The First Such Site

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Hi there,

I'm setting up this thread in case there are things we need to figure out when it comes to helping you figure out how to use this thing. I've set you as the "thread initiator" so anything that gets put on this page will get sent off directly to you, soon as it's posted, and so we can maybe build a little "library" here if you have questions, or I think of things you ought to know.

To anyone in Lane County showing up here and reading this, Hi there to you to. You have no way of knowing it right now, but you're one of the first users of what may turn out to be a fairly revolutionary (or, at the least, pretty different) web site/communication system.

A big part of the reason for that is Eugene's own, Cynthia B, who, late one warm spring night, helped plant the seed that led to this, some seven long/short months later.

This is this web site's first "working page," and this is the first of what may prove to be many many replicas of this community prep "information/communication system" web site. We sure hope so anyway. The idea has been to create this system and make it "highly transportable" so that other community's can have the same thing set up for them in near short-as-sleep time, so communities that don't have local y2k sites (or may want one of these systems too) can have one up and running in a matter of days instead of weeks or months.

One of the other key ideas (from "the beginning") was/is to network as many of these local sites, as well as any other kind of community site, and as many individuals as possible, through the Directory connected to the Millennium Salons web site. (Which was the first baby Cynthia and I had. This would be our second. We hope to have a family way too large to have over for dinner.)

Staying in tune with that last thought, this is a real important web site because right now, at this very moment, it's a toddler. And while the Millennium Salons has been growing up in a pretty sturdy, usual way, this little upstart is a completely different unit. Naturally, I'm a little nervous. Naturally, I'm hoping to watch a vibrant, healthy, smooth growth pattern. Naturally, I'm hoping (intensely, fingers crossed) that we come to find this child turns out to be the wonderful wizard we have that biased parental hunch it will.

So this could actually be called "The Toddler Page," and there will probably wind up being notes in it that there won't be anywhere else. Cynthia (on the 2000efn listserver) was always after everyone to include their behind the scenes notes that they might serve as some kind of potentially instructive process.

Well. I don't know how much of that (instructiveness) there'll wind up being on this page (this could wind up being the only thing on it), but I guess I'm game; even though it's real tempting to handle this "let's check for bugs and obvious stupidness in the basic design" via email (because it could be mighty embarrassing!). But when it comes to things like this, I don't like email. I could write a book on that subject. I might. If I do it's title will be, "Through the cracks: Welcome to the Email Donkey Trail." I won't go into all that here, but believe me, this system is much better than email (when it comes to attempting anything practical via the Internet, and there may be more than one other person involved).

The long and short of that is that by putting notes here that have to do with the "launching" of the very first site/system like this one, they won't get lost. I may wind up wishing they would have, but since that's always been such a big beef of mine (lots of potentially valuable info getting lost in people's in boxes), and seeing's how I've been such a blabber about the "unrealized, untapped" value of this type of system, what can I do? I have to put it here...

So okay... You're reading my mail to Cynthia... Here. You might as well know too...

Dear Cynthia,

I think you're... Well... That is to say... Let's see. What's the word? Ummm. I think you... No. That's not it. What I mean is... Well, anyway - I really do.

B.

And just in case this page proceeds further, remember: This is being written when this system was brand spanking new, fresh out of the electronic box, and that no one in the world has seen anything quite like it before (including me). Who knows what it'll do? Time will tell. I've been up 'til about 3 or 4 in the morning just about every day since what seems like about 1952 a tryin' to figure it out. Hope I at least came close. And I'm glad the first place it's popping up is in Oregon. You people have been doing a great job, and I think you're real likely candidates for "getting this." And that's very important: When it comes to this system's usefulness and effectiveness, there's a lot riding on the users of it.

And I can't tell you how much I hope you use it and use it for all it's worth, which is (as I think I say somewhere else around here) a lot. This is a powerful, fluid system that you probably won't find too many limits to if you get into it. I know I haven't yet. And I've been working with it for about a year solid. It still amazes me (the "engine" it runs on, that is which was none of my doing, but Mr. Greenspun's).

Anway... The basic purpose of this page is the guy who did the nuts and bolts experimenting, designing, staying up all night pacing the floor - communicating via that very same information/communication vehicle with its Mom about whatever it is we now have on our hands. And here we are, putting that in public to boot.

