I missed last night's meeting...sorry but I'm a day behind. uhm...what year is this?? ;)
My (too many) thoughts.....
IMO.... DeanSpace (or whatever it will be called...I have NO clue)...the "kit" people will download and install.....will be a godsend for many with existing sites (have you seen some of the sites up now...most born out of the meetups??) They are uninviting and little more than online flyers. It will take about 20 minutes (if that to set up) a Drupal and site maintenance will be minimal..content dynamic. It's too powerful to fight ;) Some will resist change certainly....but give the RIAA 10 more years and see where *they* end up ;) I could and should stop there but....
Speaking from personal experience with my local group....
There are few with the time available or skills to maintain a homegrown site. The only reason I didn't throw one up was because a) there seemed to be little interest ....I started a MT blog and 3 people used it 2 or 3 times. Learning curve was too steep apparently. I know my folks like Yahoo Groups... it's easy. Open...Reply....Send....(Here's the important part....Delete!) This does nothing for creating real connections much less enable effective communication and organizing...among other things. (And I'm really sick of getting 10 emails pointing me to the same article about Dean). That's about all my Yahoo Group is these days. We were told..not asked bit told not so nicely...a flame war ensued) to refrain from free and open discussion by some irate I dunno how to read and don't wanna be spammed by yahoo ads the web list members. The Yahoo list was simply for Dean meetup related
announcements/organizing only. Fun stuff eh? Connection making was squashed and in fact for my group, the yahoo list has become somewhat divisive.
We had one person who cancelled a house party because she couldn't generate enough interest...yet my town has (at last check) around 400 signed up at MeetUp.com...and over 200 on the Yahoo Group. There is now confusion over where next weeks meetup is because meetup is telling people that there are two locations...but word on the Yahoo list is that the meeting will be at one location and not the other. What's wrong with this picture besides the fact that email sucks and meetup.com offers little for means of control and communication?? My Yahoo Group isn't conducive to connection making nor information sharing. No one can find it unless they look specifically for it. What uninitiated person wondering about Dean is gonna think "hey...lemme see if there's a local Yahoo Group for Dean?" How effective are online flyers? What about those who don't like mailing lists? Re: the cancelled house
party....simply preaching to the choir...there's no real outreach....everyone's on the list is given/giving...they don't need a house party to learn about Dean or give more. Personally, I'd rather press a button to give Dean $25, than hang out at a stranger's house on a Saturday night. Ok so call me anti-social. ;)
The meetups are great..but my experience has been that they don't do much for creating lasting connections between people...nor do website flyers or Yahoo Groups or weblogs that people can't seem to figure out how to use. People go to meetups..get excited..then mundane life distracts them until the next meetup. It seems to me the kit will make it not only possible but easier for people to make and maintain connections, stay motivated and hence be productive for the cause. Who could say no to that..other than some control I wanna do it my hard and ineffective way freak ;) I may be blind but I can't see how anyone could (rightly) interpret this as hijacking..unless they are just 'that' way. The tools are available to use...or not...there's always the choice.
And secondly......I didn't just throw up site because....
I don't have time to be designer, webmaster, content developer and tech support person. Simply put...the 'kit' works for me and will work for my local group...and hence the Doc. Bottoms up I say ;)
Although, point certainly taken here..if ya can't beat 'em...join 'em. And there will certainly be those who simply can't migrate for whatever reason(s). I don't know how feasible stand alone mods are though??? Maybe that could be something left as an after thought...if possible and if there really is enough demand for such things? Has this already been addressed..I'm behind a day..or year...remember.? ;) Will there be some sort of promotional sandbox? "Here...look how powerful and easy this kit is to use?" Something along those lines???
dale
Josh Swartzbaugh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello everyone!
First I'd like to say that I'm very happy to be a part
of this group. :) Uniting the various Dean movements
is going to be one of the most important pieces of the
puzzle to change this country's direction. It's not
often that you can feel that you are really making a
difference in the world, and I believe this group is,
and will.
Onward... This was brought up late in the meeting and
was suggested to bring to the list instead:
The DeanSpace plans seem to require every existing
Dean group to have a DeanSpace node _in addition to_
their currently existing websites. I expect no one to
be excited about abandoning their current sites... I
expect few to be enthusiastic _beyond the initial
excitement_ about maintaining an additional site that
does not contribute to their current, "homegrown"
sites. So coul! d we develop stand-alone (non-drupal)
modules (in php, asp, jsp, others? or perhaps just
one, in client-side _javascript_?) that groups can put
on their current sites, that will display (not alter,
just display) the RSS feeds, thereby allowing a
measure of integration between "homegrown" sites and
DeanSpace nodes? Autonomy being the foundation of a
grassroots movement, we don't want people to feel like
DeanSpace is hijacking or upstaging their own work.
Better yet, do such stand-alone modules already exist,
GPL'd, and do they need to be expanded for our needs?
Will we provide these as part of (or alongside) our
kit?
Peace,
Josh Swartzbaugh
[Madoc]
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
Josh Swartzbaugh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello everyone!
First I'd like to say that I'm very happy to be a part
of this group. :) Uniting the various Dean movements
is going to be one of the most important pieces of the
puzzle to change this country's direction. It's not
often that you can feel that you are really making a
difference in the world, and I believe this group is,
and will.
Onward... This was brought up late in the meeting and
was suggested to bring to the list instead:
The DeanSpace plans seem to require every existing
Dean group to have a DeanSpace node _in addition to_
their currently existing websites. I expect no one to
be excited about abandoning their current sites... I
expect few to be enthusiastic _beyond the initial
excitement_ about maintaining an additional site that
does not contribute to their current, "homegrown"
sites. So coul! d we develop stand-alone (non-drupal)
modules (in php, asp, jsp, others? or perhaps just
one, in client-side _javascript_?) that groups can put
on their current sites, that will display (not alter,
just display) the RSS feeds, thereby allowing a
measure of integration between "homegrown" sites and
DeanSpace nodes? Autonomy being the foundation of a
grassroots movement, we don't want people to feel like
DeanSpace is hijacking or upstaging their own work.
Better yet, do such stand-alone modules already exist,
GPL'd, and do they need to be expanded for our needs?
Will we provide these as part of (or alongside) our
kit?
Peace,
Josh Swartzbaugh
[Madoc]
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
