Having fun with Google’s NotebookLM and its Audio Overview,
generating “Deep Dive podcasts”, based on uploaded PDFs or … URLs.
Flickr Album Deep Dive
I dump event photos on Flickr (CC license), people can grab these and use them on their blogposts or whatever.
After editing them I often don’t end up properly documenting those albums.
I thought, lets try NotebookLM on one of them.
I sent it to this Web Directions Summit 2022 album.
None of the text Notes where helpful, because the page is just photos with titles.
“This is a webpage from the popular photo-sharing platform Flickr showcasing photos from the 2022 Web Directions Summit. The page includes various navigational elements, such as “Explore Recent Photos,” “Trending,” and “Events,” for users to browse and discover different aspects of the summit. There are also options to view “Flickr Galleries,” explore a “World Map” of photos, and read the “Flickr Blog.” Additionally, the page provides links to various features and services offered by Flickr, such as printing photos, purchasing Pro plans, and managing account statistics.”
So then, would the Deep Dive actually work? If there is hardly any text, does it pick up the visuals of the photos?
Short answer, no, it can’t describe the photos (yet?), it purely works with the text, of which there is hardly any. So how did it manage to fill out 4 minutes? Quite interesting… Listen, or read the transcript below.
Ever stumble across something online and wonder, "What's the story here?" Like, you know, a photo album, barely any views, just kind of floating in the vastness of the internet. Lost to time, you mean. Exactly. And that's what we're doing today, a little digital archaeology. We're diving into a Flickr album, and get this, it's titled "Web Directions Summit 22." Web Directions Summit 22, huh. Okay, I'm intrigued. Sounds very bad. It's totally weird. 2022.First burn, ouch.
Right, we're talking about a time capsule from two years ago. Remember those days? But before you hit that skip button, even these seemingly outdated digital breadcrumbs. Well, they can tell us something. Something about, you know, how we used to internet, even back then. Right, like examining pottery shards to understand an ancient civilization. Except our artifacts are digital. I like it.It's not that long ago!
So what have we got? All right, let's dust off our metaphorical magnifying glasses. First up, 154 photos. Sounds like a lot, right? A decent amount, sure. Enough to pique one's curiosity. But hold on, only 138 views. 138, that's less than your average cat video gets in like, five minutes. Hmm. That's remarkably low. Speaks volumes, isn't it? Exactly.Not just a burn, full on nuclear.
And it gets weirder. Web Directions Summit 2022? It's everywhere. Like, plastered all over the album title, descriptions. Someone really wanted to emphasize that. Almost like they knew we'd be here. Eventually. Ah, maybe, maybe. Oh, and one more thing, a Culture Amp mentioned, thrown in for good measure. What do you make of that?
Okay, so now we're talking about a very specific audience, right? This wasn't meant for widespread consumption. This was a niche event, a gathering of web direction enthusiasts, whatever those might be. Maybe it was a convention for people who dream in HTML code, who knows?Congrats! Quite right.
But that Culture Amp thing, is that a company? A band? Secret society. This is where our little digital dig gets interesting. It's like a clue in a detective novel. Actually, if you connect that to the whole repeating the event name thing, it highlights a strategy that's still incredibly relevant today. Even back then, folks understood the power of SEO search engine optimization. By putting Web Directions Summit 2022 everywhere, they were leaving a trail for search engines to follow, making it easier for people interested in that specific event to find it. Subtle, but effective. Like a digital bat signal, but for web directions. Yeah.Interesting, it's Google, so SEO is everything, even here...
So where does this leave us? What's the takeaway from our little trip back to 2022? We've got a tech-focused event, a mysterious company connection, possibly, and evidence that even back then, people were playing the online visibility game. Trying to leave their mark on the digital landscape. It's humbling, isn't it? We're making deductions based on these few digital scraps, like finding a tattered postcard from your grandparents' trip. You get a glimpse into their world, but so much remains a mystery. And that's what makes it so fascinating. What were the conversations like at this Web Directions Summit? Was Culture Amp the life of the party? Sadly, those details, they're lost. Gone with the dial-up modems of yesteryear.It's only two years ago, I'm using fiber to connect to the Internet!
Precisely. Gone, but not forgotten. Which begs the question, what about our digital trails? Ooh, I like where you're going with this. If someone stumbled upon your online presence, say two years from now, what would they think? What story would your digital breadcrumbs tell? Would they uncover a carefully curated online museum dedicated to, I don't know, vintage rubber duckies? Or just a chaotic mess of memes and blurty selfies? The suspense is killing me. Right. It just goes to show, even the most ordinary digital footprint, it's a story. Maybe a mystery, maybe a masterpiece.
We may not have cracked the case of Web Directions Summit 22 wide open, but we did unearth some interesting clues about those early days of the internet. And hey, who knew digital archaeology could be so thought provoking? Every era has its wonders. You just have to know where to look. And on that note, we'll leave you to ponder your own digital legacy. Until next time, happy internetting, everyone.