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Why is it snowing in March??

I did several things such as

• First meetings
• Social phrases
• Talking about jobs
• Talking about family and relationships
• Talking about home
• Talking abou cinema and theatre
• Talking about holidays

I was really excited when I saw the documentary "The virtual revolution" because it was very interesting to watch.
I think the era of the world wide web respectively the invention of the internet can bee seen as a totally new age (like the ice age, the stone age eg.)!
Just think about what our world would look like today whithout using the internet > would it be better than today? would it be much worse than today? In my opinion this is a very individual question to answer.
A fact is, that doing business is much easier than before the invention of the WWW. Using E-mails, web cameras for conferences or getting information about topics > not using these items is unimagible today!
But it's not only about doing business and getting information much faster than 30 years ago, it's also about socialising.
One of the main topics of the documentary was about the invention of the so called social plattform Facebook. For me it is inapprehensible that there are so many users on this plattform. It's a fact that if you got 200 friends on facebook you only meet about 5% maximum regular. The rest are "virtual friends". For myself, I can live without Facebook and I'm happy with it (todays point of view ).

The conclusion is too less consensual. The Marketing guy is out of the race from the beginning of the meeting.
The chief executive is good at leading and he sticks to the point. But he is not very objective.
The argumentation of the CFO was very neutral. He could have stick more to the point that experienced people are much more expensive to hire.

All in all the meeting was not that bad!

We are living in a fast moving time. Within the last 20 years new innovative technical material and immaterial objects have made their way into our lifes. The "Internet", "mobile phones", "Facebook", "Youtube", "IPhone", "The Wii" are all words that are now part of our standard vocabulary and are the result of a fast evolving technical culture.
But what are the effects of these developments, and how good are they?

If I log in to my computer and check my e-mails everyday i get a email flood. Some things are spams and can be easily deleted, but the most things have to do with my daily life. So I call myself a victim of "information overload". There is so much information everyday for me that I can hardly handle it.
So I reduced my online time extremly and my productivity rose again. If I look back some month ago, I was online at every possible time, watched my e-mails 5 times a day, logged into facebook a minimum of 3 times a day and spent in average 1 hour per day in different forums to express my opinions or coordinate things.
But I felt quite unhappy. Because if I looked out the window and saw that there is such a wonderful day and realised that I am only sitting in front of the computer, I felt that I would miss the "real" life. So nowadays I focus more on real socialising. I like it to meet friends in real, see their real emotions, mimic and gesture.

The "virtual world" never can be a substitute for the real world. So what we have to learn is, how do we handle our new technologies?

I know a lot of cases, where persons also have difficulties to manage their thousands of e-mails, telephone calls (with more people they are able to handle) or their online time.
But the most thing that concern me are the harsh effects that the new age of technology brings with it. I know people, who are playing "World of Warcraft" a online-role-playing game more than 10 hours a day and live completely in a virtual world and think the people online are their "real" friends, although they have never met them in real life.
But these are only some negative effects. Beside the information overload, the internet or online gaming addiction people nowadays also have to face with other problems. For example something called "Phising", where a webpage is displayed and seems to be the same as the webpage of your bank for example. Criminals then steal your account passwords and hack into your banking account. Or other incidents, where burglars are checking your facebook or twitter webpage and then break into your house, while you are posting "We are not at home for 3 weeks and enjoy our holidays in croatia" on facebook or twitter.

But considering the negative effects, does not mean that the Virtual Revolution has not some good meanings.

For example sending a e-mail is more environment-friendly than sending a letter. With the help of forums it is easier to coordinate a big amount of people. With your blog you can sensitise people for specific topics. With your mobile phone you can ring your friend if you have an accident. With systematic broadcasting in social networks you can inform people about political suppression. With Skype you can make a video telephone call, although your friend is in Austria und you are in the USA for example.

So you see there are a lot of benefits too. The important thing is to learn how to handle the negative effects of the Virtual revolution and how to use the benefits in a correct way. An interesting thing in this case is the upcoming meaning of "Collective Intelligence". This is to use the benefits of the new medias in a social coordinated way that seems to me to be a milestone of the Virtual Revolution.

In the end I have to say use the "products" of the virtual revolution that you want, but never forget that life is more than just sitting in front of the computer. If you look out the window and observe the nature you will see what I mean.

Socialising is about building up and maintaining relationships. In order to do successful socialising you have to be polite and consider the cultural background of your opponent. Furthermore a secure handshake, a nice smile and good listening are mostly very helpful.

(What suprised me) If you say to an Arab: "Oh this piece is very nice, how expensive is it?" you put them under pressure to give it to you, or if you say to a Brit: "What job does your father have?" you force them to speak about their family and their social status, which will make them feel very uncomfortable.
So good knowledge about cultural background is very important. Additionally don't try to imitate other persons, be yourself and try to be friendly.

For example if you are in a lift, be polite and speak about the weather if you have a flat in the same house. Never be too bossy or step on other people's toes. Often a topic, which might interest both of you is the key for good communication and the best start for successful socialising.

The future of socialising lies hopefully not in the internet, but most of the people use the internet to keep in contact. Websites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Xing and Co are the base of networking and socialising. If it is good to have 300 or more friends, and half of them, which you never met, you have to decide on your own.
In my opinion we should focus more on "real" socialising, because a good friendship is more than just a mail or a comment.

On December 9th five brave and courages knights entered the battlefield at Brot und Spiele. Willing to defeat their enemies they took their queues and armour. All of a sudden they felt the urge of fun and amusement and they all reached today's goal: meet new people, have fun, play pool and just enjoy the evening.

I want to thank Lisa, Klara, Dina and Andi for the evening, it was great fun and hopefully it has not been the last event together.

hello
i just recieved my feedback for our first presentation "everyone is extraordinary". it was very interesting to see how people rated our/my presentation and also how their opinion differed from mine.
everyone agreed with me that the presentation was well prepared and that the objects were expressed clearly. the visuals were simple to read and easy to understand, but they were also a bit too monotonous and not very creative. most people thought my way of speaking seemed to be cool and my body movement natural and open. but they also thought that i appeared a little bit nervous, and that my eye contact was missing for the most time. i agree with them on everything, so i will make sure to work on that. i think it is funny that i was the only one who thought that i was not very dynamic and enthusiastic
all in all, i was a little bit stricter with myself and the feedback than most of my audience, but it gave my confidence in some points and also showed me on what skills i have to put more work and effort in. thanks for the feedback!

I've tried to watch the videos. First I didn't have the right programm to watch them, then I've downloaded something.

And now I hear the videos, however I can't see them.

I'll try it again tomorrow.

(Anyway this hp doesn't like me very much...)

Hello Everybody in the year 2008!

My 31st of December was very relaxing with friends in a "beisl"... and the days around christmas I ate and drunk wine a little bit. And the best: I was sleeping until midday. Wonderful!! 

But now it´s time for learning again  

I hope you have nice holidays too. See you in a few days!