LIVE Drink Driving Operation Hangout on Air from West Midlands Police and Kerry Blakeman on Sat 1 Dec 2012 at 6pm

Google+ Even Page

On planning a LIVE Hangout On Air, there are a number of posts to be made to ensure it all runs smoothly. 

This post will let you know what they are and where they are located across platforms like Google+, Twitter and YouTube.

Channel 4 News, LSE and the Leveson Google+ Hangout On Air

Google+ Post showing user and a mini player

Channel 4 held their first Hangout On Air today. This post is providing all the speaker information and links to negotiate through the broadcast.

To develop HOAs (Hangouts On Air) further, it necessary to understand the timeline of posting and sharing. Gone are the days when you turn on the TV at 6pm and simply watch. HOAs can open in seconds, when news breaks so we need no studio, no production staff or specialist equipment.

Insights on creating a simple collage using Picasa 3.9.0

As a Teacher Broadcaster, I use slides and collages every single day. Here's how I do it, you can too ..

Insights on creating a simple collage using Picasa 3.9.0 (all for free) and to share at Google+

Effects used are just: Crop, Highlight, Shadow, Straighten, Orton and Collage adding text in Arial and Angelina font. Save and Export to Online Web Album or Google Drive.

Hangouts On Air have Help Pages Use Them

Don't wait to get stuck, do your homework, spend 10 mins reading, take a mental snapshot and know the answers .. not so much for yourself, but Help Others ..

For a 4000x2000 copy of the slide visit Drive: http://goo.gl/FOJxE

To get started, visit: http://goo.gl/UGJCQ .. HOAs look easy, they're not,With great power comes responsibility .. My favourite quote is still, Enjoy!! ...and don't forget you're broadcasting publicly, so mind your manners ;) (+Katherine Gramann May, 2012) ..

There are also Hangout Help Pages How many have you read? 

And don't leave it too late to find the one you need .. http://goo.gl/vv1ai .. Coming next the same slide for Hangouts On Air .. can't wait visit: http://goo.gl/UGJCQ .. 


The Video ..

Just Like Google Plus Hangouts: How to make a Mini Player HOA Wall using Blogger

From the Google Plus Home Page, you can visit the Hangouts Page where you will often see up to ten mini players.

We can recreate this look very easily at Blogger using as many mini players as we need. Here's an example with four.

In this post, I have a column width of 580 pixels, so each player is 267 x 150.

How to be yourself at Google Plus by being Useful and Unique by Mike Downes

Monty Roberts Join Up

What is my part in this? It's been a year since I've been at Google Plus. Every day, I ask myself the same question on how I use this platform a little but better each day. So far, after sitting in  more than 1,300 Hangouts and posting more than 6,000 times, all I know is I want to start again.

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go (into the second year). So, what have I accomplished in year one?

In many ways, being brutally honest, absolutely nothing. I can only compare the complete vision in my head to what I ultimately see as a finished item.  As Google+ and Hangouts resemble just a small portion of their potential. I have to give more and more importantly to the people who are the life and soul within it.

Monty Roberts said he goes about each day trying to achieve in 15 mins what most people achieve in ten hours. He was talking about Join-Up and his work in training horses. If you've even seen the Horse Whisperer you will know more about natural horsemanship. More about  later.

Ernest Hemingway

Many would disagree saying I have achieved nothing is unfair. I sit on twenty one thousand followers, a verified tick by my name and more bat phones to high level and intelligent people than I could shake a stick at. I'm involved in many exciting projects that leave me breathless, but all of it leaves me unfulfilled. I could do more.

Will there be a time when we can fly? I would measure this by being able to find what you are looking for by having the ability to use the tools you are given. To achieve this, you have to put in the effort to educate yourself and learn. I've had many discussions with people, who just have not looked in the right places. They haven't even tried.

For example, I shared a question mark [?] to get to a Gmail short cut menu (the post had 282 shares). People were delighted, but why? Maybe it surprised them, maybe it was useful or maybe it was just simple and effective.

