or whatever the actual title is….
the break this time was mind-blowing. met Eric Meyer and Molly H. ran into Denise. met George Kelley and a women whose name I don’t remember, but who had streaks of blue in her hair and was described as an obsessive documenter.
this is the one that should’ve had Shelley. 🙁
the moderator doesn’t appear to be able to use the mike.
how has visibility played out in their experience?
kabili: talks about the weblogs inc network, and I get the impression that her motto is similar to what I always say about computers in general. (ie: the secret is to not be afraid and to just do something.)
henry: (mmmm…purple hair!) anything to do with technology to make us more visible is good. barrier to visible was being unfocused, writing about everything in one blog. and how do you search for, say, women bloggers in Latin America?
debolt: was the little grey-haired lady in the back row who just came & listen. by listening, became a convert (css, accessibility, etc.) if I ever worship a male god again his name will be Eric. 🙂 couldn’t find any books that taught the way it ought to be done. (know that feeling!)
sort of out of it catching up with other stuff….
“everyone will be famous to 15 people” (my favorite line about the internets ever.)
comment from the audience: just keep on going. the “kicking our own butts”.
another: never worked somewhere where the smart people all get promoted and the dumb ones get fired.
the holistic life flipsides. if I write about my personal life, do I lose other readers.
“maybe that 23-year-old guy needs to hear about that experience”
sit down, lady in the WP shirt. let somebody else get in.
y’know, this reminds me of round & round conversations I was in back in college. I think I’m going to bail. honestly, would rather sit & have a good chat with Liz & Virginia (and Meri down in the front row) than do this panel thing.
do you change what you write to get readership?
yeah, I’m outta here.
Hell no I don’t change what I write to get readership. I get readership IN SPITE OF what I write, half the time. Pretty cool trick, if you’re willing to put up with the flak.
I *do* change what I write so as not to hurt people other than myself. That’s where the wall between blog and LJ is, too.
As for focused blogging — bah. Don’t believe in it. It’s another way to force me out of my female self because the tech-boy locker rooms can’t cope with female selves.
damn straight. that’s why I walked out.
my favorites are all folks who combine all their “selves” in interesting ways. (that would include you, of course.)
and I think that was a perspective that was missed to a great extent by Shelley not being there.
This panel was lame. Only reason I stuck around was that I spent a half hour beforehand having a really good conversation with the woman I was sitting next to. We talked for another half hour after the session ended. She described this panel as a “wine and cheese party”, which seemed about right to me.
I did, in fact, also have a very nice conversation with Virginia in the early morning before anything started. I was vaguely aware of her name, but didn’t make the connection to this panel.
I think it’s not just the fact that Shelley wasn’t there; as I recall, Dori Smith was also originally scheduled to be on this panel. Both or either of them would have added some much needed piss and vinegar to the wine and cheese. Both have legitimate, long-standing complaints about not being respected for their technical chops, amply demonstrated both in the books they write and on their blogs.
Yours and Ralph’s sites are about the only ones that have mentioned this panel. In fairness to the participants, they were asked to fill in when our panel fell apart.
Would I have livened it up? Not sure.
I do know I won’t try something like this again. I make my statements with my writing, and that will have to do. And I think this is an issue that needs less ‘conversation’ and more debate — but not everyone sees it as such.
I did miss meeting you and Ralph.
And Ralph didn’t mention the panel, except here.
I think what I really would’ve wanted to see was something entirely different. I keep thinking back to the panel about play, the one that danah moderated, and how getting the audience up and moving made a huge difference in the whole experience.
I think the whole format was wrong. Or something. Like you, Shelley, I think perhaps the time for “conversation” is past, and now this needs something different. Debate? Maybe. I’m more inclined to action…not that I know what that would look like exactly. But like I said originally, this just felt like so many conversation I had in college, in groups, in women’s studies classes (I was almost a women’s studies minor!), etc.
grumble, grumble, grumble.
and I get the impression that Ralph is saving his notes until afterward and doing some actual editing, unlike my brain-to-fingers-to-internets style of writing. 🙂
Yes, I’ve been taking extensive notes, but I figure there are plenty of people out there posting their raw notes, and I want some time to digest stuff. I’ll probably post a wrap-up omnibus post later in the week if duties for my brother’s wedding next weekend don’t get in the way. If they do, it might be a little longer. Up to this point, I’ve been writing mainly about conversations and impressions rather than straight reportage.
Conversation? Debate? I was hoping for pistols at ten paces….
(And can I say that the least helpful “hint” on raising visibility was to move to the Bay Area.)
I must have missed that particular hint! How silly.