Thursday Meetings at Berkman Blog

Back by popular demand!

Several bloggers will be gathering at Chau Chow City, 83 Essex Street in Chinatown, for dim sum on Sunday, January 11th at 11 am. Look for Sun. (In this cold weather, everyone’s looking for him.) j’ll be there if she’s not chasing candidates in New Hampshire.

Details about dim sum and the restaurant are in a previous entry, so I’m not repeating them here.

Report: Trio for dim sum with lots of exciting eats, like meat ball congee with preserved egg, chicken feet, jellyfish, steamed shrimp rice foon, warm sweet honey bean custard, and those yummy yellow spiral thingies that taste like custard. Two ventured onto a frozen lake afterward.

Sometimes it’s good to think ahead.

Suggested Agenda Items:

• Jay demos how he blogs at makeoutcity.com.
• j wonders if people can talk about how they decide what to blog/where they get inspiration, as well as showing the technical aspects of what they do.
• Citizen blogging
• Kaye Trammell wrote about this with regards to accountability.
• Does Harvard/Harvard Law School have any Web policies/rules/guidelines about what material people shouldn’t post on sites they host?
  The answer:
  • Can’t make it appear that Harvard is endorsing your words
  • Don’t break regular laws
  • Refer to Terms of Use Statement
  • Don’t do anything that’ll get Harvard or you sued
  • Nudity seems to be “in.” (Go, Michael.)
    
  
  
• Where are we going to eat?
  

  • We chose the Border Cafe.
    
  • We ate at Cambridge Common on the 8th.

  Some people in the group (Michael, j, & Bob) were over at MIT helping Andrew with a training session. Four people came. A good time was had by all and someone might have learned something about blogging.

  j wants to get on the agenda for the 22nd to share her RSS article.

  Post Notes:

  • Restaurant: Border Cafe
  • Recordings
  • RealAudio Recording
  • YOUR IRC LOG!
  • Notes
  • Jay McCarthy‘s notes: OPML Version and HTML Version
  • Pictures
  • Steve Pomeroy has pictures.

I justed created a story to serve as a place to put the various presidential candidate events the Berkmanites have been to.

If you want to add yours feel free, if you want me to, let me know.

Thursday Citizen Journalists

Addendum 1/6 by j: USA Today printed an article about citizen journalism that focuses on bloggers covering politics. It mentions some of our Thursday night friends and their efforts.

Citizen Journalist Blogging Story …

came out in their January-February issue. It mentions some Thursday regulars, like Thinking While Typing and the Redhead, and, of course, Dave Winer, who is one of the key forces behind the initiative to bring blogging to Harvard.

Addendum 12/31: The Redhead writes of an inaccuracy in the article.

Harvard Magazine’s Article about Blogging at Harvard …

I created a story with information about how the dinners usually work, where we’ve eaten in the past, some links to restaurant info on the Web, and where we last ate. If anyone has anything they’d like to add, get Jay to set you up to contribute to the blog, bug me to add something on your behalf, or comment below. (A link to the story is also in the navbar.)

Eating Info …

Although it is a good two weeks away, it might be nice to start thinking about the next meeting and how we want to set the stage for the new year. Possible topics:

• Planning for Hank Barry’s visit on January 22
  
• Dave wants to talk about efforts to establish a center for blogging and related technology at Harvard
  
• How about Dave’s new feed feature?
  
  
  
  • How should we submit this group blog to the feed feature? (Whose name and e-mail address should we use? Will using an e-mail address again erase a previous entry?)
  
  
• A report from the first blog training at MIT? (Bob also has notes.)
  
• Humor in the blogging environment: how to express sarcasm and humor to blog readers
  
• Does Dave want to talk about the RSS conference on January 21-22?
  
• j might want to talk about her RSS article if she can get a draft together in 2 weeks (ha ha ha fat chance of that: j defers until next week)
  
• Where are we going to eat?
  
  
  
  • “How about at a restaurant?” typed j sarcastically.
    
  • We just ate at The Bombay Club.
    
  • There’s that pizza place Veggie Planet that has vegan options. I hear you can get dairy-based cheese if you ask for it. (Burt notes in the comments that Vegan pizza is merely available.)
    
  • While the students are away, we could try some places that are usually very crowded, like … ?
    
  • What about 9 Tastes (inexpensive, but good Thai food. May not be able to accommodate more than 10 of us, though.) on JFK Street? Spice is also good Thai, but a bit more expensive. (They may be able to better accommodate 10 or more.)
    
  • I’m pretty sure Grafton Street has vegan entrees, definitely vegetarian items, and Michael could get a beer. Good price range on the menu.
    
  • The Redline on JFK Street is similar.

Post Notes:

• Restaurant: Cambrige Commons
• Recordings
• RealAudio Recording
• YOUR IRC LOG!
• Notes
• Jay McCarthy‘s notes: OPML Version and HTML Version
• Pictures
• Steve Pomeroy has pictures.

j posted this message to the list… Sun and I are hoping people will join us at Chau Chow City (83 Essex Street in Chinatown) on Sunday, December 21, at 11 am for dim sum. Friends, significant others, and family members are welcome, too. South Station is the closest stop on the Red Line (and may be the closest subway stop). Chinatown is the closest stop on the Orange Line. There is a tiny parking lot very close to the restaurant that is not free. Street parking may be available a short walk away in the financial district. If you could let me know in advance if you plan to join us, that would be very helpful because when Sun and I get to the restaurant, we can put in a request for a table if we know who and how many are coming.

If you’re coming from the Somerville/Cambridge/Arlington area and want to travel there with someone, let me know ’cause I’ll be coming from that direction and I know how to get to the restaurant.

Dim sum is Chinese food that some people think is quite tasty. It’s often eaten for brunch. The Chau Chow City waitstaff roams the restaurant with carts filled with steamed foods, fried goodies, dumplings, soup, seafood, and assorted desserts. Customers select what to eat as the carts pass by. The food is often served in steamer containers with 2 or 3 items per container. Going with a group can work well because there’s more opportunity to share and try different items. It may also be possible to order from Chau Chow City’s Menu.

Sun and I usually get there around 11 am. We usually leave around 1 pm. People are welcome to drift in and out between those times. When we know others are joining us, we try to be polite and wait to order until quite a few people are at the table. The bill usually comes to about $10 per person.

Friends, family members, children, significant others, insignificant others, etc., are welcome.

Addendum 12/29 by j: Two people besides Sun and I came to the dim sum outing. It was very yummy and we all appreciated Sun’s willingness to share his language skills and culture with us. I plan to organize a similar outing in January. Stay tuned for details. (If you don’t like dim sum, don’t let that stop you from joining us: you can order off their menu. If you don’t like bloggers, that’s another problem.)

Addendum 1/10: Bob posted a photo from the outing.

Addedum 1/11: Michael also uses Bob’s photo.

• Notes
• Jay McCarthy posted notes as OPML and HTML.
• Audio Recordings
• The “Official” ReadAudio recording
• Jake Savin’s MP3
• IRC Transcripts
• Marc Nozell’s
• Pictures

• Notes
• Jay McCarthy posted notes as OPML and HTML.
• Audio Recordings
• The “Official” ReadAudio recording
• Jake Savin’s MP3
• IRC Transcripts
• Jake Savin’s
• Marc Nozell’s
• Pictures
• Gregor has meeting and dinner pictures.

Some information about the meeting on 2003/12/04…

• IRC Transcripts
• Marc Nozell’s