http://www.markblevis.com sound connections Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:59:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I joined the Causeurs Sussex Speakers chapter of Toastmasters one year ago and achieved the goal I set out for myself: to complete my Competent Communicator manual in my first year. In May, I was elected club President of the 2008/09 year and today, served my first day in ... http://www.markblevis.com/expand-your-comfort-zone/ During her presentation at PAB2008, Whitney Hoffman provided her analysis of a fledgling and still relatively unknown podcast network that had great promise when it was launched last September. Whitney outlined what appears to be a breakdown in communications, lack of transparency and possibly the use of bloated claims ... http://www.markblevis.com/networks-as-rabbits-and-turtles/ So much has been said at PAB2008 that I wondered whether another post would add any value. And then I received an email asking me to share my thoughts on the weekend. I have many highlights from the conference including the addition of the Jolts, the 90-degree turn of the ... http://www.markblevis.com/in-short-ideas-and-attitudes/ Almost since the moment PAB began on Friday, we (Bob, Cat, Andrea and I) have been approached in person and through email by people who would like to help out with PAB09. Here are my unfiltered thoughts: 1) Start thinking of the topics you'd like to hear or speak about. ... http://www.markblevis.com/thoughts-on-how-to-help-with-pab/ There are so many things I want to share about PAB2008. I'm just too tired right now to do that. However, I didn't want to waste any time to say that this year's conference exceeded any and all expectations I could have imagined. Everyone was engaged and ... http://www.markblevis.com/pab2008-an-unbelievable-experience/ Yesterday I reported that Daniele Rossi (Stuttering is Cool), Melinda Mason (My Marilyn) and I will be on the Friday edition of CBC’s Sounds Like Canada.  Unfortunately, we've been rescheduled for Monday (June 23). http://www.markblevis.com/appearance-on-sounds-like-canada-delayed/ The number of conferences with a social media slant has been increasing over the last few years. I have attended a few of them and have found each to have their own unique style of promoting knowledge, community and collaboration. I decided that I'd take a few moments ... http://www.markblevis.com/an-early-morning-analysis-of-three-social-media-conferences/ Daniele Rossi (Stuttering is Cool), Melinda Mason (My Marilyn) and I will be on the Friday edition of CBC's Sounds Like Canada with current host Kathryn Gretsinger.  We'll be talking about being independent producers of audio content and this weekend's Podcasters Across Borders conference in Kingston, Ontario. Turn your radios to ... http://www.markblevis.com/being-interviewed-for-sounds-like-canada/ I had the chance to hang out with Saul Colt and Mike McDerment of FreshBooks yesterday. They were in Ottawa to be remarkable with their current and prospective clients. It may not seem that traveling to eat a meal with people is particularly remarkable. It is. ... http://www.markblevis.com/karma-marketing/ The first Social Media Breakfast Ottawa took place at the offices of Ramius Corporation this morning. It was a great inaugural event and attendance exceeded expectations. There always seems to be new people to meet in the Ottawa social media community. The guest speaker was Adrian Salamunovic of DNA11.com, ... http://www.markblevis.com/how-they-started-the-fire/ Bryan Person started it all in Boston, now Simon Chen, Ryan Anderson and Rob Lane bring the franchise to Ottawa when Ramius hosts the first Social Media Breakfast Ottawa on Tuesday, June 10 beginning at 7:30am. The event features guest speaker, Adrian Salamunovic, co-founder of DNA11, a company that pioneered the ... http://www.markblevis.com/social-media-breakfast-ottawa-1/ When I opened the email on Tuesday morning, I was paralyzed. My friend, mentor and fellow Toastmaster, Marcel Boudreau, had died in a car accident the day before. His forty-second birthday is in a few weeks. For most of the week I've found it difficult to breath and sleep ... http://www.markblevis.com/sergeant-at-arms/ Last year it was Quechup; now there is a new unscrupulous social networking site.  PAGII is spamming the contact lists of new registrants as a way of attracting more new people and artificially building its strength.  In the process, it's upsetting a lot of people who feel duped by the ... http://www.markblevis.com/pagii-another-unscrupulous-social-networking-site/ Based on a few requests I've received and feedback from my last webcast, I will be hosting an online session on interview skills at 8:00pmET on Monday, June 9. The session will cover techniques to prepare for and lead an interview for an audio recording, video recording or live ... http://www.markblevis.com/interview-skills-webcast-june-9/ Congratulations to Ian Graham. His vision of a collaborative, co-working space becomes a reality later today when he hosts an open house at The Code Factory, 246 Queen Street (Ottawa), second floor. