Is it possible to be transparent and authentic online?

This is a discovery post rather than prescriptive on how to be transparent and authentic online. There are a number of recent incidents in various online environments which triggered some thoughts and feelings requiring associated decisions and actions for me. In this post, I’d like to discuss the environment factor.

Environment is an essential factor for success. I believe, like it is in the real world, one expect the online world to be clean and healthy to play with confidence and enthusiasm. If an environment gets toxic with mediocrity and childish behaviour, one’s enthusiasm and willingness relatively decrease. I believe authentic and transparent people instantly affected by their environments. An environment, for example for blogging, makes difference for one’s participation and collaboration.

Spirit of networking is directly related environment which play a significant role for participative actions. Who has the key impact on environment? Without doubt that the members of the environment have the key impact to keep the environment clean, healthy and pleasant to play with.

I’d like to discover how one can be transparent and authentic in this online world. How would you define and describe a clean, healthy and pleasant environment. Look forward to obtaining your insights stemming from your online experience, thoughts, and personal preferences.

Regards,
Dr. Mehmet Yildiz

Are we vulnerably designed dilemmatic machines?

In one of the yesterday's blog on Ecademy a co-networker made a notable and insightful statement which I'd like to quote here "...You can't tell life how to be and you can't second guess your own unconscious mind with all its complex, interrelated and unresolvable narrative threads. These are what dominate your life, not what your consciousness happens to think it wants." I believe you can guess who wrote this statement by browsing the comments on yesterday's blogs related to goal setting.

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And today there was an interesting research finding reported in many news networks as recorded by google "The use and misuse of alcohol and marijuana can be traced to a common set of genes". In addition to the main theme of genes' impact on our lives, it is really eye-opening to know that "41.8 percent of 12th graders reported having used marijuana". This is of course very complex to create a scientific profile considering all aspects but I want to discuss a specific point here.

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My point is, if we have this vast, dark, unknown unconscious mind at emotional and higher levels coupled with so many unknowingly inherited genes at physical level running the show of our lives; what is left to us to manage at conscious level? How can we keep responsible for things beyond our control? Is this dilemma or what? What are our responsibilities for our lives? Feel free to share your optimistic, neutral or pessimistic views [which who knows] may shed some lights on this dichotomy in our limited knowledge process.

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Regards,
Mehmet Yildiz

Promoting+healthy+skepticism+-+Ecademy

Promoting+healthy+skepticism+-+Ecademy

Are you a bower bird? Guess whose fault is compulsive hoarding and clutter making?

Are you a bower bird?

If so this blog can be a sign from the Big Giant Head in the Third Rock from the Sun!
Oh thank God it is a British study rather than an Australian one!:-)

Guess who we can blame for being a bower bird? I mean having a compulsive urge to collect and clutter our homes and offices with junk; at least a partly scapegoat for this amazing habit!
Good guess! Yes our genes! Who else could it be?

Here's the link to the study report titled "Genes to blame for clutter compulsion"

Do you have this urge to keep your old clothes, magazines, junk mail, furniture pieces, school reports, A+ assignments, and many other things that you may be attached?

Do you ever remember a special feeling when you clear clutter in your life? How was that? Have you heard people creating F word disciplines mainly from Asia to deal with this phenomena?

I'd like to obtain your personal view on dealing with clutter in your life from multiple angles and any context you may like to choose. For example, physical clutter, emotional clutter, even spiritual clutter or any type of clutter that you may think of!

Feel free to clutter my blog with your thoughts today!!

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni || Naymz|| Superfan

Outliers: the story of success! [Point 1: 10.000 hours rule]

On Saturday whilst discussing the characteristics of Blackswans here, William Buist suggested the importance of this book (Outliers) as a response to one of my comments and wanted to see my analysis of this book. William's suggestion of the book, my second reading of it recently, and the importance of Blackswans have inspired me to create this blog series to reflect and learn from important points in this insightful book titled Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.

After reading the book twice with fascination (because it provided considerable insights to my cognitive hypotheses with interesting findings), I believe there are important arguments to be considered in this book and to be followed up with further discussions. Since the scope of the book is comprehensive it will not fit into one blog; hence I will focus on one key point in each post.

One of the most important lessons learnt from this book is repeatedly mentioned as the "10,000-Hour Rule". Gladwell claims that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours, 10 years or a decade! He provides well proven examples. I believe him because they are very well known and documented cases.

