Longtime blogger Jim Groom, an Instructional Technology Specialist and adjunct professor at the University of Mary Washington, wrote about giving credit where credit is due (in traditional academic journals) when it comes to using ideas authored in "unconventional academic media," i.e. blogging, etc. The catalyst for Groom’s post is an article in the EDUCAUSE Quarterly about the post-LMS Era, a topic he has written about extensively. (There’s actually a lot more to his post - and the comments - than "credit" and well worth a read.) I came upon Groom’s post at first via a Skype conversation with my colleague Gary Woodill who was pointing me to a George Siemens re-post from 2006, A Review of Learning Management System Reviews, which George wrote while at the University of Manitoba. (He re-posted it to maybe "give it a bit more of an existence.") Many of you may not have read Jim Groom’s 4+ year-old blog bavatuesdays before because it doesn’t focus on corporate learning & development however, many of the issues he dives into are the same issues we face in L&D and it’s been valuable reading to me - it’s like an ongoing free education. George Siemens too although, he does write (blogs and journals) about corporate learning - in addition to academic topics - and is always involved in setting up the annual LearnTrends - The Corporate Learning Trends & Innovation Conference. Hybrid George. Lest you think I’m only talking about bloggers writing about their favorite topic - blogging - this background info provides the type of "implied credit" that exists among a network of bloggers working through contemporary issues. L&D has a blogger network where generally a first name is all you need to  recognize someone - Tony, Mark, Brent, Karyn, Jane, the other Jane, Harold, Gina, Marcia, Cammy, Dave, Stephen, George, and many others. Those names mean little  to many in L&D and I’m going to guess are not even recognizable for most. Among corporate L&D types, I think reading blogs is still new. To tell the truth, when I was working in the corporate environment - and even when I first started blogging 3+ years ago - I thought it was like this secret world of narcissistic people who just linked to each other and theorized. I didn’t have much use for it when I was up to my eyeballs in creating Captivate recordings to demonstrate how to use an antiquated mainframe system that still permeate the corporate world due to their tentacle-like properties. Shame on me. I digress. The entire ‘credit where credit due’ issue made me think about corporate learning periodicals. I read them less often than I used to but did this morning while my PC was going through some sort of Windows upgrade that allowed me the time to make a freakin’ omelet. Of course, those that write in L & D periodicals do not have the same issues as the academic/ journal "game" where tenure and 16 pages of citations are the rules. What is a game but rules right? However, in L&D periodicals, I do think there’s the same "marginalization of blogging" (Groom writes about) and the failure to give credit where credit is due. There’s (still) a certain respect associated with corporate learning periodicals (and many are very, very good and include those that blog) but I often get the feeling that when something is written on a blog (vs. within an article) it’s not taken seriously. It’s everywhere.  Just the other night I was watching House and the actress Laura Prepon, forever known to me as Donna Pinciotti on That 70s Show, was playing a patient who was a professional blogger. (She looks nothing like Jim Groom : ) I thought they made a joke of her blogging on  the show even though she had a pretty good explanation (the psychological issue of not seeing people aside) of the feeling one gets when writing in an online public space. In my opinion, blogs are frequently viewed as a joke because of the author’s attachment to them and the whole idea that one cannot have a true social connection with online "friends" (quotations are theirs). I digress again. (This post is long enough be a chapter in a book or an article in a training periodical ; ) Anyway…back to Groom who said, in part, of blogs… "…we all know that these ideas [like the post- LMS era] have been vehemently discussed and hashed out on the blogosphere, where credit is often and necessarily inconsistent and erratic, but somehow implied-and given we are all working for bigger idea…" I won’t call anyone out publicly or name the periodical but there’s an article by someone who (best I can tell) does not participate in the "work for bigger ideas." Within the article there’s a reference to "subject matter networks" with no attribution. I choked on my omelet and immediately thought of Mark Oehlert’s Subject-matter Experts: The Origin Post. (This same author later speaks about Twitter and I’ve yet to find them on Twitter.) While the ’subject-matter networks’ term can be found in  articles that pre-date this (primarily articles about professional development and teachers, see Google Scholar) in the  context of the L&D article, it should have been attributed to the person (Mark) that spent "almost three days of non-stop talking about social media and how it can impact learning" framing it. What to make of all this? It’s a helluva lot easier to write a static article that outlines the ideas of others than to actually have (and to write about) the ideas. If you think everything on blogs is crap and that content should be cited and vetted like a professional journalist, you’re marginalizing the author’s work being done for the greater good of the industry. And shame on those trying to attain L&D celebrity status at the expense of bloggers.

