What is a Wiki?
A wiki is a website that YOU can edit. Just imagine - if you don't like a page, you can change it. If it's out-of-date or inaccurate, you can update it. The entire site is yours to build and tweak to your liking. (Well, except that you share it with everyone else too...) Wiki's can do powerful things. A perfect example is Wikipedia, the biggest, most up-to-date, most multilingual encyclopedia in the world. Go ahead, browse around. People just like you made ALL of that! Another great example is WikiHow, the how-to site for just about everything. However, these sites are geared towards providing information...
Collaboration!
Another ideal use for a wiki is to collaborate. That is why they are used in many companies and for other BIG projects where people are located all around the globe. Most open-source projects, such as Ubuntu and OpenOffice, use wiki's to collaborate. My workplace, which makes safety-critical systems, uses a wiki. If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for nudists as well.
Nudists, who are normally secretive about their activities and keep to themselves in small groups, really need to work together on some bigger goals. Goals such as: keeping or improving freedoms, promoting a clothing-optional lifestyle, and expanding clothing-optional areas. There is currently no framework for working together on these goals, except that we rely on a few organizations to do it for us. They win some, but lose more -- they need our help!
Crowdsourcing.
So what happens when everyone gets the freedom to change things? Some initially thought it would be disaster, but they have been proven wrong. The Wikipedia, the most popular wiki in the world, lets even unregistered users make edits. The fact is: 99% of people are genuinely good. They make positive edits, and easily outnumber the 1% who might cause trouble. Nudists also have this quality, which is why almost all nude-friendly places are safe enough for women, children, and the elderly.
A real-word example of crowdsourcing might be this: A town that needs an animal shelter, and a mayor who can't afford to build one. The mayor tells everyone in the town what's needed and asks for help. The crowd would then work it's magic... An architect might volunteer to make a blueprint. A few people might donate some spare lumber. People might do some fundraising and donate some money for whatever other supplies are needed. Construction workers might volunteer their time to putting it together. The animal lovers might volunteer to run it. What is the end result? An animal shelter, completely built and run by volunteers. As you know, nudists have an extremely broad range of talents, and there are certainly a lot of them out there. Just imagine what could be done if we crowdsource to them.
WWNCW Design.
The site is a hierarchy of "webs". The upper-level webs represent a large and specific geographical region, such as a nation or state. The lower-level "regional webs" represent a local club, beach, resort, or any other nudist venue. The WWNCW is NOT meant to replace an existing website, but is instead a valuable addition where the members can do updates and collaborate. All of these webs are completely customizable by anyone.
WWNCW Features.
- A calendar system, where events can be listed on other calendars. (For example, you can show all your favorite groups calendars and friends calendars on your homepage calendar, or show all regional events on a state-wide calendar.)
- A project and task management system. Projects are defined, tasks are added, people can sign up for tasks or assign them to someone else, and each users tasks are displayed on their homepages as a reminder.
- A bare-bones forum, where people can add their own topics and easily post comments.
- Polls, so people can vote on issues. This is ideal for making choices such as "Should we lobby to change this law?" or "Is the resort's pool too hot, too cold, or at the right temp?"
- Each region gets their own "web" with the above features that they can customize as much as they want.
- Each user gets a homepage similar to a social networking site. Mine is WikiAdmin. On it, I keep a calendar of where I'll be, and that also shows events from MazoBeach and from my friends (so I know if they'll be there too!) I also have a reminder of all the tasks I'm signed up to do, and a place where people can write messages to me.
- Anonymity, just in case you don't want to reveal your true identity. Email addresses are never shown to anyone, and you can choose any WikiName you'd like.
- Everything can be edited by anyone (almost), so they can add their own features and organize things however they want. The features and framework above are mostly created by me - which shows that you can build just about anything into the wiki.
First is that I paid $200 for 2 years of hosting from a great company called Dreamhost, but it's shared hosting. With all the processing that the wiki needs to do, it ends up being somewhat slow during the evening hours. I'm doing what I can to speed it up, and am willing to switch to a better hosting plan when the site gets more popular.
I hope it DOES get more popular. The more people that use it, the better it becomes. That's an issue right now -- there's not enough people using it yet. There's only a few regional webs defined, and they're waiting for activity. You're regional webs aren't represent yet, because you haven't asked for them. Get the word out - because the more people that join in, the better it gets for everyone.
Join In!
The wiki is a powerful tool because it's driven by smart people, and I believe that a large group of smart people can really make a difference in things.
Improve freedom: Nudist lawyers can help out in legal matters, such as lobbying for change or supporting cases where nudity is involved. There is some serious organization involved when trying to change a law -- and the wiki can handle it. (Even if rallies, protests, or abundantly contacting congressmen are involved.)
Improve safety: If your a woman, it would be nice to know in advance if someone you trust will be at the beach. The regulars can keep the beaches safe by volunteering to do patrol and keep an eye on things. This can be scheduled so that everyone knows who they can contact if something happens.
Improve accessibility: Nudist nurses or doctors could arrange to accompany the elderly if they'd like to go and have trouble going. Also, volunteers could escort newbies to the beach or resort if they have some initial fears about going, or at least act as a contact for questions.
Improve knowledge: People know what events are at the clubs, beaches, and resorts, and know what ones their friends will be at -- all without hours of phone calls. This is the easy way to plan the perfect weekend with your friends.
Improve organization: People also know what tasks need to be done, and have the option to help out with matters and voice their opinion.
Improve whatever needs improving: The wiki can flex into whatever you want it to, and handle needs that we can't yet imagine.
Please join in and help out!
- The Academic Naturist, WikiAdmin of WWNCW.org.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment