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Google+ for Urbanists

My friend, Ladd Keith recently posted a list of Urbanists on Google+. I liked the idea so much, I decided to do the same thing!

What is Google+ ?

Google+ is still an evolving social media platform, but there are already great conversations occurring and information being shared on it. Many people find it more engaging than Facebook and more conversational than Twitter. It is quickly becoming important for bloggers and websites as Google incorporates the platform into it search results.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I suggest you give it a try. You can sign up here.

Why Should I Care?

One of the strengths of Google+ is that it makes sharing online more like sharing offline. You can share different things with different people. For example, you might want to keep your family up to date with pictures of you children, but not bore your work colleagues, but you don’t necessarily want your parents in your chat. You can keep your conversations separate by putting your contacts into ‘circles’ such as ‘Work’ and ‘Family’.

For urbanists, Google+ allows us to create an “Urbanist” circle to share our links, ideas and discussions on cities and placemaking without boring our non-urban friends and family.

Urbanists on Google+

Following Ladd’s lead, here are some of the people I’ve included in my Urbanists ’circle.’ Check them out and consider creating your own!

This list will be a work in progress. Please let me know if you would like to be added to my Urbanists circle, or if you’ve circled anybody else that I should include.

Also, feel to circle me at +Yuri Artibise (or use the widget in my sidebar to the right.

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This Week’s Urbanism and Social Media Events in Vancouver

As I mentioned last week, since arriving in Vancouver, I’ve been impressed by the amount of events and activities related to both urbanism and social media that the city offers. To help keep track of what I’m up to—and to tell my readers what is going on around town—I’ve started a weekly feature highlighting what is going on during the week ahead.

Here’s what’s going on this week in Vancouver.

Monday, July 4

“Internet Masterminds Meetup—HTML Basics”

html css javascript This Weeks Urbanism and Social Media Events in Vancouver

This week, Tammam Kbeili will cover the basics of HTML in practical sense. Tam will start with a blank web page at the beginning of the talk and take you through the steps needed to turn it into a basic website.

Location: 1633 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6J 1H4
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Cost: $5
RSVP: Here

Tuesday July 5

Net Tuesday—Managing volunteers with software and soft skills

The July 5 Net Tuesday is gonna focus on volunteer co-ordination. Volunteers are awesome, but the relationship between a nonprofit and a volunteer can be tricky. Net Tuesday can’t solve all your volunteer-related challenges, but they’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves that might help.

Location: 1633 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6J 1H4
Time: Doors and (cash) bar at 5:30pm, Speakers at 6:00pm, Ends at 7:30pm
Cost: Free (cash bar)
RSVP: Here

Wednesday July 6

Vancouver Public Space Network (VPSN) Volunteer Orientation Meeting

A monthly orientation meeting about the VPSN’s mission, what they do, and how we do it. This meeting will be held monthly – first Wednesday of the month, 6:30pm.

Location: 1633 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6J 1H4
Time: 6:30 pm
Cost: Free
RSVP: To erin@vancouverpublicspace.ca

Sunday, July 10

Gastown Walking Tour with John Atkin

A walking Tour of Gastown and surrounding areas led by Vancouver historian extraordinaire, John Atkin.

Location: Baron Gallery, 293 Columbia St. Vancouver V6A 2R5 | (604) 682 – 1114
Time: 10:00am
Cost: $10/per person.

Sunday, July 10

Tweetup with @Urbanverse

Urbanist (and futursit) blogger Cindy Frewen Wuellner (@Urbanverse on Twitter) is in town this weekend for the World Futurist Society Conference. Cindy is a long-time architect from Kansas City. She now teaches, researches and writes about the future of cities.

Cindy will be doffing her urbanist hat on Sunday afternoon to meet me and other Vancouver urban and civic bloggers for a few beers and what is sure to be a lively discussion about Vancouver, Kansas City and the future of cities. Feel free to drop in when you can. We’ll be there from 4pm until at least 6.

Give me a call or text at 604-992-4197 if you have any questions or are running late. (No Twitter account required to attend. just a love of cities )

Location: Yaletown Brewing Company, 1111 Mainland St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2T9
Time: 4:00-6:00 pm
RSVP: Requested (or given me a call at 604-992-4197)

Did I Miss Anything?

i you know of any other public events that my readers or I would be interested in, please let us know in the comments section.

