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<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">I am starting a
community wiki in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Oregon City</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>I
call it <a href="http://ocitywiki.org/pmwiki.php">OCityWiki.</a><span
style=""> </span>I’d like to see it help build a sense of community.<span
style=""> </span>I’m into the role of <span style=""> </span>“citizen
journalist” and I’m on a mission to
make this idea work here and then export it to other communities.</span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">It is my thought to
bifurcate the
wiki.<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">One side would be modeled
on Wikipedia -- sort of an encyclopedia of the
town with fairly static pages and where pmWiki's relaxed admin style
works really well. <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">The other side would be
for news/forums/event
calendar, etc. with pages that change a lot but where there will be a
need to
control carefully the content.<span style=""> </span>For
example, the news page would be under the control of one or more
editors, where
nothing can be posted except by one of the editors.<span style=""> </span>The
moderated forum page would allow anyone to
view the postings, but would require a login in which the user is
required to
provide a real identity, an email address, and make postings using
first and last name.<span style=""> </span>The forum user could edit
his own posts after
posting, but not anyone else’s.<span style=""> </span>The
event calendar would allow anyone to make a posting, but only that
person could
edit the posting, and the wiki would cause the posting to shift to an
"archive" page as
soon as the calendar overtook the event date. The site should be very
secure, whatever that means.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p>The site I
envision is really over
my head (internet security makes my head spin).<span style=""> </span>I’m
a recovering lawyer and a real
estate investor/businessman, not a programmer.<span style=""> </span>I
suppose I
could spend hours and hours figuring this stuff out, and I may just do
that.<span style=""> </span>But this is really not the best use of my
time, I don’t think.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p>The local
community college is
probably going to provide me with some kids to help through their
“Community
Work Experience” program, and I have a friend who I can pressure into
helping
when I really need it, and sooner or later I hope find a local geek who
gets
passionate about the idea, but in the meantime, I’m
stuck.<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">My first question: is
pmwiki is the right wiki software for me to use for news/forum/event
side of my proposed community wiki? If not what is? If it is . . .</span><br>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p>I’d like top
find a pmWiki power
user to take OCityWiki under his/her wing, create the killer community
wiki I
envision in collaboration with me and the other folks I'm getting
involved here in Oregon City. Then, we can make this "</span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">community wiki" template </span><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">available for download by
people in other communities. <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">A Communtiy Wiki template
is sorely need - newspapers just don't cover local politics anymore.
The internet is killing local newspapers. The sunlight of news
coverage is the very best disinfectant for government waste,
incompetence and corruption. Replacing newspapers is one real need
that can be met by "citizen journalists" recruited from the <span
style="">retiring baby boomers with writing skills. The death of
newspapers and the growth of citizen journalism is going to be a
powerful combination. Also, a community wiki with people using their
real names, bumping into each other in the grocery store, could really
help fight the "bowling alone" syndrome that has grown so much over the
last twenty years. I really believe that a killer community wiki
template would be a killer app with potentially large, very positive
implications. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">Although I can’t do the
programming,
I can do a lot else.<span style=""> </span>First, I could pay
somebody to help me build this site,
if that’s what it takes.<span style=""> </span>But my
preference would be for me to trade my
writing/thinking/business/creative
skills to whoever helps me, on kind of a barter basis.<span style=""> </span>Any
takers?<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;">If not, any suggestions
on how to
set up the login/security features I seek for the news/forums/event
side of the
wiki? I am spending my weekend trying to figure how to make ZAP
logins work on my beta site. Complicated programming advice will go
over my head, but I'm competent to paste snippets of code. And I don't
really understand if ZAP is the right way to go or not. <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Sorry for the long post. Hope I didn't
violate any posting rules. <br>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Philip Yates
515 High St.
Oregon City, OR 97070
(503) 570-8000
</pre>
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