Google (and many other people) are giving us, often for free, the chance to carve out a new life. It's now taken almost for granted, that everywhere should have wifi and a cracking 3g signal. Video and Hangouts are  changing the way we communicate. Google wants to make it just like real life - and that's where the trouble starts.

The Writing Hut and Roald Dahl 

I'm in with the in crowd; I go where the in crowd goes. Please don't. I'll say that again, please do not chase someone else's dream. Be yourself and say what you want to say, often from your heart. Do not let anyone influence you. If you have to shut yourself away, close the curtains and sit for away from the world before you find your own words, then so be it.

Many people, have an inbred passion, Google Plus has many of these people already, but for many others, it's hard. For me as the ex teacher, it's like someone copying someone else's work. Don't do it. When I talk to people in Hangouts and they tell me all they do all day is post cr*p and share even more cr*p. I just think - Why? 

When I read advice like using the right title, keywords, identifying social influencers, commenting on their posts, sharing strategically and then create your own posts that fulfil  a target audience - it both nauseates and worries me in equal measure. I think of J K Rowling sat penniless in a Scottish Cafe writing the first Harry Potter book and wonder if she was optimizing the first few chapters. My guess, she was writing from her heart (just like Hemingway, Dahl and Berne without a laptop or wifi in sight).

Another buzzword phrase is Content is King. What does it really mean? Who knows. Can you hang your hat up on it? Nope. I would rephrase as create something useful and unique by being yourself. The web is one place with Google+ as one of the others where passions collide. I like to think of it as the one person who breaks away from the camp fire and goes for a wander. Little did that person know they would find someone else on a pinnacle staring across a valley tentatively raising a hand into a wave to a new found friend.

Eric Berne in simple writing mode

When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do is take a look at you. What I mean by that is giving you the space to think, the time to see literally the wood from the trees. I often think of a forest, some hills and a river that settlers sought as essential to make it their home. I ask myself, if things were real simple without the laws, the confusion and even the electricity - what is the simplest it can be?

Chasing the Muse. I put together a few ideas from what I thought mixed in with the books I've read. For me, Creative Non fiction is something we can all practice. It's just telling a story well. In the context of Google Plus posting, blogging or even short videos, here they are:

•  Art happens when you are not looking
•  Find the human story
•  Pretend we have all the time in the World
•  Take the long large view
•  Start on One Small Corner of Common Ground
•  Challenge is to make it large – significant- without making it long
•  Choose the most interesting point of view
•  Take it to a new level of elegance and emotional honesty. The reader places himself in the story and  measures the experience against the truth of his own life

Nature Boy There was a boy, A very strange enchanted boy, They say he wandered very far, very far Over land and sea. As a teacher, I was asked countless numbers of times why I did it. I never had an answer. There isn't one. The closest I got was to say, It's in my nature. By that I mean, altruism. I suffer the same fate at Google+ .. If someone asks, I will help them. I cannot do it another way. George Orwell wrote the short essay Why I write. In it, he tells how, Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.

I could compare it to GPS (Google Plus Syndrome) where I've heard of people spending 15 hours a day in hangouts, getting withdrawal symptoms from the +1 button and even spending so much time at plus, they end up deleting their entire account (only to return a few weeks later to say, where'd my followers go!?).

Stand and Deliver, your money or your life. One of the recent mysteries is the trigger happy nature of the Google plus stream. It seems, people are jumping up and down more than a kid on a fun fair trampoline. Usually at the site of a post by Google on a new feature.

Monty Roberts and Queen Elizabeth II

I've honestly lost count on the amount of hangouts I've been in or comments I've responded to where people are moaning, speculating and threatening Google with all sorts of inaccuracies. If these people were served a buffet of sausages and rolls (along with fifty other finger snacks), they would complain how unfair it is that Sausage Rolls were not there. I really find this quite amusing. There is no need for it. However, Google want Hangouts to be just like real life. Guess what, they are getting there .. just like children in the playground falling out and arguing just before Summer Break. To understand more, go visit The Games People Play by Eric Berne.

