Being Amber Rhea

Update: Check out Dacia’s outline/notes on the session here.

WAM has kicked off! So far it’s exciting. I’ll probably be doing more Twittering than blogging (and don’t worry, Dave, I keep forgetting to use the hashtag) although I’m thinking of trying this Cover It Live thing Dacia showed me. Anyway, it should be a great day! This post might be updated, or it might not. Stay tuned on Twitter. :)

Saturday Keynote: Changing Your World with Blogs

It’s the second day of ConvergeSouth (and the first day that Rusty and I will be here for the entire day). Sue Polinsky is introducing Elisa Camahort, and I’m going to attempt to live-blog it, until my MacBook battery dies, anyway. Sue is saying there aren’t a lot of women bloggers with “credentials,” so it’s hard to fill panels with women. I disagree… there are tons of women bloggers with all kinds of credentials out there. Next Sue said, “Or maybe we just don’t know about them.” That’s more like it!

9:17 a.m. - Elisa points out that they had 136 women speakers at BlogHer ‘07.

9:21 a.m. - Blogging is good for your health, because of the connections you make. Elisa cites the example of Millie Garfield’s blog.

Blogging (and podcasting) offers us the opportunity to have a record of our lives, our parents’ lives, and our grandparents’ lives that we never had before. Elisa says she wishes she’d had an opportunity to record her grandmother’s story before she died.

9:26 a.m. - What’s the definition of a blog? If someone is an active commenter but doesn’t have their own blog, are they a blogger? What about Twitter, or Facebook? The definition of what it means to be a blogger is changing and evolving, because it’s all about the community that forms.

9:32 a.m. - Elisa addresses the (sometimes flip) sentiment, “Do what you love and the money will follow.” So what’s wrong w/ making money from your blogging endeavors, if you can? Blogs are changing the way we do business.

Now Elisa is talking about Chloe Spencer, “teen pro-blogger.”

9:36 a.m. - Elisa disagrees w/ what a lot of tech bloggers say, that unless you have a very specific niche, it’s hard to build an audience. She says it’s about having a unique voice and a way of telling your personal story that makes people laugh, nod their heads, or just be interested. I agree.

9:40 a.m. - Is it going to be harder to make a living via blogs as the blogosphere becomes more saturated? Elisa is talking about Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, who makes six figures per year from her blog. Of course, the part people don’t mention as much is that Elise started her blog four years ago when there were maybe ten food bloggers, and now there are tens of thousands.

Other people are using blogs to move their careers forward in other ways - not just making money via ads on their blog. Example: Megan Garnhum got her dream job w/ WeeWorld after she was inspired to do something she loves (write a blog about shopping) which made her visible and gave her her own playing field. That visibility got her recognized by WeeWorld, where she now works.

9:47 a.m. - Politicians are starting to realize that they ignore people outside the political blogosphere at their peril. (Answer to rhetorical question of why did Elizabeth Edwards come to BlogHer ‘07 even though it was not a huge media opportunity for her?)

9:51 a.m. - Example of blogs impacting real-world action: Grace Davis started a Katrina relief blog after a woman in Mississippi posted on Craigslist that she could drive around to different shelters in Mississippi, but didn’t know how to get the word out; all she had was her car and her cell phone. Grace called this woman and said she’d start a blog. The woman in Mississippi then would call Grace and tell her what shelter she was at, its address, how many people were there, and what they needed. People would see it on the blog and ship directly to the shelters. Because of this blog, supplies were getting to the shelters before FEMA.

9:57 a.m. - Guy in the audience says he thinks people in their 20’s and early 30’s don’t need face-to-face connection. I spoke up, of course. Heh.

As a nice on-point epilogue, Elisa used Rusty and me as an example! ‘Cause you know, we met via reading our blogs, and look at us now.

2:45 p.m. - Does the Blogosphere Need an Intolerance Intervention?

Not sure how much liveblogging I’ll be doing in this session. I sort of want to take a break. But on the other hand this session sounds like it’ll be really interesting and I’d like to document it. Laina Dawes is talking about ten common things people do to stifle discussion of racism online. “You’re too sensitive” gets used and abused in so many conversations.

