Happy Thursday folks, and welcome to another 5 Questions for the Creators. Today we have one of the movers and shakers in Pittsburgh Social media. She is one of the inspirational leaders of Podcamp Pittsburgh, creator of the incomparable site My Brilliant Mistakes, a wonderful friend, and one of the finest creative minds in Pittsburgh. Ladies and Gents, Cynthia Closkey.
1. Tell us about who you are and what it is you do.
I'm a website designer and business consultant, working in Butler, which is a small town near Pittsburgh, PA. I help small businesses, non-profits, agencies, and individuals make the most of the web. Most of what I do is bring new technologies to this little corner of the world.
2. Why did you get into social media?
I started blogging in 2003 because I kept finding things I wanted to tell people about, and I needed a way to tell them without bombarding everyone's email box every day. Also, I wanted to tell more people than my immediate friends and family.
Regular publishing channels -- newspapers, magazines, books -- struck me as too slow. Plus, a few attempts at getting published caused me to see them as closed clubs that didn't want new members. In contrast, I figured anyone could have a web site, and updating it would be much faster, easier, and cheaper than getting anything into print.
Actually, in 2001, before I began blogging or even quite understood what it was, I started an online literary magazine. My model was the McSweeney's online version (www.mcsweeneys.net), which seemed to me the coolest website ever. I was also inspired by George Plimpton, who founded The Paris Review in the earlier part of the century and made it into one of the most highly respected literary magazines. Apparently he did it just because he and his collaborators wanted to. I adore that kind of DIY ethic.
So I started my online literary zine, Inkburns, and ran it for a few years, mostly publishing other people's writing. Along the way I started to notice blogs, and I started blogging as a way to publish my own writing. Inkburns became too much work for me to handle, and blogging gave me a creative outlet in its place, so I let the one slide while I pursued the other.
FWIW, I hope to bring back Inkburns some day, in a new and different form.
3. What is it that you love about social media?
What I love most is the "anyone can do it" aspect, as I mentioned above. And I love the speed of it, lightning fast from mind to hand to web. But I also like how social media tends to be less filtered and polished. Of course this lack of filtering means we have to wade through a lot of crap.
Still, in the end, people can publish on the web who couldn't elsewhere, and they can publish things that they couldn't share elsewhere. So it's more raw, and less elitist.
4. What keeps you coming back? Why do you keep creating content?
I'm insatiably curious about things, and I like to assume everyone else must be too. In my heart, I realize they're not, or at least most people are not. Most people don't care what I have to say, and that's fine. At least a few people seem to appreciate my perspective, and I'm excited to share my ideas and the things I find with them.
5. What is it that you want to accomplish with your media?
I want to influence a few people, so that they take chances and follow their hearts. I want to be someone else's George Plimpton.
5 Completely untrue facts about Pittsburgh.
84 percent of the northern generals in the civil war were from Pittsburgh or the surrounding areas. 15 percent of the southern generals were from the hill district.
While number 1 on the world for bridges we are only third for number of underbridges. we are passed by Luxemburg and Tuscaloosa Tennessee.
Pittsburgh is the home of over 250 soft serve parlors. The most of any state.
During WW2 a plot was foiled to flood The city. The offenders were planning to reroute a portion of the Mississippi therefore flooding the Allegheny.
While Pittsburgh doesn't have the highest population of the world, it does have the largest temporary population of any city . If the people that visited Pittsburgh stayed here, we would surpass Osaka japan within 2 months.
Everyone is talking about what happened at Bootcamp Pittsburgh. I want to talk about the things i learned instead of just what happened. Ill Provide links where i can.
1. Chris Brogan loves a good hug.
2. I cant pronounce Justin Kownackis last name to save my life. (sorry Justin)
3. I'm not the best at interviews, but i do them anyway.
4. I sort of know what im talking about.
5. It doesn't matter where i go, someone usually seems to get chopped.
6. Bar Louie is kind of cool, but as long as you go there with cool people.
7. Brogan can also give a good interview.
8. Heres the big one.
We all have an incredible opportunity. We all have access to things that our grandparents, or even our parents would never have dreamed. We can be on the radio if we want. be on video if we like. AND we can do it in such a way that the whole world can see it. Think about that for a moment. there was a time that speaking to someone in another country meant pen pal. or a huge phone bill. Now we can touch lives anywhere on a daily basis. how amazing is that? Pretty damn cool.
9. Theres always more media to come.
Thanks to everyone for Bootcamp Pittsburgh. It was indeed, a blasty blast.
1-29-09 - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
1-27-09 - Rob and his Girlfriend swing through a visit
1-13-09 - The High Lord PacMan has appeared to me!
1-7-09 - Me, The Lb.
1-5-09 - Found outside a comic shop. I love nerds.
