Phreadz and the New Media Expo

I was having a quiet night in on the net, flitting from one platform to another, posting a video here and a tweet there.

The chatter in the networks was all about the upcoming New Media Expo in Las Vegas. Having missed out on the Boston Podcamp while on a photo assignment I felt a pang of longing and posted this video..

Apparently I was not clutching at straws.. an hour later I was looking at an email from an anonymous donor pledging me the ticket money to the Vegas NME, providing I did what I said I was going to do, that is, utilise Phreadz in the perfect environment and demonstrate it’s potential.

Apparently there are some serious lurkers out there that really want Phreadz to be pushed more on the international tech circuit..

For me it’s a no-brainer. I have been a Phreadz Phanboy since February 08 It is the only thing on the web that does what it does.

Since I lost my Video blogging cherry to Seesmic I have dabbled in all kinds of online video platforms. Each have their own niches. If i want a large unknown mystery audience I post to seesmic. You never know what you may get back. If i am feeling spontaneous and creative i may blurt out a few 12 second video ditties on 12Seconds.tv

The thing that attracts me to Phreadz right now is its seemingly unlimited ability to show off any content I throw at it. If I want to post video, audio, photos, text links or even a slideshow presentation it will happily suck it all up in just about any format I can chuck at it. It can either be uploaded into the main time line or into one of the many custom channels that have been made.

Recently my very own Geeknbury festival had its own channel. I was really chuffed with this and the channel allowed this small geek festival to exist outside of the field it was born in and be enjoyed internationally. It even had its own musical continuation in the shape of a gig by Steve Lawson and Lobelia played and streamed from their very own living room right into the Geeknbury channel.

I don’t even need to sit here on my minimal countryside bandwidth waiting for files to upload as I can cross post with URLs from countless other video platforms including two of my favorites, Qik and Blip.

Where I feel most at home though is within the virtually instantaneous video conversations occurring across all channels, from either mobile or off my laptop.

Although still in a closed beta (soon to open wider, I hear), Phreadz founder Kosso, has not only concentrated on content but he has ensured community still plays a major part in Phreadz. Occasionally new channels appear out of the blue and, as users, we all quickly embrace another place we can express ourselves. After all, it is still the user who makes the content in Phreadz and because of this the conversations are always rich. Channels have allowed any exasperated rant or heartfelt tale to live side by side without content clashing, or meaning and context getting lost in the ever increasing flow of new and interesting dialogue.

One place on Phreadz I’ll be sure to spend some time next week will be the New Media Expo Channel, created as an experiment to cover The New Media Expo hosted in Las Vegas by brothers Tim and Emile Bouquin.

So although I will be in the channel, thanks to my mysterious ‘Angel’,  I will also actually be in Las Vegas, creating content, networking and showing anyone that loves new media an innovative tool that has not only indirectly given me this opportunity but that also inspires, homes and houses so much of my online existence.

The New Media Expo Channel is at http://newmediaexpo.phreadz.com and is open for all to see.

If you want to know more about Phreadz and want to join in with the beta testers, why not drop the site an email HERE

If you are an investor, contact the site as it is ripe and ready to take the net by storm, Kosso just needs smart folk with money.

And if you really want to help out right now.. make a donation to the chip-in on the front page here.. It’s worth it.

I am off to pack and charge geek stuff.. If you are going to the NME in Vegas let’s connect on Twitter

UPDATE: Anyone in Vegas sending New Media Expo content to nme@phreadz.com automatically gets an account!!

Jeffrey Descovic at Podcamp NYC 2.0

Of all the memorable moments of Podcamp NYC 2.0 an impromptu meeting with Jeffrey Descovic touched me the most.

Jeffrey has an amazing story well documented HERE on his website and here on InnocenceProject.org In addition Jeffrey’s myspace page is HERE. 

I was introduced to he by Rox from BeachWalks.tv and a few minutes later i was doing an interview using Seesmic.

At the same time as we Seesmic’ed and Qik’ed.. Phil Campbell recorded on HD.

The Innocence of Jeffrey Deskovic from Phil Campbell - England on Vimeo.

View the full interview on Seesmic with the thread here.. http://seesmic.com/v/OGHBz3SDbT

..and just as a footnote.. here is a photo of me and Phil on Chris Brogan’s blog and some more podcamp action from the podcast Push My Follow..

Episode 43 - There And Back Again

The first half of this podcast was recorded in the company of Philip Campbell in March 2008 on a flight to Newark airport before going on to SXSW in Austin Texas.

The second half was recorded on the flight back to London.

We talk about hacking, podcamp uk, Seesmic, Qik, Blip TV, Pulver TV, social media and how to make Sloe Gin.

I edited it one month later in April, on another flight to Newark this time on my own and heading to PodcampNYC 2.0.

The song entitled HTML in the middle was emailed to me by Erin of the band ‘The Hot Toddies‘. I highly reccommend checking them out HERE.

If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in Itunes already, you can listen to the mp3 here

Ali Bongo And The Three Purple Hearts

I am writing this aboard an aircraft thirty odd thousand feet above the atlantic, halfway to New York on a ticket bought for me by Seesmic.com

After podcasting for over two years and blogging for nearly 6, it looks like the subject of money is creeping into more and more of my online conversations.

And why not?

Recently I have found an increasing amount of my working life is being taken over by the two activities I had thought of only as passing interests or hobbies.

In January of this year I found myself sponsored by the United Nations to go to Jordan to photograph the plight of Iraqi Refugees fleeing the war in Iraq. I now see this trip as a turning point in my working life as up until then I had operated primarily as a photographer. With the assistance of people I had networked with online like Bill Cammack this project crossed over into new media on many social levels. It was compiled, edited, uploaded, to then be viewed online, downloaded, blogged and, podcasted about, all in the space of a few weeks.

