Fabian Pattberg



Category Archives - Useful Web Resources

My routine for writing a blog post

This is the situation: I am home alone with the dogs tonight, my wife is away on a business trip and I am planning to spend the evening going about my business.  I want to write a blog post but I for some reason get distracted on a regular basis. Twitter updates, Google+, sports pages, Facebook, Google Reader and so on.

This seems to have happened quite a lot over the course of the past 12 months with so much going on in my life I noticed. Being a practically minded, I therefore tried to come up with a “routine”, as I call it, for these times when I am tired from a full days work but really want to write a blog post.

I hope it will also be useful for your writing. Please be aware that is my personal routine and you most likely will go about your writing in a different way. This is routine and it works for me…… icon smile My routine for writing a blog post

The routine: 

  1. When you get home from work or any other activity before writing, make yourself some food and eat. Writing with an empty stomach does not work in my experience.
  2. Once you are finished, choose the place in your house/flat where to write. Do not make the mistake of writing in the living room with a TV, stereo, etc. If you have the possibility to go to your own room or the study, do that. Any kind of distractions will only hinder your progress and will frustrate you.
  3. Make sure you take enough water with you and most importantly, take some chocolate with you. This is the kick you need when you get tired.
  4. Once you are all set up and online turn ALL social media channels off. You need the internet connection but you definitely do not need Twitter, Google+ or Facebook meddling with your attention span.
  5. Do not think about what you want to write about too much. Writing should be fun and something you enjoy. So just start to write and I am sure everything will come together at some point.
  6. Write about something interesting you have come across recently or which is important to you. Yes, consider your audience but let the writing lead you to what you want to let your readers know.
  7. Review your post progress after 2-3 paragraphs. I usually than change most of the post and title again because I somehow ended up with a slightly different topic to what I started out with.
  8. Once the post is finished take your time to check every single word of it. It is easy to just hit the “Publish” button. Wait for a while or even walk away from the computer for a few minutes to get your mind of this blog post. Then when you get back you will possibly notice something you missed or which is not writing about. This simple action will boost your quality of the blog post immensely in my experience.
  9. Hit the “Publish” button when you are proud of what you see in front of you.

It is that easy. Enjoy and have fun writing!

Interesting video series on Sustainability in farming

Today’s post is about a really interesting video series on Sustainability in relation to farming. In this series there are six different episodes. So a lot of interesting information.

For some reason I did not really look into the relationship of farming to sustainability in detail before. This is why this series came in very handy to get me up to speed on the topic.

These are the links to the first five parts of the series. I decided to embed the last part of the series as I found it very useful as a summary and conclusion video for the overall topic.

Parts of the video series: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

Video: What drives our desire to behave morally?

This is a very interesting video on TED.com by Paul Zak describing the so called “moral molecule” oxytocin which is according to his research responsible for trust, empathy and a good feeling generally.

Having watched this video, for me, the question is whether this molecule oxytocin might also be an influencing element of peoples’ desire and drive to choose to work in the CSR / Sustainability field in stead of chasing the quick money. I believe it is. What do you think?

The current Social Media Network dilemma & advice

WIth the arrival of Google+ , Google’s answer to Facebook, the choice which Social Media Network to use just got more complicated (Link to the Google+ News)

With so much choice these days we are are clearly left with the dilemma which Social Media Network best fits our needs and wants. Here is what I am doing and would recommend for the time being.

 

Twittertwitter The current Social Media Network dilemma & advice

This is still my absolute favorite network to share information on. To me it seems that Twitter is also maturing at the moment. Most people I connect with on Twitter know what they are talking about and have been on Twitter for a while now (i.e. know what they want from this Network). This is a good sign for the quality conversations and interaction in my view.

My advice: Use Twitter as your number one Social Media Network. There is no better alternative out there at the moment.

 

Facebookfacebook logo The current Social Media Network dilemma & advice

I like Facebook and when I started to share more business related information a few months back, the feedback I got was and still is pretty mixed. For me the big question with Facebook is whether I am not annoying all other friends with this business information when they are expecting more of a personal note. Facebook is intended to be more personal after all.

My advice: Use Facebook mainly for personal connections. A way to differentiate networks is not really possible at the moment.

 

LinkedInlinkedin logo The current Social Media Network dilemma & advice

LinkedIn is a great site to host your online CV if you want to call it that. But I am not using it other then as an automatic outlet for my Twitter updates. LinkedIn in my view is the classic example of a great Social Network that is not being used enough from my side at the moment unfortunately.

 My advice: Use LinkedIn on a limited basis at the moment. It is great for your personal CV, etc but not really for engaging a wider network of people you do not know so far.

 

Google+googleplus logo The current Social Media Network dilemma & advice

Google+ is the new player in town. I have managed to get in while it is still in the testing phase and must say that I really like it. It is much simpler and “cleaner” in comparison to Facebook. The idea I have once Google+ is open to everyone, is that I will use this Social Media Network as my second CSR / Sustainability information outlet next to Twitter and limit my Facebook updates to purely personal updates.

My advice: Signup with Google+ and start creating your professional so called “Circles”. I am sure Google+ will be successful. Once more people sign up, you will see that it is a Social Media Network which will enable you to share relevant information for the intended networks at a click of a button.

Facebook pages you will love to ‘Like’

I have been looking into the usefulness of Facebook pages for the promotion of Sustainability / CSR a lot over the past weeks and collated a short list of useful pages you will most definitely want to Facebook ‘Like’. icon smile Facebook pages you will love to Like

Here they are:

General topics and interests related to Sustainability / CSR:

Some selected website or company pages I found really useful:

I am sure I have not listed all of the very useful Facebook pages, so feel free to suggest a page that you feel would need to be included in this list.

