Great ideas with little expectation

He wrote his idea on a napkin, I write mine on a sticky note.

Andrew Norman from Hear Nebraska is an entrepreneur that seemed to do things a little differently than everyone else. The main aspect that immediately struck me about his method and organization of his business was that it was never meant to be a thing that made money. In fact, up until this point, he has not paid himself, and has always had other, full-time employment. I found this to be kind of refreshing, since it just meant that his idea was something he implemented into his life because he enjoyed writing and talking to people about music. The fact that it has grown to the size it is now at is a bonus, and the additional fact that he will soon get the opportunity to go full time is also a bonus as well as a testament to his hard work and dedication to Hear Nebraska.What reminded me of my own life was his “idea sketched out on a napkin” thing. When I start something, it usually begins as something on my to do list, or an idea that I write down on a sticky note. Though to this point I have not done something of quite the same magnitude as Norman has, this is a method I have used. Hitchcock Blogs was an idea that Matt pitched to us at Cali Taco, which lead to us camping out in a booth for a couple hours trying to figure out if it was something we could even attempt to do. We wrote a note, not on a napkin, but in my cellphone – a note that became the basic ground rules for our site. Even though many other meetings and discussions helped lay the ground work, our starting point was similar to Norman’s in that it just started with an idea.

I think that the example of the “idea sketched out on a napkin” could also be considered the main lesson that Norman was trying to teach – that it can just start with an idea. I think another important lesson I took away from Norman’s talk was that you do have to allow the pieces to fall into place sometimes. His idea for a college paper topic became something much greater, and he still did many other things in his life before the stars aligned for him to really make Hear Nebraska his number one priority. He had to let the pieces of his life, as well as the pieces of the organization, come together before he knew what it had the potential of becoming.

Power & Lights

When all of the campus lost power for a few short moments on Tuesday, chills ran down my spine.

On Tuesday, I had my Mass Media and Modern Culture class. Let me start by saying, Creighton people, take this class if you can. Do it. Dr. Dornsife spends the class educating us on everything in life and turning us into free thinkers. It is amazing.

In class, we talked about how the absence of something can actually be louder or more pronounced than the presence. For example, if you’re sitting in a room and all of the sudden the air conditioning fan turns off, you will notice it. Often times, you didn’t even know the fan was on to begin with, or if you did, you notice its turning off much more than the normal noise that it emits. All in all, a very interesting and powerful topic that made us all think.

What was incredible, though, was how mid discussion on this topic, all of Creighton Hall (the building where my class is) lost power. My whole class gasped and shrieked, to a magnitude I can only imagine being louder because of the conversation we were having. We could hear the computer’s normal hums snap off, could hear the fan screech to a halt in the classroom’s outdated, wall mounted heater. The silence after these noises stopped and after the air had escaped my entire class’s lungs was not only apparent, it was deafening.

The idea that silence is more deafening than sound at times was proved in what happened when the power came back on. Since it was so applicable to our class discussion at the time, we all were shrieking, shaking, and just over all freaking out by what had just happened. My professor even joked that the class should just be over and we should all just go home, since we just experienced our discussion in full. The fact that we all erupted when the lights and therefore the noises came back shows what silence means, and what being in limbo in silence can do to us.

As I found out after class, it was an all campus power outage, that literally only lasted a minute or two. But that meant nothing to me, because this class has made such an impact on how I think of everything. We spend many class periods analyzing language, what words mean, gender roles, higher and lower order signs – anything to do with society we have talked about or will soon – that the fact that the power went off in this class had an extreme affect on me.

I don’t think that the power outage during this exact time and place means anything, per se, but what I did take away from it was the fact that power (sometimes literally) lies in language and how we use it. This, though right now is based in this specific example, can be applied in other areas of language, including writing (and this blog as a whole). Just keep this in mind when going about your business, and in exploring language in your day-to-day life.

White and Blue: A review

Hitchcock Blogs, the new venture of my colleagues and I, has become our sort of entrepreneurial venture.

When @creightonotter came to our class, I found his talk to be, overall, very inspirational. I think, as a soon-to-be graduating senior, that I really understood where he was coming from. Considering that he took a traditional route and got a salary paying job and explored his passion on the side, I found that he had a lot to teach our class.

Before he visited our class, I didn’t know that much about White and Blue Review. I, I feel like many, assumed that whoever ran the site invested their life in the site, and that it was their primary venture. I  hadn’t considered that this may not be possible due to making money and other circumstances, and hadn’t really considered that a site like this could be something someone does on the side of their real job. I found it very interesting to hear how he attempts to balance his job, family and the site. Also, considering that others involved in the site are in a similar situation, I found it fascinating that a successful site like this one could thrive without it being the main priority of anyone involved.

