Ok, as I previously mentioned, I won't be at Northern Voice, but I am very excited to be attending PodCampToronto on February 24-25, 2007 at the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University. I'm going to be in excellent company.

What's a 'PodCamp, you ask? Well, besides being a 100% free, volunteer, sponsor-supported event, it's like a BarCamp which defines itself as "an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants." Only it's about audio and video podcasting. And like someone noted as to why the term PodCamp: "Because NewMediaCamp sounded silly, and BlogPodcastVlogNewMediaCamp was just stupid."

I've even signed up to give a few sessions at this very interesting 'unconference'.

• Getting Started with Video Podcasting (vblogging): Tips, Tricks, Tools
  and Resources for those on a modest budget (Windows)
• Recording and Editing Audio Podcasts with Your Pocket PC
  or Smartphone (windows-powered devices)

Here is the most recent Press Release:

Free Podcasting "Unconference" Aims to Teach Newbies How to Podcast

(Toronto, ON) – Podcamp Toronto (www.podcamptoronto.org), a 2-day unconference which will be held at Ryerson University on February 24-25, 2007, will teach people how to plan, produce and publish a podcast. Attendance is free.

A podcast is a multimedia file that’s syndicated over the Internet. Similar to an Internet radio program, podcasting allows people to download audio or video content when they want to view or listen to it.

“Both hobbyist and companies are using podcasts to communicate with fans or clients,” says Leesa Barnes, one of the organizers behind Podcamp Toronto. “There’s a guy who uses his podcast to teach people how to knit and there’s a large corporation that uses their podcast to give end users tips on how to maintain their computers.”

The very first Podcamp was held in Boston in September 2006. It was born out of the desire to share information about audio and video podcasting and related subjects. Podcamp Toronto is a 100% free, volunteer-driven, sponsor-supported event. Otherwise known as an unconference, Podcamp Toronto focuses primarily on allowing people to share ideas, interact with each other and learn in an open environment.

“Using the unconference method means that attendees will learn from those in the trenches, the very people who are producing podcasts on a day to day basis,” says Barnes. “Whether you’re a seasoned podcaster or someone who’s just curious about this new medium, Podcamp Toronto will allow you to learn at your own pace.”

Sessions includes Interviewing Techniques, Video Podcasting for the Average Joe, Podcasting 101, 7 Ways to Monetize Your Podcast, How to Create Hollywood Effects from Your Living Room and Podcasting in Public Interest. There are a number of panel discussions, including Will Podcasting Kill Radio, Using Podcasting in Secondary Schools and What’s Hot in Marketing Your Podcast. The hosts of 2 of Canada's most listened to podcasts - In Over Your Head and Galacticast - will be on hand to answer questions about replicating their success. These are just a sample of the 25+ sessions and panels being offered.

A blog is updated almost daily with news about Podcamp Toronto. Sponsors include Scotiabank, the first Canadian bank to produce a podcast called The Money Clip and BabyTel, a voice-over IP company.

Visit http://www.podcamptoronto.org for more information or to register for free for Podcamp Toronto.

Media Contacts

Leesa Barnes
leesa.barnes@gmail.com
(647) 225-3792

Jay Moonah
jay@jaymoonah.com
(416) 885-5341

Well, after waiting a little longer than I expected, this morning, I was very disappointed to learn that I have not been selected to receive a travel grant to the Northern Voices conference in British Columbia.


Here are the winners, so you can check what it is they said to convince the judges they should get the money:

• Candace
• Will
• Jim
• Mike
• Monique
• Laurie

And a special note from the Northern Voice wiki page re one winner:

Monique's actually a Vancouverite, but she had a great idea for how to spend one of the bursaries:

"I know that all sorts of great people come to the conference each year, and each year, we’re so crazy to hang out with each other that, at the last minute, we plan parties and after-conference events. We go for dinner, we go for drinks, we go to hang out. I would like to buy a bunch of taxi cards so that people who have been drinking can see me for a taxi card. Whether they’re going home, to a hotel, wherever, I want to make sure my fab friends--new and old--get around safely."

