Somesso – Julie Meyer: Value Creation through Social Media for Companies [en]

[fr] Mes notes de la conférence de Julie Meyer à Somesso.

Somesso 18

From the Digital Island (that’s what it felt like 10 years ago) to Entrepreneur Country (what it feels like today).

Entrepreneurs are not the problem, it’s more the financing.

Somesso 20

Somesso 21

steph-note: ouch, lots of text on the slides and talking very fast& taking photos again

Somesso 22

Julie used to work for PR, and used to think that the job of PR was to hold up the mirror to the company, and that the company should have no contact whatsoever with the exterior — completely invalid thinking today.

Marketing trumps technology.

Somesso 23

Somesso 24

steph-note: sorry, too many words too fast and too packed on slides, tuned out

Somesso 25

Somesso 26

Somesso 27

Somesso 28

Somesso 29

Somesso 30

Somesso 31

Somesso 32

Somesso 33

Spinvox: didn’t create the technology, but created the business model (like Skype).

Big problem in the startup sector: founders can’t make it to CEO steph-note: agreed!

Realising what ecosystem you’re in, whether or not it is to disrupt it.

Somesso 34

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Linking Flickr Images in Thesis' Multimedia Box [en]

[fr] Instructions pour faire en sorte que les photos de la boîte multimédia du thème WordPress Thesis renvoient vers leur page Flickr.

I haven’t had Thesis on my blog for 24 hours that I’m already messing with it. Oh well. So, one thing I’ve done and will explain in some detail is added tons of photos from my Flickr account to the Thesis multimedia box up right, with links to the original Flickr pages.

  1. I have shell access to my server, which makes life so much simpler. Once inside the rotator folder, all I have to do is grab the URL of the middle-sized photograph I want (All sizes > Medium) and wget it. For example: wget http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/2725414522_4a9b2887df.jpg
  2. On the Thesis Options page, I insert the Flickr photo page URL in the “alt” field for that photo. It’s pretty easy to deduce it from the filename. For example: 2725414522_4a9b2887df.jpg => http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/2725414522/.
  3. Following these instructions, I replaced one line in the multimedia_box_functions.php file so that the images would actually link to their Flickr page.

Voilà!

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Retour en plaine [fr]

Comme ces jours ont filé! On a marché, marché, grimpé, bûcheronné. De retour chez moi, je suis physiquement épuisée, je me suis vidé la tête, et contrairement à il y a trois semaines, je ne me sens pas ralentie, mais plutôt boostée.

Autres vacances, autres gens, autre rythme, autre effet.

J’ai pris des tas de photos, de nouveau. On a eu de la chance avec le temps, même si on s’est fait rincer un peu (au Col des Essets, notamment). Le programme des ces quelques jours en altitude?

Vendredi 15, tronçonnage des troncs d’arbustes coupés il y a trois semaines. Soirée tranquille à jouer (kalah et backgammon).

Samedi 16, départ peu matinal (et malgré le beau temps) pour le Col de la Croix. On a une voiture, on en profite! Une petite grimpette dans les Pyramides de Gypse (histoire de s’échauffer et de se préparer moralement pour l’initiation à la Via Ferrata prévue pour le lendemain… ou le surlendemain), suivie par un petite pique-nique et une autre grimpette (moins d’escalade, plus de dénivellation) jusqu’au Meilleret, avec détour involontaire par l’Encrène.

Ça fait un peu journal de voyage, comme je raconte ça, non? 🙂

On coupe à travers pâturages depuis le Meilleret pour descendre sur le Lac des Chavonnes (fort joli) où un petit restau sympa nous attend (et une tomme de chèvre fraîche sur lit de salade pour moi). On repart pour Bretaye via son lac et une séance course-photos avec les bébés grenouilles qui en habitent les rives.

On continue via le Col de Bretaye pour la promenade “poussette-compatible” jusqu’au Col de la Croix, via Ensex. Nos jambes en ont bien marre, mais on s’arrête toute de même en route pour photographier une amanite tue-mouches. Vers 20h, on est enfin de retour à la voiture.