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the open house. Instead, I dropped by The Code Factory ... http://www.markblevis.com/the-code-factory-opens-today/ From Stevie Z of The Sieve comes this great, monster-truck-rally-inspired promo for the 2008 edition of Podcasters Across Borders (PAB2008). As the promo says, don't forget to P A Be there! http://www.markblevis.com/p-a-be-there/ Thank you to everyone for commenting on my site, sending me emails and Twitter messages, and stopping me in the hallways at Mesh to talk about and support my coverage of the conference.  I didn't expect this kind of response. Despite all of that, I've learned my lesson.  I will again ... http://www.markblevis.com/for-the-record/ Sociologist Sam Ladner was direct when she opened her session on reputation management and monitoring. "We won't talking about reputation systems", she said. "eBay reputations will not be part of our discussion. Read Bryce Glass' blog if want to know more. He also has a Slideshare ... http://www.markblevis.com/reputation-management-and-monitoring/ Given my involvement in reBookMe.com, I decided to hear the CEOs Julia Johnston (mEgo), Leah Culver (Pownce) and Ryan Carson (DropSend) tell their stories in a discussion led by Mike McDerment. Conversations that are based on stories are incredibly engaging. In that respect, this panel was strong. More importantly, ... http://www.markblevis.com/marketing-a-web-app-is-a-full-time-job/ In case you hadn't heard, GM announced in March that they are moving half of their $3 billion marketing budget, to third largest in the United States, to digital and one-to-one initiatives (GM Changes Game, Puts $1.5 Billion Online). That's a full $1.5 billion dollars, a sizable portion of ... http://www.markblevis.com/social-media-and-the-enterprise/ Today's second session was a conversation between Mesh organizer Michael McDerment and Garrett Camp. Garrett is a co-founder of StumbleUpon, a social sharing site bought by eBay in 2007 for $75-million. StumbleUpon's origins are in Calgary which makes it one of many Canadian web 2.0 success stories; stories that include ... http://www.markblevis.com/stumbleupon-social-sharing-funding-and-corporate-purchase/ First off, I want copies of the monologues by The Voice. Like day one, today opened with a great introduction which was both entertaining and shockingly realistic. The first 'keynote' featured a discussion between Mesh organizer Stuart MacDonald and Lane Merrifield, Executive Vice President Walt Disney Internet Group, Co-founder and ... http://www.markblevis.com/club-penguin-a-virtual-world-for-the-early-adopters/ There was a lot of comparing which Mesh sessions resonated most with those in attendance, last evening.  I was particularly impressed by the Metronauts session (Government 2.0: from community participation to co-creation) and found that there were some folks in the session that disagreed with me.  Their argument was that ... http://www.markblevis.com/what-makes-metronauts-remarkable/ I'm a huge fan of case studies so I've been looking forward to this session by Mark Kuznicki and Sean Howard. This is one session with a specifically built-in audience largely of government employees, consultants to government and government relationship representatives of private sector companies (including what appeared to be ... http://www.markblevis.com/government-20-from-community-participation-to-co-creation/ Ahh... a workshop on creating content that people want to consume. This one was led by the MGImedia team (makers of CommandN.tv) including Amber MacArthur, Jeff MacArthur (yes, Amber's brother) and Chris Dick. I'm going to start off with two counterpoints so I can get them out of the ... http://www.markblevis.com/making-online-videos-people-want-to-watch/ Mesh represents the first time I've truly 'live blogged' an event.  I've learned a few very interesting things in the process. It's a great way to take notes and kick off a conversation When you record your thoughts in a stream-of-conscious method, you can sometimes miscommunicate or forget to review some of ... http://www.markblevis.com/the-danger-of-live-blogging/ Amber MacArthur led a talk about the proliferation of video content on the web called Video is Everywhere. The panelists introduced themselves and their roles within their organizations as follows: Dina Kaplan (blip.tv): original episodic content on the web and matching of content with revenue opportunities Andre Gaulin (CTV): tasked with ... http://www.markblevis.com/video-is-everywhere/ I've seen Michael Geist speak on several occasions and each time, despite the overlap of the content, each presentation is engaging and fresh. (defensive clarification: There is a common thread in Michael's presentations, which is a good thing. This presentation was loaded with new examples on a theme I have ... http://www.markblevis.com/michael-geist-digital-advocacy-is-the-new-normal/ Ethan Kaplan of Warner Bros. Music has clearly given a lot of thought to how the music industry is evolving and he offered some very interesting insights on some of the high profile activities in the music business over the last year. Ethan's opened his sit-down chat with Matthew Ingram by ... http://www.markblevis.com/ethan-kaplan-record-companies-as-venture-capitalists/ Mesh opened a few minutes ago with a great monologue about social media by The Voice from CBC radio's The Current.  