are commonly three types of hyphens and dashes used in punctuation. These are the straight hyphen () plus the extended hyphens: the Em dash (—) and the En dash (–). The hyphen is used in spelling to link compound words, form prefixes and compound adjectives. It is also used to define syntax within sentences by forming compounds needed to keep words together as in the "the soon-to-be prime minister..." Compound family names are also separated with a hyphen as in Barbara Smith-Jones and in printing it is used to split words that do not fit at the end of the line although this should be avoided if at all possible and there are rules as to how to split words when there is no other option. An Em dash is used in much the same way as a colon or parenthetic expressions (in place of brackets). It is often associated with the less formal writing styles and in formal writing a colon or bracket would be used as appropriate. The En dash is used to denote sequence or range as in 2008–2009; "module 2 can be found on pages 36–55" or "module 2 can be found from page 36 to page 55." A spaced En dash " – " can also be used in place of an Em dash which generally does not take spaces. The free and fair elections – if you can call them such – will be held in May of this year. The free and fair elections—if you can call them such—will be held in May of this year. Word 2007 shows a distinct preference for the former and will automatically replace a spaced hyphen with a spaced En dash as you type. Sadly, if you prefer Em dashes (as I do) then you have to place them manually. You can also do this via a global Find and Replace. Some companies and organisations use a Spaced Em dash rather than an unspaced one, so check the preferred style of the organisation for which you are writing. Inverted commasQuotation marks are inverted commas but not all inverted commas are quotation marks. They are a form of punctuation that separates out a group of words from the surrounding text and can be single (' _ ') or double (" _ "). Inverted commas can be used (i) to identify direct speech, (ii) to identify the titles of literary works (but see comment on italics below), (iii) to draw attention to a particular word or a word used in an unusual context or (iv) to indicate that the writer does not necessarily agree with the proposition being put forward. Whether to use single or double quotation marks is a common problem for authors and again there is no one rule for all occasions. In Britain, single commas are more prevalent than double while in the United States the reverse is true. In Australia, the Australian Government style is to use single quotation marks. There are some easy rules to apply and which are widely practised by writers. These are a few suggestions:
As in other areas, in the absence of firm rules being set down for you, what matters most is consistency in your use. .. More next month | ||
Recent Blogs from Mike | ||
Before returning to Australia, Mike spent more than 20 years living and working in Asia and is well-known for his insightful analysis. His most recent monthly commentaries on developments in Taiwan and the Philippines — both countries in which he has lived and worked can be found on his writing blog: http://mike-clancy.blogspot.com/
You can read this newsletter and other writing tips on Mike's Creative Genie blog at online at http://thecreativegenie.blogspot.com/ | ||
Working with Words – Mike's courses | ||
Mike makes his living as a writer and editor. He has developed a number of short courses to share his knowledge and to help others who either want to write for profit or need to be able to use the tools of writing in their business and personal life. Course currently on offer include: Social Networking (basic) Saturday 18th September, 9am–12 noon, Ashmore Wednesday 13th October, , 6pm–9pm, Mount Gravatt Blogging for Business (Basic) Thursday 2nd September, 6pm–9pm, Gold Coast College of Technical and Further Education, Ashmore Wednesday 20th October, 6pm–9pm, ACE Adult Education, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt Campus Effective Writing (intermediate) Saturday 16th October and Saturday 23rd October, Mt. Gravatt For details and copies of the course outline see Mike's blog for writers: thecreativegenie.blogspot.com *** Mike is always available to assist writers and researchers with any queries they may have. Prices are reasonable, professionalism is assured. Other services include:
For a no-obligation discussion and quotation please e-mail Mike at thecreativegenie@gmail.com or skype: MikeClancy2 In-house web design (content, architecture and graphic design) at competitive rates through our associates. Just email Mike or go direct to web_solutions@mayamaya.com. | ||
http://twitter.com/Virtual_Mike | Michael Clancy & Associates PO Box 1043 Pacific Square Qld, 4218 ABN 73 279 729 004 Mobile: +61 (0) 420750171 E-mail: thecreativegenie@gmail.com Web: www.thecreativegenie.com.au | |
The ties that bind
Taipei, China August 28 2010: The Economic Framework Cooperation Agreement (EFCA) with China has now passed into law. Taiwan's unicameral legislature ratified the accord on 17 August after 10 hours of debate. Not unexpectedly, the KMT dominated house, voted down all amendments proposed by the opposition DPP party. Government legislators naturally praised the accord saying "its implementation will ensure the country's prosperity for 50 or 60 years". Those in the Opposition naturally took the reverse view claiming that the ECFA has been "cooked up by the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party" to bring Taiwan under the control of China economically and hastening unification.