Une fois les pâtes carbonara avalées, les photos de la journée regardées, et une bonne pile de bois de cheminée brûlée, il est quasi minuit…

Dimanche 17, le temps n’est pas à la Via Ferrata. On part pour Solalex avec le projet de monter à Anzeinde en taxi et puis de faire le tour de l’Argentine (5 heures de marche). A Solalex, on décide de monter à pied à Anzeinde. Il est environ 14h quand on y arrive, et le temps de manger, il est très clair que notre tour de l’Argentine ne se fera pas. En plus, il y a des nuages partout et l’orage menace.

On décide de se limiter au Col des Essets. On se met en route dans une purée de pois qui bouche la vue à 20 mètres, et on se fait rincer propre en ordre une fois au col. Malgré les éclaboussures sur les objectifs, on s’arrête pour prendre des photos, assez longtemps en fait pour que la pluie se calme et que le soleil réapparaisse en compagnie d’un magnifique arc-en-ciel. La vue se dégage complètement. On reste un bon moment à admirer les montagnes d’en haut, et je commence à faire des projets de Col des Chamois (pour une autre fois, hein).

Lundi 18, après un réveil un poil tardif (on a ouvert le Trivial Poursuite la veille au soir), on se met en route pour la fameuse Via Ferrata. Que dire? Il faut regarder les photos. On a renoncé à commencer par le début un peu abrupt (c’était une initiation) pour entamer la route par l’échappatoire. Quelques passages difficiles, un pique-nique avec vue imprenable sur la vallée, et une tyrolienne pour terminer (qui m’a vu faire le singe sur le câble à la fin, la tête en bas et les pieds en l’air, pour pouvoir décrocher ces sacrés mousquetons — la corde de la poulie avait fait des noeuds, du coup je touchais à peine par terre à l’arriveé).

Le soir: taille-haies. Taille-haies. Et le lendemain matin: taille-haies. Le jardin est bien propre.

A voir aussi, les photos de Corinne: premier jour, deuxième jour, troisième jour. Et moi qui lis la carte:

Stephanie lit la carte.

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Photos From the Mountains [en]

[fr] Quelques photos de mes vacances au chalet.

As you know if you read my latest posts (I’m going on a link strike, be warned, so it’s up to you to dig), I was up in the mountains for nearly a week, staying at my chalet with a friend.

And I took photos.

I’d been on a photo strike for ages, and I rediscovered how much I liked taking photos, and even sorting them 🙂

Here are the albums of my days in Gryon:

Feel free to tag my photos, add notes, or add questions. I know most of the places and mountains photographed, but it’s easier to add information as it’s asked for!

My sets and collections are somewhat out of control, of course, but there is some underlying layer or organization. Maybe ten years from now I’ll go through with my project to select photos for a book or an exhibition (maybe you can help me: tags forbook and forexpo — doesn’t hurt to try).

If you’re using Firefox, you might want to download and install the PicLens plugin.

Here are some random photos that I like.

Chalet and Surroundings 55

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 94

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 16

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 35

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 77

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 27

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 50

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 59

Day 1, Croix des Chaux - Taveyanne - Villars 080

Day 1, Croix des Chaux - Taveyanne - Villars 047

Day 1, Croix des Chaux - Taveyanne - Villars 049

Day 1, Croix des Chaux - Taveyanne - Villars 030

Day 1, Croix des Chaux - Taveyanne - Villars 026

Day 3, Bretaye - Col de la Croix - Gryon 23

Day 4, Solalex - Anzeinde - Pas de Cheville - Anzeinde 26

Chalet and Surroundings 12

Chalet and Surroundings 29

Chalet and Surroundings 42

Chalet and Surroundings 37

Chalet and Surroundings 65

Chalet and Surroundings 52

Chalet and Surroundings 79

Chalet and Surroundings 10

Chalet and Surroundings 66

Chalet and Surroundings 62: Steph and Bagha

I’m looking forward to my next holiday!

