Chasing the Dragon's Tale

I am pondering a conversation with a doctor/friend (unnamed) about the business of medical professional practice...she wants desparately to deliver good health care to her patients, but unfortunately doesn't work for her patients. She works for several insurance companies. It is true:

• She can prescribe a medication that she feels best suited to address an illness and have that decision over-ridden by an insurance company, 'That drug is too expensive, we won't cover that at the same level we cover a (supposedly) generic equivalent'...the patient is forced to trust the company rather than the doctor..and/or pay more
• She runs a risk/threat of higher premiums every time she makes a decision involving surgery...even minor surgery. Every patient pays more, indirectly, for those premiums.
• She pays a full time staff of two whose sole job is to deal with the paperwork and headaches generated by the insurance companies...none of that expense improves the quality of delivvered medical services...and the patient pays for that staff.
• She has patients who have to wait until a new premium cycle begins to re-visit her because of restrictions in insurance coverage...time that can result in worsening conditions, and the patient pays in poorer health
• If a patient wants to pay cash for services, she cannot tell that patient what the costs will be without referring to insurance regulations/requirements/contracts first.
• She plays a constant balancing act with testing labs...too few tests and malpractice liability exposure increases, too many tests and the insurance company may deny/delay claim payments. The patient pays more either way.

In the meantime, if I need to have a physical exam, my doctor tells me that my insurance will cover it and it will only be six months before the earliest possible scheduled appointment...and I count myself 'blessed' to have medical insurance that I can afford.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:07 AM | Permalink

There is an interesting subculture among social media and online networking sites that warrants exploration. If you are a member of sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Ecademy, or Facebook you probably have encountered some of the characters in the subculture. Until a better descriptor evolves, I will call the group "The Collectors".

Disclaimer
Before I describe the characteristics of this subculture, I want to be clear that there are individuals who are seriously engaged with a large number of friends/followers/constituents and 'fans' because of celebrity/organization status, their contributions to 'interesting-ness' within their online communities, or their proven professional status as an expert. I do not consider the majority of these individuals collectors.

The Rationale Behind Connecting/Collecting
Collectors seem to be obsessed with acquiring the most friends/followers or network connections (depending upon the terminology within a particular online site). I know many of these individuals from several years of participation and research within online communities. Their rationale for connecting (their term) varies but tends to follow one of several patterns:

• The individual with the most connections is somehow the best person you should connect to (quantity trumps quality)
• The perception that an individual's ranking (by quantity of connections) equates to brand value within the community (quantity equals name recognition)
• Competitive team power is derived from the size of one's list of connections (my team is bigger than your team)
• Huge following numbers can translate into increased 'sucker-link' traffic to other sites and financial gain (playing the percentages)
• Social Network Gamers who could actually care less about the intended purpose for a site but simply get a thrill by figuring out how to game the highest scores/rankings/numbers.

Continue reading "Social Media and Networking "Collectors"" ...

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The event, moderated by Dr. Sybril Bennett, lasted about an hour and included a number of learning opportunities:

1. Belmont students used the event to experiment with mogulus.com and CoverItLive.com to broadcast text and video as well as interact with an external audience
2. Convocation attendees heard legal professionals and higher education officials talk about cases and experiences with social media that were eye-opening for many
3. Several college administrators from area universities observed both the panel and the student broadcast work and left feeling that similar events are needed at their respective universities.
4. We all learned that there are challenges in being part of the production of a special event AND being part of the electronic coverage of the same event

Special thanks to Tiani Jones and NewsChannel2 for the coverage of the event.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 06:45 AM | Permalink

We are convinced that Facebook isn't finished with its efforts to revise the Terms of Service...and the "From Facebook to Twitter: Rules, Rights and Realities of Social Networks" panel discussion Monday, March 2, 2009 at 7:00PM will probably raise more questions than can be answered in an hour...but we would like to make sure that you know this event is open to the public. Belmont students will be there (full disclosure: many just need convocation credit).

Login to your facebook.com account and let us know if you will be there. It might just keep you from standing rather than sitting comfortably in the Maddox Grand Atrium at the Curb Event Center.

