Thursday Meetings at Berkman Blog

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about any of us being in the news. It’s not like we’re not out there somewhere.

Lots has been happening with Global Voices and Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon. They recently attended the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia, where Internet filtering in that country became a hot topic.

Derek Slater has been in the news quite a bit related to the collaborative research on playlists.

The Boston Globe’s article on citizen journalism discusses Lisa Williams’ work with H2Otown.

The Boston Phoenix tried to one-up the Globe with a piece on video blogging. It includes Steve Garfield, of course.

• Introductions
• Instead of doing a regular meeting at Berkman, let’s go eat!
  • Meet at Berkman at 7 if you don’t know how to find Grendel’s Den
  • Meet at the restaurant at 7:30. We’re eating at Grendel’s Den, in Harvard Square on Winthrop St., just off JFK and right by Staples.
• Eat:
  • Did anyone go out to dinner last week?
  • This week: Grendel’s! Where they have beer!

Upcoming topics:

• 12/22 and 12/29: no meetings
• 1/5: brainstorm for the spring

During the meeting, participate via:

• we’re NOT going to try this live audio thingie again because we aren’t meeting at Berkman
• no IRC chat, either
  

• join us at Baker House or the restaurant!

Notes: Five of us chatted about blogs and technology and stuff at Grendel’s for about an hour or so.

Glasses: Someone left a pair of glasses. Comment below to claim them.

• Introductions
• Garrett and j on something blogish and librarianish. On Friday, they will be presenting as part of a program about new collaborative technologies and libraries. They will run through their presentations for us.
• Fun in January: dim sum & ice skating & Mystery Hunt
• Eat:
  • Did anyone go out to dinner last week?

Upcoming topics:

• 12/15: Third Thursday with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
• 12/22 and 12/29: no meetings

During the meeting, participate via:

• we’re NOT going to try this live audio thingie again because the equipment is in transition
• IRC chat
• live notes
• join us at Baker House!

• Introductions
• 12/1: Berkman’s Luis Villa on H2O Playlists, Berkman’s educational software
• Eat:
  • Some place that serves turkey!!
  • Last week: Turkey

Upcoming topics:

• 12/8: Garrett and j on something blogish and librarianish
• 12/15: Third Thursday with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
• 12/22 and 12/29: no meetings

During the meeting, participate via:

• we’re going to try this live audio thingie again
  • Psych!!! No live audio tonight.
• IRC chat
• live notes
• join us at Baker House!

Maybe I don’t need to say this, but …

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 24, we will not meet.

Have a very happy and safe holiday, everyone.

I’m definitely very thankful for the blog group and all of its participants. I’ve learned so much over the last 2 1/2+ years from being involved and met very many terrific people.

• Introductions
• Spiffy things in the world o’ blogging, general questions, whatnots.
• This week is our second joint meeting with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group, slated for the third Thursday of every month.
• Eat:
  • Smile Thai
  • Last week: Pizza from Beauty’s during the meeting (yum!)
• Contradance!

Upcoming topics:

• 11/24: Vegetarian Indian food at India Palace
• 12/1: Berkman’s Luis Villa on H2O, Berkman’s educational software
• 12/8: Garrett and j on something blogish and librarianish
• 12/15: Third Thursday with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
• 12/22 and 12/29: no meetings

During the meeting, participate via:

• we’re going to try this live audio thingie again (fyi, we have low mic battery, so the audio is crappy)
• IRC chat
• live notes
• join us at Baker House!

The pizza edition!

Thanks for getting pizza, Erica!

Proposed Agenda:

• Introductions
• Guests Alexis and Steve of reddit, a community news site with rankings
• At 8 pm, Revenge of the Female Nerds — Busting media and industry myths about why women can’t be technical by Annalee Newitz, author, columnist, and contributing editor of Wired Magazine, Pound 100 (across the parking lot), with dessert and wine and dessert.
  • Because of interest in this talk among group members, our meeting might wrap up around 8 pm so people can attend both.
  • Erica wants to know if people want to get dutch-treat pizza for the blog group meeting so we’re ready for the wine and dessert at this event. Pizza is ordered. If you didn’t get in the count, there are numerous sandwich places nearby where you can grab something to bring to the meeting. Donation for the pizza and beverages will be about $5.
• Garrett and j talk to Harvard librarians, 11/14, 12 p, Lamont Forum Room
• What else?
• Eat:
  • Pizza during the meeting? Comment below or bug Erica.
  • Last week: Cafe of India
• Contradance!

