The Columbus Social Media Cafe

As promised here is a wrap up of our discussions this evening at the Social Media Cafe June meeting.

Thanks to Susan, Shaun, Suzanne, Jeff, Jody, and Angelo for your leadership in this meeting. Susan provided the introduction and information about our next meeting [info here] at the CML on July 29, 2008. Andrew then provided an update about the programming and need for volunteers at Comfest for the New Media Center – [info here].

Jody and Angelo provided the group with a very interesting look at the evolution of podcasting along with background on how to start podcasting from your site. If you can pull yourself away from Comfest for a bit on Saturday a good stop would be PodCamp Ohio which has been organized by Angelo and will be both a networking and a learning opportunity for newbies and experienced podcaster’s alike.

Some of the links that were thrown up on the screen during this educational session were:

CNET | http://www.cnet.com/
Buzz Out Loud | http://reviews.cnet.com/buzz-out-loud-podcast/
MP3 Insider | http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-6490_7-9971735-49.html
Marketplace | http://marketplace.publicradio.org/
Future Tense | http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/
National Public Radio | http://www.npr.org/
Net@Night | http://twit.tv/natn
A Lifelong Practice | http://camilleadair.com/
Times Online: The Bugle |
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_electi…
O.U. Family Health | http://fhradio.org/
http://Podcastfaq.com
http://Podcastingnews.com
http://Podcast411.com
http://Podcasting-tools.com
http://Wikipedia.org {search podcasting}
http://Google.com/reader/
http://Itunes.com
http://Ita.sf.net – iTunes agent
http://Miro.com

Shaun setup the breakout discussions which were led by Suzanne and Jeff. The two groups took on the topic of Why Are We Here and Goals; Mission and Vision Statement. Interestingly there are many similarities in the discussions and I think that means we’re on the right track as a group. The primary points of each discussion group were summarized at the end of the evening and those lists are recorded here as well. We hope that these will act as the beginning of the conversation and not the end. If you’d like to join in on the conversation feel free to post a comment here or better yet join our Google Group here:

http://groups.google.com/group/columbus-social-media-cafe

Answering the question “Why Are We Here” Discussion Notes:
Civic Pride
Blog Readers/Creators
Meet the writers
Mix of “tech” and “content”
Community
New Form of Democracy and Empowerment
Create Noise – Create Social Change
Columbus Strengthens Itself
Curiosity
Community Action
Bridging the Digital Divide
Open Source Info/Spectrum

Goals; Mission and Vision Statement Discussion:
Brainstorm of beliefs and ideas -
Who are we making a difference for? What is the important focus, the community or the technology?
Pulling together VARIOUS issues and interests to advance the community.
Comfest and other events that we can bring added value to it.
Bringing greater cultural diversity in to the group.
Making the technology transparent.
Enhance use of technology and empowerment.
Ease the fear of technology, making it less intimidating – educating through the interactions, teaching what is possible.
Outreach to college students and finding a median or balance between youth blogging and “grown-up” blogging.
Engaging other organizations - both local and national/international
Leave a positive mark wherever we go.
Reach out to Metro schools.