I was no longer thinking solely about taking photos to deliver on a CD. My hobbies had suddenly become combined with my trade. Two months later I was being sponsored along with Phil Campbell to visit South By South West (SXSW) in Texas to produce video content for Pulver.tv. Once again I had to take a step back and think about my job title and where I needed to focus.

Although I am yet to make any real profit out of social/new media, I feel that day is not too far away as more and more often I am approached by people who are taking an interest in me and my skills as a content creator.

I feel I am standing hesitantly at a crossroads looking at a few different options, a few different directions, a little uncertain as to which way to head.

Can my integrity be kept intact as I rent my opinions and time out to the highest bidder?

As I write this I am thinking that perhaps my fears are unfounded.. If i eventually do start to get paid to talk about something, surely it’s fine as long as I am honest whist doing it. Honest, but tactful with it.

Transparency seems to be the key. It seems to be the magical ingredient that social media has over all other forms of media.

I am not saying you have to expose everything to everyone, warts and all. You can still keep personal stuff personal and still be professional.

Maintain your transparency and you maintain your integrity, this is the key.

Right now I am heading to Podcamp NYC with the loan of a Macbook Air and a plane ticket courtesy of Seesmic. I have been using Seesmic’s video conversation site since just after they started pre-alpha testing in 2007.

I approached Seesmic and asked if they had anyone going. Vin Vin said no, but he’d be happy to send me over if i Seesmic’ed what was going on.

“Anything else?” i asked.

“No, just be yourself and cover what you want.” He said.

Fantastic. That’s the best brief ever. I really appreciate their support in helping me get out to New York for this conference.

During SXSW Phil Campbell and myself spent a good few nights within Seesmic’s hospitality batting around ideas and chatting about this brave newmedia world.

There are so many new and amazing people arriving everyday into my social media circle but it’s the original contacts I made in the first few months on Seesmic and Twitter that I really want to hang onto.. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but perhaps it is more like a hope that these inspirational few survive to ‘cross the chasm‘ that Seesmic is on the edge of and the ‘early adopters’ can make it to the other side and continue the video conversation.

…………………………………………………………

Reading this back, i think that Bloody Mary’s and Gin and Tonics at altitude have a tendency to make a blog post meander. Sat across the isle is Ali Bongo the famous Magician*. Sat intoxicated beside and behind me are two returning Iraq war vets, one with three purple hearts.

This is proving to be an interesting flight. I can’t wait for the next few days.

*Ali Bongo (in the feature photos) was a magician that played a big part in my childhood. He seemed to be always on TV and was one of the main reasons I spent a large part of my younger years playing with magic tricks. I thought he had died years ago. It was so nice to meet him today (aged 79) and hear stories about his long and magical life.

Electric Empathy.

Attempting to stay offline.

I say attempt as as yet I am not able to succeed in any major fashion.

I have come away on holiday with family to Canada and really want to do my best for those who do not understand (or care much for) social networking and it’s incessant need to be monitored like a newborn baby.

With all the apps out there that assist me in maintaining my international links there is nothing I can (as yet) plug into my subconscious so I can monitor it without it eating into my ‘real life’ time.

The closest thing in the UK is my mobile phone but with international roaming as expensive as it is I pretty much have my phone turned off nearly all the time here in Canada. That is unheard of for me in the UK.

Wherever there is wifi.. if I am not going to be stared at like a freak by anyone who knows me, I am sure to be on Qik as soon as i can press the button.. Seesmic gets the final file after it has streamed but I have to wait till I have a decent enough window of time to get my proper Seesmic fix. I don’t like just popping on and popping off. I like to partake in a conversation. Exactly what Seesmic was intended for.

So.. in fits an spurts I close my seesmic browser, dam the twitter stream and then head out un-encumbered by any technology.. Not even my mobile phone.

Then what happens?.. I bump into and have a chat with Gene Simmons!.. Typical. Standing there talking to a rock legend without any of my documenting tools.

My social media world and my real life world exist on two very different dimensions at the moment. It’s very difficult for me to be in the two places simultaneously without causing a brief rupture in my space time continuum..

If i try to bring my real life into my social media world I feel i’m cutting away a life raft and heading into choppy uncertain seas. If i attempt to bring social media into my ‘normal’ old school, lo-fi life.. I quickly ostracize myself from those that have no intention of embracing the technological advances I have come to know and love.

It’s almost like I’ve found a TV that has over a thousand channels but all those around me would like to stick with the ones they are familiar with.

I guess this is the life of the early adopter and in many ways I do enjoy the exclusivity of it all. We all like to be part of a ’special club’ at some pont.. Even if only for a sense of validation.

When, if ever I experience some kind of convergence, I think a little part of me will have to be trimmed away as I assimilate the two lives I lead.

I definitely feel a little schizophrenic right now. Perhaps this schizomedia is making me sociophrenic..? With the million and one possibilities out there for connections, contacts and opportunities there are moments when I am really thankful of even a couple of hours of downtime. Some headspace in a low tech sanctuary where nothing beeps to tell me something I may or may not be interested in knowing…

But soon enough.. somewhere in a dark room a browser opens and I am instantly connected to a thousand other people, all perhaps feeling the same way.. Perhaps not. An electric empathy, no more or less real than this other world I am a part of. 

If I switch one off.. it takes messages till I get back.. a kind of suspended animation.. If i dial the other out.. that’s when life can really get a little complicated.

I am switching off now.. I will be in New York next week at Podcamp NYC 2.0 Plenty of time to saturate the social media half of my mind..

Talk later?

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