Just a reminder - please consider voting for my two panel proposals at for SXSWi2009. I’d LOVE to see more non-profit/library/non-monetization type presentations at this conference!

My two panels are:

1. (vote here) Experiencing Digital Community: Conversation Economy and Non-Profits
   The conversation economy is all about experiencing real conversations in your organization’s digital space. This panel discusses online conversations in the digital spaces of non-profits. We’ll touch on: * Conversation as experience (conversation economy) * how to start conversations online * examples galore from non-profits, what works and what doesn’t.
2. (vote here) Non-Profit Rockstars: Using Video to Share Your Message
   Video is a great way to share your organization’s message, start conversations, and move people to action. How do online videos fit into your non-profit’s digital space? This panel discusses ways to incorporate online, interactive video into your organization’s digital space.

Voting ends at 11:59 pm central time on Friday, August 29, so don’t dawdle! Thanks!

You HAVE to watch the amazing cool music video Michael Porter and I made!!! Here it is:

And go to Michael’s blip.tv account for a larger version of the video. Want the MP3? Find it here and at last.fm

Go read Michael’s post for the nitty-gritty details (and this post for the lyrics and credits). Here are some song details…

This was a really fun song to write and record. I honestly wasn’t sure Michael’s idea would work when he first suggested it to me, but then I’m game for just about anything, so thought “let’s try it and see what happens!” And Michael’s a great friend and writing partner (we write the Public Libraries Magazine column “Internet Spotlight” together), so if everything else went down the tubes, I knew we would at least have a fun time of it. But as we started writing the lyrics, rhythms and melody lines started bouncing around in my head… and I realized this would be easy to pull off.

Other details:

• The music is a mix of GarageBand instruments, my own guitar playing, and three samples of theremins and other whistle-like sounds.
• And Michael Porter and I sang/rapped the thing
• recorded and mixed in Garageband, in my basement

Samples used:

• Spooky whistle G#3
• Ghost Fx
• theremin low to very high
• all found on freesound.org

Here’s another post on new ways to think about technology and tools (see my last post for the first one).

Here’s a photo of a Smart Car. Do you think you could drive it? Yes? Cool. How about if something broke - could you fix it… or would you need to hire a mechanic? I know I couldn’t fix it - I’m pretty much at the mercy of the auto mechanic when it comes to doing practically anything under the hood of a car.

And you know what? that’s ok. I don’t have to understand the technology to use the technology.

It’s the same way with computers and the emerging social web, too. For example, in order to blog… you don’t have to know how to build a blog. You really only need some very basic typing skills. In fact, in some of my recent presentations, I’ll ask people if they they can type a Microsoft Word document and hit save - and of course, they all say “yes, I can do that.” Then I tell them they just admitted that they have the skills needed to blog. Then it gets really quiet…

Using most of this new-fangled social software is much like driving a car - you don’t have to understand the techie stuff in order to use it. You need other skillsets (like driving).

So - get out and drive!

As usual, I’m a bit busy this fall doing the speaking thing… and I’m really excited about it! I’m trying out a couple of new presentations and doing some first-time “fly over large bodies of water” trips - should be a blast.

Here’s where I’ll be:

September 16: Library Camp 2008 @ Allen County Public Library
I love the Library Camp concept - a bit looser, a bit messier… and a whole lot more interaction and learning. And Allen County’s a great library - it’ll be fun to talk with them! Here’s what I’m talking about there:

• Managing the Digital Branch
• Mashing Up Our Community

September 23-30: David goes to Spain! All three presentations focus on emerging trends:

• Sept. 25: IV Congreso Nacional de Bibliotecas Publicas, A Coruna
• Sept. 27: students in Madrid
• Sept. 29: librarians in Valencia

October 18 - 23: Internet Librarian
This year should be a blast - Howard Rheingold, Danny Sullivan, and danah boyd are keynoting! Here’s what I’m doing there:

• Oct. 18: Working in Digital Branches preconference with Rebecca Jones
• Oct. 19: Podcasting & Videocasting Boot Camp with David Free
• Oct 20: Designing the Digital Experience
• Sometime in there - book signings! Stay tuned for more on that SOON

October 24-27: Hawaii Library Association’s annual conference
I’m doing a number of presentations while there, including my first pecha kucha presentation. Should be a fun time!

