10 replies to this topic

[Mind]

Coming up on Tuesday February 21st, I will be interviewing Michael Trice, husband to Shannon Vyff, co-founder of Partisans.org, PhD student in Technical Communication & Rhetoric at Texas Tech, and blogger for SXSW.

My particular focus in this podcast will be media and outreach activities. How can Longecity be more effective in spreading the theme of unlimited lifespans?

Please submit any questions you might have for Michael Trice here.

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Edited by Mind, 16 April 2013 - 07:57 PM.

[Mind]

Last chance to get a couple questions in before the podcast/interview with Michael Trice about outreach and media!

[caliban]

1- is there a maximum number of contributors to an online community before it becomes too big and splits of?

2- what kind of incentives work in stimulating the contribution of new content?

3- in politics, unopular promotions (robo calling) are proven to work even though everyone hates them. Is the same true for online communities?

[Mind]

Arg, my bad on not putting the exact time of the interview in this thread. I was not able to ask your questions in real time but Michael was kind enough to answer your questions afterward in text form.


1- is there a maximum number of contributors to an online community beforeit becomes too big and splits off?

This will depend on how you define community. Facebook and Wikipedia
suggest that an active user community can grow as large as your server
farm can accommodate. However, larger sites typically have some
mechanism for smaller communities to form within the site, a sort of
digital suburbia. Facebook does this with your friends list and fan
pages. In Wikipedia, user interaction isn't the main goal, though most
regularly editors would embrace the term community. However, Wikipedia
does a lot of community work offline, nurturing enthusiasts at
conferences and workshops.

So, the answer is that the online aspect isn't the limitation, but
rather how well a community accommodates their users' desire to
localize. I think Reddit is a great example of user localization in
action.


2- what kind of incentives work in stimulating the contribution of new
content?

Exposure and feedback. People will provide content on a regular basis
if they feel like others will engage with their content and make them
feel heard. It really is the interaction that drives content. Of
course, creating new and interesting ways to interact helps a lot.
This is why the web has become a more complicated space, less HTML and
more PHP and database-driven. The era of simplicity is being replaced
by a more complex era of functionality and innovation.


3- in politics, unopular promotions (robo calling) are proven to work even
though everyone hates them. Is the same true for online communities?

If spam didn't work at a macro level, it'd disappear. It's as cheap as
it is annoying. The issue is that if you don't care about the
community, then efficiency is all that matters. Communities have to
protect themselves from these intrusions because they really can
interfere with the flow of conversation.

[Mind]

I am aiming to have the podcast edited by this weekend.

[brokenportal]

Looks great, cant wait to hear it.

[Mind]

Michael provided a lot of good advice for outreach efforts. This might be one of the more important podcasts for Longecity even though it is not the typical, hard science-type interview.

[Mind]

Here is the link if you want to download it. We will get the mp3 hosted on our own server and posted here in this forum in the next day or two.

[Mind]

It is a great interview for tips on honing our outreach efforts.

1. Outside groups might find it hard to relate with Longecity because we have a lot of specialized community information in the forums. It is a wealth of great knowledge, but quite dense for newcomers. We need to transmit our specialized and valuable information in an easily digestible way to other groups. The newsletter could somewhat fill this role. Maybe a "weekly forum highlights" blog/article/show.

2. Content is a good way to keep people coming back but in today's world, interactivity helps a great deal. Polls are good for this. Trice suggests other interactive apps that helps people do something with their knowledge and opinions. PHP stuff, html 5 rich media apps?

3. Make sure out outreach efforts are tailored to the platform we are interacting/broadcasting in. Facebook posts/efforts should look and feel a little different than Twitter stuff.

4. Stay in contact with key media figures of other organizations. There are usually a couple of people in a community that are well connected.

Edited by Mind, 27 February 2012 - 09:38 PM.

[rwac]

Mind interviews Michael Trice, husband to Shannon Vyff, co-founder of Partisans.org, PhD student in Technical Communication & Rhetoric at Texas Tech, and blogger for SXSW.

Duration: 15 min

Participants: Mind, Michael Trice
http://www.longecity.org/media/LongeCityPodcast_Trice2012_A01.mp3

http://www.longecity.org/media/LongeCityPodcast_Trice2012_A01.mp3'>DOWNLOAD (Right-click and Save as) (~17 MB)

Edited by rwac, 28 February 2012 - 08:59 PM.

[Michael Trice]

I enjoyed the discussion. Happy to answer any other questions as well. Y'all have certainly built an impressive community here.

If anyone will be at SXSW this year, let me know.