Blogfather, We Salute You

As this is a blog, I thought it appropriate to point out that Monday was the 10-year anniversary of the term "weblog." The term was first coined on December 17, 1997, by Jorn Barger, an interesting character, to say the least. Barger is a thing of Internet lore, having spent time as a software programmer, a technology theorist and, most recently, a homeless drifter.

Here's a 2005 photo of Barger:

Eek. He may be a bit Charles Manson-esque, but he's the father of blogging, and he deserves some recognition this week.

If you want to check out Barger's own blog, Robot Wisdom, visit www.robotwisdom.com. As Barger believes a blog should be more a history of Web travels than a journal, you'll notice that he comments very little and mostly offers up links.

And if you'd like to read more about Barger, visit his entry on Wikipedia. Remember, not everything on Wikipedia is true, so take the tales of Barger's travels and trials with a grain of salt.

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Everything Old Is New Again

Greetings!  As Cary mentioned in a previous post, I accepted the Executive Director position with the Center for Arts Management and Technology; and after three weeks on the job, I couldn't be more thrilled.  I love the mission; the staff is fantastic; and the work environment has been wonderfully inviting.  There's just one thing...relearning Microsoft Office. I know that part of changing jobs involves learning new policies, procedures, systems, and (in this day and age) software; but this is Office I'm talking about here - the backbone of administration, right?  At my previous organization, I grew to be an "advanced" user with Office 2002.  I had a gold star and everything; but now, I have to learn Office 2007, and I'm right back in the novice seat.

Sure, I have transitioned between previous versions of Office, but this is different.  For example, they took away my trusty standard toolbar in Word - you know the one with File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Window and Help - and replaced it with a Fluent user interface featuring Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review and View. Okay, okay...maybe that's not such a big deal.

But what about this?  They changed the file extensions.  Now, when I send a MS Word document to a colleague, they receive a .docx file instead of a .doc file.  That's four letters instead of three.  What were they thinking?  Of course, I can save my files in an Office 2002-compatible format before sending them, and Microsoft does offer a series of converters allowing users of previous Office versions to open 2007 files.  

Hmmm, maybe this transition isn't going to be that difficult after all.

Click here for more information on the improvements built into Office 2007

Wired's Geekipedia: Technology Defined

Tired of being the only one in the room who doesn't know Ajax from crowdsourcing? Now if anyone ever confounds you with a technology concept or buzzword, you can simply nod your head as if you know what they're talking about, excuse yourself to the restroom, and look it up using Wired's Geekipedia.

New entries are added all the time, and you can even suggest entries.

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The Next Generation of Market Research?

A San Francisco company called Emsense claims to have technology that will monitor a person's reactions to visual and auditory stimuli, such as a TV commercial or video game. Basically, the test subject wears a headset that looks like the visor Geordi La Forge wore on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the device measures blink rate, breathing, skin temperature and head motion. Then the system's software analyzes the data and presents findings to the test administrator.

How useful would something like this be for arts organizations?

Since most arts ads are print based, the Emsense device wouldn't be very practical. However, imagine hooking up random ballet audience members and measuring their responses to a performance. Would funders be interested in how the 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies' cause a substantial elevation in skin temperature?

Maybe not. But it's always good to be aware of new possibilities.

Read the full article from Technology Review.

Nonprofit dance and IT?

The folks at Misnomer Dance just sent me a link to their proposal to IdeaBlob for $10,000 that would allow them to build web-streaming for dance rehearsals, create an online theater where visitors can watch and direct performances and develop tools to display the geographic are of online audiences. Of course, the skeptic in me wants to know how you could possibly do all this for $10,000, even assuming that it will all be done low-cost, mash-up style. On the other hand, the idealist in me wants to get in on that online theater thing right now! Body mounted cameras? Sign me up! I've always wanted to know what it's like to be able to jump as high as dancers, or be lifted up and twirled around over someone's head... Maybe this would be my chance to find out!

If you'd like to vote for Misnomer to win the $10k, click here.

