tools.opml

BloggerCon IV, Day 1: Tools
  Discussion Leader: Phillip Torrone,
    senior editor of MAKE, writer of how-tos
  Agenda
    Talking about tools
  Notes
    Look back
      Flickr visuals, starting here.
      Next one.
    General session stuff
      Now we're starting to see *some* tools, and some things online
      likes to use Ecto, use photos a lot
      What does everyone else use?
        first round
          nobody gets good ed on how to take a photo
        second, people send a link
        Third is people send photos to flickr. Almost recipe like.
          unfortunately the best way to show how to show a how-to.
        Next is a .pdf, mailed. Also a pita.
      curious about what people here are using.
      Chris Heuer:
        looked for screencasts from majuor vendors, who train people every day, but don't teach how-tos.
        Patty Seybold said companies should take full responsibility for users learning, getting full value.
      Chris Pirillo:
        sent a screencast to a developer. PhilT: "complainware"
        check fanatic websites for guidance. e.g. CamStudio. Chris will look up and send out guidance for people.
        wish people would do more software demonstration. it's so much easier to show people via a screencast. you get the hand gestures. good for Italian versions.
        low levels of documentation is an endemic problem
      Phillip T:
        Concern about what hppens when the likes of YouTube go away
      Others:
        some vendors have automatic resizing for email.
        companies expect users to help each other. true with WordPress.
      Buzz Bruggeman
        Can you append audio to screencasts? Which products or tools?
      Niall:
        Flickr, for example, allows you to save something large in smallform.
        See a shift from what we can capture and archive to what we can capture and share. People are willing to give up the former for the latter.
      Anil:
        Companies aren't making cameras ... Kodak makes EasyShare, which is neither.
        PT made a hack that's a workaround
        Built a coffee table. used a painful process. Took longer to document than build the table. "Like software" that way.
      Eric:
        easier to produce some videos by pointing a camera at a screen
        even without the $300 screencast software, a simple video can do the job.
        need easy-to use tools. flickr does some of that
      Jesse:
        Wants maximum possible resolution. given increases in bandwidth, would rather maximize the recording.
      Martin McKeay
        the likes of Kodak don't appreciate the role of users as contributors. still see us as consumers.
      Kelsey Heikoop:
        making a tool for this.
    Soft tools
      when someone asks how do you share your bookmarks, what photo tools... asking the question...
      answers
        blog as bookmarking tool. embed keywords in a blog entrry, as a mnenomic device. Search back .
        tagging tools, not in a social way. such as "commented" and "useful". Might mean nothing to other people.
        use delicious as an online portfolio. tag columns and blogs under a portfolio tag, and submitted that to places applying to for a job.
        Use the a9 toolbar
        using blog search engines. (Peter) they're completely overrun with spam. blogspot was bad. now wordpress.
        Shannon Clark: don't find any spam in blog search engines. certain topical searches aren't infected with spam. Also use delicious for personal use. look at how non-technical people are using the Web. Some are using it in sophisticated ways that we techies don't know about. Knitters shariing patters and stuff online. Use feedster, bloglines, google, icerocket. don't encounter spam.
        Phillip: crafters forums are awesome. craftster.org. they're starting marketplaces. posting on etsy. or selling on esty.
        Wikis are a great tool.
        Buzz:
          want a new blogging tool with two panes. one looks out to the world. the other is inward facing. Left is out. right is contextual notes. So if I ever decided to write a book. Right would be raw notes. Left would be what goes up. Right would be knowledge management. idea of personalk KM really important. balance public and personal consumption. Also, spoke to 800 lawyers in Missouri. How many used wikis. Answer: zero. Why? Because they realize that when they share that knowledge, they're not as important to the firm. whjen you're selling access to info, gate charges, wikis are anathema. "The Firm" wants to see the tool. Nobody wants to use it.
        Jesse:
          Om has a wordpress plugin that works. Everything is time-stamped in a blog, which is a big advantage over a wiki. Example of Sun charging for answers to questions that are in the framework.. (from Cluetrain) is an example of keeping users at arms length. Lawyers selling knowlege needed to win the case. Not good. Not really helpful.
        jake:
          wordpress has hacks for some of what Buzz wants
        Phillip on podcasts
          at first used mac, skype, soundflower, awful but awesome. Like AM radio. Pioneers. Now everyone is awesome. Garageband, etc. Still like crummy audio and "Um"s.
          wouldn't it be great to stop every once in awhile and have, say, a "howto tuesday". Say "here's what RSS is" or "here's how to use Google Maps." If once a week everybody knew they were going to learn something.
