Category: New Media

ALI Conference on Blogging and Podcasting

For the next three days I am in San Francisco for the Advanced Learning Institute’s conference on Blogging, Podcasting and other social media. It’s been great already, just in the first of two pre-conference seminars led by Shel Holtz. Every time I attend one of Shel’s presentations I get something new that could be applied in my work.

Some of it is Shel (he does a nice job in presenting), but the other factor is that the field is changing so quickly that there really is something new to learn every time.

One of the highlights of the presentation was when Shel showed the Smirnoff “Tea Partay” New England Gangsta Rap video. As he said, there’s no way this could get on broadcast TV, but as of this post it has had 1,582,822 views. One reason is because it is just this easy to incorporate into a blog:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0]

The conference hotel is the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s a nice facility, and the front desk help was even nicer. When I arrived here last night I learned that the whole hotel was sold out, and my reservation was only for one night. Gulp! I don’t know how they did it, but the front desk person got me extended for two additional nights.

Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf

I will be blogging some highlights from the conference over the next few days, primarily as a way for me to save links for sites and resources that people suggest, so I can go home and have a “to-do” list of options to explore in my work.

Maybe it will be helpful to others, too. If you have other related sites to suggest, put them in the comments.

I’m looking forward to this conference. Just getting on the plane last night gave me some downtime for brainstorming about how to apply what I learned in my last session with Shel.

I’m presenting a case study at the conference on Friday.

TechnoratiTechnorati: ,

Carlsen Twins (and their Parents) a Career Day Hit

Earlier this year I was part of the team supporting Jesse and Amy Carlsen as they brought their conjoined twin daughters, Abbigail and Isabelle, to Mayo Clinic to be separated. Before they had arrived at Mayo they already had agreed to a high level of media involvement, with Dateline NBC, the Star Tribune and the Fargo Forum following their progress.

Before they arrived in Rochester, Jesse Carlsen was doing the media relations management himself. In late February he turned that over to our media relations team, so he and Amy could be open with the media without undue burdens or worries. We also coordinated with the care team to make sure the media involvement didn’t hinder the girls’ care.

In June, after the successful separation and their return home to Fargo, the Star Tribune asked Dr. Christopher Moir and Penny Stavlo, Certified Nurse Practitioner, to speak at a career day for high school students, to encourage them to consider health career. That event was Tuesday, October 17.

The several hundred students were very engaged and interested. We had a nice surprise for them at the end during the Q&A, when one of the girls asked Dr. Moir something about Amy Carlsen’s labor and delivery, so I used that as an opportunity to spring the surprise: “Why don’t you ask her? Amy and Jesse, would you bring the girls out?”

There was an audible gasp when the kids found out the Carlsens had made the trip from Fargo for the event.

Here’s a little video from the day…showing the progress the girls are making, and the intense interest of the students. At the very end you will see a dozen or so students, all with camera phones, all taking pictures.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LVJC6XoX6o]

This is the perfect example of the convergence of new media and news media. Several Twin Cities news outlets, including the Star Tribune, WCCO, KARE and KSTP were present. For a planned event, you want to send your best reporters and photographers, and in the news coverage you see some excellent work.

But the youthful cameraphone papparazzi shows that the ubiquity of electronic gadgets means there will almost always be a camera around to capture any newsworthy or meaningful event.

TechnoratiTechnorati: ,

Another Personal YouTube Demo

My daughter, Rebekah Aase, is a sophomore Middle Hitter for the Austin High School (Minn.) volleyball team. She and her teammates have worked hard all year but always seem to lose close games. They’ve had a few matches in which they won a game or two, but until last night hadn’t won a full best-of-five match.

Last night they broke through and won their first match of the season. Unfortunately I was traveling (as you will see in my next post about the Star Tribune Career Day at the Science Museum of Minnesota.) In honor of that victory, I did a quick edit of the first game last week against archrival Albert Lea. This was Rebekah’s best game (three blocks, including two ace blocks, in back-to-back points), and was the game the Packers won.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wW8Qr-Ggf4]

I shot this with my mini DV camera, edited in iMovie, exported in the standard CD-ROM Quicktime format, and then uploaded to YouTube. Start to finish, it was a 20-minute deal.

Rebekah is the tall blonde, number 14.

TechnoratiTechnorati: ,

Flickr: “The New LIFE Magazine”

Thanks to Jeff Jarvis for pointing out this post from a blog called What’s Next: Innovations in Newspapers:

Juan Antonio Giner asks where you can find the most photos of the Manhattan plane crash and here’s the answer. Flickr, he says, is the new Life magazine. If I were the photo editor or a producer at a news site, I’d perform the valuable service of digging through the many pictures there to find the best.

I’m not sure whether the various photo sizes available on Flickr are sufficient for quality newspaper publication (although I now see that the original size uploaded is an option for download.) But that’s more a problem for newspaper than anything wrong with the photos. Newspapers would just need to pick what fits their medium.

For a newspaper web site, or a blog, it’s really easy to pick a photo, download, and post…or even more immediately, just link to the photo on Flickr and include in the site, like this:

Plane Crash in NYC

Professional photographers take scores or hundreds of pictures to find one suitable for publication. On Flickr, hundreds of pictures of a big event will likely be posted…so maybe more sifting of the “amateur” photos will be required, but Flickr makes it possible to have photos of some events that otherwise would be missed.

Advice to news organizations: If an event is predictable (Presidential speech, press conference, sporting event, or anything that cann make the AP daybook), send your best professional photographer. But for breaking news, take advantage of the fact that millions of people have digital cameras and camera phones, and can capture events you can’t reach.

TechnoratiTechnorati: , ,

Technorati Tips

Steve Rubel of Edelman has a very useful blog, Micro Persuasion, aimed at exploring “how social media is transforming marketing, media and public relations.” Today he has a helpful post on Technorati and how to use it to track discussion of topics that are most interesting to you.

I subscribe to Steve’s RSS feed, and would recommend it for anyone interested in social media.

TechnoratiTechnorati: , , ,