Here's the video from my December visit to the Microsoft Campus in Thames Valley, Reading.

I went to contribute to an internal broadcast panel discussion about podcasting. The panel event was part of an internal project organized by Microsoft employees, under the banner 'Academy Mobile'. Also taking part were Dave Coplin, Pete Cogle, and Tony Cocks.

At the invitation of Microsoft employee and fellow podcaster Pete Cogle, I traveled to Reading today to visit the Microsoft Campus in Thames Valley. I was there to contribute to an internal broadcast panel discussion about the utility, value and methodology of podcasting.

The campus is huge, (think retail shopping park) and the complex of buildings is woven together by a maze of long light corridors and triangular staircases, branching off into various offices, recreation rooms and specialist areas. When you're inside, it almost feels as if you're entered a highly compact high-tech village.

The panel events are part of a project organized by Microsoft employees, under the banner 'Academy Mobile'. The aim is to promote podcasting inside the company and encourage its wider adoption. Despite enduring a freezing cold 5 am start from Huddersfield and the fact I was operating on two hours sleep, it still proved to be a very interesting, enjoyable and worthwhile excursion.

Thanks to Pete, Dave and Tony and once the link surfaces for the video, I'll post it here.

Apologies to any regular visitors to this site for the lack of content in recent weeks. After the death of my Mum at the end of July, I decided to take a break from regular blogging and podcasting for a while. I will be back with new content in the very near future. In the meantime, I'd like to thank you for your continued interest in this website and inform you that I'll be back with some new and exciting content very soon.

In a month which saw me scrabbling around to sort out so many things; from bank accounts and finances, to logistics, press releases, fax numbers, piles of e-mail, food budgets, equipment, timetables and bar tabs, I passed almost invisible through the centre of the storm of activity chat, networking, socializing and web content schmoozing that was the PodCampUK.

Coming at the end of a month in which my Mum died, PodCampUK, (even though I'd spent almost a year organizing it), was an exciting, but exhausting experience. I was surprised at how disconnected I felt at times during the weekend. Speaking to others who have been in a similar position, most notably Neil Dixon, Alex Bellinger and Paul Nicholls; all of whom participated in organizing two PodcastConUK events during the past few years - I discovered they had all felt the same mix of elation, exhaustion and detachment whilst those conferences were occurring.

So many good things happened at PodCampUK. The conversations were full and interesting, the wifi worked reliably, the video-streaming  ran really well, (thanks to the able efforts of Mr Phil 'dm' Campbell), the food was great, and the Saturday night social event was inspired by the brilliantly optimistic music of Esteban and the mashed-up goodness of DJ sets from Tim Baker's Radio Clash and Irelands Brian Greene.  `Everybody enjoyed themselves. I lost count of the number of times I shook hands, smiled, laughed and hugged.



It takes a lot of energy to organize an event like this. Already I can see how we could have improved it. But right now, with PodcampUK  almost over bar the accounting, having returned home from almost a month spent with my father and family, my energy levels are low. I'm all web 2.0'ed out! I need a little time for recharging and reflecting and I need to ensure that all the great people who provided us with food, drink, wifi and comfy seats, get paid! I'm really happy that the planning, dreaming, organizing and scheming needed to bring it all about, culminated in 80-90 people having such a blast. To everyone who helped to make THAT scenario possible thank you!

All of the links for video, pictures and other media are now beginning to appear on the wiki, so that's where to go for after camp cookies!

Here's my favorite photo from the weekend:

I'm making last-minute preparations for PodCamp UK, before traveling down to Birmingham on Friday morning, to oversee the final set-up for this weekend's event. Our PodCamp is booked into the New Technology Institute (NTI), located in the heart of Birmingham city centre and will be taking place on September 1st and 2nd.

The fun will then spill over into the Saturday evening, with what shows every sign of being a social occasion to remember. The evening event  takes place at the Aston Business Conference Centre, only a short walk away from the NTI. The party venue has the added bonus of being the main hotel for our Podcamp - all of which means we won't have far to travel from the party floor to the comfort of our hotel beds!