Here is the email I received on February 6th after the posting of the winners:

Hi,
Thanks very much for applying for an NV bursary. We received lots of
worthy applications, and I'm afraid you were unsuccessful. We'd like
to help out everybody, but there's only so much money in the bank.

We hope you can find a way to make it Northern Voice anyway. If you
can't, we hope to offer a similar bursary program next year. Cheers.
DB.

However, not all is lost, the evening before I got the bad news, I found out about PodCamp Toronto (watch for my post on this event), and I'll be attending that instead. It's on exactly the same dates, and ironically, I can walk to the venue from my place in about 15 minutes.

And bonus - after quickly scanning the list of attendees, turns out that I'll know quite a few of the people going, some of whom I haven't seen in awhile, so it'll be fun to catch up with them.

Ok, what's that door/window quote from The Sound of Music again?

I was recently on Darren Barefoot's blog which I had found by following a link from his screamingly funny parody site "Get a First Life" which I had learned about, well, somewhere, can't recall. I follow a lot of links.

There was a cute mascot type picture on Darren's blog, so naturally, I clicked on it, and that's how I learned that there's a non-profit grassroots blogging conference out in British Columbia called Northern Voice. It's two days long and it's being held on the main campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC) on February 23-24, 2007.

I have to go to this event, come hell or high water, or in this case: thousands of miles, a Canadian winter and a low bank balance since I am only working part-time. I cover my monthly expenses, but extras, including tuition for my law and criminal justice classes, have been tough lately, especially since we all got cut back to 24 hours a week. The upside of this situation is that I do have more time to study and learn things, and to pursue some personal projects (more on those below). And if any little freelance jobs come my way, I am available for them, especially since my now part-time job is overnights and on weekends.

This is the third time that Northern Voice has run and I have to be there because it looks like it's going to be an amazing experience and I need to be part of that. I'm not all that new to making web sites, but the 'blogging thing' has been more recent as I got into it a bit late, ok, a lot late. In fact, while I have been contributing to the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine blog for a while now, my personal blog isn't that old at all. Funny, I've helped people start their own blogs without actually having one myself, but now I am making up for lost time with ReallyGoodFriend.com, and it's been quite eye-opening.

The conference costs only a very affordable C$50 for two days - can't beat that for sure, but getting there, and finding a place to stay is where it could get a bit pricey. It's actually cheaper to fly to England (where I was born although I am technically a 2nd generation Canadian) than it is to fly across Canada. Lucky for me, the organizers have some extra money (not sure how they managed that, but how fantastic) and they've decided to offer six grants of C$500 each, so I'm going to apply for one of those to help defray costs. The process involves making a blog post, or perhaps a video, explaining why I need one, and what contribution I can make, so that's what I'm doing with this post. I've also talked with my friend Q who works part-time at WestJet and he's going to try and get me some buddy passes which will allow me to fly standby for less. Fingers crossed on that. And my sister moved to Vancouver some years back, so I'll be bunking with her.

My blogging goes hand in with my writing and my filmmaking. Yes I write short stories, and articles about mobile computing, but I've been researching long-form narrative non-fiction because I have quite a bit I want to write in that genre. And I want to do photo/radio/video documentaries too. Back in the day, I worked on some tv shows and movie sets, and that was quite an experience, but I always favoured a more independent approach to creating film and tv. I'm very proud of this 7-show indy tv series on social issues I produced and directed with a tiny budget over an 18-month period while teaching a diverse group of 'disadvantaged' individuals how to make tv.

I've really become very interested in 'Citizen Journalism' which I hope to showcase here and on a new site/blog I'm going to be making called [Declare Your] Digipendence. I've got an interesting project lined up and I'm going to be working on it with my friend, Colin. I'll write, direct and produce, and he'll be the shooter/DOP and primary editor. I think we'll make a great team. My friend, Dan is really into music, and I'll likely press him into service for an original score. Over the years, he's really come thru for me with design stuff, and he's going to be creating the header graphic for this blog.

Speaking of Citizen Journalism or 'participatory journalism', never has it been more true that the power of the press belongs those who owns one. Only we're not talking about a Gutenberg although social media is as revolutionary today as that press was hundreds of years ago. Virginia Woolf said that a woman needs financial independence and a room of her own if she is to create.