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Finding my Northern Voice (2011)

If we’re Twitter friends you’re probably more than aware that I attended the Northern Voice conference last Friday and Saturday.

Northern Voice in a Nutshell

From the start, I knew that Northern Voice would be a different breed of social media conference. The opening remarks paid tribute to Derek K. Miller of penmachine. Derek recently lost his battle with cancer. But rather than the traditional moment of silence, we all boisterously called out, “Goodbye, Derek.” I never me Derek, but from the tributes and the discussion I over heard, this was the goodbye he wanted.

The unique nature of the conference continued with the Day 1 Keynote. April Smith of AHA Media spoke about Storytelling from the Heart of the City. April does amazing work giving a much-needed voice to the people living on the Downtown East Side. Her talk was truly moving and intense. But it coursed with optimism and joy, even as she recounted some of the desperate situations she and her fellow downtown east-siders have endured.

Saturday’s keynote was more light-hearted, but just as informative. Chris Wilson, was co-author of NCSA Mosaic, the first mass market web browser and a pioneering developer for Internet Explorer. His talk, From Dial-up Modems to Post-”Social Media”: A Journey, recapped his 15 year voyage. It reminded the audience how far the internet—and social media—have come in a relatively short time period.

Scheduled around these keynotes were several other presentations and panels on a variety of subjects. These ranged from photo-blogging to open government to community management and everything in between (and a few things beyond!). Running parallel to the conference on Friday was MooseCamp, a series of participatory sessions focused on hands-on exercises and vigorous dialogue.

It’s About the Community

For me, however, the most important aspect of events like this are getting to meet the community. It is awesome to meet the people you’ve followed on Twitter or the blogosphere and say hi, share a meal (or better yet… a beer) and learn more about people than is shared in a 140 character message.

This is the true power of social media. it’s not the tech, it’s not the tools it is the authentic connections that are made—both online and off. And boy, did I make a lot of great connections and budding friendships over the weekend! I also love being surrounded by hundreds of people who ‘get’ social media. There is no explaining, justifying or correcting, just sharing. It creates a true sense of belonging.

This sense of belonging was amplified by Northern Voice’s focus on personal blogging. It wasn’t a business-centric or tool focused conference, rather it was a community-centered one. In fact it was like what I envisioned for CenPhoCamp, but never quite pulled off.

All -in-all, it was an awesome event, and a great introduction to Vancouver’s social media community. I can’t wait until next year!!

A photo of me taken by my new friend Ariane Colenbrander (Flickr)

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Projecting Change Through Social Media in Vancouver

Originally posted on Projecting Change Film Festival’s blog

Photo Credit: curtm95 on Flickr

Social Media is transforming the way we communicate with one another. I’m living proof of this. How? I moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Vancouver just over a week ago. Before social media, I would have spent, weeks, if not months and years trying to figure out who’s who and what’s what. It would have taken even longer to meet people and build friendships. Longer still to find opportunities to engage with the community. But—thanks to Twitter—within my first week here, I’ve not only met some really cool people; I’ve already begun to get involved here and project change.

A Stranger in a Not-So Strange Land,

When I knew I would be moving to Vancouver, I started seeking out people on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. I began finding out about what was going on in town and what events were upcoming. One of the first Vancouverites I met online was Rebecca Peel, who was looking for help spreading the word about the Projecting Change Film Festival. We emailed back and forth and before I knew it I was a member of the Projecting Change social media team.

This anecdote shows the true power underlying social media tools. If a guy from the desert can arrive in Vancouver and begin projecting change almost instantly, imagine what people like you who already have built a community here can do.

Social Media Club Vancouver is Here to Help

Yes, social media can feel daunting to some, and trivial to others, but with a basic understanding, social activists, advocates and change makers will find tools like Twitter and blogs can amplify our ability to project change.

This is why I’m so excited to be part of the team that is hosting the “Projecting Change with Social Media” workshop with Social Media Club Vancouver (SMCYVR).

SMCYVR is a proud community partner of the Projecting Change Film Festival. They will be kicking it off with a distinctively social twist on Tuesday May 17th at the HiVE Vancouver, a brand new innovation work space located at 128 W Hastings, Suite #210.

