I love travelling; the culture in Barcelona fits the air in Barcelona. It’s warm and sunny; we enjoy leisurely lunches and afternoon naps. It stays light late, and we have late dinners drifting into the early morning. My cousin’s children come home from school for a 2.5hr lunch break, then return to school for an hour and a half.

I’ve never been to Ireland. I can’t wait to see what it’s like – it will be my 24th country. So far I’ve lived in/visited (in order):

1. United States
2. Canada
3. France
4. Israel
5. Netherlands
6. Belgium
7. Spain
8. England
9. Switzerland
10. Germany
11. Sweeden
12. Italy
13. Austria
14. Czech Republic
15. Scotland
16. New Zealand
17. Iceland
18. Bermuda
19. Portugal
20. Morocco
21. Ghana
22. Peru
23. Japan

All I Expected… And More

Just out of college, I moved to Picardie, France, to accept a teaching job as an English teacher in a French public school. I loved my students. I loved teaching. I hated being a teacher.

I hated watching my excited 11yr olds learn from the jaded 14yr olds to distrust teachers and dislike learning. I hated watching them grow up into these unhappy young adults, wishing they could be anywhere other than my classroom. Even those that loved me were unhappy being stuck in an ugly grey building, where other teachers came in to lecture me if my class was “too loud.” (This effectively ruined any games I tried to get started in class.)

Not a Teacher, a Coach!

NuVu gave me the opportunity to be a coach instead of a teacher, and the last two weeks have felt like a second chance for me. Instead of 11-14yr olds (as I taught in France) I was coaching 15-17yr olds. And yet, these high school students had an excitement equal to the 11yr olds who once ran up to hug me daily.

They weren’t jaded. They were happy to be there. Everything about the NuVu Studio space helped support their work and gave them a sense of purpose. Everything I wanted to teach them had application in the real world, and they often figured that out without any help from me.

I can’t say enough good things about NuVu Studios. An amazing experience, and one I hope to repeat.

Last week we spent two days doing paperwork: user flows, visual asset lists, game logic. Wednesday I introduced them to the programs we’re using: Balsamiq for UI, Game Maker for the action-heavy games, and Animation-ish for basic animations. Thursday was their first experience with usability testing – and it was a rough entry for them. But they bore up well, and spent Friday finessing. (We also spent awhile playing other games, from online Monopoly to Farmville. Y’know, as research!)

It hadn’t occurred to me just how demoralizing usability testing can be to a brand new designer. The students keep a blog, and they all said the same things. To paraphrase: “we learned a lot, but restraining ourselves from telling testers how to play the game was hard!” and “everyone was confused. We have to redo everything.”

I’m hoping to get their spirits back up this week – I’m so incredibly proud of them. I hope they’ll feel as proud of themselves as I am.

I particularly love the fluff I put at the top.

Having accumulated perhaps 6,000 hours of cello practice over the past twenty years I concur: I need at least another 4,000 hours (and likely more) to become a master cellist. But after spending perhaps 2,000 hours as a content strategist in the past 4 years, I don’t believe the same holds true.

A few years ago Sonia Simone noted the futility of attempting to master content marketing - or any other fast-changing market skill. She’s right; by the time I spend 10,000 hours as a content strategist, the job will no longer exist in the same manner. But I have a secret.

I don’t believe I need to practice content strategy to become a master content strategist.

I have spent roughly 2,000 hours of my life actively creating content strategies, leading consulting sessions, and writing copy. But aside from that, I have spent 1,000 hours writing papers for academia, local magazines, and to express my own creativity. I spent 800 hours learning to listen to people and studying people, when I worked as a stage manager. I spent 200 hours creating videos and writing storyboards as a film production assistant. I have spent 200 hours rewriting and editing articles for bosses, coworkers, and friends (and once, an ex-boyfriend whose love letter just didn’t rhyme well enough). And I’ve spent at least 100 hours of my life arguing grammar and critiquing writing styles. Y’know, for fun.

In a fast-changing profession like UX, there is no way to spend 10,000 hours doing one specific practice. But the beauty of living in the Information Age is that diverse practical  knowledge is more valuable than specific mastery.

I am not a copywriting master. Nor am I a research master. But I am a jack of all Content Strategy trades, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I also published my thoughts on the issues content strategists are running up against, as pertain to CMS choices (or the lake thereof). The Pita Group has added their own thoughts on the subject.

Enjoy!

That’s right, we’re combining two of my favorite things: UX Design and Education. Adam White, 40 high school students, and I will be exploring tablet-based education in India and Kenya. I can’t wait to get started.

I look forward to seeing you there. Also, it’ll be my first time in San Diego. If you have suggestions for what I should do and see while I’m there, let me know!

What’s a Game Jam?

For me, Game Jam meant spending close to 48 straight hours at MIT, working with 6 incredibly talented people to create a fantastic educational game. Goomba Lab is one of the best projects I’ve ever worked on. Try it out – it’s addicting!!