Anyway, my battery might die soon, and I might not bother to charge it.

They’re still having sound system problems. This seems to happen at a lot of conferences that are big and not free, so it makes me feel even better about how things went at PodCamp Atlanta (and also reminds me not to worry about that stuff too much).

Tish Grier says the local newspaper would not list her blog in their blogroll. They said she had to do something different to get listed. Okay, I missed what just happened there, I was talking to Rusty so I don’t know what happened with the newspaper. Also she says she goes to blogs of A-list male bloggers and disagrees with them vehemently, and sometimes it upsets them, but “they need to be.” ;)

The A-list blogs talk about how blogs are an echo chamber. But when you look at their comments sections, it’s all men talking about how blogs are echo chambers. There are no women’s voices. She says her purpose in life is challenging things and changing things.

Question to the panel (Liz Henry moderating): how do you know if an argument has been constructive? And for whom has it been constructive?

What Laina Dawes was saying just now makes it sound like she thinks “just stating your opinion” isn’t worthwhile. I think it’s very worthwhile. Maybe that’s not what she meant but that’s how it sounded.

There’s a Mormon girl on the panel (Kathryn Thompson) and she’s talking about writing about why she’s pro-life during Blog for Choice week. Hmmmmm. I don’t know. Maybe there are limits to civil discourse.

Tish asks rhetorically, “Are the A-listers gate-keepers?”

WTF is all this noise outside the door?? A guy went outside to tell them to STFU.

Question: What is the responsibility of the blog owner to corral the discussion? And how does it get more complicated when it’s a group blog?

Comment policy is needed when comments are deleted, says Kathryn. I think it’s a good idea to have a comment policy posted; but still, it is the blog owner’s discretion. Her blog, her rules. My comment policy is basically, “Don’t be an asshole.”

They’re bringing up Kathy Sierra again. This is the eternal debate about the fine line. It’s really hard and I don’t think there’s a good answer. I just wish people wouldn’t be assholes.

I want a snack.

Difference between writing a personal blog and writing on an institutional blog e.g. parenting.com - people feel like they can say much more horrible things on the institutional blogs because they don’t think of you like a person, they think of you as an institution or a company.

Tish says, “There is no credibility behind anonymous comments.” Totally agree. Fuck that noise.

Battery is dying. Snack break at 4:00. Then I need to schmooze w/ sponsors for Sex 2.0, but I don’t feel like. I’ll do it, though, and get it out of the way. That’s all for liveblogging this session.

Fri. 1:30 p.m. - Privacy, Exposure, and Risk: Can you maintain safer spaces online?

Lunch was great, and now we are back up on the 2nd floor, getting ready for the session with Susie Bright, Ann Crady, and Tara Hunt. Speaking of which, Susie Bright came up to our table at lunch to get Rachel because they were doing a book signing together. Viviane got up and hugged her. Then she turned to me and asked my name, and I stuck out my hand and said, “I’m Amber,” and she was all, “Oh! Amber!” Seriously, y’all. She recognized me from my blog, and when I kind of breathlessly asked, “You read my blog?” she acted like it was obvious and I should stop being so modest. (!!!!) Total fan-girl moment. I felt flustered after that, but not in a bad way. So anyway, that was awesome. And Susie seems like a total sweetheart. She’s up there now wearing a tiara.

Session is starting now. Lynne D. Johnson is the moderator.

My camera battery is almost dead, but it’s just as well, because from my vantage point, all my photos are going to have a bright-red-haired woman’s head smack in the middle.

Each panelist now is going to say how much they are “exposed” online.

Tara says pretty much her whole life is online and she’s not very worried about potential risks. She says she’s had benefits from putting herself out there, including career benefits because people feel that they know her better or trust her more. She says she trusts human nature and believes people are mostly good and that might be part of why she doesn’t obsess about all the bad things that could happen.

Ann says for her the benefits far outweigh the potential risks and she thinks the dangers are far over-blown.

Susie Bright hates the mics and doesn’t want to use one. But she has to because they’re streaming live in Second Life.

Someone said the feedback was “unbearable.” I just Twittered that it’s not unbearable. Ha.

