Pre-Reboot Confusion
May 29, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I’m off to Reboot again tomorrow and I can’t wait. This time round I’m being a little more organised and reading up on each talk before I go. This is also necessary because there’s a much bigger line up this year. But how do you choose between great content and magnificence? Like for example, day 1, first session:
Soul – the Story we Tell of Ourselves. By Jeremy Keith:
The soul is the story we tell ourselves. In the 21st century, part of our story is told online through blog posts, Flickr, Twitter, del.icio.us and other types of publishing. Over time I am creating an online self-image. How accurate is this portrait I paint? How can I bring these fractured pieces of my online identity together? And does this online alter-ego share a part of my soul? I might not be able to answer any of these questions but let’s have some fun anyway discussing lifestreams, identity and presence in what we publish online.
Or
Humanism 101 by Adam Arvidsson
We think we’re humans and we think that’s a good thing. But what does it mean to be human in the 21st century? And what does it mean to be a humanist and to act in the name of humanity? And is that necessarily a good thing? This talk hurries thrugh the history and main interpretations of humanism questioning wether this tain of thought really is ideally suited for us today. 45 mins total!
And the pre-Reboot kick off is happening in a park. Girls what shoes do you wear to such an event? Look good but stick in the grass high heels? Or toned down not so stylish trainers? (Probably the latter – it’s not really a heels and gloss type of event.)
Day 2, speaker 1: Stowe on Flow! Can’t wait. I missed him last year and kicked myself ever since, every time I read his interesting posts on his blog.
Social Networking Around Books
May 26, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Following up on yesterday’s post, I was trying to show my Mum how interesting this whole InterWeb thingy is. I’d love her to be one of the senior bloggers, but she has flatly refused! She’s in her 70′s mind, and has only recently taken to moving towards the screen. Before she used to stand a good 5 metres away while calling out possible dates for flights, so we have come a long way.
Me: Name a subject, anything at all, and you’ll find people blogging about it.
Mum: [blank expression]
Me: What’s your most favourite thing to do?
Mum: You know that love, reading. I love to read.
Me: Right – watch this…
And off I went on a search for her favourite author’s blogs. No, didn’t find any. But I did remember this site – GoodReads - and whilst perusing the line-up at Reboot, I came across this site by John Buckman called Bookmooch.
Bookmooch is a great idea. It’s a community for exchanging used books. I read recently that numbers to the public libraries fall off during periods of economic boom because we all prefer to buy books. But haven’t we all succumbed to the 4 for 3 offers, and ended up with books on our shelves that aren’t quite classics? I have only re-read a book once in my entire life and was disappointed the second time (“The Master & The Margarita, Bulgakov). So the idea of Bookmooch is that you load up the titles of 20 books you’d like to get rid of, and other users can request them. Visit the site.
Goodreads is more social networking. You create a profile and write reviews of books you’ve read and load up what you’re currently reading. [Am I weird? I read one at a time]. It’s a great way of getting ideas of what to read next, and of course voicing your opinion. Visit the site.
I think Bookmooch is a better idea; has legs. But the design of Goodreads is more compelling. Either way, isn’t it wonderful that we’re now being offered more online than just the opportunity to buy buy buy?
Desperately Seeking Older People
May 25, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I had a great idea some weeks ago. A client called me and asked me for a solution to a problem he was having. His dad, a retired and prolific writer, was always on at him to upload his written material to his website. The son was finding the father’s demands to be more onerous than his most onerous of clients, so he called me looking for help.
It sounded like the Dad would be the perfect candidate for a blog. Not only would he be easily able to publish his thoughts without having to contact his son, but he’d be able to open his content up for comments from others, and find joy from his writing in that way.
That got me thinking. There are many older people out there with time on their hands, a rudimentary knowledge of how to send emails, and great stories to tell. In my own family, we’re always on at my Mum to get her stories down. She has such a wonderful Dublin turn of phrase. And she’s a prime example of how 70-somethings nowadays are articulate, travelling, cultured people and not little old ladies who like knitting.
So I decided that Brightspark’s corporate social responsibility project this year would be about helping seniors to get blogging. I reckon we need 8 people over the age of 65 (who know how to send an email) to make this fun and interesting.
I contacted one of the major hosting companies and they’ve agreed to offer free hosting. I’m going to set up the blogs and spend a half a day with the group introducing them to the world of blogging. We’ll discover subjects they want to write about and will read some of the bloggers that are already out there. We’ll learn how to add comments to blogs and how to use RSS to keep up to speed on what’s going on. Matt Cooper on TodayFM has even expressed interest in covering how they’re getting on.
It will be fun!
All we have to do now is recruit the group!
That’s where I’ve run into difficulties.
I have contacted the PR company that’s organising the anti-ageism week that’s taking place in June. I’ve been on to the Lord Mayor of Dublin’s office because he has a strong active aged campaign. I contacted Dublin City Council , the Equality Commission, and some other Government body that they fobbed me off onto – and none of them have come back to me or taken me up on this.
In all cases I’ve made it very clear that this involves no cost to them or to anyone. It’s not about sales and they only thing I need off them is access to old people. And the whole bloody lot of them have done nothing.
Typical.
[I just deleted some of my more heated thoughts on this matter]
Maybe you can help?
- Know someone aged 65 or over?
- With a basic knowledge of how to send an email
- Lots to say on a variety of different subjects.
- Someone who would be up for a laugh?
- Interested in meeting some people of a similar age and a similar disposition
Then contact me. Post a comment below or contact me directly. I’m looking at doing the training before the end of June, at a city centre location.
RSS Takes Ireland By Storm
May 24, 2007 at 7:47 am
RSS was really big in the US a couple of years ago. So was blogging. Both have gone mass now are like old news. [last bit to be read in a 'The OC' accent!]
