The Alpha Bet

Kara B — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:27:30 +0000

The Boston Globe's 'Innovation Economy' columnist, Scott Kirsner, lit up the bat signal today. He's calling all savvy end users to pitch in and help local tech entrepreneurs test, shape, and promote their products.

I'm there and have been since the late 1990s when I started littering the web with digital breadcrumbs in the form of various user accounts and profile pages. Some of the sites from 'back in the day' are still going strong and raking in the cash, while others are long gone and only available cached. Often the difference between the two is having quality, in-depth guidance from engaged users willing to give their time and feedback. That fact alone makes this call to action so compelling.

Kirsner speaks to Boston's need to cultivate a class of users more actively engaged with entrepreneurs developing products. I couldn't agree more which gives insight into why 2010 has been a boon for my geek street cred. It's only the end of the first quarter and I've managed to worm my way into Alpha testing for three thoughtfully executed Boston area web products: Rally, tourfilter and Meetcha. The Beta 'biz' is booming too: Gist, Threadsy, and Thread. (Stay tuned: more on my impressions of these sites later…)

The short list of influential Boston area early adopters compiled for this article is worth checking out and I was pleased to find that many on the list overlap with my own. (Laura Fitton, Steve Garfield, Joselin Mane, Eric Andersen, Jon Pierce).

If I were to add one person to the list, I'd go with my friendly neighborhood online dating/start-up consultant extraordinaire, Dave Evans. His blog, 'Online Dating Post,' contains unparalleled comparative analysis of social technology products. The title can be misnomer as he covers a lot of ground outside of the online dating space. A lot of the new sites I try are at his behest and my knowledge of what's out there is well-rounded for it.

So, Boston: who else should I keep my eye on?

Hot off the WordPress

Kara B — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:23:38 +0000

It's T-Minus sixteen days until the inaugural WordCamp Boston!

I've been looking forward to this event for a while. My training regimen began in earnest on November 13, 2009 when I tuned in for the live stream of WordCamp Phoenix. (Thanks GoDaddy!)

I haven't found an outfit as comfortable as the jammies I donned for the Phoenix event, but that's the price I'll gladly pay for the opportunity to hang out with other communications technophiles and open sourcerers in person.

Geek on!

Invasion of the Pod Tweeple #pcb4

Kara B — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:09:51 +0000

I never had the whole "Kumbaya" camp experience as a kid. There were two summers I was signed up for the town rec. department's "Summer Scene" day program. A few weeks in, they'd run out of gimp. I'd be out of the bracelet making biz, free to spend time with the devil's spawn little angels from my class who showed their affection by bestowing upon me a super-great nickname. Man – I sure had a lot of "colds" that summer.

Thankfully, PodCamp came to the rescue last weekend and gave my inner child a big ole' hug. (Better late than never, right?) Over the course of my career I've been lucky enough to work in several great industries. That said, the new media space is by far the most welcoming and vibrant community I have experienced. Spending two days with other professionals engaged with adopting technology to enrich everyday life was transformational. In short: y'all rocked my world. No joke.

I'm still working through my notes, so I'll write another post to share my highlights. In the meantime, I'd like to send shout outs to the folks who made my PCB4 experience so fab-u-lous. Guido Stein, Adam Zand, Steve Garfield, Tamsen McMahon, Mick Darling, Michael Lawson, Sam Sacks, Todd Van Hoosear, Gradon Tripp, Kurt Eng, Dave Werner, Jeff Cutler, Joselin Mane, David Wieneke, Rick Stein, Mike Volpe, Karen Rubin, Christopher Penn, Chris Brogan, CC Chapman, Rich Sands, Dave Cutler, Patrick Richardson, Bob Collins, Matt Searle, Steve Sherlock, Richard Reeve, Christine Major, Chris Abraham, Roberta Baldwin, Al Willis, Dan Ronke and the countless other session participants with whom I did not speak directly. And then there are the people I didn't get the chance to meet. Don't even get me started on that list. @cspenn gave a great tip on Twitter about checking the Event Brite registration list for a memory jolt re: names and contact info. Thanks Chris!

I've been following the #pcb4 Twitter stream and have gotten a lot out of the thoughtful posts written. The links I've grabbed are shared below. Consider it my little "thanks-for-being-awesome" treat.

NOTE BENE:

These links were pulled from public forums. Regardless, if anyone would like me to remove their content, I would be happy to do so.
Please email me or post any links I missed in the comments and I will add them to the list.

