Beer and Blog Huntsville, Alabama

We had several small bubbles of conversation going on simultaneously until near the end of our meetup this week. I know I missed a lot of discussion, but following is a summary of what I was privy to.

Blogging Personas:

Jonathan took a survey of the established bloggers. He wanted to know who wrote as themselves and who used a persona. Everyone there for this beginning conversation answered that they wrote as themselves. Then we examined some pros and cons of the persona angle, should that be the direction Jonathan decides to take once he starts to blog.

Of course, since none of us write using one, we might have missed a few items. Do you write using a persona? Any advice that you would share?

Curling:

The big screen was all about Olympic curling when we first arrived. After comparing this “sport” to archery and shooting – two other competitions that, while requiring a bit higher accuracy, do not muss a hairdo – we decided curling could stay so long as we can laugh at it.

Social Experiment:

Tomas is looking to see if he can influence the guests on a popular podcast with his blog. We talked about measuring results from different targets on Twitter using Google Analytics filters.

Access to Modern Facilities:

Linda ran into some difficulties with a college that wanted her for a presentation, and she shared her experience with us. Linda needs to be able to present virtually but the school is unsure of it’s capability to do so.

Discussion revolved around being fairly certain that any university would have the capability. We believe the problem area is in communications between the tech support people, the event coordination people and the end users (students/attendees).

Do you work with a university? What would you say the best approach would be for capability fact gathering and event preparation?

Google Buzz:

We don’t much care for the stuff. The switch is at the bottom of the Gmail page to turn it off, by the way.

Linux:

Tomas, Thom and Frank all like various flavors and had a nice little tech talk that I totally cannot relay because I found great interest in checking my email about that time… and because I know nothing about Linux, so I have no idea what they were talking about.

Makers Local 256 Happenings:

A time fountain is the current mind warping project going on down on Clinton and South Parkway. Little drips of fluorescent water and timed UV LEDs that make you think you are a master manipulator of matter on a grand scale. I let them know that we need a video or it didn’t happen.

Barcamp Updates:

• Sponsors: Thom is putting together sponsorship levels tonight and will post them to our wave. BnB members, please be sure to check in and get that info before approaching any local businesses. Also, as you talk to potential sponsors, please update the wave with the results so there’s no crossed wires.
• Venue: Not settled yet. Several new suggestions were mentioned this evening that will need to be checked into this week. As members gather information, please make sure to update the wave with the details.
• Website: barcamphuntsville.com will be the event’s official information site. Thom will be posting the email signup for anyone interested in attending (the general public is welcome!) He’ll also launch a poll for voting on topic tracks there.
• Wave: If you’re a regular at the Beer and Blog Huntsville meetups and do not have access to our Google Wave, please let us know and we’ll get you added.

Thom’s eBook

Epic failure. Though, if he gets his barcamp chores done this week, we’ll forgive him for not having his first installment ready to launch.

That’s all I have for you. Maybe a few other attendees will drop by to comment on some more happenings. Of course, the best way to make sure you get the whole story is to come out yourself. Hope to see you next week, 5-7pm, at West End Grill!

We had several new folks at Huntsville’s West End Grill for this Tuesday’s Beer and Blog. It was great meeting all of you! For those of you who couldn’t make it this week, following is a recap of those conversations that I had the pleasure to participate in:

Barcamp Updates

• Venue - After discussing the feedback I had posted to our planning Wave, it was decided to keep looking for another week or two. If anyone has access, or knows someone who might have access, to a great place to hold the Huntsville Barcamp for few if any bux, please post to the Wave, comment here or drop us a note through our contact form.
• Discussion Tracks - Tracks are categories that will be used to define the discussions held in individual workgroups. Attendees fill in 6 topics under these tracks that they would like to learn more about. Each topic will be the focus of discussion for 45-minutes to 1-hour, so we need tracks that our community would be interested in.
• The Tracks discussed included:
  • General Tech
  • Social Media
  • Open Source
  • DIY Revival
• Suggest More Tracks - We will be collecting track suggestions for the next week. You don’t need to be a Beer and Blog attendee. Just give us track suggestions that you can think of at least 6 topics under that category that you wouldn’t mind either leading a discussion on or learning more about.
• Vote for What You Are Interested In – Next week, we’ll post a poll and the tracks with the highest votes will determine the Barcamp’s agenda. Please participate. Tell your friends. Get those track suggestions in, and then come back to vote to ensure this Huntsville Barcamp will be a great community event.
• Suggest Great Presenters You Know – Point your knowledgeable buddies and peers our way, please. Participating in Huntsville’s Barcamp as a presenter will be great professional exposure and the interactive venues are a ton of fun, too!

