noisetrade

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: music, relationships, web, web 2.0
• Date: Jul 2,2008

From the mind of Derek Webb:

It was through the support and success you gave the Mockingbird experiment that inspired Derek, with the help of a few friends, to start NoiseTrade. Now any artist can freely distribute their music online, via NoiseTrade’s remarkable and embeddable widget, offering fans the choice to tell 3 friends or to pay any amount in exchange for an immediate download.

Derek concludes, “If artists and fans realized how they could help each other and started making direct connections, without a middleman, the whole industry would change overnight. It would start a revolution.”

Rather than over-charging for music, we want to let you choose your price or will give you the record for free in exchange for a little help. NoiseTrade believes it’s time to stop applying the old rules to a new world. If we can work together, an environment is created for the long-term benefit of both fans and artists.

twitterddiction

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: relevintage, social networking, technology, twitter, web, web 2.0
• Date: May 22,2008

Okay, I took the plunge. I am officially a Twitter devotee. And I’m a bit addicted. Trying to get things together on the apps side. Using: browser add-on Twitbin to follow and post tweets and Twitterfeed to keep Twitter up with my blog posts and Last.fm recent tracks.

Who I’m following:

B.J. Mumford
Mark McAllister
Dan Kimball
Mark Driscoll
Bob Hyatt
Randy Elrod
Jason Allen
Kevin Cawley
John Voelz
Carlos Whitaker
Joe Day
Steve McCoy
Andrew Jones
A.J. Vanderhorst
Matthew Paul Turner
Todd Rhodes
Tony Morgan
Kent Shaffer
Bob Robbins
Isaac Downing
James Nahrgang

the language of 2.0

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: blogging, community, culture, emerging culture, relationships, technology, web, web 2.0
• Date: Apr 18,2008

Loved this post from John Voelz, Coriolis:Experience dude at Westwinds Church in Jackson, MI – btw, one of the most innovative churches in the country that won’t be on any “most innovative” lists.

In it, he talks about how there is a strong contingent of society who think that technology makes life too frantic and schizophrenic. There is some truth to that. But it’s not the whole truth. Here is what John says:

We need to stop talking in terms of web technology “simplifying” our lives and stop defending that stance. Sometimes, it just doesn’t. We need to use a new vocabulary when talking about what web technology can do for us and stop apologizing.

So here is what John says technology does for him – I’m down with almost every point:

What technology (2.0, apps, digital, etc.) does for me : : :

• Puts me in touch with people I rarely have a chance to talk to
• Introduces me to new ideas
• Stretches my creativity
• Helps me learn processes that help me in multiple venues
• Keeps me sharp and talking the current language of our culture
• Helps me communicate what I want to say
• Makes me more accessible
• Makes my friends more accessible
• Helps me promote business
• Invites others into a conversation with me I couldn’t have otherwise
• Helps me network
• Helps me meet new friends
• Helps me share about Jesus and what He has done for me
• Promotes collaboration
• Introduces me to new things fast!
• Helps me learn what people are saying about the church and me
• I can speak my mind before others spread what they “think” I said
• Get my news fast!
• Helps me not lose touch with my kids
• Share and spark ideas in real time
• Emergency alerts through a variety of vehicles
• Conference with people when they are inaccessible
• Exchange important data stat!
• Warn people of impending robot domination (this one is just to make sure you are paying attention)

Preach it, Bro. Voelz!

how to be a better blogger than me

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: blogging, community, emerging culture, technology, web 2.0
• Date: Nov 9,2007

Okay, maybe that’s a little much. But I do think Garrett Graff, Professor at Georgetown University is right in saying, “The influence of blogging is overall a very positive force in the media.” And even with all its downsides, in life as well.

Someone recently asked me to give them some tips on blogging. I’m no expert, but I have picked up a few things from better bloggers than me. If I did 1/8th of what I told my buddy, I’d be a regular Guy Kawasaki.

