that canadian girl

Category: Web & Technology

  • WordPress & Akismet: Why It's Important to Mark Spam as Spam

    According to Spamhaus, over 96% of all email is spam. That leaves 2% for Facebook notifications, 1.5% for those forwards your mum sends you that you saw in 2001 anyways & about 0.5% for those nagging emails your boss sends on Sunday nights. It’s grim isn’t it? Yet we love it, and we (certainly I) couldn’t live without it.

    How about blog comments?

    Bucket and SpadeWe love getting recognition and fandom for the great entries we write, even though we might not get as many as the big blogs who might get a few hundreds for every post written! And how much spam in blogs? Well, according to Akismet, who power the spam filtering for WordPress and Movable Type blogs, 85% of all blog comments are spam.

    Recently, however, I’ve noted a slightly disturbing trend where bloggers let some spam comments through by choice. I’m mystified on why they would do this; ignorance that spammers can “customise” a spam message by including your post title and therefore assuming it’s real? Naivety that a comment like “I was searching for Blogs about personal government grant applications and found this site. I am interested in your content and appreciate sites like this.” could be a real one? Or a personal interest in wanting to see their posts appear to have more comments?

    Others seem to simply hit “delete” instead of “spam” in their WordPress admin area, since the immediate results are the same.

    But here is why it matters

    It’s important for us all to call a spade a spade and a spam comment a spam comment.

    Akismet is more than just a spam filter for YOUR blog, it’s a giant brain. Not the gooey, kept-in-a-jar kind of brain, don’t worry. (Though I wouldn’t put it past Matt Mullenweg to have one of those too…)

    It’s a system that learns from all our actions, so every comment you mark helps it identify ham from spam in the future on your blog, but also on every other Akismet user’s blog. So marking a commenter you don’t like as “spam” or a spam comment as “deleted” muddles the waters. Bet you didn’t realise it affected everyone else, did you?

    Follow these simple rules

    • If it’s a real comment from a squishy human user but you don’t agree with it, hit delete.
    • If it’s a comment from a bot, something that looks automatically generated or links to obvious spam sites, hit spam.

    Being consistent with these rules will allow us all to spend more time blogging and less time moderating comments. Meanwhile, if you haven’t got Akismet already enabled on your blog, what are you waiting for?

    [Image: Bucket and Spades by Auntie P on Flickr, under Creative Commons]

  • SocialMediaCamp London: A Look Back At The Many Themes

    Do you ever look back at past achievements and feel yourself swell with pride because, with hindsight, you now realise how well you and others did?

    This morning, poking around Flickr, I came across Tom’s photo of the schedule board at SocialMediaCamp London, which was back in October. We gathered 100 attendees, many of which chose to present on a topic of their choice, kicking off interesting conversations and collaborations amongst participants. Since I didn’t get to attend every presentation, some titles still puzzle me, but here is the full list of panel/presentation/discussion topics:

