The Doors Are Open For BizCamp This March

The doors (read registration) are now open for BizCamp taking place after FOWA in Dublin this March. With FOWA taking place on Friday March 6th, BizCamp will make for a great followup as it takes place in Dublin on Saturday March 7th.

Feck the recession? That’s what they’re saying…

It’s based on the fact that each of us as entrepreneurs have loads to learn from our peers. And we have a lot to share with them as well. There are a lot of great things happening in the Irish Economy – especially in small and medium businesses and this day will be a celebration of those. And a great place to come for people who have lost their jobs and are actively looking at starting up

A nice addition to the signup form (which I think should be used for all BarCamp type events) is the ‘You can talk to me about…’ field, which maps over to the attendees list. If you’re going in the hope of meeting someone who can you can ask about content management systems, email marketing, gardening, the use of technology to help emergency services save more lives by making better decisions (Robin), now you’ll know in advance who you might be able to turn to or introduce yourself to.

While it’s likely that I won’t make FOWA, I’m hoping to make the trip to Dublin for the 7th. Registration can be found here.

Update: Registration link updated – thanks Dave

Pushing for IGOpeople

IGOpeople launched late last year in beta, billed as the “network for the real world”. So far, it’s living up to it’s name.

Real individuals, real groups, real people – and they all tie together in one very neat, clean and easy to use environment. The clock tells me it was December 17th when I registered (about when IGOpeople launched) and since then I’ve been using it to keep track of Kilkenny Open Coffee – that’s where the conversations grew out of Tweets. Being able to group the threaded conversation in the one public place, accessible by those participating in the first Kilkenny Open Coffee made the planning a breeze, but also attracted the attention of the IGOpeople team (of Campbell and David) who also joined us earlier this month to talk about the launch of IGOpeople.com and plans for where things may be going.

They’re on top of things too. Watching the conversations online, watching feedback, and more importantly actioning something based on the feedback. For a real network to evolve, the input of the end users is vital. Listening to those users is key and from the outside (and based on conversations at Kilkenny Open Coffee), that’s what’s happening at IGOpeople.

While you can group the conversations nicely – Dell Limerick, Working From Home, Web Designers, Kilkenny Open Coffee – and openly contribute to these groups, it’s nice to see actual organisations taking an interest in the space, not only on an Irish front, but on a global front. Vodafone are there (and were running a competition this week where I bagged some free mobile credit), Blacknight, Tibus, dbTwang, Flexitimers, FBD Insurance – all offering their customers and userbase another opportunity for online customer support and contact.

While there are plenty of big name companies listed – MTV, Ryanair, Canon, Google, Dell, FedEx etc. – it will be nice to see what happens when representative of these companies get on board and start sharing that bit more with what’s quickly becoming a very active community.

If you’ve not yet signed up for IGOpeople.com, take a minute or two out of your day or evening and take a look for yourself. Best of luck to Campbell, http://www.igopeople.com/o/2-IGOpeople/people/10-David-Cotter and all at IGOpeople with their growth in 2009.

(They must be working overtime this evening as an application to get The Devious Theatre Company on board as an organisation was approved real quick – never mind a few hours or days, I think this was more like minutes – good stuff!)

More Online Comedy Coming February 1st

The next helping of Vultures, an online comedy filmed and produced here in Kilkenny, is set to debut online on Sunday February 1st over at VulturesPI.com. ‘The Case of the Poisoned Dates’ is the fourth installment of a six-part series, filming of which is set to wrap late next month.

Those who attended CreativeCamp in March, PodCamp in September or are regular readers of the blog will be away of Vultures, written by good friends of mine John Morton and Paddy Dunne, directed by another great friend in Ross Costigan (you’ll also find his blog nominated in the Best Photoblog category) and produced by Kilkenny’s video genius that is Alan Slattery. We all work together in different capacities with the likes of The Devious Theatre Company (since 2006) and Kilkenny Music (since 2005) and it’s fantastic to see how far Vultures (under the Mycrofilms banner) has come since the series debut back in December 2007.