I know people blog for different reasons, but I think these hit some generalities that are helpful. Here’s what I told my friend:

First, read this article from problogger.com: How to Market Your Blog in 2007. Hands down the best ‘promotion’ article out there.

Some other great ones:
Andrew Jones: 15 Blogging Tips For 2007
Andrew Jones: Blogging for the Long Tail
Andrew Jones: The Spirituality of Not Blogging
Andrew Jones: Beware the Blogosphere: Here Be Dragons!
Scott McKnight: The Year in Blogging: Lessons

Here are my tricks to the trade:

1) Get a RSS reader so you can keep up with all your favorite blogs. Get an RSS Reader. Get an RSS Reader!

Since I use a Mac, I am a big believer in Vienna, an open-source aggregator that supports RSS and Atom formats. Check out my review of Vienna here. I would also recommend Shrook.

When I had a PC, I used FeedReader, also an open-source aggregator that supports RSS and Atom formats. IMHO, it is the best platform for RSS feeds for PC’s. In fact, Vienna and Shrook but resemble FeedReader in many ways. They all have that ‘Mac’ look. The only problem with FeedReader is it is not an online aggregator like Google Reader and if your hard drive goes down, so do your feeds.

My encouragement would be to periodically dump your feeds to your desktop as an .opml. Open the .opml and copy the text. Then copy that text into a Google Doc – at this time Google Docs doesn’t support .opml files – so that if your hard drive dies, you can rebuild it from your last save. Put a reminder in your calendaring system like Outlook, Entourage, etc. to help you remember to do the occasional ‘dump.’

If you don’t want the hassle, Google Reader is very user-friendly for both Macs and PC’s and is web-based. If your computer’s hard drive goes down, your feeds don’t. The only problem I’ve heard of with GR is that sometimes it doesn’t show entries that you have read as being read. Aesthetically, it’s pretty boring too.

RSS feeds are helpful because they keep you consistently connected to the ‘sphere. I bring this up is because someone somewhere sometime will write about something you are interested in and you can genuinely add to the convo. Many times these are like-minded folks too who want to connect with someone who is well, like-minded.

2) Comment frequently, it doesn’t have to be long, but it is good if it is substantive.

2) Make sure when you comment that you put your blog address in the box where it asks for it. This give the blogger and other commenters the ability to hop over to your blog at the drop of a click.

3) Frequently cross-reference other blog entries and articles. In other words, if you cite something Tim Smith from Mars Hills says, make sure you link back to him by utilizing the ‘link’ option in your html codes. When you do this, those bloggers receive a ‘ping’ from you and may hop over to your blog to check you out.

4) “A niche is rich.” – Leonard Sweet

5) Be the first to review a book, CD, conference etc. Live-blog when you can…

6) Write consistently. People expect new info on a fairly regular basis. Obviously we have families, ministries, etc. that are way more important than blogging. Be wise but be recurrent.

7) When someone leaves a comment on your blog, many times their comment is sent to whatever email you registered with. When you get those comments, make sure you respond with a comment: a) on your blog and b) to their email. Hits ‘em twice…

8) Make sure and utilize your blogroll to link to people you like, identify with, etc. some people put everyone they know on their blogroll. some just put those who they would want to be associated with. some categorize the different types of blogs in their blogroll. either way, you are linking back to someone’s blog on your homepage. it’s considered a sign of camaraderie in the ‘sphere…

9) And finally, Andrew Jones says take a blog-fast once a year. Good advice…

Here is one last link to what is probably the most exhaustive blogging tip story. Also comes from problogger.com: 113 Must Read Blogging Tips.

If you have any ideas to contribute to this list, send them my way and I’ll compile them for a more complete ‘how-to’ for aspiring bloggers…

web 2.0 review: vienna for mac os x

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: blogging, technology, web, web 2.0
• Date: Jul 16,2007

I recently took the plunge with my new job and got a Mac. A really cool black one.

