If you're coming to the conference...

...don't forget to join us as we kick things off on October 11 with a tour of two Pittsburgh arts organizations:

• The Pittsburgh Glass Center - In honor of Pittsburgh's 2007 celebration of glass art (www.pittsburghcelebrates.org), we'll take a tour of this 16,000-square-foot glass art facility and be treated to a glass-blowing demonstration.
• The Entertainment Technology Center - This state-of-the-art technology training center at Carnegie Mellon University offers a two-year Masters of Entertainment Technology degree, jointly conferred by Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts and School of Computer Science.

Pre-conference also includes the "Birds of a Feather" affinity dinner. Be sure to sign up for this fun-filled afternoon for only $50 when you complete your online conference registration.

CAMT Partners with Historic Pittsburgh Hotel

CAMT is proud to announce its Technology in the Arts conference partnership with the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh. Located close to all conference activities, as well as a wide array of cultural and dining experiences, the Omni William Penn will be offering special rates to Technology in the Arts attendees. View more information about our partner hotel.

Nominations

There's still time to nominate someone (including yourself) for the 2007 ArtsTech Award... Click here to read about the award and the nomination process.

Conference Registration Now Open!

CAMT is pleased to inform you that early bird registration for Technology in the Arts 2007 is now open! Don’t miss this opportunity to attend the conference at the low advance rate of only $160, which gets you two days filled with interesting sessions, workshops, exhibitors and hands-on activities. And for just $50 more, you can join us for some exciting pre-conference fun on October 11, including site visits and the “Birds of a Feather” affinity group dinner.

Register online now!

(Please note: If you attended the conference last year, you can log in with your existing account.)

Also, the Technology in the Arts 2007 scholarship application is now live as well. Through the generous support of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, attendees residing in Pennsylvania may apply for a travel and/or registration scholarship.

Please let us know if you have any questions about registration, scholarships or the conference in general.

We look forward to seeing all of you in October!

ArtandCulture.com Joins Exhibitors

It is my pleasure to announce that ArtandCulture.com, a very cool Web site showcasing a wide array of artists and arts organizations, has joined the Technology in the Arts 2007 exhibitor fair. The preliminary plan is for the folks from ArtandCulture.com to set up an informational booth where artists can learn about the site, discuss the tool's many interactive features and future development plans and even add their own profiles.

Thank you in advance to ArtandCulture.com for taking part in our conference.

And can you think of a better Web address than that?

Technology in the Arts - not the only reason to visit Pittsburgh this fall

Voters chose Pittsburgh as the best destination for the arts among mid-sized cities in the June 2007 issue of American Style magazine. Visit their Web site by clicking here to read the full article. You won't want to miss any of the museums or performing arts venues this fall so plan to come early or stay late. Pittsburgh is also at the top of the list of "most livable cities" according to Places Rated Almanac.

Check out these and other accolades at http://kdka.com/local/local_file_116160520/

Don't just read about it, come see what all the buzz is about. Online registration opens soon...sign up to get the Early Bird rate!

Thank you pair Networks!

Technology in the Arts welcomes its latest supporter, Pittsburgh-based web hosting company, pair Networks. We are fortunate to include pair Networks as a Development level sponsor for the second year in a row. Please visit their Web site at pair.com for more information about their services.

Stay tuned for more sponsor announcements!

I can hear what you're thinking . . .

French philosopher Rene Descartes is credited with the phrase “I think, therefore I am”; now, nearly four centuries later, a young British woman may have taken the idea one step further – I think, therefore I create art. Interactive artist Luciana Haill uses medical electroencephalogram, or EEG, monitors embedded in a Bluetooth-enabled sweatband to record her brain activity, and send the data to a computer that plays it back as audio. Since the human brain operates in the same frequency as sound waves (hertz), it's a relatively simple process to use software to convert the brain's raw data into a sound format. Haill has been honing her craft over the last 14 years, and she now uses Apple's OS X operating system to trigger digital samples in GarageBand with each type of neural activity.

Haill's music has been featured in new music festivals, including Cybersonica 2006 and the recently completed Future of Sound tour, but she hasn't yet brought her music stateside. To hear it for yourself, visit Luciana's MySpace page.

eTapestry joins the Technology in the Arts line up!

