Photophlow Round Two, Who’s With Me?

Last week's photophlow experiment was fairly successful. We had a good group of people show up to view and talk about the images in our Flickr pool. The downside to the meeting was that it took almost 4 hours to get through 170 images. It was a touch too long, so I want to try this again and maybe refine our process. This one will be a little more structured, and hopefully it will be even more educational and entertaining for everybody involved.

8AM PST (GMT-8), SUNDAY JANUARY 20

Again, I'll try to show up a little early (as long as Flickr doesn't decide to turn the lights off for half a day again). I've switched the date and time to accommodate those who couldn't make it last time, so we'll probably see a different group hanging out with us. And to make things more productive, here are some ideas to keep us moving along through he photos.

  • I CONTROL THE PHOTOS
    The photophlow team is working on a “slideshow” mode to basically force everybody into private mode (thus not displaying images to the group when they are clicked on by other members). It gets too crazy if everybody is clicking on their own stuff while we're trying to go through the photos in the pool, so if you want to check something else out set yourself to private mode so you don't disturb the group.
  • BE FAST TO COMMENT
    If I see a dead silence for more than about 10 seconds, we're moving on to the next image. If you want to discuss an image, get that first comment out there quickly. Photophlow is fast-paced, so don't hold up the show.
  • BE FAST TO MOVE ON
    It's easy to get caught up discussing a single photo for 5 or 10 minutes, but try to limit the discussion so the group can move forward. If you want to make comments on the Flickr photo, open it up in another window or tab and come back to it later.
  • WHISPER NON-RELATED CHATTER
    Use the whisper function if you want to have a side conversation with somebody else in the room. Too many conversations happening at the same time results in a lot of confusion, especially after you have about 15 people in the room.
  • BE OPEN, BUT BE NICE
    It's fine to say that you don't like a particular photo, but it doesn't add much to the discussion. Offer up the things that you like about it, and discuss the elements that you think might improve the photo. This is where a lot of the learning takes place — when everybody offers their perspectives in a non-threatening manner. As a rule of thumb, just assume that the person who took the photo is in the room with you.
  • YOU PICK THE PHOTODUMP PHOTOS
    I'd like to see if I can get you guys to do some of the work and actually pick out the photos for the PhotoDump by voting. Here's what I propose: When I “/ponder”, you “/approve” if you want the photo to be included. DO NOT “/disapprove” if you don't like it — that'll just make the votes harder to count quickly. I'll let the voting go for about 10 to 15 seconds, then we're moving on to the next photo.
  • HAVE FUN AND LEARN
    Don't forget to have fun. If you break “the rules” by accident, it's not the end of the world. Just have fun and be courteous — everything will work out fine.

As the photophlow team continues to develop the application, this little meet-up should get easier. Not only are they working on the presentation mode, but they're also talking about developing a voting system of sorts. The main idea right now is to get in there and help us figure out how to best utilize photophlow. If there's enough interest in certain features, the guys behind the website are very receptive to input and feedback. You could actually help shape the outcome of photophlow.

So let's give this thing another shot this weekend, and we'll fine tune it from there. In the near future, we might need to split this up into two sessions due to the amount of photos submitted to the pool each week. Not only that, but a set schedule should result in more participants so people can plan ahead. So who's showing up this Sunday?