Congratulations to Connie Crosby and Eden Spodek on launching a great new podcast, Community Divas.  The show explores the role and dynamics of community with an apparent focus on social media.

Connie and Eden jumped off the ropes swinging by releasing a great two-part discussion with Jay Moonah.  How they limited him to just two episodes is beyond me, and I mean that positively — because Jay has a million insightful ideas, he’s energetic and most importantly, speaks eloquently — not because there’s a running joke that Jay talks a lot.

There was a fleeting moment during which Connie and Eden recognized that some people refer to web services and their verbifed names such as Twitter, Facebook, Ning, MySpace, etc… as community.

Consider that web communication services are tools just like a telephone; they’re widgets that enable people to connect.  And like widgets, their appeal cycle is far less permanent than their purpose cycle.  That is, if a new tool emerges with a fresh look, improved interface and simpler API, people will flock, en-masse, to the new tool.  The constant migration of the community from one tool to the next, and the effort to re-establish itself in a new location is more like changing your bank account to start fresh than flying south to avoid the cold of winter (although, now that I’ve written that I realize there are strong parallels with both).

If the tool really was the community, we would no longer have any connection or way to connect with others in that community when the tool collapsed.

Be sure to follow the discussion over at Community Divas.

Thank you, Dave Fleet, for drawing my attention Christie Blatchford’s comments on blogging and online conversation.

The general public has had the ability to join the conversation at newspapers (and magazines) for years through letters to the editor even if the online community believes this to be a new phenomenon, exclusive to themselves. To their credit, editors publish letters that present both supporting and contrary points of view — just like a normal conversation would.

The process of having a letter to the editor printed includes an editorial review which selects the letters that present an intelligent argument or thought in a productive way, and may also involve the refinement of the letter in a way that includes both the author of the letter and the editor of the newspaper. There are many logical and obvious reasons for this approach including the fact that there is a finite amount of space on the printed page.

Comment moderation on a forum, blog or podcast site isn’t even a distant cousin of the newspaper approach. There is a lot of pressure in the online community to not moderate comments in favour of letting people share their uncensored, unrefined and kneejerk thoughts. Ms. Blatchford correctly points out that this typically leads to a ‘brief, ungrammatical shouting match‘.

In the race to be heard online, the favoured approach has become being the contributor that ‘yells’ the loudest — intelligible or not. Website owners would never dare to suggest working with the commenter to make their comments more productive. It’s socially unacceptable and has become an unwritten yet well known rule. Even if that approach were acceptable, most site owners don’t have the time to take that upon themselves, much less do it without consulting with the contributor.

I don’t expect that there will ever be a happy medium to this conundrum and that’s why many journalists won’t take to blogging even if their employer allows and encourages it. It may also be the reason behind the increasing number of newcomer-bloggers that don’t allow comments or provide contact information on their sites. Commenters no longer need the cooperation of the site owner since they can post their own points or counter points on their own sites.

The challenge for newspapers is to find a way to evolve their approach to conversation management from the printed page to the online world — becoming more responsive and yet still working within the ever evolving and increasingly bootstrapped revenue models.

Niagara-on-the-Lake is not the first place I’d think of to host a social media event.  John Meadows, Keith Burtis and Bill Deys on the other hand, knew something about the location and timing.  The three of them collaborated to organize the first of what could be many summer-based events in that region.  While partners and families weren’t part of the geeky program of the weekend, the organizers made several efforts to include the social media widows and orphans during meals and a tour of Inniskillin on the Sunday morning.  It was great to move beyond the fishbowl and meet the people behind the scenes — a lot of very nice and patient partners and children.

NOTL2008, as it is known, was a gathering of about 30 people at the Prince of Wales Hotel in downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake.  It was a small and engaged group despite the over-the-top posh room the event was held in.  While the room was a concern of mine from the beginning of the day, the sessions were extremely interesting and the layout of the room quickly vanished as I focussed on the conversation.  My favourite session was Sean McGaughey’s talk called I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like in which he discussed podcasting, friends and community, relating real life now to real life then.

There were a lot of conversations during the weekend about the kind of event that had been originally considered — a BBQ with a few speakers which apparently had to be changed when the venue discovered it was double-booked.   Then there was talk about what the event could be including something a little more cozy like an actual gathering at a campground.  Despite all of that talk of what could have been and what could be, NOTL2008 was many things that other events haven’t been and sported a more cozy spirit which included all-you-can eat homemade chocolate chip cookies (thanks, Keith’s mom!).

It was particularly nice to see people who have largely taken a support role at other events move into a more visible role by organizing this event.  I hadn’t considered that August was a good time to meet.  I had actually dismissed the idea and discovered that it was a great time to regroup and gear up for what has historically been viewed as the coming of a new season of social media production.

Earlier this evening, Keith Burtis asked (in Twitter) if a parent should have their child’s strengths or weaknesses tutored.  I enjoyed being a part of the discussion with Keith and Eden Spodek and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

As a parent, I’d like to think I could be happy to support my daughters’ strengths and not add any further burden by forcing either of them to give up precious free time to build up any semblance of strength in weak subjects.  Frankly, there is so little time in the day to decompress and to connect as a family and much of that is already consumed by surprising amounts of homework (something I have a huge issue with).  The question is, can I practice as a parent what I preach as a blogger?

I think what needs to be done is not teach the child out of any weakness but to find ways to energize the child despite their weakness.  A great teacher or tutor is the kind of person that knows how to get a student excited and curious about any subject.  The child should be helped to find his/her own love of the topic and explore it for success.  They may never be good at it in conventional terms, but they can find their own opportunities for success within that space.