I fully agree with this 10 thousand hour rule as a person observing how thoughts and concepts are processed and make progress in very complex environments. It took me approximately 10 years to certify globally in my discipline in IBM. It took me over 10 years after my master's degree to start authoring advanced research papers in peer reviewed and refereed scientific journals. It took me 20 years to start my first invention to be patented! It took me over 20 years to learn English which I am still feeling shaky!! I can see that it took 11 years Thomas and Penny to bring Ecademy to this level. Based on this first hand experienced based knowledge confirmed by Malcolm's observations, I have difficulty in understanding anyone who declares expertise on a topic less than 10 years. For some reasons, I kept thinking a lot about Edison and Tesla whilst digesting this rule!!

Let's watch the following 2 clips interviewing Malcolm on this book. These clips may help understand the coverage and importance of the book for those who haven't read it yet. I believe you will laugh at what the male interviewer is good at in the second video; and pay attention to what Bill Gates used to do secretly and why Mozart's early works were crap!:-)

Let's be mindful that this is an eye opening, realistic [an anti-self help] book therefore...! I'd love to obtain your views on this 10 thousand hour rule!





Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni || Naymz|| Superfan

Paradoxically, food insecurity may be underlying contributor to...

What is the importance of food security and insecurity? What does it mean?

Food security "refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Worldwide around 852 million people are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty, while up to 2 billion people lack food security intermittently due to varying degrees of poverty".

The article "Household food insecurity contributes to overweight in children" According to the article: "Both household food insecurity and childhood overweight are significant problems in the United States. Paradoxically, being food-insecure may be an underlying contributor to being overweight. A study of almost 8,500 low-income children ages 1 month to 5 years, published in the October 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, suggests an association between household food insecurity and overweight prevalence in this low-income population. However, sex and age appear to modify both the magnitude and direction of the association."

Is this a mental or physical problem? I'd be interested to obtain views on what other implications of food security/insecurity could be?

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

Are arranged marriages panacea for preventing divorce?

Arranged marriage is a large and complex topic spanning multi-disciplines with many implications in many walks of life. This is only an exploration blog as I have no experience in the area apart from my curiosity to learn and a cursory review of the literature from social networking aspect to catch some patterns.

It is paradoxical to see arranged marriages still continue with success. According to Kinjo "Twenty-five to 30 per cent of all marriages taking place in Japan at present are arranged marriages". The rate of arranged marriages are higher in South Asia and Middle East compared to Europe, America and Australasia. Through my observations, I believe this rate is much lower in Australia. However, our divorce rate in Australia is so high; at least 40 thousand couples get divorced each year.

Even though arranged marriages are believed to have a lot of negative connotations, I know a few families with arranged marriage reached their 50th and even 60th anniversaries, whereas a number of marriages based on love and prior trial ended up within a year or so. Many of my friends have less than 2 years of marriage duration. I'd like to understand this paradoxical situation. I am wondering whether arranged marriages can help with the divorce?

If we get back to social networking context, would you consider people getting married through social networking without seeing each other can be considered an arranged marriage? What is your definition of arranged marriage? Let's explore this topic from multiple angles with your personal thoughts, experience and cultural impacts in your countries on the topic.

Hope you will enjoy this funny commercial related to this topic with futuristic flavour:


Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

How do you deliver bad news to others?

There are daily many bad news at homes, in schools, in hospitals, in workplaces, in press including offline and online social medium. We call them bad news because we believe they are bad with unwanted consequences. The heart of this issue is that we jump to the conclusions too quickly sometimes; without knowing the overall consequences and understanding the purpose behind them. Some of them could be blessing in disguise when we look at them from the hindsight. There are of course some realistic heart breaking events too.

The article titled How to deliver the news? made me think what the best way to deliver bad news. It is a complex situation when dramatic emotional events are the matter of the news. We are sensitive creatures. Our mind play a lot of trick on our body and psyche. Using neutral language is recommended rather than starting the conversation with "I'm sorry" or "unfortunately I have some bad news" etc.

We all of course have different views and experience on dealing with bad news. This is also very contextual and may vary according to the situation. Maybe we can learn from each other by identifying some practical patterns and handy hints. How do you usually deliver bad news to the related parties who are expected to suffer from or be disadvantaged by the intended severe bad news?

