Weblog/Sep-2007
[[AboutUsWeblog.org|
Q&A with BryanDaugherty of Stackzilla.com
25 September 2007
Note: BryanDaugherty recently found AboutUs and is now an Active Community Member. Bryan was nice enough to answer a few questions about his experiences at AboutUs.
1. What did you think of AboutUs when you first came here, and how has that changed as you started making edits and then really became an ActiveMember over the last few weeks?
These initial edits helped introduce me to the wiki way which I found sincere and extremely productive. Not only were the edits I made increasing the traffic to Stackzilla.com but I thoroughly enjoyed the concept and ideals of participating in the AboutUs community. Reflecting back, I now consider some of my first edits “selfish” in comparison to all the work I witnessed by other active members and staff.
I began participating by taking stock in other members passions such as flagging adult content and welcoming. These first steps were rewarding because I was doing something that would make a difference outside of my own self-seeking interests. I also discovered that being a builder of portals and articles was very fulfilling and even helped introduce me to other individuals who shared the passions I enjoyed.
2. Now that you've built a few different WikiPages (from Stackzilla.com to your own PersonalPage, among others), what experiences do you have to share with others? (For example, what works, what doesn't, tricks/tips, etc.)
- What is the information you are trying to get across to those who may visit the page.
- Does the page seem to be in order and allow the reader to follow the thoughts you are expressing.
- Are there any red links on the page, if so, are they something of importance and something that will be edited/added in the future.
- If it is a domain page, have you added a logo, services, product pictures, testimonials and unique features of the domain.
- Have you added the correct categories to the page.
I think it is important to add that there is no one way to edit a page, each can be effectively unique and express the individualism of the domain or editor. Just try out different things to see what works best for you. Originality is key to attraction.
3. And now that you've taken an active role in the AboutUs community, helping with the FeaturePotentials, welcoming people and a number of other projects, what encouraged you to do this and, how do you like it?
Taking an excerpt from AboutUs that I have found genuine and indisputable (as well as unable to express better myself),
- "Wikis are vibrant, fluid spaces that foster a distinct culture of Transparency. AboutUs strives to create a dynamic community of self-organizing members building the Commons by contributing Constructive Edits"
Considering the significance of the statement, there wasn’t much need for more encouragement. I have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming new users and meeting new people on AboutUs. I have met some of the most extraordinary people who have very distinct and valuable passions. There is no limit to what can be accomplished when you are surrounded by individuals who care about what you are trying to accomplish. To me, AboutUs can be defined by much more then its core values, but by the people who actually uphold these values as truths and practice them daily.
For more information about Bryan Daugherty check out his Personal Page and the DomainPage for his website, Stackzilla.com/Evolution of Thought Institute. Among the WikiPages he's worked on are: Portal:Entrepreneur Education, My Cluster Page and articles such as The State Of Security In America.
Contibutors: TakKendrick, Bryan Daugherty
She's Geeky: A Women's Tech (un)Conference
20 September 2007
Creating space for women in male dominated arenas of life is a good trend, especially for geeks. Geeks are different, and the geeky world is sometimes a lonely world. Geeks look around themselves in the world and see lots of people not-like-them. Female geeks often feel this even more acutely. They look around themselves in the workplace and professional events and see lots of people not-like-them. Which is one reason why the upcoming She's Geeky is great. She's Geeky is an opportunity for women across different areas of technology to connect, to present ideas (just show up and present!), exchange skills, swap visions, and build community.
From AboutUs friend Kaliya Hamlin:
- She's Geeky (http://www.shesgeeky.org) - A Women's Tech (un)conference on October 22-23 in Mountain View, CA.
- This event is designed to bring together women from a range of technology-focused disciplines who self identify as geeky. Our goal is to support skill exchange and learning between women working in diverse fields and to create a space for networking and to talk about issues faced by women in technology. ( more details regarding Kalyia's motivations and hopes.)
As with any unconference (which are solidly based in Open Space Technology), no one has prior knowledge of what topics will actually be proposed by attendees, but here are some topics that may be proposed. This gives unconferences the feel of the coffee break session common at most regular conferences (where often the most interesting discussion and activities are created). Some of the highlights for us are: open source collaboration styles and how that works or doesn't for women, balancing work/life, technology for social-purpose goals, technology usability, hardware hacks, and small-scale projects using software engineering techniques.
We personally know and respect (read: think it's awesome!) Kaliya's work (she co-facilitated the most recent Portland RecentChangesCamp with one of us), and there are many more fantastic people organizing this: Mary Hodder, founder Dabble.com; Julia French, Covered Communication; Susan Mernitt, Yahoo; Sylvia Paull, Berkeley Ventures; heathervescent, Purple Tornado; Danese Cooper, Intel; Laurie Rae; Deb Roby a BlogHer blogger; Melanie Swan, and many more awesome people that have already signed up.
Contibutors: TedErnst, MarkDilley, TakKendrick
AboutUs Stakeholder Meeting wrap up
14 September 2007
Held at the Portland office, the meeting was also broadcast live via a Ustream.tv video feed, with audio provided via a conference call and questions from community members from around the globe being asked via our IRC channel.
Among the topics discussed
- The objectives accomplished over the last quarter, including: building AboutUs staff in two continents; the new Portland office for the main headquarters of AboutUs; and the creation and adoption of the new AboutUsLogo and NewSkin.
- The identification of three primary long-term goals for AboutUs as both a company and a wiki: become a top 10 website; develop a great brand for AboutUs; and encourage a great place to work.