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End-Of-Travel Musings [en]

[fr] Peu de photos, d'articles, ou encore de vidéos de mon mois de voyage en Irlande, au Texas, et à San Francisco. Thierry trouve dommage, mais pas moi. J'apprends à prendre la vie un peu plus à la légère, à ne pas me mettre sous pression plus que nécessaire pour tirer toujours le maximum de profit de tout ce que je fais, tout ce que je vois, tout ce que je visite, chaque personne que je rencontre. A force de documenter sa vie, on court le risque d'oublier de la vivre.

Retour de San Francisco le coeur un peu lourd, car j'aime cet endroit et il abrite des gens qui me sont chers, mais heureuse de rentrer à Lausanne, que j'adore, et de revoir mon chat, bêtement. J'ai appris à "lâcher prise" concernant mon réseau social éclaté, à moitié en ligne, et dispersé aux quatre coins de la planète. On se recroisera, je le sais. Dans une conférence, lors de mes voyages ou des vôtres. On est à quelques clics de souris en ligne, jamais très loin. On est partout, au fond.

These two weeks here in San Francisco have been really nice. I got to relax and catch up with some friends (not all of them, unfortunately, and some less than I wanted to), make a few new ones, and also make good progress in the work department. I caught up with most of the stuff I’d fallen behind with during the previous month (stress and travel), and amongst other things, this means that [Going Solo is now ready to accept sponsorships](http://going-solo.net/2008/03/26/be-a-going-solo-sponsor/). It’s also time for us to strike up some media partnerships — get in touch if you’re interested. For media partnerships: [email protected] — that’s me! — and for sponsorships, [email protected] — Lily Yacobi is managing sponsor relations (she’s great!).

My travels started in a rather intense manner, with BlogTalk in Cork and SXSW in Austin. Two conferences back-to-back, one presentation on a new topic to speak about for me, two panel moderations (I’d never moderated a panel before), and a conversation to co-host (great format, by the way). Lots of people, new and known, two 2-hour nights before even landing in the US — I can tell you I reached Austin in a sorry state. Thank goodness I had a little halt in Dallas (thanks again, Adam!) to help me land.

[As I mentioned](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2008/03/14/conference-experience-evolution-and-the-paradox-of-choice/), the solution I found to survive SXSW without burning out was to keep a low profile and go with the flow. I kept that up somewhat in San Francisco: not too many plans, low expectations on what I wanted to accomplish, no frantic blogging/photographing/visiting/videoing. Some people [think it’s a shame](http://seesmic.com/v/9GNlZx3cPG), but I don’t.

Sometimes documenting your life can get in the way of living it, and I know that the pressure I put upon myself to “make the most” out of every occasion, every trip, every conference, every visit, every relationship, and simply every moment of life is wearing me down. I’ve been learning, over the past six months, that I need to cut myself some slack. Miss out on things.

So this trip, I hardly took any photos. I didn’t do any tourism. I stuck with what and who I knew, mainly. There is a whole bunch of people and businesses I regret not seeing/visiting (have I said it enough), but I don’t regret pacing my life so that I can leave here more rested than I arrived, and less stressed.

[Going Solo](http://going-solo.net) is a lot of work, but though I have a great [team of advisors and helpers](http://going-solo.net/about/), I remain the only one in charge, and I’m slowly learning how to delegate. Delegating is not something I’m familiar with or ever really had to do in my life, so I’m learning the skill — and it’s not easy for me. In the end, I end up with the feeling that I’m carrying too much weight on my shoulders, and that giving some of it to others creates even more. (See the idea?) Not to be dramatic, it’s a great experience and I think I’m doing well with it — it’s just not a trip to the beach (who would have thought that!?)

