Marie-Lynn Richard

Here is an update from Shawn of UnculturedProject. I love how Shawn documents his projects and tells the recipients of the material where the donations come from. This year the Youtube community has provided scales for weighing babies in Bangladesh. This video is so good!

Avec l’habitude de Facebook de faire toutes sortes de changements a leurs pages sans avertir les gestionnaires ou développeur ça peut devenir assez complexe de supporter des solutions créées spécifiquement pour Facebook! Mais depuis juin 2011, je développe activement des produits et frameworks qui permettent à mes clients de conduire différentes campagnes et même de publier sur Facebook AUTOMATIQUEMENT du contenu qui vient de leur site Web, catalogue de produit ou blogue sans qu’ils aient à travailler en double.

Dès le 1 octobre, Facebook requiert une version sécurisée de chaque onglet applicatif que vous avez sur votre page. Avec un grand nombre de personnes qui accèdent Facebook en https, il deviens primordial de supporter la connection sécurisée dans tous nos tabs.

J’ai installé un serveur dédié avec certificat SSL seulement pour les applications Facebook afin de permettre à tous mes clients d’être à jours et toutes les pages seront migrées d’ici le 22 septembre.

Si vous désirez migrer vos applications de page vers une plateforme conforme à cette nouvelle politique vous devez réserver votre transfert entre le 14 et le 22 septembre via le bouton inclus dans cette page. Ceci est valide pour les ‘fan gates’, formulaires, pages de bienvue et tout autre contenu en PHP qui utilise le framework Facebook et non les tabs FBML.

En réservant votre place sur le calendrier de migration, vous obtenez l’hébergement en version standard et SSL pour un an (75$/an) ainsi que le service de transfert et ré-installation de vos contenus. Il se peut que je puisse récupérer du contenu que vous avez perdu (depart d’employé ou fin de support du developpeur.) En prime vous aurez accès en primeur aux différents services que je développe en étiquette branche pour différentes agences. Il est important de noter que je vais vous contacter dans les 24 heures pour une consultation et ensuite accepter le mandat ou rembourser votre paiement car j’ai un nombre limité de places et certaines applications ne peuvent être incluses dans ce budget ‘on-size fits most’. Veuillez inclure l’URL de votre contenu ainsi que vos coordonnée ainsi que votre téléphone jour, ou soir s’il-y-a-lieu.

Si vous voulez implanter la solution technique la plus simple et pratique à supporter et nourir pour votre équipe de média social, vous devez réserver à l’avance mon temps. En date d’aujourd’hui je prévois avoir du temps après le 5 octobre 2011.

Cependant, vous pouvez passer par ma collègue Marjolaine Buteau de Kumulus Marketing pour tous vos besoins en stratégie média social et je pourrai contribuer à l’analyse de vos besoins technologiques dans la procédure de consultation!

When Facebook implemented their new Page design, my clients’ custom tabs were deprecated to a very discreet place under the profile picture so some of them opted for a custom FBML tab directing users to the additional content they are offering. Now that FBML is no longer available for newer pages, you need to create independently hosted applications for each content tab. This doubles the amount of work required for each tab. While it’s not a technical challenge for me, I deplore how long it takes for Facebook to render application tabs over FBML.

I am happy to offer my clients hosting free of charge for the apps/tabs I develop for them and I have begun developing customizable apps for often-used functions such as sign-ups forms, contests, polls, RSS and the likes. While there are free Facebook apps that provide these services, a lot of them do not correctly display the clients brand, are hard to share and push annoying deceptive ads above the client’s content. This is not acceptable.

Recently I have released a few projects:

• Boston Pizza Brossard‘s contest Facebook application. This is a simple secure system for letting users participate in a contest via Facebook.
• I also created a magazine page flipper app for Magazine PREMIUM. Incidentally, the just released number 8 of PREMIUM is all about Social Media with long-form content from Harvard Business Review, STRATEGY+BUSINESS and Bloomberg Businessweek. PREMIUM, the most awesome business management magazine you’ve never heard of, has just won it’s third publisher prize. It’s well worth a read and my favorite part is always the exclusive interview with a Quebec business person and, of course, Rémi Tremblay‘s column. Working with Les Affaires to bringing PREMIUM to Facebook and now LinkedIn has been awesome.

