0 Reaching New Markets with Web 2.0

Lately, I have heard more than a few people talk about the "marketing power" of web 2.0. I have become increasingly offended by this and similar statements about gaining "market share"through Twitter, or developing "product awareness" using FaceBook.

What!? Or in the parlance of Internet cussing WTF!?

Now don't get me wrong, I believe that the Internet can be a powerful tool for businesses and professionals. However, I think that the old-school marketing strategies of finding your "target audience" and pitching your product to them doesn't work. People are primarily looking for two things on the Internet: information and community.

If you are a business looking to FAIL at social media, treat your social media platforms like press-release forums. Only Tweet and FaceBook about your products and events. Only blog about your products. Never comment on another person's blog, tweet, or FaceBook comment. In short, be self-centered and only allow information to travel one way--out from you.

If you want to SUCCEED at social media, treat it for what it is: a vehicle for exchanging information and ideas. I am a blogger so I will discuss this in terms of blogging (not this, but another blog that I run).

I of course want my blog to succeed. I want lots of readers, and eventually, I would like to offer limited advertising of businesses I trust and whose service I think would appeal to my readers. So yes, being able to write for money is a goal of mine. However, it is not the be-all-end-all for my blogging life.

The real reason I started blogging is I have something I think is important to say. Note that I did not start blogging because everyone else was doing it, or I thought I could make money doing it. Rather, I feel I have experiences and expertise that will benefit my readers. I want people to benefit from my ideas and suggestions. I am also well aware that a blogger needs other people and ideas to survive. I need a larger community of people that I both tap into and contribute to to keep my ideas fresh. In addition to blogging, I have a personal relationship with local businesses that I blog about. I tweet about other blogs, useful links, as well as more personal things. I participate fully in several large discussion and networking forums in my field, and I comment on other peoples blogs.

In short, I am an active member of my chosen niche community. I do not constantly push links to my blog in emails, comments or discussion forums. I am not constantly referring to myself, my blog, or my product. Rather I participate in online conversations in a similar way that I would in person. After all, you wouldn't think of going to a professional event and constantly try to sell a product would you?

The Internet is the same nowadays. The days of hard sell e-commerce are a gone, or at least largely ineffective. Today the internet is about conversations, communitiy, and sharing ideas.

Don't believe me? Just look at the ubiquity of comments in blogs, online stores, and everywhere you turn. People no longer want to be on the recieving end of a hard-sell marketing campaign. Rather, they want to be part of a conversation.

That does not mean that "marketing" is dead. Lord knows that I am constantly trying to up my Google ranking, attract more readers, and generally raise awareness about my own blog. I even have business cards I hand out. However, I also know that I am a part of a larger conversation, and I embrace my role as an active a contributing member of a larger online community.

0 Appalachian State Featured on Smashing Mag's Showcase

Well, WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/19/showcase-of-academic-and-higher-education-websites/

3 Surf's Up on the World Wild Web...

... And by "surfing" in mean couch surfing.
This week has been an interesting week. I've been introduced to two websites that I would never have thought to exist. One is a dating site for married people who want to commit adultery. {Call me a prude, but I'm just not going to glorify it with a link} The other, is CouchSurfing.org.

 Perhaps you remember when you were college age, or thereabouts, and you visited your young and poor buddies in their cramped postage-stamp sized efficiency in the city. Where did you sleep? On their couch of course. Or, if they slept on your own couch, you may have slept on the floor. Perhaps a similar situation played itself out with a "friend-of-a-friend."

This is called couch surfing. And it should come as no surprise... {should being the operative word, because both sites shocked the hell out of me}...it should come as no surprise that couch surfing has become organized on a global scale through the magic of web 2.0 and the lure of social networking in cyber space.

Ok, ok, I hear you. BFD you might be thinking. This type of user-generated content and social networking IS the web. What's the big woop?

The big woop is this: couch surfing links the virtual with the real world. While arguably other sites such as CraigsList and Match.com do the same. Couch surfing is different. Barring the one-night-stand ads on CraigsList, CouchSurfing.org is unique in that you are inviting people you've met online into your most intimate space--your home.

