I should be working on design projects, but I can’t stop playing with the Drip Sessions. This ain’t easy on a trackpad…

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Inspiration can often be found in strange places. What begins as a mistake, an error, or even a complete breakdown in a system, can lead to intriguing and beautiful results. These “happy accidents”, as Bob Ross liked to call them, can be captured, and exploited. This phenomenon is the topic of the new book Glitch: Designing Imperfection, which came out this year. Four years in the making, it’s not just a collection of pretty pictures, but also explores the aesthetic of the error, in several essays. I submitted several images to the authors back in 2005, in hopes of getting some of my images in print. Just one was selected, but that was enough to score me a complimentary copy of the finished product.

Since I was hoping to see more of my pieces used, I figured I’d take this opportunity to showcase all the images I submitted. The first two are screenshots captured after random crashes of my work PC, back in 2000. The rest are the result of a corrupt JPG contact sheet that a photographer emailed me, which became a source of fascination, as it mangled, distorted, and posed a general threat to itself and others when I attempted to view it in Photoshop. I learned to direct the effects to my liking, and assembled the set of images that you see here.

My day consisted of How to Ruin Your Small Business on Twitter with Lyell Peterson (@93octane), Twittercasting with Nathan Richie (@NathanRichie), going down the creativity rabbithole with Jared Nicolson, HTML5 Preview with Adam Hunter, and The Future of Journalism with Andria Krewson, Desiree Kane, and Austin Light.

I hope to write some followups, as I continue to process all the great info that was shared, but in the mean time, here is a roundup of BarcampCLT-related media I’ve seen so far:

Search “BarcampCLT” on Twitter

Pre-event

BarCamp Charlotte 2 Pre-party by James Willamor/CLT Blog
A Moment by Summer Plum

Session materials

Manage Your Social Networks – session slides (plus links) by dizzySEO
HTML 5 Examples by Adam Hunter
How To Get The Other 9 Listings on Google video of Robert Enriquez by David Wells

Post-event

Barcamp 2 is in the bag and you made it great! by Barcamp Charlotte
First photos of BarCamp Charlotte 2 by James Willamor/CLT Blog
BarCampCLT 2 photos by Cara Couture
Alphatracks Visits Bar Camp Charlotte 2 photos by Tom Bonner
BarCampCLT2 photos by Tom Bonner
Lyell Talks Serious Twitter Business photo by Summer Plum
Get a little weirder, Charlotte by Jeff Elder
A Smarter Charlotte by Eric Orozco
Charlotte BarCamp – What did you think? by Corey Creed
Barcamp Charlotte SEO Session with NC_SEO by David Wells
barcampCLT 2 by Mr. R
Overheard in Charlotte: BarCamp Edition by Meck
Technology, Media “Unconference” Draws More Than 100 To Area 15 by Andria Krewson

If you know of anything I’m missing, please let us know in the comments!

I will be taking an active part in getting this group up & running, and have developed this slideshow to help sell the idea of Tega Cay Trails. (In typical fashion, I’ve also gone overboard and set up a Twitter account and a Flickr account to spread the love further still.

Please follow, link, promote, and/or join, as appropriate. ;)

@39octane, @annoyabrah, @bemnarvin, @brahdesigns, @cristaldempsey, @Itsnotem, @JaredWwwOs, @JedFelder, @onanything, @s1paulds, @smallfleet, and @twinkhanson.

Torgny claims to have spotted the only real bot to show up at Barcamp: http://twitpic.com/lxo6i #NSFW #SHD

Have you seen this new site Brands in Public? They are aggregating comments from around the web and intend to create thousands of web pages, each one highlighting the online buzz focused on a corporate brand (example: Starbucks), in hopes that those companies will pay for the opportunity to manage/influence the conversation publicly.

Some have expressed concern about the fact that the Brands in Public team has assembled these pages before actually signing anyone up to
manage them… companies feel that they’ve been “brandjacked” (though the pages do seem to communicate clearly that they are unofficial sites). Today, they’ve announced that they will be removing the “sample pages”, so presumably will display only pages of companies who have signed on.

It doesn’t seem all that different from what Get Satisfaction does already (example: Starbucks), except that Get Satisfaction doesn’t charge company representatives for the opportunity to get involved and present an “official” company voice. However, Brands in Public says that the paid participation gives brands the ability to “edit the introductory text, highlight the tweets and posts you like, point to your blog, your videos, your twitter feed, your corporate website and even (if you like) highlight ways to contact you.” It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if these sites retain a perception of credibility, even with companies manipulating the conversations.

It sounds a lot like extortion to me, but it’s certainly a clever idea. As pointed out in this article on adage.com, how well these pages rank in search results will likely have a large role in whether many companies come on board to participate.

That is all.

One of the things I like the most about living in Tega Cay is the network of paths and trails that wind through our beautiful landscape here. Many of them provide convenient and safe routes to and from our neighborhoods, parks and playing fields, and give us the opportunity to walk or bike to places that we might otherwise drive to. Even those that don’t enhance connectivity still offer a scenic environment for getting some fresh air and exercise. This is why I plan to volunteer my time to help build more trails in our community.

After contacting some people involved in Parks and Rec, I’ve learned that there is considerable interest in this already. In the recent Parks and Rec survey, nearly 65% of respondents said that someone in their household would use new biking trails if they were available, making it the most popular amenity of those suggested.

I was told that “if we have enough volunteers with passion around the trails we are considering a Trails and Natural areas sub-committee as part of the Parks and Rec team” and people may be organizing as soon as next month to begin clearing new trails.

While it will certainly require a lot of effort, I would think it’s a project that would need less cash investment than many others, and could benefit greatly from good ol’ sweat equity, if people stepped up to help. I think the trails would be a sensible investment in a time when personal and city budgets are strained.

I wanted to write something about this on the Underground blog, because I’d love to generate some discussion on the topic, and maybe even recruit a few more volunteers.

I don’t know what, if any, plans are in place already, but here are some of the things I’ve been thinking about:

• not only cutting new trails, but working to maintain and improve existing ones
• ped-only trails? …bike-only trails? …shared trails?
• Are there opportunities to create shortcuts connecting otherwise distant points (without intruding on people’s property and privacy)?
• The golf course meanders throughout the entire city. Does this provide more challenges than opportunities? (There is lots of wooded area alongside the course, but how much of it is usable, without putting people in danger of flying balls?)
• If we have the opportunity to set aside areas on the newer, undeveloped land for trails, can it link to the existing network, or will it be disconnected? (Trail connecting Lake Shore area off Hunter’s Run to area behind Wal-Mart – could this connect all the way to the school…?)

What do you think?
Leave comments here, and/or email tegacaytrails@gmail.com if you want to volunteer or get updates on trail work.