So, here I am, terminal A of San Francisco airport, at the Firewood Grill, where they make pretty decent cheeseburgers. I’ve eaten here before, I remember, a bit over a year ago after [my first trip to San Francisco](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/01/12/im-really-liking-san-francisco/) “in this life”. I like the music they’re playing on the radio, and I’m trying to sort through the mixed feelings in me.

I’m looking forward to going home, of course. I’m very attached to my hometown, as many of you have noticed, and whenever I’m away, I miss my cat a lot. It’s silly, but oh well. My brother will be home too, after a year spent in South America. It will be good to see him again.

But I’m leaving San Francisco with a heavy heart, too. I’m leaving behind the sunshine and people who are dear to me, as well as a community (however you want to understand that word) which means I get to bump into people I know when I go to parties. This happens in Lausanne, too, of course — bumping into people I know. Lausanne is a small village. But strangely, the San Francisco geekworld seems even smaller. And I like it. To state the obvious, “things are happening” here and it’s nice to be around. I like the city, too — even if I sometimes struggle a bit with the differences in culture between here and where I grew up and live.

I think I’ve become more relaxed about when I’ll see people again. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I will be. I’ll bump into you at a conference, or at a geek dinner somewhere when we’re both travelling. Maybe we didn’t get to say goodbye, but we’re just a few keystrokes away online anyway — so is it really that important? I don’t know what my life will be like in a year, and neither do you, probably. We live and work in this fast-changing world, somewhere on the edge, and we eat [Black Swans](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/10/15/reading-the-black-swan/) for breakfast.

We’re everywhere.

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A Day at the Frankfurter Buchmesse [en]

[fr] Etat des lieux sur mes recherches de fonds et exploration du monde de l'édition pour mon livre sur les ados et internet. Envies de publier (via internet) des livres avec mes photos, aussi.

A month or two ago, I was chatting about [my book project](/categories/livre/) and [decision to find funding](http://www.viddler.com/about/contact/) to [Joi](http://joi.ito.com/). He suggested that a trip to the [Frankfurt book fair](http://www.book-fair.com/en/portal.php) might be useful.

First on, the Messe is just *huge*. I spent a morning there and just walked, and walked, and walked. Overall, I found my visit rather disappointing, though I did learn some useful things (though they weren’t exactly what I wanted to hear). Here’s the information I gathered, from a visit to the Swiss booth and discussions with a few people.

– I have a list of Swiss (French-speaking) publishers, and a shortlist of 4-5 who could be suitable for my project.
– Publishers, distributors, and bookstores are all part of the same organisation (in CH).
– The market is saturated, publishers are swamped with manuscripts, and it’s even worse in France than Switzerland (so, I should stick with local publishers — the fact I’m already recognised as a local authority also pushes in that direction).
– I can forget about a deal with an advance, so I need to look at other sources to finance the *writing* part (Loterie Romande, educational associations, foundations… I’ll hunt around a bit to compile a list.)
– Swiss publishers don’t like agents, and having one might make it even more difficult for me to find a publisher.
– The publisher deals with the printing guys to get the book published, and deals with the distribution guys to get it distributed. [Hunter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Lovins), a seasoned bookwriter, tells me that unless I’m getting a huge advance, having a publisher is not worth it — I can deal with printers and distributors myself. Will just have to check if this is a viable approach in the Swiss market.
– The publisher is precious for the editing process, because he knows what is good and what is not, the head of this Swiss association tells me. Hunter, on the contrary, tells me this mostly gets in the way. A good editor can be precious but chances are I won’t be getting one.
– If I go the self-publishing way (offline), then I’ll need funding for the printing, which could be a problem.
– One option, which Joi suggests and I’d been getting at, is to start off by online-self-publishing (Lulu, Blurb, or another), and once there is enough buzz, sales, reviews, etc, approaching publishers.
– I really need to work on a proper proposal, and I have a better understanding of what such a proposal needs to look like. I got some advice from talking with a publisher over dinner (thanks again!) and Chris Webb left me a pointer to [his interesting series on book proposals](http://ckwebb.com/tag/book-proposal) in the comments to [my previous post](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/10/09/first-draft-of-book-presentation/). From what I gather, the more there is in the proposal, the better.