Anyway, moving on, Susie Bright is talking now about some of her history in political activism. She says being out there is one of the best protections, because as a general rule, people will protect you if they know who you are. Being “out there” is a good defense; it makes it much harder for people to twist your words or blackmail you.

What does “safe” mean, Susie asks. She’s questioning the terminology and trying to define “safe.”

She says if you are a journalist and say something controversial, you will get flak. She said she kind of wants to shake people’s hands when they say they’ve been threatened on their blog, because it means they are making a difference.

She says sometimes saying someone is making you unsafe is just a way of trying to shut them up. And it’s difficult to speak out about without sounding cruel or callous.

Question from the moderator: are women more likely to get threatened online? Tara is talking about a Pew study that shows girls and women are more likely to experience bullying or threats.

Audience member asks how each of the panelists define cyber-bullying. Susie Bright says, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me - or will they?” This is what women experience online that men do not or do only rarely. But she also says women are being encouraged to stay offline because of this fear, and it’s like saying you shouldn’t go out at night. It’s the problem of the bullies, not the women. She says, “Most of these bullies are full of it.”

Audience member brought up Kathy Sierra and couldn’t remember her name. Everyone in the room said, “Kathy Sierra.” If this woman tries to minimalize what happened to Kathy Sierra I’m going to feel like punching her (the audience member, not Kathy Sierra). And yes I am fully aware of the irony there!

People are fucking assholes and it can be a tough spot. I totally agree with Susie that this stuff should not silence women’s voices or prevent us from going online, because it is not OUR problem. Just like rape is not our problem, it’s the rapists’ problem. But on the other hand this stuff REALLY HURTS and more than hurts, it can be downright terrifying, and I really don’t think men understand the way women experience this stuff, as part of the larger culture. Which is why I turn off my ears when men start yapping about “growing a spine” or some shit. Just shut the fuck up, asshole. But anyway, how do we deal with this? I can’t blame Kathy Sierra for what she did. I might have done the same. That shit can be overwhelming. And yet… I feel it is vitally important for women NOT to shut up. ESPECIALLY if it’s controversial and makes people uncomfortable and shakes things up.

Audience member asks where is the line between developing a thicker skin and dealing with active threats that could be damaging to you physically, financially, etc.?
The eternal question.

Ann says, “the line is the law.” Not sure if I agree or not. Will need to think on that some more.

Audience members should use the mic because it’s in Second Life. Oh, who am I kidding, I don’t know a thing about Second Life and I don’t care.

Susie Bright says, when you get a whiff of a troll, block them immediately so you’re not inundated with their bullshit. They thrive on attention.

Susie says a woman was waiting for her in the bathroom with a knife when she spoke at the University of Minnesota one time (not sure when this was). She mentions how absurd it was. (She went with another person to the bathroom, too, btw.) She says she does not regret her activism and she will not stop. Hell yeah!

Good damn question that I wonder about a lot: what are the kids of the “mommy bloggers” going to think when they get old enough to read the blogs? I wonder about that. At a certain point (certain age?) it seems kind of like… exploitation? That’s a loaded word but I can’t think of another one. It’s a tough call. Maybe it’s just the same question as blogging about other people in your life in general.

Statistically your child has a much greater chance of being molested in the grocery store or in church than on MySpace. The media blows it out of proportion.

“Everyone in Second Life… fuck, fuck fuck!!”

Tara is talking about Molly Holszchlag (can never spell it). I love what she does on her blog because she talks about her depression and other stuff right there on the same blog as web standards and Microsoft and stuff. Molly rocks.

“It’s a sign of strength to say, ‘I’m going to say what I want, fuck you.’” - Tara

Susie is talking about the inherent sexism in the fear we feel as women about speaking up. Men are not critiqued for who they go to bed with… this is Women’s Studies 101, she says.

Audience member says handling professional criticism is a walk in the park after dealing with so many trolls. Silver lining!

Here comes the appeal to “what about the children.” I don’t buy it anymore, hardly at all.

Dude is talking about making sure you are comfortable with anyone seeing what you put online. For some reason he is really putting me off because I feel like everyone here knows that already. Thanks for words of wisdom.