I would love to get a copy of that monologue! While I had been looking forward to the keynote by Matt Mason, a visa problem has kept him from making ... http://www.markblevis.com/currently-this-is-mesh/ Last night's Third Tuesday Toronto had a more relaxed atmosphere than the events I'm familiar with in Ottawa. Perhaps that was because of the size of the crowd (standing room only in a room with a capacity of 160) or maybe because I was sitting with the wild kids ... http://www.markblevis.com/measuring-third-tuesday-toronto/ The book business has changed dramatically over the last few years. Stores that specialize in selling books and actually have intimate knowledge of the books they sell -- and can order -- are a dying breed. The big box stores have redefined how people buy books. More ... http://www.markblevis.com/marketing-the-spine/ My registration is in, travel arrangements complete and my accommodations booked.  I'm going to Mesh for my first time and I'm looking forward to being part of the experience. I suppose part of the decision was the fact that I was asked twelve times over the course of three days if ... http://www.markblevis.com/im-going-to-mesh/ I have attended many conferences in the last few years. Each offered fantastic opportunities to network, learn and make new friendships. At the end of each conference, we head in separate directions and our connections migrate to the online world using tools such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. ... http://www.markblevis.com/the-future-model-of-conferences/ In this podcast, I continue my Ottawa Web Weekend interviews with team members: Chamika Chulaka Ailapperuma Rob Caza Music: Bigfoot from Elegant Chaos by Robert Farrell http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-interviews-part-3/ Each team weighed in during the latest checkpoint meeting at Ottawa Web Weekend.  It almost felt like a NASA pre-launch go/no-go exchange as marketing, business, design and then development sounded off on the remarkable progress each has made today. That's no surprise really.  Today's discussions have been very focussed and energized, ... http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-in-the-home-stretch/ To keep the momentum going, I recap what the Ottawa Web Weekend team has achieved, what the next 12-hours hold for us and I share my thoughts on what makes the Ottawa Web Weekend a great experience. Music: Bigfoot from Elegant Chaos by Robert Farrell http://www.markblevis.com/walking-to-ottawa-web-weekend-day-two/ We're minutes away from wrapping up a 12-hour day of planning, designing and coding. Business plans, marketing strategies, web-interfaces, back-end databases are all underway and getting stronger as we go. I took a few minutes to speak with Bruce Nolan -- who has taken on the role of Development Coordinator ... http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-saturday-wrap-up/ Ottawa Web Weekend is taking place at the future home of The Code Factory, a collaborative, co-working space founded by Ian Graham. The facilities are still under construction, heading towards a launch on May 20. Ian was kind enough to give me a tour. My favourite part of this ... http://www.markblevis.com/ian-graham-of-the-code-factory/ In this podcast, I continue my Ottawa Web Weekend interviews with team members: Danish Khan John Jardine Cory Taylor Will Harding Matt Tate Sam Bitar Steve Lecompte Marc-André Plouffe Music: Bigfoot from Elegant Chaos by Robert Farrell http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-interviews-part-2/ In this podcast, I interview Ottawa Web Weekend team members: Kim von Arx Chamika Ailapperuma Arvind Ramaswamy Patrick Hankinson Jamie Ostler Frank Epton Mark Stephenson Natasha D'Souza Eric Lucier Music: Bigfoot from Elegant Chaos by Robert Farrell http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-interviews-part-1/ In the first of a series of podcasts about the Ottawa Web Weekend, I explain the goals and structure and the weekend, my plans for the podcast series and I wrap up by buying a tea before heading to The Code Factory for a twelve hour day of design, development ... http://www.markblevis.com/explaining-ottawa-web-weekend/ One of the most fascinating aspects of the Ottawa Web Weekend is that it takes the typical design and development cycle of say 6-12 months and compresses it into 28 hours -- and with a group that has never worked together before.  