FEDC Web Communication Strategies

FEDC Web Communication and Collaboration

• Retail Economic Development - http://communityid.buxtonco.com/
• Nevada Small Business Development Center - http://blog.nsbdc.org/

• automatic, readable syndication feeds (for reading and repurposing - more at RSS in Plain English)

• Low-barrier collaborative space

• Entrepreneur Blog - http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/

• How Blogs Work - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/blog.htm/printable

Blog Advantages

• easy to add new materials
• visible in search engines
• open to comments from outside (or completely closed)
• automatic, readable syndication feeds (for reading and repurposing)

Blog Disadvantages

• they go stale quickly
• they are vulnerable to spam
• chronologically organized even within topics
• no history mechanism

Blog Uses

Blogs are best suited for activities in which the flow of information is mostly one-way, from the blogging organization or person to an audience, with a single-- but robust-- channel for comments to be returned. So they are useful for sharing news about projects and organizational activities, etc., but not so useful for collaborative work on those projects.

• How Wikis Work - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm/printable

Wiki Advantages

• Easy, in-place editing
• History mechanism, revision tracking
• Multiple levels of security

Wiki Disadvantages

• Chaotic growth
• Comments are "detached" from content (focus on revision)
• Fully summarizing individual contributions is difficult

Wiki Uses

Wikis are designed for collaborating on the revision of a document (or group of documents). Wiki work is two-way and in-place, so it is suitable for working on policy and project documents, less useful for simple comments or announcements. Most corporate wikis are locked behind firewalls and passwords, but significant users of wikis for collaboration include all kinds of corporations, city governments, banking agencies, etc. BMW and Dow Jones come immediately to mind.

(:*toc:)

• Forbes Small Business Blog Picks - http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/category.jhtml?id=320

Blog Pros and Cons

About Blogs

• Blogs in Plain English - http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs

Example Blogs

About Wikis

Wiki Examples

• This Site (look for the edit buttons)

• - http://communityid.buxtonco.com/
• - http://blog.nsbdc.org/

• Wikis in Plain English (video) - http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
• NOLA Wiki - http://thinknola.com/wiki/New_Orleans_Wiki
• Small Business.com - http://www.smallbusiness.com/wiki/Main_Page

• Charleston - http://charleston-west-virginia-economic-dev.blogspot.com/

Example Blogs:

• Milwaukee Biz Blog - http://www.biztimes.com/blogs/milwaukee-biz-blog

FEDC Web Communication Strategies

Discussion Boards

Blogs

Example Blogs:

• Milwaukee Biz Blog

Wikis