Change

To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly. (Henri Louis Bergeson )

It is a commentary on my life these days that you find me mentioning change frequently in my posts. But as Bergeson said, maturing is an endless process of creating oneself. Perhaps the real pain is in resisting the change.

I watch as all around me change also.

• Good friends grow old and pass on. It is sad to say goodbye, but my life has been enriched by knowing great people and they will not be forgotten.
• My family grows with new additions and though there is an adjustment, it is well worth it.
• I am moved from one position to another within my church community and the number that I can now serve increases though the time spent with old friends shrinks a bit.
• The company evolves and needs that I take on a different role with new challenges and new responsibilities.

It’s all good, as they say, and all a part of creating oneself endlessly. The exciting part is that I have no idea where the creating will lead. It is very difficult to picture exactly what the finished product will look like. But it is very easy to see that the work in process is better than originally thought. Thank Heavens!

For the freedom and opportunity to continue to do things, associate with those, and participate in activities that I truly love, I express divine gratitude. Bring on the change, I love the challenge!

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.

Long Journey to Mill Creek

I am very fortunate to live in this wonderful place called Salt Lake City, Utah. But that statement has been years in the making.

Many years ago, my parents picked up my family moved from Utah to California. I still remember when Dad took my younger brother and me and a truckload of furniture to Reedley, California. We found a home, parked the truck at a secure location and then proceeded to hitchhike back to Utah to get the rest of the family for the trip to California. But that is another story. We were now Californians! Swimming pools, movie stars!

I adopted the way of thinking that anywhere but Utah would be a good place to live. California was a great place to grow up and the endless sunshine added to my joy. Where else could you play baseball all year long, float the lazy rivers of the San Joaquin valley and eat the fruit right off the vines and trees. Life was good.

As I prepared to go to college, I again had that anywhere but Utah mentality. I settled on a great little school in Southeastern Idaho. Some might say "That's Utah with a different name" and they might be right, but the name mattered and I enjoyed my two years in the hard winters of the Snake River plains.

Then I was off to see the world. Two years in Hong Kong, another two years in Taiwan and I was finally ready to settle down and get an education that would bring me work. My choices for MBA were UCLA and BYU. That should have been an easy choice. But after following a serious decision making process that has served me well, I turned to the unlikely choice of BYU. Now you have to understand that going to Happy Valley (Utah County) was the ultimate in betraying my life-long pursuit of staying out of Utah. The only reason that I could justify this move was to tell myself that for the next two years I was going to be locked up in a library studying my guts out and it wouldn't really be like I was "living" in Utah. It worked well, I got my degree, found the love of my life, and high-tailed it back to California after two-years.

Then I wandered around a bit more. Some time in California, back to Idaho, to the deep south in Alabama and back to California. And then something strange happened. My company asked me to transfer to Seattle. My wife, whose family all lived in Utah, then asked if it wasn't time to consider a stint in Utah near her family. We had been on the road for 12 years and the kids needed to get to know her family. Counting on that aforementioned decision process, we made the move to Utah. That was 17 years ago.

Why would I write about this journey? Monday was Memorial Day and after a hard day of working in the yard and running errands, we packed a picnic lunch and within five minutes we were lost in the Wasatch mountains building a fire and roasting our favorite cuts of meat. The late spring runoff was gently rushing down a nearby creek and we were completely at peace as we enjoyed a perfect evening barbecue. There may be other places as beautiful and quiet as Mill Creek Canyon on the east side of Salt Lake City, but on this day and at this moment I felt that this was indeed "the right place." That is what Brigham Young said when he came into this valley.

The outside world may not understand what we have here in Utah but the huge number of outsiders, such as myself, that have come for one reason and then found hundreds of other reasons not to leave is amazing.

Meeting Challenges

I had an incredible experience over the weekend, the opportunity to visit with three really great men and talk about those things that are most important in life, i.e. family, friends, faith and service. One a lawyer/historian, one a technology/financial expert and the last a pediatric dentist. Very different in vocations and the paths they have followed but very similar in dedication and passion. I am a better person for the few hours that I was able to spend with these great men over the weekend.

In the process, there were some priorities in my life that were moved a round a bit. But more importantly, my priorities were confirmed. The things that really matter in life are family, friends, faith and what you do with the things you are given stewardship over.

I absolutely love a good story, particulary one that teaches me something about myself and teaches me principles of truth. I just finished watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the umpteenth time. I still get teary-eyed when the four shortest heros in the classic, the Hobbits, play such a huge role in the battle for Middle Earth. It gives me hope. But as I watched this time (watching takes two or three weeks when it is done 30 minutes a day while I am working out on the treadmill), I was impressed with one of the great themes of the story. This bit of dialogue will help me explain:

Frodo says "I wish The Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."

Gandalf replies "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

We all are given such different paths and opportunities in life. It is easy to wonder and ask why some have struggles, some have success, some seem to find financial treasure and some have all they try turn sour. There are no easy answers, there are only more questions. But I truly believe that what does matter is how we decide to spend the time that is given to us. This is a principle that I can accept and live by.

Another great man said it slightly different. He was lamenting the fact that he wished with his whole heart to be able to go and pursue a course which wasn't granted to him. Instead, while his friends went and worked in far-flung locales and had great success, he stayed at home and minded the store, so to speak. In the end though, he stated a principle that I love. He said "why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?

And that is what I try to live by; understand the work that must be performed and do it to the best of my ability without regrets or vain hope to do something else more glamorous. If I do the task, whatever it is, to the best of my ability, then I have no doubt that I, like Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippen, will have a postive impact on the world we all share.

The Times They are A-Changin

So goes the popular song by Bob Dylan. The rate of change continues to increase too. I have found that the Internet gives us daily changes to the tools and tricks available to communicate, teach, learn, google and tweet. Even our language is changing as we try to stay on top of the ever changing landscape. The marketing slogan “Reach out and Touch Someone” has never been more possible in so many different ways.

How does one keep it all straight? I have recently discovered a web site that tries to help. Jane Hart, a Social Media and Learning Consultant of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has created Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day. Every day she selects an item of e-learning interest and spotlights it on her site. LearningZen.com was recently spotlighted. Jane’s site is very informative and also provides several ways to keep current on the new tools available in the e-learning world.

In Jane’s own words “Having set up a number of web portals in the past, in 2007 I established the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies - now one of the world's most-visited and most popular learning sites on the Web. I am the author of a number of blogs including the popular Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day, where I post a daily item of e-learning interest. You can keep up to date with what I am bookmarking in a number of ways.”

We are glad to be in a community of passionate people such as Jane Hart. Learning and teaching is something that we all believe will have a positive impact on the world we live in. And we believe that there should be ways to study, educate and collaborate that are free and easy to use. That is what LearningZen is all about. Come see what it is all about by visiting http://www.learning.zen.com/ and be part of the revolution.