Byte of the Week

I have been totally negligent in the Byte lately and I’m cheating today by sharing news, not a tip. I apologize but I wanted to send a heads up about two events that are coming up. Also I just posted notes from a presentation I gave today on telling a story using social media: http://tinyurl.com/ygh7k7g (It actually does contain tips.) It was a webinar and I hope soon to write about giving a webinar. It’s hard but I think I picked up some tips that might make life easier for you should you ever be in a position to present for a webinar.

Here are the events:
The Twin Cities Media Alliance will hold its 2009 Fall Media Forum on Saturday November 7, at the Hennepin County Library Central branch, 300 Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (It’s free.) The theme for this year’s forum is Networking And The New Media Landscape: Reporting News, Building Community, Making Money. Learn more here: http://twincitiesmediaalliance.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/tcma-fall-media-forum-november-7/

Realizing Our Broadband Future: Getting from Here to There
Wednesday, November 18 – Thursday, November 19, 2009 (Cost $105) held in Duluth
Blandin Foundation’s 2009 Broadband Conference will focus on the future of Minnesota communities, providing community leaders with the information and tools they need to position their communities in the future. http://tinyurl.com/n4gqvb  

In the next week I will find time to write up a tip!

Today I am giving a presentation at the MCN New Times New Tech conference (http://www.mncn.org/nptech/index.htm). Wish me luck! Below is the presentation I am giving and here is the web site assessment form.

Tomorrow is World Usability Day. The theme this year is health care. I know almost nothing about health care usability and I’m actually at a conference in St Cloud (MN) this week but I’m hoping that they archive the events so that I can read up on it later.

To celebrate:

• You can join a live web cast in the morning (8:30 am EST): http://build.exclusiveconcepts.com/WUD-Blog/?p=65
• You can find a usability event in your area on the World Usability Day web site: http://www.worldusabilityday.org
• If you’re in the Twin Cities, the University of Minnesota has a day full of free usability programs for tomorrow. You can check them out online: http://1help.umn.edu/usability/wud.html

OK today’s Byte is different. It’s an invitation to free webinars sponsored by the Blandin Foundation. In the spirit of full disclosure, I work with them but I thought that the webinars might be of interest to some readers. I am hoping to attend all 3.

Blandin Broadband Pre-Conference Webinars
http://www.blandinfoundation.org/BBConf07/webinars.html
Join us for one or all three of these “FREE” webinars sponsored by the Blandin Foundation! This series is perfect for economic development commissioners or elected officials to learn more about telecommunications and its impact on economic development.

Confirm your registration by sending a note to dpfeifer@minnesotaruralpartners.org

“Get up to speed on Internet technologies and their impact on local economic development before attending the Blandin Broadband Conference in November. Participating in a webinar is both easy and convenient so do not be hesitant to give it a try.” Bill Coleman, Webinar Moderator

Webinar Dates and Topics
October 3rd Global Trends in Broadband
October 17th The Economic Impacts of Broadband and Technology
October 31st Web 2.0 Applications

Webinar Times
8:30 – 9:30 AM

Webinar Instructions
Our webinars are internet and conference call based. It’s easy…
Internet
Click on this link to join us via the web: https://umconnect.umn.edu/blandinwebinar
Conference Call
Dial: 866-316-1519
Passcode: 14223904

I mentioned You Tube earlier this summer. It’s a web site where you can post video clips for free. Well, I finally had a chance to use it and I wanted to report back on how easy it is.

I recently posted a fun video on broadband technology for a group from International Falls, Minnesota. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op4cb8u3hTQ)  

All I needed to do was set up a free account and upload the video – by walking through their series of questions. They have some limitations: video time limit is 10 minutes and size is 100MB.

Rick in Minneapolis recently sent me a great use of You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrAjAIZhktM). These guys have posted brief snippets of videos from a recent conference. I think that’s a great way to share a conference with folks who can’t attend; or to help promote your conference for next year.

You Tube recently implemented a bunch of new improvements; none are worth going into – but I think it indicates that You Tube is gearing up to be bigger and better. It could be a good way to share family videos or just about any kind of video online.

I found a new favorite color web site, ColorMatch 5K (http://www.colormatch.dk/).

Those of you who know or have seen me know that colors and matching are not my longest suits. ColorMatch is a tool, where you select a color and it provides you with a palette of 5 matching colors. Now if I could only take this clothes shopping with me.

One announcement for the folks in the Twin Cities:

Next week Patrick O’Donnell is going to be speaking about James Joyce’s Ulysses for the American Society for Information Science & Technology. The meeting is Thursday (Mar 23) from 5:00 to 6:30 at the College of St Catherine’s. It’s free. If you’re interested please let me know and I’ll send more details.

Patrick is truly an expert on James Joyce. We normally have tech –related speaker but though this would be fun for March.

Have a great Freedom of Information Day tomorrow & St Patrick’s Day on Friday! 

I am very pleased to have a guest Byte writer this week. Some of you know the author; many will recognize the name – Mary Treacy as she’s my aunt. I’m posting this a little early so that anyone interested in attending the event at St Kate’s will have time to RSVP. If you want more details on the event at St Kate’s, please let me know and I’ll pass them on.