Join Up. Let me leave you with one story that makes me want to carry on. Sometimes, there are people who arrive in this world and do things a different way. One of those is Monty Roberts. I was fortunate enough to meet him. 

For those who do not know, Monty is an American horse trainer who promotes his techniques of natural horsemanship through Join-Up International. As a child in the 1940s breaking in horses was traditionally violent. Monty found a new way, by working in partnership with each horse by communication and herd behaviour. This was not without risk as crossing his own father often meant beatings and broken bones. Monty did not give up. There is a lesson there for us all.  

Google+: Sarah Hill's Broadcast News Hangouts with full Audio Transcript

Google released a video today featuring Sarah Hill and many more people who I've come to call my friends since my involvement with the News in Missouri. 

It's no secret to reader's of my stream at g+ (and this blog) that Google Hangouts have changed my life forever.

Little did I know in July 2011, when I sat on a sofa forcing myself to learn what Google Plus really was and how to use it, it would lead to this. I've seen things and gone places that I could never have dreamed of.

For many who have not experienced it before, it seems odd that a webcam, a headset and a microphone can do that. We are a year on now and my passion for Google Plus and what Hangouts can achieve is only just starting. I know Sarah feels the same.

Here is the audio transcript edited for you to read. By reproducing it here, makes it Google Searchable. That's a lesson for another day. 

0:07 Sarah Hill: My wheels are constantly turning about what might we be able to do in our news broadcast.
0:12 Sarah Hill: It all has to do with providing an accurate record, and being a resource for
0:19 people who reach out to us.
0:21 Sarah Hill: In our business, sometimes we think that we need to give you information, information,
0:27 information - and we’ve kind of forgotten the fact that that we need to listen.

0:32 Chad LaFarge: What Sarah’s doing is she’s gone from traditional news reporting format,
0:36 where there’s a person standing on the screen and they throw news at you - to a format where
0:40 people can come in and join the conversation. from your home you can log in...
0:44 Chad LaFarge: ...Sarah gives the news and says, “Chad what do you think about that”
0:47 Sarah Hill: It’s essentially a hybrid newscast that combines social media with TV.

0:52 Kim Beasley: Sarah does something that’s really unique. She has a earbud in each ear.
0:56 In one ear she’s listening to her producer.
0:58 Jen McMillen: You’re about a minute from headline.
1:00 Kim Beasley: In the other ear she’s listening to us.
1:02 Kim Beasley: Sarah what are you talking about today.

1:04 Kim Beasley: As she’s reporting the news, she’s hearing our feedback. Sometimes she
1:08 incorporates that into the newscast.
1:10 Jen McMillen: Standby. Headline.
1:10 Sarah Hill: If you guys could help me with the mute button.
1:18 Floor Director: Three, Two, One.
1:21 Jen McMillen: Go.

1:22 Sarah Hill: Hey Gang, I’m Sarah Hill welcome to U_News. Chad Lafarge you have an announcement
1:25 regarding your muckraking here in town.
1:26 Chad LaFarge Yeah, the muck ruckus that we talked about last Monday has moved.
1:29 Producer: Sarah top story on the website. E Coli strain.
1:31 (Guest: ...its in honor of.. .)
1:33 Sarah Hill: Okay. Guys.
1:34 Michele Spry: Yeah?

1:35 Sarah Hill: Two more reports of the same strain...
1:38 Kent Collins: The host or anchor for a show using social media...
1:41 Kent Collins: ...Is like the only air traffic controller on duty in New York or Chicago....
1:46 Kent Collins: ...It’s Mind Boggling.
1:47 Kim Beasley: No longer will news stations have to have someone on the scene of breaking news.
1:51 Kent Collins: People who are unhappy about the condition of a street in their neighborhood.
1:55They now are significant contributors to a story.

