Yet another Dave Thorvald Olson project - this one serves up all the leftover bits which don't fit elsewhere - more craft than the art - nuggets perhaps noticed or observed, announcements of fresh paintings, podcast and/or publications, static montage, various snippets of prose, sites of note or ones you might enjoy, messages to future self, relics from past, snapshots i'd like you to see, fleeting reminiscences, future predictions, occasionally lurid predilections and mysterious items uncovered. In short ephemera e-phem-er-a - n
1) A range of collectible items that were originally designed to be short-lived
2) Something that is transitory and without lasting significance
Here’s my (Dave Olson’s) submission to SXSW Interactive 2010 – Starting August 10, you’ll have a chance to vote for SXSW Panels and Presentations until Aug. 28th and your vote constitutes a portion of the selection process along with staff and an advisory board.
After the enjoyment of presenting F@ck Stats, Make Art spiel at SXSWi 2009 (which garnered favourable reviews BTW), I mulled over my options and have some pretty entertaining in mind which will entice me to dig deep in my older travel files and more modern Internet biz binders of artifacts to support my story-telling.
For F@ck Stat, Make Art, i went fully analog with no projectors, laptops etc. but this time i will use some photos to share what i have in mind including stories from time spent as mushroom farmer in Japan, beach club host in Guam, searching for the kind in Palau, gathering grapes and chestnuts in Germany or following the Grateful Dead through the hinterlands of America in a VW bus.
Not all business lessons are learned in an MBA program, nor management skills gained in seminars. This inter-disciplinary conversation distills a decade of working odd jobs in 20+ countries, followed by 14 years of Internet biz endeavors, into unique problem-solving skills as well as inspire attendees with a replenished toolbox of usable tactics.
10 questions that will be answered in this panel / presentation
How can I reach the top without a fancy degree?
Why should you bring “yourself” to work?
How do you diffuse a$$holes (especially when they are your boss)?
How can I find mentors, teachers and miracles?
How can I develop recession-proof business ideas?
What are the advantages of communicating with an audience in their language?
Why should I forget pre-conceptions and surprise myself?
Why is an inter-disciplinary perspective important?
Why should I consider hitting the road (and not look back)?
How can I figure out what truly matters to me – and make it happen?
50-word bio for this speaker
Dave Olson is a world-traveling renaissance guy who has published essays, poetry and fiction, wrote and produced a documentary film, and traveled to 20+ countries working jobs from mushroom farmer to private beach club host. An experienced story-teller, Dave’s presentation style is unique, visually compelling and free of jargon, cheesy buzzwords and bulleted lists.
get out of the cublicle you deserve more! (photo KK)
I am qualified to speak on this topic because:
{pardon the 3rd person} An experienced media pundit, Dave made dozens of TV/radio/newspaper appearances discussing web media technology, public policy activism, entrepreneurship, hockey and more on outlets ranging from CBC to BBC to High Times.
Most recently, he’s worked as a professional web community builder and marketing evangelist for a variety Vancouver web companies.
He regularly speaks at events and conferences about using technology to enable artistic expression and using social media for social change.
He graduated in 2004 from the noted Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington with a degree in Inter-disciplinary studies after studying public policy, philosophy, global affairs and writing – he also attended the Universities of Utah and Guam.
A podcasting pioneer, Dave creates several long-running series including Postcards from Gravelly Beach – a spoken word literature show, Choogle on! – gonzo international sound-seeing adventures, and Canucks Outsider, a wildly-popular audio magazine about Vancouver hockey culture.
While I was spieling, I couldn’t help to recall all the others times I’ve stood before groups – from Rotarians to Mormons to Deadheads to strangers on buses to students in Germany – to tell my stories. When I spoke about my ole dead Gramps from whom I heard I alot of tall tales, I realized that so many of the mundane and amusing talks I’ve busted out at one time or another were all coming together in that room.
Thanks to everyone who listened while the stories were in development and when they were really happening. To everyone who showed up, Thanks. To everyone who came up for a hug and a kind word to to show off their hero/project/metaphor cards – big thanks. I feed off of you to lay it all open. I gotta trust you or I can’t tell it real-style.
DIY Analog Power Point by Unkown - did you take this?
At the risk of waiting any longer to post *everything*, here is an evolving wrap-up of the related content from F@ck Stats Make Art at SXSW 09.
Consider dropping a vote for my pitches for SXSW10:
What’s next? I have a closet full of stories – literally. I plan to tell them. Perhaps a tour, more books, more artifacts – Wanna help spread this message of tolerance, translucency and creativity? Subscribe to Choogle On! podcast.
