Digiculture

There’s my point of view …

… and there’s Pat Phelan‘s point of view

Thursday night’s TechLudd event was a great success. Well done to all concerned!

Thanks to RedMum for bringing this to my attention.

It occurs to me that leadership has little to do with ability or experience. Children want someone to care for them and fix things. What a society of adults needs is someone to inspire them, collectively, to fix it themselves.

I can’t remember which Irish blog I found Groovy Dancing Girl on, but thanks! “Sowra” (Samhradh?) gets a mention in the An tImeall column this week.

I’m impressed and delighted to discover a genuine Irish YouTube hit. More than that, however, is the fact that I’m not usually a fan of dance – but I really enjoyed watching this!

Maybe MC Hammer is onto something with his web startup?

Anyway, here’s what I love about web culture. Not only can Sowra/Sophie/Groovy express her talent by making and posting videos like this …

… but others can mash them up in tribute, like this:

Groovy!

Best wishes to everyone involved with Techludd. If you’re in Dublin tonight it should be well worth going to the inaugural TechLudd in the Odessa Club.

From TechLudd.com:

TechLudd is a free monthly social networking event for Irish start-ups and those interested in them, from founders to funders to fans.

TechLudd was founded on the idea of nurturing a network around start-ups, building the same kind of ecosystem that the Paddy’s Valley crew discovered helped nurture entrepreneurs with access, funding, contacts and communication on their trip to Silicon Valley in December 07.

For our inaugural get together, we’re hosting a non-event: no speakers, no panels, no presentations – just some of the crew from Paddy’s Valley, who we’ll anchor to the bar so you can ask them about their experiences; an open demo table if you want to show off your stuff; and Irish start-up funders, founders and fans.

I wish I could make it, but unfortunately I’m going to have to skip this one. However, over a hundred people have signed up so I don’t think I’ll be missed. See you at TechLudd 2!

From what I can see, Paul Walsh is already good at networking, online and in real-life. But now he’s gone and engaged Damien Mulley to advise him on communications, I think we’re going to see him step up at least one gear.

First order of business? Distinguish between his company and personal brand. Segala will continue to benefit from Paul’s profile, but not everything Paul blogs about is relevant to the company.

The amazing thing about blogs that still surprises me is how truly they represent their author. Again and again, my real-world encounters with people whose blogs I’ve followed rarely involve surprises. When I met Paul for the first time at Le Web 3, he was exactly the same person whose tweets I’ve followed for the past year.

Which is why I think the elevator pitch on his new blog is perfect:

“Serial entrepreneur is last season. I’m an Irish Opportunist who loves to connect likeminded people.”

Go maire tú do bhlag nua Paul!

I met Bernie yesterday at Limerick’s Absolute Hotel to discuss a new project we are collaborating on. (More on that very soon.) As we looked at the calendar we realised that the first week of March is going to be packed with events of interest to Irish bloggers.

• March 1st: Irish Blog Awards, Dublin
• March 2nd: WebCamp – Social Network Portability, Cork
• March 3rd, 4th: BlogTalk 2008 Conference, Cork
• March 8th: Creative Camp, Kilkenny

I hope to attend most if not all of these. I’ll definitely be at the Irish Blog Awards. I think it’s the social highlight of the blog calendar, and once again I’m sponsoring the award category for Best Use of the Irish Language. (Nominations close tomorrow!)

I do believe it’s important to blog. It’s not just an optional extra. I use blogs to keep in touch with an extended network of friends, family and business associates. No, of course it’s not the only way I do that – in fact that’s partly why I’ve had so little time this past month.

My itinerary since November 1st: Galway, Dublin, Dublin, Dublin, Dublin, Mayo, Cork, Galway. I’m pleased that there was only 1 night away from home (Mayo!) I’ve got another trip to Dublin later this week (and maybe Clonmel) before heading to Paris on Monday for Le Web 3.

I want to mention last week’s visit to Cork, and CIX. Along with Michael and Simon from Tipperary Institute,we brought Intruders.TV to the open day for Cork’s first professional datacentre. We’ll have more about CIX on Intruders.TV Ireland shortly, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Tom, Adam and Jerry for their hospitality and for sharing their enthusiasm for this very cool project.

Speaking of cool projects (and speaking of Tipperary Institute) … watch this space for an announcement before Christmas, and there’s more stuff in incubation for the new year.

Finally, I mentioned Galway was the latest touchdown on the Edgecast Media tour. That was last Sunday when Margaret and I were guests at two Irish language events. The weekly newspaper Foinse presented the Gael na Bliana awards, honouring Irish speakers from various spheres. I had been honoured earlier this year to be named as a recipient for my work with An tImeall. It was wonderful to meet the other recipients of the monthly awards – agus comhgháirdeachas ó chroí le Joe Steve Ó Neachtain a fuair an gradam Gael na Bliana, agus é tuillte go maith aige as ucht a chuid oibre.

Later we were among 300 guests at a black-tie event, Gradam Gnó na Gaeltachta – the Gaeltacht Business Awards. I love entrepreneur’s stories – that’s why I started Intruders.TV Ireland. As an Irish speaker I’m concerned about sustaining and developing the Gaeltacht communities – in fact I’m interested in issues affecting all rural communities, so this was a very inspiring occasion for me.

The awards were organised and sponsored by Udarás na Gaeltachta and TG4, with support from KPMG. A series of 5 programmes profiling the finalists was broadcast over the previous week, and the awards ceremony itself was broadcast live from Galway’s Radisson Hotel.

That was the most impressive part of the evening for me. EO Teilfís made the challenges of a live outside broadcast look like a walk in the park! Well done to everyone involved.

Breaking my silence on this blog to wish the Paddy Pilgrimage to the Silicon Shrine all the best of luck!

I’d love to be going, but it doesn’t fit my priorities at this time. I still think it’s a great idea though, and I’m hoping I’ll make PV08!

I think this will be an important experience for the Irish web business community as a whole, and I’m looking forward to following the reports on line!

Well done to the organisers on getting it this far. Go n-éirí libh go léir!

(Normal service on this site will resume shortly. Lots to talk about!)

Galway city! So good I’m going twice this week!

Tomorrow I’m speaking to the MA in Journalism class at NUIG about my experience of Copyright and New Media. And on Friday, Michael Kiely and I are bringing Intruders.TV to DERI. Thanks to John and Ina for inviting us. Check out Upcoming.org for details and directions.