Archive for the 'Blogs & Things to Explore' Category

Elton John recently ranted against the internet and social media, according to Neowin.net and other news sources. He is quoted as saying:

“The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision. It’s just a means to an end. We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet. I mean, get out there — communicate. Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. There’s too much technology available. I’m sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today.”

It reminded me that there are still many people out there who don’t know much about online social culture and who for some reason don’t want to know about it. I think it’s a shame for them - there is so much creativity and experimentation online in terms of self-expression and artistic expression as well as increased communications between people and cultures.

Here are some examples:

Music

There are a number of virtual recording studios like Net Studio where musicians can collaborate with other musicians anywhere in the world, not just those who are in the same town as they are.

Podsafe music is music that can be used for podcasting without paying a royalty. Podsafe networks allow musicians to distribute their music globally over the internet and there are internet stations like Accident Hash that specialise in playing podsafe music. And a lot of it is really good stuff, too.

Individuals doing funky things with music for themselves and their friends and in the process becoming music legends online - like this young Korean guy playing Pachelbel’s Cannon like you’ve never heard it before.

Books and Blogging

Bhagdad Burning was a blog by a young Iraqi girl which was subsequently turned into a prize-winning book of the same name.

Blood, Sweat and Tea is a book that was compiled by the blog of a London Ambulance driver, Random Acts of Reality

The Blooker Prize is an annual prize for the best blog, modelled on the Booker Prize for books.

Photography

Andrew Losowksy started a collection of photographs of doorbells in Florence, Italy on Flickr, the photo-sharing site. He would write stories to accompany the pictures. He gained a huge following online for his stories and the photos and stories have now been transformed into a book The Doorbells of Florence that has won the Blooker prize.

There’s a whole genre of photography around the theme of a daily photo from your city eg City Daily Photo Blog, Santiago de Chile Daily Photo Blog, Brighton Daily Photo etc

There is a group on Flickr that creates short stories using a series of five photos.

Art

I love this web installation by filmmaker and artist Miranda July - it’s filmic, witty and a commentary on websites all at the same time: http://noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com/

Rhizome is a site that posts news about new media art and the intersection of technology and art, with great links to a vast range of different art websites and blogs.

Social Networks

As for making connections, blogging and social networks like Facebook help people connect so much more easily than in the days of snail mail. I’ve personally made some great new friends in Malaysia through the litbloggers network there and I enjoy using the online telephony service Skype to connect with my family. Facebook and Twitter has enabled me to keep in contact with a range of friends in the UK and Malaysia that I might otherwise not keep in contact with. In many ways, I feel I have a much richer social life through both offline connections with my regular local friends and online connections with those who are further away or in another country.

In my view, the things that are going to “change the world and change the way people listen to music” - and for that matter, change how we relate, connect and create - are already happening online with great energy and creativity. With or without the likes of Elton John.

Continuing my Beginner’s Guide to blogs and blogging - for those of you who’d like to explore blogs but are not sure where to start, blog portals or directories are a good way in. I am fond of the London Bloggers directory that lists blogs around London by the tube line their authors are on or their nearest suburban station. You can check out whose blogging along the Victoria Line, for example.

I found the blog of a usability expert who is a colleague of my cousin’s near my suburban station - yup, it’s a small world. And there are blogs by local people in my area discussing the neighbourhood restaurants and local politics - all very useful info about where I live.

If you know of any other interesting or quirky blog directories or listings, please do share them by adding a comment or emailing me via the Contact form.

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

Here is a great example of really useful user-generated content. Hotspotr is a directory of WiFi Cafes and Hotspots around the world. All it does is provide an interactive map - it’s up to the likes of you and me to create the directory.

There’s no sign up or login. You just click on Add a Cafe and follow the simple steps to add the name and location of the cafe that has WiFi. There’s also additonal information you can include eg if it’s free, what kind of food is served and any other remarks. You can rate the cafe and indicate whether it’s a good place for working or just surfing.

Typically, US cities predominate but there are a range of international locations. You can navigate via the map but for some reason the map does not show ALL the cities in the listings - for international locations, it’s better to go via the link See All Cities and then click on International Cities.

The people adding locations to Hotspotr aren’t getting paid for what they do. The reward is in taking part and helping to build a useful knowledge base. I added a hotspot in London in that spirit and it only took a couple of minutes. This site is like a wiki (an online encyclopaedia whose content is created and added to by its users) but really easy to use and has the added dimension of the visual map. When my entry was processed, the map zoomed into its exact location, showing the street it was on and local landmarks. It was cool!

