This evening I was doing a Flickr search using the term “Bollwitt” to try and locate a cute shot of John and me. Sorting the results by most recent I came across the Flickr account of a website called w00tpwnage, which compares everything from Tiger vs Alligator, Wolf vs Wolverine, Astro Boy vs Mighty Mouse, and now Wired’s Sexy Geeks against each other in a head-to-head poll.

Rebecca Bollwitt vs Zadi Diaz

Of course like a sucker I check out the website, which is rather amusing, and also notice Lisa Bettany (aka Mostly Lisa) is up against Larissa Meek and that Amber MacArthur is vs Morgan Webb.

Photo credit: Megan Cole

Frankly, there are so many sites out there comparing one person to another it’s enough to make your head spin off a crash down on your keyboard. I just have to say that it’s been a privilege to meet some great geeky women out there who don’t need to post photos of themselves in their underwear to gain readership (but if they do that doesn’t mean they’re any less real, credible or intelligent… in most cases anyway).

Sometimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in stats, ratings or who can code better PHP (even though that is kind of hot). I’d actually prefer it if you didn’t check out the “w00tpwnage” site and cast a vote for anyone… except maybe in the case of Mighty Mouse and Astro Boy. This whole online world should be about content (for a refresher see F*ck Stats, Make Art). From what I gathered when I met Amber and Lisa, is that it’s also for women who have a good head on their shoulders; what happens to fall into place beneath is actually pretty moot.

Linkage:

Due to family business this morning (which always comes before the blogging world) I had to miss about 85% of DrupalCamp Vancouver.

The good news is that John was here all day and the first words out of his mouth when he saw me were, “whoa! there’s some really cool theming going on.” This leads me to believe he’ll have much better wrap up posts than I will so I’ll simply syndicate some information and pics.

All photos here are © Roland Tanglao, click on the pics for their links on Flickr.

Information from the sessions can be found on the DrupalCamp Vancouver website and I’ll try to get a couple posts out of John as well.

VIDFEST (Vancouver International Digital Festival) 2008 is fast-approaching and I’m just now beginning to comprehend how many elements, conferences, galas and events all fit under its 4-day festival umbrella.

The Vancouver International Digital Festival is an event for the top creative minds working in digital media. Join visionaries from games and digital entertainment, Web 2.0, interactive design, animation and mobile applications, at this annual ‘must-attend’ in Vancouver, Canada. [VIDFEST]

Here is some more info from their “core facts” sheet:

There are several local webby companies up for PopVox Awards and anyone is encouraged to head to the website and vote for your favourite in categories ranging from Best Digital Animated Short, Best Mobile (Game) to Best Do-Gooder site (Social Change Initiative) or Homegrown Award (Best BC-based Venture).

Some nominees close to my heart include, ChangeEverything, Strutta, MemeLabs, Now Public, and the Knob Hockey folks (just to name a few).

Here’s a quick condensed version of the festival schedule overall:

May 21st - VIDFEST and VIGS Opening Reception at the Vancouver Art Gallery

May 22nd - International Partnering Forum (IPF) and Convergence 2008 (featuring my panel, yay!), then Happy Hour

May 23rd - Creative Exchange Conference (featuring speakers such as Heather “Dooce” Armstrong and Chris Anderson of Wired with the Keynote), Schmooze Lounge and the PopVox Awards

May 24th - Pitch ‘n’ Play and Recruiting Fair

There’s a TON of action going on having to do with all facets of digital media. You can purchase single tickets for Chris Anderson’s keynote, or daily passes for each of the mini festivals within starting at $50 for the PopVox Awards ceremony only, going up to $375 for VIP, and $875 for a joint pass for VIGS and VIDFEST.

Here are a few more tips and tricks that I’ve come across in the Twitter microblogging community:

Twemes: First introduced at DemoCamp by Rochelle Grayson, Twemes is a website that comprehensively sorts and categorizes the things people Twitter about as long as they put a hashtag in front of it. Example, those currently at DrupalCamp Vancouver will be Twittering and including #DCV08 in their updates. If I go to Twemes, or the DrupalCamp website that is aggregating the Tweme, I can see filtered updates specifically pertaining to #DCV08 because of that tag.

Hashtags: I discovered this months after Twemes was released and it follows the same concept although you need to add a “bot” to your account to use it. For Twemes, you don’t need to do anything except start using a hashtag in your keywords/updates.

TwitBin: An alternative to Twitterfox, this slips your Twitter steam into your Firefox sidebar.

Twidget: Add a Twitter widget to your Mac’s dashboard.