This is the (propsed, anyway) Lane County Year 2000 web site. This is its first "working page." It's being put on your site by a guy about 1,800 miles to the east, sitting in a 1,200 square foot house on the edge of the woods. There's a fire in the stove, it's 2:55, Thursday, and Iris De Ment's singing "Our Town." (Haven't heard this one in a couple years - she has a voice like Kitty Wells, but different - a little deeper or something. Real nice, of course).

So this guy who made your web site's sitting in the trees, about to publish this part of this web page on your site by typing into a text entry box and clicking a button. Before too long you'll probably see how "quietly amazing" that little fact is because before too long, you'll probably be doing the same thing at some other community's web site a couple or few thousand miles away. Think about that for a couple seconds: Putting a web page on somebody else's web site in the middle of the night by just typing and clicking a button.)

If Cynthia happens to tell you about this site, and you happen onto this page, and you happen to have any questions about how it works, what the idea is, etc., you probably couldn't happen to find a better person to ask about it than me. And, short of stopping by or spending 8 or 10 bucks on the phone, you couldn't find a better way or place to put those questions or comments than right here on this web page. Any questions or comments you put here will get fired off to both Cynthia and myself, and I'll do my best to respond intelligently right here.

Okay. I'm going to put this page on your web site now, and then I'm going to continue it by "Answering my own Question" so Ms. Blueberry will get alerted to the fact this page is now here, and that I think she's, well... What is that word!? (If you know, please put in here, willya?)

Bill



-- cynthia (cabeal@efn.org), November 19, 1998

Answers

Hi there, Bill...

Ok - logged in, logged on and ready to share and explore! I'll be posting more here as it relates specifically to Lane County, and for particular items that don't go readily into the Millennium Salons forum.

I've found this particular forum format useful for sharing sites, and exerpts of items, and for asking general questions that can be answered by a number of strangers and do not require dialogue or direct feedback.

"...I've always relied on the kindness of strangers..." --Blanche duBois, in Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire"

I particularly enjoy the hot-linking feature that allows me to make URLs live. I do not use this format for dialogue, and hope that any visitors who wish to contact me do so directly, through e-mail, since I do not always track all of the threads here, nor read the updates that come in the mail thoroughly.

Over the coming weeks, I hope we'll see a number of ways this forum can fill and crosslink to threads in the Salons. As soon as a critical mass of about 6-7 serious writers get involved I think we'll start seeing some genuinely useable information come together.

This site is a wonderful piece of construction. And I can't fill in the blank for you, because I'm experiencing the same loss of words...

cynthia

-- cynthia (cabeal@efn.org), November 21, 1998.


Dear Ms. Blueberry,

Like a punk I just went ahead and started a page on your site and set it up so you'll get copies of anything anyone adds to it.

Like this. There's other stuff right up above this that you might want to swing by and read (just click the "Forum Main" or "Recent Content" link on the Lane home page, and look around).

In answer to your question of when can you start posting (to the Lane site, I assume), I'd say you can start any time.

A design note about the new Millennium Salons and the "Tools - global" link on the Lane County home page: I changed it. I went to a different system yesterday that allows people to add (and view and use) URLs and descriptions directly onto the web site. You'll see when you get around to clicking that Tools/global link. I think it'll work out well. Better than the other way. We'll see.

I also added a little link on the upper right part of the home page called "Recent Content" (I think). In plain english, that means, "click here to see what's new."

Also, you mentioned the "about" section of the Millennium Salons. Thanks, but it's one of the last pieces I need to work on to be able to say, "Okay... It's DONE!" (For now. Can't wait!).

But speaking of "About sections," the one you (and everyone) have got to read is the one attached to the "About this site" link on your home page. Besides the fact that writing it just about ruined whatever's left of my brains (I never have liked explaining things), it's got some important stuff on it about the local site that people ought to be aware of. Stuff important to everyone getting the most out of the system. And, of course, I'd like to see if you (and others who may be reading this too) think it covers things well enough.

Let's see. What else? When you get a chance, swing by that "global Tools/Shared Resources" section at the salons, look it over, (read that about section too while you're at it - it's short and sweet enough), and think about putting some of your best links in so we can start getting that thing "seeded," started, etc. Let's stop putting them in the salons forum and start putting them there (I'll move the URLs from the forum over there one of these days). It really could prove a great little resource if enough people get into it...

