I was fortunate to inherit some tickets to a Net Change Week panel called “The Future of Web and the World” at the MaRS building. During the presentation, featuring Dr. Gerri Sinclain, Dr. Lucy Bernholz, and John Thackara, there was much discussion of Crisis Camps (mainly due to Dr. Bernholz). If you’re familiar with Left Button Solutions, you know that we’ve been involved as participants in CrisisCamp Toronto, and also as a sponsor, supplying coffee, snacks, and blog hosting.

Following the panel discussion, I was able to offer a plug for the Toronto group, and invited people to talk to me about the program, and how it works. I handed out a few business cards, all of which point here, so I wanted to list some of the resources people might want to check out for further information regarding Crisis Camps, and Crisis Commons.

• CrisisCamp Toronto - our blog can be found here.
• CrisisCommons (the organizing body) lives at CrisisCommons.org
• CrisisCommons Wiki is where all the project, camp, and organizing information lives.
• There are also Google Groups for CrisisCommons and CrisisCampTO but all major happenings will be blogged or tweeted.
• Speaking of Twitter, you should follow: @CrisisCommons, @CrisisCampTO, @HeatherLeson,  and of course, @leftbutton

As stated in at the panel discussion, the next big thing for CrisisCommons is an upcoming international congress, happening in Washington DC in July. There, the group will develop some governance, some policy, and some direction to help refine the global effort that has mobilized more than 2,000 volunteers in more than 25 different cities.

Again, thank you all for indulding the shameless plug… feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

On June 9th, Left Button Solutions will be offering a free session at Camaraderie Co-Working space in Toronto. It’s called “Social Media for Small Business” and is intended to be a crash course introduction to Facebook, Twitter, and some potential uses of these tools in a small business environment. For people who have yet to embrace these Web2.0 tools, this is a good place to start.

The event is being hosted by Camaraderie, a co-working space for small business and freelancers in Toronto. It is free to attend and there are 25 seats available.

To register, please visit this link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/710565320

Hope to see you there!

Left Button Solutions would like to wish you all the best this holiday season.  We hope your year was filled with joy, adventure, and prosperity, and that 2010 brings you just as much excitement. The holidays are a time for celebration and family, and to reflect on all the joy that is present in our lives.

2009 was a busy year for LBS. Aside from what felt like non-stop travel, our founder Brian Chick graduated from his Masters of Arts (Communications and Technology) program in November, and moved the company to a new office in December.  It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but we’re excited to move forward as several new projects are looming on the horizon. 2010 looks to be another busy year.

Thank you to all our wonderful clients. We look forward to continuing our relationship into 2010 and beyond… and of course, if you have any friends who need some technical consulting, blog, wiki, web 2.0 work done, we’d be happy to help them out!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best in 2010!

Last week, millions of people across the U.S. and Canada were glued to the television watching a silver, flying saucer-shaped balloon sail through the Colorado skies, praying that the little boy inside could be rescued safely. Assuming, of course, that he actually WAS in the balloon like his family said.

While Wolf Blitzer was interviewing balloon experts and the family’s neighbours, the internet was a flurry of Tweets, Facebook Status updates, and blog posts wishing the boy, 6 year-old Falcon Heene, good luck and a safe return home. What struck me, however, was the number of posts about the child’s father, and how eccentric he was.

Many linked to articles about the family’s appearance on Wife Swap, others chose to focus on his “life on Mars” discovery and UFO hunting, while others noted that the family had an obvious, self-publicizing, YouTube presence (note - Since the incident most Heene family YouTube clips have been “removed by user”). Any article referencing Richard Heene indicated that he was a borderline mad scientist who loved any attention he could get. His MySpace page also gave off that impression (it has also since been removed).

Even before the balloon landed, I knew more about this family, and specifically their crazy father, than you’d think was possible. But what I had learned about him was nothing flattering; quite the opposite in fact. Aside from the quirks, many indications were that he was an absolute loud-mouth jerk. To be fair, his neighbour was interviewed on CNN and said he was a great guy… just “different.” Then again, his Wife-Swap appearances were already famous on the Internet for his temper, childish antics, and over the top reactions.

Long story short… I was pretty sure it was all a hoax before the balloon hit the ground. Why? Because the Internet was FILLED with information on how unbalanced this guy is. It seemed very obvious that he would be the kind of guy who would pull this kind of stunt. And sure enough I was right.

