Open Internet Town Hall

(06/20/2009)

  

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1:37	Raul:  Steve Anderson and the Open Internet Town Hall Vancouver starts with a video of what net neutrality means. The session is also being livestreamed.

1:37	vanchangecamp:  RT @MatrikaMedia: We are streaming Vancouver’s Open Internet Town Hall @ at: http://multivsp.com/saveournet #vanchangecamp @vcc09

1:39	joshaughnessy:  RT @hummingbird604: My liveblog of Open Internet Town Hall is here http://bit.ly/tmprS #vanchangecamp #vcc09

1:39	Jennerosity:  Wish I could clone myself so I could be at work and check out all the other cool events like #vanchangecamp too.

1:39	joshaughnessy:  RT @vanchangecamp: streaming Vancouver’s Open Internet Town Hall @ at: http://multivsp.com/saveournet #vanchangecamp @vcc09

1:39	bella_b:  Check out http://multivsp.com/saveournet for a live stream from #vanchangecamp!

1:39	twitcouver:  Steve Anderson’s touring Canada w/ public forums raising the alarm bell on why the net neutrality issue = scary as hell #vanchangecamp

1:39	vanchangecamp:  RT @hummingbird604: My liveblog of Open Internet Town Hall is here http://bit.ly/tmprS #vanchangecamp #vcc09

1:39	Raul:  Steve Anderson (National Coordinator for Democratic Media) is first to speak.

1:39	fishtron:  townhall on canadian internet is short of intimidating D: #vcc09

1:39	chicken_scratch:  RT @dbhume: @mayorgregor, nice to meet you! Really awesome you came to see us at #vcc09. (via @twazzup)

1:41

Raul:  A couple of these have happened already in Ottawa and Toronto. It’s quite fitting that we are at ChangeCamp – citizens invite governments to come along with us. Most Canadians didn’t know what net neutrality was and now we have the CRTC looking into Net Neutrality. The Liberals have mentioned their interest and support in net neutrality (NDP had already started with support)

1:41	twitcouver:  This session is streaming on live video, & currently being viewed as far away as France. Jacob Glick of Google Canada up soon #vanchangecamp

1:42	greensandbox:  #vanchangecamp sessions suggest that meaningful change is dependent upon the embodiment, realization of a changed citizen aesthetic

1:42	Raul:  JACOB GLICK Google’s Canada Policy Council Thanks to everyone. Net neutrality is a key issue. For Google this issue is all about information and innovation. The internet is a platform for social innovation and cultural innovation (all kinds of innovation).

1:43	ni_kol:  #vcc09 Open Internet town hall (after lunch at Nuba) In attendance: Mayor Robertson, Councellor Reimer and MP Davies

1:43	Raul:  That is where data is more or less transmitted without any intermediate parts. The intelligence is built into the applications. It has facilitated tremendous explosion speech never before possible.

1:44	Raul:  All sorts of people are capable of communicating with mass audiences, not just people along communications networks. That matters, that’s an important kind of innovation that the internet facilitates and that we need to protect.

1:44	vanchangecamp:  2 links you might find helpful: live #vanchangecamp tweets here http://is.gd/17vzi &the schedule here http://is.gd/17tNj

1:44	ni_kol:  RT @bella_b: Check out http://multivsp.com/saveournet for a live stream from #vanchangecamp!

1:44	simonehudson:  @mayorgregor is here at #vanchangecamp now! Thanks for working together to make our government more open and responsive!

1:44

Raul:  Technological innovation is also important. The open standards, open networks, open source have allowed companies with very little resources to develop products to work online without having to ask anybody’s permission and can work within a matter of days, months, sometimes years. The capacity for that kind of innovation also differentiates the internet from all sorts of other telecommunications networks. It’s that capacity that we are looking to preserve.

1:46	ni_kol:  RT @hummingbird604: My liveblog of Open Internet Town Hall is here http://bit.ly/tmprS #vanchangecamp #vcc09

1:46	greensandbox:  RT @bella_b: Check out http://multivsp.com/saveournet for a live stream from vanchangecamp

1:46	vanchangecamp:  RT @greensandbox: #vcc09 sessions suggest meaningful change is dependent upon the embodiment, realization of a changed citizen aesthetic

1:46	hummingbird604:  Jacob Glick from Google is brilliant, So is @steveinfos #vcc09 – open internet town hall

1:46	dbhume:  @Mlsif have you met #vanchangecamp #vcc09? Awesome unconference on responsive government and self-organizing citizens here in Vancouver Can.

1:46	vanchangecamp:  RT @simonehudson: @mayorgregor is here at #vanchangecamp now! Thanks for working together 2 make our government more open and responsive!

1:46	Raul:  ROCKY Reflecting real quick on some of the things that have happened in the last week and a half.

1:47

Raul:  It’s kind of really neat and comforting that today’s focus was on a variety of things but mainly the amalgamation of Toronto and Ottawa events (Town Hall). From our perspective (the competitor perspective) sets the foundation for things to come. From a net neutrality and open internet perspective it’s great.

