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Because I am going to be attending and presenting at BarCamp Harrisburg I have been putting a lot of thought into what my discussion topic should be, and I have three things that have been rattling around in my head for a while now. I am going to decide on one of them within the next week so I can begin to compile my materials.

Here are the things I've been thinking about:

• Incorporating social tools into existing business applications. - I want to be able to examine how you could change existing applications into something more collaborative and connected. I'm not crazy about this topic, but since I am a developer I do think about these types of things.


• Social Project Management - I think Project Management is one area that could use more social interaction, collaboration, better searching, more integration with different types of media, and it's something that I've been aching for. I want to put some thoughts together on how to make this happen.


• Running a Social Media Consulting Business - The other thing that's been really consuming my thoughts is how to run a consulting business that helps connect companies with social tools like Twitter, Facebook, and the like to be more responsive to customers and grow. I believe a lot of companies are afraid of these types of tools and they shouldn't be. I think there is a great opportunity for the right company to come forward and help others understand and join the social web. I would do this as a practice run for presenting to my own company. I don't want to hide that. I want to sell this idea to my company.

So those are my topics. I'm going to probably pick two of them and prepare them both.

I just found out through a Twitter contact that Harrisburg is going to be having their own BarCamp. BarCamp is not an all-day booze fest (though that does have its place in life) but is an unconference of sorts. It is a tech gathering where everyone who goes has to participate.

This is a moment of synchronicity for me because earlier this evening I was wondering what I was going to be blogging about in this space. I've already peeled away my personal postings to another blog to be able to concentrate this area on something more substantial, and that was certainly easier before the election, but since, I've felt topically adrift. I was not sure what I was going to be blogging about next, because there are many things that interest me, but where do I focus? Does the world really need another food blog? Do I have the time to devote to putting together a good music blog? And would anybody really care.

What I really needed was something that was going to dovetail nicely with my day-to-day activities in work and technology, especially because it'll be good to be able to capture and expand on my thoughts when I'm in that context.

Attending BarCamp Harrisburg gives me an excuse to pick a topic to present on and expand on it here. So the next couple of days I'm going to spend time thinking about what I want to discuss in January and build my presentation in this space.

I think it's fitting that I'll be working on a presentation for an "unconference" in this space and evolving my ideas here. Kind of anti-climactic for those who will be attending the actual BarCamp but oh well.

I don't think that this means I'll be completely ignoring politics or civil liberties and freedom as I have blogged about in the past. I'll just be looking for a new venue to do that in. When I've found a new home for that content I'll be sure to let you know.