Without a Yard

To add to the infinite supply #G20+Twitter armchair quarterbacking, wanted to highlight some creative media that illustrate the power of integrating funny messages into online advocacy.

The history using humor in civil & human rights advocacy is long…& arguably could include the gonzo journalism/satire of Hunter S. Thompson & Youth International Party hijinx of Abbie Hoffman…but what was exceptional about the use of humor in/after the G20 was the speed with which witty slogans, signs & chants traveled thanks to online video, social networks & twitter.

Not only are the surreal exchanges between protesters & police captured, streamed & shared in realtime, there is a posturing among the posse acknowledging that they are staging their own viral-version of a Heritage Moment.

My favourite was the ‘Riot Suit Remix’ by Drown Radio, featured on Laughing Squid:

An impetus to integrate slicker, catchier, more timely, and funnier videos will be felt my many advocacy organizations in the months ahead.  Last week, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that, thanks to broadband penetration, sprawling content options and the capabilities of smartphones, video viewership has increased exponentially since 2007 (now 7/10 adults view or download videos online).

More interesting than this ‘no duh’ stat is that both political and humorous ‘genre’ vids have doubled viewership rates. Political videos held the attention of 15% of online users in 2007 and now reach 30%; and comedic/humorous videos were accessed by 31% of internet surfers in 2007 and now are screened by 50% of adults online.

When it comes to creating & uploading videos, gender and age parity is starting to emerge, though men are still more likely to be watching video content online than women.  Overall the younger, wealthier and more educated users access vids, which correlates with broadband connectivity and hardware capabilities.

Let’s sign off with an ode to ‘the best movie about a start up ever’ & a nod to my family history of working to promote literacy (not that my writing style would reflect this…).  In May, the fine folks at Improv Everywhere wanted to show the NYC library patrons that their public resource was in jeopardy, and to capture a stunt on digifilm to share with the world, create some buzz, corral supporters & pressure the decision-makers.  Be sure hop over to the IE blog for a full write-up of the ‘mission’:

Would love for anyone to plunk in their fav humo(u)r+advocacy examples in the comment field.  Was going to include the recent spate of vending machine/social good hacking, but worried it was a bit of a stretch….

The most gratifying part of this weekend’s PodCampToronto was taking in some wonderful panels by the ‘indies.’ As much as I love cutting up social media experts/rockstars/gurus, something drew me away from the tried & true themes of measurement/ROI/outreach/community-building & instead plopping into fascinating (niche, obscure & quirky, oh my!) conversations & case studies.

This disinclination to attend the ‘usual’ seminars isn’t because I’m too ‘advanced.’ Honestly, it’s the embarrassing behaviour of more than 1/2 the audience…the eye-rolling, gum-popping, pen-clicking “Getta-loadda-Captain-Obvious” routine is even getting old even for me…

Like it or not, this internet thing’s caught on – one person’s ‘obvious’ is another person’s paradigm-shift.  Instead of acting like a too-cool-Anglo teen trapped in an ESL course, if you’re ever in an unsatisfying session at an unconference (or anywhere except for a client meeting for that matter…) try this remedy: quietly grab your $#it, stand up, politely pop out of the room & find something else to enlighten you.

Trust me, the content is almost always there in spades, you just need to seek it out.  Even if the actual tools being discussed weren’t relevant to my life/work (audio podcasts are not my thing, outside of Stone’s Throw’s irregular mixes and DJ sessions), it was a perfectly-timed integrity-recharge to be around so many people passionately plugging away on their sites & sounds.

Some great summary blog posts are already floating around the interwebs, so I’ll keep this short…One session that struck me with its thoughtful layout, great research, good use of storytelling and composed, humble presenter was  Totally Filmi’s Katherine Matthews case study-style presentation of the YouTube premiere of Bollywood film ‘Striker‘. ‘@KayMatthews,’ as she’s known on Twitter, opened my eyes to the sophisticated vast communities assembling around cult film genres in spaces that I’d ignorantly assumed could only be built by/for music nerds (tho not so ignorant as to think that Bollywood is a niche genre, *insert Parry Sounder joke here*, Striker’s part of a sub-genre called ‘hacka’ (sp?) <- thanks to quick fact-check by Kay, it’s spelled “Hatke,” which broadly means outside of the mainstream)

Listening to Katherine describe the smaller studio’s use of its limited promotion budget to invest in social media outreach, how actors engaged fans/viewers in conversations about the film on Twitter & how everyone keeps these conversations afloat despite Striker taking a nosedive at the domestic box office checked off the usual fuzzy case study ingredients for social media conferences…What was especially interesting in her session was her mention of the download tracking, traffic screening, monitoring of commenting patterns, which will better inform international distribution of the Studio18 films (& likely films released by competitors, too) in the future.

Any thoughts on (booming voice) the future of podcasting?  It’s still highly unlikely that I’ll subscribe to any of the awesome content I was exposed to this weekend because I love my iPod for songs, not for chats…but I have no qualms about subscribing to an awesome frequently updated YouTube channel, programming it into FrontRow & checking it regularly…Which has led to recent musings about dabbling in serialized video content.  Do many of you subscribe to ‘indie’ YouTube channels?  Do you bother to upload the content to your iPod/iPhone? Desktop only? Very interested to hear back….