Special thanks to eTapestry for partnering with Technology in the Arts and reserving an exhibitor space. This fall, pencil time in your conference schedule to visit with a representative from eTapestry and learn more about their products and services. Better yet, click on their logo below to visit their Web site right now!

Ice Cream [remix]

With summer finally on its way, ice cream trucks around the country are revving their engines and turning up the loudspeaker. Tired of the familiar (annoying) theme songs, New Yorkers Jeffrey Lopez and Lauren Rosati decided holding an online remix competition to come up with a new tune. The winner of the Ice Cream Headache contest will have their new song played on a Mister Softee truck driving through New York's five boroughs during Memorial Day Weekend. The contest has already received more than 40 entries, including the quirky Balinese Softee by Nina Katchadourian (my personal favorite).

To enter the contest, e-mail your entry to info@suite405.com. But hurry before it melts -- all entries must be received by Friday, May 5th.

CAMT joins YouTube

First the blog, then the podcasts, now we're on YouTube! In case you missed this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference, you can now see a brief video of Cary Morrow accepting the Grassroots.org Techie Award on YouTube. CAMT received the Techie Award for the development of CueRate, software developed to facilitate application and review processes for fellowships, exhibitions, festivals, and universities. In addition to the conference travel scholarship, the award also included a tree sculpture, created by Amoration Studios.

Philanthropy 2.0: DonorsChoose.org

If Web 2.0 is about collaboration through online tools and and "the market as a conversation", then DonorsChoose.org is a shining example of Philanthropy 2.0. This innovative website connects public schools in need of resources with donors, who can fund any of the educational projects posted online. Requests for classroom range from pencils and paper to digital cameras and computers, and potential donors can search for projects by the school's geographic location, subject area, keyword, or amount of the funding request. In an age of charitable and corporate accounting scandals, the transparency of DonorsChoose.org is refreshing. After a proposal has been fully funded by one or more donors, the organization purchases the necessary items and ships them directly to the school. Donors then receive thank-you notes from students and teachers as well as an expenditure report so donors know their tax-deductible gifts were spent as intended.

But if 100% of the contribution goes directly to classroom materials, who funds the overhead expenses of DonorsChoose.org? According to a recent Slate.com article, 93% of donors elect to add 15% to their donation to cover operating expenses.

To date, DonorsChoose.org has raised more than $12 Million for students across the country, and has funded 3000 proposals for art and music classrooms. A quick search for the keyword "technology" in "art and music" subjects yielded 233 open proposals, including "Writing Pictorial Instructions For The Technology Center". In this proposal, a high school teacher requests funds for the materials needed for her students to create a manual for the school's technology center. The students will write a description of a task's step-by-step process, take a photograph of each step, and develop a PowerPoint presentation of the task for the teacher. The Technology teachers will use the work instructions to help teach new procedures to technology students.

With many grassroots arts organizations also struggling to purchase materials for administration, education, and community outreach, there is a clear need for a similar service to connect these organizations with potential donors. And indeed it may not be far behind. DonorsChoose.org has already inspired spin-off websites in China to find donors for small rural schools. Can arts managers work together to form a similar philanthropic network for the arts community?

CAMT in style at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference

CAMT was in full attendence at NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference this year in Washington, DC, from April 4-6. Brad flew out early to attend the Day of Service on Wednesday. He helped an organization learn how to record and post a podcast.

Emily and I flew into DC together late Wednesday night and strategized our session attendence. The conference came at an integral time when Emily and I are looking for jobs, so we focused our networking opportunities to certain session tracks. She mostly attended Web 2.0 and communication sessions, while I focused on consulting and project management ones.

Some of the highlights of the sessions I attended:

Bill Strathmann's session, "The ROI Question: Demonstrating the value of technology to your organization," was particularly informative. He presented some nice models and diagrams of how to demonstrate your IT value to your funders or CEO in a clear and concise way. I'll definitely be looking to the complimentary thumbdrive that NTEN gave away to access that Power Point presentation.

The rule of managing expectations was re-enforced in a casual and anecdotal setting at the "Contracting with Consultants: How to engineer a better working relationship." Eric Leland and session attendees shared their expertise and stories about the consulting relationship.

