Blog

Week 52 Bono on failure and learning

admin4 Comments

I was asked by Internetworld to give my take on 2010 happenings, and what i was hoping for in 2011. The whole thing made me think a bit more about the whole act of leadership and the responsibility that comes with developing people as well as ideas. This reflects upon the book that i was sent by Emil Ems.

After attending my friend Ph.D David Bismarks course on Publishing and Social Media earlier this year i met Emil Ems, another curious Ph.D I taught how to blog. He was set with a wonderful skill, he was very curious and had an ambition to learn, so he just needed a push in the right direction and he was on his way. What i did not know, was that he was to sum up his travelling diaries from California and make a book about it. A first “preview” book was printed and sent to me, limited edition issue 10/10. Perfect for christmas reading. Stories and pictures from my favourite universities, yay!

This act of learning, speaks to me of the polarity of 2010 in the way that we in Sweden, a high-tech nation, yet we still have people who don’t know how to use mail, or what a browser is etc. Emil is not one of the people, and probably never will be, due to his curious nature, and will to find out how things work, finding another way of solving current issues.

However we have a huge digital devide in Sweden where closer to a milion (1/9) of Swedens population is still uses the internet very seldomly or never. As not everyone posesses the the curious nature that will find a way to learn like Emil, we still cant afford having illeteracy in Sweden. The IIS aka .SE is is doing a wonderful job minimizing the digital devide, and conquering the digital analfabetism that cripples so many, by offering to create projects that teach especially elderly that are over represented in the group of digital illeteracy.

The act of learning is a tedious part, and like many new things we learn, you have to be comfortable sitting in a chair – knowing nothing. Accepting that you know nothing. That can be a pretty stressful concept for a lot of people, especially if you are taking to much information, and we can’t consume it. A good teachers role is to see when the student has had enough, and can walk out of the session feeling sucessfully taught, and proud with what they have learned. This way a student can start making new thoughts and new argumentations for logical ideas.

But.

We know that people get stuck. And  frustrated. Even angry. (Including me) The point is that even if we don’t manage to learn everything, its not a failure, if you have really tried, and learned from it. Edward de Bono says it best with his famous quote:

“Fully justified venture which did not succeed for reasons which could not have been predicted and which were beyond control” – Edward de Bono

Being curious and willing to test new things will make you fail, you can count on it. We need to start learning that at that given point you know what didn’t work. It’s not the end of the world. It never has been, it never will be. And it automiatically let’s you test new ways, new possibilities. I’m hoping that more people in leading positions take it to their heart that people need to develop, test, and learn how to fail successfully to not grow old at mind. Development (people and products) is a question of leadership advocacy, and tech is just the device. I hope we all in our everyday leadership with our dreams and goals start keep this in mind.

Summing up:

  • Some mistakes are better learned from watching others
  • We should be learning by failing, as if we are learning to walk.
  • We should welcome some failures, as we then know we have at least given it a fair shot.

Worth the read and look:

Week 51 Radio + Illustrated thoughts

adminLeave a comment

After giving a talk at the incubator Aturn, I recieved a mindmap illustration of my talk, made by Pernilla Karlsson at AddGender. It made me think of the power of images and the importance of illustrating your thoughts, to keep visions, dreams and goals clear and focused. Thanks Pernilla, highly apreshiated!

I was also happy about being invited to Studio One, to portrait RunAlong.se and GeekGirlMeetup at Radio P1. It doesn’t get much better than P1, still i did enjoy being inteviewed at P3 Kultur with Johanna Koljonen a while back.

Weekly post in Nya Affärer, Running Business was focused on “how little is enough”.

Christmas goodies:

  • And a litte eyecandy for the easier infograpghics, Google Demo Slam: Epic Docs Animation.
  • One of the most Tweeted about in Denmark, GeekGirlmeetup CPH.

