i am a big fan of http://www.openplans.org (browse their incredibly diverse list of projects), and i'd love to see o.net make an overture to them to deploy some group-building tools - within and across platforms - and support the migration of content.

thanks for beginning this thread haney!

http://aboutus.org is available, for those that like wiki. They're dual licensed, GFDL and CC-by-sa, so work there is building the Commons. ''Full disclosure, I am a part-time contractor for AboutUs.org.''

Norbert,

I see you're creating a lot of new workspaces in the this group around your Killer Domain Names project.

Instead of using the workspace namespace here, can you please set up a separate group to house all that content?

Thanks

Thomas,

I think the namespace is virtually unlimited.

In order to focus attention on some workspaces, I have given them positive feedback.

Are there other workspaces you feel deserve more attention (positive feedack)?

Since I feel brainstorming and/or selecting an appropriate name is an important aspect of the transition process, I have set up the workspace(s) for this purpose. I have purposefully used the KDN prefix in order to prevent any confusion.

Also, workspaces (wiki pages) are for collaborative development, so it is wrong for you to call them "mine".

Please let me know if you need any help from me in order to draw more attention to anything in particular.

And lastly, I look forward to more brainstorming contributions. I have started a discussion for precisely that purpose: Kick the Can. If anyone is not satisfied with that discussion thread, please start a new one and let me know about it -- we have alot of brainstorming to do, and rather little time to do it in !!!

Thanks!

:) nmw

What happens will happen here and even an initial transition might not be forever. Maybe the first steps are temporary.

I prefer the site in some form to transition to another non-profit or NGO. (in whole or part) Maybe like techsoup.org or some other place with reputation, resources, support and experience with Community Group management. Without real management, it stands a chance if impolding further.

My fear is that if its run in cold somewhere or under any single domain of personal control of a user, it will languish.

With confidence, many places would host the site. But keeping it until reaching a new home within the focus of original goals is why it lasted this long. Trying to change that vastly now would be another distraction.

Now, as a start maybe the focus on features or where it all will go should be set aside and just the board appointments be the front burner.

I also think that people deciding to migrate or not migrate their content is serious distraction, as the current site is already consistent with a very good user agreement. Sure they can hide it, but its not even on the plate yet.

If there isn't any focus, the content no matter where it ends up won't be any better off than not existing at all.

Cheers

It would be nice to create Online Incubators which empower people in specific industries to gather and vet ideas to meet a specific goal. As was done here on the O-net

Replicate this site to address very narrow and specific problems wether it be for Social Justice Issues or Business solutions.

If we might think outside the box a bit...I am not at all interested in massive sites like Facebook etc. I am interested in freebase and wagn which excel at managing knowledge. As I have said elsewhere, my intention is to create a nurture wagn for community. I already have a wagn at http://nurture.wagn.org. My focus is narrow, though the space could accommodate a wide variety. My focus is on supporting and developing social change advocates both in business and in nonprofit forms.

I don't think this is the solution for everyone. And I am not a fan of moving the whole entity. Although I would consider it temporarily if it meant we would have more time to successfully transition everyone.

Ken Nakagama said:

Now, as a start maybe the focus on features or where it all will go should be set aside and just the board appointments be the front burner.

I agree we don't have to nail the platform before the board is elected -- but it would be great to know how the nominees will approach the platform decision.

Indeed,

and I feel it would be a shame if such a tailor-made site were scrapped and then quasi-replaced with some cheesy plastic off-the-shelf promotional junk.

What a shame! What a shame! What a shame!

i created a poll to begin to determine interest in certain platforms. Does the workspace capture all platforms members may be interested in considering? Are you interested in separate discussion threads for each of the 4 categories: onet source code, wiki, forum & social network?

None of that stuff is very interesting (for the purpose of "making good things happen") -- most of it is primarily intended for other purposes (basically "web publishing" and/or promotion) than what the omidyar.net was (IMHO) intended for (collaborative "decision making"). Of course such applications can be used for promotional marketing or something like that -- but that's rather ordinary and nothing special (nickel and dime stuff).

