"New Media" - the next development wave

The fact that you are reading this post says a lot about you. It shows that you are tech saavy enough to find (or at least stumble across) a blog and that you are actually concerned enough about your own development to actually read this. You are already taking part in the next big thing in personal / professional development - New Media. The laymans terms version of new media is this whole mess of blogs, wickis, portals, podcasts, etc. - all new and exciting avenues to get our message out into the public domain and strike up a conversation.

If you scan over to the right border of this page, you can see a short list of some of my favorite blogs, pages and podacasts. Some I listen to for fun, but many are helping me take charge of my personal and professional development. I do this because the realities of time, work and a long commute make it difficult for me to engage in some of the more traditional development activities like reading, taking courses to pursue my next degree or engaging in certification courses. Just because I lack the time or resources to pursue my development the old fashioned way does not mean I cannot continue to learn and grow every day.

All it takes to successfully take advantage of all the education out there is a computer, an mp3 player (note that I didnt cop-out to apple and say I-pod) and a little investigation to find podcasts that cover the topics you want to develop your skills on. You can download and listen to podcasts almost anywhere and there are thousands of them on almost any topic you can imagine. Beyond the podcasts, you can get short snippets of information from any blog, wiki or portal that has an RSS feed and have those "headlines" show up in your email or even as a little pop-up window on your PC.

A simple HR-weasle like me cannot hope to understand it all, let alone explain it very well, but I can tell you that I get a lot smarter every day because of all of this voodoo.

YOUR MISSION:
Stop by any one of the links to the right of this post (in the upper right hand part). Just use them as an example and lauchning pad for your own trip into the world of new media and self-directed development. Once you get comfortable in this new world, share the wealth and give your direct reports an assignment to do the same thing for their own development!

Bon chance, mon ami!