Yesterday I attended the sold out Vloggercon 2006, a yearly videoblogging conference — and I had a blast! It was unlike any conference I’ve ever been to; it may have been similar in community indymedia vibe to Webzine 2005 (and in the same location), but I didn’t see too many familiar faces because people had hopped on planes from around the world (I met people from Holland, Australia, many parts of Canada, and even Utah) just to be there, learn, meet people and connect. We are the media, indeed. It’s the friendliest conference I’ve ever been to. And no doubt it’ll be one of the best documented, as well.

A recap (with gossip), a few of my photos, and link to a video I shot of Bre Pettis‘ presentation, after the jump.
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Those crazy kids — you know the ones, the neighbors in the Mission Vic next door with all the awesome-sounding parties and really cute freinds and all the antennas sticking out of their windows and you think you might be getting free wifi off them — they’re having a really big party in June. That’s right, the seriously evolved geeks with cameras from at least 15 minutes in the future at Geek Entertainment Television (and Five Fingers of Power and more) are producing Vloggercon. It’s the sexy mutant conjoined spawn of Webzine 2005 people and their posse; in the words of their 2.0 doublespeak:

“Vloggercon 2006 is the intersection between media-makers and technology. A space for dialog and interaction. Of creation and collaboration. In the past year, videoblogging has grown into a myriad of forms with a worldwide voice. Vloggercon is a two-day collection of round table discussions about the emergence and the future of this new medium; not a series of lectures. Just starting a videoblog? No problem! Vloggercon is chock-full of workshops! (In fact, we won’t let you leave the building without starting your first videoblog.)”

Vloggercon 2006 will be held June 10 & 11 at the Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market Street, San Francisco CA 94114. Tickets are $40 for one day, $60 for both days. No videoblogger will be turned away. Save $10 by getting tickets through the website. It’s sponsored by Blip.tv, Serious Magic, Yahoo!, Outhink, Peachpit Press, Click.tv and Xolo.tv.

Being from the salty loins of Webzine peeps, I can only wonder… will Miss Webzine 2005 make a cameo? Will the redheaded stepchild of Gawker lurk in the shadows, watching? Will clueless VC’s use the word “snark” in their schwag in a pathetic attempt to tap into the “youth market” like the old guy at the hotel bar who always tries to give me his unsolicited phone number at every convention? Will we all do embarrassing things on video in exchange for alcohol/sex/shiny things/cool stickers from Scott? Hopefully; yes; yes; and an enthusiastic yes.

Webzine may be over, but the focus on alternative publishing - who publishes what and how - continues with today’s Chron piece on LiveJournal creator Brad Fitzpatrick. This graf caught my eye:

LiveJournal has started a revolution in Internet blogging by combining private journals with public forums. Emphasizing community and networking over editorial grandstanding and intimacy over audience, LJ opened up Web logging as a means of individual expression. Users of the free service create journals built around their interests, filled with a panoply of pictures, biographical details and customized layouts.[emphasis added]

My question: when was it closed?

The article implicitly draws attention to a quiet meme circulating under the surface of last weekend’s festivities. A sentiment conveyed in throw-away comments on blogging that “back in the day, when they were just websites.” And, aren’t they still? Easier websites - to be sure - a democratized world in which anyone with 5 minutes of reliable net access can establish a web presence - but just websites, nonetheless. MT co-creator Mena Trott says in the piece that “the tools themselves dictate what goes in,” and that’s very true - the digital, er, analog to the notion that whoever holds the pen holds the power (and, incidently, the root of the cry for redistricting reform in California, but I digress).

All in all, the implied information in this article reinforces my long-held (long as defined in tech-terms, shorter than dog years) belief that a blog is a pencil with which to draw a wesbite. No more, no less. It’s what is drawn that matters. For the most part, this technology entered the greater public marketplace of ideas already on the meta-level of discussion, having skipped over the basic “what is it” stage of life. To wit:

There are differences between the worlds of blogs and LJs. LiveJournal’s user base skews young, drawing a large proportion of teenagers, whereas blogging tends to attract users in their late 20s and early 30s. Additionally, LJ is seen as a private space for networking and interpersonal discourse; blogs are viewed as one-person publications directed toward a larger audience. A growing number of people maintain both an LJ and a blog, but the two camps traditionally don’t mix, with some bloggers dismissing Journalers as trivial kids and Journalers mocking bloggers as wannabe Web stars.

Huh? What? Shoot, I saw the SixApart demo at Webzine this weekend and just never picked up on a huge difference. And in the first graf I pulled above, didn’t the writer say LJ opened up Web logging for whatever? Is it web logging or not? Would a rose by any other name be blogged as easily? Discussed online as easily? Lordy, the whole thing gives me a headache - and I’m guessing with the faux sociological sheen given by the article, it might give Jonas Luster an ulcer.