We'll have musical entertainment from the band Esteban and two excellent  DJ sets; the first from Tim Baker, (Radio Clash) and the second from Ireland's Brian Greene, which will provide great music for our camp. FREE drinks are also available for as long as our bar credit holds! This will provide an opportunity for everyone to get together in a spirited party atmosphere.

So many people have helped out with time, effort and money to make this event the reality it is soon to become, but I'd particularly like to thank the following:

Linda Mills, Dean Whitbread, Phil Campbell, and Simon Toon. For sharing your talents and the organizational load and for committing countless hours, ideas, opinions and enormous energy to the project. You guys rock, excepting Dean, who told me this morning, "I don't rock, I boogie!"

Neil, Oliver and Merlinda and the staff at the NTI Birmingham, for their first class professionalism and their unswerving dedication in helping to ensure we have the best possible venue in which to hold PodCamp UK. Victoria Allnatt at the Aston Conference Centre for her help with the evening event.

Our sponsors - Cheeze, Podcast Nation, Wells Park, Digital Central, Jeff Pulver, Blogtv, BT Podshow, Bliptv, Pod3.tv, Techsmith and Node101. Without your generous support, we wouldn't be able to afford the kind of PodCamp we are looking forward to this weekend.

For me personally, it's been an enormous education organizing so many aspects of this event. I've learned more about people, podcasting and new-media in general than I ever imagined possible when I started with this process last year. I've also learned quite a bit about myself. I've made some great friends, met and talked with some wonderful people and come to believe that with enough energy, dedication, enthusiasm and a stubborn desire to overcome whatever obstacles the road throws up at you, some pretty amazing things can be made to happen.

As I write this, I'm listening back to the conversations I had with Chris Penn and Chris Brogan for this site back in February and March when this idea was still only a few months old. I've since met both of these great guys in person at Podcamp Europe and having given my own time and effort to the PodCamp cause and been involved with this since back in December 06, I 'm even more impressed by what the PodCamp community has already become. Without the efforts you both have made we wouldn't be here right now. Thanks to you both for all the hard work and time you've given to the PodCamp cause.

Since the first event, (Podcamp Boston) back in September 2006, there have been 16 PodCamps organized around the world. Each has added something unique to the mix and each, has brought together more people, in the wonderfully informal spirit of open learning and participatory community that these events embody. Including our own event, there are 4 PodCamps due in various locations around the world in the month of September alone - One of these is PodCamp Ireland on September 29th. There are more slated on the PodCamp wiki in Canada, the USA, South Africa and Australia.

It's really inspiring to see how the PodCamp movement is growing. It's become an empowering grassroots force for positive learning, sharing and networking in the new media space; in the process, PodCamp's are helping many more people get involved in creating their own media, sharing their ideas, creativity and passion with each other. It's something pretty special really.

It's for these reasons and many others, that I'm so proud to be involved in helping to make an event like this happen in the UK. I believe that the unconference model, based upon creating open learning spaces, with its emphasis on encouraging genuine participation, spontaneity and self organizing community, is a great approach for those of us involved in online media. We learn from each other,we share what we know and we grow our community outwards together, from a grassroots base. It works and it's beautiful.

I hope to see you at Podcamp UK!

Here's the podcast portion of this month's exclusive in-depth interview with the one man media empire that is Eric Rice. Eric is featured in the August edition of Podcast User Magazine and designed the cover for this brilliant edition .



Thanks to Eric for all the time and energy he put into this piece and for answering the door every time I rang his virtual bell! The result is a fascinating series of conversations, taking place on multiple platforms and excavating well below the surface of the current new media landscape.

Visit Podcast User Magazine to read the rest of the interview and check out this wonderful edition. It's full of great articles, insightful interviews, news, reviews and so much more.

