This is the set up I used for the big streaming event from the other night.

So, with two MacBooks, two DSL lines, a point-and-shoot DV cam, and my Handy Zoom 2 recorder, I went ahead and streamed the speakers from my employer's grand gala event over to a group in Boston that was holding a simultaneous event. And It worked. So, yeah. Go Ustream.

I went with the two DSL lines becuase I've been burned by flakey connections before, and I really wanted to be able to monitor the incoming stream as it went out over the intertoobs. Also, I knew that in a pinch, that at least one of the two DSL lines would be better than the other. If I learned nothing from Star Trek, its that a third-layer of backup is when you really start having a backup. I don't know what that has to do with Star Trek.

I had contracted with an "events' provider to get a live video and audio patch from the event. I bought an Analog to Digital adapter that takes a component input and converts them over to a firewire interface. It'd used to to stream the opening sessions of BarcampMIlwaukee5. It worked just fine then.

For whatever reason, I couldn't get the signal off of the entertainment company's firm to play nice with Ustream, so I ended up going with Plan B, which was my Cannon HV30 camcorder. It ended up being a little off center, but it's ustream, so the signal was hardly going out hi-def.

For the audio, I used the Handy Zoom 2 recorder to convert the incoming audio into digital over the USB connection on my mac, because I couldn't get the uStream client to pick up the audio input from anything other than mac's built in microphone. The Zoom2 will, ocassionally, especially if bumped or jostled, or in response to audio clippng, freak out and just make a lot of horrible noise. But that didn't happen during the broadcast. I'm going to need a better solution for future events, because having good audio makes the choppy uStream video worth watching.

What else would I do different? There are lots of better choices than UStream and the built in ustream client, I think, out there for professional use. I haven't experimented with that. I also really wish the A to D adapter had worked. It would have made a much better presentation overall. And been less stressful for everyone. It was frustrating that It worked at Bucketworks and it worked at my internal tests here at the office, but wouldn't work come showtime.

Sure, a tri-caster and a nice fat piece of bandwidth would have helped, but remember, we're doing this on a shoestring. Imagine what it would have cost just 10 years ago to send a video signal from Milwaukee to Boston? Nowdays, you can do it with junk you have laying around in your office. Its only going to get easier and better to be your own best publisher.

I'm really looking forward to Web414 tonight-- I don't think there are any plans to webcast it, so you should definitely come by.
At first I didn't think we'd need to have a meeting so close on the heels of a virtuous and successful BarCampMilwaukee, but in retrospect, now I'm glad for the chance to get together with the gang and breakdown the BarCampMK3 experience. I just hope we're far enough removed from it so that we can realistically assess what total failures we all are. Things like Freely exchanging ideas and inspirations and building on one another's passions are great and all, right, but will they feed a hungry orphan? Will the turn a frown upside down? Will they translate sarcasm across a textual experience? No. Of course they won't. I propose that BarCamps, in and off themselves, are for wankers. And that, when it comes right down to it, at the end of the day, we're all wankers.

The thing is, we're still int he Barcamp Honeymoon phase, right? After every Barcamp that I've been involved in, there is this period for a couple of weeks afterward that everybody is really high on the BarCamp experience and wants to do stuff and get thigns done and "hold a barcamp every three months," and stuff.

Here's a far-be-it-from-inclusive list of post BarCampMilwaukee Three Projects that have been launched in the not-quite-four-days since BarcampMK3 ended:

• WriteCamp (Reboot)
• Cook/FoodCamp
• A Sex With Ashe podcast
• Justin's iCal for next year that doesn't have anything on it.

Will these things grow and evolve into THE NEXT BIG THING?
Fortunately, and so far, we've been able to stave off any kind kind of wide-spread excitement or passion for these projects. I'm proud to think that by really hanging on to our bitter disappointment and selfishness, we can probably continue to stave off doing interesting, intelligent things together in favor of a bleak post-McCain election depressive episode. We wouldn't want to make the world a better place. Shit. Can't let that happen.

I, hereby promise that I will make it my life goal to prevent meaningful communication, effectively stamping out meeting, talking, sharing ideas, and inspiring change. And it is for this reason that I am looking forward to Web414 tonight. For the good of the nation, Web414, If it is my job to be the urine stream in your open-source wikiflakes, a urine stream I shall be.