MediaCampLondon2 - December 2008 - Part one
December 22, 2008
Experience, React and Respond.
Social Media has infused itself so subtly and covertly in to my working practices that rather than having to bring myself up to speed with this phenomenon I'm fighting to define it so I can share it with others. Its not the technology or the specific platforms I want people to identify with and use, but the benefits the services provide so they find that in turn it just happens to solve the issue they wanted to address. Usually better communication with team members or customers.
For example. On-the-road updates by embedding Twitter and using a mobile phone or offering production programs with a PDF and an issuu embed giving funky turning pages on a website. Rabbit Shadows shown below is an issuu embed.
SMM - Social Media Mafia - MediaCamp
Coming to MediaCamps gives me the opportunity to immerse myself in the buzz, dialogue and debate. Everything the Social Media mainstream arena has to offer. Its clarity, confusion, vision, delusion, potential, self doubt and ego. I meet the people wrestling with it, doing it, using it, developing and analysing it. Just as I do.
My moment of clarity - There are social content consumers and social platform exploiters. Thank you David Blumenstein
Once a Stagemanager always a control freak!
Being so used to running events and stage shows in my past life I look for participation and immersion at MediaCamp. It's important to contribute to the unconference concept and try to support the SMM team. I try to be both delegate and organiser. Being as the urge to steer and guide events is so overwhelming I don't fully enjoy myself at the event I am forcing myself to participate in!So there fore at MediaCampLondon2 I didn't interact with as many people as I would have liked. I didn't pay attention fully to the sessions I attended. I didn't support the event team either as I should have...plus I had stupid luggage. Multiple small bags because I have out grown the capacity of my pre-digi exsitance. Oh and just to kick myself one more time I failed to blog oh.. and my session, despite all my preparation was let down by my Laptop or the venue blocking Second Life leaving me detached from the gathered audience for the cross world event in Second Life at Pilot's hub and at Tranquil where Nazz Lane was to read extracts of his writings.
PCM creative in action
So I had a miserable time? On the contrary. I loved it! I was just a bit frustrated. PCM creative in action goes out to test the possibilities of the gadgets my clients have here and now or might consider stepping up to. Techs, geeks and enthusiasts have their iPhones, mini notebooks, hand-held HD cams, media enabled mobiles... the list goes on. I have a rule. I use what I have. If I discover something I want to be able to do I see if if my current equipment does it. If it can... great. If it can't or it's fiddly then its upgrade time. NOTE: When upgrading make sure the new toy not only does the new task but retains all the features you used before. My last two phone upgrades were to improve the pixel quality of the camera and then to my N95 to live stream video. I do get pangs of desire for sparkly tech gadgets but part of what I do is to share. It's important for me to understand and drool over cutting edge but also the path for attaining it, why and what for. It seems the fashion to upgrade to the latest version or model because it's newer than the one they have. As a result I encounter people with technology beyond their control and the simple functionality they actually use is swamped by the untamed beast of functions that hinder them at every attempt to perform the simplest of tasks. At a recent Web 2.0 business briefing I met someone very much frustrated with the N95 his company gave him. All he wanted was to make phone calls. He had no idea the N95 could do all the stuff it is capable of. He wants his N95 back now!
to be continued... I promise!