Everyone is focused, engaged and interested.  This is ... http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-drilling-down-on-the-concept/ Most of us had never met before 6pm when the Ottawa Web Weekend kicked off. It was a fast paced introduction, though. By the time 10pm rolled around, we had introduced ourselves, shared ideas for web products, debated the ideas and finally picked one to work on as ... http://www.markblevis.com/collaboration-and-cooperation-at-ottawa-web-weekend/ Violation of the site's terms of use notwithstanding, a Brandon, Manitoba teen is facing several criminal charges for impersonating one of his teachers in Facebook.  The charges relate to impersonation with criminal intent. Let's get a few things out of the way.  I haven't seen the Facebook profile in question, nor ... http://www.markblevis.com/criminal-charges-access-education-and-the-digital-native/ I've registered to participate in the Ottawa Web Weekend taking place May 9-11 at TheCodeFactory (246 Queen Street, second floor). Twenty-three people have registered to participate (so far); specialists in programming/architecture/systems, design/integration, marketing/media/communications, business and law.  The plan is that over a weekend of crazy long hours of collaboration, a new ... http://www.markblevis.com/23-registered-for-ottawa-web-weekend/ Notwithstanding how much of a fan I am, it was definitely worth the extra $110 to see The Police for a second time on their 'reunion tour'. I took in their July 25, 2007 show at the Bell Centre in Montreal (click here for that blog post), and last ... http://www.markblevis.com/dont-miss-the-third-leg-of-the-police-tour/ In order to make some space available for some personal projects, I have decided to put Electric Sky on hiatus. The site (including a recent wave of new shows) and RSS feed will remain online and fully functional. http://www.markblevis.com/electric-sky-on-hiatus/ Whitney Hoffman and I spoke Sunday evening about the debate over the fee for the upcoming PodCamp Boston.  It seems that many people are quite upset about the fee and have used the argument that communities shouldn't charge its members to participate in events.  That's when we started to talk ... http://www.markblevis.com/have-a-coffee-go-to-podcamp/ We received a package from Andrea Beaty, author of several children's books including Iggy Peck, Architect (a Time Magazine top-10 children's book for 2007) and Dr. Ted. We ceremoniously opened our package this morning and uncovered two boxes of Gummi Bandaids for our two daughters, and three 'prescription notepads' that promote ... http://www.markblevis.com/a-brilliant-marketing-campaign/ It's been a while since I've published outtakes from an interview and with the tight format of my Electric Sky Portrait episodes (10 minutes each), there are plenty. Here are the contents of the virtual cutting room floor from this week's interview with Stephen Gritt, Chief Conservator, Restoration and ... http://www.markblevis.com/electric-sky-outtake-stephen-gritt/ For a thin guy, I sure cast a giant shadow. Even though I'm always transparent about the collaborative nature of the projects I'm involved in -- Canadian Podcast Buffet, Podcasters Across Borders and Just One More Book to name a few -- my collaborators including Bob Goyetche and his wife Cat, ... http://www.markblevis.com/blevisus-creditus-magneticus/ I'll be participating in an ooVoo session as part of PodCamp NYC.  The session begins at 2pm and focuses on the use of social media tools (such as ooVoo) to connect and inspire people to communicate in meaningful ways.  I understand that one discussion will explore the use of social ... http://www.markblevis.com/ill-be-part-of-a-podcamp-nyc-oovoo-session/ When The Police announced their reunion tour in 2007, I told my daughters that I'd dye my hair blonde if they came to Ottawa. While I hoped they would, I never expected that The Police would actually make it here. I had completely forgotten about my remark when, in February, ... http://www.markblevis.com/im-kinda-sorta-blond/ As you may have heard, Ross (Zee and Zed, Dry Shave) had a heart attack and triple bypass surgery last week. Bob Goyetche and I have been in contact with Ross and Karen and have found out what they need and where to send it. Please send your humourous get ... http://www.markblevis.com/humourous-get-well-cards-for-ross/ During the Ottawa Geek Dinner on Wednesday, a group of us talked about the TED talks. I started asking people about their favourite TED talks and got some great answers (especially from Mitch Joel who had the privilege of being at TED 2008). It's amazingly hard to pick them. ... http://www.markblevis.com/top-5-ted-talks/ In the last twelve hours I've received several identical (and supposedly personal) Facebook messages from legitimate friends urging me to check out an application that will identify who