lotusmedia 2.0

I haven’t got time to blog all the fun stuff we did and saw in England. You can see my whole photo album on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/rubyji/sets/72157600875310120/

Update: Brian made a short video of the trip. It’s a good compliment to the photos.

Read on for a quick list of what we did and selected photos of our week.

Keep reading Back from London »

These days, folks interested in how the Internet is affecting politics have more than one conference to choose from. My pick for the very best in this increasingly crowded field is the Personal Democracy Forum. The web site and annual conference were founded by Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej several years ago.

My only major complaint about the conference has been that it’s too short (only one day), and that it’s overly focused on folks with famous names. Fortunately, this year PDF is also having an unConference, the perfect antidote to my concerns. I’ll be there talking about local blogging and who knows what else.

They’re also using a snazzy system that allows participants to make their own profiles, write reviews of sessions, and build networks with each other (of course). For example, here’s my profile. I’ll be moderating a very challenging, but hopefully also very mind-opening, session called “Is Cyberspace Colorblind? Addressing Race and Class Online.”

Follow the PDF2007 tag to see what emerges.

Brian got me to sign up for this thing called Twitter, brought you by the talented developers of Odeo and other good stuff. You send short text messages from your phone or a web form, and then it updates your friends as well as the public timeline. It looks like the designers were playing a lot of Katamari when they created this.

People mostly seem to be using it to report their status “tired, hungover” or “at the office” but it seems like it would be especially effective for spontaneous social planning, ie: “Snagged a great table at Mill Town, looking for company.”

Anyway, it also has a badge so you can help your blog readers monitor your status (because I *know* you care).

As some people have noticed, Brian and I got married last weekend. A lot of people said it was one of the most fun and meaningful weddings they have ever attended - I hope this is an indicator of what our marriage will be like, too.

Now we’re off to our honeymoon in Merida, an historic capital city on the northeast part of the Yucatan peninsula. Looks like the weather will be about the same as home:

The things I am most excited about are visiting the ruins at Uxmal, consuming mass quantities of guacamole and margaritas and some Yucatecan delights, and lounging on my butt in this funky little hotel. We may or may not blog from Mexico, but there will definitely be many pictures to post upon our return. Meanwhile, enjoy copious (and growing) wedding pics: www.flickr.com/photos/tags/brianandruby

This sign seen at a gas station in south central Virginia (en route from NC to DC).

Some conferences will allow participants to get online by providing a wireless network. Sometimes you can get that wifi to work, sometimes you can get power for your laptop. Another way that NetSquared is different from most conferences is that as we checked in we were given a personalized access key for the secure wifi, which works very well. Every table in the main hall has a powerstrip on it! The message is clear: this event doesn’t just allow us to blog it, they want us to blog it (and flickr it, chat about it, tag about it, etc.)!

They also are hosting a chat room (or “hallway”) for people who are participating in person and/or online. Another great way to follow what’s going on here is to read the blogs of everyone posting on the NetSquared website.

For those who are keeping track, I wil be away tomorrow through Thursday at the groundbreaking NetSquared conference in Silicon Valley.
Keep reading Call me square »

I spent yesterday at a class by information design guru Edward Tufte. The guy is brilliant, I recommend checking out his website if you’re interested in learning about effective quantitiative communication or especially in presentations.

Keep reading Tufte Talk »

Brian and I are headed out of town for Alexis and Mike’s Wedding. We have a long drive ahead, but then when it’s done we’ll be in fabulous New York City. Woot!

This is the first of several weddings we’ll be attending this year - not counting our own.

And you’re in our neighborhood and want to do some cat-sitting… well let me know.

Next stop on my March Madness World Tour: Seattle and N-TEN’s 2006 National Technology Conference.

I will be leading a panel featuring the illustrious Alexandra Samuel and Victor D’Allant. We will be in the first session of the first day of the conference so don’t misss out. You snooze you lose.

During the same time slot, we are up against a “speed geek” session on Online Advocacy Tools and it appears that the program (at least online) does not list the people behind each session, so please spread the word!

Here’s a rough description:
Keep reading See you in Seattle »