Mike Gravel 08 - Great, or the Greatest
Toward a raising of all issues related to Mike Gravel
For those interested in the political process and the upcoming election. We are dedicated to broadening awareness of Mike Gravel, his issues, his campaign and his progress. Please join the discussion and broaden our awareness.Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel (IPA: /gɹəˈvɛl/) (born May 13, 1930), is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alas ...learn more
GROUP DETAILS
Created: Sep 17, 2007
Updated: Aug 06, 2009
Membership: Open
Public
Are we making the best use of WiserEarth?
HOW TO BETTER UTILIZE WISEREARTH
Janine's observations after 17 months on WE
ADVANCED SEARCH FEATURE UNDERUTILIZED
The most powerful aspect of WE is its multilingual search
engine. Do we have metrics on how often its advanced search features
are applied? Most users do not use
its full power, which is tremendous. Many other features have been added but I still don't see an obvious persistent link to the advanced search capability.
USERS NEED FEEDBACK
What motivates continued participation is conviction that someone takes action based on their postings. I write and link, but rarely get a response. Many new users join, create a group, and then abandon it. I can understand that. It's taken lots of personal invitations to get members into any of the groups I've started.
To get postings viewed by more people, I link resources and organizations to
the groups with that area of focus. Maybe I have wasted many hours doing this. I have not seen measurable results. Social network research suggests 90% of
online group members are “lurkers” who do not post. Perhaps they are thoughtful readers who then
log off to take action.
I do know my profile has been viewed over 600 times. Perhaps that is a response to my links and
postings? Or maybe people just surf from
profile to profile to see who is related to whom. I get requests from strangers
to connect. I welcome this compliment that someone wishes to
collaborate. I note on my connections page what interests or groups we
share. It's nice to look at my collection of faces. Each represents another idealist working to change the world.
CONNECTING MORE BY GEOGRAPHY
To foster collaboration let's work locally. We should have more groups of people who are GEOGRAPHICALLY focused as well as having the same passions. I've tried to nurture the Group Cascadia Portal by adding links specific to our bioregion. I have been doing it over a year and have seen no result.
I posted a comment months ago asking Cascadia Portal members (over 60
of them) if it made a difference that I added links to the Cascadia
group. No one replied. Effective
people
are busy, taking action in real life. That's great! People
have limited time to correspond with strangers, even if they share
interests. Since most groups aren't fully developing as discussion
forums, maybe we should focus efforts more on the database than groups.
ENCOURAGE ORGANIZATIONS TO COLLABORATE
I am a WE Volunteer because I know its potential to build synergy. We already have too many separate organizations working on the same things. Existing nonprofits must learn what other nonprofits and government programs already address their areas of focus. We should strive to find and join EXISTING efforts for maximum impact.
More great suggestions can be revisited on the groups WiserEarth Suggestions and WiserEarth Area of Focus Suggestions.
Too many post without searching for and inviting others working on the same issue. Despite the interconnecting power of the web search, we still reinvent the wheel. WiserEarth's potential is to weave communities to keep them committed, on-life and on-line.
WISEREARTH IS NOT FACEBOOK (Thank God!)
WiserEarth doesn’t need to serve all the social networking needs of people
who are already overwhelmed by networks to which they already
belong. People with only a 128 character attention spam can stick to Twitter or Facebook. Facebook is a for-profit site created to harvest marketing data, not to nurture cooperation to change the world. www.Meetup.com is a better model for people actually taking action.
WISEREARTH AS AN AUTHORITATIVE, ANNOTATED INDEX
I think the greatest function of WiserEarth is to be an authoritve index. Its power lies primarily with our powerful database and our ability to keep it current and complete.
Thank you everyone for your amazing work on WiserEarth.
Warm wishes,
Janine
Comments (1 - 20 of 35)
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If the communication system between members doesn't become more functional, then Wsierearth will remain a more or less static site. There are announcements, but there is little enabled for communication and actual project organization. I love the way each group's page looks and the capabilities of what can be posted , but we can't use it as an organizing tool. So it's very pretty and there is information, but communication? NOt really.
Also, please try to add an RSS feed to the calendars. |
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@Janine: Actually we heard the community and made the advanced search show on every search result. This is a change from before when you had to find an obscure link to an 'Advanced Search'. We also did an extensive audit of what terms people were searching with when they made an advanced search. Surprise surprise, it was very limited and principly focused on topic, location and to some extent type (of record). So you will see that the new advanced search option is simplified and much easier to use. In addition, we've made it possible to toggle between searching for different types of records direct from the search result - something that was impossible only a month ago. So perhaps you are remembering the bad old days? In any case, do let us know what you think of the new search system. In addition to being (I think) easier to use, the search results come up faster and I think are more accurate. We can and plan to continue tweeking the search algorithm so if you come across something funky in your search results let us know and we'll try and fix it. So far the results of the switch have been that people on average spend a little less time per search but view more pages. We'll see how that changes going forward but it seems like a step in the right direction.
