June Meeting - Get in on the Action!

Our meeting of the minds for the month of June will be on Tuesday, June 15th, 7pm at NOVAC. The address, details, and map can be viewed in the box to the right. If you use facebook, you can also RSVP to our event there. 

This month, we have some exciting announcements to make. We'll also start planning our promotional event! If you have any interview, skit, or talent booking ideas you would like included in the event, start thinking about them now, and start discussing them, too. 

Please feel welcomed to come if you are new to Nola New Media or haven't been to one of our meetings in a while. We would love to have your input, share our announcements, and help answer your podcasting questions, too.

Also:

There will be cookies. Word.

Gambit's First Best of New Orleans Web Awards

Gambit Weekly is hosting their first-ever Best of New Orleans Web Awards. Like their other Best of New Orleans awards, the nominations are open-ballot. You can vote HERE, but there's only two more days to vote!

It should be noted that they are categorizing podcasts under the same group as radio station web sites. So if you want to vote for someone like Radio Wazoo, The Matt and Jack Podvast, or backstage on the bayou, you have to nominate them under the radio category. It seems a little unfair that blogs separate from big media have their own category, but podcasts don't. So, if you want to show your support for indie web content producers, make sure you nominate your favorite podcast!

Sadly, they are also lacking a web video category, as well. Let's hope that next year, they step up their A-game and improve some of the categories, so that it really does emulate a local version of the Webbys!

Creating Original Community Content Once Again

In the early days of television, local stations had their own original programming. Far beyond the daily newscasts and local sports there were variety shows, children's programming, and local interest shows. New Orleans was no exception to this, with fare like Morgus Presents! or WDSU's "Colgate Comedy Hour"... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

It's safe to say that whether it's the radio or the television, local programming is not what it used to be. Thanks to new technology, that's about to change. With the inception of digital TV, the gradual emergence of HD radio, and the capability to produce independent content on the Internet, there are now a multitude of options for every taste and talent. And there is no shortage of talent and ideas in this city.

Yet in order to keep content from getting lost in the sea of options, it's important that we create a presence within the community. As I said in the previous blog entry, one of the things that people said would generate their interest in consuming new media or indie content was a recognizable presence in the community on a local level. We have the opportunity to experience vibrant growth within the creative class if we are able to create an atmosphere of communication, collaboration, and consistency. This means working with established media outlets in the city, participating in community events, and maintaining sources for people to be able to easily locate this new content. It also means helping newcomers to independent media find their voice and their audience.

If you know someone who already has a podcast or creates webisodes in or around the New Orleans area, we encourage you to share our web site and group with them. If you or someone you know is interested in finding out more about new media and independent media, please feel free to join us. We are open to all skill levels and levels of interest.

We are currently working on collaborative content, crossovers, and a live event. Details on these are soon to follow. Keep watching our blog and twitter accounts to find out more!

Sincerely,
Aura "Fedora" Shannon
Founder, Nola New Media
Creator & Host, backstage on the bayou

Welcome to Nola New Media

Welcome to Nola New Media! We are a group of independent web media producers in the New Orleans area who meet once monthly to talk technique and technology. We represent a diverse group of individuals with varying levels of experience and interest. Many of our members work or have worked professionally in the entertainment and media industries, whether full-time or on a freelance basis, though some are hobbyists with an avid enthusiasm for pod casting and web series development.

Nola New Media is open to anyone in the area with an interest in pod casting or web video production, regardless of level of experience. We help one another with everything from trouble-shooting technical issues to better developing our content and craft. We also hope to be involved in special projects and events throughout the year.

Our blog is a hub of information on these topics as well as a source for news from our members and participants. In the task bar on your right, you will notice a blog roll of participating members with content currently available on the web. Each of those links is plugged in to a feed, so you can see when the most recent content was posted. You'll also notice our twitter feed with all of the latest news, as well as some discussion topics and links.

We will soon have articles and blog entries from members and exclusive collaborative content here, so be sure to add us and subscribe to our blog. You won't want to miss out on any of the great surprises we have in store!

Our next meeting is on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 7:00pm. Event details are available in the left column, as well. If you're interested in seeing what we're all about, please come. And don't forget to follow us on twitter!

Please feel free to comment. We would love to hear from you, especially if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see on our blog.

Until next time,

Aura "Fedora" Shannon

Host/Producer Backstage on the Bayou

Founding Member, Nola New Media