I launched a new blog this week for showcasing e-learning examples. The plan is to provide a centralized location for examples of e-learning courses and details about the instructional design process used in creating them. I also hope to share specifics about the logistics of the courses. Anyone is welcome to submit an example using the submission form.

I will be traveling to Australia for the first time in April and I leave in just two and a half weeks. I’m speaking at the AITD conference in Sydney. Totally awesome. Freaking. AWESOME. I did the Visa thing last month but, true to form, when it comes to traveling, I’m just getting around to asking myself smaller questions about currency, electrical adapters, cell phones, what the heck to wear based on seasonal temperatures, and what to see when I’m in  tourist mode. I’m an organized procrastinator - which means I’m terrific at organizing for tomorrow - so I have a comprehensive list of stuff with checks and question marks next to each thing listed. (Sidebar… as I’m writing this I see I’ve got a beautiful, helpful email from Cathy Moore in response to a Tweet for tips along with several responses there from recent travelers and residents of Sydney. Another use for Twitter.) OK, so more important than the travel details is the talk. I titled it "E-Learning 2010: Innovation and Implementation." I’m also doing a social media pre-conference workshop. (It’s a ‘laptop optional’ session so requires some planning for those who do and those who do not have their laptop. Been there done that, check.) So the workshop is good to go and the ‘2010′ presentation is primarily done. I’m at that point of tweaking, timing, and making the presentation run smoothly, when all conditions are ideal, while also having a plan-b. I’m using a lot of actual examples of courses so need offline versions of courses to run that are short enough - but understandable - while trying to get the clearest view on a screen and, of course, adequate audio. My small dilemma is where rapid e-learning fits (rapid used here = rapid development using simple authoring tools). (Rapid, of course, can also mean rapid deployment or rapid consumption. In my experience though it usually is about development using the type of authoring tools non-programmers can use.) See,the presentation is not about what will be…it’s about what is happening in 2010 and how people are doing it. What’s innovative and implemented today. None of us will deny that rapid e-learning is today. I think it’s a safe bet to say it dominates the e-learning market alongside PowerPoint. So that’s where I am. I do have rainbows and unicorns to show and talk about - what I see around the corner or being implemented by a few early adopters - but where does rapid e-learning fit in? Somebody help me out and point me to innovative uses of those tools they’ve seen. Because I’ve only got 2 1/2 weeks! Oh, and last thing…what souvenirs to bring back for the kids? Coins are a hit for the youngest along with anything relating to the platypus because he just did a report on that. Teens? Perhaps the greatest gift is me staying there ; ) My husband hopes I do come home.

David Shoemaker, eCornell, highlights a higher ed blog post about the imminent unbundling of courses from curriculum both from colleges offering degrees and entities that do not offer degrees. Unbundling meaning: …the notion that students could cobble together a curriculum that includes courses designed and delivered by a variety of different institutions … - Steve Kolowich Unbundling is nothing new to those of us in corporate L&D. In my mind it’s one traditional differentiator between higher education and corporate education. You might have a curriculum or a learning plan in corporate education but you’re not setting out to complete a bundled group of courses so you can get a degree at a specific university (usually within a specific time period). Corporate education tends to be a career long series of unbundled experiences. By way of background, I had lunch with David a couple of weeks ago in Ithaca, NY, the home of Cornell University and eCornell which is wholly owned by the university. eCornell provides online learning for professional and executive development. Their designers team with faculty from Cornell colleges who create the courses and often participate in the delivery of the courses. (eCornell’s blog is a good one to read it you’re interested in links to news that often straddles corporate education and higher education.) Moving along…the catalyst for David’s post was Steve Kolowich’s The Specialists written for Inside Higher Ed. The  comments under Steve’s post touch on several volatile topics such as training vs. education, "real" college degrees, online vs. classroom interaction, quality of online education, and others. Steve wonders if the "bundled" model of higher education is outdated. Based on what I read from early adopters - and my own experiences - I’d say it’s more outdated than not. "As it has with industries from music to news, the logic of digital technology will compel institutions to specialize and collaborate, find economies of scale and avoid duplications," - journalist Anya Kamenetz Steve writes about relics. I would fit Steve Kolowich’s definition of a relic because I’m enrolled in an academic program at a single university.However, I wouldn’t define myself as a relic because I blend my academic program with my "unbundled" personal learning experiences here on the web (which, BTW, often cause me to sit back and ponder why).  Relic or hypocrite…verdict still out with the latter gaining strength with every post I write about online education. Again with the moving along…the thing that stands out to me  in Kolowich’s post is the quality and rigor concern (of online commercial courses vs. courses charging tuition at traditional institutions). Michelle Everson, a lecturer at the University of Minnesota who also serves as a consultant and an instructor for Statistics.com, says there is, pound for pound, no difference in rigor between Statistics.com’s introductory courses and the ones Minnesota offers as part of its curriculum. She teaches both. The gist of the post is the value in specializing. You can pick the highest value online education in a specific topic through the wonderful thing we call technology. This can be a boon for corporate education - more specialized courses in the commercial market can provide employees with more high-quality experiences.

