Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: StephenPSmith.com

Drew and Gavin have completed the gargantuan task of pulling together all of the submissions for The Age of Conversation 2. I am very excited to be part of this project, and I believe that it will be a great success.

The book is available as a downloadable e-book beginning October 29, at a cost of $12.50, of which $10 will be contributed to the children’s charity Variety. Beginning on the same date, orders will be taken for a limited number of printed books in hardcover ($29.95, with $6.04 to charity) and softcover ($19.95, with $8.02 donated to charity).

Buy this book!

Purchases can be made online at Lulu.com.
More information can be found at the Age of Conversation website. Please do consider purchasing this book, you can learn a lot and support a good cause.

The following is a link-rich list of all of the 237 contributors, please do take the time to visit their sites and leave a thoughtful comment.

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

I am looking forward to working on something exiting with each of the authors on this list in the future.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5uajl8. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

I hold Seth Godin in very high esteem. He writes awesome books and has a way of making you think about the things that you do everyday in a new, different way. Seth posted a quiz about Web 2.0 and knowledge worker skills that I believe everyone should take a look at:

Here’s a simple quiz:

* Can you capture something you see on your screen and paste it into Word or PowerPoint?
* Do you have a blog?
* Can you open a link you get in an email message?
* Do you read more than five blogs a day?
* Do you have a signature in your outbound email?
* Do you have an RSS reader?
* Can you generate a PDF document from a Word file you’re working on?
* Do you know how to build and share a simple spreadsheet using Google Docs?
* Do have a shortcut for sending mail to the six co-workers you usually write to?
* Are you able to find what you’re looking for on Google most of the time?
* Do you know how to download a file from the internet?
* Do you back up your work?
* Do you keep track of contacts using a digital tool?
* Do you use anti-virus software?
* Do you fall for internet hoaxes and forward stuff to friends and then regret it?
* Have you ever bought something from a piece of spam?

Can you imagine someone who works in a factory that processes metal not knowing how to use a blowtorch? How can you imagine yourself as a highly-paid knowledge worker and not know how to do these things… If you don’t, it’s not hard to find someone to teach you.

If you would like to learn any of these skills, please ask me. I would love to help you improve your Social Media Literacy.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/3vh82o. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

Here is a fun widget from Utterli, with my most recent update:

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5xnjou. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

I am considering starting a weekly conference call with anyone interested on chatting about productivity practices and principles. I am thinking that this could be fun and educational, a way for the readers to connect with each other and share their problems and their solutions.

Would you like to share?

I also think that this would make an excellent podcast - a recording of this conversation might be very helpful to those readers that can’t make the call, so I am considering recording the call and making it available here as well.

So the question is this: Would you be interested in participating in a conference call to talk about your own productivity needs, and if so, what time and day are best for you?

Lets talk about it in the comments, and if enough people are interested I will go ahead and publish the phone number, we should be able to make a go of it this week!

UPDATE: The call went very well, we had a good discussion of tools and using them to manage inputs and organize your day. Watch for a new feature and the podcast on Tuesday, 14 October.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/53x3vf. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen