2008 Open House and User Conference Wiki
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April 8th and April 9th - Newburyport, MA
Welcome to the 2008 Firebrand Community Conference wiki.
Firebrand Technologies is uniquely positioned to bring together many different, talented people from throughout book publishing. Our mission for this conference is to build a COMMUNITY of dedicated publishers and partners so that we may all learn and adapt to the vast changes taking place in our industry. Much of the conference will be dedicated to Firebrand's Title Management software, eloquence service and Ecommerce architecture. However, it is apparent from the feedback we have received that we have a tremendous opportunity to broaden the scope, listen to each other and learn about the changes facing us all, collectively allowing us to REINVENT our own companies and the industry we all love so much.
BUILDING COMMUNITY and REINVENTION are the themes of this conference. Our industry faces many new challenges and several new threats. We need to bring our best minds and voices together and figure out ways to adapt to the changing landscape. If you believe this is true, then you belong at this conference. Please come prepared to participate, not just listen.
This wiki will be continually updated with the latest information as the conference details are finalized. Much of the conference has been determined based on the responses from the questionnaires completed by our publishers and partners. This approach has led us to a rich conference schedule, with opportunities for all of us to learn and meet other book folks.
We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the discussion and edit features of the wiki to provide your input wherever possible. This wiki is for our community as whole. Be sure to create a login and verify your email to participate. It only takes a couple of minutes.
2008 Conference Wiki Pages
Why Wiki?
This Wiki is an integral part of the event experience. And, we expect this technology to be an integral part of the future of Firebrand Technologies. Wiki technology is all about collaboration and open sharing of information. As our friend, and Masseventslabs CEO David Berlind has written on his blog over at ZDNet:
- "Imagine if the way the Wikipedia was built was through all of the contributors to it passing around documents to each other via email… It would just grind to a halt and the Wikipedia would never be what it is today. Take the same way the Wikipedia has been built and figure out how to organize the way your company runs so that knowledge is easily collaborated on an distributed in a very efficient manner and you don't rely on proprietary systems [to manage your content]."
Wiki technology is the most efficient way for groups of people to collaborate on knowledge by posting their contribution to that knowledge on the Web: by far the most universally accessible medium to all. So, not suprisingly, given the unconference aspects of our conference, where, instead of talking heads presenting to an audience, everyone is contributing the discussions, wiki technology is the perfect compliment to our event. Here's an example of how attendees can use the conference wiki:
Prepare to Discuss
Prior to the conference taking place, participants can collaborate on ideas for discussions that they may eventually propose at the event. The Unconference Ideas page is a great example of where such activity can happen virtually, prior to the physical event. By the time the discussion starts, everybody who's attending will have some idea of what to expect!
Documenting the Results
The use of the Wiki doesn't end with the end of the conference. This technology allows us to keep the conversations going. We can document what happened at each session for the those who were unable to attend in person, and it can be done in very close to real time.
How to use this Wiki
Finding Important Pages
- Many of the important pages you need to get started with the Wiki are found in the left hand navigation.
Creating and Editing pages on the Conference Wiki
- We've prepared several Help pages regarding the creation of new pages and how to use Wikitext, the wiki markup language of MediaWiki (the platform on which the Conference Wiki is based).
- Creating a new account and logging in -- you'll need to login before you can add new pages or edit existing ones on this wiki.
- How to create new pages on this wiki -- very helpful in terms of creating new pages about yourself or about a discussion idea that you might want to propose at the conference.
- Wikitext Quick Reference -- it's pretty surprising how powerful Wikitext is in terms of formatting pages.
- Imbedding Images on Pages -- if you want to spice up the pages some with graphics.
Where to find help
If you are still stumped, email Denise, dcraw at qsolution dot com, or call the office at 978-465-7755
