Archive for the 'Cool Stuff' Category
Open Web Vancouver opens with a Pirate Party and a look at Women in Open Source
I must confess, I wasn’t expecting much from the Open Web Vancouver conference. I read the schedule, and perhaps the strong emphasis on Drupal turned me off, but I didn’t find myself salivating like I do when I go to An Event Apart’s website. And as the saying goes, you pay for what you get; so how good can a $150 conference be? Today’s conference proved me wrong.
This morning’s session was opened by two keynote speakers and left me inspired and eager to learn more about the Open Source community.
The first keynote was given by Rick Falkvinge on one of Sweden’s political party, the Pirate Party, whose platform is to reform laws regarding copyrights and patents and other civil liberties issues. The Pirate Party succeeded in gaining popularity and attention simply by using the Internet and very little money. In fact their campaign budget during the last election consisted of only $50K. As a result of the communication tools and methods they’ve used, they are now the political party with the largest percentage of voters 30 years old and younger. This of course as alarmed other politicians who have never been able to reach out to this age group.
Now that the Pirate Party has secured a seat in the European Parliament, it will be interesting to see if other political parties start discussing issues such as privacy and file sharing. Just like Al Gore has put Global Warming on everyone’s mind, Rick Falvinge is spreading the word about what needs to be done to create a better online world for all of us and he deserved the standing ovation which followed his presentation.
Following this great keynote, came Angie Byron who spoke about Women in Open Source or rather lack of. I was a bit surprised that this topic was chosen and discussed. I’ve been working as a so called “geek” for a over a decade and never experienced any sexism at work or conference and Angie admitted herself that until she started researching the numbers, didn’t think there was a problem either. Turns out the percentage of women in Open Source is staggeringly low. The reasons and solutions that were discussed were obvious and applicable to all minorities, not just women. At least they felt obvious to me, but a few hours later, I read about the incident at Flashbelt’s conference just a few days ago. It seems like a lot of boys think that the saying boys will be boys still stands and should simply be accepted.
Angie provided great advice on how to create a safe and inviting community and how to stop tolerating bullshit. The gem, for me, were her views on contribution to Open Source. Having worked with Open Source during all of my coding years, I’ve realised that I’ve used the stuff, but never really contributed. Providing contribution whether it be marketing, documenting, designing and of course coding, is a great way to empower yourself and feel like you are part of the team.
I look forward to learn more during tomorrow’s event.
Upcoming Social Media Events
One of the many benefits of living in Vancouver is that we have a great community of Social Networking experts. In the next few weeks, there are numerous upcoming seminars and workshops which you may want to attend.
Social Media Marketing Training in Vancouver and Victoria
Capulet Communications are leaders when it comes to Social Media Marketing. Following a very successful workshop at UBC Continuing Education this past winter, they’ve now scheduled two new sessions. The first in Victoria will be on April 30 and Vancouver on May 28. Having heard both Julie and Darren speak on many occasions and having read their eBook Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook, I highly recommend this workshop to anyone interested in learning how to use their blog, twitter, facebook, etc… and raising their visibility online.
Full details on the workshops can be found on their website.
Mental Health Camp
Following a very popular session at this year’s Northern Voice Conference panel session called Coping Digitally, a few passionate bloggers have put together a full day event. The purpose of the event is to discuss the many ways social media and blogging can help remove the stigma of mental illness. Registration for this event is free and will be held on April 25. Full details and a list of speakers can be found on their website.
THIRD TUESDAY APRIL: Tris Hussey
Next Tuesday, April 21, Republic will host this month’s Third Tuesday event. Tris Hussey, Social Media Concierge and New Media Specialist will discuss the importance of getting your message out. He will look at the different ways to get your message out and which ones work best. Third Tuesday events are also free of charge and you can sign up by becoming a member of the meet up group.
Free Easter Bunny Icons at Icon Dock
Just in time for Easter, Icon Dock has released a set of 40 free icons which you can use on your marketing material, blog, etc…
Check out their website for other great icons.