Balloon Boy Sr. was drumming up media attention so somebody might bite at their pitch for a reality show based on their family. All the hints were there… although having Balloon Boy himself out the conspiracy on national TV didn’t help me buy it either.

So what can we learn from this? Take a look at your own internet presence. What does it say about you? Spend an hour trying to find yourself in Google. Are the results accurate? Are they the messages you want to send? We’ve heard stories of criminals getting caught because of their Internet presence, and while we’d like to think we’re much smarter than that, it’s worth checking out how you might be sabotaging your own missions by what you leave lying around out there.

Takes some time and check out how you’re represented. Maybe spend a day tidying up your profiles on various websites. Take down some of the “less professional” photos that may be lingering on Facebook or those inane blog posts from a moodier time. If your name is on it, people will find it. If they do, make sure it tells them what you want it to.

Otherwise, you’re taking your chances… like a 6 year-old adrift in a homemade foil weather balloon flying saucer. (You can’t make this stuff up… oh wait… I guess you can.)

I’ve decided to take a Web 2.0 approach to two recent undertakings. The two things are very different in nature, have little in common, but can be effectively addressed using Youtube, Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.

#1) Teaching - People who know me are aware that I spend a good portion of my summer vacation coaching curling at various junior camps around the world. This year, I was in Fuessen, Germany for a World Curling Federation Camp, Halifax for a Curl Atlantic camp, and Guelph, ON for two weeks of the Ontario Curling Association camp.  These camps are like any summer camp with fun and games and minigolf and so on, only the main focus of each camp is to produce high level curlers. On the ice, and in the classroom, we teach lessons about various nuances of the game (depending on the level of the group, it could range from the basics of throwing a stone to the physics behind various angles).

For my group in Halifax this year, I had four teams (16 campers) of older kids (16-18). They all had cellphones and abused the internet all day everyday, so I figured I’d reach them in their own comfort zone. For every lesson we did on the ice, I had the campers recreate a short teaching video (shot simply on a digital camera) recapping the points they were taught. I posted this video to Youtube, then linked to it from our group blog, where we spent a few minutes of the next class session writing a summary. This modified learning journal, complete with photos, videos, and links went over very well and allowed them to access all this information from home, or from their curling clubs with their everyday coaches. Check that one out here: Whitecap’s Purple Group. The football pads were just for a goofy camp sketch contest.

#2) Awareness - Not long ago, I decided to ride in a fundraising effort called the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Aside from being physically prepared to ride my bike (which until recently had been covered with dust) 200 kilometers, I also set my goal to raise $3,200 as part of our team effort. Instead of just asking people for money, I decided to come up with a program that would involve them, and constantly remind them that I needed support for this cause. I created a blog called 200 Songs for 200 Klicks where I plan on posting 200 original performances of other people’s songs, dedicated to cancer survivors, victims, patients, and their families. Through Facebook and Twitter I can announce when new songs are up, hint that donations might be welcome, and remind people to visit the site.

Without asking anybody for money, I’ve already gotten donations from three different people, have requests from 18 people, and promises for each from many more. Using the power of Web 2.0 (a little more creatively than making my Twitter “STILL NEED DONATIONS FOR CANCER RIDE!!”), I’ve been able to solicit interest from a lot more people than would otherwise see. Check out 200 Songs here…

Now that I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on my time in Utah, I figured it was a good idea to put some of those thoughts down in writing to make them feel more official. The ACLEA conference was a wonderful experience for me, as was the chance to present with my friend (and client) Jennifer Flynn. Our presentation on LESA’s wiki project was well received, although we got a bit sidetracked answering philosphical questions (”How does an author get credit in a wiki?” and “Wouldn’t it decrease the quality of your material?” etc.), so we didn’t actually get to showcase the actual technology that much.  I’m sure we could have gone on quite happily about wikis for several more hours if it hadn’t been lunch time.

I was fortunate to meet a variety of people in the Continuing Legal Education field and many of them were interested in the topic of wikis and other technology. It was wonderful to talk to a group so passionate about what they do, and willing to try new things to improve their existing methods of content delivery. Over the course of the weekend, there were several discussions involving Web 2.0, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and it made me aware of the huge gap between those who get it and those who don’t. I left with some ideas and over the next few days tried to put them into actual thoughts. And here’s one of them.