My initial reaction: I'll get raped! So of course I googled "couchsurfing" and "rape," and guess what? A Hong Kong woman was raped last year in the UK. So there you go. There is a danger that a woman CouchSurfing to travel alone will get raped. Yup.

But searching further and digging deeper, the rape seems to be more the exception than the rule. It's hard to say why exactly this is. It could be a matter of self-selection among members. CouchSurfing seems to attract young and alternative crowds. It could be that there are thousands, not millions of members.

I could also be the safety mechanisms CouchSurfing.org has incorporated into its culture and policies. For example, the second questions in the FAQ section, which is part of the introductory reading for new members, is, "is it safe?" The first is, "is it really free." As outlined on their Safety Page, the folks at CouchSurfing are committed to promoting a safe environment for it's members. To this end they have employed a verification system which requires a credit card, which in turn requires a real name and address. There is also a fairly extensive and partially anonymous referral system. Given these options, a member can mitigate their risk by only surfing with or offering a couch for verified members with references.

So the final verdict for me?
Well I am holding off on my own verification process for now, and I currently do not have a couch available. But I have spent a great deal of time working on my profile and searching through member groups for like-minded people. Soooo, it looks like I will stay a while to check things out more.

Oh, yeah, and this morning, I casually mentioned the site to my husband. While I made no promises, and he had the same skeptical response as I did at first, we are trying to keep our minds and hearts open about the project.

It's just such a good idea. Question is: Is it a good idea for poeple our age, in their thirties? Or is this just a young person's thing. I hope it's not just for the young. I really like the idea of a foreign/regional travel exchange for adults.

3 WikaWhat? A look at WikiQuote and WikiBooks

Photo From The Heart of the Alleghanies; Or Western North Carolina
Available at GoogleBooks

I am a historian. A working one to boot. I teach, write, and work in a history museum. I am routinely on the lookout for old historic books and archaic ideas. Specifically, my research interests include turn of the twentieth century Appalachia. Not necessarily the hillbilly Appalachia but rather a more dynamic Fin de Siècle Appalachia. I have relied upon GoogleBooks more than once to read a hard-to-find, out-of-print 19th century book on Appalachia. I spend a lot of time on GoogleBooks.

However, GoogleBooks is not perfect. And there is a lot of debate about how their digitization project fits into copyright and intellectual property laws, especially among academics (See NY Times article, Google's Pnan for Out of Print Books is Challenged.) While most of the books I look for are in the public domain, as I expand my research to include the interwar years and even LBJ's Great Society, it becomes clear whether or not Google will continue to be useful to me.

To make a short story tediously long (as we historians love to do,) and am frequently on the look out for new sources of historical evidence. To this end, WikiQuote and WikiBooks seemed promising enough.

"There are no facts, only interpretations."
~Friedrich Nietzsche, Notebooks, (Summer 1886 – Fall 1887), Available on WikiQuote

WikiQuote is exactly was is sounds like. It's a wiki full of quotes. What makes Wiki Quote different from other quote archives and databases such as BrainyQuote and ThinkExist is WikiQuote's commitment to accuracy and provenance. Basically,when you search for a quote in WikiQuote, not only do you get the author and text of the quote, you get the date, publication from which it came, and associated links to WikiPedia and other Wiki projects. WikiQuote offers extensive coverage of films, books, TV shows, religious texts. Basically, when you find a quote you like, you have available to you a preponderance of information.

The downside of WikiQuote for a mountain historian? Well, keyword searches for Appalachia, Mountaineer, and moonshine did not yield any better results than competitor sites. Which is to say, not a lot.  Still, if you find a topic that is better covered, WikiQuote is the best quote database out there as far as I can tell.

 A plate of Risotto. Photo taken by Kobako

Published here under a Creative Commons License

WikiBooks was not as useful for my own research as I had hoped. Keep in mind that I am not giving a blanket thumbs up or thimbs down, but rather evaluating both projects according to mine own and any reader who may be interested in a "MtnHistory" blog.

