Colin's Blog » Scoble

My First Photosynth

Colin Carmichael — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:47:30 +0000

Scoble tipped me off to the public launch of PhotoSynth. After 24 hours of trying (the PhotSynth server was overwhelmed for most of yesterday) I was finally able to create my first PhotoSynth. I just grabbed a folder of photos I had lying around of my church, Central Presbyterian in Cambridge, Ontario. There a few photos that shouldn’t have gone in there… and I’m kind of disappointed that some of the old photographs didn’t get matched up. The steeple, I think, confused the software since it is identical on all four sides. I really wish you could remove selected photos after the synth is created. Oh well – lessons learned.

link

Update: I tried again with a set of interior shots that I had: Central Interior

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Fleet Thinks Scoble is ‘Dead Wrong’ About Twitter

Colin Carmichael — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:53:24 +0000

Dave Fleet wrote a response to a recent post by Robert Scoble about the ‘secret’ of Twitter. He said that Scoble is "dead wrong" about his theory that following more is better than getting followed more. I had to go back and read Scoble’s piece again, because I seemed to recall nodding my head as I read it the first time. Sure enough, I still agree with the essential point that Scoble was trying to make. Twitter is not, and should not be, a popularity contest where the winner is determined by the number of followers. That’s what Feedburner stats are for. So I don’t think Scoble is dead wrong on this one.

I hesitate to criticize Dave to strongly, though, for his assessment of Scoble’s theory. Dave knows his stuff and I’m convinced he’s not dead wrong either. The points Dave makes to support his criticism are excellent ones and I found myself nodding along with him as well.

How is it, then, that I can agree with two diametrically opposed opinions? When this happens, it usually means to me that I’m looking at a false dichotomy. An argument of extremes where the answer actually lies somewhere in the middle.

But maybe it doesn’t matter at all. Maybe we should be more focused on the quality of the conversation rather than the quantity of our audience. Maybe we should stop paying attention to those following/follower number entirely. The power of the ‘@’ will ensure that your audience will grow in proportion to the quality of your participation in the conversation cloud.

Twitter is the world’s largest pub. If you walk in with earplugs in and start talking to everyone – you will probably get hurt. On the other hand, if you try to sit at every table and never say a word, well, you’re probably just hurting yourself. The two extremes.

My advice? Walk in, order a beer, look for a few friends. Introduce yourself to a few of their friends and let the conversation take its course. Most of all, just be yourself.

Sketchcasting – a Whiteboard on your Blog

Colin Carmichael — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:50:45 +0000

I think Richard Ziade may be on to something with Sketchcasting (via Search Engine Guide). He’s absolutely right about traditional blogging being a lot of work both for the writer and reader. Podcasting, as an alternative, still relies on your ability to express in words what might best be shown on a whiteboard. Video blogging is inherently visual, but is still focused on dialogue.

How many time have you begun to explain some web concept or idea to a room full of people and finally had to stand up and draw it on the wall to make it stick?

Sketchcasting may prove to be a mighty tool in the web strategist toolbox – but won’t replace blogging any more than podcasting has. I can see myself embedding Sketchcasts within blog posts to illustrate a concept or process, etc. but not using them exclusively.

I am immediately reminded of the InPlainEnglish video series from Common Craft that I’ve mentioned here before. The accessibility, conceptually, of drawings far outweighs that of lengthy text explanations. Sketchcasts are also portable (like the Common Craft videos) so that you can distribute them anywhere you need to – and they just might drive some traffic!

Outside of web strategists trying to explain social media or RSS, there are applications for bloggers of any kind.

I’m curious what technology Richard is using and what the gear investment might be, but I suspect it’s cheaper than Scoble’s camera.