I was doing some research for an article and ran across a new (to me) term: cybergogy. It’s way cooler than pedagogy or andragogy, no? I’m think I’ll start calling myself a cybergogy strategist. Kidding. The cybergogy literature references date back to 2003 and it seems most of the conversation has been in the higher ed area vs. corporate ed. (Probably since we’ve all but banned the ‘gogy’ words from our corporate vocab.) My first thought was why didn’t you all tell me about this term? Second, I’m not reading enough. So here’s the definition, from the cybergogy entry on the edutech wiki: One of the central elements of cybergogy is the intent to combine fundamentals of both pedagogy and andragogy to arrive at a new approach to learning (Carrier & Moulds, 2003). Cybergogy focuses on helping adults and young people to learn by facilitating and technologically enabling learner-centered autonomous and collaborative learning in a virtual environment. At the core of cybergogy is awareness that strategies used for face-to-face learning may not be the same used in the virtual environment. It was coined by Dr. Minjuan Wang, Assistant professor, Educational Technology, San Diego State University. You can follow her on twitter @minjuan. Here’s Dr. Wang’s cybergogy model for engaged learning. (click to make larger) I like seeing the emotive factors. Also, from the entry: The Cybergogy model values affective learning as highly as cognitive learning, and sees the two as interwoven. The authors (2006) argue that current educational systems must value the learner over the curriculum, and must tolerate learning outcomes that may be less predictable but highly worthwhile. Dean Groom has some nice posts about this learning paradigm shift. Just search the term "cybergogy" on his website or choose the the "pedagogy shifting" category. In this post you’ll find some interesting infographics. I think it’s a nice way to visualize the changes we’ve been talking about. (see the cybergogy wiki entry for the above literature references)

When you live in a rural area, flying general involves a connector flight to a larger airport. Connector flights are the type of flights where they rearrange people for proper weight distribution and balance. I’ve never been asked to move. I imagine my size isn’t something that would have much impact on the balance of the plane. The connector flight I’m on now is piloted by a soldier who returned to work just last week after a year deployment to Iraq. He was flying Black Hawk helicopters there so I feel secure in the event we come under enemy fire near say, Yonkers, NY. My first flight ever was on a plane like this. I was a teenager traveling overseas and my Dad flew with me to NYC on the ‘puddle jumper’ (he called it), gave me a kiss on the cheek and turned around and flew back home. I didn’t understand why he wanted to do that at the time but, of course, do now thinking of my own teenagers. Anyway, I went to Atlanta for the CLO Summit (marcus evans event). Wandering through Atlanta’s airport always feels futuristic to me. There are a lot of soldiers coming and going (returning soldiers getting cheers from the USO…very emotional) along with the calm recording of the Homeland Security threat level (orange). For such a busy airport, it’s pretty quiet. It’s modern and easy to get around. Newark New Jersey’s airport, on the other hand, has people sprawled all over the place, someone playing guitar, and a people mover (golf cart type) driver yelling ‘beep’ (in Russian) instead of actually honking the horn. A shuttle bus ride is needed to get to my flight. We board on the tarmac…going up the stairs. No sky ramp. It’s as stark a contrast as my hotel/motel experience on this first leg of my travels. The day before I left I realized (ok, my husband realized) that I’d need to get up at 2:30 AM Sunday to catch my plane. He suggested I get a room the night before near the airport so I could get a few hours sleep. Apparently he didn’t want to get up at 2:30. I jumped on priceline.com and just picked something cheap without giving it any thought. The motel was in the middle of nowhere (and I know this because I also live in the middle of nowhere). It really was straight out of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I toughed it out. It’d only be a few hours and I didn’t want to go look for something else. I don’t usually check the windows but felt I should. Not locked. Creepy. The bathroom window didn’t lock at all so I hung a coat hanger on it so I could be awake when the serial killer showed up. Got into bed and noted there was a plastic bed liner. Yes, it’s the place where adulterous lovers meet for a couple of hours. I have no experience with those shenanigans. I just heard about it. When getting my bag out of the car all I could hear were crickets and all I could smell was burning wood. It felt like camp. Camp with plastic liners on the beds. Fell off to sleep at 1 AM and had to get up at 4:30. Of course, someone had lost their dog and was shouting for it at around 2:15. Right outside my door. Clearly, leaving my own house at 2:30 would have been a much better situation. Anyway, I arrived at the Chateau Élan, the location of the conference and found a luxury room. No plastic in site. No need for coat hangers to masquerade as serial killer alarms. The biggest decision was deciding which of the eight pillows might be the most comfortable for me. I’ve jotted down some notes on the conference and have links to various things but I’ll have to post tomorrow because it’s late and there’s another one-night layover hotel in my future. Hopefully I made a better choice.