Week 50 #talkaboutit

adminLeave a comment

The “let’s talk about it” campaign about sexual harrassment and rape, #prataomdet was started on Twitter by  @jocxy Koljonen with aimes to ad perspective to rape, grayzones and responsability. The campaign was followed up by an article in DN article, an numerous posts, Same same but different wrote about it, Hanna Friden reflected (+ many more).

#Prataomdet quickly adapted it´s anglosaxic version #TalkAboutit. The site Prataomdet.se that was published later on a simple WordPressblog, collects all stories. It’s a very interesting collection from a historical perspective as it portaits the stories by them selves, without questioning. Not happy sunday reading.

Julia Skott´s take on it.

Week 49 Bievenue

adminLeave a comment

I just recently started blogging in Swedish for Nya Affärer, where i have the blog Runnig Business, writing about business models and the life of running a running-startup.

I spent tuesday night at Stockholm Nightowls, a working together meetup, working with a sideproject. I met the team behind RSS Grafitti who have been nominated for the Mashup Awards Best Social Media Service for Small Business.


GeekGirlMeetup says hello Mexico from h3idi on Vimeo.

Mexico just held their first GeekGirlMeetup with over 100 GeekGirls. More about that here. Follow the @OhProducer stream here:

I heard LeWeb, was Epic, and heres a video from the conference, interview with Paypal Osama Bedier, covered by TechCrunch:

Hello Oyuki Matsumoto! [A portrait/Interview]

admin1 Comment


Hello Oyuki Matsumoto! How are you?
Fine thanks, little jetlag but happy to be in my country again!

You are the organizer of GeekGirlMeetup in Mexico, could you tell me about how that came to happen?
I had the oportunity to be at the Geek Girl Meetup in Helsinborg this springtime and I just became so inspired to see so many girls together sharing experiences that i thought i should definetely bring it to Mexico. I think my country is growing really fast, but unfortunately is still very man dominated, so I thought this would be a great project to “spread” and see what happen… and well i contacted some of my friends here and they got interested also so we started planing it in the late summer…

And so who is showing up?
We have 102 girls registered, its all from programers, IT developers, fashion designers, artists that use technology in their work, girls working in emarketing, community managers, and bloggers…

We are still getting mails today about empty places so we have decided to have the registration from 9-9.45 and all the empty places we will give them to the girls that never got a place in those 100….

What do you do in the daytime Oyuki?
I work in Malmö as a projectmanager at Stapelbäddsparken. I have a bachelor in Media and Communication from Mexico. I studied university here in Guadalajara where this meetup is happening. I use a lot social media in order to get inspiration for my work..and that is how i found on the first place about Geek Girl Meetup….

I also hear you are a DJ, “the DJ plugged in to bring the GGM to Mexico”. Is that true?
I heard once someone said “Im a closet dj” haha.. I love music and i listen to all kinds of music…but Im not really a DJ… I dont mix.. I just program music… a music geek maybe?! heheh

Any other tips for people how to get ther geek on?
Well I think Social Media and all the new ways of communication is opening so many doors, I think is just about to take the chance… get inspiration and spread your knowledge… Share…and connect…

How does the Mexican tech, code and startup scene look like, who are the local heroes we should know of?
Well first of all these girls producing this together with me Elizabeth and Jackeline Maldonado, Ericka Garcia & Karla Gradilla…they are full on and have been doing such a great work to put up a great event together… The tech, code and starup scene in Mexico…uff though question as i  dont live here anymore…but just right now going through the registration forms I see a lot of interesting girls doing so many cool projects, I think Geek Girl Meetup can help to get all these girls connected and start new things… find new way of cooperation…that is one of our main aims…

Well, i think that i speak for all of us back here in Sweden, who wish we could join you on the other side of the atlantic. best of luck, have a blast!

O: Thank you and hello to all the girls up there…thanks for spreading these..and lets keep on working!!

H: You betcha.

Week 48 Cest tres populár

adminLeave a comment

Proud to present, GeekGirlMeetup was featured in the leading Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter wednesday last week, with almost 70 hits per minute during lunch time, and hundreds of comments, and still the top ten after a week, that is what DN calls, popular.

