Twitter and HR
Are you a Twit. Ever been Tweeted? If not, what are you doing?
“What are you doing?” is the question that Twitter, the latest social media rage, asks its users. If you’re not Twittering, your employees certainly are.
With Twitter, you can write about what you’re doing in 140 characters or less. You can track what your friends are doing. You can look at what the Twitterati are doing. And you can use the service as a message board.
Got a snowday alert? Twitter it. Going to an important meeting? Twitter it. Have an interesting link to share? Twitter it. All the cool kids are doing it. What are you doing?
If you want to know what I’m doing, you can find out by checking my profile: http://twitter.com/frankroche
iPods for Docs
iPods are becoming a powerful tool in learning and development. And for those of you in HR L&D in the medical business, iPod learning can even help save lives. Yahoo News reports:
Doctors can greatly improve their stethoscope skills and therefore their ability to diagnose heart problems by listening repeatedly to heartbeats on their iPods.
Previous research has shown that the average rate of correct heart sound identification by physicians is 40 percent.
In a new study, 149 general internists listened 400 times to five common heart murmurs during a 90-minute session with iPods. After the session, the average score improved to 80 percent.
In L&D, you can’t always get what you want, but with iPod learning you get what you need.
UPDATE: In a comment, Charlie writes: “I’m wondering if cheap mp3 players could be used in less esoteric fields, such as call center training. Each month, a group of tough calls could be uploaded to the players of hundreds of call center reps - like podcasting for employee development.”
Technorati Tags: iPod, doctors, L&D
National Geographic Phone Can Call the World
Is your next worldwide HR meeting being held in Mongolia, Moldova, or Monaco? The National Geographic Phone has you covered. The phone, scheduled for release in March 2007, offers coverage in over 100 countries and is a quad-band, which can really help you stay connected to the home office no matter where you are. It’s priced at $199 MSRP. Here’s the pitch:
The National Geographic Talk Abroad Travel Phone is the ideal solution for your international communication needs. Whether you are a frequent business traveler or are a tourist seeking a reliable yet affordable cell phone solution, the National Geographic™ Talk Abroad Travel Phone has you covered in over 100 countries. Since this is a prepaid solution, there are no contracts to sign or monthly bills – ever! Best of all, there is absolutely no cost to receive a call in 60 popular destinations. Outgoing calls are affordable as well.
More info can be found here. This is a pretty cool tool, and if it ends up being the real deal, it can help you on your worldwide trips. Global HR just got a little easier, especially if you’re meeting in a yurt in Ulaanbataar (that’s the capital of Mongolia — good one to know for the crossword puzzle).
[via Make Magazine]
Vista and the Lessons of Wow
This is my newest favorite ad. It’s for the launch of Microsoft’s new Vista operating system. I’m a Mac user, so I’ve not even seen the actual Vista product, but the concept is big. And this is a lesson for HR out there…getting employees to say “Wow!” is never a bad idea.
The Old Blackberry-and-Chain
The ball-and-chain was a restraint used in Sing-Sing prison. Now, for corporate prisoners, there’s the Blackberry-and-chain, which has the same effect on the workforce as the original. Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica reports on a recent survey that asked “whether devices like the BlackBerry ‘chain you to work more than they liberate you.’” :
[S]urvey results showed that those who owned a BlackBerry were, in fact, more likely to work long hours than those who didn’t. 19 percent of BlackBerry-owning survey respondents reportedly worked more than 50 hours a week, compared to only 11 percent of the general population. A higher percentage of BlackBerry owners also felt that they didn’t have enough personal time in their lives—53 percent, compared to the 40 percent average.
That’s a lot of thumb work. Hey, HR, is BlackBerry thumb eligible for Worker’s Comp? I’m thinking of making my fortune now…I can just see it: BlackBerry RSI Exercise Class for the four million Blackberry users out there. It’ll be like Tai Bo for the text message crowd. You can count on finger puppets.
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