On What’s the Mission, I post spiritual reflections and book reviews (I belong to a great program called Viral Bloggers in which I get free books!).  Latest reviews include Picking Dandelions by Sarah Cunningham, Thy Kingdom Connected by Dwight J. Friesen, and A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren.

Six Boxes of Books was started by my sister Wendy (who once read all of the Newbery Award winners), and has expanded to include all three Burton sisters. We mostly write about children’s and young adult books. Some posts are reviews and some cover other book-related topics, like school book orders.

ParkroseGateway.com is a local news site/blog that I started for the neighborhood in which I live. It runs on the Neighborlogs platform.  I write about local schools, community events, sports, crime, businesses, or whatever I see that is interesting. Neighbors are invited to post, too. My most recent post is a roundup of coverage on the Aaron Campbell shooting, which occurred not far from here.

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook pretty much every day.

Welcome!  You’re here!  That means you read blogs (well, I’m assuming you read more than just this one).  If you read blogs, an RSS reader is a handy tool.  If you already know about RSS readers, you may want to skip the following two paragraphs.

RSS readers, like Google Reader, allow you to0 pull feeds from various blogs and read them in a central location.  You subscribe to the blogs you want to read, and the latest posts automatically show up in your RSS reader.  You can just read them there, or you can click through to the actual site and leave a comment.  In some cases, only part of the post will show up in your reader and you’ll have to click through if you want to read the whole post (I don’t like that, but whatever).

In order to do this, you have to do two things:  1. Sign up for an RSS reader service.  There are several good ones; Google Reader, Bloglines, Netvibes and My Yahoo are just a few.  2.  Subscribe to some feeds.  Usually, a blog will have a button somewhere on the page with an RSS symbol ().  Click the button, and then select your RSS reader if necessary.

I’m subscribed to 206 blogs in Google Reader (which is really too many).  Often, when I’m reading blogs I find something that interests me, or that contains useful information, or that I think others would be interested in.  I don’t always want to devote a whole post to sharing a link, though, so instead, I just click the Share button.

Now, if we were “friends” on Google Reader, you’d be able to see my shared items (just like friends can see my activity on Facebook). However, I don’t have any friends on Google Reader.  Shocking, I know.  After all, the whole point of the internet is to rack up as many friends as possible on as many sites as possible.

If you want to friend me on Google Reader, go ahead!  But here’s what I really do with my shared items:  I have them show up in a widget on the left side of this blog.  You can see what I’m reading, and what I think is worth sharing, right there.

If you’re on Google Reader, you can get a Shared Items widget by clicking on Shared Items in the left sidebar of your reader, and then clicking on Add a clip.  You can then adjust the title, color scheme, and number of items before copying and pasting the code into your blog or website (I pasted the code into a text widget in WordPress).

If you really, really like my shared items, you can even subscribe to a feed of them.  But be careful.  Subscribing to feeds can be addictive.

In a blog tour, the author makes guest appearances on a number of different blogs, either as a guest blogger or by way of an interview.  Both of the authors below are touring different blogs each day during March.

Christina Katz is the author of Writer Mama and Get Known Before the Book Deal.  She also teaches email writing classes and speaks and leads workshops at writing conferences.  I took her class on Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff, and highly recommend it for beginning non-fiction writers who want to get published in magazines.  Christina is doing a blog tour to celebrate the second anniversary of Writer Mama.  You can find out where she’s appearing each day at The Writer Mama Riffs.

J.A. Konrath is known for his mystery series featuring Lt. Jack (Jacqueline) Daniels, which incorporates gruesome murders, police procedures, and a strong dose of humor.  His next novel, to be released March 31, is different.  Afraid is a horror novel about a small town mistakenly attacked by a psychopathic Special Forces unit.  It’s being released under a pseudonym (Jack Kilborn).  Konrath is doing the blog tour to promote Afraid, and as an experiment to find out whether a blog book tour is a good promotional tour.

Konrath will be appearing here on TechnoEarthMama Thursday, March 5 for a short interview about his life as a writer.  I hope you’ll be able to come by to find out more about Joe Konrath and about Afraid!