My thoughts about Northern Voice 2009
This year’s Northern Voice was my fourth one and I truly enjoyed it. I’ve never been to Friday’s Moosecamp and missed it again this year, opting to catch up on a never-ending to-do list. I heard that Stewart Butterfield’s Keynote was very good. Luckily for me and all of you who couldn’t make it, the sessions were taped and the videos will be posted on the website once the organizing committee has had time to make their final touches.
The wonderful thing about Northern Voice is that it’s very informal. You won’t find any big wigs walking around with chips on their shoulder. Everyone is friendly and easy to talk to. While the subject of social media is not new to me and generally I’m hearing stuff that I already know, once in a while I find out about a few things that make me go “hmm, I didn’t know that”. For example, I didn’t know what a sock puppet was and even though I was told to check out Radio 3 on CBC years ago, I never did, and Steve Pratt reminded me why I should.
Attending conferences, takes a lot of time, costs money and can be exhausting, but I find the following benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
- I always leave each conference with new ideas and renewed energy.
- I love to see how great speakers behave in front of the audience. Brianna Tomkinson and David Eaves gave exceptional well articulated presentations.
- There’s always someone who makes me laugh and this year, Rob Cottingham’s keynote was hilarious yet insightful.
- I always meet new people who share the same interest.
- I don’t always, but often connect with old friends.
- I’m reminded of things that were on my to-do list and never got around to.
Seeing how people use social media in every day life to help a group of kids and hearing how traditional companies are daring to break the rules proved very inspiring and I hope to see more examples of these next year.
The folks behind Northern Voice have asked for feedback and all I can say is keep up the great work. Your conference is always exceptional and well worth making time for.
Vote for Cindy Willick for the Best Job in the World
As soon as Queensland launched their global search for candidates for the “Best Job in the World“, applications have been streaming in. With only 2 days left to apply for the job of “island caretaker”, it’s now time to vote.
My dear friend Cindy Willick submitted her video application and is asking for support. I’ve known Cindy for a very long time and can’t imagine a better person for the job. Have a look at her video and cast your vote.
WordPress TV is a great place for tutorials and demo
Earlier this year the folks at Automattic launched www.WordPress.tv, which is a new website to learn about all things WordPress. I just had a quick look and it looks like the list of videos is quite extensive (Click the how-to link for the list of videos. Personally I’m not sure this tab is appropriately labeled, but hey, I found the list.) The site also has a WordCampTV section where you can watch videos, slides and listen to audio clips.
This site is definitely worth bookmarking and investigating further.
Registration for Northern Voice 2009 is now open
This year’s Northern Voice organizers have kicked the doors open for registration. This will be my third year attending and I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to learn more about blogging and social media. If you are at all interested in attending, I would encourage you to register soon, as past conferences have sold out in a matter of days.
Hope to see you there.
Animator vs Animation
In the web world flash is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. Certain sites do benefit from animation while others just don’t. Regardless of what you may think, you have to admire the animators who create this stuff. The following video is a great example of the creativity that’s out there. …And if you’ve ever had to work with flash, you may relate to the experience.
Enjoy and happy holiday.
Disclaimer — There’s an übber cheesy commercial before the video… Who comes up with this crap?
WordPress 2.7 Coltrane
Named after Jazz Musician John Coltrane, WordPress 2.7 was released yesterday and promises breathtaking beauty and inspiration. I haven’t downloaded yet, but will do soon….
In the meantime check out the promotional video. It’s pretty sexy.
Wired Santa – Live from the North Pole
Do you have kids, nieces, nephews, friends who just can’t get enough of Christmas? Then you might want to check out Wired Santa.
Just in time for the holidays, Santa has installed a webcam in his workshop. See the elves, Mrs. Claus and father Christmas himself getting ready for the big day.
Watch a new video everyday between now and Christmas. Plus, you can send a letter to Santa for a guaranteed reply.