Thanks to Eric, Paul H and Linda, for all their time, energy and input, in helping to make this idea fly.



MP3 File

I'm delighted that PodcampUK is continuing its beautiful advance towards becoming two days of totally happening new-media Unconference on September 1 & 2, at the New Technology Institute (NTI) in central Birmingham. After many months of hard work, the event is now moving rapidly moving forward . Back in January, it felt like we were rolling a very heavy rock uphill, recently help has arrived in droves - the cavalry are riding in!

The list of people taking part continues to grow daily, bringing with them a more diverse range of skills, experiences and talents. New sponsors keep appearing and we are pushing ever closer to that 'paid in full' moment - when we will all finally be able to heave a collective sigh of relief at having 'covered the costs' of what is actually quite an expensive 'free to attend'  two day event!

Right now, we're focused on promoting it as widely as possible and getting the word out to people who aren't the 'typical crowd' you'd expect to find at this type of event. Podcasting, blogging, videoblogging and new-media, are not just a fancy buzzwords, or tools for geeks and technology gurus. They represent a new-wave of easy to use, open-access, relatively low cost communication technologies; a way that anyone can communicate and share with an audience the things they care passionately about.

PodcampUK is about promoting these wonderful tools to the widest possible audience. It's about sharing what we knowwith each other as individuals and as a wider community and it's about encouraging new people to get involved in these technologies. Creating media rather than just consuming it. If this sounds like something you'd like to get involved in SIGN-UP now - for the best two days of FREE Unconference in the UK. We'd be genuinely delighted to have you be part of it!

I'm pleased to confirm this week that I'm joining one of the UK's most innovative new-media companies, Talking Voices. This is a natural outgrowth of creative business and personal relationships which have been evolving in my life over several months. It's the right move at the right time.

I've been looking for a place where I can share my talents and enthusiasms; for creating podcasts; writing blogs; exploring the relational power of social-media networks and participating in the exciting development of virtual worlds. In coming to know the people behind this company and seeing the way they think about the new-media space, I've found such a place.
 
Talking Voices is made up of a talented ensemble of producers and content creators. They understand how to incubate ideas and how to use the power of the web to create conversations and evolve the visibility and profile of a business on the web. It's a fascinating place to work, every day brings new challenges. I'm delighted to have become a part of it and looking forward to the months ahead.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning I did a piece for BBC Radio Five Live's 'Pods & Blogs'  part of the highly regarded 'Up all Night' show. The presenter Rhod Sharp devised the shows format for its network launch in 1994 and his experience shows. He's someone who sounds effortlessly relaxed speaking into a microphone. He hears things once and he's ready to roll; like a musician feeling the riff and instinctively knowing the key. That's a valuable skill, especially in the live broadcasting business.

It seems to me, that the hardest thing about working within the radio programme format is it's strict emphasis on concision. Everything needs to be snappy. You pare your content to the to the bare bone and serve it, with no frills and no extra dressing. You make your point and you move on. Don't waste your breath and most importantly, don't waste the airtime.

That's a great lesson when you're telling a story, it keeps it interesting. It  helps you to find the stories real heart and it allows the audience to stay engaged. The point is to make your point. Take your hand luggage, forget about the suitcase!

You can hear my segment here.

Uberblogger and podcasting pioneer Mr Dave Winer has been having some fun with creating audio 'tweets' in Twitter. After reading his blog and visiting this site. I did the same thing! Currently all posts must be under 200k which at a 64k recording resolution adds up to only 25 seconds. Also you can't post more than one audio tweet every 10 minutes.

Great fun, or as Mr Deek Deekster stated earlier "pointless"? I'm not sure yet. No doubt if someone finds a point, they'll tell us all about it on Twitter! If you'd like to add anything to this conversation leave the url of your twittergram here and I'll link to it below. Alternatively, behave in a curmudgeonly fashion and simply type something in the comments box!

Here's my first! :)
Deeks Tweet!

