Without rambling on too much, Northern Voice is a community run conference which is cheap, educational and fun. It is also sold out. Too bad for you. Moose Camp – the first day (Friday) “un” conference has some slots to accommodate a few more eager learners.
This year, i plan to actually attend and participate in this year’s Northern Voice party…
I am posting my pitch here (and at the wiki F*ck Stats, Make Art Dossier ) so i don’t lose it and forget what i am proposed to speak about. I am batting third in the main hall with F*** Stats, Make Art after Matt Mullenweg and Marc Canter. Lots of other good stuff going on including the two other presentations parallel to mine.
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Fuck Stats, Make Art
Dave Olson, NV 08
Why
Publishing almost anything and reaching a worldwide audience is suddenly ridiculously easy yet that doesn’t mean a vast stream of top-quality content flowing down the tubes. Often, the stuff that floats to the top is goofy, nonsensical or cheesy slices of contemporary pop culture – either contrived or wrangled their way to the top of the viral avenues.
Tis easy to get hung up how many people visit your site, view your video, comment on your pictures, add you as a friend etc., however these metrics mean very little in the long term.
How
By taking a rambling, pictorial journey through his own career of creating grassroots art, Vancouver’s renegade social media maker Dave Olson will extoll, encourage and explain the importance of digging deep to muster creative self expression which will stand the test of time.
Besides spieling on the importance of creating meaningful content, and reasons for concentrating energy on action rather than talking, Dave will share insider tips on outreaching to mainstream media and using promotional skills to amplify your personal message.
We’ll explore questions and topics like “why bother?” “what constitutes success?” “how to express yourself?” “exploring mediums” and “making technology your b!tch” – though a veteran computer user, Dave will seek to tame the intimidation and paradox of endless opportunities which often thwart rather than encourage creativity.
Known for an intensely casual, fast-paced style (laced with humorous anecdotes), Dave is an experienced teacher who ran web design classes, and guest lectured to classes at Vancouver Film School and presented to Rotary Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, loggers and rock bands.
Background
Since publishing a ditto-machined community newspaper in 3rd grade, Dave’s made punk rock fanzines on hijacked xeroxes, poetry chapbooks printed on hemp paper in Guam, homegrown business docs and tv appearances in Japan, filmed and distributed a feature-length documentary travel film, created dozens of voluminous websites, series of semi-ledendary podcasts on topics from hockey to literature, started activist ISPs in Olympia, and published expository essays in major magazines on political conundrums and public policy issues. He also worked at Kinko’s for three months just to use the colour copier surreptitiously afterhours.
Bonus
From a young age, he’s parlayed his artistic and business endeavors into a litany of media appearances from radio in Guam to newspapers in Vancouver to a feature in High Times magazine who said,
“Though his hair is kind of wild these days and a thick beard covers most of his face, you can’t pigeonhole Dave as a hippie. He’s kind of a Renaissance guy who can speak at length on anything from ecology to music to pro hockey.” Chris Simunek, High Times 03/2002
http://hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=99&aid=3
A graduate of Evergreen State College where he studied philosophy, international business, public policy and writing, Dave also attended Univ. of Utah, Univ. of Guam, has worked as a mushroom farmer (Japan), grape picker (Germany), private beach club host (Guam), toured with the Grateful Dead, wrote the Law School Admission Test, made photo journals from SLC Winter Olympics and enjoys oil painting and making static montage paper art to fill up his cluttered studio.
Credentials
Dave presented (a pinch hitting) well-received presentation about podcasting at NV 2007 and (another pinch hitting performance) on a panel “Blogging your Passion” at Moosecamp 2006.
Also active participant in Barcamps, Drupalcamps, Transitcamps and enjoys camping in a tent best of all.