Just a quick update here. I’m firing up all the social media for the 2014 international conference of the Society for the Promotion of Applied Research in Canine Science, or SPARCS. I have been up since 6am California time to catch the live presentations in Rhode Island streaming free via http://sparcs.varvid.tv
The participatory aspect of this online conference is part of what made it one of the most awesome canine events of 2013. The House of Two Bows is engaging this year on Instagram, Facebook, and even my seldomly used Twitter. Oh yeah. That’s how you know it’s serious. But it’s also fun.
This morning’s talks by Patricia McConnell, Ray Coppinger, and Simon Gadbois were well worth the early rise. Julie Hecht and Mia Cobb of Do You Believe in Dog? are running great post-presentation interviews. Check out the schedule of speakers for much more!
p.s. Winners of the Honest Kitchen giveaway to be announced later this weekend. Thanks to all who entered!
The House of Two Bows 雙寶之屋 
totally missed it. Sad. 😦
Presentation video archives may be available later… I know they’ll definitely be made available for members. Check the website for info! Or keep track for next year’s conference. Hope they can keep up the momentum. On a roll for two years so far.
Yes, I hope they have it again next year. Which were the more fascinating topics for you this year?
In short: any presentation from Simon Gadbois. The content of his presentations went far beyond suggested in the title though… Wish I could do a proper SPARCS2014 wrap-up post, but I may not get around to it at this rate!
I feel vaguely guilty for missing this, but I did it deliberately. Sometimes I have to step away from ALL DOG ALL THE TIME, because it magnifies Silas’s problems too much. Hence, less posting on the blog lately. Also, I followed you on Twitter, which has (even though it’s objectively silly) become my favorite social media.
It’s good that you know what/when/how you need to step away from ‘all dog all the time.’ I suppose that mode comes fairly naturally to me now, but I do have to conscientiously dial back the intensity sometimes. Hence, no more regular posting schedule for me, either. And, saddest to me (but necessary), less time to keep up on my blogroll.
Followed you back, but I am stowing my Twitter account away again. Why is it your favorite social media (sincere question)?
I racked up 500+ tweets over the conference weekend, totally reveling in its utility for online, socially integrated networking, but am befuddled by its use (and character restrictions, and format and layout!) for everyday messaging.
So with that, I’m removing the Twitter link from this post too, though I’m keeping my followers and new follows… perhaps I’ll have another occasion to rethink my disuse of Twitter. =)
In a weird way, I really like the “talking into a vacuum” aspect of Twitter. I’m habitually used to writing all day every day, but I haven’t actually needed to do that in years, blog aside. So I channel that impulse into Twitter, I guess. I use it for random bits that are too insubstantial to blog, and for a kind of mini record-keeping. It comes more naturally to me, as a non-visual thinker, than something like Instagram.
If I wanted to get really touchy-feely about it, I would say that it’s probably because chronically-unemployed-post-academic me is lonely. My Facebook feed is a train wreck, which is, I suppose, what happens when you radically change your life in your 20s. So, Twitter!
Ahh, I get it. And as a visual thinker, IG *does* fill my interstitial fidgets. And I hear you on the messy fallout of radical life changes…