So, where do I go from now?

– **Write a proper proposal in French** (as the book will be in French). This obviously needs to be broken down into manageable pieces (GTD-style), and I realise that the big nasty bit for me is the outline. I have tons of ideas of stuff that I want to put in the book, but I’m not sure how to organise it all yet. I’ve been mind-mapping, but it’s a bit overwhelming and messy. So I’ll start by writing all the rest (the easy bits).
– **Write a project funding proposal** which will probably not be as detailed as the one for the publisher.
– Ask around for leads to getting funding, compile a list, send out funding requests with proposal.
– Send the proposal to the 4-5 publishers on the list, once it’s done.

Language? Isn’t it kind of weird I’m speaking about this in English? On the other hand, I don’t want to “cut out” my English network by blogging exclusively in French about this book project.

All this thinking about self-publishing has given me the desire to put together one or more photo books. I’ve barely been printing since I went digital, and it’s nice to have photos in physical form too, as [Moo](http://moo.com)’s success demonstrates. My friend [Andrea Lindenberg](http://www.andrealindenberg.com/) has put together a [collection of her best riding show photographs](http://www.lulu.com/content/1192654) — if you like horses, you should definitely check it out. She’s very talented.

My [Flickr photo collection](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/) is approaching 10’000 photos. So, again, the inevitable **choice** problem. I’ll certainly make a book of my best Indian photos at some point (most of them aren’t on Flickr but are either slides (first trip), negatives (second trip), or digital-[dumped-in-directories](http://old.climbtothestars.org/dumps/) (third trip). I have a set called [My Favourites](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/1292259/), but it’s very out-of-date and doesn’t contain any recent photos. I can probably dig out the photos I use for Moo cards or stickers and add them, though.

Any opinions? If you see any photos of mine that you think deserve ending up in the (a) photo book, don’t hesitate to tag them “forthebook”. Thanks!

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A Day at WordCamp 2007 [en]

[fr] Résumé des notes prises durant WordCamp.

Today was the first day of [WordCamp 2007](http://2007.wordcamp.org/schedule/). Had a really nice day, met cool people (hi [Daniel](http://dbrusilovsky.wordpress.com/)!), and live-blogged my hands off (almost literally: nasty [RSI flare-up](/tms/) which made me skip two sessions of note-taking). Two sessions in the morning, two in the afternoon, a big two-session break, and then Matt Cutts. I also, of course, took [a bunch of photos](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/72157600938619089/), which, as usually, received far more praise than I think they deserve. I’d like to take this occasion to remind everybody to please [open up tagging to the community, and add tags to my photos as you stroll through them](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/06/20/flickr-open-up-tagging-your-photos-to-the-community-please/).

WordCamp 2007 4

Here are the sessions I live-blogged.

– [Dan Kuykendall, Podcasting and podPress](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/07/21/wordcamp-2007-dan-kuykendall-podcasting-and-podpress/)
– [John C. Dvorak and Om Malik: Blogs vs. Journalism](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/07/21/john-c-dvorak-and-om-malik-blogs-vs-journalism/)
– [Lorelle VanFossen, Kicking Ass Content Connections](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/07/21/wordcamp-2007-lorelle-vanfossen-kicking-ass-content-connections/)
– [Jeremy Wright, Im in ur blogz grabbin’ ur kash! Blog Monetization](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/07/21/wordpress-2007-jeremy-wright-im-in-ur-blogz-grabbin-ur-kash-blog-monetization/)
– [Matt Cutts, Whitehat SEO Tips for Bloggers](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/07/22/wordcamp-2007-matt-cutts-whitehat-seo-tips-for-bloggers/)

So, *what do you think, ;-)* should I start marketing myself as a 2.0 conference live-blogger? (Laying aside the fact RSI *does* limit the number of sessions I can do in a row…)

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Videos, Videos! And Kittens! [en]

[fr] Un nouvel épisode vidéo de Fresh Lime Soda, le podcast que je co-anime avec Suw Charman. On y parle de ce qu'on fait dans la vie, et surtout, de comment on le définit (mal!)