...And in the old-fashioned tradition of eating words...

Maybe we do get some extras out of the deal, too! A piece I just saw in today's NYT describes new research that suggests musicians (specifically conductors) are able to simultaneously process sound and sight more effectively than the average person. So there ya go. The benefit of art is art. And the benefit of training musically is heightened senses. (Who woulda thought?)

Reporting Live from AFTA’s National Arts Marketing Project Conference

Well, I’m down in sunny, breezy Miami, FL, enjoying the warm weather and the Americans for the Arts NAMC. It’s been a busy two and a half days of conferencing, and I just wanted to take a minute and share a few cool things I’ve learned while here:

• According to a survey conducted this past March by FireSpring (I think), when asked whether they use a particular medium more or less this year than the last, an average of 52% responders indicated that they were using the Internet more. Every other medium (radio, print, newspapers, television) all showed a decrease. Now, more than ever, organizations must put time, money and deep consideration into their Web presence.
• The Philadelphia Orchestra is working in conjunction with Internet2 to stream real time content into educational venues around the world, giving viewers an inside and behind the scenes look into the concert unfolding live before their eyes. The have completed a pilot program, and plan to launch a more wide-spread, sustainable program soon. For more information, you can read their press PDF by clicking here.
• Bijan’s on the River here in Miami makes a HUGE plate of paella (6’ or 7’ wide?) for parties. It was spectacular.

Well, that’s all for me. I’ve got to grab a bite, hop on a flight, and head back to wonderful, but cold, Pittsburgh, PA.

For more information about AFTA's NAMC, please visit: http://www.artsusa.org/events/2007/abc/namc/default.asp

Ahhh intentions.

It's been almost three weeks since the 2007 Technology in the Arts conference and, I'm sure you're wondering, what happened to the Technology in the Arts blog!? Well, my friend, you're not alone. I've been wondering the same thing. Particularly when I'm dozing off to sleep after another long hectic day and it pops into my head that, once again, I haven't written anything.

Rest assured that things have not really slowed down that much on the Conference side of things at CAMT. We've been busy making all the session evaluations electronic, determining how best to analyze our results, tying up all the lose monetary ends (event planners, I know you feel my pain), and, well, generally cleaning up. (Don't you like how I tell you to rest assured? I'm sure all of you were having panic attacks over whether or not we were working on the conference!)

Oh, and there's been one other tiny, little, minor change: I've moved to San Francisco. That's right. I'm actually sitting and writing this now from the City by the Bay. This transition has been a long time in the coming, and I'm delighted to say that the new ED of CAMT is a phenomenal man and one who loves the arts and technology... David Dombrosky.

In fact, David and Jerry Coltin are going to meet up with me here in SF tomorrow and Friday for a good old fashioned brain dump. Then, David will start full-time at CAMT on November 26. I, on the other hand, am starting an arts management consulting firm and my first client is... wait for it... CAMT! For whom I will be running both the Technology in the Arts conference in Pittsburgh as well as our new sister conference in Waterloo, Ontario.

Now that you're fully in the know, feel free to stop stressing over the terrible, terrible lack of blog postings at your favorite blog. And feel free to drop us a note... Particularly if you attended this year's event! We'd love to hear what you thought, and any ideas you have for making the event even better next year!

Technology in the Arts: Post-Conference Wiki

Elizabeth Perry, one of our Technology in the Arts 2007 presenters, was kind enough to set up a wiki site for post-conference discussion. You can access the wiki at http://tita.pbwiki.com/.

The site is public, and the password is tita2007.

Please post any interesting conference follow-up information. If you were a presenter this year, please also post a way for people to access your session content. A great way to do this is by using SlideShare. It's easy... and free!

Final Search Engine Optimization article

Make Your Nonprofit Website a Top “Hit”: A 30 Day Step by StepGuide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine Optimization Part 4 of 4 By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson Lance@TicketPrinting.com http://www.ticketprinting.com/

Week 4 Objective: Your objectives in the fourth and final week include emailing potential link partners, negotiating link agreements, and continuing your education of SEO and nonprofit resources online.

