YouTube Gives it New College Try

UCTV Launches YouTube’s First University-Run Original Channel

While YouTube’s high profile production partnerships with brands and public figures like Madonna, The Wall Street Journal and Jay-Z garnered much of the attention, the University of California was quietly making history as the first and only university to be included among YouTube’s coveted original channel deals.

YouTube announced its plans to fund the creation of original programming last October, and the world moved one more step away from traditional television. The Internet’s largest video sharing site certainly isn’t the first online platform aimed at converting consumers from cable and satellite to web-delivered video content—companies like Hulu and Netflix have been courting early adapters for several years—but with the backing of its behemoth parent company, Google, and reportedly hundreds of millions of dollars to invest, YouTube’s venture is certainly the most attention-grabbing.

On March 1, University of California Television (UCTV), based at UC San Diego Extension, launched UCTV Prime (youtube.com/uctvprime), a YouTube channel featuring 15 minutes of fresh content each week from throughout the University of California.

UCTV Prime is one of approximately 100 advertising-supported original channels on the YouTube platform created specifically for today’s connected viewers around the world. UCTV’s history with YouTube goes back to 2006 when it became a channel partner with Google Video, which was eventually replaced when Google acquired YouTube. Since then, UCTV has become one of YouTube’s most popular education channels, with more than 50,000 subscribers and over 4,800 videos. When it came time to tap new educational partners for their original channels initiative, it only made sense for YouTube to invite UCTV to pitch a channel concept, which they did in summer 2011, eventually inking a deal in early 2012.

“With technology and viewer habits changing so fast, the whole nature of ‘television’ is evolving,” said Lynn Burnstan, UCTV’s director. “We’re thrilled and honored to take part in YouTube’s ambitious effort to shape the future of the medium. Since UCTV’s beginning twelve years ago, we have continually developed new and innovative uses of television and, today, the future is more exciting than ever.”

UCTV Prime’s programming draws on the tremendous knowledge resources available on the ten University of California campuses, five medical schools, three national labs and other affiliated institutions, anchored by a collection of in-depth, 10-minute documentary mini-series.

The channel debuted March 1 with “Naked Art,” a four-part mini-series exploring the preeminent public art collections located at UC San Diego, UCLA and UC San Francisco. Then, on April 6, UCTV Prime debuts “The Skinny on Obesity,” a three-part series examining the obesity epidemic and how UCSF researchers like Dr. Robert Lustig, whose 2009 UCTV video, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” has become a YouTube hit with over two million views, are working to combat it.

The channel also features “UCTV Prime: Vote,” a recurring, 5-minute segment offering election analysis and commentary by UC faculty and experts, including UC San Diego’s Peter Gourevitch on who’s driving the debate between austerity and spending, UC Merced’s Jessica Trounstine on factors that decrease incumbents’ responsiveness to voters, and UC Davis’ Giovanni Peri on the economic impact of immigration.

“UCTV Prime: Cuts,” a 5-minute recurring series reporting on research developments, entertaining events and interesting personalities on the campuses and beyond, is also a regular channel feature. Its debut episode looked at innovative canine cancer research and treatment taking place at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and how it translates into cancer care for humans.

YouTube users are encouraged to subscribe to UCTV Prime at youtube.com/uctvprime to keep up on the latest programs and browse related playlists populated by content from UCTV’s robust YouTube channel (youtube.com/uctv) and other UC YouTube channels. The UCTV Prime website, uctv.tv/prime, complements the channel with direct viewer engagement through related blog posts, viewer polls and other interactive features.

In addition to the YouTube deal, UCTV has a continued presence on television and the web, and is expanding to even more outlets such as Roku, a low-cost device that allows users to stream web video to their television, and, coming this spring, a new iPhone app. For a complete list of UCTV’s outlets, visit uctv.tv/wheretowatch.

Putting Servant Leadership to the Test

By Henry DeVries

When Ken Blanchard was a novice college professor back in the 1960s, he irked other faculty members because he distributed the final exam to students on the first day of class.

“Not only am I going to give them the questions to the final, what do you think I’m going to do all semester?,” said Blanchard to his collegiate colleagues. “I’m going to teach them the answers so when they get to the final exam, they get As.”

