Robin Maiden – Leveraging New Media and Social Media

(Affiliate Link)

• Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera
• Samson SE50T Headworn Micro Miniature Omni Directional Microphone
• Stereo – Mono Y adapter
• Remote for Zi8
• Extension Cable (Affiliate Link)

Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera

Of all the mini-flash based “Flip” style cameras, the Kodak Zi8 is the only one with an 1/8 inch stereo microphone input jack.  This allows me to use external mics to record excellent audio.  The menus in the camera allow me to adjust the input levels of the external mics

Samson SE50T Headworn Mic

These mics are remarkably small with excellent audio.  They are adjustable and relatively stable on the ear.  The Samson model is cheaper than the Audio-Technica head mics that I also own.   These mics are omni-directional so they will pick up any ambient noise.  If these “pro” quality mics are still to expensive, you can substitute a “Skype” capable computer mic with an 1/8″ plug.  I have used the Logitech “Clear Chat” model with noise canceling capabilities in noisy environments with great results.

Stereo – Mono Y adapter

This is an important part of the setup and requires explanation.  With my setup, you will be able to record two people on the separate, stereo tracks.  In the post production editing, you can adjust the levels if needed.  I’ve found two vendors for this Y adapter.  Go to www.Markertek.com search for model Y-MPS-2MF then scroll down the page to the correct model number.   Cablemart also has a model in Amazon.

Other Options

A tripod, remote, and extension cable for the mic cords are all helpful, but not required.  Another useful microphone is the Audio Technica ATR-6550 Video Camera Condenser Shotgun Microphone (Affiliate Link).  This shotgun mic can be hand held and provide more traditional interview style presentation.  It requires a single AA battery and will plug-into the Y-adapter.

Update:  Here is a quick video to demonstrate a Logitech “ClearChat” headset mic used with the Kodak Zi8 with a gas powered weed trimmer running in the back ground. This really shows the advantage of using a headmic with this camera.

If you’ve found any other solutions, please add them in the comments.

While at the BlogWorld and New Media expo, I got to play with Layar, the augmented reality tool for mobile phones.  I was very impressed by what it did.  Others are not so impressed at the state of the art right now.  But, I could see the potential beyond the tool.  Augmented reality will be huge.

Here’s another prediction.  The new AR tools will have to allow for temporal search of the “augmented” content.  It won’t matter for Wikipedia content, but it will matter for near real-time Twitter Tweets.  No sense “seeing” where someone tweeted three hours ago, if I want to find and meet them now.

I went to lunch recently with some managers at my organization. As usual, I couldn’t help but bring up the topic of social media and how we as managers can leverage those tools to the organization’s benefit. I hit a road block. Or, rather a concrete wall.

“I just don’t get Twitter… I don’t care what somebody had for lunch. I don’t care. I don’t get it.”
“My kids spend so much time on Facebook. I don’t get that either.”

So, what’s the problem? They don’t get it.

Now, I have a choice. I can complain that they don’t get it, or I can find away around the concrete wall. I choose to keep going. I do understand what’s going on in this situation. These managers have a set of tools on their tool belts that have served them well for many years. They don’t have an urgent pain or an immediate need they can’t mitigate with their familiar, well worn, tools. There is no new pain, problem or need.

Yet.

The marketplace always has a way of creating pain, problems and needs. Sometimes, it comes as a crisis – painful and urgent. When the worst occurs, that is not the time to realize the limitations of the old tools and scramble to find new tools.

I said, I have a choice. I said I choose to keep going. I understand new/social media. Some managers don’t. I will try to educate them on the benefits of the new tools.

These may be the old standards managers have been dealing with for years. Techniques, tools, and rules are always changing. Like any tool, social media can be used for good or for bad. If the manager is managerially risk tolerant, they will probably want to experiment to see how social media can be used for a competitive advantage. If the manager is risk averse and unwilling to explore the social media tools, they run the risk of having social media tools used against them. Then when a crisis occurs, they will be struggling to play catch up.

In a proactive form, social media can be used to foster relationships with customer and even highlight a cadre of evangelists for your product or service. These evangelists can react quickly in support of the company, in near real time, when a crisis occurs. A company can use the social media tools to go where the customers are rather than wait for the customers to come to the company.

Used defensively, social media tools can highlight issues before they gain enough momentum to gain negative media attention. Social media tools can help the company scan the far horizon for trouble. Conversations about your company are taking place in social media all the time. Why wouldn’t you want to be aware of what’s being said?

With all that said, I am committing to leading a seminar in our corporate auditorium to educate people about social media tools. Whether the managers are risk tolerant or risk averse in nature, we, as an organization, will be better off for it.

This is a video of Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, who gives his thoughts on how Web 2.o technologies are breaking into the enterprise.  His  book, Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization’s Toughest Challenges (affiliate link), examines how leading enterprises are bringing Web 2.0 tools to internal processes.

I haven’t read it yet, but from the video, I think I will have to…

Social Media is here whether we want it to be or not. It is not a fad. It is here. More and more tools are pouring into the market, on our computers, on our phones. Social networks, crowd sourcing, restaurant recommendations, job possibilities – All of these are here right now.

I’ve watched this 5 times.  I’m still amazed.  What a great conversation starter for an social media education seminar.

Watch this video and let me know what you think…

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.

While cleaning up my files, I ran across my “rules for survival.”  These have been evolving since I turned 20.  Yes, that’s a long time ago.  Here is one “rule” written in pencil on the tattered list…

“When things are at their absolute worst, that’s when the least amount of extra effort will pay the largest dividends.” 

When things are good, it is easy to work long and hard.  It may even be fun.  But, everyone else is working hard too, so your efforts as compared to your competition will not have as big an effect.  Mathematically, when you put in 110 units of work when everyone is putting in 100, you are only 10% ahead. 

It is when the situation is so bad that nobody wants to do anything, that any extra effort can swing the tide.   When things look terribly bleak, or it is too cold to move, or everyone is too exhausted to do anything,  that is exactly the time when your effort will be leveraged many times bringing you out ahead of your competition.  If your competitors are sulking around feeling hopeless and only putting in 5 units of work waiting for better times to return, and you put in only 10 units of work, you will be 100% ahead of your competition. 

Who doesn’t want to be 100% ahead of the competition in the business arena?  

The trick of leadership is to show that the deepest, darkest, bleakest moment may yield the greatest reward with some extra effort.