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Events

All Hail The Unconference

October 27, 2006

Posted by Phil.Gomes

I give many talks. Typically, part of my intro schpiel has to do with one of the strange ironies of this business.

You see... I've gone to talk after talk in the new media space. Each time, the speaker is carrying on about the great conversations that everyone is having online and how one might participate in them.

And how is this message delivered?

Yup... Lecture format.

That's why I'm hoping that conferences big and small start taking a serious look at the unconference as a concept.

From Wikipedia:

An unconference is a conference where the content of the sessions is driven and created by the participants, generally day-by-day during the course of the event, rather than by a single organizer, or small group of organizers, in advance. To date, the term is primarily in use in the geek community. Unconference processes like Open Space Technology, however, have been around for over 20 years in other contexts.

Well... A lot of things start in the "geek community." Like, um, blogs... Just as an example.

And look where we are now?

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posted by Phil.Gomes

Tools

The Joys of Wordplay

October 18, 2006

Posted by leah.jones

I'll admit it. Sometimes I get writer's block. Like for the last two weeks, where have my posts been? Apparently the posts have been stuck somewhere between my brain and my keyboard. The writer's block got so bad that it even crept into my brainstorming abilities. Yesterday the block ended and today I'm going to share with you the blockade ending tools.

I was totally stuck for a word and said, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was such a thing as a Random Word Generator?" Ask and it is given, that was the lesson. I did a search and turned up the Random Word Generator.

I did some more snooping and found the Dislexicon. It makes up words on demand using the latin root of your choosing. Sometimes during a brainstorm, all you need to get you going is a random or made up word and both Dislexicon and RWG will get your brain going in new directions.

The third tool I found makes new words out of a list of old words you supply. We were working on a branding project and were coming up empty handed. After I found this, I entered all the descriptions of the product that I could into the database and let it crunch the vowels for me. It is from Nexi.com and is also called a Random Word Generator, but I'm going to call it Polytulsa.

Because that's the word Dislexicon gave me.

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posted by leah.jones

Tools

Taking over MySpace

October 6, 2006

Posted by leah.jones

We got the email last night, there has been an invasion. Turns out that ADULTS are taking over MySpace. Half of the users are over 35.

Know who else is taking over MySpace?

Writers. Not bloggers, but writers. Novelists, poets, memoirists. Of the 101 friends I have on MySpace, nine are books. I am friends with nine books and get more requests every week from books (and their writers).

I'm a friend of the Memoirist's Collective, which is where I started getting introduced to writers. Now, just like musicians and comics, writers are coming to MySpace to build book buzz and find publishers. This group of four memoirists has sponsored a range of contests and made it possible for the writing community to grow.

Who is taking over your version of MySpace? Who are you surprised to see popping up in your friend request inbox?

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posted by leah.jones

What's Talkshop

TalkShop is a blog about word-of-mouth and the Me2 Revolution, published by Edelman and hosted by Phil Gomes, the company's Senior Counsel, Online Communications. This blog pulls in thoughts and opinions from members of the worldwide Edelman network.