Unlike GoogleBooks, WikiBooks is a textbook repository meant to dovetail with WikiVersity. This means that, rather than hard to find, out-of-print, and public domain books, WikiBooks only features textbooks. A perusal through the history section yielded precious little for 19th century American history, and nothing at all in 20th and 21st century histories. Nary a book could be found on Appalachia.

However, non-historical texts that caught my eye included the WikiJunior project, particularly the Solar System book. Also Cookbook seemed decent. While it does not offer the eye candy one can find on the web and in foodie blogs, it does offer solid instruction on proper techniques as well as international and historical perspectives on food. If you are interested in a topic that WikiBooks covers, you are free to download copies of books to your local machine for offline reading.

2 Are "We" Dumb? Or Just Plain Ignorant?

What is important for an individual to know when they graduate from elementary school? middle school? high school? college? It is a simple question that regularly fuels debate over curriculum, standardized testing, and assessment.

 Public Domain Photo from WikiCommons

The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is concerned that neither middle school kids in South Boston, nor Harvard graduates know what causes the earth's seasons or the phases of the moon. Their documentary "A Private Universe,"examines why students, even science majors at Harvard, have a difficult time answering these supposedly easy questions. (Incidentally, I did not know what caused the earths phases of the moon. I have long thought/assumed that the phases of the moon were caused by the earths shadow. Um, right, that's not it. The moon's phases are caused by the sun reflecting off of it vis-a-vis its position to the earth.)

 Photo Courtesy of MoonConnections.com

My first reaction to A Private Universe was this: WTF? Who cares? Why is it important for me--a historian, a project coordinator, a museum worker-- to answer questions about the causes of the seasons and the phases of the moon? I am more interested in the historical roots of the persistence of racial, regional, gender and socio-economic stereotypes in a post Civil Rights America. Can the astro-physicists tell me what Supreme Court Law legally ended racial segregation? (Brown Vs The Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas) Can they tell me the year? (1954) Can they tell me the Supreme Court Case that Brown Challenged? (Plessy vs Ferguson) Can they tell me the detaols and significance of those cases? Really? Gee, not only do these cases make up the cornerstones of understanding historic race relations in America, they generally common knowledge among American historians and are taught at both the high school and college levels. How about Title IX? Does everyone know the significance of Title IX to gender history? OK, I'll stop.

The point is, as we move forward in our educational journeys, we continue to specialize. Scientists focus their attentions on science and historians on history...

But wait...

After mulling over this a few days, I realized that the point of the documentary has little to do with mastering content. It has to to with leaving school (elementary school , middle school, high school, college, graduate school) with our assumptions and prejudices about the world/universe fully intact. Let me say that again: The problem with the current state of American education is students routinely leave school with their assumptions and prejudices about the world/universe fully intact. 

This is a problem for all educators. A big problem. A Private Universe chronicles a middle school unit plan about seasonal changes and the phases of the moon. Highlighting a particularly bright student's struggle to reconcile her long held assumptions about direct light with the information she is learning in the classroom, we see the student's reluctance to let go of her erroneous assumptions about indirect sunlight.

As a historian, my heart sinks when I think of what happens when students cannot or will let go of their assumptions about race, class, and gender. Nonetheless, this has been an illuminating week. I feel like I have a bit of clarity regarding the persistence of sexism, racism, heterosexism, and cultural and religious intolerance--to name but a few.

 Photo Courtesy dewfall's Flickr Photostream

So what do we do about it? Well, I am not a big fan of our present standardized testing fetish. I believe such testing only promotes rote learning. Instead, I think the solution lies in teaching students how to think. This means teaching them how to ask questions, hard questions. From a history instructor's stand point, it means teaching them how to be deeply reflective and empathetic. To get away from incessent self reference. I see A Private Universe as a rallying cry. To be vigilant of my own assumptions; to acknowledge that they exist; to reevaluate them and ask questions about them regularly; to assess their accuracy; to make informed decisions based on available knowledge; and to inspire my students to do the same.