This Workshop Is Going to Rock!

Whether you are a complete newbie, or a season specialist. SMCYVR has brought together a stellar team of social media masters and mavens to help social change makers like yourself better share our work through social media channels. Throughout the evening you will get to choose from a variety of sessions focused on answering your social media questions and exploring powerful tools and techniques in new communications. Rather than the usual one way training sessions, these workshops will be highly interactive. Our goal is to give you tangible skills and knowledge that you can use immediately to project change in your community.

For just $20 dollars you will get access to specialists who usually charge several time more for their time and insights. Better yet, you will get a unique opportunity to engage and interact with them in an imtimate setting. All proceeds go to the 2011 Project Change Film Festival.

Learn from Vancouver’s Best

I’m particularly looking forward to meeting Kemp Edmonds. Kemp is an educator, strategist and speaker, who is not only the Vice President of Social Media Club Vancouver, but also the Program Coordinator at Hootsuite University If there is a better guy in Vancouver to talk about social media or teach you the ins and outs of the popular Twitter client, Hootsuite, I’m not sure who it could be.

Another speaker I’m interested in meting is Ajay Masala Puri. Ajay is an advocate for community empowerment. For the past ten years, he has been projecting change through volunteering, working and providing important research to improve the lives of many marginalized populations including at-risk youth, visible minorities, sex workers, and people suffering from mental health issues and addictions. Ajay will be leading an interactive workshop to help guide you in building your social movement, both online and off.

Other notable speakers include Monica Hamburg, Stephanie Michelle Scott of Wildfire Effect Consulting, Camille Jensen from Axiom News. You can find the entire schedule on the SMCYVR site.

Due to the interactive nature of the sessions, there will be very limited seating, so get your ticket now!

Details

Date: Tuesday May 17
Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: The HiVE Vancouver
Address: 128 W Hastings, Suite #210
Tickets: $20, All proceeds to Projecting Change Film Festival 2011. Purchase HERE.

About the Projecting Change Festival

Vancouver’s Projecting Change Film Festival is a forum for film and dialogue about social and environmental issues. Our marquee four-day event, May 26-29 features inspiring, eye-opening, and often award-winning films from around the globe, each followed by a dynamic speaker and panel discussion.

The unique festival format is a platform for audience engagement, with all proceeds donated back to local initiatives.

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Apps for Urbanists

As smart phones get more ubiquitous, so too do location-based apps. Almost every app you download to your phone these days asks to know your location. According to one estimate, there are over 6,400 location-aware application available for the iPhone, and another 1000 for Android devices. I have written before how I think this is a good thing as many of these apps help make my city ‘smaller.’

A few weeks ago I posted about a new crop of mobile apps that enable urban encounters. Recently I came across a post by Matthew Latkiewicz on Smart Blogs that showcases a few more location aware mobile apps. Here are two that will be of interest to urbanists:

Discovery

Abandoned iPhone App

Abandoned There’s a whole genre of location aware services I like to call the “what should I do now?” apps. They are travel apps for those of us who don’t like planning, or are looking for spontaneity in our own towns. You launch them and they basically give you a list of things around you. Well, Abandoned might take the cake for most bizarrely specific recommendations.

As they write on the iTunes store: “Explore modern day ruins from empty mental asylums to shipwrecks under the Great Lakes. Discover the history and location of dead amusement parks, overgrown hospitals, forgotten hotels and creepy ghost towns.” Yep, launch Abandoned and it will show all the abandoned structures around you, along with photos and a community of other abandoned building enthusiasts. Finally, a reason to use the iPhone flashlight app.

Platform: iPhone.

Creativity

Intersect — I’m not a New Yorker, but whenever I’m there, it’s always fun to imagine the stories that have taken place there. Each corner, building, restaurant has seen more than its share of human drama. Intersect gives us the opportunity to make those stories available to each other.

Whether you are in New York or New Mexico, you can attach a story to your location on the map; as well as see the other stories which have been dropped there. I expect to see a lot more of this sort of location aware narratives, stories and art in the near future.

Platforms: Web, iPhone

Matthew looks at a few more apps in his post.

What are your favorite location based apps?

