Disruptive Conversations

Last week Chris Brogan wrote a post asking basically "What the Hell is Up with Second Life?" where he talks about his own uncertainty about the value of Second Life.  It's a good post to read, and has some great comments as well.  I wound up posting my own comment to Chris - and then decided that it was a long enough commet that I should also just post it here.  So here it is:  (comments are of course welcome)

Chris,
Nice post... I think that, like you, many of us are trying to figure out what exactly Second Life means "in the big picture" of online communication.

To me the interesting aspect is that the combination of increasingly faster CPUs and increasingly ubiquitous broadband access has brought us to a space where we can actually interact with people in a "3-D" virtual world in something close to real time - and so Second Life represents to me an attempt at a newer interface for online communication and collaboration.

If you go back to the late 1980s, the dominant interface on computer networks was text "terminal window" (vt100, telnet, whatever) and all the interfaces were entirely text-based. Going into the early 1990s probably the leading interface at the time was the menu-based (and text) gopher. I still remember one of the first versions of my "Introduction to the Internet" courseware I wrote then that had a final chapter on new and upcoming technologies which talked about this thing called "World Wide Web" which was access by telnetting to info.cern.ch and logging in as "www". To follow a hypertext link you pressed the number on your keyboard that was after each link (see the image to the left).

Then came 1993 and the introduction of NCSA's Mosaic browser which fundamentally changed the user interface paradigm. Suddenly you could use your mouse! (Gasp!) And.... you could have *images* on the same page as text! Of course network connections (and PCs) were far slower then, so image-laden pages sometimes took forever to load, but it was a huge improvement over the text-only world. (Which, folks from that era may recall, was why Netscape was such a huge immediate hit - it introduced the progressive loading of images.)

While the browsers we use have evolved substantially and brought in all sorts of added functionality, the reality is that we're still using the same basic user interface we had 14 years ago. And so the hunger and hunt is for what is the *next* evolution of the ubiquitous online interface. Enter Second Life as the latest poster child for what *might* be the next interface.

We've been experimenting with virtual worlds since the early days of the Net... we've had MUDs and MOOs and all sorts of things. We've been trying "3-D" for ages, too. (Anyone remember VRML?) What I think is happening now is that the intersection of increased computing power and increased network speed, along with an incredibly massive number of people online (out of which to draw more early adopters and experimenters), has brought us to the point where we can actually think realistically about a richer collaboration/commmunication user interface than that of the web browser.

Will the end result be the interface of Second Life? Will it be one of the other contenders being introduced on almost a daily basis these days? Will it evolve out of one of the games like World of Warcraft? Will it be some combination of all of the above?

I think those are the questions... and the reasons why I, too, put up with the clumsy controls, technical issues, annoying avatar name restrictions and other, um, "challenges" of Second Life. I think of it as "Internet 3-D interface version 0.4" (or 0.04? or 0.004?) and am intrigued to see how it evolves.

P.S. Maybe one of these weeks I'll catch you at Coffee with Crayon. I went for a number of weeks but haven't been able to attend recently.

Probably the best part about "social media" is the wonderful people you wind up meeting!  In my weekly report into For Immediate Release last week, I spent most of the report addressing the question raised by a student about "what has podcasting done for you?" and my #1 point was that it has introduced me to a whole range of really amazing people... not just the listeners to both FIR and Blue Box, but also to all the other people working in the "social media" space.  Many of them have in fact become solid friends, even though in some cases I've never met them face-to-face... but just exchanged email, listened to their voices on podcasts, read their blogs, etc., etc.  The added fun is, of course, meeting face-to-face.