I spent some time on set (third episode I’ve worked on in some capacity) on the last day of filming for episode four and by all accounts, we’re in for a right treat when the episode is released next week. There will be a cast and crew screening in advance of the release (which I’m going to miss) and I’ll be catching up with the filming again next month as I get to work on my Scottish accent for another character.

The fourth episode sees the arrival of TY student, Janine Drew, in the V.P.I. office for work experience. Played by Suzanne O’Brien (a cousin of mine), Janine is brash, ambitious and has the distinct features of what is commonly known as a ‘chav.’

Janine Drew’s arrival coincides with a series of errant romantic entanglements that degenerate into a potential powder keg of social embarrassment, messy divorce cases and extreme comic violence.

The new episode sees the return of David Thompson, John Morton and Sean Hackett as McGrain, Vultour and Tennyson, the hapless gentleman detectives of V.P.I. They are joined by a familiar supporting cast of characters; Inspector Leeson (Paul Young), Isabelle Vultour (Liadain Kaminska), Tom Moriarty (Stephen Colfer), Jack Street (Ross Costigan), Sarah Black (Niamh Moroney) and a few new faces.

Shooting has already begun, in and around Kilkenny, on the final two episodes of the series with the production due to conclude in March. Episodes 5 & 6 will then be released online by summer 2009.

For the moment though, stick February 1st in your diary to check VulturesPI.com and grab the new episode when it hits the web.

Backup. Backup. Backup.

photo credit: √oхέƒx™

Save yourself the trouble in the future – back it up. Whatever is you’re working on at the moment, back it up. Keep one copy. Keep a second copy. Keep a copy far away. However small you might think the job you’re doing is at the moment (speaking from a design perspective here), it will come back to you at some stage.

A one off design I did only a few months ago came back to bite me this afternoon. Loads of JPGs knocking around but do you think I had a PSD or AI file to go along with the design, which it turns it isn’t exactly as one-off as I thought it might be? Nope. The result? Redo the design from scratch, based on the JPG.

Like my reading habits, my backup habits have changed of late as well. When I made the investment before Christmas in getting a new iMac into the office, I needed to pick up an external drive to store a lot of the good stuff (and junk) that had built up on my work laptop and the server here in the office. A few weeks on and it’s paying off – save a copy locally, sync it back to the server, sync it back to the hard drive. If (like the desktop bandit I am) I start clearing house on the laptop or desktop and accidentally blitz something, I know I’ve got a spare copy to hand.

Many moons ago I used to do this with floppy disks. The office I’m in at the moment has a desk full of 3.5″ disks with CAD drawings for various projects I tackled in my early teens. Once college hit it was onward towards CDs, USB keys and then towards my mp3 player, iPod, emailing to myself, copies on my phone… wherever you have the chance to back something up (look at PutPlace.com or Dropbox as online solutions), do just that – back it up.

If anything, it’ll save you tearing your hair out or punching your desk in the future.

Update – PutPlace.com Offer: Adding this as Joe’s left a comment with a bonus code you can use for PutPlace.com. Sign up for a 30 day free trial, use the promo code ‘joe’ and you’ll have your trial extended for three months instead of thirty days – nice one Joe.

Video Blogging Is In For 2009

I was wondering was 2009 going to be the year for video blogging in Ireland and if the month of January is anything to go by, I reckon I’m not far off.

For the past few months I’ve been happily sitting behind the camera (N95) showing off food (those brownies were delicious), the office, talking gigs, talking theatre and more through Qik. Pat Phelan, Bernie Goldbach, Joe Garde, John Keyes and more are at it.

But it’s when more and more people start getting in front of the camera that it becomes interesting. Ross has been showing people around the Mycrofilms offices, the “other” Ken in Kilkenny has recently started video blogging, Niall Harbison has been making great waves with daily video updates on the blog and now another Kilkenny man is at it as Keith Bohanna has started with some videos about the development of dbTwang, set to launch this spring with a closed beta.

Interesting that all the Kilkenny heads have ties to Young Irish Film Makers in some degree. Part of my blogging resolutions for 2009 (yes, I made those as well) includes getting back in front of the camera myself though it will be another month or two yet and relates more to KilkennyMusic.com and My Music (also set to launch in ‘09). For now though, I’ll be happy qikking away.

