Examples of Successes

[sita...@gmail.com]

www.namahatta.org

* Multiauthor blogging.

This is important. We need to reaise the awareness in our yatras of the
importance of communication. Communication builds community. The more
voices we have the better. Our biggest resource is volunteer man and
woman power - let's start putting it into play!

* Aesthetic site design.

That's very important for people today. The credibility of a website
and its content is directly proportional to its presentation.

* Based on open standards. RSS feed.

Getting the information out of the silo and making it available and
reusable by others is critical.

* Commodity open source content management system.

This is just good sense. It makes it easy to update, and it enables the
site to take advantage of new developments in the CMS (content
management system)

A good example in many respects.

[sita...@gmail.com]

Here is an article by Seth Godin about the top 59 non-profit org
websites.: http://www.squidoo.com/org20

Some choice quotes:

"These charities were chosen for their excellence in online
storytelling and collaboration with their donors."

"These are organizations that give their volunteers and members a voice
and get out of the way. They're pros at mobilizing awareness online.
They're experimentors. Innovators. On a mission. They're fearless."

"...(w)e looked at how each of those organizations was interacting with
the more compelling web 2.0 tools and principles. These aren't just
orgs that throw up a video or a forum or a MySpace page and stop. These
are organizations that are busy aligning their missions and models and
stories to support the new marketing online."

Here are the questions that they asked to rank these websites. These
questions give some insight into what's involved:

What does the org's website look like?
Does it just ask for donations?
Do they have a way for members to share their stories?
Do they have lenses or Groups on Squidoo?
Do they have MySpace groups?
You Tube videos?
Flickr sets?
Do they value microdonations or only $1000 and more?
Do they run contests or challenges to engage their members?
Do they send out weekly or monthly newsletters?
Do they have RSS feeds?
Are people blogging about the org?
Are they stuck in the land of direct mail, control, and offline
fundraising?
Are they optimized for the new cadre of young philanthropists?

[sita...@gmail.com]

www.brijabasispirit.com

* Multiauthor blog

Basically the same bullet points as namahatta.org.

Good flow of content.

Uses wordpress by the look of it, whereas namahatta.org uses drupal.

[Candidasa dasa]

How about Web 2.0 websites. There are many definitions of Web 2.0, but
I'd call it something cool on the web that uses Javascript for more
than image rollovers.

only example I can think of:
www.slokaraja.com

[Sitapati Das]

I think of Web 2.0 as being closer to Tim Berners-Lee original vision of a read/write web. Originally his idea was that what we now call a "browser",  was not simply for consumption, but for collaboration.

We are finally getting close to something that resembles that.

Web 2.0 sites harness network effects and create community. They contain user created content and the users are co-creators rather than simply spectators.

Web 2.0 websites to me would be youtube.com, myspace.com.

I would think of things like user uploads, tagging, blogging, commenting, and other interactive factors. It's as much a social phenomenon as a technical one.

[Candidasa dasa]

Sitapati Das wrote:
> I think of Web 2.0 as being closer to Tim Berners-Lee original vision of a
> read/write web. Originally his idea was that what we now call a "browser",
> was not simply for consumption, but for collaboration.

> Web 2.0 websites to me would be youtube.com, myspace.com.

Ah, but also something like Google Maps, which is more about
re-purposing something that already exists. I.e. creating mashups.

But, yes, I agree with you. Web 2.0 is mainly about the community. The
Time Magazine person of the year: You!

Hey, you just gave me an idea. How about turning SlokaRaja.com into a
community? People could see the slokas other people on the site are
memorizing. The website could track how long individuals spend
memorizing each day. How many verses they master, etc. There would be
competitions for who can learn the most. We could even pit countries
against each other to see who can learn the most. I'm thinking
something like the community that has sprung up around the Nike + iPod
Sport Kit running shoe sensor:

http://playlistmag.com/reviews/2006/09/nikeipod/index.php

Of course, I don't have the time to program this at the moment. Does
anyone else desire to take this task? Any thoughts on the idea?

Your servant,
Candidasa dasa

[Sita-pati das]

Candidasa dasa wrote:
> Sitapati Das wrote:
>
>> I think of Web 2.0 as being closer to Tim Berners-Lee original vision of a
>> read/write web. Originally his idea was that what we now call a "browser",
>> was not simply for consumption, but for collaboration.
>> Web 2.0 websites to me would be youtube.com, myspace.com.
>>
> Ah, but also something like Google Maps, which is more about
> re-purposing something that already exists. I.e. creating mashups.
>

What makes Google Maps Web 2.0 is the mashup factor - which is again
read/write. With the Google maps API you can create your own site, and
invent new uses for it. In other words, it allows reuse in ways that the
users can discover and create - not simply in the way that the site
administrators and owners dictate. Web 2.0 means treating the users as
co-creators, giving up control in certain areas and empowering them to
do things, even things that you didn't think of. In that sense Google
have released their API and access to their data in a CC-style fashion.

They "get" Web 2.0 (which is really just the original and inherent
vision for the network, before the corporates imposed their 20th century
business models on it)

>
> Hey, you just gave me an idea. How about turning SlokaRaja.com into a
> community?

Putting into place elements to enable a community around Slokaraja is a
good idea. I don't know if a competition is the way to do it. You need
to have a way that users become co-creators, contributing and
influencing direction, and a way in which you empower them to do things
with the content.

What about something like YouTube-style embedding for vedabase.net
content? At the moment when I want to embed slokas from vedabase I have
to browse over there, copy the text, paste it, then grab the url, paste
it and format a link.

That would be web 2.0 - enabling me to mix up something further based on
what you have. Like YouTube, for example, it enables me to upload my
video, and to embed and link videos on my blog or website.

-sda

[Ekendra das]

how would u keep it honest? in other words how could you determine that
someone has learned a sloka?

On Jan 24, 6:04 am, "Candidasa dasa" <candid...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sitapati Das wrote:
> > I think of Web 2.0 as being closer to Tim Berners-Lee original vision of a
> > read/write web. Originally his idea was that what we now call a "browser",
> > was not simply for consumption, but for collaboration.

> > Web 2.0 websites to me would be youtube.com, myspace.com.Ah, but also something like Google Maps, which is more about

[Candidasa dasa]

It is, of course, impossible to guarantee complete honestly, but I can track mouse movement and clicking in Javascript and upload that to the server behind the scenes. That gives a pretty good estimate for how long devotees are spending using the application. The award doesn't go to the person with the best brain/memory/karma, but to the person who tries the hardest/spends the most time/is the most devoted.

But that is all in the future. At the moment is is just a simple Javascript application.

Putting into place elements to enable a community around Slokaraja is a

good idea. I don't know if a competition is the way to do it. You need

to have a way that users become co-creators, contributing and

influencing direction, and a way in which you empower them to do things

with the content.

I don't think we need to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon just for the sake of it. If it makes sense to do something in Web 1.5, then surely that should be done?

your servant,

Candidasa dasa

[Sita-pati das]

www.sivaramaswami.com

H.H. Sivarama Swami blogs and podcasts regularly (he even gave me a
shout out and answered a question of mine once). His influence is
growing as a result of this. People are increasingly looking to him to
define the situation, and his views are becoming more authoritative at
the grassroots level in ISKCON.

* RSS feed
* Content management system (wordpress)
* Good site design
* Good content
* Updated frequently
* Early adopter - he owns the space
* Podcast

The podcast is interactive and not simply a recording of a class. He
speaks to the audience, telling them what he is doing and answering
questions that people send in. He "gets it".

-sda