Today I was excited to speak at BoCo, a great new conference developed by the Boulder Tech Community, especially Andrew Hyde. Rick Turoczy was there, among other awesome Portlanders, San Fransiscans, and Boulderites. It  was a sunny day and there were beautiful mountains all around. The morning sessions dealt with food and music and were very wonderful to listen to.

I spoke about Cyborg Anthropology, which is the study of human computer interactions and how technology affects the way in which we communicate with one another.

We Are All Cyborgs

When you read this, you are acting as a low-tech cyborg, because you are using a computer to view text that I have written. My writing is stored here in my website, part of my actor network of external technological devices that, when taken together, comprise my technosocial self. As cavemen, we began skipping evolution by crafting spears instead of growing teeth. We began making hammers as extensions of our fists.

My social self is part technology and part human. My technological self does a lot of networking for me through my social networking profiles and my Google search results. So do yours (if you have them). My technosocial avatar of a self networks for me when I’m not there.

Distributed Social Selves

Each piece of my distributed social identity leaves a geological trail of past self that my present self can interact with. These all comprise my future self, which your future self or selves will most undoubtedly interact with. The online optimization of self, when coupled with the analog optimization of self (i.e. real-life networking, person to person) is the creation of a stable identity that is uniformly distributed and presented all over the web.

Technology Resembles Magic

Technology is almost magical. Like the scrying pool of the past (or of fantasy novels), the iPhone or computer monitor allows us to view anything anywhere in the world through YouTube and Twitter, News sites and Facebook. We can summon up an image with a simple spell (a simple text entry into Google search or Twitter search) and we can extend our speech and ears across very large distances in seconds with the mere touch of a button.

Technology Gives Us Superpowers

Technology, when used well, gives us amazing superpowers. We are like gods, until we forget to charge our batteries. We are like gods, until we forget to upgrade our devices to the most recent operating system or device number. Our external prosthetic devices turn against us when they get old. Our old clothes go out of style. Our brick phones make us get laughed at in the streets.

From Physical Transportation to Mental Transportation

In the same way that cars transport our physical bodies, computers and cell phones transport our spiritual bodies. Don’t like the word spiritual? Use the word mind instead. We’re increasingly entering into a world of mental machines - mental transportation devices. These devices transmit our thoughts invisibly to others. They are taking up smaller amounts of space, until vehicles, who require increasingly large highways.

Mental Traffic Jams

We have traffic jams, too. Mental traffic jams. Jams on Twitter. Twitter fails. Rush hour around important events and deaths and wars and crises. We can now have multiple views of the same event.

Telephonic Schizophrenia

When telephone technology first came out, people felt it was crazy. The idea of going into a room and speaking into a machine sounded schizophrenic.

More

There is more: enough to fill up a hour and a half speech, but I’ll leave that to you to see the next time I speak. Until then, you can follow me on Twitter @caseorganic, or you can check out BoCo.

Last night, around 6 pm, an event at Substance brought together many members of the Portland design/creative/new media/innovative community. Those tags do not describe the types of people there, no do they describe how it was to be at the event. Why? Because I wasn’t able to make it.

I’m going to review the event anyway (or at least provide information for others who couldn’t make it), as well as use some great pictures taken by Haley Lovett. I’m including them here, so you can understand some semblance of the event.

Okay, so what is The New Communicators about?

According to a post on the Substance website, “New Communicators are compelled to engage in conversation. They stand taller and stride farther when traversing the current media landscape. They are a mixture of digital and analog. Their message is everything interactive. Everything transmissive. Communicating is a give-and-take, speaking-and-listening, and New Communicators utilize a mixture of new and traditional tools to share their point-of-view with the world. Evolving conversation, they share their ideas, their truths, their lives”.

The New Communicators Video

If you missed it, here’s a Q&A in digital video!

The New Communicators Q&A - September 1, 2009 from The New Communicators on Vimeo.

The gathering was “about the evolution of conversation: exploring the pathways through which an originator interacts with a receiver. These connections can be fulfilling and triumphant; the failures potentially tragic and illuminating. Regardless of the outcome, these experiences are relevant, useful and inspirational. They should be open, discussed and analyzed in the interest of understanding what it means to be a New Communicator”.

What Next?

From Wednesday, October 28th to Friday, October 30th, you’re invited to hold an event around the theme of Evolving Conversation and explore what it means to be a New Communicator. The intent is to curate events for specific time slots in the mornings (8am to 10am), afternoons (4pm to 6pm) and evenings (7pm to 9pm) across the city. However, if those time slots become filled and you still want to hold an event, we got you covered. Any individual, group or company who wants to be a part of the convergence is welcome to do so and we will promote your events on our web site. Although, get those ideas in early if you want top billing and mentions in press content.

Event Response:

There was a lot of buzz about The New Communicators on Twitter. Some of my favorites:

hillerns: I learned something important this evening. When you invite folks to engage, you begin by asking, “What do you think?” #thenewcom

momothemonster: Great conversations at #thenewcom meetup tonight. Consider my fires officially stoked.

ephanypdx: 2nd thing I learned at #thenewcom: exchanging contact info is so 2004. Now we just follow each other.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to hosting a session. Although I’m not sure on what yet. You can help me if you want by commenting below.

