Let’s begin by deciding what BarCamp is not. BarCamp is not like conference you’ve ever been to. You won’t be served cold coffee or cold speakers, and the topics weren’t previously determined with little or no audience input. NOOOO! BarCamp is a knowledge-sharing event wherein people learn from the presentations, and talk to each other to create the value they personally need from the event. BarCamp is a place for you to participate, learn and share. BarCamp is the un-conference.

BarCamp Memphis is interactive and user-generated. Anyone and everyone who comes to BarCamp is invited to come with a topic in hand and prepared to share. Don’t worry if you’re not a legend, neither are most of our presenters. Rather, these are folks from local or regional companies sharing many of the same challenges. Session formats can be a traditional presentation (with or without slides), a Q&A session, a demonstration, a panel discussion or just about any format of your choosing. Just make sure your topic relates to the web, web technologies, geekery, new devices, etc.

At the beginning of the day, everyone votes on the presentations. The result is the most relevant, informative, and interesting conference possible for all its’ attendees. Said simply, BarCamp Memphis becomes what you want it to be.

BarCamp Memphis will also have rooms set aside for open discussion on the topics that matter to you most (i.e. the ones you create), we call these Core Conversations. There will be panel discussions throughout the day on those subjects where two (or more) knowledgeable folks team up to discuss their chosen topic. Even the traditional presentations are more exciting when you get to pick them yourself.

It’s time for bloggers, techies, marketing profs, entrepreneurs, and geeks to unite again at BarCamp Memphis 2010!

Writing for the Web – Elizabeth Cawein

DON’T DO THIS!!!!

Really, folks. Typing in all caps is just unnecessary and annoying, and makes people want to abandon your blog as fast as their mice can hit the Back button. But, short of that preference, Elizabeth Cawein’s “Writing for the Web” session was not dictatorial on grammar. After all, the less formal nature of blogs and some websites may lend themselves to run-on sentences, incomplete clauses, and maybe even the SELECTIVE use of all caps for emphasis.

The key, Elizabeth says, is to “establish a style and stick to it.” That might include choosing a particular style manual (like MLA or Chicago), but mainly it’s about your tone and topics. If you write a funny blog about your dog and sudden throw in a cooking post, people are gonna be scratching their heads.

Your style will also determine the proper length of your posts. Shorter is better in general, but depending on your content and how engaging it is, people might be willing to commit to a longer post. Even so, Elizabeth says she tries to keep her posts under 500 or so words.

Elizabeth also emphasized the importance of reading and then re-reading your post to check for misspellings and (unintentional) grammatical errors. Even if you’re writing in a lighter, fun style, there’s still no excuse for errors that make your post difficult to read.
Then, tag tag tag!

No doubt one of the great benefits of the Web is how malleable it can be; if you mess up, there’s still time to fix it. But often by the time an error is corrected it’s already been seen, and depending on your site traffic that could mean 10 people or it could mean 10,000. So, sure. The option to edit is nice — but why not get it right the first time?

Whether you manage a Web site for your business with thousands of unique views daily or a small personal blog with just a few thousand a month, consistency plays an important factor in establishing credibility. Style can be your greatest unsung hero or your worst glaring nightmare: if it remains consistent, it’s never noticed. But as soon as it’s inconsistent, it becomes like a bad nursery rhyme — caps lock here, no caps lock there, hyphens, dashes, everywhere.

Because we’re part of the media — whether you consider yourself part of the social media or an online publication like a webzine — we like to swear by the journalist’s bible: the AP StyleBook. Having a hard and fast reference point like the AP StyleBook allows for no gray area. If you’ve got a question on whether to capitalize or not, how to list something or where that comma belongs, the answers are here. We recommend ponying up for the $25 online subscription to the StyleBook because it’s easy to search and often faster than flipping through the printed version.

In the meantime, we’ve pulled some notable Web-related entries from the StyleBook for you to peruse here.

dot-com An informal description of companies that do business mainly on the Internet.

e-mail Acceptable in all references for electronic mail. Many e-mail or Internet addresses use symbols such as the at symbol (@), or the tilde (~) that cannot be transmitted correctly by some computers. When needed, spell them out and provide an explanatory editor’s note.(Also e-book, e-commerce, e-business.)

