I've Been Mugged

Blogging For Civil Liberties Workshop at the ACLU of Massachusetts Conference

On Saturday January 26, 2008, I attended the first ACLU Massachusetts conference on Reclaiming Our Civil Liberties. The conference was a real treat for me, since I'd only read about Daniel Ellsberg, the keynote speaker. It was great to hear him live and hear his experiences about the Pentagon Papers. (See also the National Security Archive at GWU.) Ellsberg also discussed his views on the Bush administration, U.S. foreign policy, the Iraq war, the "Blue Dog Coalition" (for perspectives, see C-Span, Common Dreams , and the New York Times), and the oath of government officials to the Constitution (and not a personal oath to the President). Much of today's policies of expansive Executive privilege by the Bush administration are rooted in VP Cheney's tenure in President Nixon's administration.

I attended the conference both as a member and as a panelist. There were over 400 attendees, by my rough count. I spoke at a workshop titled, "Blogging for Civil Liberties." Christopher Ott, the Communications Manager of the ACLU of Massachusetts, chaired the panel. The other panelist was Charles Blandy, Co-Founder and Co-Editor of BlueMassGroup.com.

The workshop went smoothly. About 35 people attended this workshop. Charles spoke first and reviewed many of the well-known sites political blogs (such as Daily Kos and TPMmuckraker) consumers can use to learn about civil liberties and to participate in the blogosphere. My talk focused more narrowly on Ive Been Mugged as an example of citizen journalism, consumers' rights about identity protection, and notification laws after a corporate data breach. About 30 people attended this workshop and at least 400 attended the conference.

If you missed the conference, you can listen to the "Blogging For Civil Liberties" podcast (52 minutes, MP3 file, 23 MBytes). You can list to the podcast on any MP3 player, including the iPod. I'd like to thank Christopher Ott and the Massachusetts ACLU for making the podcast available. Thanks to Marilyn Humphries for the photograph.

[Note to readers: Sorry for the delay publishing this post. I would have published it sooner, but the podcast was only recently available.]

The Age Of Conversation: A Cool Social Web Experiement

Last year, I had just started blogging when the first edition of The Age of Conversation was published. 100 bloggers contributed to the 2007 edition, which is available for sale at Amazon.com. All proceeds still go to Variety Children's Charity (and if you click through the Amazon link, the affiliate money goes to Variety too).

I'm excited to be one of the contributors to the 2008 edition. I know and work with several of the contributors to the 2007 edition: Lori Magno and Ryan Barrett. Now, I'd like to introduce you to the team of 275 bloggers who are contributing to the 2008 edition, which is titled "The Age of Conversation: Why Don't People Get It." Perhaps you know some of the contributors:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

I hope you'll join me in buying a copy of one of the coolest social web experiments ever. You will thoroughly enjoy the book and the unique perspectives of 100 authors in the 2007 edition. The 2008 edition will be available later this year.

The Age Of Conversation 2008: Call For Authors

The debut of The Age of Conversation book in 2007 was such a refreshing and innovative look at blogging, it's no surprise that the planning for version 2.0 of the book is already underway. (If you haven't read the book, here's a backgrounder.) Version 1.0 featured 101 authors, including a couple Boston-area bloggers I know and work with: Lori Magno of Moda di Magno, and Ryan Barrett of Cheap Thrills. I hope to participate in version 2.0.

From now through February 3, 2007 you can vote online for the topic for version 2.0. The three topic options:

• Marketing Manifesto
• Why Don’t People Get It?
• My Marketing Tragedy (and what I learned)

Bloggers interested in contributing to the 2008 edition as an author, should visit Drew McClelland's Marketing Minute blog. Potential authors must provide contact information: your full name, snail-mail address, phone, blog URL, and e-mail address. If your contact information doesn’t make it clear — please share your experience/expertise that would make you a good candidate for writing a chapter in a business/marketing book.