Aussi, vidéos de la Gay Pride ici à San Francisco, et de chatons. Oui, des chatons. Tout mimis.

Although [there is just one week left for me here](http://twitter.com/stephtara/statuses/151809632), I’m still [in San Francisco](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/72157600394601924/). When [Suw](http://chocnvodka.blogware.com) was here a few weeks ago, we seized the occasion to record another (video!) episode of [Fresh Lime Soda](http://freshlimesoda.net). Our conversation takes [the episode I mention in my “What do you care about?” post](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/06/22/what-do-you-care-about/) and goes on from there, to examine how we define ourselves in our professional field, and a bunch of other things. Read [the shownotes on the original post](http://freshlimesoda.net/2007/07/16/fresh-lime-soda-episode-7-in-san-francisco/) and enjoy the video!

(If the feed/RSS reader doesn’t take care of it for you, you can [download the video from Viddler.com directly](http://www.viddler.com/show_movie!orgFile.action?movieToken=5bc3aa08).)

While we’re on the subject of videos, I’ve uploaded quite a few to [my Viddler account](http://viddler.com/steph) recently. (Oh, and yes, I still have a post in my drafts somewhere… a review of viddler, which I really like despite its bugs and greenness.) There are videos of [the Gay Pride](http://www.viddler.com/explore/steph/tags/sfpride) (and photos of the [Dyke March](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/72157600459417123/) and [Parade](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/72157600487653731/) of course!), the [iPhone Launch here in SF](http://www.viddler.com/explore/steph/tags/iphonelaunch), but most importantly, [really cute kittens playing](http://www.viddler.com/explore/steph/tags/blukittens). If you like kittens, you’ll enjoy the 5 minutes you’ll spend watching the videos. There are obviously [kitten photographs too](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/72157600783421840/):

Blu's Kittens 7

Blu's Kittens 29

Blu's Kittens 24

And for those who missed the update, [the post announcing my talk at Google (on languages and the internet)](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2007/07/10/talk-languages-on-the-internet-at-google-tomorrow/) now contains a link to [the video of my talk](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5004419583730327409&hl=en-GB), the (http://www.slideshare.net/sbooth/waiting-for-the-babel-fish), and my [handwritten presentation notes](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bunny/801234849/) (not that they’ll help you much…). All that!

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I Photowalked on Haight Street [en]

[fr] Je suis allée faire un "photowalk", c'est-à-dire une promenade-réunion dont l'objectif est de se balader en prenant des photos. Voici quelques photos que j'ai prises et que j'aime bien. Je crois qu'il faut qu'on organise quelque chose de similaire à Lausanne. Qui est partant?

Friday evening I met up with a bunch of people to go [photowalking in Haight Street](http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/208307/). A photowalk is simply an occasion to stroll around and [take photos in the company of other nice people](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/sets/72157600450567468/). I think we need to start organizing things like this in Lausanne — anybody interested?

Here are some of the photos I took.

Photowalking 11 in Haight 80

Photowalking 11 in Haight 77

Photowalking 11 in Haight 63

Photowalking 11 in Haight 46

Photowalking 11 in Haight 61

Photowalking 11 in Haight 34

Photowalking 11 in Haight 22

Photowalking 11 in Haight 8

Photowalking 11 in Haight 43

Photowalking 11 in Haight 10

Photowalking 11 in Haight 17

Photowalking 11 in Haight 87

Photowalking 11 in Haight 91

Search for photos from this photowalk [on Flickr](http://flickr.com/photos/tags/photowalking11) and [on Zooomr](http://beta.zooomr.com/search/photos/?q=photowalking11).

I might add links to other participants’ sets/photos/blogs later, if I have the courage.

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