There is about an hour and a half worth of video below from last weekend’s Comfest 2008 New Media Center discussions with WCRS and the Columbus Social Media Cafe. Tim Eby of WOSU, Jeff Johnson of Urban Infill and Andrew Miller of Elephants on Bicycles participated in both discussions and really enjoyed our interaction with the attendees. I apologize for the video quality; our videographer didn’t make it so we captured the session via tripod off to the side.

Comfest O8 New Media Center WCRS and Columbus Social Media Cafe Part 1 from Andrew Miller on Vimeo.

Comfest O8 New Media Center WCRS and Columbus Social Media Cafe Part 2 from Andrew Miller on Vimeo.

Participants at the Columbus Social Media Cafe discuss the group’s appeal.

Participants at the Columbus Social Media Cafe discuss the group’s appeal.

Participants at the Columbus Social Media Cafe discuss the group’s appeal. Jeff goes first.

Shaun gives an overview about Open Space, and provides a thumbnail sketch of how this meet-up will further define the groups’ mission.

Columbus blogger Andrew Miller talks about this year’s plan for ComFest, where the Columbus Social Media Cafe will have a presence.

As promised here is a wrap up of our discussions this evening at the Social Media Cafe June meeting.

Thanks to Susan, Shaun, Suzanne, Jeff, Jody, and Angelo for your leadership in this meeting. Susan provided the introduction and information about our next meeting [info here] at the CML on July 29, 2008. Andrew then provided an update about the programming and need for volunteers at Comfest for the New Media Center - [info here].

Jody and Angelo provided the group with a very interesting look at the evolution of podcasting along with background on how to start podcasting from your site. If you can pull yourself away from Comfest for a bit on Saturday a good stop would be PodCamp Ohio which has been organized by Angelo and will be both a networking and a learning opportunity for newbies and experienced podcaster’s alike.

Some of the links that were thrown up on the screen during this educational session were:

CNET | http://www.cnet.com/
Buzz Out Loud | http://reviews.cnet.com/buzz-out-loud-podcast/
MP3 Insider | http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-6490_7-9971735-49.html
Marketplace | http://marketplace.publicradio.org/
Future Tense | http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/
National Public Radio | http://www.npr.org/
Net@Night | http://twit.tv/natn
A Lifelong Practice | http://camilleadair.com/
Times Online: The Bugle |
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_electi…
O.U. Family Health | http://fhradio.org/
http://Podcastfaq.com
http://Podcastingnews.com
http://Podcast411.com
http://Podcasting-tools.com
http://Wikipedia.org {search podcasting}
http://Google.com/reader/
http://Itunes.com
http://Ita.sf.net – iTunes agent
http://Miro.com

Shaun setup the breakout discussions which were led by Suzanne and Jeff. The two groups took on the topic of Why Are We Here and Goals; Mission and Vision Statement. Interestingly there are many similarities in the discussions and I think that means we’re on the right track as a group. The primary points of each discussion group were summarized at the end of the evening and those lists are recorded here as well. We hope that these will act as the beginning of the conversation and not the end. If you’d like to join in on the conversation feel free to post a comment here or better yet join our Google Group here:

http://groups.google.com/group/columbus-social-media-cafe

Answering the question “Why Are We Here” Discussion Notes:
Civic Pride
Blog Readers/Creators
Meet the writers
Mix of “tech” and “content”
Community
New Form of Democracy and Empowerment
Create Noise – Create Social Change
Columbus Strengthens Itself
Curiosity
Community Action
Bridging the Digital Divide
Open Source Info/Spectrum

Goals; Mission and Vision Statement Discussion:
Brainstorm of beliefs and ideas -
Who are we making a difference for? What is the important focus, the community or the technology? 
Pulling together VARIOUS issues and interests to advance the community. 
Comfest and other events that we can bring added value to it. 
Bringing greater cultural diversity in to the group. 
Making the technology transparent. 
Enhance use of technology and empowerment. 
Ease the fear of technology, making it less intimidating - educating through the interactions, teaching what is possible.
Outreach to college students and finding a median or balance between youth blogging and “grown-up” blogging. 
Engaging other organizations - both local and national/international 
Leave a positive mark wherever we go. 
Reach out to Metro schools.

The July meeting of the Columbus Social Media Cafe (July 29 at 6:30pm) will be held at Columbus Metropolitan Library–the Main Library–in the 3rd floor Board Room (Science, Business, and News). The Main Library is located at 96 South Grant Avenue (across from Grant Hospital).

Helene Blowers, Director of Digital Strategy for the CML, will share information about a free online discovery learning program that she developed to provide library staff with exposure to 2.0 tools. The program, Learning 2.0: 23 Things (http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/) has been written up by numerous times by the press, including Wired magazine (http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/03/learning2_0) and since its inception in August 06 has been replicated by over 500 libraries and organizations worldwide.

Mark your calendars now!

]]> http://socialmediacafe.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/julys-cafe-meeting/feed/ http://socialmediacafe.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/comfest-workshops/ http://socialmediacafe.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/comfest-workshops/#comments Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:09:36 +0000 Andrew http://socialmediacafe.wordpress.com/?p=76

Several members of the Columbus Social Media Cafe will be participating in the New Media Center’s workshops this weekend at the annual Comfest event here in Columbus. If you’ve never been to Comfest then this is the year to start going. The weekend is full of music, art and opportunities to learn about community building and making our planet a little better place to live. Many people might like that there’s some good beer to be had as well.

Andrew Miller (hopefully with the help of Tim Eby and Jeff Johnson) will lead a discussion about Flashmobs, Instant Organizing and Community building using social media tools. This will take place Saturday June 28, 2008 at 1pm.

Marc Woerlein will be leading a discussion about Podcasting, I believe Angelo Mandato and Issac Kelly will also be a part of that conversation. This will take place Sunday June 29, 2008 at 3pm.

Besides the workshops that we are running there are several other learning opportunities and chances for discussion. There will be power and some connectivity to do some citizen journalism out of the New Media Center as well. If you’re tagging anything you post please use Comfest08 so that it can be found after the event. Finally, if you have any time available please sign up as a volunteer for the New Media Center. The NMC will be based out of the Goodale Park Shelterhouse in the center of the park. If you’d like to register to volunteer before hand you’ll get a fancy tshirt and several drink tokens; click here for more information and the full schedule of events.

{IF YOU POST TXT/AUD/VID/PICS ABOUT THIS YEARS EVENT PLEASE TAG THEM COMFEST08}