The Pitfalls of Sharing Content Publicly

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Sharing content shares the love! But there are some pitfalls. This is how Popplet manages inappropriate content in our public boards…

Part of the amazing growth of Popplet that we didn’t quite predict is how well our visual thinking app can be used by learners of any age. Popplet has been designed with a minimal aesthetic in order to help you to keep the focus on your ideas and information. While other mind map and content collation apps offer you more bells and whistles, our minimal interface gives you a toolset that can get you started straight away. We let you focus on connecting ideas and organizing concepts rather than wasting several hours picking a font or choosing which type of end arrowhead to use (yes, we know what that’s like too!).

This design approach has meant that Popplet is accessible to anyone in any language, which has lead to a globalization of Popplet. The second impact our design style has had is the one we didn’t expect in such large numbers: that Popplet would be loved and used by learners, hobbyists and professionals of all ages. Alongside our many creative professionals and businesses using Popplet, we have also grown a large primary (elementary) school contingent of Popplet users. We are proud that Popplet has become a central resource, for example, amongst kinderchat classrooms around the globe.

With the launch of our new Public Popplets, it is exciting to see more examples of how Popplet is being used by all ages, but with this comes the responsibility to make sure that the content that is shared is age-appropriate to potential readers.

sharing content 2

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Find the A-Ha Moment! Genius Hour with Popplet

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Popplet is playing a central role in the new global productivity movement, “Genius Hour”.

Coined by a credit union manager Jen Shefner, and popularized by productivity guru Dan Pink, Genius Hour is about freeing up a regularly scheduled block of time each week for students, employees, entrepreneurs and creative professionals to follow their own interests, ideas and creative pursuits.

Dan Pink – author of provocative business books like Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future – blogged about Genius Hour back in 2011, and his readers have taken to the idea across all industry sectors and professional roles.

Why Businesses Need a Genius Hour

In the business world, it is easy to get focused on reducing the costs of production while generating the profits of consumption but eventually, this can lead to a narrow-minded market position that depends on the same operational process all the time. Meanwhile, what people want from businesses changes, the technologies available change, and our social values mature. Over time, the business model becomes outdated and no longer matches what people want or need.

Giving space to workers to pursue their own line of enquiry, develop new ideas, and extend their skills is being recognized as an investment by businesses not normally attuned to encouraging an entrepreneurial flair and creative spirit amongst their staff. While innovative companies may be dedicating much more time to this spirit of enquiry, even the more conservative industries are beginning to recognize the value of a Genius Hour for their workforce. Continue reading →

A Day In The Life of Popplet

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We’re always proud to see new user-generated content about Popplet. Around the world, it is exciting to see how students, creatives, businesses and community leaders are all using Popplet to share ideas and connect with others.

Let’s look at just one day’s worth of user-generated activity: 23 April, 2013. Just an ordinary day? Not amongst the Popplet community! Let’s take a look at all that happened last Tuesday in the world of Popplet… Continue reading →

Popping Around the World! The Globalization of Popplet

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We at Popplet central have been excited to see the growth of Popplet around the world, as more creatives, educators, business users and students discover our online and iPad/iPhone/iPod app.

In the past month, Popplet has been used in 164 countries around the globe! Here’s a look at where people are using Popplet right now:

globalization

You can get an even greater sense of the diverse ways Popplet is used around the world by having a look at our Public Popplets.

As Poppleteer Matt M points out, the world is becoming smaller, more interconnected, and more affected by international actions and influences. This globalization can be a creative and liberating force, as well as a destructive one.

Matt describes different types of globalization. Let’s look at how these types of globalization are reflected in the ways people use Popplet around the world. Continue reading →

5 Ways To Use The New Public Popplets Feature

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Popplet users (Poppleteers?) have been quick to start using our new public popplets feature. As we detailed in our tutorial previously, this feature lets you share your Popplet creations with the world.

Now you can control three levels of access to your popplets:

  • Private – this level of access is for your eyes only. All popplets start as private creations
  • Shared with collaborators – you can make a popplet public, which means anyone with the URL can see the popplet, and you can give permission to your friends and colleagues to edit or add to the popplet as collaborators
  • Public – this will add your Popplet to our public popplets board and let anyone see your Popplet (they cannot edit it however). Your public popplets can be ranked by popularity so you can see how often others are checking out your creations!

So now that you can add your Popplets to a public library, how can you make use of this? Here are 5 initial ways you can use the new Public Popplets feature: Continue reading →

Hungry For Action: 6 Food Security Popplets

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We are delighted to see Popplet used by businesses, planners, food growers, community advocates, and educators: all keen to increase awareness and action to improve food security in their local communities and around the globe.

Food security and food sustainability are crucial issues facing all of us on both the local and global scale.

Food security is the term often used to recognize everyone’s right to enough healthy, affordable food to live properly.

Many believe that this will only be possible if we focus on food sustainability: the capacity of our food systems to produce enough healthy food with a low energy and fuel footprint, and where waste is minimized.

Here are six ways Popplet users are making sure more people can get access to healthy food for daily living. Continue reading →

Organizing Information With Popplet: Color Coding

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Popplet can help you with organizing information. Our web, iPad and iPhone/iPod app helps you think visually and to see new connections between ideas and concepts.

Color coding your popples (the individual idea and content balloons inside a Popplet board) can be a great way to add another concept level to your idea-gathering and is an excellent technique for organizing and remembering information. You can also hint at a central theme for your work just by choosing the right background color for your overall Popplet! Continue reading →

Mom Bloggers Use Popplet! Maria Talks Language Games With Kids

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Mom bloggers using Popplet get double the opportunities to use our visual thinking and idea management app. At home, Popplet can be used by families as part of language games with kids, while at the home office desk, Popplet can help organize blog ideas and manage content plans.

Danish mom bloggers Maria Grundtvig

Maria Grundtvig

Maria Grundtvig is one of our many international Popplet users. Her blog “My cousin Maria” – in Danish, Min Kusine Maria – shares her skills and knowledge as both a mom and as a trained speech and language pathologist.

For mom bloggers around the world just starting out, Maria shares her experiences in our Popplet People interview. She talks about using Popplet in language games with kids, organizing her blog ideas with Popplet and building an international blog audience. Continue reading →