Today Blanchard is helping San Diegans ace a different kind of test: the success of the region’s future.

Blanchard, a champion of lifelong learning, is perhaps best known as the co-author of The One-Minute Manager, a book that swept the business world three decades ago and since has sold 13 million copies in 27 languages.

Others know him for any of the 50 other books he has co-authored, many on management and leadership. Still others recognize him as the founder of the Escondido company that bears his name, an international training firm of 300 plus employees that helps companies improve their performance, productivity, and bottom-line results. The Ken Blanchard Companies is a global leader in workplace learning, productivity, performance, and leadership training solutions.

Blanchard, now in his seventies, no longer has an operational role in the company he founded (“I’m the CSO—the chief spiritual officer,” he says). Yet he continues to be what he has always been: a thinker, a motivator, and someone who strives to help better the world around him.

Among management concepts this entrepreneur embraces is one called servant leadership, something he has (you guessed it) written an entire book about.

“The servant leader is constantly trying to find out what his or her people need to be successful,” says Blanchard. “The role of the servant leader is to do anything that is necessary to help his or her people win and accomplish their goals.”

Find out what people need and want, then lead toward that goal.

“My dream is that in five years people will be flying into San Diego not just for the wonderful vacation destination or the fabulous weather—but to see how government, business, faith communities, and non-profits are all working together to solve problems,” he says.

Blanchard is chairman of Vision San Diego, a non-profit, public charity, that seeks to unify the San Diego region to serve the public good.

According to the group’s website visionsandiego.org, Vision San Diego is a neutral convener that seeks to bring people together that care about the same thing. The organization believes that government will never have a budget large enough to solve all the problems by itself. The role of Vision San Diego is to mobilize people of good faith and goodwill to be part of the solution.

The first step is to get the community engaged in meaningful conversations about the challenges facing the region.

Blanchard and Vision San Diego support the efforts of the San Diego Foundation, which is engaged in a program to determine the kind of region residents want in 50 to 100 years and how to bring it about. The first step was to identify four or five major urban challenges presumably foremost on the minds of citizens.

That was followed by an online survey seeking confirmation and asking their preferred solutions. The response was astounding, with more than 30,000 completed surveys.

Underway is a separate survey of a scientific sample of 1,037 people to gauge whether the broader poll was skewed. Next will come a formal initiative to help implement the people’s choices on the best balance of freeways and public transportation, urban core density versus expanded suburbia, and so on.

The goal is a better San Diego, as defined first by the people, and carried out with their support by civic leaders. Servant leadership? Indeed.

“Often when people work on a problem they have a kind of closed-loop approach,” says Blanchard. “Before you work on this problem, do you believe like I believe? Are you a Republican or a Democrat or a Jew or a Protestant? What it tells us is that it keeps people out and the circle keeps getting smaller: A better approach is “Do you care about what I care about, solving this problem? If you are interested in what I am interested in, then we can work together.”

Henry DeVries is co-author of Closing America’s Job Gap and assistant dean for external affairs at UC San Diego Extension.

Live Webcast for Dalai Lama

By Henry DeVries

The countdown for the historic visit for the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, has begun. Those fortunate enough to have a ticket should arrive early because there will be a great deal of security. Those not lucky enough to get a ticket will be able to view a live webcast.

The Dalai Lama will take part in a panel discussion on “The Global Impact of Climate Change: Balance through Universal Responsibility, Compassion and Human Consciousness” at 9:30 am at RIMAC Arena. A live webcast will be available at http://uctv.tv on the day of the event at 9:30 am. For those attending, doors shut at 9 am and no one will be admitted after that time. In addition, no backpacks or large bags will be permitted.

There is another chance to view the Dalai Lama on April 18. He will give a public talk at 1:30 pm entitled “Cultivating Peace and Justice” at the University of San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion. A live webcast will be available at www.sandiego.edu/dalailama/media on the day of the event.

Tickets for three speaking engagements — at UC San Diego and the University of San Diego on April 18 and at San Diego State University on April 19 — sold out well in advance. Tickets for the Dalai Lama’s symposium at RIMAC Arena sold out in an hour. Some 12,000 tickets for his appearance at SDSU’s Viejas Arena sold out within two hours.