has a crush on me by sending text messages to my phone (I can only imagine the flood of spam and advertisements ... http://www.markblevis.com/has-facebook-been-hacked/ Today's Ottawa Citizen features an article by Kate Heartfield about Just One More Book!!, a children's book podcast I produce with my wife, Andrea. It's a great article with only one minor mistake -- it was actually Andrea's idea to merge our two passions of podcasting (me) and children's ... http://www.markblevis.com/just-one-more-book-featured-in-the-ottawa-citizen/ I produce a number of different podcasts. Each one is different from the others in content, delivery and style. Today, I learned something about doing different multiple, unique shows. It had been a while since I recorded a new interview for the Portrait format of Electric Sky. My ... http://www.markblevis.com/your-podcast-muscle/ I was a (small) part of an email exchange on the topic of how Facebook policies affect your corporate logo should you decide to put it on that site. It was Robin Browne who had kicked off the discussion and I deferred to Andy Kaplan-Myrth of the University of ... http://www.markblevis.com/how-facebook-policies-affect-your-corporate-logo/ I donated blood this morning for the first time in years. For the purpose of this post, let's suppose that today was the first time I donated blood. I was amazed to learn that a single donation by a single person will save three lives in five days. That's ... http://www.markblevis.com/lets-save-75-lives-in-2-weeks/ Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day.  Everyone is encouraged to carry a poem with them and share it with friends, colleagues, coworkers and family. Have you written your own poem that you are willing to share, here? http://www.markblevis.com/its-poem-in-your-pocket-day/ With the nudge of Mitch Joel (Six Pixels of Separation) being in town, Robin Browne (DaBizBlog) has organized Geek Dinner Ottawa to take place on Wednesday, April 23 at 6:30pm at the Blue Cactus Bar and Grill (2 Byward Market). If you plan on going, please drop a comment here so ... http://www.markblevis.com/geek-dinner-ottawa-april-23/ Based on a number of conversations I've had recently, I've decided to host a webcast on audio mixing. This webcast will explore: audio mixing for creative effect how audio frequencies can impact your mix using your ears to mix for your listener Instead of demonstrating and supporting specific software packages, I will be discussing concepts ... http://www.markblevis.com/audio-mixing-webcast/ I was recently invited to a social media gathering in Ottawa. In fact, I received two invitations from the host within ninety minutes of each other; one from Meetup.com, the other from Facebook. Unfortunately, I don't believe I can attend the event. Nevertheless, I checked both sites to gauge ... http://www.markblevis.com/pick-your-event-site/ From the oxymoron file, VNC has successfully failed to connect. http://www.markblevis.com/successfully-failed-to-connect/ My favourite part of being a podcaster is meeting people. In particular, I value having the opportunity to speak with others and learn more about the human condition in the process. That is to say that in the process of learning about bees, law, aviation history, museum exhibits ... http://www.markblevis.com/my-wish-list-of-interview-guests-living-and-dead/ During a recent lunch, a friend of mine and I discussed our careers and how, over time, we've gradually moved up the various layers of the seven-layer OSI Reference Model. In English, we've moved further away from the bits and bytes level of data communication to the applications that ... http://www.markblevis.com/representing-the-social-element-in-the-osi-reference-model/ I joined the legions of enthusiastic iPhone owners last week when I powered-up my brand new smartphone.  This week I join the chorus of iPhone owners who wonder about how, in entering the smartphone market with a much anticipated product, Apple went so far without going the distance. No way to ... http://www.markblevis.com/reflections-on-my-first-week-with-an-iphone/ When it comes to a career in art, design and illustration, Bob Staake has seemingly done it all. Among his many accomplishments, Bob has done covers for The New Yorker magazine, corporate work for the likes of Coca Cola, and has written some amazing children's books. While this may be ... http://www.markblevis.com/andrea-and-mark-a-sketch-by-bob-staake/ Okay... I made a mistake. After making my post The record industry doesn't want your money -- and only after publishing that post -- I hopped on to iTunes and was shocked to discover that some of the obscure acts I mentioned in the post, and was so convinced were long ... http://www.markblevis.com/the-music-industry-does-want-your-money/ Something unexpected happened last night. While waiting for my main computer to complete a backup, I found myself on Twitter to continue an earlier discussion about Canadian 80's