1:57 Sarah Hill: As news organizations we are realizing that we need to come down from that mountain
2:02 that we’ve placed ourselves on, and listen to people.
2:05 Chad LaFarge: I don’t want for my kids to be sitting there in front of the TV, having
2:09 the news thrown at them and not have a say. I want them to have the feeling that they
2:13 can contribute to that conversation.
2:14 Sarah Hill: There’s beauty in giving people a forum, and allowing people to share their stories.

 

An Introduction to Mediacise by Mike Downes

In this post, I will introduce the term mediacise, contrast it with the ostracism while paving a way for future discussion.

The Setup: I've listened to people in the media business, tried to understand their thinking and asked if they have any idea what's going on with the changes in their industry. 

I've watched countless presentations from current media professionals, chatted to them and posted. Many of them are stuck in the dark ages.

The Aim: To introduce the term, mediacise. If you wish to search for this word, you will see it has little use (and is not in any dictionary, until now). Let's see who picks it up. This may lead to people and companies taking an interest in becoming mediacised.

Media [mee-dee-uh]

This extends to far outside of the media business. For example, I've heard people say they are not a media company, but have a media arm. Some well placed gurus are saying everyone needs to be a media company - not just the media (themselves).

The Background: From Ostracism, we have a procedure to expel a citizen from Athens, Greece for 10 years. This was used to diffuse an argument [with rival politicians] through neutralization.  A modern usage could be a form of social rejection defined as, ' …any behaviour in which a group or individual excludes and ignores another group or individual'. Ostracism seems to have been used as a way to decide between radically opposed policies.

There is a link to Petalism: a form of banishment where names of those considered are written on leaves. Athens asks the Q: Do you wish to hold a Ostracism? Votes cast must be at least 6,000 in Athens. Thereafter, the winner is the person nominated who had ten days to leave the city (should they return, they face death). However, they can be called back early.

The Objective: Bring people, groups and business up to speed. Make them story tellers using our new found digital tools.

Dictionary definition [future] 2012/13

What is to Mediacise?

Ostracism is the banishment for 10 years, where Mediacism is the inclusion for the last ten years. Where were you in 2002? And what may you have missed? To Mediacise may be similar to modernise. 

A non-mediacised person or group, in extreme cases, is someone who is not aware of any digital changes at all. A milder case, is someone who is aware but scoffs or belittles those people who use the latest technologies. These non-mediacised people may be said to be living in the past.

This may apply to people working in the media industry or extended professions. An example maybe a print journalist who is forced to now publish online or to open a twitter, facebook or Google Plus account. Although many have embraced the new ways, it is no excuse that many have not. One swallow doesn't make a summer.

Another example is the small business owner who knows having a website, a blog and a social media presence may benefit them, but ignoring is a whole lot easier than consciously making steps towards mediacising. As I've said, every company needs to have a media arm in this fast changing digital age. As a reminder ..

Archive notes from Mike Downes

What have we seen in the last ten years? 

2002, Multi Media Messaging and Blackberry

2003: Wordpress and MySpace

2004: facebook and flickr

2005: YouTube and Windows Live

2006: Twitter

2007: Kindle

2010 Pinterest, iPad and Instagram and 

2011 Google Plus (And remember, Google was only founded September 1998, 14 years ago).

As we move towards a realtime digital world with the ever present video as a means of easy face to face communication, geography is all but forgotten. Global is now local. 

Media is the middle ground. The dictionary tells us it's a wall between two areas - it need not be.

So, Do you wish to hold a Mediacism? From my exploits in the news business, it seems there are many who are badly in need of being shocked into the reality of 2012. The avoidance shows itself in some very strange ways.

If you've ever experienced a raised eyebrow or being scoffed at when you mention Twitter, facebook or Google Plus or someone you know spends ten minutes walking to the shops for a newspaper (then spends three days reading it) .. and if you say.. what you're reading is kinda out of date .. and then you are given a look that makes you feel like you're the odd one out .. as you are the one with a laptop wickedly spending time online each day, then you may know what I mean.