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

Using Ants as Security Model

Intruders, viruses, Trojan horses, fake accounts, and many more ever growing malicious software and disturbing practices in our networks! It is a never-ending battle to protect our computer networks from them. They cost us so much! Our businesses are affected by their real and eve their imaginative impact! I'd like to introduce a fresh new approach to computer security modeling nature; from the Wake Forest University! Two keywords scent and ants! Yes, as you may guess, security experts are deploying a new defense modeled after one of nature's hardiest creatures — the ant as reported in this article titled "Ants vs. worms Computer security mimics nature"!
This study report highlights that unlike traditional security devices, which are static, these "digital ants" wander through computer networks looking for threats, such as "computer worms" — self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of machines. When a digital ant detects a threat, it doesn't take long for an army of ants to converge at that location, drawing the attention of human operators who step in to investigate. The concept, called "swarm intelligence," promises to transform cyber security because it adapts readily to changing threats. Professor of Computer Science Errin Fulp says "In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully. They can ramp up their defense rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We were trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system. Our idea is to deploy 3,000 different types of digital ants, each looking for evidence of a threat. As they move about the network, they leave digital trails modeled after the scent trails ants in nature use to guide other ants. Each time a digital ant identifies some evidence, it is programmed to leave behind a stronger scent. Stronger scent trails attract more ants, producing the swarm that marks a potential computer infection."

I know we mimicked a number of animals for computer security in the past. Even some mythological characters such as three headed Cerberus watching Hades! What other animals or even plants could we model for computer security? Please illustrate your thoughts with your real and/or imaginative animals and their cognitive expertise such as smell, taste, touch, bite are a few for the consideration of your imagination!

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

How do you deliver bad news to others?

There are daily many bad news at homes, in schools, in hospitals, in workplaces, in press including offline and online social medium. We call them bad news because we believe they are bad with unwanted consequences. The heart of this issue is that we jump to the conclusions too quickly sometimes; without knowing the overall consequences and understanding the purpose behind them. Some of them could be blessing in disguise when we look at them from the hindsight. There are of course some realistic heart breaking events too.

The article titled How to deliver the news? made me think what the best way to deliver bad news. It is a complex situation when dramatic emotional events are the matter of the news. We are sensitive creatures. Our mind play a lot of trick on our body and psyche. Using neutral language is recommended rather than starting the conversation with "I'm sorry" or "unfortunately I have some bad news" etc.

We all of course have different views and experience on dealing with bad news. This is also very contextual and may vary according to the situation. Maybe we can learn from each other by identifying some practical patterns and handy hints. How do you usually deliver bad news to the related parties who are expected to suffer from or be disadvantaged by the intended severe bad news?

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

How would Einstein, Darwin, Freud, Marx and Hemingway use email?

I didn't fully make up the title of this post, it came from Northwestern University, a research report for media. Their title is "How Would Einstein Use E-mail?". They believe that we are not as different from Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin after all, at least when it comes to patterns of correspondence! I had to take this piece of research serious because it is published in the prestigious Science Journal. And also the National Science Foundation supported the research.

I found their method very interesting and unusual because they examined extensive letter correspondence records of 16 famous writers, performers, politicians and scientists, including Einstein, Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Ernest Hemingway, and found that the 16 individuals sent letters randomly but in cycles. They said "No matter what their profession, all the letter writers behaved the same way. They adhered to a circadian cycle; they tended to write a number of letters at one sitting, which is more efficient; and when they wrote had more to do with chance and circumstances than a rational approach of writing the most important letter first."

I am unable to find more on this behavioural study however added this paper to my to read list as soon as it becomes available. Related to this topic, I noticed Mark Rhodes posted an interesting blog on Friday titled "Emails can be dangerous, make sure it doesn't happen to you". In the meantime, based on the thoughts from this report and Mark's post, I would like to understand what other email writing styles are available amongst us? For example, how often do you send email messages? How often do you check and respond your emails? How do you deal with myriad of spam messages if you don't have a spam filter? Do you use specific tones in your email? Do you keep it short and to the point or is it like a journal? Do you see e-mail the major communication tool? What are your overall thoughts about email in business and social life? Does email style has anything to do with the claims in the video cited in the future of communication:-)?

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

Future of Communication

Yes, we will shake it like Shakira in Moscow today; I mean shake our thoughts like that!

Communications technologies, processes, approaches, and tools are rapidly changing. Internet and associated technologies added a mask, a painful flavour to digest, and a huge confusion! It is unknown where we are going! Let's do some brain and heart stretching today and see what we come up with!