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One of my main concerns about WE is that the advanced search function is hard to find. The key advantage WE has over other social networks is its powerful database. It seems in the last year WE is more focused on increasing web traffic in a Facebook/Twitter style. Real activists who are busy in real life need accurate, concise information to synergize. We are already bombarded with plenty of information everywhere in our modern world. The only way to effectively use it is to focus and filter with advanced search functions of the database.
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Great suggestion Andy. I agree that it's just not enticing to see the same headline each time so it doesn't talk to the needs of each user. I like the Yahoo example. I also think that when an item changes once it shouldn't be repeated in each group multiple times.
In terms of BananaSlugs usability issue, I agree this is a key issue for the site and one that we have been talking about a lot as we have still no made it easy enough to broadcast/share/post information with others and across the site. Any other ideas on making this easier would be great. |
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I still think that, for me, what triggers me is seeing a stimulating WE email in my inbox. However the first line of any email from WE reads the exact same boring message, =============== WiserEarth Watchlist: Hello Andy Swarbrick The following items are saved to your watchlist. =============== I already know who I am, I already know the email is from WE and I already know that this kind of email may include Watchlist info... So what does this text do for me - nothing. In fact it is the opposite - it is a big turn off.
That's what I see in my Gmail inbox and it neither helps nor stimulates me - AT ALL.
The very first words of any email are critical. They should be unique to that message.
Compare it, if I may to a message from a Yahoo Group that I belong to, OxfordshireFreecycleCafe that came into my same email inbox yesterday ================= [oxfordshirefreecyclecafe] has anyone thought of setting up a witneytradecycle ================= This email first-liner stimulates me. Immediately I know that the content is relevant to anyone in Witney (which includes me) and to anyone interested or capable in setting up groups (and that's me). So I then click on the email and end up participating in the thread. regards Andy |
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Hi, Like all of you, I/we Banana Slug String Band-ers love the concept of WiserEarth. And here is my stumbling block: Like all of you, we are super-busy, helping care of the Earth. And, as someone said, we get spread thin on social networks. It would help me a lot if WiserEarth was easier to use. Set it up for "dumbies", like me. That way I don't have to invest precious time I don't have trying to figure out how to use it.
Recently, I wanted to send out a group note... email or announcement to other groups about linking holiday sales to nonprofit donations. (We're donating 10% to SeaTurtle.org.) I wanted to start a dialog/brainstorming about innovative & grassroots ways to fundraise in this economy. I couldn't figure out how to do this.
I realize this is largely my own limitation (not learning the system) but I do think I'm not alone.
Thanks for all you do, folks! Big love |
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I like Janine's forthrightness in stating what has not worked for a long time. That is what makes her comment useful. If she was gushing over how wonderful everything is we would not have learned so much. I started a group Zero Waste - the Third Generation etc. and posted a number of articles to get things started. Almost no one seems to read them even though they present some radical notions. I don't get any feedback (except just one person who lives near me). I don't have a suggestion for improvements. <p> The way that I initially interact with WE most days is through an email that tells me something has changed. But almost always it was occasioned by some change in some job placement or something else of no interest to me. If I could expect substantive notification in an email, I might view the email with more anticipation than at present.<p> Also, I wish I could be more constructive but much of WE seems shrouded in fog. I often have no idea where I am or how I got there so I close up the page. Maybe this is just my laziness in learning the pathways. I don't know. Do other people find the navigation to be a problem? |
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@Mita: You can use the advanced search function for people to find someone by location. That will be markedly improved when we launch our new search engine in a couple of weeks. Go to http://www.wiserearth.org/user/search?q=&commit= and select the advanced option. As for monthly gatherings / webinars - we are thinking about that. Do you have any specific ideas? I would love to work with you on this.
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Janine I for one appreciate your article and the joint effort of all the editors here. I am myself spread too thin in social networks and yet to learn how to use WE effectively. Have never tried finding members by City, State and Interest. Is it possible in advanced search?
Wonder whether we could host a monthly user-group conversation, so we can create relationship and share ideas on how to best design and use WE for bringing attention to paradigm changing ideas, initiatives critical for making the shift to wiser earth possible in this critical time. |
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Good to hear this Frank :)
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I’m involved in water issues in a big way. When I first started the Water Commons group there wasn’t much stuff on water on WE, other than listed organizations – here’s what exists today on WE using one search word, water:
Total listings 19,383 12,100 organizations 4,981 people with the word water somehow connect to them 245 groups 117 area of focus 1,134 resources Solutions (a new addition, I think) 14 7 jobs 78 events 235 wikipages From the solutions list of 7, I picked the first on listed, it makes for interesting read. http://www.wiserearth.org/solution/view/8afadcb6fbc433804e99498e2da29174 I should learn more about her efforts and I will, because WE made that possible. |
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Janine, it's the kindly roving touch of editors like you that make wiserearth work for me. I like your view of wiserearth as weaving communities to keep them committed, on-life and on-line. Am curious to watch how this may lead to a weaving of ideas about new approaches to old problems.