November (date not finalized): Techie Toybox webcast for the SirsiDynix Institute

November 18: Education Institute webcast, Designing the Digital Experience

December 9: Emerging Trends presentation for SEKLS, in Kansas

As always, stop by and say hi!

I’ve seen this scene a lot at the airport lately - a person on a cell phone, Blackberry, or laptop, sometimes plugged into the wall… talking or typing away. And it’s made me realize there’s a shift going on here - but not the one you’re thinking of.

Tell me - what do you think this person is doing? Is he:

• chained to a device?
• using a gadget?
• doing email?

Or is this person:

• connecting with others?
• keeping up with friends?
• checking in with his kids?

(ok, ok, I know… we obviously don’t really know what he’s doing. But let me make my point anyway

See the shift? People used to think of computers and “gadgets” as primarily devices that you used - like using a typewriter. The activity was operating the machine.

But now, for some of us … when I turn on my computer, it’s more of a connector, like a telephone. With my laptop, I’m not “using the computer.” I’m writing. I’m editing video. I’m playing with photos. I’m writing music. I’m doing non-techie activities.

I don’t “use the phone” - I’m talking to someone. When I’m txting on my phone at the mall, I’m not “chained to my device” - I’m connecting with someone.

When I’m answering email, doing email” is not the activity - I’m answering questions, offering my input, or throwing out ideas to others. I am connecting with others.

See the shift? I’m not operating a machine anymore. I’m connecting with people. HUGE SHIFT!

Librarians - in order to connect with your younger and wired users, you need to adapt this same mind-set.

photo: http://flickr.com/photos/95911695@N00/2329436525/

Twitter Search (name recently changed from Summize) is a great tool for listening to your community. Here’s what Twitter says about Twitter Search: “Keeping up with interesting news and people you care about is one dimension of Twitter, but what if you need to find out what’s happening in the world beyond your personal timeline? There is an undeniable need to search, filter, and otherwise interact with the volumes of news and information being transmitted to Twitter every second. Twitter Search helps you filter all the real-time information coursing through our service.”

How do you use alerts to listen to your community?

OK… but how do you listen using Twitter Search? That’s easy. Do a search in Twitter Search… and along with the results page, you get an RSS feed of the search. Voila! You have just created a Twitter Alert for that search.

Here’s what I do, for both my personal blog and for my library, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. For both, I have a number of alerts set up:

David Lee King:

• David King
• David Lee King
• davidleeking
• dlk (because some of you call me DLK)

Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library:

• topeka library
• topeka

The library alerts were much harder to set up - not too many people want to type in “Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library” - that uses up most of the 140 characters allowed by twitter! But Topeka Library captures some library-related conversation. Other libraries won’t have the same problem - for example, here’s what people are saying about the Seattle Public Library.

My Topeka alert is much more interesting, because it captures a variety of conversation - what’s happening in Topeka, what people are doing, what they like and don’t like. It’s capturing the general “feel” of the community, which can be useful. I’ve picked up on some pretty interesting thoughts from people this way:

• (my library in the local news): “local headlines New Phone Book Honors Topeka Library: AT&T unveiled its new phone book cover …”
• (people sharing their likes/dislikes about Topeka): “dude, what did you expect? it’s Kansas. I have to goto Topeka for biz sometimes. that town creeps me out.”
• local news can be interesting (quite a few local broadcasters use Twitter): “Melissa_Brunner: topeka police bomb robot is now approaching the suspicious package”
• This was cool - apparently, local realtors are discussing uses of web 2.0 for their business: “I’m looking forward to lunch with @rebr and @76cad to discuss WEB 2.0 uses in real estate in Topeka, KS”

So… what can you DO with this knowledge?

