Tag Archives: Gnomedex

Jeff Jarvis on “citizen media”

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“…new world of weblogs and citizens’ media is all about possibilities — many of them unrealized, I grant — while the world of the big, old media is increasingly about worry: fretting over declining revenue, resources, audience, quality, trust. That is one good reason for big media to embrace the small, rather than trying to recapture the old: It’s optimistic, energetic, new, open, growing, and fun; it’s the medium in the better mood and that’s catching. In short: Bloggers make better barmates.”  — Full post here

Next week at Gnomedex, I will be surrounded by lots of bloggers and new media types. I’m looking forward to 3 days of optimism, energy, fun. The future is here and I’m loving it.

stevemays.com

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Like a pair of old, soft, faded Levi’s, smays.com is comfortable and familiar. It has been my online home for a long time and I can’t imagine changing it. The only domain that would even tempt me is stevemays.com. Which belongs to Steven F. Mays, an attorney in Washington State. Steven F. offers few clues about himself or his practice. Well, I guess his phone and fax numbers are good “clues” but I’m thinking along more personal lines. For example, what are we to make of his single “Reader’s Recommendation?” The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon.

I emailed Steven F. asking him if he would sell me his domain. I’m hoping Steven F.’s law practice is thriving and he doesn’t need my money. So my plea was ripped from the script of “Days of Our Lives.” Steven F. is a busy, successful lawyer with no time for web site. If he sells it to me, I’ve promised to care for it and give it loving, daily attention.

I know, it’s a long shot. My only hope is that he reads enough of my posts to get to know me and likes what I’ve done here at smays.com.

PS for Steven F. — It appears you live in a suburb of Seattle. How about we get together for a drink while I’m in town for Gnomedex?

Gnomedex 5

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Presenters at this year’s conference include: Adam Curry, Dave Winer, Steve Gillmor, Steve Rubel, Robert Scoble, Marc Canter, John Battelle, Dan Gillmor, and others. Okay, this is the kind of stuff that interests me. If sitting in a conference room for three days listening to people talk about blogging and podasting and RSS and shit like that doesn’t sound like any fun to you… you can start to understand why your idea of a vacation doesn’t make me clap my little hands.

Gnomedex 5

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My idea of a fun vacation is a few days at a technology show, so I’m looking forward to Gnomedex 5.0 coming up in late June in Seattle. I attended the first Gnomedex in Des Moines but missed the last couple. This year’s show looks like a good one. Adam Curry is the keynote speaker and other presenters include: Steve Gillmore, Robert Scoble, Marc Canter and a bunch more. Chris Pirillo is a sharp guy and I’m betting he puts on another great conference.

John C. Dvorak on blogging

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I’d forgotten how much I like (and agree with) John C. Dvorak. He was one of the headliners at Gnomedex and poked some good natured fun at “the Blogging phenomenon.” (Note to self: Try to have something useful or interesting to say). Dan Gillmor was on the opposite end of the spectrum regarding the importance of blogs and gave some powerful examples.

Gnomedex: Slashdot.

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“News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.” Slashdot creator Rob Malda (CMDRTACO) gave the geekiest presentation I’ve heard to date but it was perfect. “One of the largest, self-moderated discussion groups on the web,” Slashdot generates 2.4 million page views per day. Learned a new expression: “Daddy Pants” The guy responsible for getting up at 2 a.m. to reboot the server is wearing the Daddy Pants.

Gnomedex: Google

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Nelson Minor is a software engineer for Google and he gave a fascinating presentation to kick off this two day conference. Starting with the Google mission statement:

* Work on things that matter
* Affect everyone in the world
* Solve problems with algorithms
* Hire bright people and give them lots of freedom
* Don’t be afraid to try new things (According to Minor, Google News was the idea of one guy who said, “Hey, wouldn’t this be cool?”)

Average search time on Google: 1/5 of a second. He even explained how Google works…in a way that even I could sort of understand.

Gnomedex: Des Moines, IA

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Opened up the windows on the 4Runner…cranked up the XM Radio…and headed for Des Moines and Gnomedex 3. Hundreds of geeks (and one wannabe) from all over the country descend on Des Moines for two days. Much more fun than the big computer/technology shows. Dinner with O. Kay Henderson who has great new hair cut (yeah, I know that sounds gay but I can only admire, not do it, so…). She’s interviewing John Kerry today and asked if I had any questions she wanted her to ask him. I couldn’t think of any.

May I have your autograph?

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I’m told they have these baseball “camps” where middle aged guys can pay to go hang out with real baseball players. That’s pretty much what Gnomedex was for me. Four hundred really smart, badly dressed, but very nice people (mostly guys). If they could tell by looking at me that I was not a true geek, they were too nice to mention it. We were summoned to the Des Moines Marriott by Chris Pirillo…the Lockergnome. Lockergnome is a person, a newsletter (300,000 readers), a website and an online community (called Gnomies). Chris put together an A-List of speakers that included some of the Big Names in the online world: Steve Gibson; Phillip Kaplan; Mark Thompson; Doc Searls; Evan Williams; and Leo Laporte. None of whom disappointed.

Gnomedex.

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If you don’t know, it doesn’t matter. More fanny packs than Disney World. Geeks galore and one wannabe. When TechTV star Leo Laporte showed up at the pre-conference party, I morphed into a 13 year old girl who finds herself on an elevator with the ‘N-Sync boys. A few minutes later Leo drags Megan Marrone (another TechTV star) over to meet one of her fans. You could see her mentally composing the restraining order.