I’ll take one last look at the Orlando trip, not as a travelogue, but as an example of how consistent blogging can lead to new opportunities. In addition to my posts here at Building Content, I also guest blog on the member site UPworld  and I am active on a few key social networking sites including Architizer, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These extracurricular online activities, coupled with blogging, form the framework of my story, presented here briefly.
 
Prior to the Coverings 2010 show, Architizer established a contest to send a guest blogger to the event. The entry itself was a blog of sorts; a 200 word self promotion pitch.  The selected entry (linked here) was a light-hearted, if not cheesy, take on the Disney’s What’s Next ad campaign “I’m going to Disney World!”
I was flown to Orlando, met some great people (Nicole, Mark, Ryan)  learned a lot and prepared this recap blog  (linked here)  after the show.
 
Meanwhile, back at UPworld, I had been conversing with Duane Craig  who was seeking a LEED AP architect to interview for a pod cast on his own blog, The Construction Informer. Duane contacted me based on my member profile and a few earlier shared comments. Although credentialed, I didn’t feel qualified to discuss the LEED process, but I was interested in expanding my network through Duane’s pod cast. Fresh off the WordPress, I suggested my Architizer guest post as content for our interview.
 
After a bit of coordination, we connected and produced this podcast (linked here). 

Image by State Library and Archives of Florida via Flickr

 The long and short of it is that social network connections can and should positively impact others. Your blog content can be shared and exchanged and formatted in new ways to enrich different audiences. Be open to opportunities, enter online contests, seek the opportunities that abound in your social networks. 
 
Take a first step and share your story here.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to use online tools and social networks to help restore some of those architectural jobs. Feel free to ask, “how could that be done?” I’m asking that question too, and discussing it with others. Though still searching, I am finding hope in a most unlikely situation – the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. There we see powerful and effective use of technology to fund the rescue and to promote the restoration of the Haitian people.

Keep in mind; these technological gains are apart from the generosity of entertainment celebrities who have offered their talents in the Hope for Haiti Now Telethon and a host of other venues. They are also distinct from the tens of millions offered by corporations and the even greater totals pledged by the US government and other nations. Beyond these traditional mass means of relief, technology has allowed the individual concerned citizen to give and to effect change directly.

As of Friday, January 22nd (ten days after the quake) the American Red Cross had raised the most money of the agencies involved. Approximately $3,000,000 (30%) of the Red Cross donations came in $10 increments through their popular “text ‘Haiti’ to 90999″ campaign. These texted funds tower over amounts similarly given after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 or hurricane Katrina in 2005 – evidence that mobile-text giving has emerged as potent means of fund-raising.

Another technology-based aspect of the Haiti earthquake aftermath is a digital message board hosted by the New York Times where loved ones have posted photos and details of missing family members. I suppose the site serves primarily as a notification system whereby relief workers on the ground in can identify and provide status updates of the people pictured. The site has another far-reaching purpose. It serves to shift our understanding of the story, to help us process it in on a more human scale; to hope and pray for the rescue of that specific smiling face rather than a generic anonymous victim. It provides names and context as a focus for our compassion.

Of course, the scope and intensity of the Haiti earthquake overpower our day-to-day concerns, even those of deep and prolonged unemployment. The magnitude of human suffering in Haiti quickly puts our professional struggles into perspective. We should however take note of the new uses of technology and seek to apply their funding and networking capabilities to the needs in our own field.

Thank you for caring. Please share you thoughts and ideas.

I know I’m not the only one.

Some troubling numbers have crossed my screen lately (and you’ve probably seen them via my Tweets @collier1960). These numbers include #1; the position of the architectural profession on a recent list of hardest hit job sectors, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Top-Nine List) .

Another disconcerting number is 41,000; the total of U.S. architectural jobs lost in the first three quarters of 2009.

Then there’s the number 17.8, which is the percentage of architectural unemployment corresponding to the thousands of lost jobs.

Another percentage number, 13.4, is the anticipated decline in U.S. construction activity in 2010, according to the AIA Consensus Construction Forecast.

And there is similar poor news in Britain, according to the Architects Journal .

Happy New Year

 Well, enough is enough, right? It’s time for a new beginning. Let us use the idiosyncrasies of the Gregorian calendar – by which we call this a New Year – and set about to make some positive change.