For some libraries and organizations, you’ll be eavesdropping on conversations about YOU. Respond accordingly. For example, someone had this to say about Kansas City Public Library: “Kansas City Public Library is awesome, and totally right by my house. appears to block im, though. strange.” Easy enough to respond to, right? It’s either a yes/no answer with a bit of explanation. Here’s another one: “Carrying my super-cool Wichita public library tote onto a plane to denver then to seattle.” Thank the person for loving your bag!

For other libraries (like my own), there won’t be too many direct conversations about the library… but you can still use Twitter alerts to:

• get a general feel for what’s going on in your community
• to connect with people using twitter (I’m connected to some local media types - those can be valuable connections)
• use it to push the library’s tech (I could contact those realtors interested in web 2.0 and  discuss 2.0 and topeka with them, for example)

So - lots of value for your organization using Twitter Search!

photo: http://flickr.com/photos/banlon1964/46324162/

I had a great time at last year’s South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference - there were some great presentations focused exclusively on the social web, and I brought some cool ideas back.

The one problem? I also had to do some “translation work,” as most sessions were led by corporate or start-up types, and the conversations usually drifted to monetization, ad networks, and selling products. So, I did what I usually do when I don’t like something but see the value of it - I submitted my own panel ideas!

And this is where YOU can help … because people have to VOTE on these panel ideas (very cool). GO VOTE FOR MY PANEL! Go here - http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ - set up an account, then find my two panel ideas. My two submissions are:

1. Experiencing Digital Community: Conversation Economy and Non-Profits
The conversation economy is all about experiencing real conversations in your organization’s digital space. This panel discusses online conversations in the digital spaces of non-profits. We’ll touch on: * Conversation as experience (conversation economy) * how to start conversations online * examples galore from non-profits, what works and what doesn’t

2. Non-Profit Rockstars: Using Video to Share Your Message
Video is a great way to share your organization’s message, start conversations, and move people to action. How do online videos fit into your non-profit’s digital space? This panel discusses ways to incorporate online, interactive video into your organization’s digital space.

To vote, simply click on the “Your Vote” star rating thing.

So - go vote (voting ends on August 29), and if you can (whether or not I get to speak) go to the conference. It’s a great one for anyone interested in new media and web 2.0.

Update: also check out the list of potential non-profit-related sessions that Beth Kanter (of Beth’s Blog) put together. Lots of good stuff this time around (hopefully!).

I should warn you - if you visit my actual site and it looks kinda funky, there’s a reason! I’m switching over to a new theme. Everything is working like normal - it just looks different. Catch ya’ later!

From Michael’s last post you can see that Michael and I recorded a snappy little library song last week. We are really proud of the work we’ve produced and now YOU get a chance to be in the video!! It’s a jumpy little ditty about library futures, technology and how we will succeed as libraries.

Please listen to this short snippet of the song and then … shoot a brief video of you singing along! That’s all it takes! You can use a web cam or any other camera you like and send it to the email below. It should only take a few minutes on your end, and after we get the videos, we’ll take the best and put them in the video we are hard at work on! Of course, also feel free to send other videos that might go along with the title/theme of the song “hi-fi sci-fi library,” too (costumes are very welcome by the way!:)

So join in the fun and star in a video with us! This is your official invite! We are looking forward to seeing YOU in our upcoming video!

Here is a link to the very short snippet to sing along with (you can download it even if you want). The “hi-fi sci-fi library” part is what we really need to see you singing.

If you have you have a webcam, you really should be emailing your video to:
michael.libraryman *At Sign**gmail.com

Please send your clips in to the above address no later than August 24th, 2008. We are really looking forward to seeing you in the video with us!!!!!!!!!

-Michael Porter and David Lee King