Let’s Get Started:

1. Link Recruitment Email- Unless you have a personal friend within the site you are trying to contact, the first step you should take is to email requests for links. To do this you will want to make sure that your email contains the following:

1. Include the request for the link early in the email so the reader knows the purpose.
2. Explain what your website has to offer and why it will be beneficial for them to link to you. Be sure to demonstrate how this will benefit the users of the partner site.
3. Tailor your request for the site you are contacting. Do some research and learn what services they provide to better understand their needs.
4. Give your sites URL (address) that you would like them to use for the link. To make your link structure look more natural to search engines, do not always give the URL of your homepage. Where appropriate, link to pages within your site that are more beneficial to the link partner.
5. Tell where you would like your link to be placed within their site.
6. Give your contact information and request for them to contact you if they are interested.

Link Negotiations- After you have made contact with the organization; you will negotiate the terms of the link. Use the information you collected in week three with your primary and secondary link objectives to discuss the link placement. Again, your goal should be to get a link on their homepage, or within a part of their site that is topically relevant. Other points of negotiation will likely be how long the link will be posted and the appearance of the link. Use varied anchor text with your links. For example, do not ask for a “click here” link, but rather one that is topically relevant such as the organization’s name or main purpose.

2. The Future

Staying current with the latest technology advancements will make your nonprofit more successful. Below are three technology changes that will have a direct impact on your organization. By understanding what these key changes are and how you can use them, your organization will be better positioned for the future.

1. Vertical Search Engines- Have you ever wanted to search for information that is specific to nonprofits but been unable to find what you are looking for in general search engines such as Google or Yahoo? The growing number of vertical search engines may be the solution you are looking for because they are specifically focused on one topic or user group. Today, Guidestar and the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) are great tools which help network nonprofit organizations and related information. GoodSearch is also an excellent choice for more broad information searches because they donate 50% of their total revenue back to the nonprofits registered on their site.
2. Rich Media and Content– Rich media is becoming more and more popular due to its aesthetic appeal, but should be implemented with caution. It is often difficult for search engines to crawl frames and java content and therefore may be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Also, users with low bandwidth internet connection may become frustrated while waiting for pages to load. For more information on optimizing rich media content, visit http://www.seonews.com/.
3. Social Networking- Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, and Friendster have caught the attention of many commercial companies and nonprofits alike for their unique ability to connect individuals. Many nonprofits are using social networking sites to raise awareness for their organization and accomplish very real fundraising objectives. For more information about how to leverage social networking, read TechSoup’s article, “What Can Social Networking Do for Your Organization?” or part one of my fundraising series titled, “6 Unique Online Fundraising Techniques for Your Nonprofit”

Review- Let’s now review your progress over the last four weeks.

1. You have identified several keywords and integrated these into our websites content. This has helped your website become more visible to searchers and improved its natural search position.
2. You have created a blog on your website which facilitates communication between affiliates and the organization while simultaneously encouraging other blogs/sites to link to you.
3. A well thought out link campaign strategy which targets topically relevant partner sites has been established.
4. You have begun to execute your link recruitment campaign by sending emails and negotiating link agreements.

Congratulations! You are on your way to vastly improved search engine optimization. Remember that great SEO is a continuous process and should be perused with diligence for as long as your organization is on the internet.

Week 4 Checklist:

• Email websites
• Negotiate link agreements
• Establish technology goals for future
• Continue SEO campaign and remain current with research

411 on GOOG-411

This may be old news for some, but it was new to me when I found out about it this morning (maybe I've just been too busy working on my life-size, papier-mâché sculpture of Dwight Schrute). Google is now offering a new 411 service that is toll-free and pretty darn useful. Simply call 1-800-GOOG-411. (1-800-4664-411). The system uses voice recognition software, which I’ve found to be clunky at times with other systems that use it, but I had no trouble tracking down my favorite comic book store's address and phone number.