What will make communities stand apart (besides being focused on something) will be the standards of quality applied. Where no qualitative standards are applied, it will be difficult to differentiate one site from another -- and therefore all will become unrecognizable from the din of a mass of murky misinformation glazed over with 2.0 whitewash.

:/ nmw

nmw said:

Where no qualitative standards are applied, it will be difficult to differentiate one site from another -- and therefore all will become unrecognizable from the din of a mass of murky misinformation glazed over with 2.0 whitewash.

Brilliant and spot-on

Anne Marie Bellavance said:

Are you interested in separate discussion threads for each of the 4 categories: onet source code, wiki, forum & social network?

Just to clarify: my only interest is in this community -- which is actually dialectically linked (via processes described quite well in a quote by Tim O'Reily -- see "Wisdom of the Tech") to the technology.

I have already started a discussion about the onet source code: I Want You Just the Way You Are (Please Leave Everything the Same as it Ever Was -- Don't You Ever Change!)

BTW: anyone who doesn't like my discussion titles, should either lighten up or make a discussion with a more apt title!

;D nmw

Change is a very hard and difficult aspect especially where it's very convienient! Some of us have found no problem with the way o.net has been funtioning, though there may be some areas that need to be fixed. Iam trying to catch up with the transition plan and TALK. I have been blessed by chating with people while on o.net and I hope and request that in the new created community workspace are concerned, provision for people to people interactions should be provided for! I believe that interactions amongest people on such a network also helps in making the world of people a better place not only the social community projects. Iam open to the changes because change is inevitable though positive or negative, I hope o.net transition is going to be a more positive change with a greater and positive impact on our world i.e. still focusing on making the "world a better place"

It seems to me the best thing about this place was its mission, and the Omidyars themselves and their commitment.

This is what brought all the really cool people who then made this place really cool.

Any of these wonderful projects here could do its thing just fine in a yahoo group, except that then you don't have all that cross pollination of the other cool people popping in to contribute or even getting inspired to join a project they hadn't even known about until they saw it in "What's New" or in some user's recent discussions. So a site that allows that instant linking between people and threads and time would be nice.

But I'm afraid that when we talk about migrating to new platforms we might be underestimating the power of what Omidyar did, and not giving that enough credit as source of what we love about o/net.

Maybe instead of looking for a new o/net, we should look for a new leader to succeed the Omidyars.

well, to that I say it ain't me, Babe

(HA! I actually typed in the URL to check it! didn't even need to use http://bobdylan.com/search ;) [1]

:D nmw

(I hope I get this all right since I had it almost all done except for a link when I lost it all in a huge power outage.)

I think about it a bit like this:

Omidyar Networks had a nice place and they invited people to come and share their place. People moved in and made it home (at least it feels like home to some of us). We were encouraged by the owner to use the space the way we saw fit. We could invite who we wanted and behave as we wanted. Even when people were yelling

• "Mommy...he called me a name..!"
• "I hit him but he deserved it..."
• "Calm down, calm down..."
• "I'm gonna take my ball and go home..."
• "Go...."
• "I don't like the color of the carpet. Avocado is so passé."
• "No, we are not going to change the carpet."

Anyhow ... Now our host is sending us on our merry way. Maye it is because he has seen that we can make it on our own now. Maybe it's just because he has other uses for the space or the time and energy and expense .. it doesn't matter. Fact is, we have to go and find a new home.

Now, some of the folks who have called this place home have used their time here to grow strong and they are looking to leave the nest. Others aren't that strong yet and need some support. There are other folks who have enjoyed living in this big diverse community and just want to have lots of folks around.

Some of those in the first category are out house hunting. Some are looking at building new houses, some are looking at getting used houses. Some of these groups are strong enough that they could be able to help guide some of the people who aren't so strong yet (the second group). Some of the folks in the 3rd group are looking at ways to take the plans for the house they have been living in and seeing if there isn't a way to modify those plans and put in some other color of carpet and get the front door right this time. Some people are looking around and might think that they would rather live in an apartment than a house anyway.