It is still too early to tell how the ECFA will alter the course of Taiwan's future development but given the continued expansion of China's hegemony over East Asia, analysts are probably right to sound the warnings – they are there for all too see.
Over the past decade and even under the DPP leadership, Taiwan's economy has become increasingly dependent on the Chinese mainland in what has been termed a triangular pattern of trade whereby orders are booked in Taiwan but manufactured and shipped from China to other markets. One Taiwanese newspaper editorial has pointed out that the percentage of Taiwan's trade carried out in this manner has grown from 13 percent in year 2000 to 50 percent this year. It is this triangular trade arrangement that has led to a hollowing out of Taiwan's manufacturing base (with consequent declines in employment levels) despite the continued growth of exports and GDP.
The key question is whether the signing of the ECFA will reverse this pattern by allowing Taiwan to sign trade agreements with other countries and perhaps develop new industries (especially in services) or will it act as a vacuum cleaner sucking up what remains of Taiwan's industrial base and transplanting it to China. The signs so far do not give much cause for optimism.
But first the good news; the government has once more upgraded Taiwan's domestic growth prospects for this year based on improving export orders, better than expected private investment as well as robust consumer spending. The 6.14 percent domestic growth forecast for 2010 announced back in May, has now been revised to 8.24 percent.
GDP rose 12.53 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the third consecutive quarter of growth since Taiwan came out of the 2009 recession. For the two remaining quarters of the year, further quarterly expansion rates of 6.9 percent and 1.37 percent are forecast. Looking ahead, the outlook for 2011 is for a growth rate of 4.64 percent.
The main reason for the slowdown of growth in the latter part of the year has been attributed to the base effect rather than any significant real slowdown. This could be an oversimplification as the most recent economic data from the major economies suggest that the pace of recovery could be slowing with the debt crisis in Europe not yet resolved and unemployment in the United States remaining stubbornly high.
The value of export orders in July, at US$33.8 billion, climbed to their fourth highest level ever and their second highest level since the global financial meltdown. Cumulative orders from January to July totalled $227.9 billion, a year-on-year rise of 35.2 percent (but remember the low base effect). Taiwan is hoping that for the year as a whole, orders will surpass $400 billion.
All of this looks very encouraging, but as the Taipei Times pointed out recently in an editorial, few benefits from this continued economic expansion are trickling down to the person in the street. The wealth disparity in Taiwan is at a record high: "In 2008, those in the top 5 percent of the income pyramid enjoyed, on average, an annual income of NT$4.5 million (US$140,530). The bottom 5 percent only earned an average of NT$68,000. In 1998, the highest incomes were only 32 times more than the lowest." It appears that the winners in the economy are the exporters and their shareholders who are able to invest their growing wealth in property, pushing home prices ever higher. The same editorial pointed out that the cost of a home in Taipei City now represents more than 11 years of salary for the average wage earner.
