Last tuesday I attended CaseCamp.  It was organized by Eli Singer as a 'DemoCamp for marketers'.  Individuals and organizations were invited to present a marketing case with a challenge and a solution.  Eli used similar rules to BarCamp with a strict 15 minute presentation length, 5 slides with 5 words per slide.

No one really followed Eli's rules except Eli.  He co-presented with Susan Bloch-Nevitte, Executive Director of Public Affairs at the AGO, on the bloggers event at the Frank Gehry exhibit.  The AGO invited a small group of bloggers to come to the AGO for a 'media only' style event with a wine and cheese and viewing of the exhibit.  I recall reading about the exhibit on one of my favourite blogs Spacing.  I thought this was a great way for an arts institution to reach a new demographic.  This is a great example of how blogging can be extremely effective for public relations.  This case was the most interesting for me at CaseCamp.

Kate Trgovac also did a really interesting presentation on a marketing campaign at PetroCanada for Winter Olympic Promotion. 

CaseCamp was similar to DemoCamp in that some presentations are really interesting to me and some are less so.  This is exactly what I expect of this type of event.  In some respects, I prefer CaseCamp because it asks presenters to present a case (opportunity/action taken).  DemoCamp is less strict in this way since DemoCampers are just asked to present some kind of demo.

Specific thoughts on CaseCamp:
- I would like to see some presenters to present a case with just the problem and surrounding background.  The audience could provide suggestions for a solution.  The presenter could say what steps were actually taken and how it was resolved.  (i.e. We had a PR disaster, this is what happened.  What would you do audience? )  This is generally how cases are done in courses I have taken.

- Eli should be strict about the 5 slides.  This is difficult to do when people have a prepared presentation.  But reminding people before the next event and during the event will enforce the idea.  5 slides is a good rule

-I like the venue and structure of the event.  Going to a bar, having a drink and talking to people before we start is great.  I prefer this to the DemoCamp structure of present and then we all head over to a bar afterwards.

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Some pictures from May's DemoCamp

Ross shows his fashion sense by bringing the IBMMacTop.




Joey and Jay quickly step in as MCs for this event.  Unfortunately David Crow was taken very ill but is now recovering.




Ross and Joey present Start Page, I really enjoyed this presentation.  I think this is going to be a great product!  It was also great to see James Woods.  When is he going to do a DemoCamp presentation?

Aside from Ross's presentation on Start page, the most interesting presentation for me was on 'Blogscope'.  It is a U of T Comp Eng. research project and is to improve search for high volume text streams (a.k.a. blogs).  When I see this kind of project that I feel assured that the students have their job secured at Google, if that is their chosen path in life.  They are fast become search algorithm experts. 

But it also interests me that there is still so much research to be in Search towards its improvement.  BlogScope provides information analysis that goes beyond Google Analytics.  It is effectively a step towards a multi-dimensional seach engine.  The axis being time (bursts of writing on one topic) and keyword (relevant words that appear around the keyword entered by the user).

This makes me ask why Google is not simply continuing to develop its core competency - better and better search.  Adding dimensions to search, search audio content and search pictures (Riya) I don't think it would be hard for Google with its resources to copy what Riya has done. 

Its common knowledge that email was most people's first Internet app.  And most people experienced it via dial up or at least partly through dial up. 

When I started university in 1993, no one in my residence had email and of course many had computers but not everyone had a computer.  Many still used a common computer in the residence library to type up their paper.  They were using a computer like a typewriter.

As a Comp Sci student, I had access to the Comp Sci lab or CDF as we called it at U of T (Computer Disciplines Facility).  One day someone showed me how to use Mosaic.  I used it for about 2 months until someone else said to me one day, 'My god, what are you doing?  Use Netscape'.

I am proud to say that there are a few people who I showed the 'Web' to for the first time.  But slowly more and more of my friends at other universities started to get email access.  We had left high school a close group to go to different universities and it meant alot to us to email.  Those first emails though read more like letters than the beau-mots one-liners that go back and forth today (New band  - check it out 'Band of Horses'. Lee's Palace June 13th.).


The Scarb!

But then that was dial-up.  When we got our broadband connection at home, well that was a day to remember.  It was courtesy of my generous former employer who had developed a 1MG modem and wanted to encourage adoption by giving it away to employees at no cost.  When the T. got it up and running, what was the first app, we used?  Napster.  It was mid-2000. 

If you look around the world, you will see cable and DSL packages for up to 10 MG.  If you are in the UK, Spain or Brazil, you may be getting broadband for the first time.  The fact that these people are getting broadband now is changing their perception of the web.  Now its the norm to get TV clips via the web.  I believe that this shift in Internet usage has fundamentally changed people's expectation of what is on the web and how they use the web.