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Enabling Urban Encounters

Flickr image by cloneofsnake

One of the non-urban websites I frequent is Trendwatching. Trendwatching is an independent and opinionated consumer trends firm, that provides cutting edge and unique insights into consumer trends and business ideas. It is a great site to keep on top of what is happening in the broader world.

Every so often, their business trends intersect with my interest in urbanism. This month is a case in point. There featured trend is CITYSUMER. I’ve posted highlights from their briefing on my Posterous account, but I wanted to look a bit deeper at one of the opportunities that Trendwatching highlights here on my blog.

‘Online’ increasingly drives and enables offline encounters

The opportunity they mention is Enabling Urban Encounters. This is an issue close to my heart. Some of you may recall that I discussed how social media makes my city smaller in a post I wrote in July 2010.

I’m glad the see that I’m not alone in this position. Indeed, Trendwatching has Identified mobile app as a major opportunity for businesses in the months and years ahead:

Despite ever-increasing amounts of time spent online, audiences aren’t retreating into virtual worlds. Au contraire, CITYSUMERS will forever enjoy connecting with other, real-life human beings, and embrace the choice, the excitement, the frenetic pace, the spontaneity, the chaotic vibrancy offered by urban life.

In my original post I covered several social media apps that I use to navigate and make connections in the sprawl-topia called Phoenix. These include Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, LinkedIn, Gowalla and Whrrl. In their article, Trendwatching highlights several most smart phone apps, noting that:

‘Online’ (especially with smart phones being the new laptops) increasingly drives and enables offline encounters.

Geomium is an iPhone app launched in September 2010 in London that informs the user of where their friends are, what events are on in their area, as well as helping them discover local bars, restaurants and places of interest.

Foursquare competitor Gowalla decided to curate their content for select cities via City Pages. These pages provide a display of popular places, what’s “hot now,” highlights from a variety of venue categories (e.g. best burgers, best coffee), and even coordinated trips throughout these urban areas.

German company Locamap GmbH provides gay men with a guide to cities across Germany, Austria, USA and the UK.

In May 2010, Yahoo! bought Indonesian social networking service Koprol that allows users to connect based on location. Mobile users can post a 200 character status message and use the site as a positioning service, without the need for a GPS receiver. Once logged in, users can see other members who are in the same location.

US based Ratio Finder, launched in mid 2010, uses Foursquare’s API to show a heatmap with blue and pink bubbles, the size and color intensity of which displays the sex ratio of the check-ins at various restaurants, bars and entertainment venues.

Be sure to check out the entire brief. The highlight other interesting opportunities, including, Celebrating Urban Pride, enriching the Urban Canvas, Pushing the Urban Envelope and Urban Transcendence.

Do you use mobile technology to help you navigate your city or enhance encounters with friends? if so, what are you favorite mobile apps?

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‘Schelling’ the City [Repost]

[Originally posted on February 10, 2010]

The other day I asked a simple question on Twitter and Facebook:

“If someone told you to meet then in Downtown Phoenix and gave no further details, where would you go?

I based this question on a presentation by Adam Greenfield at dConstruct09 in September entitled Elements Of A Networked Urbanism. During this presentation he asked a similar question of New York City, where the correct answer traditionally has been the clock in Grand Central Station. This what is referring to as a ‘focal’ or Schelling point. Named after Professor Thomas Schelling , the 2005 Nobel Prize recipient, a Schelling point is “that which gives a group of like-minded individuals their common purpose.” Groups with strong Schelling points are able to “coordinate their actions with minimal communication.”

Nodes of Unconscious Coordination

Mr. Greenfield calls such places points are ‘nodes of unconscious coordination.” They are places that people in cities around the word have historically used to make sense of urban place. Most cities have one. In Tokyo it’s the statue of the dog in Hachiko Square. In London it is under the clock in Waterloo Station. According to Adam, Schelling points are prevalent because without effective communication between people (i.e., cell phones), meeting places ultimately converge on a couple of high visibility—and usually iconic—destinations.

There is nothing inherent about Grand Central Station that makes a particularly desirable meeting place. In fact, its crowded—and often hectic nature—may actually be a detriment; it would be easier to meet someone at a quiet bar, or the public library reading room. Nevertheless, the popular notoriety of Grand Central Station as a meeting place makes it a natural Schelling point.

