This link should go straight to the survey without any weirdness: Where should I take my blog next year?

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2010 reader survey

Recently, I visited an office and was asked for some thoughts on MediaWiki’s value as a tool for collaborative editing. Surprised by the question, because I had been thinking about it recently, I probed a little bit more to discover his project’s requirements.

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Wikipedia propelled the term “wiki” into the public consciousness, however, wiki is internet slang for software that allows for online collaborative editing. Whether or not you know it, you’ve used MediaWiki every day (I’d be shocked if you didn’t). MediaWiki is the software originally developed to power Wikipedia, but has since been released as free, open source software for anyone to use and customize. The major drawback for “the rest of us” is that we don’t often have access to our own server to self-host, or we don’t have the patience to learn how to implement the software. If PHP, CSS, MySQL, and FTP intimidate or bore you, then self-hosting a wiki is probably not your best option.

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So let’s assume you’re like this person who’s working on an extensive project (multi-faceted document, a virtual binder, whatever), that needs to be kept secret, but multiple people need to be editing it. And, you don’t have the capacity to deploy your own MediaWiki (despite how familiar it is, it probably is overkill, too).

• What kinds of hosted Wiki software are available?
• What are their benefits and drawbacks to this project?
• How much do they really cost?

1. Writeboard

• Benefits: Simple. Password protected access. Easy to invite other participants. If project requirements grow, can integrate with other 37 Signals apps (like Basecamp, Highrise, or Backpack)
• Drawbacks: Not thoroughly exhaustive enough for enterprise deployments. Limiting formatting options, and you can’t upload or manage documents. Can’t self-host/integrate with an intranet.
• True Cost: 100% Free. 100% Hosted.

2. Google Sites

• Benefits: Gives users the ability to make password-protected/invite-only sites that are completely customizable with a suite of Google widgets. When you need to do more than just edit a document, and create a hosted company “intranet” or handbook, this is for you.
• Drawbacks: Editing Google Sites is a bit cumbersome, and allows you to edit probably more than you should. Almost like a glorified homepage editor (e.g. the late GeoCities).
• True Cost: 100% Free. 100% Hosted.

3. PBworks

• Benefits: Full suite of options. Different editions for different needs (legal edition gets you an audit trail). Very professional. Most of the pay-to-play options are things that make sense for enterprises but maybe not individuals or small organizations.
• Drawbacks: It’s difficult to find which edition works for you, and hard to find the “free” version. Once you do, you realize that all the features you might need or were counting on, like access control, cost you something. Basic users will have their wikis visible to the world, if that’s what they want.
• True Cost: “Basic” edition is free (and is very basic). The version comparable to Google Sites or some of the features on Writeboard costs you $96/user (and it isn’t clear if this is per month or year).

4. Etherpad

• Benefits: Good for the basic user, who just wants to create a no-frills reference document. Interface is clean and easy to understand. Like the upcoming Google Wave, all updates to the document are shown in real-time. Pretty slick if you and your team are working on a deadline, and don’t want to step on each other’s toes.
• Drawbacks: Only gives you basic email formatting (bold, italic, lists, colors, and sizes). Again, access control costs you something, so all your free wikis are naked.
• True Cost: $8/user per month (after 3 users). The free version only gives you a randomized URL to control access, providing the opportunity for anyone to edit.

5. WikiSpaces

• Benefits: A ton of features. Embeddable widgets like Google Calendars, file management (up to 2 GB), page histories, and email or RSS notifications make this a pretty full featured application.
• Drawbacks: Security and wiki customization, however, come at a price ($5/user per month or $50/year). Cheaper than most, this still makes it difficult to do your work in private, or without the distraction of banner/text ads.
• True Cost: $50/year sans eavesdroppers. Free if you don’t mind banner ads and visitors.

What am I missing? What do you use?

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5 Free Hosted Wikis and their true cost

3-by-3 is a Friday summary of some thoughts on leadership, social media, and Alaska that I’ve had a chance to read through the week. Please feel free to send me tips on stories that you’ve read on these topics.

Leadership

1. Seth Godin talks about organizations that use videos to tell a story about themselves.
   • What would it look like if instead of slides burdened with text, charts, and graphs we grabbed a video camera and showed people what we’re talking about? Would different decisions have been made prior to the Challenger launch?
2. Chris Myers Asch argues for an undergraduate public service leadership academy in the tradition of West Point. (Via AMA Government Solutions)
3. Poynter Institute’s Jill Geisler reflects on how to keep bullies out of the workplace (for her, this means newsroom).

Social Media

1. Facebook is growing at a rate of 700,000 new users a day, and over 40 million in three months.
   • Can you think of any other organization, movement, or consumer brand that grows that quickly?
2. Charles Hamilton offers suggestions on making the best use of social networks. His key point: don’t spread out, go to the sites with the largest user base.
3. American Red Cross shares their social media strategy with their staff, volunteers, and the world. I’m hoping that I might be able to use it as a model for Commonwealth North.

Alaska

1. This week in Alaska, news was dominated pretty hard by one story: Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said was irresponsible (from the middle of a lake), Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will assume the office, and Levi Johnston says it’s all about money.
2. Sitka got public wi-fi installed! I think this is a first for Alaska; Anchorage tried to do something similar a long time ago, but it fizzled.
3. Wildfires are blazing across Alaska, with the worst air quality in Eagle River (my hometown).

And a bonus:

• Arctic scientists made a tribute to Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance while wearing mosquito nets. (Via Alaska Newsreader)

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3-by-3: This week in leadership, social media, and Alaska (July 10)

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Knee-jerk vs. Prudence

“If we don’t pay attention and focus on the right discussions and the right issues, America will create an expiration date for itself,” [Hemsath] continued. “This democratic experiment will come to an unfortunate conclusion. And the hypothesis for liberty and peace and freedom will be nullified because we failed to set that example for ourselves, and we failed to set that example for the rest of the world… The time to change the tone has come. As a society and as a culture, we’ve come to an impasse. We’re 21st Century. We’ve gotten past the Industrial Revolution, Women’s Votes, Civil Rights. Now we’re again trying to find out what it means to be a nation.”

How we determine that identity depends upon the questions we ask, the issues we decide are worth our efforts and the ramifications of doing things as they’ve always been done. The individuals willing to talk with me for this story, although for the most part unnamed, are individuals asking sound questions, acting responsibly within the space they occupy in the world and seriously shifting the status quo.

Because I can’t say it better than Out Words did in quoting Cornell West, professor of religion at Princeton, “…I’m a blues man. A blues man is a prisoner of hope, and hope is a qualitatively different category than optimism…hope wrestles with despair, but it doesn’t generate optimism. It just generates this energy to be courageous, to bear witness, to see what the end is going to be. No guarantee, unfinished, open-ended…” If only we were all as courageous and conscious as the people who talked with me for this story.

• BozemanTributary.com › Bozeman’s Invisible Minority

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America’s expiration date

A new typography term

(Via the Slog)

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Type neologism

#38 Sums up the list best. Emphasis added.

38. Become personal, insulting and rude as soon as you perceive that your opponent has the upper hand.
In becoming personal you leave the subject altogether, and turn your attack on the person by remarks of an offensive and spiteful character.
This is a very popular technique, because it takes so little skill to put it into effect.

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Winning the argument