If that’s not enough for you, here’s a quick Q&A:

Who are you?

We are a group of like-minded individuals who believe the nature of conversation is evolving. It is our mission to illuminate this evolution, educate on how to traverse the new media landscape and inspire others to initiate conversations of their own.

What do you mean by “Conversations”?

Conversations are any kind of engagement in which thoughts are shared, ideas are exchanged and lives are changed. A Conversation is a dissemination of a point-of-view, a connection with an audience and a reciprocation to the originator. It is how we learn and grow.

What is a New Communicator?

Anyone who is compelled to engage in conversation by utilizing a mixture of new and traditional tools to share their point-of-view with the world.

Why are you doing this?

We want to seek out and share the stories of those who have found a way to break through to their audience in an authentic way using any medium, digital or otherwise. Too much emphasis is placed on the technology behind interaction, when it is the content and quality of the conversation that matters most.

How do you intend to make this happen?

We see our role as gracious facilitators providing an online space for participants to promote their gatherings, connect with collaborators and venues, and use our connections in the community to provide a context to share their experiences and promote their ideas.

Where is Substance Located?

Looking for 1551 SE Poplar? Here’s what it looks like from outside: http://twitpic.com/g5705

How Can I Participate?

Simply visit The New Communicators, or follow them on Twitter at @thenewcom, and the hashtag #thenewcom.

I’ve been interested in data visualization for a very long time — it intersects with a lot of very interesting things that are going on in the world, and thus is definitely worth studying. Happily enough, we now have whole boatloads of data — because the Internet has given this to us.

We have free tools and programming skills to mess with the data so that we can relatively easily turn it into something useful or interesting without puling teeth or renting computer time from 3-6 in the morning an hour’s drive away at the nearest State University.

It is because of all of these things, and what I feel is becoming an essential next step in the development of trend prediction and the very useful implementation of data and information, that we’ve decided to start having some meetings around this sort of thing.

The first Portland Data Visualization Group will be held on Monday, March 23, 2009 from 6–8pm at Webtrends.

851 SW 6th Ave.
Portland OR 97204
(map)

View the event on Calagator, Portland’s Tech Event Calendar.

Event Description

Researchers have long said that the material published on the Web amounts to a form of “collective intelligence” that can be used to spot trends and make predictions.

Using his 20% time, a Google employee discovered that during flu season, many ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors. When he mapped this data, he was able to discover where flu outbreaks would strike up to two weeks before traditional news sources were able to report them.

This is an example of a time when merging a specific type of data to its geographical coordinates resulted in a unique insight. However, there is much more to do with data and visualization. What was found at Google is only the tip of a very large iceberg. Now that we have access to so much data on the web, we’re going to see an increasing need to understand and present that data.

Agenda:

The first meeeting of the Portland Data Visualization Group will serve as an introduction to what’s going on in the world of data viz. It will be freeform, so if you would like to demonstrate something you’re working on, please be prepared to do so. Micah Elliott will be showing uGraph and Ed Borasky will do a GGobi demo. I’ll be covering what already exists in the ecosystem and what might become useful in the future. We’re dealing with a rapid communication method here. Something that, if done well, compresses the time and space it takes for us to understand something.

If you’re interested in Data Visualization, please come to this event. It will be the first Portland Tech Event at WebTrends besides Web Analytics Wednesday. It’s our chance to try out the space and see if it is a good fit for this group or potentially for other groups in the future.

Google Group:

Ed Borasky recently started a Google group called pdx-visualization. As the name implies, it is a group for Portland-area people interested in languages and techniques for visualization of data. http://groups.google.com/group/pdx-visualization

Flickr Photos:

I’ve been collecting interesting data viz photos for a while now and posting them to Flickr. They’re all accessible on my Flickr account in this set. Most pictures contain descriptions and links to the viz sources.

I hope to see you all there!
——

About

Amber Case, (@caseorganic is a Cyborg Anthropologist studying the interaction between humans and computers and how our relationship with information is changing the way we think, act, and understand the world around us.

Originally posted on Calagator, Portland’s Tech Event Calendar.

Where are you from? What kind of work do you do?

I’m your stereotypical fast-paced ‘East Coaster’ from the NYC/NJ area but have been fortunate to have traveled all over the world, and have lived in a few different cities in the US — and abroad — over the years.

Currently, I am the Founder and CEO of Acclimedia, a consulting firm focused primarily on online brand adaptation, helping clients acclimate their products/services and customer experience to the web environment. We take a holistic approach to this process in order to preserve — and maintain — the integrity and essence of the brand online. I also serve as President and Chief Marketing Officer for Jelly Labs, the creative agency and market research arm of Acclimedia, specializing in campaign stickiness.