I had the pleasure of speaking at the marcus evans CLO Summit in Georgia last week. The other presenters and most of the attendees were directors, VPs, or CLOs. There were also several solution providers that I had the pleasure of catching up with or meeting for the first time too. The venue was a winery and resort  50 miles North of Atlanta. It was an intimate event…probably about 100-150 people total. I sat on a research panel with Dr. Arthur Paton, Motorola, Inc., and Gary Whitney, VP at InterContinental Hotels Group. The panel discussion was facilitated by Jenny Dearborn, Director L&D, at Hewlett-Packard. She also served as chairman of the event. Our topic was "Has eLearning taken the World by Storm?" We had an interesting discussion and my contribution probably was memorable for my push back on the multi-generational stuff. I couldn’t really answer all of the questions asked because they were "at your organization…" questions. As you know, I’m my own organization and I study other organizations…some of which were there. I’ve been to one other marcus evans event in San Francisco a couple of years ago. They do about 150 conferences a year and have it down to a science. I sent my slides to the event planner prior to the conference (as requested) and just assumed there would be Internet access. I had planned on doing the entire presentation in the cloud switching back and forth between various sites but learned there was no Internet service in the conference center. Event planners have to arrange for (and pay dearly for) that in advance and they weren’t aware I would need it. I just assumed the default was "yes." So…Dr. Jay Colker, SVP & CLO at ShoreBank Corp. and I met up on a break and I had an interesting conversation about working in the cloud, crowdsourcing, and other things and I shared with him my original plan of doing the cloud prez in the cloud. He tried to make the Internet thing happen but it wasn’t to be. I’m 99% sure I was the most high-maintenance presenter there. So, I arrived with Plan A, fell back to Plan B, returned to Plan A (based on "let’s try" discussions) and ultimately back to Plan B. Plan B+: original slides, video, Twitter on my mobile, and screen shots. My talk, the last of the day on Tuesday, was about cloud computing (hence my desire to deliver it in the cloud). I’ve uploaded my slides to SlideShare. It’s missing the ‘slideography’ which is a bit sloppy on my part. Once I add that, I’ll free it up for download. Couple of takeaway’s for me… SharePoint is more commonly used than I thought. The gap in knowledge between traditional delivery of eLearning and self-service eLearning through the social web is ginormous… …however, there is tremendous interest in moving beyond a content- and infrastructure-centered approach to a socially-centered approach. The topic generated excitement. Gangsta hats make people wacky. Learning executives are taller than average L&D types (random observation). There’s a need for some PowerPoint best practices. I need to find a way to do more to address the knowledge gap. There is a "one-way" mentality with a lot of the newer social tools and technologies. I find myself switching things up constantly. That was never the case in the corporate environments. I think that prevails today. Some of my friends on Twitter came through for an impromptu flash conversation on the topic of cloud computing during the presentation. I gave my BlackBerry to the person lucky enough to be in the front row and he was kind enough to read off responses. It was described as provocative. Of course, I was unable to respond to anyone since I didn’t have my device so it must’ve appeared rude to my friends. That’s how friends are on Twitter though…forgiving of longer than normal absences and sudden requests for "say hi" type stuff. All speakers were good and I particularly liked what Donald O’Guin, Director, e-Learning and Learning Technologies at Pfizer, Inc. shared. Pfizer has opened various apps up to employees and they seem to understand the power of the social web. I also enjoyed Nancy Lewis’ (former CLO & VP at ITT and former VP, Learning, IBM) talk about the future of learning and next generation tactics. Another person who gets it! All my prior communications with Nancy have been on the web so it was especially nice to meet her and see her friendly face up front during my own presentation. That helped (thanks Nancy). Karie Willyerd, former VP, CLO at Sun Microsystems was also fabulous. Her talk was "Social Learning Innovation: A View to the Future." She recently wrote a book with Jeanne Meister about the 2020 workforce. Lots of data and discussion. A meaningful conference rich in networking. J Clarey Cloud Computing View more presentations from Janet Clarey.