Check Keith’s video here…

Keith’s reading habits of late correspond to my own – I’m seeking out and enjoying getting video content that I can watch or listen to while working or take something on the go with me. So I’m looking forward to the onslaught of videos to be pushed out by Irish bloggers in 2009 and I’ve a feeling we’ll see a dedicated video blogger category coming up at the 2010 Blog Awards if not sooner.

Ustream.tv App For iPhone / iPod Out Now

Ever since I picked up the iPod Touch at Christmas I’ve been ducking in and out of the App Store to see what’s new, what’s popular, what applications are out there. One I was directed to this morning is the new Ustream.tv app, now available for iPhone / iPod and can be downloaded (thankfully) for free using an Irish Apple Store ID.

Ustream isn’t strange territory for me. It was one of the first streaming video platforms to be used (and is still used in some cases) for Irish barcamp events. Conn is / was a regular streamer via Edgecast while Tom Raftery is also streaming for the GreenMonk Engery and Sustainability Show on Monday afternoons, the video of which I was able to pick up on through the app.

The download is quick and painless through the App Store and when logging in you’re given the option to watch live shows, check upcoming shows or view archived material (how I found Tom’s clip). Current top live channel is the Museum of the American Indian Inauguration Cam which is one of the sources that will be hit today (currently 1400+ viewers) to track the inauguration of Barack Obama later today. It’s also a great way to get some good quality streaming audio and video onto the iPod, a device which is rapidly taking over my tweeting, reading and everything else at home in the evening.

Download the app here (iTunes link) or use the App Store link on your iPod / iPhone and search for Ustream.

See also: Ustream viewer makes it to app store just in time

A Strategic Approach To Using Twitter

photo credit: ogilvyprworldwide

Came across this one last night, released under creative commons by Ogilvy PR (360 digital influence).

Learn More About Online Marketing, For Free

In checking the email this morning I was delighted to find a copy of Damien Mulley’s Online Market Document in my inbox. Through Mulley.ie, Damien recently posted he would be giving away his online marketing notes, usually reserved for those attending the courses he runs and while I’ve not been to any of his courses I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious what the courses, or course notes in particular would entail. I’m also not the only one as it would take a minimum 103 comments on the blog post to get the notes published online.

While I’ll save the reading until lunch time or this evening, on first glace of the document you’ll be given an insight to marketing tips for your site both onsite and offsite, the use of Google Adwords, advertising on Facebook (and monitoring the results), YouTube and more.

The Online Marketing Document will be available to download via Mulley.ie from this morning (check the link at the bottom of the post).

Thanks for the mail, Damien.

Last Call For TeenCamp Ireland

Don’t forget that TeenCamp Ireland takes place tomorrow at Filmbase in Temple Bar in Dublin.

Over on the TeenCamp Ireland blog they’ve posted the essentials of TeenCamp.

If you’re in the area tomorrow, do head along. While it’s a teen focused event, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind some of the older / more experienced / veteran barcamp-type eventgoers turning up!

Kickoff is set for 1pm with the day running until 7pm. Alan Costello and Enda Crowley are behind the running of the event and you can follow TeenCamp on Twitter, a stream which will hopefully get a few updates during the day tomorrow.

This Is Where The Magic Happens

This is where the magic happens. Thought I’d pop this one into the blog as it’s a shot I’ve taken to rather quickly (and currently resides on my desktop as a wallpaper), one snapped over the Christmas period.

This is where the magic happens. Not the work life, not the music life, not the theatre life, but the unwinding part of life. Get in the kayak, hit the lake, top to bottom. Bliss.

In Collateral, Jamie Foxx would take a breather on the job by looking at the photo of the island he kept on his visor in the taxi. Me, I keep a picture of a lake on the desktop. It’s rare I get to see it during the day with all the windows and tabs open, but when I do I’m reminded that there are simpler things in life and that there are places you can go to get away from it all.

So when I’m tweeting about hitting the road to Sligo or sitting amongst mountains, this is where I’m hiding out. I think the next time I’m up is the weekend before the Blog Awards but you can be sure that if I’m up, I’ll be hitting the water.

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