250 Viewers in 43 Countries

I’m extremely happy to report that my “Up and Running with IBM Connections” video course has now been viewed by 250 Lynda.com subscribers in 43 countries. All of this in one weeks time. Today I received my first “user feedback” and it was extremely positive and encouraging.

You can view the first 5 videos in the series for free. There are 38 videos in total.

  1. Welcome
  2. Accessing IBM Connections for the first time
  3. Configuring notifications and account settings
  4. Updating your profile
  5. Inviting a guest

If you are not yet a Lynda.com subscriber you can sign up for a free 7 day trial.

I’m in the process of developing several more courses for Lynda however, I’m not yet able to disclose what they will be. Many thanks to my friend Jess Stratton, Lynda.com staff author and my producer Jonathan Sears for all of their help, patience and guidance.

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Lynda.com Video: Women in STEM

This short film profiles inspiring examples of women who got their start, and found their calling, in STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.

It features Sheeri K. Cabal, database admin at Mozilla and author of the popular OurSQL podcast; Jess Stratton, lynda.com author and the founder of Solace Learning; and Peggy Fisher, professor of computer science at Penn State and leader of several tech-focused after-school programs for disadvantaged youth.

Here Sheeri, Jess, and Peggy talk about the key factors to their success (confidence, community, and curiosity), and the ways they’re encouraging more students to enter STEM.

http://vimeo.com/107201940

 

The video includes my friend Jess Stratton who you may know from the IBM/Lotus world and who is now a Lynda.com staff author. The video also includes photos of Gab Davis, Kathy Brown, and many others of the “Nerd Girls”. It’s a “must watch” video.

Watch it now >

And I’m Off to Lynda!

Today I am flying down to Carpinteria, California to record the “Up and Running with IBM Connections” video learning series for Lynda.com. The current course outline has some 35+ videos covering, Profiles/People, Communities, Files, Activities, Blogs, Ideation Blogs, Forums, Status Updates and much more. I will be returning on Saturday, August 9th. Let the fun begin!

If you are interesting in a free 7 day Lynda.com trial, you can start right here.

Seven Microsoft MTA’s Completed

Earlier this week I completed my seventh Microsoft Certified Technology Associate (MTA) exam. The test was the “HTML5 Application Development Fundamentals (Exam 98-375). This exam focussed on the following:

  • Managing the Application Life Cycle
  • Building the User Interface by Using HTML5: Text, Graphics, and Media
  • Building the User Interface by Using HTML5: Organization, Input, and Validation
  • Understanding CSS Essentials: Content Flow, Positioning, and Styling
  • Understanding CSS Essentials: Layouts
  • Managing Text Flow by Using CSS
  • Managing the Graphical Interface by Using CSS
  • Understanding JavaScript and Coding Essentials
  • Creating Animations, Working with Graphics, and Accessing Data
  • JavaScript Coding for the Touch Interface, Device and Operating System Resources, and More

Here is a list of the MTA’s that I have completed the last few months:

  1. Microsoft Technology Associate: HTML5 Application Development Fundamentals, July 17, 2014
  2. Microsoft Technology Associate: Networking Fundamentals, June 18, 2014
  3. Microsoft Technology Associate: Security Fundamentals, June 11, 2014
  4. Microsoft Technology Associate: Database Administration Fundamentals, June 09, 2014
  5. Microsoft Technology Associate: Web Development Fundamentals, June 09, 2014
  6. Microsoft Technology Associate: Windows Operating System Fundamentals, June 04, 2014
  7. Microsoft Technology Associate: Software Development Fundamentals, February 25, 2014

Next up is the .NET Fundamentals exam.

Video: Java for XPages Development

In this one hour, forty five minute webinar produced by TLCC and Teamstudio, Paul Calhoun and Howard Greenberg Paul Della-Nebbia talk about why every single IBM XPages developer needs to know how to program with Java:

Java is an important skill to have as an XPages developer. This webinar will provide a foundation of the Java skills you need and explain how to best acquire them. Come see how Java is used with detailed code examples that demonstrate how to use core Java code, Java Beans, Managed Beans, and third party Java libraries in your applications. After this webinar you will know exactly how to add Java as a tool in your development toolbox.

The slides and sample database are available on the TLCC site.

Startup Weekend Access Portland – I’m a Mentor

I am pleased to announce that I have been asked to be a mentor for the upcoming Startup Weekend Access Portland event taking place on February 7-9th.

A crash course for those curious about entrepreneurship! You’re invited to attend Startup Weekend Access, a Startup Weekend focused on making entrepreneurship more accessible to everyone. Our mission is to create an environment where anyone can innovate together. We’re focusing on accessibility to provide better access for people with disabilities and fluid collaboration amongst every participant. An appropriate accessible environment with the necessary auxiliary aids support services will be provided!

Startup Weekend’s a 54-hour event where aspiring entrepreneurs, developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and entrepreneurs of all abilities come together to share startup ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups. Essentially, it’s a crash course in entrepreneurship that lets you experience what it’s really like to build and launch a startup.

Whether you have an idea for a new mobile app that will make your life easier or just want to learn more about entrepreneurship, we encourage you to attend.

Why? The statistics are clear, people with disabilities are not only less likely to be employed, but also less likely to pursue entrepreneurship. We hope that Startup Weekend Access will ignite your entrepreneurial spark!

Register now >

A Book on IBM Connections: What’s Possible?

One of the major challenges with getting people in organizations to adopt new collaboration tools – or social business technologies – is helping them to understand what their work would look like if they were to shift to the new way of doing things. Often vendors talk about their products through the lens of features and functions, which is definitely helpful but not enough by itself.

As an independent collaboration strategist, one of the ways Michael Sampson works with clients is to help them understand what’s possible by developing scenarios of how work would be different. Michael’s first book, Seamless Teamwork: Using Microsoft SharePoint Technologies to Collaborate, Innovate, and Drive Business in New Ways (2008) took this approach for conveying how people could use Microsoft SharePoint for running a project. It starts with Roger who works at Fourth Coffee who is given a project to run, and is expected to use SharePoint 2007 for that. Michael’s most recent book, Doing Business with IBM Connections (2013), takes the same approach for IBM Connections 4.5, but covers ten different collaboration scenarios.

Those are:

  • Co-Authoring Documents
  • Managing Meetings
  • Holding Discussions
  • Distributing Team and Organizational Updates
  • Capturing Ideas for Innovation
  • Running a Project
  • Sharing Learning and Best Practice
  • Making Decisions
  • Finding Expertise
  • Achieving Individual Coherence

The book is set in a fictitious company called Albreto, and the adoption and use of IBM Connections starts in the Marketing Department and works its way out from there. Michael’s book is designed as an adoption resource, and is much more about the business and human things that need to work in each scenario rather than just focusing on where to click in Connections. For example, in the Document Co-Authoring scenario, there are specific steps given for how to co-author a document, but there is also reference made to the human dynamics of writing a first draft that allows scope for collaboration, and there’s an advanced concepts discussion at the end of that chapter on how early stage collaboration can reduce the quality of input. This style of approach is followed throughout Michael’s book.

If you are using IBM Connections, it would be a great resource to have available for your users. If you are not using IBM Connections, it would be a great resource to review for the approaches in each scenario. Those approaches are very transferable.

(With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Michael is running a special offer at the moment on his book. You can get 20% off the price of the paperback editions, or the corporate licensing fee for the e-book version. All the details are here – www.michaelsampson.net/thanksgiving.html)