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It's Belgium, Jim, but not as we know it

Robin Wauters, a well-known and - judging from the national drink in the picture I googled also typical ;-) - Belgian blogger (you might know him from his Marketing Blog), has set up a new web 2.0 blog, albeit with a slightly different approach. This blog aims to review web 2.0 applications and services, specifically originating from Belgium.

  [photo via]

According to the the ‘About’ page, Robin defines the term web 2.0 like this:

"Web 2.0 (although the term itself is subject of some debate) = next generation of internet based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. If you’re looking for a more extensive explanation of the term, please visit this definition, published by Tim O’Reilly (who coined the term)." He also adds: "I hope good things come out of this blog. Please don’t hesitate to send in any review requests, announcements, remarks or questions via the contact page."

I, for one, am curious to read more about web 2.0 in Belgium. So cheers, Robin, and best of luck with the new blog!

Nothing beats RL (2)

Didn't I tell you? Nothing beats RL: GetAFirstLife.com. Brilliant. :-)

[via Robin on SLForum.be]

Something 'old', something new...

My college pal Steven has recently discovered Pandora, the music genome project aka a lot of people's internet radio. Personally, I had been tampering a bit with Last.fm until now, but given Steven's enthousiasm, I'll be trying Pandora for the next couple of weeks.

What I would also like to try out any time soon is what Sam posted about earlier today (it takes about 8 minutes, but it is definitely worth watching - goodbye mouse and keyboard):

To paraphrase some American youngsters on tv just the other day: "This is so cool. I'm like... wow, you know." Or something along those lines.

Note 1: No, there is nothing borrowed nor anything blue...

Note 2: I'm curious: which do you prefer - Pandora or Last.fm? And don't tell me you still put on CDs - that's so 1999 :-) ...

Nothing beats RL

How do you get the cream of the Belgian online community* together in one room nowadays? Exactly: you pick up on the Second Life hype and organise an SL demo. That's exactly what Pascal Vanhecke did last night - thanks to Pascal for the initiative (and for setting up the online Belgian SL forum) and to One Agency for letting us use their office space.

Was it interesting? It sure was. Even with a lot of divided opinions - Miel is really digging it and gave an interesting presentation on how brands can/don't yet/should use SL, whereas Bart sees no merit in SL and is convinced it is doomed to remain a niche product (Dutch only) - it was a great initiative, if only to meet with people you usually only know or meet through the internet. **

Still, my conclusion? Nothing beats Real Life so far.

UPDATE: if you want to know what that cream looks like, you can see some photos on MarketingBlog.eu.

* Not counting in myself here of course, and still omitting a great many others.

** Some of them (like Clo) really are internet addicts; me, I am still eligible for salvation:

You Are 55% Addicted to the Internet

You're somewhat addicted to the internet - but who isn't? You can keep it under check, and you're by no means a hermit.

Are You Addicted to the Internet?

I went to HUMO Park and all I got...

... was this lousy T-shirt. :-)

Anyway: it's nice to see my favourite magazine (it still is, after all these years and despite the many changes it has undergone as well as the criticism I could utter on those changes) creating its own Second Life space: HUMO Park. Finally a place to meet some Belgian, more or less like-minded folk (ahum, yeah right).

If you read Dutch, you can also read the interview with Peter Van Wijnaerde (These Days staff member and avid SecondLifer) about it in 'Harde cash, malafide pelsdieren en penisbombardementen'.

Like to check it out? This SLurl is all you need. See you there some time!

But where's the beard?

Had a great meeting earlier this week. Together with two colleagues, I had lunch with Bart De Waele, founder and CEO of Netlash, a Ghent-based web company. Bart has agreed to be one of the speakers at the International Chair Jos Willems I mentioned earlier.

[photo via]

He'll be introducing us into the secrets of Search Engine Optimisation on the new web. Bart's commitment to the chair is another plus to the programme, which promises to be really good. If you want to find out if Bart knows what he's talking about, just Google 'Bart' and you'll see for yourself...

Even though our chat about social media, pens, pipes and lots of other things was really interesting, there was one thing that was bothering me. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time, but now I know. Having a rather visual memory and having 'met' Bart on the internet a few times before, I have finally found out what is was... Where is the beard, Bart?