Or the time you phone a business as they have no email or website and you are told the seller has no time for all that nonsense.. they are far too busy .. you may know what I mean. Or the time a major news organisation holds back on reporting some news for five hours.. when you read it on twitter 37 seconds after it happened .. you may just know what I mean (and yes I know we can argue over this one, and believe me I will).

The Ancient Greeks had a solution 2,500 years ago, Ostracism. What I'm looking to do is a flip, it's Mediacism (Mediacise).

For it's now late 2012 and these are the post modern times. Make sense of what's happening in the digital world. Find me and the people like me (who are media disruptors) to Mediacise yourself or your business before it's another ten years - ten years too late.

Cameraman App leads the way for Channel Hopping with Hangous On Air

How do you Host Your Own Hangout On Air? Do you even think about it? Here are just a few ideas. I'm compiling a list and you can add your own.

Cameraman is a new App that lets you Channel Hop between users in a Hangout On Air. The slide shows some ways it can be used. Pro Studio is another App that can help produce seamless hangouts.

I've left out The Panel Discussion and The TV News Show, so the more adventurous we get, the more we create and have fun along the way.

For something so simple, the Cameraman App in Hangouts On Air could be the best think ever invented. It's a Channel Hopper ..

Remember when there was no TV Remote Control, to change a channel, it was the long walk from the sofa to the plastic button on the TV set and giving it a hard push.

Well, Cameraman is like that .. Sarah Hill could still say, Who do we have on our Cyber Couch today? and this time we will never know unless she hits that Channel Hopper ..

Sarah Hill Guest Post: Ten Ways Reporters Can Use Hangouts On Air to Enhance News Coverage

This was first posted at Sarah's Blog: Sarah Hill Stories


Equipment Needed:

• Laptop or PC with a webcam       
• Internet connection
• Google Plus/YouTube account  
• Guts to talk to strangers

Click "start broadcast" and your Google Plus "Hangout On Air" streams live on You Tube.  The recording is then automatically saved to your You Tube channel. 

1. Open a Hangout On Air during a news conference and allow people to watch the Q and A live.  Invite guests to suggest questions for the Police Chief, politician or superintendent holding the news conference.  Or if you're like the Toronto Police Service, use a Hangout stream the news conference yourself.  Reporters can join a Hangout On-Air and ask questions without leaving the newsroom. 

2. Open a Hangout behind the scenes of a newscast on a laptop/computer near the news set.  Point the webcam at your news set and talk to your audience during the soundbites and commercials.  Before, during and after the newscast, have Hangout guests share links to news items they find interesting.  Find out what they think is news.  Recently, Chad LaFarge, a Hangout viewer, helped KOMU-TV gather information to cover a breaking bank robbery.  A Hangout gives a station 9 extra pairs of hands during breaking news. 

3.  Wear a second IFB (ear piece) so you can hear the Hangout viewers' commentary about your news stories in real time. Anchors are already skilled at being able to talk and listen to their producer at the same time.  Why not listen to your audience? Work some of their comments into your newscast. 

4.  Use Hangouts as a free satellite truck. Hangouts operate in the middle of an international crowd sourcing tool so with public queries, you have the ability to find individuals who have experienced news events. Bring in experts virtually for live Hangout interviews and allow the other guests to ask questions.  

5.  Look at the most commented story on your social streams. Invite people to join a recorded or live Hangout and talk about that issue on TV face to face.  This was a recent Hangout on TV discussion about whether candidates should reimburse towns for police protection during campaign stops.

  

6.  Open a hangout during a breaking news event and show the world what you're seeing. Think of "live hanging" like live tweeting but with a face to face group conversation.  Invite others to ask questions about what they're seeing. Jean Francois Desmarais opened several Hangouts On Air during the 2012 Montreal Demonstrations and invited Canadians to ask questions.

During the 2012 NATO Riots in Chicago, Dan Soto also opened up a laptop for a live hang.