Now Susie Bright is saying she believes a lot of the malicious behavior online is motivated by jealousy, and she doesn’t know how to handle that. Ann disagrees and thinks it’s mostly boredom. I think there’s probably some of both, but I can’t really attribute a whole lot of it to just boredom.

Okay this audience member has been talking too long. There’s a line of people behind her waiting to talk. I think the lilt of her voice makes me not absorb anything she’s saying. I have no idea what she’s talking about.

Audience member is breastfeeding and unlike at most conferences, no one is going to give her shit about it.

Analee Newitz is speaking up from the audience now. Personal blogging “can bite people in the ass.” She’s talking about how some of us are lucky in that we have lots of options for employment and such, but a lot of people don’t have those options and can’t say, “fuck you, I’ll work somewhere else.” I’m glad someone pointed that out. Because yes, even though this is a problem with the company, the effect is on the particular woman’s life. Ideology is nice and all, but being able to feed your family is nicer.

Now an audience member says she never intended to be a public figure, but after starting her blog, a few months later she was on the front page of the New York Times business section. She said we need to realize that it’s a risk and an opportunity that any one of us could become a public figure overnight. I definitely agree that we have to be aware of that, but I don’t think that should make people stifle or self-censor. Real people have real lives and do real things. Imagine that!

Now a woman who runs a blog called I, Asshole is talking. She is awesome. She talks about how she edits her trollish comments and adds to the end, “Now I must go home and fuck some puppies.”

Susie Bright adds some levity. Yes, we’re all talking about how important it is to stand up and have a thick skin, but it really does hurt when you feel like you’ve been passed over because of something you wrote, or because people might be laughing at you, or whatever. Pink Ghetto, anyone?

Tara says, “We all have inner Gollums.” Let’s stop putting up these facades that say we’re perfect. The world says we’re not allowed to talk about these things, but we all feel this way at some point.

Session is almost over. I’m going to try to get my picture taken with Susie Bright.

Fri. 10:45 a.m. - Digital Exhibitionists or Chroniclers of their Time: Will Naked Bloggers Make History?

“There are a lot of things happening in our lives that we feel like we have to hide.” - Stacy Campbell

“I do all the stupid stuff everybody else did, but I write about it.” - Heather Barmore

First question for the panel: How honest can and should you be? What will be missing 100 years from now?

Kris was angry with herself for holding back and not being honest at the time in blogging about a relationship that later ended

“Keeping it honest has become more difficult as the readership grows.” - Stacy
This is the classic blogger conundrum. We all struggle with this. And yet it is never less of a struggle. And there isn’t one right answer.

So far everyone on the panel has been self-deprecating and saying no one will be reading their blog in 100 years. But the whole point is, people will! This stuff that might seem mundane or even whiny now is important. Chronicling real life (everyone’s unique experience) is hugely important. I’m reminded of what Josh was saying at BlogSavannah about finding letters written to family members during the Civil War, and how in many ways that offers us the most insight. (Still, though, a blog is different in some ways… but that’s another tangent. Knowing that there’s an audience - even a tiny one, or a potential one - does change things.)

AAG says she went online to be more private… LOL. She says she is still at times afraid of being judged. I can relate.

Somebody in the audience just said she threw away all her old diaries! Aaaaaagggghhh!!! Nooo!! Sacrilege! I cannot imagine throwing away something that personal and unique… even if you do regret things you wrote, or not want certain people to see it.

Audience member makes a good point about the power of women writing blogs is that we are in control of representing our own lives, rather than leaving it up to someone else to reconstruct the story of your life and maybe get things wrong or add their own judgment.

Next question for the panel: What makes you most uncomfortable? Family and friends reading it? Co-workers? Something else?

Heather almost got kicked out of her apartment because of something she wrote. (!!!)

I realize I am very, very lucky in the approach I take to blogging nowadays. I didn’t always take this approach - because I couldn’t (e.g. when I was looking for a job when I lived in Texas; a bunch of stuff w/ my marriage; etc). And to some people who don’t know me very well, they might think it looks very cavalier… but it’s not. It’s very much intentional and I am determined to be as open and honest as possible. Of course, “as possible” is the caveat there, and the definition is always changing.