So it was only natural that when Bryan Person's family decided to have a mini-vacation and head to Burlington, VT, for a day for some skiing and to visit the area, he would drop me a note to see if I was around.  Bryan and I have been communicating with each other for quite some time and one time that my constant travels took me to Boston, we did actually meet for breakfast at my hotel, but this sounded like a great way to meet more socially.  We were around and wound up having a great dinner with Bryan's family and another couple in downtown Burlington.  In fact, we all enjoyed it so much that the visit extended into a brunch over at our house the next morning.  I mean, c'mon... if they come up from Boston we have to make sure they get some Vermont maple syrup!  (The other aspect of social media is that I'm sure it's only a matter of days before Bryper posts to Flickr some picture of me making waffles...  and I'm suddenly wondering how I looked that morning!  Of course, I'll probably know soon...)  Great conversations... the kids all played well together... all in all just a great time... with agreements to get together again in the future (like, when it is a wee bit warmer!).

Personal connections... created and fostered through the wonderful "conversational" aspect of this media... while it's true that you could always make online connections through mailing lists and websites, it's the "participatory" aspect of social media that I think really helps build those connections.  It is understood and expected that people will comment (on your blogs, podcasts, etc.) and otherwise engage in a conversation with you.  And out of those conversations can evolve relationships which can even evolve into friendships... and that's a powerful thing. 

If you notice the horizontal menu bar going across the top of this site or on Disruptive Telephony (sorry, RSS readers, you'll need to actually visit the site to see this), you'll notice a new addition to the list of the various blogs at which I write (you may have to refresh/reload your browser) ... yes, indeed, I figured it was probably time for me to add my Twitter page up there.

I've been experimenting with Twitter since the beginning of the year (courtesy of a tip from Chris Brogan) and as Jeff Pulver's "twitter is..." posting this morning shows, the definition of what Twitter is really useful for keeps evolving. 

For me, I've found it a great way to keep up with what some friends are doing... kind of like a RSS reader showing snippets from their blogs... but with occasional personal content.  It's also been a great source of links to things that are happening "now". Items that are "breaking news" within the circle of people that I find interesting... along with quirky offbeat things that people throw in as well.  I've posted some questions and received some great answers.  I'm not one of the "Twitter addicts" who seem to live on it... but I do check it a couple of times a day (more than I honestly check my RSS reader).  I have noticed in my own workflow that Twitter has replaced the "travel blogging" I used to post to my personal blog when I was on a trip. The ability to easily SMS from a phone helps with that.  I've also found it definitely driving traffic to my sites when I've posted a link there.  All in all I've found it quite useful.

Useful, enough, anyway, that I figured I ought to add it to my blog navigation bars... it is now one of the places I "blog".

Over on my Blue Box podcast website, I have easy subscription buttons that let you subscribe with iTunes, Yahoo!podcasts or Podcast Pickle (as well as providing a link to the standard RSS feed). There are probably 359 other services that I could put up there, but to be honest, those were the three I put up there when I started the site 1.5 years ago... and I've never really bothered to add more.  From a design point-of-view, I didn't really want to clutter up the sidebar with a zillion buttons... and in fact sometime I may go back in and clean the buttons I have there up a bit.

In any event, a listener wrote in and asked if we could add a button there so that folks could easily subscribe with podnova.  Which of course made me ask the obvious questions - what is podnova?  how many people use them?  why should I give them some of my precious sidebar space?

Being a JuiceReceiver user, I was intrigued to see that podnova was started by one of the original Juice developers, but still, I'm curious to know more.  Do any of you reading this use podnova on a regular basis?  What do you think of it?  Should I add a button to subscribe via the site? 

All comments and feedback are welcome.

I'm about a month overdue, but I wanted to publicly post a (belated) congratulations to fellow blogger and podcaster Martin McKeay for landing a job working for Alan Shimel at StillSecure... as a blogger and podcaster!  Well, as both Alan and Martin (as well as the press release) indicate, the job is a wee bit more than simply that.  As a "product evangelist", Martin's already been racking up the travel miles and getting out there talking about StillSecure's products.... but it will (and has already) include blogging and podcasting on behalf of the company, its products and its user community.

