O.A.T.H.
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GROUP DETAILS
Created: Oct 12, 2008
Updated: Nov 27, 2009
Membership: Open
Semi-Private
Add Blog feature to Users & Groups +7
Problem: No blog functionality on Wiserearth
Solution: It would be much more useful for group members and those who update
groups if each one had a blog. All I might want to post is a video,
picture..or a quick comment...which the Bulletin Board allows me to do
already...but with a blog format, whatever I post can at least be
archived. So not only will there be a lot of posts someone can view,
but I wouldn't have to delete old or outdated posts as well. This will
make it more likely for me to post things...
http://wiserearth.org/forum/view/8c2b12d0de83c5aa47895b926723bbe1
Comments (1 - 20 of 31)
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I think everyone has been more or less in favor of a blog on WiserEarth, but other projects have taken precedence. We're doing what we can to cut down on the rather dizzying array of features available on the site, and also to avoid adding more and more features to the site. So let me just say that if we do get around to adding a blog, we will likely go with a Wordpress implementation. But for now, this idea will be put on hold while we shore up the site's focus.
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Worth noting that when we have the News module for groups - might be a
couple of months from now - we can syndicate any Blog RSS feed into
that module. So you will be able to see Blog content on a Wiserearth
group - but not be able to comment directly on blog posts. That should
meet some of the needs of members who can continue to use their
favorite bogging platform like Wordpress or Blogger.
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I went to star-tides.net/node like Phil suggested, and was unable to start a new account at that site? Can't a "WE RANT SITE" be set up as a network Blogger Dashboard, just a thought? WLLuster/1-12-09
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@Phil: There is a WiserEarth 'newsletter' of sorts - Peggy sends out a quarterly communication. We were thinking that any more frequent than that might be perceived as spam. As for email functionality, we can't open up the entire membership to blast email because that would allow spammers to use and abuse the service. You can of course contact any member on a one to one basis and message an entire group membership. Mass emailing your friends will be a future step I suspect. Thanks for the star-tides heads-up. Best, Angus
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I sometimes post to Star-Tides where every registered member has their own blog by default.
I don't know what the coding is for this feature, but I'm sure they would tell us.
ps Why doesn't WiserEarth have an email newsletter to keep the registered but inactive informed ?
Why doesn't WiserEarth have an interactive mailing list, if I want to send a message to everyone it's impossible because we are all Balkanised in our little groups ? |
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Hello Ian, Happy New Year to you and yours from Las Vegas. Could you send me a friend request that I can accept, to establish a link with you? I'm still computer illiterate, but I have found this procedure to be useful for closer communication and resource sharing with other WE members. The Blog Spot you recommended at the WE Watchlist Alert sounded good so I created a "RANT" Blogger Dashboard on my site- www.wiserearth.org/group/leland1- that is open to all at WE. Thank you Ian for all the hard work you do for us non-tech. members of WiserEarth.org. W.L.Luster/1-9-09
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But .... Wordpress has an established base and lots of plug ins .... we would get more adopters if we used this software and more likely get existing blogs mirrored here. Is there a simple solution where we simply tag a blog running somewhere else and make it a record on our side? For those without an existing blog we could run it for them...
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I would have to agree with Arash (boostani) here, I think using the existing code base would be better because our developers have a more intimate knowledge of it. Integrating WordPress or similar third party code would require attention to be focused on learning new software, integrating it and keeping up with another code tree.
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It may be time to split this suggestion into two different suggestions:
1. Implement WordPress blogging into the site
or
2. Modify the existing wikipage functionality to enable its use as a blogging tool
My vote applies to item 2. I think that enhancing wikipages would make it easier to make the blog integration more seamless. For example, we could allow AOF tagging of blogs or individual blog posts so that they could be included in the "Feed Tile" feature that we're working on, which suggests content to users based on the Areas of Focus that they have selected, as well as other criteria that can be configured. |
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I've always liked the idea of integrating a Wordpress blog plugin onto our site - 4 stars!
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Peggy made the excellent suggestion that we should also allow users to mirror an existing blog on the WiserEarth site. So say someone has a blog that is compatible with whatever software we end up using / or we permit an Iframe or something like it, the member can say I simply want to display that rather than use the blog option that WE provides.
Adding my +1 as five stars and taking it away from the total in the title |
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Adding my plus one as five stars to this.
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Adding my plus one as five stars to this.
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Yup, I agree this could be a useful feature on the site for users. |
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Yes, definitely working with the existing codebase would be a more time economical solution.
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Yep. Definitely clever!
Modify it a bit further (e.g. only I and such user can edit this article) and make it usable by people (not just groups) in the form of "Blog" tab on user profiles, and we have a basic blogging feature for WiserEarth without so much as integrating more complex blogging platform like Wordpress or Lyceum..
For groups, may be worth considering to allow another wikipages module/tile for group blog where article can only be modified by select (or all) members of the group (admins decide who). |
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Another supporting factor for this feature, I noticed people using WiserEarth have actually created non-malicious hacks (in the positive DIY sense of the word) to create blog functionality. This is another sign that the people using the site desire such a feature. Here is one very clever example.
Users caitlinsislin and ShannonLaLa have documented their journey from northern Nevada to Southern Arizona in a blog. At the end of every post (which they use wikipages to write), they add a link that says:
"-Back to Blog Index"
The "Blog index" is a repurposing of the list of wikipages, with the "Sort by recency" tab selected (you can actually link directly by copying the long string of code in the URL).
A very clever way to create a blog on WiserEarth, where none had existed before! |
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From the Lyceum FAQ:
Q: What is the difference between Lyceum and WordPress MU?
So, for my money the difference isn't that big. Perhaps Lyceum has better security and scalability, but there could be other details that make WordPress MU more desirable. |
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There actually is a multi-user Wordpress called Wordpress MU.
Ever dream of running hundreds of thousands of blogs with a single install of WordPress? WordPress MU features - Everything WordPress does
I wonder what benefits lyceaum have over Wordpress MU? |
@jonramer: "have a personal blog capabilioty be part of my person profile and a collective blog be part of the group functionality"
I agree.
@ianelwood: "cross-referencing and cross linking"
Also, what would be cool is to include a blog entry from some other blog into your own blog or your group's blog. You could go blog-entry hunting and bring home the goods. :)