BloggerCon Final Words
I didn't attend the first BloggerCon. I was out of town, and I wanted to attend, but it didn't work out. All the reports afterward were that it was a great event.
So I was really looking forward to BCII and it didn't disappoint.
Pound for pound it was the best conference I've ever attended. I've been to bigger, longer events, but none that concentrated so much good stuff into such a compact period.
In separate posts here I've summarized the sessions I attended and added my comments.
I want to thank Dave W, and his little band of helpers who made the day such a valuable success.
Finally, here are a handful of random comments that didn't fit in any of the other posts:
Did you ever notice that Jeff Jarvis, Christopher Lydon and Bob Stepno all look alike? Separated at birth?
Another cool thing in the journalism session. Throughout the converstaion someone kept putting relevant blogs and websites on the big screen. Like the TV show West Wing's situation room.
Blogging pal Steve G was very popular with his videoblogging.
One common theme through many of the sessions was "the blog as a filter". It's a way that readers can find the good stuff on the net.
One recurring thought I had throughout the day was that the "blog" is poised to make a leap to the next level: new journalism, video/richmedia, valuable business ventures, like that.
Worlds collide/merge, or, a it's brave new world During the lunch break, a crowd sitting out in the sunny plaza in front of pound hall, next to Mass ave (pic above). Many laptops in use, cell phones, digital cameras. Joey deVilla, the accordian guy, serenades us, singing. At one point, struggling for a lyric, he laughs, turning to one laptopper and says, "what's that line? can someone Google it for me?"
There was a lot of talk about "trust". The idea that the difference between blogs and big media journalism is that working for the big ones brings trust. But I don't think it's trust. It's about reputation.
Readers/viewers of any media have expectations. These expectations come from what they already know about the source. They expect a certain kind of news from the New York Times, something else from the Boston Herald, something else from the National Enquirer, Drudge, Josh Marshall, a personal blog, etc.
There's no black and white division between trust and no-trust. It's all varying levels. Blogs will continue to gain readers who value them, as the readers learn what to expect, and the blogs continue to deliver on that expectation. That's trust.
Re the personal TV session: We talked a lot about the workflow, and tools we need, but we still haven't settled on the ideal "form" for presenting this. Is it like TiVo? or surfing galleries on a website? or interactive searching? or an agent that finds things you like? what?
In the wrap-up DaveW said to watch the bloggercon weblog for conference followups.
And finally, he said that the next BloggerCon would be on the west coast... "i've asked stanford... or maybe berkley..."
Posted by jackhodgson at April 21, 2004 08:52 AM