Commanding Chaos for Coworking, Open Source and Creative Communities

May 2007 Posts

Fringe Explosion

Sun, 05/13/2007 - 19:02 -- rprice

This weekend has been a wee bit crazy. I've been updating Blogging Fringe like a crazy person. No, really. There are almost 80 shows in the festival this year, and I've been attempting to copy and paste several lines of text for each one. I've also got Denna, Kate, Jamie and Emily volunteering to help out. Of course everyone is welcome.

Last week I got a chance to interview my first Fringe artist, Courtney Cunningham. She's a clown, but not the kind you're used to.

Before I left for England I also interviewed Mark Baratelli about his online efforts for this year's festival. He's been doing some great stuff this year that makes me feel like I could be doing more. It's strange having people duplicating efforts, though. I wish we could be working together and getting paid a fair amount for it too.

Thursday is an opening night party (they call it a Gala, but can it be gala when you're meant to dress like a hippie?) with performaces and some manner of a VIP event. I never knew the Fringe was so elitist (openly). Ah well, I guess it comes with the territory.

If you want to track the discussion, add Blogging Fringe to your feed reader. If you want to see some shows, get down to Loch Haven Park starting Friday night. The festival goes through the 28th.

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Orlando Sentinel is Missing the Biggest Story

Mon, 05/07/2007 - 04:57 -- rprice

I just finished thumbing through this week's edition of the Orlando Sentinel, and I've noticed a glaring omission: the Digg.com HD-DVD story. The New York Times didn't miss it, not by a longshot. The content is easily enough syndicated from them or the AP. Hell, this week's TWiT has "The Code" as the title of their show!

This is an internationally significant story involving one of the most trafficked sites on the Internet. Orlando deserves to know. You don't have to include the code, but the NYT article at least linked to it, especially the song on YouTube. This thing will never go away. Ever. I can't believe my local paper is ignoring it.

The Sentinel does plenty of OK things, like compiling a CD of the year's best local bands and holding a concert for the release, so they're not all bad. But some other things, like CityBeat, I can't stand. I gotta say, when my Sunday subscription runs out, I doubt I'll be renewing.

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Orlando Weekly Interview - Thanks Omar

Thu, 05/03/2007 - 17:00 -- rprice

Here's the transcript from my interview with Omar de la Rosa for the Orlando Weekly. It went to print this week on page 30 - the cover story is "Spellbound".

> 1. When did you decide to start this and the other related local-based web
> projects? (like FloridaCreatives)

In late 2005 I was listening to lots of podcasts and reading lots of blogs, so I started talking to my friend Emily about doing a talkshow. (pfalliance.blogspot.com) On the show we had two musical guests - marc with a c, whose band I later played in, and Mumpsy. Marc and I experiemented with doing a live music show (live.liberatr.net), and I did some coverage of the Florida Film Festival (short.liberatr.net) and the Orlando Fringe Festival (bloggingfringe.com). I also started a channel to highlight creatives and entrepreneurs, but the concept was never complete in my head (meta.liberatr.net). The film, art::meta and music channels are going to be dissolved soon, but they're important to the history (if you're going to mention web addresses in the paper, don't mention those 3).

I realized I was hitting on some particular themes, but I saw the opportunity to do more than just a podcast, so I scheduled the first Florida Creatives Happy Hour in December. Now I am focusing on Florida Creatives, Blogging Fringe and getting more independent talent involved with Liberatr - bloggers, personalities, and most recently television-style hosts - we've produced some pilot episodes for a show called OrlandoScene.TV. The show is comprised of short 1-10 minute videos, each highlighting something in or about Orlando that is less obvious than the theme parks.

Why? I grew up and went to college in Central Florida, and I still didn't feel like I knew the area as well as I should. I started exploring and discovering things around the same time I got into podcasting, so I decided to share it with others. I've also got some friends of mine involved as well - Kyle (thestudentofthegame.com), Marc and Nicole (zanzibar.liberatr.net), Aleshia (bingoinsmoking.com), and Katharine (robotofleisure.livejournal.com).

> 2. I noticed that you've done some podcasts for local musicians and
> presented Mumpsy's performance at the grandma party, are you planning more
> collaborations with local musicians and other artists? What other future
> plans do you have for Liberatr (or even "ryanpricemedia.com")?

See above, but as for Ryan Price Media, that is my personal blog. There I can set up my identity as a web developer and consultant, an individual as opposed to an organization like Liberatr.net - your identity on the internet is becoming very important, and I want people who type "Ryan Price" into Google to see that site.

> 3. How has the internet's potential for community building changed in the
> recent years? (both online communities and offline, local communities)

Internationally, the potential for community is infinite. Podcasts and blogs are bringing together likeminded people from every country speaking every language, a true exercise of the First Amendment. Sites like Meetup.com (Orlando has about 200 meetup groups), Likemind.us, FloridaCreatives.com, even several of the aforementioned blogs and podcasts are leveraging the online community to bring people together physically - here in Orlando, check out BlogOrlando.com, or even the Orlando Fringe Festival's online efforts this year, who are creating the community online with the sole purpose of attending a convention or festival. I'm hoping these connections I'm making in town will lead to gigs like the one Mark Baratelli has with the Fringe - online community manager. I have one project like this coming up that I'll talk about in more detail when they're ready to.

> 4. How do you think podcasts differ from radio? How do you think blogging
> differs from ... whatever came before... newspapers?

If you look at the birth of the printing press or the radio, you'll notice an explosion of creativity, self-publishing and community building. The difference was that printing presses and radio towers had a rather large cost associated with them - the internet has thousands of free options available to bloggers, podcasters, video producers, community-builders, anyone looking to broadcast a message. The internet model of pull (subscribe) as opposed to push (tune in) is what maintains the choice.

> 5. Who are your heroes? (Feel free to include fictional ones)

My ultimate role model is Jim Henson - he took nothing, added a TV camera, a little fabric and tons of love, honesty and a message, and by doing so he created an empire. More recently, it's been those people who have laid the groundwork for something similar with podcasting or internet media - Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, Jason Calacanis, Evan Williams. These are all people who have had their 15 minutes of fame and said to themselves "what's next?", could have easily taken their winnings and left the poker table, but decided to play another hand - or several.

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Welcome home, you're in print!

Wed, 05/02/2007 - 04:56 -- rprice

I'm in the Orlando Weekly under "Culture to Go" - page 30 - Ryan Price Media. Big thanks to Omar de la Rosa for seeking me out at Grandma Party. I'll link to it when it's available http://orlandoweekly.com

After the article comes out online, I'm going to post the full transcript of what I was asked and how I answered, a la Calacanis. I haven't done it yet so you'll go pick up an actual copy of the paper - it's available in hundreds of locations around Central Florida and online later in the week. I got mine walking past the little restaurant on Lake Eola - Eric's, I think.

This week is also the annual dining guide, so even if you don't read my interview, you can still find cool places to eat.

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