Oh... Almost forgot. Be sure to click your "Reload" button next time you go to the Lane site (seeing's how I just made those changes tonite and it will be a little different). And in case you haven't, you (and everyone) will want to make a bookmark there. I'm sure everyone will, but in the case of that Tools/global link I took the "target" tag off, and so you shoot directly over to the Millennium Salons. I took it off because there are quite a few "target" tags over there, and before you know it, you've got 3 windows open (if people's browsers will let them open that many. Mine wouldn't, and just replaced the Lane site with the Shared Resources page at the salons which I figured could be confusing for people. Probably no big deal, but the sites look similar now, and until a person gets used to it, that, "Hey... Where am I?" feeling could set in. So the first thing everyone ought to do is make a bookmark. I know. I know. "Duh." But you know how it goes... I'll have to stick that in the local "About" section. "Step One: Make a bookmark.")

Okay. Nap time.

Return to the address below and read the above above this (this isn't really an email, you know...)

And in accordance with what it says there, see if you can put any questions or ideas about this thing on that page as we go.

Until then,
Bill



-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), November 19, 1998.


Cynthia, If you're going to use the "Lane County site," you're going to need a web master. Also, a server or place to park it needs to be taken into consideration, established. It can be placed at Angelfire where there are no server fees, but if you think you're going to want to go the sponsorship route, or some way where's there's advertising involved, you need to put it on a commercial server (or one that doesn't mind advertising) because while Angelfire will allow you to advertise your own products, they will not allow the advertising of anyone else's. Please let me know your thoughts on these things ASAP. Bill

-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), November 20, 1998.

Hi again there,

P.S. "Trick Explanation Time." First off, this is an annoying quadruplicate copy of that message you already got. I'm moving it back into it's "proper order," and thought while I was at it I might as well tack this on here. I'm going to put an alternative email address in here, and here's why:

Since I started this thread (even though I did it in your - Cynthia's - name, following messages I put into it will appear in the top part of the replies/"answers." Why the software was created that way, I'm not sure, but that's what it does. So if I want my repsonses to be in order, I have to use an alternate email address, or the software will move my note up under the last "answer" I put in here... (And we just can't have that.)

If you (anyone) would like to get yourself an extra email address for such occasions, there are lots of places to get them. One good, easy place to get a "forwarding" address (that routes all messages directly to your real address) is www.bigfoot.com. [end P.S.]


Well. I see you fixed the "About section" link. Or I don't see anything wrong with it now, anyway.

And for those who may be interested in taking a quick look at the kind of thing Cynthia's been just sort of "throwing together" with those "live links" in them (which you can do without much trouble at all - see the "About section" and the "Practice/Workspace" forum), and to do a little "cross connecting" with the the Millennium Salons forum, a window with one of Cynthia's recent additions to the web site "over there" will pop open on top of this one (just close it when you're done) when you click here.

I hate to sound like an I don't know what, but that kind of forum post is about the best example of what it is I'm always driving at about this system. It is anything but the kind of thing you normally find in a forum. In reality, it's a complete, comprehensive web page that's just loaded with information: About 10 or 20 times as much as appears on the screen. About as much (and as good) as you'll find on any web page anywhere.

Remember: Whether it's about the food chain, the county commissioner's, or the general area plan, a little something on contingency planning, insulating a house, storing musk mellons, or who knows what? - Cynthia put that web page together in her email program or word processor (I think) using just TWO or THREE simple, easy, HTML "tags" (commands). And then she put it on the site herself (no web master required), in about 30 seconds, by copying it out of her email or wp program, pasting it into a text entry box, and clicking a button. The software takes care of all the rest. And you can do it too, just as easily...

And speaking of contingency plans and connecting from this site to the Millennium Salons, if you haven't already, be sure to take a look at Caper's Jones Municipal Contingency Planning Guide sometime. It's here, in the Salons forum, and here, in the Tools You Can Use section of the site. The one in the "Tools" section is formatted for printing, but the one in the Salons forum is a few weeks more recent. I don't know if they're different. I haven't had time to do a comparison yet. If you happen to notice any differences, please let me know.)

Bill



-- Bill (windrow@mediaweb.gr), November 22, 1998.


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