Weblog/CurrentPosts
[[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