The Webcast Dilemma

Of the dozens of sessions, ACLEA was able to formally offer 7 of them as live webcasts. While most of us agreed that it was a nice thing if you couldn’t actually make it to the conference, there was some debate over whether it would ever be an adequate replacement for in-person seminars. And at dinner and over drinks, it was said again and again, “You don’t get this kind of networking experience from a webcast.” And I agree. Those who argue that webcasts are the seminars of the future, take a few minutes and think about these three points.

1) Nobody likes to sit at their computer watching fuzzy video. Your monitor is not a TV, and the seminar is not Entourage (or Dexter, Sopranos, Weeds, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, etc… Take your pick). Television is entertaining and informative because it is written, produced, edited, vetted, colour-corrected, audio-adjusted, and formally packaged to look and sound great on your TV. Pointing a handi-cam at a speaker and a Powerpoint presentation in a poorly lit conference room isn’t quite the same.

2) These sessions are generally an hour or more in length. Think about any video you’ve watched on the internet. If it was produced with a handicam, webcam, or by any sort of non-TV/Film people, it was likely less than 10 minutes long. Think of the last thing you watched on the internet that was MORE than 10 minutes long… chances are, it was done by professionals. The point? If you’re convinced that you need to put your seminar online with limited staff and budget, keep it short. Either offer it in small pieces, or perhaps cut a highlight reel of some sort.

3) Don’t go live. Unless you’re a reporter at the scene of a major event, there is very rarely a compelling case to do a LIVE webcast. Sure, for important announcements or speeches, or if you decide that instant online feedback is required, you can hire somebody to shoot, encode, deliver, and generally manage your live webcast. If you think your viewers can wait 20 minutes to see the presentation, then other than shooting, that whole process can be done by our friends at YouTube or Vimeo for the low, low, price of… FREE. Speaking with the experience of eight years in live television production, I assure you it adds pressure you don’t need, variables you can’t always address, and the potential for disaster that can simply be avoided.

4) Finally, people don’t use the internet like they use a conference hall. You don’t sit down at the table with your binder of presentation materials and a coffee, and intently take notes. The internet is a different animal. People sitting at a computer will have the urge to click on things if you’re not keeping them riveted. So why not offer them some useful things to click on? Aside from your presentation material, offer some useful links and resources to complement the actual content of the session. So even if they aren’t paying attention to you, they’re at least taking in some of your message.

As promised in a previous post, my next computer purchase was a netbook. I picked up my Acer Aspire One at Best Buy for $349 Canadian, and carried the two-pound machine home. It has a 10″ screen, almost the same processing power as my other laptop (a Toshiba I bought three years ago), all the most useful parts of any other laptop (USB 2.0 ports for external devices, SD Card reader for your digital media, VGA Monitor-Out so you can hook it up to a larger monitor/projector, and a 160 GB Hard Drive for all your mp3s and photos), as well as a webcam/microphone and wireless internet capability.

And because I’m a geek, I decided to nerd it up a step further. While the Acer Aspire One came with Windows XP, the first thing I did when I plugged it in was install the Linux operating system Ubuntu. Ubuntu is an open-source, community-authored, software that somewhat straddles the gap between Mac and PC functionality (it can run on PC or Mac, but the graphics, in many cases, give a PC laptop a very Mac feel). Better yet, it has a netbook specific edition that is geared specifically to the hardware found in most netbooks.

The install only took a few minutes and came with other open source software staples like Firefox for web browsing and OpenOffice for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. It has a wide selection of applications and makes finding new ones extremely easy. Because all the software on linux is generally free and open, searching and installing is a snap. There’s an open source counterpart to almost standard Windows program. Microsoft Office becomes OpenOffice. Photoshop becomes GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). All file types are generally compatible, so you can import your .doc, .jpg., .avi, .mp3 and so on, without any trouble.

While Ubuntu may seem like a novelty or a hobby-type operating system for nerds. Think of it this way… Windows 7 (the latest Microsoft Operating System) costs $119 CDN for the most basic version. The latest version of photoshop sells for more thatn $600 CDN. Ubuntu and all its programs are FREE. So if you’re trying to outfit an office, or a school, or an organization with a limited budget… consider this as an alternative. It’s no harder to use than Windows, but it’s way easier to pay for.

Do I write this in the first person, or the third? … Third

Brian Chick, Director of Technology for Left Button Solutions, has been invited to present alongside Jennifer Flynn, from the Legal Education Society of Alberta (LESA), at this year’s Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

On July 27, 2009, they will lead a conference session called “Are Wikis the Solution to the Online Publishing Dilemma?” based on LESA’s recent wiki pilot project. Left Button Solutions was contracted to turn an 800 page Real Estate Conveyance Manual into a shared, online, knowledge base that anybody with an account could edit. Video tutorials explaining the new wiki and how to use it were also designed and provided by LBS.