How might you add user participation to your website by tapping into the knowledge and community spirit of your stakeholders in a similar way? User-generated content based on participants making videos and the like run the risk of pooling a lot of inappropriate material, some of which may be damaging to your brand. But a knowledge or data focused project that is easy and fun to take part in like a directory of some kind could bring a more satisfying result.

Photo: thanks to nextnature.net

NOTE: ZenGuide is updated Mondays and Thursdays

clipped from www.weblo.com Weblo Properties offer you the exciting opportunity of owning absolutely any property that exists in the real world - well, a cyber copy of it, that is! Buy and sell cities, states, airports, historical places, buildings, even your home. But you have to be the first to get it on Weblo! Own cities and states and you’ll become the Mayor or Governor, you might even become the President of your country. Get paid for advertising revenues generated from your properties.

=>> California is sold for $53,000

=>> The White House is going for £10m.

=>> At the time of writing, England is up for grabs.

=>> There’s an auction section as well just to crank things up to a fever pitch…

If you do go and buy anything at Weblo, do come back and let me know and I’ll feature your property on ZenGuide.

I’ve been checking out business and political blogs in the UK to see which business and political leaders blog. I’ll be bringing you various of these blogs on ZenGuide from time to time. My overall impression is that not many business people or political figures in the UK have blogs at this point and the ones that are around range from those that are informative, articulate and all about transparent communication to those that are, well, hardly blogs at all and more like static press releases with the word “blog” stuck on the title. I’ll be focusing on the great blogs rather than the not so great ones as I think it’s more rewarding to learn from good examples than have a laugh at bad ones.

So, here is one that I think is a sterling example of a great blog, which will hopefully inspire you. Joe Duckworth is the Chief Executive of the Isle of Wight Council and he has a blog on their website called “Joe Blogs”, a clever take on the name that we use in the UK when referring to your typical average everyman “Joe Bloggs”.

It looks like he started the blog in November 2006 as that seems to be the oldest entry on the page and there isn’t an “Archive” section you would normally find on a blog to indicate that there are older posts. He has blogged on average about twice a month since then.

His tone is informal and direct, as if he is having a chat with you or dropping you a line by email. It’s easy reading and it’s very easy to get to like the guy very quickly. For me, his informal tone does not undermine his authority as the Chief Executive but rather makes him an approachable leader. In particular - and this is the key to why I think he has a great blog - he does not shy away from the tough stuff. In his first post in November last year, he says (my emphasis) “We are only two star which is not very good. But did you know 40 percent of our services are in the best 25 per cent in the Country. The average for other councils like us is half of that. So, don’t shy away of things which are unacceptable, but more recognition about where we are flaming good.” He acknowledges the negative, which is something that many leaders can find difficult to do. When he balances it with a positive, the effect on the reader is “OK, fair enough. That is a good point he’s made about the Council” - ie. his credibility in stating the good thing is strengthened by the fact that he is prepared to acknowledge the bad point, it’s not just spin to tell us how great the Council is.

Later in January 2007, he blogs (my emphasis again) “For example this week I got my first glimpse of the staff survey results. They are still interim results as the consultants complete analysing the data. I have to admit that it made uncomfortable reading. Staff clearly are not happy with certain aspects of working for the council. As I have said before we are going to take these results very seriously and act on them. Furthermore we are going to publish the results - warts and all. The council I want to be chief exec of is open and honest and we are prepared to take the knocks because we know that we are going to deal with them and ensure that issues are dealt with properly.” Again, to make those admissions about unhappy staff and his personal response of discomfort about the results - that takes a strength of character. His openness to publish the results is consistent with this straight-talking. So when he says “the council I want to be chief exec of is open and honest “, you believe that he means it. Organisation and nations are a reflection of the people who lead them and we can see that Joe is open and honest from his blog and we can trust that he will lead the Council by example.

I was also particularly impressed when I emailed the Isle of Wight Council via their contact form to say that I couldn’t subscribe to his blog using Google Reader as there did not seem to be a feed. I got a reply back from Matthew Pattinson, the Council’s analyst and web developer within a couple of hours. He created an RSS feed there and then for me and has put it up onto the blog for other people to subscribe as well. To me, that immediate response and the tone of Joe’s blog together gave me a sense that the Isle of Wight Council is all about getting the job done and is focused on providing service to its constituents and stakeholders.

