Welcome to the Father’s Day edition of the Tip Jar, which is dedicated to all you fathers out there, and especially my own daddy (who is off camping in Glacier National Park) and my kids’ daddy (who spent the day getting showered with homemade gifts, cards and “special recipes”).
- Though at this point it’s too late for this Father’s Day, Joe at Selfish Giving highlighted what I think is a brilliant product — the DadGear Diaper Vest. Dads of babies certainly don’t want to be seen lugging around a purse-like diaper bag. The diaper vest is essentially a wearable diaper bag, with three pockets for wipes, bottles and diapers, a hidden pocket on the back that holds a changing pad, and smaller pockets for things like phones or keys. If this were out when my kids were babies, I would have snapped it up — know any new parents you have to buy a gift for?
- The World Bank has created the BuzzMonitor, “an open source application that “listens” to what people are saying about the World Bank across blogs and other sites in order to help the organization understand and engage in social media.” It aggregates content across different languages and platforms and make it easier to make sense of the information. You can download it to use for your organization as well.
- If you want to learn more about teens’ and/or tweens’ use of technology, or are just interested in seeing how an online focus group works, sign up for the online research webinars from C&R Research’s TeensEyes division (tweens – 6/27, teens – 6/28). This live interactive query research will have a trained youth researcher moderating each session with a panel of tween or teen consumers who will be talking about the technology they’re using, where they go online and what they do there. A great opportunity to be a fly on the wall.
- A study recently published in JAMA shows the counterintuitive results that physicians trying to help patients change more than one behavioral risk factor may be more successful if they address changing several behaviors at once, rather than doing them sequentially. It seems like it would be overwhelming to have to make so many changes at once, but perhaps with more than one message the chances of at least one sticking are increased.
- We knew that the Los Angeles Fire Department was technologically advanced, but now it seems the the LA Police Department is trying to catch up. The LAPD will be installing a system to accept video, photos and SMS messages sent from 911 callers’ cellphones into the 2 million calls now handled by the emergency dispatchers. Hopefully idiots won’t turn it into a nonstop lolcats photo stream (Im in ur dispatch sistem, cloggn ur lines).
- Are there some risks we shouldn’t try to prevent? The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the UK says that the normal bumps and bruises of childhood provide kids with lifelong lessons that will help them avoid more serious injuries later in life. By letting children play outside and take reasonable risks, they will learn their own limits and develop their own risk assessment skills. This common sense advice reminds me of the best book on parenting I’ve ever read – Wendy Mogel’s The Blessing of a Skinned Knee.
And with that recommendation (and a reminder to myself that I need to reread that book), our Father’s Day feature comes to an end.
Photo Credit: NoNo Joe
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
Nice day for a amiable fathers.Celebrate with amicable.