Continuing the conversation, by Jeffrey Veen

Continuing the conversation

I had a minor epiphany during a panel discussion at SxSW this week. After a lively discussion with my fellow panelists, I started taking questions from the audience. I called on someone and got the question I get at literally every session I participate in: ""Hey, this was such a great conversation, it would be a shame to see it end with this conference. We should really find a forum or listserv to keep it going!"

I agree with the sentiment, of course. Why not keep like minds collaborating together after the physical event has ended. But the mechanism usually fails -- they require everyone go and do something and remember to keep doing it. With rare exceptions, these well-intentioned communities just don't take off.

So I said so, but offered an alternative. "Post your thoughts on your blog. Tag it 'sxsw' and we'll find it and comment on our blogs." It's what Technorati founder Dave Sifry is always talking about -- the conversation in the blogosphere.

I don't know if participation would be any better if people did this. But I know I'm a lot more likely to post to my blog than to a less open community. I own my words here, and offer up no personal data to post them.

That said, I offer these links to the presentations from my panelists. Please link back. Continue the conversation:

Don Turnbull, University of Texas School of Information
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~donturn/solipsism-donturn.ppt

Thomas Vander Wall, INDUS Corp.
http://vanderwal.net/essays/pic/sxsw2005/personalinfomgt.pdf

Tantek Çelik, Technorati
http://tantek.com/presentations/2005/03/leveragingtags.html

Me, Adaptive Path
http://adaptivepath.com/events/sxsw/solipsism.pdf

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 18 March 2005 at 7:41 AM. It was filed under Technology.

Comments

1. On 18 March 2005 at 8:10 AM Kevin Lawver wrote:

You're welcome to use my wiki for this if you want... I've already got my notes from the panel up there, with links to a few others'.

2. On 18 March 2005 at 9:06 AM Jeff wrote:

It's interesting that you posted this now. I was at your Qualitative vs Quantitative (pant's on fire) panel. Now, back at my job I have been given the task of gathering information (with researchers) from a national audience on disability issues (employment, housing, health care). So after recruiting the audience, we will have a webcast/teleconference, then try to solicit more discussion after. I wish I could use Technorati or a Wiki, but the audience is going to be very lo-fi. Plus we have the accessibility issues to deal with. As it stands now I think we will set up a message board to use after the discussions and then the researchers will moderate and try and push the discussion forward to get to some useful material. I think this is an ok method, but if anybody has any suggestions for better methods, I'm all ears.

Also, I've been to the SXSW the last two years, and you have been one of my favorite presenters both years.

3. On 18 March 2005 at 4:14 PM Vinu Murugesan wrote:

Hi Jeff, Collective Prose (at http://collectiveprose.com ) might be what you're looking for. Essentially, its a place where you can share your thoughts about anything in a simple way and by using tags. Perhaps best of all, you own everything your write.

While you make a good point that some people maybe more comfortable posting on their own blogs, not everyone has a blog, and not everyone can take the time to maintain a blog. I know lots of people who were enthused about starting their blogs and then within a couple days or weeks, their enthusiasm winds down and they stop blogging because its too much work to maintain, or they don't feel like writing anymore. In this sense, Collective Prose is, I believe, a better approach. It's blogging without the technicalities.

4. On 19 March 2005 at 11:22 AM donturn wrote:

Thanks for the post Jeff, but that's "Turnbull" with a "u" and "Vander Wal".

5. On 19 March 2005 at 11:35 AM veen wrote:

*sigh*

I had Tantek's name wrong for a few hours, too. I'm just thankful our society makes a place for those of us unable to track the details.

But hey, thanks for the great comments on the panel, Don!

6. On 19 March 2005 at 1:12 PM Paul Terry Walhus wrote:

You can use the ancient Spring for doing this if you like. It's old as the hills but still serves some purpose as a meeting place.
There's a topic at http://spring.net/sxsw

7. On 20 March 2005 at 10:45 AM xian wrote:

Yes, and you can my [insert yet another place to log in and / or set up an account and then probably forget to check ever again] ... but I think the point Veen made in the panel and here in his blog is that he (and we) can continue the conversation doing exactly what we're doing right now.