New Media

As a blogger and writer who spans both sides of the media divide, I enjoy thinking and talking with others about what Web 2.0 means, since it’s one of those nebulous expressions that means different things to different people. Fortunately for me, Vancouver is chock full of social media mavens to mull this phenomenon and I’ve been a grateful beneficiary of their wisdom. Web 2.0 enables humankind to communicate and interact in entirely new and meaningful ways. As I wrote in a BIV article earlier this year (Web 2.0 vs. the Great Firewall of China):

Web 2.0 in a word? Freedom.

…If the old Internet was a city filled with brilliant but unresponsive giant billboards built by individuals with 100 per cent control of their message, Web 2.0 is a collection of giant town hall meetings involving hundreds of millions of people, where the message is what most people say it is.

Web 2.0 basically means free (as in “democratic”) Internet.

I just came upon a fantastic gem of an article on the topic of what Web 2.0 means by social media consultant Joe Solomon on his Notes From A Red Nose blog, Clown and Web 2.0. It’s actually from last year, before I ever met him, but relevant and interesting as all hell. An excerpt:

Then I went on to explain that Web 2.0 is all about helping people connect. Sue Morrison had always defined moments of clown as being those where audience and performer truly connect. In that ether between audience and performer – in that space – in that moment of true eye contact. You could say clowns don’t exist, they exist between.

With Web 2.0, it’s the same thing. We exist where we connect with others. Web 2.0 has given birth to an explosion of social networks – most innovative among them is Facebook. Facebook is famous for having almost obliterated static profiles and instead having replaced these with dynamic ever-changing “News Feeds.” Your Facebook News Feed is a series of public announcements of how you’ve interacted with others on the network. Your News Feed constantly changes as your write on your friend’s wall or attend an event with other Facebook users. So on Facebook, as represented through your Facebook News Feed, your entire existence is defined by these moments of connecting with others.

Fascinating stuff.

Here’s Joe, attempting to define his existence in the spaces in between.

Thank you to all my friends, social media evangelists and the millions of Currents fans around the world who supported me in this hard-fought campaign. But the voters have spoken. The Tyee wins this round.

I wanted to write some petty and spiteful things about the Tyee, but the fact is, I actually like it. I read it pretty regularly. So against my baser inclinations, congratulations are in order.

And since the vote counts apparently won’t be released, I can at least console myself that there’s a slim chance this blog beat the snot out of Bill Tieleman’s .

In the meantime, I won a bottle of Yardley English Lavender Bath Foam, Shea Butter and a $25 gift certificate to Howie’s bistro and bar at the 604 Awards raffle, so it’s not a total loss. Nice things for the wife, plus a date night in our future.

Also, congratulations are in order. To my friends in the blogosphere, like Dave Olson (Raincity Studios, Winner Best Company Blog, and Runner-up ), the team at Techvibes (Runner-up, Best Tech Blog — Hey, Wait, I’m Part of That Team! You rock, Rob Lewis!) and Corinna Carlson (Gus Greeper, Runner-up Best Personal Blog), John Chow (whom I met one day at a Vancouver blogger event many months ago– I watched him photograph his less-than satisfactory cheeseburger for the entertainment of his thousands of subscribers)… congratulations.

To all those other deserving blogs out there — there are too many to name, and you know who you are — all I can say is, keep at it. We’re reading what you have to say. Congratulations to you all.

The newswire is buzzing in the final hours of the campaign to win Vancouver’s Best of 604 Blog Award for Best Politics Site or Blog. Here’s the latest reporting I’ve found:

Politics Bloggers in Race to the Finish

The Best of 604 Awards Reception happens in downtown Vancouver on Thursday, Dec. 11, hosted by 2008 Tech Woman to Watch Rebecca Bollwitt, better known under her famous blogging persona of Miss604. Voting at www.bestof604.com/category/best-political-site closes at midnight, Dec. 10

In the course of the campaign for Best Politics Site or Blog at the Metro Vancouver 604 Blog Awards, outrageous rants, scurrilous rumors and innuendo have put this Vancouver politics blog at ground zero of a hard battle for hearts and minds. Check these out:

DaveO (Choogle On With Uncle Weed) on Ephemeral Feasthouse mixes kind words like “he offers up the rightie punditry i require for expanding my mind” with surreptitious venom. We’re still friends, though.

Raul (Hummingbird604) sees controversy and shadowy no-goodness all around me. Yikes.

Ruth Seeley asks why boys must be boys (because they aren’t whales?) and takes issue with the mud-in-the-trenches monkey warfare of the campaign. Will it change? If not now, when?

Don’t forget to vote!

I am honored and not a little flattered as Currents is nominated for a Best of 604 Blog Award in the category of Best Politics Site or Blog. Just to be in the same company as political commentators like the Tyee, Public Eye Online and Unambiguously Ambidextrous makes me feel like a winner.

That said, I do actually want to win this thing. Why should you vote for Currents at jnarvey.com? Here are a few reasons:

1. You actually like what I have to say about politics, or whatever else I’m blogging about. You’ve read something I wrote and thought, “Wow. I never thought of the issue like that before. Cool!”, or “I was thinking the exact same thing, but I didn’t know how to put it. Narvey nailed it!” You liked a post enough to offer an insightful comment.
2. You hate what I have to say about politics. It evokes a primordial, gut-wrenching response. You’ve left a libelous comment at some point, or decided not to comment in the hopes that ignoring a post would make it go away. I affected your life.
3. If you vote for Currents at jnarvey.com and I win, I will strip down to my underwear at the Best of 604 Blog Awards. Let’s face it, no one in the Vancouver blogosphere wants to see my tackle dangling. But perhaps you’ve been just a liiiiiiittle curious about what hairy patches and tattoos lie underneath the clothes that my wife picks out for me? Also, I’ll donate any coins people toss my way to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

Can I count on your support?

UPDATE: I am advised by my closest campaign aides that my promise to let it all hang out (well, almost all) in the event that I win could detract somewhat from the spirit of the 604 Blog Awards and also put the kibosh on a promising career. As well, some pointed out that the proposal might actually be a disincentive for some to vote for me, as some people find massive amounts of body hair on pale skin somewhat unpleasant.

Remember to vote!