Some old technologies have significance

...or at least its sentimental value point. Take this watch for example. It may look to you as a grotty old silver Timex that's missing a few links. But, I think I rely on it for the time more than I would ever rely on any "mobile" device or cell phone or anything else. No iPod could ever tell the time the way this watch does. It was my father's watch and he wore it 'til the day he died. Timex forever. Timex computers - never.

Another Possible iMA theme...

one possible take away message: the revolution will not be televised or broadcast as we know it, if...

Seattle Round II

Overall, a good to great confernece so far. My main regret is that the overly trendy hotel (The W) we're headquartered in doesn't have "free" wireless or wired access. It's $6.95 for 3 hours; $14.95/day. A bit on the pricey side. The hotel across the street has free wired access. You'd think that a new media conference... but, I digress.

The conference got underway with two blazing key noters: Andrew Blau and Diane Mermigas. The buzz words are

• community engagement


• user generated content


• the year of the gamer


• inversions


• managing to be heard above noisy enviornments


• fragmented


• old modalities are broken, they don't work


• new ecologies


• working harder won't fix what's broken

More here and here.

So, the morning begins with warnings and perdictions and cautionary tales. The rest of the confernece looks at how to cope with these changing issues and an audience that demands - on-demand - more.

In Seattle

I haven't blogged in a while - busy bringing online a new site and then there's life. Remember life?

I arrived in Seattle late on Tuesday and had a time trying to get around the SeaTac airport, but I finally found the Airporter service tucked away - hidden really - near door 00 (double zero) just beyond nearly 20 baggage claim racks.

I'm here for the IMA conference - a geeky confab of sorts about the intersection of Public Radio and New Media. I feel like Robert Johnson strumming on the guitar at the crossroads. We'll see...

I walked around downtown for a while yesterday with camera in hand. I walked down to the Pier - Pier/Port/Ferry #52 I think it was.

I couldn't help myself. At the Pier was a McDonald's and I was craving a Big Mac so bad. So, I'm sitting in my booth seat there at the ferry when out of the Muzak radio comes "Don't Rock the Boat, Don't Tip the Boat Over" - you know that old standby by the Hues Corp, right? It just seemed like one of those ironic moments. "We've been sailing with a cargo full of love and devotion"...and there was that moment there at the end that I hadn't noticed before "Get on down with your bad self..." No, really. Go listen to it. It's there.



Interesting fact from wikipedia:

The "rainy city" receives an unremarkable 38 inches (970 mm) of precipitation a year, less than most major Eastern Seaboard cities. For example, New York City averages 47.3 inches (1200 mm), but Seattle is cloudy an average of 226 days per year vs. 132 in New York City.

More later, I hope...