So it wasn’t a total surprise to read a column in the Atlantic suggesting that even the New York Times as we know it could disappear this year. Michael Hirschorn suggests that if this happened, a new, online version of the Times might look more like the Huffington Post, relying more on citizen-journalists/bloggers and news stories aggregated from other sources, and less on reporters employed by the Times. The problem with this, he says, is that it’s the traditional reporters who have the sources and reporting expertise, and it’s the traditional media who have the resources to send people around the world to report.

But what this really comes down to is trust. The sources are still out there, regardless of what happens to the newspapers and their reporters – but will those sources talk to journalists who aren’t attached to a major newspaper or television network? And will the public actually pay attention to and trust those journalists?

Trust will be essential to the future economy. We don’t have a lot of trust in our current economic system. We’ve seen companies and individuals lie, cheat and steal to make a profit, and we’ve seen the recent failures of banks and companies, both large and small.

The new question is, can we trust each other? In the media, can you trust your neighborhood blogger (and citizen journalists in other areas) to give you the news? In Seattle, neighborhood blogs like Capitol Hill Seattle, Central District News, and the West Seattle Blog are becoming primary news sources for many residents, even as the daily newspapers are declining. Justin Carder, owner of the Capitol Hill Seattle blog, has even put together a neighborhood blogging platform called Neighborlogs, which is currently in the beta-testing stage (disclaimer: I am one of the beta-testers). Carder sees Neighborlogs eventually being used in neighborhoods across the country.

Or, with food, can you trust your local farmer to provide safe, good-quality food for you and your family? Or do you feel you have to shop at a major supermarket?

In housing, can we trust each other enough to live together? Communal living is one way to provide safe, quality housing to more families and individuals.

And how can we develop this trust, so that we can work together to create a new world and a new economy?

ADDITION: Shefaly has an excellent blog post regarding trust as a social currency, and how trust is measured. I highly recommend reading it if you’re interested in the subject.

We’re at Sacred Grounds Coffee Shop, which is actually part of the Quality Inn and Suites at the Portland Airport.  It’s also part of a church!  The Eastside Foursquare Church owns and operates the hotel and coffee shop, and they hold their regular church services and groups and stuff in the conference room(s).  So we’re sitting here now, typing away, listening to a combination of Christian radio and booming drums coming from the church area.  They’re singing something that includes “Hallelujah” and sounds vaguely like the music of Simon and Garfunkel.  It’s intriguing enough that I’m thinking of catching an actual service sometime.

But otherwise, this is a really calm and peaceful atmosphere; perfect for either getting some work done or for having good conversation with friends.  There are abundant tables, plus a sofa and armchair nook.  The decor is reddish, and the room is softly lit, yet bright enough to work comfortably.  Coffee is good, although I’m no coffee snob (they feature Tully’s coffee), and they serve soup, sandwiches and baked goodies as well.

I’m feeling very much at peace and at the same time productive.  I like.

I’m deeply troubled by some of the political posts I’ve been reading.  These posts are on blogs I subscribe to via RSS, because the normally non-political content interests me.  I believe these posts are spreading incorrect information, but I’m also troubled by the level of anger and fear that I sense in them.  I’ll likely have more to say about this later, but I need to gather my thoughts and feelings so that I can be constructive about it.

But why do I need to say this here at all?  This is TechnoEarthMama, not PoliticoTechnoEarthMama.  Can’t I just stay out of politics.

No.  I can’t ignore something that DOES affect other aspects of my life.  As a mother, I want to know that my children will be OK living in this country in the future.  I don’t want more wars.  I want them to have food, shelter and clothing.  I want them to have an education.  As a compassionate person, I want this for other people’s children, too.

As a person who cares about the earth, I want to have a government that supports and enforces sound environmental policies.  I want a government that recognizes that we need to get OFF the oil bandwagon, and that more drilling is not the answer.

I could probably come up with some technology-related concerns, too.  The only thing coming to mind now is that we do need to be free to use technology and the internet for communication, and for expressing whatever we want to express.  I don’t want to see that right abridged.

So politics does matter to TechnoEarthMama.  What I need to figure out next is how to express my concerns without alienating others, which is what some of these posts I’ve read are doing to me.

Like at most conferences, the networking and learning opportunities were terrific.  I came away with several resources and ideas that I will use on my blog (look for a new theme soon), and I was very happy to meet many people in person for the first time.