CAMT had a prime spot in the grand hallway to the conference's main ballroom at the Innovation Plaza. Brad and I demonstrated CAMT's new CueRate tool, a visual art panel review management system, to conference passerbys. I also had the chance to talk to professionals who were interested in presenting at Technology in the Arts 2007.

The conference finale came when Grassroots.org awarded CAMT a one foot tall glittery tree statuette and $1000 for CueRate, one of the top 6 innovative tools recognized for the Techie Award of the Year. Cary pleased the audience and placated the time-laden MC with a quick victory pose.

Photos and the award video will be up soon on Flickr and YouTube, respectively.�

please consider voting for SITI's social web project by April 14th

I work for SITI Company (an ensemble theater company led by Anne Bogart) and with the help of Erika Block we are developing a project that uses social media to build, connect and strengthen our international community of students and audiences through the creation of SEE (SITI’s Extended Ensemble). Rooted in SITI's commitment to international collaboration and the fostering of young artists, SEE uses social media to connect a community of artists and audiences, using an ensemble theater context to bridge virtual and “real” worlds by developing an online tool that fosters collaboration. Erika describes it as, "exploring ways to turn online connections into face-to-face connections - a networking meeting, getting out the vote, getting audiences into theaters. And to turn face-to-face connections into online communities. Deepening the impact of a performance or a workshop by creating a space for dialogue, shared tips, questions and, ultimately, repeat attendance. This is the potential of these tools - a seamless loop of participation."

She also points out "The Howard Dean campaign and MoveOn are early examples. MySpace is tremendously effective for promoting music and spoken word concerts (and, increasingly, other events). Last year’s Los Angeles immigration protests by young people were organized online. Just the other day, Andrew Taylor wrote about Charles Leadbetter's new book We-Think, which suggests that our traditional view of how innovations enter the market -- special people in special places creating things that are pushed down the pipeline to passive and waiting consumers -- is no longer true, if it ever was. Rather, the traditional, corporate approach to creativity and innovation is decreasingly able to develop radical innovation, and spends much of its time stifling the innovation of talented and networked amateurs [and professionals, I'd add]."

One of the things that's most interesting about SEE is its potential to become a model for the performing arts field, encouraging peer-to-peer collaboration and invention.

SITI has submitted the proposal for support from the NetSquared community (division of Tech Soup), which was developed to spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations. 20 projects will be chosen for support through a membership voting process, and anyone with an interest in this work can join NetSquared, for free. (Apart from the opportunity to vote, you can participate in a great conversation and draw on a growing resource base.)

We'd love for you to vote for SEE, and you can find the full project description here. The link to vote is here. (you'll have to register on the site)

Aspiration 2007 Nonprofit Software Development Summit in Review

If you can imagine the geekiness that drives the creation of such innovative projects as Drupal, combined with the passion that is dedicated to seeing nonprofits successfully serve their constituents, you would be witnessing a typical attendee at this Summit. The energy present in Oakland that week was amazing. I walked into the Summit a day late during the skill-sharing session. Rather wide-eyed at how I was supposed to enter into the space, a nearby participant approached and welcomed me to sit down and chat until the session was over. This incident wasn't particular either; many individuals were very friendly, thus making the experience all the more rich.

The Summit had the perfect balance of application and theory sessions. I walked out of there learning about new technologies and how to use them, in addition to being aware of current policy and field issues. I was however, wishing that more people who served the arts were present.

Here are some highlights of a few of the sessions I sat in on. You may visit the Aspiration Summit wiki to gain insight as to how all the sessions went.

Case Study: Benetech's Miradi Project

Kevin Smith was very generous with his knowledge- catching me up with concepts of Agile Development and the process of specification gathering in this case. This information was woven into the narrative of how the Miradi Project came to be. After getting the meat of this session, I hopped over to Where are the Biggest Tool Gaps - a practice not so common in this type of small setting, admittedly. :) I came into the tail end of Laura Quinn's colloborative session that tried to pinpoint exactly where some of our energies might be spent to build a more cohesive and exhaustive link among the available technology tools.

Next Steps in Breaking the Integration Deadlock

Tate Hausman, from DotOrganize, along with Holly Ross from NTEN, set out to begin some formalized steps towards addresssing Open API issues. The session began by presenting the various definitions of what Integration could look like, and ended by discussing the many facets involved with resolving the scope of issues. Look forward to a potential API gathering- from NTEN or DotOrganize- to address integration issues!