1:47	dbhume:  In the session on net neutrality. Hoping to learn a lot. #vcc09

1:47	Raul:  The internet is very powerful.

1:48	cambel:  http://twitpic.com/7xp66 – Karen Fung and new school mapping. What data do we need?#vcc09

1:48	arubixcube:  @rilan: Check this out- http://vanchangecamp.wordpress.com/. Also check out the wikis that are being updated as the conference goes on!

1:48	garthfrizzell:  In the session on municipal sharing- interoperability and procurement and joint buying. Hoping to learn a lot. #vcc09

1:49

Raul:  LIBBY DAVIES (Member of Parliament, Vancouver-East, Deputy Leader of NDP) Libby too came from Ottawa and she’s on the Ottawa time zone. ChangeCamp is really timely. The CRTC are beginning hearings in July on the whole question of net neutrality. Libby took a look at the press release, the CRTC is sort of a policy of “hands off” — they believe that they shouldn’t be involved at all.

1:50

Raul:  The openness of the internet, the neutrality of the internet, something we have got to take for granted is now threatened. Libby tried to think about it in terms of more historical content and it made her think of public libraries. A century ago, most people got their information from public libraries. They were designed that way, open, free. Accesible for everyone.

1:50	hummingbird604:  Sorry to be missing @counti8′s session on mapping #vcc09 – I hope to learn more in a one-on-one meeting

1:50	dbhume:  Libby Davies is here! Great to see elected officials here. Important to help lead change. Believe it or not they have a lot of wisdom #vcc09

1:50	melagee:  People, please, the phrase “hence why” is redundant. Learn this. #vcc09

1:51	jasonmclaren:  Finally got on the internet at vancouver changecamp. What is it with open net conferences and flaky wireless? #vcc09

1:51	chicken_scratch:  RT @garthfrizzell: In the session on municipal sharing- interoperability and procurement and joint buying. Hoping to learn a lot. #vcc09

1:51

Raul:  We were talking about Carnegie Library. That was a philosophy that was adopted by the city. That’s what we are facing here. We are not only thinking in terms of websites but also in terms of political debate on openness. Rabble Tyee (all kinds of alternative media) If they get shut down or slowed down because of what these huge telecomms are doing, purely out of profit reasons, this is a huge public policy issue.

1:52	Raul:  We are talking about stopping throttling. The Conservative government is moving forward with bills that would police the internet even more.

1:52	vanchangecamp:  RT @dbhume: @LibbyDavies is here! Gr8 2 see electd officials here. Important 2 help lead change. Believe it or not they have a lot of wisdom

1:52	bella_b:  MP Libby Davies likens net neutrality to public libraries. Free & everyone has the right to enter & be accepted as an equal citizen. #vcc09

1:53	Raul:  These bills that were introduced on Thursday and will be coming up in September will provide more power and will force ISPs to pay fees to revamp their equipment to allow their sites to be intercepted for so-called security reasons. This has big implications for societal privacy.

1:53	Raul:  We should be able to engage in the political process and we shouldn’t be afraid of doing that.

1:53	Raul:  The power of the internet to mobilize people is amazing.

1:54	dale42:  When you tell the truth and continue to tell the truth, people will begin repeating the info #vcc09

1:54	markhaines:  Top French court has declared internet access a basic human right: http://bit.ly/tuimO #vcc09

1:54	amedd:  Listening to Libby Davies speak about net neutrality. #vcc09

1:54	vanchangecamp:  RT @bella_b: MP @LibbyDavies likens net neutrality 2 public libraries. Free & everyone has the right to enter & be accepted as equal citizen

1:55	hummingbird604:  .@libbydavies made such great, cogent and articulate points on net neutrality #vcc09

1:55	chicken_scratch:  RT @dale42: When you tell the truth and continue to tell the truth, people will begin repeating the info #vcc09 (via @twazzup)

1:55	bella_b:  Amazed at the number of folks taking notes on paper at vanchangecamp. Haha! Me=tech nerd. #vcc09

1:55	cambel:  Map data: what is right interface and who should own the data? How can it be shared, searched and compiled? #vcc09

1:55	simonehudson:  RT @dbhume: @LibbyDavies is here! Gr8 2 see electd officials here. Important 2 help lead change. (via @vanchangecamp)

1:55	Mlsif:  @dbhume thanks for bringing #vanchangecamp #vcc09 to my attention. Looks terrific.

1:55	Raul:  JASON LAMARSH Things that Jason would like to add. Things that are happening internationally. When Jason looks at things that are happening right now – things in China – supression and government control of the use of websites .

1:56	Raul:  Jason’s definition of network neutrality isn’t the private control of the pipes but the control of the freedoms – being compromised.

1:56	Raul:  We need explicit commitments from our governments that they will explicitly endorse net neutrality.

1:56	vanchangecamp:  RT @cambel: Map data: what is right interface and who should own the data? How can it be shared, searched and compiled? #vcc09

1:56	kabutar:  Enjoying the #vcc09 session on electoral reform and what went wrong with BCSTV

1:57	Raul:  The downsides of not having access to an open and free internet – Jason’s concerns would have been silenced if there was no respect for internet neutrality.

