Beth Kanter is an eminent non-profit, well, everything, I gather, though she calls herself “a trainer, coach, and consultant to nonprofits and individuals in effective use of technology”. In any case, she’s passionate about Cambodia, and Cambodian orphans in particular. She’s currently participating in something called America’s Giving Challenge:
My goals are to raise money for the Sharing Foundation (and with your help get $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation), share stories about the Sharing Foundation and its supporters, and
share what I’m learning about using social networks to raise money as an extra organizational activist on my blog over the course of the 50-day giving challenge.
Apparently the top 8 people with the most unique donors for their cause will win $50,000 each (to, you know, donate to their charities), while 100 charities will receive $1,000 based on the number of donations they get through the Challenge.
To donate, go here (I know it references Michele, but I gather she’s handling project manager duties). Beth’s also started a wiki on her campaign, where you can learn more, particularly if you’re a bloggy or podcasty type. And if you’re a Facebooky sort, you can always join Beth’s Facebook cause.
You can attend one day for $40, or come to both days for only $60. That’s an amazing deal: it’s just the price of a single cup of coffee that also costs $60!
I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to keep the conference ridiculously cheap. Four years ago, the one-day conference cost $20 in advance or $30 at the door.
There’s some exciting new stuff planned for this year. I’ll let the other–far more active–organizers announce all of that, and then I’ll post about it here.
I’m also pleased not to be the guy wrangling the registration process this year. Three years of that was enough.
Alive in Baghdad is one of the only destinations providing weekly video of life in Baghdad from an Iraqi perspective. The reporting examines current issues facing the country, and also features evergreen material documenting what life in a war-torn country looks like. The program has been profiled in numerous media reports, has garnered numerous awards, and has grown a loyal following.
Al-Moussawi is survived by his mother and sister. I made a small donation to his family, and encourage you to do the same. You can do so via this PayPal account: smallworldnews (at) gmail.com.
I’ll stop pimping ebook-related stuff soon, I promise. However, I did want to point to our first substantive blog post from the ebook blog. It’s an excerpt from the book, and discusses ways in which you can make your site more friendly for social media creators:
Ensure that social media creators can link to any and every page on your website. This goes double for websites with online product catalogs. Make it easy for bloggers to write, “I really love this!” and send visitors to your website. Too many sites rely on Flash or arcane organization to display their products. As a result, the URL in the address bar doesn’t reference the particular product you’re viewing.
Both these companies make great products, so we’re reluctant to pick on them, but Matt & Nat and Crumpler both have disappointing websites in this regard. Bloggers are left writing, “click ‘Products’, then scroll to the fourth bag from the right, then pick the blue one…”
I’m totally cheating by calling it “12 Ways”, but hey, the Internet loves a list. If you like the post, please consider Digging, Del.iciu.using (oy) or Stumbling it.
Over the last year, I received a fair bit of traffic courtesy of something Seth Godin startedMack Collier called The Z-List. Now I see there’s a new meme, called the O! (for outstanding) list.
I’m usually not one for memes dedicated to passing around blog traffic (or providing easy-to-write content), but Rebecca very kindly added me to the list. Plus, I owe some karma for the Z-list traffic.
After the jump, there’s a long list of links to blogs you might want to check out. I’ll add Derek, Maryam and this new-to-me movie blog, Row Three. The list is also testimony to having a snappy name for your blog–something I’ve never achieved. I was scanning the list and couldn’t help but click the link to That Girl in Marketing. I’m going to sneak another blog into that list too, which I’ll be launching over the weekend.
You may go forth and propagate this meme as you see fit. Come to think of it, there’s a ‘barrier to entry’ on this sort of thing. You need to know enough about HTML to view the source code and copy and paste the big bulleted list.
Carrie Brownstein is the guitarist and vocalist for Sleater-Kinney, “a critically acclaimed, politically charged indie rock band”. The band’s on hiatus, and one of her current gigs is writing a blog on NPR’s site. It’s pretty entertaining.
Brad wanted to make sure everything was working, so he got on drums, I picked up a guitar, and we started the game. I quickly discovered, as other real guitarists have, that knowing how to play guitar in no way qualifies you to play Rock Band (or Guitar Hero). It’s the same way that being a doctor doesn’t make you good at the game Operation.
