Fade to Play

On Thursday I gave my UBC town hall presentation entitled “Creative Expression and Social Networking in a Digital Culture: Why Students heart Facebook and why you should too”. I will be uploading my speech next weekend but I wanted to provide some analysis on my performance and what lessons I learned that I can apply to my next opportunity to speak.

It was my first time giving a presentation in so large a room. Actually, I realised during the keynote presentation, I couldn’t remember the last time I had been in a room that seats 350 people. As I was in a room that is used by the medical school for interacting with the Northern BC program, there were 2 large screens at the front of the room. In addition, in front of me I had a computer monitor embedded into the lectern. Below eye level, facing the presenter were two screens (maybe 25 in.) that showed me what the audience were seeing on the two large screen. I was provided with a mic which I wore on my belt and I also had a clicker/laser to point to information on the screen. Being around all that technology was exhilarating.

Presentation Slides
I was happy overall with my slides except my shot of the Facebook News Feed which looked blurry on so large a screen. I wasn’t able to fix it and I should have used a better version I had from another presentation I’d given before but I forgot. In addition, next time rather than screen shots of the functionality of Facebook I will download the actual web pages which would allow me to show everything on the screen. The other option is for me to break up a full page into 2 or 3 pages of powerpoint screenshots that are of the largest resolution. For my next presentation (probably July), I will experiment explaining the Facebook functionality using saved screens to my laptop.

I don’t use text in my slides basically because my attention span is about 5 minutes so I like to use pictures which I get from flickr. I didn’t have anyone talk about this being a concern, in fact people told me that they liked the presentation and the pictures. I will continue using flickr photos to visually represent ideas I am trying to convey.

Presentation
My hour talk went over by about 7 minutes but pretty much everyone stayed to the end. I had 50 slides which worked out to about a 1 hour speech. Next time I will try and get into the room where I will be presenting perhaps a day or two before, to give myself a run through as well and to see how each of the slides look enlarged. I had alot of content to discuss so I wrote out my speech as I didn’t want to babble which sometimes happens when I talk from memory. In addition, I felt the audience wasn’t there so much to hear about _how_ students use Facebook but wanted to determine how _potentially_ it could be used in an academic context.

Talks/Interviews
This was the 6th time I have spoken about Facebook to an audience since January. Each time the presentation format, theme, and the way I prepared was different. I feel much more prepared now and feel confident that I could give a keynote presentation as those I admire and respect are doing, if given the opportunity.

Relevance
I’m still in the learning stage about how to give speeches that are not just an explanation of a paper I’ve written. Writing this out helps me figure out area to improve on for next time.

So you have a cool idea or concept that you are working on or researching and you want to get some feedback. Well, you could blog about the idea, tell your neighbour OR you could come to DemoCampVancouver02. and share what you are passionate about. It is the sequel to DemoCampVancouver01 and you can sign up here. It is on July 5th at 5:30pm at Workspace in Gastown.

The location alone should make you want to show up.

Your concept or idea should be developed enough to support a three minute presentation, but it is not necessary to have a working model to “demo” … it’s the idea that’s important! There are three minutes for delivery and three minutes for discussion. The time limit is strict so if you take two and a half minutes to setup your laptop, you only get thirty seconds to present. (the gong hath no mercy).

See you there.

Relevance: A great environment to network and socialise. A good tune-up for barcamp vancouver in August.

I love Facebook because it allows me to be social to let my guard down with those who I feel are cool to hang with, and won’t judge me based on the content of my profile page. As I get invites from people I don’t even know, people I have predominately research/work relationships with, or those that know me mostly due to proximity, I have become more cautious about what I want to share on Facebook.

I thought the idea of limited profiles would be effective, however within the limited profile group I have to paint everyone under the same brush. This wasn’t completely effective as I realised that some people I would not want to share certain photo albums, others I wouldn’t want them to see what’s on my wall. Other people, I just removed from my Facebook friends-list.

So to solve this issue, I am filtering these people onto Facebook. People of the LinkedIn tribe (if you were on linked-in before Facebook, then you already differ from the majority of my friends including myself), that is where we will interact together and develop relationships for the future.

My übertech friends don’t have to worry, you won’t be going anywhere.
For those that are moved to LinkedIn, don’t think of this as a negative, our friendship won’t change, it’s just that I want Facebook to be social, a place where I have fun, in a familiar space being me.