The Open Rights Group (ORG) has published its report into the e-voting and e-counting election pilots during the recent English and Scottish elections in May 2007.

The report highlights "systemic problems" and  a disturbing level of incompetence, fragility and insecurity in the entire process. It raises what ORG believes are "serious concerns" about the the suitability of e-voting and e-counting technologies. The report points out. "E-voting is a black-box system, where the mechanisms for recording and tabulating the vote are hidden from the voter."

Some of the numerous flaws observed in the system by ORG observers were:

Unreliable (and in some cases non-functioning) laptops with intermittent  connectivity.

Systems left unsecured and unguarded, providing opportunities for malicious attack or modification.

Inability on behalf of local authority staff to understand key technical aspects of the technology involved.

Technicians observed using USB keys to transfer files between computers, leading to opportunities to modify the software in unauthorized ways.

Software and hardware suppliers allowed to introduce undocumented and unaudited software changes - a process which continued on Election day.

A complete lack of transparency in the server systems used to tabulate the election data. 

Numerous vulnerabilities to content modification and scripting attacks.

The use of software with known security vulnerabilities.

Modifications implemented by technicians that had no defined audit trail.
 Laptops removed by officials and taken home less than a day before the election process.

Numerous reports of error messages by voters and servers that were found to be inaccessible.

The full report can be downloaded here. ORG activist Glyn Wintle discussed some of these issues in a recent Citizen Scoop. (See below)

A few of the participants at PodCamp Europe tell you exactly what they got out of being there.



MP3 File

Just a quick plug before I unplug for a 5 day trip to Venice with family. I'm currently involved in a collaborative project called 'unradio'. The project aims to explore the differences between podcasting and radio. It also aims to be a lot of fun!

Episode one features a conversation between myself, Dean Whitbread and Ewan Spence

Tune into unradio1 here.

I recently contributed a promo piece to the excellent 'Podcast Tasters' CD. The project was sponsored by the digital marketing agency Cheeze, in association with UK Podcast directory site Podcast Nation. It brings together an eclectic mix of voices from the UK podcast world with the singular aim of promoting UK podcasting to a wider audience.

It's user friendly, brilliantly produced and showcases both the diversity of content available and the quality of work now being produced in this medium. I  spent some time with the Cheeze team at last weeks internet event in London, working alongside Talking Voices  promoting the complilation. The response from the public was universally positive. The CD also contains a nice plug for PodCampUK, which is no bad thing!

It's online here should you care  to listen.

I'm currently spending quite a lot of time working on PodCampUK. For those of you who don't know, a PodCamp is a free 2-day ‘unconference’ experience, dedicated to the sharing of information around social media tools, audio and video podcasting, blogging, and more.

These aren't your typical conferences full of talking head and rows of silent listeners; the philosophy of a PodCamp is different!  At PodCamp, the participants lead the sessions, suggest the topics and give the talks!  At PodCamp, the participants are the experts!

The first event was held in Boston USA on 9-10 September 2007, the concept is now spreading worldwide. PodCamps have been held in America, Canada, Denmark and Germany and VON Europe has recently agreed to sponsor PodCamp Europe in Stockholm, on 12-13 June. Events are even taking place inside popular virtual worlds like Second-Life. There are plans afoot for a PodCamp on a cruise ship and new event ideas spring up on public wiki's almost very week.

So, imagine a room full of audio/video podcasters, enthusiasts, business-people, hobbyists, musicians, promoters, marketers, and people who just generally want to understand more about new media. Then imagine them all talking together; sharing information, giving presentations, putting spontaneous events together, socializing and getting to know one another, teaching what they know, networking their knowledge and experience. That’s the power of a Podcamp, that’s the “wisdom of the crowd!”

The main principles of a PodCamp event are:

• Share information, knowledge and methodology
• Develop relationships and build community
• Grow the new-media community out

All video and audio recordings of PodCamp sessions are made available online under a Creative Commons License, accessible to everyone for free.  There are a  few broad rules about how the event should be run, but in general, the principal is to be as inclusive as possible, keep them free to attend and open then to everyone encouraging a culture of participation and sharing, rather than one of simple attendance and consumption.

