Social Honeycomb

A Tiny Taste of PodCamp NYC 2.0, Amandalana Style

I met Alana Taylor, of Twitter song fame, on Saturday at PodCamp NYC 2.0. She whipped out her Flip and we made a moment. Check it out:

Twitter, What Are You Doing?

Twitter has been a brat for the past couple days. I’m only getting a couple people’s updates, and I know I’m not the only one having problems. I feel so abandoned.

Boo, Twitter. You suck this weekend.

I Hulu, Do You?

I don’t know what my problem is. I got my Hulu beta invite back in December, and I never really used my account until recently. I don’t know why I waited around neglecting my access, but I’m glad I finally got on board. Oh, and don’t worry–if you never got an invite, it’s all good. Hulu came out of private beta on March 12, 2008 so now you can (and should) sign yo’self on up.

For those of you who aren’t already using Hulu, it’s a place to watch TV and movie content online. Why do I like it? You can create a “queue” of videos which acts sort of like a DVR function, so you can have your content ready and waiting for you when you want it. The video quality is great on my MacBook Pro, and Hulu makes it easy to watch your content in different ways. You can watch shows and movies directly in the Hulu tab of your browser or you can pop the content out into its own window. This is good if you want to resize the video box or minimize other distractions, with the additional option of muting and dimming the light on the rest of your browser. There’s even an embed feature so you can share your online videos–in their entirety or as a selected clip. It’s all very simple, with a pretty UI to boot. I must admit, I’m a fan.

Hulu’s gotten all sorts of press over the past year, in everything from Fortune and BusinessWeek to Wired and PC World. And of course, the blogosphere has buzzed about the service as well. Hulu’s got the sticky and the buzz part down. I read this morning that Hulu may be jumping from my laptop to my mobile phone in the near future. As someone who gets antsy if she hasn’t touched her phone in the past 30 seconds, I’m interested to see where this goes and how it looks once it’s implemented. When and if Hulu is available on my iPhone, you may see me on the bus or the train in Boston, giggling at Michael Scott or gasping at Jack Bauer.

Now I know not everyone likes Hulu, and some prefer other online video sites like Joost and Fancast. If you want to watch TV shows or movies online, where do you go? What do you think of Hulu now, and what value might the service bring to your mobile content consumption? Online video, nom nom nom.

Students + Cameras + Community = Press Pass TV

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Boston Public School teacher Gabriel Mugar, who is the founder of Press Pass TV, a group started in 2004 to work with local middle and high school students on the production of civic-minded video journalism.

The idea behind PPTV is to promote positive community identity and engagement in both the viewers and the student producers. These local kids are using their talents to communicate with the world around them in new and positive ways. I think Gabriel’s group is inspiring and very much in line with my view of creating a stronger, brighter, fuller future in the communities we find around us.

So, how did PPTV start?

I started volunteering in an after school program in Roxbury in 2004, helping out with a fledgling video production program. During this time I got to know the students and learned about the many challenges in their lives. One of the things that bothered me more than anything was that, on top of these daily challenges, the local news and entertainment media did not provide much hope or inspiration to overcome these challenges. As I got more involved with the community, it became very clear that the news media was overlooking all of the individuals, initiatives and organizations doing incredible things here. I thought that it would be nice to inject some positive content into the local news spectrum, something that made people feel better about the community they live in.

Let’s talk about creating and building futures. What are your hopes and goals for the students involved with PPTV?

My hope is that the students become more aware of all of the great things going on in their community and hopefully inspire their viewers to get involved in civic activities. On a more practical level, the goal of the program is to empower students with the skills needed to produce their own video news stories. Although the program is currently only within Boston, my goal is to have this expand to a nationwide network (or create a network between existing groups across the country so that they are producing similar content). The hope is that so much positive content is produced that it counteracts the stifling effects of negative reporting on local communities.

How are your students using their involvement in the program to further their own futures?