Sarcastic Journalist is talking about how she got fired for her blog. She was a reporter and she was anonymous and she still got fired - just like Dooce. A few of her family members disowned her too. Anonymity is NOT the protection you might think it is. Don’t be naive. You’re never really anonymous.

I think that’s the biggest - HUGEST - difference between blogs and personal diaries. Even though, yes, people can and do find and read other people’s personal diaries, the whole world can’t find your personal diary on Google. It’s less of a risk. Certainly can be more of a liability if people find it bc you’re being more personal and not holding back, but that is valuable; but I don’t think blogs will ever be exactly the same.

Someone in the audience is talking about how she went to a conference and found herself apologetically telling people she “writes JUST a personal blog.” Right on!! I HATE that shit! I hate that perception of personal blogs (whatever that even means; I have a beef with that term, too, but I can write about that later) as somehow “less than” other types of blogs such as political blogs.

I think we should have a session at Sex 2.0 that’s like this except focused on writing about sexuality and your personal sex life and all that good stuff. (Btw I am having some… I don’t know… burned-out? feelings about Sex 2.0. But I’ll get to that another time.) I kind of hoped this would be more sexuality-focused, but then, the general personal stuff topic is fascinating and important, and sexuality is a part of that.

Audience member says, “Our personal honesty on our blogs is politically important.” I agree. The personal is political, indeed.

Someone else is speaking now who developed a plug-in for WordPress called Post Levels, which lets you control who sees certain posts. I may have to look into this.

Culture Kitchen woman is talking now. I don’t know her name but I know her blog! (I’m surrounded by the bloggerati, hell yeah.) She says, “As my blog kept rising and getting more and more readers, it started having less and less personal stuff. The blog started to have a life of its own.”

Now the conversation is turning to talking about how personal blogs are breaking stereotypes in very powerful ways. Someone asked Culture Kitchen woman “how dare you be one of the top Latina bloggers in the country and say you’re an atheist.” Heather talks about how people assumed she was white, and when they found out she was black they’d say, “You speak so eloquently” and shit. Stacy says not everyone who struggles with depression is completely batshit. AAG talks about how powerful it is that she can be not young and not thin and still be having great sex and letting everyone know about it.

ROCK ON!

Moderator says none of these personal records are complete (she’s a historian who deals w/ a lot of personal journals, letter, etc.). This self-censoring is not unique to blogging and we should not get too hung up on it, as in worrying about whether or not it’s “real.”

Another audience member is talking about how people say they didn’t realize she was a POC. She gets called “exotic.” She says, “Guess what, if you’re going to keep calling me ‘exotic,’ I’m going to keep talking about race!” Heather says she doesn’t talk about being black all the time because (gesturing toward Kris) “do you talk about being white all the time?”

AAG says it’s not courageous for her to write about sexual abuse. This is something someone did to her, it’s a reflection on the person who did it to her, not a reflection on what kind of person she is. She encourages everyone in the audience to write about it if it happened to you. Stacy says, “If it makes somebody uncomfortable, then maybe you need to write about it even more urgently.” I am mentally high-fiving her now.

Now a dude is talking about how he feels like people at some parenting blogs think he doesn’t have a right to talk about parenting. He says even though he gets a lot of crap, it’s worth it because he’s breaking the stereotype and showing that there are men who care actively about being parents.

Another audience member is now saying she feels like her blog has brought her closer to her family. This is interesting.

Another woman is talking about how her friends pressure her to write about certain things. Like, “Why didn’t you write about my engagement.” Heh. Start your own blog!

Session is almost over… I think there’s supposed to be some kind of prize drawing. AAG brought some amazing schwag, including dildos.

8:50 a.m. - We’re here, and we’re podcasting this.

The new social sciences building at Kennesaw State is a nice, brand-new facility, and what a great venue for this unconference! Right now Sherry is talking and giving the ground rules, and doing an awesome job as usual. I’m going to attempt to do some live-blogging here, as much as I can. Stay tuned!

8:57 a.m. - Leonard Witt just said, “Today, Linux is as robust as Microsoft; maybe moreso.” Maybe? Ha!

Oh, also, earlier Josh took a photo of Rusty and me… here it is:

9:05 a.m. - Oh god! Infinite loop!