Last weekend my spouse and I opened the new space for Club Nagaika, our martial art school. I would say that the progress on our recently enlarged space is at about 25%. Two of three weekend seminars with international Systema masters are announced starting in July 2011. At the same time, my health challenge is featured in a national magazine (Web version here). My spouse, Stéphane Beaudin, has developed remarkable understanding of human mobility and formerly-crippled-me is so lucky to have met him. My health and mobility continues to improve as I attend EVERY mobility class now that I’m here all the time. I know that our approach is very effective is healing mobility problems, especially in women my age who have been wearing heels, have lower back issues due to work or child birth but I am still at a loss to communicate this to women. Until very recently, Systema was a secret martial art only practiced by Russian Special Forces so its entire presentation around the Web is highly militarized and quite ‘tough’ but it’s a wonderful and effective health system that unlocks what seem like super powers to the untrained eyes. Because it’s based on bio-mechanics (i.e. being effective with the least effort) it’s ideal as self-defense for women. Even as the worst student amongst a slew of twenty-something guys I see immense benefits and progress. Most of my days are painless and I have not had a headache or a migraine in months. This is incredibly beneficial for my brain and it improves my ability to analyze and build complex solutions. Yet I still spend most of my days doing analog things while constructing Canada’s ‘Systema Wonderland’.

Oh and of course I am still managing 3 businesses, coaching two entrepreneurs and advising on 3 startups at this time. I have been accepting ‘disaster recovery’ jobs recently. These are usually 2-day gigs fixing urgent ‘shituations’ whether in management, code or security/hacking recovery. I am wondering if I should make this a specific service like my WordPress Emergency services. These confidential mandates are few overall but the high impact they have is very satisfying.

I recently unearthed my immense collection of vintage and antique bagatelles. They had been in boxes for 7 years waiting for a suitable place to display. I decided to adorn the lounge/office with most of them. My favorite ones are the Space themed games (all plastic from the 1960′s and 1970′s) which require a shrine of their own.

Given the continued disaster in the Golf of Mexico and the urgency of finding solutions to address our cruel and unsustainable chain of consumption, I have set aside all my free time in July, August and September to work on a project to offer a solution.

E.T.A: We have submitted the Atomic Rave Engine to Google’s RE<C and GE’s ecomagination Challenge. Our gas photo-displacement engine is a non-toxic and non invasive power generator for homes and cars. Our stand-alone no-maintenance unit manipulates the atoms in a pressurized inert gas to create motion in a previously unexpected way. Our solution is inexpensive to build. We are looking for financing to build a prototype within one year. In 2005 John Doerr said “I am really afraid because I think the kinds of changes we can reasonably expect from individuals are gonna be clearly not enough.” Personally, I am really afraid when billionaires like Bill Gates and John Doerr say they are afraid but I understand what he is saying! We plan to address this grave issue by simply offering consumers a product that saves them an immense amount of money on utilities and gas. The ensuing reduction in GHG emissions will be a by-product of consumers choosing a product that is beneficial and useful to them for purely economic reasons even without subsidies or tax credits.

Recently I pitched an idea for an iPad application and of the 70 submissions that were returned, I won. The other ideas were great too and I hope they get development attention as well. This is not the idea I am talking about in the first paragraph but a business application for the company I work for. I look forward to being involved in the actual development because I have many other ideas for solutions to pitch in the next year. I will be able to see first hand the priorities and concerns of my employer when comes time to choose new business opportunities to invest in. This experience, including access to key executives and their feedback is priceless regardless of whether or not my iPad application is deployed. In fact, I created my application idea to get the most chance of pitching it to the judging panel as I felt that this experience (which was done over video conferencing) was the most valuable part of ‘the prize’. Receiving praise on my idea and presentation skills was even better but there was also an actual physical prize .

So I won an iPad and this week I will get to see if there is anything work-worthy I can accomplish using an iPad or if this is yet another device that will constantly fail leaving me frustrated and unproductive. I currently have access to three PC (Desktop, Netbook and Notebook) that leave me profoundly frustrated with my inability to afford a decent quality computer!!!

The two applications I will install on my iPad right out of the box are the Glee TV Show app and the Girlworks app for my daughter. Girlworks is an awesome new magazine for smart girls. When I found out about this magazine I ran out to get it for my 9 year-old. It is full of interesting articles about DOING and BEING rather than LOOKING. This magazine features articles about adventurous sports, high tech careers and innovation and none about what jeans to buy to make you butt look better. I wrote to the editor-in-chief and will try my darnedest to contribute articles (having her invite me to do so helps LOL). I will champion this excellent magazine across all my networks. This Canadian magazine may not be available in your area but the subscription price is low compared to the content value of the magazine. All of us who have daughters should make sure this magazine can survive and grow because launching a magazine today is not easy!

