Scattered Recollections from NASH72
This weekend I attended the Canadian University Press’s annual national conference in Edmonton, Alberta as a member of the delegation from the Gauntlet, the student newspaper I’m Production Editor at. The Gauntlet isn’t a member of CUP and so this was the first year I was able to attend (some of my co-workers have been there once or twice before) and while this post may be a tad incoherent due to my complete lack of sleep, the overall experience was quite memorable and informative. A bunch of random observations are below:
- I totally get why the moderators in the new media roundtable session thought Joomla! is too much work now; CUP’s openly-licensed Hot Ink system combines a clean, Ruby-On-Rails-powered WordPress-esque CMS with what appear to be really excellent workflow and media components. I’m currently porting the database of the badly-commented, hand-coded, PHP-based piece of software which runs the Gauntlet website to Joomla!, though particularly due to needs like an extensive gallery system with a large amount of metadata (and no requirement for manually placing images in stories), Hot Ink is quickly seeming like a very sensible alternative.
- Also, I love the reference to Joomla! being similar to Skynet. While Hot Ink may be particularly salient for this particular situation (IE, one in which the technical contact at the organization changes every 12 months), Joomla! is still an absolutely amazing piece of software that I’ll continue to use. Merely being able to link the user databases of multiple installs à la something like JFusion makes Joomla! tremendously powerful for groups needing deep community functionality or wanting to start a network of sites (IE, such as I’ve done with the Alberta420 network).
- On that note, I’ll post a comparison of Joomla! and Hot Ink once I’ve played with it a bit.
- I actually kind of liked not having wifi access all weekend; apparently 400 rooms times eight wifi-capable devices per room is Hell for hotel Internet connections. Though the humour of a new media conference without Internet access is not lost on me, I found I spent more time thinking about the topics more insomuch that not being able to implement ideas immediately allowed me to think about how I’d actually implement them. It’s a curse inherent in combining rapid web-development with a short attention span…
- I like Adrienne Arsenault’s idea of forming freelancer co-operatives or collectives. It’s kind of similar to an online publishing idea I’ve been playing with the last two years but a bit more nuanced and focused towards those wanting to do foreign correspondence. Essentially, freelancers form medium-sized local agencies to sell and protect their work, insure them while traveling, give necessary training, et cetera. It’s the kind of low-hierarchy, low-overhead organizing idea that’s really conducive to the web as a medium. A similar thought I’ve had is starting small, publicly-focused media groups intended to help develop media skills amongst various subculture groups.
- Monte Paulsen’s point about finding a reliable group of writers and editors to workshop content amongst resonated with me; as I gradually reduce my involvement with student media, I’m finding creating the same sort of feedback loops that made contributing at the Gauntlet such a fantastic learning experience is becoming more difficult. Cultivating that variety of professional relationship early in my career is now a fairly important concern to me.
- Apparently Twitter’s still interesting.
There were some mixed messages in that some speakers argued for a jack-of-all-trades approach while some argued for specialization. The way I see it, this new media environment requires you not just know how to do everything, but be good at it. A Robert Heinlein quote:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
…Add “Tweet,” “Facebook,” “edit,” “design,” “photograph,” “troubleshoot,” “network,” and “shoot video” to that list. You can probably do without shoveling manure, though “administrate a UNIX server” would probably make a suitable replacement…
- I went to both the Production Editor and Online Editor roundtables (since I do both at the Gauntlet) and I am both very glad we only publish once a week and amazed at how stressed production people are compared to their online counterparts.
- …Did I mention that Hot Ink looks amazing?
Venue reviews for the weekend
Thursday
- Filthy McNasty’s: Decent pub, food was pretty cheap and tasty (albeit greasy). I don’t know why everyone I know in Edmonton thinks Filthy’s has atmosphere; it really doesn’t, it’s just… Dark.
- Black Dog: Three stories (Some pretty awesome reggae was playing upstairs and downstairs when I was there, with a really shitty rock mix on the main floor where my group inexplicably decided to settle); average-priced beer, fairly interesting atmosphere.
- The Strathcona Hotel: Cheap, cheap beer in funny-looking glasses. An old hotel bar, the Strat somehow is both a scene and dive bar and is instead mostly occupied by scenesters. I don’t remember the music being anything special. You’ll likely either dig it or hate it.
Friday
- Lucky13: Fairly mediocre in every aspect. Cramped with really preppy types, the music selection was what eventually drove my group away to Black Dog for a second visit fairly early in the night. Also: bars that force coat check on minor items suck for those proud few of us still stupid enough to regularly consume tobacco.
- New City/Likwid Lounge: We didn’t go to the lower part of the venue (New City) while there, but the top part (Likwid Lounge) had a few DJs doing an excellent tribute to Manchester thing. Listening to Joy Division in a bar is always a positive experience for me. Very cramped with a very indie customer base but totally worthwhile.
Saturday
- Ceili’s Pub: My group left too early to pass judgement; I was digging the DJ earlier in the evening, though. Beer was fairly expensive and my group largely left because of seating issues.
- Kelly’s Pub: Really loud and busy, terrible music, overworked staff. Not worth the effort.
Sunday
- Y’all are still drinking? WTF?
All in all, it was great meeting some of you and I look forward to maybe seeing some of you around the Twittertubes in the future!