9:14 a.m. - Note to Tim: stop using IE on the computer that’s hooked to the projector!

9:16 a.m. - First quote of the day, from Josh: “You can’t get away with shit anymore.”

9:20 a.m. - Oh god, some very earnest dude is talking about how horrible it was 30-40 years ago when WOMEN WEREN’T ALLOWED TO VOTE in various places around the world. I’m sorry, this might not come across as very funny but it has me cracking the fuck up. When you hear the audio, maybe you’ll do the same. Btw - he is NEVER going to support IE!!

(I mean, I completely agree with his view on IE, but shit… something about this guy is giving me the giggles.)

9:26 a.m. - I just totally blew my cool and was the idiot gawking at the video camera that showed up over my shoulder. They’ll cut that. (Whoever “they” are.)

Now Jeff is talking about capitalism. Also, it’s kind of giving me a boner that the conversation has turned to standards and the importance of them (esp. wrt Mozilla, etc.). It’s good to have more geekiness here - that was kind of missing at BlogSavannah.

Stephen Eley hates the term “Web 2.0″ and admits to being a cynic. Heh. “There’s no specific message, but they just think it’s really cool,” he says. Also, he says it’s a problem if the conversation becomes too masturbatory. LOL.

9:32 a.m. - Sometimes being a snob is okay and sometimes it’s not. I need to think about this more and formulate my thoughts; I’ll write more about it all later. Oh god now a business guy is talking about how he doesn’t care about Firefox and blahblahblee. Here comes the Jerry Springer moment. This guy pisses me off. He’s very impressed with himself, apparently. I’m not using his name but he knows who he is!!

But, I mean, his point about focusing on content not tools is a good one… well, except, I don’t know if that was really his point. Josh is making the point much better, and is smacking down his shitty kind of snobbery. The guy was all, “Oh, this is crap, blahblah…” Well, as Josh said, it’s not crap to everybody. WORD.

9:38 a.m. - I can hardly keep up with my live-blogging! This is a good conversation - very heated, lots of passion and opinions, it’s really making me think a lot. Just listen to the podcast when we put it up next week.

Now Shelby’s talking about the “digital divide.” Give ‘em hell!

9:43 a.m. - Waffle House keeps coming up.

A guy was just saying, some conversations have value and others don’t. Yeah, but, who defines “value?”

9:50 a.m. - New quote of the day from James Harris: “Think beyond the screen.” It’s not hyperbole, I don’t think, to suggest that Web 2.0 (yes I said it) can be utilized to help change the world. Btw this is what I want to talk about at the session Rusty and I will be leading at PodCamp Atlanta, about building community through podcasting.

10:00 a.m. - Okay Coty, let’s wrap it up dude. (I’m not trying to be mean here. I’m just saying.)

10:20 a.m. - Chris Klaus from Kaneva is about to start his presentation. I’m uploading some more photos to Flickr.

10:27 a.m. - This presentation is more like a regular conference. He’s showing Powerpoint slides and talking at us. I don’t remember who said it (maybe Dave Winer?) but it really is true… once you’ve been to an unconference, it’s damn near impossible to go back [to a regular conference].

10:34 a.m. - Chris Klaus just referred to the iMac as “the iMac device.” Ha! Btw, re: the iMac… hi, welcome to 4 years ago. Anyway, I guess this is a good time for me to charge the battery in my laptop.

10:45 a.m. - “Anybody here have 3D modeling skills?”

11:01 a.m. - Great point by (imagine that!) an audience member - the harder companies try to control their brand in the new media space, the less success they will have. Things are changing and companies have to change accordingly. This is the smartest thing that’s been said for the whole session. This guy was the first audience member allowed to actually say something. WTF will Chris say. He’s totally not getting it.

Also Chris seems to think Microsoft hired Scoble specifically to blog for them. LOL.

11:20 a.m. - Okay it’s time for this session to end; it’s already gone over five minutes. I don’t give a crap about avatars. I can’t wait for the break-out sessions.