1:58	mogusmoves:  Sorry to be not listening to Open Net Town Hall, but that’s first time I got access to @mayorgregor’s bberry to show some new tricks. #vcc09

1:58	chicken_scratch:  @bella_b I’ve forgotten how to write. Sad really, love my devices. So, count me in as a tech nerd @ #vanchangecamp

1:58	Raul:  QUESTIONS AROUND NET NEUTRALITY Which companies are actually now throttling?

1:59	hummingbird604:  Actually a great question – which Canadian telecomms are actually throttling right now #vcc09

2:00	melagee:  Karen F. makes maps exciting and interesting. I want to pick her brain. #vcc09

2:00	hummingbird604:  @bella_b As Confucious once said – the lightest tint is stronger than the mightiest memory #vcc09

2:00	vanchangecamp:  @melagee yes @counti8 rocks! #vanchangecamp co-organizer too!

2:01	Raul:  Libby Davies – Telus used their power to strike down striking workers. Example of how this can be useful.

2:01	dbhume:  RT@mogusmoves: Sry 2 b not listening to Open Net TH, but that’s the 1st time I got access 2 @mayorgregor’s bberry to show new tricks #vcc09

2:01	scilib:  RT @david_a_eaves: Mayor of Vancouver Gregor Robertson arrives at changecamp to check things out #vcc09

2:01	hummingbird604:  @melagee @counti8′s brain is actually great, I agree – also why the grammar policing? #vcc09

2:01	MayorGregor:  http://twitpic.com/7xr1c – vanchangecamp buzzing. open internet open govt town hall #vcc09

2:03	cambel:  Vanmap: city of Vancouver source of GIS data. #vcc09

2:03	Raul:  From the Google side, an increase in speed is an increase in speed of innovation.

2:04	Raul:  Libby Davies is encouraging a national policy on this issue.

2:06	Raul:  The representative of Rabble.ca is here. – If telecomms succeed in throttling it’s going to send us back in democracy 100 years.

2:06	simonehudson:  http://twitpic.com/7xr1c – vanchangecamp buzzing. open internet open govt town hall #vcc09 (via @MayorGregor)

2:06	mogusmoves:  RT: @MayorGregor http://twitpic.com/7xr1c – vanchangecamp buzzing. open internet open govt town hall #vcc09

2:06	hummingbird604:  Ohhhh @rabbleca is here at the Open Internet Town Hall! #vcc09

2:07	counti8:  The battle around open data is not just about “the more data the better”, says @david_a_eaves. #vcc09

2:07

Raul:  David Hume asks – is there a business case for clearing net neutrality? Jacob says – companies develop new applications – the people who own physical infrastructure where the software communicates with other people – they can make individual decisions on whether the transmissions can be slowed down.

2:08	Raul:  As a practical matter, to play devil’s advocate — normally he speaks to rooms of telecomm executives, so he is providing a new perspective – they are trying to throttle Bit-Torrent (who diminishes the user experience). The greater good for the greatest number.

2:08	vanchangecamp:  @counti8 What is it about?

2:08	lmighton:  Martin Goodman (sp?) from Rabble.ca: this will be one of the most important decisions in Canadian history. #vanchangecamp

2:09	Raul:  Steve A – In the US they have an open internet. Obama has been very clear about this. Why would you start your business in Canada if you see this happening (throttling)?

2:09	Raul:  Telus and Bell want to create a 2-speed internet way (pay money, fast, no pay money, slow)

2:10	cambel:  @bella_b No, we’re keeping it a little high level and trying to wrap up. Great discussion. #vcc09

2:10	Raul:  The mandate of the CRTC has been drastically changed (one of the panelists, I think it’s Rocky)

2:11	Raul:  Really his question to the presenters – where does the CRTC come from – is the CRTC mandate predisposed? Can they make any decisions on this?

2:11	bella_b:  What’s the biz case for net neutrality? Jacob Glick (Google) says startups won’t invest if there’s risk of throttling. No innovation! #vcc09

2:13	Raul:  The CRTC has the mandate to tackle the issue, according to Jacob Gleick. It has 2 sections (the law) – that allow them to solve this issue.

2:13	markhaines:  bella_b I don’t think we have chatted yyet. Just look for the guy in the suit . #vcc09

2:13	amedd:  RT @MayorGregor http://twitpic.com/7xr1c – vanchangecamp buzzing. open internet open govt town hall #vcc09

2:13	chicken_scratch:  http://twitpic.com/7xsoh – Good food & vibrant discussions over lunch at Steamworks.#vanchangecamp. Pic is @chicken_scratch & @dbhume.

2:13	iheartcities:  iMap BC enables citizens to create maps and save them online http://bit.ly/cFhAA #vcc09

2:13	kevangilbert:  @aldenhabacon Really loved your input and energy at #vcc09. Learning from you is easy & inspiring.