Twitter Local: Hat tip to Jeremy Latham for Twittering about this earlier. You can filter updates to only view those from people within your geographical vicinity

Twinkle: Hat tip to Jenn Loether and John Biehler: “A location aware Twitter client. It features a slick presentation not unlike the web version of PocketTweats but also locates you and enables you to see who else is using Twinkle near you.” - [JohnBiehler.com]

Twitter Tweet Sheet: “There’s one things that annoys me about Twitter. Okay, there are two things: 1. They are always down. 2. There doesn’t seem to be one official place (including their own site) to get a complete list of mobile and IM commands.” - [Jason Theodor.com] Jason compiled an “easy to print” card that you can take with you for on-the-go Twittering.

From TweetClouds

And just for kicks you can read more about “Top Twitter Apps” on these lovely sites:

A few months ago I was interviewed as a part of a video series by Reachd, a local firm that teaches and preaches the values of SEO. They are now offering video blogging seminars (learn how to make video, how to promote it etc.) and with the cost of signup comes a Flip Camera for all those who register.

Not surprisingly, the workshop registrations soared and they have now sold out the first event. However, you still have a chance to win your way in if you head over to the Techvibes Blog and drop a comment on this post over the next two weeks.

Their first 20-spot session on May 13th is sold-out but they’ve added a 2nd workshop on May 28th and set aside a free seat (and video camera) for a Techvibes reader. [Techvibes]

The workshops are 3 hours long (2pm to 5pm), the registration fee of $200 includes the fancy new camera, and will take place at Ceili’s Irish Pub. I had a chance to use Colleen’s Flip last night and I have to say, it’s a pretty slick compact video-making device.

If you haven’t got your head around the concept of blogging, your mind might be blown with the latest term: microblogging. To those on Facebook, think “status updates”. Sites like Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce (just to name a few and not including all the video ones out there) allow folks to update their contacts or followers using brief 140 character max. messages. To better explain it, here’s another great video from CommonCraft.

The “power of Twitter” is pretty vast. Last night we were out having dinner and John put a call out on Twitter for people to join us, a short time later we were graced with Tanya’s presence, which was super fun.

When I was recording my bit for the Lab with Leo I Twittered that I was “backstage” and within 45 seconds Leo came out from the studio to meet me and shake my hand.

Most recently, Nadia from Meme Labs Twittered this news story… about Twitter.

Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.

On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The message only had one word. “Arrested.”

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt — the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier — were alerted that he was being held. [CNN]

People have various reasons for using Twitter, whether they want to meet up with other folks in the area, share a news story, use it to syndicate their blog posts, do a poll, have pointless battles, ask questions, or share what they ate for lunch that afternoon. Though sometimes I get a bit of a “chat room” feel when I see people sending endless messages back and forth, I certainly value having this tool at my disposal.

Two things of note: You can get intuitive clients that will bring in your Twitter feed so you don’t have to update from the website ie. Twhirl (for PC) or Twitterific (for Mac). Also, if your updates aren’t locked or “private” they are fully available in a Google search, meaning anything you say in Twitter, doesn’t stay in Twitter.

With fun and exciting things happening all around me it’s a wonder how I can get so down sometimes. There are people who struggle a lot more than I do in this life but everyone has their good days, their bad, and sometimes you just need to share some love and hope some of that comes right back at ‘ya. Even if it doesn’t, the warm fuzzy feelings accumulated from sending out the kindness should be enough to brighten your day, even if things simply aren’t going your way. Like Raul noted, “The darkest hour is just before the dawn.”

Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr

As a side note Google recently reevaluated their Page Rank system and many blogs received a boost in ratings. Mine on the other hand, stayed the same (however the site I built for my company got bumped up to PR6). This, combined with a waffling Technorati rating (which I think they calculate sometimes using a dartboard) are things that I rarely look at in terms of how successful my blog is, unless specifically asked by a potential sponsor.

One thing Duane told me is that if your links OUT to links IN ratio is off-kilter that can effect you meaning that my link fest posts could in fact be harming my rankings and ratings. I pondered several options to work around this then I realized, the reason folks must come to my site is for the content. If I didn’t continue to do what I love, spread the link love and be a part of a great social community on and offline, what’s the point. So essentially what I’m saying is despite the fact that geeky internet brownie points may be working against me, the link fests will never cease to be.

Tonight’s live blog is being written and published by Raul of Hummingbird604.com (update your bookmarks!)

“Widgets aren’t just little pieces of portable code. Widgets are about opening up your message to your supporters and the community. Widgets represent a shift towards using online tools, and online thinking, to connect with more people and build deeper relationships with the people you are already connected with.

Vancouver’s 3rd Net Tuesday will explore the stories of nonprofits that are spearheading this revolution as well as demo a new widget platform.” - [Meetup.com]

Presenters tonight include:

Jason Mogus, Communicopia
Scott Nelson, FearlessCity.ca
Keith Grennan, Sprout
and the evening will be moderated by Sarah Pullman.

Update: 6.11pm (more…)