This weekend was Pittsburgh Podcamp 4. The first
podcamp was a down home kind of thing concerned mostly with do-it-yourself
instructions for podcasting, blogging and using video. I had already been
blogging for 2 years and I wasn’t really interested in podcasting, but it was
fun. People were nice and I learned some new stuff. I never got to 2 or 3; I
was in Japan or somewhere. Podcamp has grown up and evolved. Five hundred people were signed up for this
one. The people are still nice, although much more businesslike than those
original geeky types. It all ran very smoothly and was much more sophisticated.
Technical discussions were limited or non-existent. Do-it-yourself concerned
using social media and focused on content, with lots of concerns about marketing. One of my goals in attending was to learn more
about Twitter. I did, not because there was a class about it, but whole thing
seemed to run on Twitter.

The most impressive presentation was given by Priya Narasimhan, a
professor at Carnegie Mellon. She just blew me away. I don’t know whether it
was who she is, what she is doing, or the fact that she became a sports fan
when she got to Pittsburgh, probably all three. This fandom has driven the product she created, Yinzcam, an enhancement, using your mobile device, to your ice hockey game experience. Here is a brief version of the speech she gave us, which I found on YouTube. She made this presentation in August. If they get her presentation up on the Podcamp website, it's worth watching. There's a lot more about edemocrary and iburgh.

http://www.youtube.com/v/T6FqKLjefu0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0

The idea for iburgh, the second device she speaks about, evidently came from City Councilor Bill Peduto, who gave the keynote address on Saturday morning. He talked about using the information on the web to make government more transparent, something sorely lacking in the 'burgh. Peduto's presentation is also worth watching.

I met Amie, who sometimes comments on my blog. That was really fun. She's the second of my blogging friends I've met in person. Also took a class called "Refinding Your Blog Voice." Maybe it will help me post more often. All told a good weekend.