Software Project Management Mind Meld

This session was particularly relevant to me as I see myself fulfilling a similar capacity in my next job. Jeremy Wallace, of the Fund for the City of New York, moderated a session where a room full of project managers discussed the benefits and drawbacks of various project managent tools: bug trackers, general project management, time tracking, collaborative editing and discussion. Some beneficial themes that also arose were: managing client's expectations, dealing with scope changes and various methods for distilling the requirements gathering process.

Exploring Opportunites for Collaborative Development

Laura Quinn and Jeremy Wallace led this session of mixed developers and administrators. Issues such as intellectual property rights, licensing, branding, buy-in and follow-through, and sharing development practices all arose as common barriers to the collaboration process. This session was hearty and intense. I suggest you review the wiki notes.

Smelling the AJAX Koolaid

I didn't know what AJAX was when I showed up to this session and my brain was satiated with resolution upon leaving. Evan Henshaw-Plath presented the history of AJAX, how websites use it, what the features look like, and the benefits and negatives. I also learned about the code libraries that support AJAX development, ways of using the DOM to create a separate AJAX file from your html one, and how to troubleshoot new browsers. It was awesome, but admittedly, I will never put myself in the position of using it. Hey, but concepts are all I focus on anyways.

Upcoming Conference on Museums and the Web

From April 11 - 14, 2007, Archives & Museums Informatics is hosting a conference on Museums and the Web in San Francisco, California. Workshops focus on everything from content management and archiving to Second Life, social media, and museum mashups. Check it out!Š

Company proposes free nationwide broadband access

M2Z, an organization with a mission to provide 95% of the population with free access to broadband wireless internet connections, was featured in a cultural policy listserv to which I subscribe. The article, originally printed in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, examines the pros and cons of allowing one company to undertake this endeavor. Please click the link below to read the full article:

http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_7086.shtml

If this initiative were to become a reality, I envision enormous impact on how the majority of the population receives information. If Americans are increasingly utilizing web based tools to stay informed, the amount of internet users could skyrocket. The only question I have, though, is how many people will actually get to use the service? One would speculate that this service assumes most of the population owns a computer.

MySpace as an Arts Space

Today's issue of The New York Times features "MyTheater, Seeking Friends," an article by Steven McElroy highlighting how various arts organizations are using the social networking site MySpace as a platform for marketing and promoting to younger audiences. For early adopters of technology, using MySpace as a promotional platform for the arts may seem like a "no-brainer," but for many others in field, the why's and how's of adding their organizations to MySpace are not readily apparent. I remember speaking with the director of a university's performing arts series at a recent conference. She told me that she had yet to find a successful tool for promoting her series to the university's students. I asked her if she had considered setting up a profile for the series on MySpace and using that as a platform for promotions geared toward the student and local Gen Y demographic. She admitted that the thought had not crossed her mind - even though she knew that a great number of the students at her university spent time on MySpace.

With a user base of 55 million and 28.4 percent of users under the age of 34, it is more difficult to find a reason NOT to use MySpace to reach out to new or younger audience members.

McElroy's article mentions how musicians and comics have been using MySpace as a promotional tool for quite awhile now. I would also add the independent film community to that list. My organization recently established a MySpace page for our independent filmmakers tour because of the enormous presence of independent filmmakers and film lovers on MySpace as demonstrated by the MySpace Film area. By joining this community, we have been able to promote our calls for entries to indie filmmakers around the world AND notify film lovers of our touring program - all in four weeks.

Next week, IMAGE Film & Video Center here in Atlanta is hosting a "Pimp My Space" workshop to teach local filmmakers (and folks like me) how to get the most out of your MySpace presence. I wonder if they are going to have a session like that at the National Arts Marketing Project conference in November? They should!

When I think about the organized areas of MySpace for film, music and comedy, I think wouldn't it be great if there were areas of MySpace set aside for dance, literature, visual art and other art forms?

• Places where both emerging and established artists could promote their work - tours, performances, readings, publications, exhibits, etc. Maybe a fledgling modern dance group like Ash Contemporary Dance could become the Dane Cook of the dance world and play to audiences of thousands. (For those who don't know, Dane Cook became a stadium-selling touring comedian by developing a base audience on MySpace.)
• Places where arts organizations could find hip "friends" to invite to their events and venues. (Did I mention that Dane Cook currently has 1.8 million "friends" on MySpace?)