in·ten·tion, n. Pronunciation: \in-ˈten(t)-shən\ 1 : a determination to act in a certain way : resolve 2 : import, significance 3 : what one intends to do or bring about I’m just back from the 2010 Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD) Conference in Sydney. And if I could put one word on the message there it was intention. I have to say the organizers of the conference were among the most gracious I’ve come across. I have only good memories of the week I’ve spent in Australia (thanks, Paul Dumble & company, if you’re reading this!). I facilitated a pre-conference workshop on social media and learning. We collectively created a wiki, explored blogging, Twitter, social networks, etc. I never know how these learn "how-to" while emulating "how-to" will work out. This one worked well. Although most of the participants weren’t heavy social web users (mostly personal use) they had no difficulties with creating wiki pages and stuff. I think it worked well because there was only 1-2 computers per table of 4-5 people. Collective research was easier this way than with everyone using their own laptop. I would do that again. I even had an impromptu Skype visit first with Gary Woodill and then later, with Jay Cross. (It was 9 pm in California, where Jay lives, and midnight where Gary lives, in Canada.) They are two people who walk the talk. All it took was a "are you around?" Skype message. There were others too who answered my request for help via Twitter. That’s how it works. Ask and the community steps up. Every. Single. Time. It was great meeting up with Anne Bartlett-Bragg at a social media club event pre-conference and then hanging out and attending her brilliant conference session. There were literally a handful of people Tweeting at the conference - Michael Eury (@stickylearning), Anne Bartlett-Bragg (@AnneBB), Iggy Pintado (@iggypintado), Marc Ratcliffe (@MRWED_CEO), Janelle Amet @janelle_amet, Tony Hollingsworth (@hollingsworth), and Annalie Killian (@maverickwoman). And oddly enough, I had never met Allison Rossett (it took a trip to another continent to meet her). She’s cool. Funny. Authentic. Brilliant. I like that she focuses on reality - what is really happening. I think Allison’s presentation and mine complimented each other in that regard. Titled E-Learning 2010, mine contained examples of e-learning courses along with a demonstration of a "2.0″ environment at the end. What is…what could be. Allison’s was titled E-Learning is What? and contained a lot of the research around what is really happening - now- in e-learning. There continues to be little adoption of new methods. See What’s Old Is New Again in ASTD for more on that. Excerpt: Opportunities are being left on the table. Today, there is little evidence of collaborative and user-centered approaches in corporate and government settings, though there are suggestions of influence to come in the future. It is the same for mobile devices, ranked last in reported current practice, and jumping closer to the top of the list as practitioners look forward. The virtual classroom and blended learning were also less prevalent in reported practice than anticipated. Old favorites dominated in our study. E-learning today appears to be mostly about delivering assessments and designs, testing, personalization, scenarios, and tutorials. All these are familiar, and they all have deep roots in the training and development community. Should we lament that the habits identified in this study are not much different in 2009 than they were in 1989 (although, of course, enabled by technology)? Is this good news or bad? And most important, what do you intend to do about it? An underlying theme throughout the conference was on this idea of intention. I left wondering if we are, as an industry, (1) driving nails in our own coffins or (2) on the verge of something great. I guess it comes down to (as Allison notes) intentions. Anyway, there were many opportunities to spread the collective learning / 2.0 / social media [whatever] message. I had great fun and made many new connections (including a cute and cuddly Koala). I also have a strong urge to go to New Zealand…and it’s all the kiwi contingents fault!