One student is going to Emerson College, and others would like to attend college for communications. Some are doing two years at community college with hopes of transferring to a solid four year communications program. One success story that comes to mind is that one of my students became so proficient in Final Cut Pro that he taught college students and a new hire at a local network station how to use the program. It’s been four years now–I’ve worked with more than 100 students, produced more than 40 stories and am about to release the fourth 30-minute show.

I know the program thrives on volunteer support, so how can my readers become involved?

If your local readers have basic video journalism production skills (and I mean basic, i.e. know how to frame a shot), they could volunteer to produce a news segment with a few students. Equipment is provided, along with support from myself. Your readers can also help out by letting others know about the program and the volunteer opportunities, which they can learn more about on our Team Advisor page.

If you’re inspired by Gabriel and his Press Pass TV initiative, I encourage you to check out ways to become involved, as well as the content the students have been creating. I am looking forward to seeing these students develop the program and use new media tools to inspire and communicate with their viewers. It’s great to see kids building on interests and talents to bring something new to the table when it comes to media, news and content creation.

Today’s Honey: March 29, 2008

Love and technology.

Twitter: Get Well Cards 2.0

So, I spent last night in the hospital, where I found out I have a UTI (don’t get any ideas, it isn’t from what you’re thinking) and a kidney infection in my left kidney.

When I tweeted this last night, I had no idea I would receive such an outpouring of kindness, concern and get-well wishes from my friends and followers. Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing your messages made me feel almost as good as the Percocet did. Really, it was heartwarming. There is no way I could ever properly thank you all.

Last night and today, Twitter was my mailbag of get well cards, minus the cheesy artwork and envelopes. And the best part about these “cards” is that they’ll never get lost or thrown out. I was really blown away by how many people reached out just to say they were thinking of me. Below is just a smattering of goodness (edited together very poorly) from some of the wonderful, caring people in my Twitter network:

To everyone who tweeted and sent DMs, you helped me so much when I was feeling terrible. I can’t thank you enough: @skalik, @caseysoftware, @britrock, @pamelump, @dmitrigunn, @jdeverter, @nathansnell, @whojaybe, @rondean, @beckymccray, @ariedana, @taxman45, @etesla, @bruno1378, @jentaro, @jpostman, @cechastain, @conniereece, @susanreynolds, @profr, @timcoyne, @davedelaney, @theburbblog, @dougmeacham, @nazgul, @lisaa123, @ikitty, @tibbon, @alexa, @sbspalding, @jackhodgson, @bigtc, @mattjmcd, @sarahwurrey, @robertcollins, @ialbert, @podcastmama, @vanhoosear, @repcor, @albertmaruggi, @jyarmis, @techpickles, @mobasoft, @bpolensky, @dartagnan373, @disruptive, @strutting, @amyyen, @gregverdino, @hooeyspewer, @travis9to5, @cspenn, @jaffejuice, @uberrob, @jayberkowitz, @chelpixie, @spiver and @tdefren.

Jay Hathaway is the Illest

Maybe you noticed the cool new graphic in the Social Honeycomb header. I personally think it’s really sweet. And I have Jay Hathaway (non-evil version) to thank for it.

I wanted to take a second to thank Jay, who, besides being awesome while writing for Suicide Girls, Download Squad and his personal blog fysigunkus, is a wonderful friend. If you don’t know Jay, you should. He’s a cool cat. And he made Social Honeycomb look way cool.

Below, please see Jay and fellow social media troublemaker Michael “Giannii” Calvert in action. Thanks again, Jay! Deez b mah boyz, yo. Enjoy.

Today’s Honey: February 6, 2008

Roisin Murphy’s stage presence is confident and subtly sexy. She performs her song “Sinking Feeling” with a jazzed up energy that is cool and infectious. Thoughts?

Slowly Figuring Out My MBP

Wanted to share my first, feeble attempt at using iMovie. I get geekier by the day. Le sigh…

Yay for Career-Starting

I can haz jobs?