If meta blog/LJ discussion continues goofily in the SF forest of new technology, does it make a sound?

“There’s a dead opossum in your garden!”, shouted Sean as he departed post-Webzine yesterday morning.

It was waaay too early to worry about such things and so nothing more was thought about this until the evening as we clicked off the TV having watched Shaun of the Dead in the relative security of the indoors.

Meanwhile outside lurked that opossum. Too late! As we stepped outside to investigate, the reanimated creature lurched towards us with a menacing snarl and bared teeth before we clouted it over the head (as you’re s’posed to do) and dispatched the wretched creature into the garbage just in time for the morning’s collection.

(No opossums were harmed in the making of this post)

As in: what you find at the Heart of Cole Festival. (As in: opposed to buttless chaps down on Folsom Street. Har Har.)

On our way to Webzine this morning, we stopped for breakfast at Crepes on Cole and strolled through the very small Cole Valley street fair. Nothing more notable than some lovely glass art pieces, interesting handbags, and massages being given by a woman strolling up and down the backs of achy Festival-goers. The weather, however, is stunning.

I picked up a poster to add to my growing collection of SF festival art and we headed on down to day 2 of Webzine - which everyone else will be blogging about.

Heart of Cole continues through 6pm - so you still have time to catch it.

You also have a scant few minutes to get your hiney down to Webzine to hear Metroblogging co-founder Sean Bonner riff on neighborhood blogging where we hear he’s guaranteed to start each and every statement with “Metroblogging” - Kevin-Nealon-subliminal-editorial-style. Personally, I want to see if he can fit it in 10 times. C’mon, meow, he can do it . . . .

(p.s. On his own site, Sean listed the iffy wifi here at Webzine as a “bad” part of the event. He’s right. Trying to post this bad boy has taked 3 tries so far . . . But what can you do? Everyone here is fighting for space, so I guess it’s to be expected.)

Beat box guy

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

Tom and I were on our way to Webzine this morning on the Muni and this guy sat in front of us. He looked at a (straight) couple that had just gotten on the street car with us and said, “Hey, you guys from out of town?”

“Yeah, why?”

“There’s this great event going on today. It’s called the Folsom Street Fair.”

The girl could barely conceal her snark as she said, “Yes, we know.”

That was mean, yo. You don’t just send two tourists into the Folsom Street Fair without at least telling them what it is. I mean, no one hates tourists more than we do in DC, but we don’t play mean tricks on them…

At least the guy we met yesterday in the Castro said, “But if you go, you can’t have any inhibitions.” Fair warning, after all.

The chairs at the Swedish American Hall are really something else, aren’t they? Panel speakers at Webzine look like something out of a Shakespearean play.

Visiting Metbloggers Jay and Tom have been discussing taking over the main stage in the Freya Room and give an impromptu production of Hamlet.

So who’s in for a little bit of Flash-Mob-Shakespeare today?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you to stroll through these images from yesterday’s post WebZine activities. And let me just say up front that catching a cab just of lower Haight between midnight and 1am with a naked girl covered in pallet wrap is easier than you might think.

I’ve gotten 4 hours of sleep - how did you spend your evening?

Despite my tardiness, I got to sit through three consecutive workshops. Some highlights:

• Intro to Digital Photography & Photoblogging: Maybe it was all the people going in and out, maybe it was my seat on the wall where I couldn’t see the projection, but I couldn’t concentrate during this one. I did get a glimpse of who exactly was attending this conference, as there were people who, say, didn’t know what Flickr was. That was refreshing, after having had my head dunked in this internet/social networking/weblogging/online forums/photosharing/blah blah blah et cetera stuff for years.
• DIY Marketing: Pretty good stuff, and I managed to take notes. (Maybe not totally coherent notes, mind…) Molly was really personable and kept it flowing.
• Podcasting 101: Eric Rice was really cool, though the info he presented may have been painted in strokes too broad. Then again, it does say “101″ in the title. What else… If you were there, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say: what was up with that guy towards the front who kept asking these questions and leading the conversation off topic, and then about 15 minutes before the hour was up, took off and actually said goodbye on his way out? It wasn’t rude, per se, but it was almost as if the guy was oblivious to the fact that it was a workshop, not a personalized demo, and that there were thirty or so people sitting behind him. A little weird. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but… hmm.

So am I learning stuff? Well, maybe… definitely in the marketing workshop, as that’s never been my strong suit. Otherwise, it feels like some review; I’m not at the beginner level in understanding a lot of these technologies. But that’s alright. It’s cool to see people coming to learn from square one, and it’s definitely been fun so far.