I've come to know Martin through the Security Round Table podcasts that we do together (with others) and also had great conversations with him face-to-face out at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo in Ontario, California last year.  He's a great guy and a tremendous evangelist for the security industry in general and in helping people understand what they need to do to secure systems.   I'm thrilled for him that he wound up in this position through his involvement in social media... and kudos to Alan Shimel and the others at StillSecure for hiring him.  I look forward to seeing what all emerges... and maybe some day, Martin, we'll wind up meeting face-to-face again.

 Because I am fascinated by this grand experiment called "social media", I like to play with various aspects just to see what might happen.  So for the last couple of months, I've been experimenting with ads in a couple of my RSS feeds through the Feedburner Ad Network.  I definitely do not expect to make any money off of it... for me it's more an experiment to see if anyone actually clicks through on ads in RSS feeds!

Due to the higher number of subscribers, most placements have been targeted toward my Blue Box podcast, and it's been both interesting and entertaining to see what ad campaigns are requested.  Because I feel a certain level of responsibility and respect for Blue Box listeners/subscribers, I'm very picky about what I let run.  There have been a few that were appropriate... and a few that weren't.

The newest campaign I was asked to approve, though, gave my head a bit of a spin. As you can see in the image to the right (click for a larger view), it's a campaign by Sun Microsystems to promote CEO Jonathan Schwartz's weblog!  As you'll note, I approved it since I figured it might actually be something of interest to our listeners (and you can see my nice spray paint job in Windows Paint to obscure the campaign details :-).  But think about this for a minute...  here is a very large company spending some of its advertising dollars to promote a weblog through ads in various RSS feeds!

Pretty interesting space we're in, eh?

Chris Brogan wrote a great piece today, "Maintaining Community Spirit In Larger Communities", that addresses the fact that the Podcamp movement has become so much bigger than the original organizers really imagined that it would be. He points to the fact that the upcoming Podcamp NYC will now have over 800 participants!  How do you maintain the "community" feel when an event starts to be so large.

His post is a good one and I'd encourage folks to read it and respond with their thoughts.

Having not (yet!) attended a Podcamp, but having attended far more conferences than I can list (including numerous VON events by Chris' employer) and being rather passionate about the whole "community" thing (comes from my many years in the free software/open source community as well as political organizing), I'll list a couple of my own thoughts (beyond what Chris has said, with which I agree) of what I've seen working best:

• Make it easy for people to identify each other - it's a small thing, but nametags with prominent names are a great thing. Don't make me squint.  But the first name in big print, even.  Company name... URL... all is good stuff.  I've seen some events where people have put color-coded stickers or symbols on nametags that identify you as from a certain area or interested in a particular topic.  Great ways to identify others you might like to chat with.  (In the Podcamp world, perhaps stickers for being a podcast producer, a blogger, etc.)
• Have a wide open central gathering place - make sure there's a place where people can gather and meet people.  Maybe near the registration desk.... preferably with comfy chairs, couches or tables.  Make it so that I can say "Great, I'll meet you at 2pm by the registration desk" and they'll: a) know what I'm talking about; and b) be able to opportunistically meet others.
• Have a noticeboard or other place for postings - make it easy for people to post notices of events or meetings or just notes for people.
• Provide communication backchannels - assuming there's decent WiFi access, plan for some kind of backchannel... IRC, Jabber, Skype groupchat... whatever (or all of the above).  Make it so that people can connect and meet.
• Encourage spontaneous BOF sessions - in the geek world we have a tradition of "Birds of a Feather" (BOF) sessions which are usually just spontaneously organized gatherings for groups of people.  Set aside some blocks of time, maybe even late at night, when people can create these sessions.
• Give plenty of time for breaks (and include food) - Chris mentioned this a bit, and it's definitely a great way to get people together... make sure there are breaks... preferably with food and drink... and provide enough time for people to mingle.
• Provide organized social events - On at least one of the nights, provide an organized social event that is just that... a social event.  This may need a sponsor, but it can be a great focal point.  It could be as (relatively) cheap as a shared meal brought in or it could be a dinner cruise on a local river or renting a club or restaurant. 
• Publicize a common "tag" for use in social media - encourage everyone posting about the event to use a common tag for blog posts, flickr, youtube, del.icio.us, etc. so that info about the event can be easily found.

