CM Professionals just had a board election to replace outgoing board members Erik Hartman, Samantha Starmer, Scott Abel (who has moved to the Executive Director role), and myself (announcement). Congratulations new board members Joan Lasselle, Linda Burman, Travis Wissink, and Emma Hamer!
Never underestimate the importance of training your users on a new CMS. Even if you consider the new tool easier to use, it may be disorienting to someone that has built their work habits around another technology. To illustrate the point....
Nuxeo just announced the GA release of version 5 of their Enterprise Content Management offering Nuxeo 5 EP. This is the version that replaces the Zope-based CPS product (which broke ground for open source in Enterprise Content Management) with an all Java implementation. I have to say that I had my doubts on this migration and I am looking forward to checking out the new software. I really liked the technical design philosophy that went into the CPS product and am hoping that they are successful translating those ideas onto a new platform. The second test of this decision to move will be how their customer base will respond. I subscribe to the CPS list and see that people are still actively using and extending the CPS product. Will these customers move, stay or defect? Will the move be smooth? Will new customers who had been put off by Zope be suddenly be attracted to the new product? It is going to be interesting watching this play out.
There will be an Open Source CMS Summit this Spring (March 22nd and 23rd) at Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. The Drupal project is spearheading it but all other projects are invited to participate. With the decline of OSCOM, it is nice to see these kind of events happening. Project teams learn from other projects' strengths and experiences. Most of the current proposals are about Drupal and Munwar Shariff is also planning to talk about Alfresco (He just published an Alfresco book
. Review from me coming soon).
You might remember Drupal and eZ publish put on a similar conference in Vancouver last year. I found out about it pretty late, as did the general OSCOM community that was battling inertia of organizing a conference of their own. I heard it was a great time.
Is it me or are these videos creepily similar?
Thanks Stephe for pointing me to this great post about attempts to manipulate social bookmarking.
I just saw this video on Erik Smartt's blog. I won't try to describe it. Just watch it.
If you run Windows, it is easy to overlook the Safari web browser when testing a web application. Ideally, you can use this limitation as an excuse to buy a Mac. However, if your employer doesn't buy it, consider the Swift Browser. It uses the same rendering engine used in Safari but runs on Windows. I installed it and, although it is very poor functionality-wise, it worked. Hint: to get the address bar, you may need to click the tiny triangle in the upper right side of the page (see screenshot).
I just read a very interesting report by the American Press Institute called "Blueprint For Transformation". This report is from a project called Newspaper Next (or N2) which has been charged to study how the newspaper industry can respond to a new media landscape driven by the Internet.
The report is free if you register (and I have not been called by a salesperson yet so I think it is safe) and there are also conferences happening throughout the country to discuss it. If you are in Boston area, mark your calendars for February 23rd.
The report contains some very well written analysis of the disruptive impact of the Internet to traditional publishing models and applies to Clay Christensen Disruptive Technology theory to explain what is happening. Some interesting points:
We have a new reality were people can get information anytime and any place they want it. They can also publish at will. The social impact of these new publishing models enabled by the internet is on the scale of the advent movable type and mass literacy.
People consume more media (7.5 hours a day) from more sources.
The fragmentation of information sources has changed the advertising market.
Traditional newspaper websites are squeezing an old product into a new technology. This practice, known as "cramming," tends to overlook new opportunities created by the new technology.
Although the challenges are very real, the study does not suggest that newspaper businesses should lie down and accept their destiny of irrelevance. Instead they advocate creating portfolio companies that leverage their strengths to create disruptive technologies of their own. Included in this recommendation is a methodology for innovation and some general business strategies. The concepts are germane to anyone doing business in the information economy.
I was going through some slide presentations on my computer and I stumbled upon a deck that my friend Renaud Richardet presented on my panel at the 2006 Boston Gilbane Conference. Renaud talked about how to join a community and gave some tips on getting help from a mailing list. Looking at some lists that I subscribe to, it looks like this advice needs to get out more. If you find no one is answering your questions, it might not be the community. It might be you. Sometimes someone will (perhaps brusquely) rebuke you for poor forum manners. Other times you might be ignored or (worse) silently blacklisted. To prevent this from happening, I suggest you practice the following habits:
Lots of projects have guidelines for using the mailing list. Read them and follow them. They often include some good advice like you see here.
Do your homework before posting on the list. Search the archives. Read the documentation. Only ask after you have tapped existing resources and came up blank - not because you are too busy to try. Everyone else is busy too.
Indicate the work that you have done in your post by saying things like "I followed these instructions (with link) and this is what I am seeing" and "I tried the following approaches."
Give as much background information as possible including what you are trying to do, the version of the components you are working with, your platform, code snippets, and excerpts from your log files (BTW, be sure to edit down your log files to remove confidential information such as passwords etc.).
Even if your problem is urgent, don't treat the community like they are your paid help. Avoid demanding language in ALL CAPS, etc. No tantrums allowed.
If you are really stuck, many projects have IRC channels that may give you more a immediate response. It is a good idea to hang out in these channels to get to know the community and learn. Sometimes the conversation may lean toward the social/fun side. Feel free to participate.
If your request does not get a response, reply to your message with more information that shows you are still working on the problem and are trying different things. This will also bubble your message to the top so that more people can see it.
Remember to thank anyone who responds - even if they have the wrong answer.
Frequently there are independent consultants participate in the lists. Consider hiring one if you are really stuck. Think of it as spending a fraction of the money you are saving by not buying an annual support subscription. If you find yourself frequently needing hands-on help, consider building a formal relationship with a support provider.
If you figure out the problem on your own, reply to your message with the answer.
If you see people with similar problems, engage them to work together to figure them out.
Consider publishing the information that you could have used in the documentation wiki of the project.
If you follow these guidelines, you do more than just help yourself. Well worded questions and good follow up make the mailing list archive a richer resource for others to search. If you are already an expert in the community, try to be as patient with the n00bs as possible and gently coach them on list etiquette. Community karma swings both ways.
Here is Robert Safuto's (Awakened Voice) Drupal screencast showing Drupal 5. This screencast is longer and starts at a more basic level than Jeff Robbins Drupal screencast which mainly highlights what is new in Version 5. A very good introduction to what Drupal is and what you can do with it. Tip of the hat to Dries for pointing it out.