2:14	dfdumaresq:  #vcc09 How to Create a Google MyMap video: http://bit.ly/t9ici

2:14	hummingbird604:  @markhaines @bella_b Mark, you were sitting in my session as was Beth. If you still can’t find each other I’ll introduce you #vcc09

2:14	vanchangecamp:  RT @bella_b: What’s the biz case 4 net neutrality? Jacob Glick (Google) says startups won’t invest if there’s risk of throttling. #vcc09

2:14	hummingbird604:  @lmighton Rabble.ca is on Twitter as @rabbleca #vanchangecamp

2:15	dfdumaresq:  #vcc09 Vancouver data google group: http://bit.ly/K4EVj

2:15

Raul:  How can the individual IP represent. If each of us has a unique address on the internet space. If each of us can have a private certificate, it would be a way that we could technologically represent privacy, security, individuality, and a new form of expressing ourselves and storing our legacy, our lives. But what happens is that when a person passes away there are many opportunities.

2:17	vanchangecamp:  RT @dfdumaresq: #vcc09 How to Create a Google MyMap video: http://bit.ly/t9ic #vanchangecamp

2:17	garthfrizzell:  RT @MayorGregor: http://twitpic.com/7xr1c – vanchangecamp buzzing. open internet open govt town hall #vcc09

2:17	cambel:  With publicly held data it’s not always clear who holds the data, e.g city or coastal health authority. #vcc09

2:17	hummingbird604:  My paper bag for follow up on Using Social Media to Coordinte Adaptation to Climate Change is in the Sandbox room – drop your card! #vcc09

2:19	lmighton:  @LibbyDavies So glad you’re here. Is there somewhere this info re: Charlie bill, the seriousness, is written simply? #vanchangecamp

2:20	joshaughnessy:  Love that #plainlanguage is making a forced appearance in a town hall full of techie types. #vanchangecamp

2:20	cambel:  http://twitpic.com/7xtfh – New School Mapping crew pose: entranced. #vcc09

2:20	vanchangecamp:  RT @hummingbird604: My papr bag 4 follow up on Using Soc Media 2 Coordinte Adaptation 2 Climate Change is in the Sandbox room-drop yur card!

2:20	dbhume:  Net neutrality is a pretty technical issue. Plain english and a common vocab gives all of us here a big leg up. #vcc09

2:20	apparently_so:  Loving all the insight tweets coming out of #vcc09

2:20

Raul:  What is throttling in plain English and what is the CRTC doing? Throttling - what happens is – the traffic goes from your home to a box – it filters your traffic, and if it hits a certain type of traffic then it is slowed down. If they don’t see it as a clear “go ahead” they’ll take it as “you should be slowed down” CRTC role –

2:21	simonehudson:  @aldenhabacon I loved learning from you at #vcc09! You, me and @kevangilbert should jam sometime!

2:21	hummingbird604:  RT @dbhume: Net neutrality is a pretty technical issue. Plain english and a common vocab gives all of us here a big leg up. #vcc09

2:21	aldenhabacon:  Is wondering if there is a new technology solution to identifying, cultivating, placing the leadership we need to make change happen? #vcc09

2:22	chicken_scratch:  http://twitpic.com/7xtro – Another candid from Steamworks lunch #vanchangecamp – the fab @lmighton & @greensandbox

2:22	vanchangecamp:  RT @hummingbird604 RT @dbhume Net neutrality is a pretty tech issue. Plain english & a common vocab gives all of us here a big leg up #vcc09

2:22	Raul:  There are a variety of pieces to the pie.

2:22	Raul:  The CRTC has regulated this activity .

2:23	SarahSchacht:  Interesting discussion @vanchangecamp re: Canada’s lack of net neutrality. Surprising that they have so much “throttling” of content.

2:23	chicken_scratch:  RT @joshaughnessy: Love that #plainlanguage is making a forced appearance in a town hall full of techie types. #vanchangecamp (via @twazzup)

2:23	hummingbird604:  RT @joshaughnessy: Love that #plainlanguage is making a forced appearance in a town hall full of techie types. #vanchangecamp

2:24	twitcouver:  #vanchangecamp This net neutrality session w/ gov’t and citizens since Thursday’s bill so important, wish streaming video could be saved?

2:27	vanchangecamp:  @MatrikaMedia Re: @twitcouver Is there a way to save/share your awesome live-stream of the open internet town hall? Thanks! #vanchangecamp

2:27	joshaughnessy:  RT @dbhume: Smart facilitation and moderation by @reillyreads here at the Open Net Townhall. Nice time management! #vanchangecamp

2:27	Raul:  I make a point about how to make net neutrality sexier (maybe frame it with a metaphor of racism – a Caucasian ISP, an Asian ISP, etc.) and make it a human rights issue (the right to open access to the internet, same way as we have access to an open society).

2:28	Raul:  I think we’re closing on the liveblog – question asked was – is Google Android net neutral?

2:28	Raul:  LIVEBLOG ENDED.