That brings me to the idea of money and making money off of a website. I think the way he talked about his website was this: the goal was never to make a lot of money. I think this frame of mind has lead to their continued success. Since the goal was never to make a ton of money, and since the contributors have outside incomes, they were able to work freely without having the monetary value be a huge, constant issue. I feel like they were able to make the site exactly what they wanted it to be in this way, since this was not their worry. In fact, it became a bonus when they did start making money because they never made it one of their expectations.

As far as the content goes, I think that @creightonotter accomplished what we all are trying to accomplish: he found a need and found a way to service that need. This, I think, is the key in becoming a successful entrepreneur, and I learned a lot from his direction on what now is White and Blue Review. Recently, a few of my colleagues and I have embarked on a new venture for us, called Hitchcock Blogs. This aspect, the finding a need or something that needed to be changed, is what I think we are focusing on. We are trying to create a one stop shop for bloggers of all types, and by creating this collaborative blog, I think we can accomplish that. Even though we are still learning and growing in our venture, I think his talk gave us great insight into how to make something like this a lasting reality.

The final and I would say biggest thing that I took away from his talk was to invest in something you know you won’t get burnt out in. @creightonotter and his colleagues bonded first over their love of Creighton sports, and next discussed how each could contribute to the project. The fact that they are all working from the same base will, I think, make their website last for as long as they want it to. They have the passion, they have the desire and they are now deep in servicing a need. This, to me, is very important when starting a business or starting a project. If you think you are going to get burnt out, it may be hard to keep the commitment strong, and if the commitment level of some members wavers, the whole thing can come crashing down. He discussed how they each bring something different to the table, something they are passionate about. This passion is essential to being successful in a venture like White and Blue Review.

The second screen has become my first screen

The Super Bowl hashtag is still active, even weeks later. It’s also interesting to look back at the Super Bowl feed and see that people are still discussing the game.

Watching the Super Bowl this year was much different than in year’s past, purely because of the second screen aspect. I sat down with my TV on and my laptop open, and spent the entire time refreshing my Twitter feed. In fact, as someone who isn’t super into sports, I think it’s safe to say I looked at my Twitter feed more than the TV. I also watched it with my roommate, who isn’t really big on social media to begin with, and doesn’t have a Twitter account. So between the two of us, I think we were getting different perspectives on the game purely because I had a second screen and she did not. Additionally, I participated in a live blog through Hitchcock Blogs. This added a whole new aspect to second screening, because on my second screen, I not only had Twitter constantly updating, but also a chat room. There was so much going on; so much more than there would have been without the second screen aspect.
I think that, overall, the Twitter feed for the Super Bowl did enhance my watching experience. I enjoyed being able to see people’s different reactions, and seeing what other people with other perspectives on the game caught that I didn’t. I especially liked seeing what people thought of the commercials. When I started this blog, I went back and looked at the Super Bowl hashtag, (#SuperBowlXLVIII) and noticed that people are still using it, even two weeks later. They are using it for follow up on issues that arose during the game, reactions to commercials and also revisiting the halftime performance. I would say the drawbacks of the second screen are that anything that happens, wrong or not, is forever commemorated on social media. As a viewer, you can forever look back at moments via social media, as the game continues throughout the night. Another drawback is if you step away, you may feel the obligation to go back and catch up on the social media moments that you missed (I know I did!). I was actually more concerned about reviewing my social media than ask my roommate what happened on the screen while I was gone.

Second screening and Twitter reactions to programs haven’t made me tune into a show that I don’t already watch, but I am definitely more inclined to watch my own shows when they are on TV because of the social media aspect. For example, I have gotten really into the habit of watching shows on Hulu later, but I regret it sometimes because everyone is on social media immediately. I also enjoy watching these shows on TV when they are on brand new so I can actively participate in the second screen discussions.

A social media professional/community builder could use the second-screen phenomenon to their advantage, because the power of social media is so relevant. One way this was seen in the viewing of the Super Bowl was in the advertisements. The companies that paid all the money for those 30-second slots during the game know they are attracting all sorts of viewers, and many anticipate the use of social media for reactions to their ad (as seen in companies providing hashtags to use when discussing the ad online). In addition, professionals know that people are online constantly, even while doing other things, like watching television. If professional/community builders are active on their own social media, they can get attention of those who are online, and those using second screens.

Second screening is becoming more than just an aspect of TV viewing than just pure entertainment – it’s becoming almost necessary if you want to catch every aspect of a TV show or event.