Building Open Communities using Web Log Technology

Presented on 12 January 2004 at the Idlelo conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

Formats

Available in the following formats (OpenOffice.org Impress file has additional notes):

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Abstract

I submitted the following abstract to the conference:

Syndication initially enabled Netscape to deliver content to the side bars of its browsers, but the personal web log brought about the popularity of syndication, and the innovative usage of syndicated data to deliver powerful information to publishers and consumers of content.

"Weblogs are often-updated sites that point to articles elsewhere on the web, often with comments, and to on-site articles. A weblog is kind of a continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from, each develops an audience, and there's also camaraderie and politics between the people who run weblogs; they point to each other, in all kinds of structures, graphs, loops, etc." -- Dave Winer.

"A good weblog is updated often, in a kind of real-time improvisation, with pointers to interesting events, pages, stories and happenings elsewhere on the Web. New stuff piles on top of the page; older stuff sinks to the bottom." -- Scott Rosenberg.

The technology has matured, and user-friendliness has ushered in the web log equivalent of The September That Never Ended. Open Source contributors and supporters, as users of cutting-edge technology, are a major feature of the "blogosphere", the system incorporating all the web logs on the Internet. Recent major world events and perceived bias in the media have popularised the medium for breaking news and political discussion for non-technical users.

Syndication and metadata formats and associated software have created a new Internet subculture. Members use "aggregators" to inform them of new content, and use specialised search engines to find other web log entries on a similar subject or event. Together, they allow users to get personal summaries and opinions on companies, products, methodologies, and the news.

In building a community, lack of coverage of the community's activities often leads to spiralling uninterest. An installfest may generate a few mailing list entries, but talks and workshops are unlikely to generate even those. For those communities, escaping the inertia involved with updating a web site by setting up a web log is only the first step in the process. There is now a reason for onlookers to consider the community vibrant from its web site, and for them to return for updates.

The associated technology offers even more. For example: Syndication allows interested parties to be informed when changes are happening in the community. Trackback mechanisms allow the community web site to be informed when others are writing web log entries regarding their community or specific events within it.

This presentation assumes an understanding of the web and familiarity with being part of a community. It describes the processes involved and displays example results in an accessible manner. Being high-level, it focuses on the abilities, not the technical detail, of the technologies.