Alison Young

This event occurred quite some time ago and due to delays with getting internet connected and the sporadic ways I’ve been accessing the net while in the churn process I haven’t been able to post this until now. Thus it won’t be an overly comprehensive entry as there are other entries about the highlights of PubCamp and various presentations already published by Kate, Stephen and Michael.

I attended both the Sydney and Melbourne PubCamp events which were organised by Jed White of itechne. Sydney was a very polarising experience, the room was even physically divided between Old and New Media. There was lively debate, and plenty of unspoken communication going on in the room as the two seemingly different worlds and views faced off against each other.

My Sydney presentation was quite structured, I presented a modified version of the widely recognised Twitter talk from BarCamp Sydney and Canberra. Instead this time I added more about social networking in general to spark discussion about not only the tools, applications and sites that integrate with Twitter but other social networks too and the different ways we all use them. Slides for the Sydney talk can be found on my slideshare.

Melbourne was an entirely different story, the debate between Old and New Media was significantly muted compared to Sydney. However there were very valid points raised and discussed which was good to see. People in Melbourne were quieter but no less passionate.

For my unconference presentation in Melbourne I took a different approach. The laptop wouldn’t work with the projector so I decided to do away with the slides and just talking about Twitter. We talked a bit about Twitter but also about other social networks, how we all use them and the place they have in our lives. I had an audience of approximately 30 and the room buzzed with discussion. It was pretty great as I’ve never had anything like that happen before and I really liked it. This time it wasn’t about me talking and them discussing later, the discussion was now and I can thank a few key people who started speaking up and then that inspired the others. There were a few new people who’d never heard of Twitter or considered using social networks before. I hope they took something away from the talk. It was my absolute pleasure to be involved in something like PubCamp.

There is a big post about social networks which I will write and publish in the very near future. I’ve been using them for long enough now that I feel I can articulate the motivation and effects that using them has had on my life to date and potentially what the future may hold.

Huge thank-you must again go to itechne and Jed who very generously sponsored my travel and accomodation in Melbourne. It would not have been possible without their support and I had a such a good time meeting all the Melbourne Twitter people who came out and ran amok with us who travelled down for PubCamp. I look forward to going back there soon and catching up again.

Self-described as “location-based social networking” BrightKite encourages you to check-in to a location and then post notes or pictures. I’ve been using it for several weeks now and have become quite fond of the ability to instantly photograph and share things occurring around me with others. The whole premise of the location-based social networking phenomenon is to be able to locate and communicate with other users in person as well as via the site. BrightKite is still in beta and membership is invite-only, however there is a growing user-base. Unlike many other sites in alpha or beta, invites are topped up so should you run out it’s only a matter of time before you acquire more to distribute as you see fit.

What can I do?

At present you are able to check-in, post photos & notes and a new feature unveiled just today allows you to comment on posts from others. In terms of friends list control you can opt to add others and also set a trust level for each friend which will determine what level of detail they can see regarding your location. There are a number of ways to set privacy options should you wish to give the site full address details such as street, or even street number. Personally I’ve locked down my posts so that un-friended and casual observers can only see my city, whereas friends can see the suburb and trusted friends the street details. When at home or the homes of others I check into only the street whereas if I’m at a restaurant or cafe I’ll use the full address and usually post a note identifying where I am.

How do I do it?

Checking in and posting can be done through the website and by sending MMS messages to your personal BrightKite email address which can be found in your Settings. Once becoming familiar with the symantics of MMS messages it’s very easy to post check-ins, notes and photos while on the go which is where I feel BrightKite really is the most fun. To make life much easier when on the go you are able to specify placemarks which can be used instead of sending the full address of places you frequent; common placemarks would be things like home, work, SydneyCBD, VicPark, and perhaps the names of favoured places to eat out. To check-in via MMS to King Street, Newtown I’d send a picture message containing the following text: @King St, Newtown NSW 2042, Australia. BrightKite is an international service so mentioning that you’re in Australia is useful, if you’re not sure of an exact address you might find yourself checked-in somewhere strange indeed. Of particular note was when a friend checked into Central Australia while trying to check into Central Station, Sydney. If in doubt create a placemark first then it’s as simple as MMS’ing @<placemark name>, eg @home.

I’ve configured my BrightKite account to sent notice of new posts and photos as Twitter messages which allows everybody in my timeline to see when I’ve posted a new photo. For an idea of what my personal BrightKite timeline looks like you can view it here. Timelines are also fully able to be configured in terms of friends and what you wish to see from each in terms of check-ins, posts and photos.

The other side of the fence

There have been a number of people who have raised concerns about the idea of publically identifying where you are, or more importantly, where you are not. This is a valid concern and if it troubles you to identify to a public or self-selected audience where you are then perhaps you might not enjoy what BrightKite has to offer. There have been a number of discussions about whether checking into a website is a privacy concern or not and how it might differ to the more traditional ways of informing people of your whereabouts.

Some things to keep in mind if you are interested but wary are:

• You only need to provide as much or little information as you are comfortable with. Checking into “Sydney CBD” is fine, if you wish to say you’re at “270 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000” then that’s alright too. This information is used to place a map pointer, obviously the more accurate your check-in, the more accurately the pointer placement is going to be.
• Only add people as friends if you know and trust them and are willing to share with them your whereabouts.
• Don’t have an open timeline just because everybody else seems to.

BrightKite isn’t going to suit everybody, but that’s true for any web application. Majority of the people who are involved in BrightKite or even just look at the pictures others post seem to enjoy the experience. Feel free to just look at postings from others and comment to them in Twitter. It’s all accepted behaviour.

Additional things to note

In my experimenting with the site I’ve found you can upload pictures of any dimensions you wish, to see a picture in fullsize from the picture page then click the image again. It is also possible to post notes and pictures to a location without being checked into it. Just search for the location or go to the relevant placemark and you will be able to post, however I have noticed that if you’re not checked into a location then BrightKite won’t post notice of pictures/notes that you’ve added to Twitter etc.

Already I’ve noticed a fellow, as yet unknown, BrightKite user who works in the same building as me from the pictures they’ve posted to the street I work on. Its very easy to swap timeline views from friends timeline, those around me, and everybody. It’s a fun way to see what others are posting and who else is checked in around you.

I have a few invites if you are interested in seeing what all the fuss is about. Otherwise have fun and I’ll let you all know when the site is released to one and all.