@barcampphilly

First let me say thank you to everyone who put on BarCamp Philly today.  Thanks to those who organized the event.  Thanks to everyone who sponsored it, or brought food.  @opensourcecupcakes were delicious!  Let me also say thank you to those who ran the amazing sessions today!  I would also like to say thanks for acceptance of myself as well as my friends.  I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I hope my friends fully appreciated the fact ‘we’ were on average seven to twelve years younger than most  the people attending BarCamp today.  It was just a great opportunity that most kids (can I refer to us as kids? were 19) don’t have, and I don’t know any other group of people, any other lines of work, that would have been as cool with us sitting in and participating and sharing thoughts.  It was a great learning experience.  Thanks everyone at BarCamp Philly!

I did a lot of listening today, there were times where I felt I could have said something but we drifted off into another direction and I missed a segway.  That was completely fine by me–I was there to listen, there to learn from all the other people at BarCamp.  I said coming into this that I would be going by Annie Heckenberger @anniemal’s (who I didn’t get to see!) thoughts about watching, listening, and then doing the work smarter not harder.  Today I watched and listend.  

Here is was I took away.  

Session 1: Connection Not Collection - Community Organizing Using Social Media

Chris Bartlett @harveymilk talked about getting people involved in social networks.  Getting people active in your cause, not passive about it.  Some great discussion flew around the room and the main concept I pulled out of it was “[users] claim an authority or power by participating [in the social network].”  I believe that was said by Alex Hillman @alexknowshtml, but it sums up the session very well.  Everyone has the power to challenge the ways we think, perceive, or act, by particpating in the system.  

Chris also offered the great idea of “secret mentoring.”  Where you secretly help guide people (please without malintent!) in order to help them progress.  

Session 2: Jedi Mind Tricks - mediating user, brand, technology & business goals through conversation

I wandered around until I stumbled into this session.  I really liked what Marion Summerville @saponista said about thinking and feeling people.  There is a definite need to relate to these two types of people differently.  I did some thinking about his, and decided to phrase it somewhat like this later in the day during:  lead by Mario Leone @hexxd1.  

The two types of people can be related to the types of phones you use.  For all extensive purposes you have Black Berry users and iPhone users.  Black Berry users are your thinking people.  Everything is very linear and organized.  Each function has its own place and it is all very exposed and everything is presented out right.  Feeling people on the other hand, are your iPhones.  They are less organized, more creative, and more willing to accept or adapt to the almost layered messy feel of an iPhone.  I feel that these ideas are more true about older working generations, but not necessarily the case for younger generations where thinking and feeling are merging.  I see it in myself–having to adapt to new technology and its very linear, one-way to get it done methods, while still trying to stay creative. 

Session 3: Business Advice (incl. legal) for Startups + Small Business 

Whitney Hoffman @ldpodcast laid out some very broad business advice/strategy.  Did you know that you can get insurance to cover you blogging/podcasting to some extent–I guess you are insuring the material and protect your blog from malicious damages, etc.  I would love to have someone explain this insurance a little more.

Session 4: Making the Unusual Career Transitions

This session was lead by Alex Hillman @alexknowshtml. It was sort of a mash up of how to progress and rebrand yourself when you are changing careers/going indepent.  There was a lot brought to the table–the fact that going back to a traditional career after being an independent may be hard because companies want loyalty, was a new concept to me.  I don’t think I ever really saw it that way.  I always looked at it from the perspective of–If you have the right skills, then there will be demand for you–but I guess that is changing based on how a company percieves your attitude.  If they think you will get up and leave if you don’t like where they are going, then why should they hire you?

Later in the session, we talked about Marion Summerville’s artisan soap business and if she should try to maximize revenue.  I thought this was a fresh twist on the day, and to her, I would say, yes.  Maximize your profit.  People are willing to pay more for your soap because it provides them with utilities.  Be it cleanlyness, connection to you as the maker, the satisfaction that they purchase very expensive soap, or whatever.  The point is, it gives them something they desire, and in return you are rewarded financially.  There should be no ethical qualms about it.  In fact, it should actually reduce your anxiety.  If you charged them more, you could use the money for charitable purposes, or some other positive influence–I believe Alex Hillman suggested benefiting a new entrepreneurer?  Either option is good.  Just remind yourself, that if you didn’t charge them more, who knows where that money would be going?  It could be going to something you feel even more ethical anxiety about.  Another option for this was presented to me by my father.  He said that since they are willing to pay more, you could mark your soap at something like 12 dollars a bar, and always have it on sale for 8.  That way it creates an even greater image of quality, while still meeting your ethical objective.

Session 5: Rethinking the .edu

I completely blanked on this session and am now just adding it.  It was really good.  Geoff DiMasi @geoffd really knows what he is talking about.  I wanted to through in a thought or two when they brought up a “one CMS per university” philosophy and talk about a cross university educational social network that any higher education organization could join, but didn’t get it out in time and lost the segway.  Still a good session.

Session 6: Where are we going? Where have we been? The evolution of technology

A kick-around session with my friend Mario Leone.  Really hacked some good ideas out of brains and got some good feed back from the group.  Everything from Gunshot Detection Systems to LCD lighting with their own IP addresses were brought up.  Jameson Detweiler @jaymstr was a great addition to the chat.

Overall, BarCamp Philly was a great sucess.  Every I went with had a good time.  I certainly learned a lot and I thank everyone for being so open and sharring.

Using Existing Social Networks for Alternative Learning

At the college I currently attend and at the one I transfered out of, there is a system in place called BlackBoard.  BlackBoard is supposed to be a content management system for students and teachers allowing for streamlining of grading, presentation/submition of homework, and other interaction outside of the classroom.  Ultimately BlackBoard is a failure because it doesn’t get the student involved.  There are many other social networks and content management systems out there right now, that would do a better job than BlackBoard.

The other day I was approached by one of my friends about using Facebook as a replacement for BlackBoard.  I immediatley liked his idea and agreed to talk with him about it for a survey/project he was doing.  In the interview we discussed how Facebook could be used instead of BlackBoard.  Already, Facebook has a huge following by college students–so it wouldn’t be that hard to get the laggards on board.  Teachers would then just have to sign up and start a group for their students to follow.  Then the communications could begin.

The thing that makes Facebook better than BlackBoard is its ability for interaction.  The BlackBoard system is unintuitive and just plain hard to use.  Facebook is more natural and straight forward.  Plus, when you aren’t using it for educational purposes, you would be using it for its primary purpose–social networking/making friends–and therefore practicing moving through its heirachy in a fun manner while still learning how to use it.  BlackBoard offers no reward for the suffering you take on while learning its interface.

Besides Facebook, students would be better off if a teacher just ran their own website.  It would be easier to assign things via a WordPress or a Tumblr blog than for students to log into a system and fight through menus to get to content that really doesn’t need to be password protected.

I like the idea of using Facebook to run a class and share information, but ulitmately feel a new, global educational social network needs to be made–not just the sharing of library resources and research amoungst eliet.  But that is another post.

Video of interview with my friend in QuickTime or on Viddler:

Teaching Facebook