Of the 4,200 available seats available at RIMAC, the event organizers at UC San Diego Extension found underwriters to give about 1,000 tickets away to students, faculty and the university supporters in the community. Another 1,500 were sold to students for $10 each and the remaining tickets were sold to the general public for $25 apiece.

The spiritual leaders’ representatives have visited the campus several times in anticipation of his visit for logistical reasons.

The Dalai Lama will receive no money or honorarium for his engagements, only some free tickets for local friends and followers. A modest entourage of about 15 monks and support staff will accompany him.

The visit was on the condition that no aspect of the Dalai Lama’s visit may be used to raise funds for any person, and no one shall profit from his visit. Funds raised through sponsorships and tickets sales will be used only to cover expenses for the events. Any surplus funds related to the Dalai Lama’s visit will be disbursed to charitable organizations under the direction of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama (age 61) is the 14th spiritual leader of Tibet. He is believed to be the latest reincarnation of a series of spiritual leaders who chose to be reborn to enlighten others. Born in northeastern Tibet, he was discovered by monks at age 2 and tested to see if he possessed physical traits such as moles and long ears characteristic of the 13th Dalai Lama. Passing muster, he was renamed Tenzin Gyatso and took the throne at age 4. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to establish a peaceful resolution to help liberate Tibet from Chinese rule.

More information is available at www.dalailamasandiego.org.

Best-Selling Author T.R. Reid to Speak on Better, Cheaper, Fairer Healthcare

New York Times best-selling author T.R. Reid, a correspondent and reporter with NPR and PBS, will present a seminar based on his book, “The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care,” at 5 pm Monday, April 30, 2012 at AMN Healthcare, 12400 High Bluff Drive in San Diego. The cost to attend is $25 before April 23 and $30 after that date.

T.R. Reid circled the globe (twice) to discover how the other free-market industrialized democracies provide health care of high quality for everybody, and that they spend far less on health care than the United States. The results led to the national best-seller and two documentaries for PBS Frontline.

Space is limited and reservations for the three-hour session are required by calling UC San Diego Extension at 858-534-9999 and referencing the TR Reid Healthcare Seminar and Section ID 090148.

Reid found out there were other options besides “socialized medicine” out there: many countries cover everybody with private doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. Japan, for example, has more for-profit hospitals and more private health insurance companies than the U.S., and has better health outcomes at less than half the cost.

The lecture is presented by the UC San Diego Master’s of Advanced Studies in Leadership of Healthcare Organizations, the UC San Diego Master’s of Advanced Studies in Health Law, and UC San Diego Extension.

Creating Good Design in the Blog World

By Tristan Loper

Graphic designers and artists are fueled by a fundamental drive to express their thoughts, ideas, and vision. Writers, for their part, write for many of the same reasons.  Although writers and artists have flirted with each other’s callings for centuries, it wasn’t until the age of communication, facilitated by the Internet, that vast, prolific, and numerous forums about design really came into their own.

Today, thousands of artists, designers, and writers run their own design blogs. They share tips like “Top Nondestructive Photoshop Techniques,” ideas, document and set trends, sell products, and show us all kinds of eye candy (like the following video entitled Rear Window Timelapse from Jeff Desom via Vimeo).

Holiday Matinee is one such blog. With writers in in San Diego, San Francisco and New York, Holiday Matinee is dedicated to “creative inspiration,” and professes to be “all about spreading positive vibes to the masses and connecting with anyone who’s committed to making this world more awesome.” Sometimes it’s a simple as that.

Blogs like Holiday Matinee work well as “media curators” – people who sift through and share interesting things online – which is especially helpful in a world that can often feel oversaturated. Recently, I interviewed Holiday Matinee contributor Catrina Dulay about this very subject. We covered everything from what makes great design, and how to run a successful blog, to a subject that preoccupies much of the Internet: cats.

Tristan Loper: How did you get into design?

Catrina Dulay: Much of my appreciation for design comes from my early interest in art. Ever since I was a child, I knew that I wanted to do something creative. I didn’t know exactly what it was going to be, but I was certain that it had to be visual because I loved creating things and living out of my imagination.

When I discovered graphic design, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted to do something serious with it, so I worked on it continuously throughout middle school and high school until I eventually studied it in design school. I love it more today than I did when I started doing it, but probably not as much as I love cats.