music. Somehow, the conversation evolved into great music, big hair and cheesy videos. Things got out of hand when we discovered ... http://www.markblevis.com/the-music-industry-doesnt-want-your-money/ I just turned off a podcast interview I was listening to after offering the host about 10 minutes of my day (the interview was apparently 30 minutes long). I shut it off because the host broke what I believe to be a very important rule of interviewing: respect. ... http://www.markblevis.com/respect-reminders-for-interviewers/ Three years ago, I proudly announced to everyone who asked that I did not own an iPod, nor did I intend to ever own one. I was a supporter of the underdog, the iRiver, thank you very much. In August 2006, I realized that interface and integration was everything and ... http://www.markblevis.com/iblevis/ I enlisted the help of some friends to share experiences and ideas related to conference and unconference organizing. The hope is to kick off a conversation in which everyone -- conference organizers, sponsors, participants, vendors, etc... -- contributes and makes future events more smooth, successful and creative. Contributors Dave Delaney Whitney Hoffman Jay ... http://www.markblevis.com/thoughts-on-organizing-a-conference-part-1/ I dug into my archives this morning to see what I was blogging about last year at this time and was struck by a coincidence. On April 3, 2007 I wrote a post titled Less is more in which I discussed scaling back the number of social media/social networking ... http://www.markblevis.com/deja-vu/ Having a portable digital recorder offers you the freedom to record anywhere you like. This also presents challenges. Nothing ruins a great recording the way electric and radio interference does. These types of interference can overpower what you are actually recording and can sweep across many frequencies ... http://www.markblevis.com/placing-your-digital-recorder-at-a-remote-location/ Okay.  I realize that this is not a new idea.  Nevertheless, please let me vent. A long, long time ago, websites were new and exciting... and static.  Since updating websites was a pain in the you-know-what, they found their place as online brochures that could be updated even though that was ... http://www.markblevis.com/your-website-is-not-a-brochure/ I read The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll at the beginning of the summer 1993. I had never read a book so quickly; four days' worth of morning and evening commutes on the city bus (less than five hours) to and from my summer job at the Communications Research ... http://www.markblevis.com/do-you-want-to-know-about-the-future/ ars technica reported, yesterday, that Bell Canada has come clean and announced that it has implemented traffic throttling technology across its DSL service and expects to complete the rollout by early April (Canadian ISPs furious about Bell Canada's traffic throttling).  And in the same way that it's not much of ... http://www.markblevis.com/bell-strikes-secretly/ For several months now I have struggled to get my Blackberry's calendar to sync with iCal on my Mac. This is true with both Missing Sync and PocketMac for Blackberry. Today, my Blackberry started to chew up my address book -- both in my computer and on the ... http://www.markblevis.com/im-done-with-blackberry/ It's a technological barn raising; an innovative idea called Web Weekend, modeled after something called Startup Weekend. The concept is simple. A group of people gather in one place for an entire weekend to conceive a web-based product. By the time everyone heads home on Sunday night, a new ... http://www.markblevis.com/ottawa-web-weekend-date-announced/ Nora Young and the production team of CBC Radio's Spark have published this video which explains the origins and inner workings of their fantastic radio show -- with only a bit of humour. http://www.markblevis.com/putting-together-cbcs-spark/ By now, most Canadians have heard that US weapons manufacturer Alliant Systems has made on offer to purchase MDA (MacDonald, Detwiler and Associates) and, with it, Canada's highly successful Radarsat, builders of the Canadarm. MDA was built largely with Canadian taxpayer money. You can find a great summary of the situation at ... http://www.markblevis.com/keep-radarsat-canadian/ Canadian podcaster and musician Sean McGaughey has launched an initiative call K7 Days (in Facebook) to increase voice feedback for fellow podcasters. The K7 reference is an acknowledgement that most podcasters use the free K7.net voice feedback service which provides a Seattle-based phone number and emails digital recordings of voice messages ... http://www.markblevis.com/sean-mcgaughey-declares-k7-days/ Following the Facing up to Facebook session at the University of Ottawa on Wednesday, Bob LeDrew and I chatted for quite a while about the privacy implications of social media. Specifically, we talked about services like Facebook and how they exploit trust and personal information for corporate gains -- ... http://www.markblevis.com/would-a-privacy-commons-be-beneficial/ Yesterday, after Bryan Person pointed out that there were some problems with it, I removed the FriendsRoll block from my site.  