Filed under: maritime, social media | Tags: AMVER, Scuttlebutt, social media
Parody is the sincerest form of flattery and the above Scuttlebutt cartoon by Barb Patton captures the spirit of the social media work Ben Strong and Bev Howard do at AMVER (website/blog).
The US Coast Guard is doing a great job experimenting with social media and nobody does it better than AMVER’s Ben and Bev. They, along with a few other Guardians organized the USCG’s 1st Annual (?) PodCamp a few weeks ago and it was a great success. Here’s a link to my post about 5 highlights of the event.
Ben was recently interviewed on Marketing Over Coffee, one of the top social media podcasts, and you can listen to it here.
The USCG is fortunate to have Admiral Thad Allen, a leader who understands the importance of social media as a communication tool, at the helm. Listen to my Weekly Leader podcast episode 5 to hear Admiral Allen talk about leadership and social media.
Thanks Admiral Allen and AMVER for charting a course demonstrating how social media can be used effectively in a large organization and across the maritime industry!
Filed under: social media | Tags: PodCamp, PodCasting, social media, USCG
So you’ve dreamed of the fame, riches and adoration of being a PodStar. Just send $49.95 $39.95 $19.95 $1.99 nothing to me and watch this video. I guarantee success or your money back. I can also help you get thousands of new Twitter followers every day too! ;-)
(screencast of my presentation for the great 2009 USCG PodCamp – warning 30+ minutes – best viewed full screen and HD)
Update September 26, 2010
Here are slides from my presentation at Podcamp Boston 5.
Check out these podcasts from from podcasters that participated in my session:
- @lenedgerly – The Kindle Chronicles and The Reading Edge
- @SarahCortes - Emerge podcast (new)
- @kevinks – The Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Show and Carbohydrates Can Kill
- @bermamot – Video Student Guy
Filed under: maritime, Moby-Monday, new media, social media, storytelling | Tags: Emoji-Dick, Fred Benenson, Meg Guroff, Moby-Dick
Emoticons are fine as far as they go, but they do not express the whole range of human experience—our hopes, our dreams, our heartbreaks; our recycling, our maple leaves, our bananas. For that, you need emoji, which are Japanese emoticons for people with a lot of stuff to express (and maybe a lot of time on their hands).
In fact, emoji are now used by Japanese texters as a form of written language. This gave Fred Benenson an idea. The product manager at Creative Commons decided to have a book translated entirely into emoji, using the micro-contracting site Mechanical Turk for labor and the micro-funding site Kickstarter for scratch. But for a translation subject, he went decidedly macro: with enough backing, Benenson plans to produce a translation of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, the English language’s premier text on recycling, maple leaves, and bananas.
Benenson estimates the cost of translating Melville’s 1851 novel at $3,500 and is currently seeking pledges of $5 to $200. If enough backers sign on by October 19, their donations will be accepted and work will proceed. In the end, supporters will receive benefits based on their investments. Five-dollar backers will get a PDF file of the final product, while $200 backers will receive a color, hardcover limited edition Emoji-Dick book, numbered and signed “by the author.” Wonder how Benenson is going to swing that one?
Margaret Guroff is the editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick.
Filed under: maritime, Moby-Monday, new media, social media, storytelling | Tags: Ishmael, Meg Guroff, Moby-Dick, Nathaniel Philbrick, Thomas Watson, Twitter
First came Moby-Dick as a Twitter feed. Then came a newspaper piece that reimagined the novel as a series of tweets from its narrator, Ishmael: “We’re all having a ‘whale of a time’ here! (That’s right, I WENT THERE. Sue me!)”
Last week, Thomas Watson of New Orleans went all 2.0 on the concept with TweetMeIshmael, a Twitter feed in Ishmael’s 19th-century voice. Not only does this Ishmael note his key observations as tweets, but he responds in character to Twitter users who @reply to him (by typing “@TweetMeIshmael” at the beginning of a post). Here’s a convo about Chapter 16:
TweetMeIshmael Yojo, Q’s little black god, has tasked me with finding a whaleship. Three suitable ships in harbor: Devil-Dam, Tit-Bit, and Pequod.
jmsullivan @TweetMeIshmael Go with Tit-Bit! Tit-Bit! Come on, how can that not be a fun ship?
TweetMeIshmael Laughing aloud! RT @jmsullivan “Go with Tit-Bit! Tit-Bit! Come on, how can that not be a fun ship?”
TweetMeIshmael Learned a/b Pequod: owners (Peleg, Bildad); captain (pegleg Ahab)
jmsullivan @TweetMeIshmael Pretty sure those are names of Assyrian demons. Would be _very_ wary of this ship. Sounds ominous. What was wrong w Tit Bit?
TweetMeIshmael @jmsullivan Then Yojo shall have some company. re Tit-Bit: Its seaworthiness concerned me. What chance has a tit-bit against a spermaceti?
Watson, who is reading the book on his Blackberry, first thought of the feed as a way to take notes on author Herman Melville’s turns of phrase. Surprisingly, this will be his first time through the book—if he makes it through. Watson read part of the long, dense narrative during one summer vacation and always intended to finish, but it wasn’t until he picked up Nathaniel Philbrick’s nonfiction masterpiece In the Heart of the Sea recently that he felt ready. Philbrick’s gloss on the lives of Nantucket whalers “filled in a lot of the gaps I’d had,” Watson writes. “If I were a teacher, I’d make In the Heart of the Sea required reading before Moby-Dick.”
