Learning Steps

What are the learning steps to become a Communication Agent?

Here is a brief outline of the Communication Agents Path providing some indicative reference duration for each project phase:

1) Focus
Duration: 72 hours
Objective: Define your initial Communication Agent direction and theme.

In this first phase you define the focus of your site, and we identify the theme, title, taglines and style for it. A clear mission is set out though it will remain open for change and updating. You define your initial content categories and their descriptions as well as provide images and content for your About and Contact pages.

2) Post
Duration: 2-4 weeks
Objective: Take control of your site and start publishing content online.

Phase two launches you online with no restrictions. You can start posting articles, making links and including images and photos in your content. The moment you click “Publish”, it goes online. In this phase you familiarize yourself with the writing and posting workflow and you will get an immediate feeling of how much you will be able to be effective in the following weeks. You will learn to use all of the basic posting facilities as well as the facilities to edit, refine, add reference hyperlinks and visual spice to your articles.

3) Sync-up
Duration: 2-4 weeks
Objective: Deploy intelligent agents to search, filter, gather, and bring back to your email inbox up-to-date news and content from your personal list of resources.

You need to manage the inflow of information selectively and deploy intelligent agents to bring back customized news and content from your quality circle of preferred sources. There is information out there you will need. Find out who has it and make it arrive automatically at your "command station". Keep up with both the mainstream news media and the independent reporters and news outlets. Select your sources and have up-to-date information arrive automatically in your email.

4) Extend your reach
Duration: 2 weeks
Objective: Make the news. Submit your content and integrated news feed (something that comes with the site, called an XML/RSS feed – nothing to install) to key news and content syndicators.

This phase allows you to effectively submit your content articles and headlines to potentially hundreds of other related online Web sites. Reach out to discover yet others out there. Make your message reach even those you didn't know. Slowly work at building a resource as good or better than the mainstream ones available out there. It’s possible indeed.

5) Interconnect
Duration: 2-4 weeks
Objective: Seek and team up with like-minded individuals. Find out who else is there already in your field and LINK UP WITH THEM.

Using a number of methods and technologies including traffic monitoring, trackback, comments, blogosphere search tools and online social networks start finding other individuals on your same communication path. You start tell others more proactively what you're doing and why you are seeking teammates/partners.

6) Gear-up
Duration: 1 month
Objective: Prepare for concerted communic-action activities to be promoted online and to be supported by your selected network of CAs.

Prepare, setup, organize, plan publishing, collaborating and exchange initiatives bringing forward the best talented communicators in your pool to identify key tactics to be used in attacking the selected issue from multiple diverse points.

7) Become Sustainable
Duration: 1-3 months
Objective: Promote, design and support funding and sponsor-based initiatives that allow your supporters to give you the means to bring your campaigns to success. Learn and find out by trying out several alternative opportunities that can finance and generate income for your CA mission.

8) Graduate
Duration: 1 week
Objective: Sum up and contribute the steps taken to arrive where you are to leave a trace of best practices, tips and advise to be used by those who will follow you.
Learn and find out how to generate large donations for your campaigns and communication efforts. Design a campaign and the funding and sponsorship resources to make it sustainable.

Graduation allows the preservation of the unique know-how created by each unique would-be Communication Agent for others to tap into and learn from. This simple process of reporting, organizing and sharing is valuable for both the graduating student as well as for all other Communication Agents involved in the project. The best practices, tricks and little lessons learned during the path provide an enormous quantity of fresh valuable information that can be rapidly put to use by others.

Total duration of the learning path:
The path is projected to last 9 to 12 months, though each individual would-be Communication Agent will be able to move at hir own most comfortable pace.

*Draft*

After graduation:

Now that the network is in place, and communication is freely flowing among the small mind ecosystem you have created, a full communication attack utilizing smart mobbing, concerted blogging, rapid swarming and flocking can be brought about effectively in a very short period of time and in best cases in complete real-time.

(To be further refined and developed)