It is hard to see how the ECFA can improve matters for the man in the street. Other commentators have drawn attention to the manner in which China is now enticing Taiwan's high-tech farmers to China under the guise of cross-straits agricultural cooperation. As a result, high-value domestic Taiwan species: animal, fish and plant are now being bred in China on a large-scale sufficient to become a threat to Taiwan's rural industries. Low cost entry of these products into China from Taiwan is only possible if there is a market for them. If China is replacing Taiwanese exports with domestic local production, then rather than expanding the market for Taiwan produce, it will simply disappear entirely. And once China produces these species in sufficient quantities to export, Taiwan is in further difficulty.
Despite the continued reassurance from President Ma Ying-jeou that the signing of cross-straits economic pacts have no political significance; such claims are sounding increasingly hollow. China's agenda for Taiwan is clear for those who want to read the signs and is worrisome not only for Taiwan but for much of East Asia.
Back in the 1990s China passed domestic legislation claiming the entire South China Sea as its territorial waters; this was widely considered to be an ambit claim since many other countries bordering the Sea, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines were making claims of their own. Recently China upped the ante by proclaiming to visiting US officials in March that the South China Sea was part of its "core national interests" and crucial to its territorial integrity.
Similar to its claim to Taiwan, this puts the matter beyond negotiation as far as China is concerned.
One third of the world's maritime commerce passes through the South China Sea and the implications of this declaration are only too clear. This is a clear laying down of the gauntlet to the United States and in particular the US Navy.
The US attitude towards China's strategic expansion has appeared ambivalent and as a consequence, President Barack Obama's overtures towards China have given Beijing the impression of US weakness. This has tempted China's leaders to press their advantage believing that the US is unwilling to challenge China directly. While US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was quick to reassure ASEAN nations that the US considers the maintenance of security and stability in the South China Sea as matters of US national interest, China's foreign minister Yang Jiechi, was equally quick to issue a condemnation of Clinton's comments.
And while ASEAN is seeking multinational negotiations to resolve issues involving common interest maritime areas, Beijing is equally adamant in insisting that the ASEAN countries negotiate bilaterally.
A multilateral forum would, of course, involve the United States, Japan and possibly Korea and this is the last thing that China would want to happen. Nevertheless, where there is action there is reaction. The interesting aspect in all of this is that such a multilateral form – whether or not Taiwan was given a seat at the table (and the likelihood is that it would not be invited) – would serve to give Taiwan a little more freedom to manoeuvre.
But not only has Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou followed a policy of appeasement towards Beijing, he is on the record as vowing that no matter what, he will never ask the US to defend Taiwan. No wonder that most of Taiwan's population are bewildered.
With the US economy decidedly shaky, the question for the State Department to ponder is how to deal itself back into the game.
Social Networking Course Outline
Outline of module 2 below. Next course will be held at Ashmore, TAFE on Saturday 18th September.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
A new paradigm for the Philippines
Manila, 24 August 2010: As this is being written, the Philippines once again has been thrust into the glare of international media attention and for all the wrong reasons. A former officer of the Philippine National Police, sacked over corruption charges, hijacked a bus full of Hong Kong tourists and held members of the 200-strong rescue team at bay for more than 11 hours on August 23. Eight tourists were killed together with the hostage taker during the bloody shootout as police eventually stormed the bus.
The entire event was played out on national TV and relayed around the world for all to see. Up to the minute reporting took on a whole new meaning as reporters covered live, all police activities allowing the hostage taker to monitor what was happening outside the bus and anticipate police moves.
To make matters worse, a group of college girls visited the scene in their school uniform and treated the entire affair as a party even posting their group photos to their Facebook accounts. Tasteless activity in the extreme – whatever were they thinking?
Former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, who – according to reports – was dismissed in 2008, had seized the bus in an attempt to negotiate reinstatement into the police force. Live coverage of his brother being taken in for questioning by police apparently threw the hostage-taker into a frenzy. According to reports from hostages posted to their Facebook accounts, to that point Mendoza had been civil and considerate towards them. It was seeing the manner in which police manhandled his brother which sent him into a rage and changed the entire mood.