Note: One of the other speakers I managed to meet up with earlier this month, is Cindy De Smet, well-known for many things web, among which the podcast aggregator Doppler and edublogs.be; she'll be showing people from the field of education how social media can be used in their line of work. Tom De Bruyne from i-merge has, in the meantime, already assured us he will also be on the speakers' list. A big thanks to them as well. More speakers are already known by the way, but I'll keep up the suspense just a little bit longer. In any case: you can be assured that blocking 15-17 March 2007 in your agenda will be worth your while.

EuroBlog 2007 coming to Ghent

The EuroBlog2007 survey into the impact of social media on public relations and communications practice in Europe has started. Until the end of November, professionals in the field all over Europe will (hopefully) be participating in the survey. If you are a European pr or communications practitioner, please complete the questionnaire (it will take about ten minutes) and please do all you can to encourage colleagues to do so, too. Clearly, the more people who respond the more useful the results will be. So please link to the survey from your blog, and link and comment on the EuroBlog 2007 blog.

The results of the survey, conducted in co-operation with Euprera, will be made known at the EuroBlog conference, which will be held on 16 and 17 March of 2007. This conference, by the way, is to take place during a larger event, starting on the 15th of March already: the International Chair Jos Willems (ICJW) - more of a conference that an chair in the traditional meaning of the word, organised by the Communications Management and Journalism departments of Artevelde College in Ghent (Belgium) and named after the man who started the college over 40 years ago (website to launch soon). Yep: that's where I come in... :-D

The ICJW will be hosting a Dutch programme on Thursday 15 March both at the International Congress Center Ghent in the morning and at the college itself in the afternoon (in the afternoon there will be separate programmes for marketing communications and pr on the one hand, and journalism on the other). The list with speakers will  include specialists in the field and should be available soon. On Friday 16 and Saturday 17 November, the ICJW welcomes the EuroBlog conference (English programme) at the Nemrod hall, located within the walls of the college. A call for papers for this conference will also be available in due course.

If you're interested in social media and the impact they have on the field of communications (be it in pr, marketing communications as well as journalism), the dates of the ICJW and the EuroBlog conference in particular should already be marked in red in your brand new 2007 agenda...

Note: As last year, the people behind Euroblog are working with partners in each Europeran country and there still opportunities for people to act as country co-ordinators, organising a range of publicity activities to reach as many people as possible. This is particularly important in countries where professional associations are less well represented. If you would like to be involved in EuroBlog 2007, contact Philip Young of the University of Sunderland.

BB goes VR

The Dutch TV production company Endemol has opened an office in Second Life. I think I already told you I was kind of a sceptical SL visitor, well: this makes me even more :-). Especially when I found out they are going to launch Big Brother there too...

That is right: the first project of Endemol in SL is a virtual and international version of Big Brother, starting 1 December. As from today, candidates can apply for the first virtual reality show ever. The winner gets a tropical island... in Second Life. If you're interested, you have to be willing to be online in the house for 8 hours a day. Every week, SL residents will be able to vote which three contestants have to leave the house, which is situated in SL on big Brother island (where else).

Visitors will be able to look into five transparant units, in which the candidates will be living. SL residents will be able to vote for their favourite contestant, listen to DJs, dance and meet new people. In the meantime, the contestants will be dealing with assignments, such as copy-constructing  famous buildings which will then be auctioned. The profits are to go to a good cause. In the real world, thank goodness...

According to Endemol manager Paul Römer "online communities are becoming ever more important and this project is an exceptional chance to gather information about the virtual world, which is to make it possible to create such communities in the future."

I am curious to see how this turns out. But for the rest I am definitely not interested in being a candidate. I already have a life. A real one, that is... :-)

[via]

The importance of being Ernest

Do you know Ernest Longstaff? Well, you do now... Yes, I have finally given in to the increasing number of Second Life residents telling me I should give it a try. So, what the heck: here goes.

After all, it is better to be an informed sceptic than to remain uniformed (you are right about that, Kami). And since there is actually some worthwile stuff going on out there (like the 'Stand Up for the millennium development goals' campaign Andrea referred to recently), I could not really think of a reason not to go and have look.

I'll keep you posted on what it's like. For now, I'm still sceptical :-) ...

Lost?

What do you do when the current TV season of Lost has come to an end? Apart from cursing the makers of the series that they're beginning to overstretch your patience, of course... Right: you surf the web. And come across kinda useless, but still fun stuff like whereami.at : a Flickr, Google Maps, Google Search and hosttip.info mashup. It shows you, based on your IP-address, where you are on a Google map and you get Flickr.com pics tagged "where you're at". Even though it was not 100% correct in my case (right town, wrong street), I'd still say: nnnnnice...

[via]