    socialmediacamplondon_schedule

    • How to write awesome headlines – Tom Whitwell, The Times
    • Social Media as Community Activism: From International Networks to a local perspective – Salford Social Media Centre
    • Love is in the air – Jonny & Jayme, Glue
    • How/Why Moderate Masses (180,000 users) – The Sun Online
    • Social Media: How Not To Get Fucked – Girl With a One Track Mind
    • How to Replace CNN with Something Nicer: IPTV
    • How Hedgehogs can Inspire Social Media – Carl @Fellowcreative
    • Entreprise Microblogging is More Than Twitter: A First Look at Brand New Microblogging System – Communote.com
    • Lifestreaming your Life Online – Ande Gregson & Paul Kane, Sky
    • Buzz Management For Startups: How to Build Workflow so Everyone Knows What’s Going On – Jure C
    • Relationship Counselling for PRs and Bloggers – Paul Borge
    • Legal Aspects of Social Media – Victoria McEvedy
    • Digital Yoga & The New Religion of the Web – Rohan
    • One (wo)man Social Media Empire-Life! – Lloyd Davis
    • Twitter for the Environment – Carmen
    • Man Boobs, Incest, Sarah Palin and The Times: How We Do SEO @ Times Online – Mariana Bettio
    • The Social Graph: Who Owns It? What Is It?
    • DIY PR: How to Get PR For Your Startup (Please Fire your PR Firm/Agency)
    • Native To a Web of Dudes – David Thompson
    • How to Present to Big Scary Companies (And Look Like You Know What You’re Doing) – Terence Eden, Vodafone
    • Alternate Reality Games
    • Social Media For Good: Respite For Carers, A Project in Development (Discussion)
    • We’re All Chemicals: Social Objects on the Social Web, Socialising – Dan Donald
    • 6 Degrees of Separation Now – Benjamin Ellis
    • Programmer-Journalists or Journalist-Programmers (Group Discussion) – Mark Ng
    • How to Use LinkedIn To Get a Better Job
    • TV III Branding: The Management Of Television Brands in The Digital Age – Will Prestes
    • Staying Pseudonymous On & Offline
    • Scrumping 2.0: A Model for Wider Community Involvement?
    • Digital Footprint
    • If you Work in Marketing or Advertising, Kill Yourself Now – Chris Applegate
    • Data Portability – Ben Godfrey
    • The Web of Babel: Managing Languages on the Web – Chrys
    • Akoha: The Social Reality Game – Emma Persky
    • Online Reputation Management: It’s Not All Bad
    • Ideas Into Action: Developing a Toolkit for Collaborative & Community Projects – Alison
    • Print & Online Social Media: Can You Make It Work? – The London Paper
    • Measuring Engagement of Social Media Websites in the Web 2.0 World
    • Managing Online Identity & Personal Brand – Vero Pepperrell
    • 7 Secrets to Facebook Fundraising
    • Blogging Breakdown & How to Avoid It – Annie Mole
    • Social Media Bingo Session

    A few presentation notes made their way on the SMCLondon blog and quite a few have been posted to Slideshare under the tag “smclondon08” so, if like me you want to reminisce, or didn’t have the chance to attend, have a look!

    I can’t help but wonder what trend similarities and changes we’ll see at SocialMediaCamp London v.2.0… Want to get involved in the second SMCLondon? Drop me a line as the planning is only just beginning and we always welcome an extra pair of hands!

  • Happiness at Christmas is…

    Yesterday, I asked fellow Twitter users what Christmas happiness was to them. I got a fun range of answers, so I thought I’d post them uncensored and as-is…

    • sherrilynne: Happiness at Christmas is knowing there are no deadlines for two whole weeks!
    • matthewpennell: Happiness at Christmas is a non-sequitur. 😉
    • davidcushman: time with your family
    • pascalw: is … letting your brain switch off, kick back & enjoy whatever comes your way. Avoiding clichés about kids (but that’s what I mean!)
    • JamesPearce: Happiness at Christmas is… packing everything into boxes and *undecorating* the tree. Oh. Wait.
    • TrudyYS: Happiness at Christmas is not knowing when it ends…
    • MelKirk: Happiness at xmas is seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces
    • mrjaba: Happiness at Christmas is family, booze and food, oh and racing grannies.
    • jodrell: Happiness at Christmas is… 2 cats, 1 wife and dinner starting at 1 and finishing at midnight 🙂
    • lwarren17: Happi @ Xmas = knowing that leonelyn my sponsored little girl in philipines gets education thro http://www.p-c-f.org/
    • MartinSFP: happiness at Christmas is feeling like a kid again for a day or two; albeit a drunk kid…
    • pidpoid: …flaming buttcheeks
    • edent: Happiness at Christmas is pizza off paper plates (no washing up) pink champagne from the bottle (ditto). All spent with my new *WIFE*!
    • sookio: “Happiness at Christmas is…” giving my impossible-to-buy-for brother-in-law Two Ronnies cufflinks – my favourite gift this xmas
    • weaverluke: Happiness at Christmas is the spirit of family, blood or otherwise.
    • whatleydude – “happiness at christmas is ‘compulsory, signed: Whatleydude…” – LMAO
    • jopkins: …taking timeout to think about the past, present and future; realising what’s important and that you’re there with them 😉
    • daryldarko: i’m sorry – “Happiness at Christmas is understanding that it is just another day.”
    • danielhunt: Happiness at Christmas is having more alcohol than you can shake a stick at, along with a suitably festive house party
    • mattlambert: Happiness at Christmas is having a sword fight with my Mum using the innards of left over rolls of wrapping paper… 😀
    • lirontocker: “… celebrating Hanukkah” 🙂
    • purplekitten: …knowing you’ve tried not to make other people’s lives worse

    And on this bombshell, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, a relaxing time with family and friends. Enjoy yourselves, take it easy for a while, and then get ready to kick ass for 2009!

