Summary of pre-dialogue discussions

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These are the slides that were presented by Johnston at the PMD on behalf of NYF 08. I have put it up as I think it is a good summary of what was discussed at the pre-dialogue session. These are some of the issues that you might want to keep in mind while you think of your projects. I hope to be able to compile a more comprehensive one too. Look out for that soon!

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Talks Mena Trott: Building a friendlier world through blogs

Mena Trott and her husband Ben founded Six Apart in a spare bedroom after the blogging software they developed grew beyond a hobby. With products Movable Type, TypePad, LiveJournal and Vox, the company has helped lead the "social media" revolution.

I remember in the early days of blogs, Movable Type was one of the frontrunners where it came to exploring a whole new medium of self-expression. Today, they are probably the largest paid blogging service in the world. I thought it was an interesting point Mena brought up, about how blogs have a way of flattening the world we live in and connecting strangers together just by reading each other's blog. A cancer patient is able to touch many around the world with her daily musings, her passing away afftecting those who have never met her before but have cheered her on from a thousand miles away. On the other spectrum, we now have blogging celebrities whose daily entries are fodder for the gossip mongers among us. It is even possible to earn a living out of being a full-time celebrity blogger. Imagine that 10 years ago. Welcome to the world of the new media.