Social Media
WordCamp Mid-Atlantic Today!
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Today is the second annual WordCamp Mid-Atlantic . It is being held local to me in Baltimore. Unfortunately, it is sold out, but you can read about it here . You can also follow it on Twitter at #wcma . I am sure there will be one next year based upon the sell out plus there is bound to be one near you if you are interested in attending.
I truly enjoy interacting in person with the local DC/Baltimore Metro blogger scene and I am excited to meet everyone who is new.
If you are here from WordCamp, I sincerely thank you for taking the time and investing your attention in my content. If you leave me a comment with your link or send me an email using my contact form, I would be honored to return your favor of constructive criticism. I welcome your feedback on my blog. Please seek me out on twitter @Scott_Coughlin or @ITThought so we can meet at the conference, too.
WordCamp is a community based "un-conference" where users, developers, and vendors of WordPress, my blogging platform, gather to foster synergy, mutual improvement, and simply socialize. It is one of the best things about new media, our Information Age, and IT in general.
My IT thought for the day is "What is it about new media and the Internet that produces these intense community based groups seeking nothing more than mutual benefit?" You can see the same behaviors associated with Linux, Photoshop, and famously the Macintosh platform. It is one of my favorite parts about my profession.
Why do you think we have this sense of community? Is it limited to Information Professionals or are there other examples? Do you like it, too, or are there disadvantages? Please share your thoughts.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for September 11, 2010 ©Scott Coughlin .
Today’s post alone is licensed under creative commons license. All are free to share and use so long as credit is given for original or derivative works.
News Commentary: The Bit.ly Challenge
0As an active twitterer, I can certainly appreciate the value of a URL shortener – that is a service that takes a thousand character web link and shrinks it down to 10 or so for Twitter. However, I also am concerned that it violates one of the
fundamental value propositions of the world wide web – that of linking plain text, man readable, and enduring hyperlinks.
On Mondays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.
Today’s comments were generated after I read a CNN story. It is all about the rise of Bit.ly as the greatest URL shortener of them all. I recommend it to you. Give it a read below.
CNN.com – Clicking small links on bit.ly keeps getting bigger
“The rise of Twitter and instant messaging has been good to bit.ly — the URL-shortening service that has become a go-to tool for users across the web.
On Thursday, while announcing a host of new partners for its premium pay service, bit.ly trotted out a big number for a service based on little links.
Bit.ly is nearing 5 billion clicks per month, according to a post on the company’s official blog.”
There are many many hyperlinks that items that I have posted online that are still good links after 15 years. I know that they are good because I made them, I own them, and I pay to keep them live. The problem with URL shortener is that they are simply spreadsheets and look-up tables linking real hyperlinks to a shortened version that is in no way related to the original. They are great for ease of use, saving space on Twitter, and replacing overly cumbersome URLs with easy to remember ones. What they are not good at is being enduring, reliable, or permanent. If the URL shortener service goes away, so go the links. That is why, as a web author, I love to hate them.
I am resigned that they are a necessary evil for the time being, but I still am uneasy with how fragile the link to so much of what I have created really is on today’s web.
What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 7, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.
Image Credit: VEED.in – Tech News
News Commentary: The Lunacy of Follower Counting
0SPOILER ALERT! I am going to ruin the surprise! When it is all said and done, President Obama is going to have had a more substantial effect on our world than Lady Gaga. OK, now that being said, we can discuss our IT Thought of the Day News Commentary of the Week.
On Mondays I offer comments on some of the most interesting information technology stories that I have found on the web that week. Please feel free to join in the discussion or suggest other stories.
Today’s comments were generated after I read a CNN story. It is all about “race” between Lady Gaga and President Obama to get to 10 million Facebook followers. I recommend it to you. Give it a read below.
CNN.com – Obama, Lady Gaga compete for Facebook fan record
I am just going to go ahead and say it. WHO CARES! I cannot believe that so many people go through life trying to relive their High School Class President election. That is exactly what this manic obsession with Twitter and Facebook followers represents. Can you image if Ghandi, Albert Einstein, or Mother Teresa had spent even a millisecond worrying about what others thought of them – let alone who had more people willing to “follow”” them on these social media services?
OK, that is what I think of this topic. What do you think about this topic? Do you agree or disagree with me? Do you have a recommended news story for next week? Please share your ideas below.
That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 28, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.