These days, anyone - female or male, young or old - with access to a computer, some software and a few pieces of low-cost equipment can reach anyone on the planet by writing a blog post, making a podcast or shooting a video. Open Source Software is free, and there are free or low-cost places to host the content created. One doesn't even have to own any of these things as they can borrow it all, be it from a friend, a library, or a school.

I have most of what I need to do what it is that I want to do. I'm very lucky that I have inexpensive rent on a decent-sized place (actually a 200 year old stable renovated to living space, so how cool is that), and Dell recently let me get a monthly lease on a laptop (which has turned out to have a few problems, but I'm working on resolving those), plus I own a nice digital still camera which I bought when I was more flush in 2005, and I was given a good-quality digital mini-dv camera for some sweat equity. The most valuable thing I have lots of is time. Many people don't have that available to them.

I've been mulling over what it is that I can contribute at Northern Voices. Content is my strength. I'm pretty good at finding out about stuff and passing along the information in an accessbile and understandble format. In fact, I really enjoy doing that sort of thing. People have told me that I was born to be either a teacher or a librarian. And I think that's a big compliment, but why either or, why not combo it up, as in teacher-librarian? Anyway, I'm thinking that I could share interesting information about several topics:

• using a smartphone or pocket pc to blog, including doing text, audio, and video
• getting started with David Allen's productivity philosophy "Getting Things Done" (GTD)
• mindmapping - what it is, how to do it, open source and online MM software choices, and using MM to help with one's blogging and project planning

I remember seeing that someone else is going to cover the mobile computing angle, and they'll probably hit on some of the things I was thinking of, so maybe I could do a combo thing on Mind Mapping and GTD. See my blog posts here on those subjects.

I have helped people start up both Blogger and WordPress blogs, but I am also a fan of two blog platforms which use flat files rather than a MySQL database; one is Simple PHP Blog (SPHPB) which currently powers this blog, and the other is FlatPress from Edoardo Vacchi aka NoWhereMan to which I will be porting this blog in the near future. Even the esteemed Matthew Mullenweg, inventor of WordPress has taken note of FlatPress, as has famed blogger Lorelle, who writes lots of tutorials and tips and tricks on WordPress.

SPHPB is cool, but I like the closer philosophical compatibility of FlatPress with WordPress. Already some WP plug-ins and widgets can be used with FP, and the goal is that more can be adapted. Plus, it is W3C standards-compliant. And it uses Smarty for template management. I'm going to be developing some themes for FlatPress. I've already done quite a few Cascading Style Sheets, and just have to figure out the theming engine. I've had some guidance on that from the very generous SamyWeb. Once I 'get't it, in the coming months, I'll be able to really make a serious contribution in that area.

I have started a project which I hope will bear fruit. When I was doing my research into blogging, podcasting and videoblogging, I found so much information that I could easily see how some people could get overwhelmed. This stuff is like going swimming: in terms of a pool, there's the shallow end, and then there's the deep end; but there's also the deep blue sea beckoning. In other words, it can be simple, or it can be complicated. Part of what's so amazing about all this stuff is that one can teach one's self, but some people like a guided tour. They learn best that way. Night classes at the nearby high school or evening courses through the continuing education department of the local college would be a great place to go - if only they had something to offer.


I've created a short certificate program to cover as many aspects of Citizen Journalism and online journalism that I could think of. I brainstormed the concepts using mind mapping software, and outputted it to a PDF. Basically, there are 5 main courses (one foundation, four core) that can form a complete certificate program, but I also made allowanced for the school to add on a couple of electives and for there to be a placement component. The program is designed so that each of the hands-on foundation and core courses (Basic concepts, blogging, imagery, podcasting, videoblogging) can be 24 to 36 hours long. The course is flexible in that it can be done in evenings/weekends or adapted and extended and offered during the day-time over a few months, which means it would be great for non-profits and community centres to use to create a learning/work program for client group such as 'at-risk' youth. This is just sort of situation where an internship or placement component (hopefully paid) would be effective.

So, there we go, this is my application for travel funds. I hope it will meet with the committee's approval, and it's great to be even considered.