Despite some organizational teething troubles, planning for the first ever PodCampUK event is well underway and moving steadily forward toward a 2-day event in the midlands or north west in the first weekend of September.

We've been fortunate in gaining early support from great sponsors, in the form of digital marketing agency Cheeze and UK podcast directory site Podcast Nation. We've also received enthusiastic support from the UK's non-profit podcast association the UKPA and PodCast User Magazine and are very confident that together we can bring this great event to the UK.

Today sees the launch of our audioblog on the PodCampUK website, this will provide regular news and updates for people looking to get involved in both organizing and attending. We already have some great people, but you can never have too many campers at a PodCamp!

If you'd like to be a part of the UK's first ever PodCamp and contribute to the growth of new media community here in Britain,  please head over to the wiki and sign-up. Leave a comment or suggestion and help make it the great event event it deserves to be.

If you have any ideas about what you'd like to see there, a talk or a presentation you'd like to give, some skills or resources you'd like to share we'd be delighted to hear from you. Leave a comment or e-mail us at podcampuk@gmail.com. If you can contribute in any way, have something positive to say, want to sponsor the event, or simply want to make this great community better for everyone involved, then let us know you're out there - we'd love to talk to you!

PodCampUK is going to be a blast! How do I know that? Because the talent, creativity and energy that exists in the creative online community is simply amazing to behold. We've barely scratched the surface of what we can achieve. So, grab your camping gear and join us over on the wiki, because this is one campsite with real room to grow. The media of the future is participatory. It's ours to make happen. Join us and lets make something beautiful happen!

Citizen Scoop talks with Glyn Wintle, activist and volunteer with the UK's Open Rights Group. (ORG)


ORG's mission is to raise awareness in the media of digital rights abuses; provide a media clearing house connecting journalists with experts and activists, preserve and extend traditional civil liberties in the digital world, collaborate with other digital rights and related organizations and nurture a community of campaigning volunteers, grassroots activists and technical and legal experts.

In this show Glyn talks about how digital rights management issues (DRM) affects consumers and independent content creators and discusses the governments recent high level review of intellectual property.

He highlights serious current concerns being raised about the governments plans to implement a large scale trial of e-voting technologies in the upcoming local elections in May and discusses the difference between e-voting and e-democracy.

Finally he raises some important issues in the areas of privacy, surveillance and the future of personal freedom and discusses the ethical and social ramifications of a large scale program using biometric fingerprinting technology on children in the state school system.

Links:

Open Rights Group
NO2ID
Leave Them Kids Alone
ORG E-voting

MP3 File

Look it's a Britcaster Twitter! Rising phoenix like from its forum ashes to spread love peace and harmony throughout the UK podosphere!  Bringing tears to the ears of old-timers and tingles to the ears of the many new friends it will no doubt make in its new incarnation!

Come on, don't be a twit or hang about, add it to your twitter friends list and find out when those Brit podcasters have new shows out!!

Citizen Scoop chats with Martin Devaughn AKA 'Green Dragon', the UK's longest serving podcaster, about music, working for BTPodshow and the ups and down's of life in the podcasting world.




Martin produces the unsigned new music show 'Bite Size Bonus' from Monday to Friday and spends his Saturday's creating 'The High Octane Rock Show' - which he describes simply as "music to make your ears bleed!" However, instead of taking Sunday's off, he simply gets his listeners to vote for their favorite songs from his weekly show and puts this mixture out under the title 'Pick & Mix'

He transmits daily from a location in Hollyhead north Wales he calls "Typhoid Towers" - describes himself as easily bored and readily admits to being both a rubbish bass guitarist and a fair-weather camper!

Music from:

Head in the Shed - 'Why' (Rock Mix)
Deltawave - 'Tear it Up'


MP3 File