Inside View

The Virtual and Physical Layers of Community h/t dermotcasey #cong19

LIKE DERMOT CASEY, I believe every vibrant community has both an authentic virtual layer underpinning its physical real world presence. I suspect this idea will emerge as a talking point during #cong19, an unconference with a theme of "community". I met up with @dermotcasey in Dublin to chat about several ideas that form the core of Congversation 06, a podcast supporting people I've met during huddles in Cong, County Mayo every November.

Congversation #6 with Dermot Casey

Inside Michelle Gallen's Third Space

ONE OF THE MOST insightful conversations I enjoyed in 2018 came inside 1784, a Third Space of Michelle Gallen. Michelle shared a wide assortment of ideas with me about community, book recommendations, and the status of her stealth project. It's all part of the 15 minute audio recording I shared on Spreaker.

Congversation #5: Michelle Gallen

Connecting Communities through Gardens #cong19

I'VE WATCHED PETER DONEGAN and listened to his Sodshow for eight years so I know his clever public spaces always work as places where people enjoy meeting and sharing. Peter discusses the essence of gardening as a community dynamic in Congversation #4 on the lead-in to #cong19 in County Mayo.

Peter Donegan and Community Gardens

 

One paints and another promotes distributed workplaces #cong19

ARMED WITH MY Rode Smart Lav+ lapel mics, I caught up with two friends in Cong who were sharing ideas while thinking about community. You can hear the Congversation with Joan Mulvihill (above) and Tracy Keogh (below) by playing the audio clip below or by subscribing to a special podcast series in the run-up to #cong19 on the 22nd of November 2019.

Listen to "Enjoying Painting and Distributed Workplaces" on Spreaker.

Starting Congversations

I HAVE STARTED a series of 100 podcasts called Congversations. They revolve around conversations that start in Cong, County Mayo, Ireland, and continue all the way around the calendar to the annual Congregation in that small town.

Listen to "Announcing Congversations 1801" on Spreaker.

Two Thumbs Up for Rev.com

I AM A BIG FAN of audio transcription services and the combination of machine learning and human curation inside Rev.com is so very helpful.

Answering 100 Call-ins

I HAVE 100 unanswered call-ins to my Anchor.fm/topgold podcast and I've decided I will try to carve through those calls by publishing them three or four at a time. That means you could expect to hear my mailbag for the month of July as I pare back the backlog. You can follow this Mailbag Project by subscribing to my Spreaker Topgold Audio Newsfeed.

I imagine I could be as diligent about unanswered emails too but with more than 250,000 unopened emails, I think it's a simpler task of merely select-all and delete. So I might just do that. Fortunately, my blog doesn't ring me anymore--that stopped around two years ago.

More voices #audiomo (shout out to @freakyfwoof)

I'M LISTENING to a host of voices during the month of June--some old and familiar and others new and interesting. It's part of the annual Audiomo Challenge when participants try to create a piece of audio every day of the month. Except this month, you can take the weekends off.

I'm trying to create content while educating different transcription services so today, I'm using Trint to produce the words that are below the fold of this blog post. I recorded my thoughts into my Sony Xperia Z5, uploaded the MP3 file to Spreaker where it folded into a collection of Topgold Audio Clips, and then also uploaded the MP3 file onto Trint's servers where it took 93 seconds to transcribe the content you see below. After I listened to the clip I made, I realise I misidentified at least one of the names and that's proof I'm slowly losing my memory.

Don't you love transcription technology? I wish it came with supplemental memory aids.

The Most Nail-Biting Robocode Final in Ireland

I WATCHED THE MOST nail-biting final in Irish Robocode history unfold in the Thurles Thunderdome on the LIT-Thurles campus and at the end of a captivating nine-minute round, Robo Panda from the Dundalk Institute of Technology took the trophy from a very aggressive and cleverly programmed Feels Tank Man from ITC Carlow. You can listen to the final round commentary below.

Sharing Pen Pixel Create with Colleagues

I HAVE BEEN CREATING a few shareable audio episodes while using my mobile phone and the Spreaker app. Today, I'm sharing the advantages and workflow with colleagues during a staff training session in the Limerick Institute of Technology. I'm taking colleagues into two accounts, one for Pen & Pixel and another called "Making, Creating, and Sharing".