Sun, Students, & Cool Stuff Along The Way Laura Davenport's Blog

Sun's awesome media strategy team recently put together this cool video clip which highlights the spirit and energy of our co-founder and chairman, Scott McNealy.   

Scott's "kick butt and have fun" mantra was prevalent at Sun for a long time and is one of the many reasons I have enjoyed working here for the last 8.5 years. Yes, we certainly worked many long hours.  But somehow, even in the not-so-great times, we were able to have fun along the way. 

Whether it was at homegrown holiday parties where the entertainment was the sound of our own singing voices (think karaoke) or quarterly team-building events at places like Filoli, Campo di Bocce, and Beach Blanket Babylon.  We always found a way to keep the fun in Sun.

Given the pending acquisition of Sun by Oracle, I'm not yet sure what the future holds for me. But, one thing I do know:  I've had a great ride here and will take with me many fond memories of hard work, great friends, and a lot of laughs!

Thanks Sun.

This week Sun's multimedia team hosted a very informative how-to session for employees on when and how to use multimedia in business.  One nifty tool I learned to use was ScreenToaster, "the easiest way to rapidly create and share tutorials, demos, training and more."

With some coaching from my helpful colleague, Laurent Bridenne, I'm proud to say I've created my first screencast  all from the comfort of my own couch!  No fancy equipment or experience needed.  

So, what's the connection between the screencast - and "my brush with fame" as this blog post is titled? 

On the way to work this morning I was listening to the live call-in program,  Forum, on KQED and was intrigued by the topic of the day, Brushes with Fame.  Host Michael Krasny was inviting listeners to share their stories of celebrity sightings with the live audience.   Having lived in LA and Santa Barbara for several years  - I have definitely had my share of star-struck moments and pondered which of my own riveting stories I would share with Michael and his audience as I drove down 101 south. 

Would I talk about my first trip to Las Vegas - when my friends and I watched Madonna and Warren Beatty play blackjack at the Nugget? Or the time my sister and I chased actor Dabney Colman through Disneyland?  Or, perhaps the time I was politely dissed by ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau?  Hmm...such decisions.

Finally, it came to me.  I'd share the memory of when I met my the one and only Weird Al.  You know, the artist behind Eat It,  Like a Surgeon, and dozens of other hits! 

So, take a listen below as I recount my 5 minutes of fame on live radio - all via my very own, homegrown screencast!

Things in Twitterville are getting more and more interesting.  

Today I heard that the National Football League may soon place restrictions on their players as to when they can/can't tweet.  NFL players are big tweeters and use the medium as a way to get to know their fans.   Take for example San Diego Super Chargers Shawne Merriman, who admits he is a compulsive tweeter.  Evidently, the NFL teams are concerned they will lose control of the game when players start bypassing official channels and traditional means of communicating with the public.

And, now I just read that the US Marines have banned Twitter and other social media sites from its networks.  According to the Marine rep quoted in this article, "The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel… at an elevated risk of compromise.”

YIKES.  That sounds scary.

I'm sure we'll continue to see more and more of these types of stories emerge as new ways of connecting with each other keep coming available.  Definitely makes for an interesting time to be in the field of communications!

For those who think marketing outreach through social media technologies is only for high-tech or young, hipster companies, think again.

I recently received my water bill at home and had to laugh when I saw the ads to follow the SFPUC on Twitter or to become a fan of San Francisco Water on Facebook.  Who would have thought such a traditionally un-cool bureaucratic agency would embrace this cool new way of engaging its customers?!

With an online social media center, the city of San Francisco is probably one of the earliest adopters of this not-so-new way of communicating.  In fact, our mayor, Gavin Newsom, recently announced his run for governor via social media.

For me, this underscores the fact that Facebook is not just for friends and Twitter is not just for tweens.   Both have fast become legitimate venues for engaging customers, constituents and comrades.

Recently I found myself without a cell phone for 2 days and I couldn't help but wonder - what did we do before tweets, blips and pokes popped into our lives?

I can remember:

• Typing term papers on a typewriter and using white-out to make corrections (can you believe that stuff still exists?!)
  
• Saving important documents on floppy disks (the big napkin size ones!)
• Recording my favorite song (over and over until I got it just right) as background music for the answering machine greeting
• Calling the local radio station to find out the name/title of the song I just heard and then buying the 45" single at my local Licorice Pizza music store (yes, I still have all my records and my cassettes!)
  
• Sending numerous 20+ page faxes (are people even faxing anymore?!) to my then boss Jean-Michel Cousteau while he explored the far corners of the world
  

You get the picture.  The way we communicate with family, friends and colleagues, the way we are entertained, the way we work is changing by the day. (pardon the cliche)  

And, with all of this comes new vocabulary too. 

