Back in August, people at PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 coined a new term: “bacn.” Bacn is email that you want, but not right now.

For example, you might sign up for an email newsletter, or subscribe to receive updates when someone requests to be your friend on Facebook. The emails you receive are good things, and you want to receive them, so they’re not spam. But they’re also potential interruptions to your workday, so they’re not regular email. They’re better than spam, and thus “bacn.” (The dropped ‘o’ is mostly for fun, and to distinguish from the food bacon.)

Having a word to describe this kind of email is useful. It draws attention to the different kinds of email we receive, and makes us think about how we handle each of them. Once I started thinking about spam, I took stock of the emails I sign up for. I unsubscribed from a number that had turned out not to be useful, and I set up filters to automatically redirect bacn to a separate folder, where I could deal with it quickly at set times in the day, rather than as it arrived.

The term “bacn” caught on quickly — I think this was because bacn labels a recognizable element of modern life, and because people appreciate having a label to sort out the things they face. CNN.com picked it up, and it garnered a mention in the New York Times.

And now, Time has labeled bacn one of the Top 10 Buzzwords for 2008.

I helped organize PodCamp Pittsburgh 2, but I can take no credit for the coining of “bacn.” I was down the hall at a session when the magic happened. Nonetheless, I get a thrill to see people pick up the idea.

Maybe the idea of bacn will change how you perceive the emails and messages you receive too.

One of the first websites I built, way back in the early days of this millennium and long before I started Big Big Design, was the website of the Gist Street Reading Series. This reading series in Pittsburgh features emerging local and national writers; it’s fun and informal, and I have been excited to be associated with it.

The site held up surprisingly well over the years, and handled all the archival content we threw at it. But the co-directors of the series and I wanted to add some capabilities: A way for them to easily add and update content on the site, better searching on the site, more quotes from past readers, better email list signup, and most importantly a podcast from the readings.

We kept the general look and navigation from the original site, but created a new site using Joomla, which is an open source content management system. The Joomla community has created a library of extensions, so we’ll be able to expand the site over time as needed, without having to program the code for each piece.

The podcast consists of brief excerpts from past readings — some are longer, being entire short stories, while some are short and contain only a single poem plus a short introduction. Each is read by the author or poet. The first is posted, and we’ll publish a new one on the first Friday of each month, the day when the Gist Street Reading Series is traditionally held.

The reading series is going on a six-month hiatus, so this expanded website was extra-important. The series leaders want to maintain contact with past attendees and readers, as well as potential future readers and funding agencies. The new features in the site will help to maintain those lines of communication and connection.

My friend and fellow Pittsburgh blogger Mike Woycheck has launched WearPittsburgh, an online store that sells t-shirts with a Pittsburgh theme. These aren’t the typical black-and-gold fare — they focus on local knowledge and humor. The tagline, for example, is “Locally Designed. Locally Inclined.”

We were excited to help with this project. We designed a template to use on both the online store (run by Spreadshirt, which handles the web operations, printing, and fulfillment) and the WordPress blog that acts as WearPittsburgh’s official site. The excellent graphic designer (and sometime Big Big Design collaborator) Katy Delancey also worked on this project, including some of the shirt designs.
I ordered a pierogie shirt, and I’m happy to report that it arrived speedily and looks terrific. A great stocking stuffer, especially for ex-Pittsburghers who miss their home burgh.

In its first week of operation, WearPittsburgh has already been featured in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.