As a person who thrives on collaboration, I also founded Idea Brew, a think tank for fellow entrepreneurs that churns out ideas, copy and design for start ups and small businesses, where I act as the Creative Director (but that’s just a fancy title for ‘Do-It-All Creative Grunt Worker Extraordinaire!’). As if that weren’t enough, I also blog at Jelly Flux.com, covering marketing, technology and the social web, am a contributing writer for Green Options Media on all things green, renewable and sustainable from fashion to fuel, and recently accepted another writing gig for Triple Pundit adding political review to my writng repertoire.

Lastly, I will also be hosting a weekly podcast in 2009 and have a couple of other start up ventures in the works as well. Needless to say, I’m very busy but still manage to find the time to Twitter!

How did you first hear about CyborgCamp?

With my immersion (or more aptly, submersion!) in the digital world, I’ve had an increasing interest in HCI (Human Computer Interaction), and was seeking to network with others in this area. A Twitter search on the topic led me to tweet from @CyborgCamp, and after a quick scan of the posts and interactions, I began following immediately. Through @CyborgCamp, I have been able to connect with several interesting, intelligent and savvy people from in and around the Portland area — especially Bram Pitoyo, with whom I have sparked riveting, thought-provoking discussions about the semantic web and branding.

I am always seeking kindred spirits and like-minded innovators for collaboration, and I thought that if the people with whom I had connected on Twitter were representative of those I would meet at Cyborg Camp, I knew I had to be there. Being able to interact with these folks in person is so exciting, and I can only imagine the energy that will be emanating from their erudite minds. I must also give a shout out to Tyler Sticka, yet another Portlander with whom I’ve had the pleasure of interacting through Twitter, as I was completely blown away by the logo he designed for CyborgCamp. It’s absolutely brilliant in its simplicity and manages to effectively juxtapose the human and machine elements in a meaningful — and engaging — way. Talk about stopping power. And, of course, you, Amber, whose insights on a variety of topics always leave me pondering the philosophical elements of this space. I continue to be amazed by how Portland seems to be a hotbed for such an enlightened group of individuals and am looking forward to meeting everyone in person.

What is your dream ‘future technology’? If there was anything you could change about the current state of technology, what would it be?

I’m a total geek so I have several dream ‘future technologies,’ but in this case, environmental consciousness wins out, and I would love to see groundbreaking advancements in renewable energy become a reality, finding innovative ways to harness wind and solar power, eliminating our wasteful dependence on fuel and its harmful effects. Of course, as someone who grew up with Star Trek, The Next Generation, and an old school first-person adventure gamer, if I had to choose a more frivolous dream technology, it would most definietly be a virtual reality chamber similar to that of the Holodeck.

The one thing I would probably change about the current state of technology is the ‘on all the time,’ ‘always wired’ mentality [and applications that perpetuate it]. It’s great to be connected, and were it not for technology and the web, I would not have been able to meet the people from around the globe who have profoundly impacted my life, but I think it’s missing a human element that respects — and facilitates — offline/’unplugged’ experiences and personal growth. Our brains, cognition, and capacity for learning are increasing at staggering rates as a result of rapidly advancing technology, but what about the intrinsic human qualities that separate us from machines? I feel that those are getting lost in the process, and in some cases, diminishing in value. I think that this is a critical issue to be addressed with the Web 3.0 movement, which is being dubbed ‘The Semantic Web’ or ‘The Human Web’ by some. Marta Strickland recently referred to it as ‘The Relevant Web’ which I think ties in well with another issue of the current state of technology — too much information. In my ’spare time,’ I am working on a theory as to whether accessibility of information enhances or detracts from our relationships, or to take it one step further, does our relationship with that abundance of information enhance or detract from our human-ness?

What is the tech scene like in New York? Do you attend many tech events there?

It’s hard to say. In any city where there are mass numbers of people, there is always something brewing in tech, and NYC has been home to many Web 2.0 types of expos and the like. It’s a hub for gathering people from all over the world, so it’s an attractive spot for events, but the scene itself tends to veer more toward the social realm of the industry than deep into the geek sector. And those with successful tech start ups tend to migrate west to Silicon Valley and other more booming tech ecospheres.

Running several companies with clients — and vendor partners — throughout the world, I don’t have the luxury of attending as many events as I’d like. That’s one of the reasons I am continually exploring new technologies for participating remotely without sacrificing the experience, or being able to benefit from the key learnings just as I would as in-person attendee. Obviously, nothing can ever truly replace physically being at an event, amongst a group of people collaborating and sharing ideas, but I think that there are ways to bridge the virtual and physical worlds to make it advantageous for remote viewers to participate, share in discussions, and watch it happening real time. Pop!Tech did this very effectively with the live stream for their recent conference. While there weren’t any participatory applications to join in directly, the quality of the video was top notch, allowing you to substantively connect with the speakers and subject matter, and you could supplement the experience via sharing tools like Twitter. There are a few events where I think it’s important to attend in person; I am planning to attend SXSW in Austin, TX in March, and possibly Interactions09 in Vancouver in February.

Have you ever been to an un-conference before? If so, which conference? How was your experience?

