Media Hacking

Social Media, communications and how the game is changing

Jay Rosen – Citizen Journalism

Date: June 23, 2006 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Users know more than we do journalism

discussing citizen journalism – not in abstract

talking about the notion that users know more than we do

Discussion of how an op-ed disses blogging by saying that Investigative Journalism is diametrically opposed to blogging (and better) – all the things bloggers cant do

tools need to be simple to empower

proprietary services as an impediment to sharing

need to say to the audience that they can participate

get away from the fruitless bickering b/w journalists and bloggers – this is completely diff from the current notion

how do we tell ken what he can do in spokane

how do we actually go to a paper to recommend and learn

ken – webcasting the news meetings

35 active blogs

3-4 podcasts

tradition busting ideas

open the archives

citation and recognition to those who are doing it (citizens)

projects as a longer term program (campaign as opposed to one-offs)

breaking stories as well as comments

major media have absorbed the idea that the readers are in more places than we are

method for analyses, method for collection, grading, filtering – problems – and where does the money come from for such a project

need mechanisms and rules for anonymity

lack of diversity in opinion – problem – why community, why audience can bring intelligence to the analysis

knowledgeable focus and motivated

terry heaton – evil empire

story is the narrative – presupposes the storyteller has info we dont have

hard to tell stories if we all have access to the same info

rejecting of narratives – filtering at individual level

if we expect the final prod to look like a story – we wont get there because thats not what the product is

story and diversity

biggest success of blogosphere journalism was Rather

doing away with THE story – no single point of truth

building trust in contributors

tracking historical raw data

battery dying…

Bloggercon IV – First Presentation – Tools

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Was stuck on conf call so I couldnt sit thru most of this presentation by Phil Torrone (who kicked ass last year at Gnomedex)

Discussion focusing on blogging/podcasting/vidcasting tools. Formats, tools, software, devices.

Doc is the house “Technographer” who is transcripting most of this (thanks doc!) and an MP3 of every session is being recorded (as well as webcast). I will post the mp3s when they are ready and to a bittorrent of the sessions.
Ashish from TEKRITI is here – ha ha – gonna finally get to meet the guy who we were working with at iNDELIBLE for so long!

Dave Winer reopens Share Your OPML

Date: May 7, 2006 Author: Sean Comments: 1 Reply

I love the concept. I love discovering what other people are aggregating (one of the reasons I still digg blogrolls – I know, I know, its soooo 2003 but I still dig it).

Dave recently announced on the OPML Support mailing list the reopening of the Share Your OPML site…

When he first ran the idea a while back (I wasnt blogging at the time) it seemed slick, and a natural extension of the syndication work he was doing. A big part of aggregators, IMHO, is feed discovery and acquisition (something sage does really well). Seeing what other people are aggregating is the best kind of discovery – not blind, not link hopping. If you trust or like a creator, then you would value their opinion. I regularly check to see what’s on the bookshelves of friends and colleagues. I would love to see what Dave or Leo Laporte or Scoble is subscribing to. Odds are we have a lot of the same stuff but there will always be something new.

Take a look at the top 20 of the top 100 provided by Dave in a sneak peak:

1. Scripting News This entry links to a RSS feed.
2. Jon’s Radio This entry links to a RSS feed.
3. Scobleizer – Microsoft Geek Blogger This entry links to a RSS feed.
4. The Doc Searls Weblog This entry links to a RSS feed.
5. TechCrunch This entry links to a RSS feed.
6. Wired News: Top Stories This entry links to a RSS feed.
7. GigaOM This entry links to a RSS feed.
8. Amyloo’s OPML blog This entry links to a RSS feed.
9. Boing Boing This entry links to a RSS feed.
10. Chris Pirillo This entry links to a RSS feed.
11. Don Park’s Daily Habit This entry links to a RSS feed.
12. Joel on Software This entry links to a RSS feed.
13. Official Google Blog This entry links to a RSS feed.
14. Steve Gillmor’s InfoRouter This entry links to a RSS feed.
15. The Shifted Librarian This entry links to a RSS feed.
16. thisislisa’s OPML blog This entry links to a RSS feed.
17. 43 Folders This entry links to a RSS feed.
18. A List Apart This entry links to a RSS feed.
19. Adam Curry: Daily Source Code This entry links to a RSS feed.
20. Blog Maverick This entry links to a RSS feed.

All of these guys are on my list (and in the aggregators of the Producers who work for me). Except… Ihave never seen This Is Lisa and Amyloo’s blogs. Cool -something new to check out. New ideas. New directions.

I have wondered out loud what the plans were for the future – to allow users to subscrive to an OPML file for additions/changes? One of my favorite functions on DIGG is seeing what my friends are digging – in this case its seeing what the folks in my aggregator are aggregating themselves.

I already dropped a line on the mailing list about this, but it is tres slick.

Whooooooaaaaaa – TikiBarTV Redesign

Date: May 6, 2006 Author: Sean Comments: 1 Reply

http://www.tikibartv.com/tikibar_share.html

Just DIGGed it… TikiBarTV is my favorite video podcast (not just because LaLa is really really hot). It is short, fun, PERFECT for the iPod screen and the production values are amateur and great. In this case Amateur is a good word. They work hard. They are funny. They shoot the dang thing in someone’s apartment. They have a drinkbot (we had one in college, but its name was Sween-dog). Their encodes are rockin for Flash8.