Schelling Points in Phoenix?

As an ‘incurable urbanist’ I an intrigued by this concept, and wondered if any place in Phoenix could be considered a legitimate Schelling point, hence the question I posted. Here are the responses:

3992203564 af07c9f8b8 ‘Schelling’ the City [Repost]

Civic Space Park
Lux Coffee
Phoenix Art Museum
Chase Field
US Airways Center
Central and Adams, by the ‘crazy preacher’
Central and Washington (point ‘zero’ in the street numbering grid)
4^th and McKinley
Phoenix Public Market and have a glass of wine till they found me! (My personal favorite)
Phoenix City Hall
Cibo
Carly’s
Fair Trade Café/Central and Roosevelt
Revolver Records
Lost Leaf

While Civic Space Park was the most popular answer, due largely you the controversial and highly visible ‘floating jellyfish sculpture, the many responses reflects the fact that Phoenix is an auto dominated, sprawling city, that has long neglected it’s downtown. As a result the city doesn’t have traditional gathering points like in cities established before the automobile.

The Impact of Ubiquitous Computing

What I found most interesting, however, is that several people responded that they simply wouldn’t go anywhere without more information. On one level this reflects the lack of a vibrant urban core in Phoenix. On another, however it highlights the rise of ubiquitous computing through smart phones and tablet computers.

This was the point of Greenburg’s entire presentation: that when everybody—and everything—is networked, you no longer need unconscious co-ordination. Rather you can simply post on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, BrightKite, etc that I’m and the Corner of Washington and 7^th St, or I’m at Lux Coffeebar, or Gangplank, or Rula Bula. This action creates a temporary ‘flocking’ or ‘shoaling’ point: a place where people converge.

Thus, mobile technology not only has impacts for how people interact with each other, but also with their cities and neighborhoods. Social activity is increasingly less about specific times and places and more about converging at locations where have announced their presence or have expressed as their destination. As a result, what we’ve long understood as the nature of community as a loose connection of people within a neighborhood or interest group is morphing to a much more conscious social network.

This is not the first time I’ve mused about this topic (see my Ignite Phoenix 5 presentation on Slideshare or YouTube), nor will it be the last. I’m still not 100% sure of the final outcomes of this shift, but I feel that it will be huge. Stay tuned for further updates as my research and thinking progresses. In the meantime, please let me know what you think in the comment section.

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Friday 5: Urban Reading Round-up

Selected readings for urbanists:

Why public transportation is good for kids: Busting the myth that good parenting means chauffeuring kids around in an automobile. (Grist)
Photo: Carla Saulter | Grist

The Bike Helmet Wars: Even the best imaginable data can’t answer the question: Should you wear a bicycle helmet? (Wall Street Journal)

‘Cities’ may not matter as much as we think: Regions and neighborhoods are where things actually happen. (Sustainable Cities Collective)

New Urbanism Now: Catching up with Andrés Duany: If you’ve heard about New Urbanism, the anti-sprawl philosophy practiced in many planning circles, chances are it’s because of Andres Duany. (National Post)

Using social media to create solutions: How social media gives us new tools for working together on the everyday problems of public life. (PlaceMatters’ Blog)

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Page 1 of 512 3 4 5 »

What is Google+ ?

Why Should I Care?

Monday, July 4

“Internet Masterminds Meetup—HTML Basics”

Tuesday July 5

Net Tuesday—Managing volunteers with software and soft skills

Wednesday July 6

Vancouver Public Space Network (VPSN) Volunteer Orientation Meeting

Sunday, July 10

Gastown Walking Tour with John Atkin

Sunday, July 10

Tweetup with @Urbanverse

Did I Miss Anything?

Northern Voice in a Nutshell

It’s About the Community

A Stranger in a Not-So Strange Land,

Social Media Club Vancouver is Here to Help

This Workshop Is Going to Rock!

Learn from Vancouver’s Best

Details

About the Projecting Change Festival

Discovery

Creativity

‘Online’ increasingly drives and enables offline encounters

Nodes of Unconscious Coordination

Schelling Points in Phoenix?

The Impact of Ubiquitous Computing

Details

Search

About Yuri

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