2 A Commentary on Embedding media...

Disclaimer: As I soar higher into the blogosphere, my posts are taking on a how-to, blogging basics format mixed with my own preferences and reflections. In part, I am interested in blogging and how to do it effectively. In part, I believe that one learns best by teaching. Therefore this blog is turning into a teaching/learning platform for me. It is a way for me to explore how things work, synthesize information, and organize my thoughts.  If you are already a seasoned blogger, I welcome your input and tips!


It is SO COOL to embed photos:
It can be so much easier to embed media than to upload it onto your site or blog. You don't have to worry about optimizing media for the web; it's already done for you. You don't have to worry about bandwidth or storage; your media lives in a different place. Related to this last point, you don;t have to worry about slow page loads due to huge files.

Embedding is also handy if you are on a platform that does not allow uploading certain media, such as Yola, which relies exclusively on 3rd party platforms to deliver media.

Best of all, it puts your media in multiple places, increasing the chances that people will find you.

AudioBoo:
{disclaimer}While short and sweet, my Boo is not all that interesting or relevant to anything else. Sorry.

I am not sure what the best way to use AudioBoo is. I suppose you could do something akin to guerrilla podcasting. For example, a Sydney, Austrailia based food blogger, The Food Pornographer, has been using audio Boo to record her visits to restaurants and cafes. I suppose this lends authenticity and interest to her food blog. She also transcribes her Boo for those who are not interested in listening (and, I suspect, for the search engines.) Her post on Curry Tiger Pie  is also in Audio Boo. She is currently listed under "Popular Boos."




I HEART Prezi

Now Prezi is something I do know how to use. As a matter of fact, the embedding presentation is one I am working on for an upcoming workshop finding historic images for DigitalHeritage.org/ I can also imagine how bloggers can use Prezi to deliver how-to information. Or perhaps design bloggers can show off their inspiration using a Prezi. Companies could create an "about us" or "our mission" Prezi that wold be much more interesting than a block of text.

Prezi is a new way to make slideshow presentations. Part mind map and part presentation, Prezi allows you to brainstorm and create your presentation on one online platform. I do wish that Prezi allowed video and audio uploads as well as images, but perhaps that is in the works as I write...

Publishing on the DHP on Prezi

YouTube
I use both YouTube and Vimeo. I am not sure I have a favorite yet. Vimeo is a bit more structured and is for original videos. YouTube is a bit less structured. I like them both. I guess, in my mind, I am interested in uploading more polished videos, such as Digital Heritage videos and oral history clips to Vimeo where as I save how-to videos, montages, and miscellany for YouTube. But that's just me. I do not think there are any hard and fast rules.

I do know this. When I wanted to post my wedding video montage, YouTube would not except it because the song is copyrighted. ("Send Me On My Way," by Rusted Root) Vimeo did not seem to care, so the video not resides on Vimeo.

Below is a short how-to video about resizing images in Picasa.



Picasa
I feel the same way about Picasa and Flickr as I do about YouTube and Vimeo. Choosing a platform is somewhat arbitrary for straight photo sharing. If you do not already have photo editing software on your computer, or you don't like the photo editing software you have, Picasa has the added benefit of also being a straight-forward, easy to use photo editing application. I mostly use Flickr because it links with my iPhoto. However, if you use something like GIMP or Aviary's image editor, it does not matter if you choose Picasa or Flickr.

From Tourism

When Not to Embed
There may be some cases when you do not want to embed. Photography professionals come to mind (see previous post, "Love in a time of Copyright and Creative Commons"). Or if you want your controls to display a certain way. One scenario that comes to mind is when I want to image galleries or FlipBooks in my WordPress blog I will use a plugin and upload all of my media rather than embedding. Also, if you want to use images from someone else's site or blog you will need to download the image and re-upload it to your own site. As always, be sure to cite and link back to the original post, and if necessary, ask for permission to to the media, and whatever you do, don't hotlink!

