PodCamp

This past Saturday, I attended a remarkable event, called PodCamp.

I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn’t that kind of camp. Actually it wasn’t even a camp at all. There were no pods and there was no camping. It was all about using the emerging social networking sites and technologies to get along in today’s wired world.

Here is the official link: http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodCampWesternMass

I attended a “twitter 101” session where I actually got my own Twitter presence working. I had signed up for Twitter late one night in a Buffalo hotel room, but I never figured out how to make it work because I was distracted by the explosion of the fire alarm. Today, it functions. Thanks to PodCamp and Christine Pilch, I can now Tweet. And they are beautiful tweets, if I do say so myself. Filled with subtle overtones of snout and throat.

If you Tweet, come find me @johnrobison Here's a list of Campers and Tweeters:



At lunch I discussed mommy bloggers and genealogy with Tish Greer. I discovered a shared Credit Union background with Morriss Partee. I ate a small sandwich, and someone told me I had traces of brownie on my cheek.

Later on, Steve Sherlock and others led me down the path to podcasting, which can be the first step on a slipperly slope to video blogs and video casting. Who knows where I will end up?

I learned lots and lots of valuable stuff and I met many interesting people. Most of all, I got a new sense of the importance of the many social networks that are emerging. And new ones pop up every day.

With my new knowledge, I cleaned up the sidebar on my Blogger blog. I improved the feeds, and added Tweets. It was easy, once I saw how to do it.

The real value of events like this are the people connections and the random tidbits that you could never have gone searching for, but once you find them, you can’t imagine how you did without them. People and tidbits, that is. Woof.

Jackie Stevenson deserves special thanks for inviting me. Without her, I’d never have known PodCamp existed. I have promised to attend the next PodCamp, somewhere in the Berkshires later this summer or fall.

I even spoke at a session. I told my own social networking story, which was kind of neat because none of the people in the audience knew anything about me, or Asperger's, or my car company. So it was a refreshing and total departure from the groups I usually speak with. It started when I achieved success at my car company, but I wanted a vague and ill-defined More. I began offering help on Land Rover bulletin boards. One thing led to another. I spoke to kids a Brightside and young adults in the jail. My father up and died. My brother outed me in Running With Scissors and Possible Side Effects. Inspired and prodded, I wrote a book. To promote the book, I started this blog. Then it took on a life of its own. I even got on FaceBook, and here I am today.

And if I can do it, anyone can.

Finally, I should also offer special thanks to the engineers at Bosch and BMW. It was their clever engineering that got my car around an unexpected corner on the way to podcamp. The newest drive-by-wire and stability control systems really do work.

But that’s another story.

And while we’re talking stories, don’t miss my latest one on Psychology Today - http://bit.ly/15jJas