Wanna be 2.0?

I have to admit, I cringe whenever I hear 2.0 appended to anything nowadays. I guess it’s just overused, but this label I came across today is pretty appropriate in my opinion.

Jakob Nielsen writes in his weekly email, “Much talk about whether Facebook is worth a fortune. The numbers being bandied about are a good sign that Bubble 2.0 is getting close to its peak.” So should we be concerned? He refers back to a post from April which makes two great points straight of the bat:

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Soda fountains not fire hoses

Some churches and ministries look at email as a fire hose it is either on or it’s off. For the most part this is going to get people soaked, but not satisfied.

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Google Earth adds charities

Google Earth is a free piece of software that allows you to browse the globe from your desktop. Recently, Google was in the news for adding information on what  is happening in Darfur to Google Earth.

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Improving Wordpress along side Spress

You won’t see Joe Tan on this blog much, he’s not that kind of guy. However he is always working to make Wordpress better and therfore Spress better.
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Good Design at Chipotle

Erin and I had Chipotle on Saturday. The food was great as usual, but there was a new thing that made me smile.

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Link Roundup - March 30

gokubi on Donor Management: These are great ways to start to visualize processes. The detail here is impressive, make sure to post some appreciative comments if you find it helpful.

EchoDitto on Online Presence: I gave a talk on this point to a group of pastors a few weeks ago. If you’re not online then your not part of the conversation. If you think there isn’t a conversation about you online, think again.

Connecting on the Web

Mashups are all the rage now days. If you aren’t a link follower, a mashup is the combining of two web applications to make a third one. I think they also give us a window on human behavior.

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Link Roundup, March 22

UIE on Usability and User Experience: Great blurb on who a useable website doesn’t equal user experience. I actually had a very similar experience to the one described here. It has soured me from using the store-pick-up for a particular big-box electronics store that rhymes with Vest Pie.

WaSP Street Teams: I am fan of web standards, so I’m this appealed to me. Of course anything called a Street Team with graffiti like font has to be cool. If you’re not sure what web standards are, then check out the web standards project.

Hugh MacLeod on The Conversation (via Seth Godin): I’m a fan of The Cluetrain. It is a bit out there, but I think that is a good thing. I think in the ministry space the web as conversation is especially true.

Monkey + Robot = Monkbot (or Cybonky)

Okay, I admit it…  This is a stretch.  But I could not pass up the opportunity to bring to your attention one of todays great marvels of technology.  Please, take a moment to appreciate the beauty of technology, as featured in this Discovery Channel documentary:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK1WBA9Xl3c

If scientists can do this with a monkey, just think of the possibilities of what Silas Partners can do with your website.

Link Roundup, March 8

Boxes and Arrows on Content Management: One of the biggest issues we see, is not getting a site launched, but maintaining that site over the long term. For a site to be effective the content of that site has be effective. Masood, the author of this post, does a great job of breaking down the different ways organizations need to think about content. As with most things in life, to do it well, it takes more work than you would expect.

Joshua Porter on The Impending Death of Information Architecture: Being that Information Architecture (IA) is one of the things I do around here, this post title is a bit scary. However, Joshua makes a good point that a lot of IA is design by another name. He also makes a great point about design solving problems and while going round and round about data structures can be this guy’s idea of a fun Saturday night, in the end that isn’t solving a problem.