My health has improved tremendously in the past few month. While I still have general pain my mobility is improving and my migraines are decreasing. I credit this to Systema, which I have been practising with Stéphane Beaudin of Nagaika since April (editorial disclaimer: Stéphane is my spouse) Russian Martial Arts is tough. It’s meant to improve strength and mobility, not make you look more cosmetically appealing. So the exercises are done freely without fancy equipment. Even the weapons of Systema are makeshift tools such as 9 inch nails, sticks, shovels or anything you could find laying around a remote camp. But it’s mostly about moving and breathing because those are the true foundations of self protection skills. It took me two months to be able to make it through a class because my body is so scared of moving, doing simple exercises gave me nausea.

But I digress…

This morning I am marvelling at how Philanthropy and Social Media go so well together and since I recently conceived of a Social Game to that incorporates Philanthropy and Social Media, I am doing a review of my own micro lending portfolio. Over the past few years I have been too underemployed and broke to contribute much to my Kiva fund, however, I did contribute all of the proceeds from my Etsy sales of cute PDFs of embroidery floss winders. But now with new social media sites devoted to helping others such as DonorsChoose.org and Kickstarter.com, I am itching to have some funds to open new accounts and GIVE! This experience will help me decide how I plug these new networks effectively into my Social Philanthropy Game. Last year Bill and Melinda Gates urged the richest Americans to give away 50% of their fortune. I am on that bandwagon all the way since my actual life goal is to be a Billionaire Philanthropist Superhero. However, it may be a while until I make 2 billion dollars to give 1 billion of it away… And with the current need for investment in technology and massive amounts of people requiring help to recover from grave environmental and man-made disasters, I cannot wait that long. I have therefore decided to build a company that will give 50% of its net profits away. This will ensure a steady flow of funding to important R&D and Philanthropic projects right now, rather than when I am older and greyer. It is Jane McGronigal who said that we should use games to save the World, and she is absolutely right.

That is my answer to Scott Sterling’s question, posed on CNN today, What does ‘video game’ mean, anyway?.

I have never made games, I make work flow systems to help businesses streamline processes for making decisions. Now you probably think that is no fun and kinda boring, and you would be mostly right, but there are business processes that involve so many people and so many decisions, in so many steps, that these systems can save an immense amount of time and money to companies. In fact, my most successful implementations of such systems have been outside of traditional business in the field of education. There is here an opportunity to improve Philanthropic management that will result in more money ending up in the hands of people who need it. Throw Social Media and gaming into the mix and there is an additional opportunity to make the process fun, educational and engaging for young people (13 and over) to actively  create the best future they can imagine by playing an addictive social game that impacts the real world. Most of my friends will know that my most Mouhaha! world takeover plan is to harvest the idle time of teenagers through a human version of Berkeley’s  SETI@Home system. I have used this concept as a source of much comedy to entertain friends for many years but my Social Philanthropic Game is the practical application, of exactly that.

There are enough grumpy adults who spend all their time imagining the worst possible future and attempt to control our life according to these nightmarish fantasies. All they are doing is creating a Work Breakdown Structure to, you guessed it, the worst possible future. The catastrophes we face now were not predictable and neither are the one we will face tomorrow. In, what my spouse calls, a post-Talebian world, we must work diligently together to help world communities increase their general tool and skill sets to cope with sudden challenges.(After the excellent Life, Inc. and inspiring Rework, I am now tackling Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

With the recent improvements in my health, I find myself able to thing and the drive to find solutions to EVERYTHING has come back, stronger than ever, fuelled by all the information I kept reading and seeing while I was not able to program or output much. I currently have so many ideas for solutions, applications and games that I sometimes find it hard to focus. But my Social Philanthropy Game is a fun conceptual challenge to ponder and develop while I am stuck in airports, on the train or bus to work!

I am excited to be involved in so many projects that seem to use all the skills I have been developing over the past 30 years. It is now that I realize that paying attention to so many things since childhood, really pays off in the end.