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Thank you everyone for your excellent response. I appreciate the thoughtful replies regarding if WiserEarth is inspiring people to move from on-line to on-life action. I think one of the best ways to make the on-line tool WiserEarth work best is to have the advanced search feature available to every user from every page. I've posted my comments about this on the Group "WiserEarth Suggestions." Please visit there to vote for features you think are most effective. Thanks everyone! |
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I think WE management needs to soberly take Janine's comments to heart. Take a step back from everything and ask, "Is this site really working for people or not?" If not, is there a paradigm shift that needs to take place or just a progression of improvements? Take a hard look at the question: "What would honestly make this site work for users on a massive scale?"
Perhaps one issue is whether each individual group member should be expected to have an account on WE or not. For example, WE could allow group administrators to enter their group's email list as people in their group who do not have a WE account. This could allow the entire group to be sent a message, not just the group members who happen to have an account on WE. (If at some point one of those members want to make a WE account for themselves, the system should automatically remove their email address from this list and add them to the group as an official WE user.)
@bvatant: "synergy with off-line networks, and improving quality on a local basis" @angusparker: "watering holes"
I totally agree. Here's a couple suggestions in these regards:
@frankpatton: "I don't know if anyone is using the group."
Agreed again. Here are some related suggestions:
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Frank, I hear ya - lack of feedback is probably the most glaring and overlooked tool we don't offer to our group admins. I'll have to take a closer look at the feedback loops on Youtube to see how that works - I'd love to learn from their features and see what makes sense for our site.
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I started the World Wide Water Commons group in March of 08 - over the year that I've been working on this group, I've also been able to see the changes that WE has implemented. THE HAVE ALL BEEN POSITIVE. The latest RSS feeds have been very helpful. I set up the group with one very simple statement - water is local, learning from others, helps you in your local water efforts.
Here's my problem. I don't know if anyone is using the group. I send out group emails to let people know that there is new info available but I don't know if the messages get through. On YouTube I have good feed back on who watches my animations because there are feed back loops that YouTube has set up. It's been very helpful for me to assess and understand where people are coming from and the links that drove the most traffic to a given video. Because of that info I can a just tag words and the sites that people found out about the videos also help me in figuring out why some got more hits than others. My point is this, is there something that might help me understand what I'm doing is working or not? A simple thing like knowing what other links are connecting up to the Water Commons site might be very helpful. It also might give me an opportunity to hook up with other water web sites and also exposing WE to ‘outside’ resources. |
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@ Vic: UI improvements have been a key focus over the past couple of months but much more needs to be done - especially in regards to encouraging the actions noted above.
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I suggest that, if we are not using the power of this site, then the applications are not apparent enough. User interface is critical. :) vic
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Thank you everyone for the excellent replies! Many changes have been made since this was posted.
Consider joining the WiserEarth Suggestions Group to continue the discussion and perhaps join in the solutions!
Best wishes from Seattle,
Janine |
Hey Elizabeth - I'm really glad you've help bring more attention to the communication system. We're undergoing a full scale redesign of it, and are committing a significant portion of our project roadmap to building this into a functional system. It's been good to hear how the current system falls short to point out what features need to be really be provided to make communicating enticing, rather than a chore.
For one thing, we are looking into a better way of integrating your email account with WiserEarth messages. Users have given feedback that not being able to hit the "reply" button to send a message back to the sender has made communication very difficult. There's a few various approaches to doing this, as there are issues to work around, primarily the email privacy of the sender, but regardless, the overall goal is to allow users to reply comfortably from their email inbox rather than having to log onto WiserEarth.
Another is allow members to send messages out to their network, and to create "contact lists" as you would normally do in an email client. This would also allow members to compose messages to multiple recipients, with similar "CC:" options as in an email.
A third is to offer a list-serv/mailing list functionality for groups. We've rolled this out on a testing basis for a test group on WiserEarth, and have seen a significant increase in communication. It showcases how people are very comfortable and have a strong preference for communicating from their email client, versus going onto a site. We are exploring options on how to integrate the discussion and membership of a mailing list with the group, such that posts are web-archived and web-accessible, and members can post/reply both through their email and on the website.
And I believe a previous suggestion of yours, to have the subject line show up versus a generic "John Smith has sent you a message on WiserEarth" is coming up soon. There are some tricky issues there, since we don't want users thinking it's an actual email and hitting the reply button, but we'll work it out as we go along.