POSTS

Jeff Cutler – Foot Fetish, Podcamp Boston 4 #pcb4, PCB Who's Who in Whosville, & Podcamp Boston 4 – Special Session – The Future of Work
Chris Brogan – Seeds in a Wild Garden
Christopher Penn – Breaking the shackles on your potential at pcb4
Gradon Tripp – Post pcb4 wrap-up: what a difference a year makes, The #PCB4 Session That Shouldn’t Have Happened & Talking Philanthropy and Social Media at #PCB4
Guido Stein – Notes from PCB4
Aneta Hall – Best Tweets of pcb4 day 1 & Day 2 at pcb4
Skip Bensley – The Visual Suspects at pcb4
Todd Randolph – In Defense of Talking to Strangers
David Cutler – Our PodCamp Boston Session "City 2.0"
David Weineke – PCB4 Social Media Is Changing
Chris Abraham – Reputation Dismorphism
TechNewsMadeSimple – How to start podcasting, Is social media worth it?, Web video future…, Writing in social media, Social media & education, Web optimization, & Best equipt. for video podcast
Critt Jarvis – Video Podcast
Dan Hermes – Podcasting Getting Started
Doug Haslam – PCB4 Aging Gracefully
Jamie Pappas – Clever Marketing by Garifusion During pcb4
Jeff Rutherford – Social Media Self Consciousness
Peg Mulligan – PCB4 new media social media conference/
Stuart Foster – 33 Ways to Drive Blog Traffic
Tony Loftis – What I Saw at PCB4
Richard Reed – Arts and Crafts (Inaugural Podcast!)
Uncommon Bostonian – Day 1 of pcb4 & Day 2 of pcb4
Adam Pieniazek – Ungoals for pcb4
Henri Codolfing – Battledecks and Pecha Kucha at Podcamp
Jeremy Meyers – The story is the results so don't try to tell it yourself, Don't be sexy, be good. Good is sexy. & PodCamp Boston Recap
Len Edgerly – Odds and ends from PCB4 & TKC Extra Will the Kindle Save Reading
Matthew Grant – PCB4: my me too thoughts and reflections
Mike Proulx – Notes from PCB4
Beth Dunn – Exhibit A
Kevin Mullins – PodCamp Boston – Social Media and Social Networking
Amanda MacArthur – Notes & quotes from PCB4
Michael Lawson – What I learned on my summer vacation (#pcb4)
PK Shiu – Can we separate our online personal & professional lives?
Charles Seymour – Short Stories and Marketing Lessons To Rocket Your Sales (scroll to #26)
Dan Ronken – My 3 Takeaways from PCB4
Kimberly Reynolds – PCB4 Mojo Discovered Anew
Paul Monaco – It's Your Podcamp
Jonathon Bloom – Had a great time at PodCamp Boston 4
Mélanie Millett – Podcamp Boston et les outils d’écoute en ligne
Stacy Crosby – #pcb4 – Podcamp Boston = WOW!
Steve Robins – Podcamp Boston Redux
Georgiana Cohen – Podcamp Boston
David Karp – Kindle vs lumber at podcamp & Podcamp panel ponders power of philanthropic philosophies: build or buy, Gates or Buffett
Eventbrite – PodCamp Boston won Eventbrite's Twitter Hashup content for 3600+ #pcb4 tagged tweets!
Ronald "Buzz" Brindle – My First Video Podcast
Trish – Is my n00b showing
Ron Ploof – Jeff Pulver at Podcamp Boston 4
Gina Minks – Podcamp Boston, lack of women speakers, and bringing things to neutral
Terri Orlowski – Podcasting with Care

LADIES, ALL THE LADIES (Women in Social Media)

Cynthia Barnes – Pumas, Cocks & Cougars: Who won?
Sarah Wurrey – Sarah & Julia (& Podcamp Boston), Media Bulls-eye: The Women Problem & Live From Logan Airport, It’s an Exhausted Podcamper!
Christopher Penn – Arguing Against Your Limitations
Michelle Wolverton – PCB4 Thoughts and Community
Tamsen McMahon – 3 Keys to Success No Matter Who or What You Are
Rakiesha Chase – The Girl Power Session & Podcamp Boston pcb4 Review
LizPW – What ruffled my feathers at PodCamp Boston: In defense of the “Mommyblogger”

UPCOMING EVENTS

http://pspbootcamp.eventbrite.com/
http://pcnh.pbworks.com/
http://podcampmontreal.org/2009/08/give-podcamp-a-chance/
http://podcampphilly3.eventbrite.com/?ref=estw
Hubspot – Inbound Marketing Summit in Foxboro Oct 7-8

MISCELLANEOUS

Final tally from @shersteve: 290 on Saturaday, 171 on Sunday; Total = 306 attended out of 375 registrants.
Join the PodCamp Boston group on LinkedIn Group
cspenn Did you enjoy PodCamp Boston 4? Leave lead organizer @chelpixie some LinkedIn reco love, pls.: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smwolverton
MikeLangford If you attended @PodCampBoston, #PCB4, join me in PodCampBoston, a Tweetworks group. tweetworks | podcampboston
AdamPieniazek MBTA goes open source http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/coming_soon_iph.html | Schedule data made public. I credit the Boston 2.0 talks at #pcb4 for this development.
stevegarfield Testing out Screenr web based screencasting app with photos from #pcb4http://screenr.com/BUs
As always, the ultimate source for PodCamp Info is the official website.

PODCAMP SESSIONS I ATTENDED

How do you start this podcasting thing? – Guido Stein
What is the future of writing in social media? Rick Stein
What’s on our minds? Christopher Penn, Chris Brogan, CC Chapman
How can you use video podcasting for B2B marketing? Mike Volpe and Karen Rubin
Women in Social Media – Breakout Session
How not to be a Social Media DB – Breakout Session

karabrickman.com