The title was changed a few times, and from GeekGirls Sweeet Revenge(.jpg), loosley miss-interpreted to Sweet Geek Girls Revenge(.jpg). It was later, more correctly called, “The Dream Network (.jpg)” on the front side of the economy section.

With no one to take revenge upon, we are happy about the the article as it communicates the our aim with new networks and local rolemodels within internet, code and startups and creating the future we need and want for women in the tech scene.

  • Lina Thomsgård at Rättviseförmedlingen also added us up on the list of internetexperts, entrepreneurs for seminars, panels and juries. Thank you @LinaT!
  • 2 students from the University are writing their final thesis about GeekGirlMeetup as a phenomenon, exciting! More about this later.

TALKING ABOUT FEAR AND ANGER AS CONSTRUCTIVE FUEL

  • I am remembering how important it is to use your your fear constructively after discussions with musican Rebekka Karijord, who adresses it more like “Wear it like a crown“, and yet did this fantastic interpretation of my favourite “Smells like teen spirit”.

    • (And i promise to never be late for dinner again)

  • The Egyptian election makes me remeber my visit to Egypt with the Swedish Institute. To sum it up im linking in Måns Adlers startup, Bambuser tweet on the democratic importance of his start up service Bambuser.

  • I also cant seem to forget the Harrasmap that both me and Joakim Jardenberg listened to as we were both speaking at the YLVP´s Cairo Social Media Cafe this passed month. @jocke sums it up really well.

Jardenberg also disses the new apps for the iPad, by the major Swedish Media houses, and wether i agree or not I am suggesting some Margret Wheatly reading of  for the people in charge of the apps, preferably Leadership and the new Science.

WIKILEAKS AND ASSANGE

@brokep micro finance focused startup Flattr makes it possible to donate to whatever you like.

[Edit: this is not avaliable anymore, as Flattr was based on a Paypal Plugin. More about that at TechChrunch, via The Guardian]


Nominee #9 Terese Alvén – Moving up – all in

adminLeave a comment

Terese Alvén, en Spark i baken, is an blogging sensation and fast mover, both blogger and instructor. Terese is one of the healthy bloggers that stands up for healthy eating and reasonable workouts in times when there a pressure targeting you women to perform, more, harder and be thinner. A role-model, that has gone after what she believes in – all in, and we love her for it. Im confident in knowing that she would contribute to the Advisoryboards outdoor, and sportsrelated young health innovations.

Do you think you should be on the list, nominate yourself or someone you think should be nominated at Tillvaxtverket. Go for it!

Nominee #8 Jonas Hombert – a provocateur of conventions

admin2 Comments

Jonas Hombert is another one of them whitty young tech-savvy entrepreneurs who at the early age of 21(!) became the CEO and co-founder of Jaycut, a video editing service online. Young, clever and provocative, challenging the way things should be done. W00t!

Do you think you should be on the list, nominate yourself or someone you think should be nominated at Tillvaxtverket. Go for it!

Nominee #6 #7 Måns Adler & Sandra Jakob (Hatten av för Skåne)

adminLeave a comment

Hats of for the rest of the Malmö crew, yesterday we looked at leading Anna Oscarsson, today we take a glance at the rest of the leading South Swedes.

I’am nominating Kaospilot Måns Adler, the founder of Bambuser, that is a free live streaming service that is used mainly from your phone, and send and documents everything. He has always had a dream, that it would be a democratic tool, and i just read on his Facebook feed that they had over 10 000 streaming from the Egyptian elections yesterday. Knowing that Egypt has a lot of 404-page not found, we know how much this means. Måns is one of those people who is a true inspiration as he is 1/3 techie, 1/3 social entrepreneur and 1/3 activist.

I am also nominating Sandra Jakob,  newseditor at Helsingborgs Dagblad, journalist since ten years who writes about social media, and tech innovators. You can count on Sandra being one step ahead, and knowing what’s up where and when. When the rest of us think were ahead, Sandra is lightyears ahead, been there, done that.