Yes, I have attended a few unconferences, and I prefer them to big, splashy events because the intimate setting and smaller, thematic-driven groups allow for participatory learning rather than having so-called ‘expert’ speakers pontificate to a large group. The result is always inspiring and I find the experiences expand my views on a subject and enrich my thinking much more than linear, highly structured formats; plus, you are able to feed off the energy of the participants, who typically are very passionate about the topic. There’s much more of a community feel and sense of ownership to the material because it was self-created, where each participant plays an instrumental role in the process instead of watching a series of slides and taking notes. I think unconferences also stimulate action more so than traditional events, because you are excited and inspired to start applying your newfound knowledge and put your ideas into motion.

What do you think about the future of entertainment, branding, online media? How has your world been affected by new networks such as Twitter?

I think the future of branding has many challenges as brands tend to get diluted in the oversaturated web space. And I am of the thinking that not all brands need to — or should — have a digital presence.

Entertainment, on the other hand, is significantly augmented by technology, and is on the precipice of expansion in a variety of different areas. In addition to the rich visuals and advancements in CGI, more traditional network programming is able to connect viewers with their favorite TV show, or even characters with web-enabled services and extras. Even movies are enhanced by using the web to draw users into the storyline where they can make a personal connection with the film. But, in my opinion, the future of techtainment is with the continued growth of podcasting, iTV and web film-making. Major, capital-driven networks no longer control the market or drive the content. Anyone with a video camera and a dream can penetrate the space, and some of the most popular programs are web shows that are able to reach a global audience thanks to the power of the Internet medium, and even gain the exposure of mainstream media previously reserved only for big budget film houses.

Online media is another area where oversaturation makes it difficult for many new products and services to rise above the clutter, and for platforms to sustain long-term. I think in order for the online media space to advance, it needs to be streamlined, sourcing content better for relevancy and audience, and built to evolve with its users’ needs/wants/behavior/usage. A living, breathing architecture will be critical for maximizing the value of online media, and creating a vehicle for meaningful interactions that become an inherent, consistent — and active — part of the user’s daily life [with tangible impact] vs. a distraction or passive activity that wanes over time until the next ‘hot hit’ comes along. The ‘throw spaghettic against the wall to see what sticks’ method doesn’t scale. If Web 2.0 is analagous to the ‘classoom,’ Web 3.0 is the real world opportunity to put those learnings into action.

Twitter has dramatically impacted my world in a positive way. Save for the distraction and source of procrastination it can sometimes be, it has become a daily (read: hourly!) go to resource for real time knowledge sharing, product reviews, market research and even local, national and international news. It’s information with a pulse. And it has become an important part of my routine from my daily good morning exchanges with friends I’ve made to checking in with the Twitterverse on a myriad of subjects throughout the day — from their insights on project-related/client issues to their thoughts and experiences with new gadgets — even recipes and restaurant recommendations. Just about everything that touches my life makes its way into my tweetstream.

How have you built your Twitter network? What rewards have you received? What do you find most difficult/annoying about Twitter?

I am a firm believer in using Twitter to build relationships. I take pride in my network and value my connections. And I’m proud that I have been able to build such a quality network of amazing individuals each of whom bring something unique to my tweetstream — and to my life. I built my entire network organically, using Twitter search on keywords of interest to me, connecting through @ replies to individuals connected to those I follow, and by returning the follow to those who have sought me out through similar means. I always read a person’s bio, visit the link to their blog or website and read at least 3 pages of their posts before I follow. I take it very seriously and do not use auto follow scripts or try to inflate my followers. I prefer to keep my network small with even ratios of followers/following as I believe that’s the only way you can develop — and nurture — the one-on-one interactions that drive meaningful exchanges and encourage sharing.

I have made professional contacts, built lasting friendships, secured new opportunities and been exposed to new cultures through my Twitter community. In fact, my overseas partner is someone whom I connected with via Twitter, expanding my services into the European market with a creative shop in London. I will also be co-hosting a podcast with another Twitter contact and am collaborating with others on a new venture. Not to mention the personal friendships I’ve built that have come to mean a great deal to me.

Without question, the most annoying thing about Twitter is the spammers, self-promoters and get-rich-quick schemers that appear to be multiplying in droves, as well as those who are obsessed with their number of followers, using it as a misguided measuring stick for their popularity or ‘influence.’ I have always contended that the true value of Twitter is in the relationships, and the aforementioned groups are only interested in advancing their own agenda. It’s a megaphone for them vs. a sharing tool to spark two-way communication. Their misuse and flagrant disrespect for the network detracts from the experiece and devalues the service. I’ve become adept at spotting (and avoiding) the culprits, but it requires continual contact clean up to maintain a quality, spam-free community — time that could be better spent engaging with people who actually want to learn and share with you.

What is your presentation style like? What would you like to see discussed at CyborgCamp?

I recently ditched PowerPoint and any form of canned slides when presenting to clients or speaking at events, which has proven to be a much more creatively enriching experience for me — and my participants. By not stifling the flow of creativity with a highly structured set of materials, I’ve found that the group is more open and expressive, and that better ideas are generated. So, I am going to apply that same principle to CyborgCamp, allow the dynamics of the group to guide my talking points, and put a raw perspective out there for consumption, dissection, discussion and ideation.