Thom’s eBook

Thom had a resolution this year to complete his blog’s first eBook on lifestyle management by early April. We’ve been poking him at each Beer and Blog for motivation and this week he let us know that he is almost ready to release his free first chapter! Next week, maybe we can get the date… or the link! We’re proud of our member’s accomplishments, so don’t forget to let us know what you’re working on when you stop by at our next meetup.

Makers Local 256 Happenings

• Groundhog Day – To make up for Punxsutawney Phil’s nasty declaration of six more weeks of winter, Makers Local 256 announced they would be playing the movie, Groundhog Day, for a little cheering up following Beer and Blog. If you weren’t there, guess you didn’t get the invite… just one more reason to hang out with us each Tuesday afternoon from 5 to 7pm!
• Helping St. Louis Hackers – Last week, when ice storms were shutting down the entire south, Raymond, Nathan, Tim and Justin bravely headed up to St. Louis to help set up a new hackerspace. The only injury occurred to a windshield wiper that couldn’t quite handle the ice build up, but no funerals: the gang repaired it on the spot in true hacker fashion.

iPad Release

Talk wasn’t so much about the iPad or its features, more about the humor of the release day activities. The biggest horror story came from one member who had to sit through the entire event, watching streaming video at his work place here in Huntsville. When that came out, everyone contributed stories they heard about that video stream that wasn’t even supposed to happen… It was fun stuff, don’t miss out next week!

Conan O’Brien

Much speculation over what motivates Conan and where he will go next. Main options comprised Revision3 and follower to the Daily Show and Colbert. One member made the observation that “The Daily Show, Colbert Nation and The Conan O’Brien Show all in a row would constitute over two hours of straight news”. He didn’t know if that would fly.

The rest of the conversation revolved around the definition of “news”. It was determined that more Beer and Bloggers consider The Daily Show, Colbert and Twitter their primary news filters. Who needs CNN?

Twitter News

The O’Brian discussion led to how people track news on Twitter. The most popular result was creating streaming search tabs for terms you are interested in and then adding minus filters, as needed, until you’re only seeing what you want.

For example, if you live near Huntsville, Alabama, and want a local news channel, try a “Huntsville” search term, minus “Canada” and “Texas” to start with. Then, if you don’t want to see election news, try adding minus “campaign”. Keep going until you’re only getting updates on the local happenings that are relevant to you.

Lost – Final Season

I’m sorry, I tried to totally tune out this conversation, but it did happen… way too many folks in the group were into this show! I think the major conclusion of the conversation was that Lost isn’t really going to tie up all loose ends this season. They are pulling everyone’s leg and anyone who believes them is a sucker…. of course, that’s a conclusion of someone that wasn’t really paying attention…

Tidbits:

• Kiosk book making – some libraries have the on-demand printing systems now – Not Huntsville, but still, they are out there!
• Audible internet commercials rock!
• Nathan paid his quarters for the lost Apple Tablet bet!
• Everyone should see Pirates of Silicon Valley – it’s on Netflix – download it!
• The Dr. Who reference is “He will knock four times!”

That’s all the conversations that I jumped into this week. There were more, but inquiring ears can only absorb so much at once. Still, not bad for a couple of hours of hanging out with interesting people, kicked back with my sweet tea and French dip sandwich and fries, huh?

Please continue the conversation by leaving a comment below. Better yet, join us any Tuesday afternoon between 5pm and 7pm at West End Grill on Old Madison Pike, just east of Hwy 255 (Research Park Blvd).