3 Love in the time of Creative Commons and Copyright

This may be as good a time as ever to post about my love for creative commons. While a have lagged with posting this past week, I assure you Creative Commons and copyright has been at the forefront of my thoughts. Why? Because I am a blogger. A very specific type of blogger who is trying to promote local businesses. I am a wedding blogger. Weddings are big industry, and we are in the midst of a recession. More brides are going the budget and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) route, which is where I come in. I blog from the budget-DIY angle. Still, in the interest of supporting the local economy, I try to use images and write posts about local businesses and wedding vendors. And this evening, I was told by a local vendor that if I wanted to post images or get any advice or tips from them, I would have to pay for it. What!?

But let me begin at the very beginning, when I first got into digital media, social media, and the world wide web. I was first introduced to the concept of creative commons few years ago, when I started "getting into" the internet, web 2.0, and web development. Now I am not talking about the license mind you. Not yet anyway. Rather, I was introduced to the concept.

You see, I very quickly realized that, in the exponentially expanding world wide web, the old adage, "if your build it they will come" is no longer true (if it ever was.) So the question becomes, in the midst of billions of websites--thousands in your niche--how will people find YOU? Well, through linking of course. This is how blogs survive and get the word out. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) currently favors the link-and-link-alike model.


Link and Link Alike:
So the name of the game becomes this: I set up a website. I sign up for social networking accounts such as Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, and Vimeo, or what have you. I also set up a corresponding blog. I begin to produce quality content that readers likely want. Now here is where it gets tricky. Good content is essential, but it's not enough. I need other people to vouch for me, and to recommend me. They do that by linking to my site/blog/social-media-account-of-choice.

• So, what do I do? I link to other people's blogs under a link-and-link-alike convention. 
• What else do I do? I post comments on other blogs and on FaceBook Walls, retweet and reply on Twitter, comment on photo and video sharing sites, and comment on networks.

Bottom line: being a blogger (or a business with a web presence) is about relationships. Creative Commons allows those relationships to flourish without cumbersome contracts. In my case, Creative Commons allows bloggers to get content and provide free marketing for businesses. I am so bummed that the vendor I queried is not on the same page. All I want to do is provide free marketing for local vendors.

The other side of the coin:
Another local vendor--a photographer--who graciously allows me to use his images, wants to vet all my posts using his images, and me to run a script that will prevent right click downloading of images. We will call him Joe. At first I was feeling a bit prickly about this with a WTF-I'm-providing-free-advertising attitude. Then Joe explained that in the past he had his images ripped off by another photographer who pawned them as their own in portfolios. OMG! I have not considered that! Joe makes a living off of his images and his reputation as a talented photographer. If someone uses his images to masquerade as a fine photographer, it literally takes money out of Joe's pocket.

So What License is the Best? 
Well, that depends on my profession. If I don't make an exclusive living off of my digital work--be it photos, videos, or software--then I think a simple attribution license through creative commons will suffice and will make it easy and attractive for people to use my work, attribute it to me, and (of course) link back to my site. This makes sense in my current position as a Digital Heritage Project Coordinator. Similarly, if my primary goal is to get the word out about my project, blog, or business, I would start with a Creative Commons attribution license. However, if I were a wedding or any other type of photographer, I would have to figure out how to walk that line between getting the word out and protecting my livelihood.

Incidentally, I have not had a photographer refuse to provide images yet. They simply retain full copyright over their work, which means I need to plan ahead and ask them for specific images to support specific posts.I will not say which vendors seem to be the most tight-fisted with information. Nonetheless, as I work with real businesses who are trying to make real money, my heart goes out to them and I respect their decisions.

While I disagree with some who refuse to allow their work, ideas, or advice leave their immediate control, and I disagree over whether or not the benefits of freely sharing information outweigh losses, I must respect their wishes. In the meantime, I am forced to take my time, and plan my blog posts out sometimes weeks or months in advance so I can get proper permissions. This may not be such a bad thing for me, as it forces me to think about my audience and the scope of the project.