I don’t want to limit the flow of creativity or expression by mandating a list of topics but I’d love to spark a discussion around what I referred to earlier in the interview as ‘The Human Web’ to get the group’s perspective on the interconnectivity of it all and how to effectively bridge/honor the dual faceted-ness of that interaction.

Connect with Gennefer

http://twitter.com/acclimedia
http://www.acclimedia.com/

Portland’s role in iPhone development is pretty epic. Due to recent interest (like 5 people asking if I knew any iPhone developers in the last week alone), I’ve compiled a working list of iPhone developers near or in the Portland area. Please spread this list to anyone you feel it may service.

First off, if you haven’t already, sign up for the Mobile Portland mailing list or join the Mobile Portland Google Group. Many more iPhone developers can be reached through the list. Finally, please add yourself to the list through comments, and I’ll add you to this list. Eventually, this list will be stored both on Oakhazelnut and the AboutUs.org Wiki as part of PortlandTech.

—–

Raven Zachary

Raven Zachary helps people create, develop, and launch iPhone products and services. He works with dynamic, creative, market-driven organizations on iPhone strategy and product development.

Silicon Florist wrote that, “Raven is the creator of iPhoneDevCamp, chair of the upcoming iPhoneLive conference , and consultant to a number of iPhone developers in town and around the nation”.

Raven says that, “If you’re in the area and are going to Macworld, there’s a iPhone Intelligence party on Tuesday 1/6/09″. You can RSVP here.

About: http://raven.me/ravenzachary/
Projects: http://raven.me/projects/

———-

PheedYou

Founded in September 2008 by three geeks and a business guy, PheedYou is dedicated to producing iPhone applications which deliver rich content at the touch of a button.

Alexander Mace, CEO, Chadwick Marcus, President, Brett Carter, Engineer and Preston Hunt, Engineer, build products that facilitate mobile interaction between users and existing content providers.

They recently built a Craigslist application for iPhone or iPod Touch.

Twitter:@sashamace
Site: http://www.pheedyou.com/about/
Applications: http://www.pheedyou.com/

———-

Subatomic Studios

Subatomic studios is a small Portland firm specializing exclusively in iPhone app development.

Fieldrunners, the studio’s first App for the iPhone and Apple, was nominated in five categories: Best App Ever, Best Productivity Killer, Best Original Game, Best Long-Play Game, and Best Strategy Game.

More Information: http://www.subatomicstudios.com/
Contact: Sergei Gourski

——–

Avatron Software (Vancouver, WA)

Avatron was founded in April 2008 by Dave Howell, a six-year veteran Apple engineering manager, Avatron is a leading developer of popular applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Avatron’s Air Sharing application, downloaded by nearly one million users in its first week, has raised the bar for iPhone application design and software quality.”

See Avatron’s first commercial application for the iPhone, Air Sharing (more than 700,000 downloads in one week).

More information: http://avatron.com/

——–

Cloud Four (Portland, OR)

In his post onObama for iPhone, Rick Turoczy summed up Cloud Four’s foray into the iPhone dev world, “The folks at Cloud Four have really come into their own in the world of consulting on mobile apps—especially when it comes to things like usability. (What? You actually want people to be able to use the app?) They’ve put in some impressive (volunteer) work on the Obama for iPhone app and equally impressive (paid) work on the interface design for the Mobile Wall Street Journal app“.

“Cloud Four is proudly based in Portland, Ore.,” they sad, “but we serve customers worldwide.”

More Information: http://cloudfour.com/

——–

Spotlight Mobile

Spotlight Mobile is a Portland, Oregon software development firm specializing in mobile devices and web applications. It was founded by Cornell University graduates Kiyo Kubo and Nick Farina, and based on research from the Cornell Human-Computer Interaction Lab. They got their start bringing new uses for location-awareness technology to market.

Spotlight Mobile in the Pearl has been doing mobile development for years: location-based apps for the Smithsonian, Portland Art Museum, and parks, as well as iPhone apps like this one for Vogue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/fashion/28ROW.html?ref=style

Here’s another NYT piece about Spotlight’s Cornell Univ. admissions tour work:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/14/technology/circuits/14gpss.html

More information: http://www.spotlightmobile.com/about/
Full client list: http://www.spotlightmobile.com/clients/
Contact: Kiyo Kubo or Nick Farina http://www.spotlightmobile.com/contact/

——–

Eric Eaglstun

Although he won’t actually be living in Portland for another two weeks, he’d like to added to this list.
Most of Eric’s has been in web development, and he’s worked on web user interfaces specific to the iPhone (iUI, javascript etc) but he is on track to have his first App in the iTunes store by early February.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ericeaglstun
——–

Makerlab

Makerlab is a small Portland-based thinktank with ties to Silicon Valley. It lies at the intersection of art and technology, and is comprised of a variety of seasoned programmers, researchers, and artists.