Tell GOOG-411 your city and state and either the name of the company or a category of businesses that you’re looking for (i.e. "comic book stores"), and a friendly, helpful GOOG-411 computerized operator will help you out.

Also, if you are calling from a cell phone, just say "text message" and GOOG-411 sends you a text message with your search results phone number, address and an optional map link.

For more details, check out the GOOG-411 site:

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Logistical information for TitA 07 Attendees

Hello TitA 2007 Attendees! We are very excited to welcome you to Pittsburgh this week for the 2007 Technology in the Arts conference. This email contains information to help you with orienting yourself and getting around during the conference. If you have any questions that aren’t answered here, feel free to email me (cmorrow@cmu.edu), Brad (bstephenson@cmu.edu) or Josh (jfutrell@cm.edu) with any questions or concerns.

Conference Hosts:

Technology in the Arts is made possible by the generous contributions of time and expertise of members of the arts community around the country. Event volunteers and CAMT staff will have the designation “HOST” on their nametags. Seek out these wonderful people at any time if you have questions.

Preconference:

Those of you registered for the pre-conference tours to the Entertainment Technology Center and the Pittsburgh Glass Center should plan to be on the CMU campus in time to check in and orient yourself before the 1:00 departure time. Please see the shuttle information below, in the “getting to and from the CMU campus” section. The shuttle will leave from the front of Hamburg Hall at 1:00.

If you’re participating in the Heinz School Career Services mock interviews and lunch prior to the tour, you will be directed to the shuttle pick up point following lunch.

Birds of a Feather dinners:

Anyone registered for the conference is welcome to join us for our dutch treat Birds-of-a-Feather dinners on Thursday evening. We will be meeting in the main lobby of the Omni William Penn Hotel at 6:30 p.m. A CAMT staff member will be serving as the host for each of the interest groups, will be posted in the lobby at 6:30 with a sign, and will escort your group to its designated restaurant.

If you haven’t indicated an area of interest for the dinner, don’t worry! Just plan to meet us in the lobby of the Omni at 6:30 and we’ll get you taken care of.

Getting to and from the CMU campus:

The Technology in the Arts conference takes place on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. The majority of programming will be held in Hamburg Hall (the same building as last year), with the keynote and plenary lectures in the University Center. The campus is in a different neighborhood than the hotel, which is downtown.

We have Technology in the Arts shuttles that will be running throughout the conference between the Omni William Penn Hotel (downtown) and Hamburg Hall on the Carnegie Mellon University campus (Oakland).

THURSDAY: 8:45 – first shuttle to campus departs from the Omni William Penn 1:00 – pre-conference tours shuttle departs from Hamburg Hall 1:15 – last shuttle to the hotel departs from Hamburg Hall

FRIDAY: 8:30 a.m. – first shuttle to campus departs from the Omni William Penn 7:30 p.m. – last shuttle to the hotel departs from Hamburg Hall

SATURDAY: 8:30 a.m. – first shuttle to campus departs from the Omni William Penn 6:30 p.m. – last shuttle to the hotel departs from Hamburg Hall

Internet Access:

We have arranged for all Technology in the Arts conference attendees to have access to Carnegie Mellon’s wireless network throughout the event. Once you’re on campus, you may register your computer by opening a Web browser, and entering the following login information: USER ID: cc347 Password: Z!1xeqed

Flickr Site:

We encourage you to bring your digital cameras (or camera-enabled phones) to help us document the 2007 conference. To have all our images together we invite you to add your photos to our Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/tita/

If you don’t yet have a Flickr account, creating one is free and easy: http://www.flickr.com/. If you’re a Yahoo! member, you can use that ID to set up your Flickr account. Once your account is set up, you sign in and go to the TitA group page, join the group and then you can return to your photo pages and add any of your pics to the group.