A music teacher I took lessons from a few years ago has an enthusiasm for music of all kinds (from classical to industrial heavy metal) that is infectious and inspiring.  It made me more excited and interested in learning about all kinds of music (from classical to industrial heavy metal) even though I wasn’t successful at or previously interested in some styles.  Not only that, he found ways to relate the different kinds of music to each other and showed how to apply that knowledge to a variety of styles, songs and composition techniques.  I  believe our children need that type of inspiration, enthusiasm and support in everything they do — whether it plays into their strengths or weaknesses.

I’ve been tagged by Daniele Rossi and Bob Goyetche to share six random things about me with the world.  So, before anyone else tags me, I thought I’d get my post done.  Actually, I just returned tonight from a six-day camping trip in Niagara on the Lake (more on that to come).

Here are six random things about me:

1. My dream bass is a Spector NS-2.  I must have one — when I can afford one.

2. When I turned 21, I developed migraine headaches triggered by nuts.  I miss eating pistachios.

3. The last time I smoked a cigar was at The Funk Brothers concert at Bluesfest 2004.

4. I keep procrastinating writing music for my CD.

5. I’m taking a night class this fall.

6. I want Ira Glass to speak at PAB2009.

My tag-victims are Maurizio Ortolani, Jeff Parks, Saul Colt, Stevie Z, John Meadows and Bill Deys.

Random rules (hat tip to ):
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

This seems pretty basic and yet people still seem to get this wrong.

If you’re starting a new site, be sure to do a Google search on your desired site name(s) and URLs to make sure the exact name and/or URL, or closely similar names and/or URLs are not already taken. This is particularly important if you plan to use the exact name or a close variant of a popular site in the exact same niche. It only takes a few minutes to do the research. The tools are amazingly easy to use and are completely free.

When you launch a new site, take at least five minutes to do your due diligence.

Being unique is important. If you do something similar to someone else, using the same site name and an only slightly different URL, it’s going to be confusing for the public and it’s going to split search engine results. On top of everything else, it’s not going to do anything to help you build your own unique brand and community.

I had meant to include the following Twitter comment from Julien Smith in my post titled While you were out…

“Hint: playing by the same rules as everyone else gets you the same place everyone else is.”
– Julien Smith, August 7

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein

Over the last few years of growth in social media, I’ve observed an increasing divide between the hobbyist and business communities. In one corner the hobbyists are concerned about the tainting of social media by business interests and can’t see any value in understanding legitimate opportunities to use business strategies to improve and promote their social media projects. In the other corner, the business folks aren’t interested in mingling with the hobbyists and can’t see the value in learning from the the independent content producing pioneers; in many cases dismissing them out of habit for the big media companies.

Both are missing the point. Both are losing.

I believe there is little value in attending events exclusively in your own domain of expertise and interest. In order to push the boundaries you must explore other possibilities, examine how other hobbyists and businesses engage their communities, communicate with others and design their workflows.

Let’s examine my situation. My medium of choice is typically audio. Limiting myself to understanding content development for audio only will limit my creativity and opportunities. Understanding how text and video producers use their tools to tell stories and engage their audiences may help me identify innovative ways to produce audio programs. Consider that Cirque du Soleil isn’t exclusively a circus, theatre production or opera company. It’s a unique combination of elements from each — and other artistic and performance domains — which couldn’t have been achieved if the creators confined themselves to understanding a single art form.

Hobbyists would be wise to attend some business, marketing and media conferences and/or classes to learn how things have been done in a traditional sense and which innovative ideas are being considered now. There is likely to be a thing or two that will inspire them and may re-energize their projects (at the very least, their interest in their projects). Hobbyists might also consider listening to podcasts from a number of categories. They can learn a lot about engaging a community from Six Pixels of Separation, educating and entertaining from the NACOcast, connecting multiple ideas together in each show from Spark and providing significant value from David Maister.

Business folks would be wise to attend social media conferences and listen to hobby podcasts of all categories to gain insight into what’s engaging and successful on a limited budget and how a single individual can create, record, edit, produce, publish and promote multimedia content. There’s a lot to learn from the storytelling style that makes up The Hollywood Podcast, the passion of a male knitter in It’s a Purl Man, the exploratory discussions and topical rants in On the Log and the conversational style to promoting literacy, an industry and its players in Just One More Book!!

In social media, you don’t just miss the phone call when you’re out, you miss the entire opportunity to grow.

My Remembrance Day tribute was released in November 2005. It remains one of the most emotionally powerful shows I’ve ever produced.

In this commentary I talk being fearless in gathering streeters, scraping ceremonial coverage from the radio, getting permission to use music by Bryan Adams and The Duhks, and making audio elements fit together tightly like an elaborate puzzle.

Other shows that I’ve produced in a similar style:

• Muchos Gracias, Robin Brande (on Just One More Book!!)
• Happy Birthday, Derek K. Miller (on Penmachine)

If you would like to hear commentary on a particular episode I have produced, send me an email (markblevis@gmail.com) or call my community hotline (+1.206.350.6487) and tell me which one you’d like to hear.

 

 Producer’s Commentary - Remembrance Day [12:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m officially announcing my intention to take my best crack at the song challenge #1 issued by Stevie Z on his Badly Bent blog.   I’m looking forward to this and hope that there is consensus among all participants to avoid getting stuck in cliches!