Brian is looking forward to this opportunity, and for the chance to continue working with Jennifer and LESA.

For more information, click here for the conference brochure.

Left Button Solutions is proud to announce the completion of a pilot wiki for Service Alberta. Taking a 90-page correspondence manual and turning it into a wiki, complete with images, downloadable sample documents, and internal links, LBS was able to deliver a product that blew away the expectations of the client.

Sandamali Senaratne, Manager - Ministry Advisory Services for Service Alberta’s Ministerial Correspondence Unit said the wiki was extremely well-received at her official launch. She is anxious to see the progress and growth of the project over the course of her six-month pilot project. By the end of its first day, users had already begun to make edits and updates.

Left Button Solutions also eagerly awaits the feedback from this pilot project, so we can learn and continue improving our high level of service. If you have any questions, or think that your company might like to try a wiki, or other Web 2.0 based solution, feel free to contact us.

There is a revolution happening right in front of our eyes. This page is a part of it. Google is a BIG part of it. And many of you, whether you realize it or not, have likely taken part in it. It’s called “cloud computing” and it’s where everything is headed.

As the diagram above shows, the Internet is like a cloud. This is a long running geek-joke taken from many early tech diagrams indicating that various network lines all connected to the Internet in its varied and complicated network of connections and protocols (always represented by a cloud). So the cloud represented the world wide web, chat, e-commerce, e-mail, FTP data exchange, newsgroups, and anything else happening out there on “the internets.”

As time went on, however, the capabilities of the cloud were continuosly expanding. Things like virtual storage, unlimited email boxes, and blogs became a way for people to use features on the Web to perform some of the things that were previously restricted to a home PC. For example, Hotmail and Gmail offered their services at reading POP3 email, a function previously served by a desktop product like Outlook. Blogs and wikis changed the way people edited websites. You no longer needed Dreamweaver or Front Page to make edits; you didn’t even need to know HTML; you could just log into the cloud and type. Sites like Flickr took the burden of photo storage and made it free and easy to use. Google Docs opened up the ability to do basic word processing online, and also introduced the ability to collaborate with fellow users.

All the things we did on our home PC have evolved to things we now do on the Internet. So what does that mean for our home PCs?

It means they can get dumber.

For the last decade, we became obsessed with power. Faster chips, bigger hard drives, water cooled motherboards, and enough RAM to run a Pixar studio were all being packed into the latest Dells and HP desktops, that were then sold for $1500 or more. But thanks to cloud computing, we’re letting the Google and Flickr servers do all the work. We don’t need gigs and gigs of space because we can leave everything in our email, or on our online storage account. We can edit our documents, crop our photos, and listen to music all without much computing power at all, thanks to all the wonderful cloud-based applications. So our computers don’t need to be built on power; they can be built on portability and battery life.

Enter: The Netbook. Originally based on the concept of the $100 laptop for developing African countries, the netbook was built on a free open source operating system (Linux) and stripped down hardware deemed excessive (no DVD drive) to save on cost, and some outside of the box thinking solid state drives to preserve battery life (like a USB key) and a decent WiFi card to attach to nearby networks. With enough power and features to get video off your digital camera and upload it to Youtube, the netbooks have become a stripped down, low cost version of a standard laptop. While the cost never got down to $100 a piece, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and many others are now selling these uber-tiny, super-useful laptops for less than $400.

I’ve recently found a use for netbooks in my life. Most of the websites I build these days are built on some sort of web-based content CMS like Wordpress, MediaWiki, or something like that. Once the initial design is done, all of my edits and uploads can be done ON the website. No need to have a full scale development PC; all I need is internet access. When I have to go back to update an older site that still requires downloading, editing, and uploading, I curse the fact that I’m on a PC that doesn’t have the tools I need. When the tools live on the cloud, life is so much easier!

While graphic designers and hardcore gamers will still require their RAM-thirsty power PCs, the rest of us who want to surf the web, send some emails, and upload some photos to Flickr will soon all be well served by a smaller, cheaper, and more battery efficient netbook. As the cloud becomes more powerful, look for netbooks to become more popular.

So save $1000 on your next PC purchase. Think about going small.