  • A world full of knee jerks

    I won’t be blowing you away with this observation, but the world has gone bonkers. Completely, utterly bonkers. Beyond political correctness, I think the world’s cojones have well and truly decided to retract all the way inside the body, and given up altogether.

    What makes me say that? Three stories in the past week have shown me how remarkably PC-minded we can be.

    First, this morning, YouTube announced on its blog that mature content and profanity will be more heavily moderated. In order words, a quick cuss word can cause your video to disappear into oblivion. Now, as Robert Llewellyn points out this morning in his Llewtube video, I’ll be happy to see less mature content crop up randomly when I’m looking for videos of kittens. But profanity? Who sets the blacklist of what swear words are inappropriate? If religious America gets its word in, we’ll have to say “Oh sh…ugar!” as we do in front of 3 year olds? To the best of my knowledge, 3 year olds shouldn’t be left to their own devices when navigating the web.

    Second story. Last week, Channel 4 decided to take the entire 4mations site down, after it got cold feet following what’s now been dubbed as “Sachsgate” – otherwise known as Brand & Ross behaving like idiots on air. (For the non-UK folks, two radio hosts made a few immature and somewhat inappropriate “I screwed your granddaughter!” calls to a guest, Andrew Sachs. He’s best known for his role as Manuel in Fawlty Towers back in the 70’s. The story snowballed from two complaints when the show was aired to nearly half a million complaints in the week that followed.)

    For a project that intended to push the boundaries of creativity, I’m amazed that a pixelated gimp mask and some cartoon boobies were grounds for taking the entire site down. Clearly, a moment of panic because of some slightly bizarre content. And you know what, that’s one of the great things about the weird and wonderful world of the Internet. There’s weird material being added all the time that forces us to re-evaluate where we stand.

    Finally, in the real physical world, the Terrorism Act is becoming a real pain in the proverbial. A 15 year old schoolboy was arrested near Wimbledon for taking photos of the stadium on his mobile phone. He said he was working on his GCSE project, and shoo’ed away from the site. This kind of situation was repeated time and time again.

    Before anyone jumps at my throat, I by no means condone humour in bad taste or lewd content on the web. But you wouldn’t chuck out an entire bushel of apples for a single bruised one, right? So why stop everyone else from having fun because of a few bad apples?

    My issue here is with the knee-jerk reaction we seem to have towards everything these days. Rather than to get a screwdriver to fix the one slightly loose screw, we just get the sledgehammer out and annihilate the whole lot!

    I’m not suggesting sticking your fingers in your ears going “La la la I can’t hear you!” when you face a problem, but the reaction should be proportional to the problem. So put the sledgehammer away, will you?

  • Future of Mobile 2008 Round-up

    The past few weeks have been very spotty in terms of blogging, with so much of my time being focused on getting stuck in to new projects and flirting with a few more potential ones.

    Yesterday, however, was an insightful (and social) day for me, spent at Future of Mobile in London. Future of Mobile is in its second year, organised by the great team at Carsonified. I did a dreadful job of tweeting or blogging the event, being far too busy buzzing around chatting to new people, but many others did a stellar job of documenting what turned out to be a very interesting day.


    During my presentation at FOM, photo by Rudy de Waele

    The very lovely Tom Hume (who’s excellent presentation teased us all with colourful macaroons right before lunch) posted his review of the event earlier today. Helen Keegan, fellow blogger and geek gal, shocked the crowd with her “There is no future to mobile” (your faces were all priceless when she stated that), James Whatley was (as usual) the most energetic body in the room and – at the risk of potentially getting an ass-kicking for saying this – the younger share of the speakers did a rather stellar job at keeping the audience awake and interested.

    I was asked for the slides to my 6 minutes presentation on Why Community Matters throughout the day, so as promised, here they are. (And thanks to Carsonified for being mad enough to let me loose on stage)

    Why Community Matters

    View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: futureofmobile fom)

    In summary, I think we all agreed that we’re looking at a fragmented, young and constantly evolving industry and there’s a whole lot of work to do in order to get to a stage where normobs can really make the most of the technology that’s racing ahead, in terms of accessibility, simplicity, pricing and education. But without a challenge, what fun would it be!?