Even if you cannot make the event, Belmont Media Studies students are polling and making plans to broadcast the event using Mogulus and CoverItLive. I will make sure that details for access get posted here. Belmont's own Multimediai Maven, Dr. Sybril Bennett, will moderate the panel of attorneys, social media advocates, and higher-ed leaders.

Garage parking is free at Belmont and the garage is attached to the Curb Event Center (See Campus Map).

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 07:00 AM | Permalink

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 03:36 PM | Permalink

It had to happen sooner or later. One of my fan club (of four) asked when I would start blogging again. I have no excuse. There is much going on and I need to jump in an play with the social media tools that we are experimenting with in the classroom.

I am a bit weary of the gloom-and-doom coming from the print industry although I sympathize with so many great people who have been displaced by this century's declines. This is an exciting time for entrepreneurial journalism. Delivery systems are evolving every day now and there are opportunities for critical thinkers to meet and match market demands with relatively low start-up costs. New business models are bound to evolve around changing patterns of users and advertisers...those conversations are happening already.

We are at an odd time when it comes to generational expectations for the delivery of news and information. I hear more and more often that experienced, print journalists are re-learning to play and experiment with new media. I encourage that mix of maturity and child-like curiosity from both older and younger generations...and I have to admit some disbelief that resistance to 'play' may be greater among the young. We all have learning to do. We all need to take a more active role and more responsibility for our own, personal learning.

I am back. I am learning. Let's talk!

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 07:06 PM | Permalink

...but shame on both Tennessee political parties.

Here are the facts:
50 Tennessee House Republicans* voted for a Republican candidate to become Speaker of the House.
49 Tennessee House Democrats voted for a Republican candidate to become Speaker of the House.
Not surprising from the above two facts, a Tennessee Republican was elected Speaker of the House and thus gaining control of both legislative bodies since Civil War Reconstruction (we might revisit that period in Republican legislation success later)..

But Something Went Awry
In the eyes of House Republicans, something went wrong. Rep. Kent Williams (R*) voted for himself instead of the 'nominee of the Republican caucus', Jason Mumford (R), thus electing a man who chose to vote for himself rather than in lockstep with his party. In fairness, one might note that Representative Mumford voted for himself (not that there was any personal ambition involved), following the rest of the Republican caucus Representatives.

Continue reading "It is just Tennessee Politics..." ...

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 10:00 AM | Permalink

A Visual Sociology class from Belmont University, lead by Dr. Andi Stepnick left Nashville right after Christmas to spend several days touring and studying in India. As part of that experience the group is blogging: Visual Sociology in India.

I have been on several overseas trips and strongly support the spontaneity and personal reflection that a blog can provide. Numerous comments from those blogs seems to indicate that family and friends benefit from the embedded-journalist-type reports from non-US soils. As a promotional tool, the unpolished nature of many blog posts gives a unique insider's view of what life is like as a study abroad student. There are challenges involved to make this happen, however. The three biggest challenges are (generally):

1. finding a (convenient) high speed internet connection
2. carving out time from hectic travel days to sit down and compose a post
3. manipulating/optimizing/uploading images to include with a post

Chris, one of the students currently in India, raises some interesting questions about capturing the experiences during these trips and how the focus on capturing can get in the way of actually experiencing all that a country has to offer. He is right...and finding that balance brings me to some thoughts on how to support students on these adventures.

Continue reading "Blog 'Life Line' for Study Abroad Classes" ...

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

To be classified as a Winner in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), each writer must complete a minimum of 50,000 words from the start of November to the end of the month. Before my real life over ran my virtual novel writing life, I managed 41,820 words and then threw in the towel. I am not a NaNoWriMo Winner...but I'd prefer not to be called a NaNoWriMo Loser either.