Okay, there is much more to it than that, but along with the new computer came the inevitable and time-consuming set-up. Office needed to be ripped, Firefox downloaded, Remote Desktop set-up so I can sync with MoBap’s network, etc. But the most important thing for me: rebuilding my RSS aggregator.

I am an obsessive blog reader and when my former RSS aggregator on my old computer went down in a blaze of glory – my one-year old daughter poured water on it – I knew that rebuilding it would take some time. Not to mention that I’ve been away from being a ‘regular’ in the blogosphere for about two months.

Here is the reason: the RSS reader I prefer -FeedReader – was not an online aggregator along the likes of Bloglines or Google Reader, so when my hard drive went down, so did my aggregator. That means no feeds saved. None.

But first I had to download a newsreader to put my feeds in. Time to download FeedReader to my Mac. Problem 1. FeedReader is not supported by OS X. Ouch.

So, this revelation sent me on a search to find a comparable aggregator that OS X supported. Problem 2. The top-rated OS X-supported readers are how should I say this … horrible! They are too much like the PC Web-based aggregators. Clunky, glitchy, and aesthetically kitschy.

At about the two-hour mark, I found my way onto a random article online that listed some aggregators that I hadn’t seen in my search up to that point. In the article was a link to freeware called Vienna, an open source RSS/Atom newsreader for the Mac OS X. I downloaded it and wow!

I am now a Vienna evangelist.

First, aesthetics. Not only does it seem to be FeedReader’s OS X cousin, it has more of a cleaner, metallic flavor than FeedReader’s generic Outlook ‘look.’ Another little aesthetic detail I love is that before each blog’s RSS name in the reader it shows its logo – if it has one.

Second, accessibility. it extremely easy to set up Vienna as your default blog reader, rename RSS names, set-up group folders, etc. No clunkiness here.

Third, practicality. Instead of showing a feed ‘read’ when you click on one entry like in Bloglines – even if you have more unread posts within the feed – it keeps a running number of unread posts in a little icon after the feed, much like FeedReader.

It also give you an option to show the author of the entry within the feed as a column you can view in the individual blog list pane above the reading pane. This is particularly helpful when you have a multi-author blog or if you subscribe to a blog’s RSS comments.

The only negatives:

1) If you click on the title of the blog entry in the reading pane, it opens up the original blog post in another tab instead of within the reading pane itself. Feedreader had this option…

2) You can’t mark multiple entries as read or unread if one or more entries in the selected group have been read or unread. Confused? If you use FeedReader you know what I’m talking about.

3) The Vienna icon in the Mac’s dock keeps a running tab of your unread posts in a little red sticker – okay, okay, I know I have 950 entries still to read. Actually, I like this. It keeps me accountable.

[Updated: 4) If a blog's RSS feed isn't what is called a full feed, you can't change it to show the blog entry from the actual site like you could in FeedReader in the reading pane. You have to click on the title of the blog entry in the reading pane and it opens up in another tab. Kind've ties in to #1]

One last thing. If you were to lose the data on your hard drive on your computer and since Vienna is not a web-based aggregator, you would still lose your feeds much like FeedReader. My suggestion would be to export the subscriptions to an .opml file. You then can copy the feeds from the .opml file to a Word document. You then could save the Word doc to an web-based word processor and spreadsheet application, like Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

If you put a bi-monthly reminder in whatever calendar system you use – iCal, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc. – you can follow the aforementioned process, save over your previous version of your Word doc by the same name, and you can be all but guaranteed that you can rebuild your RSS newsreader at a later date.

All in all, Vienna is a home-run RSS newreader for the Mac OS X. I highly recommend it!

looking forward to this…

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: community, emerging church, Gospel, media, relationships, technology, web 2.0
• Date: Jul 13,2007

Via Andrew Jones, a.k.a. the Tall Skinny Kiwi:

The Wikiklesia Project finally gets underway, after a number of laggards get their chapters in for the first book right before its release on July 23. And in case nobody says anything, my chapter was probably the LATEST. Sorry about that everyone. Life has been busy lately. My chapter is called “The Ugly Blogger” and its about the dark side of blogging. Thanks to Len H. and John La Grou for their patience and foresight on this project.