I brought three books with me for my flights to Atlanta and then to Australia. The first one I read was "Self-Promotion for Introverts." I flipped the book over whenever I set it down (including when it sat on the front seat of my rental car) because I really dislike the "self-promotion" in the title and didn’t want anyone to see it. If I saw someone with it I’d look to see if they really had an L on their forehead - you know as in ‘LOSER.’ The presentation section I read in great detail and I think it was one of two reasons my talk went well. I made more eye contact. I loosened up by silencing the "you suck" backchannel in my brain. And I did that with music and dance. Seriously. Music always has a profound effect on my mood and when possible, I try to listen to something I like prior to speaking. My choices are usually rock/hard rock. Probably not the best choice for me because I don’t need to get going, I need to chillax (chill out + relax = chillax). That genre isn’t really conducive to dance unless head-banging is dance to you. I’ve tried self-talk before. You know, like Alec Baldwin’s character Jack Donaghy psych-up speech on the TV show 30 Rock. (Just do it. Is it in you? I’m lovin it.) Humor helps sometimes. Not always. Normally I act more like the Tina Fey character in this snippet. (Note: the following videos in this post are not safe for work if you work at a lame company) Anyway, this time, I did something different with music and I have my lovely daughter to thank (her playlist on my iPod is literally "my lovely daughter." She must have known that would draw a smile). The iPod often appears in the bathroom so one day I decided to turn it on while I showered. My daughter’s favorite genres are quite different than my own. I picked one of her short playlists. Empire State of Mind and Watcha Say really made me feel good and I found myself dancing in the shower (apologies for THAT visual). Anyway, I played Empire State of Mind prior to my presentation and just wanted to get up on that stage and grind it out. Who knew? The words don’t mean much to me (the JayZ part anyway is rap w/ ‘n’ bombs and stuff) but it did the trick. Perhaps a fluke, but I think it also brought out my real voice and not the voice I think I should project when presenting. In my mind the delivery for a presentation for CLOs would be very corporate, tight-lipped, ultra professional and laced with buzz words. That’s not me. I kind of think I look like that Michael Bolton character on Office Space when he’s rapping. Embarrassing. Oddly, not so with Slipknot in the minivan which is actually more lame. It’s messed up. So, the attendees - mostly CLOs - seemed cool with stories about my kids, my use of PG-13 profanity, humor, etc. So they seemed to like my style but better yet, I was OK with my style and I actually felt comfortable on stage. Hope it’s not a fluke (says the self-talk). Try NOT to dance in the shower with this one…I can’t.

Update: A few days after this post was published, Jessica Peter was removed from Facebook. I also updated this post to omit the individual company names. Dear Jessica- I noticed you have 887 friends on Facebook and that we have 117 friends in common. I probably accepted your friendship for that very reason because I know we’ve never met face-to-face. I noticed you’re 24 years old and graduated from a high school with the same name as my high school in ’00. That would have made you 14 years old. Congrats on being a whiz kid. I noticed we also graduated from the same college in 2006 (congrats again for being a whiz kid). Your bio looked real familiar to me: …Now work virtually from my home office. I blog professionally about the social web, research and write about learning technologies, present, teach, and (sometimes) attend graduate school. (Oh snap! It’s mine. Verbatim. From Facebook.) I’m flattered you’d find it good enough to lift but please get your own life. Mine’s not incredibly exciting and with your beautiful photo (you could be a stock photo!), I’m sure your life is rich in experiences. I noticed you’re a Sales Manager at [name omitted] eLearning Solution (note: you’re missing the ‘s’, it’s actually [name omitted] eLearning Solutions). This would have been another reason I may have accepted your friend request. Wow! I just noticed you gain about 25 friends a day ( I read that’s the max allowed on Facebook). Anyway, I wanted to contact you so went to your contact information: [Name omitted] eLearning Solutions (administrator for Facebook group.) A total of six medical transcription companies A "Green" Google custom search engine Speech recognition training for lawyers (You must be moonlighting as a transcriptionist. Those college loans can be a bitch, I know.) I noticed that you do little more on your profile than post marketing messages, "friend" people and accept birthday wishes . Happy 23rd! Because you don’t respond to things like "Thanks for connecting. Delighted to see so many mutual friends" (from a mutual friend), I’m afraid I’ll have to remove you from my friends. I’m here for conversations not marketing messages. I noticed your Twitter handle no longer exists. That saves me the time of removing you from my followers as well. I noticed today you posted something about medical transcription and that’s totally fine but again, I’m not interested in marketing messages and don’t have a need for transcription services. Thanks though, for that post because that’s what made me check out your profile. I’ve sent you a message about the bio thing and asked empower to contact me. Nothing yet. Anxiously awaiting to hear from you. Best of luck in your future endeavors- Janet