Contact: @anselm, @paigedestroy or @caseorganic.
Site: http://makerlab.org/

——–

Andrew Pouliot

Another new mobile developer in Portland, aka Darknoon/, is doing native iPhone app development. He’s originally from Silicon Valley, but thinks the scene here is vibrant enough to make a good living (plus working with people elsewhere).

“The Cocoa scene is only getting hotter,” says Pouliot, “and some people are moving to Portland to do this sort of stuff”.

Services and contact: http://darknoon.com/services

——–

Clifton Burt

iPhone Developer

Site: http://cliftonburt.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cliftonburt.

——–

P. Mark Anderson

A Portland based programmer (Ruby, iPhone) and painter developing useful web services that blend code and art.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/pmark
Site: http://bordertownlabs.com

——–

MorganPdx

@morganpdx is an aspiring iPhone developer, but needs a Macbook.

Site: http://www.morganpdx.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/morganpdx.

——–

Jonathan Leto

iPhone developer.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/dukeleto
Site: http://leto.net/.

——–

Jonathan Wight (Rural South Carolina)

Even though Jonathan Wight lives, as he puts it, “as not Portland as you can get”, he writes iPhone and Mac OS Software and seems like a pretty cool guy. Besides, in a world of online collaboration and shrinking space between people and ideas, he might be fun to work with on some new ideas.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/schwa
Site: http://toxicsoftware.com/iphoneswpro/

——–

Good luck and have a great time with your project development!

Sincerely,
Amber Case
Cyborg Anthropologist
http://www.twitter.com/caseorganic

The date’s been set. Due to scheduling conflicts (including the event being really close to Thanksgiving) CyborgCamp Portland will be held on December 6th, 2008, at Portland’s CubeSpace, which is at 622 SE Grand Ave Portland, Oregon 97214

You can RSVP for CyborgCamp on Upcoming if you’d like to attend, but note that the formal registration will begin in a few weeks. If you follow @cyborgcamp or @caseorganic on Twitter, you’ll know when you can officially register for the event. If you don’t use Twitter, you can E-mail caseorganic at gmail.com and I’ll personally let you know when official registration is open. There will also be a link from the Upcoming page, so check back in a few weeks.

CyborgCamp is a conversation about the future of technology, and how humans fit in.

Want to help out? You can do it in 4 different ways!

1. Sponsor. E-mail Nate Angell at ixmati at gmail.com or Twitter @xolotl. See the sponsors page.
2. Blog, Tweet, write and broadcast the event (before, during and after.) See the Marketing Page Email Amber Case at caseorganic at gmail.com or Twitter @caseorganic
   

3. Volunteer before, during and after the event. Email Bram Pitoyo at brampitoyo at gmail.com or Twitter @brampitoyo We need 3 more volunteers for the morning set-up (7 Am) and take down (6-7Pm).

4. Attend. RSVP on Upcoming.org (Note that RSVP does not guarantee you a space if you’re not paid for register).

What to Expect at the Conference:

One room will be devoted to keynote sessions on various aspects of the cyborg (technological, health, spiritual, communication, humanity, etc.), and the other three rooms of the conference will be unconferences, done BarCamp-style

Who should come?

This is an educational mindsharing and networking event that encourages high-level interdisciplinary interaction.

Classrooms, individuals and businesses are encouraged to attend the event remotely. It will be livestreamed through multiple channels and will be archived and tagged for future viewing. Details on remote conference access will be available a week before the conference begins.

Tags

Flickr Tag: cyborgcamp

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See you there!

Portland rocks. It has excellent food, coffee, people, techies, transportation, foliage, entertainment, and bloggers! But we have suffered a tragedy: we just lost OSCON to San Jose. What!? From Jul 17-19, 2009 Lets replace it with something equally tremendous. And we can.

How?

With this handy Google Spreadsheet Form.

Yep, that’s four lines of text you have to type in. That way I can E-mail you cool stuff. Like little snippets of text to post on your blog, or a list of E-mails with some text to include in them, or ideas for posts, so that lots of people can get really excited about the conference. Like “10 reasons why Portland would be a sweet place for BLogHer”, “20 great places to eat in Portland”, and “Why Portland bloggers rock and how close the airport is” will be randomly sent to you.

The posts will be really short, and from time to time, I’ll make posts on Hazelnut Tech Talk and link them to all of your posts. This way, we’ll get this cool forcefield of blogs promoting the idea of BlogHer. That’s more visibility for your blog, and your friend’s blogs. What’s not to like?

Why am I supporting this?

For the good of the community, of course! Portland has given so much to me, and the wonderful people out there have taught me about amazing things. As a technosocial cyborg, cyberspace is pretty genderless to me, but for those who it is not yet, BlogHer might be a useful way for cool people to meet other cool people and get things done. Hooray for that!

Plus, I voted for Portland after Rick Turoczy made this post about bringing BlogHer to Portland, and we ended up being one of the top cities besides Philadelphia and St. Louis. We’re almost there. All we need to do is make everyone understand just how important this event this will be for the city/people/community.

Contact?

You can randomly connect with me if you’d like. Feel free to E-mail me or follow me on Twitter @caseorganic.