Steve, one of the developers at 76design, whipped into action and released a corrected v1.2 beta. My FriendsRoll block is back online. http://www.markblevis.com/my-friendsroll-is-online/ I attended the Facing up to Facebook session at the University of Ottawa, yesterday. It was a panel discussion with Law and Technology Faculty Professors Jeremy de Beer, Ian Kerr, Jane Bailey, Val Steeves and Michael Geist and it was moderated by Andy Kaplan-Myrth. The discussion was lively and ... http://www.markblevis.com/a-great-discussion-on-social-media-culture-and-privacy/ In the same way that Boston Red Sox First Baseman Bill Buckner is famous for having blown the 1986 World Series for his team and its legions of pennant-hungry fans, music talent scout Dick Rowe has long been famous as the man who passed on The Beatles. Yesterday, Reuters published an ... http://www.markblevis.com/its-official-the-music-industry-destroyed-itself/ There has been a growing trend of online services designed to build social networks in centralized and sometimes closed environments. While there are merits to this approach, the abundance of options is crippling and confusing. Invariably, everyone must join every site and we're left chasing each other around. ... http://www.markblevis.com/putting-social-networking-back-into-the-community/ The speaking program for Podcasters Across Borders 2008 has been announced on the PAB and Canadian Podcast Buffet websites. More announcements about additional speaking opportunities and social events will be made over the next few days. http://www.markblevis.com/pab2008-program-announced/ The program for Podcasters Across Borders 2008 will be announced in two days.  It's been an exciting and difficult process to go through this time since we have received so many amazing submissions -- more than we have available speaking slots.  Bob and I never prepared ourselves for that possibility ... http://www.markblevis.com/thinking-out-loud-how-we-make-pab-a-reality/ I am a huge fan of my Delta 1010 audio card (by M-Audio).  I love the card and its driver so much that I've made sure to keep a PC with a PCI bus in my house and haven't made the move to a Mac Pro because I'm concerned that ... http://www.markblevis.com/delta-1010-users-do-not-upgrade-to-delta_v32_510005065/ After shoveling something in the neighbourhood of 50 centimeters of snow from our walkway and a portion of a driveway we share, I discovered that my Google Reader link (which had disappeared over a week ago) is back in my Google account. It says something about either me or Google that ... http://www.markblevis.com/google-reader-is-back/ In the spirit of "a watched kettle never boils" and "ignore it and it will do better", disciples of Neil Gorman's Your Podcast is Not a Fucking Toaster movement have been dealing with new possibilities as described in some recent marketing speak from toaster maker, Hamilton Beach. A recall announcement released ... http://www.markblevis.com/toaster-may-remain-energized-after-popping-up/ A Ryerson University student is in danger of being expelled for his role in a study group organized in Facebook (see Ryerson student fighting cheating charges for Facebook study group). If there is any evidence that supports the professor's claim that academic misconduct has taken place, the University isn't ... http://www.markblevis.com/digital-study-rooms-must-be-used-with-care/ Joel Mark Witt asked me to elaborate on my thoughts originally published in my post The future strength of PodCamp is in three verticals. Podcasting has been around for three-and-a-half years, PodCamp for one-and-a-half. Both have acheived a certain amount of recognition and the merits of both are consistently disected ... http://www.markblevis.com/my-thoughts-on-three-verticals-for-podcamp/ The University of Ottawa Law and Technology program hosts something called the Torys Speaker Series which features thought leaders and subject matter experts discussing issues related to law and technology. The next public session looks great! Facing up to Facebook A discussion panel on social media and social networking Please join the ... http://www.markblevis.com/facing-up-to-facebook/ Jeff Healey who was most famous for being a blind guitarist died, yesterday, at age 41 after a long battle with Cancer. Jeff first became well known by his Blues-Rock stylings when he released his debut album See the Light in 1988. More recently, he took his love of Jazz ... http://www.markblevis.com/thanks-for-the-great-music-jeff/ Google Reader appears to be missing this morning. Has anyone seen it? By the way, the email from "The Google Apps Team" that appears in the image has nothing to do with Google Reader. http://www.markblevis.com/i-want-my-google-reader/