STBD on About.com

John C Havens, the podcasting guru of About.com, interviewed STBD creator and BootCamp Pittsburgh co-organizer Justin Kownacki. Topics of the 50 minute interview include:

- What IS BootCamp PGH?
- The future of STBD
- How to collaborate with your audience
- The pros and cons of HOW to monetize your content

Lots of interesting questions in this conversation, including some great points about the ways in which monetization can (or should) occur.

The STBD Cast Comes Alive!

Our cast is gigantic. They all do lots of things besides STBD. Every so often, we like to let you know what's up.

* On Saturday, April 21st, STBD creator Justin Kownacki co-hosts BootCamp Pittsburgh, a one-day "bare basics" guide to blogging, podcasting and social media. The event is FREE to attend, and will occur at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh from 9 AM - 5 PM.

To register, and see the packed schedule of sessions, visit the BCPGH website.

(In addition, STBD cast members Erik Schark (aka Rich) and Ann Turiano (aka Caroline) will take part in a session focused on "Finding Your Voice.")

* Also on April 21st, Ryan Ben (aka Tim) and Clare Fogerty (aka Chloe) will be performing in a One Act Play Festival for the University of Pittsburgh from 10AM until 1PM.

Josh Hansen (aka Brent) will direct one of the plays. And it's also free.

* ALSO running April 19-21st: The final weekend of Run for Your Wife, directed by Teresa Trich (aka Gloria) and performed at Stage Right of Fox Chapel.

(Everyone else in the cast has something going on, too, but we don't want to overstimulate you all at once...)

iJustine on STBD

Here in Pittsburgh, STBD isn't the only web video game in town. One of our talented contemporaries is iJustine, whom -- you may recall -- was a finalist in the Yahoo Talent competition a few months back.

Since then, she and her partner in comedy, Desiree, have been creating regular web video treats at Mommy, Pack My Lunch. iJustine also has a blog, where her legions of devoted followers can come to crush.

This week, iJustine makes a guest appearance on STBD, and holds her own against Rich and Tim. Not an easy task.

(iJustine will also be hosting a few sessions at BootCamp PGH on April 21st. Living in Pittsburgh and need to learn about new media from the people creating it? Come down and get smart!)

PodCamp is to BootCamp as...

Last night's PodCamp Meet-Up went very well, as far as I could tell. Due to a transportation delay, I wasn't able to get there until just past 7, but we packed a lot of conversation into a relatively short amount of time. It was great to see so many familiar faces, but also great to meet so many new people as well -- Pittsburgh's new media community is definitely growing.

The big topic of discussion was BootCamp, which is what we're calling the one-day immersive introduction to new media that we're planning for April. Since PodCamp is a multi-day event, targeting new media creators of all stripes and levels of expertise, we realized that absolute newcomers might be intimidated, confused or frustrated by the variety of information available. The last thing we want is for a PodCamp attendee to come away feeling like they DIDN'T learn what they intended to. So the best solution seems to be a preamble to the main event, where newcomers can get up to speed on all the basics of blogging, podcasting, social networking and other new media buzzwords and processes.

That way, when you're at PCPGPGH2 in August and you're trying to choose between learning more about Alive in Baghdad or attending a panel on the future of content licensing, you won't have to stop a volunteer and ask them what, exactly, IS a podcast? (Although, if you're still not sure, you certainly can.)

For more details about what you missed, including the first wave of planning for the upcoming BootCamp in April, read the summary at our PodCamp Pittsburgh Forum.