2:28

Related posts:

1. VanChangeCamp – June 20th, 2009
2. My upcoming (to-be-pitched) talk at @VanChangeCamp
3. Giant Ant Media Open House Liveblog

I’ve used Cover It Live for the majority of my liveblogs (although I’ve tested ScribbleLive and also used the normal WordPress platform (updating as the liveblog went by). When the internet wireless connection has been down I have used BlogDesk.

David Plouffe’s speech at Cossette Convergence ’09 was widely live-tweeted. My notes combined with the integrated Twitter stream ended up being pretty much a complete, full-on liveblog.

Credit: Miss604 on Flickr

As Plouffe spoke (and even before) several participants wondered why video and recording and photographs of Plouffe could only be captured during the first five minutes. Well, the answer may be found here – Plouffe is exclusively represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau. This organization, by the way, offers web-based services that feature their speakers (as you can see in their description here). This may explain why the WSB might not want to have their speaker be full-on captured on video streams. They may fear that they’d lose opportunities for revenue (I haven’t contacted the WSB so I can’t say for sure, but it would seem that way). If that’s the case, then I am wondering why would they think that, given that recording labels and even emerging artists are putting their full content out there on the web and revenue streams keep coming!

Coincidentally, I was reading an article by Mathew Ingram from the Globe and Mail about how liveblogging is transforming traditional journalism. At Northern Voice and again yesterday at Convergence journalists were reminded of the fact that the new normal is having your audience co-create, re-hash and mash-up your content. Nancy White wrote an excellent post where she referred to the way in which now geek conferences are live-tweeted, live-blogged, live-streamed, and it’s perfectly acceptable. Nancy also did a phenomenal analog, visual thinking map of Rob Cottingham’s Keynote at Northern Voice ’09 which you can find here.

The problem that seems to have arisen from the Plouffe speech is that giving a talk about the use of social media and not having video of yourself recorded (regardless of the legal implications) will make your credibility to (predictably) go down. For example, I am giving a talk at Social Media Club in Victoria on May 26th. I suspect (and I expect) that it will be live-blogged, live-tweeted, videographed, etc. Does that worry me in terms of loss of expected/potential revenue for speaker fees for future events? Not in the least.

What I have learned in my years of giving talks and presenting papers and giving keynote addresses at conferences is that, regardless of how many people record your presentation, and how broadly and widely distributed it is, if you are a good speaker, people will want to come and listen to you. Even better, they will want to talk to you AFTER you have given your speech. And they might even book you for their next event. Several of my good friends, including Shane Gibson and Tod Maffin, are frequent speakers and they have had video recorded of them rather frequently. And their speaking gigs are still in high demand.

Much of the value of attending a conference is not listening to the wisdom of individual presenters, it’s talking to them and to other attendees during the breaks and after the event itself. For example, I was delighted to meet both Susan Ormiston and Sean Holman in person. Had I not attended Convergence, I would have missed that opportunity.

I would hope that the WSB and other similar organizations may get on with the program, jump on the bandwagon and understand the implications that a globally wired world has for the delivery of key messages. The scalability property of information flow was exploited by the Obama campaign, it is just a tad ironic that the Plouffe speech at Convergence ’09 will not reach a much broader audience simply because of out-dated policies.

I hope to make it clear to everyone what I said a few weeks ago:

technological change and the evolution of our information society fast out-paces the speed to which people can adapt to said change

That doesn’t mean that we can’t adapt. We are a resilient species. We should be able to.

Related posts:

1. David Plouffe Keynote (Convergence ’09) liveblog #cvg09
2. Journalist 2.0 Panel Liveblog (Convergence ’09) #cvg09
3. Review – CoverItLive as a tool for liveblogging

Related posts:

1. Congratulations to Tris Hussey and Sheila Christie on their engagement
2. Weekend Players – 21st Century (Transfer Club Mix)
3. WordCamp Whistler – Tris Hussey on How to Use WordPress as a Basic CMS for Your Website

I am double-booked, so I won’t be able to attend, but I set up an automatic liveblog that will import tweets tagged with the hashtag #shebeen. You can check the liveblog by pressing “Play” in the window below.

I decided against using ScribbleLive and for using Cover It Live as I can’t be online to approve tweets one by one. I will have to ask Rebecca how she set her ScribbleLive twitterfall.

Below you can find the live stream of tweets. If you attend the event and want to live-tweet, please remember to use the hashtag #shebeen so that your tweets can be imported. Thanks!

Monique – I know you’ll rock the house – good luck!

Related posts:

1. Happy birthday Monique Trottier @SoMisguided
2. Guest post: A passion for Harry Potter, by Monique Trottier
3. TEDxVancouver livetweets #TEDxVan

Well, yesterday I tried my first live-blog using CoverItLive – I think that it turned out really well. I had heard about CoverItLive from my friend Rebecca Bollwitt (she’s been my liveblogging role model, so I trust her opinion on these tools). I noticed that Tris liveblogged Rebecca’s talk at Third Tuesday using CoverItLive, but it isn’t until you actually use the tool that you know whether it will be useful to you or not.

