Archive by Author - Beth Blecherman

Geek is a Global Language – But Twitter is Not (yet)

by on December 21, 2009 at 4:56 am

Logo-transDuring the blogger embark on the USS Nimitz this past May, I enjoyed learning how social media is being used aboard an aircraft carrier at sea. Similarly, when I was invited to join the Traveling Geeks trip to Paris, I looked forward to experiencing social media in France first hand. Especially with – as fellow Geek Matthew Buckland referred to – a “top secret, Illuminati-type organization“. Except we were not secret about anything as we all share openly our thoughts online.

True to expectations, only moments into the first Traveling Geeks French start-ups meetings and LeWeb discussions, the similarities and differences of social media around the globe quickly came to light. Similarities were easy to see in the programming and features of application development, which quickly proved to a be a global language. As for differences, they fell primarily into three buckets (with comedy insight provided by a Current TV video on the bottom of this post): (more…)

Traveling Geeks 09 Paris: Microblog via Twitter

by on December 21, 2009 at 4:53 am

BlackBerry_BoldMy platform of choice during theTwitter Traveling Geeks 09 trip to Paris was first Twitter to microblog, then loading the microblog items to a blog post (my blogging platform is Typepad). Twitter is an application that allows people to share what they are doing at the moment in 140 characters or less. My niche on Twitter is to share parenting and technology updates, so this information would fit within my framework. At LeWeb I learned about Seesmic so I hope to try that out as an interface for my next microblogging adventure. I will also be experimenting with using the BlackBerry app for Whrrl to capture “stories” on the run. (more…)

LeWeb: Queen Rania Discusses Digital Darwinism and 1Goal Initiative For Global Education

by on December 9, 2009 at 11:19 pm

DSC_0199In the age of digital media, it is inspiring to see women with a global presence utilizing different social media channels for communication and public good. On Day 2 of LeWeb conference, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashermite Kingdom of Jordan spoke not only about “The human race living in a digital space” but of her global education initiatives.

Queen Rania is a role model for living in the digital space; she is active in the following social media outlets: (more…)

TechMama is Traveling – With None Other Then The “Traveling Geeks”

by on November 27, 2009 at 1:26 am

J0436607Million Mile Frequent Flyer Status is not all it is cracked up to be

Before I joined Deloitte, I was an international computer auditor. This gave me the opportunity to travel to Mexico, Spain, Sweden, England, Puerto Rico, France and all over the United States. The business trips were back to back for weeks at a time and luckily they were all BK (before kids). I thoroughly enjoyed the travel but I had no – um – personal life.

Now I have the personal life, but fitting in travel is not easy…

With three amazing but extremely active boys, a wonderful husband (Neil Blecherman) and multiple blogs to manage – I try to limit my traveling to only key events. My involvement in social media has given me the opportunity to connect with an amazing network of bloggers from both BlogHer and the Silicon Valley Moms Group. My programming/systems project management background led me to also show my geeky side by connecting with technology and social media bloggers. I created a personal blog to discuss my perspective as a tech mom (TechMamas.com) and am starting a vlog called GadgetSpin with Eliane from Ubergizmo, TechieDiva, and Ponziarelli. But no matter how much I develop my online network, attending conferences/events to have old fashioned “live interaction” is still the best form of networking.

Bloggers gone traveling...

There are some amazing social media connectors and community builders and when they call about an event – I jump on board. They look for stories that need to be told or discussions that need to be sparked – then match bloggers to the stories to bring information online. One connecter is Guy Kawasaki who organized an amazing blogger embark on the USS Nimitz and introduced me to Alltop (now I have MyAlltop!). Robert and Maryam Scoble and Steve Brobeck organized a blogger bus to CES last year that gave me the opportunity to spend time with an engaging group of bloggers. One of the bloggers on board was Christine Lu. When she informed me about the ReThink Hawaii conference, I decided that was a great work-cation opportunity. I also view my partners at Gadgetspin as connectors. Eliane and her Ubergizmo team just recently organized Ubergizmo10 – well worth the drive to San Francisco. There are also multiple circles of moms who have used their community building, shopping and writing skills to form online networks.

I have been following Renee Blodgett for some time and enjoy her insights on social media. I also view Renee Blodgett as a social media connector and community builder. She is one of the co-founders of a group called Traveling Geeks . The Traveling Geeks website describes it best: “Traveling Geeks is a consortium of entrepreneurs, thought leaders, authors, journalists, bloggers, technology innovators and influencers who travel to countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote new, innovative technologies. The initiative was founded by Jeff Saperstein and Renee Blodgett in 2008.

Traveling Geeks 2009 – Paris

When I was invited to join their Traveling Geeks/Paris trip, I knew that was one adventure not to miss (no matter how many mom-planning-loops I had to jump through). I can’t wait to see what is in store for the Traveling Geeks Trip to Paris, which includes attendance at LeWeb. I plan to be online sharing the trip with my readers as much as the international connections allow. The Twitter hashtags for the trip are #TG09, #travelingeeks. Their is also a Facebook fan page and a Twitter ID: @travelinggeeks.

Now back to my search for an unlocked GSM smartphone international data plan and international Broadband card!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]