1-4-09 - Hard at work
1-2-08 - Yinz team polar bears
12-29-08 - Is for me.
12-18-08 - The famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree from MadMike
11-30-08 -For the record, I won.
11-29-08 - WATCHOW!! +G
11-28-08 - I Spell my nerd with an A
11-27-08 - NOOOO!! MY MAPZ!!ONE!!!!
11-26-08 - Men of Mayhem
11-25-08 - 412! 412! 412! 412!
11-24-08 - DEVIL LEGS!!!!
11-23-08 - Do you think its cause we're awesome? I think its cause we're awesome.
11-22-08 - We are super serious drinkers.
11-21-08 - See? Shocked.
11-20-08 - Pirate Lunchbox says fuck you.
11-19-08 - True
11-18-08 - LMAO
11-17-08 -Me and the lovely Miss Ashley
11-16-08 - Ive been here before....
11-15-08 - 2 meals.
11-14-08 - The Wrestling Mayhem Show
11-13-08 - The airport in DC I think.
11-12-08 -I was surprised too
11-11-08 -Hard at work
11-10-08 - Catfeet
11-09-08 - Mindbling wishing she was as cool as me
11-08-08 -The Lb
11-07-08 - My cat has a smoking problem
11-6-08 - Miss Papuga during her Yinz Team Injury
11-05-08 - A very tired me
11-04-08 - Did you vote today?
11-03-08 - Chachi and Dj Lunchbox
11-2-08 -Me.
11-1-08 -Almost to heaven
10-20-08 - DjLunchbox representing everyone who wasn't at Pittsburgh Podcamp 3 (Photo co of Locobone)
9-30-08 - Standoff
9-29-08 - Lovely
9-26-08 - Too awesome to not use. Credit to Powerpig.
9-24-08 - Hey kids! Its Justin Kownacki and Ann Turiano of Something To Be Desired!
9-23-08 - Nerdcore Lunchbox
8-19-08 - Papuga in Shock and Awe
9-17-08 - Miss Roth
9-16-08 - You! Get me a beer!
9-15-08 - The Weekly Features
9-12-09 - Edge and also Edge
9-11-08 - Hentai lands on the Mayhem Show
9-10-08 - Hulk smash?
9-9-08 - Bad Habit
9-6-08 - Mere makes her move
9-5-08 - The Long Road Home
9-3-08 - Old Friends
9-2-08 - Dj Lunchbox and Sorgatron at the ECW Smackdown tapings.
8-29-08 - Meredith on her Mexican birthday
8-28-08 - View from the top of the world
8-27-08 - My good friend Mexican Jew Lizard Picture by Veronica Eisert
8-26-08 - Picture by Veronica Eisert
8-25-08 - Pittsburgh from the inside
8-22-08 - Pittsburgh
8-21-08 - Joe Hates Math
8-20-08 - A mobile Gallery
8-19-08 - More Pittsburgh. Care of Veronica Eisert
8-18-08 - The Dice
8-17-08 - Your guess is as good as mine
8-15-08 - Me and Burgh Baby
8-14-08 - The Boss
8-13-08 - Over the water
8-12-08 - Pittsburghs Finest
8-11-08 - Norm, Jean and the Sorgs
8-8-08 - Me and Miss Roth
8-7-08 - The Yinz Team
8-6-08 - Miss Roth and Mr Crappy
8-5-08 - Stoke Monkey sees all
7-31-08 - Yinz team doing birthday shots for our fearless leader, Coach Shireman
7-30-08 - V Rock and Dj G on The Wrestling Mayhem Show
7-28-08 - 2 Bad Motherfuckers
7-25-08 - Norm and Jean rockin the Yinz Team
7-24-08 - Yinz team showing respect to our fallen comrade
7-23-08 - Ultimate X The Owl vs Super Hentai: Wrestling Mayhem Show Exclusive
7-22-08 - Mark Cuban and Mr. Google share a tender moment
7-21-08 - Table 9
7-18-08 - Miss Roth and Miss Sager keeping the Yinz Team classy
7-17-08 - Lifeblood
7-16-08 Eric Xtasy loves Doc Remedy
7-15-08 - Joe Loves Technology
7-14-08 - The Boss at work
7-12-08 - Snoop Dogg likes Crap
7-11-08 - Church in the Strip
7-10-08 - Doc Remedy vaults over the injured Papuga
7-9-08 - Someone broke the Papuga. It may or may not have been Jim Lokay.
7-8-08 - From time to time @lyriquetragedy will loan me a book or 2. I get to read them after Joe.
7-6-08 - 2 old friends of mine get married.
7-3-08 We are the Yinz Team. We rock at drinking at softball games.
7-2-08 - Heaven
7-1-08 - Lunchbox Screams at the bear in mans clothing