Archive for July, 2007

This is a terrific little video that explains how social networking online works, created by Common Craft.
There’s really nothing more for me to add other than it’s short, too the point and entertaining while being informative.

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At the end of the video, Lee Lefever suggests three social network sites to explore. If you want to check out a few more, take a look at a post I wrote back in April about meeting a new friend on a social network site and listing some other sites to look at.

From time to time, I may post more frequently on ZenGuide than just on Mondays and Thursdays. For my email readers, that means that you may get more than two emails a week with the latest comments and thoughts about communications and social media - but you won’t get more than one a day. If you prefer, you can switch to following ZenGuide using a blog reader like Google Reader or Bloglines where the latest updates will be waiting for you when you go the blog reader rather than coming in to your inbox on the day that ZenGuide is updated.

My post Keeping Track of Blogs You Like tells you more about signing up to a blog reader.

The British Library is building a collection of blogs. This collection will form part of the UK Web Archiving Consortium (UKWAC) initiative to archive websites of research interest. The archiving of blogs is part of a wider project to archive UK websites for future generations. The UKWAC website explains:

For many, the web has become the information source of first resort. From keeping abreast of latest news and accessing online journals and datasets, through to finding information about travel and sport, the web has become the information tool of choice.

However, despite our apparent dependence on this medium very little attention has been paid to the long-term preservation of websites. Indeed, with the life of an average website estimated to be around 44 days (about the same lifespan as a housefly) there is a danger that invaluable scholarly, cultural and scientific resources will be lost to future generations.

To address this problem, a consortium of six leading UK institutions is working collaboratively on a project to develop a test-bed for selective archiving of UK websites.

The six institutions are The British Library as lead partner, The National Archives, The National Library of Wales, JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee), The Wellcome Trust and The National Library of Scotland. The project began in June 2004 - a news report from ZDNet at the time wrote: “Each member of the consortium will choose content relevant to its subject. All types of Web content will be included, from government documents to blogs.”

To me, this is a clear indicator that blogs are now moving into their prime. From the public perception of their being the personal journals of misfit geeks or kids a few years ago, blogs have come a long way in a very short period of time. They have evolved into business communications used by an increasing number of top notch businesses as well as by solo professionals and small enterprises - including GlaxoSmithKline (Alliconnect blog), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ BTW blog) and Avis (We Try Harder blog). And now, they are being taken seriously by researchers, academics, scientists and the guardians of the UK’s intellectual heritage.

I wonder if it’s only a question of time now before blogs and other social media are studied at university level as art forms in their own right? After all, these days you can take degrees in English Literature, Film Studies, Photography, Visual Arts, Design etc - considered by previous generations as not sufficiently serious to be subjects of study. When the first novel appeared two hundred years ago, it was greeted with derision and even horror by the intellectuals of the day who viewed poetry - and in particular classical poetry - as the greatest form of literature. Look at things now, with the novelists now the literary heavyweights and poets, sadly, much less high-profile. So, who knows, we may soon be able to apply to study an MA in Blogging…?

Disclosure: I am also delighted to say that I was recently invited to submit my writing and culture blog Fusion View for archiving as part of this project. The email from the British Library’s Web Archivist said: “We would like to invite you to have your site included in this important collection for Internet research. We will be selecting some 150 key sites to form the basis of the blog’s collection until August 2007 but archiving will continue into the future.”

Photo: of the British Library Reading Room thanks to imagesonline.bl.uk

This Saturday is the Live Earth event - 7/7/7. What is it?

“Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.”

As part of this event, you can sign up to their Twitter feed and receive tips via your mobile phone on what you can do to help save the world. Here are some sample messages from their feed:

“Shading windows. It can lower your home’s temperature and reduce your cooling costs by 30%. Answer the Call at liveearth.org.

Cutting down. If 1 million people cut down their trash by 10%, we could reduce our CO2 emissions by 50,000 tons. Learn more at liveearth.org”

All you have to do is sign up to Twitter via www.twitter.com and go to http://twitter.com/LiveEarth070707 to add Live Earth as a friend.

The people behind this campaign are SOS an ” ongoing messaging campaign and larger movement behind Live Earth.” According to their “About” section:

“The SOS campaign is using a powerful multimedia platform - short films, television and radio PSAs, an interactive web experience, books, the Live Earth concerts themselves - to provide a global audience with the tools to tackle the climate crisis.

This multimedia campaign will ensure that the message of Live Earth echoes long after 7/7/07.”

This is an important campaign that will benefit all of us - and future generations - so it’s well worth signing up for.

As an aside, my feeling is that this is what many communications strategies need to look like in the future - whether you are a not-for-profit, big business, small enterprise or solo professional. As we all become multi-media smart, it will become increasingly important to spread the word about your event or product or services across a number of platforms in an integrated way. For small businesses and solo professionals, the interactive multi-media tools of Web 2.0 are cheap - often free - and easy to use. There are great opportunities these days for the enterprising small player to make big waves via the internet without a huge budget - all you need is a readiness to engage with the new technology.

Some ideas:

* start a blog and make your presence felt on the internet

* use podcasting to chat more informally. Writers could read extracts from their books. Record a speaking engagement so those who couldn’t be there can hear your speech.

* create presentations to show online. There are tools available to post slideshows eg Zoho

* record a video to show online. Facial expression and tone can convey warmth so much more than just words - what about a short presentation by your Chief Executive reporting on your company’s annual results?

* use Twitter to send out regular short messages. Executive coaches can twitter their clients daily encouragement or actions to boost confidence and productivity.

Photo: thanks to smh.com.au

I got an invite to Joost last week and it really is fab! What is Joost? It’s internet TV poured onto your PC screen via broadband. There are different channels - documentary, comedies, entertainment, music, cartoons and more. But no full feature films as yet.

I’m impressed by the quality of the picture, sound and speed. I’ve been watching the stand up comedians at the Montreal Comedy Festival - which star quality acts.

And it’s got integrated social networky type stuff like live chat with your friends and a quick blog tool so you can blog while watching TV. So no more sitting alone in your room watching telly - you’re alone, yes, but you’re also not alone, since you are networked to the rest of your Joost community at the same time. The thing is: you’d better be good at multi-tasking to take advantage of all these functions.

Click on the picture below to watch a promo video

Joost is in beta testing at the moment and is by invitation only. And I have some invites! Email me via the Contact link above and I can send you an invite - only available until the invites run out. Or click on the badge below.

The only thing is, with this network installed on my PC, I’ll never do any work again…

NOTE: ZenGuide is updated Mondays and Thursdays