« @ Blogher | Main | swapping gender on websites (a cognitive game) »

July 31, 2005

i came, i went...

So, Blogher was a complete and utter trip. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. I have to admit that i was totally overwhelmed by the level of energy that so many people had - i totally crashed last night as a result. I spent the bulk of my day hearing the voices of different types of bloggers - the hiphop bloggers, the teen bloggers, the academic bloggers, the mommy bloggers. I had _no_ idea how many mommy bloggers were out there or the struggles with voice that they experience. That alone made the entire conference worth it for me.

Things got a little strange for me at the end. I was supposed to introduce the keynote speaker, Caterina Fake (Flickr). Caterina was supposed to speak about Yahoo! and what they're doing in the social media space. (Yahoo! was a featured sponsor of the conference and the keynote position was given to them; they nominated Caterina to speak.) Due to an unexpected family crisis, she wasn't able to come at the last minute. So, instead of introducing her, i ended up doing a brief ad-hoc explanation of why i am consulting for the Yahoo! Research Labs-Berkeley, briefly explaining Jeff Weiner's FUSE model - Find, Use, Share, Expand (see Supernova notes and Weiner interviews ). I do genuinely believe that Jeff gets it and i love his model so i was happy to represent his mission, but it felt a little strange to be speaking as an insider when i just got my contractor badge 3 days ago. So trippy.

The point is... i was there.. it was fun... and i'm really really bad at writing up notes about what actually happened. Mostly, i had really good conversations and it was really invigorating to hear different perspectives and have conversations that i haven't had over and over again.

(And now, i'm in a strange hotel in the middle of Michigan where i'm going to have to miraculously remember matrix algebra before tomorrow so as to not embarrass myself in front of a professor that i admire. ::gulp::)

Technorati Tags:

Category: blogging

Posted by zephoria at July 31, 2005 8:17 PM | TrackBack

Comments (3)

Ms. Jen:

Hi Danah,

I just got home myself, after a long drive south through the Central Valley and LA. I was delighted by Blogher and thanks for posting it to your blog a couple of months ago.

I loved the converastions. I loved the variety of people. I loved the interaction with other photo and mobloggers. And most of all, I loved the energy and enthusiasm of the Mommy Bloggers. Many of the MBs stayed at the Westin, where we were, and stayed up late and were a fount of discussion at the bar.

Most of all, it was a delight to be sharpened by so many creative women. ;o)

Posted by Ms. Jen | July 31, 2005 11:42 PM

Posted on July 31, 2005 23:42

shidoshi:

Welcome to Michigan. Be careful, we bite.

Posted by shidoshi | August 1, 2005 7:08 AM

Posted on August 1, 2005 07:08

Jenny:

You were such a wonderful presence at BlogHer! It was great to meet you.

Posted by Jenny | August 1, 2005 8:51 AM

Posted on August 1, 2005 08:51

Post a comment


Note: i had to add the required question due to spam. Accurate spelling is necessary or the comment will be automatically sent to the junk folder.