It's TV on the Internet

Thing-a-Day

What a great idea. Beat the winter doldrums, give yourself a kick in the rear, by committing to one month of doing something creative every day and reporting it to the world.

"Join artists and creators of all types and backgrounds in a collective creative sprint. Thing-a-day invites you to join a daily creative endeavor where everyone who signs up commits to making one thing (project, sketch, exercise) per day and shares it online on this collective blog. Take advantage of the opportunity to share ideas and receive constructive advice while developing new work."

I'm having fun participating. So far 1,418 participants have posted 4,024 things and wrote 4,498 comments. One can post a comment or give a quick thumbs up to projects. Great encouragement.

What a wonderful use of social media!

Walking the Talk: Atlanta's SoCon '08

After the overwhelming success of the first social media un-conference held last year, SoCon '08 picked up where we left off a year ago and kept running.

We've come a long way in a year. Social media has left the old vs. new media conversation behind. The big guns wowed us, but now we're translating what we learned from them into lessons useful to our own situations. And writing our own books. It's all about learning by doing.

The best news is that we are truly living social media; using the tools. And SoCon '08 provides a great example of just this point.

It all began before the event. We had our own gathering place set up ahead of time to meet and get to know one another. We had used Crowdvine last year as well, and it proved to be most effective once again in giving us a running start in networking and thus getting the most out of our 1.5 day unconference.

Once SoCon 'o8 began, the social media tools were put into use in earnest.

Robert Rhyne Armstrong live blogged the event from the opening presentation and open mic through the break out sessions. He used Cover It Live to do so. Check out his blog Tread Heavily and notice that it's all there--even comments from others as he blogged live.

Amani Channel posted video of the event on his My Urban Channel blog. Nice job, complete with interviews. (And not just because I'm on it!)

Several hundred photos were uploaded to the SoCon '08 Flickr group.

Josh Hallett made a very insightful observation of just what an unconference is on his blog Hyku.

While SoCon '08 is over, we're continuing the conversation with a new SoCon group on yet another social media networking tool, Ning, setup by Leonard Witt. Come on over and join in. Who knows what we'll cook up and be reporting next year at SoCon '09!

SoCon08!!!

If it's anything like last year, SoCon08 (February 8 & 9 at Kennesaw State University) promises to be a dose of jet fuel. (Uh oh, not politically  correct. Do I have to buy carbon credits?) It's a 1 1/2 day collective think immersion tank devoted to the extremely exciting phenomenon of social media. What's so exhilarating is that like the users of social media, the creators of social media create it socially as well--it's ever-changing. And that's what we're all doing and what the event is about; sharing what's going on, where it's going, and where it can go. And each one of us will be there with "Ahas" going off in our heads as to how it all fits into to what we're doing. Now this is what I call fun!

What is QNNtv?

Quick History of QNNtv: QNNtv has been online for 1 ½ years now. Perhaps a bit ahead of its time, QNNtv has weathered a shaky leadership at the start, earned credibility back from its industry, and now with the underlying buzz being "It’s all about the Internet” is enjoying the embrace of the quilting industry in developing excitingly creative marketing and educational programs taking advantage of the unique opportunities the Internet provides.

What makes us different from other video sites? We serve a true niche, with a rich library of special interest programming. Our viewers offer a targeted demographic. Our purpose is simply put: we enable creativity. The magic of QNNtv is the marriage of how-to programming with the capabilities inherent in the Internet that allow viewers instant access to further information, patterns, tools and supplies to realize their own creativity sparked by the programming. Magic!

SoCon07 Atlanta's Web 2.0 Unconference

Immersing myself in all things Web 2.0 over the past few months, I have been blogging and reading blogs, preparing to launch a wiki, working on a platform for viewer-submitted video for QNNtv, and considering an interactive directory for the industry. My brain has been grappling with how our audience will use--or whether they'll use-these tools, what benefits they bring and where and how to implement and promote and educate our audience about them. In all this time I have never met anyone traveling this same road. It's all been blogs and articles and books and websites. Until SoCon07.

Naturally, I found out about SoCon07 from a blog post. The description read:

SoCon07 - At this invigorating, thought-provoking unconference, you will meet bloggers, new media pros, academics, and people from across the spectrum of marketing, public relations, human resources and the executive ranks. Together we'll discuss how the very affordable, easy-to-use online tools of Web 2.0 are creating unlimited opportunity and change - around the globe and here in our own backyard.

No matter what your personal or professional take is on technology, you won't want to miss this chance to rub shoulders with the Weberati of our times! Local pioneers will discuss their successes and failures, some of the astonishing ways in which they see the world evolving, and what the new tools of Web 2.0 promise for all of us. Don't miss SoCon07, the first social media mashup of the south! 

The conference was everything it promised to be and more. With the "unconference" theme put into practice, at SoCon07 the premise was that the audience is collectively smarter than the panelists. Therefore a mic was passed around so the discussion at SoCon07 was truly collaborative, a la Web 2.0. We covered some important territory, with the participants self-correcting, just as we expect and see online. For example, one of the questions being asked is how Web 2.0 and disruptive technologies will affect us all.

As one would expect, at SoCon07 laptops were open and digital cameras snapping, with reports appearing on blogs as the conference unfolded. And Amber Rhea and Rusty Tanton of The Georgia PodCast Network recorded the conversation to be made available to everyone. The observation was made that with all this real time coverage we won't need to meet physically in the future; it will all be virtual via these fabulous tools.

In true social media form Tony Stubblevine set up a SoCon07 group on his new social networking site Crowdvine prior to the conference. With our profiles, blogs, and some pertinent door-opening questions for all of the participants, Crowdvine became an introduction, opening the door for individual networking at the conference. Having already "met", for instance, Jeff Haynie and Ken Grisnak in Crowdvine, we already had a conversation going when we met in person. It accelerated and increased the benefit of our time together. And after wards the social networking platform is even more powerful, providing each of us an easy way to find and communicate with those we met. Moreover, Crowdvine is the central axis for all of our web sites, individual blogging and video-casting. By linking us all together Crowdvine contains and tells the entire story of SoCon07 and becomes a base for continuing the conversation. It's a perfect example of the power of what brought us all together.

In the end the discussion regarding the need or no-need for physically meeting, we came to the conclusion that there will always be the need for direct interaction. That next year this conference may be even more widely dustributed online, but nothing will ever replace face-to-face. Sharing a passion for beer and food with Ken is rather difficult to do via e-mail. Not exactly the same! And a few conference-goers have kindly offered me their help in thinking through strategy at QNNtv. Are we going to do this online? Nope, lunch!

Many, many thanks to Sherry Heyl for acting on her idea of this unconference. You just never know until you try! And to Jeff Haynie who obviously put a ton of time and effort into making SoCon07 a success. And to everyone at Kennesaw Sate University who made us feel so welcome in their brand spanking new building. The conference was extremely organized. If Kennesaw State U is looking for a way to promote itself look no further than Leonard Witt, Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communications. Shoot, he makes me want to go back to school!