1:06 p.m. - Lunch is over and now I’m in the “Women and Social Media: Finding Your Niche” session. I’m using one of our portable digital recorders to record this, but people aren’t speaking up very well (I’m about to remind them to do so) - so I can’t say how this podcast will turn out. Some guy(!) is saying, women are more socially oriented. WTF.

1:15 p.m. - Already this session has me feeling very annoyed and I’m hoping I won’t go off on some rant and dominate the podcast. :P We shall see.

1:26 p.m. - You know what? I really think there needs to be an uncon specifically focused on issues with feminism and blogging. And not just feminism, but the intersectionality of all these different kinds of issues and how blogging, podcasting, etc. lets us talk about those things. And I want there to be an emphasis on sexuality - e.g., how all this new media stuff is giving women new avenues for exploring their sexuality and knocking down walls based on stereotypes and shit (a lot like what Dacia’s forthcoming book is about). I really need to get my thoughts together about this and have it coalesce into something more coherent… maybe after PodCamp I’ll organize this thing! Just you wait!

1:30 p.m. - Why are we talking about search engine optimization? This session is supposed to be about “finding your niche” and we’re 30 minutes in and so far we haven’t talked about that at all.

1:39 p.m. - Oh god here comes the conversation again about professional vs. personal. I can’t take it. Oh, and a woman and a man started talking at the same time, but the woman said, “Oh, you go ahead.” Oh and now this guy (same guy) was just like, “Oh, well, people get fired for that” when I was talking about how things are getting less compartmentalized and there’s a push for transparency. I said it’s a mental roadblock a lot of people hit up against, and they get over it at different times - and some never do. God I can’t handle this conversation again - I’m going go off on somebody. I just… I feel so passionately about this, and I want people to hear what I’m saying. (And what lots of other people are saying! Sherry really gets it, for instance.) Can I keep my mouth shut in here now that I feel my heart racing, or is it important that I DON’T keep my mouth shut? Arrrrghh…

1:44 p.m. - So, everybody has their own opinion of what makes a good blog and what they want to read in a blog. Yeah, sure, that’s great; opinions are like assholes. But ultimately? What it comes down to is, every individual gets to define what a blog is for themselves. If you want to be totally transparent, that’s your choice to make; if you want to be solely professional in your writing, that’s your choice too. And that’s the great thing about blogs! Each person can decide for themselves! The guy next door doesn’t like it? Fuck him! He can start his own blog and write it the way he likes; and he can read other blogs that are written in a way he likes. I’m not writing my blog for him, I’m writing for ME.

Yes this is the same discussion that always happens at these unconferences, but I think it’s still important to have. And, like Josh was saying earlier, a lot (maybe most) of these people are hearing it for the first time.

And goddammit, this guy sitting here next to me is totally hung up and he’s dominating the whole damn session. One of the session leaders needs to put the kibosh on this crap.

1:48 p.m. - Jeneane Sessum just said something about writing about your sex life - the assumption seeming to be, oh you would NEVER do THAT. Oh god. (Jeneane if you read this later… I’m interested to know, is this perception correct?)

1:52 p.m. - Ha! I think the guy sitting next to me may have finally shut up. Oh wait, no, there he goes again.

I like what Lee and Adam are saying about finding out who their audience is rather than making assumptions.

1:58 p.m. - The guy next to me just started a sentence with, “The thing she doesn’t understand is…” Argh!! Well, this one is almost over.

Oh good, whew! Now J. Brotherlove is speaking sense.

Okay! Off to Josh’s “Off the Record” session.

2:56 p.m. - There were only five of us in Josh’s session, so I didn’t do any live-blogging. It was me, Josh, Coty, Sherry, and David Cohen. We had a great conversation about the way the culture is changing with the (slow) move toward transparency and authenticity. No, I didn’t record it, so no podcast will be forthcoming; Stephen had my digital recorder with him to record the session called “The Power of Online Social Communities.”

3:28 p.m. - It’s over! What a day. A lot of people are heading over to Mellow Mushroom for pizzas and beers, but Rusty and I are going to head home. I can’t speak for him, but I’m probably going to take a nap. Right now Rusty is doing an interview with Stephen Eley which will be up as an episode of Mostly ITP at some point. After this? Packing up our gear and heading back down to Decatur!

It’s been a great day!

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