• Google this. Download that. 
• Shazam that song - I can't remember who sings it.
  
• I'm IMing with my husband while I'm on sitting on the couch next to him.  (sad, but true)
  
• I tweeted about the poke you sent me after blipping my new favorite song.  (ok - I never really said that - but it could happen!)
  
• Can you please double-click on your last point?  (we seriously say that a lot at Sun!)
  

For me, this is an exiting time to be a professional communicator.  To keep current on all the new ways to communicate is one thing - but navigating how and when to use which tool in the most effective way is another.    I for one welcome the challenge!

At the JavaOne show last month in San Francisco,  I had the pleasure of meeting some of Sun's very talented Campus Ambassadors - student interns who promote Sun's open source software on university campuses around the world. 

I was sincerely impressed by each and every Campus Ambassador I met.  Not only do these students have their regular academic activities to focus on  - but they also are adept at using Sun software and lead OSUM clubs on-campus and in their communities.

And, as you might expect, they are very proficient in just about every cool new communications tool you can think of - tweeting, flickering, and blogging (oh my!) about their experiences along the way. 

For most of the Ambassadors who traveled to San Francisco it was their first time in the United States - and their enthusiasm and energy was infectious.   Check out this trip report from Angad Singh, one of the Campus Ambassadors from India, for a sense of what the whole experience was like for he and his fellow Ambassador friends from India, Korea, Brazil, and Chile.

Overall, Sun welcomed nearly 1000 students to the both the JavaOne and CommunityOne events this year.  Check out the complete line-up of student videos and stories HERE. 

Thanks to all the talented Campus Ambassadors I met who shared their global experiences, passion for learning, social media savvy, and laughter with me.  I have no doubt you will go on to do great things!

Here's a pic of me and Hyejin Park
Sun Campus Ambassador from Korea.

As a member of Sun's Global Communities organization, I have the pleasure of working with a team of folks across the company who are helping shape how students around the world learn about Free and Open Source Software. 

Through programs such as the Sun Academic Initiative (SAI) and the Open Source University Meetup (OSUM), students get access to free software, training and communities of other students to create cool software projects, better their skills, make friends and literally change their world!  

What I've learned over the last 6 months on the job is that the opportunities for students to learn about computers, software development and the like has definitely evolved since the days I attended school.  

With a degree in International Business - I have to admit - technology was not exactly a passion of mine.  Back in my day (she said with her best old fogie accent) - taking a computer programming course in high school (or university) was about as exciting as watching paint dry.  Boring boring boring!  I preferred taking more "creative" elective courses like photography, auto-shop (really) and graphic design.

But, how things have changed.  Not only does it seem like there are more schools focusing on high tech education (check out the portfolio of High Tech High schools where 7th graders produce their own movies and every student must have a digital portfolio!) - but HOW you learn about computers and technology has radically evolved. 

Take for example Alice - (as in Alice in Wonderland) - a teaching tool for introductory computing that uses 3D graphics for a "less frustrating" programing experience.  Or FreshBrain - an open and free web site that encourages teens to dive into technology.

And, at the university level - programs like HFOSS - the Humanitarian Free and Open Source Project - involve students in open source projects that contribute to global humanitarian efforts - inspiring them (and me) that technology can literally change the world. 

Who knows - if some of these innovative ways to learn computing were around when I was in school - perhaps I coulda been a geek too!

Thanks to the support of Sun's Social Media team - I'm finally taking the plunge and creating my own personal blog! In the past, I've gotten my feet wet by posting entries to some of the group blogs at Sun (Women@Sun and Sun Communicators) but today I'm taking it one step further and launching my own blog.

Why now - why today? Well - in part - Sun makes it so easy for us. 

With one of the most liberal blogging policies in corporate America (see Sun's Guidelines for Public Disclosure) - Sun encourages employees to blog.    Today, we have nearly 4500 employee bloggers with 136K individual entries.

And, we even have a Social Media team at Sun who are helping employees navigate the world of new media by hosting a series of workshops focusing on Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc.  In fact, today's episode of Socially Speaking featured an interview with Michael Sippey - a Bay Area social media/technology guru - discussing the benefits of blogging.

So, welcome to my new blog!  I'm not entirely 100% sure how this blog will evolve over the next few months - but I am committed to keeping it current with interesting news about Sun and my experiences with these cool tools for communicating.   You can also find more "deep thoughts" from me on Facebook and Twitter.  

And if you have tips or best practices for how I can best link all these platforms together - let me know!