- Additional conversations/reports included: the indentification of user engagement as a priority for AboutUs; discussion of how we plan to engaging participation from visitors to the website and encouraging them to become regular contributors, active community members and volunteers; discussion about our traffic numbers and their ramifications; opportunities and experiments for exploring the SEO impact of WikiPages on AboutUs as they relate to Google and other search engine "hits"; and discussion of the revenue models for the company's long-term plans.
For more complete recap of the meeting's discussion, you can view the Notes from the Meeting, watch the video (the password is "wiki"), or read through the IRC Chat Summary.
Contibutor: TakKendrick
Join us for the AboutUs Stakeholder Meeting
12 September 2007
Update -- We've also added a live video feed of the Stakeholder Meeting at 4:30 p.m. (PDT). The password is "wiki".
AboutUs community members from around the world are warmly invited to join us for our 3rd quarter Stakeholder Meeting which will be held tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. (PDT). Local community members are welcome to join us in the Portland office; for those elsewhere, we'll be setting up an IRC channel on Freenode.net to accommodate questions, answers and running commentary from the meeting. Just point your IRC client to:
- irc.freenode.net
- #AboutUsStakeholder
We hope you'll join us. A complete transcript of the IRC conversation will be posted on AboutUs after the meeting.
Contibutor: TakKendrick
The NewSkin is now live (and growing)!
11 September 2007
Last week we announced a "beta preview" of our new look for AboutUs. After several days of intense testing and the valiant efforts of our development and design teams, we've made the NewSkin the default skin on AboutUs. We're quite excited about the new look. As we discussed the other day, the leaf logo and the NewSkin are intended to reflect the alive and growing AboutUs community, and make us feel wholesome and rooted in the whole world. We're happy with this direction for the community and are glad you've joined us.
As with all things on a WikiWiki, nothing is really ever finished. The belief with the NewSkin is that it's been pretty battle tested over the last week, but if you notice anomalies or have questions, do feel free to leave a note for our development and design crew.
For those who have been helping with the beta testing of the NewSkin the past week, to ensure you're seeing the latest styles, be it's advisable to clear your browser cache when you get a chance.
Contibutor: TakKendrick
NewSkin Beta Preview
07 September 2007
A few weeks ago we proudly rolled out the new AboutUs Logo which was ratified via Consensus Poll in early August. As we said at the time, this was just the first in a series of face lifts for AboutUs -- visual improvements not only designed to help improve your experience using the AboutUs Wiki, but also incorporating some of the values for AboutUs that are being grown and discussed in various places on the wiki.
Part of the discussion behind the new "leaf" logo was to represent the emerging properties of growth and gardening we think begins to reach our core philosophies. Over the past couple of days, many of our ActiveMembers have been testing out a beta version of the new "skin" or layout for the AboutUs Wiki which builds upon this idea. This earthy NewSkin intends to reflect the alive and growing AboutUs community, and make us feel wholesome and rooted in the whole world.
While we plan to officially roll out the NewSkin in a week or so, we couldn't resist opening up the beta testing to include the public as well (a Login is required however). We'd love everyone's help in putting the NewSkin through it's paces and noting areas for improvement, things you like, and other errata.
To view the NewSkin, make sure you're logged in. Click on the "preferences" tab on the upper right hand corner of you screen. In the preferences window, click on the "skin" tab and select the "design" option and click the "Save" button. That's it. Or just click here.
We've been testing the NewSkin beta for a couple of weeks now, but as with all "beta" releases, expect to find a few bugs (you can always go back to the current skin by selecting "aboutus" in the skin tab back in the Preferences screen). If you experience any problems, let us know on the NewSkin page. Please tell us not only the name of the WikiPage(s) you're having trouble viewing, but also what internet browser (Firefox, InternetExplorer, etc.) as well as the operating system (Mac OS X, Windows or LINUX) you are using.
A note to the ActiveMembers who've been testing the NewSkin the past couple of days: We've made a few updates to the beta test skin today, so it'd be advisable to clear your browser cache to remove any lingering styles.
Other AboutUs notes:
- Mohtashim's IT Tazee, a blog covering IT happenings in Pakistan, has a nice post from Tuesday mentioning the work in our LahoreOffice.
- Back on the home front, the main Portand office finally got our phone line put into the new office space. Beyond a variety of other ways of Contacting Us, give us a call at 503.488.5763 for help using and editing our website.
Contibutor: TakKendrick
BarnRaising a WikiWednesday event
04 September 2007
As we mentioned last month, WikiWednesdays are an opportunity for people interested in the wiki community to gather once a month (generally the first Wednesday of the month). For newbies and seasoned hands alike, these events are co-located in time, with other events happening (theoretically) on the same day all around the world.
Tomorrow being the first Wednesday, there's a couple of events happening:
- In the San Francisco Bay area, there's a gathering at the Socialtext co-working office at 6:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be Betsy Megas, AKA Dvortygirl, who is an administrator and editor at Wiktionary. See their website for more information.
- On short notice, the AboutUs team is partnering with some Portland, Oregon area wiki enthusiasts for a WikiWednesday event also tomorrow at 6:30. The event will be held at the new AboutUs office at 107 SE Washington St, Suite 520, Portland OR 97214. We're planning on having the usual social meetup fair with the hopes of organizing a BarnRaising to build out some articles for WikiHow.com -- a cool wiki that's a source of "how-to" information. If you're in the Portland area you're warmly invited to drop by and join in the fun. We'll also try to monitor the AboutUs IRC channel at irc://irc.freenode.net/WikiWednesdayPortland so that people in other locations can maybe "drop by" as well.
To see a list of upcoming WikiWednesday events, check out the Wiki Wednesdays page on Socialtext.net.
Contibutor: TakKendrick