Upcoming topics:

• 11/17: 2nd Third Thursday joint meeting with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
  • Do we want to add more structure to the official “free-form” meeting for next month?
• 11/24: Vegetarian Indian food at India Palace
• 12/1: Berkman’s Luis Villa on H2O, Berkman’s educational software
• 12/8: Garrett and j on something blogish and librarianish
• 12/15: Third Thursday with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
• 12/22?
• 12/29: perhaps not

During the meeting, participate via:

• we’re going to try this live audio thingie again
• IRC chat
• live notes
• join us at Baker House!

Proposed Agenda:

• Introductions
• from 6 – 7 p, Sounds Fine: An Introduction to Radio Technique with Rhod Sharp
  • “Rhod Sharp is the presenter of BBC Radio Five Live’s long running ‘Up All Night’ daily current events show. His working life in radio has included spells as editor, correspondent – and reporter. This short look at radio interviewing is for anyone who has ever heard or made a podcast and wished it could sound better. A couple of simple techniques can permanently improve your sound forever.

    If you have your own recording equipment, bring it along. After a brief discussion of equipment (very important) we will break into small groups and work together on microphone handling.”

• Let’s travel to Manila!
  • Let’s talk about this blog platform we’ve been using on Harvard’s server.
  • New bloggers: got questions?
  • Manila users: got something to share?
  • Come tell us about your travels and experiences!
  • What’s next?
• Garrett and j talk to Harvard librarians, 11/14, 12 p, Lamont Forum Room
• What else?
• Eat:
  • Last week: Smile Thai
• Contradance!

Upcoming topics:

• 11/10: reddit, a community news site
  • after blog group at 8: Annalee Newitz of EFF on Girl Geeks and feminist tech culture
• 11/17: 2nd Third Thursday joint meeting with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
  • Do we want to add more structure to the official “free-form” meeting for next month?
• 11/24: Vegetarian Indian food at India Palace
• 12/1: Berkman’s Luis Villa on H2O, Berkman’s educational software
• 12/8: Garrett and j on something blogish and librarianish

During the meeting, participate via:

• we’re going to try this live audio thingie again
• IRC chat
  

• join us at Baker House!

Addendum 11/4: j here: Only two Manila users were at last night’s meeting, so we didn’t talk much about Manila. I arrived as the meeting was wrapping up and, thus, missed anything of note that happened.

Proposed Agenda:

• Introductions
• 10/27: Something wiki this way comes!
  • Joint meeting with the Wikipedia Meetup folks. Facilitated by SJ Klein.
  • Boston’s bid won – we’ll be hosting Wikimania 2006 in Boston this summer!
  • What can we as individuals and as a blog group do to help?
• What else?
• Police Community Advisory: Monday morning, a man followed a woman out of the subway then assaulted her near Garden Street and Appian Way. Be safe, be smart, and be careful.
• Eat:
  • Last week: Cambridge Common

Upcoming topics:

• 11/3: TBD, should be announced soon
• 11/10: reddit, a community news site
• 11/17: 2nd Third Thursday joint meeting with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
  • Last week’s joint/freeform meeting went well and was enjoyed by all, so we’ll keep the same format for next month and re-evaluate as needed

During the meeting, participate via:

• live audio (if we have a mic) TONIGHT: http://h2odev.law.harvard.edu:8000
• IRC chat
• live notes
• join us at Baker House!

Proposed Agenda:

• Introductions
• This week is our first joint meeting with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group, slated for the third Thursday of every month. The goal of this collaboration is to provide one week a month for a free-form blog group structure centered on informal discussions and sharing ideas, questions, and information. Since this will be the first meeting of the combined groups, we expect to spend more time than usual on more in-depth introductions of who we all are and what nifty things we do related to blogging.
• End the meeting at 8:15 so folks who want to can switch to the quick Wikimania 2006 Boston bid planning session, also at Berkman, with SJ Klein.
• What else?
• Eat:
  • Last week: ?

Upcoming topics:

• 10/27: Something wiki this way comes with the Wikipedia Meetup folks.
• 11/3: TBD, should be announced soon
• 11/10: reddit, a community news site
• 11/17: 2nd Third Thursday joint meeting with the Boston Weblogger Meetup Group
  • Do we want to add more structure to the official “free-form” meeting for next month?

During the meeting, participate via:

• live audio (if we have a mic) – no mic but Chris is recording on iSight (sweet!)
• IRC chat
• live notes
• join us at Baker House!