Photo Slidedeck
I didn’t use this deck in the prezo but it includes most of the photos in the envelopes of Heroes, Metaphors and Projects.
Is there a digital Thoreau? Will we discover a currently neglected philosophy blogger in a hundred years and suddenly realize that we ignored someone whose ideas would come to change the world?
It worked for me because he’s sort of a fellow traveller having done the zine thing. I’m still processing my thoughts but it tied in with some thinking I’ve been doing about what I might end up getting involved with next…
Make your own from the attached .pdf (attribution, non-commercial use only – note: while I took most of the photos, some photos’ origins are unknown or undocumented but presumed to be in public domain-ish).
My spiel was called “Are you Worthy?” or ‘history of publishing from Greeks to geeks’. I also previewed my upcoming Moose Camp and Northern Voice presentations a wee bit.
The mighty power of web publishing should not be taken lightly. Traditionally, for stories to reach an audience required navigating layers levels or publishers, printers, editors, distributors but with WordPress, anyone can spread stories to a worldwide audience, instantly, for almost free. Awesome! But do you deserve this power? Of course you do – as long as you make something remarkable.
To make your work rise to the top requires diligent honing of your craft – from writing to photography. Writer and documentarian Dave Olson (AKA uncleweed) will offer reasons to push yourself to create art, as well as share practical methods for finding inspiration and following through to publication.
By exploring other forms of grassroots publishing, and exploring real-life WP examples, you’ll leave with a keen sense of your place in the history of personal expression, and a renewed vigor for making your best stuff ever.
‘From Greeks to Geeks’ or ‘Are You Worthy?’ http://uncleweed.com/ Dave Olson (@uncleweed) gave a mind-blowing presentation at NerdCamp Whister (AKA WordCamp) about censorship, copyright, content creation, history, beauty, art, and the internet. These 5 videos are the 5 10 minute segments from his talk. If someone wants the pieces to string together please let me know and I’ll get them in your hands.
Tweets/Blogs: The folks really seemed to enjoy the schtick and highlighted favourite bits in Twitter reactions and blog posts. How about a sampler?:
Miss604: @uncleweed just used the word “douchebaggery” #wcw09 I think he’s everyone’s hero at WordCamp Whistler at this point Jan 25, 2009 01:00 AM GMT · Reply · View Tweet ·
nataliesisson: No 69 is my player number and it just came through for me as I won some excellent poetry from @Uncleweed at #wcw09 being attendee 69! Jan 25, 2009 01:13 AM GMT · Reply · View Tweet
And Dave Olson knitted together Aeschylus, Jack Kerouac, Guam, mimeographed punk fanzines, ice cream, heroin, and art in his presentation.
snickerdoodles: Word Camp Whistler…24 Jan 2009 by kerry macleod Here is a photo and poem from today’s final speaker Dave Olson. One of the few I actually followed and understood completely the whole time. He had real props like books.
Random stuff from WordCamp Whistler 200925 Jan 2009 by John Dave Olson ended the day with his talk and had the entire audience hanging on his every word. He invited people to sit up front and close since he wasn’t using the projector…and lots did. It was a great session to end the conference
Photos: Heaps of rad shots (see Uncleweed + WCW09 on flickr) in my new toque and riffing from the mighty tomes hidden in the suitcase.
My WordCamp Whistler cohort and ace Vancouver photographerKris Krug shot video of my entire “Are you Worthy?” spiel with his new Flipcam and posted it in a YouTube playlist in 5 segments for your viewing convenience – huge thanks!
‘From Greeks to Geeks’ or ‘Are You Worthy?’ http://uncleweed.com/ Dave Olson (@uncleweed) gave a mind-blowing presentation at NerdCamp Whister (AKA WordCamp) about censorship, copyright, content creation, history, beauty, art, and the internet.
These 5 videos are the 5 10 minute segments from his talk. If someone wants the pieces to string together please let me know and I’ll get them in your hands.
I may take this year off from Gnomedex. Not that i don’t enjoy it immensely but because i am sick of spending rare sunny summer weekends indoors geeking out. Family and outdoor leisure time is so scant and August is the stretch run before the months of drizzle begin anew. I am always spieling forth for fall/winter confabs instead.
Though i am grateful for Chris Pirillo being a Zhonka Broadband customer, i may not make it this year though i am sure my amigo y amiga will manage to tear it up anyhow.
