We had a great podcast, during which we touched on themes of implementation of social media in a bureaucracy, the push for transparent government, the push back from outdated systems, how the President-elect may be hampered by existing rules and how he might effect real change and cause a trickle down effect. We also touched on privacy issues, who and what government people and entities are active in the social media space around the world, and ways the public could help install transparency, as well as realistic expectations of the roll out of government 2.0 as a reality. Please listen to the entire podcast for the full effect - my guest panelists Leslie Bradshaw, Triston McIntyre, Justin Herman, Andrea Baker, and Alan Silberberg were fantastic! I have included the file here, and have put the unedited links from the chat room and podcast below the embedded audio for you to check out.
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a monumental week here, with many presentations, events and meetings planned in the coming weeks. This is just an overview of what we’re up to and where you can find us: Read the rest of this entry »

Fantastic panel tonight - the episode is embedded below:

Read the rest of this entry »

Brief after show recap: This was a great episode where we got some major goals accomplished. I will be writing a full recap tomorrow here. Meanwhile, I encourage you to listen to the podcast and join the resulting Strong Women in Tech campaign network as well.

The final panel for Episode 6 of Topics on Fire has been set and the topic will be Part Two of Gender Gap / Technology/New Media. Myself (Leslie Poston), Shireen Mitchell of Women Wired In, Leslie Bradshaw (recently featured on CSPAN covering the conventions), Meg Fowler of MegFowler.com (currently helping promote SM4SC.com), and Jen Nedeau will be paneling this discussion. Tonight’s podcast will be solution focused, as Part One zeroed in on defining the issues.

“Follow” the show on TalkShoe or stop back here for updates on each episode and notifications that a new episode is coming.

The first podcast on the Gender Gap and Technology was a lively one. As you all know I am always trying to push for real world solutions to the problems we talk about, and we didn’t come up with takeaways in the limited time the panel had to discuss it. Because of that, I’m scheduling a Part 2. I’m hoping that the same panel is willing to come back and take a different approach: instead of rehashing the existing and past issue of gender and technology, as valid as that is, I’d like to start Part 2 by stipulating that the problem exists and acknowledging that strong men and women have done much to pave the way for women in technology. Then I’d like to make the sole goal of Part 2 finding tangible ways to help women feel less disenfranchised in technology, to help women get access to technology for careers and educations and as many other solutions as we can think of in an hour of positive, focused, goal oriented discussion.

Future Topics on Fire Episodes include:

(as panelists confirm I will post them next to the podcast)

10/19 11PM Eastern Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw, remaining panelists yet to be determined)

Topics on Fire, Episode 5: Education and Social Media/Technology on Sunday, September 21st at 11:00 PM Eastern on TalkShoe

Tonight’s podcast will be a good one! We’ll be discussing education and new media, social media and technology with Dave LaMorte, John Herman and E. Christopher Clark.

I’m hoping to cover a lot of ground in an hour, so I won’t be opening up the phone lines until the recording is over. I know I usually let listeners call in ten minutes before the end, and I will be doing that again in the next podcast (part two of the gender gap topic). Our panelists are all active educators and need their rest for Monday morning school. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you can’t come participate in the lively chat room. We can see it while in the call and can handle questions live on air that way.

If you want to be notified of future podcasts, sign up for a TalkShoe account and “follow” the call. I send a reminder the day of the call to those who follow it.

See you there!

NOTE: We also have a new forum to give you a place to carry the discussions from the podcasts over into the real world, submit topic ideas, talk about social media, promote events, etc. You can SIGN UP FOR THE NEW FORUM right here.

Tonight’s Call:

Next Topics on Fire continues the conversation on Gender Gap and Technology, this time focusing on solutions and not rehashing the problem:

10/5 11PM Eastern Topics on Fire: Episode 6, Gender Gap and Technology Part 2 (Panelists: Corvida, Leslie Bradshaw, Micah Baldwin, Meg Fowler, Jen Nedeau)

Future episodes and panelists include:

10/19 11PM Eastern Topics on Fire: Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw)

My friend and colleague Michael has been instrumental in helping improve the Uptown Uncorked site. This will be a three part revamp of both the design and behind the scenes optimization. Phase One of the revamp is done, and I love it already.

This is what it looked like when I did the design (badly, because it is not my forté):

The streamlined new site you are visiting is the happy result of Michael’s hard work. Future phases include optimization, a place for downloadable content, a forum to go with the Topics on Fire Podcast and other surprises.

I am so happy to have Michael leading the overhaul charge, and I can’t wait until Phase Two. If you are interested in seeing what Michael can do for you or your company, his bio and contact information are on the Trusted Guru page, linked in the nav bar above or you can visit him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter and FriendFeed.