Web Short form of World Wide Web, it is a service, or set of standards, that enables the publishing of multimedia documents on the Internet. The Web is not the same as the Internet, but is a subset; other applications, such as e-mail, exist on the Internet. It is generally credited as the concept of researcher Tim Berners-Lee, who developed the first practical system in 1989.
Also, Web site (an exception to Webster’s New World College Dictionary first listing), and Web page.
But webcam, webcast, webmaster.

software titles Capitalize but do not use quotation marks around such titles as WordPerfect or Windows, but use quotation marks for computer games: ”Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?“

composition titles Apply the guidelines listed here to book titles, computer game titles, movie titles, opera titles, play titles, poem titles, album and song titles, radio and television program titles, and the titles of lectures, speeches and works of art.

–Capitalize the principal words, including prepositions and conjunctions of four or more letters.
–Capitalize an article – the, a, an – or words of fewer than four letters if it is the first or last word in a title.
–Put quotation marks around the names of all such works except the Bible and books that are primarily catalogs of reference material. In addition to catalogs, this category includes almanacs, directories, dictionaries, encyclopedias, gazetteers, handbooks and similar publications. Do not use quotation marks around such software titles as WordPerfect or Windows.

home page Two words. The “front” page of a particular Web site.

You can also follow @APStyleBook on Twitter or download the new iPhone app.

Happy editing!

Kerry Hayes Presents

We had two presentations this month. The first, was a remote presentation by Connie Bensen from Minnesota. She spoke about Techrigy, a powerful social media monitoring tool with a lot of exciting features. She will also be hosting a webinar on January 15, talking about Social Media ROI. Please see webinar registration info here. Follow Connie on Twitter.

Our second speaker was Kerry Hayes from Mid-South Community Organizers and the Stax Museum of American Soul. He gave us a lot of great insight into lessons learned in Social Media and community organizing from the presidential election. Follow on Twitter. Checkout their meeting on Thursday night.

Core Conversations were a success again this time around, as tables broke off to discuss Social Media 101, Corporate Blogging, Web Video, Twitter, and Beyond Facebook. There were lots of interesting conversations and action as people moved from table to table trying to glean all the information they could. Keep watching the Social Media Expedition Blog, as we’ll post MP3′s of these conversations online!

Upcoming January Events

Here’s a quick recap of upcoming events for the Social Media Expedition.

• January 9 – Anybody for caravaning to Nashville to join in on their Geek Breakfast? This is usually a valuable networking opportunity and a good chance to learn from the people around you. Contact Dave Barger for more info.
• January 19 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day is this month. The Expedition is planning on taking a caravan to Money, MS to give 2.0 coverage to the events surrounding the murder of Emmit Till, an event that is credited with sparking the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950′s.
• January 23 – LunaWeb is sponsoring the Universe of Dreams show at Germantown Performing Arts Centre. There will be a massive Tweetup beforehand and special discount tickets for Expedition members.

There was also a brief overview of The Kindness Revolution. If you’re interested in making a personal commitment to being kind (a great New Year’s resolution), you should consider looking them up on Twitter and Facebook.

If you were at this month’s breakfast or are interested in attending the next one, you can already RSVP on our Meetup page.

Are you an Online Marketer?
There’s also a meeting, Memphis E-Marketing Group, being put on by some very web savvy people from St. Jude’s. Check them out here. Thursday, February 26th from 6-8

Thanks again to all who came out. We hope to see you all again before next month, along with some new faces, to talk about everything social.

blogpost by lunaweb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Monday night, Geoff Livingston, author of Now is Gone and his PR blog, “The Buzz Bin,” met for a tweetup at Quetzal cafe in downtown Memphis.  Attendees included everyone from seasoned Social Media veterans, to several fresh faces looking to see what the web has to offer their business.

Despite the excitement surrounding Geoff’s attendance, the evening took on a very relaxed tone as the crowd mixed through the room networking, finding familiar faces, and engaging the featured guest in conversations about the state of the blogosphere and the benefits of Social Media for business.

As the evening progressed, the tweetup culminated in a Geoff becoming the centerpiece of a group discussion, moderated by LunaWeb’s Dave Barger, where an eager group shared their ideas and questions about Social Media, while the Washington D.C. based PR and blogging guru addressed each topic, drawing from his own experience for examples and anecdotes.

The event was a huge success for LaunchMemphis and a great experience for all of the attendees.  Upcoming on the Social Media horizon is the Socia Media Breakfast on October 1st at the Crescent Club.  The breakfast is open to everyone!  See details on the Meetup page.