Posts from — October 2009

While this was the first combined expo for bloggers and new media creators, this was my fifth new media expo. My biggest take away of the event… It is all about relationships. While we may all think we are incredibly “social” through the new online tools, there is nothing as “social” as shaking a hand, talking over coffee, or discussing ideas over dinner. That will always be the best kind of “social” for me.

2009 BlogWorld New Media Expo

Here is the best wrap up of the BlogWorld and New Media expo I attended in Las Vegas. My friends, Rene and Erik have built their DigiRedo into a powerful business as consultants and producers of new media for internal and external communications. This is their view of the expo. And, I agree with them…

Blogworld and New Media Expo 2009 HD from DigiRedo on Vimeo.

Critical mass – New definition: When the comments to a post add as much value as the original post. See Jeff Jarvis’ post on Google SideWiki. Scroll through the comments. He clearly has critical mass. The discussion in the comments is as important as the original content.

That’s where the rub is. Google just introduced the SideWiki to the mix. Where you may have had a vibrant community commenting on your website where all visitors to your site could see the discussion, Google’s SideWiki may start to siphon off some of the comments. Commentors will have to choose where to leave their comments. Comments may live in two places. Two separate communities may begin to evolve around a website. You may have comments on your website and you may have comments that exist only in Google SideWiki. If you were close to critical mass before, you just hit a major set back.

Google’s SideWiki is new. The full effect has not been realized yet. It is, however, something website owners need to be aware of. Community and critical mass are the target.

I’ll put the best first: Edirol R-09HR with two Samson SE-50 head mics. That is my new portable recording set up with a model Y-MPS-2MF Y mic adapter.

My first portable setup included the iRiver 899 with two plug-in powered, computer head mics. I consider this my ultra-portable setup and often take this on my trips. When I began recording executives at my corporation, I wanted to improve my equipment. I had several requirements:

· Good audio quality

· XLR inputs

· Removable batteries

· Common storage medium

I purchased the Marantz PMD660 Professional Portable Digital Recorderand have been very satisfied ever since.

While I have used the XLR inputs, I no longer consider this a personal requirement. I have used a variety of mics to record conversations in conference rooms and offices. I learned I could get the best recording with little ambient noise if I used a head mic. Since I was using a wireless mic at several speaking engagements I purchased the AT-892 head mic for both the speaking engagements and my portable recording setup. The AT-892 is a great mic, but can only be purchased terminated for a particular brand of wireless mic. I chose the Audio-Technica brand. This then required an adapter to fit the A-T plug to the XLR of the Marantz recorder.

I was very excited to find the Samson SE-50 head mic which includes adapters for a variety of brands. This allows me to use the 3.5 mm plug which will fit in the iRiver recorder or the Edirol R-09.

Why do I tweet?  Why do I podcast?  Why do I blog?  or Retweet? or email?  “Times, they are a changin’”  All of this technology is taking power out of the hands of the few and putting it in the hands of the many.  Do we know how that will change the world?  Absolutely not, but I know it will be big.  That’s why I’m continuting to stay involved in all aspects of new and social media.  Is it as big as the industrial age?  The information age?  I think so.

Here is a video of Jeff Pulver talking about the  Twitter.  The interviewer wants to know the valuation of Twitter.  Jeff talks about the value of Twitter.  Two different directions, but an interesting discussion.  Let me know what you think.