Thanks! Ann

The calendar notwithstanding, the week of March 13-19, 2006 is Sunshine Week, thus declared by a host of press, library, education and government watchdogs committed to Freedom of Information. The week wraps around Freedom of Information Day, historically celebrated by these same groups on March 16, the birth date of James Madison, fierce defender of access and an informed citizenry. (Local note: The faithful will gather at Coeur de Catherine Center at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul on the evening of March 16 (6:00-8:00) to honor the awardee and commemorate the occasion.)

Seems like a good time to consider a wide range of issues – the role of a free press, public libraries as an essential resource, privacy, open government, information access and information literacy in a democracy.

There are countless resources on the web: Many that were originally developed for the press of practical use to a broad constituency. The Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri (www.foi.missouri.edu ) is a good starting point, reflecting the diverse National Freedom of Information Coalition. Two other sites concentrate on the press angle, but offer tools that can be used by any organization or individual interested in forging through the legal, technological and political jungle.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (www.rofp.org)  and the Student Press Law Center (www.splc.org) both offer concrete tips and useful tools for anyone who wants info on open records or meetings FOIA or issues in the post 9/11 era. There’s a ton of information, including the essential “How to File an FOIA Request,” on the First Amendment Center website (www.firstamendmentcenter.org)

Anyone who intends to instigate some local action should check the Sunshine
Week website (http://www.sunshineweek.org) for a downloadable copy of the 72-page “Bright Ideas” book featuring promo ideas in every format for any audience. Watch for PSA’s on TV and radio and a PBS NOW one-hour special on March 17 which will focus on the erosion of open government through the stories of whistleblowers. (If March 17 isn’t a TV-news-viewing-night for you, it will most likely be broadcast.)

Submitted by Mary Treacy for the Minnesota Coalition on Government
Information (MnCogi) www.mncogi.org

Two quick items this week. One is related to what I actually do; the otherisn’t.

Search Engine Ranking Tool http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/ranking-reports/ 

If you have a web site – one of your goals is to make sure that customerscan find you easily with the search engines. This online tool will let youtype in your web site address and a couple of potential search terms andwill then tell you how you rank with seven of the top search engines,including Google, Yahoo and MSN. I use a tool like this (except my tool iskind of expensive) when I assess web sites.

Coleen Rowley gave a presentation to a group of librarians yesterday. Shespoke on balancing civil liberties and security and she was just great. Shehas a chapter on that topic online at:http://www.coleenrowley.com/documents/CivilLiberties.doc.  I won’t sayanything else – but I know lots of people on this list are interested in allaspects of information and I think her take on the freedom of information isfun to hear or read.

(I will admit that I’m member of the librarian groupand arranged the meeting for yesterday so I’m also thankful to Coleen fortaking the time to talk to us.)

My apologies to the folks outside Minnesota, but I have been directly and indirectly working on some events around the Twin Cities that I thought locals might find of interest. For everyone – Rick in Minneapolis expanded on last week’s Byte on Google Alerts by pointing out that you could monitor your own name to see who’s talking about you!

Here are the events:

Podcasts, Wikis, RSS, and Blogs with Garrick Van Buren – Tuesday July 12 5:00-6:30 – St. Paul, Minnesota

Garrick Van Buren Principal Behavior Strategist at Working Pathways Inc, a social software consulting and customer research firm will be talking about pocasts, wikis, and blogs. There is no cost. To learn more contact atreacy@treacyinfo.com.

International Symposium on Local E-Democracy- July 26-27 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

This is the world’s first international conference focused specifically on local e-democracy. The first day we’ll explore leading e-democracy trends around the world. The second day is a field trip to the “wired” chambers of the Minnesota State Legislature and Northfield, one of Minnesota’s forerunners in online civic engagement.

Minnesota Rural Summit – July 28-29 – Collegeville, Minnesota

The Great Reconnect – Bridging Rural & Urban Resources for Community & Economic Success. This is conference will showcase efforts that link community and economic resources between rural and urban Minnesota for the greater good of all. To learn more visit the conference web site.

Today’s Byte is for anyone who ever plans conferences. (For those who don’t, here’s a quick link to kids’ worksheets. It kept my kids going for hours during spring break.) Back to the conference planners…

Last month I worked with an online registration service that was new to me – Regonline. As the name implies, it facilitates online registration for events. It’s not free. The cost is a few dollars per registrant add 5% transaction fee IF you use them as a merchant account to accept credit cards. We were really happy with it – so happy that even though it wasn’t free I’m writing about it here.

Of the 100+ registrants, only one had trouble using Regonline – and she eventually figured it out. Attendees received an automated email confirmation of registration and were able to modify their registration at any point with an assigned password. Attendees could register and/or pay on site.

All of the conference planners had access to the registration and attendees through the web site. I could run reports and post them on a password-protected web site for the less technical or less involved planners. It was easy to set up name tags, tickets, and a voucher system. There were a lot of lodging options that we didn’t use.

So, there you go – - an unsolicited (and unrewarded) plug for Regonline for conference planners. (They appear to do member management too – but I can’t speak to that service.)