Making friends with the Twitterpillar

I joined Twitter a while ago and wasn't too impressed with the service. I applaud them for the concept and people for their willingness to share just about everything in this medium, but I think that as a content provider, they suck.

Of course like most everyone else, I don't like their intermittent service (that has improved), but I also have had trouble with Twitter being the only place to tweet. I know their are other mini/micro/nano blogs available. However, bloggers blog everywhere, it's no big deal, so why am I stuck using this service. I feel like I'm stuck using AOL IM and can't switch to anything else or I'll loose my buddy base and that blows.

As bad as they are, Twitter has provided a great API and is very open to applications that can utilize it in aggregation, or just simply pull a feed. These things are great and are probably it's savor for my use. Thanks to Digsby and FriendFeed (and many others) for taking full advantage of that.

With all that in mind, I've decided to be more active on Twitter. Thanks to everyone that has followed my silence there up until this point. I hope things are about to get better!

meh: http://twitter.com/macguidera

Lotusphere 2009: Lotus Connections Sessions

From the Lotusphere site, I've put together this quick list of sessions covering Lotus Connections. This is going to be great!

JumpStart Sessions

• The Office is Flat (coffee in SOHO)


• IBM Lotus Connections: Up and Running

Futures and Innovations

• From Web 2.0 to Enterprise 2.0: Collaboration, Productivity, and Adoption in the Enterprise

Application Development

• Lotus Workflow - Best Practices and New Possibilities


• IBM Lotus Connections Customizations


• IBM Lotus Connections ATOM API Deep Dive


• Are You REALLY Taking Advantage of an Integrated Lotus Collaboration Experience?


• Build for Success: Getting the Most Out of Lotus Collaboration and Social Software

Planning and Managing Your Collaboration Infrastructure

• How to Expose People to People -- and People to Information


• Integrating IBM WebSphere Portal with IBM Lotus Connections Using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory


• IBM Lotus Connections Deployment Architecture and Best Practices


• Taking IBM Lotus Connections Mobile


• What's Next with IBM Lotus Connections

Best Practices

• Best Practices on Social Software Adoption

Show 'n Tell Sessions

• Getting Your Feet Wet with IBM Lotus Connections

Lotusphere 2009 Sessions

The Lotusphere 2009 Breakout Sessions have been posted and I wanted to say from my perspective that this is a huge relief! I can truly say that being a track manager is hell. I'm not saying that I haven't enjoyed it, but coming up with the right mix of sessions to have in the Best Practices track is a very, very hard job. There were over 300 submissions in the Best Practice track. Some of them stunk and some were so so, but most were great.

As I poured over the abstracts, I found it difficult not select too many for the track. It got harder and harder to whittle down the list and get to a point where I could bring forward my recommendation to the team. The amount of variables in making the final decision is ludicrous. However one variable that helped a great deal was what the community put forward on IdeaJam. Thanks to everyone who participated there, it was a big help!

If your session was not selected this year, please don't take it personally. I can say honestly, that I did not even consider speaker names until later into the cycle. My advice for next time (yes, there is a next time) is to shop your idea around more within the community, build up a strong case, and be very articulate in what you want to present and why when submitting your session. Find a topic that will be a benefit for a majority of the attendees at Lotusphere and then sell it in a way that will blur the thought of those uncomfortable conference chairs.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit and abstract. The Best Practices track is unique within Lotusphere and truly is dependent on your participation.

Also, I wanted to say thanks to Rocky for his hard work on this track as well. He's great to work with and I enjoyed his excitement and experience in all things Lotusphere. Thanks Rock!

Mac Daddy!

Mac Guidera, 9 pounds - 10 ounces, 21.5 inches

Aside from a new job and getting more involved in Lotusphere I've recently become a father! Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and congratulations. I'm back on-online in a week or so and am enjoying some quiet and sleepless time here at the house.