President Aquino declared August 25 as a day of mourning as anger mounts in Hong Kong over the manner in which the incident was handled. Four senior members of the Philippine SWAT team have been relieved of their posts over the botched rescue. Hong Kong authorities have issued a travel advisory warning against travel to the Philippines and China itself is expected to follow suit. Overseas Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong are being summarily dismissed from their jobs as retaliation according to reports.
In the overall scheme of things, while the deaths of eight people will be quickly forgotten by the world at large it has once again signalled the violent nature of Filipino society. It may be recalled that the last time the Philippines made world news was in November 2009 when more than 50 people were gunned down in Maguindanao during a turf war between rival political clans.
Despite the contraction in global tourism worldwide in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, inbound tourism to the Philippines held up well in 2009, rising by 1.5 percent to 3.14 million. Tourism accounts for 6.2 percent of the country's GDP and China has been emerging as an important and rapidly growing market with arrivals from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan all posting significant recent growth thanks especially to the introduction of direct charter flights to regional tourism centres in the Philippines. Undoubtedly, as a result of this incident, there may be a dip in numbers from East Asia for some time to come denting prospects of further growth in the months ahead.
In terms of foreign direct investment, immediate fallout within the East Asian region is expected to be minimal. China (including Hong Kong) accounted for a little over five percent of FDI in 2009 – up from 1.9 per cent in 2008. Much of China's investment is strategic and goes into agriculture and resources and this is expected to continue. Rather, this episode has once again demonstrated the volatility of the local environment for foreign investors generally.
It is the last thing that newly installed President Benigno Aquino II (already dubbed P-Noy – a clever play on the term "Pinoy" which loosely translates as "quintessentially Filipino") needed. President Aquino has been in the job less than two months but already the mood of the country has shifted, and for the better. While his detractors have been quick to criticise his lack of a roadmap for getting the country out of poverty as he has promised to do, he has been given full marks by most people for changing the paradigm of government. His proclaimed mission statement is to wipe out corruption and to make the government more responsive to the basic problems of the Filipino people – mass poverty, increasing malnutrition, unemployment and underemployment, substandard education and poor social services. And that is just to begin.
Both his inaugural speech delivered on 30 June and his State of the Nation (SONA) address to the Philippine Congress four weeks later, underscored this basic theme. His message was not about programs of governance – that will come later, but rather about quality of leadership. Despite his detractors, his message resonated with the ordinary people; and as one newspaper columnist put it, he is regarded as the most credible and most sincere politician to emerge in a long time. It is leadership by example: a leadership which does not exploit power, a leadership that immediately confronts corruption by refusing pomp and perks and disables a source of abuse and discrimination.
While it may be too much to expect corruption to be wiped out during the term of his presidency, with the right leadership from the top, he stands a very good chance of making a significant dent in the problem and rolling back the tide that engulfed the nation during the Arroyo years.
His task is a formidable one. The Central Bank has pointed out that even if the rate of growth can be accelerated, the Philippines has fallen so far behind its neighbours that it will take decades to catch up. Even if the country could achieve a GDP growth rate of 10 percent over the term of his presidency, by 2015, in per capita GDP terms, the country would only be where Indonesia was in 2009. To get to where Thailand is today would take until 2028 and current Malaysian levels of prosperity would only be achieved by 2038.
The refreshing aspect of this announcement was in its honesty – a far cry from the ludicrous claim of Arroyo and her supporters that the Philippines would achieve developed country status by the end of the current decade.
Change will not come easy and already it is evident that there are many, especially those who prospered during the Arroyo years who want to see business as usual. Ten days into his presidency there were five extrajudicial killings including two teachers, a peasant leader a local official and a journalist. Nobody has yet been brought to account.
While resistance to reform is expected, especially from those in Congress used to presidential largesse, Mr. Aquino has something going for him that former President Arroyo never had – the support of the people. That can be a formidable weapon.
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