Charles Gallant

It’s been a quick July.  I’ve made some changes.

I’m using Twitter all the time now, and I’m enjoying it.  It’s tough to explain, but contrary to it’s apparent lack of purpose, it’s quite valuable.  The question most people struggle with is “why would I want to post about myself.”  If you’re asking that, you need to stop thinking about yourself.  It’s less about you, and more about everyone, all at once.  It’s a customized conversation that you can hand curate to be just what you want.  People around you are talking, and they want to engage with you.  It’s as simple as that.

I’ve added all my shared stories from Google Reader above.  If you’re not using Google Reader yet, and you don’t read RSS feeds, you should!  Here’s a write up I did last year on how to get started.
Also, there’s no more big flash header on the site.  Yep, killed it.  Something else will be up there, but for now, straight HTML purity.

Finally, I’ve recently launched a little experiment called quickplayasong.com.  I made it for a number of reasons.  First, I wanted to design something for the iPhone.  Second, I wanted to learn jQuery.  Third, I wanted to build a useful single serving site.  And finally (and most importantly), I wanted to make something that could help musicians.  I learned much of what I know about guitar on the internet, and I owe it something in return.  Hopefully, this helps in one form or another.  Check it out!

…and a little re-design, too.  It’s about time.  I’ve decided that with the turn of the seasons, I should give this site a spin around the block.  On my list of things to change are:

- The number of feeds this site collects / displays
- The way that this site handles feedback / comments
- The way the flash header looks / feels
- The css that mobile users are served
- The frequency and manner in which I write posts

I’d really like to start recording things more efficiently.  I’ll want to look back on this in a few years and see something that I can learn from.  After all, soon everything will connect to everything.  The walled gardens of data will fall, and every digital device will exchange information through standardized data formats.  The analysis of those complicated and overlapping trends will be amazing tools for learning about ourselves.  Imagine an efficient / meaningful / insightful way to look at the last 5 years.  How bout any number of years.  What’s important to me now is leaving a meaningful and robust set of information to gather.  By the time we can really use it, I’ll probably wish I wrote more.
One of my greatest fears is unknowingly repeating the same mistakes every day, because I don’t have enough perspective to see and correct myself.  Having a blog seems like a great way towards getting the type of insights I’m looking for.  Maybe it’ll change the way I see time passing.

Update my blog. For pictures, go here.

There are two things that keep me from writing these days. The first is time. New York is a busy place, and I’m still balancing everything out. The second, is the fact that I’ve found a new venue for “asking questions”. This venue is Poke, and it’s a pretty amazing place.

The time has come for me to revaluate my online existence, as I’ve alluded to in earlier posts. The main goal, as of today, will be to create something more visual, more personal, less formal, and more frequently updated. It might just be a repository for cool stuff that I gather. It might just be a linkpost. Maybe its all photographs. Maybe its a 10 second animation each week. If you have any thoughts, drop me a line.

I’m currently freelancing at Poke, and have been for a few weeks.  Free time these days is short.  The format of this blog has once again proven itself to be an inefficient means of communication.  Expect something different here soon.

Until then, rock & roll.

Updates:

- After almost two amazing years, I’m leaving Renegade. I’m sad to see my stay come to an end, but it’s time to take the next jump. Where I’m turning to isn’t 100% certain at this point, but I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted. Many thanks to all the amazing people I’ve met along the way.

- I wrote a post on Noah’s site last week about inspiration. In a nutshell, I thought it would be fun to create a place where everyone could browse through a collection of inspirational links, filtered by the community of artists, marketers, thinkers, and astronauts that visit Noah’s site. The resulting project lives at noahbrier.com/inspiration. If you’re inspired, add something to it!

- Summer is here!

People want to be taken care of. They like the feeling that someone is looking out for them, and that people are thinking about their well being. The experience-creators of tomorrow should always have “one more thing” up their sleeve.

Google Reader has just re-designed their app for people browsing with a Wii. There will probably be about 13 total people doing this… ever… but it shows that they care.

Digg continues to create awesome content visualization tools, the latest of which is called arc. These aren’t very efficient means of browsing through their content, but it shows that they’re committed to making a cool experience.

Facebook has recently launched the Facebook platform, which will open more doors for developers than ever before. They recognize that it’s the developers that will make or break their online experience, and they give back to them all the time.

A great filmmaker puts care into the editing, lighting, framing, and timing of each shot. If something goes wrong, the audience is less likely to trust the storytelling of whole film (even if they’re not filmmakers). Online experiences are exactly the same. In respecting the craft of web development, these examples show how much they care about their audience’s trust… even if it won’t help them out at all.

YouTube has recently launched a new program to start paying a “select group” of content makers. This brings up several interesting questions, the answers of which could have a large impact on the YouTube experience entirely…

Will this compromise the personality and openness of YouTube videos by creating a distinction between “valuable” and “invaluable” content?

Will featured/selected/sponsored videos get weighed more heavily in YouTube’s search results?

Will featured content hog the spotlight, and make non-featured videos less visible or important?

Will a featured artist be reprimanded if they appropriate (or steal) ideas from a non-featured artist? After all, this has happened before…

Will this bring us closer to bridging the gap between huge television networks and the video uploading public? Can this ever dilute things like famousness and celebrity?

Finally: a new post. It’s been too long.

Hopefully I can utilize this hiatus to re-evaluate the meaning of this blog entirely. Perhaps the format doesn’t work for me. Perhaps I stopped using it for my original intentions. Maybe I’m just spending more time with people. Until I make these conclusions (yes… that too will be another post), here’s a few links that have been on my mind…

Digg and what is perhaps the most sensitive number ever published on their network.

Ray Kurzweil and nanorobots that can effect our consciousness. Also of interest is his self interview.

Justin.tv and meeting him in San Francisco.

Flickr and using it to document my memories / travels / experiences.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve shown several Renegade folks how to get themselves set up with an RSS Reader, so I thought I’d write a post about it. The following guide can serve as an RSS primer of sorts, and a way to get started using an RSS Reader (Google Reader).

RSS is a way for websites to broadcast content, to be harvested elsewhere. This content is called a feed, and usually consists of new content such as a news story or blog post. If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Wikipedia entry on RSS.

Most people use RSS within the context of an RSS Reader, which is used to help you keep track of dozens of frequently updated sites. The general idea is to subscribe to these feeds, collecting them in one place, eliminating the need to visit each site individually and read through it. There are several different RSS Readers out there, and this guide will help you get set up with Google Reader.

- First off, you’ll need a Google account. If you’re using GMail, you already have one. Visit google.com/reader and either sign in or sign up. Once you’re in, make a bookmark to this page.

- Next, subscribe to some sites. There are a few ways of doing this, and they differ from browser to browser (firefox does the best job). The most universal method is to use the “add subscription” button on your GR page, that lets you either search for or add the URL of a feed. Google does a nice job explaining this.

- After you’ve subscribed to some sites, just open your Google Reader page and rock. It’ll tell you which of your sites have new content on them, making for a faster reading experience.

RSS is a perfect example of how dynamic sites are changing the way we take in information. It standardizes the format within which content is delivered - which can separate the information from its original design/tone/context. It can also make for some very interesting ideas surrounding content portability and plasticity (and other fancy-pants web2.0 words). If you haven’t already started leveraging RSS, check it out, and let me know what you think.