    Some more coverage of the event:

  • A new year, a new beginning & a new challenge

    It’s been radio silence on that canadian girl for the past few weeks, but certainly not because I haven’t had anything to say. These past few weeks have been some of the most eventful ones of my life, in fact.

    Just over a month ago, I officially became my own boss, kicking my social media consulting work up a notch. Then, during our week-long holiday to Menorca, I turned 27, realising I’m a year older – and hopefully wiser.

    At the beginning of 2008, my themeword was exploration and it couldn’t be any more relevant today.

    I wanted to explore my own abilities, and chose to organise SocialMediaCamp London, a one-day BarCamp event covering topics surrounding blogs, podcasts, lifecasting, community, using new media cleverly, marketing ethics, social networks now and in the future. The event was this past weekend, and I have to admit, I’m unspeakably happy about it. I’m thrilled with how the day went, I’m proud of the level of participation from the attendees and I’m excited about the opportunities for future events.

    So ahead of me lie many new challenges, but you know what? I can’t wait to bite into them over the next few months.

  • The BarCamp Virgin's Guide: Making the most of your first BarCamp

    What is a BarCamp?

    Wikipedia’s description is “BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.”

    Got your head around that one? Yeah, it’s a bit dry. This post should demystify a little what happens at a BarCamp event, and what you can get out of spending your weekend with geeks rather than chilling out at home.

    Totally different to regular conferences, BarCamps are more open and less structured. This means, when you arrive, you’re likely to see this kind of grid, where you can jot down what you’d like to talk about. It’s an opportunity for people from all backgrounds and all skill levels to have a go at sharing some knowledge.

    Sounds scary? It’s not essential that you present in front of a group using a Powerpoint presentation and a laser pointer while wearing a suit. In fact, suits are definitely not recommended.

    Where do I find out about events like this?

    Check out the BarCamp homepage for events in your area, look out on Upcoming.org or ask fellow Twitter users for suggestions.

    Keep a close eye on registrations since tickets tend to go quickly, with gatherings ranging from twenty to hundreds, depending on how brave the organisers are and how large the venue is.

    How can I prepare?

    • Have a think about the general theme of the event & associated topics that interest you: Could you talk about any experiences you’ve had, questions you’ve answered by either successfully completing a project or, if you’re brave, through a failure you’ve gone through.
    • Look at the list of attendees, which should be public… Anyone you’re burning to meet and get to know? The day will fly by so be sure to go say hi at the first opportunity!
    • Have an open mind: Join a session on a topic you know nothing about, play a game of Werewolf with new friends or start a conversation with the next stranger you meet.
    • Arrive on time: Come early if you want/can help with registration and setup, but don’t show up too late or you might miss on some of the social activity and goodies.

    Tackling your first presentation

    Presentation slots are generally 30-40 minutes, so you don’t need to do a doctorate thesis. It’s definitely not all about monologuing in front of the group for the full half-hour, it’s about sharing your experiences, asking others to pitch in with ideas or just leading a useful conversation.

    • Present something simple that people with less experience, who are new to the industry might be interested in.
    • Not sure what level of knowledge others will have? Present something completely wild and silly (“how to make the perfect margarita” was a hit at a past BarCamp I hear)
    • Nervous about being in front of people? Do a shared presentation with someone who complements your skills well. You’ll have someone to lean on when you’re not sure what to say next, and it’s more fun together.

    But I’m not a spotlight kind of guy/gal…

    Still getting cold feet? You can still help in a number of ways. The organisers are volunteers and (generally) have only two hands each. So if you’re not too keen on doing a presentation, why not lend a hand with registration, coffee breaks, cleaning up or setting up the A/V system?

    One of the best bits of a BarCamp is the memories you take home with you. But if you’re like me and you have the memory of a goldfish, the key is to capture the event in some way. So why not offer to blog or record the event on video or in photos? If you’re a podcaster, create a VoxPop clip with the participants.

    What do I need to pack?

