Sustainable collaboration!

[Curtbeckmann]

Hi All,

I'm very active at a sustainability wiki, Appropedia, which has a bit of a historical bias toward sustainability but is expanding to include sustainability generally.

I recently realized that the nature of the sustainability solution challenge really needs a forum-type tool (for easy discussion), in addition to the wiki format (for relatively stable content), and I'd love to find ways to work together. At a minimum, it would be great for us to expand our shared user-base! (SF has a larger registered user base, but AP does not require registration, so there is a fair sized anonymous user base.)

But more than that, when Appropedia wants to capture the latest thinking on a particular sustainability topic, we should initiate a thread here. Similarly, when a forum thread converges on a somewhat stable solution set, it could be valuable to present that in a wiki article that is more readable than the linear forum thread approach, while still being open to evolution and collaboration. (The wiki interface is not quite as "user friendly" as a forum, but that's because it allows for more complex presentation stuff like tables, etc. And anyway those problems will be solved over time. )

This is a rich topic in itself, of course. It seems appropriate for this "general news and discussion" space.

Excellent work on this forum! It's great to be here!

Curt

[FabianPattberg]

Hello Curt.

Welcome to the forum. Great to have you here.

Could you please explain to us in more detail how you would envisage a possible collaboration between the forum and your wiki?

I think by the sound of it this would be interesting.

Also, what do other members think?

Fabian

[Curtbeckmann]

Hi Fabian,

I think the ideal collaboration would somehow support shared logins, but I expect that's complicated at this point. Perhaps gets easier with the OpenID developments.

Otherwise, just having clear mutual support is a good start, with obvious links between the sites. With a tight partnership, the Wiki might want to put a link on the side bar (always visible). Add that to good awareness among the core user crowd, and I can see the content / conversations reaching across both sites. When a forum thread "matures" or a consensus develops, then it might make sense to create an article or article section in the wiki. Other times, someone may come to the forum and ask a question that's well discussed in the wiki (though potentially with an unexpected vocabulary, making it hard to find with search). We can link them back to the wiki.

I have a sense that this would work better at the same domain, but as I said earlier (maybe in email?) we're strongly inclined toward working with existing folks rather than re-inventing.

We're getting many thousands of unique visitors per month, and growing all the time, so we can help bring traffic to SF.com, and I expect the synergy would work both ways.

Other members at the wiki are supportive. Or perhaps I should say the other admins are supportive. We start those conversations at that level.

Forums are great for conversations, and yet this particular conversation might work better via skype or similar. Let me know.

By the way, I'm a bit of a "forum newbie" and don't know the difference between "Post Reply" and "Q Reply". I'll look around for hints, but may not find it...

Best regards,
CB