PodCamp is to BootCamp as...

Last night's PodCamp Meet-Up went very well, as far as I could tell. Due to a transportation delay, I wasn't able to get there until just past 7, but we packed a lot of conversation into a relatively short amount of time. It was great to see so many familiar faces, but also great to meet so many new people as well -- Pittsburgh's new media community is definitely growing.

The big topic of discussion was BootCamp, which is what we're calling the one-day immersive introduction to new media that we're planning for April. Since PodCamp is a multi-day event, targeting new media creators of all stripes and levels of expertise, we realized that absolute newcomers might be intimidated, confused or frustrated by the variety of information available. The last thing we want is for a PodCamp attendee to come away feeling like they DIDN'T learn what they intended to. So the best solution seems to be a preamble to the main event, where newcomers can get up to speed on all the basics of blogging, podcasting, social networking and other new media buzzwords and processes.

That way, when you're at PCPGPGH2 in August and you're trying to choose between learning more about Alive in Baghdad or attending a panel on the future of content licensing, you won't have to stop a volunteer and ask them what, exactly, IS a podcast? (Although, if you're still not sure, you certainly can.)

For more details about what you missed, including the first wave of planning for the upcoming BootCamp in April, read the summary at our PodCamp Pittsburgh Forum.

Brainstorming Night

Tonight, a few of the behind-the-scenes folks from STBD will be meeting for our first weekly brainstorming meeting of 2007. (A couple of them are in-front-of-the-camera folks, too, because we STBDers like to pull double duty).

Waaay back in 2004 (I think -- it's been awhile), I started meeting with a few friends to brainstorm our various creative ideas. I had STBD. They had classwork, or creative writing, or web comics, or Flash projects, or whatever was on tap that week. The value, we found, was that everyone was able to see everyone else's projects from a different point of view, and sometimes those POVs could find creative solutions we ourselves couldn't see alone because we were too close to the situation.

These meetings aren't always weekly, though we try to do it that way. More often, it's when we can all squeeze free for a few hours. Even a quick cup of coffee, in person, can help steer a few of us in the right direction.

Tonight's main topic, from my vantage point: building out STBD.

I have dozens of ideas, many of which have been incubating for years without the necessary resources (time, money, people, know-how) to pull them off. So I'm looking for feedback on how I can put as many of these ideas in motion as possible. Hopefully my collaborators can provide constructive suggestions and we can push this boulder forward, pebble by pebble, until it picks up its own momentum.

But brainstorming night shouldn't be limited solely to us.

Do you have an idea that you can't quite wrap your head around? Why not gather up a few friends -- or even acquaintances -- and grab a cup of coffee? Pitch your ideas and see what kinds of feedback they offer. Not only will someone undoubtedly have a perspective that you wouldn't have thought of, but they'll almost definitely have a conundrum of their own that you may have some insight on.

Brainstorming: it's not just for white paper anymore.