On Wednesday, July 16th, Bram Pitoyo and I realized that we both had three tech events scheduled on our calendars. There was Lunch 2.0 at SOUK from 12-2Pm, pdxMindShare from 5:30-8:00Pm at Paddy’s, and a surprise Tweetup with Charlene Li, author of Groundswell (note: this event was later canceled, due to the fact that Li’s flight was delayed! We were all very sad).

But wait! There’s one more!

There was an extra event on my calendar. It was a Meetup for novice, intermediate and advanced bloggers to provide each other writing advice. It started at 6:00 Pm at the Kennedy School in NE. Bram and I realized that between biking and networking, it was going to be an extremely intense day.

In addition to 4 networking events, I also had an entire day of work to do. With only a 1 hour lunch break in the middle, I’d only be able to attend Lunch 2.0 for 30 minutes. I started my morning at 7Am, ate breakfast and got ready for a day of work, networking, and hardcore biking.

Below is a recap of the three events. Bram Pitoyo reviewed the series of events in separate posts and they are available on Link en Fuego. Jake Kuramoto also expertly reviewed Lunch 2.0 at Silicon Florist from a distance, hence the title Bot Recap of Lunch 2.0 at SOUK. Doug Coleman attended and blogged about Lunch 2.0 and Writing for the Web, and his reviews are here.

Event #1: Lunch 2.0 at SOUK

I arrived at the Portland Business Accelerator early and set myself to work. Before long it was time for Lunch 2.0! I rushed down the stairs and out the door, to my bike, which I strategically parked directly outside the PBA the night before.

I careened down the steep hill that led from the building and to the waterfront, where I zoomed by other bikers and lunchtime wanderers. I went under the Morrison and the Hawthorne bridge, and then headed into the heart of the Pearl District, and arrived at SOUK at exactly 12:01. I thanked myself that I’d beta tested the space before, else it would’ve been quite difficult to find. It’s sort of a secret space, but one well work the look. A coworking/rental space doesn’t really get better than this.

The place was packed! Tons of new faces! Exceedingly delicious Thai food from a block away. I saw @donpdonp, my friend from high school (who is an iPhone app developer), @xolotol, Melissa Lyon and her partner, founders of PDX BackFence, @ahockley, @geekygirldawn, @tisque, @bobuva, @selenamarie, @ekki, and @julsd, the founder of SOUK.

I only had time to talk to a few people, but the discussions were excellent, and everyone seemed to have an very engaging experience. Before long, it was 12:50, and I leaped downstairs to my bike for the ride back to the office.

I careened down to the waterfront as fast as I could while avoiding end-of-lunchtime vehicles. When I made it back to the office, I was drenched in sweat, but was very happy.

Event #2: pdxMindShare, 5:30Pm, Paddy’s Bar. Downtown Portland

At 5:00Pm I cleaned up my desk and wrote the tasks I had to do for Monday on notecards. Then I ran to my bike and rode back downtown to Paddy’s, where the monthly SEMPDX pdxMindShare event was going to occur.

I first attended pdxMindShare back in January when I was finishing up my last year of college. I’d just been introduced into the world of search engine optimization, marketing, Google Adwords and Analytics. My mind only knew Anthropology and Sociology then, and I’d just finished writing my thesis on “Cell Phones and Their Technosocial Sites of Being”. The event left a big impression on me, though, and I was excited to show up again, this time as more of an expert than a novice.

I arrived early enough to see that Kent Lewis, President of Anvil Media was still in a meeting, so I grabbed my computer and begin doing some Analytics work. Presently, Kent warmly welcomed me to the event, and a lot of people began to arrive. A women who used to be in the translation business but who wanted to enter into the advertising world sat down with me, and I mailed her a list of Portland networking events that could help her with her job search. She was very kind, and a little nervous to meet so many new people. I introduced her to a few people, and she began to really enjoy herself. Yay!

8 out of 10 Collaboratory Members Made an Appearance

Bram and I spotted Allison McKeever, Brian Davidson, Christine Vo, Heather Schwartz, Mary McPherson, Megan Nuttall, Whitney Bard, and Kim Karalekas. This was awesome, because they were able to see a really vibrant part of Portland’s networking community. According to their blogs and Twitter writings, the members really enjoyed the event!

While waiting for my drink bill, I had a fantastic discussion with an Ajax/Flash developer about Usability. He didn’t have a card, which made me sad, but I’m sure we’ll meet again at another event.

Event #3: Writing for the Web Meetup Event at the Kennedy School

Bram and I realized the time. It was getting really late, and we still had to bike all the way up to NE Portland to NE 33rd for the next event! We made a hasty exit and got to the Yellow Line Max right as it arrived at the station near Paddy’s. The ride was fast, but we still had 40 blocks to ride to get to the School, and the details of its actual location were rather fuzzy.

We dashed those 40 blocks and arrived at the event a full hour late. But it was still going on! And during the middle of it, we were notified by Twitter that the Charlene Li Tweetup had been canceled due to a flight delay! Darn! We ended up ordering food. We were about to pass out from exhaustion and starvation.