We need to ask a few predictive warming questions to start shaking in the attractive rhythm, drums must start beating hard, hands clapping with passion, and move brain hips muscles slowly :

1. How likely to use digital tongues to speak, to taste the quality of communication!
2. How likely to sniff communication with electronic nose!
3. How likely to hear the most juicy global gossips with our digital ears!
4. How likely to have a digital brain embedded to our body using paper batteries I mentioned here yesterday.
5. How likely we will give meanings to life with our digital hearts!
6. Do you reckon we can figure out how to touch, hug, kiss each other digitally.
7. What is the position of digital or electronic spirituality in this rapidly changing universe.

What other digital occurrences and things we can introduce to our end to end communication process and tools? You are free to stretch your prediction up to 2050 safely and for the remaining years and centuries, I will facilitate another blog soon.

You may check this video to get some insights and inspiration before commenting on this post today, it starts with "man is god, anyone and everywhere!":


Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

Adding NEW meanings: mixing FUN & business with popular media: My recent top 20 items ACCEPPTED in Superfan

New social media is stretching the scope and blending the borders of business and pleasure!

You can be fan of anything at superfan accepted by the assessment committee using an objective criteria. If your favourite items are not there, you can create your objects and first you become the superfan of that object then invite others to be fan of it. It is also possible in some cases others may steal your superfan and then the whole fun starts. The objects gain value and visibility. For example, Ecademy, Yasni, Hereke Silk Carpets, Megan Fox and IBM are a few famous ones that reached to very high scores in very short time. It is up to the fans to promote their items.

I introduced the following items to the Superfan recently which they were not available in there and they were accepted successfully:

1. Nasreddin - A historical humorous character


2. Manuka Honey - strong antibacterial honey from New Zealand


3. Oil Wrestling - Traditional Turkish Sport


4. Semiotics - the study of how meaning is constructed and understood.


5. Cloud Computing


6. The University of Melbourne


7. Orhan Pamuk - Turkish Nobel laureate in Literature


8. Kevin Rudd - current Prime Minister of Australia


9. Seymour Papert - one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, as well as an inventor of the Logo programming language.


10. Hyacinth


11. Mindfulness


12. IBM AIX - Server Operating System


13. IBM System z10


14. Hookahs - Nargile (this is only for cultural awareness purpose, I am non-smoker but can connect to smokers:-))


15. Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me - Penny Power's recent book. (just introduced yesterday)


16. Karagoz and Hacivat


17. Mayapple - plant native to the eastern part of North America.


18. Meet the Robinsons - my son's favourite show


19. Sertab Erener - 2003 Eurovision winner represented Turkey


20. Blue Gene - Enabled IBM to be a winner of National Medals of Science, Technology and Innovation


You can see and become fan of my current 69 items from this link.

What are your recent favourite top 20 objects, concepts that you may want to share with your networkers?

Through this post, I'd also would like to obtain your views on use of this new medium for both business and pleasure. What could be the implications from your angle?


Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz|| Superfan

Taking a shower can damage our health - Ecademy

Taking a shower can damage our health - Ecademy

More and more followers in Twitter

As you may have noticed I was missing my little bird a.k.a. Twitter in Superfan. I got it back as alluded in yesterday's blog.

It was fantastic a to connect with a few networkers from Superfan who have Twitter accounts. Look forward to connecting more friends from here in Twitter. It is fun and useful to enhance networking. Tremendous tweeting is going on in Twitter!

Come and join us....let's tweet together for collaborative learning! I can be followed by myil1.

Why don't rich people need friends? - Ecademy

Why don't rich people need friends? - Ecademy

AddThis - Sharing http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=135059

AddThis - Sharing http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=135059

Shared via AddThis

A blog about Twitter in Superfan

Hi all,

This is a new blog series which I called it reflections from heart and mind. I would like to update my online activities here.

Day by day, I find the Superfan fascinating with new objects and concepts. I started blogging in there. Today, I teased about Twitter which is an object stolen by a member as a game. The title of the blog is "Follow game: Are you a twitter geek? Let's follow each other"

I have also posted a blog to Ecademy titled "Why 44789 people to die?"

It was great to see a number of Follow Friday for my Twitter Account. I felt honoured.

I posted only one article to Linkedin and read my messages in Naymz. Adding new items to Yasni tonight...

Great to start blogging in the Blogger too.

Cheers,
Mehmet Yildiz
Melbourne, Australia