CNN+Facebook+Obama= microblogging bursts to mainstream

Today, millions of people around the world have been using the facebook integration tool to comment the presidential ceremony, with their facebook status, while watching it livestream.

A few comments about the ceremony.

-Microblogging is mainstream. It works, even for people who do not know what microblogging is but still used the tool. And people get that it is a global backchannel.

-TV, as a broadcasting tool, is dead.

-Live events are social events you want to share with your social network, so there are  already enough buzzwords in my sentence to say that social media can be at the core center of these events.

Next Steps ? 

On Thursday, during the XGames Skiing Superpipe event, french community website Skipass.com should host the backchannel. It will be more impressive to watch Simon Dumont throwing 1080's 8 meters off the pipe than Yoyo Ma playing the cello ;-)

L'Histoire d'Internet, vraiment ?

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

Cette jolie petite vidéo qui a déjà fait son chemin sur twitter ces jours derniers, a été postée par ReadWriteWeb France, et m'a inspiré un commentaire, d'abord chez eux, que je développe un peu ici chez moi, en remplaçant le terme techno-centriste par techniciste dans la première partie (on ne devrait jamais poster un commentaire sans le relire...).

“Histoire d’Internet” est un titre (une prétention ? ) qui me paraît un peu excessif : malgré son graphisme soigné, le propos est tout à fait techniciste. On s’attarde sur les technologies, comme les différents précurseurs du TCP-IP, mais on fait abstraction des usages, que ce soient les forums, les mailings lists, les MUD (tiens, qui a cet ouvrage à me prêter ?), ou même le World Wide Web.

C’est bien normal, me direz-vous : le biais originel est de vouloir “représenter” l’Histoire d’Internet sous forme de pictogrammes reliés entre eux par des trait, figurant une conception technique du réseau d’ordinateur à ordinateur, ce qui occulte les multiples stratégies d’utilisation développées par les différents acteurs qui utilisent les ordinateurs.

Globalement, ce film propose donc une vision de l’Histoire d’Internet uniquement basée sur l’infrastructure. Rien sur les usages nés autour du dispositif technique, finalement rien sur la … culture ?

Bon c’est joli sinon, et ça rejoint les plus excitantes oeuvres de dataporn.

My roadmap for the next 6 month

I haven't been blogging for a while now, partially because my life is filling up quickly. Well, I have been micro-blogging more effectively, I just reached 1000 tweets and my mini blog I should write a blog post about that has proven to be an enjoyable experience, in addition to my more utilitarian delicious account.

•First, I'm attending a research degree in information and communication science (SIC in french) at the grad school CELSA-Sorbonne in Paris.

So until June, a large amount of my time will be dedicated to study and research.

My dissertation is due at the beginning of the summer, and it should be close to 100 pages.

My academic research field is identity re-production of oneself on social network sites profiles.

I study how people write themselves into beings online through the interface of such networks.

I'm using a semiotic cross-analysis profile elements, mainly profile pictures, and rigid form-like profile description fields. I'm trying to understand using semiotics how people display an identity on social networks, and how this identity is co-produced by the audience.

Hopefully, I should deal with networked publics, extimate (extime as opposed to intime in french), and technology appropriation by the users.

So far, I'm still losing myself in my litterary review, but it is getting closer. I will try to blog about the research, but I may not be as funny as PHD comics !

This research degree is helping me become a better digital strategic planner; in case I come back to invent that job, that is.

•Second, I'm filling up the forms to use the legal billing system of the auto-entrepreneurship that has recently been opened in France, so I'm trying to maintain a professionnal activity of social media consultant, in fields of conversationnal marketing, viral content, community marketing, social network services, corporate blogging, experience design...

•Third, and on a funnier note, I will be trying to ski as much as possible given my agenda, my new Armada JJ's are actually trying to get me into trouble. They are "double reverse camber twintip freestyle backcountry fat skis", and they rock.

Okay, so far so good, lots of good things to come in the next few months, it is going to be quite interesting, and I hope you readers/folllowers/friends will continue to follow me.

I'm leaving you with my interview shot by Charbax, with my friend Laurent François, at the leWeb08. We say a lot of silly things with words thrown in it like "digital" ,"global", "conversation", but hell, we actually mean it I guess. And I'm the one with glasses for sure, if anyone didn't know how I look ;-) (mmm, delights of personal branding)