Photo Courtesy of Dan Soto

7. After an in studio interview, continue the conversation by bringing that guest into a Hangout to talk with virtual viewers.  Here's MyFox LA's Maria Quiban hosting a viewer chat behind the scenes with Mike Tyson.  When "time spent with content" is important, this extends the life of a TV interview beyond the studio.

Melissa Carlson of KRNV in Reno, Nevada uses Hangouts on her web show to get the public's opinion on talkable topics.

 

8.  During a snow storm, go beyond a weather map.  Ask the guests in your Hangout to turn their  webcams out their windows and show how much snow they received.

 

9. Invite politicians into a Hangout to have a virtual debate where candidates answer constituent questions. You can embed the live streaming Hangout on your website.

10. Join viewer hosted Hangouts to better learn the technology and interact with your audience on another level beyond the news host---news viewer relationship. There are Hangout shows on cooking, concerts, trivia games and much more. Cliff Roth compares Hangouts to "virtual trade shows" where you find people who share your passions. Group these passions into Google Plus circles and you have a Rolodex of experts at your virtual fingertips to talk about a variety of subjects. 

11. Open a Hangout during a story meeting and ask people what they think the newsroom should cover. 

Ok I lied. Make that 10 reasons.......... +1.

Martha Payne and the Story of Neverseconds: What I posted at Google Plus: Well Done Martha, You're a Star

This post is a look back on my g+ posts on Friday 15 June 2012 about the story of nine year old Martha and how her one simple idea of reporting her school dinners caused so much uproar. I've included all comments in this post too, as you will see new media like this demands I post and reply as soon as possible. We then have a conversation.

Mike Elgan on Burying the Google+ ‘ghost town’ myth once and for all: An open letter to the tech press

The Friendly Ghost 1945

Yesterday at 11.16pm UK Time, Mike Elgan made a post to Google Plus. The reason I'm cross posting this open letter is to spread it's message.

Although the post has been +1ed 439 times and shared 130 times, the text remains only discoverable inside Google Plus (and six times in Search which also links back to g+ .. and nowhere else .. until now). It reads:

How to setup your YouTube Channel for LIVE Featured Tab Broadcasting for Hangouts On Air

Post at Google Plus

How to setup your YouTube Channel for LIVE Featured Tab Broadcastingfor Hangouts On Air Steps 1, 2 and 3 are good, however .. step 4 involves manually checking the LIVE On Air ..

EDIT: Go to 3, .. Manually Select the On Air you are about to Broadcast .. Do this BEFORE you click red button, BROADCAST .. I will send some feed back to Google/YouTube .. #hangoutsonair  

h/t +Sarah Hill see it LIVE: Eureka Moment at 8:15 http://goo.gl/93zxw

The Richard Gingras Resource Page for The Future of News, Media Disruption and Assistance from the Trusted Crowd

Richard Gingras at Google Plus

Richard Gingras is the Head of Google News. I've been fascinated by his ideas for the last few weeks. For me, Richard has bought the academic argument to the forefront of discussion. 

In this post, you'll see a range of resources that should help you understand the issues. If you're from a media organisation, and reading this page, make a decision now to either commit a few hours to it or walk away now. If you are bringing emotion to the table, step away, clear your head and come back later. For these ideas, and the solution lie in mathematics, algorithms and logic.

LIVE from the NEWS™ in five Hangouts On Air: Real Time Story Telling just got a whole lot easier

The Latest on Syria at Topsy

It should be everyone's aim in the media to broadcast high quality text, photos and videos to the world. And if it's not, then is should be your aim to take an interest in those who do.

By high quality, I would define that as having believable, thorough and relevant content. It should be everyone's aim to act in real time as we have the tools to make that possible.

Live from the News - The Romance or The Reality only you can Decide

LIVE from the NEWS™

Here's a project called +LIVE from the NEWS™ where we make sense of the Blurring between What is News, Who makes it and the Audience who cope with it .. 