The experience of actually sitting down to crank out a novel is full of opportunities for learning and personal reflection. OK, it is a lot of work as well...but as it turned out, I re-discovered an inner passion for writing/creating. Without a lot of boring details, here are some of the things that I sponged from the adventure:

• Immediately connect with other participants in your area and attend every 'write-in' you can squeeze into your schedule. Its a Learning Community thing, trust me.
• Do your research (if needed) before the writing begins on the first day of the month...that's not cheating, it is just good planning
• Take advantage of the support, encouragement, and idea generators on the NaNoWriMo web site. (One such idea, to name a character from the NaNoWriMo acronym, resulted in one of my main characters, Mona Wroni, an Italian cultural anthropologist who falls in love with my main character...I digress).
• Abandon all inhibitions about editing during NaNoWriMo...just let it all out as fast as your fingers can generate copy and don't look back (National Editing Month is later).
• Don't be afraid to let a fellow NaNoWriMo writer read your raw efforts...for me, that was scary but it made me improve faster than if I had gone at this completely on my own.
• Have fun! The TGIO (Thank God Its Over) Party I attended was a hoot! I laughed until I cried and my sides hurt

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Jason Hiner writes in TechRepublic what I believe to be a fair assessment of the differences between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama on technolgy issues. "From Net Neutrality to H1B Visas to data privacy and other economic policy issues, the next U.S. President will influence many important developments in the technology industry." Tech Sanity Check is a bit long, but well worth the read (converted to PDF).

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 08:46 AM | Permalink

Well, why not? What is 50,000 words among friends? My academic writing has come to a close, the presidential debate insanity has faded over the horizon, and November just seems to be sufficiently hectic that I need (yet) another distraction...right? Sooooo, my early morning coffee sipping routine will be filled with frantic outbursts of typing and storytelling. My goal: 2,000 words each day...that means that as of this post, I am only 2,500 words behind schedule *sigh*.

The MugPhlute Chronicles have been bouncing around in my head for sometime now...the stories seem to evolve while making these things. Likewise, an occasional project provides some stimulus for another chapter of writing. The chronicler is an amateur music archeologist named Ephraim Bowen. EB accidentally discovers an archeological link to an ancient cross-cultural cult only to realize that the connection is hereditary. His search for others in the lineage becomes an adventure in mankind's inter connectivity.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:06 AM | Permalink

A two-man crew from C-SPAN produced live, streaming video from the Media Filing Center on Belmont University's campus as part of their coverage of the 2008 Town Hall Presidential Debate. A considerable following developed in Twitter thanks to the efforts of Belmont Alumnus, Nate Baker. Nate established a 'hashtab' named #nashdebate that allowed all of the Twitter posts (or 'Tweets') to be aggregated onto a single page. That page is here.

Amid the flurry of media activity, Nate suggested that one of the three people who were blogging from inside the Media Filing Center get in front of the C-SPAN camera to do a 'shout out' for those who were following along in Twitter. The first few seconds of the video above is evidence of what happened a few minutes later when I took a break from my other assignments. There was a lot of work going on...but this was pure fun.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Every day that the presidential campaigns stumble along, it becomes clearer to me that we're not likely to hear/see substantive debate on national issues. The internet may become THE place where positions and details see daylight and, as long as the mainstream media continues to binge on sound bites, that isn't likely to change.

Which brings me to an article in Inc. magazine that looks a little deeper into what we might expect from the two major candidates in the area of technology: Read the article. It may be one of the best definitions of the generational differences between a digital native and a digital immigrant.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 06:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday, my family spent a delightful afternoon with Tom Turnbull in his Nashville studio. Tom is an amazing ceramic artist and entrepreneur and his hospitality proved to be on the same high level as that of his work.

During Tom's chat with my son, he encouraged Matt to take some business and marketing courses as part of his graduate studies. Advice like this is something that Matt has heard before (ahem), but coming from a successful artist and businessman gave that advice much needed credibility. Tom's advice to Matt gave me food for thought as well...

Over the last several weeks, I have been exploring online communities of artists just to get a sense of how they are using technology and social networking to connect with each other as well as their customers/markets. I have been amazed to see what is going on...almost like an undiscovered, online sub-culture. I am considering an adoption of sorts...this sub-culture of artists. These handmade communities appear to have many of the qualities one might expect in a learning community and their tales are worth the chase. Stay tuned.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:41 AM | Permalink

It's true! I am about to be escorted from campus (with a number of other Belmont employees) and will be asked to raise bail money. If you can help, go here (please). I do not look great in black and white stripes...no body wants that, really!

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 09:41 AM | Permalink