Introducing TheEnvironmentSite.org – The largest independent environmental forum

I guess everyone knows by now that I am very passionate about Sustainability topics. Especially, the opportunity to promote Sustainability topics via social media is a key focus of my current work.

tes logo Introducing TheEnvironmentSite.org   The largest independent environmental forumSo it comes to no surprise that I jumped at the chance, when a fellow online discussion forum administrator contacted me several months ago asking me whether I would be interested in taking control of TheEnvironmentSite.org.

TheEnvironmentSite.org has been around since 2003 and is the largest independent environmental forum on the web with over 15.000 members from across the globe.

TES (the official abbreviation of the site) has a large active environmental usergroup and is known for it’s great sense of community. I personally have been a member since 2006.

My first step after taking over was to completely revamp the site as it was totally outdated in terms of design and usability. We now have a nice and bright front page with a navigation that is much more intuitive and user-friendly in my view.

The site will from now be part of my larger website network (more interesting news to follow here soon as well) and I hope you will find the resources and discussions of TheEnvironmentSite.org useful. Feedback is, as always very much appreciated.

Where to find TheEnvironmentSite.org on the web:

Are you following these great CSR / Sustainability blogs?

The first thing I do when I get up each morning and turn on my computer is to go to my RSS reader and browse my favourite CSR / Sustainability blogs. My favourites change over time of course but the purpose of today’s posts is to provide you with an up to date list of my current favourite CSR / Sustainability blogs.

Here they are:

These are the blogs I am reading on a regular basis at the moment. There are obviously a lot more great blogs out there. What blogs could you recommend?

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sepblog/3546156264

My current favourite Google Chrome extensions

Occasionally I am also writing about some useful social media tools I am using to make my life easier when working in front of my computer. Today’s post is another one of this category.

What internet browser you are using can really effect your productivity during the day in my view. A quick browser is essential. I have been using the Google Chrome browser for a while now and do not really see a reason to change to any other browser anymore. The browser is fast, reliable and now includes an ever growing extensions list. Extensions are a great way to add more features and functionality to your Chrome browser.

These are four of my current favourite Google Chrome extensions. I hope you will find them of use as well:

session manager My current favourite Google Chrome extensions1) Session Manager: Session Manager lets you save sessions of your opened tabs and windows, and to quickly re-open them whenever you like. Really useful! Session Manager Extension

share My current favourite Google Chrome extensions2) Shareaholic: The easiest way to share interesting webpages using Facebook, Twitter, Email, Gmail, Buzz, Reader, Bookmarks, and more… This saves me so much time when sharing information, unbelievable. Shareaholic Extension

xmarks My current favourite Google Chrome extensions3) Xmarks: Backup and sync your bookmarks, passwords and open tabs across computers and browsers. Xmarks is also available for Firefox, Safari and IE. An indispensable tool in my view. Xmarks Extension

diigo My current favourite Google Chrome extensions4) Diigo: Highlight webpages with multiple colors as you read online. Also allow tagging and sticky notes. Great for getting your resources on the web and interesting websites organised. Diigo Extension

Enjoy and let me know what extensions you find indispensable for your daily productivity boost and web surfing.

Can augmented technology enhance CSR / Sustainability reporting?

We know that CSR / Sustainability reports are not the most interesting bedtime reading. Despite some great work by the individuals in the CSR / Sustainability departments a CSR / Sustainability report can not really be more then some pictures and text on a piece of paper at this point in time.

Todays post is about introducing you to the topic of augmented technology. Sounds very complex and techie but don’t worry it is really easy to understand. This is the general concept: By using augmented technology, in our case smart phones, we as readers will be able to have an enhanced view and perception of the content and pictures of this CSR / Sustainability report. If I have lost you here please bear with me and watch this video below.

Here is a video to provide you with a practical example of how this technology is being used already (please disregard the horrible facial hair of the presenter icon wink Can augmented technology enhance CSR / Sustainability reporting? )

How can this technology could be used to enhance CSR / Sustainability Reports?
In many different ways is the answer. Here are some possibilities. First from a companies perspective and then from the stakeholder perspective.

Company Perspective
Let’s view this from a recycling/ waste company’s perspective: Here augmented technology (when you hold your smart phone (iPhone, etc.) in front of this picture) can be used to provide the reader with so much more context by using different layers in images. Imagine a derelict landscape which during the course of the years has been transformed into a wildlife sanctuary again. Here the company finally has the company to show past and present all in a sequence and not by having to explain everything in detail with lots of text which no one will read anyway.

Stakeholder Perspective
As a stakeholder, this technology enables us to find the interesting bits and pieces of information much easier. Imagine you are viewing a chart of selected environmental key indicators. Only the past 2 years are displayed in order for you to see the short term progress the company has made. But holding your smart phone in front of this chart you will be able to see 5 years worth of data if you interested in a longer term view of the data.

augmented tech Can augmented technology enhance CSR / Sustainability reporting?The picture on the right is showing some glaciers in the Alps. By holding your iPhone towards them, the distance to these glaciers from your location and their altitude is being displayed.

These are only two examples (as you know I like to keep it short) on how this technology could be used to enhance CSR / Sustainability Reports. But enough from me now.

What is your view?
What is your view on this technology? Have you come across it before and do you think this would be valuable to enhance CSR / Sustainability reports?

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10812666@N03/4271298758