Thanks to Porthgwidden Beach, Cornwall, UK for the photo .. 1940s on the left, more recent on the right .. Which do you prefer: The Romance or The Reality only you can Decide .. The same applies to the News doesn't it ? 

Take this from wikipedia where the word blurred is used in every step: 

Schudson has identified the following six specific areas where the ecology of news in his opinion has changed: 

1. The line between the reader and writer has blurred 

2. The distinction among tweet, blog post, newspaper story, magazine article, and book has blurred 

3. The line between professionals and amateurs has blurred, and a variety of “pro-am” relationships has emerged 

4. The boundaries delineating for-profit, public, and non-profit media have blurred, and the cooperation across these models of financing has developed 

5. Within commercial news organizations, the line between the news room and the business office has blurred 

6. The line between old media and new media has blurred, practically beyond recognition

These alterations inevitably has fundamental ramifications for the contemporary ecology of news. “The boundaries of journalism, which just a few years ago seemed relatively clear, and permanent, have become less distinct, and this blurring, while potentially the foundation of progress even as it is the source of risk, has given rise to a new set of journalistic principles and practices”,[17] Schudson puts it. It is indeed complex, but it seems to be the future. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News

Thyroid Surgery comes LIVE to the Hangout courtesy of Hermine Ngnomire which paves the way for many more events from the OR

Photo from g+ post shared over 220 times

On Wednesday 16 May 2012, Hangouts with the help of +Hermine Ngnomire took a step forward in the Operating Room. What you will see circled is a Logitech C910 Webcam mounted on a medical stand and two laptops streaming to the hangout a Thyroidectomy procedure.

Dr +Gary Levin was in the hangout to share his medical expertise from San Antonia, Texas also pictured are +Dan McDermott +M Monica and +Mike Downes. 

As Gary Levin writes, This show seems to have attracted a lot of interest, there will be more soon. Some of the surgeries will include open heart surgery, a brain surgery, ocular surgery, a lung transplant. The upcoming schedule will be on +Digital Health Space. The goal of these broadcasts is to educate and give patients more exposure to hospital environments. The patient asked me to tell you to have your thyroid checked regularly.

Here is the 81 minute video. Watch out for the Thyroid removal at 1 hour 9 minutes with a handshake between the Surgeons. There is a slideshow of twenty two photos that were snapped during the live show.

Newborn Baby says Hi to the Sarah Hill Show

There has been a phenomenal amount written about this event as it takes a once unseen area of our lives into the public or private eye. Holding a Hangout from the delivery room would be wonderful for any family to see the latest newborn addition. It was fantastic to see this last night on the Sarah Hill Show where a proud father showed his baby to the world.

Sarah writes, Coolest Hangout Moment Ever .. Minutes before today's Noon newscast, +Thomas Deliduka joined my Hangout to report he had "breaking news". Thomas was in a hospital room... he panned the camera down to reveal his newborn daughter! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Deliduka. Thanks for letting us share in your joy of child #8!

HELPING TO BRING ATTENTION TO THYROID CONDITIONS: Recommending to Check Your Thyroid Levels Yearly During Annual Exam or Every Mid-May!!! Terive Duperior, M.D., F.A.C.S with Anesthesiologist and amazing surgical team at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital in San Antonio, TX complete a full thyroidectomy utilizing the world's most innovative technology: A Google+ Hangout. Surgeon Gary Levin provides medical perspective while while hosts Dan McDermott, Mike Downes and participants M Monica and Jason Salas offer background. News anchors from various affiliates world-wide stop by to lend support, insight and guidance. renetwork.tv/tbl

Broadcast to the World as Google Plus rolls out Hangouts On Air Worldwide

Chee Chew made a post at Google Plus yesterday (Monday 7 May 2012) at 2.19 pm UK time. It said, We've launched Hangouts On Air worldwide! .. go nuts. :) Viv Gundotra followed that four minutes later with Broadcast your Hangout to the World!

