Context Is King

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proposal [2008/05/29 03:52] – randyproposal [2025/07/18 04:51] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 ====== The Book Proposal ====== ====== The Book Proposal ======
  
-<box>I've only pasted in some initial raw text. No edits yet.</box>+<box red| [[TBD]]>I've only pasted in some initial raw text. No edits yet.</box>
  
-Context is King: Costly Lessons from Online Communities +Vital Statistics\\ 
-A book proposal+TITLE: Context is King\\ 
 +SUBTITLE: Thirty Years of Lessons in Online Community Building\\ 
 +AUTHOR: F. Randall Farmer\\ 
 +PAGES: [[TBD]]\\ 
 +PRICE: [[TBD]]\\
  
- +===== WHY IS THIS BOOK NEEDED? ===== 
-Vital Statistics +For more than three decades, people have been mediating communications with each other using computer networks. Though the telephone facilitated communications between people who were physically separate, online networks enabled entire new classes of interaction between people who were temporally separated.
-TITLE: Context is King +
-SUBTITLE: Costly Lessons from Online Communities +
-AUTHOR: F. Randall Farmer +
-PAGES: [[TBD]] +
-PRICE: [[TBD]] +
- +
-POSSIBLE PUBLISHERS: +
-* Yahoo! Press [O’Reilly] – Ability to publish the truth and some details. +
-* O’Reilly  +
-* MIT Press +
-* Summit Books +
-* Simon & Schuster +
-* Prentis Hall +
-* Monolith Press +
-* Addison Wesley +
-* New Riders/Peachpit Press +
-* Wiley +
- +
-WHY IS THIS BOOK NEEDED? +
- +
-For more than three decades, people have been mediating communications with each other using computer networks. Though the telephone facilitated communications between people who where physically separate, online networks enabled entire new classes of interaction between people who were temporally separated.+
  
 Strangely, detailed best practices about how to facilitate online collaboration, communication, and community (aka Social Computing) are not yet gathered into one volume. This book attempts to remedy that situation by providing detailed patterns and anti-patterns for building online communities in context. Strangely, detailed best practices about how to facilitate online collaboration, communication, and community (aka Social Computing) are not yet gathered into one volume. This book attempts to remedy that situation by providing detailed patterns and anti-patterns for building online communities in context.
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 Some difficulties with other books in the area of online community building are: Some difficulties with other books in the area of online community building are:
-* Too general – Advice such as “Listen to your users” and “Greet your first users personally” are good as far as they go, but don’t really talk about how to facilitate the users interacting with each other and a sites content. Specifically, this book will provide tools for a company/site developer to identify their community context decide which patterns are right for their community. +  - Too general – Advice such as “Listen to your users” and “Greet your first users personally” are good as far as they go, but don’t really talk about how to facilitate the users interacting with each other and a sites content. Specifically, this book will provide tools for a company/site developer to identify their community context decide which patterns are right for their community. 
-* Ignore/Minimize risk - Most books on social computing don’t handle critical issues such as abuse mitigation, such as reputation gaming and trolls as well as how features interact with international laws and culture.  +  - Ignore/Minimize risk - Most books on social computing don’t handle critical issues such as abuse mitigation, such as reputation gaming and trolls as well as how features interact with international laws and culture.  
-* Too old – The first generation of books on this subject are now ten years old, and in serious need of a sequel. +  - Too old – The first generation of books on this subject are now ten years old, and in serious need of a sequel. 
-* Too shallow – Most books focus on positive examples, without detailing the wrong turns that teams made on the path to their successful formula, depriving the reader of needed insight. This book will also detail anti-patterns: What can, and has, gone wrong with generous examples for each chapter.+  - Too shallow – Most books focus on positive examples, without detailing the wrong turns that teams made on the path to their successful formula, depriving the reader of needed insight. This book will also detail anti-patterns: What can, and has, gone wrong with generous examples for each chapter.
  
 Each [anti]pattern will be given a proper name, and a broad range of example community contexts will be provided with a recommended set of patterns to consider for each. Each [anti]pattern will be given a proper name, and a broad range of example community contexts will be provided with a recommended set of patterns to consider for each.
  
-SOME POSSIBLE FLAVOR EXCERPTS +===== SOME POSSIBLE FLAVOR EXCERPTS =====
 “Most sites don’t need their own social network – stop trying to copy Facebook, it won’t work. Your community context isn’t the same as theirs was:  single campus current year college students, positively identified by an .edu mail address.” “Most sites don’t need their own social network – stop trying to copy Facebook, it won’t work. Your community context isn’t the same as theirs was:  single campus current year college students, positively identified by an .edu mail address.”
  
 “Considering adding a point-system and leader board to your community to encourage participation? Well, before commit your precious web developer resources to revamp your entire site, read about why Digg abandoned their leader boards because they decreased the quality and diversity of featured submissions to their site.” “Considering adding a point-system and leader board to your community to encourage participation? Well, before commit your precious web developer resources to revamp your entire site, read about why Digg abandoned their leader boards because they decreased the quality and diversity of featured submissions to their site.”
  
-AUDIENCE +===== AUDIENCE =====
 Primary: Product Managers, Web Developers Primary: Product Managers, Web Developers
 Secondary: Group moderators and small site operators. Secondary: Group moderators and small site operators.
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 Group moderators and small site operators commonly have to fuse multiple technology providers together to assemble the tools they need to enable their community. This book will help them more finely tune their choices. Group moderators and small site operators commonly have to fuse multiple technology providers together to assemble the tools they need to enable their community. This book will help them more finely tune their choices.
  