At press time, 30 Twitter users were following TweetMeIshmael. Watson plans to post at least one tweet for each of the book’s 135 chapters, though he may post more as time and inspiration allow. “If this little project helps me finish Moby-Dick, I’ll consider it a success,” he writes. “If a few dozen people enjoy Ishmael’s missives in their Twitter feed, so much the better!”
Margaret Guroff is editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick. She tweets about artistic responses to Moby-Dick at twitter.com/powermobydick.
Filed under: maritime, social media | Tags: Hurricane Bill, Mashable, weather
Mashable’s Barb Dybwad recently wrote a pretty comprehensive post broken into sections for web-based resources, Twitter-specific sources and mobile hurricane tracking and descriptively titled Hurricane Bill: How to Track it Online.
Of course, there’s always NOAA’s National Weather Service’s info packed Hurricane Tracking Center as well.
Report via Sea-Fever Twittersphere Correspondent Mia Chambers.
Filed under: maritime, Moby-Monday, new media, photography, social media, storytelling | Tags: LOLCats, LOLWhales, Margaret Guroff, Moby-Dick
Fans of LOLCats—the barely literate, photo-caption-writing felines of I Can Has Cheezburger—will enjoy a new edition of Moby-Dick compiled by blogger Debra at She Who Seeks. Using other people’s LOLCats images, Debra presents a clever four-panel version of the story. One quibble: the condensation omits the book’s cetology material completely. (Or maybe that’s a good thing?)
The Internet is surprisingly light on LOLWhales, but they do exist. Here’s one of a whale defying gravity—and apologizing for it. The spelling is particularly atrocious … but then, it’s not a sperm whale, so what do you expect?
Visitors to the Cheezburger site can upload images and write their own captions for free. Just an FYI, in case you have an LOLMobyDick inside you, dying to come out.
•••
Good work, Team Whale. After trailing Black Beauty during much of the 45-day polling period, Moby Dick surged ahead to win the Guardian (UK) online vote for “best performance by an animal” in a work of classic literature.
The final score was 35.2% for Moby Dick to 33.3% for Black Beauty, with Buck from The Call of the Wild, the bear from A Winter’s Tale, and Jip from David Copperfield trailing far behind. Victory is sweet!
Margaret Guroff is the editor and publisher of Power Moby-Dick.
Filed under: Corporate Social Responsibility, Oceans, social media | Tags: Body Glove, Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Vibe, Whaleman Foundation
Hopefully have noticed that I added a new widget to the sidebar in support of the Whaleman Foundation. (Look left < and down v)
Please click the yellow “Help Now – It’s Free” button and watch the Body Glove video. When you do, Body Glove will donate dollars to the Whaleman Foundation.
Why should you? Because it doesn’t cost you anything more than a minute of your time but more importantly watch the below video of Hayden Panettiere and that should help explain things.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL1wYZFMVB8]
YouTube – Hayden Panettiere PSA for SocialVibe.com
Need another reason? Well, how about because I’m asking nicely. :)
While you’re at it, please sign the petition.
This widget was created by a company called Social Vibe and not only can you attach it to your blog but you can connect it to your Facebook profile which I’ve also done. 
It’s really pretty cool what Social Vibe has done with this. There are currently about 30 causes and 25 companies that you can mix and match to suit your interests. It’s kind of like orchestrating your our corporate social responsibility program. Your actions tell companies where you’d like to see them put their philanthropic dollars. Finally you can participate in a cause related marketing program without actually being a consumer of anything more than media. Cool!
Saving whales and dolphins and the latest Body Glove swimwear seemed like a good fit for Sea-Fever. What do you think?
One more time: Please watch for the Body Glove video dolphins’ and whales’ sake!
Thanks!
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Filed under: life, maritime, social media | Tags: HellonWater.com, social network, Zodiac
Seems that you can find a social network for nearly any interest nowadays.
HellOnWater.com is a social networking site where members of the military with maritime experience can share videos, photos, and comments about their on-the-water experiences.
Hell On Water profiles are free and allow users to post videos and comments into the Hell On Water Site. If you love water and shooting guns then sign up or login to watch people doing exactly that.
A targeted audience is the first rule of successful social networking. ;-)
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N-kQ2h68DY]
YouTube – Hell on Water
Of course, it’s always beneficial to have sponsor looking out for your best interests and appreciate it when you kick “you know what.”
Zodiac of North America sponsors this site for the benefit of all the men and women who work on the water. Zodiac promises not to use this forum for any sales pressure, but welcomes questions, comments (good and bad), suggestions, and the reporting of problems thru this site. This blog has the ability for Operators to provide them with direct feedback on product development and continued product improvement.
Zodiac is proud to provide the military with battle-tested and innovative products, but privileged to work with and know the most elite Operators on the water. Zodiac wants you to know they, as a company of individuals, are grateful for your service to our Nation. Stay safe and kick ass!
Here’s the type of awesome videos that you will find on the site.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISvmLcJ3atA]
YouTube – Chinook recovery of Navy Seal Team
Any questions or problems? Contact interrogative@hellonwater.com. On second thought, you might want to try to figure it out yourself.
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