    Wherever possible, you’ll be able to stay on-site overnight for the BarCamp. You’ll find yourself staying up late chatting, coding or playing games. If that’s the case, you’ll need some of the following:

    • Laptop if you want to blog or take notes during the event. Don’t forget your charger (and adaptor if the event is abroad!) and your screen adaptor if you need to plug into a projector.
    • Business cards: Moo cards come highly recommended. Make sure you have somewhere safe to store the cards you’re given.
    • Scribble notebook & pen: You might not want to have your laptop out at all times, so pen and paper is essential.
    • Power strip: If you can, bring a power bar to plug into the much-coveted few outlets. It’ll allow more people to benefit from power during the day.
    • Video/photo camera: Immortalise the day in video and photos. Be sure to upload your content and tag it with the event’s hashtags (eg. #smclondon08 for SocialMediaCamp London 2008) and put a Creative Commons friendly copyright.
    • Money: Some events provide food, thanks to the sponsors, but others don’t, so come prepared to go buy lunch somewhere nearby.
    • Materials: Bring your presentation or demo (if you have one) on a USB stick or CD.
    • If the BarCamp is an overnight one, you’ll probably want to pack a sleeping bag and pillow.

    What some BarCamp veterans say…

    Tara ‘missrogue’ Hunt, Citizen Agency co-founder, public speaker & blogger, says:

    “Personally? BarCamp was an exciting idea for me, but at first I was afraid to stand up and talk… just wanted to observe and have one on one conversations… maybe ask a few questions from the audience. After a while, though, I decided to take the leap and put myself on the speaking schedule.

    I’m glad I did, because it started my career! I went from speaking at BarCamps… Really getting my chops wet and practicing my skills. I got stronger and stronger as a speaker. One day I was approached by a conference organizer who asked me to give a workshop on my ideas. Next thing I know, I’m speaking all over the world and have WAY more professional confidence than I’ve ever had. That all started with BarCamp. It gave me the opportunity to really push myself into the next level.

    Mel Kirk, social media gal extraordinaire says:

    My first experience of a barcamp was during SXSW and was BarCamp Austin… Totally awesome! We heard some people chatting about it and decided to drop in… I still have my pass and lanyard as it was one of my highlights. They had this awesome T-shirt station where you could buy a t-shirt and then have a number of different designs printed onto it. I didn’t have enough cash to buy one but I really wish that I had, they were gorgeous.

    There was a whole buzz about the place – it was in a really cool bar – totally laid back and relaxed and I met some amazing people that I would never have otherwise have met. Because it was a lot more laid back than a normal conference-type set up, people feel more relaxed to ask the presenters questions which leads to much more of a conversation type feel rather than content being pushed to the audience.

    I’d recommend a BarCamp to anyone – it’s filled with amazing talented people willing to share and discuss their knowledge… where else can you get something like that?

    Nik Butler aka Loudmouthman says

    “don’t let anyone convince you they are not the werewolf”

    Got BarCamp stories to share? Suggestions for new attendees? Leave a comment below!

  • Safety Goat needs saving!

    Kat from Safety Goat is a London-based designer, she sent us a really awesome little silicon moulded goat, equipped with safety vest. I’ve yet to meet Kat (@kassy4), but she’s a fellow Ottawa-ian (as she says), which is rare in the UK. Plus, anyone who creates wacky little creatures and hand-paints them has just got to be very cool!

    Thanks Kat!

    [Note: Sorry my iPhone insisted on focusing on everything but the goat, but I’ve got a new camera on order arriving soon which will take far better little snapshots.]
    [Note 2: “Everything but the Goat” Awesome band name.]

  • Sushi & business have more in common than you might think

    A few months ago, we popped by Bluewater shopping centre in Kent to get my MacBook fixed and, being the total sushi addicts that we are, we couldn’t resist the detour by Yo Sushi when lunchtime rolled around. Even though I’d heard their sushi wasn’t so hot, nothing else was even an option.

    While I’d heard many times about their unique conveyor belt concept, I spent most of lunch mesmerised by the masterpiece of focus, efficiency and simplicity before my eyes. Now I’m not here to debate the quality of the food served (though I was quite pleased with it, for shopping centre food) but I wanted to talk about Yo Sushi as a process.