-COMPETITION (COMPARABLE BOOKS): +===== COMPETING OR RELATED PUBLICATIONS ===== 
-How is your book different and better? How does your book expand on others' ideas or how is your approach unique?+{{page>competition&noheader&nofooter}}
  
-* Community Building on the Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities +===== ABOUT THE AUTHOR (a few paragraphs--don't be modest) ===== 
-  * Amy Jo Kim, 1997 +{{page>author&noheader&nofooter}}
-  * This was the canonical reference when it came out, and some of the lessons have aged well, but most need serious updating. For example, Social Networks didn’t exist at the time. I’ve discussed my project with Amy Jo, where I floated the idea that my book might be the logical ‘sequel’ to her original. She was delighted and offered for me to re-use any material (with credit) that I would find useful. I will definitely take her up on that offer. +
-* Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability +
-  * Jenny Preece +
-  * TBD +
-* MySpace Marketing: Creating a Social Network to Boom Your Business +
-  * Sean Percival (TBP) +
-  * TBD +
-* Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business +
-  * TBD +
-* Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace +
-  * Eds: Renninger & Shumar +
-  * TBD +
-  * Collected Papers  +
-* Cultivating Communities of Practice +
-  * Wenger +
-  * TBD +
-  * Not online focused +
-* Design for Community +
-  * Powazek +
-  * Cookbook and Interviews +
-* Designing for the Social Web +
-  * Joshua Porter, New Riders, 2008 +
-  * Cookbook and Interviews +
-  * An excellent new book in the space. It contains about 25% (much of the high-level design approach) of the content I was originally planning for Context is King, so I can now include that content by summary/reference and expand on the detailed use-cases instead.  He is a User Interface designer by trade, and focuses mostly on how community content is presented. My intention is to go deeper than this skin-deep approach and provide a more mechanism/theory based approach leveraging my 30+ years building online communities. His presentation is also generally optimistic and doesn’t contain many warnings. He provides no end-to-end site-wide design examples. +
-* The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier +
-  * Howard Rheingold, 1994 +
-  * The oldest book in the category. Mostly historical and descriptive instead of prescriptive. +
- +
- +
- +
- +
-ABOUT THE AUTHOR (a few paragraphs--don't be modest): +
-Qualifications, source of authority +
- +
-{Start with summary from Habitat Chronicles} +
- +
-PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:+
  
 +===== PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES =====
 Online Community Research Network – Give a presentation and distribute comp copies to community platform companies. Online Community Research Network – Give a presentation and distribute comp copies to community platform companies.
 I am willing to travel to promote the book. I love to give talks – in fact, much of the inspiration and initial material for the book is drawn from several talks I’ve given over the years. I am willing to travel to promote the book. I love to give talks – in fact, much of the inspiration and initial material for the book is drawn from several talks I’ve given over the years.
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 Web-based promotion, such as a Facebook page for the book, Yahoo! Group for professionals to discuss the patterns, the Community Patterns Wiki (proposed below.) Web-based promotion, such as a Facebook page for the book, Yahoo! Group for professionals to discuss the patterns, the Community Patterns Wiki (proposed below.)
  
- +===== WEB SUPPORT =====
-WEB SUPPORT: +
 I’m hoping to publish early drafts of many sections on my blog, Habitat Chronicles, where I have an established audience readership of industry peers. Feedback on this basis, I believe, will lead to a much stronger book initially, as well as provide ongoing discussion of the book matter after publication. This should lead to the development of more [anti]patterns for either a web edition of the book and/or future print editions. I’m hoping to publish early drafts of many sections on my blog, Habitat Chronicles, where I have an established audience readership of industry peers. Feedback on this basis, I believe, will lead to a much stronger book initially, as well as provide ongoing discussion of the book matter after publication. This should lead to the development of more [anti]patterns for either a web edition of the book and/or future print editions.
  
 There should be a separate wiki for the book as well, so the many people can contribute to the refinement of these [anti]patterns. With any luck, this will create a well-established home for future online community developers to leverage the work of those who have gone before them. There should be a separate wiki for the book as well, so the many people can contribute to the refinement of these [anti]patterns. With any luck, this will create a well-established home for future online community developers to leverage the work of those who have gone before them.
  
- +===== TOC (list form) =====
- +
- +
-TOC (list form): +
 Front Matter Front Matter
 Introduction Introduction
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 End-to-End contextual design examples End-to-End contextual design examples
  
-NOTES:+===== NOTES =====
 High-fidelity communication High-fidelity communication
 Compare Bokardo’s engagement path to AJK’s stairs to Crossing the Chasm and original FRF Path of Ascension Compare Bokardo’s engagement path to AJK’s stairs to Crossing the Chasm and original FRF Path of Ascension
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 “Don’t try to copy Facebook!” “Don’t try to copy Facebook!”
  
-TBD+[[TBD]]
  
-DETAILED OUTLINE (paragraph form, chapter-by-chapter): +===== DETAILED OUTLINE (paragraph form, chapter-by-chapter) ===== 
-TBD+[[TBD]]
  
-Sample Chapters (1-3 sample chapters) +===== Sample Chapters (1-3 sample chapters) =====
-TBD+
  
 +{{page>meweit}}
  
 +{{page>dontcrossthestreams}}
  
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