elkit in wonderland

The Way That I Choose

The SXSW peeps say over at the 2009 SXSW Interactive Panel Picker:

Trends that we have noticed for 2009 include web apps, brands, lessons, news, things that are long, the popularity of the word "suck" and a lot more advanced-level proposals than last year.

I'll wait a few more days, and then I'll cast my votes.

Welcome To The Working Week

A List Apart is "calling all designers, developers, information architects, project managers, writers, editors, marketers, and everyone else who makes websites. It is time once again to pool our information so as to begin sketching a true picture of the way our profession is practiced worldwide."

(Click on the button above or on this link to take the survey.)

The Sweetest Perfection

Twitter Cookies
Originally uploaded by Neven Mrgan

"Umlauts are grillz for vowels." Ha! I love it.

(Seen on Laughing Squid.)

Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair

Over in LaughingSquid Land, there's an Everywhere Magazine’s Call for San Francisco Submissions:

"Todd Lappin here, blogging in my official day-job capacity as the editor of Everywhere, a user-generated travel magazine based here in the city. I mention this because the next issue of Everywhere will include a feature story about travel to San Francisco, and we’d love to get more article and photo submissions from SF locals."

Look At Me, I Can Be Centerfield

Bill Braine from Exurbitude (who introduced himself to me at BlogHer's Friday night reception, saying he'd recognized me from my picture - thanks for that, Bill!) points out something that I don't usually think much about, but it's true:

Of all the things I learned in San Francisco, the one that applies here is that blogging differs from writing, which I’ve been doing all along. Blogging demands more, and writing is just the centerpiece to a world of commenting, flickring, twittering, emailing…what we call building virtual community.

This goes with an insight I had when Sarah was speaking at a panel. She said, "my twitter community, my livejournal community, my blog community", and it gave me a new angle on my own communities: I'm not just a part of a vast community. I am the center of those communities that form around me. They're MINE. I OWN this. I've been blogging for seven years, and I only just got around to noticing this. Yeah, I'm a little slow sometimes.

And I'm Searching For A Heart

Yesterday in the BlogHer Writing Workshop, Amy mentioned a search widget that searches your blog and anything that you specify - the comments you left elsewhere, other blogs you read or contribute to, and just about anything that has an RSS feed. Sounded nifty. I made myself a note to check out lijit.com. 

Arriving today at the unconference part of BlogHer, I scanned the agenda board to see which session I wanted to be in, and lo and behold! - there was one about lijit.

Tara, who's the community catalyst for lijit, explained how it works, and while she was doing that, I followed along and set it up. Check out my new and much improved search widget at the top of the right sidebar. Search, and you shall find. And if you sign up too, let me know, so's I can add you to my network. I am, like almost everywhere else, signed up as elkit.

Tweet

Oh yeah, I've been twittering more than blogging at BlogHer. My tweets are here.   

And if you want to see what other people are twittering about BlogHer, just use the search function.

Oh yeah, and of course lots of people are tagging their BlogHer photos on flickr.

Into The Great Wide Open

At BlogHer - I walk towards three women talking in a hallway. Elisa reaches out her hand to squeeze mine hello and asks, "Were you here this morning?" I tell her I didn't get here until about 11, and she goes, "Oh, you missed it!" and explains that my quote from the registration survey was one of about fifteen that looped during the intro session. (Apparently, when asked for my blogging goals in the BlogHer registration survey, I wrote that I don't really have any, and that it is really liberating to realize that.)

So I missed my fifteen minutes of fame. But it was nice to hear about it. And can I just say that it never ceases to amaze me how all the BlogHer founders address me by name? They see me once a year, or once every other year, and they know thousands and thousands of bloggers, and still they remember who I am. These people are just incredible.

BlogHer is a thrill. Can you think of another semi-technical conference where you see women with sleeping babies slung over their shoulders? And where everybody is just friendly and supportive and complimenting each other and giving out hugs as freely as business cards?

There's just no vibe like this. Good times. Good times.

Reach Out, I'll Be There

Oh yeah, maybe I should tell you that I'm going to be at BlogHer, hobnobbing with hundreds of women bloggers and a few men. See you there? Friday, Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco.

PS: I post-dated this a couple of days so it'll stay up top until the countdown is done and I am actually there.

PPS: If you're looking for a badge to put on your site, they're here. Took me a while to find them; thought I'd save you a search. Wasn't that nice of me?

Through The Wire

Oh, before I forget - my local Peet's Coffee at 1140 Lincoln Ave has a sign out: Free Wi-Fi since June 16.

PS: I see you need an access code, and it's limited to 2 hours, but still, it's a good start.