Viral LearningZen

I am getting quite an education in viral marketing. For those that are new to that expression, here is the Wikipedia definition: The buzzwords viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. (Viral Marketing from Wikipedia )

As you may know, Gold Systems has launched a new website that is promoting and building an educational community. I won’t go into all of the details here (although you can find them at http://www.learningzen.com/ ) but suffice it to say that we are currently promoting it through viral methods.

We have some very savvy people on our staff that are helping this member of the older generation to understand and play in the sandbox. I have learned all about facebook, digit, reddit, stumbledupon, and Linkedin. Those are some very powerful social networking sites. I have yet to be asked to get involved in twitter or to tweet someone, but I am sure it is on the list of things to do. And I have never blogged so much in my life. I find that to be the most pleasant part of my assignment as I truly like to share my thoughts and experiences.

Two other marketing methods that we employed are more in line with traditional promotions. The first was to actually put some signage on our Washington DC office. Our office is on Florida Avenue in the Northwest quadrant of DC. It is between the Dupont Circle and the Adams Morgan areas. There is a ton of foot traffic and I was very pleased that as people walked by, they stopped to take note of the new sign. One lady stopped to write down the information. I decided to introduce myself and went outside and learned that she is a teacher in Washington DC and wanted to know what the “Learning Revolution” was all about. I gave her my card and asked her to visit us online. Very cool!

The second more traditional method is that we have also created some rather plain t-shirts with the url http://www.learningzen.com/ printed on the front. The most appealing characteristic of the t-shirt is the bright yellow color. I have been told that yellow is one of my best colors. So I like the t-shirt. I decided that I would get lots of marketing in Washington DC by proudly wearing my bright yellow t-shirt. I have included a few pictures just so that you know that the LearningZen t-shirt has been in a few popular places in DC.

I am looking forward to my continued education in viral marketing. If you get an email, tweet, or facebook note from me and it seems to be out of place, I beg your forgiveness. Better yet, instruct me on what I can do to better fit in this wonderful web 2.0 world that we now live in.

On the Shoulders of Giants

"Who sees further a dwarf or a giant? Surely a giant for his eyes are situated at a higher level than those of the dwarf. But if the dwarf is placed on the shoulders of the giant who sees further? ... So too we are dwarfs astride the shoulders of giants. We master their wisdom and move beyond it. Due to their wisdom we grow wise and are able to say all that we say, but not because we are greater than they" (Wikipedia on June 7, 2009)

My family is in the midst of a week-long exploration of our nation's capitol. We are re-discovering Washington DC. For my son, Andy, this is his first time to this cradle of American History. He took the red-eye special from Los Angeles and arrived at noon yesterday, chomping at the bit. So we went to the two most impressive structures in DC; the Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

This was my first time inside the Washington Memorial. The view was incredible and the structure awesome. As we descended in the elevator, the park ranger slowed to allow us to see what we were missing, namely the myriad of plaques honoring the Father of our Country. What a shame that we could not continue to enjoy those tributes due to the acts of a few individuals.

But the most impressive and touching memorial on the mall, and the simplest, is the Lincoln Memorial. This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of this great man's birth. I am sure we will see many more exhibits honoring him. But I cannot help but be touched as I enter the Lincoln Memorial, see this great man and then read his inspired words.

I start with the Gettysburg Address on the left. I am choked up by the sacrifice of the soldiers that fought in the Civil War. They gave the ultimate sacrifice not against some invading horde but against thier brothers. I can't say it better than Honest Abe; "from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (Gettysburg Address)

I then walked to the right side of the memorial and read again the words of the second inaguaral address. And this time, the words mean even more to me. Perhaps it is a sign on our time, but I was touched by these words: "It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing thier bread from the sweat of othermen's faces but let us judge not that we be not judged."

Two great principles that I learn from that simple statement.

• First that we shuld be responsible for ourselves and do the work needed to succeed on our own.
• Second, that we should not judge our brother, even in the most obvious of errors or ommissions.

I am humbled and grateful to have the shoulders of our forefathers an which to stand. If we choose to ignore thier wisdom, then we will be dwarves; straining to see the rising sun from the depths of the gully, when we could be standing on the shoulder's of giants and enjoying the beautiful dawn.

Attending NAPHSIS

I have the opportunity to attend a few conferences each year. One of the conferences that I have been attending regularly is the annual joint meeting of NAPHSIS and NCHS. That is the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems and the National Center for Health Statistics. This year, the meetings were held in Baltimore Maryland and although attendance was down, the meetings were still very successful

This group of public servants are a unique and dedicated group. They are the leaders in advocating, creating, and maintaining comprehensive, high quality public health information systems that integrate vital records registration, public health statistics, and other health information. Most people would not know who they are or what they do. However, they have a direct impact on all of our lives. The most obvious impact is that they provide the birth and death certificates in all of the municipalities.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with this group as Gold Systems has built systems to support their efforts. Specifically, we have implemented systems in Montana, Washington, DC, Arizona and Wyoming. I am always amazed at how much great work these folks do with limited budgets and amidst the politics of each state. This is not easy work and it is accomplished under varied and unique situations. I applaud their dedicated efforts. We see and communicate with our clients regularly, but is nice to see the rest of the group at lease once a year and I look forward to the annual meetings.

This year, Gold Systems focused on introduction of the new service, LearningZen.com. For those that may not know, with LearningZen, we are creating a community of learning that allows anyone to study, educate or collaborate freely. The LearningZen community provides tools to create and manage course that facilitate certified learning across any topic. There are many learning management systems available; Angel, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodle, Sakai, WebCT, just to name a few. However, many are expensive to acquire, many are expensive to maintain, and many are difficult to learn and manage. LearningZen is FREE and EASY.

The final meeting of the NAPHSIS meeting for us was a meeting with two states. The people from these two states came together to see a demonstration of LearningZen. Now you have to realize that my colleague and I are not professional sales people. We just love LearningZen and see great opportunity for those that adopt it within their organizatins. Within the first 5 minutes of a 20 minute demo, the group had already seen where this tool could be applied to save money, time and effort in helping their agencies meet their objectives. It was very gratifying.

Over the last three days, we visited, shared, evangelized, laughed and learned. I hope those that heard about LearningZen will now return home and test it; see if it really meets the bold claims that we have made.

Dennis Phillips, Ph.D.