Over the past 6 months I have used most of my money to make a dent in the debt load I acquired while being handicapped. Right now my goal is 0 (zero). Once I am worth zero dollars (i.e. have no debt, I will feel immensely rich!) Soon, I should be able to return to a more aggressive giving and lending schedule adding kickstarter.com and donorchoose.org to the mix. I plan on outsourcing the management of my portfolio to my daughter as a means to start talking about the lives and challenges of people around the world I can onceive of a system that engages her into the process of deciding where the money should go.

I made about my current micro lending portfolio and will check back in a year to see how things have changed.

When my father bought a Zenith Z-100 I took ownership of his TRS-80 Model II. Back then people were more interested in celebrating the moment over time stamping what they did so there is no date on the diploma I got after my BASIC course. I believe I was about 10 or 11 when I started spending entire days writing simplistic programs on a horrendously expensive $4000 dollar computer with only 64k of memory (1982). $4000 in those days was the price of a sweet car and that was about the same amount of money my father paid for his 1969 Dodge Charger. Of course the cassette recorder/player, for the TRS-80, was hundreds of dollars extra. But I never got it to work and every day I would start over. I was envious of my father’s new computer, a fancy 8-colour machine that came with two 320k dual-sided 5.25-inch floppy disk drives. Those floppies worked almost every time! My father expanded the 128k RAM that came with his computer in order to do his house plans. You see, my dad wanted to be an architect, but somehow wound up with a masters in Physics because, it is rumoured, that was a preferable career to his dad, a mechanical engineer. Back in those days, there was only one way to get your hands on cool tech in town… the local Radio Shack. Software was harder to find so computer enthusiasts would turn to Popular Electronics. My father was a long time subscriber of this magazine from when he sourced and configured computers for the Canadian Army. These magazines had so much cool content I could never wrap my head around but also some curious things. In the back there were small advertisements for software and content. This was the time when men started programming in their basement and used small ads in magazines and hobbyist newsletters to sell the fruits of their labour. If using a computer to connect and communicate an idea or a feeling is the essence of Social Media, then Social Media took off when men used the old fashion postal system to buy and sell ASCII porn for their computer. It wasn’t Social Media that I got to be a part of, I could only observe from the outside what other people got to do with their computer.

If using a computer to connect and communicate an idea or a feeling is the essence of Social Media, then Social Media took off when men used the old fashion postal system to buy and sell ASCII porn for their computer.

The home that my father built using the plans he made on his fancy Zenith had a special room for his collection of Popular Electronics Magazines. The latest and greatest computer was always the most awesome thing in our home and it seemed like my father was always the first to acquire each new processor. It is no surprise that when I was 20, I got a custom built computer, an 8088 with a graphic card that could support thousands of colors. Of course I couldn’t test the amazing quality of my graphics card until I figured out how to download pictures using the 14,4KPS modem that my brother gave me soon after that. Around 1990, I discovered Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) when I joined Remy Gendron’s Starfleet Command BBS in Québec City. There I found my way to the international forums, notably, InterUser with its hundrends of users scattered all over the world, going as far away as Vladivostok, Russia. When I officially joined the revolution, I got up at 4h30 daily to read and write with people everywhere. I even printed out the daily messages so I could read them at school (I was studying Tourism at Mérici) and at my weekend job in a religious museum. Back then my handle was *Milly* and I felt like the most popular girl around… I was also the only girl who actively wrote on InterUser. I grew frustrated that I could not see who I was writing to so I asked everyone to send me 5$ and a picture so I could make a photo album of all of us. My little four page book of faces went out to about 10 people, most of whom are still friends on the newest Facebook.

In mid-1992 I joined Douglas Kitson’s SquareHeads BBS, Québec City’s only English BBS. SquareHeads had user profiles which made it particularly fun to browse. In fact, it is on SHBBS that I found my first husband after posting a short personal. I published another InterUser yearbook in 1993, the same year I purchased and implemented a pre-Internet computer dating system that used snail mail mixed in with computer matching of profiles. That was tedious to operate and I soon discovered the ‘real’ Internet, in 1994, and immediately began building Web sites. It was more work-intensive to create a thousand page site about As The World Turns than to simply list the soap opera as an interest on a Facebook profile. But it became the main catalyst that created connections with others including a few of the show’s cast. Usenet, the text-based forum system, fell by the wayside as users moved to online bulletin boards with profiles that tracked your contributions and allowed for private messages and having friends. This step was necessary on the road to Social Media the way we know it today, a system with zero barrier to entry that everybody can use and abuse for free.