Atlanta Media Bloggers

Attention Atlanta Bloggers!

Jon Gos has launch his bloggers meetup which I wanted to let everyone know about.
http://blog.meetup.com/375/calendar/5471619/

RSVP for Ethics and Social Behavior Online

Sunday, March 4, 2007, 7:00 PM

Where:

Sapporo Japanese Restaurant
1401 Johnson Ferry Road
Marietta , GA 30062-6495
770.565.7018

Description:

What are the ethics of Citizen Journalism?  Are there any?  Should there be? 

Anonymity seems to bring out the worst in some people. If you haven't noticed just take one look at the comments section of your favorite blog. This is a characteristic of human nature that we can't completely understand in one meeting but we can meet-up to discuss it over Japanese food!

 

Sherry tagged me

So I'm supposed to write five things about myself?

This 'blog slam' is a tagging game where you write 5 things about yourself and then tag 5 bloggers to do the same.

1. Soon I am moving to NYC to start a new job.

2. I think I hate packing and moving more than any human being on Earth, because I have a Grand Fixed Cross in my astrological chart, which means I'm incredibly stubborn, and am always pulled in four stubborn directions. So instead of sitting still, it means I've moved all over the country all my life. And every time I do it, it's so wrenching, it's a bit like being drawn and quartered as a torturous punishment in a medieval town. And I wouldn't NOT do it for anything.

3. I just watched "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly, and Senator McCarthy, again, and I'm so intensely moved every time I watch it, it leaves me gasping and speechless. Maybe that will pass after I get some distance from similar circumstances.

4. In my past life, I was a Christmas Elf! Santa Claus was berry berry good to me this year, and for that I am deeply grateful. Merry Christmas, all!

Oh, and Tag, You're It!

Chip
Joshua Kucera
Wally
Crowpoet
Tim A Gem

Chris

p.s. Sherry I'm very sorry to hear about your dad.

 

My five

I was recently slammed, so now I must comply. Here goes...

1. I used to play the trumpet in grade school.
2. I love comics and have several boxes of comics collecting dust in my attic. 
3. I was once a prolific screenwriter.
4. I used to publish an ezine of bizarre crime fiction.
5. I have directed several music videos.

Okay, so now I have to tag 5 more bloggers. Let me see, hmmm...

Amybeth Hale
Sherry Heyl
Cheezhead
The Chad
Gretchen Ledgard

slam blog

I just read about a little blogging game going on that kind of reminds me of high school slam books. Did you all have slam books? It was a book someone would create asking basic and sometimes embarrassing questions, and then they would get all their friends to fill it out. The fun part was to read everyone's answers.

This 'blog slam' is a tagging game where you write 5 things about yourself and then tag 5 bloggers to do the same. The point that Charlene Li makes is how it even broke through to corporate bloggers and the joy of getting to know the real people within the corporations. Now, I personally think everyone already knows everything about me. But I'll give it a shot....

1. I played Cello in the 7th grade...and was quite good.
2. I was on the waterpolo team in 9th grade...but I swim like a rock - so I passed towels out.
3. I have successfully written 2 songs with my husband in the past 16  years...neither of which we have anymore :(
4. The very first piece of writing I ever published for all the world to see, is under another person's name.
5. I once out ran a cop - by accident...

OK...so now I tag 5 bloggers to write their 5 things.

Kevin Howarth
Amber Rhea
Grayson Daughters
Jim Stroud
Chris Boese

Let's have a virtual meeting this month!

Hey y'all!

Yeah, it's been cooooollld out, and rainy enough to curl your hair. And yeah, a whole bunch of us have conflicts up the wazoo, preventing us from making a goodly quorum for our monthly mind meld.

And yeeeaaah, SOME of us got to go on a cool road trip, and they need to be telling the rest of us who didn't go some wacky stories, amazing anecdotes, and tortured theories about Web 2.0 and unConferences (what the hell is an unConference, anyway? I'm asking this on behalf of the peanut gallery. There are no stupid questions around here).

The topic for our meeting, if we had been able to hold it, was going to be Online Communities, and the intangible something that makes them hold together, that gives them power, that structures cyberspace perhaps more strongly than in some of our real lives.

What is it? One friend once told me that online communities were fake, no more real than the people who gather at around the piano in the lounge at an airport bar. He said there's nothing that really ties the people together, no strong ties, no obligations. People come, and they go.

