chip
12-09-2009, 06:32 PM
This is my first post and I hope it is appropriate for this forum. I believe what I'm about to share is complementary to and in alignment with the goals of forum.
I want to let you know that I'm inviting you to participate in what I'm calling the "Sonoma Wiki Project".
One of the things that has been missing in Sonoma has been a comprehensive online resource for our community.
After creating several special-interest sites and networks, like WiredSonoma for Sonoma Valley and CycleSonoma (https://cyclesonoma.com) for Sonoma County, it became apparent to me that our community at large needed a single site to knit together the various sources of information. There is also a lot of common knowledge that has not been captured as well as some loose communities/interests that aren't represented on the web (e.g. various communities in the Springs in Sonoma Valley and more rural communities).
There are several cities and communities that have their own wiki (see WIki Directory (https://wikispot.org/Wiki_Directory)) and it seemed that a wiki was the perfect solution for Sonoma Valley. After giving it some thought, I created three wikis to get the ball rolling:
SonomaWiki (https://SonomaWiki.org) (for the city of Sonoma)
SonomaValleyWiki (https://SonomaValleyWiki.org)
SonomaCountyWiki (https://sonomacounty.wikispot.org)
I've put about 60 hours into creating a basic structure and some common templates for these wikis but there is still much to do. BTW, this is a non-commerical effort utilizing the non-profit WikiSpot (https://WikiSpot.org) from Davis. I do not intend to make money from this and while I do own the domains, I consider myself a steward and not the owner of these wikis. The are for the common good.
In short, our ultimate goal is to document the Sonoma experience and make it available for all. If you've ever used Wikipedia.org, you'll know how useful this can be. The goal is not for these wikis to replace any existing websites but to help knit together the sites that already exist (e.g. this forum) and to document the local information and knowledge that is not captured elsewhere. Think of it as community-built, hyper-linked yellow pages meets local encyclopedia.
I encourage you to take a look around, create an account on one or more of the wikis and see what you'd like to add/update/correct. You can start simple, put a few skeleton sentences/pages in place now and add to them over time or create something that inspires others to add to what you've started. If you're interested in having more page templates, let me know what you have in mind and I'll see what we can do.
I hope you share my vision that Sonoma (in all its incarnations) is a special place and worth connecting and documenting. Anyway, check it out see what strikes your fancy! The goal is document Sonoma from the ground up by the people who actually live here.
If you're especially interested in helping develop this project, we also have a Google Group (https://groups.google.com/group/sonoma-wiki-project) for administrative discussions.
--
If you are wondering who am I allow me to share this. I've lived in the county for 15 years and love it. I have a social media company in Sonoma with my business partner but before that I ran the Obama Campaign in congressional districts 1 (Thompson) and 6 (Woolsey). I sit on the City of Sonoma Planning Commission and on both Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees (representing the City of Sonoma on one and the unincorporated parts of district 1 in the other).
Cheers,
Chip Roberson
Sonoma, CA
I want to let you know that I'm inviting you to participate in what I'm calling the "Sonoma Wiki Project".
One of the things that has been missing in Sonoma has been a comprehensive online resource for our community.
After creating several special-interest sites and networks, like WiredSonoma for Sonoma Valley and CycleSonoma (https://cyclesonoma.com) for Sonoma County, it became apparent to me that our community at large needed a single site to knit together the various sources of information. There is also a lot of common knowledge that has not been captured as well as some loose communities/interests that aren't represented on the web (e.g. various communities in the Springs in Sonoma Valley and more rural communities).
There are several cities and communities that have their own wiki (see WIki Directory (https://wikispot.org/Wiki_Directory)) and it seemed that a wiki was the perfect solution for Sonoma Valley. After giving it some thought, I created three wikis to get the ball rolling:
SonomaWiki (https://SonomaWiki.org) (for the city of Sonoma)
SonomaValleyWiki (https://SonomaValleyWiki.org)
SonomaCountyWiki (https://sonomacounty.wikispot.org)
I've put about 60 hours into creating a basic structure and some common templates for these wikis but there is still much to do. BTW, this is a non-commerical effort utilizing the non-profit WikiSpot (https://WikiSpot.org) from Davis. I do not intend to make money from this and while I do own the domains, I consider myself a steward and not the owner of these wikis. The are for the common good.
In short, our ultimate goal is to document the Sonoma experience and make it available for all. If you've ever used Wikipedia.org, you'll know how useful this can be. The goal is not for these wikis to replace any existing websites but to help knit together the sites that already exist (e.g. this forum) and to document the local information and knowledge that is not captured elsewhere. Think of it as community-built, hyper-linked yellow pages meets local encyclopedia.
I encourage you to take a look around, create an account on one or more of the wikis and see what you'd like to add/update/correct. You can start simple, put a few skeleton sentences/pages in place now and add to them over time or create something that inspires others to add to what you've started. If you're interested in having more page templates, let me know what you have in mind and I'll see what we can do.
I hope you share my vision that Sonoma (in all its incarnations) is a special place and worth connecting and documenting. Anyway, check it out see what strikes your fancy! The goal is document Sonoma from the ground up by the people who actually live here.
If you're especially interested in helping develop this project, we also have a Google Group (https://groups.google.com/group/sonoma-wiki-project) for administrative discussions.
--
If you are wondering who am I allow me to share this. I've lived in the county for 15 years and love it. I have a social media company in Sonoma with my business partner but before that I ran the Obama Campaign in congressional districts 1 (Thompson) and 6 (Woolsey). I sit on the City of Sonoma Planning Commission and on both Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees (representing the City of Sonoma on one and the unincorporated parts of district 1 in the other).
Cheers,
Chip Roberson
Sonoma, CA