Marilyn Schwader. the Meetup host, gave great tips on blogging and writing copy. She taught me a lot about considering demographics, and keeping things simple. @dariusmonsef of Colourlovers was there, as well as @dougcoleman. It was a great time, and a good source of inspiration to the aspiring and advanced bloggers present. Doug Coleman showed us his awesome recording equipment too, and we talked about Podcasts.

When the event was over, Bram and I explored the amazing hallways of the Kennedy School. Vintage photos and detailed paintings lined the walls. After viewing the dipping pool, we regretted not bringing swimming suits. Then we discussed the idea of a hot tubbing bike/tweetup! Hooray! This should happen soon.

Conclusion

We biked back from the Kennedy school to SW Portland, where we split paths at the waterfront so Bram could catch the MAX, and I could head back to my car at the office.

Although exhausted, I jumped into hyperspeed on the Internet when I got home. As usual, Twitter and Analytics consumed my time. I set my alarm for 6Am so I could get ready to attend the Internet Strategy Forum in the morning, and fell asleep listening to a Sci-Fi podcast. Intense Day in Tech #1…Complete. Tomorrow would be twice as intense, but I didn’t know it yet. A review of Thursday, July 17th to come soon.

One of the things that really excites me about the evolving state of the Internet is the ability for books to be coauthored across time and space. The Wiki is one of the most powerful tools in allowing this to happen.

From Wikipedia to the newest form of this method, the “Art of Community”, a book for O’Reilly by Portland’s Dawn Foster and San Fransisco’s Open Source Advocate Danese Cooper (who is currently packing for OSCON).

Another great thing about the project is that the book resembles itself in its construction and content. It is a book that was built by the same methods that it writes about. Needless to say, I am looking forward to watching it develop online.

If you are interested in contributing to the book, you can do so at the O’Reilly Commons Wiki

If you’d like to meet Dawn Foster, look for her at the next Beer and Blog. They’re generally on Friday, 6Pm at the Green Dragon. You can also check out her blog, Fast Wonder, or follow her on Twitter.

She’s extremely active in the Portland Tech Community as well as well versed in RSS aggregator applications such as Yahoo! Pipes. You can see more of her Yahoo! Pipes on her blog.

If you’d like to meet Danese Cooper, you can find more about her from this Wikipedia article, or you might run into her at OSCON this week. If nothing else, you can also follow her on Twitter.

Below you can find the most recent iteration of the book (as of July 19, 2008). Hopefully it will give you some ideas, and some impetus if you’d like to contribute!

——-

Chapters for AOC

From WikiContent

Back to WikiContent:Community_Portal

Important Note: We are in the process of contacting these people - some of them have NOT agreed to participate yet!

[edit] Chapters

• Dawn Foster, Danese Cooper, and Andy Oram: AOC Introduction with Benefits and Types of Communities
• Dawn Foster: AOC Managing Communities
• Danese Cooper: Corporate Communities
• Tara Hunt: Measuring the Health of your community? - Maybe (checking with her publisher on cross-posting a chapter)
• Kaliya Hamlin: Role of Face-to-Face Interaction in Building and Complementing Online Community - Interested.
• Karl Fogel: Dealing with difficult community members - Interested.
• Liz Henry: Wiki Communities - Interested.
• Eric von Hippel: Community Driven Innovation - Doesn’t have time to write something new, but might be able to republish something??
• June Holley: Network Weaving - Interested.
• Jean Russell: Nurturing or Flow in Do-Good (socially-responsible) Communities - Interested
• Sulamita Garcia: Communities Across Continents: How They are Different - Interested
• William Hurley aka whurley: Community status - Interested
• Zaheda Bhorat: Non-Developer Contributions to Developer Communities - Contacted, but not confirmed.
• Zak Greant: Managing Community Issues with Issue Trackers - Interested
• TBD?: How communities of disabled people can organize themselves using online media (recommended as a chapter by Beth Noveck)
• Beth Noveck with David Johnson: Visualization Technologies — (other suggestions Sunny Fugate[1] or Lion Kimbro[2][3])

——-

What is Coworking? It is simply working side-by-side with more than one person. No one has to be working on the same project or talk to each other. Simply being there with someone else negates the lonliness of working from home, or working in a hostile corporate environment.

Coworking is successful in corporate environments, especially startups, and is also ideal for entrepreneurs who need a support group while they develop independently.

It’s also useful to have others to bounce ideas off of.

Ingredients for Coworking. Shared working. Time sharing. Think sharing:

1. Large wooden table.
2. Large room with high ceilings.
3. Next room and kitchen with access to food and coffee.
4. Bathroom.
5. Powerstrips.
6. Computers on swivels (for screen sharing).
7. Good lighting.
8. Good window.

Shared working 2.0:

Costs: Space, and a projector to put computer screens onto wall.

Benefits:

• Others can watch media.
• Others can choose to show others media.
• Processes can be shown in motion.

Image below shows shared working space during the day and at night. This is what the dining room of the Woods house in N. Portland looks like. We set it up like this, and it works.

The same concept was written about in the NYTimes. Here.