And some of us actually like communities that have that kind of freedom, the freedom from guilt and obligation, the knowledge that the people who are present are there because they want to be, not because anyone is making them. That was one of the beautiful things I discovered in my online ethnography of the very strong communities of the Xenaverse, the fandom groups centered around the TV show "Xena: Warrior Princess."

I think of it like gravity, the so-called "strength of weak ties." Of all the forces in physics (electromagnetic, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force), gravity appears to be the weakest, the easiest to overcome (don't believe me? Jump!). But gravity is like a prevailing wind. You can stand against it, but it ends up shaping everything (even the shape of the cellulite in our legs!). Gravity holds entire solar systems in orbit, and more. I think the weakest force field can actually be the strongest.

Businesses look at the blogosphere and social media as an opportunity, but often they see it as a top-down opportunity for them, rather than a chance to harness real bottom-up grassroots force.

But is that a real force? Or is it like herding cats?

Or maybe the mindset is all wrong. Maybe its wrong to even think that cats should be herded in the first place.

Soooo, what are we doing here? Do you want to be here? Are you obligated to be here? Do you get something of value out of being here? Is this a cool community to be a part of?

If so, I hope some more of you will chime in in this space. It's been a while since I sent out invitations on how to use this site, but I am happy to resend any invitations that got lost or misplaced. Just zap me a note.

If you have a blog or blogs, a good blog promotion strategy is to get hooked in with an existing community, so that people start reading your blog, and folks comment back and forth on each others' blogs, and we can spread some link love around.

I SURE WOULD LIKE TO BE SPREADING SOME MORE LINK LOVE AROUND!

So if you've got a blog, post up a little introduction to it here on this site, with your link. Tell us why we should peek in, check your blog out. Maybe you're feeling shy, just getting your blog legs. We'll hold your hand. That's what link love is all about.

We're Atlanta Media Bloggers. We're into blogs. We have blogs. OK, all together now:

Send us your links, your huddled URLs longing to breathe free...

Ahhh. Isn't that better?

Let the virtual meeting commence.

All in flavor? Up hosed?

respectfully submitted,

Chris Boese

The Stars Were Out Last Night

The Atlanta Media Bloggers Group met last night and discussed how mainstream media is shifting toward user generated content, the importance of a blogger as a citizen journalist to a mainstream journalist trying to break a story, building readership through social connections, technology and so much more.

We had an impressive role call!

Josh Hallet with hyku was visiting GA and made an appearance and answered several questions that were put on the table.

Toby Bloomberg, the Diva of blogging and President  of Bloomberg Marketing shared her stories as well as made us aware of her latest blog where she ask others to share their stories of how blogging has affected their lives at http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloggerstories/.

Chris Boese creator of this blog and author on many more.

Kevin Howarth was there representing TechLINKS.

Mark who blogs at timeshifted.org.

We welcomed several newcomers who were there to learn more, CJ and Jermaine who are looking into beginning a social networking site for entertainers.

Pete Mastin who recently joined Multicast Media.

We also had a special guest arrive that may show up in the near future as a key note speaker, Dan Greenfield, Vice President, Corporate Communications for Earthlink who blogs at Bernaise Source, Mapping the brave new world of new media, the PR profession, news, and web 2.0.

Jim Stroud arrived after one of his many speaking engagements he has been booked on lately.

Representing What a Concept! was Myself, Tim Moenk, and Judy Knight.

Sherry Heyl Reporting

Takin' the blame

Yep Art, you can blame me for your first blog and the many other voyages we are going on.

For those who do not know me, I am Sherry Heyl, Founder and Idealist of What a Concept!. My personal/business blog is www.mindblogging.typepad.com

What a Concept! focuses on helping our clients understand and integrate emerging technologies such as; Blogs, Wikis, RSS, Video, Podcasts, Social Networks and Social Bookmarking.

I have a degree in Marketing and a degree in Creative Writing (one for each personality) from FSU and several years experience in consultative sales roles for technology services.

I collaborated with Andrew Lunde to keep this group going. The Atlanta Media Bloggers Group was started by Kevin Howarth, over a year ago, as a way to create a blogging presence in Atlanta.