In contrast, I also found a couple of other UK councils that purported to have Chief Executive blogs but these were all statice brochure type pages that read like press releases. One of them labelled each post “Blog No. 1″ , “Blog No. 2″ etc - hmmm, a blog is the thing itself like a magazine is a thing and each article in it is a post. That simple mislabelling plus the press release style text gave the sense that this organisation didn’t have a clue about what a blog is meant to be. They also did not have feeds and I emailed them in the same way as I emailed the Isle of Wight Council via their contact form, asking about the feed. To date, over a month later, I am still waiting for their reply.

Going back to Joe’s Blog, I’d like to offer a couple of suggestions for making the most of the blog, if I may:

• Add an Archive and a also a Category section for easy searchability in the future as Joe fills the blog with a body of work

• Make it easier to find the blog from the Council’s main page - I had to really search for it to find it. I think it’s one of the strengths of the site and of the Council’s conversation with its stakeholders.

Joe also writes frankly about his family’s personal experience of crime in his post on 03 April. What a horrendous experience and my sympathies go out to them. He moves on to discuss local policing and tackling not just crime but fear of crime. This mix of personal and professional discussion in his blog is the sort of thing that will make the readers keep coming back and keep having trust in this straight-talking leader.

The US presidential campaign is being fought online, according to the BBC - one sure sign that blogs and social media are forces to be reckoned with.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign site has a blog as well as HillCasts, videos of Hillary speaking directly to you, her online audience, about what Hillary as President would mean. There are also a range of videos of her campaign trail, speeches, photographs, press releases and of course a section where you can contribute to her campaign as well as take part as a volunteer.

Her blog is not written by her - the byline of the bloggers are clearly evident at the top of each post and they include a volunteer Michael Brasher and also her Chief Strategist Mark Penn. Hillary’s chief blogger appears to be Crystal Patterson but I couldn’t easily find any information on the blog about her. As a blog-watcher, I think that it’s a good move to be transparent where the blog is written by someone other than the figurehead who has top billing on the site. I also like the fact that there are guest bloggers giving their particular perspective on the campaign. Having a volunteer, especially a student, write about his experiences brings in the view “on the ground” and also helps to connect with other students and volunteers - and potential volunteers. My one feedback point would be: It would be good to see an “About” page that tells us something more about the regular blogger(s) so visitors are aware of the context in which they write. However, this could just be my non-US ignorance of the personalities in the drama or my not being able to easily find the relevant information on the site.

The overall impact is to present Hillary Clinton’s message in a range of media and also to share it in a way that is easily digestible and understandable for ordinary people. It’s not mediated by the press so she can say what she wants to say direct to her audience. It makes her seem accessible and in touch with ordinary people’s lives and concerns. It keeps her real by sharing information about the process of campaigning. She is referred to as Hillary and her team are Team Hillary - the first name adds to the sense of her being approachable and in touch while emphasising that she is a woman. And also, distancing her from her husband Bill, which is who think of when we hear “Clinton”.

Hillary is not the only candidate using multi-media online. You can visit Barack Obama’s site at http://www.barackobama.com/. John Edwards also has a presence online at http://johnedwards.com/ and famously, he is using Twitter to keep friends and followers updated on his campaign trail. I added him as my friend on Twitter to see what it was all about and he added me back! He seems to twitter himself - when a staffer twitters, it says “(from staff)”.

A senior in Oz, Olive Riley, is is blogging at age 107. She blogs at The Life of Riley (what a great title!) Blogging is a great way for seniors to share their life stories and experiences through what is called “legacy blogging” .

It makes me think of my great-aunt who migrated to Australia from Malaysia when she retired from teaching school. She is now in her late 70s and lives with one of her children Every morning she walks down to the local library and logs on to check emails and keep in touch with our extended family who live all over the world. We have a family group site on Yahoo and she takes part in the conversation and news in that group site as well.

My grandfather told us the story of our ancestor who migrated to Malaysia from China, one Xmas thirty years ago and I captured that on an old hissy cassette. He died a year later and that is the only recording of his voice and our family story. It is very precious to us and to preserve it for posterity, I’ve uploaded it as a podcast on my other blog, Fusion View.