And they just redesigned their site from a blog with a user forum to something a little more designed and a heckuva lot slicker. I have been hammering on some clients in the last six months that users want to share. Its fun. Its social. There is a ‘im first’ competition among friends for finding that hysterical chunk of video (hello starwars kid), or gossip or easter egg or exclusive fact from their favorite show (hello LOST) or that podcast they need to be listening to. On of the reasons YouTube has grown so fast is the fact that I can put a video on my site or blog or myspace page courtesy of YouTube (remember when MySpace banned YouTube and the neighborhood went nuts?).

The Tiki Gods have obviously been listening to some of my prayers (they ignored the request for LaLas phone number). They have added a share page and inconography to the site:

All over the site you will see the “gift” icon. Click it to :
1) Email a friend about a Tiki Bar Episode
2) Add an episode to your MYSPACE profile, or to your friends comments. (works for all sites like MYSPACE, or even your OWN website! yaah!)
It’s easy, and there are instructions so you won’t screw it up (unless of course you’re French)

This kicks ass – the tribe at tikibartv.com is pretty engaged (rabid, aggressive, constantly checkin back). Being even more share-friendly will only increase their popularity (I use them as an example at EVERY pitch and tech presentation I give clients).

Now if we could just get Dr Tiki, JohnnyJohnny and LaLa to go to Gnomedex!

Liveblogging BarCampNYC

Date: January 14, 2006 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Got here late, forgot the camera, couldnt get the f*ckin wifi to work…

liveblogging begins now

discussing social networks… asymmetry

degrees of separation

behavior –

prominence – ways to get around the system –

trusted networks, describe trust

how a network would work – or a tech pluggeed

2 things s- page rank is an example of managing attention

not just bout how much attention – people we interact with and others you would trust more and care about

no place in clickstream to capture all of the data that says you want that

owning the information

inames and sxip

how do we work together – social networks meets community

lady who coreographed RENT doing new project – using traditional matters of comm – working with artists – no visual elements – not intuitive

how do we create tools to survive

trust and collaboration

inside outside problem – kinds of social interaction

hw to designate sharing private stuff and an additional layer

layer in conjunction with other stuff

analyzing content to determine pos or neg relationship

ratio of views to digs is imp

views are self correcting – digg – following external links – on vinio you are viewing it – digg applied to social network of vinio –

Outstanding! – NYPL Battle Over Books Event

Date: November 18, 2005 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

So I went to the Battle Over Books event at the New York Public Library. What a great time. Lawrence Lessig was in rare form and the debate over the Google Print project was outstanding. Allan Adler, who held his own during the discussion, even recieved some applause from 5 or 10 people in the room (packed house like the Who Owns Culture event). Special guests included Steven Johnson, who moderated the Who Owns Culture event and Emily, who recently returned from another amazing trip to the Far East.

Battle Over Books
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003200.shtml

But there were two big highlights of the night:

1. I saw Krista P who I used to work with at K2. I haven’t seen her since 2000 when I ran into her at a restaurant while I was working at Deutsch. We caught up a little bit. Krista – my email address is sean at seanbohan.com

2. I got to hang out with Emily, Toby, Ace, David and Salim. I have been developing a reputation as a flake lately thanks to the ridiculous amount of work I am doing. Leaving events early, not showing up for BBQ’s, etc. I haven’t had a chance to hang out with Emily and Toby since the summer, so it was fun to see a good debate and then grab a drink and just talk. Advertising, structured content, identity, credit, context, disaster preparedness, tennis… we were all over the map.

And it was cool to meet Salim, a fellow gnomedexer and the CEO of PubSub (search the future!). He is working on some really cool stuff (very web2.0-y) with a big announcement in the future.

Ace, as usual, is full of advice: “You gotta get out more”.

I hate it when he is right.

Why LiveBlogging may be dangerous to your company

Date: November 1, 2005 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

1. The Forbes anti-blogging piece was crap
2. Dave Winer is LiveBlogging the Microsoft announcement today, along with bunch of other guys.

LiveBlogging is tough. Its tough on the guy trying to capture everything being said. Tough to add your opinions to what is being said. And tough to keep track of the crowd.

I learned this the hardway at Gnomedex ’05. I asked no questions, kept my head down and tried to keep track of the stage and the room. I didn’t intend to liveblog, I was just trying to take notes for myself. JD had pointed out on his blog what I was doing and it clicked… I am writing for me but sharing with everyone. As a result I spent hours digging through what the other Gnomedexers were writing about (and podcasting and vidcasting). I wanted to see the other SIDES of the story.

Its tough on the guy live blogging.

Its even tougher on the event organizers/company you are liveblogging. Because you give up control. Because you are letting the cat out of the bag. You cant spin the message or the events the way you used to. You are being held to a higher standard, in both content and presentation.

25 minutes into it, all we’ve heard so far is marketing hype. They haven’t shown or said anything new yet. They need to read my How To Demo document. The people in this room are tough customers.
-Dave Winer

Cause we all have a little Dave in us. And now we let him out