Blurb: The first book, Voices of the Virtual World, is a “collective, chaordic conversation on how emerging technologies are impacting the church.” All proceeds from the Wikiklesia Project will be contributed to the Not For Sale campaign.
“In this volume, we hear from a wide range of voices, including bloggers and students, technologists and theologians, entrepreneurs and pastors… from a progressive Episcopalian techno-monk to a leading Mennonite professor… from a tech-savvy mobile missionary to a corporate anthropologist whom Worth Magazine called “one of Wall Street’s 25 Smartest Players.” Voices promises to be a far reaching exploration of spiritual journey contextualized within a culture of increasingly immersive technology.”

Further, from the Wikklesia Project About page:

It’s our hope that Wikiklesia generates a continuous stream of high quality collaborative literature – embracing topics of significance to the global church. We have no idea if this will work, but we’re giving it a good go.

After the first book is published and in the marketplace, Len and I will “pass the mantle” to two new editor-facilitators to oversee a second Wikiklesia project. When the second project is complete and in the market, those editor-facilitators will pass their commission to a new pair of editor-facilitators for the third book – and on it goes.

Wikiklesia is a grand experiment in personal participatory media. Even this web site follows the “wiki” format. All Wikiklesia authors and facilitators have virtually unlimited access to the site – to create pages, re-write pages, and mash-up ideas at will. Join us in making a little bit of ecclesiastical history.

The entire list of authors is here. I’m particularly looking forward to Bob Hyatt’s chapter on “Technology and the Gospel,” Scot McKnight’s chapter on “BlogReviews,” and Drew Goodmanson’s chapter on “Will the Internet Create a New Reformation?”

web 2.0 review: there she blows! it’s .mobi

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: technology, web, web 2.0
• Date: May 7,2007

[HT: Randy Elrod-Ethos]

Thought this was interesting in the never-ending re-evolution of the WWW. It’s a new TLD [top-level domain]: .mobi. As in .com or .org.

Looks weird doesn’t it? I thought so too when I first saw it. After reading a bit about it, I actually think it might stick.

Instead of writing a detailed analysis, I’ll let expert Russell Beattie tell you why:

I’ll admit I’ve gone back and forth on my opinions of the new .mobi TLD. But I’ve finally made the firm decision that it’s definitely a step forward for the mobile web. Sometimes I’d wonder if we really needed Yet Another Domain Name or if a new domain name would cause confusion, or if separating out addresses for the mobile web was really a good idea. But I have finally decided once and for all it’s a Good Thing(TM). Here’s why in a sentence:

Read the rest of this entry »

web 2.0 review: rollyo

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: emerging church, planning, review, technology, web, web 2.0, worship
• Date: Apr 15,2007

Have you ever rolled with Rollyo?

Me either. Until just a few minutes ago. Wow… [of course, something like this probably already exists, but these seems so accessible]

Rollyo is basically an easy way to create personal search engines using only the sources you trust. In other words, instead of wading though thousands of irrelevant search results to get to the information you want, you narrow your search to sites you already know.

Rollyo calls these personal search engines Searchrolls. All you have to do is pick the sites you want to search, and Rollyo creates a custom search engine for you. Another great feature is that you can ‘roll’ your personalized search engine into your Firefox Search Engine in one click.

I came across this as I was looking at a recent article from the Calvin Institute of Worship called Worship Planning Idea: Celebrating three Old Testament Spring Festivals. At the bottom of the article, it linked to CICW’s search tips. Included on CICW’s search tip page was a link to a Rollyo search engine that includes Reformed Worship [one of my regular magazine reads], Center for Excellence in Preaching, Ministry Resource Center, and Christian Classics Ethereal Library [amazing site]. This search engine can be found here.

If you plan for worship, this is a great resource for worship ideas. Especially those who are trying to be ‘ancient-future’ in your approach.