My father has also featured as a Guest Blogger on Fusion View with his Memories of Malaya series. He’s 70 today and he writes out his posts by hand and has his secretary type them up!

In Singapore, the oldest blogger in the nation conducted a talk for seniors about how to blog late last year. I’d really like to know the outcome of that event and see some of the blogs that he inspired.

I hope that many other families will be inspired by Olive to encourage their seniors to blog or to record and share their stories in some way through interviews that are then uploaded to social networks like blogs or podcast sites.

In the first week or so of launching this blog, I had one of my first visitors, Michael Beck, who also goes by the moniker digitalnomad. He has been a great resource, showing me a number of social networking sites. These are sites where bloggers can register and join a community of other bloggers with shared interests or themes. You can click on a community to join it and also add another member as a contact or friend. This links you into a diverse and international group of people that you can exchange messages with. It’s like joining a club or society or network in the real world - you all come from your different backgrounds and hook up at the club etc to share your knowledge and experiences.

Here are some that Michael introduced me to:

MyBlogLog.com - you can add some code to your blog and when other community members visit your site, their picture appears on your MyBlogLog roll. Take a look at the roll at the bottom of the far right side bar below.

Ziki.com - a similar site but without the picture roll facility.

Zimbio.com - a similar community site again. Here, you can create a page that showcases all your different blogs (if, like me, you have more than one), photos, videos and music all in one page.

Michael is based in Atlanta, USA andmaintains a series of blogs that review and report on trends specific to working and living in a mobile society. He blogs at The SOHO Quest (SOHO stands for small office - home office) and - his Ziki entry says: “Work and Live Where You Want/ Freedom Through Knowledge”. His interests include travel, photography, art, and anything involving e-commerce and nascent technology in the support of personal and financial freedom. Michael’s other blog The Sovereign Journey deals with the issues of personal privacy, natural law, self ownership and self determination.

Did I know him before this? No. Did he know me? No. Here is a great example of how web communities can work - people helping each other because they enjoy sharing knowledge and information. So, thanks, Michael, for being my guide to some new social networks!

I joined the networks out of curiosity and I’ve found that they’ve been a great way to find new and interesting blogs - especially grouped by themes. You can explore - and join - different subgroups eg about art, photography, technology, business, politics etc. It’s also a good way to connect your blog to a wider audience. Zimbio.com, for example, has a feature where you can capture the feed from your current blog and display its contents on the Zimbio site as well as on your own blog. I like MyBlogLog the most at the moment because the communities and contacts are laid out in an easy to follow, intuitive way and its easy to get the concept of what its all about very quickly. I also like the clever little “widget” that you can put in your sidebar that displays which other members of MyBlogLog have visited your site - see the bottom of the far right sidebar for pics of who has visited ZenGuide recently. You can click through via their pics and discover a new blog - and friend.

Update: Ian Delaney, editor of New Media Knowledge (www.nmk.co.uk)told me: “Why I joined (MyBlogLog)? Because I’ll sign up for almost any new web service going! I actually have some misgivings about the loss of privacy that is created by MBL, but not serious enough to close my account, obviously.” Ian blogs at http://twopointouch.com/.

If you’re part of any of the networks I’ve mentioned and would like to share your views/ experiences about them, please do add a comment or email me. Or if you’re part of another network, please do tell me about it via a comment or email.

Neville Hobson, ABC, is a communicator, blogger, podcaster and Second Life explorer, one of the leading European early adopters and influencers in social media communication for business. He blogs at NevilleHobson.com with commentary and opinion on business, communication and technology, and co-presents “For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report” (www.forimmediaterelease.biz), a twice-weekly business podcast at the intersection of online communication, business and technology, which he began in January 2005. He blogs at NevilleHobson.com

I met Neville at a talk at the City Womens Network earlier this year. The subject was Managing Your Image and he was one of the panellists - speaking about managing your image online. I’d been following his podcast for awhile and you know how you form a view of someone from their voice. Well, he was how I imagined he would be - he is approachable and friendly while having an aura of quiet authority. And he’s very tall. I took that photo of him and made him bend his knees so it could be a face shot and not one looking up his nostrils…

His podcast is a great insiders look into marketing and technology but a bit tecchy in places. He’s also a keen Second Lifer with an “island” in Second Life where his marketing company Crayon has a presence.