I could probably go on at some length... but that's all I have time for right now.  What have you seen that has helped build "community" at a conference?  You can comment here... but I'd also encourage you to leave the comments over on Chris' post.

So I finally broke down and set up a Facebook account.  I'd been avoiding it for ages simply because I already have way too many accounts at different services.  I primarily use LinkedIn for maintaining connections, but I still have an orkut account from when I set it up back in 2004 and a Xing account from back when it was OpenBC.  There's probably a number of other systems where I set up a page to try it out and then never went back.  But I haven't set up a Facebook or MySpace page... I could say that it was because the demographic is much younger (true!), but the reality is that I just haven't had the time.  Lately, though, I've noticed a number of people seeming to use Facebook for business connections, and so it has slowly ratcheted its way up onto my list of things that maybe I should check out.  So late last night, I gave in and signed up.  If you are a Facebook user and I know you, feel free to go to my profile (click on the image above) and add me as a friend - I'll be glad to do so in return.  I don't expect I'll change my primary use of LinkedIn, but at least now I have something with which to experiment.

 Adding someone as a friend, though, did create the dilemma of trying to indicate the relationship.  As you can see in the picture to the left (click for larger image), I'm asked to indicate my relationship with fellow blogger Ken Camp.    We haven't lived or worked together... or been part of an organization... or taken a course or went to school.  I guess you could say we "Traveled together" in the sense that we've attended the same conferences... but that's not really the intent.  We didn't "meet randomly" and we certainly haven't "hooked up" (assuming my interpretation of that is correct! ;-) or dated.  He's not family and we didn't meet through a friend or through Facebook.

So how do I specify the relationship?  There isn't a category for "Met through blogging" or "Met through social media"... "listened to his podcasts"... etc.  There's a missing category there - or the need for an "other".  In the meantime, I've just left it blank.

To the others of you out there with Facebook accounts, what have you done in this situation?

Nice piece by Michael Seaton over at the Client Side Blog: "Presentations are Art".  As I've written here in the past, there's definitely a need to move beyond presentations that are simply filled with bullets.  I liked this part of his post:

I don't know about you, but I have yet to recall anything from a presentation where words on slides were the prevailing feature. However, I fondly remember (in detail) great stories and storytellers. These are the folks that use images over words and engage with an honest and compelling approach to the subject at hand. The ones who manage to energize, motivate and educate in a way that is conducive to their cause and yours.

Well said... and I totally agree.  There's actually a much longer post on the subject rattling around inside my head, but for the moment, I'd direct you over to Michael's post where he provides some tips about how to make your presentations better.

Nicely done, Michael.

As I mentioned previously, the blogosphere is all abuzz about Kathy Sierra's situation.  Out of all the buzz, here are some posts I found among the more interesting or insightful:

• Robert Scoble is taking the week off from blogging (and has a long comment trail)
• Seth Godin: Misogyny and anonymity
• Tara Hunt on The Unsinkable Kathy Sierra
• Stephanie Booth: Disturbed About Reactions to Kathy Sierra’s Post  (and I agree with her points about the rush to judgement)
• Lisa Stone: Hating Hate Speech: Safety for Kathy Sierra and all women online (excellent comments about the BlogHer community guidelines)
• Leesa Barnes: Discouraging Anonymity is Key to Protecting Visibility
• brand curve: zero violence blog graphic (an idea for a blog graphic to show support)
• Eric Eggertson: The Internet Was Built on Bullying, so Let’s not Pretend this Is New
• Chris Pirillo:I had Death Threats in High Schooll ("The problem isn’t with the blogosphere - it’s with the human race.")

Somewhere in all of that was also this Washington Post article:

• Washington post on people posting venomously

which, while not talking about this specific case, was a good commentary on the amount of venom appearing in blog posts and comments.

All in all an interesting day in the blogosphere....