• If you are unemployed or underemployed, what are you going to do differently this year?
• If you are working on your own, how are you planning to overcome in 2010?
• If you own or manage a firm, same question…

 Please share your resolutions to make the coming 12 months better than the last 12.

 After all, I want my fellow architects to enjoy coming to this place, and to benefit from it.

 If you have any specific questions you need answered or topics you would like addressed regarding the best use of a professional blog, please let me know.

Image by Jerry Renolds

As I had hoped, great stories and lessons are surfacing on Twitter from last week’s Blogworld Expo ’09 in Las Vegas. The value for us is in gleaning inspiration and insight from these accounts and applying them to our work. Among the other gems I’ve found is a list of twenty bloggers who have leveraged their online influence beyond the virtual realm. Michael Dunlop compiled the list and gives the story behind each success. You likely know of several of these people. All of them have moved beyond their initial blogging ventures to greater goals and greater good.

Michael himself holds the 21st position on the list. Barely out of his teens, this UK lad has already parlayed his blogging success to independent wealth, status as a leader in his field and even a hit television show. Who knows what he’ll accomplish when he finally hits his stride! Michael now coaches multitudes and offers a free seven day e-course on how to creat a profitable blog.

Follow the link and read his list. Hopefully it will inspire you to see your blog as a means to greater things. Creativity and passion brought you to architecture – pour the same into your blog. Provide for your readers and grow your audience. Who knows what good may come?

As Architects we can readily name the leaders in our field; the starchitects, the prestigious partnerships, or the notable young upstarts. Most of us will never compete head-to-head with these folks; we weren’t meant too. As professor and author Michael J. Lewis writes in The New Criterion, the term “starchitect” was coined to describe the “ungainly fusion of architecture and celebrity.” Such celebrity, Lewis suggests, is not the authentic nature of architectural practice today, but a rather media-driven derivation of it. I agree. Furthermore, I believe that whatever traditional media, marketing and public relations can derive for a select set of architects, the New Media can do for the rest of us – in a more economical, ecological and democratic manner.

Any accomplished architect or established firm – especially in this economy – is in some way, at some level, a leader. Perhaps not a known commodity or a household word, but an authentic presence to be acknowledged nevertheless. Each of us has a combination of experience, knowledge and insight that merits an audience, even if we aren’t regularly featured in the professional press. As the traditional ways of promotion are passing away, the New Media is leveling the publicity field. Access is global – yet focused – publication is now freely available. The Internet is vast and the blogosphere has room for all of our stars.

Take inventory of what you have learned, experienced and accomplished in the field. Isn’t there an audience, a specific niche or group, that could benefit from knowing you? Couldn’t you be someone’s problem solver, idea broker or concept deliverer? Please think on this and consider launching your own professional blog. Become one of the bright and guiding lights in the Internet’s growing sphere of influence.

This is just a quick post to highlight this intriguing video from the Digital Buzz Blog.

If, as a building designer or constructor, you believe social media is a passing fad,

buckle your seat belt, hold on to your hat and click here!

Let me know how this shapes your view of marketing in our industry going forward.

http://www.intlistings.com/articles/2007/top-100-architecture-blogs

My quick analysis indicates that a large number of the entries are from students or non-practice groups. Many address the artistic, theoretical or cultural aspects of design, while others focus on current topics such as urbanism, sustainability and the environment.

For those of you who are contemplating a business blog as a means of reaching potential clients with your ideas – and that is what this blog is all about – be encouraged; only a few of your design peers are doing this. It is a great time to for you to establish your blog, and therefore your practice, as a leader in your field. By blogging in a serious and professional manner, you will be demonstrating that your are also leading in this sector of the New Media.

About “Top 100 Architecture Blogs”
I found this fascinating listing through my online research. It is from a high-end real estate website called International Listings – Worldwide Luxury Real Estate Since 2001. The website’s blog, rather than focusing on property listings, is actually a compendium of blog lists. Now that’s a unique use of a blog to bring readers to a business website! Although the list was generated two years ago and new blogs could be added (as stated in many of the readers’ comments) it serves as an overview of what bloggers are writing. If your story isn’t being covered, it’s time to get started.