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Thanks, pMachine.

Update, March 6, 2006: Bloglines shows that there are still 109 people subscribed to my old feed/weblog. Please, please, subscribe to the new feed! :) Thank you.

Changes ahead - and a new RSS feed

In the next couple of hours (less than 24, I hope) I'll try to migrate this weblog from pMachine to WordPress (it's 1 am in the morning, seams a good time to start this...).

If you're a subscriber to my RSS feed, please replace it with this one: http://feeds.feedburner.com/basturea

This way, you'll receive notifications no matter what changes I'll make in the software I use for this weblog, or in the URL reserved for the XML file.

Thank you!

Notes from the NewComm Forum, BlogBizSummit, and more

If you missed the American edition of the New Communications Forum, and want to get a feeling of what it's about before registering for the European event (Paris, April 5-6), just stop by the NewPR Wiki and read some of the notes posted by your fellow bloggers, aggregated on this page.

For those of you interested in my presentation on implementing wikis in a corporation, here are the slides.

Also, Seedwiki has a page aggregating postings from the Business Blog Summit held in Seattle on January 24-25.

And (just to finish with this subject!) I started a wiki page listing upcoming conferences and events. February looks already crowded:

# February 9-23: The Online Social Networks 2005
# February 13-15: DEMO, Scottsdale, AZ
# February 18: AMA Hot Topic Series - Blogs: Marketing Beyond the Website, Chicago
# February 19: Northern Voice - Canadian Blogging Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia

If you want to add an event to the list, please drop me a line and I'll give you the edit password for the wiki. (No, I'm not being controlling; I just want to protect the wiki from spammers.)

Now THIS is news!

This is my first posting on 2005. I'll spare you (for now) of any excuses and justifications for this long absence. Instead, here's a great piece of news:

Anthony V Parcero (aka Anthurian) is the happy father of a new born baby, Hannah Beth! And, yes, Ms. Parcero has already joined the blogosphere :) Congratulations, and all the best to the happy family! *<8D

How to help

The number of victims of the recent Southeastern Asia earthquake and tsunami is increasing by a couple of thousands each time I check the news on Yahoo. It's horrible.

Amid these awful news, it's heartening to hear that fellow blogger Evelyn Rodriguez is well, despite being mildly injured, and that Robert French's brother and Angelo Fernando's parents are safe.

If you want to help, please consider making a donation; here's a list of organizations helping with the relief effort:

# 20 organizations accepting donations via Network for Good
# American Red Cross
# Care USA
# Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
# Feed the Children
# Oxfam
# Save the Children - Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
# The Salvation Army
# UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
# World Vision International

Also, please check Angelo Fernando's weblog for updates on how you can help with the relief effort going on in Sri Lanka.

Other resources:
# The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog
# ReliefWeb - news on the humanitarian aid effort
# Humanitarian assistance page, Wikinews

Merry Christmas!

Adeste fideles
Laeti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte
Regem Angelorum:
Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus Dominum.

The real news from Voce

Here's what Matthew Podboy and Mike Manuel haven't told us ;), but I found anyway from Tom Foremski (many thanks!):

# Voce Communications helps Yahoo to set up its blogs and to publish internally-generated content.
# Matthew Podboy Dave Black, Voce co-founder and the 2005 president of the Silicon Valley chapter of PRSA, is working on putting together a committee to create a collection of best practices around blogging for PR professionals.
# Matthew Podboy and Dave Black managed to persuade their client, JotSpot to use the power of the blogosphere for their recent product launch. Joe Kraus, the CEO of JotSpot, initially resisted, but finally gave in.
# Real Networks hired Voce to engage in online discussion groups on the subject of Apple's refusal to open up the iPod platform to competing digital music vendors.

So, guys, any connection with the Freedom of Choice campaign?

Update 1: Mike Manuel responds and clarifies.
Update 2: Matthew Podboy weighs in.

Update 3: Damn, I really need emoticons for this blog! Hopefully, they will make the tone of my postings less misleading :)

Mike, thanks for your comments. I wasn't trying to uncover any conspiracy; it just seemed funny to me that both you and Matthew managed to post about your meeting with Tom Foremski without mentioning any of your clients or the great work you're doing for them. That's all. Modesty is something that should be commended, especially for PR consultants :). This is what I tried to do - but my execution was poor, it seams, and I'm sorry for that.

Matthew, thank you for responding. The only question I asked was if Voce played any role in the Freedom of Choice campaign - and Mike clarified the matter in his comments. You're right, we definitely need to have a session at the Global PR Blog Week 2.0 on best practices around blogging for PR consultants, and it's great to see that PRSA is interested in joining this discussion.

Blog launching, Ragan style?

I hope this column was not intended to spark discussions as a "clever" tactic for pre-launching the Ragan Report's David "Blogless-Not-For-Long" Murray blog.



Update (December 9): The working page featuring a banner of David Murray's future blog has been removed from Ragan's website (here's a screenshot). Also, see Murray's comment below.

Second update (December 18): ... and here's David Murray's blog: The Speechwriter's Slant (via Shel Holtz).

Links:
# Blog wonks need chill pill, David Murray, Ragan Reports
# An open letter to David Murray, Shel Holtz -- read the comments, too
# Ragan Report Rant Rips Bloggers, B.L. Ochman
# Publisher Feels Threatened By Blogging?, Fredrik Wackå
# Ragan Report is not required reading, Neville Hobson
# Welcome to Blogomania I! The blogging community bands together to bash David Murray, Steve Crescenzo (editor, Ragan Report)

The Red Couch of Corporate Blogging

Shel Israel:

Robert Scoble just announced we’re doing a book together. I wasn’t going to tell you for a while. This book will be produced, edited and revised before your collective eyes. It will be improved with your ideas. This process is Robert's idea. Frankly it makes me nervous.

The book's subject is corporate blogging - here's the weblog hosting the project (it started here).

This should be funny :) Hey, Scoble, here's an idea for your book's cover: the (already famous) Dali's "Mae West" lip sofa.

IAOC Blog & BlogFest

The recently created International Association of Online Communicators has quietly launched a weblog (RSS) that will host a weeklong BlogFest, starting Monday, November 8. The lineup includes Sally Falkow, Steve Rubel, James Horton, Kevin O'Keefe, and B.L. Ochman.

(Thanks to Kevin O'Keefe for the link.)

BloggerCon III

Tomorrow's the third edition of BloggerCon, at Stanford Law School. Although I was planning to attend the event, I will not be there - and I'm sorry I can't get to meet face-to-face people I read and admire. Maybe next time...

Update - From Scripting News:

The webcast will include sessions from room 209, including the National Anthem, Podcasting, Overload, Election 2004, Making Money and Fat Man Sings sessions. We will record the sessions from the other rooms, they will be available in MP3 format, Murphy-willing, shortly after the conference. Here's a place to ask questions, ask for help, etc.

Media Room Technology blog

I just found Media Room Technology, a weblog authored by Bill French (MySt Technology Partners):

Journalists are deadline oriented and tend to do their jobs better when information is available on a moment's notice. Online media rooms eliminate friction that can result in lost opportunities for greater visibility. This Weblog is about the technology that can be used to create outstanding media room experiences.

You'll find interesting posting in the archives, which goes back to mid-July.