Things that sort of confused me that need work with CoverItLive:

- When you approve a comment, it stays in a window. Unless you’re getting very few comments (which NEVER happens to me, at least) the window stays and hovers. Confusing. Two or three times I thought I needed to approve comments that had already appeared on the stream.
- Sometimes, if your mouse hovers accidentally over the question (?) button, you get an explanatory window. That’s rather annoying.

Tips to best use CoverItLive

- Use the timer to announce that you’re taking a break. I took a 5 minute break while Colleen took other notes that will be added to the wiki.
- Remember that hitting the ENTER key will NOT publish the text. Make sure your mouse is pointed on the “Send” button.
- Accept all comments immediately – will save you time while you’re trying to make sense of the text.
- Insert the code for your liveblog BEFORE you start liveblogging.
- If you really want the SEO, you might want to export the text of your liveblog and uploaded using WordPress’ interface.
- Use the Twitter and hashtag integration tool to save you time and enrich the blog.

My summary

CoverItLive it’s an excellent tool, but of course, it DOES require you to be online all the time and have a solid internet connection. If I weren’t doing a liveblog, I’d just go with BlogDesk, which is rather reliable. I also concur with Rebecca’s opinion – it doesn’t give you any SEO, and I think that’s totally bollocks so I’d appreciate if the developers of Cover It Live would change the settings or something.

UPDATE – Cover It Live just tweeted me that you can indeed download locally the content as HTML. I am quite positively impressed that they are on Twitter and that they have a Summize search that allows them to monitor what is being said about it. Yes, sir. That’s how social media should be done, IMHO.

UPDATE – As per the comments on my post, Scribble Live could be another possible choice for a liveblogging platform.

Related posts:

1. Comparing CoverItLive and ScribbleLive for liveblogging
2. Cover It Live vs Scribble Live (Round 2 Comparison)
3. Women in Film Festival ’09 – New Media Day – Monetize Your Content Panel

Was planning to do it with Cover-It-Live but frankly I don’t have the time to learn the platform and “on the fly” doesn’t really jive with me. So I am definitely going for good ‘ol fashioned WordPress. The comments should be flowing freely if you want to comment.

I’m also available on Twitter (I have TweetDeck open) if you guys want to tweet your questions to the speakers. Will try to capture them on the fly.

UPDATE 5:31pm- I am just saying hi to Karen Quinn Fung, and can se some familiar faces here now. Carol Sill, Dario Meli, Jenn Lowther and Ryan Holmes from Invoke Media, Nancy Zimmerman, and many other friends of mine are here. If I haven’t said hi, let me know! I also can see Caroline from Beauty Night, April Smith and Erika Rathje (whom I didn’t know if she was coming or not)

UPDATE – 5:59pm – Kris starts by thanking the sponsors. WorkSpace, the location sponsor. Communicopia also sponsors the event (thanks Jason!). As we go around teh room introducing ourselves (Twitter name and a quote), and I have to say that a lot of people are NOT on Twitter. I’m kind of shocked.

Boyd Cohen – 3rdWhale
Their launch party is at Ceili’s Pub (Smithe and Granville) – so Boyd is inviting everyone to come along (too bad both ). They are at the intersection of smart phones, green businesses and consumers. Making it easy for people to live a green lifestyle anywhere where they live in the world. Green businesses having a hard time to reach consumers. Consumers not easy for them to find data about green businesses.

3rd Whale solves that problem by finding green businesses – then their iPhone application helps you find those green businesses. They are committing to having 100 cities by the end of the year (around the world). What kind of green business? Anything to live a green life-style. Do whatever you want to do anywhere in the world.

You can rate the business in terms of how green they are, etc. The next version has descriptions of every business and an expanded rating system and a tagging system so you can do more refined searches. They are integrating a coupon model for green businesses if you’re using their mobile app. They also have a user-generated review system.

QUESTION – How do you evaluate the green-ness of the companies you have on there? – R.- They have a mechanism to screen businesses online. Those that are relevant then it goes into the database. They rely on the user to rate it.

QUESTION – Eesmayl asks why 3rd Whale? - Triple bottom line, whale is an endangered animal, they want to be the largest social movement around green businesses.

QUESTION – Do you do anything non-iPhone? - Yes, working on. Android and BlackBerry.

Heath Johns & Ben Johnson – Urbantastic

They are doing a pitch for Urbantastic. Most of us believe that non-profits are really important. We are entering into a pretty bad patch. So we’re going to talk about how Urbantastic can help. How does a Non-Profit-Organization (NPO) transform itself? By engaging with the audience. Social media helps with the engagement. How does it look like? They get themselves a website. Then they slowly and surely open themselves up using e-newsletters and then blogging. Then they create a personality asking questions and doing some crowdsourcing. They are the platform for micro-volunteering.

Basically, it’s doing small tasks without any commitment. An example – instead of forwarding his concerns to the organization, he took 10 minutes to create something for the NPO. The best part for the volunteer, he/she doesn’t feel a commitment is necessary but their creativity is tapped on. Promote the organizations who embrace social media and engage in micro-volunteering.

