PodCamp Pittsburgh 4

One of the most unfortunate occurances for me last year was being out of town during PodCamp Pittsburgh 3, which took place in October of 2008. Well, lucky for me (and hopefully you!) PodCamp Pittsburgh 4 is coming up in a just few short weeks (October 10 + 11). For those of you thinking, "Pod-what?," PodCamp is a FREE community UnConference, run by and for people who create, enjoy, or are interested in learning more about social media.

This year’s PodCamp Pittsburgh is bringing an exciting crew of social and new media makers to our city. Topics range from beginner-level to advanced, and cover a wide variety of learning sessions for writers, bloggers, vloggers, web developers, web designers, podcasters, business owners, job seekers and anyone interested in learning more.

And what a great surprise to learn a few weeks ago that I'll be presenting two sessions, "myG20: Bringing Anarchists and Business Professionals Together Since 2009" on Day 1 and "Friendship 2.0: Community Building for Non-Profits" on Day 2. Check out the amazingly awesome two-day schedule in its entirety HERE.

Also, big props to @Sorgatron and @allthingsnoisy for coming over and shooting this video spotlight highlighting some of the new media projects we have cooking here at the MF:



So what are you waiting for? Hop to it. Registration is FREE and easy. I hope to see you there!

POSTED BY JEFFREY Read All Posts by Jeffrey

Photo Album | PREDRIVE: New Music + Media

A few weeks ago (March 21 to be exact) we held an event in association with the PREDRIVE: After Technology exhibition. PREDRIVE: New Music + Media featured performances from Extreme Animals, Jacob Ciocci of Paper Rad, LoVid and NAUM f/ Antoine Catala. It was truly a great event, but LOUD, as one attendee noted on the SCREENtxt wall.

A big THANKS to Haley Harned for shooting the awesome photos of the performances below.

POSTED BY JEFFREY Read All Posts by Jeffrey

Jumping for Photography in the Galleries!

We're jumping for joy about photography in the galleries!

For many years here at the MF, we've enforced a pretty strict "no photography in the galleries" policy. This policy was primarily due to the fact that many of the artworks we show deal with light. It would be a complete bummer to be appreciating Danäe, by James Turrell, only to have the experience ruined by someone behind you shooting the room with a flash. But in the age of cameraphones and 10Mp point-and-click's, having a "No Photography" policy seems to us to be a bit out-of-date. We'll continue to enforce a "no flash" policy in light-based pieces, but the majority of our installations are now open for photography!

Naturally, we're all very excited about this change. So excited, in fact, that we're jumping for joy!

So what's the use in allowing photography in the galleries without having some cool things to do with the photos? Currently, there are a few ways to share your photos with other MF visitors. The first happens while you're here with us at the museum, via the MF SCREENtxt project, which allows you to send photos & text messages from your mobile phone to a 42" flat-screen TV hanging in the museum lobby.

And after you've visited, you can upload your MF photos to Flickr and share them in the Mattress Factory Group Pool. This is a great way to share your MF experience with past and future museum vistors!

We're really looking forward to seeing your MF photos!

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POSTED BY JEFFREY Read All Posts by Jeffrey

Pop City Media Takes a Look at iConfess & SCREENtxt

MATTRESS FACTORY'S GROUNDBREAKING FORAY INTO SOCIAL MEDIA
Pop City Media | By Debra Diamond Smit | March 4, 2009

Where art and technology meet come two new social media experiments, pushing the boundaries again of where the Mattress Factory is willing to go.

MF iCONFESS and MF SCREENtxt are two unique projects that extend the museum's reach beyond its walls and into the world of social platforms .

“This is another way to build a deeper relationship with our visitors,” explains Jeffrey Inscho, spokesperson. “This gives them the ability to share and engage in a dialogue with one another and continue the discussion (about the museum) for an in-depth amount of time.”

MF SCREENtxt, the first museum project of its kind, was created with the help of BrightKite, a location-based social network company in Denver | CONTINUE READING |

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Making It Work - SCREENtxt Part 2

This is the second post in a three-part series dealing with the concept, implementation and outcomes of the Mattress Factory's SCREENtxt project. View the first post HERE.

All apologies this post is late in arriving; I had hoped to get it posted shortly after the project launch, but some technical glitches and other projects got in the way of it's timliness. At any rate, here's a bit of information about how we got the project underway and some modifications we plan to make as soon as possible.

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On Friday, February 6th, we went live with SCREENtxt. A partnership with BrightKite, SCREENtxt makes use of the location-based social network's Display Wall feature, allowing visitors to post text messages and photos to an electronic comment screen hanging in the museum lobby. All SCREENtxt activity is also viewable online HERE.

WHY BRIGHTKITE?

We originally explored using Twitter for this application, but the SMS registration process was too intricate and entwined for visitors to easily make their way through. BrightKite's SMS registration process is streamlined and intuitive. First, participants send a short check-in text (@MF) to the BrightKite shortcode. They receive a confirmation text a few moments later. The next, and final step, is to select a username. Because BrightKite is a rapidly growing social network, most common usernames are already taken. To alleviate a troublesome username selection, we've recommended participants use their first name with a few random digits tacked onto the end so a name is assigned on the first try. Registration complete. Visitors can now post to the wall.