So, with all of that in mind, I see the function of the board, at least in part, to try to help every one find a new home that suits them. I have been poking around at facebook for example and seeing what I can make it do. I have found some things out and have posted them on the platform workspace. There are things there that would be great for some groups and there are things that just won't cut it for others. Now I am poking around wiserearth. We all need to be out there checking and then sharing stuff we see. (Hey....I saw a great place that even has a gardener to take care of the yard! That one over there doesn't have a master bath so it might not work for you unless you can get someone to add it on for you.)

We are a big and diverse community. One-size-fits-all just might not make it. But this kind of thing happens in every family and people grow up and go out on their own and start families of their own. If we all pitch together and help everyone with the choices they need to make and help everyone see all of the angles that they might miss (Why do you have a home inspector check out the place before you buy?).... I just want to make sure that when everyone is settled in to their new digs, I know how to get a hold of them for the family reunion.

Sure hope someone else is going to look at some of these sites 'cause I just don't have the time.

(And yes, Anne Marie, I think it might be a good idea to set up discussions on the different options...or at least agree to post information on the platform workspace.)

Quick process question: what should be the dynamic between sitting on the board and having a platform you want to offer?

I am curious, because in some ways this could be viewed as a conflict of interest, and in other ways it could be viewed as "a seat at the negotiating table."

thoughts?

I don't think that anyone on the board is going to dictate anything...groups are going to decide where they want to go, I just think that the board can try organizing the community to help everyone have enough information to make their decisions wisely and in the process and in the end provide a continued sense of family here.

I would hope that one of the things that Omidyar Networks will provide is some kind of a link to the community or communities that come out of this. It would be pretty disappointing to see January 2008 come around and no link to any community on their homepage. Like this meeting place / planning place / working place never existed. I would hope that maybe that community link would go to a brief history of what happened here and links to where we have evolved to.

It is hard for me to even imagine how Ted with aboutus or Mark with ned or nmw with kick-the-can.net could even on the board determine what direction each person or group will take. If they as individuals have an answer that works for some groups on here, is that a bad thing or a good thing?

Lars Hasselblad Torres said:

thoughts?

perhaps you might want to review Meta - Board Election Process -- I have a hunch it might be also be appropriate to pose such questions there.

My first thought is to wonder whether ON might consider facilitating a shift of the active African community on Onet to the myC4.com platform.

There is a minimum capital investment required to join as a C4 community builder - groups of community builders work together to invest in businesses in Africa. Were ON to consider empowering a group of 25-50 Onet members in Africa with $200 each in C4 investment capital, I have a feeling we'd also attract a lot of other ON members to C4 who habitually support African projects and see a lot of good things that have started here continue to happen on that platform.

Please share

Sender: Linda ทรัพยากร Nowakowski (2333) Date sent: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 05:43:13 PDT Date opened: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 05:59:41 PDT

I would appreciate it if you would share, either privately or publicly, why you negged my comment on the mets platform discussion.

Linda

Thank you for your message, Linda.

I do admit that my giving your post negative feedback was very impulsive -- and I have in the meantime revised the feedback labels I have applied to what I now feel appropriately reflect/describe my sentiments about your post.

I also thought "hey, now people might not give it any more negative feedback for the simple reason that doing so would fold your comment". But I really don't care either way -- it makes me feel good just to be able to tell other people that I think your remark is uninteresting, uninsightful and not funny (and that it has an overall "negative" impact on the way I feel and/or that it seems to impede the collaborative development of what the members of omidyar.net might hope to "make happen").

Besides that, the "associations" you have posted are rather murky -- so I feel your argument might best be described as "unfounded".

I hope this explanation helps.

Thanks again for asking me to respond.

:) nmw

linda, i think its a broad ethical question. regardless of any individual's capacity to influence the board decision (which simply is not known), the question is whether, with their own proposal on the table -- and the possible boon they'd receive (without even having a tested platform in some cases) by having O.net membership directed their way -- they'd be able to separate their own interest in the matter in making a qualitatively sound a) assessment of other options and b) recommendation.

nmw, thanks for the link - i'll repost there as well.

Christia - I dont think C4 has yet to figure out a way to legaly have US members.