Don't get me wrong. MySpace is not a marketing panacea for cultivating the next generation of arts enthusiasts - but it sure could be useful!

Technology in the Service of Art

Lately I’ve been experimenting with Ableton’s Live software, which allows me to create interesting arrangements, construct new pieces from scratch, and generally play with music. Live lets me lay down every single layer within a track… by myself… fast… with thousands of different sounds at my disposal. It’s fantastic. Best of all, the anal retentive freak in me is able to go back and revise music I record to make sure that in the “saved” version of the piece, I hit the note smack dab at the beginning of the third thirty-second of the beat, rather than the hairs-breadth off that I actually played. Far from weaning me off traditional music making, Live has deepened my respect and love for the craft of artistry. I find that when I’m fiddling around with the digital manifestation of the music, trying to bring down the volume on the pedal point tones, or simply arrange the notes into a harmonic minor scale with just the mouse, I’m incredibly impatient with a task that should just HAPPEN under my finger tips.

Don’t get me wrong. Technology is wonderful. With Photoshop I can manipulate my images without investing in a full dark-room setup. With Illustrator I can create versatile graphics that can be used just about anywhere. With Live I can be an entire orchestra without leaving my home. And technology is especially wonderful when it enhances rather than detracts from art. When it allows me to do things that aren’t otherwise feasible. When it lets me experience things I can’t normally access.

Like the use of technology in Lois Greenfield and the Australian Dance Theater’s new performance, Held. For this work, Greenfield photographs the dancers mid-movement and the images are instantly projected onto a screen. This is a perfect exemplification of the Technology in the Service of Art principle. Greenfield notes in the Telegraph that in these images “you are seeing something you couldn't without the benefit of the photograph. I capture 1/2,000th of a second and our brains can't register that. But we can see it on a picture."

Held uses technology to intensify our ability to cherish and appreciate the craft of the artists. It’s a beautiful marriage of media because it respects the strengths and limitations of every component involved, from the camera to the artists to the audience.

Creating your Nonprofit Tech Community

I'm rounding out my last semester at Carnegie Mellon and the job search has begun.  Instead of sifting through my Career Services email blasts, looking specifically for techy type positions within the nonprofit community, I have staked out a few organizations where I can build a network. Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders    I literally began my career in arts administation with the Emerging Leaders Listserv.  While working part-time at the City of Ventura Cultural Affairs Division, I was granted an organizational membership.  I posed questions about the field, participated in lively discussions revolving around my peer group's issues, found answers to my graduate program concerns and actually made contacts with Carnegie Mellon's Master of Arts Management alums.  Student membership is only $25! 

Technology in the Arts Conference    My experience coordinating this conference and working for CAMT confirmed the possibility of fusing my creative interests with my technology skills.  If you want to meet anyone who is anyone in the arts sector and is a tech-enthusiast, this is the place to be.  Be prepared to meet E.D.'s, practitioners, and innovators alike.  The packed programming schedule is hands-on and relevant.�

NTEN Affinity Groups    I have just become a member so my involvement thus far is somewhat limited. (I made my profile.)  However, I have surveyed the participation in the groups and it seems like there are both opportunities for employment and networking, not to mention practical tech advice and interesting discussion.

A good strategy of building upon these communities is looking at their partners or affiliates.  Go to any of these websites, including TechSoup or NPower.  Look at the Board Members and their employers.  Look at their sponsors, exhibitors and partners.  TechSoup even has a TechFinder where you can locate services.  Find out who is offering those services.  And then go to those websites, become a member or part of their community, and/or look for job openings.

I have also recently found this Yahoo Group: Nonprofit Tech Jobs.  A brave soul manages this list voluntarily.  Bless her heart and the amount of crap she must receive in the form of inappropriate job requests and favors.  Just check out the slew of advisory messages you'll receive from her after signing up.

And lastly, don't forget trusty nonprofit job searching websites like Idealist, Craigslist, NonprofitOyster, and ExecSearches.

If you want art field jobs, just contact me as I have a huge list of web portals where opportunities abound.