Really truly pleased to read all the kind words from folks who rolled by my Northern Voice presentation F*** Stats, Make Art – sorry for messing up your SEO mojo with the inappropriate title ;-). To all who showed up, thanks! Really a treat to see so many friends, heros, colleagues and new friends smiling back – makes doing my “Dave O Show” a blast.
I really dumped my guts into my spiel about making art with the mighty tools at our disposal. With a group of opinionated, smart and savvy folks, I wasn’t sure if my message would be redundant or met with indifference or confusion. The resultant cavalcade of positive remarks suggests I articulated much of what i set out to share.
Hmm … what do I come up with for next year? As per the convo percolating at Nancy White’s post, perhaps a creative arts track of some kind is in order. As for me, I’d very much to learn about the other part of the publishing business which i know very little about – agents, distribution, editors and all that. Remember tis important to know much fu!
Also a lovely treat to riff with my Crazy Canucks colleagues in the Sports Blogging and Podcasting panel. This rag-tag group grew into a team over the past 61 shows and the panel was as easy and intuitive as the podcasts. We know each others strengths and are “giving” to one another in the conversation. The questions in the session were great and show a real understanding of the weird tension we have with the “official”ness of the Canucks and the trade off of objectivity and creative control vs selling out.
Alanah and JJ live outside the Vangorrvy tech industry bubble and run the two most popular Canucks blogs out there. Alanah’s is famous for drunken live blogging which is no surprise why she ranks #1 for drunken canucks fan. JJ is the people’s ambassador to GM Place – walking the concourse with him is a task as he’s stopped more often than Mike Weaver would. And of course my good buddies the Bollwitts – the Vancouver blog and podsafe music podcast darlings.
Mighty Thanks to the kinds people who organized the event. I’ve becomes great friends with some of these diligent inclusive and inspiring peeps and truly enjoy learning more about their many skills and noble dedication to knowledge sharing. I encourage others to step up and help out driving the vision of the event going forward. Special thanks to KK, Boris and Roland who (unbeknownst to them) served as sounding boards for bits and pieces of my presentation in progress. Their reaction, diatribes and riffs helped my schtick for the better.
So if you’ll pardon me, … for the self-indulgence file, here’s an annotated NV08 roundup for personal archeology (in no particular order):
{Note: Last year’s podcast presentation induced the creation of yet another podcast feed which features all my odds and ends which don’t fit elsewhere from marketing lectures to sound seeing strolls. This is now a series i guess.}
After Matt’s talk, I sat in Dave Olson’s session called “F&*% Stats, Make Art. He’s clever and funny. Dave’s big into the podcast side as well. I also spoke to him briefly after he spoke – very gracious.
Dave Olsen rules. He is swearing too. He is swearing so much his talk is called “f— stats, make art”. He stresses that we should put our hearts into our work, otherwise what we are doing is just bullshit. And that we need to start really caring about what we are creating. On and control your transparency; because he doesn’t really want to know all that shit about you. All humor aside it was an inspiring talk, Olsen stressed that we should get back to ourselves “people say that if you want to be an artist you need to go to art school – bullshit – study yourself” states Olsen. Find your craft and take it seriously he states, and there is a big difference between typing and writing. (Dave Olsen)
today i want to tell you about the session that touched me the deepest. it was dave olson’s “f**k stats, make art”. miss 604 has a great synopsis of it, and you can find my notes at the end of this post.
one of the things that became very obvious for me after dave’s presentation was sadness/frustration/disappointment that i had abandoned my practice of doing at least one piece of “artful writing” a day, no matter how short, kitschy or silly. dave may just have just stirred me enough to go back to that.
so i ended up writing two poems and would like to dedicate them both to dave.
thanks to dave olson, no. 1
a concussion of the most
mindful sort
comes over me as i indulge in these
northern voices.
poems must be written,
suns must be risen,
earths must be quaked
in this pyramid of
gentle thoughts
– not just yours,
not just mine –
that shake up this world.
I did one last year on Stats: The Forbidden Love, and given that this year there was a talk on “Fuck Stats: Make Art” maybe it’s time for another one. After all, they are independent principles, not antagonistic. And Oscar Wilde cared passionately about his stats, you just know it.