Do you think you should be on the list, nominate yourself or someone you think should be nominated at Tillvaxtverket. Go for it!

Week 47: GeekGirlMeetup goes international, Nikkelin does SEO grafitti, and nominations for Tillväxtverkets young Swedish innovation advisoryboard is on!

admin1 Comment


Foto: Mary Liebowits, on the Picture Charlotte Franzdatter.

Week 47: GeekGirlMeetup goes international, Nikkelin does SEO grafitti, and nominations for Tillväxtverkets young Swedish innovation advisoryboard is on!

Wrapping up the latests posts from the GeekGirlMeetup with the theme “We love API´s” we are proud to have had as much as three live streams from the event, sharing knowledge across to a wide scene in Sweden. At the end of the first day, of our of two confrerance days, 907 streams had been watched, that’s a beautiful number thanks to the steaming team lead by Emma Koszinowski. Totally we had 1700 hits after the weekend on Bambuser.

#ggm10
From left: Danish founder Henriette Weber @redsoda, Swedish program responsible for GeekGirlMeetup journalist Miriam Ohlsson @miriamolsson, co-arranger Ylle Ljungdahl @ylle.

“There is a place in heaven for women who rock out together” said  the danish GeekGirlMeetup founder Henriette Weber who joined us from Denmark. Two weeks ago she hosted the first Danish GeekGirlMeetup with 150 (!) women, that should be read about in @ronnieritter‘s article and Swedish radio reportage.

The mexian DJ Oyuki Matsumoto @ohproducer who attended the Swedish GeekGirlMeetup in the south of Sweden and Denmark is now hosting the first Mexican GeekGirlMeetup in about two weeks, and has gathered 100 GeekGirls in Mexico. W00t! And to quote my co-organizer Maria Söderberg, “Organic is the only way to grow!”.

Moi x3 @geekgirlmeetup, I hosted 1 talks and 2 sessions:

  • 1: RunAlong API and the monetizing on API´s, focused on the business part of my startup RunAlong.se.
  • 2: I hosted  a session on how we could use the GeekGirlMeetup network to create a business angel network/ coop/ VC fund, something closer to a first world Kiva. I wanted to hear what kind of ideas people had about it, and get input on how to use the talent that is in the room for something bigger in the future. Maybe everyone doesn’t have cash to throw in, but hours of programming are indeed worth, as much as strategy sweat, and ide-development in the right setting and place.
  • 3: was about the future of GeekGirl, more structure or less structure. What happens when organizations like GeekGirlMeetup rise without structures and people making things happen due to few restrictions yet a high feeling for responsibility? Will structure kill it? Will we see clearer checklists, and rules – but where will we see the fun? I am convinced that organizations similar to this should be minimal on rules, and based on valuebased leadership that allows the guiding beliefs to become intellectual API´s that is the base for organic growth.

*

Digital Grafitti:
Niklas Lindqvist

Nikke Lindqvist aka @nikkelin hosted a session on how SEO was used to play ranking-bingo with SD before the Swedish election, and rank higher than the SD (swedish political party with xenophobic tendencies) in the organic Google-search. Due to the poor knowledge of SEO, the SD was pushed down from the ranking several times. This is probably one of Nikkes best cases. Thank you Annika Lidne @DisruptiveMedia for hosting this session.

*

The kidds are allright!

I’ve nominated this bunch of people to the advsioryboard that is to advise Tillväxtverket and Vinnova on how programs for young innovation is to be nurtured. I fine user-driven strategy adapted by the government that clearly indicates that we need to collaborate on creating as much value as possible for the future bright mind of tomorrow.

#1 Josephine Sivertzen
#2 Anton Johansson
#3 Caroline Ovaska – En doer av rang!
#4 Jesper Lejfjord – Förändrare
#5 Anna Oscarsson – multitalent