Special thanks to Scott Gatz for saying what I have been feeling.

During the lunch session of the UBC Town Hall I attended yesterday, there was a “usability situation” that I watched with interest. One of the attendees was having a difficult time trying to figure out how to press a knob or button to get hot water from the dispenser. Finally she called one of the Catering staff members for assistance.

She unfortunately was not much help as she say a tiny button at the top and pressed that but found it hard to keep the water flowing. Finally she was able to figure out that she had to press the lever down in order to get water.

Relevance: Usability issues confront us daily like a game to be solved in order to win a prize (e.g. win hot water).

So are you interested in meeting some of the coolest übertech people in Vancouver? Well you are in luck. Cancel that August vacation if you are living here in Vangroovy. If you are out of town, check the dates, because you’ll want to come here for Vancouver barcamp August 17-18th (includes a sleepover hopefully with S’mores).

Spaces are going fast so register today.

What is Barcamp?

Barcamp Vancouver facebook event and group.

Barcamp Vancouver wiki

Let’s get some students there (share your research — hello?)

There are not restrictions on when I can access the Internet. In the year 2007, why are the 2 largest libraries at my university (2nd largest in Canada) not open 24/7?

Relevance: As a graduate student, I do not understand why I can’t swip my ID card to access the library, use the self-serve machine to sign out book I need for research, and leave. All that is needed is one guard at the door to make sure people don’t walk out with computers or steal books.

Special Issue on Wireless Technologies, Mobile Practices :: Mobile wireless devices such as handheld pdas, cellular telephones, and portable computers are part of a changing landscape of communications and culture. In the last decade alone, for instance, the use of cell phones has increased fourfold in Canada signaling a remarkable shift in the telecommunications industry, the convergence of a number of technologies onto a single platform, and new ways of conducting person-to-person communication and creating community. In addition to these devices, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth, WANS, and GPS comprise integrated segments of the new infrastructure of the so-called wireless world as well as an emergent vocabulary for citizens and consumers.

The Canadian Journal of Communication invites submissions, in English or in French, for a forthcoming special issue on mobile communications and wireless technologies. We are interested in innovative, critical approaches that decipher a range of mobile technologies and practices in wireless contexts. Possible themes include:

:: Everyday uses: sharing our lives via the mobile (text, voice, video)
:: Civic engagement, activism and mobile technologies
:: Wireless services and emergency communication
:: Privacy, surveillance and mobile phones
:: Community Wireless Networks
:: Policy: CRTC regulations and spectrum policy
:: Mobility, Labour: new conditions of work
:: Shifting notions of space, place and time in a mobile world
:: Rhetoric and discourses on mobility and wireless worlds
:: Art, design and mobile technologies
:: Mobile genres and cellular convergence
:: Global and international perspectives on mobile technologies

Full-length papers (@ 7000-9000 words) should be submitted electronically following the guidelines laid out on the CJC submissions website. Make sure to write in all caps “MOBILE” in the Comments to the Editor field, and to include it on the cover page of your article as well. Do not include your name on the cover page.

Deadline for papers is Sept. 1, 2007. Papers selected by the editors will then be sent for peer review for final decision.

Comments and queries can be sent to one of the special issue editors:

Dr. Barbara Crow, York University, bacrow[at]sympatico.ca
Dr. Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University, kim.sawchuk[at]sympatico.ca
Dr. Richard Smith, Simon Fraser University, smith[at]sfu.ca

found via Networked Performanance

When is money used as a place holder rather than having monetary value?

In the game of pool, there are social conventions that exist regarding the desire to use the pool table next. One places a coin (e.g. a quarter) on the table above where the slot exists to insert money. On Mondays at this establishment, the pool table was free to use, yet the convention is still being followed.

Relevance: Is this convention unique to pool? Is it universal in other cultures outside of North America?

So, I would have been one of the people in line to get Tiger and would be staying in line to get Leopard, except for the simple fact that I don’t have a MacBook Pro. Instead I am swimming/drowning in the world of windows. However today I am as a happy as a chipmuck. My world is a better place as Steve Jobs (the man), has taken pity on me and provided me with a taste of life on the other side of the fence.

Today, he allowed those without Macs to use Safari and I have immediately installed it on my computer.

update: Upon actually trying to surf, Safari crashed.  I will hold off on trying again for a while.