UPDATE: As of February 23, the BrightKite wall now integrates with Twitter. This makes it very easy for existing Twitter users to post directly to the wall without registering with BrightKite. Now, any Twitter post containing the hashtag #MFtxt will appear in the Mattress Factory placestream. This also makes it very easy for those off-site to communicate with visitors on-site. We are currently revising our collateral material to reflect this new option.

Another nice thing about using the BrightKite display wall is that all the meaty code lives on their end. This eliminates the costly expense of in-house development. You sacrifice a bit of customization, but for organizations operating under limited budgets, it makes a lot of sense. The BrightKite user interface is sleek and self-serve, so any institution can create a display wall in a few minutes. For FREE.

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

All hardware used for SCREENtxt was equipment we had lying around the museum. Coincidentally, Inner and Outer Space closed in January, so a flat-screen TeeVee that had been showing a David Ellis piece became available.

We connected a Mac Mini to the museum's network directly under the TeeVee in the basement. MF Owen and MF Danny then drilled a hole in the floor through which they ran a DVI to HDMI cable connecting computer to television. Voila. Hardware set-up complete.

Because the Mac Mini was sans monitor and controller, we needed to install remote operating software on a usable workstation. We've used Chicken of the VNC many times before, and it's a perfect fit in this instance. We downloaded the program on my computer and the computer at the admissions desk, so there are two routes into the SCREENtxt mini.

The first time we logged into the SCREENtxt mini, we set automated daily start-up (9AM) & shut-down (10PM) times for the unit. We also set the Safari preferences to open automatically to the SCREENtxt URL upon startup. And that's it. Project implemented.

    

COLLATERAL MATERIAL

In order to entice maximum participation, we needed to make the collateral material approachable and easy to comprehend at first glance. View a PDF of the first draft of the SCREENtxt handout HERE. This is still something we're experimenting with and refining. We'll be adding the Twitter integration information, and trying multiple self-service distribution locations throughout the museum. Of course, we welcome any ideas about how to convey the necessary info easily and efficiently to visitors. Feel free to hit up the comments below.

And that, in a nutshell, is how we got this project rolling. It continues to be an ongoing experiment, and one we're excited to watch grow. I'll probably be making a few SCREENtxt update posts along the way before a final wrap-up/outcomes post sometime in April. Again, a big THANKS to everyone (especially Brady Becker) at BrightKite for assisting throughout the implementation phase.

As always, if you have questions or thoughts, get in touch via blog comments, email or Twitter.

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Two Tweets Passing In The Night - SCREENtxt Part 1

This is the first post in a three-part series dealing with the concept, implementation and outcomes of the Mattress Factory's SCREENtxt project. View post #2 HERE.

I think it's safe to say that social media has revolutionized the way arts organizations are communicating with their constituents. Most would agree that social platforms like Weblogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and the like – when used properly – are valuable tools for organizations operating under limited budgets as they attempt to facilitate an engaging dialog with audiences.

Emerging technologies have made the potential for instant and meaningful communication a realistic possibility. And with a little bit of creativity, these days, the sky's the limit.

I have been Tweeting on behalf of the museum for some time now. And don't get me wrong, Twitter is great. I enjoy being able to wax artistic with MF tweeps from all over the world, but what if a dialogue like this could extend beyond the percentage of people currently using Twitter into the realm of any MF visitor with a cell phone? The idea of communicating with visitors while they are on-site about the art they are viewing has been an attractive audience engagement concept for the museum. More than that, it would be even better if visitors could continue the discussion about MF art with past and future visitors after they've physically left the facility.

So that's what we're attempting to do.

Through a partnership with BrightKite, the location-based social network, we're launching an initiative we call SCREENtxt. Basically, SCREENtxt is a live text message (SMS) and photo stream populated by messages sent by Mattress Factory visitors and museum staff.

UPDATE (2/23/2009): As of February 23, the BrightKite wall now integrates with Twitter. This makes it very easy for existing Twitter users to post directly to the wall without registering with BrightKite. Now, any Twitter post containing the hashtag #MFtxt will appear in the Mattress Factory placestream. This also makes it very easy for those off-site to communicate with visitors on-site. We are currently revising our collateral material to reflect this new option.



We've hung a 42" flat screen TeeVee in the museum lobby that will display text messages and photos sent by museum visitors. When available, and when appropriate, museum staff can pop into the conversation to answer questions or engage in the discussion.

Participants will also be able to send direct messages to one another as long as they're opted-in to the service. All SCREENtxt activity can be viewed online via a sidebar portal here on the MF blog that links to this dedicated URL, the idea being that a participant who visited the museum weeks ago will be able to communicate with someone currently on-site about their MF experience.

FULL DISCLOSURE: This is an experiment. Much like the MF iConfess project, we have no idea how this is going to turn out. I anticipate that we'll be learning and adapting along the way. I look forward to sharing our experiences with you. As always, I love to hear from readers. Hit up the comments or shoot me an email. Up Next: Part II - Implementation

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