Welcome!!!

[David Cohn]

Hello!!!

David Cohn here. I've been getting more and more serious inquiries
about using the Spot.Us code in other locations. I thought it would be
helpful to invite everyone here to chat, share resources, ideas,
knowledge, etc.

Note: The code is being added to right now - we are almost ready to
release a new version that will be on rails 2.3.2 (for easier
translating efforts) and it will also have a more streamlined
registration process.

This can also be a resource where people ask questions about the
admin interface - which will also improve over time.

Best
David Cohn - Director
Kara Andraded - Community Rock Star.

[SteveM]

Hi David,

Excited to be a part of the project. Would love to hear about other
people's implementations!

We're on the east coast of Canada, Halifax Nova Scotia. We have lost
one of our major newspapers completely, and our remaining paper is the
oldest in the country and losing money fast. The spot.us platform
sounds extremely enticing and we're ready to give it a go here.

[Barry Rafkind]

Hi everyone!

It's exciting to be in touch with people from around the world on this
innovative project!

I am a volunteer with SomervilleVoices.org in Somerville, MA and I'm
part of discussions in the Boston-area about setting up Spot.Us here.
We are facing the erosion of The Boston Globe, with a threatened
shutdown of the paper by parent company, The New York Times. We
haven't implemented Spot.Us yet, so I'm really interested to hear what
challenges are encountered by others as they attempt to clone the
system.

I don't think the technical implementation will be as challenging as
setting up the framework of policies, team structure, and processes to
get the project running. Perhaps David can speak to these issues and
recommend best practices. Is there any how-to documentation on the non-
technical aspects of setting up the system?

How are other teams managing their finances? By setting up your own
non-profit or partnering with an existing one, perhaps?

Do other teams have dedicated staff, or are you all volunteer?

Spot.Us started out using ThePoint.com as a crowd-funding platform.
Has anyone else tried this out?

Thanks and good luck!
Barry Rafkind

P.S. Community Rock Star sounds like the best job title ever!

[David Gross]

I completely agree that this isn't a technical issue, since David and
his folks have done the technical work for us.

May I suggest we develop a Wiki to come up with answers to questions
posed above?
- the framework of policies, team structure
- processes to get the project running
- best practices
- how-to documentation on the non-technical aspects of setting up the
system
- How are other teams managing their finances?
And more...
- How to integrate Spot-Us with other Internet tools, such as
Facebook, etc., to form a growing, self-sustaining community?
- Guidance to create attractive and viable pitches? What we used to
sent to editors may be wrong for general public supporters
- How to have multiple organizations (e.g. newspapers, NGOs) "buy
shares" in a story?
And,
- How to avoid saturating the web-space with little spot-us' — how we
can avoid stepping on each others' toes while supporting each other.
- How to pitch/sell photojournalism and radio, in addition to print.

Once the wiki is up, more such questions (and eventually, answers)
will appear. I suggest David be the person to do this (on the
assumption it's easy enough to start the wiki).

[Ayumi Fukaya]

Hello everyone!
Nice to meet you!

I am Ayumi from Japan. I belong to a team that has some editors and
programmers.
We have had a group to talk about spot.us each other including David
and Kara.

Why don't you join our group?
I want to join our member to this useful discussion.
I think it is not good to divide into 2 groups, and it is not open for
other members.

We have talked about sub domain, how to profit, and translation
already.
I want to share these topics with new member and to discuss more and
more.
So I want to integrate two groups if you don't mind.

Ayumi

[David Cohn]

This group is open and public. Anyone can join.

Also: We DO have a wiki.

http://wiki.spot.us

I am traveling right now - but happy to answer any questions I can.

Best
David

--
David Cohn
http://Spot.Us
http://www.digidave.org/about
(310) 365-3600

[Ayumi Fukaya]

David,

OK, I see your intention.
It may be hard for us to distinct which is better to post a topic.
We try to join anyway.

Invite other member in Japan to this group.
So, all of us can join the discussion in this group.


Ayumi

On Apr 20, 2:43 pm, David Cohn <dco...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This group is open and public. Anyone can join.
>
> Also: We DO have a wiki.
>
> http://wiki.spot.us
>
> I am traveling right now - but happy to answer any questions I can.
>
> Best
> David
>

[Barry Rafkind]

Hi Ayumi,

Can you provide a link to your group?
Also do you have a link to your Spot.Us website?

If your group is not open to the public, would you consider making it public, and then maybe it would make sense to combine the two groups.

Thank you,
Barry

[Andria]

Hi all,
I'm Andria Krewson from Charlotte, N.C.
I work on http://underoak.blogspot.com and a few other things.
Charlotte has a growing body of experienced freelance journalism
talent as well as new talent studying and committed to quality
information. I'll share this site with them.
Thanks, Dave, for spreading the word and the code.

Andria

[Ayumi Fukaya]

Hi Barry,

Sorry, I have not replied you.


Here is the link to our group.

http://groups.google.com/group/spotus_japaneseversion

I have made it public so you can access all topics.

Ayumi

On Apr 27, 12:24 am, Andria <akrewson...@mac.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm Andria Krewson from Charlotte, N.C.

> I work onhttp://underoak.blogspot.comand a few other things.