I was just reading IQ Content’s analysis of the new Independent website and it’s great to see that one of the largest dailies has added RSS feeds to most sections.
Indeed, not just an RSS feed for every section, but for subsections too. For example, I’m not too interested in soccer or the Gaelic games but that’s okay, I can just subscribe to the Rugby feed (RSS).
Does this mean that large numbers of Irish people will start to use RSS feeds? I hope so. Purely from a selfish point of view, I know by the traffic on this blog that it has a fair few readers. But I’d be ashamed to show the number of RSS subscribers because that number would be so low!
When I’m out evangelising about the web, I always make a point of showing people the options for keeping on top of your favourite site’s updated content. First I show adding to favourites. Ask for a show of hands of how many people have ‘favourited’ many things, but never remember to actually go in and read them. [An ocean of hands]. Then I reveal the “Amazing Transformation That Can Be Brought About By RSS Feeds”. And people love it.
I only got myself sorted using RSS about 18 months ago, so I’m hardly one to talk. But now that the Indo has introduced RSS to the nation, maybe I will start looking at plugins that show number of subscribers for adding to this here blog!
Apple Users Take Note
May 23, 2007 at 7:14 am
A couple of weeks back, we had some ‘technical problems’ which meant that one of our trusty machines had to be sent off to hospital. Of course we back up our data. But what does one do when you’re 1 laptop down in a busy but small office? ie. we don’t have banks of computers on which to hop onto.
What we did was get in touch with Nostra Systems. I met them through the Dublin Chamber of Commerce networking evenings which have generated rather a lot of good contacts and business for me in the short space of time I’ve been a member.
Nostra Systems rented me out a high spec massive screen Apple mac. At a very reasonable weekly rate, this beautiful piece of design not only solved our problem, but looked good in the office too! Rather like needing to get in some hired help, and they deliver a super model (but not Naomi Campbell).
When I got a call last night from someone whose Mac Book Pro had just started acting up, I passed them on to Nostra. For all Apple users out there who might sometimes feel a little alienated or penalised for having taste, take note of Nostra!
Public Health Announcement
May 16, 2007 at 5:13 pm
If only all public health announcements were like this. Truly the best most creative stop smoking message I’ve ever come across: Own Your Own C.
It’s almost enough to make me want to start smoking again, so I could use this to help me give up!
No it’s not actually. But check it out and be inspired.
Finally got that levi denim jacket
May 13, 2007 at 11:04 am
When I was 12, it was the coolest thing to have a Levi’s denim jacket and Adidas boot runners. My Adidas boot runners gave me an extra confident spring in my step, but the ‘no-name’ wrong shade of denim jacket brought the whole look down. I had the look, but I didn’t – if you know what I mean.
So too with the blogging software I’ve been using recently.
I had the look, in that I could get a blog out, but boy did it entail woe at times. This is because I’ve been using Blogger. I have a confession to make: while I’ve been recommending to clients like these, and these and these. . . that they use WordPress software, I’ve been pushing along using Blogger. I know – how unsophisticated and Web 0.5 !! Blogger is a pile of crap. It makes the most mundane difficult. And I even hate the design of the interface. In fact, it’s the only Google owned entity that makes me hot under the collar with frustration.
Now I’ve moved on over to WordPress with its easy to use functionality and a world of new features that can be added at the click of a mouse, I feel like I’ve finally got that Levi’s denim jacket! The reason I’ve not posted too much in the last week is because I’ve been familiarising myself with the wonderful world of WordPress Plugins. There’s a plugin for everything; my problem is trying to decide which ones to add and which ones not to.
And the reason why the vast majority of bloggers are using WordPress (or Typepad a close second) for their blogs? Because it’s the best one out there. Luckily in the wired world, best quality doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive – in the case of WordPress it’s free. So for all those girls and boys out there longing for the online equivalent of the Levi’s denim jacket, they can have it – now, for free, and best yet – they can customise it and build it and make it their own! Kind of like adding patches to the back of a denim jacket.
So let’s all turn up our collars, be cool, and post more often!
Real Life People Videos
May 9, 2007 at 10:50 am
Anyone who asks me what I think is hot on the web in the past few months would have been subjected to a passionate barrage about video content – and using real life people for testimonials.  The ultimate of course is real life people video content.
And that’s what eircom are doing. Give credit where it’s due, they are certainly embracing video. So if you want to know what is video content? And what are real life video testimonials, view eircom’s real life people testimonials.
And they talk about transport
May 8, 2007 at 9:18 pm
All the politicians have something to say about transport and how awful it is. Well I’d just like to say that our online transport options are appalling. I just tried to look up a Dart time on the new and disimproved iarnrod eireann site and it’s just not possible. I even went to the site map and dug out the old page that used to be used for checking timetables and because I didn’t have the name of the station exactly how they have it (and their javascript thingy isn’t working) I couldn’t find the info I needed.
Who is responsible for the new site? Whoever it is must know how s**t their work is – because nothing came up when I Googled “cie iarnrod eireann + client + web design”. If you know, will you post the answer as a comment? You don’t have to put your name to it, and we don’t have the Stasi style surveillance switched on.
2007 Webbys Awards
May 2, 2007 at 9:36 pm
The 2007 award winners were announced yesterday. I didn’t get to post on it then because I was in the middle of moving my blog from yucky old Blogger to sexy WordPress.
I’m pleased that Youtube and eBay got honoured with People of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards : the former because they have reshaped everything from politics to pop culture. And eBay because they made auctions cool again and have enabled many people to make money out of unwanted goods. I’m surprised eBay hasn’t been honoured before though.
I’m going to spend some time over the weekend checking out all the other winners and will give you my full report on Monday.