        Terry Heaton "from the evil empire" (broadcasting, not Microsoft, I think Ñ ds)
          people i work with are in a great deal of trouble. when we talk about tech tools, they have concerns about audience perception.
          one of the roles that MSM can play...will need sources. That's us... to help the MSM help their audiences, and the masses, to get clues.
          beginning to hear a willingness, in board rooms, to listen.
        Anil:
          most people in large orgs don't know any of these tools
          we ignore... we all, in this room, use many tools. This will bcome more common.
        Chris Pirillo
          most media orgs eyes' glaze over soon as you start talking tools.
          wikis are unusable. "once you get past the learning curve" loses 90% of the population
          memeorandum is a case in point. Digg. people say "o that's great, but..." media ... (missed some of this)
        Terry disagrees. who gets through to whom. (he makes a living at what Chris says isn't possible?)
        tools people use.
          Odeo
          flashplayer
          maudio 2496 microtrack portable recording system with digitla equalizer awesome tool
          sennheiser e835
          formats
            wav
          edit
            audacity
            gargeband
            trouble with audacity, so uses garageband, then (di9dn't get it all)
              should help audacity to be better
          Marantz PMD660, and Electro-Voice 635a mike
            record on the marantx, edit in GarageBand, convert to itunes.
            would like to count users.
          gizmo
            couldn't interact. prefered face to face
          enhanced podcast in itunes and garageband. "almost interesting" makes "AAC with a manifest." apple semi-siloware. But good in some ways.
          Martin McKeay does many podcasts. Security professionals.
            maudio for skype
            built in soundcard to record the sound through audacity then manipulate with adobe edition.
            use iRiver ifp895? for onsite handheld recording. use giantsquid audio microphone, no cord, hangs off the iRiver.
          PT: no agreement on format for photos and audio at the same time.
          the built-in mike in the iRiver is good because it's good enough. Use OurMedia for publishing.
          From the IRC: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve garfield/161022842/ In-ear binaural mike.
          Anil: SMIL is a good format to use. Many have it.
          Greg: did shows in bars. best equip was little iRivers. Mikes ... best little program... audio tags editor.
          Dloug Kaye: watch out when buying a compact flash recorder. you can spe3nd more on a fat flash card.
            Look into minidisks. if you wwant a reliable audio solution.. upto 8 hours.
          Rafe from CNET. minidisk recorder. recorde in ATRAC, whicch sucks, but you can record on something else.
            note: don't record in the first place with mp3.
            strangesounds...
          Podcastmaker from potionfactory, on the mac. creating, editing and posting, one button. plahying with it.
          PT has a howto on how to podcast.
          voicerecorders that journalists use. stereo mike, Olympus WS320M. really good for voice recordng.
          Sylvia Paul: (claps of appreciation). Is there any software for converting podcasts into text? Please invent one. PT: you can pay translators. Niall: use CastingWords. $.40/minute, back in 24 hours. PT: cd underworld of medical translators. Podzinger.
          Buzz: MSM dealing with issues... there is an enormous interest from lawyers, for example, but they look to MSM for guidance, while MSM lacks clues. (carry this into Jay's session.) PT: they will learn. Like, they did get blogs, to some degree. Howtos are the way to get there. Buzz adds: in the continuing ed space, podcasts are what's going to happen. So you take free content plus a requirement for so many hours... got huge number of downloads from podcasts. Huge market there. Pleple want the content.
          Jay Rosen wants:
            automatic link-0producing device. Set the cursor where you want the link to go, click, and that adds it to the text. Need short cuts.
            a comment system. monitor all comments, one thread at a time. want to be able to click on a comment and send it to another thread where it belongs. one click offtopic moderation device.
          Dan Gillmor:
            3rd party blog posting tools. Ecto...
          Doc: eurotrac mixer, audiorecorder freeware on mac for recording.
          Jesse: to vendors, even participants here: name your stuff usefully. even a term like "podcast" doesn't make sense to civilians.
          skype recording: hotrecorder
          skypecast conferencing.
          Shannon:
            arrange for someboyd else to record and edit.
            as a listener, what people often miss is the clarity of what they're going to listen to. Ones I listen to on a regular basis are consisstent. can schedule listening accoringly. dislike wild inconsistency.
          Note to room: we should take the IRC and weave it into this. Lots of useful remarks on various tools.
          complaint about RSS. One thing on the web that doesn't do anything recognizable when you click on it. PT: we need instrucitons. how-to. We have a problem with solving problems by adding 20 buttons to myyahoo or whatever.
          want a right-click then... menu.