Technology in the Arts #34
In our most recent episode, Brad and Jason present their list of New Year's resolutions every arts organization should make in 2008. Technology Resolutions Every Arts Organization Should Make for 2008
1. JASON: Research and Experiment. There are plenty of free, online or downloadable demos for all kinds of software.
2. BRAD: Back up your data. Buy an external hard drive and buy a backup software. If you have Mac's new Leopard operating system, you can use Time Machine to back up your stuff. If you run Windows, there is a piece of software I use at home called Acronis True Image, and you can get it at Best Buy or through the Acronis.com web site.
3. JASON: Don't fall for the hype. Resist the buzzword. Which buzzword? All of them. Don't fall in love on the first date, people.
4. BRAD: Educate yourself. It is very easy to add a few items to your daily task list that will help you stay on top of technology. Visit Wired.com, pcmag.com and gizmodo.com, three great sites that feature all things geeky.
5. JASON: Befriend a geek. We're people, too, you know. And some of us are lonely. Besides, geeks love to talk about the latest tech, what they've done with the latest tech and what the latest tech can do. A 15 minute conversation bouncing ideas off the geek down the hall could save you some time with the consultants down the street.
6. BRAD: Contribute. Plug into the interactive Web by trying an online social networking tool. Go to Flickr.com and create a free account. Go to WordPress.com and start a free blog. You'll never know if a tool might have some practical purpose for your organization if you don't start using some of them.
7. JASON: Lock it down! There have been a number of high-profile data theft cases in the news of late. Your constituents won't be very happy if their credit card numbers happen to walk away from you. What are you exposing to the internet? Who has access to it? What kind of security are you running internally? Who can see what? How often are you changing passwords and network keys? It could happen to you!
8. BRAD: Aggregate. Aggregate. Aggregate. Whether you use Google Reader, the Firefox Web browser's built in module, Outlook 2007, or any other tool, start increasing your personal efficiency by using an aggregator. Aggregators, also known as feed readers, are tools that let you enter RSS feeds and have the content come to you. They pull syndicated content to a single location for easy viewing.
Cool Sites of the Episode
Jason: www.lasagnacat.com - Actors (all human) play out Garfield comic strips from the past three decades, then the result is remixed to a tangentially-related song. Art project? Time-waster gone awry? Both? My current favorite: 3/24/1979.
Brad: Speaking of getting an aggregator, check out tiinker.com. Tiinker learns what you like to read about and adapts. It's like Tivo for your RSS feeds.
Reminder - If you have any questions or interesting discussion items, please send them to podcast@technologyinthearts.org.
[display_podcast]