Wisdom handed down from the blog oracle advises against writing when upset, which is probably the same futile logic that propelled legislation against road rage, but in the world of ‘current affairs’ online – delaying a post 18 hours seems prudent enough, this barely qualifies as current anymore, even.

Of course I couldn’t really keep my online mouth shut this long – after receiving emails about the tragic death of a Toronto cyclist and the sad circumstances of the accident, I started posting thoughts and reflections on Twitter.

For non-Torontonians unaware of the online rubbernecking, review the national newspapers or television stations to find a breathless breakdown in hour-by-hour bullet points of assumed/alleged actions.  Don’t forget to watch videos from the various eye witnesses, the arrest scene itself, and the sadly-reminiscent-of-an-AG-press-conference car-towing.

Until officials fully review security tapes and statements from witnesses, there is no point speculating  culpability.  What was most stunning, and poorly articulated in my blurbs under 140 characters, was last night’s stark contrast to the fortunes of Ted Kennedy.

Today’s politicians live in a virtual fishbowl, many, like Bryant, tried to embrace it – speaking directly to constituents or stakeholders through YouTube channels, attempting to connect with new online audiences, and presenting a personal ‘self’ in media interviews.  Unfortunately, the hyper connected/accessible/affordable means to capture and publish media online tears down as well as it builds up.  The enthusiasm and momentum embracing a ‘viral video’ is equally powerful when packaging and distributing mass amounts of information, teasing it out under the guise of objective news and judging a case before a court date is booked.

Today’s newscycle illustrates that the impressively productive career following Kennedy’s tragic fatal mistake cannot be reproduced by allegedly erring politicians today.  Even the tone of Kennedy’s statement released after the investigation – less an ‘apology’ than a fierce rebuttal – seems completely opposite to the bleary eyed press conferences staffed by scrubbed-clean family members, or the vaseline-lensed ‘exclusive’ interviews to ‘set things straight’ after a scandal.

The Toronto Twitter community, at least the fraction in which I choose to participate, has a very large cyclist crew.  Reviewing their comments, I was immensely impressed with the respectful and sombre tone as they reflected on the sad news and awaited substantiated facts.

Most encouraging of these commentators was Mark Kuznicki, spearheader of ChangeCamp, TransitCamp organizer and now a force behind BikeCampTO.  Follow @bikeunion for more information & hopefully road-sharing/transit/infrastructure becomes an ongoing conversation with all Torontonians, unprovoked by a tragedy.

Hate to get all meta on y’allsies again, but need a segueway to relaunch…however painfully brutal this may be…As you can see, I’m WordPressing* not Blogspotting after a training period for some political thing.  Besides that one-month foray into politics&tech, I haven’t uploaded any text outside of Twitter since the unspectacular campaign wrapped in Canuckistan.

No shortage of amazing shows before, after & during the that time period, too.  Refer to Roberto’s YouTube to boo David Byrne‘s Massey Hall show, which was – bar none – the cream of the crop (not to disparage Nick Cave, Chromeo, Spinto Band, Wm Del Ray, Feist, Hot Chip, Radiohead, She+Him, Lykke Li, Emily+Delta, Samantha Martin, & a ton of others I’m too sleep deprived to remember…).  Check out a pixelated posse of miscellaneous concert/life snaps via Facebook & the FlickrFiles to refresh memories I can’t dredge.

Anyway, it was a really, really good autumn – so good, in fact, that there was no time to capture it on the intertubes.  Winter ahoy, then – shifting the focus from Toronto tidbits to publish a series of interviews I’ve been lucky to secure (lucky = having a very progressive & encouraging employer + kind, generous & well-connected friends) around the theme of ‘eAdvocacy.’

I’m beyond psyched (& honoured, flabbergasted, overwhelmed, etc…) that I’m blagging my way across the U-S-of-Eh so soon after the most significant ideological/political paradigm shift in my gen’s lifetime.  Hyperboles aside, I hope to canvass the wide array of technophiles using/creating/modifying the web to create communities, raise awareness & – above all – affect change.

This wouldn’t be withoutayard proper withoutasoundtrack, though, right?

NYC Hotel Gym Playlist – or – How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Knicks

1 – Back In Your Head (Stop Die Resusitate Remix) – Tegan & Sara

2 – My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Remix) – Feist

3 – Suspicious Loop Affair (Immuzikation Mashup) – My Morning Jacket/Hercules & Love Affair/US3

4 – Dur dur d`etre un bebe – Jordy

5 – Working Together (Boys Noize Vox Mix) – Gonzales

6 – Fancy Footwork (RAC Mix) – Chromeo

7 – Suenos Dulces (DLake Remix) – Thunderheist

8 – Damn Girl  (Curtis Vodka Remix) – Kid Sister

9 – Working for Vacation – Cibo Matto

10 – Raise Me Up – Hercules & Love Affair

11 – Let’s Call It Off (Girl Talk Remix) – Peter, Bjorn & John

12 – Errrbody Errrbody (Matty C Remix) – Black Box

13 – Hearts On Fire (Midnight Juggernauts Remix) – Cut Copy

14 – Skeleton Boy – Friendly Fires

15 – Teenage Electric Lobotomy (The Illuminoids Mashup)- MGMT/JUSTICE/The Ramones

*still ironing out permissions/template/design wrinkles – keep being awesome & patient…