Say you want to tap into a talented lbour pool, who don’t have much money and want to engage in a leaner, smarter organization model. The task may get undone or done very poorly. What needs to happen is to get the people engaged with the small tasks. The jobs get done for free AND professionally. This creates engagement between the NPO and the community of crowdsourcers. Saves money and creates an organization with a larger support base. That’s what Urbantastic helps create!

Q .- What’s the business model? R.- Well, we are not a for profit organization. Our operation is essentially a volunteer labour. Most of the value is with the organizations as they embrace the social media (and then further may be able to create some money out of it).

UPDATE: 6:30pm - We are still in the Q/A process with Urbantastic.

What are some other tasks? – Well, that’s a good question – Sometimes technology – Photoshoping for an organization, or just finding out information (crowdsourcing technique). Through Twitter you can do a lot of research. Is it like the Mechanical Turk? Yeah, but for non-profits.

Q.- Can you create user accounts? – You could create ratings of sorts, an important feature. You have to develop your public profile as a volunteer. Then you can put it on your resume.

Q.- Karen makes a comment - The Time Raiser model, similarities. Well, Time-Raiser is not an every day occurrence. It’s an event-based thing. Bring talented people like the Urbantastic audience. You can auction stuff for volunteer hours.

UPDATE 6.35pm – Now it’s the turn of Steve Anderson from SaveOurNet.ca

Steve Anderson – Net Neutrality

What is the net neutrality principle? The operator of the railway had to charge every company to get their car through the road. The Internet from its inception operated on the basis of net neutrality – open Internet = best idea wins. Whether you are a big company or a small company, you operate within a level playing field.

Put simply, net neutrality means non-discriminatory treatment of traffic. That is, outside of limited exceptions such as spam and known viruses, the companies that deliver information over the internet have treated all information the same, delivering each package of information as quickly and efficiently as possible (often referred to as the “best efforts” internet). Under this regime an internet user is free to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. Network neutrality means that the network provider’s only job is to move data – not to choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.[Save Our Net F.A.Q.]

In Canada, last February 2008, big players began slowing down services. Competition is stifled. If you have a video service (small sized) and want to stream – you can’t compete with Dell because your service is being slowed down. If it continues to go this way in Canada, producers and entrepreneurs will not be able to compete because they’ll need to shell out a lot of money to be able to get into the fastlane of the Internet. We need more competition and choice – make faster, smarter and wealthier for everyone.

- Join the coalition
- Publicize it
- Get involved

Q.- You say that Canada is going the wrong way – are you saying that it’s just that we haven’t bothered or is it the politicians? In the US they are regulated in a different way, Congress has passed regulations. In Canada, recently the CRTC said that it’s ok that net neutrality is not operating. The NDP is supporting net neutrality, according to Steve.

Q.- Is it the responsibility of municipalities? – We need to encourage an open internet. Local political leaders who suggest free and open access.

Supposedly they are running out of business. But, the question remains – is our lobbying less effective than the American lobbying strategies on this topic?

UPDATE – 6:44 pm Now it’s the time for Lorraine who is going to describe the process of engaging with the community and the Fearless City strategy.

Lorraine Murphy – How to Twitter + Phones for Fearless

Lorraine begins by describing what Twitter is (the microblogging platform). April has been taking video (and so has Jenn Lowther, I think). If you look at Twitter now, many responses (the majority) are “@” replies (which means that Twitter is now about 80% responses). Effectively showing that Twitter has become a platform for conversations.

Twitter is great for news breaks. She proceeds to describe the Toronto explosions and her blog post is the # 1 ranked post on Google. Kris describes the changing face of news (7 minutes vs. 30 mins). Remember the earthquake going on?

Jack Burton Theory of Twitter – Then she proceeds to describe the professional side of Twittering (in her case, her contributions to the FearlessCity account). It has to be very professional. Now Lorraine describes the Phones for Fearless campaign – empowering Downtown East Side residents by video-describing your life. RainCity Studios designed the campaign and went viral. They had 35 blog posts from different people. She put out 400 DMs on Twitter and more than 1500 tweets for the campaign. It’s been quite successful. All she asked is “please just post about this“. Not “give me a phone” or anything. It just went wide. About 4,000 retweets on the Phones for Fearless campaign.

Q.- How long is it likely to stick around (e.g. the business model of Twitter) There are enough robustly created clones. If you learn how to use this platform.

Q.- Are there filtering methods? Yes, by keyword, or using Power Twitters, or TweetDeck to separate groups, or hashtags, or the Summize tool.

Kris makes a great point – you need to know how to separate the noise from the actual data (signal). He also describes the tool Yammer and also describes the greatly successful campaign. A couple of hundred phones.

Joe Solomon – Top Secret Twitter Secrets

UPDATE – 6:58pm – Now it’s Joe’s turn. Social Actions is bridging the actions with the users. Joe now describes what NPTechBlogs does. This is a Twitter feed that is automatically created for all the top non-profit tech bloggers. First, finding the bloggers and then second, parsing the messages (aggregates everything that is written on the topic). You can use TwitterFeed for this.