Close out bash:

The closing party on Saturday will be held at the Andy Warhol Museum. The Museum is just blocks away from the hotel, and conference hosts will be escorting attendees from the hotel to the museum from 8:00 – 9:00. Look for the people with Technology in the Arts signs in the lobby. There is also a map to the museum located in your program book. Everyone registered for the conference may attend the party.

The VIP dinner preceding the party will be held at Bossa Nova (the same location as last year’s VIP dinner). I and another CAMT staff member will be meeting up with everyone attending the dinner in the lobby of the Omni at 6:00. We will depart for Bossa Nova at 6:15. If you haven’t already purchased tickets to the dinner, you may do so at the registration desk when you arrive.

Should you need it later, this information is available in the program book you’ll receive when you check in at Hamburg.

Call for participation

Steve Bradley, one of our illustrious speakers at next week's conference, sends the following invitation: cell stitch an open participatory mobile media project by URBANtells

Call for cell phone based photographic and textural contributions. Create a series of photographs that best describe the place where you live, work and play. Take as many images as you like focusing on details that make the place you live perhaps unique, mundane, or like every other city in the U.S. Include one to twosentencenarratives along with your pictures and send them to: urbantells@wintermute.org

It takes anywhere up to 5 minutesfor the image to show up on the page, http://urbantells.net/cell-net/

Reload the page until the image appears within the grid.

Building a Home on the Web

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has built is home on the Web, years before it actual finishes construction on its physical home (scheduled to open in Washington, DC, in 2015). The site is a great example of using the Web for community building. Most interestingly, they have developed a Memory Book, which allows site visitors to contribute stories, thoughts, photographs, and any other insights they have. The NMAAHC also has posted several audio interview samples from its StoryCorps Griot, which aims to collect and present the voices, experiences and life stories of African Americans.

http://nmaahc.si.edu/

Third in the Search Engine Optimization article series

Make Your Nonprofit Website a Top "Hit": A 30 Day Step-by-Step Guide to Dramatically Improved Search Engine Optimization Part 3 of 4

By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson Lance@TicketPrinting.com www.TicketPrinting.com

Week 3: Objective: to plan and develo9p a sound link recruitment campaign

What you need to know:

Links: A link is a connection between one webpage to another. Search engines value links because if many links are pointing to the same webiste, then the wesbsite is deemed to be important and is given a higher pagerank (range 1-10) or level of importance. Having inbound links from "quality" sites will booste yor website's SEO campaign more than any other factor.

If we think of keywords as the means to telling search engines what your site is about, then links are the channels that tell search engines how important your site is. Links are also where your nonprofit can truly shine. Other websites are generally more willing to provide a link to an informational or nonprofit organization making link recruitment considerably easier.

Link Recruitment Strategies - There are three basic strategic approaches to acquiring links:

1. Get as many links as posible
2. Get a few high quality links
3. Have a combination of quantity and quality links

Having a combination between quality and quantity is currently the most effective and recommended strategy. Remember, search engines do not value all links equally and neither should your organization. Having some low quality links from directories (week 1) will give your organization a slight boost, but the real gains in ranking will be derived from the quality of incoming links.

Inbound Link Partners - The question you need to ask yourself now is, "What webistes are similar in topic and would benefit from the contents of my webiste?" To answer this question, you will first need to identify the informatino or service your site offers that makes it unique and friendly to link to. As a general rule, websites will only link to you ify ou give them something of real value. If you find yourself thinking, "My website has nothing to offer," then you should go back and work on your website's content before continuing any further. If you do have value to offer, take some time perusing the Internet to find organizations which focus on similar topics that would possibly link to you. In the first 30 days, try to develop a contact list of at least the top 50 possible link partners. Look for sites with a high pagerank (although keep in mind pagerank is a rough estimate not an exact measurement). Pageranks range in value from 1-10 and show up on the top of your Web browser. You will want to install the free pagerank toolbar to acquire this tool.