{Note: This is a sweet piece of prose!}
But I must admit, even as an Egalitarian of long standing, that there is something wrong with a world in which grown men are not ashamed to admit they’re too scared to go into neighborhoods that don’t frighten a woman. They looked me in the eye, one after another (the men, not the eyes; mine are virtually on top of one another, except the ones I keep in the freezer) and told me that the Gallery Gachet wasn’t in Gastown, it was (horror of horrors!) in the Downtown EastSide (although the out-of-towners called it the Lower East Side, presumably thinking it was a wormhole to Manhattan or something). As if Gastown were an idyll of upper-middleclassdom, which it is not and never has been. The people who work in Gastown are convinced it’s a postcard and that the bums and junkies they see on the street each day are “spillover” from the Downtown EastSide, just on the other side of Maple Tree Square. That the junkies, streetwalkers, and bums have been there since 1860 never seems to occur to them and, day in and day out, they remain convinced that it is the down and outs who are the anomaly, not the chino-clad technologists and graphic designers.
After catching yuppie cooties at the Lame-lighter, i led a rag-tag gang (past the endlessly sprouting fancy furniture stores) on a late-night foray to the Gachet where we imbibed and roasted til the last Seabus sailed. Dig what they are brewing up there for sure.
PS My spiel about the fucking of the stats and so on … was more about inspiring folks to step it up and reap validation from producing quality work which evokes passionate responses rather than settling for the saccharine pleasure of statistics. There is some audio of my pontifying somewhere.
Have I mentioned before that our pal Dave Olson is awesome? He’s here to talk about how Art Makes the Future. History may have been forged by popes and generals but the only reason we KNOW about it is because someone took the time to write and paint about it.
{Note: My pal Miss604 took attentive notes which resemble my own scribblings – which i’ll post once i recall where i stashed the bits}
Stephen Rees I had three pages of scribbled notes in my moleskin to transcribe. It seems to me that you got the spirit if his – very impressive – presentation.
Apparently, Dave was on the same stream as our “Writing on Walls” session – tapping into our creativity. I’m glad the session was recorded and blogged. It was interesting to see that there were quite a few sessions that pinged on a central core of creativity.
{my comment:}
Indeed Nancy, i’d hoped to hang out in your arts and crafts funtime and enjoyed seeing lots of creative hi-jinks going on. Not sure if you remember but you made a great “podcasting lunch” sketch for my amigo Cosmo and i at Mindcamp 1.0 in Seattle. I also enjoyed your ’symbolic word poetry remix’ wall.I wish you could’ve stopped by to enjoy my schtick (and i’d have enjoyed your input for sure) but gratefully the recording and remarkable notes will tide you over til next year. With all these common themes emerging … How about a “analog expression” track? I was also displeased being up at the same time as Monique’s preso about books and writing and missing Alan’s tour de force ~ sigh.
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Facebook Wall round-up (used without permission with my pardons):
Keith Bao wrote at 5:19pm
“Know Much Fu”I f*@!k’n dig this!!!!!!
Refreshing and honest, down to the core.
It was an honour to be there listening.
I’m home sick today and have been listening to back episodes of Postcards from GB for the last hour or so…listened to the most recent one twice cause I liked it so much :-)Ditto on the session motivation. Totally inspiring.
I had expected something bordering on more technical, but still had a good [and informative] time listening to all the speakers; including my friend Stephanie’s talk on design, and Dave Olson (aka. uncleweed) and his Fuck Stats Make Art motivator.
There were two more sessions that were seminal. First, Dave Olson producer, writer and visionary gave a great talk about the need to make art, not stats. Truly great rant that put a number of things in perspective for me. We get so caught up in the techno, the art suffers. It shouldn’t. And if Dave has anything to do with it it won’t. When everyone seems bent on promoting wikis, blogs, 3rd Life and all the other accoutrements, Dave was extremely refreshing. I would suggest you follow his work. This guy is truly unique.
After looking at the schedule the first thing I saw was the Sports Blogging and Pod Casting. Which I am very excited about because that is the Industry I want to have a career in. I have heard about the speaker Rebecca Bollwitt from many people and with not a lot of women on the panel, I am quite excited!I think another session with Dave Olson will be interesting F*** Stats,Make Art which seems like my sort of thing and will be a good discussion.
{note: kudos on the fine taste to get the Daveo double-hitter ;-0}
Dave Olson also had an outstanding session about making art instead of worrying about “fucking stats”. Looking forward to hanging more with these guys in Austin real soon.
If you missed it, plan to go next year and book early. Maybe next time they will have decent coffee, enough food for lunch and somewhere to hang your coat up. But these are minor quibbles. Excellent presentations today from Matt Mullenweg, Marc Canter, Dave Olson and Alex Waterhouse Hayward.
I was really looking forward to meeting a lot of bloggers whom I’d only read or heard about, as well as picking up a few tricks of the trade for myself.Hope to catch up with her at the Green Living show for happyfrog’s frogblog – IT’S ALL GREEN, IT’S ALL GOOD
Dave Olson’s podcast features a rousing rendition of the Canadian national anthem, his antics in Amsterdam and an impromptu longboard hockey game at the University of British Columbia’s Chan Centre.