For me, the best quote from a Googler came from Katherine Gramann who posted, enjoy!! ...and don't forget you're broadcasting publicly, so mind your manners;)

Eight minutes earlier at 2.11 pm, Chee posted to the Official Google Blog which in my mind is one of the most important posts in Google history as it details how anyone, for free, can broadcast not just one, but ten videos LIVE at Google+ and LIVE to YouTube. This post gave eight videos and tons of links.

Not everyone was happy as the world is a big place and it takes time to organise each country.

Google produced a Country Guide to Hangouts On Air Availability and links to Learn More.

I was delighted to see so many people I know featured in a Google+: Broadcast Your Hangout To The World video. Google Plus was opened on the 28 June 2011 as invite only with it going public on 20 September 2011. Many of these people I've know for over nine months: +Hermine Ngnomire +pio dal cin +Daria Musk +Larry Fournillier +M Monica+Maria Quiban and +DeAno Jackson.

Over the next few hours, many people who were fortunate enough to have early access started broadcasting for the very first time. 

What's special is the ability for these LIVE streams to be watched in many places like at Google+, YouTube and shared via Twitter, facebook and where ever you can find the link. Which is on PCs, laptops, most mobiles and many tablets. Just look out for the hashtag #hangoutsonair

What I find puzzling is the UK Media. Britain is one of the most developed countries in the world. Yet for some reason, Google Plus (and the +1) button are irrelevant.

Here's an example from the BBC where 24 hours on and news that everyone will have the ability to broadcast LIVE (for free) has been unreported.

Even The Guardian have passed it by. have a look yourself .. and yes a Google News Search is far the best way.

Want to know more.. Come and find me at Google Plus as +Mike Downes and on YouTube: themikedownespage

The London Symphony Orchestra Live in a Hangout On Air

Here are +Maxine Kwok-Adams and Rhys Watkins from the +London Symphony Orchestra in their first ever Hangout On Air recorded in London, UK earlier today .. In the room were +Colman Carpenter +Randy Resnick +Jonathan Frazer +Frank Summers +Matt Beland

 

Back to Basics for Me: Longer Form Writing about Media while Google Plus is for Simple Short Stuff ..

+Mike Downes Profile

It's ten months since I threw myself into Google Plus. I don't regret it at all, it's taken me places I never could have imagined. This blog suffered as the posts ran dry, but with over 1,500 posts at g+ you  knew where I was.

For me, it's time to return here, but with a slant that keeps this blog growing, +Mike Downes growing and most importantly of all writing growing. Short posts are killing creativity.

And those who do post to professional news blogs are sometimes writing drivel that is so dire that I think, sorry I know, I can do better. Back in the old days I was covering local news for Kenilworth and Warwickshire, UK (notice I put UK as I know this blog is read far and wide these days).

The topics here will be wider, but all to do with the middle ground that is media. For those who don't know, I define media is a cat stuck up a tree and how it gets to be news a few minutes later. Maybe, a reporter turns up, maybe a film crew, maybe a kid with a smart phone and Bambuser or tweets it out.

But get the story out they do. Anything that is a layer, a stepping stone, a middle ground is what I'm interested in. that's what I did as a teacher, took stuff passed it through me or the board and told the kids. that's what I do here. Only they seem to be grown up (in some cases). I ask obvious questions, get people to tell me stuff and react to it. why else have Google (and many others) come knocking on my door?

I seem to be looked at very much as a Media Guy, that's fine. I was recently called a Broadcast Media Specialist. No idea what one of these is, but I happy to tag myself.

Google Plus is very much at my core, but the post format there is not great for longer writers. You cannot set any inline links (text which link to stuff), you cannot embed many photos in a stream and cannot post more than one mini video player. There is plenty you can do but it's just short.

Back to g+ .. Let me leave you with a few g+ videos and links to the new design of Google Plus.. Watch  There's More to Explore then see Google+: Set Up Your Profile, About Circles and Reading and Responding ..