Good News On The Blogging Front

For those that live and work in the New England area... I will be speaking at this ACLU conference on January 26, 2008 during a workshop titled “Blogging For Civil Liberties.” I am quite excited about this event, since it's an opportunity to raise awareness about identity theft, privacy, and corporate responsibility issues,... plus promote the I've Been Mugged blog.

To learn more about the conference, see the ACLU conference site:

Reclaiming Our Civil Liberties

Blogger Social 2008

Thanks to Lori Magno for the Blogger Social 2008 clip below. If you don't know, that's her with the cute paper messages at the end. I plan to attend the event in New York City and hope to see you there!

In the Blogosphere: Xconomy Reviews Blogtoberfest

A couple weeks ago, I met Wade Roush, one of the authors at the Xconomy blog. I met Wade at the Blogtoberfest event in Boston. If you are a blogger in the Eastern Massachusetts area, I suggest you read Wade's post about the Oktoberfest event and the bloggers he met. Wade's post also has a link to some photos.

In The Blogosphere: Savvy Gal

A tip of the hat to Wendy Darcy at her Savvy Gal blog for coverage of my posts about correspondence with Attorney General Coakley's office about online breach notification. Wendy posts some really helpful tips for working women about how to navigate the corporate world and their career.

Blogtoberfest (Meeting Boston Bloggers, Part Two)

During the day I'm super busy at my day job building web sites. However, I'm glad that I made time yesterday evening to attend the 2007 Boston Blogtoberfest event at the Pour House bar on Boylston Street.

This event was an opportunity to meet other Boston-based bloggers. I'd like to publicly thank Jenny Frazier for organizing the event. There must have been 40 or 50 bloggers in the downstairs room at the Pour House.

As I wrote in a prior post, I'm fairly new to blogging and this was my second blogger social (this week). It felt very empowering to meet several local bloggers, who write about a wide range of subjects:

• Wade Roush at Xconomy,
• Tammy Schuetz at Boston Food & Wine,
• Michael Krigsman at IT Project Failures,
• Victoria Welch and Jon Petit at the Bostonist,
• Ryan Barrett at Cheap Thrills,
• Jonathan Feeley at Digital Interactif,
• Boston Transplant,
• Christopher Ott at the ACLU, and
• Eileen's very funny Divine Comedy of Errors.

The event was an added treat since I won one of the raffle prizes... a framed photograph of beautiful and historic Fenway Park.

Boston bloggers who weren't there, and I hope they attend the next event: Lori Magno's Moda di Magno, Kate Beaton's The Dish, Diane Danielson's Downtown Women's Club, and Mick O'Brien's Attention Shoppers.

Meeting Boston Bloggers (Part One)

This week is one of those weeks where I need 48 hours in each day. I've been so busy that I haven't been able to read all of the posts I'd planned to this week.

First, my day job as a usability professional (I architect web sites for corporate clients) has been especially hectic and jam-packed. We're working simultaneously on two huge web site re-designs which have to launch between now and November 30th. Second, there have been several Boston-area blogger events this week which I just had to attend.

I'm fairly new to blogging, so I registered and attended the Tech Blogs event at the Cambridge Innovation Center Tuesday evening. The panelists included some well-known, heavyweight technology bloggers including: Don Dodge, Director of Business Development at Microsoft; Jimmy Guterman, Editor of Release 2.0; Barbara Heffner, partner at CHEN PR; Nabeel Hyatt, CEO at Conduit Labs; columnist Scott Kirsner from the Boston Globe; and Bijan Sabet, a venture capitalist at Spark Capital. Podcaster Dan Bricklin recorded the event posted the audio on his web site.

The panelists and audience shared several tips and suggestions about blogging as senior corporate executives, how to grow your blog audience, emerging trends, and common issues all of us bloggers face. If you are a business executive interested in how blogging can benefit your business, then I suggest you read Jonathan Feeley's post at Digital Interactif: 5 Reasons to start a Blog for your Business.

I learned a lot at this event and noticed that many of these successful bloggers use the same Typepad service which I use.