Reciprocal Linking - Some entities inevitably will only be willing to trade links. This is called a reciprocal link. Establishing a reciprocal link entails placing a link on your site which directs visitors to a partner's site in exchange for a link back to your own. Search engines do not value reciprocal links very highly, but a few reciprocal links will not hurt the organization as long as it contributes to a natural looking link structure (searchenginenews.com). Reciprocal links should rarely be sought out, but rather used as a fallback position in link negotiations (this topic will be covered in week 4).

Link Placement - The placement of your link on a partner's site is often equal in importance to the quality of the partnering organization. This makes it critical to have a link placement strategy in place before you contact the organization. A good strategy consists of a best case scenario which almost always is a link on the homepage, and a backup position which will be where you feel your link is the best fit to the organization. Having your link placed in a topically relevant area of the partnering organization is critical because search engines use link placement information to determine the purpose of your organization.

Anchor Text - Another factor that is pivital to achieving a natural linking structure is establishing varied, keyword rich anchor text for each link obtained. Anchor text is the text displayed in the link on another page linking back to yours. If websites linking to your site are willing to accept suggestions for the anchor text, make sure each one is varied and include common keywords. Avoid links that say "click here" etc. because they will be much less valuable to your site than a specific targeted keyword that you identified in the first week.

Voluntary Links - If your website has quality content; it is very possible that sites will want to provide a link to your site without you even having to ask. To facilitate this, provide an easy "link to us" section of your webpage where sites can sign up to link to you. Be sure to approve each link personally so that you ensure overall quality.

Additional Resources - The Unfair Advantage book, "101 Link Building Tips to Market Your Website" (SEOBook.com), and How to Achieve Higher Rankings and Stay Out of Google Hell Via Optimized Internal Linking are good sources for more information about linking.

Week 3 Checklist:

• Decide your link recruitment strategy
• Identify what valuable service/information your organization contains
• Develop a list of the top 50 possible links with contact information
• Set your link placement goals for each contact
• Decide what anchor text you will use for each contact.

Spam turns Arty!

Here's a fun site that mixes technology, art, and social themes. Spam Recycling is a site devoted to turning ugly, useless spam messages into beautiful works of art. Essentially, you forward a spam email that you have received to spam@spamrecycling.com (after removing all of your own personal information like your name and email address) and Spam Recycling emails you back a link where you can watch as your spam message explodes and rearranges itself. Here’s what I created using a spam message with the subject line “Have Some Fun Tonight...”

Not exactly a Picasso (or useful beyond the five minutes of enjoyment during its creation), but an interesting blend of art and technology nonetheless.

http://www.spamrecycling.com/

Another CMU connection

Evidently, the inventor of the digital smiley face is a CMU professor.

NYT article about Second Life

Check out this article in today's New York Times about the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic's performance in Second Life. For $16,000, the orchestra built a concert hall over two "sims" (parcels of land) and produced a concert, the music of which can be reused any time thanks to a new contract with the musicians. As the article states, using Second Life as an outreach/programming activity in the classical music realm is still "bleeding edge"... the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas calls it a "stunt phase." Still, if we can reach new audiences and put the traditional arts in places that make them accessible to new audiences, I say let's do it!

ajaxWindows: Web-Based Operating System

ajaxWindows - Your Desktop Anywhere Small arts organizations frequently express to CAMT the need for document sharing on a shoestring budget, so an actual network of servers (or even a single server) typically isn't feasible. We often recommend online shared document solutions, such as Google Docs, that allow people to work collaboratively in a Web-based workspace.

ajaxWindows, designed by Ajax13, takes shared documentation one step further by providing an online operating system that mimics the functionality of Microsoft Windows. In fact, it mimics the software so well that I'll be surprised if no lawsuits are filed against Ajax13.

While the system has an extremely high "wow, you can do that all in a browser?" factor, the practicality is questionable. You can accomplish nearly everything ajaxWindows offers by using a combination of other online productivity tools.

Below is a video of ajaxWindows in action:

Online Videos by Veoh.comYou can also visit the ajaxWindows Web site to try a free demo.

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