    1. Clear focus

    From the moment you find yourself in the vicinity, your attention is directed to the food. The entire operation is focused on providing a solution to a single problem, and doing it well – it gets food into my belly quickly by allowing self-service. The fresh food moves smoothly around the conveyor belt in a never-ending conga line, getting refilled constantly by the hard-working staff. Instead of fussing over complicated menus, making the clientele wait for a waiter to come take your order, they let you dig right in. Just what you want in a shopping centre.

    This translates into online projects very easily; you need to focus on solving a single problem and doing it well, rather than attempting to offer every single feature to do every newfangled thing everyone else wants to do. In a weird way, it’s letting them hit the kickass threshold quickly!

    2. Simplicity

    The menu is simple, and the dishes are all presented in a very visual way. You can literally match a small plate circulating on the conveyor belt just by looking at the printed menu for something that looks identical.

    Design on location is also very simple. In Bluewater, due to their position, there are no walls to be decorated. The tables, bars and seats are all beige, taupe or brushed silver, with the only splashes of colour provided by the bright plates in circulation. The practical self-service format allows the waiting staff to focus on refilling drinks, clearing the tables and proving hot dishes as required, leaving customers to do 75% of the work themselves.

    How can we learn from this and provide users with self-service? Get Satisfaction is a fantastic example of people-powered support; the community can answer a number of questions amongst itself, taking pressure off small teams. High quality, regularly updated FAQs for the more traditional sites also benefit everyone. But first and foremost, keeping things simple and fuss-free will make for a whole lot less questions!

    3. Efficiency

    The Yo Sushi kitchen works like a well-oiled machine. There’s not a single piece of clutter on the counters where food is made, cooking areas are thought out and positioned in a logical order; from the hot kitchen out of sight to the sushi counters in immediate reach of the conveyor belt.

    Every feature in your product should be there for a reason, not just because the marketing manager’s wife thinks it looks good (unless she’s your target market). Sometimes you have to be ruthless to be efficient.

    Whether you use GTD, some fancy online project management system or a piece of paper and a pencil to create your product roadmap, the key is not to let the tools get in the way of the work at hand. This applies to physical clutter as well as mental clutter, whether in the form of unsettled arguments or unspoken worries.

    So why not sit down with a cup of green tea, take a moment to get some clarity and see where you can simplify your processes to help your users feel as good about using your product as I do after choosing to have sushi instead of a greasy burger meal.

    —-
    As a complete aside, I must tip my hat to taptaptap for the awesome design of their site, entirely centered on sushi.

    [Disclaimer: Yo Sushi did not pay me for this post, but if they so wish, they’re very welcome to send me lots and lots of food vouchers.]

  • Using Your Network to Grow as an Entrepreneur

    Recently, I’ve been thinking long and hard about ways to use the incalculably fantastic network of intelligent, experienced and creative people I’ve met over the past few years; 170 LinkedIn contacts, nearly a thousand Twitter followers, mountains of business cards and an address book that’s as full of passionate people as a TED Talk!

    So when a friend pointed me to the Get Rich Slowly blog earlier, where Marc Hedlund, co-founder and CEO of Wesabe wrote a guest-post, one idea really tickled me.

    Write someone and ask them for help every day
    It’s amazing how well this works. Just make a habit of coming up with one person each day that might be able to help you in some way — with an introduction, an idea, a conversation, anything. If you think of someone you already know, then it’s easy to ask for help, but don’t be bashful about asking people you don’t know for help.

    When you tell people you’re working on starting your own business, many of them will get excited or interested, and be willing to offer a hand. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back — just try someone else the next day. When you’re starting a new business no one knows what you’re up to, so reaching out and asking for help very often can do an enormous amount to get things rolling.

    Simple, no? Take 10 minutes every day to approach someone who has either more experience, or a different view to yours, and ask them a burning question. At first, you might worry you’ll get the cold shoulder – and sometimes you will, the world is full of assholes. But it’s also full of great people with plenty of insight to share.

    Keep a scratchbook – mine’s a pocket moleskine – of all sorts of questions and ideas. Don’t hesitate to approach the big wigs either. You’d be surprised how happy high-profile people can be when you’re modest and honest about your requests.

    Of course, don’t waste their time and ask a question for the sake of asking. Use those few minutes a day wisely and you’ll expand your knowledge, your network and your horizons.