[SBB] SiliconValleybirders.org, and moving SBB to Yahoo Groups.

[Chuq Von Rospach <[[email protected]]>]

The main rush of migration seems to be mellowing out, so I think it's  
time to look at moving SBB over to Yahoo Groups.

I've been working on a new site to support the list and create a new  
information resource for us, and it's now ready for people to look at:

http://siliconvalleybirders.org/

There's more work needed to add information to the site (the birding  
locations are basically my favorites, it's not intended to be  
complete yet), but that's where we all come in. This is based on a  
Wiki, which means if you're interested, you can create an account and  
add material and make changes to it. I'll oversee the thing to make  
sure the bad people don't wander it, but feel free to dig in. If you  
don't feel comfortable making changes yourself -- that's fine, too.  
just email me suggestions and information.

I've done a lot of work on the google maps on the site, splitting up  
that first attempt into pieces that I think are a lot more manageable  
and easier to use. Adding maps is about the only thing other people  
can't do, so if you want to add a birding location, you can edit it  
in, and then email me to create a map for it.

I'm going to suggest that over the next week, people go and set up a  
subscription for the new SBB on Yahoo. The link to do so is here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/south-bay-birds/

I'll keep an eye on membership and send out a couple more reminders,  
and then in a week or so, we'll use both lists for a few days, and  
then decommission the current one once I'm sure everyone who plans on  
moving over to the new list has. Because of privacy and permission  
limitations, I need everyone to go and set up their subscription --  
bulk loading all of you into the list server is a Bad Thing, and  
it'll give people a chance to update emails and do all of the things  
that need to be done.

I have also created two new mailing lists to supplement SBB:

SBB-BirdChat: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SBB-BirdChat/

One of the continuing questions Bill and I get and which always seems  
to be ambiguous is the "is this okay for SBB?" problem. We want to  
keep SBB focussed on bird reports, but there are a lot of other  
things going on related to birding around here, but not having to do  
with the birds directly. SBB-BirdChat is a place for those  
discussions -- all of the things EXCEPT the birds -- and optional, so  
if all you want are the reports, you can get them on SBB, but if you  
want to be involved in the other discussions, then subscribe to both  
SBB and SBB-BirdChat.

I think this will give us a place to talk about those issues that  
affect us as birders like habitat and access issues. I also would say  
that any discussions about how to use or improve  
SiliconValleyBirders.ORG should go there, also.

SBB-BirdPhotography: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SBB-BirdPhotography/

A number of us are bird photographers as well as birders, and some of  
us are serious about bird photography (and a few of you are pretty  
good at it). I felt that, rather than bore everyone with the  
photography geeking, I'd create a place just for the photographers to  
hang out, so we woudn't annoy everyone else. If you're interested in  
bird photography, then please, sign up and let's see what happens...

I'm still trying to figure out how we want to include photographers  
on the SiliconValleyBirders site, so that's something we should all  
talk about, as well as how it can be used by and taken advantage of  
by the Bay Area Bird Photographers group within SCVAS (http:// 
www.scvas.org/index.php?page=text&id=babp).

A couple of quick notes on the site:

I've tried to be careful not to directly duplicate or borrow from  
Birding at the Bottom of the Bay. First, I don't have permission to  
use that material, but even more importantly -- it's a revenue source  
for SCVAS, and I don't want to hurt the organization by making the  
book irrelevant -- on the other hand, it's a collection of  
information, much of which is available in various places (and brains  
on this list), so as the online resources get more sophisticated,  
they are going to replace the book for some people.

Partially because of that, one of the things I'm doing on the site is  
adding advertising -- I have some Amazon links up, and I'm waiting  
for my AdSense account to be approved. I've already committed (and  
told Bob this) to donate some part of any profits from the site to  
SCVAS. The better this site does financially, the better I can  
benefit SCVAS -- and my goal is to eventually send 100% of the  
revenue it generates to the organization. We'll see how it goes. My  
intent is for this to stay low-profile and not turn the site into the  
kind of ugly disasters some sites have, but if we can make all of  
this information available online AND grow our membership AND help  
SCVAS financially -- I'll be a happy puppy. That's my goal, at  
least.  Oh, and raise awareness of the hobby, help the local  
environment, and probably cure world hunger along the way. We'll  
start simple, though, and then do what makes sense.

Finally, one of the things I see for this site is as an outreach  
vehicle: help people find SBB and our birding community and get them  
involved, and through that, get them involved and signed up as  
members of SCVAS. I'm still feeling my way around the best ways to do  
this unobtrusively, and I'm open to suggestions.

What I really want to hear, though, is how you think this can all  
work better, be improved, and what information we ought to have, what  
links we ought to post, and what things we ought to be storing for  
the common good (or better yet, create an account and help me create  
them!)

So let me know what you think and how we can make this better. And  
make sure you create your new SBB subscription so you don't get left  
behind...

--
Chuq Von Rospach
[[email protected]], [[email protected]]
http://chuqui.typepad.com




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