Archive for the 'wikis' Category

03-13-2007

6 Sources for SXSW Interactive Panel Notes

I spent some time tonight tracking down notes from some of the SXSW Interactive panels. There are some panels I couldn’t attend because they overlapped with others and some I attended but wasn’t satisfied with my own notes. I’ve compiled a list below of six blogs that I found to have great notes.

In addition, the official SXSW Podcasts are already being posted. Unfortunately, the official podcasts get posted over weeks and months, so if you’re looking for specific panels it may be a while before they make it onto the site. The podcasts from SXSW Interactive 2006 are all online though and there are some definite gems in the bunch.

Unfortunately, the SXSW Baby Notes Exchange Wiki has seen almost no updates during the festival. The the wiki was a great idea, requiring a login goes against the nature of wikis and was apparently enough to keep anyone from creating or adding content.

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Posted by Matt in Austin, communication, learning, reading, tech, wikis | 2 Comments »

03-07-2007

Wiki Patterns Site Collects Tips for Wiki Success

Wiki Patterns is a new site that is site attempting to gather some best practices or “patterns” to help make wiki implementations more successful:

Looking to spur wiki adoption? Want to grow from 10 users to 100, or 1000? Applying patterns that help coordinate peoples’ efforts and guide the growth of content can give your wiki the greatest chance of success. Equally important is recognizing anti-patterns that might hinder your wiki, so you can fix them or avoid them altogether.

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Posted by Matt in communication, tech, wikis | 1 Comment »

01-26-2007

Wiki of Free Book Summaries

I just ran across the WikiSummaries site which is off to a great start at becoming a resource for high quality free book summaries. My own book notes tend to be outlines that are more ideal for reviewing material I’ve already read in depth. In contrast, WikiSummaries take a more narrative form, similar to CliffsNotes or Barron’s Book Notes and make for easier reading.

Both fiction and non-fiction titles are included. WikiSummaries can help you decide whether or not to read Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope or help you review the plot of a previous Harry Potter book before starting the next one. And since anyone can edit the wiki, it’s easy to contribute your own summaries or help to improve the existing ones.

Posted by Matt in business, communication, lifehacks, reading, wikis, writing | 1 Comment »

04-26-2006

Dim Sum Beginner’s Guide


Click to download the guide (PDF).

On a trip to Hong Kong a couple of years ago, Amanda and I wished we’d had some kind of Rosetta Stone to take with us to the dim sum restaurants we visited. We knew dishes we liked, but we didn’t know the Chinese names or characters for them. Most of the places we tried didn’t have the typical dim sum carts to order from, so pointing wasn’t an option either.

In getting ready for our recent trip to Beijing, I decided to put together my own dim sum cheat sheet. I used Wikipedia to find a list of dim sum dishes along with the Chinese characters for them. I then searched Flickr for photos tagged “dim sum” that were under a Creative Commons license. I put the two together to create a Dim Sum Beginner’s GuidePDF file. This guide is released under a Creative Commons license, so please feel free to add to or build-on the idea.

The printout did come in handy on our trip to Beijing. Dim sum wasn’t as prevalent there as it was in Hong Kong, but we did come across a few places. The ones we ate at didn’t have English menus or picture menus, so the cheat sheet was a big help.

Admittedly, I’m still a dim sum beginner myself, so this is not a comprehensive guide. There are lots more dishes I could add, but I stuck to the ones I know well—things that we hoped to eat on our trip and would recommend to anyone who hadn’t tried dim sum before. For more options, check out the book “Dim Sum: A Pocket Guide.”

I’d love to see more twists on this idea? How about a beginner’s guide to tapas, sushi, meze, and other snacky foods around the world?

Posted by Matt in communication, creativity, food, photography, travel, wikis | 2 Comments »

01-22-2006

Upgraded MineZone to PmWiki Version 2

I just upgraded the MineZone Wiki to PmWiki version 2. I finally worked out most of the kinks that had been keeping me from upgrading.

Next, I’ll work on upgrading this blog to WordPress 2. Then, I hope to work on integrating PmWiki and WordPress a little better, especially establishing a consistent look across both parts of the site.

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Posted by Matt in communication, tech, wikis | No Comments »

11-14-2005

Wikipedia Knows All

I had been wondering recently about the meaning of the phrase “Hollaback Girl” from the Gwen Stefani song of the same name. Google pointed me to Wikipedia for the answer. I should have started there in the first place:

Although the term “hollaback girl” was never confirmed by Stefani, Greg Stacy of the O.C. Weekly assumed its meaning in the May 6, 2005 edition, writing, “Gwen is apparently the captain of the cheerleader squad; she is the girl who ‘hollas’ the chants, not one of the girls who simply ‘hollas’ them back.”

Posted by Matt in music, wikis | No Comments »