But that’s not why I think #wordcampdx was a life-changing, and perhaps world-changing experience.

It begins with this, the WordPress philosophy, as shared with us by our fairy blogmother Lorelle Van Fossen:

You give your best work
You give it away
The universe will reward

And, she says, this is actually changing the economy.  Boy, if there’s anything we need right now, it’s a change in the economy!  Could the WordPress model be one of the keys to that?

There’s also the way this conference was run.  Aaron Hockley and his team did an outstanding job not only organizing this, but organizing this so that it was affordable for anyone to attend.  This conference cost $10 to attend!  And for that $10, we got the conference sessions, a t-shirt, and three meals.  You can’t beat that anywhere.

How did they do that?  With sponsors.  Those who have some money made WordCamp Portland affordable for everyone.  How cool is that?

The model is already being used for another upcoming conference — CyborgCamp.  CyborgCamp will also be offered for a low price (not officially set yet, but probably $10-20) with sponsors picking up much of the tab.

Is this the future of our economy?   Is it?  Because it makes me all giddy to think about it.  Not like that bailout thing.

]]> http://www.technoearthmama.com/2008/09/wordcampdx-changes-lives/feed/ 9 http://www.technoearthmama.com/2008/09/can-we-get-the-blogher-09-conference-for-portland/ http://www.technoearthmama.com/2008/09/can-we-get-the-blogher-09-conference-for-portland/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:37:23 +0000 kmcdade http://www.technoearthmama.com/?p=197 Portland is one of three finalists to host the BlogHer 2009 summer conference.  Cyborg anthropologist Amber Case thinks this would be a great opportunity.  So do I.  Do you?  Amber’s setting up a database of people who would like to help promote Portland as the location for BlogHer ’09.  Go sign up!

If you want to know more about BlogHer conferences, Lelo in NoPo went this year.  I haven’t been to one yet, but would love to go, and having it in Portland would make that a LOT more possible.  Besides, Portland rocks, right?!

I’m really not very social in the flesh, though.  I suppose that is fairly common among those who hang out on the web.  If you’re reading this, there’s a high probability that you know exactly what I’m talking about (and if you’re not reading this, you may think we’re all freaks).

On Twitter, or in a chat room, I don’t hesitate too long before jumping into a conversation.  In person, approaching someone, or a group of someones, is much more difficult.  If I’ve “met” someone online, it’s a little easier.  I have managed to introduce myself to Lelo and Melissa Lion in person at Back Fence PDX (where I also somehow introduced myself to Betsy Richter without having met her online first).  I’ve also met Corina and thirdculturemom, and hope to meet others from our little network someday.

I’m sure I saw some of you internet people at the Portland Pie-Off.  Some of you I spoke with, even if we didn’t officially introduce ourselves (hello, Jack Bog); some I probably didn’t recognize — or I wasn’t sure, and was too chicken to ask!

Anyway, I’m grateful for the networking opportunities offered on the web.  They are perfect for introverts like me.

Which brings me to the subject of ORBlogs.  ORBlogs is (or was) a blog aggregator/directory for blogs in and about Oregon. I’m not all that knowledgeable about it (go to Silicon Florist for more info and links), but I know that it’s been a great resource both for finding other Oregon blogs and for promoting Oregon blogs.  I used it to promote the Camp Arrowhead blog while we were trying to save the camp, and while we were recruiting campers for this summer.

Sadly, ORBlogs founder Paul Bausch has announced that he is closing the site:  “I’m shutting ORblogs down now because the site continues to grow and the job of maintaining the site at the level I feel is necessary to keep it valuable has grown with it, putting it out of the bounds of a hobby.”

Oregon bloggers are already looking for a way to save this valuable service.  In fact, ORBlogs will be discussed tonight during Beer and Blog at the Green Dragon Bistro and Brewpub.

If you’re interested in the effort to save ORBlogs, be sure to stop by for Beer and Blog or head over to Silicon Florist to read and comment.

LAST MINUTE ADDITION:  @turoczy just tweeted this link, saying “@mettadore may be our ORBlogs knight in shining armor!”

WordCamp Portland will be on September 27, 2008.  Go sign up! Even if you blog on a different platform, you may find this conference beneficial.  See you there!