And you can also check Joe’s top tips here (his De.Licio.Us site). He also describes how to use Twollo (an auto-follow tool). You can do this because Twollo analyzes your own tweets and auto-follows. The other tool is SocialToo which is an automatic follower-back. He then does show how Search Twitter (Summize) can be hacked into TweetDeck to find specific data.

Q.- How do you make money? Joe is a consultant! He can develop a suite of tools and let you go ahead with it.

Monica Hamburg – Using Flickr for Good

UPDATE – 7.12pm - The main thing about Flickr is that it allows you to upload photos that you can share with the world. You can tag your photos and it’s really very well organized. Monica shares a great quote by Clay Shiry “… although people are doing this out of a personal need to keep track of their photos and so forth, the aggregate…”

The big thing with non-profits – they have these compelling stories. Someone will go to Africa and realize that some things are very powerful and they connect and they share their stories. They don’t have to make up stories, they already have them. For instance – Keep Reaching for a Star in 2009

It doesn’t really function independently. It’s better to integrate it with other tools. It has a lot more impact. So, solidarity. Faces of ONE campaign.

Starbucks Photo Petition Pictures. They support Ethiopian coffee farmers (your photos are submitted with that tag). Monica also describes the Medecins Sans Frontieres photo Flickr stream- unfortunately their Flickr photos do not have Creative-Commons licenses. Better for NPOs to actually license their photos with CC.

Monica is now describing the Bear Your Soul Flickr campaign segment to the larger campaign “Save the Great Bear Forest” (Capulet Communications helping Forest Ethics, Greenpeace Canada). You can check my post here. If you are not associated with any specific campaign, you can create your own one. For example, lots of people created a series of campaigns/groups around the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.

Q.- I’m curious whether there is any sort of a market place component for Flickr – A.- The owner of Flickr has that idea, but not Flickr really probably. That’s not the direction Yahoo! would take it.

Raul – ME – speaks to the concept of establishing relationships with people. I just wanted to make the point that it’s more likely that I will write about your stuff if we are friends.

QUESTION/ANSWER PERIOD

Related posts:

1. Vancouver Bloggers Meetup January 2009 Liveblog
2. Announcing the January 2009 Vancouver Bloggers Meetup!
3. Vancouver NetTuesday April 2009 – Mini Social Media Camp for Nonprofits & Other Do Gooders!

- Setting up a blog that is general and then add some travel content – has more longevity.
- Choosing your URL, setting the blog & its design
- Learn the tools (add posts, photos, links)
- Choose a photo-sharing service (like Flickr)
- Set up your design
- Use WordPress.com (hosted, super easy, you can customize it, everything works really easily)
- You can upgrade later to WordPress.org
- You can use Facebook, there’s definitely a role – you can set up your blog to update both Facebook AND your blog/photo sharing accounts.
- Travelpod.com – (I had NEVER heard of this and it’s so awesome!) – Search engines are not very efficient apparently but it’s a nice service.

What to write about

- Your experiences, not your itinerary
- Give a story or talking on the phone – talking to a person
- Don’t go on so much about stuff – be careful about things that you say (and potentially could regret).
- Spellcheck – look for grammar
- If you are out of ideas on what to write, write about what you ate (really! food is very popular)
- It’s very valuable for people (your readers) to write about your stay as well (where you stayed, was it good, was it expensive/pricey)
- Make sure to link to restaurants, hotels, etc.
- Maybe try to socialize with people (local bloggers) – they might take you around

Your writing
- Writing style – smaller paragraphs, shorter posts, spell check.
- Pretty it up – use images, bold words
- Link – linkages to people/places/restaurants/hotels, etc.

Photos
- Not all the photos end up online (neither on the blog nor in the photosharing service)
- Find a peculiar element
- Rule of thirds – when you’re taking a photo of a person, put it in one of the thirds of the photo.
(one of the students just exclaimed “I wish I knew all of these tips before!” – I think that’s a measure of success, Arieanna should be proud )
- Upload all your photos online so that you can have a backup.
- Help your readers “visualize” what you’re enjoying/experiencing.
- You can embed slideshows in your blog.
- You can blog directly from Flickr (“Blog This”) because it will do it for you (and it’s really easy to set up).
- Creative Commons (I raised the issue because you could upload photos on to your blog, but if you put them on Flickr, you can actually indicate the licensing scheme) – we are very social, and it’s very nice to have your photos seen somewhere else.

What NOT to post online

- Where are you staying.
- Your phone number.
- Revealing photos.
- Anything you don’t want a future boss to read.

Questions – I might have missed a couple

Advice for people who already have a bunch of photos (say from Europe) – Choose ONE photo and build a story around it, and then just link to your whole Flickr set.

Related posts:

1. I apologize to my Blogger-based friends… and some SEO talk
2. Third Tuesday May 2008 – Darren Barefoot’s talk
3. January 2009 NetTuesday liveblog