James Harris sent me an article recently, The Rise of Corporate Blogs. Corporations are rapidly joining the online conversation, which is a fun experiment to watch, as there is a huge learning curve when it comes to a landscape that has no restrictions, a conversation that anyone is able to join in, and a #1 rule of transparency and authenticity.

The changing landscape of communication and commerce and the rapidly expanding ways of sharing ideas and influencing others is causing an acceleration of change unlike any in history.

At Atlanta Media Bloggers Group - we sit around, eat, drink, and try to make some sense out of all of this. There are a lot of exciting ideas for the future of this group that are currently being developed. 

There are no membership fees or a charge to participate. So feel free to join in the fun!

I Never Blogged Before

Chris,

I gladly accept your invitation to be apart of the Atlanta Media Bloggers. I am sure you know Sherry Heyl. I blame her for this! (Sherry - I am going to get you! Do you hear/read the words that are coming out of my mouth and skinny fingers?!)

I never blogged before but I guess I will start now.

Art Hall

Howdy, y'all!

How do you like our cool clubhouse?

One of my UMontana students, Denny Lester, did the cool artwork. We'd used it on a private site we built, but when its time was up, I thought, "This is too nice not to use it again." I asked his permission, and he said go for it. So with a few tweaks, we have a treehouse and plenty of media to play with, so come hang out any time you like! Don't be shy about posting. Burps, gurgles, and "Me toos" are always welcome.

I'll eventually map the atlantamediabloggers.org and .com URLs to this site, once I get a handle on where they're registered.

How many of you are on Flickr?

Here's what I'd like you to do, when you have a minute. Since we're just starting out, why not post a little introduction, say hello and who you are? Stick in some links to your blogs, so I can add them to the side blogroll. And then also, if you would, grab the code for your Flickr badge like the ones at the right, and paste it in the post also.

That way we can build up our side blogroll and learn who everyone is and snoop out blogs at the same time. And look at pretty pictures.

OK, I'll start (although my Flickr badge is already at the side):

My name is Chris Boese, and www.serendipit-e.com is my core domain. I'll be your host today! [grin]

I just joined the group a couple of months ago, so I haven't met many of you. Sure, new member gets stuck with all the work! Our wiki on the conference idea is still going strong, so head on over there if you want to brainstorm some ideas and add to the knowledge base we're working from.

I'm currently a writer at CNN Headline News, and I used to write a cyberculture and a technology column for the Headline News web site and CNN.com. All those back columns are archived and linked on a side menu off my blogs, my main one being "Chris Boese's Weblog" (creative name, don't you think?) www.serendipit-e.com/blog.

That doesn't really describe who or what I am, so if you really want to know, take a look at my portfolio blog. I'm feeling self conscious these days, but it's a long story. I first went online in 1989 or so, got my first regular Internet account as a journalism professor at Valdosta State in 1991, and went to grad school to study what happens from an HCI standpoint where interfaces meet cybercultures. I went to a fun engineering school (I don't know why more people don't think engineering schools are fun, but then I didn't study engineering!) and had a front row seat at the birth of the World Wide Web.

So, long story short, I put up my first home page in early 1994, and in 1998 finished the first "born digital" dissertation to be accepted in the U.S., which is online and still getting hits. It's a cyberculture community ethnography and rhetorical study of the online fans of the TV show "Xena: Warrior Princess," looking at how the community constructed its own virtual landscape in cyberspace and grew so powerful it influenced the mass media product it was supposedly following. I was also looking at how the democratizing power of interactive media either works or doesn't.

People used to get mad because I had too much fun writing my dissertation too. I can't help it. Xena rocks!

That is more than enough about me, I think, except maybe some more URLs.

I was sorta involved with the warblogging movement. Am also now hosting a foreign news blog for a freelance correspondent I'd worked with in Iraq, www.joshuakucera.net. We just launched about 2 weeks ago.

I have a site for beginning bloggers, which also is a bit of a fan site for innovative teaching online, to highlight good work teachers are doing. It's called "So you want to start blogging but you're shy..."

I have a blog devoted to poetry. Cat blogs eat your heart out!

There's lots of other fun and serious stuff tucked away in hidey holes on Serendipit-e, but you'll have to hunt for that. I've taken up too much space here already, and I feel an attack of shyness coming on...

Chris

p.s. Don't hang back now! Jump in and post your introduction, URLs, and Flickr badge. Don't forget to set the category to Introductions.