March 2002

Michael Femia has a new project: The BunkoSquad SportsBlog. Check it out for a daily dose of sports commentary, weblogging adventures and a bunch of original content, too. It’s well written so even a non-sporty-person will find it to be an interesting read.

This is old news in the land of the Internet. But I thought I’d chime in anyway. ;) Hiawatha Bray wrote an article about Pyra and the Blogger “phenomenon” for The Boston Globe on March 25, 2002. It’s some sort of overview of weblogging and information about Pyra founder Evan Williams’s adventure with the Blogger.com weblog publishing tool. I’m dissappointed that the article did not include a single mention about local Boston bloggers. How about Heath Row’s Media Diet? Or Bostonites Unite!, a web ring connecting Boston bloggers? If you go to google.com and type the phrase “boston and blog” (skip the quotes for the actual search) you’ll have 15,200 results to wade through including Oliver Willis, TBTF and even this website. It was interesting when Hiawatha wrote “This suggests that blogging is an ephemeral fad, destined to burn itself out in a year or two.” This (amusingly) reminded me of an Austin journalist who recently asked me why weblogging was still so popular since it was the next big thing a few years ago. The article then goes on to say “At present there’s no good blog equivalent of Yahoo - a categorical search engine that lists Web sites devoted to specific topics.” What about Daypop — a search engine for weblogs. You can search for Hiawatha and find a few gems. This quote can only be described as cute: “A thorough reading of one or two good blogs will leave you almost as well informed as this morning’s newspaper.” If he asked for my opinion I would have pointed him to Rebecca Blood’s informative history of weblogging . Oh, well. Better luck next time! It’s always good to see Pyra and Blogger getting press. [thanks to Shannon @ Bitter-girl.com for the head's up about this article.]

Call early … call often!

Want to help out my favorite Boston band? Call WBCN every day until Sunday requesting “Small” and “Three Girls Walking” off Mistle Thrush’s new CD “Drunk With You.” Operators are standing by to take your call at 617-931-1041. Let me know if you call. I’m curious.

The sooz.com sushi party is back with a twist! On Monday April 8th sooz.com presents the Organic Networking Sushi Party at Kaya Restaurant in Cambridge. We haven’t had a sushi party since June 2001 … it’s about time! We’re accepting RSVPs until April 4th or when all spots are filed — whichever comes first. If you’d like to join us or just learn more about the event, check out the Organic Networking event page.

Sign-up forms are also available for the Thursday April 18th and Thursday May 16th Freelance Hub lunches.

Comic relief, web-style! Three Abreast is a web sitcom about Ravi Jain and his two housemates. Check out the ComedyExtender trade; which provides dynamic content triggered by the video.

Carole Guevin has created a survey about independent design portals. Share your opinion at netdiver.net.

So far, there are now four sets of comments about the Independents Day panels at the recent South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Check them out at SXSWBlog.com!

Sammy Davis Jr. and Catholic school - Panel: Celebrating Independent Content
What is Independent Content? - Panel: Celebrating Independent Content

Design Portals - Panel: Independent Design: Trend-Setting Expression

buzz, man - Panel: Creating Awareness and Building a Buzz with Independent Content

SXSWblog.com set up a nifty Notes Exchange for the panels at SXSW Interactive. PB posted a few notes about the panel I moderated. [Thanks to Meryl for pointing out the Notes Exchange to me!]

The South by Southwest Interactive Festival was everything to be expected: inspiring, fun, sleep-depriving, interesting, educational, recharging and did I mention fun? Last year I took tons of photos; but this year the camera hardly left my bag. Carole printed three beautiful postcards for each of our IndependentsDay.org panels. There was a bit of a mix-up with the hotel we were staying at and I didn’t get my cards until Sunday so if you want one (I have quite a few extras), send me your snailmail address and I’ll zip one out to you.

The countdown to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival is just like the countdown to Christmas, only better! Only 2 more days until departing for Austin.