[Theforum] Advocacy .. was ... Re: Getting in the monthly recap

Michele Foster michele at wordpro.on.ca
Tue Jan 8 13:53:49 CST 2002


Both Seb and David bring up really good points.

I like both ideas.

One thing we might want to consider is putting a link on the sidebar (yeah,
I know) that will allow submissions for the monthly Community News article.
Thus having this initiative in the forefront of people's minds.  Currently,
submissions are requested to be sent to Admin using the contact form.  But,
the entire idea of Community News Monthly Recap is lost now that the initial
article announcing it, has fallen off the home page (or it will soon ;).

A few more thoughts that I have .. spurred on by this conversation.

I feel really strongly about this .. we *must* do better in self-promoting
ourselves, and reminding our list members and web site visitors what
features exist, on a regular basis.

For example, and I'm sorry to use Simon, Madhu and Garrett, in my example
... but alas, its one close in mind.  They worked together to update the
bookmarklet for deo.  It works really well, makes it very easy for to add
sites to the directly.  But, still a month later (sorry guys) .. this hasn't
even been announced to thelist or to weo members in anyway.  Yeah, you guys
were supposed to write that article for the Community News category.  ;)

What I think we really need, and this has been discussed in the past is an
"Advocacy Person".  I'm willing to accept the position for the next, say 3
months.  This person would be responsible for communicating new features to
the community at large, via thelist, and via the Community News category.
(Note, I'm not suggesting taking over the monthly recap article).

So, a few ideas I have for this Advocacy Person would include ..

Writing up Community News articles (aside from the monthly recap) for items
done on thesite and/or theforum.  These would be "permanent" articles
highlighting specific features and/or changes to any of the evolt.org sites.
e.g. the changes to deo mentioned above, changes made to the tip harvester,
the article I'm planning to write wrt current changes on teo (i.e. author
information, bio, photo, revived article, comment search, etc.).

Sending out frequent, BUT NOT a lot .. let's say 2 week at max. notices to
thelist .. as <evolt tip> .. which can be appended to a current message or
sent out as a stand alone message.  These tidbits could include things such
as:

* Have news you would like to share with the evolt.org community, write it
up, send it here, and it will be considered for addition to the Monthly
Community News Recap article.
* Found a great web development resource, add it to d.e.o.
* Want to chat it up with your fellow evolters, and not have to post <tips>
for off-topic messages, consider joining thechat.
*Want to give back to the evolt.org community and/or help form its future,
consider joining thesite or theforum, details for both mailing lists
available here.
* Be kind to your fellow list members, trim your posts.

etc.

What do others think?  I really think we should consider this seriously ..
and not wait until the IA/Redesign is completed.  I think we need to be
better advocates.


Michele


----- Original Message -----
From: "David McCreath" <mccreath at ak.net>

|
| 2) Create an email list just for catching the community news (no sending
| out). If someone wants to include an item in the monthly recap, they
| send a message to communitynews at evolt.org (or monthlyrecap at evolt.org or
| whatever)
|






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