{note: the Canadian anthem referenced is a humorously lackluster rendition from the Canadian Little League championship in Whalley, Surrey BC – fortunately i keep better versions in the feed too ;-))
I’m spoiled because new product demos are a dime a dozen in SF. I’m less interested in the technology available than I am in the way it is used. For this reason, my favorite presenter was a fellow I’d never heard of, Dave Olson.Dave Olson is a bit of hoser. He produces the Canucks Outsider Podcast, published a grade school punk zine featuring D.O.A and publishes Uncle Weed- a marijuana lifestyle blog and podcast. Olson’s lecture, entitled, “Fuck Stats, Make Art” was a welcome change from the widget wankery preached at most conferences. Olson entertained with embarrassing childhood anecdotes while still managing to deliver a great message.
He argues that somewhere in the process of monetizing and analyzing the web, content producers have sacrificed their need to create art and have fun. In essence, they’ve become meta-douches. It seems Dave Olson is putting the passion back into publishing and as long as this hoser keeps giving ‘er, I’m behind him 100%.
Dave Olson commanded a pre-lunch time slot with his rousing, bullet-point-free presentation entitled “F*ck Stats, Make Art” at Northern Voice 2008. “Art makes the future” Dave states. What we know about history is based on art, because someone chose to record it. Technology changes our focus on what art is. Oil paints were a technology revolution that allowed post-impressionist painting. The Internet has lowered the bar immensly for the distribution of art, but the most popular content seems to be the least meaningful, most simpleminded things like “some guy dancing around the world“.
Dave goes through a brief history of things he has created over the years: from a photocopied punk rock fanzine, through paintings, poetry, photography, writings, and now podcasting. He contrasts craft vs. art: you can take pride and enjoyment in your craft, your day job, but the meaningful personal expression comes through in art. Embracing translucency, instead of transparency, is his policy. No one cares to hear minor details of your life, and there should be things you don’t want to share, but you do want to put your whole self in the work. “Declare your story” and talk about what you create; “put the log back in blog”.
A slide with Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin pops up, and Dave goes into redefining success. Validation can be found from things other than stats, such as reader/listener mail and feedback. Success is for each person to define for themselves. Hold yourself to high standards and maintain your reputation. Hunter S. Thompson is referenced, in that he could write anything because he was very good at it. Rewards will come, possibly when you’re dead, but good art will have longevity. The presentation concluded with a standing ovation.
Whether they knew it or not, intended it or not, the following people challenged me to think a little harder about creativity and craft. People close to me wonder why I don’t identify as being creative. The following Northern Voice speakers have me wondering too.
Dave Olson challenged me to step it up a notch, and to consider another media form if I’m struggling at the one I think I’m good at (writing). Podcasting, maybe? I don’t like the sound of my own voice, so that strikes video out as well. Photography is the medium I sunk the most into already, so I will try to bring the SLR to more places, make the same mistakes everybody makes when they start out, and document the process better. I’d like to learn how to draw. And sing. Outside of the conference, he remarked that he likes to find a third place, away from work and away from home to be creative. This has me thinking of the ideal place to work somewhere (and on something) not domestic and not commercial, but somewhere in between.
(I know that my desire to learn how to sing directly conflicts with the angst about hearing my voice, so don’t bother pointing that out.)
My favorite presentation of the weekend wasn’t about blogging at all, but rather a homage to making art; a visually stunning and clever rant by my good friend Dave Olson entitled “F*ck Stats, Make Art.” A standing ovation followed his talk, and I think I was first on my feet.
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Who’d I miss? Post a link to join the muster roll. Thanks again to all for the kind words – i look forward to seeing what you brew up! Keep an eye and i’ll post my notes or slides or something, sometime, maybe …
Here are some of your favorite DaveO NV08 photos from other Flickr members.
Read that you were there but missed meeting you i think (hard to match faces/names with avatar/faces) @unclespeedo very glad you enjoyed! 2 hours ago
Alas will miss the mighty @todmaffin's talk at 3rd Tuesday (on a monday) must head home to family after work ends at 6PM #slavetothegrind2 hours ago
Thanks to @PvT and @b_clugston for Victoria breakkie recommendations - we ended up at Rosie's (OK but better than hotel restaurant) 2 hours ago
To those who caught my gig at #islandtech, i enjoy hearing about which Hero Card you scored if any & what you learned (and/or created) #fsma2 hours ago
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