Re: [TheThinkTank] Bike Collectives Newsletter?

15 Oct 2011

      Yeah, newsletter is probably the wrong word just yet, I had the same initial goal as what you suggested, just posting as necessary unless someone dedicated was able to make it regular.
I also want to commend your work on the google doc, I know what I was suggesting is sort of a replacement for that document but I do feel that we are asking a lot of organizations to keep all of these lists (google doc, wiki list, wiki pages, google map, ect.) where it could be done in one go. This also may solve the problem of privacy, organizations can choose what information is publicly shown (such as address) and what is only shown to other organizations or possibly another subset or completely private (such as contact person).
Perhaps what I should do is put some more thought into it and make a more concrete proposal but I would appreciate more opinions first,.g
From: veganboyjosh@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:09:17 -0700
To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Bike Collectives Newsletter?
I started the process of getting a google form made for new shops and projects to list their info, and from what i can tell it'll be pretty easy to maintain.
Unfortunately, I goofed. While I was updating things, I had the (what i thought was) brilliant idea to make several other folks owners of the big massive spreadsheet, but Google Docs only allows one owner per document/spreadsheet, and now i'm no longer the owner, and can't change the permissions back. Rich was the last one I made the owner, and he's off on a bike ride (well deserved and LOOOONG coming, i should add) and once he gets back I'll be able to dive in and keep up what i was doing when i inadvertently turned in my set of keys.
For now, the form is available here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEVvMWFNVDlyRm8wQ2dCX0V...
which anyone can use to email anyone else. It's a simple web form that has fields for every column in the spreadsheet. There's a way to include the form in an email, but again, that'll have to wait until I can get back in there and tweak. This will make things like the pre-Interbike "make sure your stuff is up to date" email from Jonathan much easier, since I won't have to give permission to 25 people one at a time anymore, we can just send the link to the published page and the form for people to fill out.
If none of this makes sense, forgive me. I've got it straight in my head, and am happy to go into more detail if anyone's interested.
We can also post a very prominent "want your shop listed? Fill out our form and it can be!" and then I and whoever else wants can receive an email alerting us whenever a form has been submitted.
As for the BCN newsletter, i think its' a great idea, but like so many great ideas that come up, quickly brings to mind the question "but who's going to do it?" i know i don't have the time or energy to put into this, but maybe it could be something that a few of us chip away at defining, and coming up with structure for, and keep it light and not something we're committed to publishing (in whatever media is appropriate) every month, or maybe even on a schedule. ie, if it just happens when it happens, it might be what's right for this group until someone comes along who wants to administer it more regularly. Of course, that "it happens when it happens" modus can also just mean it gets put at the bottom of everyone's to do list and it never happens. I'm sure none of you are stranger to that...
josh.
On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Godwin ! goodgodwin@hotmail.com wrote:
Yeah, I realize that having a consistent administrator would likely be the biggest problem but I feel our community is ready for it, there are a lot of eager and responsible people here and if we're smart about it, the effort would be minimal. There may even be a way that would could collectively maintain it.
I feel that this would serve a very different purpose and audience than the think tank (which I in no way suggest that we stop using). I don't think it's reasonable to expect organizations to sift through think tank archives to find out about pressing issues and this solution would also be a lot more maintainable than a google doc as organizations would administer themselves and be more likely to know about it. I think a lot of organizations visit bikecollectives.org and don't know that there's more going on.
There definitely needs to be more thought put into how we would administer it but I think we have the ability to devise a sustainable way of maintaining it but I may be in the minority.
.g
From: jonathan@slcbikecollective.org
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:29:34 -0600
To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Bike Collectives Newsletter?
Since the email archives are web based, people can still read without joining.  Not to mention the value of that dynamic data for SEO purposes.  So I would suggest keeping the think tank, putting a google form doc on josh's list, and if you think there is the long term resources and leadership to pull of a newsletter, go for it.  I just know we don't do a newsletter locally because we haven't had a consistent resource (people) for getting it done.
Sincerely,
Jonathan MorrisonExecutive DirectorSalt Lake City Bicycle Collective2312 S. West TempleSalt Lake City, UT 84115w: 801-328-2453
c: 801-688-0183f: 801-466-3856www.slcbikecollective.org
On Oct 15, 2011, at 4:13 PM, Godwin ! goodgodwin@hotmail.com wrote:
Hey folks, it's probably not a new idea but especially with upcoming information about Bike!Bike! I've been toying with the idea of starting a no-reply mailing list. There's a lot of logistics that we'd have to get worked out and it's something that I scarcely have time to administer but I wanted to get a general room temperature on this.
One idea that I had that might help us smooth out some other issues as well was to replace the content on bikecollectives.org with a sign up form for bike collectives (not touching the wiki of course). Bike collectives would sign up as an organization giving their general email address and location and possibly a few other details. We could talk about having a few administrators that could send out notices, likely at most one a month although probably much more rarely than that and in addition we could use the information to know more about our community at large. This would also open up the possibility of putting bikecollectives.org to better use.
My main concern is that, due to the nature of the think tank (long discussions, off-topic discussions, in-fighting) we are keeping many organizations in the dark about information that we would like them to know about.
I'd appreciate any feedback and possibly volunteers!
Thanks!.godwin

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