TL: Fortunately the digital age has been good to graphic design and cats. How did you get into blogging?

CD: I got into blogging when I was in middle school, but it was really embarrassing, juvenile personal blogging. Nowadays, I just blog about things that I enjoy and things that actually matter to me. It is less painful to read (for me and the reader).

TL: What do you look for in great design?

CD: Going with Holiday Matinee’s motto, “Love your work, work your love,” I look for evidence that the designer has put love into it. I like it when I can look at a design and see how much love was put into it based on the attention to detail and how well it performs its job.

TL: Who are your favorite designers/artists?

CD: My favorite designers are Ji Lee and Paula Scher. Ji Lee has done great independent projects and editorial design, and I love Paula Scher’s environmental graphic work. My favorite artists are Gustav Klimt, Bernardo Bellotto, and Dave Gibbons. Klimt’s Byzantine-inspired work is my all-time favorite, Bellotto’s realistic treatment of urban landscapes is amazing, and Gibbons is my all-time favorite comic book artist.

TL: Blogging is often about spreading the word about what you like, from design to art, to music, food, and more. What would you say are the keys to creating a successful design blog?

CD: I think it’s not just about what material you post, but how you present it. On Holiday Matinee, we write about the things that we really enjoy, and we use language that we’d use if we were talking to our friends. It’s so much more natural to communicate our excitement about something without sounding like we’re reciting a math word problem.

TL: Once success has been achieved, how does one stay successful?

CD: In design, having a healthy interest in things beyond design is really important because narrowing your focus is never inspiring. Second, it helps to avoid putting on a protective shell to hide your deficiencies. If you can’t deal with your deficiencies properly, you’re going to have a very difficult time improving upon them. Third, be a sponge! Absorb things! Absorb things you wouldn’t be traditionally into! That’s how you make discoveries that can be used as research and inspiration. From personal experience, even the most unlikely bits of inspiration can be practical.

TL: On the website, Holiday Matinee founder Dave Brown lists “People who care about good design and social responsibility” as the #1 most important thing to him. Obviously, Holiday Matinee is all about good design. How does social responsibility tie in?

CD: Good design promotes social good by putting adding creative flair to small causes that need the attention. I think that’s why it’s important for design to be good in the first place. If good design isn’t there, it’s not design at all. It turns into visual stuff that doesn’t communicate anything. I think it’s important to remember that good design should keep people in mind and when you’re using it to promote a good cause, and it’s extra important to make sure that the message is very clear, exciting, and creative.

TL: What are some of your favorite blogs and what about them appeals to you as a consumer and a designer?

CD: Two of my most favorite blogs are Nicholas Bate’s advice blog and The Strange Attractor. What I like most about Nicholas Bate is that he writes in a seemingly haphazard way (sometimes he even writes on paper, scans it, and posts it as an entry). It’s almost as if he thinks about something on the spot and publishes it immediately, even if it’s just two sentences or a few effective words about idea making, work habits, and accomplishing things. He doesn’t think twice about it! He just writes.

The Strange Attractor is a design blog I’ve been following for a while, and one of the things I’ve noticed about it is that I consistently see content that I’ve never seen re-blogged or re-posted anywhere else. It’s very refreshing, and for that reason, I’m always looking forward to what the blog contributors post every day. Other informative blogs I enjoy are The Simple Dollar (a money advice blog) and Unclutterer (an organization and cleanliness blog). The Simple Dollar is neat to follow because I’m always trying to find ways to save money, which is very important for someone who is always tempted by nice products that are posted on blogs all over the place. I love Unclutterer because it helps me improve the way I get things done every day.

TL: What advice would you give to new bloggers?

CD: Don’t talk about yourself too much, keep it simple, and write about things that matter to you.

UC San Diego Extension offers classes in graphic design, web design, and blogging, so you can start taking Catrina’s advice to heart right away. Spring 2012 classes are open now, and include a range of courses including WordPress I, Adobe Dreamweaver I, Web Design: XHTML & CSS for Designers, Digital Media, Adobe Photoshop I and more. Get a solid, working knowledge of essential design skills while you learn the top software for developing attractive, well-functioning web sites and blogs.