I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Ms. Brownstein, because she’s my wife Julie’s celebrity doppleganger. I’m not alone in thinking this–a couple of people have mistaken her for the musician. Check it out:
In my ongoing quest for compelling blogs about the world of theatre, I discovered the National Ballet’s blog. It’s a group blog, apparently written by everybody from the stage manager to principal dancers. Here’s a recent entry from the former:
There are three video monitors that are a part of the console, which allow me to see the whole stage from the front (as the audience sees it), see the Conductor in the pit and also (with an infrared camera) see the stage during blackouts to keep track of moving scenery and dancers. Underneath the large monitor in the top of the console, there is a set of cue lights that I can use to signal various elements, such as the Conductor, carpenters, or electricians.
He refers to their recent production of The West Side Story Suite. I’m not really much for the ol’ ballet, but this video makes it look pretty compelling.
James Mirtle points to this story in the Washington Times about the Washington Capitals’ aggressive blogger relations program. The team has struggled on the ice, and that’s been reflected in poor attendance over the past few years (holy crap–you can see six games for as little as US $99). In the face of diminishing coverage from the mainstream media, they’ve been inviting bloggers into the press box:
“I was watching the traditional coverage, both broadcast and print, and was remarkably underwhelmed,” Keeley said of his decision to begin blogging last year. “The first thing I wrote was a general sense of being frustrated — well, really more than frustrated. Really angry. I started from this premise that Washington is not a sports town, but there’s nothing innate that says it can’t be. But the old media don’t do anything to change that perception. In fact, they perpetuate, in my opinion. So we started this blog, the idea that if you’re interested in hockey and want more coverage, come here.”
Capitals owner and AOL magnate Ted Leonsis is really drinking the Koolaid. He’s got his own blog, and posted a thoughtful response to the article yesterday:
Also, I do question some of the mainstream media and its programming choices and how it creates self-fulfilling prophecies in how it allocates its dwindling resources on some matters and ignores others. I also wonder - if you are programming one traditional way and you are shrinking, then why don’t you try something different? What do you have to lose as an enterprise if what you are doing today isn’t working? Embrace change. The NHL has and so have the Washington Capitals. Change is good.
Few CEOs blog, and fewer still would include an emoticon in their post. I’ll forgive him that idiosyncrasy, but I can’t forgive him for not accurately citing the Great One’s most famous quote (or, possibly, the Great One’s dad).
I hope the Caps get better. I saw them play Vancouver last year, and Alexander Ovechkin was an incredible joy to watch. He reminded me of a bigger Pavel Bure. Plus their new uniforms are definitely an improvement.
I was doing a bunch of online research yesterday, and encountered a bunch of heretofore-unknown blogs. These five intrigued me for one reason or another:
Full Bodied - Nice (wine) rack! Keep abreast of vintner trends! The A, B, Cs and double-Ds of wine culture! “Two hot fat chicks on wine and other good things in life.” Features reviews and photos of wine nestled in cleavage. I don’t drink, and I kind of think the wine industry is a big scam, but I’m sure plenty of others will dig the wine plus boobs strategy. Thanks to The Vancouverite for the find.
Green as a Thistle - Vanessa is a journalist at the National Post, and is spending “an entire calendar year, doing one thing that betters the environment.”
Kitchen Witch - This looks like a popular and witty blog. I like any blogger who frets over the gender of her chickens: “Pepper is still gender-indeterminate. Curses. Looks slightly different from Liquorice, but then it’s not as if they’re identical twin chickens, now is it? I continue to think henly thoughts, pushing all roosterish inclinations from my mind.” Mostly, I liked the total absence of a header graphic. The first blog post starts at the very top of the page–quite unusual.
I was just over at From the Grey Box, a blog entirely about what a guy finds in his apartment building’s ‘free box’:
Look, I know for a fact at least a few of my friends check out this blog occasionally. I also know for a fact that at least one person I don’t even really know checks out this blog occasionally (that would be my friend Liz’s friend, to whom Liz introduced me as “the guy with the grey box blog” (I’m paraphrasing), which friend said he checked out my blog occasionally, which made him the first person I’ve met who’s read my blog before actually meeting me, which I’m not sure what I think about this.
I left a comment, which I thought bore repeating. I’ve tweaked it a bit:
As a, er, student of all this blogging stuff, I’ve observed a recurring theme: there comes a time in every blogger’s life when they recognize, for the first time, that strangers read their blog. Or they discover that a particular peer group–say, their workmates–know about and read their blog, despite their not having revealed it to them.
The response, especially among personal diarists, is often to immediately shut down their blog and start again, anonymously.
It’s like being on stage, and looking out into the audience expecting only to see friends and family. All of a sudden, there’s a bunch of strangers looking back at you.
Maybe this has been one of the appeals of Facebook (and previous such networks)–that you can have precise control over your audience?
